See in what manner God gave it to me, to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penitence; when I lived in sin, it was very painful to me to see lepers, but God himself led me into their midst, and I remained here a little while.12When I left them, that which had seemed to me bitter had become sweet and easy.A little while after I quitted the world, and God gave me such a faith in his churches that I would kneel down with simplicity and I would say: "We adore thee, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all thy churches which are in the world, and we bless thee that by thy holy cross thou hast ransomed the world."Besides, the Lord gave me and still gives me so great a faith in priests who live according to the form of the holy Roman Church, because of their sacerdotal character, that even if they persecuted me I would have recourse to them. And even though I had all the wisdom of Solomon, if I should find poor secular priests, I would not preach in their parishes without their consent. I desire to respect them like all the others, to love them and honor them as my lords. I will not consider theirsins, for in them I see the Son of God and they are my lords. I do this because here below I see nothing, I perceive nothing corporally of the most high Son of God, if not his most holy Body and Blood, which they receive and they alone distribute to others. I desire above all things to honor and venerate all these most holy mysteries and to keep them precious. Whenever I find the sacred names of Jesus or his words in indecent places, I desire to take them away, and I pray that others take them away and put them in some decent place. We ought to honor and revere all the theologians and those who preach the most holy word of God, as dispensing to us spirit and life.When the Lord gave me some brothers no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live according to the model of the holy gospel. I caused a short and simple formula to be written, and the lord pope confirmed it for me.Those who presented themselves to observe this kind of life distributed all that they might have to the poor. They contented themselves with a tunic, patched within and without, with the cord and breeches, and we desired to have nothing more.The clerks said the office like other clerks, and the laymenPater noster.We loved to live in poor and abandoned churches, and we were ignorant and submissive to all. I worked with my hands and would continue to do, and I will also that all other friars work at some honorable trade. Let those who have none learn one, not for the purpose of receiving the price of their toil, but for their good example and to flee idleness. And when they do not give us the price of the work, let us resort to the table of the Lord, begging our bread from door to door. The Lord revealed to me the salutation which we ought to give: "God give you peace!"Let the Brothers take great care not to receive churches, habitations, and all that men build for them, except as all is in accordance with the holy poverty which we have vowed in the Rule, and let them not receive hospitality in them except as strangers and pilgrims.I absolutely interdict all the brothers, in whatever place they may be found, from asking any bull from the court of Rome, whether directly or indirectly, under pretext of church or convent or under pretext of preachings, nor even for their personal protection. If they are not received anywhere let them go elsewhere, thus doing penance with the benediction of God.I desire to obey the minister-general of this fraternity, and the guardian whom he may please to give me. I desire to put myself entirely into his hands, to go nowhere and do nothingagainst his will, for he is my lord.Though I be simple and ill, I would, however, have always a clerk who will perform the office, as it is said in the Rule; let all the other brothers also be careful to obey their guardians and to do the office according to the Rule. If it come to pass that there are any who do not the office according to the Rule, and who desire to make any other change, or if they are not Catholics, let all the Brothers, wherever they may be, be bound by obedience to present them to the nearest custode. Let the custodes be bound by obedience to keep him well guarded like a man who is in bonds night and day, so that he may not escape from their hands until they personally place him in the minister's hands. And let the minister be bound by obedience to send him by brothers who will guard him as a prisoner day and night until they shall have placed him in the hands of the Lord Bishop of Ostia, who is the lord, the protector, and the correcter of all the Fraternity.13And let the Brothers not say: "This is a new Rule;" for this is a reminder, a warning, an exhortation; it is my Will, that I, little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed Brothers, in order that we may observe in a more catholic way the Rule which we promised the Lord to keep.Let the ministers-general, all the other ministers and the custodes be held by obedience to add nothing to and take nothing from these words. Let them always keep this writing near them, beside the Rule; and in all the chapters which shall be held, when the Rule is read let these words be read also.I interdict absolutely, by obedience, all the Brothers, clerics and layman, to introduce glosses in the Rule, or in this Will, under pretext of explaining it. But since the Lord has given me to speak and to write the Rule and these words in a clear and simple manner, without commentary, understand them in the same way, and put them in practice until the end.And may whoever shall have observed these things be crowned in heaven with the blessings of the heavenly Father, and on earth with those of his well-beloved Son and of the Holy Spirit the consoler, with the assistance of all the heavenly virtues and all the saints.And I, little Brother Francis, your servitor, confirm to you so far as I am able this most holy benediction. Amen.
See in what manner God gave it to me, to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penitence; when I lived in sin, it was very painful to me to see lepers, but God himself led me into their midst, and I remained here a little while.12When I left them, that which had seemed to me bitter had become sweet and easy.
A little while after I quitted the world, and God gave me such a faith in his churches that I would kneel down with simplicity and I would say: "We adore thee, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all thy churches which are in the world, and we bless thee that by thy holy cross thou hast ransomed the world."
Besides, the Lord gave me and still gives me so great a faith in priests who live according to the form of the holy Roman Church, because of their sacerdotal character, that even if they persecuted me I would have recourse to them. And even though I had all the wisdom of Solomon, if I should find poor secular priests, I would not preach in their parishes without their consent. I desire to respect them like all the others, to love them and honor them as my lords. I will not consider theirsins, for in them I see the Son of God and they are my lords. I do this because here below I see nothing, I perceive nothing corporally of the most high Son of God, if not his most holy Body and Blood, which they receive and they alone distribute to others. I desire above all things to honor and venerate all these most holy mysteries and to keep them precious. Whenever I find the sacred names of Jesus or his words in indecent places, I desire to take them away, and I pray that others take them away and put them in some decent place. We ought to honor and revere all the theologians and those who preach the most holy word of God, as dispensing to us spirit and life.
When the Lord gave me some brothers no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live according to the model of the holy gospel. I caused a short and simple formula to be written, and the lord pope confirmed it for me.
Those who presented themselves to observe this kind of life distributed all that they might have to the poor. They contented themselves with a tunic, patched within and without, with the cord and breeches, and we desired to have nothing more.
The clerks said the office like other clerks, and the laymenPater noster.
We loved to live in poor and abandoned churches, and we were ignorant and submissive to all. I worked with my hands and would continue to do, and I will also that all other friars work at some honorable trade. Let those who have none learn one, not for the purpose of receiving the price of their toil, but for their good example and to flee idleness. And when they do not give us the price of the work, let us resort to the table of the Lord, begging our bread from door to door. The Lord revealed to me the salutation which we ought to give: "God give you peace!"
Let the Brothers take great care not to receive churches, habitations, and all that men build for them, except as all is in accordance with the holy poverty which we have vowed in the Rule, and let them not receive hospitality in them except as strangers and pilgrims.
I absolutely interdict all the brothers, in whatever place they may be found, from asking any bull from the court of Rome, whether directly or indirectly, under pretext of church or convent or under pretext of preachings, nor even for their personal protection. If they are not received anywhere let them go elsewhere, thus doing penance with the benediction of God.
I desire to obey the minister-general of this fraternity, and the guardian whom he may please to give me. I desire to put myself entirely into his hands, to go nowhere and do nothingagainst his will, for he is my lord.
Though I be simple and ill, I would, however, have always a clerk who will perform the office, as it is said in the Rule; let all the other brothers also be careful to obey their guardians and to do the office according to the Rule. If it come to pass that there are any who do not the office according to the Rule, and who desire to make any other change, or if they are not Catholics, let all the Brothers, wherever they may be, be bound by obedience to present them to the nearest custode. Let the custodes be bound by obedience to keep him well guarded like a man who is in bonds night and day, so that he may not escape from their hands until they personally place him in the minister's hands. And let the minister be bound by obedience to send him by brothers who will guard him as a prisoner day and night until they shall have placed him in the hands of the Lord Bishop of Ostia, who is the lord, the protector, and the correcter of all the Fraternity.13
And let the Brothers not say: "This is a new Rule;" for this is a reminder, a warning, an exhortation; it is my Will, that I, little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed Brothers, in order that we may observe in a more catholic way the Rule which we promised the Lord to keep.
Let the ministers-general, all the other ministers and the custodes be held by obedience to add nothing to and take nothing from these words. Let them always keep this writing near them, beside the Rule; and in all the chapters which shall be held, when the Rule is read let these words be read also.
I interdict absolutely, by obedience, all the Brothers, clerics and layman, to introduce glosses in the Rule, or in this Will, under pretext of explaining it. But since the Lord has given me to speak and to write the Rule and these words in a clear and simple manner, without commentary, understand them in the same way, and put them in practice until the end.
And may whoever shall have observed these things be crowned in heaven with the blessings of the heavenly Father, and on earth with those of his well-beloved Son and of the Holy Spirit the consoler, with the assistance of all the heavenly virtues and all the saints.
And I, little Brother Francis, your servitor, confirm to you so far as I am able this most holy benediction. Amen.
After thinking of his Brothers Francis thought of his dear Sisters at St. Damian and made a will for them.
It has not come down to us, and we need not wonder;the Spiritual Brothers might flee away, and protest from the depths of their retreats, but the Sisters were completely unarmed against the machinations of the Common Observance.14
In the last words that he addressed to the Clarisses, after calling upon them to persevere in poverty and union, he gave them his benediction.15Then he recommended them to the Brothers, supplicating the latter never to forget that they were members of one and the same religious family.16After having done all that he could for those whom he was about to leave, he thought for a moment of himself.
He had become acquainted in Rome with a pious lady named Giacomina di Settisoli. Though rich, she was simple and good, entirely devoted to the new ideas; even the somewhat singular characteristics of Francis pleased her. He had given her a lamb which had become her inseparable companion.17
Unfortunately all that concerns her has suffered much from later retouchings of the legend. The perfectly natural conduct of the Saint with women has much embarrassed his biographers; hence heavy and distorted commentaries tacked on to episodes of a delicious simplicity.
Before dying Francis desired to see again this friend,whom he smilingly called Brother Giacomina. He caused a letter to be written her to come to Portiuncula; we can imagine the dismay of the narrators at this far from monastic invitation.
But the good lady had anticipated his appeal: at the moment when the messenger with the letter was about to leave for Rome, she arrived at Portiuncula and remained there until the last sigh of the Saint.18For one moment she thought of sending away her suite; the invalid was so calm and joyful that she could not believe him dying, but he himself advised her to keep her people with her. This time he felt with no possible doubt that his captivity was about to be ended.
He was ready, he had finished his work.
Did he think then of the day when, cursed by his father, he had renounced all earthly goods and cried to God with an ineffable confidence, "Our Father who art in heaven!" We cannot say; but he desired to finish his life by a symbolic act which very closely recalls the scene in the bishop's palace.
He caused himself to be stripped of his clothing and laid upon the ground, for he wished to die in the arms of his Lady Poverty. With one glance he embraced the twenty years that had glided by since their union: "Ihave done my duty," he said to the Brothers, "may the Christ now teach you yours!"19
This was Thursday, October 1.20
They laid him back upon his bed, and, conforming to his wishes, they again sang to him the Canticle of the Sun.
At times he added his voice to those of his Brothers,21and came back with preference to Psalm 142,Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi.22
With my voice I cry unto the Lord,With my voice I implore the Lord,I pour out my complaint before him,I tell him all my distress.When my spirit is cast down within me,Thou knowest my path.Upon the way where I walkThey have laid a snare for me,Cast thine eyes to the right and look!No one recognizes me;All refuge is lost for me,No one takes thought for my soul.Lord, unto thee I cry;I say: Thou art my refuge,My portion in the land of the living.Be attentive to my cries!For I am very unhappy.Deliver me from those who pursue me!For they are stronger than I.Bring my soul out of its prisonThat I may praise thy name.The righteous shall compass me aboutWhen thou hast done good unto me!
The visits of death are always solemn, but the end of the just is the most movingsursum cordathat we canhear on earth. The hours flowed by and the Brothers would not leave him. "Alas, good Father," said one of them to him, unable longer to contain himself, "your children are going to lose you, and be deprived of the true light which lightened them: think of the orphans you are leaving and forgive all their faults, give to them all, present and absent, the joy of your holy benediction."
"See," replied the dying man, "God is calling me. I forgive all my Brothers, present and absent, their offences and faults, and absolve them according to my power. Tell them so, and bless them all in my name."23
Then crossing his arms he laid his hands upon those who surrounded him. He did this with peculiar emotion to Bernard of Quintavalle: "I desire," he said, "and with all my power I urge whomsoever shall be minister-general of the Order, to love and honor him as myself; let the provincials and all the Brothers act toward him as toward me."24
He thought not only of the absent Brothers but of the future ones; love so abounded in him that it wrung from him a groan of regret for not seeing all those who should enter the Order down to the end of time, that he might lay his hand upon their brows, and make them feel those things that may only be spoken by the eyes of him who loves in God.25
He had lost the notion of time; believing that it was still Thursday he desired to take a last meal with his disciples. Some bread was brought, he broke it and gave it to them, and there in the poor cabin of Portiuncula,without altar and without a priest, was celebrated the Lord's Supper.26
A Brother read the Gospel for Holy Thursday,Ante diem festum Paschæ: "Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come to go from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world he loved them unto the end."
The sun was gilding the crests of the mountains with his last rays, there was silence around the dying one. All was ready. The angel of death might come.
Saturday, October 3, 1226, at nightfall, without pain, without struggle, he breathed the last sigh.
The Brothers were still gazing on his face, hoping yet to catch some sign of life, when innumerable larks alighted, singing, on the thatch of his cell,27as if to salute the soul which had just taken flight and give the Little Poor Man the canonization of which he was most worthy, the only one, doubtless, which he would ever have coveted.
On the morrow, at dawn, the Assisans came down to take possession of his body and give it a triumphant funeral.
By a pious inspiration, instead of going straight to the city they went around by St. Damian, and thus was realized the promise made by Francis to the Sisters a few weeks before, to come once more to see them.
Their grief was heart-rending.
These women's hearts revolted against the absurdity of death;28but there were tears on that day at St. Damian only. The Brothers forgot their sadness on seeing the stigmata, and the inhabitants of Assisi manifested an indescribable joy on having their relic at last. They deposited it in the Church St. George.29
Less than two years after, Sunday, July 26, 1228, Gregory IX. came to Assisi to preside in person over the ceremonies of canonization, and to lay, on the morrow, the first stone of the new church dedicated to the Stigmatized.
Built under the inspiration of Gregory IX. and the direction of Brother Elias, this marvellous basilica is also one of the documents of this history, and perhaps I have been wrong in neglecting it.
Go and look upon it, proud, rich, powerful, then go down to Portiuncula, pass over to St. Damian, hasten to the Carceri, and you will understand the abyss that separates the ideal of Francis from that of the pontiff who canonized him.
FOOTNOTES1.Mortem cantando suscepit.2 Cel., 3, 139.2.The text here taken as a basis is that of the Assisi MS., 338 (fo16a-18a). It is also to be found inFirmamentum, fo19, col. 4;Speculum, Morin,tract.iii., 8a; Wadding,ann. 1226, 35; A. SS., p. 663; Amoni,Legenda Trium Sociorum; Appendix, p. 110. Everything in this document proclaims its authenticity, but we are not reduced to internal proof. It is expressly cited in 1 Cel., 17 (before 1230); by the Three Companions (1246), 3 Soc., 11; 26; 29; by 2 Cel., 3, 99 (1247). These proofs would be more than sufficient, but there is another of even greater value: the bullQuo elongatiof September 28, 1230, where Gregory IX. cites it textually and declares that the friars are not bound to observe it.3.Promittet Franciscus obedientiam ... papæ ... et successoribus ... qui non possunt nec debent eis præcipere aliquid quod sit contra animam et regulam.Archiv., i,p. 563.4.Quod si quando a quocumque ... pontifice aliquid ... mandaretur quod esset contra fidem ... et caritatem et fructus ejus tunc obediet Deo magis quam hominibus.Ib., p. 561.5.Est [Regula] et stat et intelligitur super eos ... Cum spei fiducia pace fruemur cum conscientiæ et Christi spiritus testimonio certo.Ib., pp. 563 and 565.6.Archiv., ii., p. 274.7.Ad mandatum illud vos dicimus non teneri: quod sine consensu Fratrum maxime ministrorum, quos universos tangebat obligare nequivit nec successorem suum quomodolibet obligavit; cum non habeat imperium par in parem.The sophism is barely specious; Francis was not on a par with his successors; he did not act as minister-general, but as founder.8.Arbor vit. cruc.,lib.v.,cap.3 and 5. See above,p. 185.9.Tribul., Laur., 25b;Archiv., i., p. 532.10.At the summit of the Apennines, about half way between Camerino and Nocera (Umbria).Tribul., Laur., 26b; Magl., 135b.11.Declaratio Ubertini,Archiv., iii., p. 168. This fact is not to be questioned, since it is alleged in a piece addressed to the pope, in response to the liberal friars, to whom it was to be communicated.12.Feci moram cum illis., MS., 338. Most of the printed texts givemiseracordiam, which gives a less satisfactory meaning. Cf. Miscellanea iii. (1888), p. 70; 1 Cel., 17; 3 Soc., 11.13.It is evident that heresy is not here in question. The Brothers who were infected with it were to be delivered to the Church.14.Urban IV. published, October 18, 1263, Potthast (18680), a Rule for the Clarisses which completely changed the character of this Order. Its author was the cardinal protector Giovanni degli Ursini (the future Nicholas III.), who by way of precaution forbade the Brothers Minor under the severest penalties to dissuade the Sisters from accepting it. "It differs as much from the first Rule," said Ubertini di Casali "as black and white, the savory and the insipid."Arbor. vit. cruc. lib.v.,cap.vi.15.V.Test. B. Claræ;Conform., 185a 1; Spec., 117b.16.2 Cel., 3, 132.17.Bon., 112.18.The Bollandists deny this whole story, which they find in opposition to the prescriptions of Francis himself. A. SS., p. 664 ff. But it is difficult to see for what object authors who take great pains to explain it could have had for inventing it.Spec., 133a;Fior.iv.;consid.;Conform., 240a. I have borrowed the whole account from Bernard of Besse:De Laudibus, fo113b. It appears that Giacomina settled for the rest of her life at Assisi, that she might gain edification from the first companions of Francis.Spec., 107b. (What a lovely scene, and with what a Franciscan fragrance!) The exact date of her death is not known. She was buried in the lower church of the basilica of Assisi, and on her tomb was engraved:Hic jacit Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana. Vide Fratini:Storia della basilica, p. 48. Cf. Jacobilli:Vite dei Santi e Beati dell' Umbria, Foligno, 3 vols., 4to, 1647; i., p. 214.19.2 Cel., 3, 139; Bon., 209, 210;Conform., 171b, 2.20.2 Cel., 3, 139:Cum me videritis ... sicut me nudius tertius nudum vidistis.21.1 Cel., 109; 2 Cel., 3, 139.22.1 Cel., 109; Bon., 212.23.1 Cel., 109. Cf.Epist. Eliæ.24.Tribul.Laur., 22b. Nothing better shows the historic value of the chronicle of the Tribulations than to compare its story of these moments with that of the following documents:Conform., 48b, 1; 185a, 2;Fior., 6.;Spec., 86a.25.2 Cel., 3, 139;Spec., 116b;Conform., 224b, 1.26.2 Cel., 3, 139. A simple comparison between this story in theSpeculum(116b) and that in theConformities(224b, 1) is enough to show how in certain of its parts theSpeculumrepresents a state of the legend anterior to 1385.27.Bon., 214. This cell has been transformed into a chapel and may be found a few yards from the little church of Portiuncula. Church and chapel are now sheltered under the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. See the picture and plan, A. SS., p. 814, or better still inP. Barnabas aus dem Elsass, Portiuncula oder Geschichte U. L. F. v. den Engeln. Rixheim, 1884, 1 vol., 8vo, pp. 311 and 312.28.1 Cel., 116 and 117; Bon., 219;Conform.185a, 1.29.To-day in theclôtureof the convent St. Clara. Vide Miscellanea 1, pp. 44-48, a very interesting study by Prof. Carattoli upon the coffin of St. Francis.
1.Mortem cantando suscepit.2 Cel., 3, 139.2.The text here taken as a basis is that of the Assisi MS., 338 (fo16a-18a). It is also to be found inFirmamentum, fo19, col. 4;Speculum, Morin,tract.iii., 8a; Wadding,ann. 1226, 35; A. SS., p. 663; Amoni,Legenda Trium Sociorum; Appendix, p. 110. Everything in this document proclaims its authenticity, but we are not reduced to internal proof. It is expressly cited in 1 Cel., 17 (before 1230); by the Three Companions (1246), 3 Soc., 11; 26; 29; by 2 Cel., 3, 99 (1247). These proofs would be more than sufficient, but there is another of even greater value: the bullQuo elongatiof September 28, 1230, where Gregory IX. cites it textually and declares that the friars are not bound to observe it.3.Promittet Franciscus obedientiam ... papæ ... et successoribus ... qui non possunt nec debent eis præcipere aliquid quod sit contra animam et regulam.Archiv., i,p. 563.4.Quod si quando a quocumque ... pontifice aliquid ... mandaretur quod esset contra fidem ... et caritatem et fructus ejus tunc obediet Deo magis quam hominibus.Ib., p. 561.5.Est [Regula] et stat et intelligitur super eos ... Cum spei fiducia pace fruemur cum conscientiæ et Christi spiritus testimonio certo.Ib., pp. 563 and 565.6.Archiv., ii., p. 274.7.Ad mandatum illud vos dicimus non teneri: quod sine consensu Fratrum maxime ministrorum, quos universos tangebat obligare nequivit nec successorem suum quomodolibet obligavit; cum non habeat imperium par in parem.The sophism is barely specious; Francis was not on a par with his successors; he did not act as minister-general, but as founder.8.Arbor vit. cruc.,lib.v.,cap.3 and 5. See above,p. 185.9.Tribul., Laur., 25b;Archiv., i., p. 532.10.At the summit of the Apennines, about half way between Camerino and Nocera (Umbria).Tribul., Laur., 26b; Magl., 135b.11.Declaratio Ubertini,Archiv., iii., p. 168. This fact is not to be questioned, since it is alleged in a piece addressed to the pope, in response to the liberal friars, to whom it was to be communicated.12.Feci moram cum illis., MS., 338. Most of the printed texts givemiseracordiam, which gives a less satisfactory meaning. Cf. Miscellanea iii. (1888), p. 70; 1 Cel., 17; 3 Soc., 11.13.It is evident that heresy is not here in question. The Brothers who were infected with it were to be delivered to the Church.14.Urban IV. published, October 18, 1263, Potthast (18680), a Rule for the Clarisses which completely changed the character of this Order. Its author was the cardinal protector Giovanni degli Ursini (the future Nicholas III.), who by way of precaution forbade the Brothers Minor under the severest penalties to dissuade the Sisters from accepting it. "It differs as much from the first Rule," said Ubertini di Casali "as black and white, the savory and the insipid."Arbor. vit. cruc. lib.v.,cap.vi.15.V.Test. B. Claræ;Conform., 185a 1; Spec., 117b.16.2 Cel., 3, 132.17.Bon., 112.18.The Bollandists deny this whole story, which they find in opposition to the prescriptions of Francis himself. A. SS., p. 664 ff. But it is difficult to see for what object authors who take great pains to explain it could have had for inventing it.Spec., 133a;Fior.iv.;consid.;Conform., 240a. I have borrowed the whole account from Bernard of Besse:De Laudibus, fo113b. It appears that Giacomina settled for the rest of her life at Assisi, that she might gain edification from the first companions of Francis.Spec., 107b. (What a lovely scene, and with what a Franciscan fragrance!) The exact date of her death is not known. She was buried in the lower church of the basilica of Assisi, and on her tomb was engraved:Hic jacit Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana. Vide Fratini:Storia della basilica, p. 48. Cf. Jacobilli:Vite dei Santi e Beati dell' Umbria, Foligno, 3 vols., 4to, 1647; i., p. 214.19.2 Cel., 3, 139; Bon., 209, 210;Conform., 171b, 2.20.2 Cel., 3, 139:Cum me videritis ... sicut me nudius tertius nudum vidistis.21.1 Cel., 109; 2 Cel., 3, 139.22.1 Cel., 109; Bon., 212.23.1 Cel., 109. Cf.Epist. Eliæ.24.Tribul.Laur., 22b. Nothing better shows the historic value of the chronicle of the Tribulations than to compare its story of these moments with that of the following documents:Conform., 48b, 1; 185a, 2;Fior., 6.;Spec., 86a.25.2 Cel., 3, 139;Spec., 116b;Conform., 224b, 1.26.2 Cel., 3, 139. A simple comparison between this story in theSpeculum(116b) and that in theConformities(224b, 1) is enough to show how in certain of its parts theSpeculumrepresents a state of the legend anterior to 1385.27.Bon., 214. This cell has been transformed into a chapel and may be found a few yards from the little church of Portiuncula. Church and chapel are now sheltered under the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. See the picture and plan, A. SS., p. 814, or better still inP. Barnabas aus dem Elsass, Portiuncula oder Geschichte U. L. F. v. den Engeln. Rixheim, 1884, 1 vol., 8vo, pp. 311 and 312.28.1 Cel., 116 and 117; Bon., 219;Conform.185a, 1.29.To-day in theclôtureof the convent St. Clara. Vide Miscellanea 1, pp. 44-48, a very interesting study by Prof. Carattoli upon the coffin of St. Francis.
1.Mortem cantando suscepit.2 Cel., 3, 139.
2.The text here taken as a basis is that of the Assisi MS., 338 (fo16a-18a). It is also to be found inFirmamentum, fo19, col. 4;Speculum, Morin,tract.iii., 8a; Wadding,ann. 1226, 35; A. SS., p. 663; Amoni,Legenda Trium Sociorum; Appendix, p. 110. Everything in this document proclaims its authenticity, but we are not reduced to internal proof. It is expressly cited in 1 Cel., 17 (before 1230); by the Three Companions (1246), 3 Soc., 11; 26; 29; by 2 Cel., 3, 99 (1247). These proofs would be more than sufficient, but there is another of even greater value: the bullQuo elongatiof September 28, 1230, where Gregory IX. cites it textually and declares that the friars are not bound to observe it.
3.Promittet Franciscus obedientiam ... papæ ... et successoribus ... qui non possunt nec debent eis præcipere aliquid quod sit contra animam et regulam.Archiv., i,p. 563.
4.Quod si quando a quocumque ... pontifice aliquid ... mandaretur quod esset contra fidem ... et caritatem et fructus ejus tunc obediet Deo magis quam hominibus.Ib., p. 561.
5.Est [Regula] et stat et intelligitur super eos ... Cum spei fiducia pace fruemur cum conscientiæ et Christi spiritus testimonio certo.Ib., pp. 563 and 565.
6.Archiv., ii., p. 274.
7.Ad mandatum illud vos dicimus non teneri: quod sine consensu Fratrum maxime ministrorum, quos universos tangebat obligare nequivit nec successorem suum quomodolibet obligavit; cum non habeat imperium par in parem.The sophism is barely specious; Francis was not on a par with his successors; he did not act as minister-general, but as founder.
8.Arbor vit. cruc.,lib.v.,cap.3 and 5. See above,p. 185.
9.Tribul., Laur., 25b;Archiv., i., p. 532.
10.At the summit of the Apennines, about half way between Camerino and Nocera (Umbria).Tribul., Laur., 26b; Magl., 135b.
11.Declaratio Ubertini,Archiv., iii., p. 168. This fact is not to be questioned, since it is alleged in a piece addressed to the pope, in response to the liberal friars, to whom it was to be communicated.
12.Feci moram cum illis., MS., 338. Most of the printed texts givemiseracordiam, which gives a less satisfactory meaning. Cf. Miscellanea iii. (1888), p. 70; 1 Cel., 17; 3 Soc., 11.
13.It is evident that heresy is not here in question. The Brothers who were infected with it were to be delivered to the Church.
14.Urban IV. published, October 18, 1263, Potthast (18680), a Rule for the Clarisses which completely changed the character of this Order. Its author was the cardinal protector Giovanni degli Ursini (the future Nicholas III.), who by way of precaution forbade the Brothers Minor under the severest penalties to dissuade the Sisters from accepting it. "It differs as much from the first Rule," said Ubertini di Casali "as black and white, the savory and the insipid."Arbor. vit. cruc. lib.v.,cap.vi.
15.V.Test. B. Claræ;Conform., 185a 1; Spec., 117b.
16.2 Cel., 3, 132.
17.Bon., 112.
18.The Bollandists deny this whole story, which they find in opposition to the prescriptions of Francis himself. A. SS., p. 664 ff. But it is difficult to see for what object authors who take great pains to explain it could have had for inventing it.Spec., 133a;Fior.iv.;consid.;Conform., 240a. I have borrowed the whole account from Bernard of Besse:De Laudibus, fo113b. It appears that Giacomina settled for the rest of her life at Assisi, that she might gain edification from the first companions of Francis.Spec., 107b. (What a lovely scene, and with what a Franciscan fragrance!) The exact date of her death is not known. She was buried in the lower church of the basilica of Assisi, and on her tomb was engraved:Hic jacit Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana. Vide Fratini:Storia della basilica, p. 48. Cf. Jacobilli:Vite dei Santi e Beati dell' Umbria, Foligno, 3 vols., 4to, 1647; i., p. 214.
19.2 Cel., 3, 139; Bon., 209, 210;Conform., 171b, 2.
20.2 Cel., 3, 139:Cum me videritis ... sicut me nudius tertius nudum vidistis.
21.1 Cel., 109; 2 Cel., 3, 139.
22.1 Cel., 109; Bon., 212.
23.1 Cel., 109. Cf.Epist. Eliæ.
24.Tribul.Laur., 22b. Nothing better shows the historic value of the chronicle of the Tribulations than to compare its story of these moments with that of the following documents:Conform., 48b, 1; 185a, 2;Fior., 6.;Spec., 86a.
25.2 Cel., 3, 139;Spec., 116b;Conform., 224b, 1.
26.2 Cel., 3, 139. A simple comparison between this story in theSpeculum(116b) and that in theConformities(224b, 1) is enough to show how in certain of its parts theSpeculumrepresents a state of the legend anterior to 1385.
27.Bon., 214. This cell has been transformed into a chapel and may be found a few yards from the little church of Portiuncula. Church and chapel are now sheltered under the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. See the picture and plan, A. SS., p. 814, or better still inP. Barnabas aus dem Elsass, Portiuncula oder Geschichte U. L. F. v. den Engeln. Rixheim, 1884, 1 vol., 8vo, pp. 311 and 312.
28.1 Cel., 116 and 117; Bon., 219;Conform.185a, 1.
29.To-day in theclôtureof the convent St. Clara. Vide Miscellanea 1, pp. 44-48, a very interesting study by Prof. Carattoli upon the coffin of St. Francis.
I.St. Francis's Works.II.Biographies Properly So Called.1. Preliminary Note.2. First Life by Thomas of Celano.3. Review of the History of the Order 1230-1244.4. Legend of the Three Companions.5. Fragments of the Suppressed Portion of the Legend.6. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. First Part.7. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. Second Part.8. Documents of Secondary Importance:Biography for Use of the Choir.Life in Verse.Biography by Giovanni di Ceperano.Life by Brother Julian.9. Legend of St. Bonaventura.10. De Laudibus of Bernard of Besse.III.Diplomatic Documents.1. Donation of the Verna.2. Registers of Cardinal Ugolini.3. Bulls.IV.Chroniclers of the Order.1. Chronicle of Brother Giordano di Giano.2. Eccleston: Arrival of the Friars in England.3. Chronicle of Fra Salimbeni.4. Chronicle of the Tribulations.5. The Fioretti and their Appendices.6. Chronicle of the XXIV. Generals.7. The Conformities of Bartolommeo di Pisa.8. Glassberger's Chronicle.9. Chronicle of Mark of Lisbon.V.Chroniclers not of the Order.1. Jacques de Vitry.2. Thomas of Spalato.3. Divers Chroniclers.
There are few lives in history so abundantly provided with documents as that of St. Francis. This will perhaps surprise the reader, but to convince himself he has only to run over the preceding list, which, however, has been made as succinct as possible.
It is admitted in learned circles that the essential elements of this biography have disappeared or have been entirely altered. The exaggeration of certain religious writers, who accept everything, and among several accounts of the same fact always choose the longest and most marvellous, has led to a like exaggeration in the contrary sense.
If it were necessary to point out the results of these two excesses as they affect each event, this volume would need to be twice and even four times as large as it is. Those who are interested in these questions will find in the notes brief indications of the original documents on which each narrative is based.
To close the subject of the errors which are current in the Franciscan documents, and to show in a few lines their extreme importance, I shall take two examples. Among our own contemporaries no one has so well spoken on the subject of St. Francis as M. Renan; he comes back to him with affecting piety, and he was in abetter condition than any one to know the sources of this history. And yet he does not hesitate to say in his study of the Canticle of the Sun, Francis's best known work: "The authenticity of this piece appears certain, but we must observe that we have not the Italian original. The Italian text which we possess is a translation of a Portuguese version, which was itself translated from the Spanish."2
And yet the primitive Italian exists3not only in numerous manuscripts in Italy and France, particularly in the Mazarine Library,4but also in the well-known book of theConformities.5
An error, grave from quite another point of view, is made by the same author when he denies the authenticity of St. Francis's Will; this piece is not only the noblest expression of its author's religious feeling, it constitutes also a sort of autobiography, and contains the solemn and scarcely disguised revocation of all the concessions which had been wrung from him. We have already seen that its authenticity is not to be challenged.6This double example will, I hope, suffice to show the necessity of beginning this study by a conscientious examination of the sources.
If the eminent historian to whom I have alluded werestill living, he would have for this page his large and benevolent smile, that simple,Oui, oui, which once made his pupils in the little hall of the Collège de France to tremble with emotion.
I do not know what he would think of this book, but I well know that he would love the spirit in which it was undertaken, and would easily pardon me for having chosen him for scape-goat of my wrath against the learned men and biographers.
The documents to be examined have been divided into five categories.
The first includesSt. Francis's works.
The second,biographies properly so called.
The third,diplomatic documents.
The fourth,chronicles of the Order.
The fifth,chronicles of authors not of the Order.
FOOTNOTES1.If any student finds himself embarrassed by the extreme rarity of certain works cited, I shall make it my duty and pleasure to send them to him, as well as a copy of the Italian manuscripts.2.E. Renan:Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse, Paris, 1884, 8vo, p. 331.3.See above,pp. 304 ff.4.Mazarine Library, MS. 8531:Speculum perfectionis S. Francisci; the Canticle is found at fo. 51. Cf. MS., 1350 (date of 1459). That text was published by Boehmer in theRomanische Studien, Halle, 1871. pp. 118-122.Der Sonnengesang v. Fr. d'A.5.Conform.(Milan, 1510), 202b, 2s. For that matter it is correct that Diola, in theCroniche degli ordini instituti da S. Francisco(Venice, 1606, 3 vols. 4to), translated after the Castilian version of the work composed in Portuguese by Mark of Lisbon, was foolish enough to render into Italian this translation of a translation.6.Seepages 333 ff.
1.If any student finds himself embarrassed by the extreme rarity of certain works cited, I shall make it my duty and pleasure to send them to him, as well as a copy of the Italian manuscripts.2.E. Renan:Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse, Paris, 1884, 8vo, p. 331.3.See above,pp. 304 ff.4.Mazarine Library, MS. 8531:Speculum perfectionis S. Francisci; the Canticle is found at fo. 51. Cf. MS., 1350 (date of 1459). That text was published by Boehmer in theRomanische Studien, Halle, 1871. pp. 118-122.Der Sonnengesang v. Fr. d'A.5.Conform.(Milan, 1510), 202b, 2s. For that matter it is correct that Diola, in theCroniche degli ordini instituti da S. Francisco(Venice, 1606, 3 vols. 4to), translated after the Castilian version of the work composed in Portuguese by Mark of Lisbon, was foolish enough to render into Italian this translation of a translation.6.Seepages 333 ff.
1.If any student finds himself embarrassed by the extreme rarity of certain works cited, I shall make it my duty and pleasure to send them to him, as well as a copy of the Italian manuscripts.
2.E. Renan:Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse, Paris, 1884, 8vo, p. 331.
3.See above,pp. 304 ff.
4.Mazarine Library, MS. 8531:Speculum perfectionis S. Francisci; the Canticle is found at fo. 51. Cf. MS., 1350 (date of 1459). That text was published by Boehmer in theRomanische Studien, Halle, 1871. pp. 118-122.Der Sonnengesang v. Fr. d'A.
5.Conform.(Milan, 1510), 202b, 2s. For that matter it is correct that Diola, in theCroniche degli ordini instituti da S. Francisco(Venice, 1606, 3 vols. 4to), translated after the Castilian version of the work composed in Portuguese by Mark of Lisbon, was foolish enough to render into Italian this translation of a translation.
6.Seepages 333 ff.
The writings of St. Francis1are assuredly the best source of acquaintance with him; we can only be surprised to find them so neglected by most of his biographers. It is true that they give little information as to his life, and furnish neither dates nor facts,2but theydo better, they mark the stages of his thought and of his spiritual development. The legends give us Francis as he appeared, and by that very fact suffer in some degree the compulsion of circumstances; they are obliged to bend to the exigencies of his position as general of an Order approved by the Church, as miracle-worker, and as saint. His works, on the contrary, show us his very soul; each phrase has not only been thought, but lived; they bring us the Poverello's emotions, still alive and palpitating.
So, when in the writings of the Franciscans we find any utterance of their master, it unconsciously betrays itself, sounding out suddenly in a sweet, pure tone which penetrates to your very heart, awakening with a thrill a sprite that was sleeping there.
This bloom of love enduing St. Francis's words would be an admirable criterion of the authenticity of those opuscules which tradition attributes to him; but the work of testing is neither long nor difficult. If after his time injudicious attempts were here and there made to honor him with miracles which he did not perform, which he would not even have wished to perform, no attempt was ever made to burden his literary efforts with false or supposititious pieces.3The best proof of this is that it is not until Wadding—that is to say, until the seventeenth century—that we find the first and only serious attempt to collect these precious memorials. Several of them havebeen lost,4but those which remain are enough to give us in some sort the refutation of the legends.
In these pages Francis gives himself to his readers, as long ago he gave himself to his companions; in each one of them a feeling, a cry of the heart, or an aspiration toward the Invisible is prolonged down to our own time.
Wadding thought it his duty to give a place in his collection to several suspicious pieces; more than this, instead of following the oldest manuscripts that he had before him, he often permitted himself to be led astray by sixteenth-century writers whose smallest concern was to be critical and accurate. To avoid the tedious and entirely negative task to which it would be necessary to proceed if I took him for my starting-point I shall confine myself to a positive study of this question.
All the pieces which will be enumerated are found in his collection. They are sometimes cut up in a singular way; but in proportion as each document is studied weshall find sufficient indications to enable us to make the necessary rectifications.
The archives of Sacro Convento of Assisi5possess a manuscript whose importance is not to be overestimated. It has already been many times studied,6and bears the number 338.
It appears, however, that a very important detail of form has been overlooked. It is this: that No. 338 is notonemanuscript, buta collectionof manuscripts of very different periods, which were put together because they were of very nearly the same size, and have been foliated in a peculiar manner.
This artificial character of the collection shows that each of the pieces which compose it needs to be examined by itself, and that it is impossible to say of it as a whole that it is of the thirteenth or the fourteenth century.
The part that interests us is perfectly homogeneous, is formed of three parchment books (fol. 12a-44b) and contains a part of Francis's works.
1. The Rule, definitively approved by Honorius III., November 20, 12237(fol. 12a-16a).
2. St. Francis's Will8(fol. 16a-18a).
3. The Admonitions9(fol. 18a-23b).
4. The Letter to all Christians10(fol. 23b-28a).
5. The letter to all the members of the Order assembled in Chapter-general11(fol. 28a-31a).
6. Counsel to all clerics on the respect to be paid to the Eucharist12(fol., 31b-32b).
7. A very short piece preceded by the rubric: "Of the virtues which adorn the Virgin Mary and which ought to adorn the holy soul"13(fol. 32b).
8. TheLaudes Creaturarum, or Canticle of the Sun14(fol. 33a).
9. A paraphrase of thePaterintroduced by the rubric:Incipiunt laudes quas ordinavit. B. pater noster Franciscus et dicebat ipsas ad omnes horas diei et noctis et ante officium B. V. Mariæ sic incipiens: Sanctissime Pater15(fol. 34a).
10. The office of the Passion (34b-43a). This office, where the psalms are replaced by several series of biblical verses, are designed to make him who repeats them follow, hour by hour, the emotions of the Crucified One from the evening of Holy Thursday.16
11. A rule for friars in retreat in hermitages17(fol. 43a-43b).
A glance over this list is enough to show that the works of Francis here collected are addressed to all the Brothers, or are a sort of encyclicals, which they are charged to pass on to those for whom they are destined.
The very order of these pieces shows us that we have in this manuscript the primitive library of the Brothers Minor, the collection of which each minister was to carry with him a copy. It was truly their viaticum.
Matthew Paris tells us of his amazement at the sight of these foreign monks, clothed in patched tunics, and carrying their books in a sort of case suspended from their necks.18
The Assisi manuscript was without doubt destined to this service; if it is silent on the subject of the journeys it has made, and of the Brothers to whom it has been a guide and an inspiration, it at least brings us, more than all the legends, into intimacy with Francis, makes us thrill in unison with that heart which never admitted a separation between joy, love, and poetry. As to the date of this manuscript, one must needs be a paleographer to determine. We have already found a hypothesis which, if well grounded, would carry it back to the neighborhood of 1240.19
Its contents seem to countenance this early date. In fact, it contains several pieces of which theManual of the Brother Minorvery early rid itself.
Very soon they were content to have only the Rule to keep company with the breviary; sometimes they added the Will. But the other writings, if they did not fall entirely into neglect, ceased at least to be of daily usage.
Those of St. Francis's writings which are not of general interest or do not concern the Brothers naturally find no place in this collection. In this new category we must range the following documents:
1. The Rule of 1221.20
2. The Rule of the Clarisses, which we no longer possess in its original form.21
3. A sort of special instruction for ministers-general.22
4. A letter to St. Clara.23
5. Another letter to the same.24
6. A letter to Brother Leo.25
7. A few prayers.26
8. The benediction of Brother Leo. The original autograph, which is preserved in the treasury of Sacro Convento, has been very well reproduced by heliograph.27
As to the two famous hymnsAmor de caritade28andIn foco l'amor mi mise,29they cannot be attributed to St. Francis, at least in their present form.
It belongs to M. Monaci and his numerous and learned emulators to throw light upon these delicate questions by publishing in a scientific manner the earliest monuments of Italian poetry.
I have already spoken of several tracts of which assured traces have been found, though they themselves are lost. They are much more numerous than would at first be supposed. In the missionary zeal of the early years the Brothers would not concern themselves with collecting documents. We do not write our memoirs in the fulness of our youth.
We must also remember that Portiuncula had neither archives nor library. It was a chapel ten paces long, with a few huts gathered around it. The Order was ten years old before it had seen any other than a single book: a New Testament. The Brothers did not even keep this one. Francis, having nothing else, gave it to a poor woman who asked for alms, and when Pietro di Catania, his vicar, expressed his surprise at this prodigality: "Has she not given her two sons to the Order?" replied the master30quickly.