LIFE• The Servant of God, Juniper, O.F.M., best known as Brother Juniper

(Italian: Fra Ginepro) (died 1258), was called "the renowned jester of the Lord," and was one of the original followers of St. Francis of Assisi.

• Not much is known about Juniper before he joined the friars. • In 1210, he was received into the Order of Friars Minor by St. Francis

himself. "Would to God, my brothers, that I had a whole forest of such Junipers," Saint Francis would pun.

• 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.• Thought to have been possibly autistic. • His feast day is celebrated on 29 January.

• Several stories about Juniper in the Little Flowers of St. Francis illustrate his exasperating generosity.

• It is said that St. Francis once described the perfect friar by citing "the patience of Brother Juniper, who attained the state of perfect patience because he kept the truth of his low estate constantly in mind, whose supreme desire was to follow Christ on the way of the cross" (Mirror of Perfection, #85).

VIDEO

• 31:21

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkFP0zl1oCQ