San Francisco

While in Guatemala recently I purchased an interesting statue from the bazaar. It depicts Saint Francis, not as the gormless pansy that people make him out to be, but as a Saint closely related to death. I made this picture based on that statue. Why is he holding a skull? I don't know. Perhaps it is because the Hispanic peoples tend to have a closer connection to the other side of spirituality, i.e. Day of the Dead, and other such baptised folk customs.

Maybe it's the head of a Saracen he's holding...


*Edit (0201/2013) My best friend, who is an armchair hagiologist (presuming there is such a word, were there not one before, there is now) has informed me of the reason for Saint Francis' depiction with the skull. Evidently, Saint Francis slept with a human skull as a memento mori, much like the Totenkopf on my Crucifix. He frequently referenced natural and supernatural phenomena in familial terms. In poetry, my own included, you will occasionally hear mentioned one "Brother Death," it is from Saint Francis, everyone's favourite hallmark Saint, that this term comes. Go figure, eh? I had always known of Brother Death, but did not figure that Saint Francis took Brother so literally at his word as to keep is head with him. I would, if like Odin did of Mimir, the Saint ask Brother Death questions.