Biocultural Restoration of Sacred Sites, Earth Day, and Restoration Ecology’s Patron Saint

The question, of course, is what on earth is going to bring about the transformation that is needed; what is going to help us, once again and anew, to find our place and purpose within this beautiful prolific earth? One response that has been frequently overlooked by scholars . . . is that of ecological restoration.

—Gretel Van Wieren (2008) Ecological Restoration as Public Spiritual Practice

The Dawning of the Age of Restoration

As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day, it may be worth reflecting upon how ecological restoration initiatives have changed the perception of the larger, now globalized “environmental movement” of which many of us have been contributors. As an intern/alumnus of the Earth Day organizing team at the headquarters for the first “Environmental Teach-In,” I cannot recall hearing the phrase ecological restoration during that moment in our nascent movement, nor seeing it mentioned in any of our Environmental Action newsletters. In the spirit of the late 1960s and early 1970s, we were about protesting bad policies and bad actors; there was already a yearning for environmental justice that didn’t fully express itself and flourish for another two decades.

But something curious happened when twenty million individuals of all colors, races, and creeds turned out for the first Earth Day in April of 1970: we realized that the heterogeneity of players who appeared that day would become our greatest strength. Some had little interest in policy change, but they went out and planted dozens of native trees along stream banks that day. Others of the “Flower Power” ilk expressed their gratitude to Mother Earth by sowing thousands of wildflowers seeds in meadows and gardens.

In short, many already wanted to walk the talk about healing the earth or restoring damaged lands. Curiously, they were not of all one ideological, political or spiritual persuasion. And yet, those who learned of early restoration efforts at Curtis Prairie in Wisconsin, the Fermi Lab in Illinois, or the Desert Lab on Tumamoc Hill in Arizona clearly felt an affinity for these efforts to restore, not just to preserve. They were hungry for more engagement with the science we now call restoration ecology.

The Patron Saint of (Restoration) Ecology

As the Earth Day organization affirms in its elaboration of its own history, the interfaith community in the 1970s became further engaged in the environmental movement for a curious reason: “. . . Pope John Paul II declared St. Francis the Patron Saint of Ecologists. In some ways, St. Francis of Assisi could be viewed as the original Earth Day advocate. Not only did he care for the poor and sick, but he preached multiple sermons on animals, and wanted all creatures on Earth, including humans, to be treated as equals under God” (Pappas, 2016).

I have argued elsewhere that St. Francis would be better regarded as the Patron Saint of Restoration Ecology, for the pivotal movement in his life was when he came upon a deserted sanctuary that had been badly damaged, and heard a voice say to him, “Francesco, come and restore this sacred place, for as you can see, it has fallen into ruin.” Although Francesco di Bernardone initially assumed that his calling would simply be to restore the abandoned chapel of San Damiano in the forest not far from Assisi, his vision of his mission expanded over the rest of his lifetime.

Francis first attempted to restore respectful collaborations among the rival city-states of Italy that had been burning, cutting, and pillaging the surrounding forests for decades. He then attempted to reform the Catholic church. He refused to let his Order own property or worship in buildings, for he believed that the Creator was everywhere in Creation, not trapped within institutions.

During the Crusades, he went into the battlefields in Egypt to initiate peace talks between Christians and Muslims, resulting in a decree that made Jerusalem open to pilgrims of all religions. By the time he wrote his Canticle to All Creatures and died in 1226, he held an even more expansive vison: that the entire earth was sacred and in need of...