Saint Juniper

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St. Juniper (in Italian, San Ginepro, Fra Ginepro) (died 1258), called "the renowned jester of the Lord," was one of the original followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. Not much is known about Juniper before he joined the friars. In 1210, he was received into the order of the Franciscans by St. Francis himself. "Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers," Saint Francis would pun.[1]

St. Francis sent him to establish "places" for the friars in Gualdo Tadino and Viterbo. When St. Clare of Assisi was dying, Juniper consoled her. Juniper is buried at Ara Coeli Church at Rome. His feast day is celebrated on January 29.

Junípero Serra (1713-1784), originally Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer, took his new name in honor of Saint Juniper.

[edit] The Legend of the Pig's Feet

Juniper prepares a meal of pig's feet, from Rossellini's The Flowers of St. Francis (1950).

Several stories about Juniper in the Little Flowers of St. Francis (Fioretti di San Francesco) illustrate his generosity and simplicity. Perhaps the most famous of these is the tale of the pig's feet.

When visiting a sick brother, Juniper asked if he could perform any service for the man. The brother asked Juniper simply for a meal of pig's feet, and so Juniper happily ran off to find some. Capturing a pig in a nearby field, he cut off a foot and cooked the meal for the sick brother.

When the pig's owner found out about this, he came in great wrath and abused St. Francis and the other Fransiscans, calling them thieves and refusing repayment. St. Francis reproached Juniper and ordered him to apologize to the pig's owner and make amends. Juniper, not understanding why the owner should be upset at so charitable an action, went to him and cheerfully retold the tale of the pig's foot, as though he had done the man a favor.

When the man reacted with anger, Juniper thought that he had misunderstood him, so he simply repeated the story with great zeal, embraced him, and begged the man to give him the rest of the pig for the sake of charity. At this display the owner's heart was changed, and he gave up the rest of the pig to be slaughtered as Juniper had asked.

The story of Juniper and the pig's feet was depicted in Roberto Rossellini's film The Flowers of St. Francis (1950).