<Li> John Michael Talbot </Li> <P> Christian Renoux, a history professor at the University of Orléans, published in French in 2001 a book - length study of the prayer and its origins, clearing up much of the confusion that had accumulated previously . The Franciscan journal Frate Francesco and the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published articles in Italian summarizing the book's findings, and Renoux published an online abstract in English at The Franciscan Archive . </P> <P> The earliest known record of the prayer is its appearance, as a "beautiful prayer to say during Mass", in the December 1912 issue of the small devotional French Catholic publication La Clochette, "the bulletin of the League of the Holy Mass". Although the prayer was published anonymously, Renoux concluded that, with few exceptions, the texts in La Clochette were generally written by its founding editor, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855--1923). </P> <P> In 1915, Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon (1862--1945), founding president of the Anglo - French association Souvenir Normand (Norman Remembrance), which called itself "a work of peace and justice inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror, who is considered to be the ancestor of all the royal families of Europe", sent this prayer to Pope Benedict XV in the midst of World War I . The Pope had an Italian translation published on the front page of L'Osservatore Romano on 20 January 1916 . It appeared under the heading, "The prayers of' Souvenir Normand' for peace", with a jumbled explanation: "' Souvenir Normand' has sent the Holy Father the text of some prayers for peace . We have pleasure in presenting in particular the prayer addressed to the Sacred Heart, inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror ." On 28 January 1916, the newspaper La Croix reprinted, in French, the article from L'Osservatore Romano, with exactly the same heading and explanation . La Rochethulon wrote to La Croix to clarify that it was not a prayer of Souvenir Normand; but he failed to mention La Clochette, the first publication in which it had appeared . Because of its appearance in L'Osservatore Romano and La Croix as a simple prayer for peace during World War I, the prayer became widely known . </P>

Who wrote the song prayer of st francis