Green Saints Saint Giovanni of the Trees
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| Merciful Knight 1863 by Edward Burne Jones |
St. Giovanni Gualberto of noble birth was born in Florence, Italy in the year of 1073. He lived a long life to 88 years old. St Giovanni was somewhat of a bad boy when he was young living a life of drinking and chasing women. He was a soldier but when his brother Ugo was murdered he went out to take his vengeance. He found his brother's murder on Good Friday the day Christ died. He was just about ready to take the life of the culprit when the man stretched our his arms just like Christ did on the cross and asked for Giovanni's mercy. It was in that moment that Giovanni had a vision of Christ and knelt before the man and forgave him. It was shortly after this event Giovanni was ordained a monk leaving his previous like style behind him.
He went on a pilgrimage visiting many different monasteries in Tuscany region. Yet he became disenchanted after all his travel seeing indulgences being sold to buy your way into heaven and clergy relatives being given special favors.
He finally came to Vallombrosa where the countryside had become a waste land. This was where he built his hermitage according to the Benedictine rule. Rather than having a brewery or a monastic garden like most monasteries of the time he began to plant fir and pine trees. His forests grew and flourished, changing barren land into a woodland paradise. St Giovanni was well known for his generosity to the poor and his compassionate nature.
There is a legend of St Giovanni about an Abbey he had founded he went to visit. When he arrived he found that the monks that had been in charge of the Abbey had elaborate furnishing and ritual objects. He was in rage at the waste of money the legend goes that he commanded the rivers to come down from the mountains which destroyed the abbey. The Abbey was modestly rebuilt.
Saint Giovanni is the Saint of Forest Workers, Park Rangers, the Italian Forest Corps and the Brazilian Forest.
This summer I made a chaplet and wrote a prayer to St. Giovanni of the Forest. I did this practice for 18 days and many of these days were spent in the woods camping under the stars. It was on the 18th day the last day of my practice I was given a gift from St. Giovanni. My mind thought because I had been praying so much about the forest the Universe would send me some kind of validation for this new practice. Yet this is what happen the last day of my novena; I experienced a down pouring of unconditional forgiveness that came over me. This unconditional forgiveness help me view a personal l situation involving a someone I needed to forgive. St Giovanni did not only bless the forest yet also showed me the path to unconditional forgiveness.
When I reflect upon unconditional forgiveness I think how the Mother Earth's forest have been stripped, the land has been raped of its rich natural resources, the toxic waste we pour onto the land is staggering, yet out of all of this The Earth Mother still keeps giving. As the dandelions cracks the cement, baby trees rise out of the ashes and even the animals adapted to urban environment to survive. I would call this unconditional forgiveness.
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