Miracles and Marvels of the Birds and Beasts

According to the book of Genesis, our earliest ancestors, Adam and Eve, first lived in peace with all the animals and enjoyed perfect friendship and harmony with them. But in the course of time, after the wicked serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, this situation unfortunately ceased to prevail. Although some animals were tamed and domesticated, most of them became afraid of humans, and some even became
dangerous to them. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, perfect harmony between human beings and birds and beasts have been witnessed from time to time in miraculous and astonishing ways, especially in the lives of the saints.

Over the centuries, there have been many strange incidents and marvelous happenings involving holy men and women and birds and animals of various kinds. Some of these incidents—such as when a raven saved St. Benedict from consuming poison, or when St. Francis of Assisi befriended a ferocious wolf—are already known to many people, and dearly loved. Yet there are literally hundreds of others, equally wondrous.

84 pages