A Song For St Francis
Ranked #1,216 in Music, #32,619 overall
The Prayer of St Francis
St Francis Prayer is my most popular song. This page is about St Francis. St Francis Prayer is such a well known and inspirational verse that is has inspired much art and music! The Prayer of St Francis has also inspired many composers. I wrote a song for St Francis too. Last year it inspired me to set it to music and I have since recorded St Francis Prayer. Next to the Lord's Prayer St Francis Prayer
is probably the best known of prayers. This is about St Francis Prayer and how it came to be a song for me. I also hope to share some beautiful imagery with you, along with some gentle music I have for you.
At this time, St Francis Prayer has even more significance for me. My father, who was a great fan of St Francis, passed away suddenly this February. He loved this song from my album and we played it for him as his funeral service ended. He was steadfast in his faith and a true Christian in the tradition of St Francis, kind to all animals, gentle with all people and well aware of how God surrounds us in nature. Whenever I hear this song, or the Gaelic blessing which he also loved, I will count my blessings to have had the most wonderful of fathers.
Image credit - cover from St Francis Prayer, photo of Golden Dragonfly taken by myself a Harrison Lake
is probably the best known of prayers. This is about St Francis Prayer and how it came to be a song for me. I also hope to share some beautiful imagery with you, along with some gentle music I have for you.At this time, St Francis Prayer has even more significance for me. My father, who was a great fan of St Francis, passed away suddenly this February. He loved this song from my album and we played it for him as his funeral service ended. He was steadfast in his faith and a true Christian in the tradition of St Francis, kind to all animals, gentle with all people and well aware of how God surrounds us in nature. Whenever I hear this song, or the Gaelic blessing which he also loved, I will count my blessings to have had the most wonderful of fathers.
Image credit - cover from St Francis Prayer, photo of Golden Dragonfly taken by myself a Harrison Lake
Contents at a Glance
Who was St Francis anyway?
Why is Saint Francis relevant today?
There cannot be many who have not heard the inpirational story of Francis of Assisi. If you have heard of the Franciscan Order of monks and their vow of poverty you will also have realized a connection here. St Francis
, in common with the Buddha in fact, was born to a wealthy family but he eschewed all this for his faith in God and the spiritual life. He had extraordinary respect for life and love of nature referring to God's creations as his brothers and sisters. To me, this was the main reason I developed a childhood admiration for St Francis that has persisted throughout my adult life.
Once when campaigning politically for Westminster I was interviewed by a reporter about my beliefs. She asked me to describe my faith and I said it was close to St Francis. In our world we desperately need to defend nature. We need to save the plants in the jungles that we have been given for medicine, we need to prevent extinction of further species due to human greed.
, in common with the Buddha in fact, was born to a wealthy family but he eschewed all this for his faith in God and the spiritual life. He had extraordinary respect for life and love of nature referring to God's creations as his brothers and sisters. To me, this was the main reason I developed a childhood admiration for St Francis that has persisted throughout my adult life.Once when campaigning politically for Westminster I was interviewed by a reporter about my beliefs. She asked me to describe my faith and I said it was close to St Francis. In our world we desperately need to defend nature. We need to save the plants in the jungles that we have been given for medicine, we need to prevent extinction of further species due to human greed.
St. Francis of Assisi quote about Animal Rights by spiritcircle
We need to get our very existence into perspective and learn to live in harmony with Creation rather than selfishly exploit it. All these were things understood by St Francis
St Francis Prayer is on Flying To meet The Sunrise
St Francis Prayer on my new CD album
Flying To Meet The Sunrise is my new 14 track album. St Francis Prayer is one of the 14 tracks.
is one of the 14 tracks.
Flying To Meet The Sunrise
Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 06/04/2012)
Why is is worth spotlighting? Because I finally did it :D
Saint Francis DVD For Sale
Saint Francis of Assisi movie
Product Description
Filmed on location in Assisi and other actual locations where St. Francis lived and died, this feature film vividly tells the story of this greatly beloved saint from childhood through his death. Beautifully filmed with outstanding cinematography and fine acting talent, this film stars Italian actor Raoul Bova as Francis and was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michele Soavi. Captured by the enemy as a soldier and put in prison, he has a life changing experience that inspires him after being freed to abandon his riches and dedicate his life to living the Gospel in simplicity, poverty and charity towards all. This DVD contains the following language options: dubbed in English, Italian with English subtitles, or Spanish subtitles. Also includes a special 16 page Collector's booklet.
Filmed on location in Assisi and other actual locations where St. Francis lived and died, this feature film vividly tells the story of this greatly beloved saint from childhood through his death. Beautifully filmed with outstanding cinematography and fine acting talent, this film stars Italian actor Raoul Bova as Francis and was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Michele Soavi. Captured by the enemy as a soldier and put in prison, he has a life changing experience that inspires him after being freed to abandon his riches and dedicate his life to living the Gospel in simplicity, poverty and charity towards all. This DVD contains the following language options: dubbed in English, Italian with English subtitles, or Spanish subtitles. Also includes a special 16 page Collector's booklet.
Saint Francis
Amazon Price: $5.74 (as of 06/04/2012)
If you are interested in the story of Saint Francis, you might enjoy this Francis of Assisi movie.
Listen to St Francis Prayer
Napster and Jango Links to St Francis Prayer
On Jango you can listen to St Francis Prayer in 128kbs format but if you are a Napster subscriber you can listen to them in full technicolor ;) Here are the links....
in 128kbs format but if you are a Napster subscriber you can listen to them in full technicolor ;) Here are the links....- Listen to Lisa Marie Gabriel MP3 Music Downloads on Napster
- Listen to Lisa Marie Gabriel music and download DRM-free Lisa Marie Gabriel MP3s on Napster.
- My Jango Station....
- All of my songs on Jango are available on this link. Jango is free to sign up and you can create your own tailor made radio station with a mixture of new and established artists....
- Buy Sheet Music for St Francis Prayer
- Here is the music in the easy key of A minor (low voice) for voice and piano.
How I came to write and record St Francis Prayer.
And why the Golden Dragonfly....
I learned about Saint Francis in school and the St Francis Prayer was a regular feature in assemblies - in those days religion was not frowned upon. We were told stories about missionaries like Gladys Aylward too. It was a secular school, but the Headmistress liked to give us an uplifting talk each morning! The prayer was a favourite at home too. My mother loves it to this day and so the scene was set that I would one day probably sing my own version.How it came about was strange. I joined Total Fitness to "Fight the Flab" as Terry Wogan would have said. Total Fitness has a swimming pool (swimming used to be my sport) and a hydrotherapy pool. I would go to swim a mile, then soak in the bubbles and steam in the sauna for a while. The night before this, my mother had reminded me that St Francis Prayer was her favourite. I think it had been read out in church perhaps? Anyway it was planted in my subconscious.
When I arrived at the pool I discovered it was closed for essential maintenance, it was a little irritating, but I had been attending Buddhist meditation classes to help with stress so I did a short breathing meditation in the car and drove off feeling reasonably happy under the circumstances. As I drove back along the bypass, the song came to me full force. I sang it and when I got home I headed straight for the computer to "rough it out" with Sibelius software. It is not often that inspiration hits, but when it does perspiration needs to follow and six hours later I had the SATB choral version ready to upload to the Sibelius music website....
And why the Golden Dragonfly? In 2006 I visited Harrison Lake in BC for the first ever time and spotted the dragonfly on a bush. I had no idea that it was even rare, but I did have my digital camera with me and I managed three shots before it left. I felt so privileged to see a dragonfly so close.... It was a natural choice for the image of my song as St Francis would have loved it!
Prayer of St. Francis... Mousepad by cabbageroses
Why not listen to St Francis Prayer on iTunes or you can buy St Francis Prayer on Amazon too - I hope you enjoy it....
St Francis Prayer - Lisa Marie Gabriel
Lord make me an instrument of thy peace....
This is the Amazon release of my version of St Francis Prayer. I hope you will enjoy listening to it.
St Francis on Twitter
Brother Bird tweets about the Saint Francis...
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- BicycleHsv
- RT @bicycleblogusa: "Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi
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- MarsBars1922
- RT @trainwithdee: #MotivationMonday 'Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible.' -St. Francis of Assisi
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- timVcarls
- RT @bicycleblogusa: "Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi
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- riverajcc
- "Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -- St. Francis of Assisi
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- bicycleblogusa
- "Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi
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- my_transam
- ;) Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. St. Francis of Assisi
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- Fitmarc
- "Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -St. Francis of Assisi
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- saranpflpt
- "Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." St. Francis of Assisi
automatically generated by Twitter
St Francis Prayer Gifts On Sale
Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Music and gifts inspired by St Francis Prayer Whether you are looking for a prayer framed or laminated. a prayer plaque, Francis of Assisi DVD, a Saint Francis statue (there are several Saint Francis statues) or Saint Francis prayer cards, Amazon is almost certain to have them. Here you can search for what you need or simply browse and enjoy window shopping.
Whether you are looking for a prayer framed or laminated. a prayer plaque, Francis of Assisi DVD, a Saint Francis statue (there are several Saint Francis statues) or Saint Francis prayer cards, Amazon is almost certain to have them. Here you can search for what you need or simply browse and enjoy window shopping.Buy Images of St Francis on Zazzle
The Beautiful St Francis Prayer inspires so many....
These are just a few of my personal favourites of the Prayer of Saint Francis. If you like them, you can click through and rate the artist's work and they are also available for sale of course...
For this first one, I just love the image. I am a fan of stained glass windows and so I chose this.
St Francis and the St Francis Peace Prayer by neilepi
This blue seascape is so tranquil with the bird flying.... I can imagine the spirit flying with these words too...
The Prayer of St. Francis by Beautiful_Prayers
I know it isn't Christmas yet, but I thought it was so neat to find an Italian version of the prayer!
Buon natale - St. Francis Prayer in Italian by cmartinelli
I thought the design for this was peaceful too, I am not generally a fan of pastel shades, but I liked this one a lot.
Saint Francis of Assisi Prayer Poster by RebeccaGrantham
And the words on this shirt really cut to the nitty gritty of it all. "Not so much seek to be loved but to love...." for me, in writing the song, these words made a natural climax only just short of that of the final ending. Abandoning self in the service of others.
St Francis "...as to love" T-Shirt by cabbageroses
How long did St Francis Prayer take to write
Inspiration and perspiration in writing a song for St francis.
The melody came to me almost in a flash. That is not all that unusual for me. Sometimes I worry about it, but then I think artists and composers tap into something far greater than our own souls when we create. Writing the song down was made easier with Sibelius software, it takes time but the results are good. To produce a choral version of St Francis Prayer for SATB took me about 6 hours from start to finish.
Recording the song was actually a lot easier than any other step. I had to find a quiet day when my voice was on form (the hard bit is finding time when you are on form especially when there are so many flu bugs floating around lately). I set up the studio, imported the solo version of the song as a guide and took several takes. When I felt tired and could see no improvement I stopped. The eventual song used the first take. I then exported the vocals back onto the computer. The process took about 2 hours.
I had decided I wanted a string and choral backing. If I were a rich star or a famous producer I could have paid session musicians from an orchestra and backing from a professional choir, but I am neither.... So it was back to Sibelius again. I worked and reworked a new arrangement until I was happy with it. I wanted it to be lush without being heavy. It probably took me another 12 hours to get it right in a rough mix. Then I was ready to play with the files.
The first step was to extract all the individual parts. These had to be saved as wav files, normalised for volume and then "submixed" The submix groupings were upper strings, lower strings, high voices, medium voices and low voices. To this were added drums, piano, harp and individual violin tracks. This process took maybe another 12 hours.
When I had all the submixes ready, I put them into the main mix and panned them to resemble an orchestra "shape" with choir. Drums and vocals were placed in the centre. For more details of this, check out my lens on how to mix vocals successfully.
Another three mixes followed - and some independent ears helped when I got tired - finally I thought I could only go downhill from there and I left it alone! I have just added St Francis Prayer to my jango station where you can hear it for free although the Napster link is higher quality!
Recording the song was actually a lot easier than any other step. I had to find a quiet day when my voice was on form (the hard bit is finding time when you are on form especially when there are so many flu bugs floating around lately). I set up the studio, imported the solo version of the song as a guide and took several takes. When I felt tired and could see no improvement I stopped. The eventual song used the first take. I then exported the vocals back onto the computer. The process took about 2 hours.
I had decided I wanted a string and choral backing. If I were a rich star or a famous producer I could have paid session musicians from an orchestra and backing from a professional choir, but I am neither.... So it was back to Sibelius again. I worked and reworked a new arrangement until I was happy with it. I wanted it to be lush without being heavy. It probably took me another 12 hours to get it right in a rough mix. Then I was ready to play with the files.
The first step was to extract all the individual parts. These had to be saved as wav files, normalised for volume and then "submixed" The submix groupings were upper strings, lower strings, high voices, medium voices and low voices. To this were added drums, piano, harp and individual violin tracks. This process took maybe another 12 hours.
When I had all the submixes ready, I put them into the main mix and panned them to resemble an orchestra "shape" with choir. Drums and vocals were placed in the centre. For more details of this, check out my lens on how to mix vocals successfully.
Another three mixes followed - and some independent ears helped when I got tired - finally I thought I could only go downhill from there and I left it alone! I have just added St Francis Prayer to my jango station where you can hear it for free although the Napster link is higher quality!
- Lisa's Jango Station
- You can listen to my songs here and hopefully you will like them Every positive vote helps :)
St Francis Gifts from eBay
Popular Catholic Prayer Cards On Sale
Buy St Francis and St Anthony Prayer Cards
Whether you are looking for the prayer for peace or praying for lost causes or whether you just enjoy prayer cards this is a nice selection.
What is your view of Saint Francis?
Is he your favourite Saint too?
What makes St Francis special for you? Or do you have another favourite saint? Or perhaps you would simply like to tell me what you think about the lens, or my song? Here is the place! Thank you for visiting!
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ana_nimoss
Oct 2, 2011 @ 4:50 am | delete
- I grew up a Catholic and St Franics was of course, everyone's favorite. My father's 'christian' name was Francis because he was deeply touched by this remarkable man. I loved your song. I bought it tonight. I wish you the best luck. You have great talent!
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Photahsiamirabel Oct 2, 2011 @ 5:23 am | delete
- Thank you so much. It makes me very happy when people like my music. You made my day! :)
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AlleyCatLane
Sep 29, 2011 @ 12:19 pm | delete
- What a beautiful lens! Your song gave me goose bumps.
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jseven
Sep 15, 2011 @ 12:38 am | delete
- He was a great example of love for God and humility in all areas. Thanks for sharing this beautiful lens. :)
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franstan
Sep 14, 2011 @ 2:08 am | delete
- I love the St. Francis prayer. This is a wonderful lens. Blessed
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- Thank you all, I really do appreciate all your comments and encouragement. :) St Francis is my favorite saint and making the song and the lens was a pleasure to do!
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Joan4
Sep 2, 2011 @ 8:07 am | delete
- One of my favorite prayers and the music is wonderful. Thank you. We printed The St Francis Prayer on wallet sized cards for each person who attended our father's funeral in 1989. I still have some of those cards. The cards honor our father and our brother, who died suddenly six months before dad.
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daria369
Sep 2, 2011 @ 7:59 am | delete
- Beautiful lens, nicely done! :)
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Donnette
Aug 23, 2011 @ 1:12 pm | delete
- This is a very beautiful lens. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and wealth of information!
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Donnette
Aug 23, 2011 @ 1:11 pm | delete
- This is a very beautiful lens. Thank you so much for sharing your talent and wealth of information!
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Some of my other music lenses
Choral music, mixing vocals, and special occasions....
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by Photahsiamirabel
As a lover of animals and nature, I am a real fan of St Francis. I am also a musician, and I also compose and record my own songs. I have always loved... more »
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The Writings of St Francis of Assisi
What the Saint has to tell us....
The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi: (Forgotten Books)
Amazon Price: $8.15 (as of 06/04/2012)
St Francis lived a long, long time ago, and yet so much of what he had to say speaks to our times. The need for simplicity, the desire for peace, respect for nature and guardianship of the world for future generations. This book includes it all...
St Francis Prayer MP3
Download my new song
St Francis Prayer
Amazon Price: $0.99 (as of 06/04/2012)
This is the MP3 of St Francis Prayer available to buy as a download. Amazon are always the first to offer new music, so it is a pleasure to feature them here!
