The Canticle of Brother Sun

Cosmic ode, poetic masterpiece, spiritual summit, prayer for peace, call to fraternity: the Canticle of Brother Sun is known by all, or at least its title is, and it has been celebrated in many ways, set to music so many times. Yet, there is something in it that resists, which is why it will never completely be a classic. It continues to vibrate with its initial transgression which pushes it towards the universal while remaining in the assumed particularism of a vernacular dialect. The call to peace is also a coup de force and its profession of fraternity rises from an infinite solitude of suffering. The Canticle is pri­marily a cry. Let us listen to it with “the ear of our heart.”

This newest of Dalarun’s analyses of Franciscan texts, the Canticle of Brother Sun, is a jewel whose contemplation will provide endless moments of intellectual stimulation combined with a certain refreshment of spirit. What Dalarun accomplishes in this study is a symphonic combination of textual criticism, linguistic analysis, historical contextual­ization, theological intuition and poetic—and often provocative— exegesis. He pushes the reader to a new encounter with the Canticle created by Francis of Assisi. This encounter makes prior efforts at interpretation appear pale and only partially accurate.

- Sr. Margaret Carney, St. Bonaventure University