October is the time of year to celebrate the life of Francis of Assisi. Endearing images of the saint who loved God's creation, surrounded by animals, are a staple of Western Christian art. There is a less familiar genre of Franciscan imagery, where the saint communes with a bleeding Christ on the Cross or holds a skull to remind him of his own mortality, which may seem morbid to modern sensibilties. Such penitential subject matter was especially popular in Spanish Baroque art and the four new images on this theme from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, just added to the Francis of Assisi: Troubadour of God gallery of the Themes of Faith section, are the work of contemporary Hispanic artists. There is a mixed media drawing (left) from Latino Outsider Artist Rafael Gonzalez, copying the famous painting, St. Francis of Assisi Embracing the Crucified Christ, by 17th century Spanish Master Bartolome Esteban Murillo and an acrylic on masonite painting by Mexican Folk Artist Lucas Lorenzo, where Francis and his tame wolf stand beside Jesus the Nazarene, an image of Christ in his Passion carried in Holy Week processions. Two more contemplative images come from New Mexican artists. Marie Romero Cash depicts the Saint of Assisi studying a crucifix and a skull in a wood panel painting in a hammered tin frame in the style of the santeros (saint-makers) of the American Southwest. In a monotype print, Michael Vargas shows a mournful Francis reflecting on the meaning of life in a graveyard. Such artworks remind us that Sister Bodily Death also sings alongside Brother Sun and Sister Moon in praise of God in the saint's much-loved Canticle of the Creatures (John Kohan)