By Justin Carisio, OFS • National Formation Commission

We can never be certain how St. Francis of Assisi envisioned heaven and the majesty of God. Francis was a medieval man, and his understanding of the cosmos was radically different from ours. But for centuries, Christians had accepted a model of the universe as one constructed with the Earth at the center, and the Sun, the Moon, and the planets in separate, concentric spheres moving outward to the sphere of the stars.

Beyond this last sphere of visible creation was an “Empyrean Heaven”[1]   depicted as a realm of unimaginable light but nevertheless an actual place where God lives with the angles and the saints. Francis hints at an awareness of this in the Canticle of the Creatures when he praises God for Sir Brother Sun who “is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness of You, Most High one.”[2]

In Section 2, “Who are in heaven,” of his Prayer Inspired by the Our Father, Francis addresses the Father in the second person, maintaining the voice he will use throughout the Prayer. Francis is explicit, poetic, and theological. He identifies actions the Lord performs in heaven, each of which reveals something of God’s nature: God enlightens the angels and saints; he inflames them; he dwells in them.

Each of these actions in turn is directly related to an aspect of the Father that Francis identifies. The act of enlightening imparts knowledge in the heavenly hosts, because “You, Lord, are light.” Inflaming the angels and the saints enables them to love, because “You, Lord, are love.” Dwelling in them fills them with happiness, because “You, Lord, are Supreme Good.” Thus does Francis articulate his theology of the Father: God is light. God is love. God is good.

It is upon the last of these – the goodness of God – that Francis elaborates. He addresses the Lord as “Supreme Good, the Eternal Good, / from whom all good comes / without Whom there is no good.” It is crucial to appreciate that Francis does not use good as an adjective, but rather as a noun. Good is not something that modifies or describes God; Good is who God is. One may infer from this amplification that God – as both the Good and the source of all good – factors into Francis’ theological understanding of the gospel life in a particularly important way.

The Our Father is a prayer of praise, but also a prayer of petition and supplication as Francis will emphasize in the subsequent sections. The Father “from Whom all good comes” graces his people on earth. Francis may well be urging the brothers to pray for God’s light to guide them, God’s love to inflame them, and God’s goodness to dwell within them as they live the gospel life and work out their salvation here and now.

Thus, for St. Francis, the “who are in heaven” section of his Prayer Inspired by the Our Father is a theological speculation as well as an invitation to contemplate the mystery of God’s nature while remaining open to his transforming grace. In Francis’ hands, this phrase becomes a vision of divine sublimity and a reminder that the destiny of the soul is to be in heaven with the Father, who is the Eternal Good.

[1] “What Is the ‘Empyrean Heaven’? The Medieval Cosmology That Placed the Dwelling of God Physically Above the Stars,” Catholicus.eu English, May 25,2026,  https://catholicus.eu/en/what-is-the-medieval-cosm ology-that-placed-the-dwelling-place-of-god-physic ally-above-the-stars/.
[2] Quotations from the writings of St. Francis are taken from Francis of Assisi: Early Documents (FA:ED I), edited by Regis Armstrong, J. A. Wayne Hellmann, William J. Short (New York, London, and Manila: New City Press, 1999).