There is a Franciscan greeting known to everyone: peace and good! However this greeting is not found in the writings of Francis, but rather in the Legend of the Three Companions, which is not a real biography but an interpretation a his human and spiritual experience which draws us closer to Francis the man, above all through his feelings, emotions and desires. The episode takes place at the beginning of the Saint’s conversion, when Francis, having abandoned his hermit’s habit, his walking stick and shoes, “inspired by God, started to be a herald of the perfection of the Gospel, preaching all to do penance, in simplicity”. At this point a character comes onto the scene, whose name the biographer does not say, who addresses everyone on the streets of Assisi with exactly this greeting: peace and good! Let’s go on with the story: “As he himself would confide one day, divine revelation had taught him this greeting: «May the Lord give you peace!». He would give the people this message of peace at the beginning of his sermons. An extraordinary fact that seems miraculous is that, before his conversion, he had had a precursor as a herald of peace, who often passed through Assisi greeting everyone with the motto: «Peace and good! Peace and good!». Bit by bit the belief arose that, just like John the Precursor had stepped aside as soon as Jesus began his mission, in the same way that man, similar to a second John the Baptist, preceded Francis in wishing peace, and disappeared when the Saint arrived”.
This peculiar greeting therefore does not belong to Francis, but to a man who – almost like a new John the Baptist – precedes Francis in giving the same message which is first of all an invitation to convert, an encounter with one another and with Christ, who brings reconciliation and peace to one’s heart. This is a constant concern of Francis. He speaks of it in his Testament and in the Rule. His calling to peace is then spelled out in many different ways in his Letters, each time revealing new wealth. In this regards, I’d like to refer to a recent article by Niklaus Kuster. Here are a few examples. “True peace on earth and sincere charity in the Lord”, thus Francis opens his Letter to all the Faithful. In the Letter to a Minister: “May the Lord bless you”. In the Letter to Jacopa dei Settesoli, Francis writes: “To Lady Jacopa, handmaid of the Most High, brother Francis poor man of Christ, health in the Lord and union in the Holy Spirit”. Finally in the Letter to the friars Custodes he sends “health and holy peace in the Lord” and concludes with the words “Be well in the Lord” which seems to reveal the deeper sense of our Franciscan greeting. Peace and good! Peace and good in the Lord!

“This peculiar greeting therefore does not belong to Francis, but to a man who – almost like a new John the Baptist – precedes Francis in giving the same message.”