FOOTNOTES1.The passes that give access to the Casentino have all about one thousand metres of altitude. Until the most recent years there was no road properly so called.2.In France Mount Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of Dauphiny, presents the same aspect and the same geological formation. St. Odile also recalls the Verna, but is very much smaller.3.The summit has an altitude of 1269 metres. In Italian they call it theVerna, in LatinAlvernus. The etymology, which has tested the acuteness of the learned, appears to be very simple; the verbvernare, used by Dante, signifies make cold, freeze.4.Name of the highest point on the plateau. Hardly three-quarters of an hour from the monastery, and not two hours and a half, as these worthy anchorites believed. This is said for the benefit of tourists ... and pilgrims.5.The forest has been preserved as a relic. Alexander IV. fulminated excommunication against whomever should cut down the firs of Verna. As to the birds, it is enough to pass a day at the monastery to be amazed at their number and variety. M. C. Beni has begun at Stia (in Casentino) an ornithological collection which already includes more than five hundred and fifty varieties.6.1 Cel., 91; Bon., 188;Fior. i., consid.7.Fior. i., consid.; Conform., 176b, 1.8.Cel., 2, 15; Bon., 100.Fior. i., consid.9.Bon., 118.Fior. i., consid.10.2 Cel., 100.11.Fior. ii., consid.12.The ruins of the castle of Chiusi are three quarters of an hour from Verna.13.Fior. iv. and v. consid.These two considerations appear to be the result of a reworking of the primitive document. The latter no doubt included the three former, which the continuer has interpolated and lengthened. Cf.Conform., 231a, 1;Spec., 91b, 92a, 97; A. SS., pp. 860 ff.14.In current language we often include under the word mysticism all the tendencies—often far from Christian—which give predominance in the religious life to vague poetic elements, impulses of the heart. The name of mystic ought to be applied only to those Christians to whomimmediaterelations with Jesus form the basis of the religious life. In this sense St. Paul (whose theologico-philosophical system is one of the most powerful efforts of the human mind to explain sin and redemption) is at the same time the prince of mystics.15.He did not desire to institute a religion, for he felt the vanity of observances and dogmas. (The apostles continued to frequent the Jewish temple. Acts, ii., 46; iii., 1; v., 25; xxi., 26.) He desired to inoculate the world with a new life.16.2 Cel., 3, 29; cf. 1 Cel., 115; 3 Soc., 13 and 14; 2 Cel., 1, 6; 2 Cel., 3, 123 and 131; Bon., 57; 124; 203; 204; 224; 225; 309; 310; 311;Conform., 229b ff.17.1 Cel., 91-94; Bon., 189, 190.18.See the annotations of Brother Leo upon the autograph of St. Francis (Crit. Study,p. 357) and 1 Cel., 94, 95; Bon., 191, 192, 193 (3 Soc., 69, 70);Fior. iii. consid.Cf.Auct. vit. sec.; A. SS. p. 649. It is to be noted that Thomas of Celano (1 Cel., 95), as well as all the primitive documents, describe the stigmata as being fleshy excrescences, recalling in form and color the nails with which the limbs of Jesus were pierced. No one speaks of those gaping, sanguineous wounds which were imagined later. Only the mark at the side was a wound, whence at times exuded a little blood. Finally, Thomas of Celano says that after the seraphic visionbegan to appear, cœperunt apparere signa clavorum. Vide Appendix:Study of the Stigmata.
1.The passes that give access to the Casentino have all about one thousand metres of altitude. Until the most recent years there was no road properly so called.2.In France Mount Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of Dauphiny, presents the same aspect and the same geological formation. St. Odile also recalls the Verna, but is very much smaller.3.The summit has an altitude of 1269 metres. In Italian they call it theVerna, in LatinAlvernus. The etymology, which has tested the acuteness of the learned, appears to be very simple; the verbvernare, used by Dante, signifies make cold, freeze.4.Name of the highest point on the plateau. Hardly three-quarters of an hour from the monastery, and not two hours and a half, as these worthy anchorites believed. This is said for the benefit of tourists ... and pilgrims.5.The forest has been preserved as a relic. Alexander IV. fulminated excommunication against whomever should cut down the firs of Verna. As to the birds, it is enough to pass a day at the monastery to be amazed at their number and variety. M. C. Beni has begun at Stia (in Casentino) an ornithological collection which already includes more than five hundred and fifty varieties.6.1 Cel., 91; Bon., 188;Fior. i., consid.7.Fior. i., consid.; Conform., 176b, 1.8.Cel., 2, 15; Bon., 100.Fior. i., consid.9.Bon., 118.Fior. i., consid.10.2 Cel., 100.11.Fior. ii., consid.12.The ruins of the castle of Chiusi are three quarters of an hour from Verna.13.Fior. iv. and v. consid.These two considerations appear to be the result of a reworking of the primitive document. The latter no doubt included the three former, which the continuer has interpolated and lengthened. Cf.Conform., 231a, 1;Spec., 91b, 92a, 97; A. SS., pp. 860 ff.14.In current language we often include under the word mysticism all the tendencies—often far from Christian—which give predominance in the religious life to vague poetic elements, impulses of the heart. The name of mystic ought to be applied only to those Christians to whomimmediaterelations with Jesus form the basis of the religious life. In this sense St. Paul (whose theologico-philosophical system is one of the most powerful efforts of the human mind to explain sin and redemption) is at the same time the prince of mystics.15.He did not desire to institute a religion, for he felt the vanity of observances and dogmas. (The apostles continued to frequent the Jewish temple. Acts, ii., 46; iii., 1; v., 25; xxi., 26.) He desired to inoculate the world with a new life.16.2 Cel., 3, 29; cf. 1 Cel., 115; 3 Soc., 13 and 14; 2 Cel., 1, 6; 2 Cel., 3, 123 and 131; Bon., 57; 124; 203; 204; 224; 225; 309; 310; 311;Conform., 229b ff.17.1 Cel., 91-94; Bon., 189, 190.18.See the annotations of Brother Leo upon the autograph of St. Francis (Crit. Study,p. 357) and 1 Cel., 94, 95; Bon., 191, 192, 193 (3 Soc., 69, 70);Fior. iii. consid.Cf.Auct. vit. sec.; A. SS. p. 649. It is to be noted that Thomas of Celano (1 Cel., 95), as well as all the primitive documents, describe the stigmata as being fleshy excrescences, recalling in form and color the nails with which the limbs of Jesus were pierced. No one speaks of those gaping, sanguineous wounds which were imagined later. Only the mark at the side was a wound, whence at times exuded a little blood. Finally, Thomas of Celano says that after the seraphic visionbegan to appear, cœperunt apparere signa clavorum. Vide Appendix:Study of the Stigmata.
1.The passes that give access to the Casentino have all about one thousand metres of altitude. Until the most recent years there was no road properly so called.
2.In France Mount Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of Dauphiny, presents the same aspect and the same geological formation. St. Odile also recalls the Verna, but is very much smaller.
3.The summit has an altitude of 1269 metres. In Italian they call it theVerna, in LatinAlvernus. The etymology, which has tested the acuteness of the learned, appears to be very simple; the verbvernare, used by Dante, signifies make cold, freeze.
4.Name of the highest point on the plateau. Hardly three-quarters of an hour from the monastery, and not two hours and a half, as these worthy anchorites believed. This is said for the benefit of tourists ... and pilgrims.
5.The forest has been preserved as a relic. Alexander IV. fulminated excommunication against whomever should cut down the firs of Verna. As to the birds, it is enough to pass a day at the monastery to be amazed at their number and variety. M. C. Beni has begun at Stia (in Casentino) an ornithological collection which already includes more than five hundred and fifty varieties.
6.1 Cel., 91; Bon., 188;Fior. i., consid.
7.Fior. i., consid.; Conform., 176b, 1.
8.Cel., 2, 15; Bon., 100.Fior. i., consid.
9.Bon., 118.Fior. i., consid.
10.2 Cel., 100.
11.Fior. ii., consid.
12.The ruins of the castle of Chiusi are three quarters of an hour from Verna.
13.Fior. iv. and v. consid.These two considerations appear to be the result of a reworking of the primitive document. The latter no doubt included the three former, which the continuer has interpolated and lengthened. Cf.Conform., 231a, 1;Spec., 91b, 92a, 97; A. SS., pp. 860 ff.
14.In current language we often include under the word mysticism all the tendencies—often far from Christian—which give predominance in the religious life to vague poetic elements, impulses of the heart. The name of mystic ought to be applied only to those Christians to whomimmediaterelations with Jesus form the basis of the religious life. In this sense St. Paul (whose theologico-philosophical system is one of the most powerful efforts of the human mind to explain sin and redemption) is at the same time the prince of mystics.
15.He did not desire to institute a religion, for he felt the vanity of observances and dogmas. (The apostles continued to frequent the Jewish temple. Acts, ii., 46; iii., 1; v., 25; xxi., 26.) He desired to inoculate the world with a new life.
16.2 Cel., 3, 29; cf. 1 Cel., 115; 3 Soc., 13 and 14; 2 Cel., 1, 6; 2 Cel., 3, 123 and 131; Bon., 57; 124; 203; 204; 224; 225; 309; 310; 311;Conform., 229b ff.
17.1 Cel., 91-94; Bon., 189, 190.
18.See the annotations of Brother Leo upon the autograph of St. Francis (Crit. Study,p. 357) and 1 Cel., 94, 95; Bon., 191, 192, 193 (3 Soc., 69, 70);Fior. iii. consid.Cf.Auct. vit. sec.; A. SS. p. 649. It is to be noted that Thomas of Celano (1 Cel., 95), as well as all the primitive documents, describe the stigmata as being fleshy excrescences, recalling in form and color the nails with which the limbs of Jesus were pierced. No one speaks of those gaping, sanguineous wounds which were imagined later. Only the mark at the side was a wound, whence at times exuded a little blood. Finally, Thomas of Celano says that after the seraphic visionbegan to appear, cœperunt apparere signa clavorum. Vide Appendix:Study of the Stigmata.
The morning after St. Michael's Day (September 30, 1224) Francis quitted Verna and went to Portiuncula. He was too much exhausted to think of making the journey on foot, and Count Orlando put a horse at his disposal.
We can imagine the emotion with which he bade adieu to the mountain on which had been unfolded the drama of love and pain which had consummated the union of his entire being with the Crucified One.
Amor, amor, Gesu desideroso,Amor voglio morire,Te abrazandoAmor, dolce Gesu, meo sposo,Amor, amor, la morte te domando,Amor, amor, Gesu si pietosoTu me te dai in te transformatoPensa ch'io vo spasmandoNon so o io me siaGesu speranza miaOrmai va, dormi in amore.
So sang Giacopone dei Todi in the raptures of a like love.1
If we are to believe a recently published document,2Brother Masseo, one of those who remained on the Verna, made a written account of the events of this day.
They set out early in the morning. Francis, after having given his directions to the Brothers, had had a look and a word for everything around; for the rocks, the flowers, the trees, for brother hawk, a privileged character which was authorized to enter his cell at all times, and which came every morning, with the first glimmer of dawn, to remind him of the hour of service.3
Then the little band set forth upon the path leading to Monte-Acuto.4Arrived at the gap from whence one gets the last sight of the Verna, Francis alighted from his horse, and kneeling upon the earth, his face turned toward the mountain, "Adieu," he said, "mountain of God, sacred mountain,mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, mons in quo bene placitum est Deo habitare; adieu Monte-Verna, may God bless thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; abide in peace; we shall never see one another more."
Has not this artless scene a delicious and poignant sweetness? He must surely have uttered these words, in which suddenly the Italian does not suffice and Francisis obliged to resort to the mystical language of the breviary to express his feelings.
A few minutes later the rock of the ecstacy had disappeared. The descent into the valley is rapid. The Brothers had decided to spend the night at Monte-Casale, the little hermitage above Borgo San-Sepolcro. All of them, even those who were to remain on the Verna, were still following their master. As for him, absorbed in thought he had become entirely oblivious to what was going on, and did not even perceive the noisy enthusiasm which his passage aroused in the numerous villages along the Tiber.
At Borgo San-Sepolcro he received a real ovation without even then coming to himself; but when they had some time quitted the town, he seemed suddenly to awake, and asked his companion if they ought not soon to arrive there.5
The first evening at Monte Casale was marked by a miracle. Francis healed a friar who was possessed.6The next morning, having decided to pass several days in this hermitage, he sent the brothers back to the Verna, and with them Count Orlando's horse.
In one of the villages through which they had passed the day before a woman had been lying several days between death and life unable to give birth to her child. Those about her had only learned of the passage of the saint through their village when he was too far distant to be overtaken. We may judge of the joy of these poor people when the rumor was spread that he was about to return. They went to meet him, and were terribly disappointed on finding only the friars. Suddenly an idea occurred to them: taking the bridle of the horse consecrated by the touch of Francis's hands, they carried itto the sufferer, who, having laid it upon her body, gave birth to her child without the slightest pain.7
This miracle, established by narratives entirely authentic, shows the degree of enthusiasm felt by the people for the person of Francis. As for him, after a few days at Monte-Casale, he set out with Brother Leo for Città di Castello. He there healed a woman suffering from frightful nervous disorders, and remained an entire month preaching in this city and its environs. When he once more set forth winter had almost closed in. A peasant lent him his ass, but the roads were so bad that they were unable to reach any sort of shelter before nightfall. The unhappy travellers were obliged to pass the night under a rock; the shelter was more than rudimentary, the wind drifted the snow in upon them, and nearly froze the unlucky peasant, who with abominable oaths heaped curses on Francis; but the latter replied with such cheerfulness that he made him at last forget both the cold and his bad humor.
On the morrow the saint reached Portiuncula. He seems to have made only a brief halt there, and to have set forth again almost immediately to evangelize Southern Umbria.
It is impossible to follow him in this mission. Brother Elias accompanied him, but so feeble was he that Elias could not conceal his uneasiness as to his life.8
Ever since his return from Syria (August, 1220), he had been growing continually weaker, but his fervor had increased from day to day. Nothing could check him, neither suffering nor the entreaties of the Brothers; seated on an ass he would sometimes go over three or four villages in one day. Such excessive toil brought onan infirmity even more painful than any he had hitherto suffered from: he was threatened with loss of sight.9
Meanwhile a sedition had forced Honorius III. to leave Rome (end of April, 1225). After passing a few weeks at Tivoli, he established himself at Rieti, where he remained until the end of 1226.10
The pope's arrival had drawn to this city, with the entire pontifical court, several physicians of renown; Cardinal Ugolini, who had come in the pope's train, hearing of Francis's malady, summoned him to Rieti for treatment. But notwithstanding Brother Elias's entreaties Francis hesitated a long time as to accepting the invitation.11It seemed to him that a sick man has but one thing to do; place himself purely and simply in the hands of the heavenly Father. What is pain to a soul that is fixed in God!12
Elias, however, at last overcame his objections, and the journey was determined upon, but first Francis desired to go and take leave of Clara, and enjoy a little rest near her.
He remained at St. Damian much longer than he had proposed to do13(end of July to beginning of September, 1225). His arrival at this beloved monastery was marked by a terrible aggravation of his malady. For fifteen days he was so completely blind that he could not even distinguish light. The care lavished upon him produced no result, since every day he passed long hours in weeping—tears of penitence, he said, but also of regret.14Ah, how different they were from those tears ofhis moments of inspiration and emotion, which had flowed over a countenance all illumined with joy! They had seen him, in such moments, take up two bits of wood, and, accompanying himself with this rustic violin, improvise French songs in which he would pour out the abundance of his heart.15
But the radiance of genius and hope had become dimmed. Rachel weeps for her children, and will not be comforted because they are not. There are in the tears of Francis this samequia non suntfor his spiritual sons.
But if there are irremediable pains there are none which may not be at once elevated and softened, when we endure them at the side of those who love us.
In this respect his companions could not be of much help to him. Moral consolations are possible only from our peers, or when two hearts are united by a mystical passion so great that they mingle and understand one another.
"Ah, if the Brothers knew what I suffer," St. Francis said a few days before the impression of the stigmata, "with what pity and compassion they would be moved!"
But they, seeing him who had laid cheerfulness upon them as a duty becoming more and more sad and keeping aloof from them, imagined that he was tortured with temptations of the devil.16
Clara divined that which could not be uttered. At St. Damian her friend was looking back over all the past: what memories lived again in a single glance! Here, the olive-tree to which, a brilliant cavalier, he had fastened his horse; there, the stone bench where his friend, the priest of the poor chapel, used to sit; yonder, the hiding-place in which he had taken refuge from the paternalwrath, and, above all, the sanctuary with the mysterious crucifix of the decisive hour.
In living over these pictures of the radiant past, Francis aggravated his pain; yet they spoke to him of other things than death and regret. Clara was there, as steadfast, as ardent as ever. Long ago transformed by admiration, she was now transfigured by compassion. Seated at the feet of him whom she loved with more than earthly love she felt the soreness of his soul, and the failing of his heart. After that, what did it matter that Francis's tears became more abundant to the point of making him blind for a fortnight? Soothing would come; the sister of consolation would give him peace once more.
And first she kept him near her, and, herself taking part in the labor, she made him a large cell of reeds in the monastery garden, that he might be entirely at liberty as to his movements.
How could he refuse a hospitality so thoroughly Franciscan? It was indeed only too much so: legions of rats and mice infested this retired spot; at night they ran over Francis's bed with an infernal uproar, so that he could find no repose from his sufferings. But he soon forgot all that when near his sister-friend. Once again she gave back to him faith and courage. "A single sunbeam," he used to say, "is enough to drive away many shadows!"
Little by little the man of the former days began to show himself, and at times the Sisters would hear, mingling with the murmur of the olive trees and pines, the echo of unfamiliar songs, which seemed to come from the cell of reeds.
One day he had seated himself at the monastery table after a long conversation with Clara. The meal had hardly begun when suddenly he seemed to be rapt away in ecstasy.
"Laudato sia lo Signore!" he cried on coming to himself. He had just composed the Canticle of the Sun.17
Altissimu, onnipotente, bon signore,tue so le laude la gloria e l'onore et onne benedictione.Ad te sole, altissimo, se konfanoet nullu homo ene dignu te mentovare.Laudato sie, mi signore, cum tucte le tue creaturespetialmente messor lo frate sole,lo quale jorna, et illumini per lui;Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore;de te, altissimo, porta significatione.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora luna e le stelle,in celu l' ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.Laudato si, mi signore, per frate ventoet per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,per le quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento.Laudato si, mi signore, per sor acqua,la quale è multo utile et humele et pretiosa et casta.Laudato si, mi signore, per frate focu,per lo quale ennallumini la nocte,ed ello è bello et jucundo et robustoso et forte.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra matre terra,la quale ne sustenta et governaet produce diversi fructi con colorite flori et herba.Laudato si, mi signore, per quilli ke perdonano per lo tuo amoreet sosteugo infirmitate et tribulatione,beati quilli ke sosterrano in pace,ka da te, altissimo, sirano incoronati.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale,de la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare:guai a quilli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;beati quilli ke se trovarà ne le tue sanctissime voluntati,ka la morte secunda nol farrà male.Laudate et benedicete mi signore et rengratiateet serviteli cum grande humilitate.
Altissimu, onnipotente, bon signore,tue so le laude la gloria e l'onore et onne benedictione.Ad te sole, altissimo, se konfanoet nullu homo ene dignu te mentovare.Laudato sie, mi signore, cum tucte le tue creaturespetialmente messor lo frate sole,lo quale jorna, et illumini per lui;Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore;de te, altissimo, porta significatione.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora luna e le stelle,in celu l' ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle.Laudato si, mi signore, per frate ventoet per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,per le quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento.Laudato si, mi signore, per sor acqua,la quale è multo utile et humele et pretiosa et casta.Laudato si, mi signore, per frate focu,per lo quale ennallumini la nocte,ed ello è bello et jucundo et robustoso et forte.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra matre terra,la quale ne sustenta et governaet produce diversi fructi con colorite flori et herba.Laudato si, mi signore, per quilli ke perdonano per lo tuo amoreet sosteugo infirmitate et tribulatione,beati quilli ke sosterrano in pace,ka da te, altissimo, sirano incoronati.Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale,de la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare:guai a quilli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali;beati quilli ke se trovarà ne le tue sanctissime voluntati,ka la morte secunda nol farrà male.Laudate et benedicete mi signore et rengratiateet serviteli cum grande humilitate.
O most high, almighty, good Lord God, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing!To thee alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce thy Name.Praised be my Lord God with all his creatures, and specially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies to us thee!Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, the which he has set clear and lovely in heaven.Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather by the which thou upholdest life in allcreatures.Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean.Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors, and grass.Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown.Praised be my Lord for our sister, the death of the body, from which no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal sin! Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do them harm.Praise ye and bless the Lord, and give thanks unto him and serve him with great humility.
O most high, almighty, good Lord God, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing!To thee alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce thy Name.
Praised be my Lord God with all his creatures, and specially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies to us thee!
Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, the which he has set clear and lovely in heaven.
Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather by the which thou upholdest life in allcreatures.
Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean.
Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.
Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors, and grass.
Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown.
Praised be my Lord for our sister, the death of the body, from which no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal sin! Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do them harm.
Praise ye and bless the Lord, and give thanks unto him and serve him with great humility.
Joy had returned to Francis, joy as deep as ever. For a whole week he forsook his breviary and passed his days in repeating the Canticle of the Sun.
During a night of sleeplessness he had heard a voice saying to him, "If thou hadst faith as a grain of mustard seed, thou wouldst say to this mountain, 'Be thou removed from there,' and it would move away." Was not the mountain that of his sufferings, the temptation to murmur and despair? "Be it, Lord, according to thy word," he had replied with all his heart, and immediately he had felt that he was delivered.20
He might have perceived that the mountain had not greatly changed its place, but for several days he hadturned his eyes away from it, he had been able to forget its existence.
For a moment he thought of summoning to his side Brother Pacifico, the King of Verse, to retouch his canticle; his idea was to attach to him a certain number of friars, who would go with him from village to village, preaching. After the sermon they would sing the Hymn of the Sun; and they were to close by saying to the crowd gathered around them in the public places, "We are God's jugglers. We desire to be paid for our sermon and our song. Our payment shall be that you persevere in penitence."21
"Is it not in fact true," he would add, "that the servants of God are really like jugglers, intended to revive the hearts of men and lead them into spiritual joy?"
The Francis of the old raptures had come back, the layman, the poet, the artist.
The Canticle of the Creatures is very noble: it lacks, however, one strophe; if it was not upon Francis's lips, it was surely in his heart:
Be praised, Lord, for Sister Clara; thou hast made her silent, active, and sagacious, and by her thy light shines in our hearts.
Be praised, Lord, for Sister Clara; thou hast made her silent, active, and sagacious, and by her thy light shines in our hearts.
FOOTNOTES1.Thirty-sixth and last strophe of the songAmor de caritadePerche m' hai si ferito?found in the collection of St. Francis's works.2.By the Abbé Amoni, at the close of his edition of the Fioretti, Rome, 1 vol., 12mo, 1889, pp. 390-392. We can but once more regret the silence of the editor as to the manuscript whence he has drawn these charming pages. Certain indications seem unfavorable to the author having written it before the second half of the thirteenth century; on the other hand, the object of a forgery is not evident. An apochryphal piece always betrays itself by some interested purpose, but here the story is of an infantine simplicity.3.2 Cel., 3, 104; Bon., 119;Fior. ii. consid.4.Parti san Francesco per Monte-Acuto prendendo la via di Monte-Arcoppe e del foresto.This road from the Verna to Borgo San-Sepolero is far from being the shortest or the easiest, for instead of leading directly to the plain it lingers for long hours among the hills. Is not all Francis in this choice?5.2 Cel., 3, 41; Bon., 141;Fior. iv. consid.6.1 Cel., 63 and 64;Fior. iv. consid.7.1 Cel., 70;Fior. iv. consid.8.1 Cel., 109; 69; Bon. 208. Perhaps we must refer to this circuit the visit to Celano. 2 Cel., 3, 30;Spec., 22; Bon., 156 and 157.9.1 Cel., 97 and 98; 2 Cel., 3, 137; Bon., 205 and 206.10.Richard of St. Germano,ann. 1225. Cf. Potthast, 7400 ff.11.1 Cel., 98 and 99; 2 Cel., 3, 137;Fior., 19.12.2 Cel., 3, 110; Rule of 1221,cap.10.13.See the reference to the sources after the Canticle of the Sun.14.2 Cel., 3, 138.15.This incident appeared to the authors so peculiar that they emphasized it with anut oculis videmus. 2 Cel., 3, 67;Spec., 119a.16.Spec., 123a; 2 Cel., 3, 58.17.I have combined Celano's narrative with that of the Conformities. The details given in the latter document appear to me entirely worthy of faith. It is easy to see, however, why Celano omitted them, and it would be difficult to explain how they could have been later invented. 2 Cel., 3, 138;Conform., 42b, 2; 119b, 1; 184b, 2; 239a, 2;Spec., 123a ff.;Fior., 19.18.After the Assisan MS., 338, fo33a. Vide p. 354. Father Panfilo da Magliano has already published it after this manuscript:Storia compendiosa di San Francesco, Rome, 2 vols., 18mo, 1874-1876. The Conformities, 202b, 2-203a 1, give a version of it which differs from this only by insignificant variations. The learned philologue Monaci has established a very remarkable critical text in hisCrestomazia italiana dei primi secoli. Citta di Castello, fas. i., 1889, 8vo, pp. 29-31. This thoroughly scrupulous work dispenses me from indicating manuscripts and editions more at length.19.Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series. Macmillan & Company, 1883.20.2 Cel., 3, 58;Spec., 123a.21.Spec., 124a. Cf.Miscellanea(1889), iv., p. 88.
1.Thirty-sixth and last strophe of the songAmor de caritadePerche m' hai si ferito?found in the collection of St. Francis's works.2.By the Abbé Amoni, at the close of his edition of the Fioretti, Rome, 1 vol., 12mo, 1889, pp. 390-392. We can but once more regret the silence of the editor as to the manuscript whence he has drawn these charming pages. Certain indications seem unfavorable to the author having written it before the second half of the thirteenth century; on the other hand, the object of a forgery is not evident. An apochryphal piece always betrays itself by some interested purpose, but here the story is of an infantine simplicity.3.2 Cel., 3, 104; Bon., 119;Fior. ii. consid.4.Parti san Francesco per Monte-Acuto prendendo la via di Monte-Arcoppe e del foresto.This road from the Verna to Borgo San-Sepolero is far from being the shortest or the easiest, for instead of leading directly to the plain it lingers for long hours among the hills. Is not all Francis in this choice?5.2 Cel., 3, 41; Bon., 141;Fior. iv. consid.6.1 Cel., 63 and 64;Fior. iv. consid.7.1 Cel., 70;Fior. iv. consid.8.1 Cel., 109; 69; Bon. 208. Perhaps we must refer to this circuit the visit to Celano. 2 Cel., 3, 30;Spec., 22; Bon., 156 and 157.9.1 Cel., 97 and 98; 2 Cel., 3, 137; Bon., 205 and 206.10.Richard of St. Germano,ann. 1225. Cf. Potthast, 7400 ff.11.1 Cel., 98 and 99; 2 Cel., 3, 137;Fior., 19.12.2 Cel., 3, 110; Rule of 1221,cap.10.13.See the reference to the sources after the Canticle of the Sun.14.2 Cel., 3, 138.15.This incident appeared to the authors so peculiar that they emphasized it with anut oculis videmus. 2 Cel., 3, 67;Spec., 119a.16.Spec., 123a; 2 Cel., 3, 58.17.I have combined Celano's narrative with that of the Conformities. The details given in the latter document appear to me entirely worthy of faith. It is easy to see, however, why Celano omitted them, and it would be difficult to explain how they could have been later invented. 2 Cel., 3, 138;Conform., 42b, 2; 119b, 1; 184b, 2; 239a, 2;Spec., 123a ff.;Fior., 19.18.After the Assisan MS., 338, fo33a. Vide p. 354. Father Panfilo da Magliano has already published it after this manuscript:Storia compendiosa di San Francesco, Rome, 2 vols., 18mo, 1874-1876. The Conformities, 202b, 2-203a 1, give a version of it which differs from this only by insignificant variations. The learned philologue Monaci has established a very remarkable critical text in hisCrestomazia italiana dei primi secoli. Citta di Castello, fas. i., 1889, 8vo, pp. 29-31. This thoroughly scrupulous work dispenses me from indicating manuscripts and editions more at length.19.Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series. Macmillan & Company, 1883.20.2 Cel., 3, 58;Spec., 123a.21.Spec., 124a. Cf.Miscellanea(1889), iv., p. 88.
1.Thirty-sixth and last strophe of the song
Amor de caritadePerche m' hai si ferito?
found in the collection of St. Francis's works.
2.By the Abbé Amoni, at the close of his edition of the Fioretti, Rome, 1 vol., 12mo, 1889, pp. 390-392. We can but once more regret the silence of the editor as to the manuscript whence he has drawn these charming pages. Certain indications seem unfavorable to the author having written it before the second half of the thirteenth century; on the other hand, the object of a forgery is not evident. An apochryphal piece always betrays itself by some interested purpose, but here the story is of an infantine simplicity.
3.2 Cel., 3, 104; Bon., 119;Fior. ii. consid.
4.Parti san Francesco per Monte-Acuto prendendo la via di Monte-Arcoppe e del foresto.This road from the Verna to Borgo San-Sepolero is far from being the shortest or the easiest, for instead of leading directly to the plain it lingers for long hours among the hills. Is not all Francis in this choice?
5.2 Cel., 3, 41; Bon., 141;Fior. iv. consid.
6.1 Cel., 63 and 64;Fior. iv. consid.
7.1 Cel., 70;Fior. iv. consid.
8.1 Cel., 109; 69; Bon. 208. Perhaps we must refer to this circuit the visit to Celano. 2 Cel., 3, 30;Spec., 22; Bon., 156 and 157.
9.1 Cel., 97 and 98; 2 Cel., 3, 137; Bon., 205 and 206.
10.Richard of St. Germano,ann. 1225. Cf. Potthast, 7400 ff.
11.1 Cel., 98 and 99; 2 Cel., 3, 137;Fior., 19.
12.2 Cel., 3, 110; Rule of 1221,cap.10.
13.See the reference to the sources after the Canticle of the Sun.
14.2 Cel., 3, 138.
15.This incident appeared to the authors so peculiar that they emphasized it with anut oculis videmus. 2 Cel., 3, 67;Spec., 119a.
16.Spec., 123a; 2 Cel., 3, 58.
17.I have combined Celano's narrative with that of the Conformities. The details given in the latter document appear to me entirely worthy of faith. It is easy to see, however, why Celano omitted them, and it would be difficult to explain how they could have been later invented. 2 Cel., 3, 138;Conform., 42b, 2; 119b, 1; 184b, 2; 239a, 2;Spec., 123a ff.;Fior., 19.
18.After the Assisan MS., 338, fo33a. Vide p. 354. Father Panfilo da Magliano has already published it after this manuscript:Storia compendiosa di San Francesco, Rome, 2 vols., 18mo, 1874-1876. The Conformities, 202b, 2-203a 1, give a version of it which differs from this only by insignificant variations. The learned philologue Monaci has established a very remarkable critical text in hisCrestomazia italiana dei primi secoli. Citta di Castello, fas. i., 1889, 8vo, pp. 29-31. This thoroughly scrupulous work dispenses me from indicating manuscripts and editions more at length.
19.Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series. Macmillan & Company, 1883.
20.2 Cel., 3, 58;Spec., 123a.
21.Spec., 124a. Cf.Miscellanea(1889), iv., p. 88.
What did Ugolini think when they told him that Francis was planning to send his friars, transformed intoJoculatores Domini, to sing up and down the country the Canticle of Brother Sun? Perhaps he never heard of it. Hisprotégéfinally decided to accept his invitation and left St. Damian in the course of the month of September.
The landscape which lies before the eyes of the traveller from Assisi, when he suddenly emerges upon the plain of Rieti, is one of the most beautiful in Europe. From Terni the road follows the sinuous course of the Velino, passes not far from the famous cascades, whose clouds of mist are visible, and then plunges into the defiles in whose depths the torrent rushes noisily, choked by a vegetation as luxuriant as that of a virgin forest. On all sides uprise walls of perpendicular rocks, and on their crests, several hundred yards above your head, are feudal fortresses, among others the Castle of Miranda, more giddy, more fantastic than any which Gustave Doré's fancy ever dreamed.
After four hours of walking, the defile opens out and you find yourself without transition in a broad valley, sparkling with light.
Rieti, the only city in this plain of several leagues, appears far away at the other extremity, commanded byhills of a thoroughly tropical aspect, behind which rise the mighty Apennines, almost always covered with snow.
The highway goes directly toward this town, passing between tiny lakes; here and there roads lead off to little villages which you see, on the hillside, between the cultivated fields and the edge of the forests; there are Stroncone, Greccio, Cantalice, Poggio-Buscone, and ten other small towns, which have given more saints to the Church than a whole province of France.
Between the inhabitants of the district and their neighbors of Umbria, properly so called, the difference is extreme. They are all of the striking type of the Sabine peasants, and they remain to this day entire strangers to new customs. One is born a Capuchin there as elsewhere one is born a soldier, and the traveller needs to have his wits about him not to address every man he meets as Reverend Father.
Francis had often gone over this district in every direction. Like its neighbor, the hilly March of Ancona, it was peculiarly prepared to receive the new gospel. In these hermitages, with their almost impossible simplicity, perched near the villages on every side, without the least care for material comfort, but always where there is the widest possible view, was perpetuated a race of Brothers Minor, impassioned, proud, stubborn, almost wild, who did not wholly understand their master, who did not catch his exquisite simplicity, his impossibility of hating, his dreams of social and political renovation, his poetry and delicacy, but who did understand the lover of nature and of poverty.1They did more than understand him;they lived his life, and from that Christmas festival observed in the woods of Greccio down to to-day they have remained the simple and popular representatives of the Strict Observance. From them comes to us the Legend of the Three Companions, the most life-like and true of all the portraits of the Poverello, and it was there, in a cell three paces long, that Giovanni di Parma had his apocalyptic visions.
The news of Francis's arrival quickly spread, and long before he reached Rieti the population had come out to meet him.
To avoid this noisy welcome he craved the hospitality of the priest of St. Fabian. This little church, now known under the name of Our Lady of the Forest, is somewhat aside from the road upon a grassy mound about a league from the city. He was heartily welcomed, and desiring to remain there for a little, prelates and devotees began to flock thither in the next few days.
It was the time of the early grapes. It is easy to imagine the disquietude of the priest on perceiving the ravages made by these visitors among his vines, his best source of revenue, but he probably exaggerated the damage. Francis one day heard him giving vent to his bad humor. "Father," he said, "it is useless for you to disturb yourself for what you cannot hinder; but, tell me, how much wine do you get on an average?"
"Fourteen measures," replied the priest.
"Very well, if you have less than twenty, I undertake to make up the difference."
This promise reassured the worthy man, and when at the vintage he received twenty measures, he had no hesitation in believing in a miracle.2
Upon Ugolini's entreaties Francis had accepted thehospitality of the bishop's palace in Rieti. Thomas of Celano enlarges with delight upon the marks of devotion lavished on Francis by this prince of the Church. Unhappily all this is written in that pompous and confused style of which diplomats and ecclesiastics appear to have by nature the secret.
Francis entered into the condition of a relic in his lifetime. The mania for amulets displayed itself around him in all its excesses. People quarrelled not only over his clothing, but even over his hair and the parings of his nails.3
Did these merely exterior demonstrations disgust him? Did he sometimes think of the contrast between these honors offered to his body, which he picturesquely called Brother Ass, and the subversion of his ideal? We cannot tell. If he had feelings of this kind those who surrounded him were not the men to understand them, and it would be idle to expect any expression of them from his pen.
Soon after he had a relapse, and asked to be removed to Monte-Colombo,4a hermitage an hour distant from the city, hidden amidst trees and scattered rocks. He had already retired thither several times, notably when he was preparing the Rule of 1223.
The doctors, having exhausted the therapeutic arsenal of the time, decided to resort to cauterization; it was decided to draw a rod of white-hot iron across his forehead.
When the poor patient saw them bringing in the brazier and the instruments he had a moment of terror; butimmediately making the sign of the cross over the glowing iron, "Brother fire," he said, "you are beautiful above all creatures; be favorable to me in this hour; you know how much I have always loved you; be then courteous to-day."
Afterward, when his companions, who had not had the courage to remain, came back he said to them, smiling, "Oh, cowardly folk, why did you go away? I felt no pain. Brother doctor, if it is necessary you may do it again."
This experiment was no more successful than the other remedies. In vain they quickened the wound on the forehead, by applying plasters, salves, and even by making incisions in it; the only result was to increase the pains of the sufferer.5
One day, at Rieti, whither he had again been carried, he thought that a little music would relieve his pain. Calling a friar who had formerly been clever at playing the guitar, he begged him to borrow one; but the friar was afraid of the scandal which this might cause, and Francis gave it up.
God took pity upon him; the following night he sent an invisible angel to give him such a concert as is never heard on earth.6Francis, hearing it, lost all bodily feeling, say the Fioretti, and at one moment the melody was so sweet and penetrating that if the angel had given one more stroke of the bow, the sick man's soul would have left his body.7
It seems that there was some amelioration of his state when the doctors left him; we find him during themonths of this winter, 1225-1226, in the most remote hermitages of the district, for as soon as he had a little strength he was determined to begin preaching again.
He went to Poggio-Buscone8for the Christmas festival. People flocked thither in crowds from all the country round to see and hear him. "You come here," he said, "expecting to find a great saint; what will you think when I tell you that I ate meat all through Advent?"9At St. Eleutheria,10at a time of extreme cold which tried him much, he had sewn some pieces of stuff into his own tunic and that of his companion, so as to make their garments a little warmer. One day his companion came home with a fox-skin, with which in his turn he proposed to line his master's tunic. Francis rejoiced much over it, but would permit this excess of consideration for his body only on condition that the piece of fur should be placed on the outside over his chest.
All these incidents, almost insignificant at a first view, show how he detested hypocrisy even in the smallest things.
We will not follow him to his dear Greccio,11nor even to the hermitage of St. Urbano, perched on one of the highest peaks of the Sabine.12The accounts which wehave of the brief visits he made there at this time tell us nothing new of his character or of the history of his life. They simply show that the imaginations of those who surrounded him were extraordinarily overheated; the least incidents immediately took on a miraculous coloring.13
The documents do not say how it came about that he decided to go to Sienna. It appears that there was in that city a physician of great fame as an oculist. The treatment he prescribed was no more successful than that of the others; but with the return of spring Francis made a new effort to return to active life. We find him describing the ideal Franciscan monastery,14and another day explaining a passage in the Bible to a Dominican.
Did the latter, a doctor in theology, desire to bring the rival Order into ridicule by showing its founder incapable of explaining a somewhat difficult verse? It appears extremely likely. "My good father," he said, "how do you understand this saying of the prophet Ezekiel, 'If thou dost not warn the wicked of his wickedness, I will require his soul of thee?' I am acquainted with many men whom I know to be in a state of mortal sin, and yet I am not always reproaching them for their vices. Am I, then, responsible for their souls?"
At first Francis excused himself, alleging his ignorance, but urged by his interlocutor he said at last: "Yes, the true servant unceasingly rebukes the wicked, but he does it most of all by his conduct, by the truth which shines forth in his words, by the light of his example, by all the radiance of his life."15
He soon suffered so grave a relapse that the Brothersthought his last hour had come. They were especially affrighted by the hemorrhages, which reduced him to a state of extreme prostration. Brother Elias hastened to him. At his arrival the invalid felt in himself such an improvement that they could acquiesce in his desire to be taken back to Umbria. Toward the middle of April they set out, going in the direction of Cortona. It is the easiest route, and the delightful hermitage of that city was one of the best ordered to permit of his taking some repose. He doubtless remained there a very short time: he was in haste to see once more the skies of his native country, Portiuncula, St. Damian, the Carceri, all those paths and hamlets which one sees from the terraces of Assisi and which recalled to him so many sweet memories.
Instead of going by the nearest road, they made a long circuit by Gubbio and Nocera, to avoid Perugia, fearing some attempt of the inhabitants to get possession of the Saint. Such a relic as the body of Francis lacked little of the value of the sacred nail or the sacred lance.16Battles were fought for less than that.
They made a short halt near Nocera, at the hermitage of Bagnara, on the slopes of Monte-Pennino.17His companions were again very much disturbed. The swelling which had shown itself in the lower limbs was rapidly gaining the upper part of the body. The Assisans learned this, and wishing to be prepared for whatever might happen sent their men-at-arms to protect the Saint and hasten his return.
Bringing Francis back with them they stopped for foodat the hamlet of Balciano,18but in vain they begged the inhabitants to sell them provisions. As the escort were confiding their discomfiture to the friars, Francis, who knew these good peasants, said: "If you had asked for food without offering to pay, you would have found all you wanted."
He was right, for, following his advice, they received for nothing all that they desired.19
The arrival of the party at Assisi was hailed with frantic joy. This time Francis's fellow-citizens were sure that the Saint was not going to die somewhere else.20
Customs in this matter have changed too much for us to be able thoroughly to comprehend the good fortune of possessing the body of a saint. If you are ever so unlucky as to mention St. Andrew before an inhabitant of Amalfi, you will immediately find him beginning to shout "Evviva San Andrea! Evviva San Andrea!" Then with extraordinary volubility he will relate to you the legend of theGrande Protettore, his miracles past and present, those which he might have done if he had chosen, but which he refrained from doing out of charity because St. Januarius of Naples could not do as much. He gesticulates, throws himself about, hustles you, more enthusiastic over his relic and more exasperated by your coldness than a soldier of the Old Guard before an enemy of the Emperor.
In the thirteenth century all Europe was like that.
We shall find here several incidents which we may be tempted to consider shocking or even ignoble, if we donot make an effort to put them all into their proper surroundings.
Francis was installed in the bishop's palace; he would have preferred to be at Portiuncula, but the Brothers were obliged to obey the injunctions of the populace, and to make assurance doubly sure, guards were placed at all the approaches of the palace.
The abode of the Saint in this place was much longer than had been anticipated. It perhaps lasted several months (July to September). This dying man did not consent to die. He rebelled against death; in this centre of the work his anxieties for the future of the Order, which a little while before had been in the background, now returned, more agonizing and terrible than ever.
"We must begin again," he thought, "create a new family who will not forget humility, who will go and serve lepers and, as in the old times, put themselves always, not merely in words, but in reality, below all men."21
To feel that implacable work of destruction going on against which the most submissive cannot keep from protesting: "My God, my God, why? why hast thou forsaken me?" To be obliged to look on at the still more dreaded decomposition of his Order; he, the lark, to be spied upon by soldiers watching for his corpse—there was quite enough here to make him mortally sad.
During these last weeks all his sighs were noted. The disappearance of the greater part of the legend of the Three Companions certainly deprives us of some touching stories, but most of the incidents have been preserved for us, notwithstanding, in documents from a second hand.
Four Brothers had been especially charged to lavish care upon him: Leo, Angelo, Rufino, and Masseo. We already know them; they are of those intimate friendsof the first days, who had heard in the Franciscan gospel a call to love and liberty. And they too began to complain of everything.22
One day one of them said to the sick man: "Father, you are going away to leave us here; point out to us, then, if you know him, the one to whom we might in all security confide the burden of the generalship."
Alas, Francis did not know the ideal Brother, capable of assuming such a duty; but he took advantage of the question to sketch the portrait of the perfect minister-general.23
We have two impressions of this portrait, the one which has been retouched by Celano, and the original proof, much shorter and more vague, but showing us Francis desiring that his successor shall have but a single weapon, an unalterable love.
It was probably this question which suggested to him the thought of leaving for his successors, the generals of the Order, a letter which they should pass on from one to another, and where they should find, not directions for particular cases, but the very inspiration of their activity.24