Saint François d'Assise : Scènes Franciscaines, or simply Saint François d'Assise, is an opera in three acts and eight scenes by French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was also its librettist; written from 1975 to 1979, with orchestration and copying from 1979 to 1983. It concerns Saint Francis of Assisi, the titular character, and displays Messiaen's devout Catholicism.
Giotto: Legend of St Francis, Sermon to the Birds
Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th century, he was also an outstanding teacher of composition and musical analysis.
Messiaen in 1986
Messiaen with his mother and father in 1910
Paul Dukas's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929. Messiaen sits at the far right; Dukas stands at the centre.
Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, where Messiaen was titular organist for 61 years