The Prayer of St. Francis: Full Text, Meaning, and the Saint in Art
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.” Few lines of prayer are loved as widely as these, and almost everyone who knows them ties them to one man, Saint Francis of Assisi. The peace prayer of St Francis has been set to music, printed on millions of cards, and hung on countless walls, and it carries the gentle spirit of the saint so perfectly that the two seem inseparable. The truth about where the prayer came from is more surprising than most people expect, and it takes nothing away from its beauty. This is the story of that prayer, of the saint whose name it bears, and of the great paintings that have shaped how the world pictures the little poor man of Assisi.
The Prayer of St. Francis (Full Text)
Here is the prayer in the familiar English form found on most printed versions.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
A Free Printable St. Francis Prayer Card
The prayer feels at home in the visual language of the medieval scribes who first made holy words beautiful. This prayer card keeps the whole text in that illuminated style, opened by a gilded initial and framed with the flowering border of a prayer book.
Free printable prayer card:
- Prayer card, PDF, US Letter
- Prayer card, PDF, A4
- Pocket prayer cards, 4 per sheet, PDF
- High resolution image, JPG
These files are free for personal use, for your parish, or for catechism class.
Who Wrote the Prayer of St. Francis?
Here is the surprise. Saint Francis did not write this prayer. It appears nowhere in his writings, and no trace of it exists for the seven centuries between his death and the modern age. The earliest known version is in French, printed in December 1912 in a small devotional magazine in Paris called La Clochette, the little bell. It was published anonymously, and most scholars believe it was written by the magazine’s founder, Father Esther Bouquerel.
So how did it become the prayer of Saint Francis? Around 1918 a Franciscan priest reprinted it on the back of a holy card showing his order’s founder, and the words and the saint were joined in the public mind from then on. There is no dishonesty in this, only the natural way a beautiful text finds the face that suits it best. And it does suit him. The prayer asks to become a peacemaker, to give rather than grasp, to love rather than be loved, and that is exactly the life Francis lived. Calling it his prayer is a tribute, not a forgery.
Who was Saint Francis of Assisi
Francis was born around 1181 in the Umbrian town of Assisi, the son of a rich cloth merchant. He grew up expecting a life of comfort and dreamed for a time of glory as a soldier. Then, in his early twenties, everything changed. After illness, captivity, and a slow inner conversion, he renounced his father’s wealth in the town square, stripping off his fine clothes to belong to God alone. From that moment he embraced poverty as if it were a bride, and gathered around him the brothers who would become the Franciscan order.
No image captures his spirit better than Giotto’s fresco in the Upper Basilica at Assisi, painted around 1300. Francis bends gently toward a flock of birds, his hand raised in blessing, while a brother looks on in wonder. The story behind it is one of the most beloved in his life. Francis is said to have preached to the birds as his sisters, reminding them to praise their Creator, for he saw all creation as one family under God. This tenderness toward every living thing is why he was later named patron saint of animals and of ecology.
Saint Francis in painting
For more than seven hundred years, painters have been drawn to Francis, and each age has found in him something of its own. Giovanni Bellini, working in Venice around 1476, set the saint in a luminous rocky landscape, stepping out of his hermitage with arms open to the morning light. The whole of nature seems to hold its breath. It is less a single event than a vision of a soul at peace with the created world, and many believe it shows the moment of his stigmata, told through light rather than drama.
The Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán saw him very differently. In his painting in the National Gallery in London, finished around 1639, Francis kneels alone in deep shadow, his patched habit catching a single shaft of light, a skull cradled in his hands. This is the Francis of the Counter-Reformation, the penitent who meditates on death and eternity. There is no landscape, no birdsong, only the soul before God in the dark.
El Greco, who painted Francis more often than any other saint, gave the great miracle of his life its most spiritual form. In his Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, the saint kneels in a rocky hollow, face lifted toward a small crucified seraph glowing in the sky. The figure is all silver and grey, stretched and weightless, caught in the instant the wounds of Christ are pressed into his flesh. It happened, tradition says, on Mount La Verna in 1224, and it sealed Francis as the saint who came to resemble his Lord most closely of all.
The young Caravaggio took up the same miracle from its quietest angle. His Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, painted around 1595 and now in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, shows the saint swooning in the dark after the wounds appear, caught and cradled by a tender angel. It is the first known religious painting by Caravaggio, and already the whole drama rests on a single fall of light across the saint’s upturned face. Where El Greco gives us the vision, Caravaggio gives us its cost, a man overwhelmed and gently held.
The Meaning of the Prayer of St. Francis
Whoever first wrote the peace prayer understood Francis completely. Its logic is the logic of his whole life, that we gain by giving, that we are healed by healing others, that the way up is the way down. It asks not for protection or success but for the grace to be useful to God, an instrument in his hands. That is why it has crossed every border of language and denomination.
Summary table of the works
| Work | Artist | Date | Medium | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Francis Preaching to the Birds | Giotto | c. 1297 to 1300 | Fresco | Upper Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi |
| Saint Francis in the Desert | Giovanni Bellini | c. 1476 to 1478 | Oil and tempera on panel | Frick Collection, New York |
| Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata | El Greco | c. 1585 to 1590 | Oil on canvas | Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
| Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy | Caravaggio | c. 1595 | Oil on canvas | Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford |
| Saint Francis in Meditation | Francisco de Zurbaran | 1635 to 1639 | Oil on canvas | National Gallery, London |
Conclusion
The peace prayer may be only a century old, and it may have reached us by a quiet, almost accidental path, but it tells the truth about Saint Francis as surely as any document from his own hand. He spent his life turning hatred into love, despair into hope, and self into gift, and the prayer that bears his name simply asks for the grace to do the same. The great painters, from Giotto to El Greco, each tried to hold a different side of that life in paint. To keep his spirit close you can choose our illuminated Peace Prayer poster, or explore more Baroque Christian painting and the wider collection of Christian wall art.
Important Facts About Saint Francis of Assisi
- Saint Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 in Assisi, the son of a wealthy Italian cloth merchant.
- As a young man he renounced his father’s wealth and embraced a life of poverty, founding the Franciscan order in 1209.
- He is remembered for his love of all creation, preaching to the birds and calling the sun and moon his brother and sister.
- In 1224, on Mount La Verna, he received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, the first recorded case in Christian history.
- He died on October 3, 1226, near Assisi, and was canonized only two years later in 1228.
Questions and Answers
Did Saint Francis write the Peace Prayer?
No, he did not. The prayer appears nowhere in his writings and cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed anonymously in a French Catholic magazine called La Clochette. It became linked to Saint Francis around 1918, when a Franciscan priest published it on the back of a card showing the saint. The words capture his spirit so well that the attribution stuck, even though the true author remains unknown.
What does “make me an instrument of your peace” mean?
It is a request to be used by God as a tool of reconciliation in the world. Rather than asking for personal comfort, the speaker asks to bring love where there is hatred and hope where there is despair. The image of an instrument suggests a humble willingness to be played by another hand, to serve a purpose larger than oneself. It sums up the whole outward, self-giving spirit of Saint Francis.
What did Saint Francis actually write?
His best known authentic work is the Canticle of the Sun, also called the Canticle of the Creatures, composed near the end of his life around 1224. In it he praises God through Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and all the elements of creation. It is one of the earliest surviving poems in the Italian language. Anyone who loves the peace prayer will find the same gentle, creation-loving spirit in this genuine text.
What are the stigmata of Saint Francis?
The stigmata are the wounds of the crucified Christ, said to have appeared on the body of Francis in 1224 during a time of prayer on Mount La Verna. According to his early biographers, marks resembling the nail wounds and the lance wound formed on his hands, feet, and side. His is the first recorded case of the stigmata in Christian history. The miracle is the subject of countless paintings, including the famous version by El Greco.
Why is Saint Francis the patron saint of animals?
Francis saw every creature as part of one family under God, and many stories tell of his gentleness toward animals. He is said to have preached to the birds, tamed a fierce wolf, and addressed the sun and moon as his brother and sister. Because of this deep reverence for creation he was named patron saint of animals and of ecology. His feast day on October 4 is often marked by the blessing of pets in many churches.
Where can I see the most famous paintings of Saint Francis?
They are spread across some of the world’s great collections. Giotto’s frescoes are in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, while Bellini’s Saint Francis in the Desert hangs at the Frick Collection in New York. Zurbarán’s meditating friar is in the National Gallery in London, and El Greco’s stigmata scene is in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Caravaggio’s early Saint Francis in Ecstasy belongs to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.
Is the Prayer of St. Francis in the Bible?
No. It is a modern composition, first printed in 1912, and it is not found anywhere in Scripture. Its spirit, though, is deeply biblical: the call to love, to pardon, to give and to console echoes the Sermon on the Mount throughout. That closeness is part of why so many people assume the prayer must be ancient.
Where can I buy the Prayer of St. Francis as a print?
The illuminated design shown on this page is available as a large poster, printed on high quality matte paper, from our own shop, jesuschrist.pictures: see the St Francis peace prayer wall art. The shop offers the Hail Mary, Psalm 23 and Psalm 91 in the same medieval illuminated style.
