FOOTNOTES

"I announce to you that Master Reynier, Prior of St. Michael, has entered the Order of the Brothers Minor, an Order which is multiplying rapidly on all sides, because it imitates the primitive Church and follows the life of the Apostles in everything. The master of these Brothers is named Brother Francis; he is so lovable that he is venerated by everyone. Having come into our army, he has not been afraid, in his zeal for the faith, to go to that of our enemies. For days together he announced the word of God to the Saracens, but with little success; then the sultan, King of Egypt, asked him in secret to entreat God to reveal to him, by some miracle, which is the best religion. Colin, the Englishman, our clerk, has entered the same Order, as also two others of our companions, Michael and Dom Matthew, to whom I had given the rectorship of the Sainte Chapelle. Cantor and Henry have done the same, and still others whose names I have forgotten."24

The long and enthusiastic chapter which the same author gives to the Brothers Minor in his great work on the Occident is too diffuse to find a place here. It is a living and accurate picture of the early times of the Order; in it Francis's sermon before the sultan is again related. It was written at a period when the friars had still neithermonasteries nor churches, and when the chapters were held once or twice a year; this gives us a date anterior to 1223, and probably even before 1221. We have here, therefore, a verification of the narratives of Thomas of Celano and the Three Companions, and they find in it their perfect confirmation.

As to the interviews between Francis and the sultan, it is prudent to keep to the narratives of Jacques de Vitry and William of Tyre.25Although the latter wrote at a comparatively late date (between 1275 and 1295), he followed a truly historic method, and founded his work on authentic documents; we see that he knows no more than Jacques de Vitry of the proposal said to have been made by Francis to pass through a fire if the priests of Mahomet would do as much, intending so to establish the superiority of Christianity.

We know how little such an appeal to signs is characteristic of St. Francis. Perhaps the story, which comes from Bonaventura, is born of a misconception. The sultan, like a new Pharaoh, may have laid it upon the strange preacher to prove his mission by miracles. However this may be, Francis and his companions were treated with great consideration, a fact the more meritorious that hostilities were then at their height.

Returned to the Crusading camp, they remained there until after the taking of Damietta (November 5, 1219). This time the Christians were victorious, but perhaps the heart of thegospel manbled more for this victory than for the defeat of August 29th. The shocking condition of the city, which the victors found piled with heaps of dead bodies, the quarrels over the sharing of booty, the sale of the wretched creatures who had not succumbed to the pestilence,26all these scenes of terror, cruelty,greed, caused him profound horror. The "human beast" was let loose, the apostle's voice could no more make itself heard in the midst of the savage clamor than that of a life-saver over a raging ocean.

He set out for Syria27and the Holy Places. How gladly would we follow him in this pilgrimage, accompany him in thought through Judea and Galilee, to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to Gethsemane! What was said to him by the stable where the Son of Mary was born, the workshop where he toiled, the olive-tree where he accepted the bitter cup? Alas! the documents here suddenly fail us. Setting out from Damietta very shortly after the siege (November 5, 1219) he may easily have been at Bethlehem by Christmas. But we know nothing, absolutely nothing, except that his sojourn was more prolonged than had been expected.

Some of the Brothers who were present at Portiuncula at the chapter-general of 1220 (Whitsunday, May 17th) had time enough to go to Syria and still find Francis there;28they could hardly have arrived much earlier than the end of June. What had he been doing those eight months? Why had he not gone home to preside at the chapter? Had he been ill?29Had he been belated by some mission? Our information is too slight to permit us even to venture upon conjecture.

Angelo Clareno relates that the Sultan of Egypt,touched by his preaching, gave command that he and all his friars should have free access to the Holy Sepulchre without the payment of any tribute.30

Bartholomew of Pisa on his part says incidentally that Francis, having gone to preach in Antioch and its environs, the Benedictines of the Abbey of the Black Mountain,31eight miles from that city, joined the Order in a body, and gave up all their property to the Patriarch.

These indications are meagre and isolated indeed, and the second is to be accepted only with reserve. On the other hand, we have detailed information of what went on in Italy during Francis's absence. Brother Giordano's chronicle, recently discovered and published, throws all the light that could be desired upon a plot laid against Francis by the very persons whom he had commissioned to take his place at Portiuncula, and this, if not with the connivance of Rome and the cardinal protector, at least without their opposition. These events had indeed been narrated by Angelo Clareno, but the undisguised feeling which breathes through all his writings and their lack of accuracy had sufficed with careful critics to leave them in doubt. How could it be supposed that in the very lifetime of St. Francis the vicars whom he had instituted could take advantage of his absence to overthrow his work? How could it be that the pope, who during this period was sojourning at Rieti, how that Ugolini, who was still nearer, did not impose silence on these agitators?32

Now that all the facts come anew to light, not in anoratorical and impassioned account, but brief, precise, cutting, dated, with every appearance of notes taken day by day, we must perforce yield to evidence.

Does this give us reason clamorously to condemn Ugolino and the pope? I do not think so. They played a part which is not to their honor, but their intentions were evidently excellent. If the famous aphorism that the end justifies the means is criminal where one examines his own conduct, it becomes the first duty in judging that of others. Here are the facts:

On July 25th, about one month after Francis's departure for Syria, Ugolini, who was at Perugia, laid upon the Clarisses of Monticelli (Florence), Sienna, Perugia, and Lucca that which his friend had so obstinately refused for the friars, the Benedictine Rule.33

At the same time, St. Dominic, returning from Spain full of new ardor after his retreat in the grotto of Segovia, and fully decided to adopt for his Order the rule of poverty, was strongly encouraged in this purpose and overwhelmed with favors.34Honorius III. saw in him the providential man of the time, the reformer of the monastic Orders; he showed him unusual attentions, going so far, for example, as to transfer to him a group of monks belonging to other Orders, whom he appointed to act as Dominic's lieutenants on the preaching tours which he believed it to be his duty to undertake, and to serve, under his direction, an apprenticeship in popular preaching.35

That Ugolini was the inspiration of all this, the bullsare here to witness. His ruling purpose at that time was so clearly to direct the two new Orders that he chose a domicile with this end in view, and we find him continually either at Perugia—that is to say, within three leagues of Portiuncula—or at Bologna, the stronghold of the Dominicans.

It now becomes manifest that just as the fraternity instituted by Francis was truly the fruit of his body, flesh of his flesh, so does the Order of the Preaching Friars emanate from the papacy, and St. Dominic is only its putative father. This character is expressed in one word by one of the most authoritative of contemporary annalists, Burchard of Ursperg (Cross1226). "The pope," he says, "institutedand confirmed the Order of the Preachers."36

Francis on his journey in the Orient had taken for special companion a friar whom we have not yet met, Pietro di Catana ordei Cattani. Was he a native of the town of Catana? There is no precise indication of it. It appears more probable that he belonged to the noble familydei Cattani, already known to Francis, and of which Orlando, Count of Chiusi in Casentino, who gavehim the Verna, was a member. However that may be, we must not confound him with the Brother Pietro who assumed the habit in 1209, at the same time with Bernardo of Quintavallo, and died shortly afterward. Tradition, in reducing these two men to a single personage, was influenced not merely by the similarity of the names, but also by the very natural desire to increase the prestige of one who in 1220-1221 was to play an important part in the direction of the Order.37

At the time of his departure for the East Francis had left two vicars in his place, the Brothers Matteo of Narni and Gregorio of Naples. The former was especially charged to remain at Portiuncula to admit postulants;38Gregorio of Naples, on the other hand, was to pass through Italy to console the Brothers.39

The two vicars began at once to overturn everything. It is inexplicable how men still under the influence of their first fervor for a Rule which in the plenitude of their liberty they had promised to obey could havedreamed of such innovations if they had not been urged on and upheld by those in high places. To alleviate the vow of poverty and to multiply observances were the two points toward which their efforts were bent.

In appearance it was a trifling matter, in reality it was much, for it was the first movement of the old spirit against the new. It was the effort of men who unconsciously, I am willing to think, made religion an affair of rite and observance, instead of seeing in it, like St. Francis, the conquest of the liberty which makes us free in all things, and leads each soul to obey that divine and mysterious power which the flowers of the fields adore, which the birds of the air bless, which the symphony of the stars praises, and which Jesus of Nazareth calledAbba, that is to say, Father.

The first Rule was excessively simple in the matter of fasts. The friars were to abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays; they might add Mondays and Saturdays, but only on Francis's special authorization. The vicars and their adherents complicated this rule in a surprising manner. At the chapter-general held in Francis's absence (May 17, 1220), they decided, first, that in times of feasting the friars were not to provide meat, but if it were offered to them spontaneously they were to eat it; second, that all should fast on Mondays as well as Wednesdays and Fridays; third, that on Mondays and Saturdays they should abstain from milk products unless by chance the adherents of the Order brought some to them.40

These beginnings bear witness also to an effort to imitate the ancient Orders, not without the vague hope that they would be substituted for them. Brother Giordano has preserved to us only this decision of the chapter of 1220, but the expressions of which he makes use sufficientlyprove that it was far from being the only one, and that the malcontents had desired, as in the chapters of Citeaux and Monte Cassino, to put forth veritable constitutions.

These modifications of the Rule did not pass, however, without arousing the indignation of a part of the chapter; a lay brother made himself their eager messenger, and set out for the East to entreat Francis to return without delay, to take the measures called for by the circumstances.

There were also other causes of disquiet. Brother Philip, a Zealot of the Clarisses, had made haste to secure for them from Ugolini the privileges which had already been under consideration.41

A certain Brother Giovanni di Conpello42had gathered together a great number of lepers of both sexes, and written a Rule, intending to form with them a new Order. He had afterward presented himself before the supreme pontiff with a train of these unfortunates to obtain his approbation.

Many other distressing symptoms, upon which Brother Giordano does not dwell, had manifested themselves. The report of Francis's death had even been spread abroad, so that the whole Order was disturbed, divided, and in the greatest peril. The dark presentiments whichFrancis seems to have had were exceeded by the reality.43The messenger who brought him the sad news found him in Syria, probably at St. Jean d'Acre. He at once embarked with Elias, Pietro di Catana, Cæsar of Speyer, and a few others, and returned to Italy in a vessel bound for Venice, where he might easily arrive toward the end of July.

FOOTNOTES1.One proof of the obscurity in which Dominic remained so long as Rome did not apotheosize him, is that Jacques de Vitry, who consecrates a whole chapter of hisHistoria Occidentalisto the Preaching Friars (27, p. 333) does not even name the founder. This is the more significant since a few pages farther on, the chapter given to the Brothers Minor is almost entirely filled with the person of St. Francis. This silence about St. Dominic has been remarked and taken up by Moschus, who finds no way to explain it. VideVitam J. de Vitriaco, at the head of the Douai edition of 1597.2.Francis, who died in 1226, is canonized in 1228; Anthony of Padua, 1231 and 1233; Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1231 and 1235; Dominic, 1221 and 1234.3.3 Soc., 61.4.Shed abroad, Lord, thy Spirit, and all shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.5.2 Cel., 3. 87;Spec., 132b;Conform., 207a, 112a;Fior., 18. The historians of St. Dominic have not received these details kindly, but an incontestable point gained from diplomatic documents is that in 1218 Dominic, at Rome, procured privileges in which the properties of his Order were indicated, and that in 1220 he led his friars to profess poverty.6.2 Cel., 3, 9;Spec., 17a.7.Spec., 49a;Tribul., Laur. MS., 11a-12b;Spec., 183a;Conform., 135b 1.8.The principal sources are indicated in A. SS., Augusti, t. i., pp. 470 ff.9.Giord., 18; 3 Soc., 62.10.Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i, p. 2; Potthast, 6081: Wadding,ann. 1219, No. 28, indicates the works where the text may be found. Cf. A. SS., p. 839.11.The title sufficiently indicated the contents:Domenico priori S. Romani tolosani ejusque fratribus, eos in protectionem recipit eorumque Ordinem cum bonis et privilegiis confirmat.Religiosam vitam: December 22, 1216; Pressuti, t. i., 175, text in Horoy t. ii., col. 141-144.12.Vide A. SS., pp. 608 ff. and 838 ff.13.Vide BullMulti divinæof August 13, 1218. Horoy, t. iii., col. 12; Potthast, 5891.14.The contradiction is so striking that the Bollandists have made of it the principal argument for defending the error in their manuscript (1 Cel., 75), and insisting in the face of, and against everything that Francis had taken that journey. A. SS., 607.15.He died at Cahors, October 31, 1272. His legend is found in MS. Riccardi, 279, fo. 69a.Incipit vita f. Christophori quam compilavit fr. Bernardus de Bessa custodiæ Caturcensis: Quasi vas auri solidum.Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., pp. 106-113, t. iii., p. 212, and Glassberger,An. fr., t. ii., p. 14.16.A. SS., Aprilis, t. iii., p. 224;Conform., 118b, 1; 54a; Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., p. 1—Brother Luke had been sent to Constantinople, in 1219, at latest. VideConstitutusof December 9, 1220. Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i., p. 6; Potthast, 6431.17.We owe to M. Müller (Anfänge, p. 207) the honor of this publication, copied from a manuscript of the Cottoniana.18.Giord., 8.19.1 Cel., 57; Bon., 133-138; 154 and 155; 2 Cel., 2, 2;Conform., 113b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec., 55b;Fior., 24.20.Conform., 113b, 2; cf. A. SS., p. 611.21.2 Cel., 3, 92;Spec., 30b. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.Conform., 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place on the return.22.With the facilities of that period the voyage required from twenty to thirty days. Thediariumof a similar passage may be found in Huillard-Bréholles,Hist. Dipl., t. i., 898-901. Cf.Ibid., Introd., p. cccxxxi.23.2 Cel., 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS., p. 612.24.Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the Sources,p. 428.25.Vide below, the Study of the Sources,p. 430.26.All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry.27."Cil hom qui comença l'ordre des Frères Mineurs, si ot nom frère François ... vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le péché qui comença à croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une pièce en Surie, et puis s'en rala en son pais." Historiens des Croisades, ii.L'Est de Eracles Empereur, liv. xxxii., chap. xv. Cf. Sanuto;Secreta fid. cruc., lib. iii., p. xi., cap. 8, in Bongars.28.Giord., Chron., 11-14.29.The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below, gives some probability to this hypothesis.30.Tribul., Laur. MS., 9b. Cf. 10b:Sepulcro Domini visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram.31.Upon this monastery see a letterad familiaresof Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules de St. Genois in t. xiii. of theMémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles(1849).Conform., 106b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec.,184.32.A. SS., pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638.33.Vide BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219. Cf. those of September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i., p. 3, 11 ff.; Potthast, 6179, 6879a, b, c.34.Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218, 6220, 6246. See alsoChartularium Universitatis Par., t. i., 487.35.BullQuia qui seminantof May 12, 1220. Ripalli,Bul. Præd., t. i., p. 10 (Potthast, 6249).36.Mon. Germ. hist. Script., t. 23, p. 376. This passage is of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the perils with which theHumiliatithreatened the Church, Burchard adds:Quæ volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem Predicatorum instituit et confirmavit.Now theseHumiliatiwere an approved Order. But Burchard, while classing them with heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX.37.1 Cel., 25; cf. A. SS., p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the title of doctor of laws, Giord., 11, which entirely disagrees with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc., 28 and 29. Cf. Bon., 28 and 29;Spec., 5b;Fior., 2;Conform., 47; 52b, 2;Petrus vir litteratus erat et nobilis, Giord., 12.38.We know nothing more of him except that after his death he had the gift of miracles. Giord., 11;Conform., 62a, 1.39.He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and orator (Eccl., 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX., which throws some light upon the practices which have just been described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things that manuscripts of two of his sermons may be found in the National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated simply asfr. Gr. min., it has only lately become known whose they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday and Saturday. MS. new. acq., Lat., 338 fo148, 159.40.Giord., 11. Cf.Spec., 34b.Fior., 4;Conform., 184a, 1.41.Giord., 12. Cf. BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219.42.Giord., 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name. On the other hand, the 3 Soc., 35, indicate the entrance into the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the Franciscan Judas.Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se suspendit.Conform., 104a, 1. Cf.Bernard de Besse, 96a;Spec., 2;Fior., 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward, and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name itself.43.Giord., 12, 13, and 14.

1.One proof of the obscurity in which Dominic remained so long as Rome did not apotheosize him, is that Jacques de Vitry, who consecrates a whole chapter of hisHistoria Occidentalisto the Preaching Friars (27, p. 333) does not even name the founder. This is the more significant since a few pages farther on, the chapter given to the Brothers Minor is almost entirely filled with the person of St. Francis. This silence about St. Dominic has been remarked and taken up by Moschus, who finds no way to explain it. VideVitam J. de Vitriaco, at the head of the Douai edition of 1597.2.Francis, who died in 1226, is canonized in 1228; Anthony of Padua, 1231 and 1233; Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1231 and 1235; Dominic, 1221 and 1234.3.3 Soc., 61.4.Shed abroad, Lord, thy Spirit, and all shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.5.2 Cel., 3. 87;Spec., 132b;Conform., 207a, 112a;Fior., 18. The historians of St. Dominic have not received these details kindly, but an incontestable point gained from diplomatic documents is that in 1218 Dominic, at Rome, procured privileges in which the properties of his Order were indicated, and that in 1220 he led his friars to profess poverty.6.2 Cel., 3, 9;Spec., 17a.7.Spec., 49a;Tribul., Laur. MS., 11a-12b;Spec., 183a;Conform., 135b 1.8.The principal sources are indicated in A. SS., Augusti, t. i., pp. 470 ff.9.Giord., 18; 3 Soc., 62.10.Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i, p. 2; Potthast, 6081: Wadding,ann. 1219, No. 28, indicates the works where the text may be found. Cf. A. SS., p. 839.11.The title sufficiently indicated the contents:Domenico priori S. Romani tolosani ejusque fratribus, eos in protectionem recipit eorumque Ordinem cum bonis et privilegiis confirmat.Religiosam vitam: December 22, 1216; Pressuti, t. i., 175, text in Horoy t. ii., col. 141-144.12.Vide A. SS., pp. 608 ff. and 838 ff.13.Vide BullMulti divinæof August 13, 1218. Horoy, t. iii., col. 12; Potthast, 5891.14.The contradiction is so striking that the Bollandists have made of it the principal argument for defending the error in their manuscript (1 Cel., 75), and insisting in the face of, and against everything that Francis had taken that journey. A. SS., 607.15.He died at Cahors, October 31, 1272. His legend is found in MS. Riccardi, 279, fo. 69a.Incipit vita f. Christophori quam compilavit fr. Bernardus de Bessa custodiæ Caturcensis: Quasi vas auri solidum.Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., pp. 106-113, t. iii., p. 212, and Glassberger,An. fr., t. ii., p. 14.16.A. SS., Aprilis, t. iii., p. 224;Conform., 118b, 1; 54a; Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., p. 1—Brother Luke had been sent to Constantinople, in 1219, at latest. VideConstitutusof December 9, 1220. Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i., p. 6; Potthast, 6431.17.We owe to M. Müller (Anfänge, p. 207) the honor of this publication, copied from a manuscript of the Cottoniana.18.Giord., 8.19.1 Cel., 57; Bon., 133-138; 154 and 155; 2 Cel., 2, 2;Conform., 113b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec., 55b;Fior., 24.20.Conform., 113b, 2; cf. A. SS., p. 611.21.2 Cel., 3, 92;Spec., 30b. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.Conform., 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place on the return.22.With the facilities of that period the voyage required from twenty to thirty days. Thediariumof a similar passage may be found in Huillard-Bréholles,Hist. Dipl., t. i., 898-901. Cf.Ibid., Introd., p. cccxxxi.23.2 Cel., 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS., p. 612.24.Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the Sources,p. 428.25.Vide below, the Study of the Sources,p. 430.26.All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry.27."Cil hom qui comença l'ordre des Frères Mineurs, si ot nom frère François ... vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le péché qui comença à croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une pièce en Surie, et puis s'en rala en son pais." Historiens des Croisades, ii.L'Est de Eracles Empereur, liv. xxxii., chap. xv. Cf. Sanuto;Secreta fid. cruc., lib. iii., p. xi., cap. 8, in Bongars.28.Giord., Chron., 11-14.29.The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below, gives some probability to this hypothesis.30.Tribul., Laur. MS., 9b. Cf. 10b:Sepulcro Domini visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram.31.Upon this monastery see a letterad familiaresof Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules de St. Genois in t. xiii. of theMémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles(1849).Conform., 106b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec.,184.32.A. SS., pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638.33.Vide BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219. Cf. those of September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i., p. 3, 11 ff.; Potthast, 6179, 6879a, b, c.34.Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218, 6220, 6246. See alsoChartularium Universitatis Par., t. i., 487.35.BullQuia qui seminantof May 12, 1220. Ripalli,Bul. Præd., t. i., p. 10 (Potthast, 6249).36.Mon. Germ. hist. Script., t. 23, p. 376. This passage is of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the perils with which theHumiliatithreatened the Church, Burchard adds:Quæ volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem Predicatorum instituit et confirmavit.Now theseHumiliatiwere an approved Order. But Burchard, while classing them with heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX.37.1 Cel., 25; cf. A. SS., p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the title of doctor of laws, Giord., 11, which entirely disagrees with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc., 28 and 29. Cf. Bon., 28 and 29;Spec., 5b;Fior., 2;Conform., 47; 52b, 2;Petrus vir litteratus erat et nobilis, Giord., 12.38.We know nothing more of him except that after his death he had the gift of miracles. Giord., 11;Conform., 62a, 1.39.He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and orator (Eccl., 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX., which throws some light upon the practices which have just been described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things that manuscripts of two of his sermons may be found in the National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated simply asfr. Gr. min., it has only lately become known whose they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday and Saturday. MS. new. acq., Lat., 338 fo148, 159.40.Giord., 11. Cf.Spec., 34b.Fior., 4;Conform., 184a, 1.41.Giord., 12. Cf. BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219.42.Giord., 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name. On the other hand, the 3 Soc., 35, indicate the entrance into the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the Franciscan Judas.Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se suspendit.Conform., 104a, 1. Cf.Bernard de Besse, 96a;Spec., 2;Fior., 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward, and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name itself.43.Giord., 12, 13, and 14.

2.Francis, who died in 1226, is canonized in 1228; Anthony of Padua, 1231 and 1233; Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1231 and 1235; Dominic, 1221 and 1234.

3.3 Soc., 61.

4.Shed abroad, Lord, thy Spirit, and all shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

5.2 Cel., 3. 87;Spec., 132b;Conform., 207a, 112a;Fior., 18. The historians of St. Dominic have not received these details kindly, but an incontestable point gained from diplomatic documents is that in 1218 Dominic, at Rome, procured privileges in which the properties of his Order were indicated, and that in 1220 he led his friars to profess poverty.

6.2 Cel., 3, 9;Spec., 17a.

7.Spec., 49a;Tribul., Laur. MS., 11a-12b;Spec., 183a;Conform., 135b 1.

8.The principal sources are indicated in A. SS., Augusti, t. i., pp. 470 ff.

9.Giord., 18; 3 Soc., 62.

10.Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i, p. 2; Potthast, 6081: Wadding,ann. 1219, No. 28, indicates the works where the text may be found. Cf. A. SS., p. 839.

11.The title sufficiently indicated the contents:Domenico priori S. Romani tolosani ejusque fratribus, eos in protectionem recipit eorumque Ordinem cum bonis et privilegiis confirmat.Religiosam vitam: December 22, 1216; Pressuti, t. i., 175, text in Horoy t. ii., col. 141-144.

12.Vide A. SS., pp. 608 ff. and 838 ff.

13.Vide BullMulti divinæof August 13, 1218. Horoy, t. iii., col. 12; Potthast, 5891.

14.The contradiction is so striking that the Bollandists have made of it the principal argument for defending the error in their manuscript (1 Cel., 75), and insisting in the face of, and against everything that Francis had taken that journey. A. SS., 607.

15.He died at Cahors, October 31, 1272. His legend is found in MS. Riccardi, 279, fo. 69a.Incipit vita f. Christophori quam compilavit fr. Bernardus de Bessa custodiæ Caturcensis: Quasi vas auri solidum.Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., pp. 106-113, t. iii., p. 212, and Glassberger,An. fr., t. ii., p. 14.

16.A. SS., Aprilis, t. iii., p. 224;Conform., 118b, 1; 54a; Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., p. 1—Brother Luke had been sent to Constantinople, in 1219, at latest. VideConstitutusof December 9, 1220. Sbaralea,Bull. fr., t. i., p. 6; Potthast, 6431.

17.We owe to M. Müller (Anfänge, p. 207) the honor of this publication, copied from a manuscript of the Cottoniana.

18.Giord., 8.

19.1 Cel., 57; Bon., 133-138; 154 and 155; 2 Cel., 2, 2;Conform., 113b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec., 55b;Fior., 24.

20.Conform., 113b, 2; cf. A. SS., p. 611.

21.2 Cel., 3, 92;Spec., 30b. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.Conform., 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place on the return.

22.With the facilities of that period the voyage required from twenty to thirty days. Thediariumof a similar passage may be found in Huillard-Bréholles,Hist. Dipl., t. i., 898-901. Cf.Ibid., Introd., p. cccxxxi.

23.2 Cel., 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS., p. 612.

24.Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the Sources,p. 428.

25.Vide below, the Study of the Sources,p. 430.

26.All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry.

27."Cil hom qui comença l'ordre des Frères Mineurs, si ot nom frère François ... vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le péché qui comença à croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une pièce en Surie, et puis s'en rala en son pais." Historiens des Croisades, ii.L'Est de Eracles Empereur, liv. xxxii., chap. xv. Cf. Sanuto;Secreta fid. cruc., lib. iii., p. xi., cap. 8, in Bongars.

28.Giord., Chron., 11-14.

29.The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below, gives some probability to this hypothesis.

30.Tribul., Laur. MS., 9b. Cf. 10b:Sepulcro Domini visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram.

31.Upon this monastery see a letterad familiaresof Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules de St. Genois in t. xiii. of theMémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles(1849).Conform., 106b, 2; 114a, 2;Spec.,184.

32.A. SS., pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638.

33.Vide BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219. Cf. those of September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i., p. 3, 11 ff.; Potthast, 6179, 6879a, b, c.

34.Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218, 6220, 6246. See alsoChartularium Universitatis Par., t. i., 487.

35.BullQuia qui seminantof May 12, 1220. Ripalli,Bul. Præd., t. i., p. 10 (Potthast, 6249).

36.Mon. Germ. hist. Script., t. 23, p. 376. This passage is of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the perils with which theHumiliatithreatened the Church, Burchard adds:Quæ volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem Predicatorum instituit et confirmavit.Now theseHumiliatiwere an approved Order. But Burchard, while classing them with heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX.

37.1 Cel., 25; cf. A. SS., p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the title of doctor of laws, Giord., 11, which entirely disagrees with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc., 28 and 29. Cf. Bon., 28 and 29;Spec., 5b;Fior., 2;Conform., 47; 52b, 2;Petrus vir litteratus erat et nobilis, Giord., 12.

38.We know nothing more of him except that after his death he had the gift of miracles. Giord., 11;Conform., 62a, 1.

39.He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and orator (Eccl., 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX., which throws some light upon the practices which have just been described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things that manuscripts of two of his sermons may be found in the National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated simply asfr. Gr. min., it has only lately become known whose they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday and Saturday. MS. new. acq., Lat., 338 fo148, 159.

40.Giord., 11. Cf.Spec., 34b.Fior., 4;Conform., 184a, 1.

41.Giord., 12. Cf. BullSacrosanctaof December 9, 1219.

42.Giord., 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name. On the other hand, the 3 Soc., 35, indicate the entrance into the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the Franciscan Judas.Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se suspendit.Conform., 104a, 1. Cf.Bernard de Besse, 96a;Spec., 2;Fior., 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward, and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name itself.

43.Giord., 12, 13, and 14.

On his arrival in Venice Francis informed himself yet more exactly concerning all that had happened, and convoked the chapter-general at Portiuncula for Michaelmas (September 29, 1220).2His first care was doubtless to reassure his sister-friend at St. Damian; a short fragment of a letter which has been preserved to us gives indication of the sad anxieties which filled his mind:

"I, little Brother Francis, desire to follow the life and the poverty of Jesus Christ, our most high Lord, and of his most holy Mother, persevering therein until the end; and I beg you all and exhort you to persevere always in this most holy life and poverty, and take good care never to depart from it upon the advice or teachings of any one whomsoever."3

A long shout of joy sounded up and down all Italy when the news of his return was heard. Many zealous brethren were already despairing, for persecutions had begun in many provinces; so when they learned that their spiritual father was alive and coming again to visitthem their joy was unbounded. From Venice Francis went to Bologna. The journey was marked by an incident which once more shows his acute and wise goodness. Worn out as much by emotion as by fatigue, he one day found himself obliged to give up finishing the journey on foot. Mounted upon an ass, he was going on his way, followed by Brother Leonard of Assisi, when a passing glance showed him what was passing in his companion's mind. "My relatives," the friar was thinking, "would have been far enough from associating with Bernardone, and yet here am I, obliged to follow his son on foot."

We may judge of his astonishment when he heard Francis saying, as he hastily dismounted from his beast: "Here, take my place; it is most unseemly that thou shouldst follow me on foot, who art of a noble and powerful lineage." The unhappy Leonard, much confused, threw himself at Francis's feet, begging for pardon.4

Scarcely arrived at Bologna, Francis was obliged to proceed against those who had become backsliders. It will be remembered that the Order was intended to possess nothing, either directly or indirectly. The monasteries given to the friars did not become their property; so soon as the proprietor should desire to take them back or anyone else should wish to take possession of them, they were to be given up without the least resistance; but on drawing near to Bologna he learned that a house was being built, which was already calledThe house of the Brothers. He commanded its immediate evacuation, not even excepting the sick who happened to be there. The Brothers then resorted to Ugolini, who was then in that very city for the consecration of Santa Maria di Rheno.5He explained to Francis at length that this house did not belong to the Order; he had declared himself its proprietorby public acts; and he succeeded in convincing him.6

Bolognese piety prepared for Francis an enthusiastic reception, the echo of which has come down even to our times:

"I was studying at Bologna, I, Thomas of Spalato, archdeacon in the cathedral church of that city, when in the year 1220, the day of the Assumption, I saw St. Francis preaching on the piazza of the Lesser Palace, before almost every man in the city. The theme of his discourse was the following: Angels, men, the demons. He spoke on all these subjects with so much wisdom and eloquence that many learned men who were there were filled with admiration at the words of so plain a man. Yet he had not the manner of a preacher, his ways were rather those of conversation; the substance of his discourse bore especially upon the abolition of enmities and the necessity of making peaceful alliances. His apparel was poor, his person in no respect imposing, his face not at all handsome; but God gave such great efficacy to his words that he brought back to peace and harmony many nobles whose savage fury had not even stopped short before the shedding of blood. So great a devotion was felt for him that men and women flocked after him, and he esteemed himself happy who succeeded in touching the hem of his garment."

Was it at this time that the celebrated Accurso the Glossarist,7chief of that famous dynasty of jurisconsults who during the whole thirteenth century shed lustre upon the University of Bologna, welcomed the Brothers Minor to his villa at Ricardina, near the city?8We do not know.

It appears that another professor, Nicolas dei Pepoli, also entered the Order.9Naturally the pupils did not lag behind, and a certain number asked to receive the habit. Yet all this constituted a danger; this city, which in Italy was as an altar consecrated to the science of law,was destined to exercise upon the evolution of the Order the same influence as Paris; the Brothers Minor could no more hold aloof from it than they could keep aloof from the ambient air.

This time Francis remained here but a very short time. An ancient tradition, of which his biographers have not preserved any trace, but which nevertheless appears to be entirely probable, says that Ugolini took him to pass a month in the Camaldoli, in the retreat formerly inhabited by St. Romuald in the midst of the Casentino forest, one of the noblest in Europe, within a few hours' walk of the Verna, whose summit rises up gigantic, overlooking the whole country.

We know how much Francis needed repose. There is no doubt that he also longed for a period of meditation in order to decide carefully in advance upon his line of conduct, in the midst of the dark conjectures which had called him home. The desire to give him the much-needed rest was only a subordinate purpose with Ugolini. The moment for vigorous action appeared to him to have come. We can easily picture his responses to Francis's complaints. Had he not been seriously advised to profit by the counsels of the past, by the experience of those founders of Orders who have been not only saints but skilful leaders of men? Was not Ugolini himself his best friend, his born defender, and yet had not Francis forced him to lay aside the influence to which his love for the friars, his position in the Church, and his great age gave him such just title? Yes, he had been forced to leave Francis to needlessly expose his disciples to all sorts of danger, to send them on missions as perilous as they had proved to be ineffectual, and all for what? For the most trivial point of honor, because the Brothers Minor were determined not to enjoy the smallest privileges. They were not heretics, but they disturbed theChurch as much as the heretics did. How many times had he not been reminded that a great association, in order to exist, must have precise and detailed regulations? It had all been labor lost! Of course Francis's humility was doubted by no one, but why not manifest it, not only in costume and manner of living, but in all his acts? He thought himself obeying God in defending his own inspiration, but does not the Church speak in the name of God? Are not the words of her representatives the words of Jesus forever perpetuated on earth? He desired to be a man of the Gospel, an apostolic man, but was not the best way of becoming such to obey the Roman pontiff, the successor of Peter? With an excess of condescension they had let him go on in his own way, and the result was the saddest of lessons. But the situation was not desperate, there was still time to find a remedy; to do that he had only to throw himself at the feet of the pope, imploring his blessing, his light, and his counsel.

Reproaches such as these, mingled with professions of love and admiration on the part of the prelate, could not but profoundly disturb a sensitive heart like that of Francis. His conscience bore him good witness, but with the modesty of noble minds he was ready enough to think that he might have made many mistakes.

Perhaps this is the place to ask what was the secret of the friendship of these two men, so little known to one another on certain sides. How could it last without a shadow down to the very death of Francis, when we always find Ugolini the very soul of the group who are compromising the Franciscan ideal? No answer to this question is possible. The same problem presents itself with regard to Brother Elias, and we are no better able to find a satisfactory answer. Men of loving hearts seldom have a perfectly clear intelligence. They oftenbecome fascinated by men the most different from themselves, in whose breasts they feel none of those feminine weaknesses, those strange dreams, that almost sickly pity for creatures and things, that mysterious thirst for pain which is at once their own happiness and their torment.

The sojourn at Camaldoli was prolonged until the middle of September, and it ended to the cardinal's satisfaction. Francis had decided to go directly to the pope, then at Orvieto, with the request that Ugolini should be given him as official protector intrusted with the direction of the Order.

A dream which he had once had recurred to his memory; he had seen a little black hen which, in spite of her efforts, was not able to spread her wings over her whole brood. The poor hen was himself, the chickens were the friars. This dream was a providential indication commanding him to seek for them a mother under whose wings they could all find a place, and who could defend them against the birds of prey. At least so he thought.10

He repaired to Orvieto without taking Assisi in his way, since if he went there he would be obliged to take some measures against the fomentors of disturbance; he now proposed to refer everything directly to the pope.

Does his profound humility, with the feeling of culpability which Ugolini had awakened in him, suffice to explain his attitude with regard to the pope, or must we suppose that he had a vague thought of abdicating? Who knows whether conscience was not already murmuring a reproach, and showing him how trivial were all the sophisms which had been woven around him?

"Not daring to present himself in the apartments of so great a prince, he remained outside before the door, patiently waiting till the pope should come out. When he appeared St. Francis madea reverence and said:'Father Pope, may God give you peace.' 'May God bless you, my son,' replied he. 'My lord,' then said St. Francis to him, 'you are great and often absorbed by great affairs; poor friars cannot come and talk with you as often as they need to do; you have given me many popes; give me a single one to whom I may address myself when need occurs, and who will listen in your stead, and discuss my affairs and those of the Order.' 'Whom do you wish I should give you, my son?' 'The Bishop of Ostia.' And he gave him to him."11

'Father Pope, may God give you peace.' 'May God bless you, my son,' replied he. 'My lord,' then said St. Francis to him, 'you are great and often absorbed by great affairs; poor friars cannot come and talk with you as often as they need to do; you have given me many popes; give me a single one to whom I may address myself when need occurs, and who will listen in your stead, and discuss my affairs and those of the Order.' 'Whom do you wish I should give you, my son?' 'The Bishop of Ostia.' And he gave him to him."11

Conferences with Ugolini now began again; he immediately accorded Francis some amends; the privilege granted the Clarisses was revoked; Giovanni di Conpello was informed that he had nothing to hope from thecuria, and last of all leave was given to Francis himself to compose the Rule of his Order. Naturally he was not spared counsel on the subject, but there was one point upon which the curia could not brook delay, and of which it exacted the immediate application—the obligation of a year's novitiate for the postulants.

At the same time a bull was issued not merely for the sake of publishing this ordinance, but especially to mark in a solemn manner the commencement of a new era in the relations of the Church and the Franciscans. The fraternity of the Umbrian Penitents became an Order in the strictest sense of the word.

Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Brother Francis and the other priors or custodes of the Brothers Minor, greeting and the apostolic benediction.In nearly all religious Orders it has been wisely ordained that those who present themselves with the purpose of observing the regular life shall make trial of it for a certain time, during which they also shall be tested, in order to leave neither place nor pretext for inconsiderate steps. For these reasons we command you by these presents to admit no one to make profession until after one year of novitiate; we forbid that after profession any brother shall leave the Order, and that any one shall take back again him who has gone out from it. We alsoforbid that those wearing your habit shall circulate here and there without obedience, lest the purity of your poverty be corrupted. If any friars have had this audacity, you will inflict upon them ecclesiastical censures until repentance.12

Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Brother Francis and the other priors or custodes of the Brothers Minor, greeting and the apostolic benediction.

In nearly all religious Orders it has been wisely ordained that those who present themselves with the purpose of observing the regular life shall make trial of it for a certain time, during which they also shall be tested, in order to leave neither place nor pretext for inconsiderate steps. For these reasons we command you by these presents to admit no one to make profession until after one year of novitiate; we forbid that after profession any brother shall leave the Order, and that any one shall take back again him who has gone out from it. We alsoforbid that those wearing your habit shall circulate here and there without obedience, lest the purity of your poverty be corrupted. If any friars have had this audacity, you will inflict upon them ecclesiastical censures until repentance.12

It is surely only by a very decided euphemism that such a bull can be considered in the light of a privilege. It was in reality the laying of the strong hand of the papacy upon the Brothers Minor.

From this time, in the very nature of things it became impossible for Francis to remain minister-general. He felt it himself. Heart-broken, soul-sick, he would fain, in spite of all, have found in the energy of his love those words, those glances which up to this time had taken the place of rule or constitution, giving to his earliest companions the intuition of what they ought to do and the strength to accomplish it; but an administrator was needed at the head of this family which he suddenly found to be so different from what it had been a few years before, and he sadly acknowledged that he himself was not in the slightest degree such a person.13

Ah, in his own conscience he well knew that the old ideal was the true, the right one; but he drove away such thoughts as the temptations of pride. The recent events had not taken place without in some degree weakening his moral personality; from being continually talked to about obedience, submission, humility, a certain obscurity had come over this luminous soul; inspiration no longer came to it with the certainty of other days;the prophet had begun to waver, almost to doubt of himself and of his mission. Anxiously he searched himself to see if in the beginning of his work there had not been some vain self-complacency. He pictured to himself beforehand the chapter which he was about to open, the attack, the criticisms of which it would be the object, and labored to convince himself that if he did not endure them with joy he was not a true Brother Minor.14The noblest virtues are subject to scruples, that of perfect humility more than any other, and thus it is that excellent men religiously betray their own convictions to avoid asserting themselves. He resolved then to put the direction of the Order into the hands of Pietro di Catana. It is evident that there was nothing spontaneous in this decision, and the fact that this brother was a doctor of laws and belonged to the nobility squarely argues the transformation of the Franciscan institute.

It is not known whether or not Ugolini was present at the chapter of September 29, 1220, but if he was not there in person he was assuredly represented by some prelate, charged to watch over the debates.15The bull which had been issued a week before was communicated to the friars, to whom Francis also announced that he was about to elaborate a new Rule. With reference to this matter there were conferences in which the ministers alone appear to have had a deliberative voice. At these conferences the essential points of the new Rule were settled as to principle, leaving to Francis the care of giving them proper form at his leisure. Nothing better reveals the demoralized state into which he had fallen than the decision which was taken to drop out one of the essential passages of the old Rule, one of his three fundamentalprecepts, that which began with these words, "Carry nothing with you."16

How did they go to work to obtain from Francis this concession which, a little while before, he would have looked upon as a denial of his call, a refusal to accept in its integrity the message which Jesus had addressed to him? It is the secret of history, but we may suppose there was in his life at this time one of those moral tempests which overbear the faculties of the strongest, leaving in their wounded hearts only an unutterable pain.

Something of this pain has passed into the touching narrative of his abdication which the biographers have given us.

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