"Francis of Assisi in San Francisco", acrylic on gesso board, Bishop Maxim, 2025

Bathed in the pearly light of the Pacific, Saint Francis stands as both patron and witness to the city that bears his name. Around him, the living world awakens—birds wheel through the coastal haze, sea lions surface like benedictions from the Bay, and the golden dog at his feet listens to the city’s pulse. Set against the skyline veiled in fog, Francis is no longer a solitary ascetic but a companion to creation itself. His robe gathers the earth tones of sand and wharf, his gesture of blessing opens toward the bridges and waters that breathe with the same rhythm as the animals around him. The painting becomes a hymn of kinship—a vision in which the saint’s prayer extends beyond human bounds, binding San Francisco’s wild and urban life into a luminous ecology of grace.