Francis calls the earth both sister and mother
To St. Francis, Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister
Francis's Canticle of Brother Sun, conventionally dated 1225, supplies a close precedent for creation as a family: sun and fire are brothers, moon and water sisters. But it also qualifies Chesterton's antithesis. The English text published by the Secular Franciscan Order USA calls the earth ‘our Sister Mother Earth’ and says that she sustains and governs us (p. 2, earth stanza). Francis combines the two relationships that Chesterton separates. Read the Canticle.
The distinction still catches something in the poem: praise goes to the Lord through creatures, so their kinship does not make nature the ultimate deity. Its description of Brother Fire as playful also gives some warrant for Chesterton's emphasis on delight. Yet the younger, laughing sister is Chesterton's interpretation, not Francis's wording. The poem includes bodily death, mortal sin, suffering and humility; its joy does not exclude solemnity. Francis therefore supports the common-Creator argument more securely than the categorical rejection of maternal imagery. The inspected witness is a modern English Franciscan handout, whose translator and underlying edition are not identified.
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