Did St. Francis really tame a savage wolf? A look at the legend

St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is Oct. 4, is remembered for many things: his voluntary poverty, his dynamic preaching, his founding of the worldwide Franciscan order, and his miraculous reception of Christ’s wounds — the stigmata — in his own flesh.

But perhaps most especially — at least in the popular imagination — he is known for his care for animals and God’s natural creation more generally. 

Francis is so closely associated with animals, in fact, that even the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers him — by name — as an example of the gentleness with which Christians today should treat animals, alongside St. Philip Neri, the 16th-century Italian priest and mystic who doted on his numerous pet cats and dogs. 

Anyway, the story of Francis and the wolf goes something like this. 

Back in the early 13th century, a wolf began to stalk the countryside surrounding the town. He was hungry. He preyed on livestock. Soon, his hunger brought him closer and closer to town. He began to attack anyone who ventured outside the walls of Gubbio. 

The ferocious wolf’s reign of terror gripped the townspeople with fear. Eventually, it got so bad that no one would even dare step outside the walls of the city.