TONIC FOR THE SOUL.
VALUE OF HARSH TRUTHS. LONDON, October 8. Dr. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham, made an amazing' attack on Francis of Assisi in the Birmingham Cathedral today. He said the Assisi anniversary was widely used for religious propaganda, but personally he was distressed and repelled. Harsh truths were a good tonic for the soul. An examination of the probabilities about Francis involved somewhat repulsive medical details. He wore no linen; never washed; his attitude towards the body and vermin Was not ours. He sometimes begged his friends to scratch 'him. The modern nurse would have used water mixed with antiseptic. Francis’s last illness was a state of semi-eestncy, and semi-delirium. If the poverty Francis commanded was really the Christian ideal, wo should rapidly degenerate into barbarism. (Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was the founder of th e Order of Mendicant Friars).
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Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 October 1926, Page 10
Word Count
142TONIC FOR THE SOUL. Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 12 October 1926, Page 10
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