# Canticle of the Sun
The **Canticle of the Sun** (Italian: *Cantico di frate Sole*, also transmitted as *Cantico delle creature*, *Cantico del Sole*, or *Laudes creaturarum*) is a religious song composed by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) in the Umbrian vernacular, praising God for the perfection and beauty of creation[1](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/). It is regarded as the first poetic creation in the Umbrian dialect and one of the earliest works of literature in the [Italian language](https://www.edgepedia.org/italian-language)[2](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/) • [5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Saint Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), founder of the Friars Minor[1](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/) |
| Date of composition | Around 1224–1225, near the end of Francis's life; sources place the original version at San Damiano in 1224, in winter 1224–1225, or in spring 1225[1](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/) • [3](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr) • [4](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf) |
| Language | Umbrian vernacular (early Italian), written in assonantal prose with biblical phrasing[1](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/) • [10](https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/download/downloads/id/135/students_handbook.pdf) |
| Content | Praise for "Brother Sun", "Sister Moon" and the stars, "Brother Wind", "Sister Water", "Brother Fire", "Sister our mother the Earth", and finally "Sister Bodily Death"[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/) |
| First historical mention | Thomas of Celano's *Vita Prima*, 1228[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/) |
| Earliest surviving manuscript testimony | Codex Assisi 338, dated 1260[3](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr) |
| Later influence | The opening words "Laudato si'" gave their title to Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical on care for the environment[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/) |
## Composition and dating
The sources disagree on the exact date. Treccani dates the lauda to about 1224[1](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/), and the Zanichelli account says Francis composed it in 1224 at the hermitage of San Damiano, two years before his death, when he was by then almost blind after a long night of suffering[2](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/). The French Catholic catechetical account places the composition of most of the canticle at the end of 1224, while Francis was gravely ill at San Damiano[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/). Scholars Helmut Feld and Erhard-Wolfram Platzeck date the original composition, immediately after Francis's stigmata of 17 September 1224, to the winter of 1224–1225 at San Damiano[3](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr). A 2025 Franciscan study celebrating the 800th anniversary places the original version in the spring of 1225 at San Damiano[4](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf) • [11](https://franziskaner-helfen.de/data/2025/05/WEB_Gruene-Reihe-126_185x250mm_EN_08-05-2025.pdf), and one account puts it in the winter of 1225–1226[7](https://opensaints.com/pt-BR/francis-of-assisi/wiki/event/composicao-cantico-das-criaturas).
## Historical context
The historical circumstances are described in the Assisi Compilation and in the *Speculum Perfectionis* (Mirror of Perfection). According to the *Speculum*, "Two years before his death, while he was staying at San Damiano in a little cell made of mats, he suffered intensely from the disease of his eyes. For more than fifty days, he was unable to bear daylight nor even the light of a fire." Sister Clare and the Poor Ladies of San Damiano welcomed Francis and prepared a little hut in the garden of the monastery, which is identified as the place where the Canticle was written[4](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf).
The manuscript tradition of the *Compilatio Assisiensis* traces to a codex composed in Assisi between 1310 and 1312, according to the scholar Felice Accrocca, in line with the Ognissanti manuscript of the *Speculum Perfectionis* dated 1318[4](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf).
## Text and structure
The canticle has the structure of a psalm and was meant to be sung to a Gregorian rhythm[2](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/). According to the anonymous author of the Assisi Compilation, Francis himself composed a melody and taught it to his companions[13](https://centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/en/17th-international-course-of-medieval-music/). The text is written in assonantal prose with a marked Umbrian timbre, enriched by biblical turns of phrase and notions of Latin rhetoric[10](https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/download/downloads/id/135/students_handbook.pdf).
In the poem Francis raises a hymn of praise to the Lord for all the creatures that populate the earth, thanking him for the sun, the moon, the stars, the wind, the water, and the fire[2](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/). Each natural element is named brother or sister of humankind: "Frère Soleil", "Sœur Lune", "Frère Vent", "Sœur Eau", "Frère Feu", and "Sœur notre mère la Terre"[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/). Death itself is called sister, in full acceptance of every human vicissitude as a sign of the divine will[2](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/).
The final version is divided into ten units: a four-line canticle, eight stanzas, and a two-line farewell[11](https://franziskaner-helfen.de/data/2025/05/WEB_Gruene-Reihe-126_185x250mm_EN_08-05-2025.pdf). According to the tradition expressed in the *Speculum Perfectionis*, two strophes were added to the original composition: the eighth strophe on the occasion of a feud between the Bishop and the magistrates of Assisi, and the ninth when the Saint recognized the approach of death[6](https://www.ecatholic2000.com/francis/writings21.shtml).
## Manuscript tradition and reception
The first historical mention of the canticle appears in the *Vita Prima* of Thomas of Celano in 1228[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/). The earliest written testimonies of the *Laudes creaturarum* are dated by Feld and Platzeck to 1260, in Codex Assisi 338[3](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr). The text translated in the standard English edition is that of Assisi MS 338 (fol. 33)[6](https://www.ecatholic2000.com/francis/writings21.shtml), and the Petrarch Press edition transcribes the original Umbrian text from the thirteenth-century Assisi Codex, which it calls the oldest remaining manuscript of the song[12](https://www.petrarchpress.com/canticle-of-the-creatures/).
The genesis of the *Laudes creaturarum* has been debated by scholars since Paul Sabatier raised the "Franciscan question" concerning the authenticity and sequence of the sources on Francis's life: the *Compilatio perusina* (Assisi Compilation) or the Legend of the Three Companions, source of [Thomas of Celano](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-of-celano)'s second biography[3](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr).
## Literary significance
The canticle is considered the best known of the very earliest texts of Italian literature[10](https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/download/downloads/id/135/students_handbook.pdf), and it has been called one of the first great Italian poems with a lasting place in the history of Western literature[14](https://academic.oup.com/book/10780/chapter-abstract/158909890). Unlike the simple, joyful litanies of the Bible, Francis's song has a dark side as well: between beatitude and fulmination comes the acceptance of "our sister, Bodily Death", who too is a source of divine praise[15](https://www.examenapium.it/cs/biblio/Dronke1968.pdf).
Theologically, the Canticle expresses a theocentric vision in which the center of attention is not creation in itself but [God the Father](https://www.edgepedia.org/god-the-father); it is an expression of a medieval Italian lay spirituality that became a song of universal brotherhood[4](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf). Its vision of a fraternity between humanity and nature has given it a recognized place in ecological thought[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/).
## Musical and cultural legacy
The canticle has been set to music repeatedly. Hermann Suter composed an oratorio, *Le Laudi*, on the Italian words, premiered in 1924. Charles Martin Loeffler (1861–1935) set a modern Italian translation of the original Umbrian text for soloists and chamber orchestra around 1929, performed at the same 1945 [Carnegie Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-hall) concert as Leo Sowerby's setting. The German composer [Carl Orff](https://www.edgepedia.org/carl-orff) set the *Laudes Creaturarum* to music in 1954, and the American composer Marty Haugen wrote a setting titled "Canticle of the Sun" in 1980, published by GIA Publications[8](https://academia-lab.com/enciclopedia/cantico-del-sol/) • [9](https://chetanaus.org/bheru/uploadfiles/file/badufevakadejipulojisibi.pdf).
The opening words "[Laudato si'](https://www.edgepedia.org/laudato-si)" (Praised be you) inspired the title of [Pope Francis](https://www.edgepedia.org/pope-francis)'s 2015 encyclical on the safeguarding of the environment[5](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/). The text has been translated into many languages since it was written in the Umbrian dialect of Italian[16](https://mtalvernia.sg/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/YIR2024_Main-Report_Web-revised.pdf).
## References
1. [Cantico di frate Sole, Treccani Enciclopedia on line](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/cantico-di-frate-sole/)
2. [Francesco d'Assisi, Laudes Creaturarum, Zanichelli Dizionari Più](https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/biblioteca-italiana/francesco-dassisi-laudes-creaturarum/)
3. [Le Cantique de frère soleil (François d'Assise), Cairn.info](https://shs.cairn.info/revue-savoirs-et-cliniques-2007-1-page-117?lang=fr)
4. [Noel Muscat OFM, "Canticum Fratris Solis: The Franciscan View of Creation and Humanity", Journal of Franciscan Culture 151](https://franciscanstudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/sl-151.pdf)
5. [Le cantique de créatures de saint François d'Assise, Église catholique en France](https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/prier/prieres-pour-notre-temps/395554-le-cantique-de-frere-soleil-par-saint-francois-dassise/)
6. [The Canticle of the Sun, in The Writings of Saint Francis of Assisi](https://www.ecatholic2000.com/francis/writings21.shtml)
7. [OpenSaints: Composição do Cântico das Criaturas](https://opensaints.com/pt-BR/francis-of-assisi/wiki/event/composicao-cantico-das-criaturas)
8. [Cántico del Sol, AcademiaLab](https://academia-lab.com/enciclopedia/cantico-del-sol/)
9. [Canticle of the Sun: history and musical settings (compilation)](https://chetanaus.org/bheru/uploadfiles/file/badufevakadejipulojisibi.pdf)
10. [Anna Pegoretti, Mendicant Orders and Literature in Italy (13th–14th Centuries), University of Leeds handbook](https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/download/downloads/id/135/students_handbook.pdf)
11. [Gruene Reihe 126, Franziskaner Helfen (2025)](https://franziskaner-helfen.de/data/2025/05/WEB_Gruene-Reihe-126_185x250mm_EN_08-05-2025.pdf)
12. [Canticle of the Creatures, The Petrarch Press](https://www.petrarchpress.com/canticle-of-the-creatures/)
13. [17th International Course of Medieval Music, Centro Studi Adolfo Broegg](https://centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/en/17th-international-course-of-medieval-music/)
14. [Tradition and Its Impact on the Canticle, in St. Francis of Assisi and Nature, Oxford Academic](https://academic.oup.com/book/10780/chapter-abstract/158909890)
15. [The Medieval Lyric (P. Dronke, 1968)](https://www.examenapium.it/cs/biblio/Dronke1968.pdf)
16. [MAH Year in Review 2024 Main Report, Mount Alvernia](https://mtalvernia.sg/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/YIR2024_Main-Report_Web-revised.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Poetry works › Individual poems › Medieval poems*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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