Introduction to Poverty

In an issue on money, wherein a great deal has been said about avarice, the love of money, and its cure, poverty, we would be loath to neglect expounding the latter. While it would not be fitting to suggest that everyone become monks or nuns—fleeing the world, giving away all our possessions, and embracing complete and abject poverty—it is certainly fitting to present the ideal, which is nothing short of giving up every earthly thing and embracing total poverty.

As such, we include an excerpt from the Life of Antony, written by the great champion of the Nicene faith St. Athanasius of Alexandria; it tells the well-known tale of how St. Antony came to give up everything to live out total poverty in the desert of Egypt.

Yet, when the ideal of poverty is introduced, many of us call to mind the holy friar of the thirteenth century, God’s troubadour, St. Francis of Assisi. While today he is often associated with animals and hippydom, Francis was an incredibly holy man who sought to live out the Gospel and conform himself to Christ perfectly—which he did to the extent of embracing radical poverty, kissing lepers, and even receiving the stigmata.

The life of Francis is a fascinating one and an inspiring one; it is a life that quickly gathered around him a throng of men and women alike who desired to embrace the same life of poverty. Among them were some who wrote down the story of his life—sometimes in a more straightforward vein like St. Bonaventure and sometimes in a more poetic and romantic vein as in the Espousals of St. Francis and Lady Poverty. Certainly no one can wax so eloquent in praise of Lady Poverty as a first-generation Franciscan, so we leave the work here in full and occupying the great bulk of part 4.

Now, while we’ve presented the ideal of radical poverty here, it must be recognised that some of us have families to care for and cannot in prudence embrace such a form of poverty. It must nevertheless be made clear that all of us are to be poor in spirit, to embrace poverty to whatever extent is possible and prudent in our given context, so that we may be more generous with what we have both toward God and toward those in need. What this looks like is different in every case, so we leave it to you to determine for yourselves through prayer and the guidance of wise and holy souls.

Aaron P. Debusschere
Editor