Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio
A Medieval Tale
It was another beautiful morning. Cold, but the air felt crisp and clean. Francis awoke early, he never slept well in new places. He quietly opened the shutters to greet the warming rays of the sun. A pigeon sat on the windowsill cooing eagerly for a meal she knew he would share with her.
“Good morning sister bird,” Francis said while laying a morsel of bread at her feet. He smiled at the plump grey bird as she grabbed her fare and took flight. Suddenly, the wailing of a woman drew his attention down to the streets below him. His heart sunk heavy in his chest. The townspeople were rushing to the entrance gate of the walled city. There must have been another attack. He crossed himself and offered a plea to the Lord. He quickly splashed his face with cold water, woke the others, and rushed to the scene.
As he approached the crowd he heard the whispers of concern and fear as the woman’s cries and pleas floated from ear to ear. Tension and panic held the mass of people tight, like a strung bow about to snap. Francis came to the woman being held up by the hands of her neighbors as she wept unconsolably. Her eyes grew wide as she saw Francis approach.
“Father! He’s gone! It took him! Help us!” she fell to her knees before him, grabbing the hem of his grey robes with her fists and rocked back and forth in agony. Francis bent down and gently laid his hands upon her sobbing shoulders.
“Oh sister, I am so sorry. I am so sorry.” He knelt to her level as she wept bitterly. The crowd had quieted as they watched and waited. As she looked up, Francis’ piercing gaze and concern caught her attention. “Please tell me what happened,” he asked tenderly. The woman proceeded to explain that her husband was a shepherd and had gone back to the fields in the late afternoon to find a lost sheep that had not followed the herd into the guarded paddock safely inside the walls of the town. They had already lost so many to the beast, they couldn’t afford to lose another. They had six children to feed. But he didn’t return. When the guards had ordered the portcullis to close at dusk she pleaded with them to wait, her husband was still out there. But they insisted it had to be done before dark. The mayor had ordered the city to be closed to protect the townspeople from the beast. She had waited all night by the gate, peering out into the surrounding fields and beyond to the tree line of the forest waiting for him. But he never came. The poor woman was beside herself. Weakened from the sleepless night and traumatic loss, she fell into the arms of some of the other women. Just then two men pushed their way through the crowd. It was the shepherd’s father and brother. They fell to their knees in front of the woman and sobbed with her. The brother stood up in fury and claimed to avenge his brother’s death by taking on the monstrous wolf himself.
“Too many he has taken. No more can this evil plague our town, our people! He must be stopped!” The father nodded as he stood tall, his chest puffed up. He would go too. Together, they would face the wolf. An energy surged through the hearts of the men in the crowd as they cheered in agreement. Several other men agreed to accompany them. A small retinue quickly assembled and committed to bringing justice against the monster laying siege to their city. The crowd pressed around them, slapping the shoulders and backs of these brave fellow townsmen in camaraderie for their courage. The throng of people swept down the street as they followed the men to prepare. This left only the women, Francis, and a few of his followers. The town square quieted after the exodus. Francis knelt before the grieving widow and asked her sisters to help her home. He asked a neighbor to ensure the children were fed and cared for. Then he assured her he would pray for her husband’s soul. His shoulders sunk with the weight of her suffering as he watched her being carried off. His followers looked to Francis for direction. He walked to the closed portcullis, rested his hands on the bars, and gazed out.
He had heard of the town’s plight when the mayor sent an emissary to him in Assisi, pleading for his help. He was told of the terror of Gubbio being plagued by a ravenous beast, a giant wolf, who had killed numerous livestock and then turned on the people, viciously slaughtering several shepherds. It had even killed some soldiers who had tried to take it down. It seemed impervious to weapons. Fearless. Blood thirsty. Months of horror had rained down upon these people. They were wound tight with panic and fright. The mayor had run out of options. There had been so much loss and suffering. The emissary had begged Francis to come and do what he could. He could talk to animals, couldn’t he? Would he please come and talk to the wolf?!
Francis stood there looking into the shadows of the trees at the edge of the forest. He could feel the frenzied fear of the city behind him. He prayed quietly to himself for the Lord to guide him, to help him bring about peace and healing to his brothers and sisters of Gubbio. Then he prayed for the wolf. He too, a brother.
That night Francis and his followers kept vigil in the small chapel and prayed fervently for the men who had set out earlier that evening. If they didn’t return in the morning, Francis knew it would be his turn to face the wolf. And when the small group of men were not at the gates at sunrise, the people looked to Francis and his followers with expectation. Him and his men were quickly shuffled to the front of the crowd and gently pushed out the city entrance with the gate closing behind them. Whispered prayers and encouragements floated to them from the crowd cowering safely inside the town walls. Francis took a deep inhale, closed his eyes, and then exhaled as he took his first step on the graveled road. He released any fear or trepidation to the Lord and set out, his followers closely on his heels.
As they approached the place known to be where the wolf would attack, Francis left his followers at a safe distance and proceeded alone. Suddenly, the feral and hideous wolf appeared running swiftly toward Francis, “his mouth wide open to attack.”1 As his followers froze with sheer terror for their beloved brother, Francis demurely stood in place and made the sign of the cross, crying out loudly, “Brother wolf! I command thee in the name of Christ to neither harm me nor anybody else.” And with that the wolf’s mouth snapped shut and he skidded to an abrupt stop right in front of Francis. The wolf shook his head as if snapping out of a trance and lay down at his feet, meekly as a lamb.
Francis and the wolf then had a long talk. The wolf was asked to explain himself and his behavior. Francis had compassion for the wolf, a fellow creature created as a mirror of the Divine, whose plight from being abandoned by his pack and left starving on his own had led him to attack the livestock and then the people. Francis stroked the wolf’s head as it finished his side of the story. They sat in silence for a while, man and beast, brothers. Francis prayed for the wolf, then explained that what he had done was evil and that the city inhabitants of Gubbio wanted his head. But Francis assured him he would help him to make peace with the townspeople and that if he agreed to no more killing, he would have the townspeople agree to forgive him. The wolf lowered his head in acquiescence.
“As thou art willing to make peace, I promise thee that thou shalt be fed every day by the inhabitants of this land so long as thou shalt live among them; thou shalt no longer suffer hunger, as it is hunger which has made thee do so much evil; but if I obtain all this for thee, thou must promise, on thy side, never again to attack any animal or any human being; dost thou make this promise?” The wolf agreed and placed his paw into Francis’ hand to pledge his commitment. The two then set out immediately to return to Gubbio, with Francis’ followers in tow, astonished at what they had just witnessed.
“Now, the news of this most wonderful miracle spread quickly through the town, all the inhabitants, both men and women, small and great, young and old, flocked to the market-place to see St Francis and the wolf. All the people being assembled, the saint got up to preach, saying, amongst other things, how for our sins God permits such calamities, and how much greater and more dangerous are the flames of hell, which last for ever, than the rage of a wolf, which can kill the body only; and how much we ought to dread the jaws of hell, if the jaws of so small an animal as a wolf can make a whole city tremble through fear. The sermon being ended, St Francis added these words: “Listen my brethren: the wolf who is here before you has promised and pledged his faith that he consents to make peace with you all, and no more to offend you in aught, and you must promise to give him each day his necessary food; to which, if you consent, I promise in his name that he will most faithfully observe the compact.” Then all the people promised with one voice to feed the wolf to the end of his day.”
There was great cheering and celebration through out the square as the wolf placed his paw in Francis’ hand once again to pledge his side of the compact before all the townspeople as witnesses. The town grew devoted to Francis for the miracle he had carried out, rescuing them from the torment of such a savage beast.
The wolf lived for two years in Gubbio, going from door to door for his food and never harmed another soul. “When they saw him going about so gently amongst them all, he reminded them of the virtue and sanctity of St. Francis.” When he at last died of old age, the townspeople mourned his loss. They gave him an honorable burial.
THE FICTITIOUS FACTS…
This story is adapted from one captured in The Little Flowers of St. Francis, a book of stories and miracles attributed to Saint Francis that was compiled by Brother Ugolino in the 1300s. Some claim these stories are just “masterful works of folk literature from the Middle Ages.” Scholars argue that due to the stories being written a century and a half after Francis’ life, they are not legitimate sources for the saint’s life. Today, hagiography—the lives of saints—are treated as works of literature, not actual history. Miracles, sanctity, and godly acts are dismissed as mere embellishments to portray the saint in a sacred and holy light. The stories are meant to set an example of good and righteous living to the audience of the texts. But they are not legitimate sources for history.
As a historian and scholar-in-training, I should probably adhere to these rules. I should only mine these texts for historical fact that can be corroborated and authenticated by other texts. But once again, I diverge from the ivory tower here. The idolatry of scientific accuracy and fact that is prevalent today has all but washed away the enchantment and wonder of the medieval world. I think I’d rather read these sources with a medieval mindset, one that fully embraces and believes in miracles and saints with supernatural connection to the Divine whom they whole-heartedly devoted their lives to serving.
So, did Saint Francis of Assisi actually tame a wolf and act as peacemaker between it and the townspeople of Gubbio? What do you think? I did find it interesting to learn that in 1873 during renovations of the chapel of San Francesco della Pace, in Gubbio, a sarcophagus was found with the skeleton of a wolf inside. Just sayin!
RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING…
Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi (online, Christian Classics Ethereal Library)
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi (online, W. Heywood translation)
The Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi (with preface by Madeleine L’Engle)
“Los Motivos Del Lobo” (The Motives of the Wolf)
In 1913, a poet named Ruben Dario rewrote the tale of Francis and the Wolf with a different spin. In his tale, when Francis leaves Gubbio, the wolf begins to notice the savage and animal ways of the townspeople, who also begin to mock and beat him, which forces the wolf to return to his beast-like ways. It’s a beautiful rendition of the story. Please read it!
All quotations are excerpts from one of the two online versions I’ve included in the Resources section.
I love that you embrace the fantastical/faith-based elements of medieval stories - and the wolf skeleton fact is so cool?!
Love the story and then to hear they found a wolf skeleton!