figurine, gift, patron saint, patrons, protectors, religious, resin, roman inc, saint figure, saint of animals, ST. FRANCIS St. FrancisPATRON OF ANIMALS, MERCHANTS, ECOLOGYPROTECTOR OFGOD'S CREATURESPrayer ofSaint Francisof AssisiLord, make me an instrument ofYour peace. Where there is hatred,let me sow love. Where there isinjury, pardon. Where there isdoubt, faith. Where there isdespair, hope. Where there isdarkness, light. Where there issadness, joy.O Divine Master, grant that Imay not so much seek to beconsoled as to console, to beunderstood, as to understand, tobe loved as to love. For it is inpardoning that we are bornto eternal life.St. FrancisPATRON OF ANIMALS, MERCHANTS, ECOLOGY (1181-1226)The only son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, Italy, Francis Bernadone enjoyed a carefree and frivolous lifestyle as a young man. A sense of adventure prompted him to become involved in the battles that were being fought between Assisi and a neighboring city. On his way to battle one day, Francis became ill, and heard a voice asking him to serve God, rather than serve man. When he returned to Assisi, Francis was moved to embrace a leper on the road. He began to become aware of a deeper purpose for his life.While praying one day in the badly neglected church of San Damiano in Assisi, Francis heard a voice which told him "Repair my falling house." Francis took the instructions literally and sold some of his father's expensive cloth to pay for the repairs on the church. Francis' father was baffled by his son's actions, and fearing that Francis had lost his senses, he called his son before the bishops. In a dramatic scene, Francis removed his expensive robes and handed them over to his father to renounce his wealth and pursue a life of extreme poverty. Believing himself unworthy to be a priest, Francis wished to live a life according to the Gospel: to preach the word of God, to care for the sick and the poor, and to live without poor, and to live without possessions or money. His way of life soon attracted many followers. Francis is best known for his love of nature and animals, and for creat