Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 6/13/2009

Question
Hi,
There is research about St. Francis' diet in "Vegetarian Christian Saints" by Dr. Holly Roberts.  
I understand there is a Franciscan order who take a fourth vow of vegetarianism.  I'm a vegan and a convert.  I have met 1 Secular Franciscan who is a vegetarian.  The others I met don't seem to care about the billions of God's creatures in factory farms, etc.  We'll be held accountable someday  (Hebrews 4:13) for His animals which God put in our care to protect.  Are there Franciscan vegetarian communities that you know of?   
1 Cor. 10:31-33

Answer
Peace

dear Jan-
   I do believe he was a vegetarian. From what recall from his official biography written by st Bonaventure, he ate fish and possibly eggs.
   I read Franciscan history, mainly through the theological works of Franciscan saints/blessed. None seem to point to such a fourth order. There might be a order that takes St. Francis as its model that does.

   We can animal flesh. According to Genesis 9:1-17, Noah was give permission to eat animal flesh.

That does not mean we can treat animals any we want. Animals dont have rational soul as man does, yet we are treat them with care and proper respect. They are our servants not equals.

The Catholic Catechism approved by John Paul (II) the Great says it this way:

2415 The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.
1951 Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good. The moral law presupposes the rational order, established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end, by the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. Law is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living God, Creator and Redeemer of all. "Such an ordinance of reason is what one calls law."

1951 Alone among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to receive a law from God: as an animal endowed with reason, capable of understanding and discernment, he is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason, in obedience to the One who has entrusted everything to him.


2456 The dominion granted by the Creator over the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be separated from respect for moral obligations, including those toward generations to come.


                           your servant in Christ
                                George