Last week, we celebrated the feast of St. Francis. There is a legendary story of a fierce wolf that had been terrorizing the Italian town of Gubbio, killing some of the people, including children. St. Francis is visiting the town and, according to the story, when the wolf sees St. Francis, he charges at the saint with his mouth open, ready to attack. St. Francis immediately makes the sign of the cross over him and says, “Come here, Brother Wolf. I command you on behalf of Christ that you do no harm to me or to anyone.” As soon as St. Francis did this, “the fearsome wolf closed his mouth and stopped running; and once the command was given, it came meekly as a lamb, and threw itself at the feet of St. Francis.” Then Francis scolds the wolf for destroying and killing the creatures of God. “The whole town is complaining about you,” Francis tells the wolf gently. “But I want to make peace between you and the people. And so, I promise that I will have food given to you regularly, by the people of this town, so that you will no longer suffer hunger. And I want you, Brother Wolf, to promise that you will never harm any human person or animal.”
The wolf showed agreement by simply bowing his head. And so Francis asks the people of the town if they will promise to provide food for the wolf regularly. They agreed. “Afterwards, that same wolf lived in that town for two years, and he tamely entered the houses, going from door to door, without doing any harm to anyone and without any being done to him; and he was kindly fed by the people. Finally, after two years, Brother Wolf died of old age, at which the citizens grieved very much.”
We might say – oh, that is just a story or just a legend. We may ask, did that really happen? However, we see this story played out in the lives of the saints. The narrative of the wolf is hidden in the life of St. Maria Goretti and her mom, Assunta, who forgave her daughter’s rapist and killer, Alessandro. Not only did Maria’s mom forgive the wolf in her life, Alessandro, she called him her son. While in jail, Assunta requested that they attend Midnight Mass together. There, they humbly received the Eucharist, kneeling side by side. Twenty-one years later, they knelt again, this time in Rome, among a quarter of a million people with tears in their eyes as Maria was canonized a Saint.
We see this kind of love conquer wolves over and over again in the lives of the saints. This narrative is so important to soak in right now because in our country, in recent weeks, we have come face-to-face with brutality, anger, and hatred in their ugliest forms. Emotions run high in these difficult times. It is precisely in these moments that we must look to the examples of the saints and ask for their intercession, so that we can become peacemakers to the wolves in our lives.