Twilight of the Birdbath Saint

Of all the vacuous and self-congratulatory platitudes ever uttered by well-intentioned men, few outrank the pseudo-Franciscan epigram, "Preach the Gospel always. Use words if necessary." This misattributed directive has the effect of turning the Povorello of Assisi, his memory already distorted into that of a sort of Yoda-like Zen master who imparted cryptic tidbits of wisdom upon his intellectually dull brethren. Did he not suffer enough by bearing the wounds of his Lord and Savior on his body?
 
This inaccurate distillation of St. Francis does a disservice not only to the saint himself, but also to his spiritual children Sts. Anthony and Bonaventure, both of whom are counted among the Doctors of the Church. So too does it distract from the great philosophical crisis of nominalism stemming from the pen of the English Franciscan William of Ockham. Ideas, the philosopher Richard Weaver observed, have consequences, and so do the words used to express them.