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Louis Vitale, OFM, writes Perhaps the most outstanding “sign of our times” is the staggering amount of violence to which we and our world are exposed. Thanks be to God this is not the only “sign of our times.” We are also aware of the emerging transformation of our world by nonviolence. This we have seen in the last two decades with the transformation of apartheid in South Africa, the people power campaign in the Philippines, the overthrow of totalitarian governments of Eastern Europe and finally of the Soviet Union itself through nonviolent movements within their own countries. Francis of Assisi lived in times not so dissimilar. His was a time of many city-state wars in Italy. Francis himself, the son of a very rich merchant, went off to battle in neighboring Perugia, hoping to win fame, perhaps knighthood. Instead he was wounded, captured, and spent a year in prison. Afterwards he suffered from the stress of war and went through a deep conversion. He spent months in caves praying. He sought the counsel of others. Although he made attempts to go to the crusades, he finally came to the conclusion that one could only approach the Sultan with a crucifix and not a sword. At one time Francis approached the town of Gubbio. The people were caught up in terror in the presence of a fierce wolf who attached their sheep pens and the citizens as well. They urged Francis to avoid this creature with a homicidal demeanor. Francis instead approached “Brother Wolf” and asked what was so disturbing him. The wolf responded that he was only trying to find food for his survival. Francis brought the wolf back to the village, overcame the fears of the people and brought about an agreement that the people would find food for the wolf and he would guard the city. To this day, in Gubbio, this image of the wolf evokes the memory of peacemaking brought by St. Francis. At the end of his life Francis wrote his famous Canticle of Creation in which he calls all living creatures “brother and sister.” As he was finishing the canticle it came to him that the mayor and the bishop were about to declare war on each other. Francis sent them a verse added to his Canticle: “Blessed are those that endure in peace, for by you Most High, shall they be crowned.” The embraced in peace. Francis gave a special way to lay persons who could not leave their families to join his order. He called them “penitents”. Penitents could not bear arms. They spread widely. The result was the beginning of a reign of peace which covered that part of the earth.