The Beginning
The beginning of this book happened about twenty years ago, when I was browsing through an old library, and stumbled across a book from the Middle Ages called a Bestiary. It was a book about some of the animals in the Bible, designed to convey mysterious truths about Christian virtue, and lead the reader towards devotion of God. I was hooked.
I noticed a blessed Bestiary had not been written in a very long time. I also observed that a Bestiary had never been written to include all of the animals named in the Bible. So this is what I set out to do. In all, I found one-hundred and one animals named in the various translations of the Bible. This includes the famous Bible animals, the not-so-famous ones, and even the animals named only once in the Old Testament catalogues of beasts.
The Blessed Book of Beasts has been written for children and their parents. To make it more manageable it is divided into three parts. Part I includes the fabulous beasts, the crawling creatures and the creatures of the sea. Part II includes the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; and Part III includes the living creatures, the great mammals of the earth. These are the general divisions of the animals as they occur in the Bible — each of the divisions of animals described according to their beginnings.
The Book of Genesis describes the creation of man, male and female, and this gets to the heart of this matter. In relation to man, the animals have an important place in nature. They also have an important role in the Bible. In the Garden, man is given dominion over the animals. After the Fall, animals are often used to prod the human heart towards the way of salvation. We immediately think of the talking donkey in the Book of Numbers who prods the prophet Balaam towards the path of God. The writer of the Book of Proverbs, as well, describes several animals as being exceedingly wise. Our attention is drawn to them to teach us about wisdom and salvation. In the New Testament, Jesus points directly to the animals to teach us about goodness. We see Him point to the Sparrow to teach His disciples about God’s great love for us. Jesus uses other animals to teach us to avoid temptation and evil and how to treat others with care.
Now, a Bestiary is a literary collection of animals, each one of which conveys a moral lesson about goodness. The first known Bestiary was written by an unknown author in the first century. The goal of this first book of beasts was to shed light on the mysteries of the Christian faith through a poetical description of the animals. As a book within the liberal art of Rhetoric, bestiaries flourished during the Middle Ages, when preachers used tales of fabulous beasts to move hearts towards virtue. While the descriptions of the beasts were often fantastical, the theological lessons were on the mark. One of the most fascinating traits of the Bestiary is its literary devices, particularly its use of simile and persuasive metaphor to play on the imagination and will. When combined with the principles of faith, these literary devices support the spiritual act of devotion.
With its emphasis on the human spirit, the aim of the Bestiary is especially in line with the theology of the Eastern Church. In the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom taught that it is good to be kind and gentle with animals, and to learn from them, because we share the same Creator; and while a wild beast will rarely harm a person, a bad person may readily devour another. Hence, there is a great need to seek God’s aid and strive for goodness. In his homilies, St. John Chrysostom referred often to the animals, including the Bee which labors long hours, never for itself but always out of care for others. So let us readily care for and love one another for the greater glory of God.
The Bestiary is the original devotional, and its literary elements have lasted through the ages in the writings of the Saints. Far from being limited to mere natural persuasion, the Bestiary aims at a spirit of devotion; for, as Venerable Luis de Granada writes, “it is the property of meditation or contemplation to produce the sentiment and affection of the will which is called devotion.” Indeed, Saint Francis de Sales, in his Introduction to the Devout Life, details numerous animals in order to lead us to devotion. According to St. Francis, devotion is “a spiritual activity and liveliness by means of which Divine Love works in us, and causes us to work briskly and lovingly... Just as charity leads us to a general practice of all God’s Commandments, so devotion leads us to practice them diligently.”
When we reflect on our own beginning, we naturally reflect on God’s love for us. It is my hope, Dear Reader, that this book may in some small way help lead you towards that divine mystery which is devotion. After all, God is the author of all nature. And as we are reminded by Saint Paul, while we may know God through the things He has made, it is our ultimate goal to love Him forever in eternity.
May ever you enjoy each antique fable,
Placed nearby, upon your family table.
