Q&A: Franciscan Fun Facts

[00:00:01] Hi everybody, welcome to Soul Food Priest. Father Ben had to step out for a meeting so I wanted to still have a little bit of a conversation with Father Anthony here. Great. Yeah, because I knew that there were some interesting things that we've talked about or that I've learned recently. And we did not mention this in our other episode that we're drinking cappuccinos.

[00:00:26] And did you know, fun fact, cappuccinos are named after the cappuccino. Really? Tell me, Kira. How is that? No, you tell me. You are the cappuccino. Okay. So how did that happen? How in the world? Well first of all, let me just say that some people are like, what is cappuccino? This happens all the time in my parishes in Columbus. Are you Franciscan? Yes.

[00:00:53] But you're cappuccino. Yeah, it's cappuccino Franciscan. It's not two different things? No. But then it gets into this very complicated history that we were just talking about. And it's like, and we have a joke in the Franciscans that even God doesn't know how many different Franciscan communities there are. And it's kind of true. But the way historically how it happened, and even it's a little bit clouded to be honest.

[00:01:22] But St. Francis, you know, lives in the late 1100s, 1200s, dies 1226. And starts this fraternity, this community of Franciscans. And you know, and it changes, and it develops, and all sorts of things. And there's obviously, and by the end of his life there's 5,000 friars. By the end? Yeah, there's 5,000. 5,000. Similar to Mother Teresa. I don't know if she had five, but she was close.

[00:01:52] And so, but when he left, you know, there was many different factions, I guess, and different guys thinking about, well, what do we do now? Where do we go now? Mm-hmm. And it really, there was a lot of chaos until St. Bonaventure comes along about 40, 50 years after that. Mm-hmm.

[00:02:14] Maybe not that much, but, and St. Bonaventure, incredible, incredible saint and man of the church. He's able to bring, we call him the second founder, bring like a new order, an order to the friars. Yes. And so, but even within that, you know, and I think it's just human nature that, isn't it, we start out kind of like Judas. We start out good. Yeah.

[00:02:40] And then we fall away, and then hopefully we come back, and it's just human nature. We get lazy, we get, and so it's, that can happen corporately as well. Mm-hmm. And so it happens for all religious orders that happened to the Franciscans. Mm-hmm. And so there begin these renewal movements. Uh-huh. And reform movements. Yeah. Some of them break off, some of them don't. Mm-hmm. It's hard to reform actually from within. It's very, very difficult. Uh, once something becomes big.

[00:03:09] Any rate, there, there was a, a break off, you know, and then we would say that break off is OFM and, and conventional is what we have today. Yeah. OFMs wear a brown habit, but they have a, a round cowl, we say here. Mm-hmm. And they had different kind of philosophies of, of, and I don't want to get into it here, but of, of their kind of Franciscan vision. Uh-huh.

[00:03:38] And which one was the first, I guess they can make an argument who was first, I don't know. So, anyway. So then they're going along and then, and then off the OFM chain of around the 1500s, around Martin Luther time. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. There becomes another kind of break off. Mm-hmm. And, and again, the break offs happen, sometimes they don't intend to. It's just, they want to live a more radical life. Yeah.

[00:04:04] And this becomes, um, again, the Capuchin kind of branch that, that goes off. Mm-hmm. And they, they were really known for living real radical poverty, real radical poverty. And, and a very, um, a simplicity and a deep contemplative prayer life. Mm-hmm. And then they, this habit developed from that. Uh-huh. A little history, you know, from the Camel de Lis. Mm-hmm. They developed this, this, uh, habit. And so that began the third branch. Okay.

[00:04:30] And now there is third order, um, but it has a, it has a different history. Okay. So, but those are the three first main orders. So the Capuchins, not Capuchin, Capuchins. Okay. Who started in the, right around, it was a counter reformation, much like the Jesuits. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just in the sense of the time that they were born, very different, Karrison. Yeah. Um, they were born in those 1500s. Now, so the Capuchins.

[00:04:58] So we are drinking Cappuccinos. Mm-hmm. Like, so in Italian or even in, in Espanol and Spanish, it's Cappuccino. We're Cappuccinos. But people don't think like, oh, he's a, he's a drink at Starbucks, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, how did, how did it get this? Well, um, one, one theory, but it's a, it's a pretty good theory substantiated.

[00:05:21] Uh-huh. Uh, Siena, or, um, Vienna was, was, uh, under siege for a number of months. Mm-hmm. They were starving to death. The Turkish, Turks had this very powerful army. And the Polish king, uh, John Subieski arrives with the, with the cavalry, literally. Yeah.

[00:05:50] And their chaplain, the chaplain of the, of the army of the Holy Roman Empire or whatever he will, it's just the collection of, of Christian Catholic nations was always a Capuchin. Oh. Yeah. He was always, so at this time it was Mark Aviano. He, he is a blessed. Mm-hmm. And so he was the chaplain, he'd show up in a habit like this, you know? And he'd kind of, you know, go around and, and much like a, a battlefield chaplain would do today.

[00:06:18] Kind of rally the troops, give morale, um, last rites. Mm-hmm. So. Give morale last rites. So this happened September 12th and they, the Christians, they miraculously won this battle. It was a miracle of God. And had they not won that battle, there would have been really some dire consequences for Europe. Uh-huh. So at any rate, the, the Christians were, the soldiers were, were they, they were put, they were fought, they were chasing after the Turks, you know?

[00:06:48] And then they went through their camp and everything. Mm-hmm. At any rate, they called it off, they came back. And as they're going through the camp of, of, um, the, the Turks, of the Ottomans, they found all sorts of what they eat, what they drink, all their clothes, everything. They just got out of town. Well, they came across Turkish coffee that we all know. Uh-huh. Turkish coffee is like, whoo, that's jet fuel. Okay. And it's very bitter. I've never had it. And it's very bitter. Mm-hmm.

[00:07:14] And so they were like, oh boy, you know, that's very, very strong. So what they did is they put a little milk in there. Mm-hmm. And it, guess what color it became? Oh. Light brown. It became the color of the cappuccino habit. So it was like café con leche. It was like coffee with milk. Mm-hmm. And it became that brown color. Coffee's black. Uh-huh. So it became that brown color. And so the soldiers said, oh, now it is, we'll call this cappuccino. Cappuccino.

[00:07:43] When you go to Starbucks, you get the cappuccino, there you go, you know? And you think of the, the cappuccino fryers. You think of the cappuccino fryers, cappuccino franciscan fryers, you know? Um, so anyway, that's the story. And also from that battle, interesting. Uh-huh. Again, if you look at Wikipedia, it might say something contrary, you know? But, but there is good reason to believe that the croissant that we all love. Oh, yeah. We love our croissants, right? We know Father Ben loves the croissants. A lot of, a lot of butter and croissants, right? I love those croissants. Yeah.

[00:08:13] So that came from that battle as well. And it was a way that, that in, you know, back in France and other, other of these countries, a way to remember that God won that battle. Of course, the croissant was symbolic of, it's a symbol of the, of the Ottoman Empire. Uh-huh. The Crescent. Yeah. Uh-huh. Islam. So that was a way that people could eat that. And it was in a way that we're the victors, you know, eating the croissants. Oh. Yeah.

[00:08:40] Now I think there's a connection to the bagels from that as well, but I'm not exactly sure what that is. Wikipedia. Okay. You'll get all you want to know with Wikipedia. Oh, yeah. But anyway, fun facts, you know, from, from the Franciscans, there, there's a couple things right there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I was, I was talking to our, our, our pastor, our associate pastor here, who's Hispanic.

[00:09:06] And I, we were telling him that you were coming in town and he goes, Oh, cappuccino. And I'm like, cappuccino, like the drink. And he's like, Nope. Cappuccino. And so somebody was telling me, no, that's the cappuccino. And I was like, is there a connection between the two? And they were like, we don't know. So we Googled it and I found it, but you, but your story is much better. I am a little bit. Goes way more in depth of the history of it. Yeah.

[00:09:35] But I was like, Oh, this is so neat. And then of course he's your favorite drink is cappuccino. So it's meant to be. It is my favorite drink. And, and you know, the most famous capuchin is Padre Pio. Padre Pio. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's amazing. I didn't, I didn't realize this till I arrived in Columbus, just how popular Padre Pio is in like Guatemala, in Mexico, in Central America. I didn't realize this like. I didn't either. Wow.

[00:10:04] And they were so excited. The cappuccinos are coming, you know, not the drinks, but the cappuccinos are coming. And they're like, we love Padre Pio. Yeah. I'm like, really? You know who Padre Pio is? And I guess he is pretty famous. Yeah. Had the stigmata and things, you know, but, but people love Padre Pio. Yeah. He's gotta be one of the most popular saints these days. He is because, so when my aunt passed away, I actually have her car.

[00:10:31] And when I was going to her car, Padre Pio was in every corner and every, in the glove box and the containers and everywhere there was Padre Pio. So I've nicknamed the car Pio. And so it's, it's, yeah, that's the name of, of that car. Our Honda is an Odyssey. So we named him Homer. Very, very good. That's the family I live in. And so I have Pio. So we have Pio and Homer. There you go.

[00:11:01] But yeah. So, so he's, I mean, she loves him and there's so much, so much beauty because that's another fun fact about Franciscans is Padre Pio had the stigmata and very few have the stigmata and St. Francis also had the stigmata as well. Padre Pio, St. Padre Pio is the only priest that we know. The only priest. Like there were. Never really thought about that. Yeah. There were nuns who had it. You know, I think St. Gemma may have had the stigmata.

[00:11:28] There were, there were a number of, of religious, especially sisters who had that. But Padre Pio is the only one that we know for sure that had as a priest. Yeah. Because St. Francis was a deacon. He had the stigmata. So St. Francis is a deacon. Yeah. He was not a priest. Okay. Okay. I didn't even realize he was a deacon. Okay. He was a deacon. And I think because he wanted to be able to preach liturgically. Yeah. Because you couldn't preach, you know, just as a layman, you had to be at least a deacon to preach.

[00:11:58] And, but Padre Pio is the only priest. Now St. Paul says, you know, I bear the marks of Christ in my body. Yeah. So very well, he could be talking about that. Right. He had the stigmata as well. And he certainly, he says, I preach Christ crucified. He had such a devotion to our word on the cross. So, so he very well could have had the stigmata. We just don't know for sure, but we do know because, and then you'll see gloves everywhere. I mean, there's Padre Pio gloves everywhere.

[00:12:26] And, and of course these show up at healing masses. People pray over them. Oh, I'm sure. Sure. And I'm still waiting to get my hands on one of these gloves. I was going to say, where are they? I know. Like, oh. You're going to need one of these things. So, and it's amazing. You know, what's really amazing is when you say, we're going to do a healing mass and we have the glove of Padre Pio. Oh, everybody comes out of the wood. Oh, I'm sure. Thousands of people come out. It's absolutely amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:12:52] And it tells you two things, you know, and I think that it tells you that, you know, people have faith in their saints. Mm-hmm. Right. And, and number two, just how desperate people, it's just a tough world we live in. Yeah. It's always been tough and people have always showed up for saints. Mm-hmm. And that's why literally millions of people, they go to Assisi every year just to put their hand on the tomb of St. Francis or St. Anthony. And millions go to see Padre Pio just to see his tomb. Yeah.

[00:13:22] They're, they're hoping for a miracle cure. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just because, well, all of us need miracles. Not the, not the lottery miracle. It would be nice. Yeah. You know. Yeah. You pay off a lot of bills, you know, but, but we all need miracles for ourselves and for, for our family members, right? Miracles of faith and things. And, and this is, you know, a big part of the Franciscan tradition are these saints that become legends.

[00:13:47] You know, the beauty of the Dominicans, they don't really have that, but their beauty lies in other ways. Mm-hmm. Their charism really flourishes obviously in schools, especially in teaching. They are just tremendous. The Dominican sisters are very, very, of course popular here in Tennessee. Oh yes. And they do miracles, you know, each and every day through that. It's just a different charism, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. With the, with the Franciscans, it really, it, it becomes like a, not in a bad way, a cult,

[00:14:15] you know, that, that just people find God through these saints, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that. Mm-mm. No, and I love it. So St. Clair is my patron saint. Oh. I was like, did I ever tell you that? You never said that. Yeah. I know. So St. Francis, it's, it's, it's kind of a common thread because for me, kind of a story, funny story about my name. So my mom, and she always watches our show. So hi mom.

[00:14:43] My mom and dad went and saw the movie Xanadu when I was, when she was pregnant with me. Mm-hmm. And Olivia Newton-John's name in that was Kira. And so at the end of the, at the end of the movie, they were like, Kira, that's a beautiful name. So that's where I got my name. Okay. And so there's a lot of people who, you know, have names for, named after saints and everything. But I was like, Olivia Newton-John and Xanadu. There you go. There's, there's mine.

[00:15:11] But I was praying about, when it's confirmation time, I was praying about my saint. And so I was really intentional about it, very serious about it. And I really loved St. Claire. I was between her and another saint. But I just really loved her devotion to the Eucharist. And just, I just, I was drawn to her. And, and I chose her.

[00:15:35] And then that same aunt who had Pio all in her car, St. Padre Pio in her car, all these prayer books and, and prayer cards and everything. And she called my mom one day and she said, I was at mass, did Kira choose St. Claire for her patron saint? And my mom told her, yes, she did. And she was like, good. Cause I told her that's, that was, I just in prayer, I just knew that had to be her saint. So I was like, oh, okay.

[00:16:05] So it was really beautiful. But fast forward a few years later, another aunt of mine went to Italy, went to Assisi. And they were calling out Santa Chiara, Santa Chiara. And so my name, Kira, is a form of Chiara from Italy. Oh, I never knew that. So it's a form of Claire. So we, our names actually mean the same. And so I was like, oh, see St. Claire, she just, she just was always there. It sounds so much better in Italian, doesn't it?

[00:16:34] It does. Chiara. Oh, that sounds so much better. Like, I know it does. It does. And my mom put the silent H in there and I think, and I think Chiara is C-H-I-A-R-A. It's Claire is Chiara. Yeah. And so I was like, thank you. Oh. And then have you as a, as a friend, Franciscan. I mean, it's like, okay, see Franciscans have always been there in my life. Yeah. Not the Jesuits. Not the Jesuits.

[00:17:01] Dominicans, I do have a lot of friendships with the, with the Dominicans, but I am finding, I'm a little, I think I'm a little more Franciscan. Yeah. My husband's Dominican. I think the Dominicans are more Franciscan. They're becoming more Franciscan. Yeah. Yeah. No, you know, we're, we're cousins and we, we love to banter. We go back and forth, you know, but at the end of the day, we're good friends. Oh yes. We are good, good friends and we're very different, but we're good friends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:28] Now, one of the other things that I wanted to ask you, cause I remember somebody said something about this, but now I don't even remember what it was. So your habit, you've got the rope around your waist and then it has the three knots. Yes. And I even remember seeing, um, maybe in, was it Florence or Rome that we went to? Uh, and I saw a habit of St. Francis and it, it too had the rope with the three knots. What, what was that all about? Yeah.

[00:17:58] The knots are, uh, the, the three vows that, that all religious make to God, you know, of poverty, chastity, obedience. Okay. So all religious make those. Mm-hmm . So like Father Ben does not make those. Okay. He does make a vow of obedience, but it's lived out differently to the bishop, to his bishop. Um, we make a vow of obedience to our community, you know, and, and so that's lived out amongst not only our superiors, but everybody, you know. Okay. And, and what that looks like, it's kind of like marriage, you know, it's just that I

[00:18:27] have this obedience to my husband and to my family. Mm-hmm . And I don't mean that, obedience is a loaded word. Yeah. Yeah. With authority, obedience. No. What that means is like, I recognize we live a common life. Mm-hmm . And that I want to order my actions in life according to the good of the common people. And you need somebody in charge to make sure that happens. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's how really obedience is lived out. Mm-hmm . It's, it's not, um, it's not really military.

[00:18:56] It's really familial. Yeah. Okay. And then poverty, it doesn't mean that you live like, um, with, you know, like two cents to your name. Mm-hmm . It really means that you, you give up the right, but you're, you're trying to, to, to possess things, but you're trying to live with just what you need. Yeah. What, just what do I need? Mm-hmm . I, I don't need the latest iPhone, you know, or, or whatever it is. Mm-hmm . And then chastity. It means, um, for the diocesan guys, they don't make a vow of chastity, make a promise. Mm-hmm .

[00:19:24] Because, because, you know, there is such a thing as married priests. Mm-hmm . Pre, there are seminarians who get married before their ordination. Mm-hmm . There's no such thing as a priest getting married. Mm-hmm . It has never existed in the church, but people before their ordination like in the Orthodox Church. So, mm-hmm . But for us, as, and then for monks and for friars, no, we make that vow. Mm-hmm . That, that our heart and our body will belong to God. Mm-hmm . Okay. Mm-hmm . So those are just the three vows that, that, okay.

[00:19:54] And it's very common actually when I was visiting, um, Padre Pio's tomb. That when I was coming out, um, there were some people who grabbed the rope and they kissed. Wow. And they kissed one of the nuts. Oh, wow. It's a, it's a, I think it's an Italian tradition. Uh-huh . Just a sign of their devotion to St. Francis. It does nothing to do with you that you're a saint. Because I'm not. Yeah. But it has to do with the love of St. Francis and his order. Mm-hmm .

[00:20:28] Mm-hmm . And I'm like, here in America, we don't, like, we are not used to any of these things. It's really beautiful to see those different cultures that do date back so long ago. Yeah. And, and the beautiful kind of those type of traditions that we have. Cause I was like, I don't know, I just, I would never just grab Francis' Kinn's rope as he's walking past me and kiss it. I know. I was a little, I said, what's going on here, you know?

[00:20:55] And even the hand thing, it takes, cause in my parish it's very common. Yeah. That people take your hand and kiss it, you know? And I was like, hmm. At first it was a little bit weird, but then you realize, hey, they're doing that for, for devotion to Jesus. It's beautiful devotion. I got no problem with that. Right, right. If you're, if you're doing it out of devotion to Jesus, and not me, you know, no problem at all, you know? And, and, and they love their priests. Yeah. You know? Yeah. They love their priests.

[00:21:22] And, and part of that is, is that their priests have been with them for generations. Mm-hmm. You know? The priests especially, well, almost all the countries, but especially Mexico when they went through that, that terrible time a hundred years ago. Mm-hmm. Those priests stayed with their people and they suffered with their people and it meant so much for them. Mm-hmm. That, that the friars and the priests, they're just, they're not God. Mm-hmm.

[00:21:49] But they, it's their way of showing their reverence for Christ and their love for the priests. Yeah. It's really nice. It is. Have you seen recently, this is really beautiful. Um, it's been all over social media, but this past Sunday with, with all everything, all the horrible violence that's taking place down in Mexico, the priests going up into the bell towers or going on the rooftops with the, with the monstrance and blessing the people

[00:22:15] and ringing the bells, reminding the people these bells are not for you to come to mass, but that God is with you and invite God into this and, and just holding the, just, it's just so beautiful to see these men go up there and to, and to do that. And, and they're all in harm's way. Yeah. All the priests down there, they can be taken at any time. Yeah. And some are, and we don't even hear about it. Yeah. Many are murdered. They disappear. Mm-hmm. Um, that's happening all over the place, Nicaragua as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[00:22:45] But these priests, they love their people, you know, and, and, uh, they, they, they, they are being right in there with them. Right. So it's, it's, it's beautiful and it's, it's inspiring to me and to our priests here in America. Mm-hmm. We're, we're very, um, spoiled here. Yeah. You know, it's not to say it couldn't happen here, you know, but it's inspiring for us priests that we always want to be there for our people. That's beautiful. Yeah. Well, thank you. Okay, Kira. I'm like, any other fun facts?

[00:23:13] I'll, I'll, next time I'll dig some up for you. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you again for coming. You're welcome. And as always, don't forget to put soul in your food and give food to your soul. . . . . . . .