St Francis of Assisi’s biographers frequently refer to him as an “angelic man”. We shouldn’t interpret that nickname the wrong way. The poor man of Assisi was extremely down to earth: born in a stable, attentive to the praise of the elements and able to commune with animals. Yet perhaps his ability to see the hidden movements of creation and to direct them back to their Creator flowed precisely from an angelic command of his own nature. Like the angels, he himself remained in an unwielding posture of praise, even through the night, conforming his entire being to God.