Writing ‘Francis’

Franciscan sister brings the saint’s story to the stage as a first-time librettist

By Rochelle Cassella

In her years of ministry as a Sister of St. Francis, Sister Margaret Carney has led a large university, written scholarly articles on the lives of Saints Francis and Clare, and lectured on Franciscan spirituality throughout the United States. Now she adds “librettist” to her resume, after collaborating with Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour on the oratorio, Francis, set to debut in Buffalo on Oct. 10.

Sister Margaret met Danielpour in 2019 when the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra performed his oratorio, The Passion of Yeshua. When the recording came out, she called to congratulate him. Their friendship grew through the many telephone conversations that followed. Danielpour spoke of his experience as a Jew embracing Jesus as God; they shared their admiration for the Francises —saint and pope. Sister Margaret encouraged Danielpour to write about St. Francis. When Danielpour called to say he would compose an oratorio, he told her she needed to write the libretto, or text.

“I almost dropped the phone,” Sister Margaret said. “All I could think was, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ But I was the one who said to him so often over three years that this is what he had to do, so there wasn’t any way I could say no.”

A traditional oratorio is sung like an opera, but most often doesn’t include costumes or scenery. The text is short, as Sister Margaret learned.

“In The Passion of Yeshua, they portray the last supper, and you have maybe 10 lines of text or at the most, 15. You have to tell the story most economically,” she said. For Francis, she and Danielpour discussed the events in Francis’ life to portray and narrowed them down to nine. Then the composer added a narrator.

“That made all the difference in the world,” Sister Margaret said. “The description of what’s going on in the scene is very brief and, in some ways, almost symbolic. Then the narrator, who doesn’t sing, speaks and makes the connections for the audience. I just started writing.”

If attendees expect to see Francis with the wolf or preaching to the birds, Sister Margaret said, “That ain’t gonna happen.”

“We chose nine scenes that give you Francis’ vision — commitment to peacemaking, to caring for creation, and to solidarity with the poor and marginalized. Each scene feeds into these.”

One of Sister Margaret’s favorite scenes is when Francis rejects his father’s wealth, and the people of Assisi reject him.

“They call him crazy, an idiot, and a madman. The chorus is singing this loud cacophony. Clare asks Francis to help them understand if his message is divine or demonic. And then they sing a duet about his message.”

When Sister Margaret attended a choral performance of Francis earlier this summer, members thanked her for the beautiful words she wrote for them to sing.

“What they loved, I think, was a message that is diametrically opposed to the message of our country right now. Francis’ vision says we don’t have to go to war, or keep burning up the earth,” she said. “It’s a vision for how we live on this planet, as children of God, that’s still a valid vision, and it’s very attractive.”

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will perform Richard Danielpour’s new oratorio, Francis, about St. Francis of Assisi, on Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 11 at 2:30 p.m. Both performances are 75 minutes long and will be held at Kleinhans Music Hall, 3 Symphony Cir., Buffalo. The website to purchase tickets can be found here.

Rochelle Cassella is the director of communications for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities.