Our New Pope Francis I

St. Francis Assisi

How befitting that yesterday amidst all the excitement of the news of our New Pope that I should receive an email with a link to the following poem by Vashel Lindsay - American Poems.

St. Francis of Assisi

Would I might wake St. Francis in you all,

Brother of birds and trees, God's Troubadour,

Blinded with weeping for the sad and poor;

Our wealth undone, all strict Franciscan men,

Come, let us chant the canticle again

Of mother earth and the enduring sun.

God make each soul the lonely leper's slave;

God make us saints, and brave.

- A poem by Vachel Lindsay - American Poems

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ was born on December 17, 1936. He is the first Jesuit and the first from his country to be elected Pope on March 13, 2013. Taking the regnal name of Francis, after St. Francis Assisi. Pope Francis I is the first Pope born in the Americas and the first non-European Pope in history.

Of special note is that St. Madeleine Sophie Barat's brother Louis was a Jesuit priest. It is well known that her older brother Louis had a positive influence and served as her mentor.  He taught Sophie as a young girl and prepared her for religious life.  To read more about St. Madeleine Sophie - click here.

It was an honor to listen to Sr. Clare Pratt, RSCJ former Superior General of the Society of the Sacred Heart give commentary during the ABC News broadcast as we awaited the news of our New Pope. Last evening on the late news Cokie Roberts an alumna of Stone Ridge and ABC Correspondent was recapping the events on Nightline. So very proud of our Sacred Heart family!