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SAINT
FRANCIS OF ASSISI
A BIOGRAPHY
BY
JOHANNES JORGENSEN
TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH WITH THE
AUTHOR'S SANCTION
BY
T. O'CONOR SLOANE, Ph.D.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK
LONDON, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
I912
HISTOR If
COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
All Rights Reserved
THB-PLIMPTON-PRBSS
[ W • D • O ]
NORWOOD-MASS'U-S-A
TO
MY CHILDREN
241135
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THE fruit of several years of study is here submitted
to the circle of Northern readers. More than once
it has seemed that this book would never be fin-
ished — modern Franciscan research has developed
to so widespread and erratic a science, that those who once get
into it are in danger of never getting out of it again. Even
Paul Sabatier told me, in a conversation I had with him in
Rome in 1903, that he found it difiicult to preserve a compre-
hensive view-point.
Now, however, when I have succeeded in completing my
book, it has become possible for me to pay my tribute of
thanks on all sides. First of all I thank my wife, who in
her time zealously advised me, and by personal sacrifice
contributed to the carrying out of my plan of a trip devoted
to Franciscan studies. I next owe my thanks to those who
gave me material assistance, both for the necessary prelim-
inary studies as well as for the final development and
production. My especial thanks are due to Baroness L.
Stampe-Charisius, Baroness P. Rosenorn-Lehn as well as to
the directors of the Carlsberg endowment; especially Prof. Dr.
Edward Holm. Also Prof. Carl Larsen, and my publisher,
Director Ernst Bojesen, are heartily thanked for the interest
they showed in my work.
My thanks are again due to all who by personal inter-
est have facilitated my studies. First I thank Countess
H. Holstein-Ledreborg, who, by her translation into German
of my "Pilgrimsbog," undertaken with such great devotion,
has more than once paved the way for me and opened doors
and hearts. I must next name a number of Franciscans —
above all Rev. David Fleming, who, by his commendation
Vm AUTHOR s PREFACE
as Vicar-General of the Order, made possible for me my
Pilgrimage in 1903 through Franciscan Italy — next the
historian of the Franciscan Order, Rev. Leonard Lemmens,
and the Guardians and Fathers in the different convents
which I visited on the above-named journey, especially Rev.
Pacilico in Greccio, Rev. Giovanni da Greccio in Fonte
Colombo, Rev. Teodoro da Carpineto in the convent of La
Forestå, Rev. Vincenzo Stefano Jacopi in Cortona, Rev.
Saturnino da Caprese, and Rev. Samuel Charon de Guersac
at La Verna. I give hearty thanks again to Rev. Don Seve-
rino, pastor in Poggio Bustone, and to the learned engineer,
Albert Provaroni, of the same place, to the Capuchins in
Celle and to the Redemptorists in Cortona, under whose
hospitable roof I found a refuge in the days I passed in the
city of St. Margaret. With special recognition I give my
thanks to the Brothers Matteuci, who gave me a home in
Poggio Bustone and helped me in my work. I only wish
that I could extend this list enough to include even a part
of all who showed me friendship and hospitality in my
wanderings. For those who know Italian people this seems
very natural.
But the present book might never have been completed
if I had not found a place of refuge in the Franciscan convent
at Frauenberg, where next door to my room I had a rich
library of Franciscan literature from the earliest to the most
recent time. The second half (third and fourth books with
the Conclusion of the Appendix) were written there. Should
my work seem to have any worth, a due portion of the honor
for its existence is due to Rev. Maximilian Brandys, Pro-
vincial of the Franciscan province of Thuringia, to which
Frauenberg belongs, to Rev. Pacificus Wehner (now in Gor-
heim by Sigmaringen), as well as to the Guardian of Frauen-
berg, Rev. Saturnin Goer, who with such great hospitality
and affection regarded me for six weeks as a member of his
great convent family. I also thank the willing and friendly
Fathers who tried to help in every way, and especially must
I thank my tireless and devoted friend. Rev. Michael Bihl,
by whose ever ready assistance so many stones were removed
from my road. I shall never forget the summer evenings in
AUTHORS PREFACE IX
the convent gardens of Frauenberg, when we walked up and
down the long walk, as the sun, large and red, sank behind
the trees, and I told him of my day's work and sought Pater
Michael's practical opinion, sometimes on one, sometimes on
another, difficult point.
And thus I take leave of this work which has so long been
the centre of my labor and research. To write about St.
Francis of Assisi should have been his own affair, for what
does he himself say in the Speculum perfectionis? "The
Emperor Charlemagne, Roland, Holger, and all the other
Knights of the Round Table fought the heathen unto death
and won the victory over them, and at the end became them-
selves holy martyrs and died in the battle for the faith of
Christ. But now there are many who, by simply telling
of their actions, hope to win honor and fame from mankind.
Also there are now many who, by simply preaching on what
the saints have done, wish to win honor and fame."
Deep and wise, therefore, was the saying of Francis: "Man
has as much of knowledge as is executed," tantum homo hahet
de scienlia, quantum operatur. The ultimate measure of wis-
dom is to serve and to properly conduct one's life; worth is
only attained by putting into practice. Therefore there is
a practical and moral design behind all the literary diligence
of the old authors of legends. Thus also a modern biogra-
pher of St. Francis, who would really be inspired by the
spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, like the old convent-brother
writers, must utter the words: Fac secundum exemplar.
"Learn from Francis, that ideals ought to be put into
practice!"
J.J.
Frauenberg, Feast of St. Clara of Assisi, 1906.
CONTE NTS
BOOK ONE
Francis the Church Builder
CHAPTER ' PAGE
I. Francis' Sickness. 1204. Re-convalescence. The Vanity of
All Things 3
II. Francis' Ancestry. Birth, 1 182. Name. Early youth. LaGaya
Scienza. Generosity to his friends and to the poor ... 8
III. Local History. War between Assisi and Perugia. Francis is
taken prisoner at Ponte San Giovanni and is a prisoner 1202-
1203 18
IV. State of the Times. War between Emperor and Pope. Francis
wants to enlist under Walter of Brienne, 1205. The Vision
in Foligno. Francis returns home. New festivities. Fran-
cis thinks of taking a Bride 21
V. Francis' frequent prayers in a cave outside the City. Goes to
Rome and begs at the door of St. Peter's. Begins to take care
of the Lepers 27
VI. Francis prays in San Damiano. "Go hence and build up My
House, for it is falling down!" Francis retires to a cave near
San Damiano, 1207 36
VII. Francis imprisoned by his Father is released by his Mother. He
gives his clothes back to his Father and goes out into the world,
April, 1207, as the Herald of God. He goes to Gubbio, takes
care of the Lepers, returns to Assisi, begs from door to door.
He rebuilds the churches of S. Damiano, S. Pietro, and Porti-
uncula. On February 24, 1209, he hears the priest in Portiun-
cula read Matth. x. 7-13, and decides to Uve by those Words. 43
BOOK TWO
Francis the Evangelist
I. Francis preaches in Assisi. The first Disciples. Bernard of Quin-
tavalle, Pietro dei Cattani, Giles. The first Mission Journeys.
Bernard and Giles in Florence, Francis in Rieti. He hears in
Poggio Bustone that his sins are forgiven 61
xii CONTENTS
II. The Shed at Rivo Torto. Francis writes a Joriyia vitæ and goes,
I2IO, to Rome with eleven Brothers to have it ratified by Inno-
cent lU. He only obtains a verbal approval 76
in. Temptations to become a Hermit. The twelfth Disciple: the
Priest, Silvester. New Missionary Activity. Preaching in the
Cathedral of Assisi. Peace between the upper and lower classes
in Assisi concluded, 12 10. The Friars' life in Congregation.
They leave Rivo Torto 96
IV. The Portiuncula Chapel. New disciples: Rufino, Masseo, Leo,
Juniper. Brother Giles' Way of Life. Brother Masseo.
Brother Rufino. Brother Juniper. Brother John the Simple.
Brother Leo. Francis and Leo say the Breviary together. The
Perfect Joy 105
V. St. Clara. Her family. Training. Hears Francis preach in
Lent, 1 21 2, in S. Giorgio's Church in Assisi. Leaves her home
March 18, 1212, and takes convent vows in Portiuncula.
Francis secures a shelter for her and the sisters, who have
joined her in S. Damiano. She writes a forma vivcndi for
them. Clara's life. Her feast with Francis. She holds the
Saracens back from S. Damiano. Her grief over Francis'
death. Her contest for the right to be poor. She writes a
Rule for her Sisters and dies, two days after getting it ap-
proved by Irmocent IV, August 11, 1253 122
BOOK THREE
God's Singer
I. The Italian Mission of 1211-1212. Cortona, Arezzo, Florence.
John Parenti. Francis tries to evade the homage of the
people. Lent of 1211 on Lake Thrasimene, winter of same year
in Hermitage of Sarteano. What is God's will? Francis asks
the advice of Clara and Silvester, gets the answer that his call
is to preach. He preaches to the birds 145
II. Francis wants to preach to the Heathen. He goes to Rome, meets
Jacopa de Settesoli. On the way to the Holy Land is
wrecked on the coast of Slavonia and goes thence as a stowaway
to Ancona. In S. Severino converts the " Verse King," Gugli-
elmo Divino. Francis' relations to the learned, to thieves, and
robbers. He preaches. May 8, 1213, in Monte Feltro, con-
verts Count Orlando dei Cattani and receives Mount Alverna
as a gift. In the winter of 1213-1214 he visits Spain and is
present at the Fourth Lateran Council. Jacques de Vitry's
picture of the Order in 1 2 16 151
CONTENTS xiii
III. The Portiuncula Indulgence i66
IV. Constitution of the Franciscan Order. The Chapter-Assemblies.
Francis' Admonitions at them. The movement grows. Fran-
cis seeks help to direct it 175
V. Cardinal Hugolin. Pentecost Chapter of 121 7. Missions are
sent beyond the frontiers of Italy. Francis decides to go to
France. On his way there visits Hugolin in Florence and is
deterred from going. Hugolin organizes the Clares. The de-
velopment of the Order of Clares up to 1253 i8i
VI. Missions in France, Germany, and Hungary not successful. Fran-
cis goes in the winter of 121 7-1 218 with Hugolin to Rome and
has an audience with Honorius III. He meets St. Dominic.
At the Pentecost Chapter of 12 18 Hugohn is present for the
first time as Protector of the Order. New missionaries sent out
May 26, 1 219. Honorius issues his Letters of Protection for
the missionaries, June 11, 1219. Missions in Timis and in
Morocco. The iirst five martyrs 192
VII. Francis and Pietro dei Cattani start for the Holy Land, June 24,
1 2 19, preach among the Crusaders in Egypt, and before the
Sultan Malek el Kamel. Francis' two vicars, Gregory of Naples
and Matthew of Narni, hold a Chapter, at which they try to
change the Rule of the Order. Brother Stephen brings this
news to Francis, and Francis returns. He goes at once to
Rome and calls a Chapter for Pentecost, 1221. Honorius, in
accordance with Francis, ordains a novitiate of the Order,
September 22, 1220. Francis resigns his leadership and names
Pietro dei Cattani as his vicar and after him Elias of Cortona.
"The Chapter of Mats." The new German Mission. An-
thony of Padua 202
VIII. Francis and Caesar of Speier work on a new Rule of the Order.
Development of the Rule. Francis' Admoniliones. Rule for
hermitages. Rule for Portiuncula. The original Rule and the
"Rule of i22i" 213
IX. Disputes about the final Rule from May 30, 1221, to Novem-
ber 29, 1223. Opposition to Francis. Peter Stacia. Francis'
contest for evangelical simplicity and evangelical poverty.
Francis and Anthony of Padua. Francis in Bologna August,
15, 1222 226
X. The new movement and the older Franciscans. Brother Giles.
The English Franciscans. The "Third Order." Contest be-
tween the Brothers of Penance and the authorities .... 236
XIV CONTENTS
XI. Co-operation of Francis and Hugolin, and of Francis and Elias
of Cortona. Francis' letter to Elias. The Rule is perfected.
Francis at Fonte Colombo. The final Rule 247
XII. Honorius approves the Rule, 1223. Francis and "Brother
Jacoba." The Lambs and Francis. Francis with Cardinal
Leo. He leaves Rome, celebrates Christmas, 1223, in Greccio.
The first Christmas Crib 257
BOOK FOUR
Francis the Hermit
I. Francis' Sickness. His literary activity. His five Circulars.
Letter to Brother Leo 265
II. Francis Preaches by his example. His truthfulness. Zeal for
Poverty. His Alms. Easter in Greccio. Francis and the
Demons 273
III. Francis and his intimates. Brother Rufino's temptation. "The
ideal Friar Minor." The Spanish Franciscans. Francis reads
in the hearts of men. Francis and obedience. Francis and
prayer. The Evangelic Joy. Francis' ecstasy 280
IV. Francis goes in the summer of 1224 to Mount Alvema. Francis
and Brother Leo. The Stigmatization, September 14, 1224 . 291
V. Francis' Song of Praise in thanks for the Stigmatization. The
Blessing for Brother Leo. He leaves Mount Alverna, passes
through Borgo S. Sepolcro and Citta di Castello to Portiuncula.
Begins again to take care of the Lepers 301
VI. Francis' Blindness. Francis at San Damiano in the Summer of
1225. His love of nature. He composes the Sun Song . . 308
VII. Francis goes to Rieti. The vineyard in S. Fabiano. An angel
plays for him at night in Rieti. He is treated by physicians for
his eyes, goes to Siena, writes his first Testament to the
Brothers. Brother Elias takes him to Celle, thence to Assisi.
He lies sick in the Bishop's residence, makes peace between
the Bishop and the Podestå. He sends his farewell to St.
Clara, dictates his Testament. He lets himself be taken down
to Portiuncula, blessing Assisi on the way. In Portiuncula he
receives a visit from Jacopa de Settesoli, breaks bread with
the Brothers. He dies October 3, 1226 316
VIII. The Funeral Procession. Jacopa de Settesoli 334
CONTENTS XV
APPENDIX
Authorities for the Biography of St. Francis of Assisi
I. His Writings 340 /
Religious Poems 341
Prose Writings 349
II. Biographers 351
1. Thomas of Celano Group 352
2. Brother Leo Group 356
a. Legenda trium sociorum 356
b. Anonymus Periisimis 367
c. Thomas of Celano's Vita secunda 368
3. St. Bonaventure Group 378
4. Speculum Group 382
a. Speculum perfecHonis 384
b. Legenda antiqua 391
c. Actus (Fioretti) 393
III. Other Sources 395
a. Histories of the Order 395
b. Authorities outside of the Order 400
c. Modem Works 401
INDEX 411
ILLUSTRATIONS
St. Francts of Assisi Frontispiece
From the painting by Spagnolelto in the Palazzo
Reale, Genoa.
C0NTEMP0R.A.RY Portrait of St. Francis of Assisi at
the Sacro Speco, Subiaco Facing page 62
{From a photograph kindly lent by Perrin el Cie, Paris.)
St. Clara of Assisi and Scenes from her Life. . . " "122
Attributed to Cimabue. Fresco in Church of Santa
Chiara, Assisi.
St. Francis of Assisi " " 298
From the fresco, attributed to Cimabue, at Assisi.
The Blessing of Brother Leo " " 346
Autograph of St. Francis.
BOOK ONE
FRANCIS TEE CHURCH BUILDER
Nunc latebat in eremis, nunc ecclesi-
arum reparationibus insistebat devotus.
Now he hid himself in hermitages, now
he piously devoted himself to the restoration
of churches.
St. ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE
/'
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
CHAPTER I
TEE CONVALESCENT
THERE awoke one morning in Assisi a young man
who was just recovering from a severe illness. It
was seven hundred years ago. The hour was an
early one. The window blinds were not yet opened.
Out of doors the day's business was in full blast; the bells
for mass had long ago rung out from St. Maria del Vescovado,
which lay almost under the windows. The strong morning
light streamed in through the crack where the window blinds
met.
The young man knew it all so well — one morning after
another the long weeks of his convalescence had passed thus.
Soon his mother would come in and would draw the shutters
aside, and the light would enter in dazzling brightness.
Then he would get his morning draught, and his bed
would be made over; he used to He on one side of the wide
bed while the other was made up for him. And so he would
lie there, tired, but at peace, and look out on the blue
cloudless autumn sky, listening to the splashing on the stones
of the street as the people of the neighborhood threw their
waste water out of the windows. As the forenoon advanced
the rays of the sun began to come in — first along the high
wall of the window alcove — then right across the brick floor
of the room, and when they approached the bed, it was time
to take the midday meal. After midday the blinds were again
closed, and he took his siesta in the quiet comfortable obscurity
of the room. Then he awoke and the blinds were again thrown
open to admit the light; the sun had left the window — but
if he raised himself up in the bed, he could see the mountains
3
4 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
under a blue veil on the other side of the plain, and soon the
crimson evening red of the late autumn day burned in
the western sky. As the darkness quickly fell, he heard the
noise of sheep, which were driven bleating into the stable, and
of peasants and peasant girls, who sang on their way home
from the fields. They were the wonderful heart-gripping
folk-songs of Umbria which the invalid heard — the songs
which even to-day are in the people's mouths and whose slow,
wonderfully melancholy tones fill the soul with sadness till
it is ready to burst with helpless longing and melancholy.
At last the songs ceased and it was night. Over the dis-
tant mountains gleamed a single bright star. When that
showed itself, it was time to close the shutters and to light
the night-lamp — the lamp which in the long nights of fever
had constantly burned through the long hours of his uneasy
dreams.
To-day there was to be a change — to-day at last he was
to have permission to leave his bed. How glad he was to go
into the other rooms, to see and touch all the things he had
so long missed, and had been so near losing for ever. He
must even venture down into the business offices — see the
people come and do business, see the clerks measure the good
Tuscan cloth with their yardsticks, and draw in the bright
ringing coins.
Just as the young man was busy with these dreams the
door opened. As on every morning of his illness, it was his
mother who entered. As she threw the shutters aside he
saw that she carried, as she brought his morning meal, a
suit of man's clothes over her arm.
"I have had a new suit of clothes made for you, my
Francis," said she as she laid them down at the foot of the
bed.
And as he finished his meal she sat down by the window
while he dressed himself.
"What a lovely morning it is," said she, almost as if she
were talking to herself. "How brightly the sun shines! I
see all the houses over in Bettona so clearly, although there
is the whole extent of the broad plain between us, and out in
the middle of the green vineyards, Isola Romanesca lies like
THE CONVALESCENT 5
an island in a lake. And smoke is rising straight up from all
the chimneys — as if from a censer in a church. Ah, it seems
to me, my Francis, that on such a morning as this, heaven and
earth are as beautiful as a church on a feast-day, and that all
creatures praise, love and thank God."
To these words Francis gave no answer but silence.
But a moment later he broke out, as he ceased his dressing:
*'How weak I am!"
His mother changed the current of her remarks and their
tone.
"It is always so, when one has been sick," she said brightly.
"As long as you lie in bed you think that you can do anything,
but as soon as you get your feet from under the covers you
find that it is different. I know this from my own experience,
and therefore I had the foresight to bring a stick for you."
And she went to the door and brought in a beautiful pol-
ished stick with an ivory handle. Soon after the mother and
son together left the sick-room.
Some time passed before Francis could venture to go out
of his home alone. He and his mother had visited all the
rooms. They had been down in the shop, where the clerks
had greeted them with a hearty and delighted "Good morn-
ing. Madonna Pica! Good morning and welcome back,
Signorino Francesco!" But Francis had to go further
than through rooms and shop, further 'than through the
house — he must go out and greet the fields and vineyards,
greet the open heaven and look far over the wide fertile
plain.
And now he stood outside the city gate on the road which
goes to Foligno along the foot of Monte Subiaco. Here he
stood, supported by his stick, and looked out. Directly in
front of him was a vineyard; the vines were festooned from
tree to tree; heavy blue bunches hung under the broad leaves;
soon it will be the grape harvest and the beautiful time of
wine-pressing. Further down the slope were the olive groves
that extended over the plain and covered it with a silver-grey
veil. Here and there appeared the white buildings and farm-
houses under a veil of mist which now towards midday
6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
began to rise out of the earth — the most distant buildings
seemed hardly larger than little white stones.
Francis saw it all, yet not as he should have seen it. That
excess of delight, with which the sight of the landscape's
bright colors and of the mountain's line outline against the
clear sky formerly affected him, was missing. It was as if
the heart which formerly had beaten so young and strongly
in his breast had suddenly grown old — it seemed to him as
if he never again could enjoy anything. He felt too hot in
the sun, and retreated to the shadow of a wall. His knees
were too weak to let him go down the hill; he also was hungry
and caught himself dreaming of a good dinner and of a glass
of wine. And like a shudder the sensation went through
him that his youth was gone — that the things which he had
believed would constantly give him peace would now give
him no joy — that all that he had thought to be a treasure
which never could be taken from him : the sunshine, the blue
heaven, the green fields — all that he in his convalescence's
weary days had so bitterly longed for like an exiled king for
his kingdom — that all this in his hands was now worthless,
smouldering and going to ashes, like the palms of Palm-
Sunday burned and reduced to the ashes which the priest
on Ash- Wednesday puts upon the heads of the faithful, with
the sad and truthful words, "Remember, man, of dust thou
art, and unto dust thou shalt return."
It was all dust, dust and nothing but dust — and ashes,
death and judgment, mortality and vanity — all was
vanity !
Francis stood there a long time and looked into space —
it was as though he saw the future blossoming before his
eyes. Slowly he turned away, and, leaning heavily on his
stick, went back to Assisi.
For him the day was come of which the Lord spoke to the
prophet: "I will spread thy path with thorns" — the day
when a mysterious hand writes words of death and corrup-
tion on the walls of the feast chamber.
But, like all who are in the first steps of their conversion,
the young man immediately thought as much of the failings
of others as of his own. For as he saw the change that had
THE CONVALESCENT 7
taken place in himself, his thoughts were directed to his
friends with whom he had so often stood there and admired
the beautiful view. "How foolish they are that they love
perishable things," he thought within himself with a sort of
feeling of superiority as he went back to the city gate.^
*The material for this sketch is found undeveloped, but clearly enough
expressed, in the first and second chapters of Thomas of Celano's Vita prima —
and the stick on which Francis rests himself is even included — also in Bona-
venture (Legenda major, cap. I, n. 2) and Julian of Speier {Ada Sanctorum, Oct.
11, p. 563)-
CHAPTER II
INFANCY AND YOUTH
FRANCESCO — or as we say in our language, Francis —
had that morning just completed his twenty-second
year and was the eldest son of one of the richest men
of Assisi, the great cloth-merchant Pietro de Bernar-
done.
The family was not indigenous to Assisi — Pietro's father
Bernardone or "great Bernhard" had come from Lucca, and
belonged to the renowned Luccan family of weavers and
merchants, the Moriconi. Francis' mother. Fru Pica, was of
still more distant origin; Ser Pietro had made her acquaint-
ance on one of his business trips in beautiful legendary Pro-
vence, and took her home as his bride to the little Italian
village under the mountain declivity of Subasio.^
Assisi is one of the oldest cities of Italy. Even in the books
of Ptolemy it is called Aisision; and in the year 46 B.C. the
Latin poet Propertius was born there. Christianity was
' Ottavio, Bishop of Assisi, tells in his book, pubh'shed in 1689, L7t?ni siilla
Portiuncula, that he, during a visit to Lucca, had seen an old manuscript, whence
he copied the following, word for word: "There were in Lucca two brothers
who were merchants named Moriconi. One remained in the region, while
the other with the surname, Bernardone, went to Umbria and settled in Assisi,
married there and had a son whom he named Pietro. Pietro, who was heir to
a considerable fortune, courted a young girl of noble family, named Pica, and
was St. Francis' father." For Pica's Provengal extraction see Regie du Tiers
Ordre de la Penitence . . . explained by R. P. Claude Frassen, Paris, 1752, and
Annales Franciscaines, Oct., 1890. Wadding (Annales, I, p. 17) gives a family
tree of the Moriconi, coming within the fourth degree of consanguinity of St.
Francis. Also according to Wadding (ditto, p. 18) the priors in Assisi, Feb-
ruary 3, 1534, testify that there lived two descendants of Pietro di Bernardone in
the city, namely the brothers Antonio and Bernardone, both of whom sup-
ported themselves as beggars. See also A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 556-557, Cristo-
fani: Storie d' Assisi, I, pp. 78 et seq. Sabatier: Vie de St. F. (1905), p. 2, n. 2,
le Monnier: Hist, de St. F., I (1891), pp. 1-6, Cherancé: St. F. d'A. (1900),
PP- 2-3.
8
INFANCY AND YOUTH 9
brought to this region by St. Crispolitus or Crispoldo — accord-
ing to the legend a disciple of St. Peter as well as of St. Britius,
Bishop of Spoleto, who at the command of the prince of the
Apostles, in the year 58, is said to have consecrated St. Cris-
poldo as bishop in Vettona, now Bettona, and to have assigned
him the charge over the whole district from Foligno in the
south to Nocera in the north. Under the persecutions of
Domitian, St. Crispoldo suffered martyrdom; the same fate
overtook later three of Umbria's bishops — St. Victorinus
(about 240), St. Sabinus (303), and St. Rufinus who was the
apostle of Assisi.^
In honor of the last named there was erected in Assisi, in
the middle of the twelfth century, the beautiful romanesque
basilica of San Rufino, after the designs of John of Gubbio,
and when it was completed it became the cathedral of the
place, replacing the very old church by the Bishop's palace —
Santa Maria del Vescovado.
And in this church of San Rufino still stands the roman-
esque baptismal font in which the first-born of Ser Pietro and
Madonna Pica received the water of holy baptism one day
in September, 1182 (it is said to have been the 26th).
A legend which is not older than the fifteenth century says
that while Madonna Pica's hour with Francis was come the
child could not be born. Then a pilgrim knocked at the
door, and, when it was opened, said that the child would not
be born until the mother left the beautiful bedroom, went
into the stable, and there lay upon straw in one of the stalls.
This was done, and hardly was the change effected when the
heartrending cries of the mother ceased, and she bore a son,
whose first cradle, like that of the Saviour, was a manger
full of straw in a stable.
Bartholomew of Pisa, who wrote in the end of the four-
teenth century, and who in his work Liher Conformitatum
goes very far in drawing analogies between Jesus Christ and
Saint Francis, knew nothing of this story; yet it would have
exactly suited the scope of his book. On the other hand,
Benozzo Gozzoli in the year 1452 painted the birth in the
^Ughelli: Italia sacra (1717), vol. I, col. 680; A. SS., 12. May: Analeda
Franciscana, III (Quaracchi, 1897), p. 226, n. i.
lO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
stable upon the walls of the church of St. Francis in Monte-
falco, and Sedulius, whose Historia Seraphica appeared in
Antwerp in the year 1613, says that he saw the stable in
Assisi converted into a chapel.
Even to-day this chapel can be found in Assisi. It is
called S. Francesco il piccolo (St. Francis the little), and
over the door can be read the following inscription:
Hoc oratorium fuit bovis et asini stabulum
In quo natus est Franciscus mundi speculum.
"This oratory was the stable of ox and ass in which Francis
the mirror of the world was born."
The chapel is not far from the place where now the house
of the father of St. Francis is shown, and where since the
seventeenth century the chiesa nuova (new church) lifts its
barocque walls. The Bollandists have propounded the the-
ory that the chapel may be a part of Pietro di Bernardone's
original house, which the family later moved out of while
Francis was still a child. Perhaps the name of the chapel,
"Little Francis," led to the development of the legend,^
Of the same legendary quality as that of the birth in the
stable is another tradition that is first given by Wadding.
This tells us that the same pilgrim who had given the good
advice about the flight to the stable was also in the church
at the time of the child's baptism immediately after the
birth, and held the child over the font. There is still shown
in San Rufino's church a stone on which are what resemble
footprints. It is told by the guide who shows the stone
that the pilgrim — or the angel in guise of a pilgrim — stood
upon this stone when St. Francis was baptized.
The seed from which this legend has sprung is undoubtedly
a tale, which still exists in a manuscript of the so-called
Legend of the Three Brothers.
It is told in it that while the new-born Francis was being
baptized, a pilgrim came and knocked at the door and asked
to see the child. The maid who opened the door naturally
refused this request, but the stranger declared that he would
not go until he obtained his wish. Ser Pietro was not at
^ Ada sanctorum, Oct. II., pp. 556-558.
INFANCY AND YOUTH II
home, and they told the lady of the house what was going
on. To the astonishment of all, she ordered them to do what
the pilgrim asked. The child was taken out, and as soon as
the stranger saw the child he took it in his arms just as
Simeon had taken the Divine Infant, and said: *' To-day there
have been born in this street two children, and one of them,
namely this very child, shall be one of the best men in the
world, but the other shall be one of the worst." ^
Bartholomew of Pisa adds that the pilgrim made the sign
of a cross upon the right shoulder of the little one, warning the
nurse to look well after the child, for the devil strove after its
life. And when the stranger had said this, he disappeared
before the eyes of all.
In baptism the son of Ser Pietro had received the name of
John. The father was absent on a journey to France when
the child was born, and one of the first things he undertook
after his return was to change his first-born's nam.e from
John to Francis. This name was then rare, although not
entirely new. It was in use in the immediate neighborhood
of Assisi, as the name of the road (via Francesca) which
then ran along the west side of the town from S. Sal va tore
degli Pareti (now Casa Gualdi) and ended at S. Damiano.
This road is referred to by name in a bull of Pope Innocent III,
pubhshed May 26, 1198, when Francis was only fifteen years
old, and not yet famous enough to have a road called after
him. Many surmises have been made as to why Pie tro di
Bernardone changed his son's name. The love of the mer-
chant just returning from Provence for France must have
been a principal motive; he wished his son to be a real French-
man in nature and ways. A certain protest against the
name-giving by the woman of the house may also have
played its part. St. Bonaventure says explicitly that the
name John was given him by his mother. "I wish no camel's-
hair John the Baptist, but a Frenchman with fine nature,"
is what the father's changing of the name may be thought
to have meant.
^ Tres Socii, cap. I, n. 2, in the Vatican MS. 7339, published in Pesaro,
1831. Barth, of Pisa's ConformUates (Milano, 1513), fol. 12V, i3r, and 2sr.
Wadding, I, (Romae, 1731), pp. 20-21.
12 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Others hold that the name "the Frenchman" was first
bestowed upon the youth as he grew up because of his skill
in the French language — a skill which certainly was not
very great, as he never could speak the language perfectly.
In any case, the youth became familiar from youth with
the French tongue. He also learned Latin; this part of his
education was undertaken by priests of the neighboring church
of St. George.^
St. Francis' first biographer, Thomas of Celano, gives us an
unpleasant picture of the education of the period. He tells
us that children were scarcely weaned before they were
taught by their elders to both say and do improper things,
and that from false human respect no one dared to behave
honorably. And from so bad a twig no good and healthy tree
naturally could spring. A wasted childhood was followed by
a riotous youth. Christianity was only a name with the
young, and all their ambition was simply in the direction of
seeming worse than they were.^
Thomas of Celano was a poet and a rhetorician, and it is
not easy to know how much weight should be attached to
his assertions. Perhaps he thought of the conditions in his
own childhood's home, Celano in the Abruzzi. Of the other
biographers, only Julian of Speier has anything of the same
sort to say, and he copies it all from brother Thomas.
At an early age, in accordance with a custom still obtain-
ing in Italy, Francis began to assist his father in the shop.
He soon showed himself adapted for business — "even more
forward than his forbears," Julian of Speier, referred to above,
says of him in this respect.^ He was a skilful and active
business man, and lacked only one business trait — but this
was also very essential — he was not economical, rather was
he absolutely wasteful.
To understand the cause of this wastefulness it is necessary
to take a look at the period in which the young merchant
grew up.
* St. George's church was situated where now is Santa Chiara. The distance
thence to the new church, built on the site of St. Francis' paternal home, is
not great.
2 VUa prima, I, cap. I. * A. SS., Oct. II, p. 560.
INFANCY AND YOUTH I3
It was the end of the twelfth century and beginning of the
thirteenth — in other words, it was the flowery time of knight-
hood and chivalry. Europe's ideal was the knight and the
life of chivalry, as it developed in the courts of love in Pro-
vence and with the Norman kings in Sicily. In Italy the
minor courts of Este, Verona, and Monteferrato contended
with the great repubhcs of Florence and Milan to see who
could give the most magnificent tournaments and tilting
matches. The most celebrated troubadours of France, Ram-
baud de Vaqueiras, Pierre Vidal, Bernard de Ventadour, Peirol
d'Auvergne, wandered over the peninsula on endless Journeys
from court to court, and from festival to festival. Every-
where were to be heard the Chansons de Gesie of Provence,
fables and ballades, everywhere were to be heard songs of
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Even in
the smallest cities the courts of love were established, de-
voted to the "Gay Science," la gaya scienza}
Pietro di Bernardone's "French" son was, as it were, des-
tined to be caught in this movement. He was not Hke his
father — only the saving, easily contented Italian, to whom
it was enough to accumulate money. There flowed through
his veins also the sparkling blood of Provence — he must
have enjoyment by means of his money, he wanted to change
gold into splendor and joy.
Thus Francis, the richest young man of the place, very
naturally became what in our days would be called the leading
society man of the town. He was skilled in earning money,
but very frivolous in giving it away again, says Thomas of
Celano. No wonder that he soon gathered a circle of friends
about him, not only from Assisi, but also from the neighbor-
ing villages; we even find him seeking a friend in the some-
what distant town of Gubbio.
How did these young men spend their time when they were
together? Like all young men up to the present day — in
taking their meals together, eating well, drinking better, and
finally in high spirits going through the streets of the city
arm in arm, singing at the top of their voices, and disturbing
^ Le Monnier: Histoire de St. Franqis, Paris, 1891, 1, pp. 11-16. Paul Saba-
tier: Vie de S. Franqois d'Assise (sad ed., Paris, 1905), p. 10, n. 2.
14 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
the slumbers of the citizens. The austere Friar Minor from
Celano enumerates for us the sins of these wild young men —
they joked, he says, were witty, said foolish things, and wore
soft, effeminate clothes.
I remember a day in May a few years ago, a day in May in
Subiaco in the Sabine hills. I had visited Sagro Speco, St.
Benedict's celebrated hermitage cave and holy scholastic's
convent. I had gone into an inn by the wayside to get a
light meal, until I could take the train back to Rome via
Mandela. I had my meal served in a pleasure house situated
on a projecting point of rock, so that I looked down between
the openings of a screen into a fig orchard's broad-leaved
tops, lighted by the sun. Over the fig trees I had a view into
the valley, where the Anio shining like silver rushed down
between blue-grey cliffs, and far away the village of Subiaco
with proud towers and spires lifted itself up like a castle on a
mountain top.
In these cheerful, exalting, and sunny surroundings was a
company of youths who were taking their dinner in the same
inn with me. Out in an open veranda, which gave a most
beautiful view in among the wild mountains, they had had
a long table set — I saw the bright white cloth, the mighty
flasks, the glasses with the red wine, and the waiters who ran
back and forth with great dishes of macaroni. And laughter
and song arose, but never became ungoverned riot, and they
stood up in their places and made speeches, and after the
speaking there was a little cornet-playing.
Such, thought I to myself, were the festivals, filled with
Italian enjoyment and at the same time with Italian polite-
ness, at which Pietro di Bernardone's son bore the sceptre
as rex, as king of the festive party, king for a day and an
evening. And if the old Franciscan from Celano had been
familiar with the wild inspired drinking songs of the youth
of the north or with the " Salamanderreiben " of the Ger-
man sons of the Muse, then he would have been milder
in passing judgment on these festivals, whose delights were
as mild and clear as the yellow wine that ripens on the
Umbrian hillsides.
But he knew them not, and therefore tells us that Francis
INFANCY AND YOUTH I5
was the worst of all the brawling youths — the one who led
and misled the others. The "gilded youth" of Assisi went
from feast to feast, and at night they could be heard going
through the streets, singing to the accompaniment of the lute
or violin, as if they were a wandering band of Troubadours
or "jongleurs." Indeed so far did Francis go in his admira-
tion for the "joyful science" of Provence, that he had a
parti-colored minstrel's suit made for himself, which he wore
when among his friends.^
Even at this early time Francis' father had most probably
taken his son as associate in his business; at any rate, the
young man had control over considerable sums of money.
Everything that he earned went for pleasure; now and then
the father could hardly withhold the remark: "Anyone would
think you were a nobleman's son, and not the son of a simple
merchant." Yet none of his elders cared to restrain Francis
in the life he led, and when well-meaning neighbors com-
plained to Madonna Pica of the wild son she had, she used
only to answer: "I have the hope that he too some day will
be a son of God."
It was impossible to say anything really bad about him.
In all that related to his intercourse with the other sex he
was a model: it was known among his friends that no one
dared say an evil word in his hearing. If it happened, at once
his face assumed a serious, almost harsh, expression, and he
did not answer. Like all the pure of heart, Francis had great
reverence for the mysteries of life.^
He was, on the whole, decorous in his Hfe, and there was
only one thing that really offended his family — it was that
he clung so to his friends that, as he sat at the table in his
home, if a message came from them, he would jump up,
leave his meal, and, going out, would not return to finish
his repast.
In one respect he was worthy of admiration — this was
his regard for the poor. His extravagance extended even
to them; he was not one of those typical society men who
1 " In curiositate tantum erat vanus, quod aliquando in eodem indumento
pannum valde carum panno vilissimo consul faciebat." Tres Socii, cap. I, n. 2.
* Tres Socii, cap. I, n. 3.
l6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
hardly have a penny to give a beggar, but willingly spend
their hundreds on a champagne feast. His way of thinking
was the following: "If I am generous, yes, even extravagant
with my friends who at the best only say 'thanks' to me for
them, or repay me with another invitation, how much greater
grounds have I for almsgiving which God himself has prom-
ised to repay a hundredfold?" This was the inspiring life-
thought of the Middle Ages, which here carried out the
genially literal and genially naive translation of the words of
the gospel: "As long as you did it to one of these my least
brethren, you did it to me." Francis knew — as the whole
Middle Ages knew it — that not even a glass of cold water,
given by the disciples, would remain unpaid and unrewarded
by the Master.
Therefore a pang went through his heart when, one day as
there was a crowd in the shop, and he was in a hurry to get
through, he had sent a beggar away. "If this man had come
from one of my friends," said he to himself, "from Count this
or Baron that, he would have got what he asked for.^ Now
he comes from the King of kings and from the Lord of lords,
and I let him go away empty-handed. I even gave him a
repelling word." And he determined from that day on to
give to every one who asked him in God's name — per amor
di Dio, as the Italian beggars still are wont to say.^
One effect of his kindness to the poor was, perhaps, this —
as Bonaventure tells it. One of the original characters of
the village, a half-witted or entire simpleton, who travelled
around the streets and by-ways, every time he met Francis,
took off his cloak and spread it out on the ground, and
asked the young man to step upon it. Perhaps it was the
same queer fellow, perhaps another of the wandering weaklings
of the Middle Ages, who used to wander through the streets
of Assisi, calling out ceaselessly: Pax et bonum! ("Peace and
Good!") After Francis' conversion this warning voice ceased,
^ This reflection of Francis gives us a new little insight into the position
the young man held in his circle — they used to borrow money from him.
* Two of his biographers — the Anonymous of Perugia and St. Bonaven-
ture — assert that Francis ran after the beggar, found him and gave him the
alms he had denied him {A. SS., Oct. II, p. 562. Bonav., Leg. Maj., cap. I, n. i.
Tres Socii, cap. I, n. 3. Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. VII).
INFANCY AND YOUTH 17
which is treated in the legend as a kind of precursor of the
great saint's coming.^
Finally Francis was endowed with a vivid feeling for nature.
For it was in Provence that this sentiment, now so spontane-
ous in life as in literature, found, a century later, in the works
of Petrarch, its first literary expression since the days of
antiquity. But already in the half-Provengal Francis it is
found fully developed — "The beauty of the country, the
charm of the vineyards, all that was pleasing to the eye"
rejoiced him, says Thomas of Celano,^ and we will not go
wrong if we regard this feeling as a part of Francis' inheri-
tance from his mother. This was then a notable element of
his personality and was temporarily only obscured by the
spiritual crisis which preceded his conversion. As all good
which is to grow, so must this side of his nature be pruned
down even to the very roots — but only to bear a still richer
crown. For as a German mystic has said: "No one has a
true love for created things unless he has first forsaken it for
love of God, so that it has been dead for him and he dead
for it."
^ Bonav., cap. I, n. 2. Tres Socii, VIII, 26.
2 Vita prima, I, cap. II.
CHAPTER III
HISTORY OF THE EPOCH
FRANCIS grew up in warlike times. Emperor was
opposed to pope, prince to king, village was against
village and burgher against noble. Francis was
but a child when Frederick Barbarossa at the peace
of Constance (June 25, 1183-1196) had to grant the Lombardy
States all the privileges which they, supported by the power
of the Papacy, had conquered for themselves in the battle of
Legnano (1176). Barbarossa's successor, Henry VI (1183-
1196), meanwhile made the imperial power firm once more
in Italy, and Assisi, which already in 1174 had been taken
by the German Royal Chancellor, Archbishop Christian of
Mayence, but which in 1177 had won its communal freedom
with -its own consuls, had to waive its municipal privileges,
and bow down under the imperial Duke of Spoleto and Count
of Assisi, Conrad of Irslingen.
A year after the death of King Henry, Innocent III ascended
the Papal throne, and this powerful Prince of the Church
immediately took the affairs of the Italian states into his
own strong hand. Duke Conrad had to go to Narni and
submit himself to the Pope, and his absence was at once
utilized by the citizens for an assault by storm on the "Zwing-
burg" (Guarding Castle), which, threatening the city, was
enthroned on the top of Santo Rosso. The castle was taken
and so thoroughly laid waste that, when the Papal emissary
came to take possession of it, as property of Peter, there was
only a ruin left, the same which still looks down upon Assisi.
And to be prepared to take the consequences of this daring
act, the citizens determined to erect a wall around their city;
with spirit all went to work, and in the course of an incredibly
short time the people of Assisi built the city wall with towers,
which even to-day has an imposing effect upon the visitor.
18
HISTORY OF THE EPOCH 19
At this time Francis was about seventeen years old, and, as
Sabatier says, it is not unreasonable to suppose that on this
occasion he acquired that ability in handling stone and mortar
which later stood him in good stead at San Damiano and
Portiuncula.
Naturally the greatest part of the work, both of tearing
down and building up, was done by the lower people —
minores, as it was the universal custom to call them. The
common people thus realized their power, and after overcom-
ing the foreign foe, the tyrannical German, they turned their
attention to the foe at home, the minor tyrants, the noble
lords, whose fortified residences — as later the Steens in the
Flemish cities — stood here and there in the village. A real civil
war broke out; the nobles' houses were besieged, many of them
were burned, and the fall of the nobility seemed inevitable.
Then the nobles of Assisi turned in their need to Assisi 's
former enemy — the neighboring and powerful Perugia.
Ambassadors from- Assisi's nobihty promised to recognize
Perugia's supremacy over the city whenever she could come
to their assistance.
The republic of Perugia then stood at the summit of its
.power and greatness and eagerly seized the opportunity to
reduce Assisi to subjection. Its army advanced into the field
to the relief of the besieged nobility. The citizens of Assisi
did not lose courage; together with such of the nobility as
had remained true to their ancestral city, they met the troops
of Perugia at the bridge of San Giovanni, on the plain between
the two cities. Victory fell to the Perugians and a quantity
of the combatants of Assisi were taken prisoners — among
them also Francis. On account of his noble appearance the
young merchant's son was not put in prison with the rest of
the citizens, but, just as the laws of many old French cities
provide for les bourgeois honorahles, he received permission to
share the lot of the nobility.^
The defeat at Ponte San Giovanni took place in the year
^ Cristofani: Storie d' Assisi, I, Assisi, 1875, pp. 83-96; Le Monnier: Hisloire
de St. Franqois d' Assise,!, pp. 24-26; P. Sabatier: Vie de S. Franqois d' Assise,
pp. 12-15. — The place where the battle between the two cities was fought is
given in Vita B. Columbae Reatinae {A. SS., May 20), where it is told how Co-
lumba with her father and others accompanying her were captured by ruffians
20 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
I202, the imprisonment in Perugia lasted a year, and, during
it, Francis astounded his fellow-prisoners by his constant
cheerfulness. Although there seemed little reason to be con-
tented he was always to be heard singing and joking, and when
the others peevishly or angrily rebuked him, he answered only:
"Do you not know that a great future awaits me, and that all
the world shall then fall down and pray to me?" This is
the first expression of his firm conviction of his future, the
definite certainty that a great future belonged to him, which
is so remarkable in St. Francis in these years of his youth.
In November, 1203 peace was declared between the two
contending powers. The conditions were that the citizens of
Assisi should repair the damage they had done to the prop-
erty of the nobles, and that the nobles should on their part
not be free to enter into any alliance without permission of
the city. Francis was now liberated with the other prisoners,
among whom he who had formerly been an apostle of happiness
now assumed the role of peacemaker. For there was among
the prisoner-warriors one who, on account of his pride and
unreasonableness, was very unpopular with all. Instead of
avoiding this difficult character, Francis undertook to be in
his company, and went so far in this direction, during the
time of captivity, that the ill-humored unreasonable prisoner
changed, and was received into the circle of his companions,
whence he had exiled himself.
The long intercourse with the noble prisoners seems to have
affected the young merchant's heart with a greater attachment
to the ways of life of the nobility than ever, which in the years
following the imprisonment (i 203-1 206) became very evident
in him. It was now that he became a disciple of the "gay
science" of Provence; it was now that he submerged himself
in the whirl of festivities and enjojonents, out of which his
sickness, which in his twenty-third year brought him so near
to the portals of death, was first to rescue him — and even at
that not too securely.
on the bridge of S. Giovanni. The author of the biography adds to the
above: "Memini, me legisse, hoc eodcm loco, B. Franciscum, tunc juvenem,
cum pluribus sodalibus carceri mancipatum " (ditto, n. 74). — The bridge of
S. Giovanni crosses the Tiber a little north of Perugia.
CHAPTER IV
FRANCIS BECOMES A SOLDIER
FOR even now he was a long way from conversion.
He had realized his soul's barrenness, but he had
found nothing with which to fill it. As his con-
valescence progressed and his strength returned,
in such measure did he return to his worldly life, and
trod again the same paths as before his sickness. The only
difference was that he had no enjoyment now in the life
he led. There was a sort of unrest in him, that gave him no
peace ; there was a thorn in his soul that ceaselessly irritated
him. More than ever he dreamed of great deeds, of strange
adventures and of achievements in strange and distant
lands.
And again the life of chivalry presented itself to him as the
only one which would assuage his soul's indefinable longing
to attain the highest. From his youth he had been intimate
with the romances of King Arthur and the Knights of the
Round Table. He too would be a Knight of the Holy Grail,
he too would go out into the world, offer his blood for the
cause of the Greatest and Highest, and — for this was not
excluded from his thoughts — he could return home crowned
with undying laurels.
Just at this time the Middle-Ages' long-standing dispute
between emperor and pope had entered on a new phase.
Henry VI 's widow had invoked the guardianship of Innocent
III for the heir to the throne, afterwards the Emperor Frede-
rick II. One of the oldest of the Emperor's generals, named
Markwald, made the claim that it was he who, in virtue of the
will, should properly be regent for king and kingdom.^ But
' "Baliiis regius et regni," Vita Innocentii III, quoted by Le Monnierj I,
p. 34, n. I.
22 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Innocent had no idea of giving up what he had undertaken,
and was prepared to defend his cause with arms. The war
was carried on in Southern Italy, because the widow-queen,
Constance, being heir to the Norman kings, was also queen of
Sicily. Innocent suffered for a long time one defeat after
another, until he entrusted his army to Duke Walter III of
Brienne, who in the name of his Norman wife, Albinia, laid
claim to Tarentum. This illustrious leader overcame the
Germans in a series of defeats — at Capua, at Lecce, at
Barletta — and his fame spread over all Italy, and inspired
all the land. The Germans were hated everywhere; in
Sicily the word "German" signified coarse, impolite, unjust.
The French troubadour, Pierre Vidal, wandered through
Lombardy and sang sarcastic songs about the Germans —
"I would not be a nobleman in Friesland," he sang, "if I had
to hear the language they speak there; it sounds like geese,
not like the language of men."^ All that was young, proud
and noble in Italy rose against the foreign dominion, and
Walter of Brienne's name seemed to wave over inspired ranks
like a banner blessed by the Pope.
The national inspiration reached even Assisi; one of the
nobles of the place armed himself to go with a little troop to
the aid of Walter's army in Apulia.^ As soon as Francis
heard this, a feverish longing took possession of him. Here
was the chance he so long had wished for, here was the
moment which must not be allowed to escape; now or never
was the time — the nobleman from Assisi should take Francis
with him in his troop, and Duke Walter should knight him !
With all his zeal Francis pondered over the means of carry-
ing this plan into effect. He was seized by wild joy, such as
one feels when preparing for a new and, as one may hope, an
entrancing epoch of life. A sort of "wanderlust" mastered
him; he ran rather than walked through the streets. His
friends found that his usual good humor had risen to an
excessive height, and asked him the reason therefor, when he
* Le Monnier, p. 35, n. i.
* The biographers of Francis did not know the name of Walter of Brienne;
they allude to him only vaguely under the title genlilis {Tres Socii) or liberalis
(Bonaventure). In June, 1205 Walter fell at the siege of Sarno, but his army
prosecuted the contest.
FRANCIS BECOMES A SOLDIER 23
would answer with glittering eyes: " I know that I am now
going to be a great prince."^
It goes without saying that nothing was spared in equipping
the young merchant's son for war. One of his biographers
says that all of his clothes were "individual and costly." ^
This was what was to be expected in the extravagant and
luxurious rich young man. But what is also completely
characteristic of him is that when, just before starting, he met
one of his fellow-travellers, a nobleman, and saw that he on
account of his poverty could not clothe and arm himself
properly, Francis gave all his costly equipment to him, and
took the nobleman's poor things in exchange.
Engrossed as he was in the new Hfe, he naturally dreamt
every night of war and weapons. The very night after he
had been so generous to the poor knight, such a dream came
to him, and it seemed to him more pregnant with meaning
than any of the others. It seemed to him that he — perhaps
to bid farewell — stood in his father's shop. But instead of
the rolls of goods which usually filled the shelves from floor
to ceiling, he saw now on all sides shining shields, bright
spears, shining armor. And as he wondered he heard a voice
which said: "All this shall belong to you and to your
warriors." ^
It was only natural that Francis should take this dream for
a good omen. And one bright morning he sprang upon his
horse to go with the rest of the Httle troop to Apulia. Their
road led them through the present Porta Nuova to Foligno
and from Foligno to Spoleto. Here they approached the
Flaminian Way — the road to Rome and south Italy. And
here Francis had nearly reached the goal of his warlike
journey.
^ "Scio me magnum principem a^uturum" {Tres Socii, cap. II, n. 5). In the
same strain in the prison in Perugia: " Adhiic adorabor pertotum mundutn" {Tr.
Soc, II, 4, and Celano, Vita seciuida, I, i).
^ "curiosa et cara" (Tres Socii, cap. II, n. 6).
' The dream is thus told by Thomas of Celano (Vita prima, 1, cap. II) and
Julian of Speier (A. SS., Oct. II, p. 564). In the Tres Socii (cap. II, n. 5) the
locaUty is no longer his home but is a palace, as also in Thomas of Celano's
second Biography (I, 2) and in St. Bona venture (I, 3), and the apparition is
otherwise enlarged upon (the weapons are marked with crosses, a beautiful
bride awaits Francis in the palace hall, etc.).
24 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
For the same hand which had formerly cast him upon a
sick-bed to bring him to reflection and realization, again
grasped him in Spoleto. An attack of fever forced him to take
to his bed, and as he lay there between sleeping and waking, it
happened that he heard a voice asking him where he wanted
to go. "To ApuUa to be a knight," was the invalid's answer.
"Tell me, Francis, who can benefit you most: the Lord or the
servant?" "The Lord," answered Francis in astonishment.
"Then why do you desert the Lord," repeated the voice,
" for the servant, and the Prince for his vassal? "
Then Francis knew who it was who spoke to him, and in the
words of Paul cried out: "Lord, what do you wish me to do?"
But the voice answered: "Go back to your home; there it
shall be told you what you are to do. For the vision you saw
must be understood in another way!"
The voice ceased and Francis awoke. The rest of the night
he lay awake. But when morning came he silently arose,
saddled his horse and rode back to Assisi in all his warlike
equipment, which now suddenly seemed to him so vain.^
We do not know what reception awaited him at home, but
we can imagine it. This, like all his other eccentricities, was
undoubtedly soon forgiven him, and for a good while he was
again the centre of his friends' joyous circle. Soon the old
life with feasting and enjoyment was in full swing; again was
Francis the one who in spite of all had to be acknowledged
as the leader of his circle of young men — fios Juvenum.'^
If his futile trip towards Apulia was referred to, he replied
very definitely that he certainly had given it up, but only
to do great things in his own land.^
* Tres Socii, cap. II, n. 5, and Celano, Vita secunda, I, 2. Thomas of
Celano in his first life of St. Francis knew nothing of this second dream, he only
says: "immutatus . . . mente ... ire in Apuliam se recusat"; first through
the Tres Socii he learned about the strange motive for so unexpected a determi-
nation.
For the connection between the two biographers of Francis and the Tres
Socii legend, consult the appendix. One of the biographers would have
us beUeve that, as Francis on his return home passed through Foligno, he
sold horse and arms there and bought himself other clothes. (Anonymus
Perusinus in Ada SS., Oct. II, p. 565.)
^ Wadding (Annalcs, vol. I, p. 23).
»Julian of Speier (A. SS., Oct. II, p. 566, n. 109). Celano, Vita prima, I,
cap. III. Tres Socii, cap. V, n. 13.
FRANCIS BECOMES A SOLDIER 25
He really had less confidence than he assumed. Opposing
emotions contended in his soul — now he listened to the voice
of the world only, now he longed to serve the Lord whose
inspiring voice had spoken so pleadingly to him that night in
Spoleto. Stronger and stronger the feeling arose in him to
withdraw from all and in loneliness to become sure of his
calling. But if he sought his friends no more they sought him,
and, to avoid all appearance of parsimony, he was the same
luxurious host as before.
And thus it happened that one evening — it was in the
summer of 1205 — invitations were sent out in his usual way
for a festival which was to be richer and more sumptuous than
ever. He was to be the king of the feast, and, when the table
was cleared, all Joined in overwhelming him with praise and
thanks. After the dinner the company as usual went singing
through the streets, but Francis, who kept a little behind the
others, did not sing. Little by little he dropped behind his
friends; soon he was alone in the quiet night in some one of
Assisi's small steep streets, or in one of its small open squares,
from which one looks out so far over the lansdcape.
And there it came to pass that the Lord again visited him.
The heart of Francis, which was weary of the world and of its
vanities, was filled with such a sweetness that there was room
for no other feeling. He lost all consciousness of himself,
and if he had been cut to pieces limb by limb — as he himself
later told of it — he would not have known of it, would never
have tried by a movement to escape it.
How long he stood there, overcome by the heavenly sweet-
ness, he never knew. He first came back to himself when
one of his friends, who had gone back in search of him, called
out:
"Hello, Francis, are you thinking of your honeymoon?"
And looking up to heaven where the stars were shining,
then as now in the serene August night, the young man
answered :
"Yes, I am thinking of marrying! But the bride I am going
to woo is nobler, richer and fairer than any woman you know."
Then his friends laughed — for a number had approached —
and the wine had made them loquacious. "Then the tailor
26 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
will again have a job, just as when you started to Apulia,"
we may think some of them said with a sneer.
Francis heard their laughter and was angry, but not with
them. For in sudden light the whole of his former life was
before him, in its folly, its lack of object, its childish vanity.
He saw himself in all his pitiful reality — and in front of him
stood in shining beauty the life he hitherto had not led — the
true Hfe, the just Hfe, the beautiful, noble, rich hfe — life in
Jesus Christ.
In this aspect Francis could be angry at no one but himself,
and therefore the old legend says also that from that hour
he began to value himself little.^
* "ab ilia bora coepit sibi vilescere." {Tres Socii, cap. Ill, whence the above
particulars are essentially taken. Compare Celano, Vita sec, I, 3.)
CHAPTER V
THE CONVERSION
AN author of the fifteenth century, St. Antonin of
Florence (i 389-1459) in his Chronicles of the
Church has put the summary of Francis' activities
in the first year which followed his parting from
his friends and the joyous life into two lines: "He now
kept in hiding in hermit caves, and now piously built up
ruined churches." ^ Solitary prayer and personal work for
the kingdom of God were the two means by which the rich
man's son, young, spoiled and worldly, sought to ascertain
the will of God as appHed to his own case.
A Httle way outside of the city there was a cave in the cliff,
where he liked to go to pray, sometimes alone, but oftener
with one of his friends — the only one who seems to have
remained true to him after his change of mind. None of his
biographers has preserved for us this man's name — Thomas
of Celano only says that he was a distinguished person.^
Francis had by nature a strong inclination to speak of his
experiences. His biographers say of him, that even against
his will he would speak of things which occupied him.^ It is
no wonder that he confided in a friend, and in the metaphor of
the Bible told of the costly treasure which he had found in the
cave outside the city, and which only needed to be dug out of
the soil. But he had to be alone to raise the treasure —
' nunc latebat in eremis, nunc ecclesiarum reparationibus insistebat devotus.
(S. Ant. Chronicon, pars III, tit. 24, cap. 7.)
2 "magnus inter ceteros" (Cel., V. pr., I, cap. III). Sabatier (Vie, pp. 22-23)
would identify this associate of the earliest times with Elias of Cortona. This
is not very logical. Elias, who, according to Salimbene {Chron., ed. Parm., p.
402), was by profession a saddlemaker and school-teacher, hardly belonged to
Francis' circle of acquaintances, much less could be called "magnus inter ceteros."
' "Jam se continere non valens, quaedam etiam nolens in publicum verbo-
tenus depromeret" (Julian of Speier in Anal. Boll., t. XXI, p. 163).
27
28 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
therefore he left his friend outside while he went in by
himself.
And there apart, in the dark cave, Francis found the secret
chamber where he could pray to his Heavenly Father. Day by
day the desire to do the will of God increased until he had
no peace, until he had clearly determined what it was that
God asked of him. Again and again were the words of the
psalmist on his lips, the words which are the foundation of
all true worship of God: "Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and
teach me thy paths" (Ps. xxiv. 4).
And against this pure ideal his past Hfe stood out dark
and repulsive. With increasing bitterness he thought of his
past youth, and it delighted him no longer to think over its
delights and extravagances. But what was to be done not
to fall back again? — had he not time and again been warned,
and had he not time and again despised the warning and
again followed his inclinations? When friends again called
on him, when the wine once more seduced him, when the smell
of the feasts again reached him, and the sounds of violin and
lute rang in his ears — would he then have power to resist,
would he not as before immerse himself in the glad world of
festivity and drinking, which hovered like a golden heaven
over the dark everyday world?
Francis did not depend upon himself, and God seemed
unwilling to give him the desired word of help which he
asked for. In agony of mind and desolation of soul, Francis
fought the battle of his salvation in the loneliness and darkness
of the cave, and when he finally, torn and tortured, again
appeared in the light of day, his friends hardly recognized
him, his face seemed so haggard.^
Thus Francis became a man of prayer. He had begun
to taste the sweetness of prayer and prayed continually. It
often happened that, as he would be going through the streets
or about his home, he would stop everything to go off into a
church to pray.^
Francis' father seems to have been away from home a great
» Celano, V. pr., I, cap. III. Cel., V. sec, I, cap. V.
*"ipsura ad orationem de platea et aliis locis impellabat" (Tres Socii, cap.
m, n. 8).
THE CONVERSION
29
deal during this period of change in his son's nature. The
mother, who, according to the authorities, loved Francis more
than her other children, let him do just what he wished. In
one sense he led the same life as before — only that the poor
had taken the place of his friends. It was they he sought, it
was to them he gave feasts. One day when his mother and he
were to sit at table together, he laid out such a quantity of
bread that there was enough for a large family. When his
mother asked the reason for such profusion, he answered that
he had intended it all for the poor. If he met a beggar in the
street who asked for alms, he gave him all the money he had
with him. But if his money was all gone, he would give
him his hat or his belt; sometimes when he had nothing else,
he would take the poor man with him to a secluded place,
take off his shirt and give it to him.^ He
also began to think about poor priests
and poor churches; he bought church
goods and sent them secretly to places
where they were wanting. This is the
first indication we have of Francis' vivid
interest, manifest in his after life for
everything relating to churches, and
which, among others, found expression
in his sending "to all provinces good and
fine irons to make fine and white altar-bread with."^
But first of all the poor w^ere in his thoughts. To see them,
to hear their troubles, to help them in their necessities —
these were hereafter his principal concerns. And little by
little the desire was firmly established within his heart: ''If
I could only find by personal experience how it felt to be poor
• — how it is to be, not one of those who go by and throw down
a shilling, but to be the one who stands in rags and dirt, and
humbly bowing, stretches out his faded hat for alms!" Many
a time, we may think, he stood among the beggars at some
church door — stood among them while they pitifully asked
for a mite. But it was not Hke him to do only this. He
himself must do the begging in order to understand poverty,
and this could not be done in Assisi where every one knew him.
^ Tres Socii, cap. Ill, nn. 8-9. ' Speculum perfectiotiis, ed. Sab., cap. LXV.
Design in Host Mould; in
Convent at Greccio
30 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
It was this which inspired him with the idea of going on a
pilgrimage to Rome. There in the great city no one knew
him, there he could put his plan into execution.
Perhaps there were some particular circumstances which
brought near to him this idea of a pilgrimage to the Apostle's
grave. From September 14, 1204, until March 25, 1206,
and again from April 4 until May 11, 1206, Innocent III
had transferred the Papal residence to the bishopric of
St. Peter. ^ So long a stay by the unhealthy waters of the
Tiber may have had some connection with special church-
functions in St. Peter's — perhaps the granting of some in-
dulgence. The Bishop of Assisi at this time was also going
on a journey to Rome.^
However all this may be, Francis went to Rome. We
know only a little of his first visit to the Eternal City. He
approached by the Flaminian Way and apparently at once
went to St. Peter's. Here he met many other pilgrims and saw
that they — as was the custom in the Middle Ages — threw
coins as offerings through the feiiestrella or grated window
of the Apostle's tomb. The majority of the gifts were only
small pieces. Francis stood a while and watched — then the
last sign of his old desire to show off appeared, he pulled out
his well-filled purse and threw a whole handful of coins in
through the grating, so that the money flew about and rang as
it fell, and all the people were astonished and looked at him.
The next minute Francis had left the church and called one
of the beggars aside, and a moment after he had at last fulfilled
the purpose of the whole journey — as a real beggar clothed
in real rags he stood among the other beggars on the steps
which led up to the church.^ Of his sensations at this
moment we know enough when we read in one of his biog-
raphers that he begged in French, "which he liked to talk,
although he never could do it perfectly." For him French
was the language of poetry, the language of religion, the
language of his happiest memories and of his most solemn
iPotthast: Rcgesla, nn. 2280-2727 and 2736-2778.
'Ughelli: Italia sacra, I, col. 419.
* "in gradibus ecclesiae" {Tres Socii, cap. Ill, n. 10) "in paradise ante eccle-
siam Sancti Petri," says Thomas of Celano {Vita sec, I, 4), using for the area
in front of the church the technical expression "the paradise."
THE CONVERSION 3I
hours, the language he spoke when his heart was too
full to find expression in everyday Italian, and therefore his
soul's mother-speech. When Francis talked French, those
who knew him knew that he was happy.
How long Francis stayed in Rome is unknown to us. He
may have started back the day after his arrival. The authori-
ties only say that after he had shared the beggars' meal he
took off the borrowed clothes, put on his own and went home
to Assisi. He had now had the great experience of what it
was to be poor — he had worn rags and eaten the bread
of necessity — and although it must have been a happiness
to be in his own good clothes again, and to sit at home at his
mother's profuse table, yet he also felt the spiritual fascination
which contentment and poverty can inspire — what a delight
it can be to own nothing on this earth except a drink of water
from the spring, a crust of bread from the hand of a merciful
man, and a night's lodging under the blue heavens with its
shining stars. Why should he be troubled about so many
things, about goods and money, house and garden, people and
flocks, when so little is enough? Does not the Gospel say,
"Blessed are the poor," and "It is easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of Heaven " ?
Questions of this sort certainly troubled Francis after his
return from Rome. With greater zeal than ever he called
out to God for guidance and light. The friend who used to
accompany him to the cave seems now to have wearied of
going on this search for treasures, that was always fruitless.
The only man to whom Francis now and then revealed himself
was Bishop Guido of Assisi, who probably was his confessor.^
^ Tres Socii, cap. Ill, n. 10. Compare the words which St. Francis, according
to the Speculum perfeclionis, said shortly before his death to a certain Dominus
Bonaventura in Sienna: "ab initio meae conversionis posuit Dominus in ore
episcopi Assisii verbum suum, ut mihi consuleret et bene confortaret in servitio
Christi" (ed Sab., cap. X, p. 24). See also the Anonymous of Perugia: "parvi
et magni, masculi et feminae despiciebant et deridebant eos . . . nisi solus
episcopus civitatis, ad quem ibat frequenter beatus Franciscus ad consilium
postulandum." A. SS., Oct. II, p. 584, n. 207. In the same,n. 208: "Quadam
vero die cum adiisset beatus Franciscus dominum episcopum." See also Cel.,
V. pr., n. 15; Tres Socii, nn. 20, 35, 47. It follows from all these citations
that the relations between Francis and the authorities of the Church had from
the start been of the best.
32 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
The light cast upon this period by the Testament which
Francis has left us has therefore a special value for us. In
this document, which was written the year before the Saint's
death, we are told:
"The Lord granted me to begin my conversion, so that as
long as I lived in my sins, I felt it very bitter to see the lepers.
But the Lord took me among them and I exercised mercy
towards them." ^
For the lepers occupied a very particular position among
the sick and poor of the Middle Ages. Based on a passage
in the Prophet Isaiah (liii. 4) the lepers were looked upon as
an image of the Redeemer, more than all other sufferers. As
early as the days of Gregory the Great we find the story of
the monk, Martyrius, who met a leper by the wayside, who
from pain and weariness was fallen to the ground and could
drag himself no further. Martyrius wrapped the sick man
in his cloak and carried him to his convent. But the leper
changed in his arms to Jesus himself, who rose to heaven as
he blessed the monk, and said to him: "Martyrius, thou wert
not ashamed of me on earth; I will not be ashamed of thee
in heaven!" A similar legend is told of St. Julian, of St.
Leo IX, and of the Blessed Colombini.
And so the lepers were more than any others an object for
pious care during the Middle Ages. For them was founded
a special order of knights — Knights of Lazarus — whose
whole office was to take care of the lepers. So too there were
erected all over Europe the numerous houses of St. George,
where the lepers were taken care of in a sort of cloistered Hfe.
Of these lepers' homes there were 19,000 in the thirteenth
century. But in spite of everything the life of the leper was
sad enough, they were repulsed by the rest of humanity, and
they were hedged in by severe laws isolating them and hem-
ming them in on all sides.^
As with all other cities, there was also in the vicinity of
Assisi a lepers' hospital — the lepers were in fact the first real
hospital patients and in some languages their name expresses
* Opusctda S. Francisci (Quaracchi, 1904), p. 77.
^ Chavin de Malan has in his book on St. Francis treated this subject
thoroughly. See Guasti's Italian translation of the book (Prato, 1879), PP- 48-60.
THECONVERSION 33
this fact. The hospital lay midway between Assisi and
Portiuncula, near where the words Casa Gualdi appear over
the entrance to a large estate. It was called San Salvatore
delle Pareti, and was owned by an order of Crucigers, founded
under Alexander III for the care of the lepers.^
On his walks in this place, Francis now and then passed by
the hospital, but the mere sight of it had filled him with horror.
He would not even give an alms to a leper unless some one
else would take it for him. Especially when the wind blew
from the hospital, and the weak, nauseating odor, peculiar
to the leper, came across the road, he would hurry past with
averted face and fingers in his nostrils.^
It was in this that he felt his greatest weakness, and in it
he was to win his greatest victory.
For one day, as he was as usual calling upon God, it hap-
pened that the answer came. And the answer was this:
''Francis! Everything which you have loved and desired in
the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to
know my will. And when you have begun thus, all that
which now seems to you sweet and lovely will become intol-
erable and bitter, but all which you used to avoid will turn
itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy."
These were the words which at last gave Francis a definite
programme, which showed him the way he was to follow. He
certainly pondered over these words in his lonely rides over the
Umbrian plain and, just as he one day woke out of reverie,
he found the horse making a sudden movement, and saw on
the road before him, only a few steps distant, a leper, in his
familiar uniform.
Francis started, and even his horse shared in the movement,
and his first impulse was to turn and flee as fast as he could.
But there were the words he had heard within himself, so
clearly before him — " what you used to abhor shall be to
you joy and sweetness." . . . And what had he hated more
than the lepers? Here was the time to take the Lord at His
word — to show his good will. . . .
^ Sabatier: Vie, p. 123, n. i.
^"vultum suum semper avertens, nares suas propriis manibus obturabat"
{Tres Socii, cap. IV, n. 11).
4
34 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
And with a mighty victory over himself, Francis sprang
from his horse, approached the leper, from whose deformed
countenance the awful odor of corruption issued forth, placed
his alms in the outstretched wasted hand — bent down
quickly and kissed the fingers of the sick man, covered with
the awful disease, whilst his system was nauseated with the
action. . . .
When he again sat upon his horse, he hardly knew how he
had got there. He was overcome by excitement, his heart
beat, he knew not whither he rode. But the Lord had kept
his word. Sweetness, happiness, and joy streamed into his
soul — flowed and kept flowing, although his soul seemed
full and more full — like the clear stream which, filling
an earthen vessel, keeps on pouring and flows over its rim,
with an ever clearer, purer stream. . . .
The next day Francis voluntarily wandered down the road
he had hitherto always avoided — the road to San Salvatore
delle Pareti. And when he reached the gate he knocked,
and when it was opened to him he entered. From all the
cells the sick came swarming out — came with their half-
destroyed faces, blind inflamed eyes, with club-feet, with
swollen, corrupted arms and fingerless hands. And all this
dreadful crowd gathered around the young merchant, and the
odor from their unclean swellings was so strong that Francis
against his will for a moment had to hold his breath to save
himself from sickness. But he soon recovered control of
himself, he drew out the well-filled purse he had brought with
him, and began to deal out his alms. And on every one of
the dreadful hands that were reached out to take his gifts
he imprinted a kiss, as he had done the day before.
Thus it was that Francis won the greatest victory man
can win — the victory over oneself. From now on he was
master of himself, and not like the most of us — his own
slave.
But even the greatest victor in the spiritual field must be
ever on the watch for his always vigilant enemy, Francis
had conquered in great things — the tempter tried now to
bring him to defeat in small things.
Francis continued as before to go every day to his oratory
THE CONVERSION 35
in the cave outside the city to pray there. Now it often
happened that on the way there he met a humpbacked old
woman — one of the common deformed creatures who, in
the south, so wilHngly betake themselves to the sheltering
obscurity of the churches. They can be seen there all day
long, rattling their rosaries, or dozing in a corner, but the
instant a stranger approaches, they draw the kerchief around
their heads, limp out from their corner, and mutter piteously
with outstretched hand: "t/w soldo, signore! Un soldo,
signorino mioT' (A penny, sir! A penny, sir!)
Such a pitiful old beggar was it who now every day limped
across the young man's path. And it happened that in the
newly converted young soul there rose a repugnance and a
resistance — a repugnance to the dirt and misery of the old
woman, a resistance to her troublesome ways and to her
persistency. And as he went on his way, and the sun shone,
and the fields were green, and the distant mountains showed
grey-blue, a voice whispered within him: "And are you will-
ing to give up all this — are you willing to abandon it all?
You will give up light and sun, life and joy, the cheerful
open-air feasts — and will shut yourself up in a cave and
waste your best years in useless prayers, and finally become
an old fool, shaking with the palsy, who pitifully wanders
about from church to church, and, perhaps in secret, sighs
and mourns over his wasted life ? ' '
Thus the wicked enemy whispered into the young man's
soul, and this was the moment when Francis' youth and
light-loving eyes and knightly soul weakened. But as he
reached his cave he always succeeded in conquering himself
— and the harder the struggle had been, the deeper was the
peace which followed — the joy and the hope — all in con-
verse with God.^
^ I believe that in this description I have given the right interpretation of
the episode, which in the Tres Socii is only told in the following words: "Quaedam
mulier erat Assisii gibbosa deformiter, quam daemon viro Dei apparens sibi ad
memoriam reducebat, et comminibatur eidem, quod gibbositatem illius mulieris
iactaret in ipsum, concepto nisi a proposito resiliret. Sed Christi miles for-
tissimus, minas diaboli vilipendens, intra (intrans?) criptam orabat." (Cap.
IV, n. 12.)
CHAPTER VI
TEE MESSAGE IN SAN DAMIANO
GOD gave me also," thus St. Francis speaks, where
in his testament he speaks of his youth, *'God gave
me also so great a confidence in the churches that
I simply prayed and said this: 'We pray to thee,
Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all thy churches, all over the
whole world, and we bless thee because with thy Holy Cross
thou hast redeemed the world!'"
"And then the Lord gave me and still gives me so great a
confidence in priests, who live by the rite of the Holy Roman
Church, that if they even persecuted me, I would for the sake
of their consecration say nothing about it. And if I had the
wisdom of Solomon and travelled in the parishes of poor
priests, yet I would not preach without their permission.
And them and all other priests I will fear, love, and honor
as my superiors, and I will not look on their faults, for I see
God's Son in them, and they are my superiors. And I do
this because, here on earth, I see nothing of the Son of the
Highest God, except his most holy body and blood, which
the priests receive and which only they give to others. And
these solemn secrets I. will honor and venerate above every-
thing and keep them in the most sacred places." ^
We have here from the last year of Francis' life the most
authentic testimony as to his feeling all through his life
towards the Church and the clergy. And this testimony
coming from himself accords exactly with all that his biogra-
phers tell us about the same phase of his character.
^ "in locis preciosis." This referred both to the churches and to the taber-
nacles in which the Blessed Sacrament is kept, and finally to the vessels of the
altar (ciborium, pyx). Opuscnla S. P. Francisci (Quaracchi, 1904), pp. 77-78.
Compare Celano, V. pr., n. 45; Tres Socii, n. 37; Anon. Perus. {A. SS., Oct. II),
p. 584, n. 210; Bonav., n. 42.
36
THE MESSAGE IN SAN DAMIANO 37
It has already been told how Francis showed his interest
in church affairs in supplying poor churches with proper
vestments and the like. The environs of Assisi even to-day
contain enough of such small churches, road- and field-
chapels, often half in ruin. Their doors are frequently
locked, so seldom are they used ; one can look into them through
low windows, outside of which kneeling benches are often
placed, and on the altar there will be seen a torn cloth, laid
awry, wooden vases with dusty paper flowers, and wooden
candlesticks which were once gilded but are now cracked
and grey.
Nevertheless there can be something very devotional in
such lonely deserted churches. If they are open so that one
can enter, perhaps on the walls will be found half-obliterated
old frescoes, painted by those disciples of Giotto or Simone
Martini who, in the fourteenth century, seem to have person-
ally visited the most remote of the smaller cities and villages
of the Apennines. The holy-water font is long empty and
full of dust, but as one kneels in prayer, the wind is heard
sighing through the chestnut groves or a mountain stream
foams in the solemn loneliness.
The old church of San Damiano, a little outside of and
below the city, was such a half-ruined chapel in the time of
Francis' youth. ^ The road to it has not changed much in the
seven centuries which have passed; it slopes rather steeply
and passes by a broad whitewashed house, with large, yellow
grain-houses of the shape of beehives around it, and among
the olive groves, where the corn grows luxuriantly under the
gnarled olive trees' fine silver-grey web of branches and
leaves. In fifteen minutes' walking San Damiano is reached,
which now is a convent, occupied by brown Franciscans.
In the days of Francis' youth, San Damiano was only a
little tottering field-chapel, whose material adornment con-
sisted of a large Byzantine crucifix over the high altar. In
front of this crucifix Francis was often wont to pray, and thus
it happened to him that once, a little while after his visit to
the lepers, he knelt one day in prayer before the image of the
* This was mentioned in 1030. Henry Thode: Franz v. Assisi und die
Anjånge der Kunst (Berlin, 1885), p. 298.
38 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
Crucified One within the church of San Damiano. After he
had placed himself in thought upon the Cross for the first
time, this spiritual crucifixion became a favorite exercise for
his meditations. With an imploring gaze fixed upon the
hallowed countenance of Jesus, he uttered the following
prayer, which tradition has preserved for us:
"Great and glorious God, my Lord Jesus Christ! I im-
plore thee to enlighten me and to disperse the darkness of
my soul! Give me true faith and firm hope and a perfect
charity! Grant me, O Lord, to know thee so well that in
all things I may act by thy light, and in accordance with
thy holy will!"i
The whole of the young man's striving in the year that had
passed since he had stood on the roadside not far from San
Damiano, and had found the world empty and his soul a
waste, are gathered together and framed in this simple and
profound prayer. This it was that he had always sought for
and wished for, through all his errors and weakness — light to
see the will of God and to act in accordance therewith. The
whole of his life from that time up to this moment had been
one repetition in many forms, but with increasing fervor,
of the words: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!"
And so it came to pass that God deigned to speak to his
servant, Francis. From the crucifix came a voice that could
only be heard within the heart, and what the voice said was
this: "Now go hence, Francis, and build up my house, for
it is nearly falling down!"
And just as that time in Spoleto, when he was commanded
to abandon his journey to Aquila, Francis was at once ready
to obey the divine message. Simple and literal as he was,
he looked about him in the old chapel and saw that it was
nearly falling down. And trembling under the solemnity of
the moment, he answered the Crucified One who had vouch-
safed to speak to him: "Lord, with joy will I do what thou
wishest."
At last God had heard his prayer! at last God had set him
to work! And quick in his movements as Francis was, he
at once set to work to carry out the Lord's directions. Out-
^ Wadding: Annales Minorum, I (Romae, 1731), p. 31.
THE MESSAGE IN SAN DAMIANO 39
side the door he found the priest of the place, a poor old
Father, sitting in the sun on a stone bench. The young man
approached him deferentially, kissed his hand in greeting,
took out his purse, and gave to the astonished priest a con-
siderable sum of money, saying: "I beg you to buy oil with
this money so that there shall always be a lamp burning
before the crucifix within, and you may let me know when
there is no more and I will supply it again."
Before the old priest could recover from his astonishment
Francis was gone. His heart was overflowing, his soul was
trembling with the great event that had happened to him.
As he went along, he made now and then the sign of the Cross,
and it seemed as if he each time imprinted deeper and deeper
the image of the Crucified One upon his heart. Unsurpass-
ably true and incomparably beautiful, the old legend goes on
to say that from that hour the thought of the sufferings of
our Lord made Francis' heart melt, so that he from now on
as long as he lived bore in his heart the wounds of our Lord
Jesus. '^
But more money was needed to build up San Damiano's
church than what Francis had with him at the moment.
But in the interim he had not the least doubt as to how he
should get the necessary means. As fast as his feet could
carry him he hurried home, took some rolls of fine cloth out
of the shop, loaded a pack-horse with it, and took the road to
Foligno, to bring his goods to the market in this large neigh-
boring city as he had been wont to do. In the course of a
short time he had sold both goods and horse, and was back
with the money to San Damiano — the distance between the
two places is only a couple of miles, and Francis rode on the
outward trip.
Perhaps he found the priest still on the stone bench, sun-
ning himself as he returned. In any case, the young man
found him, and as he again greeted him reverentially, he put
the v^hole sum of money, no inconsiderable one, which his
^ ' Ab ilia itaque hora ita vulneratum et liquefactum est cor ejus ad memoriam
Dominicae passionis, quod semper dum vixit, stigmata Domini Jesu Christi
in corde sue portavit" (Tres Socii, cap. V, n. 14. Compare Bonav., Leg.
Major, I, n. 5, II, n. i).
40 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
transaction had brought him, into the priest's lap, with the
words that it was for the restoration of the church.^
The priest had accepted the former and less considerable
alms, but when Francis now came with all this sum of money,
and wished to give it to him, he feared that something was
wrong, and said no. Perhaps he thought that it was one of
the young society man's wild impulses, and that the gift was
not seriously meant. In any case, he wanted to stand well
with Pietro di Bernardone, and was therefore determined to
have nothing more to do with the affair. In vain did Francis
sit down by the side of the old priest and use all his powers
of persuasion to weaken his determination. All was futile;
Francis only obtained this much: the priest would permit
him to live at San Damiano for a while, to devote himself
without interruption to prayer and works of piety.
From now on, Francis was virtually ordained to lead what
was called in the Middle Ages "a religious hfe," that is to say,
the life of a monk or hermit. He did not think of entering
a convent, — in his Testament he says himself that no one
showed him the way to his vita religiosa, but that the Almighty
taught it to him. But in referring to the change that came
to him at this time, he uses the exact classical expression in
the same place, which designates the entering an order: "to
leave the world." Exivi de saeculo, he says, "I abandoned
the world." ^ The time he was now to spend with the priest
in San Damiano can be properly regarded as his novitiate —
but a novitiate in which the spirit of God alone was his teacher,
director and taskmaster.
Near the priest's house there was a cave, and, true to his
custom, Francis had chosen this as his prayer chamber.
Here he spent nights and days in prayer and fasting, with
tears and "unspeakable groanings." ^
While these things were occurring, Pietro di Bernardone
had been on one of his business trips. Now he returned home
and did not find his son. Pica did not know what had be-
come of him, or, if she did know, would not tell. But, how-
ever this may be, the old merchant soon found his son's
^ Tres Socii, cap. VI, n. i6. Thomas of Celano, Vila prima, I, cap. IV.
^Opusctda (Quar., 1904), PP- 79. 77- * Rom. viii., 26.
THE MESSAGE IN SAN DAMIANO 41
hiding place, and betook himself thither, but did not find
Francis, who was hidden in his cave. Meanwhile, the priest
seems to have utiHzed the opportunity to give Pietro di
Bernardone the money from his son's business transaction;
Francis had laid it aside in a window recess in the church.
The disappearance of the cloth and of the horse had naturally
been one of the causes of the coming of Pietro di Bernardone;
after he had recovered the money, he went home much
quieted, and spent a whole month without making any new
attempt to find or to speak to his first-born. Food was
meanwhile brought to him in the cave from his home —
probably by his mother's contrivance.'^
It is fair to say that Francis employed this month to imbue
himself in the great thought which, from now on, presented
itself to him as the essence of Christianity — the life of Christ
the Crucified in every one of the faithful. The Epistle of Paul
to the Romans is one of the Biblical writings Francis most
frequently quotes.^ And it is precisely in this book that
Paul appears more strongly than elsewhere to be not only
the great Christian dogmatic, but also the great Christian
mystic. This is neither scientific hypothesis nor flower of
literature, but is in accordance with the facts, when I find
the emotions of the young son of the Italian merchant, in this
' Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. V. Tres Socii, cap. VI, n. 16. — According to a
later tradition Francis, on his father's return, found refuge in an opening which
miraculously appeared in the road, and into which he disappeared, while his
father walked past it. Wadding (I, p. 31) is the first who refers to this "con-
cavitas . . . cui ego, quo potui affectu et reverentia memet immersi." The
hole, upon whose rear wall is a life-size painting of St. Francis, is still shown
to those who visit S. Damiano — as a rule with the above explanation. So far
from having any miraculous origin, the said excavation has its origin in the
desire men, in old as well as recent times, have had to perpetuate the height of
celebrated persons (compare the gate in the Lateran church in Rome, said
to be of the height of Our Lord — the historic column in the cathedral in Ros-
kilde, etc.). In his Annates (1226, n. 42) Wadding for instance tells the follow-
ing of St. Clara, the friend of St. Francis, into whose possession, as is known,
San Damiano eventually passed: "mensa est sancti patris corpus, ad cujus
staturam postea curavit fieri quoddam receptaculum ad tribunae dorsum,
ubi et ejus imaginem fecit depingi." This explains the existence of the recess
or excavation as well as of the painting.
'Thus in the Adinonitiones, cap. VI: Rom. viii. 35; cap. XI: Rom. ii. 5; in
the first Rule, cap. IX: Rom. xiv. 3; cap. XI: Rom. i. 29-30; in the second
Rule, cap. IX: Rom. ix. 28.
42 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
time of proof and probation at San Damiano, expressed in
these words of the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans:
"There is now, therefore, no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh. For
the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me
from the law of sin and of death . . . that the justification
of the law might be fullillcd in us, who walk not according to
the flesh, but according to the spirit. . . . For if you live
according to the flesh, you shall die: but if by the spirit you
mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. For whosoever
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. . . .
For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we
are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also: heirs, indeed of
God, and joint heirs with Christ: yet so if we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified with him. . . . For whom he
foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to
the image of his Son: ..."
It is probable that to this month at San Damiano we may
assign an occurrence, preserved for us in the legends without
any more exact chronology. Francis was seen one day
wandering around on the plain below Assisi in the vicinity of
a little old chapel which was called Portiuncula or 5. Maria
dcgli AngcH, "Our Lady of the Angels." He wandered around
the chapel sighing and weeping as if overcome by a great
sorrow. A passer-by approached him and asked in sympa-
thy what had gone wrong with him, and why he wept. Then
Francis answered: "I am weeping over the sufferings of my
Lord Jesus Christ, and I will not be ashamed to wander
around the whole world and weep over them." This so
affected the stranger that he too began to shed tears, and they
wept together.^
Thus for Francis of Assisi the life began, not after the flesh
but after the spirit, which was to lead him ever higher, until
he approached as near as man can attain to the image of
Jesus Christ, the Crucified.
^ Tres Socii, cap. V, n. 14. Celano, Vita secunda, I, cap. VT.
CHAPTER VII
TEE ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME AND FATHER
ONE April day in the year 1207, Pietro di Bernardone
stood behind the counter in his shop, when he
heard a great noise in the street — the sound of
many voices, shouting, screaming, and laughter.
The noise approached nearer and nearer; now it seemed to be
at the nearest corner. The old merchant signed to one of his
clerks to run out and see what was going on.
"Z7w pazzo, Messer Pietro! " was the clerk's contemptuous
report. "It is a crazy man, whom the boys are chasing!"
The clerk stood yet a moment and turned around white
in the face. He had seen who the crazy man was. . . .
And a moment after, Pietro di Bernardone stood in the
doorway, and saw in the midst of the howling crowd who
now were close to the house, his son, his Francis, his first-
born, for whom he had dreamt such great things, and for
whom he had nourished such bright hopes. . . . There he
came now home at last, in a disgraceful company, pale and
emaciated to the eye, with dishevelled hair and dark rings
under his eyes, bleeding from the stones thrown at him,
covered with the dirt of the street, which the boys had cast
upon him. . . . This was his Francis, the pride of his eyes,
the support of his age, the joy of his life and his comfort — it
had come to this, to this had all these crazy, cursed ideas
brought him. . . .
Sorrow, shame, and anger almost overcame Pietro di
Bernardone. Nearer and nearer came the shouting and
howling throng — mercilessly grinning they called to him
where he stood upon his steps: "See here, Pietro di Bernar-
done, we bring you your pretty son, your proud knight —
43
44 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
now he is coming home from the war in Aquila, and has won
the princess and half the kingdom!"
The old merchant could control himself no longer. He had
to give way to rage to avoid weeping. Like a wild beast he
ran down into the mob, striking and kicking to right and left,
until the crowd, fairly frightened, opened and dispersed. With-
out a word, he seized his son and took him up into his arms.
His rage gave the old man a giant's strength: raging and
gritting his teeth he bore Francis through the house and
finally threw him, almost exhausted and out of his senses,
down upon the floor in a dark cellar, where he locked him in.
With trembling hands he stuck the keys in his belt and re-
turned to his work.^
Pietro di Bernardone's hope was to overcome his son's last
madness with a good term of career — to use the German
students' expression. To the dark prison he added therefore
in addition a diet of bread and water, thinking that he would
thus reach his son's weak point, whose sweet tooth he had
known since his early days.^
But the old days were gone, and Francis had changed — he
was approaching the times when he would sprinkle ashes on
his food, if it tasted too good, saying to his brothers that
"Brother Ashes" was chaste.^ And when Messer Pietro
after the lapse of a few days had to go out again, and Fru
Pica opened the door of the prison, hoping to do with her
tears and prayers that which imprisonment and hunger had
not accomplished, she found her son uncowed and unsubdued,
yes, glad to have suffered something for his convictions.
After she realized that Francis would not give up his new
mode of life, she took advantage of the absence of her husband
* I have here attempted, as I have done in the first chapter and in the end
of chapter V, a fuller psychological description of that which biographers have
only given a few words to. But no fault can be found with the description of
Pietro di Bernardone in the Tres Socii ("torvo oculo," "hirsuta facie," etc.).
Like all who, as opposed to an absolute ideal, represent the more limited
scope of the practical, Pietro di Bernardone has often been unjustly condemned.
See Celano, Vita prima, cap. V, n. 15.
*"ut ipse vir Dei confessus postea est frequenter, electuariis et confectionibus
utebatur et a cibis contrariis abstinebat." Tres Socii, cap. VII, n. 22.
*"in cibis, quos edebat, sacpe ponebat cinerem, dicens fratribus in absti-
nentiae suae velamen, fratrem cinerem esse castum." Tres Socii, cap. V, n. 15.
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 45
and set the prisoner at liberty. And as a bird flies to its nest,
Francis at once returned to his refuge by San Damiano.
Pietro di Bernardone soon returned from his trip and found
the cage empty. Instead of again seeking his son in San
Damiano, he tried the law. He turned to the lawyers of the
city for the purpose of disinheriting his erring son, or at any
rate of banishing him from the locality."^ Furthermore, he
wanted to get back all the money that Francis was in posses-
sion of. Apparently the mother had not let her son go away
from home empty-handed; perhaps all the money of the
Foligno transaction was not yet spent.
In the words of the chronicler, Mariano, Pietro di Bernar-
done was '^Reipublicae benefactor et provisor" (a benefactor
and guardian of the republic) — one of the city's greatest
benefactors.2 Nothing was more likely than that the author-
ities would seek to accede to his request, and the herald of
the state was sent down to arrest Francis. On his part he
refused to obey the summons, answering: "By the grace of
God I am now a free man and not obhged to appear before
the court, because I am only the servant of the Highest God."
As Sabatier has remarked, this answer can only be taken in
the sense that Francis had now received the lower orders and
so came under the jurisdiction of the Church. The intimate
relations between him and the Bishop of Assisi give this sup-
position great probability.^
The father seems to have awaited the return of the herald
in the City Hall. In any case, the lawyers let him know at
once that they to their sorrow had to let the case go. Pietro
di Bernardone, however, would not let the legal prosecution
thus begun cease, and shortly brought his complaint into the
episcopal palace on the Piazza del Vescovado before the
representatives of the Church. The affair was here taken
up, and at an appointed time father and son met before the
Bishop.^
From the first it was evident on whose side his sympathies
1 Julian of Speier {A. SS., Oct. II, p. 568, n. 124).
2 Quoted in VVadding (I, p. 17).
^ Sabatier: Vie, p. 68, n. 2.
* Guido II had occupied the Bishop's throne in Assisi since 1204. Cristo-
fani: Slorie, I, 169 et seq.j Sabatier: Vie, p. 69, n. 2.
46 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
were. The motive, which he adduced to persuade Francis
to return all the money he might have received from his
father, was anything but acceptable to Pietro di Bernardone.
"If it is your desire to serve God," said he to the young man,
"then give his mammon back to your father, which perhaps
has been obtained by unjust methods, and therefore should
not be used for the benefit of the Church." ^
These words, said in the presence of the numerous hearers
who had come to the place to hear the celebrated suit between
one of the city's most distinguished men and his crazy son,
were not adapted to pacify the old merchant. All eyes
turned from him to his son, who sat on the other side of the
Bishop, still clothed in his costly scarlet clothes. And now
something wonderful happened — something that never be-
fore had happened in the world's history, and never will
happen again — something which the painters of succeeding
centuries should immortahze, which poets should sing of,
and priests preach about. Francis stood up in silence with
streaming eyes. "My Lord," said he, turning towards the
Bishop, "I will not only give him the money cheerfully, but
also the clothes I have received from him." And before
anyone had time to think what he intended to do, he had
disappeared into an adjoining room, back of the courtroom,
a moment later to reappear, naked, except for a girdle of hair-
cloth about his loins, and with his clothes on his arm. All
involuntarily stood up — Pietro di Bernardone and his son
Francis were face to face. And with a voice that trembled
with emotion, the young man said, as he looked over the
heads of the audience, as if he saw some one or something in
the distance:
"Listen, all of you, to what I have to say! Hitherto I
have called Pietro di Bernardone father. Now I return to
him his money and all the clothes I got from him, so that
hereafter I shall not say: Father Pietro di Bernardone, but
Our Father who art in heaven!"
And Francis bent down and laid his clothes of scarlet and
fine linen at his father's feet, along with a lot of money. A
mighty movement ran through the audience. Many began
* Trcs Socii, cap. VI, n. 19.
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 47
to weep ; even the Bishop had tears in his eyes. Only Pietro
di Bernardone was unmoved. With a face of stone, he stooped
down, white with rage but without uttering a word, and took
up the clothes and money. Then the Bishop stepped over
to Francis, spread his cape over him, and clothed the
naked young man in its white folds as he pressed him to
his heart. From now on Francis was what he so long had
wished to be — the servant of God only and a man of the
Church.
When the first strong emotion was over, and Francis was
alone with the Bishop, he began to think of clothing for the
young man. In the Bishop's residence there was found an
old cloak which had been the property of the gardener;
Francis took this with delight and, as he left the Bishop's
palace, drew with a bit of chalk he had found a cross on the
back of the poor garment.^
It was in April, 1207,2 that Pietro di Bernardone's son thus
literally complied with the words of the gospel, to forsake
everything and, taking up the Cross, to follow Jesus. The
Umbrian April is equivalent in point of view of the season
to May, or better, June, in Denmark. The clear sun shines
day after day brightly from a clear sky. The air is fresh and
healthy, purified by the many downpours of the winter's
rain. The roads are not yet dusty, but firm and good to
travel over, and the corn is growing under the olive trees,
bright green and of half its final height, sprinkled with quan-
tities of bright red poppies. It is the most beautiful of the
Italian seasons, far better than the unhealthy, torrid, fever-
bearing autumn.
It was on such a sunny April morning that Pietro di Bernar-
done's son, clothed in the old gardener's cloak, left the Bishop's
palace in Assisi to go out into the world, like one of those
^ The only one who tells of this is St. Bonaventure {Leg. maj., II, 4), who
apparently got it from Brother Illuminato of Rieti, who is responsible for many
other minor traits (See Appendix).
2 This date seems to follow from the following place in Anon. Perus. {A.
55., Oct. II, p. 572, n. i4i):"Postquam impleti sunt anni ab incarnatione Domini
MCC VII mens Aprilis, XVI kalendas Maii, videns populum suum Dominus
. . . mandatorum ejus oblitum . . . sua benignissima misericordiå motus
voluit operarios mittere in messem suam et illuminavit virum qui erat in civi-
tate Assisii, nomine Franciscum." XVI kalendas Maii is April 16.
48 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
evangelic "Strangers and Pilgrims" the Scripture tells of.
Every man's life is the fruit of his innermost will, and therefore
Francis had attained that which he so long had striven for —
that which .he had put to the proof in Rome, what he had
prayed for in the solitude of the Umbrian cave — to be allowed
to follow the naked and suffering Saviour, himself naked and
suffering.
Francis wandered forth from the home of his youth and
from the city of his early days, from father and mother, from
family and friends, from all his past and all his memories.
He went neither out to San Damiano, nor down the plain to
Portiuncula's Httle chapel. There are moments in the hfe of
man when the soul is drawn to the greatest things in nature's
gift — to the mountains or to the sea. Francis wandered
forth from Assisi by the gate in the direction of Monte Subasio,
on the road which takes one up the mountain. And remem-
bering the words of the gospel, about him who lays his hand
to the plough, he certainly never looked back until the towers
and roofs of Assisi were long out of sight beneath him and he
found himself alone on the heights of Monte Subasio, —
in a young oak-woods or among great barren fields of stone.
Hence his glance wandered far over the world; the valley of
Spoleto, lay under his feet, as if seen from an air-balloon,
with its white roads, bright rivers, fields, with olive trees in
regular order, and houses and churches Hke toys. The moun-
tains, which below Assisi hem in the horizon, seem sunken
down and low, and behind them, higher ones of paler blue
lift up their summits — the far-distant Apennines.
Francis had started off in the direction of Gubbio. In this
village, which in a straight hne is only four or five miles from
Assisi, lived one of the friends of his earliest youth — perhaps
the same friend who used to go with him to discover the
treasure in the cave. It inevitably takes time to wander
about the mountains; day was already waning and Francis
had not yet crossed the wild wood-grown mountain side that
separates Assisi from Valfabbrica. Still he wandered along
confidently and sang in French the praises of God, as he was
wont to do in the happiest moments of his life. Then there
was a rustling among the dry leaves that spread the ground,
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 49
the branches and twigs were disturbed, and a robber band
broke out from conceaknent with a threatening "Who is
there?" Undisturbed Francis answered: "I am the herald
of the great King. But what is it that you desire?" The
highwaymen looked for a moment at the wonderful apparition
in the shabby cloak with the chalk-drawn cross on the back.
Then they determined to let him go without further molesta-
tion, but so as to let him know what he had escaped, they
took him by the arms and legs and flung him into a cleft,
where the snow, in spite of the April sun, was still deep. "Lie
there, you peasant, who wants to play at being a herald!"
they said to him, and departed. It was only with difficulty
that Francis managed to work his way out of the drift in the
cleft; singing the praises of God as before, he wandered on
over the mountain. ^ After a little space of time he drew near
to a little Benedictine convent, where he received shelter in
exchange for serving in the kitchen. Here he stayed several
days in the hope that he would be able to supplement his
scanty garments by a cast-off monk's costume. They gave
him while there hardly enough food, and, as his first biog-
rapher says, "not actuated by anger, but driven by neces-
sity," he went on to Gubbio. It is easy to believe that the
prior of the convent came to give excuses after Francis had
become a celebrity. But at this time Francis was not cele-
brated, and it is also credible that the good prior never
gave a thought to his hard-hearted inhospitality. And yet
St. Benedict in the Rule of his Order commands: "The
strangers shall be received as Christ." 2
At last Francis reached Gubbio, and there found a friend,
from whom he received the clothing he had wished for and
which was the same that hermits used to wear, with a girdle
^Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. VII. Julian, A. SS., Oct. II, p. 575, nn. 160-161.
Bonav., II, 5. According to LucarelU (Memoria e guida storica di Gubbio, Citta
di Castello, 1888, p. 583) the meeting of Francis and the robbers occurred near
Caprignone, where are still be to seen frescoes of the fourteenth to the fifteenth
centuries in an old convent church. One of these shows Francis clothing him-
self in a ragged garment.
^ Reg. S. Benedicli, cap. LIII: "Omnes supervenientes hospites tanquam
Christus suscipiantur." — A local tradition, which is not incredible, places
this scene at the cloister of Sta. Maria della Rocca (la Rocchiciuola), between
Assisi and Valfabbrica. See my book "Reisebogen" (2d ed., 1905), pp. 122-123.
5
50 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
around the body and shoes and stafif.' Other friendly services
he did not accept, and the biographers tell how Francis lived
in the hospital of Gubbio, how he washed the lepers' feet,
bound up their sores, treated their boils, dried up the matter,
and often kissed the suppurating sores.^
But meanwhile Francis' own particular work awaited him
in San Damiano near Assisi, and one day he found himself
there again, to begin the work God had given him to do — to
restore the church edifice. During his absence rumors seem
to have flown fast, for the priest was, it appears, anything
but glad to see him again, and Francis had to appeal to the
word of the Bishop, which affirmed that he had the approval
of the authorities of the Church. ^
A question, which never before had occupied Francis, now
presented itself to him in all its prosaic obtrusiveness — the
question of money. Where would the money come from with
which to restore San Damiano? If necessary Francis could
handle the trowel, but stone and mortar could not be had for
nothing.
And this last was the very thing Francis undertook to
provide for — to procure for nothing the required stone and
lime. Now he could avail himself of what he had learned
in his troubadour and jongleur days. One day men saw
Francis in his hermit robes in the market-place in Assisi,
singing in public like another wandering minstrel. And when
* "quasi heremiticum ferens habitum, accinctus corrigia et baculum manu
gestans calceatis pedibus incedebat." Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. IX, and
Tres Socii, VIII, 25. Giuseppe Mazzatinti has in Miscellanea Franccscana
(vol. V, pp. 76-78) maintained that the friend in Gubbio was Frederico Spada-
lunga, the oldest of three brothers, himself, Giacomello and Antonio. In the
time of Aroldi there were still to be seen in the Palazzo dei Consoli in Gubbio,
frescoes, whose subject was the kindness of Spadalunga to Francis. In the
first of these "si represcnta S. Francesco nudo e havendo in terra dietro a se
alcuni stracci, riceve una veste in atto di ricuoprirsi da un huomo il quale mostra
di essere giovanctto" (F. Haroldus: Epitome Annalium Ord. Min., Roma, 1662,
vol. I, p. 29, quoted by Mazzatinti, loc. cit.). I avail myself of this oppor-
tunity to refer to the remarkable Journal, named above, Miscellanea Franccs-
cana, which now for a number of years has been published in FoKgno by the
learned canon, Mgr. Mich. Faloci-Puligani. (Unfortunately this journal,
which is a real gold-mine for those interested in our subject, is not easily to be
found in public libraries.)
* Bonav., Leg. major, cap. II, n. 6.
' Trcs Socii, VII, 21.
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 51
he had ended his song, he went around among his auditors
and begged. "He who gives me a stone will have his reward
in heaven," said he; "he who gives me two stones will have
two rewards; he who gives three stones will receive three
rewards." Many laughed at him, but Francis only laughed
back. Others, the legend tells us, "were moved to tears to
see him converted from such great worldliness and vanity
to such an intoxication of love to God." Francis actually
succeeded in getting together a quantity of stone, which he
carried away on his own shoulders. He also did the masonry
work, and people who went by used to hear him singing in
French as he worked. If anyone stopped to look at him, he
would call out to them: "You had better come and help me
to build up St. Damian's church again." ^
Such zeal and self-sacrifice could not fail to affect the old
priest of San Damiano's, and to show Francis his appreciation
he used every evening to wait upon him with one or another
selected dish, according to his limited means. This went on
very well for a time, until one fine day it occurred to Francis
to ask himself if he ever would be able on his return to the
world to be certain of finding so attentive a host as here.
What I am doing, said he to himself, is not living the life
of a poor man, as I have wished to do. No, a real pauper
goes from door to door with his bowl in his hand and takes
everything that good men will give him. And this is what I
must do from now on!
Scarcely had the midday bell rung in Assisi the next day,
and the people were sitting at their tables, when Francis with
his bowl in hand went on his circuit through the city. He
knocked at all doors and got something at many of them —
here a sup of soup, a bone with a little meat on it, a crust of
bread, some leaves of salad, all sorts of things mixed together.
When Francis had ended his begging trip his bowl was full,
but of the most unappetizing mixture one could think of.
Lost in thought, the young man sat on a stoop and stared
down into the bowl, which seemed most like a trough filled
1 Tres Socii, VII, 24. Th. of Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. VIII. By the
first named of these two biographers this invitation is made into a prophecy
referring to St. Clara and her nuns, who were to build there later.
52 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
with dog's meat. Nearly vomiting with nausea, he put the
first bit to his lips.
And behold ! — it was just as when he kissed the leper in
other times. His heart was filled with the sweetness of the
Holy Ghost, and it seemed to him as if he never had tasted
such exquisite food. Entranced, he rushed home and said to
the priest that for the future he should do his own providing
well enough.
Thus was the son of Pietro di Bernardone become a public
beggar, and it is easy to understand that the old, purse-proud
merchant, so jealous of his honor, felt the blow even heavier
than any of the preceding ones. From now on he could not
bear to see his son, but burst out into wild curses when he met
him. Francis was perhaps not altogether insensitive to this
outburst of wrath; in any case, from this time Francis used to
take with him an old beggar named Albert on these peregri-
nations, and when they would meet Pietro di Bernardone,
Francis would kneel down in front of his companion and would
say: "Bless me, father!" "See now," he would say, turning
to the old merchant, "God has given me a father who blesses
me, in your place, who curse me!"^
Francis' younger brother, Angelo,^ also shared in the per-
secution of the voluntary beggar and church builder. One
cool morning he saw Francis, who in his humble clothes
was hearing mass, in one of the churches of Assisi. Then
Angelo said to his companion, and so loud that his brother
could hear him: "Go there and ask Francis if he will not
sell you a shilling's worth of sweat!" Francis heard it and
answered back in French: "I have already sold it at a good
price to my Lord and Saviour!"
Meanwhile the work at San Damiano progressed rapidly.
It was more a putting to rights than a rebuilding.^ As a sort
^ Tres Socii, cap. VII, n. 23. Anon. Perus., A. SS., Oct. II, p. 577, n. 167.
^ The name is preserved in old documents, printed in Cristofani's Storie
d' Assisi, I, pp. 78 et seq. See Sabatier, Vie, p. 2, n. 2, together with the family-
tree copied from a manuscript of 1381, which the BoUandist Suysken gives in
the Acta Sanctorum, Oct. II, p. 556, and Wadding in the Annales, I, p. 17.
' According to Cristofani {Sloria di S. Damiano, Assisi, 1882, pp. 50 et seq.),
Francis can hardly have made any new additions to the church. Henry Thode,
on the other hand {"Franz v. Assisi und die Anfdnge der Kunst der Renaissance,"
Berlin, 1885, p. 298), thinks that Francis was the builder of the front pointed
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 53
of conclusion to the work Francis wished to leave the priest
a good supply of oil for the altar lamps, especially for the
perpetual lamp before the Blessed Sacrament. For this pur-
pose he went on a round through Assisi to beg for oil, and it
so happened that on this occasion he came to the house of
an old-time friend, just at the height of a festival. Now at
last his courage weakened. He who had defied his father and
had not feared the robbers on Monte Subasio was ashamed
to be seen by his old companions. Perhaps he had one of
those indescribable, depressing moments, experienced by all
converts, when that which has been left behind appears with
perfect clearness to be one of the natural, right and reason-
able things, while the new thoughts and the new life suddenly
present themselves to one as something artificial, acquired,
stilted — something one would give anything to attain, but
which it seems useless to strive after. Perhaps the hermit's
costume, which Francis in general so willingly wore, suddenly
seemed to him a laughable mummery, and perhaps he seemed
to himself less of a man than in those days of joy, long passed,
when he wore the parti-colored costume of the jester.
If he had been fighting his own fight at this time, it would
have lasted but a short time. The legend tells us that he
walked a few steps beyond the house of festivity, but that he
despised his weakness, turned around and told his friends
how weak he had been, as he at the same time begged them
for charity's sake to give him an alms for oil for the lamps
of St. Damian.
After he had finished this work, Francis — so as not to be
idle — undertook a similar one, in repairing the old Bene-
dictine church of St. Peter, which is now in Assisi, but then
was outside the walls.' And finally he began the restoration
Gothic portion of the building, while the rear vaulted portion with the apse is
older. Thode calls attention to the curious kind of pointed vaulting which
Francis used not only here in S. Damiano, but also in Portiuncula, in la Chiesina
in La Verna and in one of the Franciscan retreats near Cortona, and which
elswehere is only found in the south of France (ditto, p. 296).
^"longius a civitate distantem," says Bonaventure (II, 7), who, however,
only knew Assisi from a short visit there. In reality S. Pietro was very near
the city. It is first mentioned, according to Thode (ditto, p. 300), in the year
1029. The facade dates back to 1268. From 1250 to 1577 it was in the hands
of the Cistercians, now it is in the hands of the Benedictines again.
54 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
of the little old field-chapel, before which he was one day
found weeping over the sufi"erings of Christ — Portiuncula.
also called Santa Maria degli Atigeli, "Our Lady of the Angels."
Francis chose as his abode for a longer time a spot in the
vicinity of this little church, which, hke San Damiano, belonged
to the Benedictine convent on Monte Subasio, and was said
to have been built by pilgrims returning from the Holy Land
in the year 352.
There is no doubt that he constantly regarded the restora-
tion of churches as his real vocation in life. Even so late as
1 2 13 he founded a church in honor of the Blessed Virgin,^
and in 12 16 he filled a not inconsiderable role in the renovating
of Santa Maria del Vescovado in Assisi.^ Like all humble
souls, he knew that it is of less importance what one does
than how one does it, and he felt the call to what Verlaine
many years after called la vie humble aux travaux ennuyeux
et faciles — the humble life of tiresome and easy achievements;
this fife which, precisely on account of monotony and lack of
great things to be done, exacts so much charity, so great a
power of seeing God's eternal will back of the whole mass of
small endless affairs, so as every day to live in the Sunday's
spirit.
rester gai quand le jour, triste, succéde au jour,
étre fort, et s'user en circonstances viles. . . .
Francis belonged to the strong and cheerful souls who can do
this. He saw laid out before him a vista of his future life,
to be spent in the work of a day-laborer for little or no coarse
bread; he saw evenings of lonely prayer, the lonely hearing of
mass in the mornings, and visits to the altar in chapels and
churches by the wayside and among the mountains.
For the mass, the liturgical sacrifice in memory of the suffer-
ings and death of Jesus, was already the central point in
Francis' religious life. He writes of this, the first year of his
conversion, in his Testament: "Here in the world I see noth-
ing of the Son of the Highest God but his most holy Body
* Wadding in the Annates, 1213, n. 17.
^ Lipsin, Compendiosa Historia, Assisi, 1756, p. 19, and Faloci's studies of the
ancient inscription on the outside of the choir of the same church, in Misc.
Franc., II, pp. 33-37.
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 55
and Blood, and these most sacred Mysteries I will venerate
and honor above all things."^ And in one of the oldest of
his Admonitiones, his "Admonitions" to Brothers in his
Order, an accordance is found with the above: "All, who have
seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, but have not seen him after the
Spirit and in his Divinity and have not believed that he was
really the Son of God, are doomed. Also all those are doomed
who see the sacrament of the Body of Christ, which is con-
secrated with the words of the Lord on the altar, and by the
hand of the priest, in the form of bread and wine, but do not
see it in the Spirit and Divinity and do not believe that it
really is Our Lord Jesus Christ's most holy Body and Blood." 2
It was not the general custom in the beginning of the thir-
teenth century for every Catholic priest to read mass daily.
Only on Sundays or else after a special request and on impor-
tant holidays was mass celebrated. On all such occasions
Francis was invariably there at the place, and to please him
the priest from San Damiano used often in the mornings to
go down to Portiuncula and hold the divine service in the
newly restored chapel.
All who have lived in Italy and have participated in the
spiritual life of the people can tell by experience of the
singularly impressive power of these very early divine services.
Out of the morning's darkness, which perhaps is lessened by
the light of the setting half-moon, or by that of a solitary
great star, shining far away over the mountains, one walks
into the church, where the hghts cast their ruddy glow over
the altar table and the priest in his bright vestments stands
at the foot of the altar steps, makes the full sign of the Cross
and solemnly with a low voice begins the prayers of the
mass with David's wonderful forty-second Psalm. And the
responses of the acolyte are heard ; the holy service goes along
rapidly; in the deep silence and morning peace of the church
^Opuscula (Quaracchi, 1904), p. 78.
^ Admonitio Prima, De Corpore Christi (Quaracchi edition, p. 4). Also
in Epistola prima (ditto, p. 91): "We may all truly know that no one can be
saved except by the blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ and by the sacred words
of the Lord which the clerk says," i.e., the words of consecration in the mass.
See also the same letter, p. 95, where the faith in and the reception of the sacra-
ment of the altar is simply adduced as characteristic of all the good.
56 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
are heard distinctly the whispered words from the priest's lips:
'Hoc est enim corpus meum. . . . Hie est enim calix sanguinis
mei." . . . And while the altar bell rings over and over again
there is raised high over the bowed heads of the kneehng con-
gregation the white Host, the shining Chalice — the Body and
Blood of Christ ofifered by the hands of the priest as the
Lamb of God who bears all the sins of the world. In such
moments one is lifted on mighty wings above oneself, and one's
misery and faith make themselves felt, one cares to hope, one
desires to love God always, to do his will and serve him only,
and never more to bow down to false gods.
On such a morning in the little chapel of Portiuncula, one
day in February, 1209, Francis heard the passage in the gospel,
which seemed to him a new and clearer message from the Lord,
still clearer than the words he had heard two years before in
San Damiano, and which therefore remained effective for the
rest of his life. It was the feast of the Apostle St. Matthew,
February 24, on which Francis heard the priest read the
following passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew (x. 7-13):
"At that time Jesus said to his disciples. And going,
preach, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal
the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils:
freely have you received, freely give. Do not possess gold,
nor silver, nor money, in your purses: nor scrip for your
journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff; for the laborer
is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town you
shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till
you go thence. And when you come into the house, salute it,
saying: Peace be to this house. And if that house be worthy,
your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your
peace shall return to you." ^
When Francis went back in thought to that mass of St.
Matthew in Portiuncula, he regarded the mere reading of the
gospel of the day as a divine revelation. We read in his Testa-
ment: "The Highest One himself revealed to me that I should
^ The Gospel of St. Matthew's feast has since been changed. In the thir-
teenth century and as late as the fifteenth the gospel cited in the text was still
read. See Analcda Franciscana, vol. Ill (Quaracchi, 1897), p. 2, n. 5. It is
Wadding who follows Mariano of Florence in telling that the priest from
S. Damiano went to Portiuncula and read mass for Francis.
ABANDONMENT OF HIS HOME 57
live in accordance with the holy gospel." And again, "The
Lord revealed to me a salutation that we were to say: The
Lord give thee peace." *
The biographers tell us that after he had listened to these
words and heard them exhaustively explained by the priest
he was inspired and exclaimed, " This is what I want, this is
what I with all my soul want to follow in my life!"^ As if in a
vision he had understood what the Lord asked of those who
aspire to be his disciples, who would belong to him completely,
who would sacrifice themselves for him and serve him alone
— that they should be Apostles, that free from all superfluity,
and without the troubles of the world, they were to go out into
the world, rejoicing in spirit, bearing the old, serious, joyful
message, "Be you converted, for the kingdom of heaven is
near!" 3
Francis the church builder and hermit was now to become
Francis the apostle and evangelist — the announcer of the
gospel of conversion and peace. He had scarcely left the
church before he took off his shoes, threw away his staff,
cast off his outer garment, which he wore against the cold.
In place of his belt he tied a rope around his waist, and clothed
in a long brown-grey blouse of the kind the peasants of the
region wore, with a hood attached to go over his head, he was
prepared to wander through the world on his naked feet, as
the Apostles had gone, and bring it his Master's peace, if they
wished to receive it.
^ Opuscula, pp. 79, 80.
"Cel., V. pr., I, cap. IX; Tres Socii, VIII, 25; Bonav., Ill, i.
'"regnum Dei et poenitentiam praedicare, continue exultans in spiritu
Dei." Celano ditto, "pacis et poenitentiae legationem amplectens." Tres
Socii, cap. X, n. 39 (in Boll.), n. 40 (Foligno edition).
BOOK TWO
FRANCIS THE EVANGELIST
Pacis et poenitentiae legationem
amplectens.
Embracing the embassy of peace
and penitence.
LEGENDA TRIUM SOCIORUM
CHAPTER I
TEE FIRST DISCIPLES
W \RAECO sum magni regis, "I am the great King's
i-^ herald!" Thus had Francis that April day, in 1207,
å answered the robbers in the woods of Monte Subasio,
and he had in that ejaculation given the war-cry and
motto for all of his future life.
It was after the mass of St. Matthew in Portiuncula that it
became clear to him how this career of herald should be carried
to a conclusion, and now he wasted no time in beginning it.
From that day on a remarkable sight was to be seen in
Assisi. Now here, now there in the streets and squares of the
city a figure showed itself, clad in a peasant's grey cloak of
undyed wool, with the hood drawn over the head and a rope
around the waist. He greeted all whom he met as he went
along with the words, "The Lord give you peace!" and
where he saw a larger crowd assemble, he went to them, stood
barefoot upon a flight of steps or on a stone and began to
pray.^
This remarkable man was the son of Pietro di Bernardone,
who thus began his work as an evangelist. What he said was
very simple and without art, — it only concerned one thing,
namely, peace as the greatest good for man, peace with God
by keeping his commandments, peace with man by a right-
eous conduct, peace with oneself by the testimony of a good
conscience.^
The laughter which a year before had greeted Francis, when
he made public entrance into his native city, was evidently
^ Tres Socii, VIII, 25-26. Cel., V. pr., I, cap. X. Bonav., Ill, 2. Julian,
A. SS., Oct. II, p. 579, n. 182. Test. S. Fr. (Op., p. 80). Compare P. Hilarin
Felder: Geschichte der wissensch. Studien int Franziskanerorden," Freib. in
Br., 1904, p. 8, and pp. 33-37.
61
62 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
stilled after the scene in the Bishop's palace. They listened
to him with attention, even with reverence. And the words
which he said were not forgotten; they fell like living seed
into many a receptive mind, into many a heart which with-
out knowing it longed greatly to live its hfe nearer to God.
Thus it was that Francis in a little while found disciples.
As the first we are told of ^ "a pious and simple man from
Assisi," whose name has not been preserved for us, and
of whom history knows no more. The first disciple known
to history is therefore Bernard of Quintavalle.^
Bernard was a merchant hke Francis and apparently not
much older than he. He did not belong to Francis' circle,
but followed his wonderful career only at a distance. At the
outset — like so many — he had only taken Francis' conver-
sion and church building as a new craze with him. But as
time went on and Francis continued to persevere in his way
of life, Bernard's doubt turned into regard and his wondering
became admiration.
Bernard certainly had led hitherto a perfectly regular and
good civic life. What seized him now was the feehng which
Sabatier has in one place so beautifully called la nostalgie
de la sainteté — homesickness for holiness. The sacred fire
burst out within his soul — the desire for over-sanctification
which is the innermost kernel of Christianity, the longing
to give up the thousand things with which the soul vainly
creates unrest and perturbation for itself, and to seek the
one thing which satisfies. There ripened in him the deter-
mination to follow Francis — to be poor like him, wear his
habit and live his life. The desire to be satisfied with httle,
a deep, supernatural longing, as well as an insatiabihty that
never can get enough, waxed stronger and stronger within him.
But hitherto he had never talked with Francis on the subject;
on the contrary, he found a kindred soul and a confidant in
one of the canons of the cathedral church of S. Rufino,
^Celano, V. pr., I, cap. X.
* Cclano, ditto, Tres Socii, VIII, 27-29. Bonav., Ill, 3. Anon. Perus.,
in A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 580-581, nn. 187-190.
Bernard of Bessa is the first, who in his Dc Latidibiis b. Francisci employs
Bernard's title "of Quintavalie." See the above work in Analccta Francis-
cana, III (Quar., 1897), p. 667.
CONTEMPORARY PORTRAIT OF
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
At the Sacro Speco, Subiaco
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 63
Pietro dei Cattani, a layman who, in his position of law-
counsel of the church, enjoyed one of its prebendships.^
In later legends it is told how Bernard, before he finally
enrolled himself under Francis, tried to find out by a trick
if Francis' piety was true or assumed. He asked Francis a
number of times to spend the night with him — an invitation
which he, who at this time could hardly be said to have any
fixed abode, gladly accepted. One evening, therefore, he asked
his guest into his own sleeping chamber, where, after the
custom in the better class of houses, a light was kept burning
all night.2
"But to hide his holiness," thus it is told in the Chronica
XXIV generalium and in the Fioretti, "St. Francis cast him-
self on the bed, as soon as he came into the room, and acted as
if he slept, and after a while Bernard did the same, beginning
to snore strongly, as if in deep slumber. And St. Francis,
who believed that Bernard really slept, arose from his bed
and started to pray, while with eyes and hands raised towards
heaven, and with great devotion and fervor, he cried out:
'My God and my All!' And thus he remained praying and
weeping greatly until morning, and repeated constantly:
'My God and my All!' and said nothing more."^
That back of this tale there is concealed a real occur-
rence is clear from Thomas of Celano's briefer description:
"[Bernard] saw Francis praying at night, sleeping little, prais-
ing God and his Mother, the Blessed Virgin."^ As day
dawned Bernard determined to follow Francis therefore irrev-
ocably. He laid before him his wish in the form of a
question for solution in a case of conscience.
* Silvester, the eleventh or twelfth disciple, was the first priest of the order.
In Glasberger is found the comment, that Peter of Cattani was "jurisperitus
et canonicus ecclesiae S. Rufini" {Anal. Franc, II, p. 6).
^ Cel., V. pr., I, X. Vita jr. Bcrnardi in Anal. Franc, III, pp. 35 et seq. It
says that Francis for two years was regarded as "stultus et phantasticus,"
and that Bernard invited him to visit him "ut ejus fatuitatem vel sanctitatem
posset mehus explorare."
Bernard of Quintavalle's house is the present Palazzo Sbaraglini on the
Piazza del Vescovado (or of S. Maria Maggiore) in Assisi.
^Fioretti, cap. II. Chronica XXIV generalium in Anal. Franc, 111, p. 36.
Actus beati Francisci, ed. Sabatier (Paris, 1902), cap. I.
* Vita prima, I, cap. X.
64 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"If some one," he said, "had received from his master
property entrusted to his care, be it much or Httle, and had
had possession of it for many years, and now wanted to keep
it no longer, what would be the best way to act in such a case?"
"Give it back to him of whom he had received it," was
Francis' obvious answer.
"But, my Brother, the case is this, that all that I own of
earthly property I have received from my God and Lord
Jesus Christ, and now I want to give it back again, as it may
seem best to you to perform it."
Then Francis said:
"What you tell me of. Lord Bernard, is so great and difficult
a work that we will ask Our Lord Jesus Christ for advice
about it, and pray him to let us know his will and to teach us
how we shall bring this intention to execution. We therefore
next morning will go into the church and read in the Book
of Gospels, what the Lord told his disciples to do."
When the time came Pietro dei Cattani seems to have
reached his decision; in any case the three men went together
the few paces across the Assisi market-place to the church of
S. Niccolo, which occupied what is now the site of a barracks
of carabineers. Here they entered and prayed together,
whereupon Francis went up to the altar and took the mass-
book, opened it and found the following words: "If thou
wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven."^ Twice more he
opened the book, and found the first time: "If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow me," and the next time: "And he commanded
them that they should take nothing for the way."
As Francis closed the book, he turned himself towards the
two men, and said:
"Brothers, this is your life and our rule, and not only ours,
but all theirs who wish to live with us. Go away therefore
and do that which you have heard!"
But Bernard of Quintavalle arrested his steps on the square
of the church of San Giorgio — now the Piazza S. Chiara —
• Matth. xix. 21. The two next quotations are from Matth. xvi. 24, and
Mark. vi. 8.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 65
and began to distribute all his property to the poor. And
Francis stood by his side and praised God in his heart. In
place of Pietro di Bernardone he had chosen a beggar for a
father, and now God sent him a far better brother than Angelo.
While Bernard and Francis thus stood together, and Pietro
dei Cattani had also gone in search of his possessions, it hap-
pened that a priest came by, from whom Francis had bought
stone for the restoration of San Damiano. This priest, whose
name was Silvester, had sold the stone cheap — perhaps on
account of the good object it was to be devoted to. When he
now saw so much money given away, he approached and said
to Francis: "The stone which you in your time bought from
me, you paid for only poorly. " Incensed at the covetousness
of the priest, Francis suddenly reached down into the money,
which Bernard had in the lap of his cloak, and without count-
ing the amount, poured it out into the priest's hand as he
asked: *'I wonder if you are now satisfied. Sir priest?" But
Silvester thanked him coldly and went away.
As the legends tell, this occurrence was none the less the
beginning of a new life for the avaricious priest. He began
to draw comparisons between his own avarice and the con-
tempt for property and gold shown by these two young lay-
men, and the words ''No one can serve two masters" began
to ring like a judgment in his soul over the life he had
hitherto led; after a further delay he too had to come to
Francis, and beg him to receive him among the Brethren.^
The three brothers and followers of Christ, after all was
arranged, left Assisi together and spent the night in Portiun-
cula. Near this church they next erected a hut of boughs
plastered with mud, where they could find a refuge for the
night and pray in the daytime.
It was down here also that a young man from Assisi named
Giles (in Latin Ægidius, in Italian Egidio), eight days after
Bernard's conversion, sought to join them. Naturally the
treatment awarded to their possessions by the rich Bernard
and the accomphshed lawyer Pietro had excited the greatest
attention in the city and was the inexhaustible source of
' Tres Socii, VIII, 28-IX, 31. Fiorelli, cap. II. Glassberger, Anal. Franc,
II, p. 6, in which Bernard's conversion is dated April 16, 1209.
6
66 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
conversation, as well by day on the market-place as by night
at the fires, where were held veglia. On such an evening
of gossip before the sparkling fire of juniper branches and
chestnut embers, which in the cold April evenings were neces-
sary in Assisi, Giles heard his family talk about Francis and
his friends.^
Next morning Giles rose early, "troubled about his salva-
tion" as the old legends say. It was April 23, the feast
of the martyr St. George, and the young man betook him-
self to St. George's church to hear mass. Thence he took
the direct road down to Portiuncula, where he knew that
St. Francis would keep himself. At the hospital of S. Salva-
tore degli Pareti the road forks, and Giles prayed God that
he might select the right one. His prayer was heard, for
after wandering about a while he approached a wood and
saw Francis coming out of it. Giles at once cast himself at
the feet of Francis and begged to be received into the Brother-
hood. But Francis looked at Giles' pious young face, raised
him up and said:
"Dearest brother, God has shown you a wonderful favor!
For if the Emperor were to come to Assisi and wished to make
one of the citizens his knight or his chamberlain, then would
the citizen be greatly rejoiced. How much more should you
rejoice, whom God has chosen as his true knight and servant
and to maintain the holy evangelical perfection."
And he took him to the place where the other Brothers were
keeping themselves and presented him to them with these
words: "The Lord our God has sent us a new good Brother.
Let us therefore rejoice in the Lord and eat together in
charity."
But after the meal was ended, Francis and Giles went up to
Assisi to obtain cloth for the new Brother's habit. On the
way an old woman met them and asked for alms. Then
Francis turned around towards Brother Giles and said to
him, as he looked at him "with an angel's expression":
"My dearest brother, let us for God's sake give your cloak
to this poor woman!"
' Cum vero fr. Ac^idius, adhuc saecularis existens, post VTI dies, hoc cognatis
suis narrantibus audivisset. Vila Jr. Acgidii, Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 75.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 67
And Brother Giles at once took off his beautiful cloak and
gave it to the woman, and it seemed to him — thus he told
it afterwards — that this alms seemed to ascend to heaven.
But he himself felt in his heart an inexpressible joy.^
There were now four living together in the hut at Portiun-
cula. In this first year they had little need for a house and
home, for they spent most of their time in missionary trips.
What Francis had up to this time done alone, the four did
together or in couples. Thus Francis associated himself
with Giles, whom he had quickly learned to love, and whom,
with an expression borrowed from his reading of romance, he
called his "Knight of the Round Table," ^ and with him
started on a trip through the nearest environs — to Mark
Ancona, the region between the Apennines and the Adriatic
Sea. On his return, Francis had the happiness to receive
three new disciples, Sabbatino, Morico, and John — the last
named acquired the title of Capella, "of the hat," because
he was the first to wear a hat in violation of the rule of the
order. All seven started out again, and Francis now chose
Rieti in the Sabine Mountains as the goal for his mission.
In contrast to the regular ecclesiastical eloquence, Francis
and his friends were to the last degree simple in their preach-
ing. His sermons had more of the flavor of exhortations than
of elaborated discourses — they were artless words, which
came from the heart and went to the heart. His preaching
always came back to three points: fear God, love God, con-
vert yourself from bad to good. And when Francis was
through, Brother Giles would add: "What he says is true!
Listen to him and do as he says!"
^ Vilafr. Aegidii, Anal. Fr., Ill, pp. 74 et seq. Vitadi frate Egidio in most
editions of the Fiorctti. Vita heati fratris Aegidii in Doc. Antiq. Franc, pars I:
Scripta fratis Leonis, ed. Leonardus Lemmens (Quaracchi, 1901). Tres Socii,
cap. IX, n. 32; XI, 44 in fine. Speculum perfcctionis, ed. Sabatier, cap. XXXVI.
Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. X. Bonaventure, IIL 4. Vita Aegidii in A. SS.
for April 23; — The date of Giles' (Latin Ægidius) conversion is given by most
authorities and is one of the surest data in Franciscan chronology. See the
Bollandists as above in the introduction § 2 and Analec. Franc., Ill, p. 75, n. 3.
Concerning Brother Giles' Biography as a work of Brother teo, see Salimbene:
Chronica (Parma edition), p. 323, "cujus vitam fr. Leo, qui fuit unus de tribus
specialibus sociis beati Francisci, sufEcienter descripsit."
^ Anal. Franc, III, p. 78: "Iste est miles meus tabulae rotundæ."
68 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Wherever they went, their sermons excited the greatest
attention in peasant circles. To some they looked like wild
animals.^ Women ran away when they saw them coming.
Others would speak to them, asking what order they belonged
to and whence they came. They answered that they were
of no order, but were only "men from Assisi, who lived a life
of penance." 2 But if they were penitents, they were not for
that reason shamefaced — with Francis at their head, who
sang in French, praised and glorified God for his untiring
goodness to them. "They were able to rejoice so much,"
says one of the biographers, "because they had abandoned
so much." When they wandered in the spring sunshine, free
as the birds in the sky, through the green vineyards of Mark
Ancona, they could only thank the Almighty who had freed
them from all the snares and deceits which those who love
the world are subject to and suffer from so sadly .^
Before sending out his six disciples, Francis had assembled
them in the forest about him, near Portiuncula, where they
were wont often to pray.* In his own cheerful yet impressive
manner he addressed them on the subject of the kingdom of
God, as they were going out to induce men to despise the
world, to subdue their self-will, to discipline the body. "Go
out, my beloved ones, and announce the gospel of peace and
conversion! Be patient in trouble, give to all who insult you
an humble answer, bless them who persecute you, thank
those who do you wrong and slander you, because for all this
your reward shall be great in heaven ! And fear not because
you are unlearned men, for you do not speak by yourselves,
but the Spirit of your Heavenly Father will speak through
you! You will find some men who are true, good and peace-
ful — they will receive you and your word with gladness!
Others, and these in great number, you will on the other hand
find to be revilers of God — they will oppose you and speak
against you! Be therefore prepared to endure all things
patiently!"
^ Sylvestres homines. Tres Socii, IX, n. 37. Anon. Perus., p. s8sa, n. 211.
''"Viri pocnitentiales de civitate Assisii oriundi." Tres Socii, IX, n. 37.
' Anon. Perus., p. 582, n. 198. Vita jr. Aegidii, Anal. Franc, III, p. 76. Ber-
nard a Bessa, ditto, p. 671.
* Anon. Perus., p. 5S4b, n. 208. Compare Anal. Franc, I, p. 418.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 69
After these words, Francis embraced them one by one,
"as a mother her children," blessed them, and gave them as a
last aliment for the road this extract from the Bible: "Cast
thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee!"^
Thus the disciples went out into the world, travelling in
pairs. And when they came to a church or a cross, or merely
saw a church-tower in the distance, they bowed down in the
dust and uttered the httle prayer which Francis had taught
them: "We adore thee, O Christ, here and in all thy churches
over the whole world, and we bless thee because by thy holy
Cross thou hast redeemed us!" But if they approached one
of the small towns, which then as now stood upon the moun-
tain-tops with circling wall and towers, they directed their
steps in through the city gates, and when they were come to
the market-place they stopped and began to sing the song of
praise which Francis had taught them, and which ran thus:
"Fear and honor, praise and bless, give thanks and adore
the Lord God omnipotent in trinity and unity, Father and
Son and Holy Ghost, Creator of all things. Do penance,
make fruits worthy of penance, for know that you soon will
die. Give, and it will be given unto you. Forgive, and it
will be forgiven unto you. And if you will not have forgiven
men their sins, the Lord will not forgive you your sins. Con-
fess all your sins. Blessed those who die in penance, for
they will be in the kingdom of heaven. Woe to those who
do not die in penance, for they will be the sons of the Devil,
whose works they do, and will go into eternal fire. Beware
and abstain from all evil and persevere up to the end in good."^
The Brothers soon had need of the warning to be patient,
which Francis had given them for use on their journeyings.
Many regarded them as weak-minded, and in the heartless
way of the times derided them and threw the dirt of the
street upon them. Others robbed them of their clothing,
and like good men of the gospel the Brothers made no resist-
ance, but went their way half-naked. Others seized the
^ Celano, V.,pr. I, XII. Trcs Socii'K., 7,6. Julian, p. 583,11. 204. Bonav.,
Ill, 7. — Psalms, liv. 23.
2 Reg. I, cap. XXI. "De laude »t exhortatione,quam possunt facere fratres."
(Ppuscula, pp. 50-51.)
70 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Brothers by the cowls and carried them on their backs as if
they were meal-sacks. Others came to them with dice, stuck
them in their hands, and asked them to gamble. Some others
took them for thieves and wanted to refuse them shelter for
the night, so that the Brothers often had to sleep in caves,
cellars or porches of houses or churches.^
Together with an associate — the latter, according to
Thomas of Celano, was Brother Giles — Bernard of Quinta-
valle went northwards and reached Florence. Here they for a
long time travelled about the city, vainly seeking refuge for
the night; at last they found a porch outside of a house, and
now they thought that they might rest at last. They knocked
and got permission from the woman of the house to spend
the night in the shelter of some wood-sheds that stood
there.
Scarcely had this been arranged for, when the master of
the house came home, and started to quarrel with his wife
about her rather moderate hospitality. She managed to
pacify him to such an extent that they got permission to
stay — "they can steal nothing but a little of the firewood
down there," she remonstrated \vith him. But a rug she had
intended to lend the two wanderers she was not allowed to give
them, although it was winter time and the night was cold.
After but a poor sleep, Bernard and his companion left
their inhospitable host early in the morning, overcome by
cold and hunger, and betook themselves to the nearest church
as soon as the bell rang for eight o'clock service.
Their hostess found herself soon after in the same church,
and as she saw the Brothers pra>ing so piously, she thought
to herself: "If these men had been thieves or robbers they
would not have been here now and taken so devout a part in
the divine service." While the woman was occupied with
1 Tres Socii, n. 37-39. Celano, V. pr., I, XV. Vila dl fralc Egidio, cap. II:
"fu chiamato da uno uomo a cui cgli andd pure assai volentieri, credendo avere
da lui qualche limosina: e distendendo la mano, gli puose in mano un paio di
dadi, invitandolo se volea giucare. Prate Egidio rispuose molto umilmente:
Iddio te lo perdoni, figliuolo." Actus, cap. IV: "Et quidam trahebant capu-
tium retro, quidam ante, quidam vero pulverem, quidam vero lapides jactabant
in eum. ... Ad cuncta vero opprobria frater Bernardus gaudens et patiens
permanebat."
Sometimes they slept in deserted churches (Anon. Perus., 584, n. 210).
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 7I
these thoughts, she saw a man named Guido enter, who every
morning went to the church to give alms to the poor beggars
who gathered together there. On his rounds he came to
Bernard and his companion, but they refused to take anything.
Guido, astonished, asked: "Are you not paupers Hke the
others, that you will take nothing?" Bernard answered:
*' Certainly we are paupers, but poverty is no burden to us,
for in our case it is voluntary, and it is in obedience to the
will of God that we are'po'bn'"^ Still more astonished, Guido
asked them other questions, and ascertained that Bernard
had been a very wealthy man, but had given everything away
so as to be able without disturbance to preach the gospel of
peace and conversion.
At this moment the woman, in front of whose house the
Brothers had spent the night, joined in the conversation.
Bernard's refusal of money from Guido had convinced her of
the utter injustice she had done the two strangers. "Chris-
tiani!" she now said, using a mode of address still common in
Italy. "You Christian men, if you will return to my house,
I will gladly receive you under my roof!" But when Guido
now heard how no one the night before had been wilHng to
receive them, he at once offered them hospitality, and thank-
ing the woman who had come to a better state of mind, the
Brothers accepted the last offer.^
As before mentioned, Francis had chosen Rieti as his own
mission district for this time. From Terni he followed the
course of the river Velino, which brought him through a whole
series of larger or smaller towns — Stroncone, Cantalice,
Poggio Bustone, Greccio. Everywhere he found — as the
legends tell us — the fear of God and the love of God almost
vanished, and the way of penitence untrod and despised.^
The broad way, the way of the world, the way the three evil
lusts urge men along, were thickly frequented — the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of the world had
almost unlimited sway. To "block the wrong and endless
^ Tres Socii, cap. X. Anon. Perus., p. 585, nn. 212-213. There is reason to
believe that the two Brothers on this trip got as far as the celebrated place
of pilgrimage S. Jago di Compostella. Celano, V. pr., I, XII. Vita Egidii,
A.SS., April 23, p. 222. Fioretti, cap. IV.
* Tres Socii, n. 34.
72 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
way of lust''^ was therefore everywhere the principal task for
Francis. At the present time, in the valley of Rieti, the great
saint's preaching in those early days is regarded as an evangel-
ization in the proper signification of this word — a conversion
from heathenism to Christianity .^
It was while engaged in this work that Francis, according
to his biographers, was made certain of the forgiveness of his
sins, the certainty of which may be said to have been abso-
lutely necessary to carry out the work which he was to do.
Five hundred metres high in the mountain above the town
of Poggio Bustone and a thousand metres above the plain,
there is a cave, to which Francis, true to his Assisi habits,
was wont to betake himself for prayer. Here in the great
loneliness and dead silence, where only a single bird twittered,
and a mountain brook gurgled, Francis knelt long hours
together on the hard stone under the naked cliff. And if we
wish to really understand Francis, we must follow him to this
mountain cave.
There had been, and was still, the hermit as well as evangel-
ist and missionary in his make-up, and wherever he has set
his feet are found these grottoes and caves, these eremi and
ritiri, to which he was accustomed from time to time to with-
draw himself. Carceri at Assisi, St. Urbano at Narni, Fonte
Colombo at Rieti, Monte Casale at Borgo San Sepolcro,
Celle at Cortona, le Coste at Nottiano, Soteano at Chiusi,
La Verna in the valley of Casentino, give widespread testimony
that the spirit which inspired Francis of Assisi was none
other than that which, in the latest of the olden days, had
inspired Benedict of Nurcia, and the same which later, in the
first of the modern days, was to inspire Ignatius of Loyola.
Francis in Poggio Bustone or by Fonte Colombo is a side
piece to Benedict in Sagro Speco by Subiaco, to Ignatius
Loyola in the cave at Manresa. To all of them applies the
same twofold exhortation: "Pray and work," or a et labor a —
all three strove in the midst of the industry of Martha to
have the devotion of Mary.
^"erroneam et interminam cupiditatis viam." Julian Speier, A. SS.,
Oct. IT, p. 583, n. 204.
'Johannes Jorgensen: "Pilgrimsbogcu," p. 141.
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 73
And in the cave at Poggio Bustone, Francis tried to have
such an hour as that of Mary at the feet of the Crucified One.
Perhaps he had already uttered the prayer which is first
revealed to us in the later hours of his life, and which in all
its comprehensive conciseness is given here: "Who art thou,
my dear Lord and God, and who am I, thy miserable worm of
a servant? My dearest Lord, I want to love thee! My Lord
and my God, I give thee my heart and my body, and would
wish, if I only knew how, to do still more for the love of
thee!"
In any case there was a double abyss (as Angela of Foligno
has called it) which in these hours of lonely prayer yawned
in front of Francis — the Divine Being's abyss of goodness
and light, and opposed to it his own abyss of sin and darkness.
For who was he that he dared to be the finger-post for man-
kind and the master of disciples, he who only a few years ago
had been a child of the world among children of the world, a
sinner among sinners? Who was he who dared to preach
to others, to warn others, to guide others — he who was not
worthy to take the holy and pure name of Jesus Christ into
his impure mortal mouth? Then he thought of what he had
been, of what he yet might be if God did not stand by him,
for that danger was always within his nature — when he
thought next of what others thought of him, some who hon-
ored him, some who followed him, some who hated him, it
was then he knew not where to hide himself for very shame,
and the words of the Apostle rang in his ears: ''Lest per-
haps, when I have preached to others, I myself should
become a castaway."
Thus humility raged in his soul like a lion that leaves
nothing of his prey, but grinds the bones for the marrow.
And all torn asunder, all annihilated, Francis cast himself
on his face before God, the God who had made heaven and
earth, the God who is all truth and all holiness, and before
whose omnipotence nothing can stand without complete
truth, complete holiness. Francis looked into the depths of
his being, and he saw that on the whole earth there was not
to be found a more useless creature, a greater sinner, a soul
more lost and fallen to the bad than himself, and from the
74 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
depths of his need he groaned before God: "Lord, be merciful
to me a poor sinner!"
And it came to pass that the empty cave over Poggio
Bustone beheld a miracle, one that always happens when a
soul in complete distrust of itself calls out to its God in confi-
dence and hope and charity — then there comes to pass the
great miracle of justification. "I fear ever}'thing from my
badness, but from thy goodness I also hope for all," this was
the innermost meaning of the prayer Francis sent up to God.
And the answer came, as it always comes — "Fear not, my
son, thy sins are forgiven thee!"
From this hour Francis was fully armed for the things that
awaited him — he was drawn into the heart of Christianity.
Because he had abandoned everything, he was to win every-
thing. For not only had he given up father and mother, house
and home, property and money, but what means more than
all else, if God was to belong to him and he to God — he
had given up himself. All his righteousness from now on
was that which the Apostle says is given by Christ to the
faithful — and his life in holiness breathed out this righteous-
ness. Therefore it is true, with a deeper truth than that of
history, what the Fioretti relates in the tenth chapter:
"But one day Brother Masseo from Marignano said to
St. Francis: 'I wonder why the whole world runs after thee
more than after others, and all men want to see thee and hear
thee and obey thee? Thou art not fair of body, thou art
not deeply learned, thou art not of noble birth — why does
the whole world run after thee?'
"When St. Francis heard this he rejoiced in his soul and
turned his eyes to heaven, and stood a long time thus, with
soul lifted up to God; and when he came to himself he kneeled
down and gave thanks and praise to God, and turned to
Brother Masseo and said to him with great spiritual power:
*Do you wish to know why this happens to me? Do you
wish to know why the whole world runs after me? For I
knew that thing from the all-seeing God, whose eyes see the
good and the bad over all the earth. For these most holy
eyes have nowhere seen a greater, more miserable, poorer
sinner than I ; because in all the earth he has found no more
THE FIRST DISCIPLES 75
wretched being to do his wonderful work, which he wishes to
have done, therefore he has chosen me, so as thus to put to
shame the noble, the great, strength and beauty, worldly
wisdom, that all may know that all power and all virtue
come from him and not from creatures, and that no one can
exalt himself before his face; but he who praises himself,
let him praise himself in the Lord, for his is the honor and the
power for ever and ever." ^
1 Floretli, cap. X. Actus b. Francisci capp. IX-X. Celano, Vita prima, I,
cap. XL Julian, A. SS., Oct. II, p. 583, n. 203: ("usque ad quadrantem
novissimum remissionis debiti culparum certitude," — a version not found in
the other biographies. Bonaventure, III, 6. Wadding, 1209, n. 24, with the
following parallel from St. Bridget's Revelationes (VII, 20): [Franciscus] "ob-
tinuit veram contritionem omnium peccatorum suorum et perfectam volunta-
tem se emendandi dicens: Nihil est in hoc mundo, quod non volo libenter
dimittere propter amorem et honorem Domini mei Jesu Christi; nihil est etiam
tam durum in hac vita, quod non volo gratanter sustinere propter ejus caritatem,
faciendo propter ejus honorem omnia quae ego potero juxta meas vires corporis
et animae; et omnes alios quoscumque potero, volo ad hoc inducere et roborare,
ut Deum super omnia diligant toto corde."
We see with what clearness the forgiveness of sins is defined by the Swedish
saint as synonymous with the beginning of a new life, the acceptation of a perfect
will to do good, Inspiratio amoris. A complete description of Poggio Bustone
is given in my (the author's) Pilgrimsbogen, cap. XIII.
CHAPTER II
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER
FRANCIS found himself one day in Bishop Guido's
private room. As was customary with him, he had
gone to the man he regarded as "the father of souls" ^
to get advice —perhaps also to pray for alms. It was
a period of hard times for the Brotherhood. After the return
from the mission journeys, four new Brothers had joined the
ranks — Philipp Lange, John of San Costanzo, Barbarus,
and Bernard of Vigilanzio. Francis himself had brought a
fifth new Brother with him from Rieti — Angelo Tancredi,
a young knight whom Francis had met in the streets of
Rieti, and whom he had won by suddenly calling out to him:
"Long enough hast thou borne the belt, the sword and the
spurs! The time has now come for you to change the belt
for a rope, the sword for the Cross of Jesus Christ, the spurs
for the dust and dirt of the road ! Follow me and I will make
you a knight in the army of Christ!" ^
Thus it was that there were no longer so few men to have
food daily. In the beginning the people of Assisi had been
seized with a kind of wonder, and the Brothers had got con-
siderable alms as they went from door to door. Now people
began to grow weary of them; now the relatives of the
Brothers were ready to persecute them. "You have given
away what you had, and now you come and want to eat up
other people's things!"
As their number increased they went from the hut at
Portiuncula to a tumble-down outhouse or shed some twenty
^ Tres Socii, VI, 19: "pater et dominus animarum."
^ Wadding, Aniiales, T. I., p. 80 (1210). The narration was first found in the
rather unreliable work, Actus b. Francisci in valle Reatina. Compare A. SS.,
Oct. II, p. 589, n. 231.
76
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 77
minutes distant, in a place which because of its vicinity to a
bend in a little stream was called Rivo Torto (crooked stream).
Here the Crucigers from S. Salvatore delle Pareti owned a
few small buildings, and as one of the newly accepted Fran-
ciscans had been a member of this order, it is reasonable to
suppose that Francis by his intercession had obtained the
right to use this new abode.^
This shed or tiguriiim at Rivo Torto was so small that
Francis had to write on the beams the name of each Brother
over his place, so as to avoid all disorder or confusion.^ There
was no church or chapel there; the Brothers prayed before a
large wooden cross which was erected in front of the shed.^
Francis for his part had nothing against so great poverty.
He really hked Rivo Torto, because by following the course
of the river he could easily reach some caves on Monte Suba-
sio, where it was good to pray, and which Francis because
of their narrowness called his "prisons" {carceri).
All this excited much talk in Assisi, as was to be expected,
and the Bishop showed good judgment. He tried by gentle-
ness to draw Francis away from the ideas which to the
prelate of the church seemed extravagant. Little was the
amount which the Brothers permitted themselves to own,
but he only allowed himself so much as was needed to ensure
his daily bread. To the Bishop, as to all men living an ordi-
nary life, the begging was particularly repulsive.
But Francis was immovable in this point. Just as Tolstoy
has clearly seen it in the nineteenth century, so he saw what
a hindrance is removed from the way when money and pos-
sessions are given up. "Lord Bishop," he therefore replied,
1 Bonaventure tells (IV, 8) that Morico had long lain dangerously sick in
S. Salvatore delle Pareti, and that Francis healed him by sending him a piece
of bread dipped in oil of the lamp which burned before the altar of Our Lady in
Portiuncula. From gratitude Morico followed Francis thereafter and dis-
tinguished himself by extreme penances (he lived on raw green vegetables for
years, never tasted bread nor wine, etc.). — There are still two small chapels
remaining of the original Rivo Torto: S. Rufino d'Arce and S. Maria Madda-
lena, nearer to Portiuncula than the large Franciscan church erected later,
which now has the old name. See Lo Specchio di perfezio7ie (Assisi, 1889), p.
39, n- 9-
2 Tres Socii, XIII, 53. Celano, V. pr., I, cap. XVI.
' Bonav., IV, 3.
78 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"if we had possessions we should have to have weapons with
which to defend them. For from property comes strife with
our neighbors and relatives, so that charity to God and to
men suffers many a scar, and in order to preserve it whole
and unimpaired, it is our firm determination to own nothing
in this world." ^
The Bishop, who himself was not clear of property dis-
putes, for he was involved in a suit with both the Crucigers
and with the Benedictines on Monte Subasio,^ bowed his
head and was silent. Even if he could not mount to the
height of such an ideal, he did not dare to hinder or restrain
them in carrying it out.
Moreover, begging was not the only or even principal
resource of the Brothers. Francis himself says in his Testa-
ment about these early times:
"And after the Lord had given me Brothers, no one showed
me what I was to do. But the Highest revealed to me that
I was to live after the holy gospel. . . . And they who
came to me and accepted this way of life gave all they pos-
sessed to the poor, and were satisfied with a tunic, patched
both inside and outside if they wished it, and a rope and
breeches. And we wanted nothing more.
"We said the Office, those of us who were clerks, like other
clerks, but the lay -people said the 'Our Father,' and we liked
to be in the churches. And we were simple (idiotae) and
subject to all men. And I worked with my hands, and more-
over wanted to work, and I desired that all the other Brothers
should be occupied with honorable work. And those who
could do no work must learn it, not for the desire of remunera-
tion, but to give good example and not to be lazy. And if
they will not give us pay for our work, we must have recourse
to the table which the Lord has spread, as we go from door to
door and beg for alms." ^
We have in these few words from Francis' own hand the
entire programme of the life they led at Portiuncula and in
* Tres Socii, IX, 35.
^ See Opera Honorii III, ed. Horoy, t. I, col. 200 and col. 163, and Potthasl's
Regesta, Nr. 7746 and Nr. 7728. Sabatier, Vie, p. 92, n. i.
' Opiiscula, p. 79.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 79
the shed at Rivo Torto. What Francis desired was what
Jesus of Nazareth desired — that men should own as httle as
possible, that they should work with their hands for their
food, and ask others for help when work failed them, that
they should not give themselves unnecessary troubles and lay
up superfluous possessions, that they should keep themselves
free as birds and not let themselves be caught in the snares
of the world, that they should go through life with thanks
to God for his gifts and with songs of praise for the beauty
of his works. ''Like strangers and Hke pilgrims," these words
of an Apostle return over and over again to the mouth of
Francis, when he wants to express his ideal. ''He wished,"
says one of his biographers, "that all things should sing
pilgrimage and exile." ^
The following by-laws and admonitions in the first Rule
which Francis wrote for the Brothers are in accord with this :
"No Brother who works or serves in another's house can be
treasurer or secretary or have any authoritative position . . .
but they must be lowly (sint minores) and subject to all in the
house. And the Brothers who can do one kind of work
should work and practise the art they have learnt, if it does
not interfere with their soul's salvation or is not dishonorable.
. . . For the Apostle says: 'If any man will not work,
neither let him eat!' and: 'Let every man abide in the same
calling in which he was called!'
"And they can receive for their work whatever is neces-
sary, but not money. And should that be needed, they must
go out begging Uke the other Brothers. And they have
permission to own tools and utensils which they need . . .
(cap. VII).
"The Lord teaches us in the gospel: 'Watch ye, that your
hearts be not troubled with avarice and with care for your
nourishment!' Therefore none of the Brothers, wherever
he may go, and wherever he may be, may receive in any way
or permit money to be received, either for clothing or for
^ Non solum domorum arrogantiam odiebat homo iste, verimi domorum
utensilia multa et exquisita plurimum perhorrebat. Nihil in mensis, nihil
in vasis, quo mundi recordaretur, amabat, ut omnia peregrinationem, omnia
cantarent exilium." Thomas of Celano, Vita secunda, p. Ill, cap. VI.
So SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
books or as wages for work, or for any other reason, except
when a Brother is sick and calls for help. For we ought not
to care for or to look on money as of more worth than a stone.
. . . Let us therefore beware lest we, who have abandoned
all, shall lose heaven for so small a thing. And if we find
money anywhere, let us not then be more concerned about
it than if it was dust that we tread in. . . . Yet the Broth-
ers if the lepers are in need can collect money for them, but
must be greatly on their guard against money (cap. VIII).
''All Brothers must try to follow our Lord Jesus Christ's
humility and poverty, and remember the Apostle's words,
that, when we have food and clothes, we should be content
with them. And the Brothers should rejoice when they are
among humble and despised people, among poor and weak-
lings, sick and lepers and beggars on the road. And if it is
necessary, they may go and beg for alms. And they should
not be ashamed, but remember that Our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the living Almighty God, made his face as hard as
stone and was not ashamed ; and he was poor and a stranger
and lived on alms, both he and the Blessed Virgin and his
disciples. And when men cause shame to the Brothers and
will not give them alms, then they shall thank God therefor
. . . and they shall know that the shame is not counted
against them who suffer it, but against them who inflict it.
For alms are an inheritance and a piece of justice which is
due to the poor, and which Our Lord Jesus Christ has levied
upon us'[ ^ (cap. X).
With these and similar words Francis has certainly often
enough inspired his friends to persevere in the severe life of
poverty. Soon they were giving their services in the hospitals,
soon helping the peasants with the harvest in the fields, and
never was their recompense other than their daily bread and
a drink of water with it from the spring.^
^ Opiiscula, pp. 33-39. •-
^"Diebusvero manibus propriis quod noverant lab^rabant, existentes in
domibus leprosorum, vel in aliis lociis honestis, scrvientes omnibus humiliter
et devote. Nullum ofiicium exercere volcbant, de quo posset scandalum
exoriri, sed semper sancta et juxta opera honesta et utilia." These words of
Celano (V . pr., I, XV) depict the activities corresponding to the Rule. Compare
Barth, of Pisa's Conformilales (Milan, 1513), f. 25b: "ut serviant stunma cum
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 8l
It often happened that there was no work to be had, and
in Assisi, as we have said, all doors were closed in the faces
of the Brothers. Then it was that hope could hardly be sus-
tained, and it may well be believed that discontent and de-
spair were sometimes on the point of overcoming the poor
"Penitents from Assisi" in their shed at Rivo Torto. On
dark and rainy days, when the water drove in through the
leaky roof of the building and the earth was black and miry
and cold for the bare feet to tread upon, and they sat there
in their coarse, ragged gowns, seven or eight in number, and
had got nothing to eat all day, and did not know if the Broth-
ers who had gone out to beg would bring anything home, and
there was no fire to warm them, and no books to read. . . .
In those days of rain, in those dark, cold hours, during the
short but raw and uncomfortable winter of Umbria, did it
not perforce occur to one or another of them that it was all
foolishness, and that the best thing to do was to turn the back
on the dark hole and its crazy inhabitants, to go back to
the city — to the city where one had, alas ! once owned a
house and garden, money and goods, which foolishly had
been cast aside and given to the poor? There must surely
have been some such moments, when more than one of the
Brothers felt the spirit of penance weaken. And yet we hear
of only one falling away among the first disciples — John of
Capella. All the others held fast and persevered, even if
they, as the legends tell us, often had to eat roots instead of
bread.^ They persevered and they conquered.
For the public opinion which had long been opposed to
them began to reverse itself, httle by little. The inflexible
diligentia suo exempio leprosis et horribilibus. Et sic fratribus mandabat
statim ordinem ingressis, ut in talibus obsequiis Deo studerent placere."
The Fioretti has several tales of the Brothers' care of the sick and lepers,
such as cap. IV, cap. XXV, cap. XLII. A tale which is preserved in Chronica
XXIV generalium shows us that the Brothers sometimes could be discontented
with Francis: "qui fratres hinc inde transmittendo per hospitia leprosorum fre-
quenter ab orationis studio distrahebat" {Anal. Franc, III, p. 48). See also
Eccleston's Chronicle {Anal. Franc, I, p. 249) : "dixit autem (fr. Agnellus), quod
cum esset cum sancto Francisco in quodam hospitali commorans " and Bishop
Theobald of Assisi's letter on the Portiuncula indulgence, A. SS., Oct. II,
p. 880, n. 6.
1 Tres Socii, cap. XIII, n. 55. Celano, V. pr., I, XVI.
7
82 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
perseverance of the Brothers aroused wonder, their pious
way of Hfe won approval. Wayfarers who passed by the
shed at Rivo Torto heard the Brothers' voices in prayer by
night. By day they were seen going to the hospital or work-
ing elsewhere, wherever they could get anything to do.^ In
spite of their poverty they always had something to spare for
anyone who asked it, and if there was nothing else, they
would give the hood off of their cloak or one of the sleeves.
They showed no concern about money; a man once laid a
considerable sum of money on the altar in the chapel in
Portiuncula, but soon after found his mammon lying in a
heap of dirt upon the highway.
Especially was it to be seen how they loved each other.
Two of them once, while on a journey, were attacked by a
wandering imbecile who had started to throw a stone at
them. And they saw the Brothers shifting places constantly,
because each wanted to be upon the side the stone came from,
so as to protect his companion with his body. If it happened
that one of the Brothers by a thoughtless or hasty word had
hurt the feelings of one of the others, he allowed himself
neither rest nor quiet until he had made peace with his Brother,
and, at the behest of the offender, the offended one would
have to put his foot on the mouth out of which an unchari-
table word had issued. Never was impolite or even super-
fluous and worldly conversation heard among them, and if
they passed by women on their way, they did not look upon
them, but fastened their eyes on the dust with their hearts
in heaven .2
That they did not seek after this world's vanity and noth-
ingness is to be seen on an occasion when Otto of Brunswick
went through the valley of Spoleto, in September, 1209, on
his way to Rome to be crowned Emperor by Pope Innocent.
^"ut non starent otiosi, juvabant pauperes homines in agris eorum, et
postca ipsi dabant cisdcm de pane amore Dei" {Spec, pcrj., cap. LV).
' Trcs\Socii, cap. XI. Anon. Perus., in A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 587-588, nn.
224-225. Celano, F//a /»rzw/a, I, cap. XV. Compare f/orc//j, cap. Ill : "Come
per mala cogitazione che santo Francesco ebbe contro a fratc Bernardo, comandd
al detto fratc Bernardo, che tre volte gli andasse co' piedi in sulla gola e in sulla
bocca." Still more severe was the punishment for uncharitable conversa-
tion to which Brother Barbaras condemned himself (2 Cel., Ill, 92).
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 83
The populace gathered from Assisi, Bettona, Spello, Isola
Romana and all the other towns and villages of the mountain
and plain, to see the gorgeous retinue. Only the Brothers
from Rivo Torto were absent — with the exception of one
who was sent by Francis to go and meet the Emperor Otto
and say to him that the honors of this world are transitory
and not to be regarded, — a saying whose truthfulness
was soon to be shown in the very case of the Emperor
himself.^
Meanwhile Francis had decided to go to Rome. In the
solitude at Rivo Torto he had, as he tells in his Testament,
*' with few and simple words, " written or had written the Rules
of life, which he and the Brothers followed in their lives.^
His present desire was to have this Rule, or fortna vitae, as he
used to call it, ratified by the highest authority of the Church.
There was no need of this visit; it was the Fourth Lateran
Council of 1 2 15 which first m.ade such ratification a re-
quirement for the founding of a community in the Catholic
Church. A custom which was not older than Valdes
was now beginning, in virtue of which laymen used to seek
permission from the Papal throne to participate in preaching,
hitherto reserved for bishops and parish priests. Valdes had
obtained such a permission, but with a strict command to be
subject to the local churchmen. A similar permission had
been given in 1201 to the Humiliates, and in 1207 to Durand
1 Many modern biographers, on account of the sequence of events, as given
in Thomas of Celano, have been led to believe that the occurrence with the
Emperor Otto properly belongs after the journey of Francis and the Brothers
to Rome and after the Pope's approval of the Rule of the Order, which they
place accordingly in 1209. It was April 23, 1209, when Giles visited Francis,
and consequently the two missionary trips (to the Marches and to Rieti, in-
cluding Florence) come after this time. These Journeys undoubtedly took
several months, but Innocent III left Rome late in May, 1209, and went to
Viterbo, whence he did not return until October for the crowning of Otto.
The Brothers' visit to Rome must have occurred after this date, and belongs
probably in the summer of 1210. See Anal. Franc, III, p. 5, n. 8; Wadding:
Annales, 1210; Sabatier: Vie, p. 100, n. i; Hergenrother : " Kirchcngeschichte,"
I, p. 797.
2 "ego paucis verbis et simpliciter feci scribi; et dominus papa confirmavit
mihi." Opuscula, p. 79. Compare Cel., V. pr.,1, XIII. Chron. XXIV gen.
in Anal. Franc., Ill; p. 6: "quandam regulam scripsit, ubi pene omnia mandata,
quae Christus dedit apostolis, inseruit et omnes professores ejusdem, tam prae-
latos quam subditos, nominibus evangelicis nuncupavit."
84 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
of Huesca and his Catholic Valdenses.^ Francis had reason to
hope that Innocent would be accessible to his wishes also.
But Francis' devotion to the Apostles had drawn him to
Rome with special power, to the grave of the Apostles and of
their successors. The Apostles were Francis' model; all his
thoughts went in the direction of the restoration of the apos-
tolic life, as he saw it in the Gospels. It was ''after the rule
of life of the Apostles" that all property of the Brothers should
be for the common use. "It was thus in the Apostolic
Church," was an argument to which Francis always sub-
mitted himself.^ The later legends tell of Peter and Paul
showing themselves to Francis in the church of St. Peter as
he was praying, and assuring him of the possession of "the
perfect kingdom of the most holy poverty." ^
One day in the summer of 1210, the little troop of penitents
started from Rivo Torto, and took their way to Rome. Little
is told us of their journey, except that Bernard of Quintavalle
was sometimes their leader instead of Francis. Him they
all obeyed, as they shortened the way with prayer, song and
conversation. The Lord, says the legend, prepared rest-
ing places for them everywhere and never left them unpro-
vided for.^
On their arrival in Rome, Bishop Guido of Assisi was the
first to whom they presented themselves, who at this time,
perhaps not without previous communication with Francis,
was present in the Eternal City. The Bishop presented the
Brothers to a friend of his among the Cardinals — John of
St. Paul ^ — and the way to the Pope was made easy for them.
Later stories tell us that Francis first tried to reach the Pope
by his own efforts, but failed. What is historically certain
' Hilarin Felder: "Gcsch. dcr Studien im Franz. Orden" (Freiburg, 1904),
S. 40-41. Achille Luchaire: Innocent III; les Albigeois (Paris, 1905), pp.
104-113.
^ Tres Soa'i, n. 43. Anon. Perus., p. 587, n. 223. — It was Francis who, in
the Roman Breviary, instead of the usual invocation of "all the Apostles,"
had introduced a special invocation of the two Roman Apostles Peter and
Paul. See Bernard of Bessa {Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 672).
^ Fioretti, cap. XIII. Wadding, I, p. 30. Compare Bonaventure, II, 7.
* Tres Socii, XII, 46.
' John of St. Paul, of the noble Roman family of Colonna, made cardinal by
Celestin III and named as Sabine bishop by Innocent (Wadding, 12 10, n. 7).
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 85
is only this much, that Cardinal John, after the Brothers
had lived with him a few days, undertook to speak to the
Pope about them. The Pope was Innocent III.^
An injustice is perpetrated if we, like Sabatier, reproach
Cardinal John, because he in his capacity of representative
of the Curia utilized the time Francis and the Brothers
stayed with him, to investigate their intentions and prospects.
The period was actually very critical for the Church, and
the greatest foresight was a duty for its pilot.
It is with a very poor comprehension of the Middle Ages that
anyone speaks of " the powerful Church of the Middle Ages,"
and especially is this idea faulty when the period is that of
Innocent III. In fact the centuries of the Reformation and
the Revolutionary days were scarcely more anti-Papal or more
opposed to the Church than the epoch we speak of — about
the year 1200. No one would in our days permit Pius X
to be treated as Innocent III was treated more than once.
He tells himself how, on Holy Thursday, April 8, 1203, on
the way from St. Peter's to the Lateran, in spite of the Papal
crown which he wore upon his head, he was insulted by the
1 Not only Francis but also many others of the Brothers knew the Bishop
of Assisi, Guido. This is said explicitly in Leg. trium soc, n. 47: "ipse affec-
tabat videre virum Dei et aliquos de fratribus suis." Sabatier has not been
wiUing to accept this and similar testimony (Celano, V. pr., I, XIII: "omnes
fratres in omnibus honorabat et speciali venerabatur dilectione"). It certainly
follows from Celano's biography that Guido did not know the cause of the
Brothers' Roman journey (causam nesciens). But this does not exclude the
possibility of a conference between him and Francis; certainly in any case
the Bishop would not willingly have thought of the Brothers intending to leave
Umbria ("timebat enim, ne patriam propriam vellent deserere . . . gaudebat
plurimum tantos viros in suo episcopatu habere"). It appears to be a pre-
conception, when Sabatier {Vie, p. 108) accuses Guido of only taking a luke-
warm interest in Francis and his cause. Also from Spec. perf. (ed. Sab.), cap.
X, it is clear that a good understanding existed between Guido and Francis.
The place in Bona venture's legend (III, 9), in which it is told that Inno-
cent first turned Francis away with disdain, and was converted by a dream and
sent the next morning a messenger after him, when he was found in St. Anthony's
Hospital near the Lateran, is due to Jerome of Ascoli, General of the Francis-
can Order from 1274 to 1279, and later Pope under the name of Nicholas IV.
In Wadding (1210, n. 8) a certain nephew of Innocent, Richard Hannibal de
Molaria, Cardinal of S. Angelo in foro piscium, about 1274, is the authority
for this story. This nephew should have had the story from Innocent himself.
Compare A. SS., Oct. II, p. 591, and Chronica XXIV generaliiim in Analec.
Franc, III, p. 365. The passage in question exists in many manuscripts. A
similar but much expanded relation is found in Matthew of Paris.
86 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Roman people with so offensive a word that he would not
repeat it.
As early as 1188 the same Roman people had anticipated
the French terrorists and abolished the Christian reckoning
of time; they had established in its place a new era based
on the restoration of the Roman senate in 11 43. Time after
time was Innocent chased out of Rome; the tower he and
his brother had built for themselves as a secure refuge, and
whose imposing remains still bear Innocent's family name
{Torre dei Conti), was taken from him by the Romans and was
declared communal property. From May to October, 1204,
the Pope had to be a helpless witness of the devastation of
Rome by his enemies of the Capocci party.
And in the small remains of power which the Hohen-
staufens had left to the see of Peter, the power and authority
of Innocent was also small. For to free themselves from
the temporal domain of the Pope, men on all sides withdrew
from his spiritual supremacy and broke away from the unity
of the Church. In Orvieto such an independent faction chose
an Albigensian for leader, and killed the podestå, Pietro
Paranzi, sent to them by the Pope. Viterbo, in the face of
the prohibition and threats of the Pope, had chosen open
heretics as consuls. Interdict and ban were without effect
on the rebellious populace; Narni, that against the Pope's
ban had laid waste the little community of Otricoli, situated
near it, lived untroubled for five years under excommunica-
tion. The republic of Orvieto, likewise in cold blood, over-
rode the Papal command when their army plundered and
burnt the neighboring town of Acquapendente. In Sardinia
the priests and even the Bishops were so inimical to the Pope
that his legate, Blasio, in the year 1202, literally did not know
whence he could procure food there. Eventually the Ghibel-
line Pisa took the island from the Pope. Even when Inno-
cent won a victory over his opponents, the fruits of the
victory were taken from him. Thus when Conrad of Irslingen
had gone to Narni to make over the imperial castle in Assisi
to the Pope, the inhabitants of Assisi destroyed the castle
before the Pope could take it in possession. So far from
punishing Assisi for this violence, Innocent did not dare to
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 87
enter the city, when he passed near it, as he visited Perugia
and Spoleto on his journey of homage through Umbria.^
Innocent Ill's era was thus in full rebellion against the
Papal authority, and this rebellion was, just as in later cen-
turies, at the one time religious and political. We seem
to see Puritans, Independents, lUuminati, Rosicrucians,
Freemasons shadowed forth in the more or less politically
tinted sects with which the time was crowded. The church
historians reckon whole ranks of sect-creators and heresiarchs
in this century, — from the rigorous Peter Valdes and his
"Poor Men from Lyons," to shameless pantheists like David
of Dinant and Ortlieb of Strassburgh, Neo-Manichees like
the Albigenses, Satanists like the J'amiliae amoris, which
celebrated the black mass even in Rome.^
The most dangerous of all these sects were the Albigenses.
In the year 1200 they were to be found scattered all over
Europe — from Rome to London, from the Black Sea to
Spain, but especially along the lower Danube, in northern
Italy and southern France, and in places along the Rhine.
They bore different names in different countries: on the
lower Danube Bulgari, Bugri, Pubhcans; in Lombardy Para-
tenes. Gazarenes; in southern France Cathari or Albigenses
(after the city Albi in Languedoc). Everywhere they held
the same doctrine, and this was a reiteration of the dualism
of the Manichees. By way of the Bogomili and Paula-
cians of Bulgaria, they descended directly from the adherents
of Mani.
The Albigensian theory of the universe rested on the old
heathen doctrine of two gods — a good one who had created
souls, a bad one who had created the material world. It was
therefore essential, they taught, to hold aloof from all that
is material — in theory they cast aside marriage, family life,
all that could not be considered purely spiritual. The name
they themselves adopted Cathari or "the pure," indicates
this. To preserve this purity the most zealous among them
starved themselves to death. In practice, marriage was
1 See in this connection Achilla Luchaire: Innocent III; Rome et I'ltalie
(Paris, 1905).
2 Wadding, I (1731), pp. 3-4.
88 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
not allowed to the great mass of the Cathari, and often the
severe denial broke loose into unbridled sensuality — as with
the German Luciferians.
The Cathari w^ere therefore, with their entire philosophy
as well as wath their practice, born enemies of the Catholic
Church. The war which the Church now took up, and which
on the part of Rome was carried on as long as possible with
spiritual weapons,^ was therefore a fight for one of the most
valued possessions of Christian culture — for theological
monism. The unity of God — this was the truth for which the
Church fought and which it saved by fighting. There is a
bottomless abyss between the Manichees, for whom hfe is
impure and unholy, and for whom nature is a work of a devil,
a bad and detestable crime of the "Life-desire," and the Chris-
tian, who in matter sees a pure and holy work from the hands
of an all-loving Creator, and only stained by the miserable
crimes of little man. Rome had to decide on which side of
this abyss Francis and his Brothers stood — if their strange
asceticism was a product of the pride of the Cathari or of
evangelic Christianity. That they came from Assisi could
well awaken a suspicion; for among the communities where
the Cathari had acquired political power, it was precisely
this little city which in 1203 had chosen an Albigensian for
podestå.
In Francis, it was to be feared, might be found a man of the
same character as Peter Valdes, whose ideal had also been
evangelical poverty. The well-known Lyonnese had in 11 79
obtained permission from Alexander III to preach in public
the conversion of sinners, and to live in apostolic poverty.
Already in 11 84 Lucius III had placed Valdes and his fol-
lowers under the ban as rebels against the functions of the
Church, and as renewers of Donatism. Only a few of the
Valdensians were preserved as adherents to the unity of
the Church, by the Spaniard, Durand of Huesca.
It took only a short time to convince Cardinal John that
Francis and his friends were neither the one nor the other of
these two sectaries.
' Consult in this matter Achille Luchairc: Innocent III; La Croisade des
Alhigeois (Paris, 1905), pp. 35-67-
FOUNDA.TIONS OF THE ORDER 89
That God is one — this was the foundation of Francis'
piety, as it is the fundamental doctrine in the theology of the
Church.^
There is only one God — the God of creation and of salva-
tion, the God of the Cross and the God of hoHness, the God of
love and the God of nature — one God, as there is one world
and one heaven — one God, glorious, thanked and praised
by all, who moves and has the spirit of Hfe, from worm to
cherubim, through all the ages of eternity! Francis felt this,
for he was no Manichee to deny Hfe and to hate life, but a
Christian who wanted to live, and loved hfe, — in its purity,
in its golden goodness, in its deepest innermost sweetness,
in its highest most divine plenitude. It was by these feelings
that he was to be distinguished from the souls of pride, who
haughtily called themselves "the pure," "the perfect," "the
chosen," but who in reahty had to vibrate between self-torture
and degradation.^
Francis was no negative soul; neither was he a critical soul.
The only criticism he understood was self-criticism. And
this distinguished him completely from Valdes and his tenden-
cies. As a modern historian has pertinently said: "Francis
appeared as the herald of a holy life; Valdes of the divine
command. Francis preached the love of Christ, and Valdes
the prohibitions of the Lord. Francis overflowed with the
happiness of God's children; Valdes punished the sins of the
world. Francis collected those who loved amendment, and
let the others quietly go their way. Valdes attacked the
ungodliness of the ungodly and irritated the clergy."^
Such then was the distinctive peculiarity of Francis —
this it was which separated him from all the contemporaneous
reformers. Even those of them who were best disposed to
the Church, such as a Robert of Arbrissel, fell before the temp-
tation of turning their criticism against the priesthood and
^ At the Lateran Council of 1215 this doctrine was most explicitly invoked
in the case of the Cathari. See Denziger's Enchiridion, pp. 355 et seq.
^ Such of the Cathari who had taken the so-called spiritual baptism
(consolamentiim) called themselves pcrfecti or electi. A good insight into
Francis' monistic views is to be found in the last chapter of his Regula prima.
' Schmieder in "Ev. Kirchenzeit" 1854, p. 288, quoted by Oppermann:
Kunst og Liv i det gamle Florens" (Copenhagen, 1895), p. 28.
90 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
their failings, instead of against the heart of the individual.
With instinctive certainty Francis understood that without
the reform of the individual all other reform is meaningless,
and therefore he brought about that general reform of conduct
which neither the bulls of excommunication of the Pope nor
the thunders of the lay-preachers had been able to effect.
Here it was shown, as so often elsewhere, that God was not
working by stormy methods.
Cardinal John was not long in coming to a complete under-
standing of the deep-rooted idiosyncrasy of Francis. He
felt that here he stood before a man unselfish in root and
branch. He felt that there were no idle promises, no false
pretences, when Francis, speaking of his plans, simply said:
"God has called us to the help of his holy faith and of the
Roman Church's priests and prelates." ^
After the lapse of a few days the Cardinal found himself in
the presence of Innocent and imparted the following informa-
tion: "I have found a very perfect man who wishes to live
after the precepts of the holy gospel, and in all things to
adhere to the evangelical perfection. And I believe the Lord
intends by him to renew the faith all over the world."
The Brothers from Assisi were then admitted to the Pope's
presence. The Pope let Francis unfold his programme and
then answered:
"My dear son, this life you and your Brothers lead seems
too severe to me. I certainly do not doubt that you are all
in a condition to live it, borne up by the first enthusiasm.
But you should also think of those who come after you, and
who may not have the same zeal."
To this Francis only answered thus: "Lord Pope, I depend
upon my Lord, Jesus Christ. He has promised us eternal
life and heavenly happiness, and will not deny us so trivial a
* Spccuhim pcrfcctionis, cap. X, where also the motives are given : that
Francis and his Brothers could do more to gain souls, when laymen and priests
lived in unity, than when people were filled with anger against the priests. In
the same place is to be noted this saying of Francis: "In the first days of my
conversion God put his word into the mouth of the Bishop of Assisi, that he
might advise me and fortify me in the service of Christ." (Sabatier's edition,
p. 24.) This agrees perfectly with the Legenda triutn sociorum, III, 10; see in
this book, p. 85, n. i.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 91
thing as what we need here upon earth to maintain
our Hfe."
With the suspicion of a smile — one seems to see it through
the words — Innocent answered :
"What you say, my son, is perfectly true. But the nature
of man is frail and seldom holds to one purpose long. Go
then and pray God to reveal to you how far what you want
coincides with his will."
Francis and his Brothers left the presence of the Pope, who,
in the next consistory, laid the affair before the Cardinals. As
was to be expected, several of the old, practically minded ones
had great doubts about an order whose principles seemed to
exceed the powers of mankind.^
It was no purely contemplative order that Francis wished
to found, to which utter poverty might be supposed to be
annexed. Francis' ideal was indeed the apostolic life and
especially the apostolic preaching. But how should this last-
mentioned task be performed in a life of all kinds of work or
one of begging from door to door? Even the Waldenses had
had evangelical poverty on their programme; in reality they
had laymen among them whose work took care of the needs of
the preachers. The Humiliati, in spirit and life allied to the
Waldenses, originally a brotherhood of Lombard cloth-makers,
worked in common, kept what was most necessary for
themselves and distributed the rest to the poor. The '' Catho-
lic Poor" founded by the converted German Catharus,
Bernhard Primus, came the nearest to Francis' ideal; they
lived by the work of their hands, received no money wages,
but only food and clothes as compensation. This did very
well as long as prayer and work were the Order's only effective
obhgations. But Francis came precisely to obtain the Papal
permission to preach, and if this preaching could not be based
on the work of lay-preachers, then necessarily they must be
supported by a certain amount of study. To make this study
possible there would be needed, no matter in how poor a shape,
fixed abodes and a cloister life. And how was it possible to
erect a cloister on the foundation of complete poverty P^
* Bonav., Ill, 9. Anon. Perus., in A. SS., Oct. II, p. 590, n. 237.
* Compare Gustav Schniirer: ^' Franz von Assisi" (Miinchen, 1905), pp. 46-47.
92 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
There is scarcely need here to do more than call attention
to the fact that the old monastic orders held their members to
the obligation of poverty, but this was to be taken in a far
different sense than that in which Francis used the word. It
stood certainly in the Benedictine Rules that he who entered
the Order should give first his goods to the poor,^ and "the
holy poverty" was glorified under this almost Franciscan
title by Bernard of Clairvaux.^ But however scornfully this
great father talks of ''silver and gold, the white and red
varieties of earth that acquire their value from man's wicked-
ness,"^ yet the existence of the Cistercian convents as well as
that of the Benedictine abbeys depended on large estates of
land. The single monk owned nothing except what the
abbot gave him, but his vow of poverty was not afi"ected if the
cloister was richly endowed. Even a certain degree of posses-
sion seemed necessary for the inmates of the cloister to be free
to devote themselves to spiritual works, and not be troubled
about their daily bread.
On this head Francis had an entirely different conception.
What Peter and Paul had been able to accomplish — to an-
nounce the gospel to the world while they at the same time
supported themselves by the work of their hands or by the
gifts of the charitable — should still be possible. The Apostles
had not sat quietly within the doors of a convent, and Francis
did not want to be behind them in this respect.
In the College of Cardinals this wish of Francis aroused
the liveliest opposition. All objections were met by John of
Colonna's simple enunciation: "These men only want us to
allow them to live after the gospel. If we now declare that
this is impossible, then we declare that the gospel cannot be
followed, and thus insult Christ, who is the origin of the gospel,"
These words had their effect and Francis was again invited to
the Lateran.
In the night preceding this new meeting, the Pope is said to
have had a curious dream. It seemed to him that he stood in
the Lateran palace, in the place that is called speculum,
because there is a wide prospect therefrom, and one looks out
* "Res si quas habet . . . eroget prius paupcribus " {Reg. S. Betted., caip. $'&).
^ Ep. 103, n. 7. Ep. 141, n. 2. * In Adv., Sermo IV, n. i.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 93
over the Lateran church dedicated to John the Baptist and
John the Evangelist, "the head and mother of all churches."
And then he saw with fear that the proud building shook, the
tower swung, and the walls began to crack — soon must the
old basihca of Constantine be a heap of ruins. Paralyzed with
fright, with powerless hands, the Pope stood in his palace and
looked on, wanted to cry out but could not — and what good
would that have done? — wished to fold his hands in prayer
but could not — and even that might have been useless.
Then a man came over the Lateran piazza — a small, com-
mon-looking man, dressed in peasant garb, barefoot and with
a rope around his waist instead of a belt. And the poor little
man, looking neither to right nor left, went right across to
the falling church. Now he stood by one of the walls that
leaned over him, as if ready to fall and crush him in the next
minute. Wonderful to see, it seemed as if the little man
suddenly became as tall as the wall he stood by. See! now
he sets his shoulder in under the cornice of the wall, and with
a mighty push straightens the whole falling church, so that it
again stands up in perfect condition.
Involuntarily the Pope emitted a deep sigh of relief and loss
of tension. As if the little man had only waited for this, he
turned himself about with face directed towards the Lateran.
And Innocent saw that he who so wonderfully had rescued
the head and mother of all churches was no other than the
little, poor Brother Francis from Assisi.
When Francis the day after stepped before the Pope, it was
with a well-prepared tale.
"Lord Pope," said he, "I will tell you a story."
"Once there lived in a desolate place an extremely beautiful
but very poor woman. She saw the king of the country, and
she found favor in his eyes, and he asked her to marry him,
hoping to have born to him beautiful children. But when they
were married a long enough time, the woman had borne many
sons. And she began to meditate within herself and said:
'What shall I a poor woman do with all the children I have?
I have no inheritance from which they can live!' Then she
said to the sons: 'Fear not, for you are the sons of a king! Go
then to the court and he will give you all you want!' But as
94 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
they came to the king, he wondered at their beauty and saw
that they resembled him, and he said to them: 'Whose sons
are you?' But they answered that they were sons of the
poor woman in the desolate place. Then the king embraced
them with great joy, and said to them: 'Fear not, for you are
my sons. If I feed so many at my table, how much more
should I feed you who are my lawful sons!' And he sent a
messenger to the woman in the wilderness, that she should
send him all her children to the court, so that he could support
them!"i
After having ended this parable, Francis continued:
"Lord Pope, I am the poor woman in the wilderness. God
has in his mercy looked upon me and I have borne him sons in
Christ. And the King of kings has said to me that he will
take care of all my offspring, for if he gives the stranger food,
much more should he give it to the children of his house.
God gives worldly goods to sinners, on account of the love
they have for their children; how profusely will he not pour
all his gifts upon those who follow his gospel and to whom
therefore he owes that much?"
Thus Francis spoke, and Innocent understood that it was
not the world's wisdom but the spirit and power of God. He
broke out, turning to the Cardinals who sat there:
"Truly this is the pious and holy man by whom the Church
of God shall be restored! "
And he arose, embraced Francis, blessed him and the
Brothers and said to them: "Go with God, Brothers, and
announce salvation for all, as the Lord reveals it to you! And
when the Almighty has multiplied your numbers, then come
back to me, and you will find me willing to give you further
concessions and to charge you with a greater inheritance." ^
All the Brothers knelt before the Pope and promised him
obedience as their superior. Permission to preach was also
given to Francis, and only through him to the others. As a
conclusion to the audience the Brothers finally received the
^ Tres Socii, XII, 50. Anon. Perus., p. 590, n. 238, has a somewhat dififerent
version of the occurrence. Compare Cclano, Vita secwida, I, cap. XI.
* Celano, V. pr., I, cap. XIII. Julian, A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 590-591, n. 240.
Tres Socii, XII, 49.
FOUNDATIONS OF THE ORDER 95
clerkly tonsure, which was given them by Cardinal John and
which was the outer sign of the permission to preach the word.'
After a visit to the graves of the Apostles in St. Peter and
St, Paul, Francis and the Brothers left Rome. Their way
led them out over the Roman Campagna and past Soracte's
white summits. They hastened quickly from the place, eager
to be back in their accustomed surroundings once more to
pursue the life and do the things for which they had so for-
tunately obtained the Church's permission from the mouth
of the Vicar of Christ.
•Introduction to Regiila prima (Opusc, p. 24). Tres Socii, cap. XII, nn.
51-52. Bonav., Ill, 10. Anon. Perus., p. 590, n. 240.
In the work referred to before on scientific studies among the Franciscans,
Fr. Hilarin Felder remarks that the permission Francis obtained in 12 10 only
included the so-called moral preaching, but not dogmatic preaching (on faith,
the sacraments, etc.), for which theological knowledge was required (ditto,
p. 56).
CHAPTER III
RIVO TORTO
AFTER having wandered through the scorched
Roman Campagna in the burning heat of a summer
day, Francis and his companions approached the
Sabine Mountains. Here they stopped for a while
in the vicinity of the town of Ortis, in our day the junction
point for the two great railroad lines which go to Rome each
from its own side of the Apennines. They rested here for a
space of two weeks in one of the mountain valleys through
which the green-grey river Nera flows. The place was so
beautiful, says Thomas of Celano, that the Brothers were
near proving untrue to their newly sanctioned plan of life.
By begging from door to door in Ortis they obtained for them-
selves the necessary daily bread — sometimes they got so much
that they could lay aside some for the next day. Although
this was not in accord with Francis' designs, the place was so
desolate and empty that there was no one to whom they could
give for alms what was left over. An old Etruscan grave
served them as storechamber. And so great a power had
this isolated and soHtary Hfe in the midst of the mountains
and of nature's loneliness upon the Brethren, that they seri-
ously nourished the thought, if it were not better for the sal-
vation of their souls to remain here for ever, and to forget the
world and mankind in a severe ascetic Hfe.^
Those who have Uved among the Italian mountains will
find it easy to understand this temptation. There is some-
thing in the nature of the Italian mountains that invites to
the hermit life. For example, the limestone of which the
Sabine Mountains are composed suppHes natural caves and
places of retreat for hermits. For the simple man in Italy,
the two principal needs for his nourishment are bread and
1 Celano, V. pr., I, cap. XIV.
96
RIVOTORTO 97
wine, and if the hermit has no wine the springs are bubbling
and the brooks are flowing everywhere in the mountains.
There is a real Italian feeling of enjoyment and contentment
throughout the chapter in Fioretti, in which Francis and his
Brother Masseo eat the bread they have begged together "on
a fine big stone at the side of the clear spring, " and thank God
so devoutly for the happiness to be allowed to sit in the warm
sunshine under the blue sky and appease their thirst and their
hunger at Lady Poverty's table with simple healthy food. ..."
This is why Italy's stories of her saints are so full of tales of
hermits. St. Benedict of Nurcia himself began his career as
a hermit in his grotto at Subiaco, where for three years he
fasted and scourged himself, so that the herdsmen who dis-
covered him regarded him first as a wild beast. And again,
one hundred years after the time of St. Francis, Siena saw
three of her most prominent and learned young men, Bernardo
Tolomei and his two friends, withdraw to the cypress-grown
heights of Mt. OHveto and put on the white habit of the
Benedictine hermit, separating them from the world.
This temptation to a life in lonely penance and prayer now
drew near to Francis and his friends here in this isolated valley
among the Sabine Hills, where no voice was heard except those
of the birds and brooks. But the temptation was overcome.
Francis, says his first biographer, never depended on his own
insight, but asked in prayer for God's guidance in all things.
And so he now chose not to live for himself alone, for it was
made clear to him that he was sent out to save souls from the
devil and win them for God. Soon the well-known places in
the valley of Spoleto greeted Francis and his disciples, and
they re-established their dwelHng in the shed at Rivo Torto
and in the woods around the Portiuncula chapel.
Soon after their home-coming they had the happiness to
receive the priest of Assisi, Silvester, into their ranks. As
before related, Francis' liberality, that day in St. George's
churchyard, had made a deep impression on him, and he began
to form another opinion about the significance of our fife than
what he had hitherto entertained. It came to pass that one
night he saw in a dream a huge cross whose arms stretched
over the whole world, and that came out of the mouth of
8
98 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Brother Francis. This made him understand that the brother-
hood Francis had begun to establish was to spread over the
whole world of mankind and that its action was a divine one.
After some period of deliberation he decided himself to ask
to be received among the Brethren and thus became the first
priest in the order.^
Francis, ''emboldened by the power of the apostolic
authority," prosecuted the missionary activity he had begun
before the journey to Rome. His preaching in accord with
the permission given to him was directed to the moral and
social aspect of things — he preached conversion from evil
ways, a life of goodness, peace with God and with one's
neighbor. Presumably with the consent of Bishop Guido, the
cathedral church in Assisi was given to him for his sermons;
here he heralded the Christian ideal, without fear and without
regard to other issues, because he never, as his biographers
say, gave any advice to others which he had not first prac-
tised in his own person.^
For Francis the proverb did not hold, that the prophet is
without honor in his own country. That his exhortations were
not fruitless is witnessed by the large accessions his Order now
received — "many of the people, noble and common, clerks and
laymen, were seized by the spirit of God, cast aside all worldly
distractions and followed the track Francis had trod."^ Of
these new disciples the majority were from Assisi and its
vicinity.
But the preaching of Francis in San Rufino operated in a
much wider circle. Thomas of Celano compares its effects
to a star rising brightly over the horizon, and to the breaking of
dawn after a gloomy night. He compares it to a seed's break-
ing forth from the ground with the coming of the flowers and
spring. The whole aspect of the place was changed, he writes;
like a river, rich in goodness and fruitfulness, Francis streamed
through the place and transformed the gardens of the hearts
of men so that they blossomed forth in virtue.
It is probable that Brother Thomas, in this carefully worked-
^Tres Socii,IX, 31. Actus b. Francisci, I, 38-43- Bonav., Ill, 5.
2 Cel., V. pr., I, XV. Tres Socii, XIII, 54.
' Tres Socii. ditto. Compare Celano.
RIVOTORTO 99
out prose, alludes to an occurrence which really changed the
whole condition of Assisi, and which can undoubtedly be
ascribed to the sermons of St. Francis. I refer to the adjust-
ment between the upper and lower classes, majores and minores,
which was ratified in the great hall of the communal palace
in I2IO. We still possess the document which was drawn
up on this occasion, and which begins thus:
"In the name of God. Amen.
''The grace of the Holy Ghost be with you.
"For the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Virgin
Mary, Emperor Otto and Duke Leopold."
After his introduction a whole series of stipulations follows,
of which the most important is the agreement below:
"In all mutual agreements, no alliance shall be entered into,
neither with pope or his nuncios or legates, nor with the
emperor or king or their nuncios or legates, or with any state
or fortification or with any magnate; but they shall be united
in all things which are necessary for the welfare and progress
of the city of Assisi."
In this, the Magna Charta of Assisi, almost all the citizens
who hitherto had been bondsmen were released on payment
of a very small ransom, which could be validly paid to the
city authorities if their lords refused to accept it. Inhabitants
of the environs of Assisi received the same rights as the citizens
proper; the protection of strangers was provided for; the
compensation of ambassadors for going on embassies was
stipulated; finally, amnesty for the disturbances of 1202 was
pronounced, and the proper authorities were strictly charged
to carry out the work on the cathedral that had been under
way since 1140.^
When we think of how the Italian republics, both in the
thirteenth century and later, were rent by civil wars, then
we can realize how eloquently such a document speaks for the
peaceful growth and prosperity of Assisi. The biographers
also picture Francis to us as the pacifier in other Italian
states, such as Arezzo, Perugia, Siena.^ Even the celebrated
^ Cristofani, I, 123-130. Le Monnier, I, 165-167. Sabatier, 133-135.
''Arezzo: Bonav., VI, 9; Perugia: Celano, Vita secunda, II, 6; Siena:
Fiorelti, cap. XI.
lOO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Wolf of Gubbio is nothing without the tale, adorned in the
legend, about the treaty of peace between a little Italian
republic and one of those inhuman savage lords of a castle,
who, like Knight Werner of Urslingen, could bear a shield
on the breast with the inscription, "Enemy of God, of Pity
and of Mercy." ^ An historical companion-piece to Francis
and the Wolf of Gubbio is given by Anthony of Padua face to
face with the tyrant Ezzelin.^
This aspect of Francis' activity is pictured in the legends
as the expulsion of devils. In Giotto's pictures in the upper
church in Assisi we see the demons flying in all sorts of horrible
forms up the chimneys of Arezzo, while Francis' hand is
lifted in blessing over the city. We, children of the twenti-
eth century, have lost the power of representing the evil
spirits in bodily form, as the artist and tellers of legends did
in the Middle Ages. But can we say that their presence is
less certain or their disagreeable propinquity in many fateful
moments less real? Are there no times and places when the
great power of darkness is felt, not only in but around one —
where it is as if a real incorporeal voice whispered in the ear,
when one is led off into the flames of hell hand in hand —
when there is a low, penetrating voice that goes through one :
"See that! Go there!" Ah, there are not only many places,
but also many houses, where the need is real that one of God's
friends should appear upon the threshold, and with mighty
voice give the command: "In the name of the Almighty God
and of his servant St. Francis I command you evil spirits to
depart!"'
It was at this time that one day the Rules of the Order were
being read aloud in the presence of Francis, and that the
reader came to the part of the seventh chapter where is the
expression: et sint minores, "and they shall be inferiors."
The thought of a name for the Brotherhood had long occupied
' Fiorctli, cap. XXI. Compare the legend of "Brother Wolf" on Mt. Alvema
in Arthur's M artyrlogium Frandscanum for July 3 and in Wadding (121 5,
n. 16). See Translator's note, p. 410.
* Lempp: "A. v. P." in Zlschr.f. Kgsch. (Gotha), vol. XIII, p. 22, n. 3.
'ante portam civitatis coepit clamare valenter: "Ex parte omnipotcntis
Dei et jussu servi ejus Francisci, procul hinc discedite, daemones universi."
Bonav., VI, 9.
RIVO TORTO TCi
Francis: the term "Penitents from Assisi," viri poenitentes
de Assisio, was only an expedient to repress the curious. On
hearing this placed in the Rules, the word Minores impressed
him greatly — " Little people. Little Brothers, that name
suits me and mine well!" Ordo Jratrum minorum, "the
Order of the Smaller Brothers," it became.
Thomas of Celano, in his first biography of St. Francis, has
given a sketch of the life of the Brothers in the shed at Rivo
Torto, which, in the bright harmony of clear colors on a sort
of ground of gold, remind one of Fra Angelico's altar-pieces.
When they returned from their work at evening time (he
writes) and were again together, or when they in the course
of the day met on the road, love and joy shone out of the
eyes, and they greeted each other with chaste embraces,
holy kisses, cheerful words, modest smiles, friendly glances
and equable minds. Because they had given up all self-love,
they thought only of helping each other; with longing they
hurried home, with joy they abided there; but separation was
bitter, and leaving was sad. Dissension was unknown among
them; there was no malice, no envy, no misunderstanding,
no bitterness, but all was unity, peace, thankfulness and
songs of praise. Seldom or never did they cease from praising
God and praying to and thanking him for the good they had
done, sighing and grieving for what they had done badly or
had failed in. They felt that they were deserted by God
when their hearts were not penetrated by the sweetness
of the Spirit. So as not to fall asleep in their nightly
prayers they wore belts, studded with iron points, whose
pricking prevented them from sleeping. Filled with the
Holy Ghost they not only prayed from the Breviary like
the Catholic priests, but at intervals sang out with sup-
pliant voice and spiritual melody. Our Father who art in
heaven}
The central point in all this brotherly intercourse was
Francis. From him none of the Brothers kept anything
hidden, but revealed the most secret thoughts and feehngs
of their hearts to him. They obeyed him, and with so loving
» Celano, V. pr., I, XV. Spec, per/., cap. XXVI.
* Celano, V. pr.., I, XV-XVIII.
102 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
an obedience that not only did each one fulfil his behest but
also tried to read his wish in his slightest expression.
The power Francis exercised rested first and foremost on
his personality. He was the Brothers' teacher, not only in
word but also in action. When he warned them against
enjo>Tnent in eating, and even said that it was not possible
to eat to satiety without danger of bearing the yoke of luxury,
they understood his warning better when they saw him
strew ashes on his own food or pour cold water on it to take
away its savor. When he told them to fight heroically against
all temptations, it was he who gave them an example by jump-
ing in winter into the ice-cold river to put to flight a tempta-
tion of the flesh.
Every one who has had the happiness in his youth to have
lived near a highly exalted personality will therefore under-
stand that a young Brother named Ricerius had acquired the
conviction that the good-will of Francis was an infaUible sign
of the satisfaction of God. But now it came to pass with him,
the last to have come into the Order, that, while Francis
showed himself friendly and loving to the others, he seemed
to make an exception in his case only. When Brother Ricer-
ius had once come by this warped imagining, naturally every
occasion served only to implant it deeper within him. If
he came out as Francis was going in, he would think Francis
did so to avoid being with him. If Francis stood and talked
with others, and they happened to look in the direction of
Brother Ricerius, then he would think that they must be
complaining at having taken him into the Order and were
determining to ask him to take his leave again. Thus did
this young Brother misjudge all and was almost desperate,
certain that he was avoided and repelled by Francis and
consequently by God.
The sight of Brother Ricerius' pained face and imploring,
longing eyes seems, like a revelation, to have betrayed to
Francis the poor youth's tribulations. One day, therefore, he
had the young Brother summoned and said to him: "My
dear son, let no evil thought disturb thee or tempt thee! Thou
art my own dear child, and one of those I think the most of,
and as deserving of my love as of my confidence. Come then
RIVO TORTO 103
and speak with me when you will, and whenever anything
weighs upon thee, thou art always thoroughly welcome!"
Overcome, out of his senses with joy, with heart happily
beating and eyes streaming with tears, the young Brother
left the master and knew of nothing until he in a lonely place
out in the woods fell down on his knees and thanked God for
his happiness.^
Two^other stories that are associated with Rivo Torto tell
of the same refined, loving understanding of the special trouble
of each individual Brother.
One night — thus it told in Speculum perfectionis — one
of the Brothers woke from sleep with loud cries and shouted:
"Oh, I am dying, I am dying!" All the others woke, and
Francis said: "Let us get up, my Brothers, and light the
lamp!" As soon as the light was lighted, he asked: "Who
was that who cried out, 'I am dying'?" One of the Brothers
answered: "It was I!" And Francis asked further, "What
ails thee, my Brother, to make you die?" And he answered,
"I am dying of hunger!"
Now this was in the early days of the Brotherhood, and they
mortified and scourged their bodies beyond measure. There-
fore Francis had the table at once spread and sat at the table
with the starving Brother, lest he should be ashamed to eat
alone, and he invited the rest of the Brothers to take seats
at the table. And after they had eaten, Francis said to them :
"My dear sons, I truly say to you that every one must
study his own nature. Some of you can sustain Ufe with
less food than others can, and therefore I desire that he
who needs more nourishment shall not be obliged to equal
others, but that every one shall give his body what it needs
for being an efficient servant of the soul. For as we are obliged
to be on our guard against superfluous food which injures body
and soul alike, thus we must be on the watch against immoder-
ate fasting, and this the more, because the Lord wants con-
version and not victims." ^
1 Celano, V. pr., I, XVIII. Fioretti, ca.p. XXVII. Actus b.Francisci, cap.
XXXVII. — Brother Ricerius is author of a little work, which by many is
placed as high as Thomas å Kempis' "Following of Christ": Qualiler anima
possil cilo pervenire ad cognitionem verilatis.
^ Spec, perj., cap. XXVII. Celano, Vila secunda, I, cap. XV.
I04 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
A trait of the same kind is told of, when Francis rose early
one morning and took a sick Brother, whom he thought it
would benefit to eat grapes fasting, along with him into a
vineyard, and there sat by his side and gave him grapes to eat
in company with himself, lest the Brother should be ashamed
of eating alone. It can be understood that, as the Speculum
tells us, the Brother, as long as he hved, never forgot this atten-
tion of Francis', and that he never could tell the other Brothers
this reminiscence of his youth without tears in his eyes.^
The residence at Rivo Torto came to an end in a manner as
abrupt as drastic. One day, as the Brothers were in the shed,
praying quietly each in his place, a peasant suddenly appeared
with his ass, which without more ado he drove in, calling
out in a loud voice: " Go in, long ears, here we can surely be
comfortable." These words, which seemed to be more intended
for the Brothers than for the ass, showed that it was his
intention to at once change the house of prayer into an asses'
stable. After a few minutes' contemplation of the man's
untroubled demeanor, Francis broke forth:
"I know. Brothers, that God has not called us to keep a
hotel for asses, but to pray and show men the way of salva-
tion!" ^
All then arose and left Rivo Torto for ever. From now on,
Portiuncula was the central point of the Franciscan movement
and soon put the first modest abode completely in the shade.
And yet it was there that Francis and the mistress of his
heart, the noble Lady Poverty, had spent their first and
perhaps happiest days.
^ Spec, perf., cap. XXVIII. Celano, Vita secunda, III, no. According to
Wadding (1210, n. 50), this disciple was Silvester.
2 Trcs Socii, XIII, 55. Cel., V. pr., 1, XVI.
CHAPTER IV
PORTIUNCULA AND THE EARLY DISCIPLES^
THE small and ancient chapel of Portiuncula, as it
exists to-day, is a long room, with a pointed arched
ceiling and a semi-circular apse, a gable roof, a simple
arched door in the facade, and another in one of the
side-walls. According to a tradition that for the first time is
given in Salvator Vi talis' Paradisus Seraphicus (Milan, 1645),
the chapel was built by five hennits during the pontificate of
Pope Liberius in the fourth century, who were returning home
from the Holy Land with a relic of Mary's grave, which was
given to them by St. Cyril. In any case there is found over the
altar a picture of great age, which represents the assumption
of the Blessed Virgin into Heaven; the many angels who float
around Mary in the picture gave the popular name to the
chapel of "Our Lady of the Angels." The designation Porti-
uncula — "little portion of earth" — dates from the Bene-
dictines on Monte Subaslo, to whom the chapel had belonged
ever since 576. In 1075 the building was in such a ruinous
condition that the monks abandoned it and withdrew to the
mother-house upon the mountain. According to the legend,
Pica had prayed in the deserted chapel, and here received the
knowledge that she should have a son who would eventually
rebuild the fallen house of God. After the putting of it in
order, Francis and his Brothers usually kept themselves in
the forest which surrounded the church, and it was a great
joy to them when the abbey on Monte Subasio, which now
belonged to the Camaldolites, gave the Brethren the privilege
of using Portiuncula for ever. For Francis was unwilling to
take possession of the chapel in fee simple, and strictly kept up
the custom of sending every year a basket of fish to the monks
as payment of rent.^
^Thode, as before referred to, 302-304. Wadding: 4 wwa/e^, 12 10, nn. 27 and 30.
105
Io6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
At the side of the chapel Francis and his Brothers built
a hut of interwoven boughs, plastered over with mud and
thatched with leaves. Sacks of straw served for beds, the
naked earth was both table and chair, and the hedge served
for convent walls. ^ This was the first Franciscan liwgo —
"place" — established, which according to Francis' expressed
wish was to be a model for all the others. When the Francis-
can Order began later to depart from his ideals, one of the
signs of this departure was that the designation luogo, locus,
was changed for the more stately convento, whence the
less severe branch of the order took a name (Conventuals).
It was a new brotherhood, the "Poor of Christ," the Jesuati,
founded by St. John Colombini of Siena, w'ho assumed the
old Franciscan designation.^
Besides the original flock of disciples, there wasnow gathered
here in Portiuncula a circle of new Brothers who could prop-
erly be called the new generation of Franciscans. By the
side of Bernard, Giles, Angelo and Silvester, tradition and
legend, from now on, placed a second series of names: Rufino,
Masseo, Juniper, Leo. Yes, this younger set is near surpassing
the others and casting the older ones a little into the shade.
It seems as if many of the older ones had a certain inclination
to isolate themselves, and set more of a price on solitude than
on community life. Thus Silvester longed to keep himself
in the caves of Carceri and there give himself up to prayer and
meditation. Bernard was so wrapt up in God, when he was
in the woods, that he did not even hear Brother Francis calling
^ Spec, per/., capp. V, VII, X.
^ Three epochs can be distinguished in the history of the Franciscan con-
vents. First the Brothers hvcd where they worked, especially in hospitals.
Then they had their own loci, such as Portiuncula, !Monte Ripido near Perugia,
Alberino near Siena, La Forestå, Greccio and Poggio Bustone in the valley of
Ricti, le Pugliole near Bologna. Coincident with these hermitages were estab-
lished the more lonely places to which the Brothers sometimes withdrew them-
selves (eremi, rcliri); this character was to be seen in Carceri near Assisi,
Cerbajolo in Casentino, Celle near Cortona, Monteluco near Spoleto, Monte
Casale near Borgo San Sepoloro, S. Urbano near Marni, Fonte Colombo in the
valley of Rieti. Such was the condition of things, for instance, when Jacques
dc Vitry visited Italy. Finally, city convents were erected: 1235, in Bologna,
1236, in Sienna, and in Viterbo, Florence, Cortona, etc. (Spec, per/., ed. Sabatier,
p. 25, n. i). For the Jesuati's luoghi, see Feo Belcari: Viiad'alcutiiGiesuati,
cap. I (ed. Dragonedelli, 1659, ed. Gigli, 1843).
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES 107
to him. At other times "he wandered sometimes twenty,
sometimes thirty days at a time alone, on the highest mountain
summits, and saw the things which are on high." ^ Giles
led a life of extensive travelling, was now in the Holy Land,
now in Spain, now in Rome, now in Bari at the shrine of St.
Nicholas.
Yet we will do wrong if we follow the legends and forget
the works of early days on account of the newer members.
This before all apphed to Brother Giles, whom Francis called
by the title, "the Knight of the Round Table," and in
whom all of the original Franciscan spirit was vivified and
stayed alive to the last. Until his death, which happened in
the year 1262 on the festival of St. George, the anniversary of
his reception into the Order, Giles continued to be God's good
knight and a true St. George of the noble Lady Poverty. His
life is especially a witness to the love of labor of the early
Franciscans. His biography as it is written by his younger
friend, Brother Leo, is full of such traits.
On his way to the Holy Land he came to Brindisi, and as
there was no chance of embarking there at once, he had to
stay several days in the city. Here he begged an old cart,
filled it with water and dragged it through the city streets,
calling out like the water-carriers: ''Chi vuole delV aqua}
Who wants water?" As pay for water he took bread and
such other things as were needed by him and his companions.
On the return from the same pilgrimage he was put ashore at
Ancona. Here too he found emplo>Tnent ; he went out and
cut osiers for baskets and rushes for covering bottles, he
plaited them and sold them, not for money but for bread.
He also carried bodies to the grave and earned thereby, not
only a garment for himself, but also for the Brethren who
accompanied him; such deeds he wished to pray for him
while he slept.
Apparently it was during this stay in Ancona that a priest
who saw him coming home to the town with a bundle of rushes
uttered the word "hypocrite" as Giles passed him by. On
hearing this, Giles was so cast down that he could not keep
back the tears, and when the Brother who accompanied him
1 Fioretti, capp. XVI, III, XXVIII.
I08 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
asked him the reason of his distress, he answered, "Because
I am a hypocrite, as a priest to-day said to me." " And does
that make you believe that you are one?" asked the Brother.
"Yes," answered Giles, "a priest cannot he!" Then his
companion had to teach him that there is a difference between
priests as between men, and that, Hke a man, a priest can
very Hkely do wrong, and thus comforted the unhappy Brother
Giles.
During his visit in Rome Giles had arranged it so that he
heard mass early in the morning, and then went out to a forest
at some distance from the city. Here he gathered a bundle
of wood which he carried back to Rome and sold for bread and
other necessities. Once a lady wanted to give him more for the
wood than he had asked, as she saw that it was a religious who
was before her. But Giles now would not take more than
half the former price. " I will not yield to avarice," he declared.
At the time of the wine harvest he helped pluck grapes, in
the olive harvest he gathered olives. He often gleaned corn
in the fields like other paupers, but gave most of it away,
saying that he had no granary to keep it in. From San Sisto's
fountain outside of Rome he brought water to the monks in
the convent of SS. Quattro Coronati, and also helped the
convent cook in mixing bread and grinding flour. Altogether
he took part in all kinds of work by which he could support
himself; he only had one invariable requirement, the time
necessary to read his Breviary and for meditation.
In the midst of this life of ceaseless industry he was infused
with the deep Franciscan goodness. Once he cut the hood
off of his cloak, while on his way to San Jago di Compostella,
and gave it to a poor person who had asked for alms; he went
about for the next twenty days without any hood. As he
went through Lombardy, a man beckoned to him. Giles
thought that he wanted to give him something, and approached
him, but with a grin the man stuck a pair of dice into his
hand. "God forgive you, my son!" said Giles, and went his
way. When carrying water to the monks in Santi Quattro
Coronati, he was addressed by a wanderer on the Appian
Way, who wanted a drink from his jar. Giles refused it,
whereupon the man made an outcry in his wrath. Giles
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES I09
made no response, but as soon as he had reached the convent
he got another jar, filled it, overtook the man and asked him
to drink, saying, *'Do not be angry with me, but I did not
Hke to take the monks water that another had tasted of!"
Even when a guest with such noble people as the Bishop of
Tusculum, Cardinal Nicholas, he went out and earned his
bread, which he afterwards ate at the Cardinal's table. One
day it rained in torrents and the Cardinal was rejoicing that
Brother Giles for once would have to eat of his food. Mean-
while Giles went to the kitchen, found that it was dirty, and
offered the cook to clean it for a price of two loaves. The
offer was accepted, and the Cardinal was disappointed in his
hopes. As it rained the next day also, Giles earned his two
loaves by polishing all the knives in the house.
Under the title of "Brother Giles's Wisdom," there are
collected a quantity of maxims and sayings, apparently mostly
from his later years. Thus it is told that two cardinals once
had paid him a visit and on leaving had politely recommended
themselves to his prayers. "It is surely not necessary that
I should pray for you, my lords," was his answer, "for it is
evident that you have more faith and hope than I have!"
"How is that?" asked the two princes of the church, aston-
ished and perhaps a little anxiously, for Brother Giles was
known for his wit. "Because you who have so much of power
and honor and the glory of this world hope to be saved, and
I who live so poorly and wretchedly fear in spite of all that
I will be damned!"
Until his death Brother Giles lived true to the Franciscan
ideals — poverty, chastity, cheerfulness. A sonnet which he
composed in honor of chastity is preserved for us, as well as
some fragments of other verse. In his little convent garden
at Perugia he hstened to the cooing doves, and spoke to them.
And on beautiful siunmer mornings he would be seen wander-
ing up and down among his flower-beds, singing the praises
of God, and playing as if on a violin, with two sticks, one of
which he scraped upon the other. ^
^ "pigliando il bastoncello comincio a fare con esso a modo di viola, e di qua
e di cola per I'orto discorrendo a modo di sonatore di citara cantava." Fee
Belcari: Vita dijrate Egidio, cap. XXV. {Prose, ed. Gigli, vol. 2, Roma, 1843.)
no SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
If the older Brothers lived thus much by themselves, we
find the newer generation of Franciscans almost always in the
company of Francis. Especially was Massco of Marignano,
near Assisi, the master's companion on many important
journeys. While Francis w^as "a very insignificant man and
of small size and therefore was taken for a poor being by
those who did not know him," on the other hand Masseo was
"large and fine-looking and had the gift of eloquence and
could speak wdth people." When the two went together
begging, Francis got "nothing but a few bits and remains of
bread, and that dry," but Masseo "got good big pieces, and
bread enough and whole loaves." Just the same the tall,
fine-looking, eloquent Masseo offered his services up in Car-
ceri, "to look after the door, to receive alms and to go into the
kitchen" so that he alone would bear the whole burden of
the house, while the other Brothers could give themselves
undisturbedly to prayer and meditation. And once when he
was walking with Francis and came to a cross-way where one
could go to Florence, to Siena or to Arezzo, and Brother
Masseo asked, "Father, which way shall we take?" Francis
answered him, "The way God wishes." But Brother Masseo
asked further, "How shall we know God's will?" And
Francis answered: ''That I will now show you. In the name
of holy obedience I order you to start turning round and
round in the road here, as the children do, and not to stop
until I tell you to." Then Brother Masseo began to whirl
round, and round as children do, and he became so giddy that
he often fell down; but as Francis said nothing to him, he got
up again and continued. At last as he was turning round
He had learned this way of playing from his master, Francis. See Spec. Perf.,
cap. XCIII.and Cel., V.sec, III, 67. Compare also Anal. Franc, III, p. loi.
The Sonnet to Chastity reads thus:
O santa castitate! Quanta e la tua bontate!
Veramente tu se' preziosa, e tale
E tanto soave il tuo ardore
Che chi non ti assaggia, non sa quanto vale.
Impcro li stolti non conoscono il tuo valore.
See: A. SS., Apr. Ill, pp. 220 et seq.; Anal. Franc, III, pp. 74 et seq.:
Celano, Vita prima, I, cap. XVII; Bernard of Bessa: De laudibiis (in Anal.
Franc, III), p. 671; Dor. Antiq. Franc, (ed. Lemmens), I (Quaracchi, 1901), pp.
37 etseq.; Vila dijr ate Egidio and Dottrina difrate Egidio in appendix to Fiorctti.
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES III
with great vigor, Francis said, "Stop and do not move!"
And he stood still, and Francis asked him, "How is your
face turned?" Brother Masseo answered, "Towards
Siena!" Then said Francis, "It is God's will that we
shall go to Siena to-day."
Francis exercised the tall impressive Brother Masseo with
other such humiliations until he felt humble and small. And
Masseo at last became so deep in humility that he regarded
himself as a great sinner and very deserving of hell, although
he daily waxed strong in all virtues. And this humility
filled him with such an inward light that he was always full
of joy. And often when he prayed he would give out a cry
of joy, a monotone like the cooing of a dove, and with cheer-
ful face and joyful heart he lived in the sight of God and yet
regarded himself as the most insignificant of men. But it
came to pass in his old age that young Brother Jacob of
Fallerone asked him why he did not make a change in his
way of rejoicing and make a new verse. Then he answered
with great delight: "Because he who has all his happiness
in only one thing should not sing but the one verse." ^
Brother Rufino of Assisi among the younger disciples
reminds us of Bernard of Quintavalle among the older ones.
Like him he was of noble family — he belonged to the noble
race, Scifi or Scefi. And like Bernard he had an inclination to be
a hermit — an inclination which was so strong that finally he,
on a single opportunity offering itself, was near leaving Francis,
whose practical Christianity appealed to him less than a life
in ascetic solitude, like that of the old hermits of the desert.
He was often seen sunk in prayer and meditation, so that he
could scarcely be roused out of it, and when he at last was
awakened, there was no connection in what he said.^
On the other hand, Brother Juniper or Ginepro was entirely
of Francis' spirit. Of him Francis said jokingly, "I wish we
had a whole grove of such juniper trees!" It was he who one
^ Actus b. Francisci (ed. Sabatier), cap. XI, cap. XII, cap. XIII, cap. XLI.
Chron. XXIV gen. in Anal. Franc, III, pp. 115-158. Fioretti, capp. XI, XII,
XIII, XXXII.
^"Unde semel vocatus a sociis ut iret pro pane . . . respondit: Frater a
te into mo molto voloiitire." Actus, cap. XXXIII. Compare Fioretti, capp.
XXIX-XXXI; Chron. XXIV gen., pp. 46 et seq. Rufino died, 1270, in Assisi.
112 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
day, when one of the Brothers who lay sick in Portiuncula
convent expressed a desire for boiled pig's feet, sprang into
the woods and cut off a foot from one of the swine which went
there after mast, and served it to the sick Brother. After
him came the peasant to whom the pig belonged, and com-
plained to Francis, whose suspicion fell upon Brother Juniper.
He was called, and answered freely about his action. "For,"
said he, " our Brother got so much good out of the foot of this
pig that I would have no remorse if I had cut the feet off
of a hundred swine!" With much difficulty Francis brought
Brother Juniper to suspect the least wrong in such a wilful
trespass upon a neighbor's goods. "Very well," said he at
last, "I see that the man is angry with us, but now I will try
to find him and pacify him." And he ran the best he could
and found the peasant and told him the whole story — how
the Brother who was sick wanted a cooked pig's foot, that
pigs are made for man's use, for his nourishment and food,
that everything belonged equally to all men, because no one
can make so much as one little pig, but God alone can do it,
and that therefore he had taken the one pig's foot because
the sick man had wanted it so badly.
All this Brother Juniper told, very explicitly and with
satisfaction, to the angry peasant, being now sure that all was
understood and that he would be understood and that the
amputation of the pig's foot would be forgiven. But it turned
out otherwise, for the man began to abuse Brother Juniper,
calling him an evil-doer, a loafer, a thief and robber, a simple-
ton and a fool. "Why, he cannot have understood me," thinks
Brother Juniper, and begins anew his story, still more impres-
sively than before. Then when he came to the end he fell
on the neck of the peasant and cried out, "See, I did this for
my poor sick Brother, that he might get well again, and you
have helped me, so you must cease being troubled or angry,
but let us together rejoice and thank the good God who gives
us the fruits of the earth and the flocks of the field and the
wild beasts of the woods, and who wants us all to be his
children and to help one another like good brothers and sisters.
Am I not right, my dear, good brother?" And thereupon
Brother Juniper embraced the peasant and pressed him to
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES II3
his heart and kissed him, and the peasant thought over it,
begged for forgiveness from God and from the Brothers with
bitter tears for his hardness, and went away and caught a
pig and slaughtered it, cooked it and brought it himself to the
convent at Portiuncula as a gift to the Brethren.
The same Brother Juniper was once in a httle convent, and
the time came for the other Brothers to leave it to go each
to his work. As they went off, the guardian Brother gave
instructions to Brother Juniper and said to him, "Take good
care of the house while we are away, and cook a little food
before we return." "Depend upon me," answered Brother
Juniper, and the others went on.
When he was alone he began to reflect over what he had
been told, and said to himself as he went on chopping wood
and gathering some twigs to make the fire with: "Is it not
really unreasonable that a Brother should thus be in the
kitchen every day and use up his time there without being
able to pray a little bit? I shall certainly see to it, so that
to-day there shall be prepared so much food, that even if the
Brothers were many more they would have enough to eat
for the next two weeks!" Having reached this determina-
tion Brother Juniper went to the neighboring city, and pur-
chased there a lot of clay pots, together with meat, game, eggs
and a quantity of vegetables. He Ht a big wood fire, filled
the pots with water and put all the food into them, chickens
with the game, all unplucked, the vegetables without washing,
and the rest in the same style.
The Brothers came home as Brother Juniper was in full
blast with his cooking. A huge fire w^as roaring away, and
Brother Juniper jumped from one pot to the other so that it
was a joy to see him, and stirred them with a long stick, because
the fire was so hot that he could not get near the pots. At
last he rang the dinner bell, and red with his exertions and the
heat of the fire, he carried in his dishes of food and set them
down before the assembled Brethren, saying: "Eat now, and
then we will go to our prayers! I have cooked so much food
to-day that there is enough to last us for the next two weeks!"
Meanwhile, none of the Brethren touched the food which
Brother Juniper vainly with great eloquence oft'ered them as a
9
114 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
great feast. But as it dawned upon Brother Juniper what
he had done he cast himself at their feet, kneeling and strik-
ing his breast, and blamed himself for having spoiled so much
good food.
It was not always pure na'iveté that was at the bottom of
such actions. Sometimes Brother Juniper wished in this
burlesque manner to give others of the Brethren a lesson
which might be needed as they departed from the spirit of
the Order. Possibly, the Brothers to whom he served the wild
lobscouse had shown too great interest and had spent too
much time in the cooking department. A reprimand of the
best kind was given by Brother Juniper when, in the middle
of the night, he served porridge with a big lump of butter in
the middle to his superior, who had reproved him the preced-
ing afternoon for his too great generosity in giving alms.
"Father," said Brother Juniper as he stood before his door
with the plate of porridge in one hand and a lighted candle
in the other, "to-day when you reprimanded me for my fault
I noticed that you were very hot from pure excitement. Now
I have prepared this porridge for you and beg you to eat it;
it is good for the throat and chest!" The superior, who under-
stood the meaning of this untimely attention, harshly told
Brother Juniper to go away with his foolish tricks. "Well,"
said he, "the porridge is cooked and has to be eaten, so you
hold the light while I do the eating!" The other was enough
of a Franciscan to answer this boldness by sitting down at
the table with Brother Juniper and sharing the porridge with
him.
Such actions resulted in making Brother Juniper famous,
and people used to collect together when he was coming, to
see him. It so happened that he was once sent to Rome,
and several prominent persons — of the same type of the
ladies rustling in silks and smelling of perfume, who in our
days are seen lorgnetting the martyrs' graves in the cata-
combs — presented themselves at his door for the purpose
of meeting him. Brother Juniper had been told about it and
prepared at once to play a trick on their curiosity masquer-
ading as piety. In a field by the roadside a couple of boys
were playing seesaw, having placed a plank across a support,
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES I15
each sitting on his own end of the plank and going up and
down alternately. So Brother Juniper took the place of
one of the boys, and when the noble company came along,
they were much surprised to find the man of God busily
engaged in seesawing. None the less they greeted him with
great deference and next waited for him to stop his play and
come out to them. But Brother Juniper troubled himself
little about their greeting and waiting; on the contrary, he
gave the more energy to his seesawing. And after the
strangers had waited thus a reasonable time, and Brother
Juniper kept on seesawing, they went away irritated, as they
mutually agreed that the so-called holy Brother was an
entirely common peasant and lout, void of all culture. Then
only did Brother Juniper leave his seesawing, and went on to
Rome in peace and alone.
Like Brother Leo and Brother Angelo Tancredi of Rieti,
Brother Juniper belonged to the small select circle who,
after the master's death, associated themselves with St.
Clara. Brother Juniper was present with the other two at
the death-bed of St. Clara. "What is the news from God?"
she asked cheerfully, as this loyal disciple of Francis showed
himself at her bedside, and he sat down by her and spoke
"flaming sparks of words." ^
A chip of the same block as Brother Juniper was that
Brother John, who bore the surname "the simple," whose
calling to enter the order is told in the following recital :
"When the Brethren were living at Portiuncula and were
now many in number, St. Francis went around to the towns
and churches in the vicinity of Assisi, and preached to the
people, that they should be converted, and he had a broom
with him to clean the churches of dirt, for it made St. Francis
very unhappy when he saw that a church was not as clean
^ "Inter quos dum apparet frater Juniperus, egregius Domini jaculator"
(undouhtedly jocidat or, compare Spec, per/., cap. 100) "... nova hilaritate
perfusa quaerit, si aliquid novi de Domino habet ad manum. Qui aperiens os
suum, de fornace fervidi cordis flammantes verborum scintillas emittit." (Vita
S. Clarae, Acta SS., Aug. II, cap. VI, n. 51.) See also Vila di frate Ginepro
in the appendix to Fioretti with the extract from Chronica XXIV gen. {Analecta
Franciscana, III, pp. 54 et seq.). Brother Juniper died 1258; according to Wad-
ding he entered the order in 1210. (Wadding, Annates, 1210, n. 36, 1258, n. 10.)
Il6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
as he wished. And therefore he sometimes stopped in his
preaching and gathered the priests around him in some re-
tired place so that no one else should hear, and preached on
the salvation of souls and especially on keeping the churches
and altars clean and all that had to do with the celebration
of the holy mysteries.
"And one day he came to a village in the environs of Assisi
and started in all humihty to sweep and clean it. But the
rumor of who was there ran through the whole place, and a
peasant who was ploughing his field also heard of it and
came at once and found him busy sweeping the church. But
the peasant, whose name was John, said to him, 'Brother,
give me the broom and let me help you!' And he took the
broom out of his hand and swept vigorously. Then they sat
down together and he said to St. Francis: 'Brother, for a
long time I have had a desire to serve God, and especially
after I heard of thee and thy Brethren, but I never knew how
I could meet thee. It has now pleased God to bring us to-
gether, so I will do all thou wishest.'
"When St. Francis perceived so great a zeal he rejoiced in
the Lord, especially because at this time he had only a few
Brothers, and it seemed to him that this simple and upright
man could become a good Brother. Therefore he said to
him: 'Brother, if you have it in your mind to live like us, you
must free yourself of all the possessions you can dispose of,
and you must give them to the poor after the counsels of the
gospel, for thus have all my Brothers done each in his own
way.'
"When he had heard this he turned back to the field where
he had left the oxen standing in the plough, unyoked them,
and brought one of them back to St. Francis. 'Brother,'
said he to him, 'it is now many years that I have served my
father and all in the house; I intend, therefore, as my portion
by inheritance, to take this ox and give it to the poor, in the
way that shall seem best to you.'
"But when his parents and his sisters, who were all younger
than he, heard that he was going to leave them, they began
to cry so strongly and so long that St. Francis was moved to
pity, because they were many and could do nothing. There-
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES II7
fore he said to them: 'This your son wants to serve God,
and that should not displease you in him, but you should rather
rejoice over it. But so that you in the meanwhile shall not
be without comfort, I will have him give you this ox, just as
he would have given it to the other poor, as the gospel teaches
us.' Then they were all comforted with the words St. Fran-
cis said, and still more that they had got the ox back. . . .
"But Brother John was clothed in the habit of the Order,
and so great was his simphcity that he thought he was obliged
to do all that St. Francis did. When therefore St. Francis
was in a church or other place to pray, he watched him closely
so as to follow all his ways and movements. And when St.
Francis bent the knee or lifted his hands to heaven, or spit,
or sighed, then he did exactly the same. But as St. Francis
became aware of this, he scolded him very cheerfully about it.
Then Brother John answered, 'Brother, I have promised to
do all that you do, and therefore it is fit that I copy you in
all things.' "1
Francis' special confidant and best friend among the younger
ones, yes, among all the disciples at this time, was Brother
Leo of Assisi, who filled the office of his amanuensis and
secretary. Francis called him, perhaps with a wilful opposi-
tion to his name Leone (lion) , frate pecorella di Dio, "Brother
little lamb of God."
It was together with him that Francis — according to the
Fioretti — was once in a place where they had no Breviary
to pray out of. So as to spend the time in praising God,
Francis proposed the following part-prayer: "I shall first
say, * Brother Francis, you have done so much ill and com-
mitted so many sins here in the world, that you are worthy
to go to hell. And to this you must answer: 'Yes, it is true
that you deserve the deepest hell.'"
And blithe as a dove Brother Leo answered: "Wilhngly,
Father. Let us begin in the name of God!"
Then Francis began to say, "0 Brother Francis, thou hast
i5/>ec. ^er/., capp. LVI-LVII. Celano, Vita secunda, III, 120. The village
where Francis met the simple Brother John is called Nottiano, and is about
three hours east of Assisi; the tale still lives in the mouths of the people as it
is told here. Not far off, near a place called Le Coste, is seen a cave in which
Francis is supposed to have dwelt. {Le Specchio di perj., Assisi, 1899, p. 121.)
Il8 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
done so much evil and committed so many sins here in the
world that thou art worthy to go to hell." And Brother
Leo answered, "God will do so much good through thee that
thou shalt come into paradise." Then Francis answered:
"Do not say that, Brother Leo, but when I now say, ' Brother
Francis, thou hast done so much wrong before God that thou
art worthy to be damned!' then answer thus: 'Thou art
certainly worthy to come among the damned!'"
And Brother Leo answered, "Willingly, Father!"
Then Francis began to sigh and groan and beat his breast,
and said in a loud voice, "O Lord, God of heaven and earth,
I have committed such wrong against thee and so many sins
that I am worthy to be damned by thee." And Brother
Leo answered, "O Brother Francis, God will do such things
with thee that thou shalt be happy before all the Blest."
But Francis wondered why Brother Leo was so set in not
answering as he had been told to, and he scolded him for
it, saying: "Why dost thou not answer as I told thee to? In
the name of holy obedience I order thee to answer as I
now will teach thee. Thus I say: ' O thou bad Francis, dost
thou think that God will have pity on thee, that hast
committed so many sins against the Father of mercy and
God of comfort, that thou in no way art worthy to find
mercy?' And thou Brother Leo, God's Httle lamb, answer:
' Thou art in no way worthy to find mercy! ' " But as Francis
said after this, " O thou bad Francis," etc.. Brother Leo
answered him, "The Father God, whose mercy is infinitely
greater than thy transgressions, will show thee great mercy
and will moreover manifest to thee much favor." Over this
answer Francis was very angry and a little carried away, and
he said to Brother Leo: "Why hast thou fallen so as to
show thyself disobedient? Now thou hast so many times
answered the opposite of what I told thee." But Brother
Leo humbly and reverentially answered, "God knows, Father,
that every time I have wished to answer thee as thou com-
mandest me to; but God forced me to speak as it pleased
him, and not as it pleased me." Francis wondered greatly
over this, and said to Brother Leo, "I pray thee in char-
ity to answer me this time as I have told thee." Brother
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES 1 19
Leo replied, "In God's name I will certainly answer every
time as thou wishest it." And with tears, Francis now said,
"O thou wicked Brother Francis, dost thou beheve that God
can have mercy upon thee?" Brother Leo answered: "Thou
shalt have great favors from God, and he shall raise thee
up and glorify thee for all eternity, for he who lowers himself
shall be exalted; and I cannot say anything else, for God is
speaking through my mouth."
It was also in company with Brother Leo that Francis —
always according to the Fiorctti — went one winter day from
Perugia to Portiuncula, and the great cold affected them
severely. And Francis called to Brother Leo, who went
ahead, and spoke thus to him, "Brother Leo, even if we
Brothers over the whole earth give good examples of holiness
and edification, mark it well and write it down, that in that
is not the perfect happiness."
And Francis went a little further, and he called a second
time and said: "O Brother Leo, even if we Brothers gave the
blind their sight again, cured the lame, drove out devils,
made the deaf to hear, the cripples to walk, the dumb to talk,
and, what is still more, woke the dead after four days had
passed, mark thou, that in that there is not perfect happiness."
And he went on a little and called out loudly: "O Brother
Leo, even if we Brothers spoke all tongues and knew all
wisdom and the whole of the Scriptures, and were able to
reveal the future and the secrets of the heart, so mark thou,
that in that there is not perfect happiness."
And Francis went on a piece more and then called with a
high voice: "O Brother Leo, thou God's little lamb, even if
we Brothers spoke with the tongues of angels and knew the
courses of the stars and the powers of herbs, and all the
treasures of the earth were revealed to us, and all the virtues
and powers of birds and beasts and fishes and also the proper-
ties of mankind and of trees and stones and roots and water,
mark thou this still, that in that there is not perfect happi-
ness."
And Francis went on a little further, and then said with a
loud voice: "O Brother Leo, even if we Brothers knew how
to preach so that all the faithless would be converted to the
I20 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
faith of Christ, mark thou still, that in that there is not perfect
happiness."
And thus he talked for more than half the way. But at
last Brother Leo said with much wonder, "Father, I beg
thee for God's sake to tell me where perfect happiness can
be found." And Francis answered him:
"When we come to Portiuncula and are wet through with
rain, and frozen with cold, and dirty with the mud of the road,
and overcome with hunger, and we knock on the convent
door, and the porter comes and is angry and says, 'Who are
you?' and we say, 'We are two of thy Brothers,' and he
says: 'You do not speak the truth, but are two highway
robbers who go about and deceive people and steal alms
from the poor; away with you!' When he speaks thus and
will not open the door for us, but lets us stand out in the cold
and snow and water and hunger, and the night falls, and
when we endure such abusive words and such a wickedness
and such treatment, and endure it without becoming angry
and without quarrelling with him, and when we instead think
in humility and love that the porter knows us as we really are,
and that it is God who lets him talk against us — Brother
Leo, mark thou, that is perfect happiness!
"And if we keep on knocking, and he comes out and is
angry and treats us Hke a pair of thieves and hunts us away
with evil words and with ear-boxing, and says to us, 'Get
out, ye shameless rascals, go to the lepers, here you will find
neither food nor lodging!' and we bear this too with patience
and cheerfulness and charity — Brother Leo, mark thou,
that therein is perfect happiness.
" And if we, driven by cold and hunger and by the night,
knock again and beg him with bitter tears that he for God's
sake will let us in, if only across the threshold, and he gets
still more angry and says, 'You are certainly shameless vaga-
bonds, but now you will get your deserts,' and he runs out
with a knotted stick, and seizes us by the hoods and throws
us to the ground and rolls us in the snow and nearly kills us
with the stick; and if we endure all this so patiently, and
think of the sufferings of Christ, the All-praised One, and
of how much we ought to suffer for the sake of our love of
PORTIUNCULA AND DISCIPLES 121
him — O Brother Leo, mark thou, that in this is perfect
happiness.
"Now hear the end of all this, Brother Leo! More than
all grace and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which Christ
vouchsafes to his friends, is the conquering of yourself and
the willing endurance of suffering, injustice, contempt and
harshness. For of the other gifts of God, we cannot take
any credit to ourselves, for they are not ours but come from
God; so that the Apostle says: 'What hast thou that thou
hast not received? But after you have received it, why do
you take credit for it, as if you had it of yourselves?' But
of trials and sufferings and crosses we can take the credit to
ourselves: therefore the Apostle also says, 'I will take credit
for nothing except for the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. ' " ^
Ernest Renan has Justly said that since the time of the
Apostles there has never been a more powerful attempt to
put the gospel into practice than in the movement started by
Francis. It is no wonder then one night in a vision a pious
man thought that he saw all men who were alive in the world,
stand like blind people around Portiuncula and, with folded
hands and faces lifted to heaven, call to God to give them
back their sight, and as they stood thus the heavens opened,
and a great light fell upon Portiuncula, and all who stood
about it and who had been blind, opened their eyes and saw
the light of salvation.2
' Fioretti, cap. IX and cap. VIII (which last seems to be a further develop-
ment of the fifth of the Admonitiones, which Francis had written; Opiiscula,
Quaracchi, 1904, pp. 8-9). See further, Chron. XXIV gen. (Anal. Franc, III,
pp. 65 et seq.) Br. Leo died November 14 or 15, 1271 (Wadding, 1271, nn. 7 at
seq.).
^ Tres Socii, cap. XIII, n. 56. Celano, Vita sec, I, 13.
CHAPTER V
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO
WHILE men sometimes must be satisfied to repre-
sent theory, practice, often outside of all theory,
is the vocation of woman. No one ever realizes
more fully a man's ideal than a woman, once
she is possessed by it.
This must not be taken to intimate that Francis of Assisi
did not put into practice the gospel which he preached — on
the contrary! But if one wishes to see the Franciscan life
in a form free from all enforced additions and unfavorable
foreign influences, one must above all others turn to his great
female disciple, St. Clara of Assisi. She was accustomed to
call herself Brother Francis' Plant. ^ She is really the flower
of Franciscanism, and he who visits the places where she has
lived, inhales even after seven hundred years have gone the
singularly pure and heart-gripping perfume of this flower.
Clara was born in Assisi in 1194, probably on July 11. Her
father was Favorini dei Scifi, her mother Ortolana of the
Fiumi family, belonging in Sterpeto. The family was noble
on both sides, and the Scifi belonged to the most prominent
family in Assisi.^ Favorino bore the title of Count of Sasso-
Rosso, the name of the cliff that rises over Assisi: his forti-
fied palace is still shown to visitors, near the Porta Vecchia,
not far from the church of St. Clara.^ Ortolana gave him
'"Clara indigna ancilla Christ! et plantula beatissimi patris Francisci."
Reg. S. Clarae, cap. I {Textus originales, Quaracchi, 1897, p. 52).
*" Frater Rufinus Cipii . . . de nobilioribus civibus Assissii, consanguineus
S. Clarae." {Anal. Franc, III, 46.)
'This statement I have taken from Locateli's Biography of St. Clara;
unfortunately I have only been able to use this work in a French translation
(.S7. Claire d'Assise, Rome, 1899-1900), as the original Italian work is not
obtainable (Fz7a breve di S. Chiara, Assisi, 1882). Other sources for the life of
St. Clara are the following:
Her testament: published by the Bollandists in the second August volume
122
'^^ ^^m^i^-M}^,
Photo : C. Carto/orli
ST. CLARA OF ASSISI AND SCENES
FROM HER LIFE
(Ascribed to Cimahue. Fresco in Churcb oj Santa Cbiara, Assisi)
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 123
five children — a son, Boso, and four daughters, Pencnda,
Clara, Agnes and Beatrice.
It is told of Ortolana that she was a good and pious child,
and among other things had undertaken such dangerous and
prolonged pilgrimages as to the Holy Land, to Bari, and to
Rome. Shortly before Clara was born, she is said to have
received in prayer the promise of God that the child she was
to bear would be a light for the whole world. As a sequence
thereof the child was given in baptism the name Clara, the
bright; in metaphorical rendering, the celebrated one.
Clara grew up in her home surrounded by the prosperity
and order which are so favorable for the development of a
sure and reasonable fear of God. Moral disorder leads
almost invariably to poverty, while the fear of God is "useful
for all things," and "has also promises for this life." It is
not only in our days that the answer to the question, "How
shall I get on in the world?" has been, "Fear God and keep
his commandments." For up to a certain degree it is also
true what the apologists evidently push too far, when they
adduce, as a proof of the superiority of a religion, the statis-
tics of its millionaires.
Little Clara at a very young age went far beyond the usual
degree of piety. A favorite reading in her time was the
stories of the lives of the old ascetics — Vitae patrum. Ap-
parently Clara had made early acquaintance with these leg-
ends: in any case, we read of her that she as a little girl
greatly longed to wear a garment of horsehair, and that she,
of the Acta Sanctorum, pp. 747 et seq., and by the Franciscans of Quaracchi
in Textiis originales (Quaracchi, 1897), pp. 273 et seq.
Alexander IV's Bull of Canonization Clara claris of September 26, 1255, A.
SS. Aug. II, pp. 749 et seq.
Her Biography written by Messer Bartholomew, Bishop of Spoleto, in
collaboration with Brother Leo and Brother Angelo of Rieti and revised for
style by Thomas of Celano, to whom also the preface is due. It is printed by
the BoUandists as above, pp. 754 et seq. See Cozza Luzi: // Codice maglia-
hecchiano nella Storia di S. Chiara in the Bollctino delta Socictd Umbra di Storia
Patria, I (Perugia, 1895), pp. 417-426.
Her four letters to Agnes of Bohemia, printed in A . SS., March I, pp. 506-508,
the first also (and from a better manuscript) in Anal. Franc, III, p. 183, n. 7.
Several places in the biographies of St. Francis.
Letters to her from her sister Agnes, from Cardinal Hugolin. (Wadding,
1221; Analecla Franc, III, pp. 175-177 and p. 183.)
124 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
just as the hermit Paul of Pherme in Uistoria Lausiaca,
daily recited a great number of prayers which she kept count
of with the help of httle stones. While she thus did penance
herself, she was, like all the pious of the Middle Ages, very
zealous in giving to the poor.
Thus Clara grew up and became strong and beautiful.
At the age of fifteen years she had her first suitor and one
pleasing in the highest degree to her parents. When they
spoke to their daughter about him, they met to their surprise
a certain resistance. Clara would not hear of marrying, and
when her mother pressed her for a reason, the daughter ad-
mitted that she had consecrated herself to God and wanted
nothing of any man.
This was more piety than Favorino and Ortolana had
counted on. The regular, everyday Christianity had — in the
Middle Ages just as in our days — a great dislike for all that
seemed to be "too much of religion." Over and over again
we are witnesses in the history of those times of the bitter
disputes which father and mother carried on with sons and
daughters whose fear of God seemed to them to go beyond
the proper bounds of a good citizenship.^
The sixteen year old Clara must now fight this battle, but
she had the good fortune not to be without support in the
contest. It was at this precise time that Francis, whose
conversion had attracted such attention in Assisi, was re-
1 Thus we read in Feo Belcari's Vite d^aJcuni Gesuati the highly characteristic
chapter XXIV. A young man in Arezzo, by name Donate, entered a convent
of the Jesuati's Order, but was taken to his home bj' his family by force. Here
his father locked him up in a room and for the sake of greater safety tied one
leg to the wall. The son, however, remained true to his project, although
father and brothers took away his Order's habit and gave him ordinary clothes;
"You can change my clothes, not my heart," said he. Then the father sent
a bad woman to him, who with word and atli e scoprimcnti vergogiwsi tried to
mislead him; he however struck her in the face, while he called her a sow and a
devil. The father then arranged with a young girl of a good family and wanted
to marry his son to her, but the son said "no" before the notary, and there
was no marriage. Then the father sent five lusty fellows to Donato, who
started to eat and drink, sing and play and invited him to join them. Then
the young man began to weep, because he saw how determined his father was
to destroy him, and he knelt down and begged God to take him away. And
God sent a fever which in the course of a few days ended the young man's
life; "with great joy and cheerfulness" he met his end. (Belcari: Prose ed.
Gigli, II, Rome, 1843, PP- 106 et seq. See also cap. XXI in the same work.)
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 125
turning from Rome with the Papal permission to preach, and
now mounted the pulpit in San Rufino, a few steps from the
Scifi palace. Here and in S. Giorgio's church Clara heard
him speak, and from the first moment she saw him, was con-
vinced that such a hfe as he led was to be hers, and that it
was the will of God. The two Friars Minor, Rufino and
Silvester, who were both of her family, paved the way for her,
and followed by a female relative, to whom tradition has
given the name Bona Guelfucci, she sought Francis and laid
open her heart to him.^
Francis had already heard the rumors about Clara, and
wished, as the legend says, "to rob the bad world of so noble
a booty, and enrich his Lord therewith." He advised her,
therefore, openly to despise the world, its vanity and perish-
ability, not to yield to the wishes of her parents in the matter
of her marriage, but to keep her body as a temple for God
alone, and not to have any bridegroom but Christ.^
From now on Francis was Clara's spiritual guide, and under
his direction she was seized by a stronger and stronger desire
to take the final step, and let all things go that did not purely
and entirely belong to the duty of man to his God. She could
not see how it was any part of this obhgation to give herself
to a man because her parents wished it, and when she — it
was in the Lent of 1212 — sat in St. George's church and
heard Francis from the pulpit "speak so wonderfully of de-
spising the world, of voluntary poverty, of pining after
heaven, and of the nakedness of our crucified Lord Jesus
Christ, and the insults and his most holy sufferings," ^ her
^ Clara's family tree is thus given by Locatelli :
Paolo Scifi
I
Bernardo
. !
Favorino g. m. Ortulana Monaldo Paolo
Boso Penenda Chiara Agnes Beatrice Boso Bernarduccio
I I
Silvestro Rufino
^A. SS., Aug. II, p. 755 {Vita, cap. I, nn. 5-6) and p. 749, n. 51 (Alexander
IV's Bull).
' Fioretti, cap. XXX.
126 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
heart burned in her the moment she left with the desire to
take ofl her elegant clothes, and to hve Hke Jesus and hke
Francis in contentment, labor, prayer, peace and joy.
At last her desire for the new life became so strong that
she could not be any longer restrained, but must change the
mode of existence she had hitherto followed. Francis set
the night after Palm-Sunday as the time for her to "change
the joys of this world for grief for the suffering of our Lord."
Clara utilized this feast-day (March i8, 1212) to say fare-
well to the world in the most solemn manner. Wearing her
richest dress she went with her mother and sisters to church;
no one among the women and girls of Assisi were in such
festive attire as the beautiful, fair-haired Clara Sciii on that
day.^
On Palm-Sunday the church commemorates the entry of
Christ into Jerusalem, Olive branches, which represent palm
branches, are consecrated that day by the priest and are dis-
tributed to the congregation, who go in procession through
the church while the choir sings the beautiful old anthem:
Pueri Hcbræorum, portanics ramos olivarum, obviaverunt
Domino, clamantes et dicentes: Hosanna in excelsis! "With
olive boughs in their hands the children of the Jews went
out to meet the Lord, crying out and saying: 'Glory be to
God on high!'"
As the distribution of the consecrated olive branches was
in progress, and all who were in the church came forward
to the altar rail to receive a branch from Bishop Guido, who
said mass, there was only one who kept back, and this one
was Clara Scifi. Her emotions, on thinking of the great step
she was about to take, may well have overcome the young
girl. Here in the same church she had knelt so many morn-
ings in the past years at the side of her mother and of her
small sisters, and heard mass with them, and never thought
that it could be different. And now to-day it was for the last
time. On this very day she was to say farewell to them
for ever, without their knowledge, and the following evening
was to be the last she would spend in the home of her
^"in turba dominarum splcndorc fcstivo puclla pcrradians." Vita, cap.
I, n. 7.
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 127
childhood and youthful days. The thought of her mother's
tenderness, of her young sisters' charms, affection and con-
fidence overcame Clara; all the many happy and strong
bonds, which years weave unnoticed around those who grow
up in the same home, in this solemn hour cut into and wounded
her heart, and she wept like the woman she was, wept the
tears the bride weeps when she leaves father and mother. . . .
Bishop Guido saw her bowed head and sobbing form and
understood her. It is probable that Francis had told him
what was to take place. In any event, he took with fine
sympathy the palm Clara had not taken, and brought it
himself down to her in her place in the church.
Clara carried her flight into effect the next night. Out of a
back door which was blocked by a pile of wood, which she had
to remove herself, she got out upon the street and, led by
Bona Guelfucci, took the road to Portiuncula. The Francis-
cans who had expected her went to meet her wdth torches,
and soon she was kneeling before Our Lady's image in the
little chapel, and gave to the world ''for love ot the most holy
and loved Child Jesus, wrapped in poor rags in the manger,"
her letter of divorce which she had written long ago.^
She gave her shining dress into the hands of the Brothers,
and received in its place a rough woollen robe, such as the
Brothers wore; she exchanged her jewelled belt for a common
rope with knots upon it and, after her golden hair had fallen
before the scissors which Francis phed, she let her high, stiff
headdress lie upon the ground and covered her head instead
with a tight black veil. Instead of her rich embroidered
shoes which she had worn at the festival in the church, she
put a pair of wooden sandals on her naked feet. She then
took three vows of consecration, and promised, moreover, like
the Brethren to obey Francis as her superior. After the
change was over by which the high-born Lady Clara Scifi
became Sister Clara, Francis took her the same night to the
Benedictine Sisters' convent of St. Paul near the village of
^"amore sanctissimi et dilectissimi pueri pauperculis panniculis involuti,
in paresepio reclinati . . . moneo . . . sorores meas, ut vestimentis semper
vilibus induantur." Reg. S. Clarae, cap. II, § 18. "Mox ibi rejectis sordibus
Babylonis, mundo libellum repudii tradidit." Vila S. Clarae, I, 8.
128 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Isola Romanesca (now Bastia), where he had temporarily
arranged for her reception.
It could not naturally be long unknown what had become
of Clara. Favorino and his relatives had quickly discovered
her refuge, and presented themselves at the convent to induce
her to return. But the eighteen year old girl was immovable
— neither prayers nor flattery nor promises availed, and when
the father and uncles proposed to use force, she clung to the
altar in the church, as she threw her veil aside and showed her
cropped hair. For many days the family renewed their
attempts to win back Clara, and Francis found it, at last, to
be the wisest course to transfer her to another convent,
Sant' Angelo in Panso, which also belonged to the Benedic-
tine Sisters.^
Angry as Favorino had been, he now was more furious than
ever, when his young daughter Agnes, sixteen days after
Clara's flight, also left her home and went to Sant' Angelo to
be there received into the Sisters' life. Of her he had had
great hopes; she was engaged and the marriage already
settled. And now she was taken also with the same madness!
Wild with rage and indignation he asked his brother Monaldo
to take twelve armed men and get Agnes back.
The nuns in the convent of Sant' Angelo drew back alarmed
from the weapons that confronted them and deserted Agnes.
The young girl, scarcely more than a child, made a vigorous
resistance and the men had to adopt strenuous measures.
Blows and kicks were hailed upon her, they pulled her by the
hair, and thus drew her out of the convent. "Clara, Clara,
come and help me!" the unhappy one cried in vain, as locks
of her hair and bits of her clothes were left hanging on the
bushes by the roadside.
Clara was in her cell and asked God to help her in this
hour of need. And then it suddenly came to pass that
twelve strong men were unable to bring Agnes' body one inch
* According to Cristofani (Storia di S. Damiano, cap. X) the Church Seminary
in Assisi {Seminarium Seraphicum) occupies the same place as this convent.
LocalcUi thinks otherwise, that Sant' Angelo di Panzo was a mile outside of
the city; then he identifies St. Paul's Convent with a portion of the Convent
of S. Apollinaris now in Assisi. {S. Claire (T Assise, Rome 1899-1900, pp. 40
and 42.)
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 1 29
further. She became suddenly so heavy that she might have
been of stone. The men pushed and pulled her, but in vain.
"She has eaten lead the whole night," said one of them,
grinning. "Yes, the nuns know what tastes good," answered
another. But her uncle Monaldo became so furious over this
unexpected obstacle, that he lifted his armored fist to crush
with one blow the contumacious girl's head. But it came to
pass that he too was petrified and stood powerless, with lifted
but helpless arm. Meanwhile Clara came to the scene, and
the half-dead Agnes was abandoned to her. The family
made no further attempt to prevent the two young girls from
following their vocation; later the third sister Beatrice joined
them, and after Favorino's death, Ortolana also.^
The convent of Sant' Angelo could in the nature of things
be only a temporary abode for Clara and Agnes. They were
not Benedictines, did not wear the Benedictine habit, and
did not follow the Rule of St. Benedict. Francis, in order to
find a convent for them, sought his old benefactors, the
Camaldolites of Monte Subasio, and who could paint his joy
when these monks, who had already given him Portiuncula
and who on April 22, 1212 had given to the city of Assisi the
ancient temple of Minerva, changed into a Mary-church, as
it is still seen on the city market-place, now showed them-
selves willing to give him San Damiano and the Httle convent
belonging to the church. With "some few sisters "^ Clara
took possession of the building, within whose walls she for
forty-one years — as her biographer says — "with the blows
of the scourge of penance should break open the alabaster
vase of her body, so that the whole Church was filled with her
soul's perfume." ^
For here it is that the life of prayer and labor, of poverty
and joy, which I have called the flower of Franciscanism,
unfolded itself. The example which Clara had given worked
in a wide circle. There seems to have been among women in
that time a desire, lying torpid, for a life above the plane of
the senses, which is so well symbolized by the white walls of
' Vita S. Clarae, III, 24-26, and V, 45. Anal. Franc, III, 175.
* Test. S. Clarae in Textus originales, p. 275.
' Vita, I, 9. Bull Clara claris, n. 50.
10
130 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
the cloister.^ Maidens who were not yet bound to the world
hastened to San Damiano to live there with her; those whose
attachment to their families did not permit this, sought in
secrecy to live as much of a convent life as possible. Noble
ladies devoted their dowries to the building of cloisters, into
which they themselves entered in sackcloth and ashes to do
penance for their past lives. Marriage was no impediment,
for man and mfe went each to his own — the man to Francis
and the woman to Clara.^
The conditions of entrance into San Damiano were the
same as for the entrance into Portiuncula — to give all
possessions to the poor. The convent could take nothing —
that must always be "the fortified tower of the highest
poverty," as Clara, with a warlike turn in the spirit of the
time, expresses it.^ The life of the Sisters was the same as
that of the Brothers — work and begging. While some re-
mained at home and worked, others went out and begged
from door to door.'*
Almost all the paragraphs of the forma vivendi, the rule of
Hfe which Francis now wrote for the Sisters, are devoted to
these few points, and whose principal contents were the
obligation to evangelical poverty.^ Apparently by the inter-
mediation of Francis, Innocent III gave his approval to this
Rule, even more formally than he had approved the Brothers'
Rule. As Clara first in 1215, by Francis' express command,
took the position as abbess in San Damiano,^ it is not too
bold an hypothesis to place the Pope's approval of the Sisters'
Rule in this year. Hitherto Francis had been able to be the
head of both Orders and their leader, but before Rome Clara
had to stand as the Superior of the Sisters, just as Francis
of the Brothers. Innocent III is said to have written with
^ See for example Celano, Vila secunda, II, 7.
* Vita, II, lo-ii. Reg. S. Clarae, II, 3.
» Vila, II, 13.
* See the account in Vita, II, 12, of "famularum deforis revertentium" and
of the reception Clara gave them (she took their feet and kissed them), quite
analogous to Francis' treatment of the begging Brothers (see for example Spec.
Perf., cap. XXV). It was not until later, when the Clares became an Order
with full cloister, that they had male cleemosynarii {Vita, V, 37.)
' Test. S. Clarae, lo-ii {Textus originates, p. 276).
* Vila, II, 12.
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 131
his own hand the first lines of the remarkable privilegium
paupertatis — so different from the privileges for which courts
are usually importuned — by which he accords to Clara and
her Sisters the right to be and to remain poor.^
As Clara shared Francis' feeling about poverty as the
foundation of Christian perfection, in conformity with the
words "you cannot serve God and Mammon," ^ so did she also
share Francis' ideas about work. In spite of her dignity as
abbess, it was she who most often served at table, poured
water over the other Sisters' hands, and waited upon them.
Rather than ask others to do for her, she would do things for
herself. She personally took care of the sick and drew back
from no work, however repugnant. When the other Sisters
came home from outside the convent, it was Clara who would
wash their feet. At night she would get up and put the
covering on the Sisters who had uncovered themselves in
sleep and were Hable to become chilled. Francis often sent
sick and weak people to San Damiano, where Clara took care
of them and sometimes cured them. When it was she who
was sick, she would not stop working; as soon as it was possi-
ble, she would sit up in bed with a cushion behind her back
and embroider altar raiment. Thus she made — in Francis'
own spirit — over fifty pairs of altar-cloths, of the kind
called corporals, and sent them, laid into silk envelopes, to
the churches upon the mountains and on the plain.^
As she surpassed the other Sisters by her good example
in her work, so was it also in her religious life. When com-
plines, the last prayer for the day in the Breviary, was over,
Clara stayed long before the crucifix, the same whose voice
Francis had heard, and before the little flame, which in all
Catholic churches burns night and day in the perpetual lamp
* Vita, II, 14. Francis was in Rome in 1215.
2 See her first letter to Agnes of Bohemia {A. SS., March I, p. 506, and Anal.
Franc, III, p. 183, n. 7. The last text, after Nic. Glassberger's copy of 1491
of the Chron. XXIV gen., is far the best).
' Vita, capp. IV-V. Corporate is the name of the hnen cloth upon which
the host lies during and after the consecration in the Mass.
After the stigmatization of Francis it was Clara who prepared a pair of
specially arranged shoes, which made it possible for him to walk upon his per-
forated feet; she also saw to providing bandages for his wounds. Wadding,
1224, n. 3. A. SS., Aug. II, p. 746.
132 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
before the sacrament of the altar. Here she gave herself
up to the sympathetic contemplation of the sufferings of the
Saviour, here she prayed the "Crucis Officium," the prayers
in honor of the Cross of Christ, which Francis had arranged and
taught her. But notwithstanding all this, she was up in the
morning before all the others, herself waked the Sisters, lit
the lamps, and rang the bell for early mass.
At the same time she did not spare her body, which by
nature was full-blooded and strong. Her bed was in the first
period in San Damiano a bundle of vine twigs, her pillow a
log of wood. Later she lay upon leather with an uncomfort-
able pillow under her head, and finally, by Francis' express
command, upon a sack of straw. He it was also who forbade
her, in Lent and on St. Martin's fast, to eat only on three
weekdays, and then only bread and water, a custom she had
originally started. He had Bishop Guido order her, as a
matter of duty, to eat daily at least one and a half ounces of
bread. It was perhaps on account of the prohibition of this
severe fasting that, in compensation, she for a while wore a
garment of pig's skin, wåth the bristles inside, which garment
she later exchanged for a penitential belt of hair-cloth.^
When she returned from church, after having prayed there
for a long time, her face seemed to shine, and the words she
spoke were full of joy. Once she was so seized by the sig-
nificance of the holy water as a symbol of the blood of Christ,
that she sprinkled the Sisters with it all day and pleadingly
exhorted them never to forget the rivers of salvation that
flowed from the wounds of Christ.^ One Maundy Thursday
evening she was absorbed in spirit and could not be waked
for twenty-four hours. ''Why are the lights still burning?"
she asked, as she awoke, "is it not yet day?" One Christ-
mas night she lay sick and could not follow the other Sisters
to church, but heard in her bed the whole divine service in
the convent church of S. Francesco, and saw the Child Jesus
in the Christmas crib there.^
' Vita, capp. III-IV. Bull Clara daris, n. 54 (A. SS., Aug. II, p. 750).
^Wadding, 1251, n. 14. A. SS., Aug. II, p. 746, n. 36.
* Vila, cap. IV. There is half an hour's walk between S. Damiano and
the church of S. Francesco.
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 133
It could be no secret to Francis in how high a degree he was
an object of admiration to Clara and the other Sisters, and that
a part of their religious feehng was intertwined with his per-
sonaHty. To turn the Sisters from this and direct their hearts
to God alone, he imperceptibly, yet in adequate degree, with-
drew into the background. His visits to San Damiano, which
at first had been frequent, became little by little of rare occur-
rence. This action at last attracted the attention of his disciples
and they assigned, as a reason for it, a lack of kindness to the
Sisters. Francis explained to them his reason — that he did
not wish to stand between them and Christ. For no consid-
eration would he encourage the purely personal devotion to
the priest or individual.^
Once he had agreed to come to San Damiano and preach.
Clara was greatly devoted to sermons; when Pope Gregory
IX at a subsequent time wished to prohibit the Franciscans
from preaching in this convent, she impeded this prohibition
by sending the Brothers away also, who, after the closure
was in force at San Damiano about 12 19, went from door to
door and begged for the Sisters. "If we have to go with-
out spiritual bread, we can even go without bodily bread
also," she declared, and the Pope was obliged to take off his
prohibition.^
Now Francis had permission to go to the Sisters and preach,
and all were glad, not only at hearing God's word, but also at
seeing their spiritual father and guide.^ Francis entered the
church and stood a while with uplifted eyes, absorbed in prayer.
Then he turned to some of the Sisters, who were serving in
the sacristy, and asked for some ashes. When the ashes were
brought, Francis made a circle with them around himself, and
what was left over he strewed upon his own head. Then only
did he break the silence, not to preach, but only to recite
the fiftieth Psalm of David, the great penitential Psalm Mise-
rere. When he had said it to the end, he went quickly away
1 "Non credatis, charissimi, quod eas perfecte non diligam. Si enim magnum
esset eas in Christo fovere, nonne maius fuisset eas Christo Junxisse?" Celano,
Vita sec, III, 132. Compare Cel., V. pr., I, 8, and V. sec, III, 133-134.
2 Vita, V, 37.
' "Congregatis autem dominabus ex more, ut verbum Dei audirent, sed non
minus ut patrem viderent." Cel., V. sec, III, 134.
134 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
— he had taught the Sisters to see in him nothing but a poor
sinner in sackcloth and ashes.
To the same order of thought may the tale be referred,
which is preserved for us in the Fioretti,^ of "how St. Clara eat
with St. Francis and his Brothers in Santa Maria degh AngeH."
It reads thus:
"When St. Francis was in Assisi, he several times visited St.
Clara and gave her many salutary admonitions. And she
had so strong a desire to eat with him, and asked him so many
times about it, but he would not grant her the favor. But
the Brothers, who had knowledge of this desire of St. Clara,
said to St. Francis: 'Father, it seems to us, that this thy
strictness is not after the divine precept of charity, that thou
wilt not yield to St. Clara, who is so holy and pleasing to God,
in so little a thing as it is to eat together with thee; especially
when thou thinkest that she on account of thy preaching has
left the kingdom and glory of the world. And even if she
asked for a greater favor than this is, thou shouldst give it,
for she is thy spiritual plant.' Then St. Francis replied,
'You think then that I should accede to her?' His Brothers
answered, 'Yes, father, we think that thou owest her this
favor and comfort!' Then St. Francis said: 'Since it seems
so to you, it seems so to me. But for her greater comfort I
will have this meal occur in Santa Maria degli Angeli here;
as she has been long shut up in San Damiano, it will please
and strengthen her to see Santa Maria, where her hair was
cut off, and where she was betrothed to Jesus Christ, and there
we will eat together in God's name.'
"And when the day for the meal came St. Clara left her
convent with a companion and was taken by the Brothers to
Santa Maria degli Angeli. And she made a devout reverence
before the altar of the Virgin Mary, where her hair had been
cut ofif, and where she had taken the veil, and then they took
her around to see the convent, until the meal should be served.
And meanwhile St. Francis had the table laid upon the naked
earth, as was his custom. And when meal-time came, St.
Francis and St. Clara sat down together, and one of the
Brothers with the companion of St. Clara, and next all the
* Cap. XV. It is also found, later inserted, in Clara's Vila (V, 39-42).
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 135
other Brothers, and they humbly took their places at the table.
And with the first dish St. Francis began to talk of God so
lovingly, with such depth, so wonderfully, that the divine
fullness of love descended upon him, and all were enraptured
in God. And while they were thus transported with eyes
and hands Hfted towards heaven, the people in Assisi and
Bettona and in the other neighboring towns saw that Santa
Maria degH Angeli and the whole convent and woods, which
then were at the side of the convent, seemed to be in a great
blaze. And it looked as if there was a great conflagration,
both in the church and convent and woods. And people from
Assisi came running down there in haste to put out the fire, for
they really believed that everything was on fire. But when
they came to the convent and saw that there was no fire,
they went in and found St. Francis and St. Clara and all the
others transported unto God around the poorly furnished table.
Then they understood that there had been a divine fire and
no material one, when God had let Himself be seen there as a
token to indicate and reveal the divine fire of love, with which
the souls of the Brothers and Sisters were inflamed, and they
went away with great comfort in their hearts and with great
edification."
If Clara thus showed herself before Francis as the weak
woman, who was one that longed for comfort and encourage-
ment, she was in her relations to the Sisters the strong woman,
the one who protected and defended the others. It was not
for nothing that she was of old warrior blood.
This was seen on the two occasions when San Damiano was
besieged by Frederick II's soldiers. During his war with the
Pope this ruler had made an incursion into the Papal States,
and had, with some degree of cunning, used his Mussulman
archers, to whom the Papal excommunication was an object
of indifference. From the elevated mountain fortification,
Nocera, only a few miles from Assisi, these Saracens had darted
out "like wasps" down over the valley of Spoleto and one
fine day they attacked also the convent of San Damiano.^ If
the Mussulmen entered, the Sisters had not only death to fear,
but also dishonor; they gathered trembling around Clara,
^ "Saracenorum sagittariorum examina velut apum" {Vita, III, 21).
136 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
who — as so often — lay sick. Without losing courage she
had herself carried to the locked door, so as to be the first who
would be exposed to the danger. Next she had the silver
and ivory ciborium brought from the church, in which the
sacrament of the altar in the form of bread was preserved,
and sank down in prayer to the Saviour. It then seemed
to her that from the ciborium a voice issued, "Uke a child's,"
and this voice said, "I will always be your guardian."
Strengthened and confident she rose from her prayers, and
soon after the Saracens gave up the attack and went
elsewhere.^
In another way Clara showed her indomitable spirit. When
in 1220 the news reached Italy of the death of the first five
Franciscan martyrs in Morocco, Clara was so inspired that
she wanted also to go to the heathen to suffer martyrdom with
her Sisters, and only an express prohibition of Francis pre-
vented her from carrying out this plan.^ Perhaps it was in the
war she waged with the Pope himself that she might remain
true to her vow of poverty that she showed herself most
inflexible and most heroic. Over and over again her good
friend Hugolin, who in 1227 became Pope with the name
Gregory IX, sought with the best intentions to force upon
her and her convent some property, on which they could
live in peace and quiet like other nuns. She steadfastly
refused, and he said that, if it was only for the sake of the
promise she had made, he had power to release her from
it. "Holy Father," was her answer, "free me from my
sins, but not from following our Lord Christ!"^ Two days
before her death she obtained from Innocent IV the per-
^ "Vox quasi pueruli ad ejus aures insonuit . . . Ego vos semper custodiam."
Vita, III, 22. It is in reference to this event, which occurred in 1230, that
Clara is often represented with a monstrance in her hand. The legend has
since adorned the event. To-day, on the walls of S. Damiano, there is to be seen a
half-obliterated fresco, that shows the frightened Saracens, who are thrown down
from their storming ladders, as Clara meets them with the sacrament. Four
years later (June 22, 1234) the troops of Frederick, this time under Vitale
d'Aversa, were in a similar manner prevented not only from entering S. Damiano
but also the city itself; the day is still celebrated in Assisi as a national festival.
* Wadding, 1251, n. 14. A. SS., Aug. II, p. 746.
' Vita, II, 15. Innocent IV's Bull, Clara clans {A. SS., Aug. II, p. 750,
n- 55)-
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 137
petual ratification of the right of her and her Sisters to be
and to remain poor.'
Unlike Francis, and in spite of the austere life she led, Clara
lived to an old age; she died in her sixtieth year, after forty-
one years of convent Hfe. In that time one great sorrow had
reached her; this was Francis' death in 1226. As he lay at
the last in the Httle poor sick-cell down back of Portiuncula,
a message came from Clara that she wished to see him once
more. But St. Francis sent word back and said to one of the
Brothers: "Go and say to Sister Clara to give up all trouble.
Now she cannot see me, but she must know this for certain,
that before her death both she and the Sisters shall see me and
take great comfort therefrom."
And then Francis died. But the day after his death the
citizens of Assisi came and took his lifeless body and, along
with the Brothers, carried it up to Assisi with hymns and songs
of praise, with the blare of trumpets, and with olive-branches
and lighted candles in their hands. And in the early October
morning, as the violet mist still lay on the plain like a mighty
sea, they ascended the sunlit height by San Damiano, the
funeral escort stopped, and the bier with the lifeless body was
taken into the church, so near to the grated window of the
Sisters that they could see their dead spiritual father for the
last time. "And after the grating through which the maid-
servants of the Lord were wont to receive the sacred host and
to hear the word of God was passed by, the Brothers hfted
this holy body up from the bier and held it in their raised arms
in front of the window, so long a time as My Lady Clara and
the other Sisters wished it, for their comfort," the Speculum
perfectionis tells us.^ The Uttle church now echoed the notes
of sorrow and farewell, of grief and woe, for "who would not
be moved to tears," says Thomas of Celano, "when even the
angels of peace wept so bitterly? "...
Years passed, and Clara still lived. Francis was gone, but
his near friends, Leo, Angelo, Brother Juniper, came fre-
1 The Bull Solet annuere of August 9, 1253. Clara died August 11,
1253. In a later section the interesting but involved question of the develop-
ment of the Rule of the Clares will be treated in connection with the history of
the Rule of the Franciscans.
''■ Cap. 108. Compare Celano, Vila pr., II, cap. X.
138 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
qucntly to San Damiano, and, together with them, Clara
buried herself in memories of the time when the master still
lived. Also Brother Giles, who otherwise always — as Ber-
nard of Quintavalle tells us — "sat in his cell like a maiden
in her room," gave Clara now and then a visit, and it was
during one of these that the following real Franciscan trait
occurred.
An English Franciscan, who was a Doctor of Theology,
stood in the pulpit in San Damiano and gave a sermon which,
with all his learning, seems to have been very different from
the words that used to be heard from this place out of the
mouth of Francis of Assisi. All felt it, and suddenly Brother
Giles raised his voice and called out, "Be still, Master, and I
will preach! " The Enghsh Doctor stopped speaking and
Giles began, "in the heat of the Spirit of God" says the old
legend. Then he resigned the pulpit to the foreign preacher
again, and the latter continued. But Clara rejoiced over this,
she said, more than if she had seen the dead brought to life
again, "for this was what our most holy father, Francis,
wanted, that a Doctor of Theology should have enough
humility to be silent, when a Lay-Brother wished to speak in
his stead." ^
The time came at last when the call of death was heard also
by St. Clara. For all of twenty-eight years she had been
more or less a victim of sickness, and in the fall of 1252 she felt
that her death was near. But as yet her life's work was incom-
plete — she had not obtained the final, unrestricted ratifica-
tion of her privilege of poverty.
Exactly at this time Innocent IV returned from Lyons,
whither he had fled before the army of Frederick II. The
excommunicated Emperor died in 1250 in Fiorenzuola, and
in September, 1252, the Pope took up his residence in Perugia.
As soon as the Papal court came to rest in the Umbrian capi-
tal, the Sisters' well-wisher and protector. Cardinal Raynald,
later Pope Alexander IV, visited San Damiano. Here he
gave Clara the sacrament of the altar, and she begged him
imploringly to obtain the ratification of the privilege from
the Pope.
^A.SS., April III, p. 239. Vita difr. Egidio (Belcari), capp. XII and LVIII.
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 139
The Pope came with his court the next year to Assisi. Ke
visited Clara on her sick-bed, and when she, as is the custom,
wanted to kiss his foot, he set it on a stool so that she could do
what she wished. She then prayed for the blessing of the
Pope and for complete absolution of her sins. "Would to
God, my daughter, that I had as little need of God's forgiveness
as you!" said Innocent with a sigh. After his departure
Clara said to the Sisters, who were collected around her:
"Praise the Lord, my daughters! This morning I received
Himself, and now I too have been considered worthy to see
His Vicar on earth!"
After this the Sisters never left Clara's bedside. Agnes,
who for thirty years had been separated from her sister as
Abbess of Monticelli convent, near Florence, knelt weeping by
her bed. Day after day the dying saint lay there; for over
two weeks she had eaten nothing, but still felt strong. Her
confessor exhorted her to be patient. "Since I learned to
know the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ from God's servant
Francis," she answered, "no pain and no penance has been
too great for me, and no sickness too hard." She then sent
messengers to her friends in Portiuncula, to Leo, Angelo and
Juniper, telling them that they could read the story of our
Lord's passion to her. They came, and Brother Leo knelt by
the bed and kissed, weeping, the hard sack of straw, Brother
Juniper opened his bundle of "News from God," Angelo com-
forted the weeping Sisters.
Then it was that Clara was heard to lift her voice in the
tearful silence. "Go forth without fear," said she; "thou
hast a good guide for the road! Go forth without fear, for
He Who created thee has also sanctified thee, He has always
protected thee. He has loved thee tenderly, as a mother loves
her child. O Lord, I praise Thee, because Thou hast created
me!"
Clara ceased her prayers and lay quiet a while, with open
eyes. "Whom art thou talking to? " at last one of the Sisters
asked her. "I am speaking," answered Clara solemnly, "with
my blessed soul." "And do you not see," she added a
moment after, "do you not see the King of Glory, Whom I
now behold?"
T40 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
With eyes blinded with tears all watched the dying one.
But Clara saw them no longer. She constantly watched the
chamber door — and behold, the door opened, and in white
clothes, with golden bands around their shining hair, a flock
of heavenly virgins entered, who had come to take Clara to
the eternal Fatherland. One of them was taller and more
beautiful than all the others, and her golden head shone, so
that the dark cell was made more brilhant than the brightest
day. And the beautiful, shining lady stepped out from the
crowd of maidens to the bed of Clara, bent down over the
dying one, embraced her and hid her as it were under a veil of
light. In the arms of Mary, under the folds of the shining,
luminous robe of the Queen of Heaven, Clara's soul went up
to everlasting glory. But between the stififening hands the
dead saint held the Pope's bull, sent two days before — the
final, solemn ratification of the right of Clara and of her
Sisters to live after the Franciscan ideal.^
San Damiano's convent is still standing, almost as Clara
and her Sisters left it. Here is the little, narrow choir where
they prayed their Office; along the walls are seats, polished by
wear, made of old rough woodwork, and in the middle of the
creaking wooden floor the old desk with the great book of
antiphones lying open upon it. Here is shown one of the
bells Clara used when the Sisters were to be called to prayer,
the tin cup out of which she drank after she had received the
sacrament of the altar, the Breviary Brother Leo wrote for
her, and out of which she prayed daily, and a copper reliquary
given her by Innocent IV. Here too we see the refectory
where Gregory IX was her guest, and where she by the com-
mand of the Pope blessed the rolls of bread, while on each
roll as she blessed it a cross appeared. Here we see Clara's
little, narrow, low bedroom; here we visit finally her so-called
garden — a small strip of flagged ground between two high
walls.
But from this bit of terrace there opens between the two
walls, as if through the proscenium of a theatre, a beautiful
view over the lovely Umbrian land — one sees Rivo Torto,
Portiuncula, the white roads, the olive-grown fields, the little
^ Vita, cap. VI. Bull Clara claris, n. 57.
ST. CLARA AND SAN DAMIANO 141
town of Bettona over in the blue mountains. The garden
proper consists of only a sort of wide terrace, filled with
earth, in which flowers are growing. And as the old tradi-
tion goes, Clara would permit only three kinds of flowers
here: hlies, which are the symbol of purity; violets, the
symbol of humility, and roses, which signify the love of God
to man.
^'•r
BOOK THREE
æD'S SINGER
Quid enim sunt servi Dei nisi quidem jocu-
latores ejus, qui corda hominum erigere debent
et movere ad lætitiam spiritualem?
For what else are the servants of God than his
singers, whose duty it is to lift up the hearts of
men and move them to spiritual joy ?
FRANCIS in Speculum perfectionis
CHAPTER I
THE SERMON TO THE BIRDS
IT seems almost as if Francis, after he had seen the quiet,
introspective and happy life St. Clara and the first of
her Sisterhood led in San Damiano, was again inspired
with doubts as to his vocation. Again did the doubt
arise within him if it were not better to withdraw altogether
from the world and to live alone for his soul's welfare like
the old anchorites. Many of his disciples had chosen this
course — Silvester, Rufino, and to some extent Giles. And
although Francis was well aware of the dangers of the hermit
life — spiritual arbitrariness and ascetic pride (the character-
istic description can be read in the Fioretti, Chap. 29) — yet
it seemed to him incontrovertible that the wandering life as
preacher was preferable to what he called the "accumulation
of dust on the spiritual feet." ^
To understand what Francis meant by this we must follow
him on his great missionary journey, which he undertook in
the years 1211-1212.
With Silvester he went to Tuscany, pacified the troubles
in Perugia (see page 99), was joined in Cortona by Guido
VagnotelH and — if Wadding can be relied on — also by the
celebrated and dreaded Elias Bombarone, established near the
city a hermitage named Celle, and then wandered on to Arezzo
and Florence. In the latter city a celebrated jurist joined
himself to him, Johannes Parenti, a doctor of the University
of Bologna and judge in Civita Castellana. Wadding, follow-
ing Rudolphus, gives an anecdote about Parenti's entrance
into the Order. When on a walking tour he heard a swineherd
driving his grunting hogs into the pen with the words, "Hurry
^ " spiritual! um pulverisatio pedum." Bonav., XII, 2.
" 14s
146 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
up into the sty, pigs, as lawyers hurry into hell!" ^ The old
proverb, "Die Juristen sind bose Christen" (Lawyers are poor
Christians), seems to have been current in the thirteenth cen-
tury. In any case Parenti gave up his office and became a
Franciscan,- at about the same time as another Bolognese
lawyer, Nicolo de Pepoli, took up with interest the Franciscan
mission in Bologna itself.^ From Florence Francis went on to
Pisa, where Angelus, the subsequent General of the Order,
and Albert, later the leader of the Brothers' English mission,
joined him. He then returned back to Assisi by S. Gimignano
in the Val d' Elsa, by Chiusi and Cortona, and after a full
year's absence he gave the Lenten sermons in the cathedral,
as already alluded to (p. 125).
But this last part of Francis' journey was almost a triumphal
march. As he would approach a city, the bells were rung, the
people went out to meet him with palm-boughs in their hands,
and conducted him in festival progress to the parish priest,
with whom he always stayed. They brought bread for him to
bless, to be afterwards preserved as a rehc. And they repeated
the cry which the Italians are so inclined to utter, ^^ Behold
the Saint r'^
Even the disciples found that this was too much. Some-
times they asked him — just as the chief priests and scribes
had asked the Master — "Hearest thou what these say?"
Francis used to answer that he regarded the homage paid him
as analogous to the honor paid to pictures in churches, for the
God-fearing man is only an image of God, and flesh and blood,
like wood and stone, should not dare to ascribe to themselves
the honor which belongs to God alone.^
* "Porci, ingredimini in antrum, sicut judices causarum intrant in infernum;"
1211, n. 21. Parenti was General of the Order from June 16, 1227 to 1232.
* Francis called him afterwards the "Florentine boxer" (pugil florentinus)
a name with which he seemed to want to tease Parenti for his hardness of hand.
(Cel., V. sec, II, 138, ed. d'AIengon.)
* It is undoubtedly he who is spoken of in the Actus, cap. IV. Niccolo at
last entered the Order in 1220. (See Brother Bonaventure's testimony of the
year 1306, in Wadding, 1220, n. II.)
* Cclano, Vita prima, I, VIII, 62. Tres Socii, XIV: "Et quando erat hora
hospitandi, libentius erant cum sacerdotibus, quam cum laicis hujus saeculi."
Spec. 45: "Iste est sanctus homo!"
^ Spec, perj., p. 81. Compare Barth, Conform., f. 33b. Wadding, 1212, n. 7.
THE SERMON TO THE BIRDS I47
But eventually this was insufficient for him, and he sought
therefore to abase himself, as well as he could. "Do not
praise me too soon," he liked to say, "for soon I shall have
sons and daughters!" Or he would break out: "Had God
shown a street robber the love He has shown me, he would be
much more thankful!" He heartily thanked the Bishop of
Terni, when he once introduced one of Francis' sermons with
a little introduction, in which he had developed the theme
of how wonderful it was to see so insignificant and ungifted
a man as Francis attain such great results.^ To those who
praised his severe way of life he said: "All that I do, a sinner
can also do. A sinner can fast, can pray, can shed tears,
can mortify the flesh. Only one thing a sinner cannot do —
he true to his Lord and his God." ^
For such faithlessness to God Francis often upbraided him-
self, and never concealed it. Once he had been sick, and
while sick had eaten some chicken. Scarcely was he well
again when he put a string around his neck and had himself
led stripped to the village pillory, and while thus led made the
Brother who led him cry out, "Here you see the great glutton
who ate chicken without your knowing about it!"^ And as
the people only broke out into greater praise of his humility,
he ordered one of the Brothers to scold him vigorously so that
for once he could hear the truth. Much against his will the
Brother upbraided him as a rustic, a hireling and a useless
servant, and with a contented smile Francis answered him:
" God bless thee for the word! That is what the son of Pietro
di Bernardone ought to hear!" *
On other occasions Francis sought to escape the homage of
the people by withdrawing into solitude. Thus he passed the
whole of Lent, 121 1, on an uninhabited island in Lake Thrasi-
mene,^ and he seems to have passed a great part of the follow-
ing winter in the high-lying hermitage Sarteano near Chiusi.
The huts, made of branches, which he with a few Brothers built
^ Cel., V. sec, HI, 73. Spec, perf., cap. 43. Cel., V. sec, III, 80.
^ Bonav., VI, 3.
^ Ce\.,V.prima,l,S2. Spec perf., 61. Bonav., VI, 2. Wadding, 121 2, n. 53.
^ Cel., V. pr., I, S3. Bonav., VI, i. Spec. perf. places the residence in Assisi
under Pietro dei Cattani's vicariate (1220-1221).
^ Actus, cap. VI. Fior., cap. 7.
148 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
there, resembled mostly the dens of wild beasts, but Francis
liked the place "partly for its wildness, partly for its loneliness,
and linally because he could see from it Assisi in the distance." ^
In this loneliness he was visited by great temptations, some-
times to despair — an interior voice said to him, "There is
salvation for all, except for a self-tormentor like you!" —
sometimes to give up the state of celibacy and marry. Against
this temptation he used an old practice of the anchorites —
with the rope which he wore as a belt, he gave himself a dreadful
beating on the bare back. But as " Brother Ass " — as Francis
used to call his body — would give him no peace, he found
another way. Outside of his cell the ground was covered
with snow, and half naked as he was, Francis sprang out into
the snow and began to build seven snow images. When the
work was done he said to himself: "See, Francis — here is
your wife, the big one over there — the four at her side are
your two sons and two daughters, and the other two are your
man-servant and maid. They are dying of cold — hurry up
and put something on them! And if you cannot, then be
glad that you have no one to serve except God alone." ^
In one way or another the idea of withdrawing entirely
from the world engaged Francis' thoughts. He often discussed
it with the Brothers of the Order and weighed the pro and
con. There was one thing that always prevented him from
choosing the hermit life, and that was the example of our
Lord. Jesus could have chosen to remain in his glory at his
Father's right hand, but instead descended to earth to endure
the vicissitudes of human life and to die the bitter death of
shame on the Cross. And it was the Cross that had from the
first been Francis' model, the Cross to which he applied with
the rest of the Middle Ages God's word to Moses: Fac secundum
exemplar — "Make it according to the pattern, that was
shown thee in the mount." ^
In his doubt Francis resolved to ask a decision from God
^ Wadding, 1212, n. i, after Mariano.
* Cel., Vila sec, II, 82 (ed. d'Alen^on). Bonav., V, 4. "A Brother, who had
stayed up to pray, saw it all by the light of the moon," says the last-named.
What a picture of Francis in the moonlight of the snow-white mountain loneli-
ness, building snow images and talking to himself!
* Exodus, XXV. 40. Bonav., XII, 1-2.
THE SERMON TO THE BIRDS I49
and to follow it blindly, whatever it might be. On other
occasions he had opened the Bible and taken the sense of the
text that met his eyes. This time he decided to submit him-
self to the inspiration of two privileged souls. Brother Masseo
was therefore sent away, first to St. Clara and then to Brother
Silvester, who lived a hermit life in a cave on Monte Subasio,
where now is situated the convent Carceri, in whose garden
the first cells of the Franciscans are still shown. Francis
determined to follow the judgment of Silvester and Clara.
**But Brother Silvester started at once to pray," we are told
in Actus beati Francisci. "And in prayer he at once got the
answer from God. And he went to Brother Masseo and said,
'This says the Lord, you shall tell Brother Francis that God
has not called him for his own sake only, but also that he shall
win many souls!' And then Brother Masseo went to St.
Clara. . . . But she answered and said that she and another
Sister had had the same answer exactly from God as Brother
Silvester.
"But Brother Masseo went back to St. Francis. And St.
Francis received him lovingly and prepared for them a meal,
and when they had eaten Francis called him out into the woods.
And St. Francis bared his head, crossed his arms over his
chest, knelt down, asked and said, 'What does my Lord
Jesus Christ tell me to do? ' Brother Masseo answered that
both Brother Silvester and Sister Clara and another had
received the answer from Jesus Christ the glorious: 'that
thou shalt go out and preach, for God has not called you for
your own sake alone, but also to save others ! ' And then the
hand of the Lord was lifted over St. Francis and he sprang up
in the glow of the Holy Ghost, and inspired by power from on
high, he said to Brother Masseo, 'Well, let us go!' And he
took Brother Masseo with him and Brother Angelo, both of
whom were holy men, . . . And they came between Cannara
and Bevagna.^
"And St. Francis saw some trees by the roadside, and in
these trees there was a multitude of birds of all kinds, such as
never before were seen in this region. And a great quantity
were on the ground under the trees. And when St. Francis
1 Two small towns between Assisi and Montefalco.
150 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
saw all this multitude, the Spirit of God came over him, and
he said to his disciples, 'Wait for me here, I am going to
preach to our sisters the birds ! ' And he walked into the field
up to the birds who sat upon the earth. And as soon as he
began to preach all the birds who sat in the trees flew down
to him, and none of them moved, although he went right
among them, so that his cowl touched several of them. . . .
"But St. Francis said to the birds: 'My sister Birds! You
owe God much gratitude, and ought always and everywhere
to praise and exalt him, because you can fly so freely, wher-
ever you want to, and for your double and threefold clothing
and for your colored and adorning coats and for the food,
which you do not have to work for, and for the beautiful
voices the Creator has given you. You sow not, neither do
you reap, but God feeds you and gives you rivers and springs
to drink from, and hills and mountains, clifTs and rocks to
hide yourselves in, and high trees for you to build your nests in,
and though you can neither spin nor weave, he gives you and
your young ones the necessary clothing. Love therefore the
Creator much, since he has given you such great blessings.
Watch therefore well, my sister birds, that you are not
ungrateful, but busy yourselves always in praising God!'
''But after this, our holy father's word, all those little birds
began to open their beaks to beat with their wings and stretch
out their necks and bow their heads reverently to the earth,
and with their song and their movements showed that the
words St. Francis had said had pleased them greatly. But
St. Francis rejoiced in his spirit as he saw this and wondered
over so many birds and over their variety and differences
and that they were so tame, and he praised the Creator for it
and gently exhorted them to praise the Creator themselves.
"And when St. Francis had finished his sermon and his
exhortation to praise God, he made the sign of the Cross over
all the birds. And all the birds flew up at once and twittered
wonderfully and strongly, and separated and flew away." ^
* Actus, cap. XVII. FioreUi, cap. 16. Cel., Vita prima, I, 58. Bonav.,
XII, 3-
CHAPTER II
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS
IT was not now the intention of St. Francis to restrict him-
self to a new mission trip through Italy. He had greater
plans, as he went out of Assisi this time, and in a sense
it was his youthful dream of wars that returned to the
man of thirty years. It was the time of the Crusades — not
many years later John of Brienne, a brother of Francis' old-
time hero, Walter, was to go to Damietta at the head of a
great army of Christians. Francis too would go on a cru-
sade, but with no other weapon than the gospel. What he
had in mind was no less than to preach Christianity and
conversion to the Saracens.^
First he wished to obtain the Pope's assent to his new pro-
posal. It is said of St. Dominic that he "was always to be
found on the road to Rome to obtain instructions." ^ The
same applies to Francis. Two years after he had obtained
Innocent Ill's verbal ratification of the Rules of the Order, we
find him again in Rome to remind the Pope of the promises he
had then given.^ He could now well say that "God had mul-
tiplied his Brother's voice" and could therefore beg to have a
greater mission given him.
We know little of Francis' third journey to Rome. On the
way he visited Alviano, near Todi, where he, preaching in the
market-place, is said to have ordered the swallows, swooping
about and disturbing him with their cries, to be silent."* Per-
haps he also went through Narni and Toscanella.^
In Rome Francis preached as usual in the streets and alleys.
With these sermons he won two new Brothers — Zacharias,
1 CeL, V. pr., I, 55. 2 Sabatier: Vie de S. Fr. (1894), p. 247.
» See p. 94. 4 Cel., V. pr., I, 59. Bonav., XII, 4.
« Cel., V. pr., I, 65-66. Bonav., XII, 9.
151
152 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
who afterwards became a missionary in Spain, and William,
the first Englishman who entered the Order.^ Far more
important for the whole future of the Order was the friendship
Francis here contracted with a woman whom he later, on
account of her manly character, called jokingly "Brother
Jacoba"2 — the wife of the Roman nobleman Gratiano Frangi-
pani. Her name was Giacoma or Jacopa de Settisoli, and she
was about twenty-five years old.^
The Frangipani family is one of the noblest in Rome ; it is
said to have sprung from the gens Anicia, which counts among
its members in the course of years a Benedict of Nurcia, a
Paulinus of Nola, and St. Gregory. In the year 717 Flavius
Anicius Petrus, then the head of the family, by generous gifts
of bread during a great scarcity of food in Rome won the
name of "the Breaker of Bread." In the beginning of the
thirteenth century the Frangipanis Hved in Rome with exten-
sive estates in the trans-Tiberian region and on the Esquiline,
where they possessed, among the rest of their property, the
castle-like remains of the Seplizonium of Septimus Severus —
a name which in a changed form still lives in the title of the
Roman street Via delle sette Sale and from which Gratiano
Frangipani's wife acquired her name de Settesoli.
Giacoma is said to have been of a mixture of Norman and
SiciHan blood. She was probably born about 1190, for in
1 2 10 she was married and had a son, Giovanni. Afterwards
she had another son, Gratiano, in 121 7, shortly after her hus-
band's death. Already in the year 121 2 she had made the
acquaintance of Francis of Assisi — an acquaintance which
on the next visit of the Umbrian evangelist to Rome was to
develop into a true and inward friendship.
Francis had certainly little trouble in obtaining Innocent
Ill's blessing on his work. He embarked on the sea, we do
^ Anal. Fr., Ill, p. 12. Wadding, 1212, n. 35, after Mariano.
*"Nam . . . fratrem Jacobam nominavit." BcTna.Td a. Bessd.: De laitdibus,
Anal. Franc, III, p. 687.
'I follow here Edouard d'Alengon: " Frere Jacqiidinc." Rcchcrches his-
loriques sur Jacqueline de Selliso't, I'amie de Saint Franqois, Paris, iSgg. For
the historical basis of her history, see also P. Sabatier: Dc revolution des Legendes.
A propos de la visile de Jacqueline de S. å s. Franqois in Suttina's "Bull, critico,"
I, pp. 22 et seq.
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 1 53
not know from which port. Storms drove the ship off her
course, and she stranded on the coast of Slavonia. There
was no way of embarking thence for the Orient — it was late
in the year, and the weather was also unfavorable for the
sea-crossing. Francis tried to get a ship for Ancona, but the
seamen were unwilling to load a ship with him and his follow-
ers. They then formed the plan of hiding themselves among
the ship's cargo without the crew knowing it; they emerged
only after the ship was on the open sea, and as the voyage on
account of unfavorable weather lasted longer than was ex-
pected, and the ship's rations became exhausted, the two
hidden passengers obtained permission to share their rations
with the crew.^
Hardly had Francis' feet touched Italian soil when he took
up his old way of life and went preaching from city to city.
In Ascoli his preaching had such effect that over thirty men,
some priests, some laymen, sought to be received into the
Brotherhood.^ Everywhere he was surrounded as before by
the jubilations and crowds of people; they strove at least
to touch the skirt of his garment. Only the Cathari, also
diffused through the Ancona region, kept away from him,
for the kernel of his preaching — as of all his religious life —
was the absolute, unconditional and in all unessential things
bhnd obedience to the Roman Church, and the principal
sequence thereof, a deep reverence for the priests of the same
Church. It was with timely. retrospect over this and similar
missionary journeys that Francis in his Testament has written
words about "the poor minor priests in the parishes abo:.i., '
whom he in spite of all will "fear, love a^d '^.v^iior" as his
masters and "not look upon then laults." ^
This last was what the Cathari wanted; they expatiated
long and loud over the sins of the priests, and thus took many
out of that Church which the priests represented. Francis
was of that rare nature that can discriminate between things
1 Cel., V. pr., I, n. 55.
2 Cel., V. pr., I, n. 62.
' " Et si haberem tantara sapientiam, quantam Salomon habuit, et inveni-
rem pauperculos sacerdotes ... in parochiis in quibus morantur . . . ipsos
et omnes alios volo timere, amare et honorare sicut meos dominos; et nolo
in ipsis considerare peccatum." (Opuscula, ed. Quar., p. 78.)
1 54 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
and persons, and he knew how to inspire the same spirit in
his brethren. "But how can a priest he?" Brother Giles
asked in this spirit, incensed over so unreasonable a supposi-
tion.^
While in Ancona this time, Francis converted a celebrated
man of that time, the troubador, Guglielmo Divini, called
by the people, "the Verse-king." ^ Divini was on a visit to
the httle village San Severino in Mark Ancona, where he had
a relative, a nun. Francis was preaching in the convent at
the time and the celebrated poet heard him there.
There was, according to all testimony, something very
impressive in Francis' way of speaking. It was not so much
a sermon, says Thomas of Spalato, as a concio, a lecture, that
touched on practical and moral reform.' And Francis was
an unbending moralist. He was not silent about wrongs
that he saw, but gave everything its right name. In spite
of his poor external appearance, he inspired thereby not only
wonder but also fright; there was something of John the
Baptist about him."* In his writings there is many a Woe
to the sinner, whose wages are eternal fire!^ He was not
afraid to threaten with God's judgment.^ His words were
compared to a sword that pierces through hearts.'
So Gughelmo Divini heard the celebrated preacher of re-
pentance in the cloister in San Severino. The poet came from
curiosity, and a crowd of the gay youth of the village with
him. At first Francis did not impress them greatly. But
the verse-king soon began to hsten — it seemed to him as if
'the poor little man from Assisi talked to him alone, as if all
the words he licaf^i.w'^rre directed to him, and one after another
Hke well-aimed arrows, sen'^; by a master-hand, thrust their
points into his heart. . . .
What did Francis talk about? It was on his usual theme —
* Ccl., V. pr., I, 46. Compare Anal. Franc, III, p. 79.
'^"Vocabatur nomen ejus Rex versuum." Ccl., Vila sec, III, 49.
' Boehmer: "Analekten" (1904), p. 106.
* Spec, perf., cap. 105. Tres Socii, cap. XIII.
^Opiiscula (Quaracchi), pp. 51, 71, 95, 96-97, ii4-
«Cel., Vita sec, II, 6, and III, 121.
^ "Verba acutissima, penetrantia corda," "separationis gladius." Tres
Socii, cap. XIV. "gladium verbi Dei," " transverberat coro." Ccl., V. sec, III, 49-
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 155
to despise the world and to be converted so as to withstand
the coming wrath. And when he was through, the simple and
great thing at once happened, and Guglielmo Divini rose up,
fell at the feet of Francis, and cried out, "Brother! take
me away from men and give me to God!"
On the next day Francis clothed him in the grey clothes of
the Order and girded his loins with the cord, and gave him the
name Pacifcus, because he had left the world's tumult for
the peace of God.^
Thus, too, a century later, another much greater poet was
to seek for peace among the children of St. Francis. One
evening he, already grey and bowed down, stood before a
lonely cloister in the Apennines and knocked at the door.
And to the porter's question as to what he sought there, the
great Florentine (Dante) gave only the one all-including
answer. Pace! "Peace!"
Although Francis thus received every one with a troubled
heart who came to him, and without further novitiate clothed
him in the Order's garb — it was in 1220 that a year's trial
or novitiate was established — he had a wonderful ability
at discriminating among the many who began to wish to be
received among the Brothers. A short period had elapsed
after Pacificus' conversion when a young nobleman from
Lucca sought Francis and with tears cast himself at his feet,
and asked to be one of his sons. Francis addressed him with
severity. "Your weeping is a lie!" he said, "your heart
does not belong to God ! Why do you lie to the Holy Ghost
and to me?" Thus it appeared that the longing for the
cloister was only a caprice of the young man, perhaps conceived
in a moment of dissatisfaction with the conditions of home.
When his parents came to beg him to come back, he
readily complied.^
Especially was Francis on his guard with the book-learned,
viri literati. "When such a book-man comes to me," he said
* Cel., V. sec, III, 49. Compare III, 63. Spec. Perf., capp. 59-60. Bonav.,
IV, 50-51. Cel., V. sec, III, 27, and III, 76. Spec, perf., cap. 100. Brother
Pacificus was sent to France at the head of the Franciscan mission in 1217.
Spec perf., p. 122 (Sabatier's ed.). For Francis' way of preaching, see also Cel.,
V. sec, III, 50. Fioreltl, cap. 30.
^ Cel., Vita sec, II, 11, (d'Alen^on's ed.).
y/
156 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
openly, "I see at once if his intentions are sincere when his
first prayer to me is this one: 'Behold, Brother, I have lived
long in the world and nevøer rightly knew my God. Give me
a place far from the world's alarms, where I in the bitterness
of heart can think over the years I have lost and squandered,
to live a better life in the future.'" ^
It was only for the disinherited of this world, the poor and
oppressed, the unfortunate and lost, the lepers, thieves and
robbers, that Francis' heart was open without reservation.
It is true that the Benedictines' Rules contained at this time
the words: "All strangers shall be received as if it were
Christ," but Francis himself had found by trial in his youth
that this command was not always lived up to, that it was
observed in the case of guests who could claim a position in
society, but that it was not observed in the case of those who
needed it the most, the homeless, the tramps and the beggars.
It is certain that with the experiences of his youth at St.
Maria della Rocca in mind, Francis in his Rule at the very
beginning wrote the beautiful words: "And whoever comes
to the Brethren, Friend or Enemy, Thiej or Robber, shall be
kindly received." ^
Even his most devoted disciples had trouble sometimes in
following him in this matter. The Speculum perjectionis
contains the following impressive tale, from the early days of
the Order:
"In a hermitage over Borgo San Sepolcro" — Monte
Casale is meant; Borgo San Sepolcro is a village about half-
way between Mt. Alverna and Gubbio — "it happened that
robbers who used to keep in the woods and fall upon way-
farers, came and asked for bread; but some of the Brothers
said that it was not right to give them alms. . . ,
"Meanwhile St. Francis came to this convent, and the
Brothers asked him if it were right to give alms to robbers,
and St. Francis answered them thus: 'If you do as I say,
^ Cel., Vita sec, III, 123 (Amoni). In Verba Fratris Conradi is a recital of how
a learned man {magnus doctor) was first received into the Order after having
worked for a month in the kitchen. (Sabaticr: Opuscules dc critique, I, pp.
381-383-)
* " Et quicumque ad eos venerit, amicus vel adversarius, fur vel latro, benigne
recipialur." Reg. prima, cap. VII. Compare p. 49 of this book.
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 157
then have I hope in God that I will save their souls. Go then
and get good bread and good wine, take it out to them in the
woods and say to them: 'Brother robbers! Come here! We
are Brothers, and we come with good wine and good bread to
you!' Then they will come at once and I will spread a cloth
on the ground and set the table for them, and wait on them
with humility and cheerfulness while they eat. But when
they are through I will speak God's word to them, and finally
I shall beg them to grant you a request in God's name, namely,
that they shall promise you not to kill anyone and to do
bodily harm to no one. If I ask everything of them at once
they will answer, ' No,' but now for the sake of your humility
and goodness they will promise you this.
"The next day, in requital of their good promises, you
shall go out to them with bread and wine, eggs and fruit, and
wait upon them while they eat. And when they have finished,
you shall say to them: 'Why do you wander about all day
and suffer hunger and endure so much, and in thought and
deed perpetrate so many things, and imperil your souls? It
is much better to serve the Lord ; then he will give you what
you need here upon earth, and at the same time you will
save your souls!' Then the Lord will grant them that for
the sake of your humility and patience they will be converted.
"But the Brothers did all, just as St. Francis had said, and
the robbers, from thankfulness and with God's mercy, held
point for point and jot for jot what the Brothers had enjoined
them. Yes, for the sake of the humility and confidence of
the Brothers, they helped them and carried wood into the
hermitage, and eventually some of them entered the Order.
But others confessed their sins, and did penance for their
transgressions, and promised the Brothers solemnly, to live
by the work of their hands, and never to do such things again." ^
^ Spec, perf., cap. 66. In Actus, cap. XXIX (Fioretti, cap. 26), the
same story is found more in detail. Here the guardian drives the robbers
out of the convent door with scornful words. When Francis appeared "car-
rying a sack with bread and a bottle of wine," which he had begged, he scolded
the guardian and told him as a penance to take the sack and bottle and search
for the robbers "over mountain and valley," until he found them. "And then
thou shalt kneel down before them and humbly beg them for forgiveness for
thy rudeness and severity." {Fioretti.)
158 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
As this tale, one of the oldest remains we possess, lies before
us, it gives us a full conception both of Francis' knowledge
of men — he knew that it was useless to preach to a hungry
man, he knew also that Rome was not built in a day — and
of his unpharisaical love of men. Here is one of the moments
in the history of Christendom, when the words of the gospel
are understood exactly as they were said: "And if you love
them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not
even the publicans this?' But do good without expecting
anything from it! "And your reward shall be great, and
you shall be the sons of the Highest, for he is kind to the
unthankful and to the evil." ^
If Francis was thus indulgent to the last degree with great
sinners, so on the other hand he put good people to a severe
test. From those to whom much was given he expected
much. The Fioretti have preserved for us many incidents
which illustrate this characteristic in him, — such demeanor
in the case of Rufino, who belonged to one of Assisi 's best
families, and whom he ordered to go naked from Portiuncula
to the city, and to preach naked in the cathedral.- A similar
command was that which he gave to Brother Agnolo near
Borgo San Sepolcro, who belonged to that place and who
like Rufmo was of good family. He too was to go naked
into the town and announce that Francis would come next
day and preach there. But he was called back as he was
approaching the city gate, and Francis promised him paradise
for the readiness with which he had humiliated himself.^
Little is known with certainty of Francis of Assisi's journeys
during the next few years. Wadding has with admirable
sagacity tried to put into order all the fragmentary pieces
which constitute the biographical material for these years,
so as to form an artificial mosaic, but he failed in the attempt.
^ Matth. V. 47. Luke vi. 35. This particular way of God made a deep im-
pression upon Francis — see his own words in Bartholomew of Pisa: "Curialitas
est una dc proprietatibus Domini, que solem suum et pluviam suam et omnia
super justos et injustos curialiter administrat" {Actus, Sabatier's ed., p. 205,
n. 2).
* Fioretti, cap. 30.
' Speculum vitae (Antwerp, 1620), p. IT, cap. 25. Compare Sab., Opusc.
de cril., I, p. 74, n. 2, and Wadding, 12 13, n. 24.
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 159
And when he, for example, assumes that Francis was sick in
Assisi in the winter of 121 2-12 13, and sent out from his sick-
bed his "Letters to all Christians," it confuses the occasion
with much later events.
We can with some certainty believe that Francis pursued
his journey through Italy. However this may be, we meet
him in the beginning of 12 13 on a similar mission — a journey
in the province of Romagna. In this region, not far from
the Httle repubhc of San Marino, there was in olden times a
nobleman's castle called Montefeltro (now Sasso-Feltrio near
the city of San Leo).
Francis and his companion — probably Leo — came to
this city on a beautiful May morning just as the banners
flying from the towers and the proud blare of the trumpets
announced a great festival. Gaily dressed pages and men-
at-arms hastened over the drawbridge, knights on powerful
chargers, brightly caparisoned, thronged under the gateway,
swinging carriages bore ladies, young and old, with laced
bodices and high head-dresses up the steep road to the castle.
Everything indicated that a festive tourney was to be held,
to which all the nobility of the district was invited.
All the splendor here displayed did not irritate Brother
Francis. Pious people are addicted to this failing, so that
Francis was wont to warn his disciples against judging and
despising those who went in costly clothes and lived in lux-
ury.^ ** God is also ///eir master," said he; " he can call them
when he will and make them just and holy." Had not this
happened to him?
Therefore he stood there a little while and looked at the
banner that waved over the gate with the bearings of the
barons of Montefeltro. He then turned with a smile to his
companion.
"What do you think? Should we too go up to the festival?
Perhaps we can win a good knight for God's cause!"
^ "Admonebat etiam fratres, ut nullum hominem judicarent, neque despi-
cerent illos, qui delicate vivunt ac superflue induuntur." Tres Socii, cap.
XIV, n. 58. Compare Regula sec, cap. II: "Quos moneo et exhortor, ne
despiciant neque judicent homines, quos vident moUibus vestimentis et coloratis
indutos, uti cibis et potibus delicatis, sed magis unusquisque judicet et despiciat
semetipsum." {Opusc, ed. Quar., p. 65.)
l6o SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
It was done as he said. The occasion of the festival was
the knighting of a young soldier. All attended mass, during
which the young man took the pledges of knighthood, and
then Francis ascended some steps in the castle garden and
began to speak. As his text he had chosen some words in
the dialect of the people, a simple doggerel such as children
use, the two following lines:
Tonto é it bene ch' ic espetto
Ch' ogni pena mé dilletto.
/ hope that I so blessed will he
That every sujffering pleases me.
One can easily imagine that Francis, grown up as he was
in the atmosphere of the romances of King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table, developed this text somewhat
in the following manner:
''The knight," he began, "who wants to win a lovely dame,
must be ready to undergo great and many sufferings. She
may require of him that he shall go on a crusade against the
sultan, perhaps that he shall bring her a horn of the unicorn
or an egg of the bird called the roc. Perhaps that he shall
set free a captive maiden, or ride a fully equipped charger
over a bridge which is so small that one can hardly walk
across it, while under it pours a wild torrent. And all these
dangers and sufferings the true and noble knight is ready to
undergo, only because his dear lady wishes it, and through
all his tribulations he thinks only of her white hand that she
will give him to kiss when he goes back with deeds well done,
and immediately his despondency and gloom are over. . . .
"But now there is another and far nobler knighthood, to
which all men are called, and not only those of noble birth.
There is another battle, not to win the favor of an earthly
beauty, but to do the will of the eternal and highest beauty,
who is God. . . . For is not God far more beautiful than
all the beautiful ladies — for they are all the work of His
hands, made out of the dust of the earth? Is not He who
made so much that is beautiful, is not He still more beautiful
than all His creatures? Yes, He is that, and therefore He
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS l6l
also deserves that you go out as knight-errants for Him, and
fight valorously for His honor against the enemies who are
the world, the flesh, and the Devil. And what will He not
give us if we have been faithful to Him — hke a knight to
his ladylove — and do not permit ourselves to be cast down
in His service by any obstacle or suffering? He gives us
infinitely more than even the most beautiful dame can give.
She has only herself, her hand, and her heart; but the hand
shall wither, and the heart shall fail some time. But when
God gives Himself as the prize for the victory, as the shining
prize for the winner of the joust, then He gives us life, light
and happiness in imperishable, immortal eternity." ^
It was about in this way that Brother Francis spoke, and
his words may well have moved many a young and noble
heart. But one among them, and this was Duke Orlando dei
Cattani of the castle of Chiusi in Casentino, approached
Francis and spoke:
"Father, I want to talk to you about the salvation of my
soul!"
But Francis, who gave God's Spirit time to work upon souls,
had no haste, but answered:
"Go first and hold festivities with your friends, wherever
you may be invited. After that we will talk in peace and
quiet."
^ When Sabatier so eloquently enlarges upon the contrast between him
who serves God for love and him who does it for reward, and would regard
the first as the true Franciscan, the other as the principle of the Church, he
describes a contrast which does not exist. We see Francis on the contrary
constantly preaching on the topics of reward and punishment. His words at
the "Chapter of Mats" cannot be misunderstood (Actus, cap. 20: "Magna pro-
misimus, majora vero promissa sunt nobis. . . . Brevis voluptas, perpetua poena.
Modica passio, gloria infinita "). In the Letter to all Christians Francis descants
in the same way with the expressions "merces," "praemium," "remuneratio":
(Op., p. 91), and he takes the same standpoint in the Rule of the Order of 1223,
cap. IX, where he as the text of sermons especially recommends to the Brothers
"Vitia et virtutes, poenam el gloriam." "Non deterreat vos magnitudo cer-
taminis et laboris immensitas, quoniam magnam habetis remunerationem,"
John of Parma has his Domina Paupertas say to her confidante (Conimercium,
ed. Alvisi, p. 40). The whole of this work, which is written from the extreme
Franciscan standpoint, is charged with thoughts of "a reward in heaven,"
which appears to be so strongly repellent to Sabatier, but which he, if consistent,
must object to in our Lord (Matthew vi. i) and in St. Paul (Romans, viii,
18).
12
l62 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
When the tourney was over the young duke again visited
Francis, and they talked together; but at the end of the
conversation the Duke Orlando said:
"I own a mountain in Tuscany, which is called La Vema,
a very lonely mountain well adapted to meditation. If you
would wish to build there, you and your Brothers, then for
my soul's sake will I give it to you!"
"But St. Francis" — thus is it told us in the Actus B.
Francisci — "greatly wished to fmd lonely places where it
was good to pray. Therefore he thanked lirst of all God,
who with his faithful took care of his lambs, and thereaft-er
he thanked Lord Orlando, and said: 'Lord Duke, when you
go back to your home I will send two of my Brothers to
you, and you can show them this mountain, and if it seems
suited to prayer and meditation, then I will be very grateful
to you for your friendly offer.'" ^
^ Actus, cap. 9. Compare the Consid. delle sacre slimmate (in the Appendix
to the FiorcUi). — Casentino is the same as the upper Valley of the Arno. The
ruins of Borgo Chiusi arc still to be seen, not far from Mount Alverno. See
Jorgensen's "Pilgrimsbogen," capp. XX-XXIV.
Francis did not wish to receive any written evidence of his right of owner-
ship to the mountain. It was the sons of Count Orlando, who caused a formal
letter of gift to be issued, of which Sbaralea in his BuUarium Franciscanum
(IV, Rome, 1768, p. 156, note h) gives a copy after the original preserved in
the archives of Borgo San Sepolcro. It is given here:
"In Dei Nomine. Amen. Anno Dni millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo
quarto Gregorio Papa sedente & Romano Imperio vacante die Lunae 9. Mensis
Julii . . . Orlandus de Catanis quondam Domini Orlandi, Comes de
Clusio, & Cungius & Bandinus & Guglielmus fratres et filii dicti Domini Orlandi,
ejus verbo et auctoritate et qualiter ex certa scientia, et non per aliquem juris
vel facti errorem, confitentes se lege Romana vivcre et esse majores viginti
quinque annis, confessi fuerunt, quomodo dictus Dom. Orlandus Clusii comes
inter milites Imperatoris strenuissimus miles, et dictorum pater, oretenus
dederit, donaverit atque concesserit libere et absque nulla exceptione Fratri
Francisco, ejusque sociis fratribus, tam præsentibus quam futuris, de anno Domini
MCCXIII,die octava Maji, Alveruae montem,ita ut prædictus Pater Franciscus,
ejusque fratres ibi habitare possint, et per prædictum Montem Alverniae
intelligimus . . . totam terram alboratam, saxosam et prativam absque ulla
exceptione a supercilio prædicti montis usque ad radices a qualibet parte, quæ
prædictum montem circumdat cum suis annexis."
By their father's command the sons ratified the gift, that hitherto had been
"in voce tantum et absque ulla scriptura." At the same time they made over
to the convent at La Vcrna many relics of St. Francis, with the leather belt
Francis had brought their father when he was taken into the Third Order of
St. Francis ("habitum sumpsit").
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 163
For the present, Francis himself did not go to inspect the
Duke Orlando's gift. For again did the crown of martyrdom
beckon to him from afar. He had not succeeded in going to
the Holy Land — now he thought of bringing the gospel to
the Mussulmen on the further side of the Mediterranean Sea
in Morocco. Sultan Mohammed ben Nasser, the Miramolin
as the Christians by an anagram on the title — Emir-el-
Mumenin, "the ruler of the faithful" — were wont to call
him, had been beaten by the Spaniards at Tolosa, and was
forced to retreat to Africa. Here Francis determined to visit
him, and started on the journey, probably in the winter of
1213-1214.^ He travelled across Spain, but he fell sick as he
reached the end of his journey, and again had to return home
with his object unattained. On reaching Portiuncula he
took several new Brothers into the Order, among them
Thomas of Celano.^
The year after this fruitless mission to the heathen, Francis
seems to have been present at the Fourth Lateran Council.^
He obtained in all probability on this occasion Innocent Ill's
ratification of Clara's and her Sisters' privilege of poverty
(see p. 131).
It was about the same time that the French prelate,
Jacques de Vitry (see Appendix, p. 401), passed through
Italy on his way to the Holy Land, and then made the ac-
quaintance of the first Friars Minor. In a letter sent from
Genoa in October, 12 16 to his friends at home, the French
Canon thus expresses himself:
"In the time that I spent at the Curia" (the Papal Court
in Perugia) "I saw much that I was entirely dissatisfied with;
all was so taken up with worldly and temporary affairs, of
^"Post non multum tempus," i.e. after the return from Slavonia, says
Celano (F. pr., I, 20. Compare Tract, de mir., V., 34). Sabatier would put
the journey in 1214-1215. Compare Etudes Franc, XV, p. 384, and XVI, pp.
60 et seq.
2 Vita pr., same place. The later biographers make Francis visit S. Jago
da Compostella and estabhsh a lot of cloisters in Spain, Southern France, and
Piedmont {Anal. Franc, III, p. 9). The Bollandists throw out all these tra-
ditions. It is certain that Luc de Tuy in his History of the World first for the
year 1 21 7 writes: " Eo tempore per totam Hispaniam . . . Fratriun Minorum
construunt monasteria." A. SS., Oct. II, p. 603, n. 303.
^ Anal. Franc, III, 9.
164 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
politics and law, that it was hardly possible to get in a word
of spiritual affairs.
"There was one thing, however, which comforted me in
these surroundings: many men and women, among them
many rich and worldly, have for Christ's sake forsaken every-
thing and fled from the world. They are called Friars Minor,
and stand in high repute both with Pope and Cardinals. But
they take no heed of temporal things, but work day in and
day out with zeal and diligence to draw souls away from the
vanities of the world, so that they will not fall to the ground,
and to take them along with themselves. And with the favor
of God they have already reaped a rich harvest. . . .
"But they live after the example of the primitive man, of
whom it is written : ' the multitude of the faithful were of one
heart and one mind.' By day they labor and go into the
cities and highways to capture souls, but at night they turn
back to waste places and lonely regions, where they give
themselves up to prayer. The women abide together in
various retreats in the vicinity of the cities; they receive
nothing, but live from the work of their hands. . . . But
the men of this Order come together once a year with great
provision to a predetermined place, to hold a feast together
and to rejoice in the Lord, and with the support of good men
they ordain and announce their laws, which the Pope ratifies.
After this they disperse, and for the entire year are in Lom-
bardy, and Tuscany, and Apulia, and Sicily. But a holy and
God-fearing man, Nicholas, the Pope's secretary, recently
forsook the Curia and went to them, but was called back
because the Pope could not do without him," ^
In the summer of 12 16 the Papal Court was stationed in
Perugia, and, as can be seen from the last lines of Jacques
de Vitry's sketch, the movement started by Francis began to
spread up to the highest hierarchy. The Bishop Nicholas
here spoken of was Bishop of Tusculum, later Cardinal
Nicholas Chiaramonti, of whom we know that he was very
friendly to the Franciscans, and liked to have one of them
with him.2 Perhaps it was at the same time that another
Cardinal paid his first visit to the Friars Minor; this was
* Boehmer: "Analekten," pp. 98-99. ^ Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 83.
MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 165
Cardinal Hugolin of Ostia, afterwards a friend and tireless
protector of the Order. He came to Portiuncula — as we are
told in the Speculum pcrfectionis, where the Brothers were
holding a conference — with a large band of followers, both
clerks and soldiers. But when he saw how poorly the Broth-
ers lived, and that they slept upon straw, and ate from the
bare earth, he was so overcome that he broke into tears and
cried out, "How will it go with us who hve so luxuriously
day after day in superfluity and delights?" ^
It is certain that the time was approaching for a nearer
relation between Francis and the Papal Court to be estab-
lished. The road from Perugia, where the Curia, as already
said, was held for the greater part of the summer of 1216,^
to Portiuncula is not long, and there seem to have been recip-
rocal visits.^ It was in this summer that the majority of his
biographers are unanimous in placing one of the most con-
tested affairs in the life of Francis of Assisi — in the first
days of the pontificate of Honorius III, God's poor little
man from Assisi knelt before Christ's Vicar and begged for
the celebrated Portiuncula indulgence.
^ Spec, perf., cap. 21.
'^ Potth., Reg., I, nr. 5111 (May 20) — nr. 5327 (August 12).
' A single authority (Eccleston) considers that Francis was present at In-
nocent Ill's death-bed ("in cujus obitu fuit praesentialiter S. Franciscus").
Anal. Franc, I, p. 253.
CHAPTER III
TEE PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE
IT is first of all necessary to observe that the Church of
Rome, previous to the establishment of the Portiuncula
indulgence, had only one plenary indulgence — the one
granted to those who took up the Cross and joined the
ranks of the Crusaders. Every one who did this, and fulfilled
the requirements of confessing his sins and obtained absolu-
tion from a priest, obtained complete remission of the Church
penances as well as of the punishment of Purgatory, so that
his soul could appear before God directly after death.
This Indulgence of the Crusade — Indulgentia de Terra
Sancta — was later extended, so as to apply to anyone who
for one reason or another did not personally join the ranks
of the Crusaders, but with money or with armed men sus-
tained the Holy War. It was also the Franciscans — some-
thing which in this connection is of the greatest importance —
who obtained from the Pope the right of distributing this
indulgence, extended as above stated.^
Whenever the Church decreed an indulgence in other cases
■ — as on the consecration of a church — it was done in a
distinctively different form. The Lateran Council of 1215
had imposed further restrictions on this custom. On the
consecration of a church — the Council decreed — an indul-
gence of only one year canonical penance should be granted,
and on the recurring anniversaries of the consecration only
one of forty days.^ At the consecration of the church of
St. Francis in Assisi there was granted as something quite
extraordinary an indulgence of three years to all who had
' See, for example, several bulls of Clement IV of the year 1268 in Sbaralea,
Bull, franc, t. Ill, pp. 153 et scq., p. 164.
* Mansi, Cone, coll., XXII, 1049 et seq.
166
THE PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE 167
come over the sea to take part in the festival, and of two
years to those who had crossed the Alps, wliile the ordinary
pilgrim had to be content with the usual indulgence of one
year. ^
What is it then, that Francis, in contrast to this, tried to
get from the Pope, or better, did obtain from him? If we
give credence to the authorities, he presented himself one
fine day, accompanied by Brother Masseo of Marignano,
before Honorius II and begged for the Portiuncula church
the same indulgence granted to the Crusaders in the Holy
Lands. ''I desire," he is said to have announced to the
Pope, "that every one who, with penitence for his sins, comes
into this church and confesses his sins and is absolved by the
priest, shall be free from all guilt and punishment for the sins
of his life from the day of his baptism to the day when he
entered the said church." ^ It was in vain that the Pope
urged that the Roman Curia was not accustomed to grant
such indulgences to any church ; it was in vain that he offered
to Francis one of the ordinary indulgences. Francis could
not be moved, as he declared that the Lord himself had sent
him in order to obtain this indulgence. Then the Pope
suddenly, as if by the divine guidance, yielded the point, and
now it remained to the Cardinals, as Honorius depicted the
injury it might do to the Indulgence of the Crusade to restrict
the new indulgence. It was to be valid for only one day in
each year, from the vespers of the evening before through the
full twenty-four hours following until sunset. Francis de-
parted contented, and when the Pope asked him if he did not
want a written authorization, he said it was superfluous, for
" God will know how to bring his own work into the light."
With this relation for a foundation a group of legends has
1 Wadding, 1230, n. i. Potth., I, nr. 8556. P. A. Kirsch ("Theol. Quartal-
schrift, " Tubingen, igo6: "Z?er Pontiuncula-Ablass," pp. 81 et seq. and pp. 231
et seq.) gives on page 225, note i, a quantity of other indications of the status
of this affair. — That Gregory's indulgence was regarded as a very great proof
of favor by contemporaries is seen in Thomas of Celano's words (d'Alenfon's
ed., p. 445): "Clarificat (Gregorius) etiam locum ejus (i.e. Ecclesiam S. Fran-
cisci) indulgentiis et remissionibus plurimis, per quas fides et devotio populi
quotidie magis accrescit."
^ Leg. tr. soc, ed. Da Civezza-Dominichelli, p. 157.
l68 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
been built up, to which belongs the Rose-legend depicted by
Overbeck on the fagade of the Portiuncula chapel. These
adornments of the recital first appear in works of the four-
teenth century. What is given above can be referred to
earlier sources.
At the first glance this narration seems very probable in
itself. Every biographer of Francis tells us how he loved his
dear Portiuncula, and we also know how zealous he was for
the conversion of sinners. He once saw in a vision how men
from all places near and far came in streams around the Httle
Portiuncula,' and one of his disciples had a similar vision.^
Again, the dislike of documents is a characteristic of Fran-
cis. In I2IO he was satisfied with the verbal ratification of
Innocent III, and at the Lateran Council he got nothing more.
When Orlando dei Cattani gave him La Verna, this too was
done "without any writing," as it is explicitly stated in the
letter of gifts of the young Count Cattani in 1274. In his
testament Francis forbids most definitely his Brothers to
seek written privileges from the Curia, "whether for a church
or for any other place." ^ It is perfectly clear that such an
answer as Francis gave to Honorius, according to the old
story, is quite in the spirit of St. Francis."*
It is quite another question if Francis really gave this
answer; in other words, if such an interview ever took
place.
First and foremost, we must here remark that none of the
undoubtedly authentic authorities of the thirteenth century
contain a single reference to the Portiuncula indulgence.
Thomas of Celano knows the indulgence which Gregory IX
granted to the church of St. Francis in Assisi, but neither he
' Cel., V. pr., I, cap. XI, n. 27.
* Leg. tr. soc, XIII, 56.
^ Opusc. (Quaracchi), p. 80.
* On the other hand, the boldness with which Francis here appears before
Honorius accords only poorly with his humble words to the same Pope, when
he later through Cardinal Hupolin obtained an audience with him. "Magnus
timor," were the words used here, "et vericundia debet esse nobis, qui sumus
magis pauperes et despecti ceteris religiosis, non solum ingredi ad vos, sed
etiam stare ante ostium vestrum et praesumcre pulsåre tabernaculum virtutis
christianorum." Tres Socii, c. XVI (Amoni's ed.), p. 92. Compare Cel., V.
pr., I, cap. XXVII, n. 75.
THE PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE 169
nor the old biographers of St. Francis have the least inkling
of the existence of the Portiuncula indulgence. It is only
much more recent authorities who assert that this indulgence
could be gained every year since 1 216, on days appointed by
Honorius III, namely, from the evening of August i to the
evening of the second. This remarkable silence of the ofi&cial
biographers may be regarded as the sequence of the non-
existing Papal bull, or as a result of the opposition of Elias of
Cortona and of his party to the "Portiuncula men" — the
strict division of the Order. The biographers in question
had to serve the party in power.
If this was the correct conclusion, on the other hand we
should expect to find the Portiuncula indulgence in the place
of honor in the legend originating in the ranks of the strict
division — as in the Speculum perfectionis, or in the Fioretti.
But it is in vain that one looks even here for a trace of the
legend given above.
The tradition of the indulgence naturally can be referred,
if not in the direct, then in the secondary hne to Brother
Leo and the other intimate friends of St. Francis. And in
the first rank stands the testimony taken in the presence of
numerous witnesses on October 31, 1277, and signed by a
notary public in Arezzo, as given by two Franciscans, Brother
Benedict of Arezzo, "who formerly was with St. Francis,
when he still lived," and Brother Rayner of Arezzo, who de-
clared himself a confidential friend of Brother Masseo from
Marignano. In this document the two Franciscans testify
that they had heard from Brother Masseo, who was "the
truth itself," how he and Francis went together to Perugia
and obtained from Pope Honorius the above described indul-
gence, "although the Pope said that the Apostolic throne
was not wont to give such an indulgence."
The recital is very short, and the document is provided with
a date which is quite complete and in all particulars correct.'
i"In anno Domini MCCLXXVII, nemine imperante, Papa in ecclesia ro-
mana vacante." Rudolph of Hapsburgh had been elected in 1273, but was
not crowned in 1277. The Papal throne was vacant from May 20 to November
25, 1277, and the document is dated October 31. M. Paulus: Die Bewilli-
gung des Portiuncula- Ablasses in "Der Katholik," 1899, p. 193.
lyo SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
The original is no longer in existence; Sabatier maintains
that one of the copies now in Assisi dates from the end of
the thirteenth century.
Various other recitals of the same period rest upon the
testimony of Brother Masseo through the intermediary of
Brother Benedict of Arezzo. Sabatier has inserted them in
his edition of Francesco Bartholi's book on the Portiuncula
indulgence of about 1435; but if they originate with Brother
John of La Verna or with Brother Otto of Aquasparta, they
contain nothing new. It is only a new appearance of the
original source — Masseo-Benedict — which we find in vari-
ous places. That an old man, Pietro Zaifani, in his youth
claims to have been present at the consecration of the Porti-
uncula church, and that he says that he there saw Francis
standing "with a paper in his hand," amounts to but little.
Another group of witnesses of about the same time depend
upon BrotheV Leo instead of Brother Masseo. A nobleman
of Perugia, Jacopo Coppoli, who on February 14, 1276 gave
the Perugian Franciscans the hill on which their old con-
vent Monte Ripido stands, testifies at about this same time,
and in a similar form to that of Brother Benedict of Arezzo,
that he had heard Brother Leo tell about the Portiuncula
indulgence. In the narration of Coppoli the Pope offers to
Francis an indulgence of seven years, without satisfying him.
He then offered the indulgence de terra sancia, but the Cardinals
caused him to limit it. After Francis had told this to Brother
Leo, he told him to say nothing of the indulgence for the
present, "for this indulgence shall remain hidden for a while,
the Lord will in good time bring it out and reveal it."
Wadding places, and certainly correctly, this testimony in
the year 1277.^ This was two generations after the granting
of the indulgence. It is clear that within the Order, or rather
within its stricter party, to which Benedict of Arezzo belonged,
the efi"ort was made, first as strongly as possible to prove
the existence of the Portiuncula indulgence, and secondly to
explain why the indulgence was not announced sooner. For
this reason Brother Benedict had his testimony affirmed by
a notary, and Jacob Coppoli 's testimony was given in the
^ Note under 1277, n. 18.
THE PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE 171
presence of numerous witnesses before the provincial minister
for Umbria, Brother Angelo (1270-1280).^
It was also about this time, or a little earlier, that Brother
Francis of Fabriano obtained himself the Portiuncula indul-
gence, and he tells also that he received from Brother Leo
the tale of how Francis obtained it from the Pope.^ It is
definitely certain that Francis of Fabriano wrote the work
to which we refer, in his latter years, for he quotes a docu-
ment which at the earliest may be of 13 10. Brother Francis,
who was born in 1251 and died in 1322, was sixty or seventy
years old when he put down his reminiscences. There is no
reason to doubt that Francis of Fabriano was in Portiuncula
in the year referred to. We cannot set aside the explanation,
that in his advanced age he may have had the indulgence as
the object of his pilgrimage. From the beginning many
Franciscans made the pilgrimage to the grave of their spiritual
father and to Portiuncula, and in this connection it is of
the greatest significance that Pope Nicholas IV — himself a
Franciscan — speaks in a letter of May 14, 1284 of "the
numerous crowd of Brothers" who streamed to Assisi, but
never names the Portiuncula indulgence as the reason of
their going. According to this Pope the church of San Fran-
cesco containing the saint's tomb, as well as the Portiuncula
chapel, were the objects of pilgrimage, and not the indul-
gence, all being done "to honor the saint."
This accords with the fact that Angela of Foligno (1248-
1309), soon after she entered the Third Order of St. Francis,
made a pilgrimage to Assisi, but on this occasion never speaks
of Portiuncula, but tells of two visits to the memorial church
of San Francesco. And she is known to have been of the
strict observance; the great chief of this party, Hubert of
Casale, visited her shortly before her death and speaks of her
in the prologue to his Arbor vitae with the greatest reverence.
Naturally Angela's visit to Assisi may have fallen in a time
of the year when the indulgence was not to be obtained; she
may not have been there on the first or second day of August.
Still it is strange that she never says a word about Portiuncula.
1 Coll., II, p. 52.
2 Franz von Fabriano's Testimony in A. SS., Oct. II, p. 89.
172 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Everything indicates that the Portiuncula indulgence first
began to be known only in the last quarter (in the last third
if we accept Francis of Fabriano's w^ords) of the thirteenth
century. If it were allowable to apply modern conceptions
to the ways of those days, we might be tempted to place the
origin of the indulgence at the 50-year jubilee of the granting
of the indulgence (12 12-1262). (Francis of Fabriano's visit
was made in 1268.) It is certain, that as soon as the indul-
gence became known it awakened opposition — hence the
notarial declarations of Benedict of Arezzo, Rainer, Coppoli,
Zalfani. Even the great leader of the strict Franciscan
observance, Peter John Olivi (1248-1298), took up the ques-
tion of the indulgence. In a small — unfortunately undated
— pamphlet he strives to uphold its authenticity, first on
dogmatic and then on historic grounds. Unfortunately the
historic portion is lost.
It is not to be wondered at, that in this dispute several
Catholic investigators doubted or even denied the origin of
the indulgence to have been with St. Francis, so inadequately
is it proved. Even the author of this book was once of the
same opinion, and so expressed himself in the first edition of
the same. According to my views at that time the Portiun-
cula indulgence was only a localized indulgence de terra sancta
or Crusaders' indulgence. Thus when the Holy Land was
lost (St. Jean d'Acre fell 1291, being the last stronghold of
the Christians) the Indulgence of the Crusade, which the
Pope had permitted the Franciscans to share, could only be
obtained in Portiuncula. It was natural that the second
of August should be chosen as the day for gaining the indul-
gence, as this was the anniversary of the consecration of the
church. Such a choice was not un-Franciscan. On August
I is celebrated the festival of ''St. Peter's Chains." Francis
of Assisi's reverence for the saint was well known. And in
the mass of this day in the collect is this passage: "O God Who
didst let the blessed Peter the Apostle depart free and unin-
jured from his bonds, we beg Thee to free us from the bonds of
our sins."
In the little Portiuncula chapel, the new terra sancta, the
Franciscans by virtue of the authorization already obtained
THE PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE 173
shared on these days the same plenary indulgence which
formerly belonged to the Crusaders, and led penitent pilgrims
out of the valley of sin and punishment into the holy land of
innocence.
In the four years which have passed since this chapter in
my book was written, a most meritorious investigator of
Franciscan history. Rev. Heribert Holzapfel in Munich, has
developed new view-points for the consideration of this
question.^ Father Holzapfel agrees that in the lifetime of
St. Francis the indulgence in question was little known and
little used. "It must impress us," he writes, ''that all later
authorities . . . only mention the fact that the indulgence
was secured by St. Francis, but never say that it was much
frequented either in the lifetime of the saint nor during the
first decade following his death. Some causes must then have
been operative which, in the beginning at least, hindered the
dissemination of the indulgence. In seeking these causes we
are driven into the region of conjecture. I may be permitted
to suggest the following solution for discussion.
"The Pope conceded the indulgence only after long persua-
sion. As we learn from later authorities, the Cardinals were
decided enemies of the proposition, as were the Bishops of the
vicinity" (i.e., in Assisi, Foligno, Perugia, Gubbio, etc.).
"These Bishops," says Father Holzapfel, "did not wish such
an extraordinary demonstration of favor for the insignificant
Portiuncula chapel and expressed themselves to St. Francis
on the subject in various ways, — and the more as they doubt-
less knew the feeling of the Curia." It would be in exact
accord with the spirit of St. Francis that he would remain
silent from his reverence for the priesthood. His was no
combative nature, and here as in other instances yielded.
"That he did it willingly we do not assert; it may have hurt
him, like many another thing that he had to yield to and
could not change. He will have spoken also of the disap-
pointment with his trusted companions. ... He will have
comforted himself with the prospects of a better future and
have exhorted them for the present to practise patient sub-
^"Die Entstehung des Portiuncula-Ablasses," Aichivum Franciscanum His-
toricum, I, Quaracchi, 1908, pp. 31-44.
174 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
mission. This does not exclude the possibiHty that the few
Friars sharing his knowledge or similar people in the worid
may have used the indulgence as granted, only we must
not think of a wide dissemination of it. The circle of those
knowing of it would grow with time and consequently the
frcquentation of the indulgence, but also the opposition of its
enemies. Then the Friars who were still living felt it their
duty to leave authentic proof of what they knew so well.
They need fear no longer the enmity of the Curia, which was
very friendly to the Order, nor the enmity of the Bishops, at
least not of the directly interested Bishops of Assisi, who for
some time had been Franciscans.^
This h}^pothesis explains the silence of the biographers.
If, moreover, the Speculum perfcclionis, which was written
in the year 1318, when the indulgence was perfectly known
on all sides, never mentions it, why should the silence of the
earlier biographers prove anything against the existence of
the indulgence at the period when they wrote?
As in so many other questions of Franciscan investigation,
we here have to refer to approved authorities of the olden
times.
'A. a. O., pp. 43-44. Compare Lemmens in "Der Katholik," March and
April, 1908: "Die dllesten Zciignisse JUr den Portiuncula-Ablass."
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTERS AND PROVINCES
THE community of Brothers, which Francis of Assisi
had founded, was from the very first an order of peni-
tents and apostles,^ and Francis himself was the Su-
perior of the Order. He it was who had written the
Rules of the Order and had promised obedience to the Pope,
he it was to whom the permission to preach was given, and
through whom the others participated therein. It is certain
that the first six Brothers had the same right as Francis to
receive new members into the Order, but the new members
were taken to Portiuncula, there to receive the robe of peni-
tence from Francis himself.- This reception into the Brother-
hood was regarded as equivalent in weight to the old-time
conversio of the orders of monkhood — by it one left the
world with its pomp and glory.^ As a sign of this the suppli-
cant gave his possessions to the poor.
Again, from the very first, Francis had liked to have his
Brothers about him as much as possible. When the first
disciples were sent out on their mission journeys, he had
accordingly arranged a time (statuto termino) when they should
all again meet at Portiuncula.'' Later there were arranged
once for all two such terms in the year, when all the Brothers
^ "viri poenitentes de Assisio" {Tres Socii, cap. X). "Accedat frater Salo-
mon de Ordine Apostolorum" (Eccleston in Anal. Franc, I, p. 222).
2 Tres Socii, XI, 41. Anon. Perus., A. SS., Oct. II, p. 600, n. 291.
'"saccule nequam cum pompis suis penitus derelicto intravit religionem."
Tres Socii, XIII, 56. This is in entire disagreement with the theory of Karl
Miiller, Sabatier and Mandonnet making the origin of the Franciscan Order a
brotherhood essentially from the Orders of the Church, of which they would
call the so-called "Third Order" a reHc. See W. Gotz: "Die ursprunglichen
Ideale des hl. Franz," "Hist. Vierteljahrschrift," VI (1903), pp. 19-50.
* Tres Socii, XI, 41.
175
176 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
should meet at Portiuncula — at Pentecost and on the feast
of St. Michael (September 29).^
Of these two meetings — or, as they were called, using an
expression from the older days of convent hfe, Chapters —
Pentecost Chapter was the most important. "Then all the
Brothers came together and discussed how best they should
maintain the Rule." They held a feast in frugality and joy,
after which Francis preached. His Admonitiones or Admoni-
tions, which will be spoken of later, evidently originated at
these Chapter-meetings. They explained perhaps a text
from the Sermon on the Mount or sentences such as, "For he
that will save his life, shall lose it," "I am not here to be
served but to serve," he who "doth not renounce all that he
possesseth cannot be my disciple." Most often and most will-
ingly he spoke on his favorite theme — reverence for the sac-
rament of the altar, and the reverence for priests which flows
from it. Sometimes he would have the Brothers kiss the head
of the horse a priest rode on. "And always have peace in
your hearts, you who come to bring others peace." If there-
fore any disciple felt disturbed by temptations, he went to
the Master and took him into his confidence, and none went
away uncomforted.
To the last Francis undertook the choosing of preachers
whom he afterwards sent to the various mission-districts or
Provinces, as the expression became later. In this choosing
he was led only by considerations of the fitness of the one
recommended, and sent out Lay-brothers as willingly as
priests. With all his overflowing fatherly heart he finally
blessed them all, and two and two they went off gladly into
the world, "like strangers and like pilgrims," without other
burden than the books they needed to say their Office out of.^
Francis' always strongly personal preaching at these meet-
ings often approached the poetical. This passage from one
of his admonitions unmistakably recalling the church
' Tres Socii, XIV, 57. We cannot be surprised that Jacques de Vitry only
mentions one Cliapter assembly; he only knew the Order from a visit of short
duration. The Pentecost Chapter was, moreover, the principal one.
* Tres Socii, cap. XIV. Wadding states (1216, n. i) that Francis held the
first Chapter in imitation of the great Lateran Council (1215).
CHAPTERS AND PROVINCES 177
Maundy Thursday hymn, Ubi charitas et amor, Deus ihi est,
may in this connection be cited here :
''Where charity is and wisdom is, is neither fear nor igno-
rance. Where patience is and humihty is, is neither unquiet
nor anger. Where poverty is and joy is, is neither cupidity
nor covetousness. Where the fear of the Lord stands at the
door, the evil enemy cannot enter. Where compassion is
and prudence is, is neither waste nor hardness of heart." ^
Like all model Christians Francis turned with special
devotion to the Blessed Virgin and Mother of God, Mary.
And troubadour as he was, he sang one of his most beautiful
lauds in praise of all the virtues "with which the Blessed
Virgin was adorned, and which should be the ornaments of
all holy souls ":2
*'Hail, Queen Wisdom," he cries, "the Lord save thee with
thy sister holy pure simplicity. Lady holy poverty, the
Lord save thee with thy sister holy humility, the Lord save
thee with thy sister holy obedience. All you most holy
virtues, may the Lord from whom you proceed and come save
you. . . . Holy wisdom confounds Satan and all his wicked-
nesses. Pure holy simpHcity confounds all the wisdom of
this world and the wisdom of the flesh. Holy poverty con-
founds all cupidity and avarice and the cares of this world.
Holy humility confounds pride and all men of this world and
all things which are in the world. Holy charity confounds
all diaboKcal and carnal temptations and all carnal fears.
Holy obedience confounds all corporal and carnal wishes and
keeps the body mortified to the obedience of the spirit and to
the obedience of its brother and makes man subject to all
men of this world, and not only to men, but even to all ani-
mals and beasts . . ."
From this praise of all virtues, which inevitably reminds
one of Giotto's exaltation of "the holy obedience," "the
holy chastity," and "the holy poverty" in the frescoes over
the grave of St. Francis in Assisi, the poet takes his flight up
to the throne of the purest Virgin:
> Admonitio XXVII.
2 "De virtutibus quibus decorata fuit Sancta Virgo et debet esse sancta
anima" {Opuscula, p. 21 + p. 123. Boehmer's " Analekten," p. 165 -\- p. 70).
13
178 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"Hail Holy Lady, Most Holy Queen, Mary Mother of God,
who art a Virgin for ever, chosen from heaven by the most
holy Father, whom He consecrated with the most holy beloved
Son and the Paraclete Spirit, in whom was and is all plenitude
of grace and all good. Hail His palace. Hail His tabernacle.
Hail His house. Hail His vesture. Hail His handmaid. Hail
His mother and all you holy virtues, which by grace and
illumination of the Holy Ghost may you pour into the hearts
of the faithful, and may you make out of the faithless ones
men faithful to God."
After having ended such a song of praise to Mary, taken as
the Christian ideal, it may have been that Francis cried out:
"We Friars Minor, what are we other than God's singers
and players, who seek to draw hearts upwards and to fill
them with spiritual joy?"^ To play good people into heaven,
to sing before every one's door about the beauty and delight
of serving the Lord — this Francis had tried personally in
Assisi, and he assigned the same troubadour's ways to his
Brothers. "Do you not know, dearest Brother," he asked
Brother Giles, "that holy contrition and holy humihty and
holy charity and holy joy make the soul good and happy?" 2
There were many who in St. Francis of Assisi's time did not
know this, and therefore God's singers, joculatores Dei, went
out into the world to sing this into the hearts of men.
From the beginning the chapter-meetings were thus practi-
cally gatherings for mutual edification. The Order had no
other organization — and what was there to organize? " They
carry neither purse nor bag with them on their way, neither
bread nor money in their belt not shoes on their feet. . . .
They have no churches, no convents, no fields, nor vineyards
nor animals nor houses nor property nor where they can harbor
their heads. They use neither fur nor linen, but only woollen
habits with hoods, neither cap nor cape nor over-garment
nor any other raiment. If anyone asks them to a meal they
' "Quid cnim sunt servi Dei, nisi quidam joculatores ejus, qui corda homi-
num erigere debent ct movere ad lætitiam spiritualcm?" "Et specialiter hoc
dicebat de fratribus minoribus qui dali sunt populo Dei pro ejus salute." Spec.
Pcrf., cap. 100.
^ Dicta b. Aegidii (Quaracchi, 1905), p. 5. Dollrina di Frale Egidio, cap. I.
CHAPTERS AND PROVINCES 179
eat and drink what is set before them. If anything is given
them for pity, nothing is kept for the next day. . . . And
not only by their words, but by their holy life and perfect
way of life they draw many of all classes to despise the world,
to leave house and home and great possessions and put on the
habit of the Friars Minor, which is a plain tunic and a rope
around the waist." ^
For men who lived thus, many laws and regulations were
not necessary. Do the larks need more than a drink of
water out of the spring and the food they can gather in the
fields, to again fly up into the sky and sing the praise of God
so exultingly that all must stop and look upwards? "There-
fore Brother Francis loved also above all birds the bird which
in everyday language is called the crested lark, and he said of
it: 'Sister lark has a hood like us and is an humble bird, for
it goes willingly along the wayside and finds a grain of corn
for itself. ... Its plumage is of the same color as the earth
and is an example to us that we shall not have fine and colored
clothes, but simple and plain. . . . But when they fly upwards
they praise God so devoutly, like good Brothers of our Order,
whose life is in the heavens, and whose pleasure is always in
glorifying God. '"2
This happy unconfined bird-life could not be for ever.
More and more joined the Brotherhood. And not only
young men came to them, but women too, married and unmar-
ried, even married men came. It was possible to help the
young unmarried women; they were told to enter a convent,
and one of the Brothers undertook temporarily to guide them
and help them. But old married men came and said: "We
have wives from whom we cannot separate! Teach us how
to live!" And they too must be looked after — but in what
way?^
^Jacques de Vitry: Hist, orient., II, cap. 32 (Boehmer: "Analeklen," pp.
103-104).
^ Spec, pcrf., cap. 113.
^ Anon. Perus.: "Multaemulieres, virgines etiam non habentes viros, audientes
prædicationem eorum, veniebant corde compuncto ad eos dicentes: Quid
faciemus autem nos? Vobiscum esse non possumus. Dicite ergo nobis, quo-
modo salvare nostras animas valeamus. Ad hoc ordinaverunt per singulas
civitates, quibus potuerant, monasteria reclusa ad poenitentiam faciendam.
l8o SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
The movement Francis had awakened bid fair to mount
over his head. He did not like his Brothers to have the super-
intendence of nuns — "I am afraid the devil will give us
Sisters around our necks in place of the wives we have given
up for the sake of God," he may have said.^ And in Cannara
he himself had to restrain his hearers' zeal — all wished to
follow him, men and women, married and unmarried, the whole
population of the village. "Be not too hasty," he advised
them, "I will think over what I can advise you for your
salvation." 2
The progress of the Order brought great difficulties with it.
Francis on the one hand could only rejoice at the numbers of
his army, but on the other hand he had no place to harbor
them in. His net, like that of the Apostles, was ready to
tear under the too rich draught of fishes.
The rules of the Order, he in his time "with few and simple
words" had written, would answer for wandering evangelists
and musicians, but would not suffice for nuns and still less
for married people. A flock of larks Francis would willingly
undertake to guide or to lead — the wild birds always gladly
obeyed him! But men in the ranks of citizens, and maidens
longing for the convent life, tame, useful beings and mystic
doves, that cooed in the mountain clefts of Tabor or of Carmel
— how should he, simplex et idiota, "the simple and foolish,"
give them rules of life or laws?
Involuntarily Francis looked for a helping hand. It was
nearer to him than he thought — it was stretched out, white,
well-kept and strong, adorned with the bishop's amethyst
ring, stretched out to his help by the nephew of Innocent III,
the Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Cardinal HugoHn.
Constituerunt autem unum de fratribus, qui esset visitator et corrector eorum.
Similiter et viri uxores habentes dicebant: uxores habemus, quae dimitli se
non patiuntur. Docete ergo nos, quam viam tenere salubriter valeamus."
A. SS., Oct. II, p. 600, n. 291.
^ Wadd., 1219, n. 45. Compare Reg. sec, cap. XI: "Quod fratres non
ingrediantur monasteria monacharum."
2 Actus, cap. XVI, vv. 15-16,
CHAPTER V
CARDINAL HUGOLIN
HUGO or Hugolin, Count of Anagni, was when Francis
first knew him a man of nearly seventy years,
and of awe-inspiring and engaging appearance.
He possessed all the highest polish of the day, had
studied in Bologna and Paris, and was also characterized by
an upright piety. His two principal interests were the free-
dom of the Church and the promotion of the cloister life. In
1188 he had, with danger of his life, defended the cause of the
Church against the usurper Markwald (see page 22), and
he stood in close and permanent relations with the Camaldo-
lites, the monks of Cluny, the congregation of St. Flore (for
whom he built two new convents), and also later with the
Franciscans and the Dominicans. In his native land, Anagni,
he founded a poor-house with church annexed thereto, and in
October, 12 16, gave it over to the Hospital Brothers from
Altopascio in Tuscany.^ In 1198 he was Papal Chaplain as
well as Cardinal-deacon with the titular church of St. Eus-
tachio. In May, 1206, he was nominated to the bishopric of
Ostia and Velletri, the highest position in the Church next to
Pope. It was not necessary to possess the power of a seer to
see in him the coming Pope,^ as it is said Francis did. Also
as Gregory IX, Hugolin continued to be a true friend and
benefactor of the religious orders — among other things he
founded with his own means a Franciscan convent in Viterbo
and a convent for the poor Clares in Rome (San Cosmiato).
In Lombardy too and in Tuscany several convents owe their
^ Joseph Felten: "Pabst Gregor IX" (Freib. i Bres., 1886), pp. 16-19. Gotz in
"Hist. Vierteljahrsschrift," VI (1903), p. 43. Achilla Luchaire: Innocent III
et I'ltalie (Paris, 1905), passim.
2 Cel., Vita pr., I, V, n. 100.
l82 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
existence to him.' To this man it fell — as his biographer
puts it — "to lind the Order of the Friars Minor in insecurity
and formless and to give it form." ^
As already told, the first acquaintance between Francis
and Hugolin dates from the summer of 1216, when the Papal
Court was established in Perugia. No closer relations were
for the present established.^
Next year, on May 14, 1217, Francis held his usual Pente-
cost Chapter at Portiuncula.^ He had made his appearance
only with grave apprehensions. On his way thither he had
opened his heart to a friend. ''When I now come to the
Chapter," said he, "the Brothers ask me to preach as usual,
and accordingly I do so. But what if all the Brothers, when
I am ready to begin, start to cry out against me: 'We do not
want thee to rule over us any longer, for thou art not eloquent,
as would become thee and as thou oughtest to be, and thou
art too small and simple, and we are ashamed to have so simple
and poor-looking a Superior over us, and therefore thou
shalt no longer be called our supreme head!' And then they
will cast me out with great scorn! "^
Anxious before the many accomplished book-learned
people who now had come into the Brotherhood, Francis
began to preach in his usual simple way. And a wonder
happened — no one called out against him, on the contrary
all the Brothers were greatly edified and filled with peace!
Then Francis took courage and came out with his great plan:
• — that now, when the Brothers were so many, they ought to
go out on missions, not only in Italy but also to countries
on the other side of the mountains, to Germany, to Hungary,
to France and Spain, yes, even to the Holy Land. This
proposal was received with favor, and they started to divide,
not only Italy but also the rest of the world into mission-
' Felten, p. 47.
* "minorum ordinem . . . sub limite incerto rogantem novae regulae tra-
ditionc direxit et informavit informem. " Vila Gregor. IX (Muratori), III,
75, quoted in Felten, p. 45, note i.
» Cel., V. pr., I, c. XXVII, n. 74.
* When Jordanus advances the date of this chapter to 1219 (Anal. Franc,
I, p. 2) it is due to one of those failures in memory for which he has
already apologized.
^ Spec, per/., cap. 64.
CARDINAL HUGOLIN 183
districts, Provinces. The Holy Land was a province in itself,
and over it a man was placed, for whom Francis had a great
liking, Elias Bombarone.^ For himself he chose to go to
France, "because there, more than in all other Catholic
countries, they have the devotion to our Lord's Body."- On
leaving he held one of his usual sermons of admonition, in
which he counselled the Brothers to go about in much silence
and inward prayer, "just as if you were in a hermitage or a
cell. For wherever we go or stay we have with us a cell.
Brother Body is our cell, and the soul sits in it like a hermit
and thinks of God and prays to Him."^
In the Fioretti this journey of Francis to France is described
with many additions.* What is absolutely definite is that
Francis in the latter half of May, 12 17, came to Florence,
and there sought Cardinal HugoHn.
Thomas of Celano is undoubtedly right when he says that
the acquaintance between Francis and Hugolin was as yet not
intimate.^ They had each heard the other praised for goodness
and piety and were thus prepared in advance to enter into
closer friendship. Hugolin was sent by Honorius IH as
Papal Legate to Tuscany with the double task of establishing
peace between the perpetually contending republics and to
preach a crusade.*^ As soon as Francis on his arrival at
Florence found out that the Cardinal was there, he sought
him out — simply on the principle he followed of always
' Jordanus a Giano, Anal. Franc, I, p. 4, n. 9. Compare Anal. Franc, III,
p. 10.
^ Spec, per/., cap. 65.
' " Frater enim corpus est cella nostra, et anima est eremita qui moratur
intus in cella ad orandum Dominiun et meditandum de ipso." Spec per/.,
Sab. ed., p. 121.
* Cap. XIII. Anal. Franc, III, pp. 117 et seq. Francis went to Rome and
visited the Apostles' graves, et al.
^"Nondum alter alteri erat praecipua familiaritate conjunctus, sed sola
fama beatae vitae." Cel., V. pr., I, XXVII, n. 74.
^Felten: "Papst Gregor IX" (Freib. i Br., 1886), pp. 31-35, p. 42. Compare
Archivio delta R. Soc. Romana di Storia Patria,\o\. XII (Roma, 1889), p. 242,
and Honorius Ill's Bull of January 23, 1217 (Potth., I, nr. 5430) and of March 6,
1217 (Potth., I, nr. 5487 and 5488), by which the Pope commends Hugolin's
legation to the Church authorities in Lombardy and Tuscany as well as to the
authorities of Pisa. In May, 121 7, Hugolin stopped for a time in Genoa {Man.
Germ. SS., XVIII, p. 138); thence he went to Florence.
l84 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
seeking quarters with the clergy, rather than with lay-people.^
The Cardinal received him wåth great cordiality, and a con-
versation began in which Francis lightened his burdened
heart, as he had done in former days to Bishop Guido in
Assisi. The end was that Francis cast himself at the feet of
the reverend prelate and conjured him to take up his and his
Brothers' affairs. This Hugolin promised with pleasure, and
Francis from now on looked on him as his spiritual father, to
whom he showed filial reverence and obedience.
The first effect of this new relation w^as that Francis aban-
doned his journey to France. "Brother Francis," said
Hugolin, ''I do not want you to go over the Alps. For there
are many prelates in the Curia at Rome who do not feci well
disposed towards you. But I and the other Cardinals, who feel
well towards you, can help and protect you better if you do
not go too far away."^ In vain did Francis plead that
he could not send his Brothers on missionary journeys
to far and dangerous lands, while he stayed home and
saved his own skin. The Cardinal was immovable, and
Francis had, instead of going himself to France, to send
there the "Verse-king," Brother Pacificus, along with many
other Brothers.^
What now first of all attracted Hugolin and set his organ-
izing spirit at work was the movement which the preach-
ing of the Friars Minor started in the world of women.*
Francis had taken care himself of Clara and her Sisters by
procuring for them the Convent of San Damiano; he had
promised to look after them, both in the spiritual and temporal
»Cel., V. pr., I, XXVII, n. 75. Compare Tres Socii, XIV: "Et quando
erat hora hospitandi, libentius erant cum sacerdotibus quam cum laicis hujus
sacculi." (Amoni's ed., pp. 85-86.)
^ Francis' earlier friend in the College of Cardinals, John of St. Paulo, Cardi-
nal of S. Prisca and Sabine Bishop, died the year before. (Eubel: Hierarchia
j:alh. Mcdii acvi, I, p. 36, and p. 3, n. i, nr. 13.) Among the new friends of Francis
of Assisi in the College of Cardinals, Leo Brancaleone takes a foremost place.
In 1202 he was nominated Cardinal-presbyter with the titular church of
S. Croce in Jerusalem. His signature is found on Papal bulls until May 23,
1224 (Eubel, p. 4). Compare Spec, perf., cap. 67. Later (1219) the above men-
tioned Nicholas Chiaramonti was made cardinal (Eubel p. 37), and Francis
had thereby obtained a new friend in the Curia.
' Spec, per J., cap. 65.
* See pp. 179-180.
CARDINAL HUGOLIN 185
sense, as long as he lived.^ But this promise could not be
extended to include all of those who now came and asked for
the Brothers to guide them to salvation!
The Forma vivendi or Rule of Life, which Francis had given
Clara and her Sisters, simply told them to "live after the
gospel," that is to say, in poverty, labor, and prayer. After
having distributed their possessions to the poor, the Sisters
in San Damiano could not again accept any property, either
themselves or by an intermediary; the only exception was
the convent itself with so much land around it as was required
for its isolation. But this land was not to be cultivated,
except as a garden for the needs of the Sisters.^ This Privilege
of Poverty was what Clara, apparently by Francis' inter-
vention, in 1215 had had ratified by Innocent III.^
This was all the rule there was for Clara and her Sisters,
and this Rule applied — this we must note well — only to
San Da?niano, for the simple reason that Francis had never
thought of the possibiHty of more convents of the same kind.*
Now when there was talk of how to dispose of the many
young women who gathered together in all the towns and
wished to live a religious hfe, Hugolin was entirely free.^
In the course of the years I2i7-i2i9we find him therefore
busy in estabhshing the Order which has since come to be
called the Clares, but which in the documents of the time is
called by the most varying names. Of the highest importance
to the understanding of the evolution of the Order of the
^ Textiis originales (Quar., 1897), p. 92.
^ The sisters were advised by Clara to observe their vow of poverty "in non
recipiendo vel habendo possessionem vel proprietatem per se neque per inter-
positam personam . . . nisi quantum terrae pro honestate et remotione mo-
nasterii necessitas requirit; et ilia terra non laboretur, nisi pro horto ad
necessitatem ipsarum." Reg. S. Clarae, cap. VI. (Textus orig., pp. 64-65.)
^ Test. S. Clarae (Texttis, p. 277). Compare pp. 130-131.
^ "Ipsis" (Clara and her sisters) "beatus Franciscus formulam vitae tradidit,"
Hugolin himself says explicitly {Btdl. Franc., I, p. 243).
^ I lay great stress on this, like Lempp: "Die Afifange des Klarissenordens,"
in Brieger's "Zeitschrift f. Kgsch.," XIII, pp. 181-245. Of "violent conduct"
on Hugolin's part "against Francis' directions" (p. 243) there can be no reason-
able discussion. S. Damiano and the Sisters there cloistered were one thing for
Francis, the new convents which were now founded were something different;
it was for S. Damiano alone that he had undertaken to care (Wadding, 12 19,
n. 44: "huius solius curam").
l86 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Clares, is a letter of August 27, 12 18 from Honorius III
to Hugolin. It is an answer to a letter from the Cardinal, in
which he had informed the Pope that several maidens and
other women wished to flee from the pomps and vanities of the
world and to prepare for themselves abiding places where
they could live without owning anything, with the exception
of these houses and the chapel or church appertaining thereto.
Several pieces of land had been offered to Hugolin for this
object, and now he asked for full authority to accept these
pieces of land in the name of the Church of Rome, so that the
convents built thereon would be out of the jurisdiction of
the local bishop and directly subject to Rome. Honorius
granted this authority in his answer; no other churchly or
temporal authority should have anything to say about these
convents, and this position of exemption should continue as
long as the Sisters affected by it should abide by their vow of
poverty.^
Even before Hugolin had received this letter, Bishop John
of Perugia, July 31, 12 18, had given his permission for the
erection of a convent for nuns of the above description, upon
Monteluce by Perugia. In exchange for his renunciation of
his jurisdiction over the convent he exacted only a tribute
of a pound of wax to be given every 15th of August.- At
about the same time Hugolin took steps for the establishment
of three exactly similar convents — one in Siena, outside of
Porta CamolHa, one in Lucca (St. Maria in Gattajola), and
finally one in Monticelli near Florence.^
At first the only requirement for the religious life in these
convents was poverty. It was the Franciscan preaching and
the Franciscan life which had drawn these women out of the
world and into the convent.
When the problem was to establish a proper Rule for the
* Bull Literae tiiae (Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, I, p. i): "quamplures virgines et
aliae malieres . . . deciderant fugere pompas et divitias hujus mundi et fabri-
cari sibi aliqua domicilia in quibus vivant nihil possidcntes sub coelo, exceptis
domiciliis ipsis et construendis oratoriis in eisdem." (Potth., I, 5896.)
* Sbar., I, 635-636. The Sisters are there called Ancillae Christi. See Hono-
rius Ill's Bull of September 24, 1222, to "Abbesses and nuns {monialihus) in the
convent S. Maria of Monteluce," Sbar., I, pp. 13 et seq. (Potth., I, 6879c).
'Siena: Sbar., I, p. 11, Potth., I, 6879b; Lucca: Sbar., I, p. 10, Potth., I,
6879a; Florence: Sbar., I, p. 3, Potth., I, 6179.
CARDINAL HUGOLIN 187
Order for these new convents, the obvious thing for Hugolin
to do was to consult the Lateran Council of 12 15 and its
Interdiction of New Orders. This great assemblage of the
Church, taking into consideration the so frequently proposed
new Orders and the resulting confusion, determined that for
the future no new Rules of an Order should be approved by
the Church, but that those who wished to found a new con-
vent or establish a new Order should be instructed to accept
one of the old and tested Rules.^
One of the first to whom this regulation applied was St.
Dominic.2 According to John of Saxony the Dominicans as
well as the Friars Minor were definitely accepted by the Lateran
Council, but neither of them obtained Papal sanction of their
Rule. Dominic was even told to go home again and talk
over with his Brothers as to which of the Rules, already in
existence, they would decide to choose.^ They chose the
Premonstratensian Rule, and Honorius ratified this choice,
when he explicitly defined the Dominicans as "a canonical
Order after the Rule of St. Augustin." ^
Exactly in the same way Hugolin had to proceed in the
case of the nuns of St. Clare. As Dominic chose the Pre-
monstratensian Rule for himself and his associates. Cardinal
Hugohn now chose for the Franciscan Sisters the oldest and
most respected of all the Rules of Orders of the West — the
Rule of the Benedictines. What Francis expressly stood by
^"Ne nimia religionum diversitas gravem in ecclesia Dei confusionem
inducat, firmiter prohibemus, ne quis de cetero novam religionem inveniat;
sed quicumque voluerit ad religionem convert!, unam de approbatis assumat.
Similiter qui voluerit religiosam domum fundare de novo, regulam et insti-
tutionem accipiat de religionibus approbatis." {A. SS., Oct. II. p. 604,
n. 308. Labbe, XI, col. 165 and 168).
^ Bierfreund's assertion in the first volume of his book on Florence, where
he says that Dominic was the Pope's and Curia's great friend and obtained all
the privileges he wanted, in distinction to Francis, is quite without ground.
See A. SS., Aug. i, pp. 437 et seq.,
'"In quo concilio ordines fratrum prædicatorum et minorum, qui tunc
recenter surrexerunt . . . recepti sunt, sed nondum confirmati; quia idem
Innocentius ad eorum confirmationem durus fuit." Vitae fratrum i., I,
c. XIV {A.SS., p. 604, n. 310).
* "ordo canonicus secundum beati Augustin! regulam." Honorius III,
Bull of December 22, 1216 (Potth., I, 5403). Echard therefore says also:
"non tam ordinem novum erexit [Honorius] quam ordinem canonicum auxit
in apostolicum" {A. SS., Aug. i, p. 458, n. 416).
l88 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
as an inevitable basic principle, that the evangelical poverty
must not be impaired, Hugolin adhered to accurately; not once
could the Sisters acquire ownership of the ground on which
the convents were built; they belonged to Hugolin in the
name of the Church. In exactly the same spirit Francis
had not wished to own Portiuncula, but continued to regard
the land as belonging to the Benedictines, and to pay them
a yearly rent for it.^
* Spec, perf., cap. 55 (Sab. ed., p. 98). It is here clearly stated that Francis
did not wish the Brothers to dwell in a place, which was not "subtus dominio
aliquorum." Therefore Portiuncula is named even in 1244 in a document
as belonging to the Abbey on Monte Subasio (Sab. ditto, p. 269). Not Hugo-
lin, as Lempp would have it, but I'rancis himself introduced this difference
between dominium and usus, ownership and use.
Lempp seems in his article to ascribe a singular meaning to the fact that
Hugolin had a forest made over to the Sisters in Gattajola; he thinks that
this must have involved a breach of their poverty brought about by Hugolin,
because it was a source of revenue for them. In the same way the great Bene-
dictine abbeys owned forests, pastures, lakes, etc. From the Bull in question
it is clear that the requisite forest only is referred to, because the whole piece
was covered with trees. The woods were cut down when the convent was built.
("Ostiensis episcopus a Rolandino Volpelli cive Lucanensi silvam qua?ndam
quam habebat in loco, qui Gattajola dicitur . . . nostro nomine recepisset; et
in fnonasterio ibi cotistructo," Honorius III writes. Sbaralea, I, p. 10.) Lempp
admits that the Clares might own a convent with chapel. These could not
float in the air, but the principle of poverty is preserved by having the title to
the land stand in some one else's name (in this case the Roman throne). This
was quite in Francis' spirit, and Lempp has gone wrong when he ("Zeitsch.
f. Kgsh.," XXIII, pp. 626-629) declares categorically that this ordinance was
something quite different from what Francis and Clara desired. (See also
Lemmens in "Romische Quartalschrift," XVI, pp. 93-124.)
Lempp again goes wrong when he (ditto, p. 628), as proof that the convent
of the Clares, erected with Hugolin's approval, really owned nothing in the old
monastic and anti-Franciscan sense of the word, quotes Honorius' Bull of De-
cember 9, 1 2 19 to the Clares in Monticelli. It reads: "Praeterea locum vestrum
et ea quae in ipsius circuitu juste ac canonice possidetis, vobis . . . confirma-
mus. Ad praestationem" (read: a praestatione) "dccimarum clausurae vestrae
et de hortorum fructibus vos esse decernimus immunes." (Sbar., I, p. 4.)
The Sisters in Lucca are similarly addressed in a bull ("locum vestrum cum
omnibus pertinentiis suis et omnia, quae juste et canonice possidetis." Sbar.,
p. 11) as are those in Montcluce (p. 14).
Two things here are important, which Lempp entirely overlooks: (a) locum
means in the older Franciscan terminology always a convent, and by "quae in
ipsius circuitu" or "pertinentia" there is not meant the possession of surround-
ing lands, but of outhouses and the like belonging to the convent; (h) the Pope
adopts in all three Bulls the expression "juste ac canonice." But rightly and
canonirally the Clares could own nothing except domicilia and oratoria (Bull of
August 27, 1218). Finally, regarding the freedom from tithes for the fruits of
CARDINAL HUGOLIN 189
The outlines of the Rule of Life of the Clares was in accord-
ance with that of St. Benedict. They were not bound hterally
to this Rule — as Innocent IV expressly declared at a later
period ^ — they were only in general obliged to lead a life
based on obedience, poverty and chastity. To this were
added many rigid rules of cloister. The cloister could be
entered by no stranger, and the active care of the sick, which,
according to Jacques de Vitry, the Sisters were to have prac-
tised, must now in every case cease.^ It is certainly Francis
who wished the rigid cloistering for preventing the meeting
of his Brothers and the nuns; HugoHn is said nevertheless
to have wept from sympathy when he, with Francis, wrote
down this requirement.^ After Francis' death he modified
several of the most rigid of the observances.^
After 1 2 19 the Clares lived after the Rule of St. Benedict,
but with the addition of the so-called "Observances of St.
Damian."^ In these last it is permissible to see with some
degree of confidence the forma vivendi which Francis in his
time had given Clara, and which now was put into the second
position, but was by no means inoperative.^ The core of
these observances (observantiae) was presumably the privi-
legium of poverty, which Clara, after the custom of the
their garden, granted to the Sisters, and in which Lempp seems to see an indi-
cation of a definite ownership of the ground, the cultivation of the garden, with
the uses of the convent always in view, was the only use of the ground Clara
allowed. {Texlus originales, p. 64.)
1 Sbar., I, pp. 315 and 350.
" Boehmer, " Analekten," p. 98. Actus b. Francisci, cap. XLIII at end,
' "Hoc audivi ab antiquis patribus quod ipse" [Hugolin] "cum beato Fran-
cisco . . . ordinaverunt et scripserunt regulam sororum ordinis S. Damiani
. . . propter cujus regulae arctitudinem partim devotione, partim compas-
sione cardinalis ipse perfundebatur multis lacrymis in scribendo." {Anal. Fr.,
HI, p. 708.)
^ Sbar., I, p. loi, p. 213, p. 215, p. 240.
^ " Observantias nihilominus regulares, quas juxta ordinem dominarum
sanctae Mariae de sancto Damiano de Assisio praeter generalem beati Bene-
dicti regulam vobis voluntarie indixistis." Sbaralea, I, p. 4.
^ For this must be thus understood, when Gregory IX, May ir, 1238, an-
nounced to the prioress of the Clares, Agnes of Bohemia, that Francis' formula
vitae, after the Rule of St. Benedict was introduced, must be regarded as "post-
posita " (Sbar., I, p. 243). Francis, moreover, had not given out this rule of life
publicly all at once, but after his habit in instalments (" plura scripla tradidit
nobis," says Clara therefore. Text, orig., p. 276).
190 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
time, tried to have confirmed on the accession of each new
pope.
As long as Francis lived there was no complete new Rule
given to the Sisters in San Damiano or to the community of
Poor Clares in general. It was only after the death of Francis
that Gregory IX tried to introduce modifications, first of all
in the Regulation of Poverty. "On account of the unfavor-
able times" it might be well to own a Uttle land, on which
the convent could be firmly founded, instead of depending
entirely on begging. These views of his he also brought to
the attention of Clara, but was (see pp. 136, 137) definitely
refused. On September 17, 1228 Clara obtained from
Gregory — as she had from his predecessor — the privilege
of poverty.^ The Clares in Perugia had their privilege re-
newed June 16, 1229, and Clara's sister, Agnes, obtained
the same for her convent of Monticelli, near Florence.^
Other convents were less constant, however. Many of
them in this very year had the right of ownership granted
by Gregory, and not only the right of usufruct, but of inherit-
ing and owning.^
This defection filled Clara with anxiety and sorrow. As
long as she lived, San Damiano would remain ''the fortified
tower of supreme poverty." But how was it to be when she
was gone ?
Thence came her ardor for replacing the Benedictine Rule
and its proportion of the privilege of poverty with a com-
pletely new, real Franciscan Rule of the Order. There can
be no doubt that she herself wrote it and that it was the one
which Innocent IV ratified two days before her death.*
This Rule is, as far as possible, modelled on the Franciscan
Rule. Like it, it is divided into twelve chapters, each of
^ Texlus orig., p. 97. The original is still preserved in Assisi.
* Perugia: Sbar., I, p. 50. Monticelli: Analcda Franc, III, p. 176 (letter
from St. Agnes to her sister: "Inter haec sciatis, quod dominus papa satisfecit
mihi . . . secundum intentionem vestram, et mcam dc causa, quam scitis,
de facto videlicet proprii").
' In these cases it reads "vobis et per vos monasterio vestro concedimus et
donamus." Sbar., I, 73. Bull of July 18, 1231. Compare Lemmens (as
before), p. 107.
* See p. 136.
CARDINAL HUGOLIN 191
them not greatly differing from Hugolin's and Francis' Rule
of 1 2 19. But the point on which Clara's Rule is based is
in the very first place the obligation of poverty. As she
came to this section she ceased to be the impersonal law-
giver and began to speak from her heart.
"After the Heavenly Father," she writes, " had enlightened
my heart with His grace, and had led me in the model of our
most holy Father Francis on the way of penance, shortly after
his own conversion, then I and my Sisters promised him
willing obedience."
And as she turned her thoughts to these times, now so re-
mote, when she first said good-bye to the world, one recollec-
tion after another pressed upon her. She remembered so many
words that came from the mouth of the dear teacher and
guide addressed to the honor of his Lady, the noble Lady
Poverty, and wrote them down. And with strong hand she
impressed the sentence, in which the ideal claim appears on
record in all its rigor beyond all appeal:
"The Sisters shall own neither house nor convent nor
anything, but as strangers and pilgrims shall wander through
this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humihty."
Under these words, as Clara was closing her eyes in death,
Innocent set the inviolable seal of Rome.^
^ Reg. S. Clarac, cap. VIII, compare cap. VI (Textus, p. 65 and pp. 62-63),
in which Clara concedes "as much earth as is necessary for the isolation of the
convent " and for a garden. Not all of the Clares accepted the Rule of August 9,
1253. Many continued to live after the version of HugoHn of 1247, confirmed
by Innocent IV and in some particulars modified. (See the Bull in question
in Sbaralea, I, p. 476, Potth., II, nr. 12635.)
CHAPTER VI
THE MISSIONARIES
WHILE Francis, together with Hugolin, was engaged
with internal affairs of the Order, the mission-
aries of the Chapter of 12 17 were gone each
in his own direction. None of them had much
success with it. Those who went to France were asked if
they were Albigenses, and when they, not understanding
the question, answered "Yes," they were treated accord-
ingly; for Albigenses were heretics. The German mission
went no better. It was a troop of sixty Brothers under the
lead of John of Penna. They too were ignorant ^of the lan-
guage of the country, but they had learned the word "Ja"
(Yes). As they, by constantly using this as an answer to
the questions addressed to them, obtained food and drink
and lodging, they kept on using the magic word. But now
it went wrong, for as they also answered " Ja" to the question
if they were heretics, they were cast into prison, put in the
stocks,, and maltreated in other ways. In Hungary no
better fortune awaited the Brothers; the peasants set their
dogs on them and the pig-herds ran after them with their
long sticks. "Why do they torment us so?" the Brothers
asked each other in vain, and one of them thought that it
might be that the Hungarians wanted their cloaks. Then
they gave their tormentors their cloaks, but that did not
help. Remembering the words of the gospel, they gave them
next their robe. But even this did not satisfy the Hungarians.
"Let us in God's name give them our breeches too," the
patient Brothers said, and now they were permitted to go on
naked. One of the Brothers had the fortune in this way —
as we are told by John of Giano — to part with his breeches
six times. At last they hit upon the plan of smearing their
192
THE MISSIONARIES I93
breeches with cow-dung, so that the peasants would not
want them.^
All these Job's torments naturally filled Francis with care
and disquiet. It was probably at this time that he is said to
have had the following dream. He saw a Httle black hen and
around it a whole flock of Httle chickens were running and
chirping — so many were the chickens that the poor hen could
not get them all under her wings. "The hen is I," he said
to himself, as he awakened. "I am small and black, and it
is evident that I cannot take care of my sons." ^ More than
ever it was made clear to him that he must make over the
care of his Order to the Church. This made it easy for
Hugohn to persuade him to go to Rome and have an audience
with the Pope. This probably occurred in the winter of
1217-1218; we know that in the interval between December 5,
121 7 and April 7 of the next year Hugolin was in Rome.^
On this occasion the Cardinal seems to have had his doubts
as to the impression which Francis would make upon the new
Pope and his entire Curia. He had therefore persuaded him
in preparation to study a speech, but when Francis started
to say it he found that he had forgotten every word of it.
This often happened to him; on such occasions he used to
say to his audiences, at once, how it was, and he often would
then speak much better than if he had given the discourse
he had studied. If he found that he could say nothing, he
would give the people his blessing and let them go.^
And so it happened as he stood before the Pope. Without
being frightened, Francis knelt down at once and asked for
his blessing. He then spoke and got into so ecstatic a mood
that at last he began to move his feet in rhythmic movement,
like David before the ark.^ So far from finding this laughable,
^ Anal. Fr., I, p. 3 and p. 7. ^ Tres Socii, cap. XVI.
'Potth. I, nrs. 5629-5747. That this was Francis' first audience with
Honorius III follows from the authorities — Hugolin was disturbed about
Francis' ways and feared that he would cut a poor figure. (Cel., V. pr., I,
XX\T:I, n. 73: "episcopus Hostiensis timore suspensus est . . . ne beati viri
contemneretur simplicitas. ") For this he had no ground if Francis already
in 1 216 had stood before Honorius with authority as God's messenger and, so
to say, had forced from him the Portiuncula indulgence.
* Cel., V. pr., I, n. 73. Bonav., XII, 7.
^ Cel., V. pr., same place. Tres Socii, cap. XVI.
14
194 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
the Pope and Cardinals were deeply impressed by the remark-
able man, and when Francis at last begged that Cardinal
Hugolin might be made the special protector of the Order,
the request was acceded to.
During his stay in Rome Francis made the acquaintance
of St. Dominic; Hugolin brought them together. The
Spanish founder of the great Order was seized with the greatest
and most sincere admiration for the little barefooted Poor
Man of God from Assisi. "Let us melt our Orders into one,"
he said to him, and as Francis would not accede, Dominic
begged of him at least as a memorial the rope he wore around
his waist. Soon after the two founders were to meet again
at Portiimcula, and one year before Dominic's death they
met once more in Rome. It was on this last occasion —
in the winter of 1 220-1 221 — that Hugolin, with a reform of
the clergy in mind, proposed to Francis and Dominic to have
the higher ranks of the clergy filled with men of the two new
Orders. Both Dominic and Francis refused to enter into
such an arrangement. "My Brothers are minores, let them
not become maj ores, ''^ was the rejoinder.^ It was under the
influence of Francis that Dominic, at the Pentecost Chapter,
held in Bologna in 1220, introduced incapacity of ownership
into his Order (only in 12 18 he had sought Papal approbation
of the possessions belonging to the Order), and on his death-
bed he pronounced his curse on all who would impair his
Brothers' evangelical poverty.^
In the year 1 2 1 8 there was held the first Pentecost Chapter,
at which Hugohn was present as the Order's protector. The
Brothers met him in solemn procession and Hugolin dis-
mounted from his steed, took off his fine clothes, and walked
barefoot, and clad in the Franciscan habit, to Portiuncula.
Here he sang mass in the little chapel, while Francis officiated
as deacon and read the gospel. It may have been at the same
Chapter that Hugolin afterwards helped the Brothers wash
the feet of some paupers. Foot-washing here was more than
' Spec, perf., c. 43. Cel., V. sec, III, c. 86-87. Bernard a Bessa, Afial.
Franc. Ill, p. 675.
^ Jean Guiraud: Saint Dominique (Paris, 1901), pp. 164-168, p. 189. Do-
minicus died August 6, 1221.
THE MISSIONARIES 195
a ceremony, and when the Cardinal did not succeed in getting
the dirt off this particular beggar's feet, the beggar said
angrily, without suspecting in the humble Brother waiting
upon him the great Prince of the Church, " Go on your way,
and let some one come that understands this!"
As already said, Dominic had seized the chance to again
meet Francis; he found him in the Cardinal's suite. What
he saw at the Chapter must have deeply impressed him.
"For among so many men, none was heard to gossip or to
speak unbecomingly, but wherever there was a group of
Brothers assembled, they either prayed or said their Office or
wept over their sins or over the sins of their benefactors. . . .
And their beds were the naked earth, but some had also a
little straw, and the pillow was either a stone or a piece of a
tree. . . . And St. Francis said to his Brothers: 'In the name
of holy obedience I bid you all who are here assembled, that
none of you shall be concerned about what you shall eat, or
what you shall drink, or what your bodies need, but think
only of praying and praising God and leave to Him the whole
care of your bodily welfare, for He will take care of you!'
But St. Dominic, who was present all the time, wondered over
the message Francis had given out and thought that he had
borne himself very unreasonably, because, where so great a
number of men were assembled, he asked that none should give
attention to the things which are necessary for the body. . . .
But the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to show that He loved His
Poor with special love, and at once inspired the people in
Perugia, in FoKgno, in Spello, in Assisi and in the other towns
in the vicinity to bring the holy assemblage both food and
drink. And behold, at once men came from all these towns
with asses, mules and horses loaded with bread, with fruit
and with other good things to eat. . . . And besides they
came with tablecloths, pots, dishes and cups and other such
things, both large and small, which so large a crowd of men
would require. And the more anyone was able to bring the
Brothers, . . . the luckier he considered himself." ^
^ Fior., c. 18 {Actus, c. XX). Compare Tres Socii, cap. XV, p. 88,
Amoni's ed., Cel., V. pr., II, V, n. 100, and Philip of Perugia's letter of 1305 to
the General of the Order, Gonsalvo, in Anal. Franc, III, p. 709.
196 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
In fact the generosity of the inhabitants of the vicinity
at the time of these meetings was very great. Jordanus of
Giano tells of a Chapter, at which he was present, where
they had to remain two days over the time at the place to
get all eaten up which was brought them.'
At the Pentecost Chapter of the next year (May 26, 12 19)
it was decided to again take up the mission work which two
years before had failed so badly. Hugolin had employed
the interval in preparing the way for the Brothers by sending
out letters of introduction for them to the various regions
whither they were going; he undertook to answer for them
to the Bishops and declared them to be good Catholic men,
who rejoiced in the approval of the Apostolic throne and who
could be safely permitted to preach everywhere.^ Then at
the right moment — June 11, 12 19 — came the document
from the highest church authority, which it was Hugolin's
fortune to have obtained: Pope Honorius' Letter of Com-
mendation for the Brothers, addressed to all "Archbishops,
Bishops, Abbots, Deacons, Archdeacons and other prelates"
whom the Brothers might meet. The bearer of the Letter
is declared in this Papal brief to be a good CathoKc, who sows
God's seed after the example of the Apostles and whose way
of Ufe is approved by the Holy See.^ Armed with copies of
this document and with Francis' permission to receive new
Brothers into the Order, the missionary leaders went off each
at the head of his Httle band."*
This time no missionaries were sent to Germany, so great
was the Brothers' fear of the prisons and stocks of the Teutons.
On the other hand Brother Giles and Brother Electus went
to Tunis, Brother Benedict of Arezzo to Greece, Pacificus went
back to France, and a small selected band undertook to carry
out Francis' old plan and go to the miramoUn of Morocco.
^ Anal. Franc., I, p. 6, n. 16.
* Tres Socii, cap. XVI, p. 94, Amoni's ed.
' Bull Cum Dilccli, Sbar., I, p. 2 (Potth., I, n. 608). A new bull, especially
addressed to the French prelates, in whose dioceses the heretics were most
prevalent, was published March 29, 1219. Sbar., I, p. 5. Potth., I, 6263.
■• When it is said in the Tres Socii, p. 94, .'\moni's ed., that the missionaries
bore with them "litteras Cardinalis" "rcgula bulla apostolica coufirmala,"
the Papal recommendation is meant.
THE MISSIONARIES 197
The mission to Tunis had a sad end. Giles and his com-
panion were put on board a ship by force, to be taken away.
This was done by the Christians of the place, who were afraid
that the presence of the missionaries would result in diffi-
culties with the Mussulmen. And Brother Electus, who had
just separated from the others, soon suffered martyrdom,
which he accepted kneeling, with the Rule in his clasped
hands, declaring his accountabihty for all the sins he might
have committed during his life in the Order. ^
Francis embraced with great affection the Brothers who
were going to the miramolin. Their names were Vitale,
Berardo, Peter, Adjuto, Accursorio and Otto. Before send-
ing them Francis addressed them, and according to an old
account his words were these:
" ' My sons ! God has ordered me to send you to the land of
the Saracens to announce and make known there His faith and
to combat the law of Mohammed. . . . Prepare yourselves,
therefore, to fulfil the will of the Lord!' But they bowed
their heads and said, ' Father, we are ready to obey thee in
all things.' But Francis was rejoiced greatly over such com-
plete obedience and said with love to them: 'Dearest sons,
so that you can better fulfil God's command, see to it that
there is peace and unity and indissoluble charity among you.
Envy no one, for envy is the occasion of sin. Be patient in
tribulations, be humble if all goes well with you. Copy
Christ in poverty, obedience and chastity. For the Lord
Jesus Christ was born poor, lived in poverty, taught poverty
and died in poverty. And to show that He loved chastity.
He wished to be born of a virgin, followed and counselled
virginity and died surrounded by virgins. And He was
obedient from His birth to His death, yes to His death on the
Cross. Hope in God alone. He guides and helps us. Carry
with you the Rule and the Breviary, and pray with complete-
ness at the holy times. And all of you obey your great
Brother Vitale. O my sons, well do I rejoice over your good
will, but that I shall be separated from you, that grieves me
in my heart. But the command of God must be obeyed
1 Egidio (Giles): A. SS., April III, p. 224. Anal. Franc, III, p. 78. Electus:
Spec, per/., cap. 77. Cel., Vita sec, III, 135. Anal. Franc, III, p. 224.
198 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISl'
rather than our will. And this I beg of you, that you may
always have the sufferings of our Lord before your eyes, that
will strengthen you and inspire you to suffer for Him ! '
"Then these holy Brothers answered: 'Father, send us
where thou wilt, for we are ready to do thy will. But you,
father, help us with thy prayers to fulfil thy commands.
For we are young and have never been out of Italy, and the
people we go to we know not, but we know that they rage
against the Christians, and we are ignorant and cannot speak
Arabic. And when they see us in such poor raiment and with
the rope, they will ridicule us as crazy men and will not listen
to us; therefore we greatly need thy prayers. Ah, good
father, shall we really be separated from thee? How shall
we be able to do God's will without thee? '
"But St. Francis was greatly overcome, and with great
power he said: 'Depend on God, my sons! He, who sends
you, will also give you power and will help you, as that is
His good pleasure!' Then all six fell on their knees and kissed
his hand with many tears and asked for his blessing. And
St. Francis wept also and lifted up his eyes to heaven and
blessed them and said : ' The blessing of God the Father come
upon you, as it came upon the Apostles; may He strengthen
and lead you and comfort you in your troubles. And fear
not, for the Lord is with you and will fight for you."^
This narration may in some particulars be more or less his-
toric; one reahzes at any rate an impressive conception of
the relations between Francis and his Brothers. And then the
six young missionaries went away — in accordance with the
precept of the Bible, without staff or sack, without shoes
on the feet, without silver and gold in their belts. Their
way took them through Aragon — where Vitale fell sick and
had to be left after them — through Castile and Portugal.
Two years before this the Friars Minor had been in Portugal;
King Alfonso's pious sister Sancia had received them in a
friendly way, had given them a little chapel in Alenquer and
had a house built for them. Soon after the queen, Urraca,
^ "Qualiter beatus Franciscus eos misit Marochium" (Anal. Franc, III, pp.
581-582. After a manuscript of the end of the fourteenth century. Compare
pp. 15 et seq.).
THE MISSIONARIES I99
gave them a convent in the vicinity of Coimbra. The five
missionaries took their departure hence for Seville, which
was then under Mohammedan control.
On arriving at Seville they began to preach outside the
principal mosque of the city, and were at once seized and
brought before the authorities. The miramolin, who resided
in Morocco, was at this time Abu Jacob. After the defeat
his father Mohammed el Nasir had suffered in 12 12 at Tolosa,
he was not inclined to displease the Christians, and by so
much the less as he had at the head of his army a Christian
leader. Dom Pedro, Infanta of Portugal, who because of dis-
cord with his brother, the reigning king, had accepted Moham-
medan employment. Abu Jacob seems on the whole to have
been a peaceful soul; his greatest enjoyment was to play
shepherd and to drive personally his flock to the pasture.
When the five Franciscans from Seville were sent to him, so
that he could determine their fate, he seems to have had most
pleasure in letting them go. In any case they were not cast
by him into prison, but he let them live with their co-rehgion-
ist. Dom Pedro.
The Brothers utilized this freedom now to preach in the
markets and streets. They had learned a little Arabic,
especially Berardo, who was leader of the band of missionaries.
It happened that one day the miramolin, who was riding to
his father's grave outside the city, passed by a place where
Berardo stood and preached from a wagon. He ordered
thereupon that the five Brothers should not be punished,
but sent home to the Christian land.
The carrying out of this order was entrusted to Dom
Pedro, who sent the five missionaries to Ceuta under guard,
whence they were to sail home. Instead the Brothers turned
about and went back to Morocco and began to preach again.
Now the miramolin put them into prison, but set them free
again, whereupon they were again taken to Ceuta, when
they again, just as before, returned to Morocco. Dom Pedro
took them with him on a warlike expedition into the interior
of the country; both he and the other Christians living in
the capital feared that the missionary activities of the Brothers
would result in a persecution of the Christians. Accordingly
200 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
after his return from this raid Dom Pedro had the Brothers
carefully watched, but when they, one Friday, saw the chance
to escape — this being the Mohammedan weekly holiday —
and started to preach, where they knew that the miramolin
would pass by, they could no longer be saved. After fearful
torture — among other tortures they were rolled naked
back and forth a whole night on a bed of broken glass — and
after a hearing, where their answers remind us of the first
martyrs before the Roman judges, they managed to arouse
Abu Jacob's fury, so that he rose up and himself beheaded
the five martyrs with his own hand. Dom Pedro saw to it
that their lifeless bodies were taken to Coimbra, where Queen
Urraca, at the head of the entire populace, went to meet the
martyrs and laid them in the Church of Santa Cruz.^
The announcement of the deaths of these five martyrs was
read at the Pentecost Chapter of 122 1 — it was on January 16
of the preceding year that they suffered martyrdom — and
Francis thereupon cried out, "Now I can truly say that I
have five real Brothers." ^ When we think of his deep
reverence for the crown of martyrdom, such an utterance
from his mouth is quite credible.' According to another
source he is said to have forbidden the reading of the account
of the sufferings of the Brothers. "Let every one exult in
his own martyrdom and not in that of others," he is said to
have commanded, as he thought of the Brothers' pride in
now having five martyrs in the Order.'*
Be this as it may, it is beyond all doubt that Francis at
this time himself went forth to win martyrdom. As early
as 1 2 18 he had sent Brother Elias away as a missionary to
the Holy Land, and Elias had here, among others, received
^ Anal. Franc, III, pp. 583-593. A shorter version in Karl Miiller: "Die
Anfdnge des Minoriknordens," pp. 207-210, and in Anal. Franc, III, pp.
15-21.
^ Ajial. Franc, III, 21.
' Compare his words in Celano, Vila sec, U, 112 (d'Alcngon's cd.): "Summam
(obedientiam) . . . illam esse crcdcbat, qua divina inspiratione inter infideles
itur, sive ob proximorum lucrum, sive ob marlyrii dcsiderium. Hanc vero petere
multum Deo iudicabat acccptum."
* Jordanus, n. 8 (Anal. Franc, I, p. 3). Jordanus himself was one of those
who thus would be proud of what others had undergone — see his candid avowal,
same place, n. 18 (p. 7).
THE MISSIONARIES 20I
the first German into the Order — the learned, far-travelled
clerk, Cæsarius of Speier.' In the summer of 12 19 a strong
attack was to be made on Egypt by the Crusaders by order
of Honorius III. Francis decided in his own way to partici-
pate in this Holy War. After having placed Brother Mat-
thew of Narni as his vicar in Portiuncula, where he was to
remain and put the habit of the Order on the new Brothers,
and appointed Brother Gregory of Naples as his vicar for the
rest of Italy, Francis started for the Holy Land in company
with his old friend Peter of Cattani.^
* Anal. Franc, I, p. 4 (Jordanus, n. 9).
^ "Matthaeum vero instituit ad S. Mariam de Portiuncula, ut ibi manens
recipiendos ad ordinem reciperet, Gregorium autem, ut circumeundo Italiam
fratres consolaretur." (Jordanus, n. 11. Anal. Franc, I, p. 4.)
CHAPTER VII
TEE FOREIGN MISSIONS AND THE CHAPTER
OF MATS
THE Brothers who from love of Christ go to the
heathen may act in two ways with them. The
first way is, not to quarrel or dispute with words,
but for the sake of God to be subject to all crea-
tures and thus to let it be known that they are Christians.
The other way is, that they, when they see that it pleases
the Lord, shall announce the word of God and summon all
to believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and to
let themselves be baptized and become Christians. And the
Brothers must remember that they have given up themselves
and their bodies to our Lord Jesus Christ, and that they, for
love to Him, must not yield either to visible or invisible foes;
for the Lord says, ' He that shall lose his life for my sake, shall
save it !"'^
It is certain that it was with such feelings as these that
Francis and his companion, Pietro dei Cattani, on St. John's
Day, 1 2 19, embarked on the Crusaders' fleet, sailed out of the
harbor of Ancona and saw Italy disappearing behind them.
The journey by sea to the Holy Land used then to last a
month. At last in July, Francis went ashore at St. Jean
d'Acre, where he was probably met by Brother Elias. Possi-
bly Francis had brought some Brothers with him from Europe
— the story about Brother Barbarus located in Cyprus
points to this conclusion .^ It may be that a number of the
Brothers joined him in St. Jean d'Acre and followed him to the
Crusaders' army, which lay before Damietta in Egypt.
• From Legcnda anliqua (Sab., Opusc. dc critique, I, pp. 102-105). Compare
Reg. sec, cap. XII.
* Ccl., Vil. sec., II, 115 (ed. d'Alcngon).
202
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS 203
The siege of this strong place had already lasted a long
time (since May, 12 18), and the end was not in sight. Nearly
every day there was a new fight; just before Francis' arrival,
namely, July 29, 12 19, there had been a great battle, in which
two thousand Saracens had bitten the dust. On July 31
the Crusaders accordingly ventured upon an attack by storm
upon Damietta, but were beaten back with great loss by the
Mussulmen under the two brave and able leaders, Melek el
Kamel, sultan of Egypt, and his brother the sultan of Damas-
cus, Melek el Moaddem, called Conrad by the Christians.
At first Francis found a large enough field of work in the
army of the Crusaders. The Christian c^mp was very low
in point of morals, and after the Crusaders' new, great defeat
of August 29, where five thousand men were left upon the
field, their minds were inclined to listen to Francis' preaching
of conversion. Of the effect of this preaching Jacques de
Vitry writes in his letter from Damietta to friends at home:
"Rainer, the Prior of St. Michael" (in St. Jean d'Acre)
"has gone over into the Order of Friars Minor, which is spread-
ing greatly over the whole world, because they so closely
follow the fife of the first Christians' congregations and on
the whole of the Apostles. . . . Also my clerk Colinus the
Englishman, and two other of my companions, namely
Master Michael and Lord Matthews, to whom I had handed
over the care of souls at the church of the Holy Cross"
(also in St. Jean d'Acre), "and it is with the greatest difliculty
that I can keep the cantor and Henryk and the others back."^
First of all Francis was attracted here to get an opportunity
at last to put into practice his long-cherished dream — to
come to stand face to face with the heathen and declare God's
word to them. After the great defeat peace negotiations
were commenced, and Francis may have taken advantage of
this opportunity to visit Melek el Kamel with a single Brother
^ Bohmer: "Analekten," pp. 101-102. Wadding, 1219, n. 63. In my
"Appendix," p. — , I have said that this letter was written in August, 12 19.
Sabatier (Vie, p. 122) places its date in November, 1219, immediately after
the capture of Damietta (November 5); Bohmer ("Anal.," p. loi) places it
in March, 1220. The value of the letter as proof is equally great in either
case. — Compare Cel., Vita sec, 11,4. (Francis foretells the defeat of the
Christians.)
204 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
— Bonaventure names Illuminato. On reaching the Saracen's
outposts the two Friars Minor were not received particularly
well, but Francis, by continually calling out, Soldan! Soldan!
managed to induce them to bring them before the Ruler of
the Faithful. He seems not to have taken their discourse
unfavorably, but sent the daring evangehst away in peace
with the words, "Pray for me, that God may reveal to me
which faith is the most pleasing to Him!" According to
Jacques de Vitry, Francis preached several days more in the
Mussulman camp, but without great results.'
We do not know how long Francis stayed with the
Crusaders' army. Damietta fell on November 5, 1220, and a
sack of the town began, so wild and savage that it must
have filled the mild evangelist with grief and horror. Is it not
conceivable that he shook the dust from his feet and went
off to visit the holy places, which were now so near and which
must have exercised an irresistible force of attraction over
him? How could he, Francis, have passed this July, 1220
better than in Bethlehem, where the Annunciation of the
Blessed Virgin occurred, and the next year where better than
in Nazareth, and where could he have passed Good Friday and
Easter better than in Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane
and on Golgotha? His biographers are entirely silent about
this time in his life, but when after his return home we find
him keeping Christmas at the crib in Greccio, we can see in
it a commemoration of a Christmas night in the real Bethle-
hem ; and that which happened in La Verna, when the wounds
of Christ were imprinted on his body, was that anything else
than the completion of what he had already felt two years
^Jacques de Vitry in Historia Occidcnlalis, lib. II, c. 32 (Bohmer, pp. 104-
105), and in the letter of 1219 (1220), (pp. 101-102). Jordanus, n. 10 (Anal.
Franc, I, 4). Compare Thomas of Celano, Vila prima, I, c. XX, Bona-
venture, IX, 8, and Actus, cap. 27, in which we find it said: "Et dedit illis"
(Soldanus) "quoddam signaculum quo viso a nomine laedebantur." The
French orientalist Riant concludes from this and similar testimony that Francis
must have received from the Sultan a letter of protection for himself and his
Brothers, similar to the firmans which afterwards were issued for the Fran-
ciscans (first by Zaher^Jibars I, 1260-1277). This should explain why the
Pope preferred to use Friars Minor as ambassadors to the Mussulman ruler.
In 1244 a Franciscan ambassador was sent by the sultan of Egypt to Pope
Innocent IV. See Golubovitch in Luce e Amore, II (Florence, 1905), pp. 498-501.
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS
205
earlier, kneeling on a Good Friday in the actual Place of
Skulls (Golgotha)? j
In this pilgrimage Francis was interrupted by a messenger
from Italy, who brought bad news. It was a lay-brother by
the name of Stephen, who without any order from his superior
had gone on his way to the Holy Land to tell Francis what
was going on at home during his absence in the Holy Land.
What he had to tell was certainly very disquieting and showed
Francis again how hard it was to guide so large a body,
in which, as Jacques de Vitry rightly remarks, "not only
the perfect, but also the young and imperfect, can find a
reception without any preliminary trial or practice in the
disciphne of the convent."^ At first his two vicars, Gregory
of Naples and Matthew of Narni, together with the older
Brothers in the Order {fratres seniores), at a Chapter, held
probably on St. Michael's Day, 12 19, had adopted a new
explicit regulation of Fasts, of which there was no trace in
the Rules of the Order.^ Then Brother Philip, in his function
as superior for the Clares, had been in Rome and sought to
obtain that all who insulted these, his wards, should be ex-
communicated. Finally, Brother John of Capella gathered
a whole crowd of lepers about him, gave them a Rule and
thus wished to establish a new Order; he had even gone to
the Pope to get his Rule ratified.^
Francis was sitting at the table, along with Peter of Cattani,
when Brother Stephen came with his bad tidings — meat
was already on the table, although it was one of the days on
which by the new Rule meat should not be eaten. With a
glance at the food, Francis asked:
"Lord Peter" (for Francis always called him "Lord" as
a tribute to his learning), "Lord Peter, what are we to do
now?"
"£//," answered Brother Peter, with a real Italian inter-
^ Bohmer, "Analckten," p. loi.
^ This ordained fasting only on Wednesdays and Fridays, except for the
fasts of the Church. The Brothers could by Francis' permission fast also on
Mondays and Thursdays (Jordanus, n. 11).
^ Lempp believes, curiously enough, that John of Capella's Order consisted
exclusively of married people (gens mariés), and identifies it with the later
Third Order! (Frere Elie de Cortone, Paris, 1901, pp. 42-43.)
2o6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
jection, "£//, Lord Francis, whatever you say, — for you
have the power!"
"Then let us," answered Francis, "in accordance with the
holy gospel, eat what is set before us!" ^
Not only the prescriptions for fasting were repugnant to
Francis, as against the gospel, and as impossible to keep in
observance by an order of wandering preachers, but it dis-
turbed him profoundly that no less than two of his disciples
had dared to do what he was most opposed to — to plague
the Roman throne about privileges.^ He, who in his Rule had
even obliged the Brothers to vacate their convent as soon as
anyone wanted to take it from them,^ must now yield to having
the Clares protected by a Bull of Excommunication.'' It was
time for him to enter into affairs as quickly as possible, and
Francis hurried back to Italy in company with Peter of Cattani,
Elias of Cortona, Cæsarius of Speier and other Brothers.
They seem to have arrived the last of the summer, and at
once went to HugoHn. By his influence the proposals of both
Brother Philip as well as of Brother John of Capella were dis-
approved by the Holy See, and Francis called together there-
upon a Chapter of the Order at Portiuncula for Pentecost, 1 221.
* Luke X. 8. This entire description is found in all its details in Jordanus of
Giano (Atml. Franc, I, pp. 4-5).
2 Even in his Testament he forbids this in the strongest terms (Opusc,
p. 80).
^ Reg. pr., cap. VII: "nullum locum . . . alicid defendant."
* Also that a Franciscan was an inspector (visitalor) for the Clares must
have displeased Francis. He himself had in his time undertaken a supervision
of the Sisters in San Damiano, but that was an exceptional case. For the new
convents of the Clares he obtained from Hugolin that a Cistercian named
Ambrosius should be made inspector. Ambrosius died during Francis' absence,
and Philip had at the request of Hugolin taken up the ofl'ice. He was strongly
reprehended for it by Francis, and a certain Brother Stephen, who with per-
mission of Philip had entered a Clares' convent, had to do severe penance. (Cel.,
Vita sccunda, II, c. 156, ed. d'.-\lengon. Wadding, 1219, n. 48 and n. 45.)
After the death of Francis, Gregory IX at once made over the supervision of
the Clares to the General of the Franciscans (Sbar., I, p. 36). Innocent IV
accepted this ordinance in Hugolin's Rule when he ratified it in 1247. Even
St. Clara's Rule of 1253 forms no exception ("visitator noster sit semper de
ordine fratrum minorum"), while she appeals to the relation so necessary to
the welfare of S. Damiano ("fratres . . . miscricorditer a praedicto ordine
fratrum semper habuimus," Texlus, p. 74. Compare Vita S. Chirac, V, n. 37).
Even in 1227 the connection between the Cistercians and Clares was dis-
cernible (Potth., I, nr. 8027 and nr. 8048).
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS 207
Francis now was certain of one thing — his Order must be
reorganized from the ground up. It follows of itself that
Hugolin stood by him in this; this is testified to explicitly by
Bernard of Bessa.^ Like a first stone for the new building,
which was now to be erected — and indeed as a foundation
stone — the Bull must be regarded by which Honorius III,
on September 22, 1220, ordained that every one who wished
to enter into the Order of Friars Minor must first go through
a year's novitiate.^ This closed the doors for all the more
or less loose birds, whom Francis was wont to call by the name
of "Brother Fly" — those vagabonds, so numerous in the
Middle Ages, who ate well, slept well, but wanted neither to
work nor to pray, and who, after spending some time with the
Brothers, would depart again.^ If once received into the
Order, it was impossible for them to leave it, and strong
measures were to be taken against all who put on Fran-
cis' habit and lived by their own hand, without joining the
Order {extra obedientiam) ^ For the liberty allowed to a
^ "In regulis seu vivendi formis ordinis istorum dictandis sanctae memoriae
dominus papa Gregorius, in minori adhuc officio constitutus, beato Francisco
intima familiaritate conjunctus, devote supplebat quod viro sancto judicandi
scientia deerat." (Anal. Franc, III, p. 686.) Compare Hugolin's own words
when pope: "in condendo prædictam regulam . . . sibi" [i.e. Francisco]
"astiterimus" (Bull Quo elongati of September 28, 1230, Sbar., I, p. 68).
2 Sbaralea, I, p. 6. Potth., nr. 6361. The Bull is addressed prioribus seu
custodibus fratrum minortini. This is the first time the word " custodian " (in
Franciscan language director of a convent) was used in an official document,
and the Pope translated it accordingly by the universally understood term
"prior."
^frater musca. Cel., Vit. sec. III, 21. Spec, c. 24. Bonav., VII, 3.
* It is curious to see Lempp {Elie de Cortone, p. 43, n. 5) assert that Honorius
would hereby proscribe les adhesions libres, celles précisémenl qui avaicnt élé
jusque-ld possibles aux gens mariés. Lempp is thinking of members of the
so-called "Third Order," but these were anything but vagrants, married and
home-living citizens as they were! No, the Pope referred to those vagabonds
of whom it was spoken above and against whom Francis over and over again
expresses himself, and in expressions which perfectly accord with the Papal
bulls. Thus in the letter to the Chapter General: "Quicumque autem fratrum
hoc observare noluerint, non teneo eos catholicos nee fratres meos . . . Hoc
etiam dice de omnibus aliis, qui vagando vadunt, postposiia regulae disciplina "
(Bohmer, "Analeklen," p. 61). And in the first Rule: "Et omnes fratres,
quotiescumque declinaverint a mandatis Domini el exlra obcdienliam cvagavcrint
sicut dicit propheta" (Ps. cxviii, 21) "sciant, se esse maledictos" {Anal.,
p. 6). Honorius and Francis are here in accord, n'en déplaise d M. le dr.
Lempp.
208 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Brother Rufino or to a Brother Giles it would be impossible
to grant to the crowds, who at a later period began to stream
in to be received. Some words of Francis are still preserved
for us which show how he at times looked upon this large and
varied herd almost with dread, of which herd he was to be
the shepherd.^ During his stay in the Orient he had, more-
over, acquired a serious affliction of the eyes, and one thing
with another caused him at the Chapter on St. Michael's Day,
1 2 20 to resign his office as head of the Order. As his vicar he
named Peter of Cattani and, as this one soon after died
(March 10, 1221), Elias Bombarone.^ In this way he in-
tended too to have freer hands for the work of organization
which was before him. From now on Francis was no longer
the head of the Order and its guide, but still was its law-
giver and, in the sight of Rome, always its real Superior.^
Along with the accomplished scribe, Brother Cæsarius of
Speier, in whom he, when in the Orient, seems to have
acquired confidence, he went on with the task which first and
foremost was to be attended to — to prepare a substitute for
the few and brief rules written down in Rivo Torto, which
Innocent III in his time had approved, to replace these by a
new and complete Rule of the Order, to which Rome could
give solemn and final approval.'*
But before he started on this difl&cult task he was to have
the joy of being together with more of the Brothers than ever
before. During his absence the wildest rumors had gone
through Italy — some said that he was a prisoner in the hands
of the Mussulmen; others that he was drowned; others,
^ Spec. perf. (Sab. ed.), p. 180: "Tarn magni et multimodi exercitus ducem,
tarn ampli et dilatati gregis pastorem."
* Pietro dei Cattani's epitaph was found on the outside of the Portiuncula
chapel and reads: ANNO. DNI. M.CC.XXI. VI. ID. MARTII CORPUS
FR. P. CATANI QUI HIC REQUIESQIT MIGRAVIT AD DOMINUM
ANIMAM CUIUS BENEDICAT DOMINUS. AMEN. A photographic
reproduction in Schniirer: "Franz, von Assisi" (Miinchen, 1905), p. 99.
' See even in the prologue to the Rule confirmed by Rome in 1223: "Frater
Franciscus" (not frater Helias) "promittit obedientiam et reverentiam domino
papae Honorio. ... Et alii fratres teneantur fratri Francisco . . . obedire"
{Opusc, Quar. ed., p. 63).
* Co-operation between Francis and Cæsarius is referred to by Jordanus,
n. 15 {Anal. Fr., I, p. 5).
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS 209
again, that he had suffered martyrdom. When he now proved
to be alive, the Brothers came in droves — priests and lay-
brothers, the oldest in the Order and the newly received
novices — all wished to see the newly returned master, to
hear him, and to receive his blessing. This was the Chap-
ter of the Mats, celebrated in Franciscan history, so-called
because the Brethren who were there, to the number of three
(five?) thousand, could not be accommodated in the houses,
which the town of Assisi had prepared for them down at
Portiuncula, but had to sleep in the open air or in huts of
woven boughs or mats {stuoie)}
Hugolin was much occupied at this time with a new em-
bassy to northern Italy, where he was to again preach a
crusade; in the days of the Chapter he kept himself in
Brescia and Verona. As his representative he had sent
another cardinal, Rainer Cappoccio from Viterbo; with him
were several other men of high spiritual dignity. A bishop
among them sang the solemn Mass of Pentecost with its
wonderful Sequence, Veni, Sande Spiritus. Francis read the
gospel, another Brother the epistle. Then Francis preached
first before the Brethren on the text, ''Blessed be the Lord,
who strengthens my hands for the fight," and then to the
people. "But St. Francis" — thus the Fioretti tell it —
"preached with a high voice what the Holy Ghost inspired
him with. And as text for his preaching he gave out these
words: 'Little children, you have promised great things to
God; still greater things are promised us by God if we keep
to what we have promised Him and firmly expect He has
promised us. The lust of the world is short, but the punish-
ment which follows it is endless. The sufferings in this life
are short, but the glories in the other life are endless!' And
upon these words he preached with great devotion and en-
couraged all to obedience to Holy Mother Church, to mutual
charity, to patience in adversity, to purity and angelic chas-
tity, to peace and unity with God and man, to humility and
mildness to all, to despising the world, to burning zeal for holy
poverty, to attention and devotion in prayer and songs of
^ The house at Portiuncula. Spec, perf., cap. 7. Pentecost came this year
on May 30; there was no difficulty in camping in the open air.
IS
2IO S A TNT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
praise, and casting all care, both as concerns the body and
the soul, upon the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ the
Blessed." '
It was a festival of meeting and of happiness, which Francis
celebrated on this occasion with his Brothers and the people.
It was at the expiration of this Chapter — and it lasted eight
days — that the Brothers had to remain two days over the
time at Portiuncula, to eat all the gifts of God with which
they were loaded by the people.^ It was coming to its end
at last, when Francis pulled the skirt of the habit of Brother
Elias, who had led the meeting and at whose feet he had sat,
and told him he had something on his mind. Elias bent down
to him and then said: "Brothers, the Brother'' — this was
the name given to Francis after his resignation — " the
Brother asks me to speak for him; he is tired and cannot say
anything more. There is a country called Germany, he says;
there dwell many pious Christians, whom we often see coming
here through the valley with long staves and large travelling
bottles; singing the praise of God and His saints, in spite of
the sun and their sweat, they go on to the graves of the
Apostles. But as some of our Brothers were formerly badly
treated in this land of Germany, none of the Brothers can be
persuaded to go there: but if any will go there for love of God
and zeal for the salvation of souls, then he will give him the
same freedom of conduct as is given to those who go to the
Holy Land — yes, even more. If, therefore, there is anyone
present who wants to go there, let him stand up and go to
one side." Then ninety Brothers stood up and declared
themselves ready to go — as they thought — to certain death.
As leader of the German mission. Brother Cæsarius of
Speier was very naturally selected. With him followed
Brother John of Piano Carpino, who could preach in both
Latin and Lombard; Brother Barnabas, who could preach
in Lombard and German; Francis' future biographer, Thomas
of Celano, and many other Brothers. Among the mission-
aries was also John of Giano, who himself, in his chronicle,
has told with much humor how he, as a punishment for
undue haste in making fme acquaintances — namely, with the
* Fiorelti, cap. i8. * Jordanus, n. i6.
THE FOREIGN MISSIONS 211
outgoing martyrs in spe — was impelled to go with them.^ In
all there were twelve priests and thirteen lay-brothers that
went, and we may believe that Francis blessed them "all that
he could" with more fervor than usual, and not only them,
but all who by their prayers would be won for the Order.^
The summer passed and the Brothers, who were to go to
Germany, went their way. But it was not martyrdom they
encountered. It is one of the most beautiful leaves of Fran-
ciscan history, the tale, as Jordanus has written it, of how he
and the other Brothers went from Trent to Bozen, from Bozen
to Brixen, from Brixen to Sterzing, and from Sterzing to
Mittenwalde. It was evening as they reached this last-named
town, and since morning they had eaten nothing, and they
had travelled seven miles. To be able to sleep on such empty
stomachs, they decided to fill them with water from a stream
which was there. Next morning they resumed their travels,
but by midday some of them began to fall sick; they found
some wild apples, which they ate, and, as it was the time of
the beet harvest, they begged some beets and ate them.
On the whole the Brothers were well received on their
journey; they eventually settled for the time being in Strass-
burg, Speyer, Worms, Mayence, and Cologne, in Wurtz-
burg, Ratisbon and Salzburg. Following the old Francisan
way, they took shelter where they found it — with the lepers,
in a cellar or in an abandoned church. In Erfurt, Brother
Jordanus was asked by the citizens, as he came there with
some Brothers, if they should not build them a convent. "But
as he had never seen a convent in the Order, he answered
them: 'I do not know what a convent is, but if you want to
do something, then build us a house near the water, so that
we can wash our feet!' And so it was done."^ And a char-
acteristic story also is told of the Brothers in Salzburg, to
* Jordanus, n. i8.
2 " Pater noster in capitulis fratrum solitus erat in fine semper capituli benedi-
cere et absolvere omnes fratres presentes et venturos ad religionem ... in
fervore caritatis." Spec, per/., cap. 87. Compare in Francis' Testament and
letters the eloquent expressions in which his heart overflows: "My blessed
Sons," "My beloved Sons," "I, Brother Francis, your servant, bless you all
that I can" {Analckten, pp. 18, 40, 64; Opuscula, pp. 49, 107, 115).
' Jordanus, nr. 21-23, Q- 43-
212 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
whom Cæsarius wrote that they could come to the Chapter in
Speycr if they wanted to, or could let it go if they wanted to.
As the Brothers did not want to have any desire of their own,
they were troubled at this behest, and went to Speyer to find
out what Cæsarius had meant in sending such a vague order.'
When all the Brothers at the Chapter of Mats had been
distributed — some to the Italian provinces or to missions —
one Brother stayed back, whom no one knew and whom no
one seemed to trouble himself about. He had come to the
Chapter with the Brothers from Messina, who too knew
nothing of him, except that he was apparently a new member
of the Order, that his name was Anthony, that he had a home
in Portugal, and on the way home from Morocco had been
blown out of his course way over to Sicily. At last the
unknown Brother approached the Superior of the province
of Romagna, Brother Gratian, and asked if he could follow
him. "Are you a priest?" "Yes!" On hearing this answer,
Gratian asked Elias for the unknown Brother, for at this early
time priests were few among the Brothers. Anthony fol-
lowed his new superior to Romagna, where he withdrew to the
hermitage of Monte Paolo, in the vicinity of Forli. The lonely
life of penance and prayer he led there he was later to leave
and to become the great preacher to the people whom the
Church has canonized under the name of St. Anthony of Padua.^
^ Jordanus, n. 27.
2 This disciple of Francis, in modern times perhaps the most famous, was
born in Lisbon in the year 1195. At the age of fifteen he entered the Augus-
tinian convent Santo Vicente de Fora in his native city and thence was soon
transferred to the celebrated convent of Santa Cruz in the university city
Coimbra. Here he studied, was ordained to the priesthood, and then in
1220 was attracted to the Franciscans, probably in consequence of what he had
heard of the five martyrs of Morocco already spoken of. With the permission
of his superiors in the Order he went over to the other Order and was received
in S. Antonio d'Olivarcs in Coimbra. Hence he went to Morocco to become a
martyr. As he failed in this — Abu Jacob seems to have become again indif-
ferent — he wanted to return again to his own country, but instead came to
Sicily and thence to the Pentecost Chapter of 1 2 2 1 . Of his relation to the Order
wc will speak later. All the sources for Anthony's biography are found up to
1904 collected in Leon de Kerval's excellent book: "Sancti Antonii de Padua
Vitae duae quarum altera hucusque inedita," which contains much more than
the title promises. The work constitutes Volume V of Sabatier's Collection
d'éliides. See also Albert Lepitre: St. Antoine de Padoue (4th ed., Paris, 1905),
and Lempp in "Zeitschr. f. Kgsch.," Vols. XI-XHI (1889-1892).
CHAPTER VIII
TEE RULES AND ADMONITIONS
CÆSARIUS of Speier did not at once go to Germany
with his Brothers. Francis had asked him to assist
him in writing the Rules of the Order, and Cæsa-
rius also wished before his departure to spend some
time with Francis — it was so uncertain if they ever again
would see each other. For one and the other of these reasons
Cæsarius remained three months with Francis in the valley
of Spoleto, as well as at Portiuncula and up in Carceri.^
The first Rule, which Francis wrote at Rivo Torto, was
quite short and simple. *' I had it written with few and simple
words, and our Lord the Pope confirmed it for me," says
Francis in his Testament. With this all the burden of testi-
mony of the first biographers agrees. ^ A great part of this
first Rule was made up of extracts from the Bible put to-
gether — first and foremost from Matthew x. 9-10, xix.
21, xvi. 24, and Luke ix. 3. Thence comes the name
^ It is Jordanus of Giano who in clearly put words says this. The two
following extracts can be compared: "Et videns beatus Franciscus fratrem
Cæsarium sacris litteris eruditum, ipsi commisit, ut regulam, quam ipse
simplicibus verbis conceperat, verbis Evangelii adornaret. Quod et fecit"
(n. 15); and "His ergo" [fratribus] "frater Cæsarius assumptis, quia ipsemet,
utpote homo devotus, beatum Franciscum et alios sanctos fratres invitus
deseruit, de licentia beati Francisci socios sibi datos per domos in Lombardia
divisit, ut in illis verbum suum expectarent. Ipse vero in Valle Spoletana
moram fecit fere per tres menses" (n. 19). This alone is enough to prove the
impossibility of what Karl Muller {"Anfånge," p. 13) and following him Saba-
tier, Lempp, and Schnurer have maintained, that Francis at the Pentecost
Chapter of 1221 "laid before them the edition of the Rule, which he with the
help of Cæsarius of Speier had worked out." (Schnurer: "Franz von Assisi,"
p. 99.) If this were so, Jordanus would certainly have told of it. But this
mutual work began after the Chapter in question.
^ For the Testament, see Opiisc, p. 79; Bohmer, p. 37. For testimony of
biographers, Cel., V. pr., I, c. XIII; Julian, in A. SS., Oct. II, p. 588, n. 226;
Bonav., Ill, 8.
213
214 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Francis liked to use instead of the word " Rule " — forma sancli
Evangclli, "the fornix of the Holy Gospel." In a few words,
to observe the gospel was what he desired.
We have no longer this first Franciscan Rule, and of the
ingenious attempts which have been made in the most recent
times to recover it, none have succeeded. But these attempts
were undertaken from a correct standpoint; namely, that
we undoubtedly have in the so-called Rcgula prima (generally
called after Karl Miiller "the Rule of 1221") the original
Rule of the Order, with additions and buried under a quantity
of later additions, alterations and expansions. ^
A suggestion of how the development went can be obtained
from Jacques de Vitry's description of the Franciscan Chapter
gatherings. Here he tells how the Brothers came together
at these meetings, and "with the support of good men, wrote
and promulgated good regulations." ^ But the good men
who stood by the Brothers were undoubtedly cardinals; the
closer relations between them and Francis were formed in the
summer of 12 16, when Jacques was still in the Papal Court.
And moreover the accounts compare well with what we know
from other sources, that "the Brothers came together at
Pentecost at Portiuncula and consulted as to how they best
should maintain the Rule." ^
Francis naturally had a deciding voice in these discussions.
"St. Francis," the authority just cited says, "admonished,
censured and commanded as it seemed good to him in the
Lord." If we have the Latin text at this place before us, the
meaning is still clearer. It there is written faciebat admo-
nitiofies, reprehensiones et praeccpta — "he made admonitions,
reprehensions and precepts." But among the writings of
Francis of Assisi we have one entire collection remaining,
which bears the title of Admonitioucs.* If we wish to find
' Karl Miiller's first attempt at reconstruction in " Die Anfdnge," pp. 185-188,
and another in "Theolog. Litt. Zeitg.," 1805, pp. 182 ct seq., are too elaborate.
Bohmer, in "Arialckkn," pp. 88-89, ^^^.s attempted to produce a briefer recon-
stitution of the primitive Rule.
'"consilio bonorum virorum suas faciunt ct promulgant institutioncs sanc-
tas." Bohmer's " Analcktcn," p. 98.
* Tres Socii, cap. XIV, p. 80, Amoni's ed.
* In Bohmer, pp. 40-49.
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 215
the first additions to the original Rule, it is here we should
look. The superscription tells as much: "In the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. These
are the holy words of advice of our honored father St. Francis
to all the Brothers."
In these Admonitiones we find what Thomas of Celano,
where he speaks of the Rule, calls "some few additional com-
mands, which are entirely necessary for the purpose of a holy
conversion." ^ They contain the following:
I. "On the Lord's body." The first thing Francis thought
of enforcing upon his disciples and of placing deep within their
hearts was to have great reverence and great love for the
God revealed to the eye of faith in the Holy Eucharist.
II. "On the sinfulness of self-will." It is self-will that
leads to falling into sin.
III. "On perfect obedience." He who does not renounce
all things, even his own will, cannot be a disciple of Jesus.
IV. "That no one should strive after command." It is
better to wash the feet of the Brothers, than to rule over
them.
V. "That no one should be exalted, but should glory in
the Cross of the Lord." The same order of thought that is
developed later at length in the celebrated eighth chapter of
the Fioretti (see pp. 11 7-1 21),
VL "On following after the Lord." "We wish to be
called the servants of the Lord, but we should be ashamed,
because the saints have done great things, and we wish to be
honored and esteemed, only because we tell of them and
preach about them."
VII. "That wisdom must be followed by work." That
wisdom only has value which leads to good works — a thought
to which Francis constantly returns.
VIII. "To envy no one," especially to envy no one the
good which God works in his soul.
IX. "On charity." He has really charity towards his
* Celano, V. pr., I, c.XIIl: "beatus Franciscus . . . scripsit . . . simpliciter
et paucis verbis vitae formam et regulam, sancti evangelii praecipue sermonibus
utens, ad cujus perfectionem solummodo inhiabat. Pauca tamen alia inseruit,
quae omnino ad conversationis sanctae usum necessaria inveniebat."
2l6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
enemies who, when he suffers injustice, thinks first of all of
the harm the unjust one has done his own soul.
X. "To hold the body in subjection." There is an enemy
we ought not to love, and that is the body. And if we vigor-
ously and ceaselessly fight this enemy, then no other enemy,
spiritual or material, can hurt us.
XL "Do not participate in the effects of another's sin."
By paying evil with evil, one takes the effects of a sin upon
his own soul.
XII. "On signs of the Lord's spirit." The better a man
really is, the worse he feels himself to be.
XIII. "On patience." One first sees how great his pa-
tience really is when he has cause to be impatient.
XIV. "On poverty of spirit." Poverty of spirit is not in
much fasting and penance, but in turning the left cheek to
him who has struck the right one.
XV. "On peace." Blessed are the peaceful!
XVI. "On purity of heart." He is pure of heart who
despises the world, seeks heaven, and always has the Lord
his God before his eyes.
XVII. "On being an humble servant of God" and not to
demand more of one's neighbor than one is willing to grant
to God.
XVIII. "On sympathy with our neighbor." Blessed he
who bears with his frailties, as his neighbor has also to
endure his.
XIX. "Of a good servant of God." Blessed he who does
not look upon himself as better or greater when he is exalted
and honored by men than when he is scorned and despised
by them and is degraded by them, for a man is what he is
in God's eyes, and no more.
XX. "On the good and bad Brother of the Order. Blessed
the Brother whose whole joy is in doing the work of God and
in speaking of God, and who thereby leads men to love God
in peace and joy.
XXI. "On the empty and gossiping Brother of the Order."
Woe to the Brother whose joy it is to make people laugh with
empty and vain talk, and who in his actions does not corre-
spond with the grace he has received from God.
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 217
XXII. "On correction." Blessed the Brother who is not
eager to excuse himself, but who in humility is willing to be
shamed and blamed, even if he has done nothing.
XXIII. "On humihty." Blessed the Brother who is as
humble to those who are under him as to his superior.
XXIV. "On real charity." Blessed the servant of God
who loves his Brother as much when the Brother is sick and
depends on him as when the Brother is well and can be of use
and pleasure to him.
XXV. And blessed the servant of God who loves and fears
his Brother as much when he is away from him as when he is
near him, and says nothing behind his back which he could
not in charity let him hear.
XXVI. "That God's servants ought to honor clerics."
Blessed the servant of God who has faith in the clerics, who
live after the law of the Holy Roman Church. And woe to
those who despise them! Even if they are sinners, no one
should condemn them, for they have power over the body and
blood of Jesus Christ.
XXVII. "On virtues, that put vices to flight." This is
the laud in honor of all virtues already given (p. 177).
XXVIII. "Not to boast of your virtue." God sees our
secret thoughts, for him alone we shall do all things, and thus
accumulate for ourselves treasures in heaven.
Haec sunt documenla pii patris one can say in the words
of Thomas of Celano after having gone through these twenty-
eight short chapters — "with these prescripts the pious father
moulded his new sons." ^ Francis was certainly a remark-
able "Master of Novices," as the technical expression of the
convent has it, but these religious psychological aphorisms,
often wonderfully fine, remind us but little of the Rule of an
Order.
Of Francis' way of writing such a Rule we have, on the
other hand, an idea through a little piece of regulation, which
undoubtedly comes entirely from his own hand. "In the
early days of the Order, when there were few Brothers and
when there was no regular convent," ^ the members of the
1 Cel., V. pr., I, cap. XV, n. 41. Bonav., IV, 3.
^ Fioretti, cap. 4.
2l8 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Order spent most of their time on missionary journeys and
took shelter where they could find it. At intervals they
wished to withdraw into solitude to pray in peace and
strengthen the soul for new apostolic efficiency, as they, after
the Master's example, "talked over with themselves what they
preached to others." ^ In this way originated the first Fran-
ciscan "convents," but which were only ill-adapted to bear
this honored name. At Portiuncula the "convent" w^as a
collection of huts surrounded by a hedge; in Carceri it was
a few caves; at Fonte Colombo and Mount Alverna it was
the same, and time after time in the Fioretti we are brought
round to these "Httle convents where the Brothers had only
huts of leaves to sleep in." ^ Neither was the word claustrum
used in speaking of the Franciscan abiding-places; Brother
Jordanus, as we have seen, was greatly perplexed when in
Erfurt it was proposed to build him a convent. Such a
Franciscan habitation was called simply a "place" {locus),
a hermitage {cremo, erimitorium) , a retreat {ritiro). And
for the Brothers, who for a period of time wanted to stay in
such a hermitage, Francis now wrote the following Rule, or
rather regulations, which is the more valuable because it
undoubtedly comes in its entirety from his own hand, without
the assistance of Cardinal Hugolin or of Brother Cæsarius.
It is here given in full : ^
Dc Religosa Habitationc in Eremo.
"On Pious Living in a Ilcrmitagc.'"
"Those who wish to live piously in a hermitage must be three
or at most four Brothers. Two of them shall be mothers
and shall have the other two for sons or the one. But the
mothers shall lead the life of Martha and the others the Hfe
of Mary.-*
"The two who are mothers shall lead the life of Martha
and the two sons shall lead the life of Mary and shall have
» Celano, Vita prima, I, XV, n. 36.
^Fior.yC. 17.
» Bohmer: "Analektcn," pp. 67-68. The text in Quaracchi edition {Opusc,
pp. 83-84) is less explicit.
* Naturally a reference to the two sisters in Bcthania.
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 219
an enclosure with a cell, where they can pray and sleep.
And as soon as the sun has set, they shall pray the Com-
pline and try to maintain silence, but at Matins they shall
get up and say their Hours and 'seek first for God's king-
dom and His justice.' And at the proper time they shall
pray the Primes, and after the Trines they can break the
silence and go to their mothers, and, if they wish, can beg an
alms of them like other poor people for God's sake. And
later they shall pray the Sext and Nones, and say Vespers at
a suitable time.
"And they must permit no one to enter the enclosure where
they are, and no one must eat there either. The Brothers
who are mothers shall keep themselves away from all men,
and, as their Superior has told them, guard their sons from all
men, so that no one can speak to them. And the sons must
not talk with anyone except their mothers and with their
Superior, if he with God's blessing visits them. But the sons
shall take over the mothers' task, when they find it mutually
good, and busy themselves to carry out exactly all that has
been said before."
This was a Rule such as Francis was able to write. How
graceful is the picture of the Brothers, who live together up
in the mountain wilderness of Fonte Colombo or on Monte
Subasio, and of which the two, like Martha in the gospel,
must look out for the temporal things, while the other two,
like Mary, have permission to sit at the Lord's feet! And
when it gets to be midday, then the two who had chosen the
better part come and beg well and modestly for food — Uke
poHte children asking it of their good rnother.^
Besides the short, original Rule of 12 10 and the Rule for
hermitages, we hear further talk of a special Rule, valid for
Portiuncula. This is preserved in Chapter 55 of the Speculum
perfectionis and recalls the Rule for hermits; thus we find it
^ "dico tibi, fili mi, sicut mater" Francis writes to his favorite disciple Brother
Leo, with whom he had staid so often in the hermitages (Bohmer, p. 68).
And of Brother Elias we find in Thomas of Celano {Vita pr., II, cap. IV, n. 98) :
"frater Helias . . . quem loco matris elegerat sibi (Francisco)." Compare
Celano, Vila sec, III, 99: "dixit Pacificus s. Francisco: Benedic nobis, mater
carissima;" III, 113 (II, 136, d'Al.). The complaint is later made that many
"eremiticum ritum" "convertunt in otium."
220 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
forbidden for strangers to enter the place. No worldly talk
and no superfluous word must be heard in Portiuncula; the
Brothers there shall be chosen from the best and most pious
in the whole Order, and shall edify all by the exemplary
recitation of their office. ''And in this place nothing shall
happen or be spoken that is useless, but the whole place shall
be kept pure and holy in h>Tnns and songs of praise." For
the infringement of these regulations — as it is given later
in the same book, Chapter 82 — the offender is obhged to say
a Pater noster along with the prayer composed by Francis,
Landes Dei.
Francis' work as lawgiver was only occasional. At a
Chapter it was told him that many of the Brothers tormented
themselves with penitential shirts, iron rings and the like on
the naked body. He forbade at once the use of such ascetic
things by the Brothers.^ Another time he had the following
regulation put into writing: "Let the Brothers take care
that they do not present the appearance of hypocrites, with
dark and cast-down mien, but that they show themselves
glad in the Lord, cheerful and worthy of love, and agreeable." ^
This place is found in the existing Regida prima, Chapter 7,
and in the Speculum there is cited another regulation, which
we may safely read in the text of those we still possess.^ The
last chapter in the Regula prima has as title Admojiilio
fratrum.
If in the Rivo Torto Rule is to be found the basis for the
whole code of laws, so are these occasional regulations and the
admonitions promulgated at Chapters to be regarded as the
first framework. And others were built upon them, each as
time or occasion required. Li 121 7 the great Franciscan
missions began; to this period are certainly to be ascribed
chapters such as the 14th and i6th in the Rcgida prifna,
"How the Brothers ought to go through the world" and
"Of those who go to the Saracens and other heathen." This
^ Spec. perf. (ed. Sab.), P- 56.
*"pro generali commonitione in quodam capitulo scribi fecit haec verba."
Cel., V. sec, III, 68.
' Spec, per/., cap. 96, p. 189 = Adm. XX in Bohmer, XXI in Quaracchi
edition.
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 22i
sort of farewell admonition has been preserved for us in
several examples by Francis' biographer — see for example
in the Speculum perfectionis, Chapter 65, "Admonition to de-
parting Brothers"; as well as several extracts from the Rules,
beginning with the words In nomine Domini, "In the name of
the Lord," the usual formula with which in those days every
official paper began/
That these admonitions, which later, when the Order de-
veloped, came to have a larger and larger scope, were written
out, we can rest assured. They had all of them a very prac-
tical object, which was something Francis wished the Brothers
to observe and be guided by. We see how explicit he is in
his later letters that the Brothers should, by copying, have
them in manifold, and each possess a copy in his Breviary
along with him, "the better to follow them."^
If we want to understand what the co-operation of Francis
and Cæsarius in the summer of 1221 in preparing the Rule
of the Order was, we must recollect that they, excepting
the original Rule of 12 10 — had before them the collection of
all the Admonitions and Regulations. Out of this material
they were to put together a new Rule of the Order.^ In
reality they, for the time being, were content to hnk together
old and new, often without sequence, and so did this collec-
tion, or better this selection, of valid Regulations result,
which the older investigators call Regula prima, the newer
ones "Rule of 1221," but which in no sense has been accepted
as the Rule of the Order.
Without wishing to go into details, like Karl Miiller or
'^ Spec. perf. (Saba tier), p. 120. Reg. prima, capp. IV, XXIV.
* "Hoc scriptum, xil melius debcat observari, habeas tecum usque ad Pente-
costen." Francis' letter of 1223 to Elias {Opuscida, p. no). Bohmer
{" Analekten," p. XXXVI) has collected a quantity of references which show
Francis' care in this regard.
' The dream Francis had at this time proves this. It seemed to him that
all the Brothers stood around him and were hungry, and that he had nothing
but a quantity of crumbs that escaped from his fingers. "Francis," a voice
then said, "knead all these crumbs together into a host and give that to the
Brothers." This dream he explained the next morning to the efJect that the
crumbs indicated verba evangelica, the host indicated the Rule which was to
be formed out of them. (Bonav., Leg. Major, IV, 11. Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 159,
d'Al.)
222 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Bochnier, it is quite impossible to form a general understand-
ing of what part of this great collection of material comes from
the original Rule, and of what are additions of a later period.
Out of the Rivo Torto Rule, besides the introduction (Francis
promises obedience to Pope Innocent) the following portions
undoubtedly came: Chapter I (of the three vows of the Order:
obedience, poverty, chastity), Chapter II (of the Brothers'
reception and habit), Chapter III (of the Office and fasts).
Chapter VII (of how the Brothers are to work and pray),
Chapters VIII and IX (on not caring for money, on begging
when it is necessary) Chapter XII (on avoiding women), Chap-
ter XIV (on neither travelling nor sitting down with evil
people). Chapter XIX (on reverence for priests). These
chapters may have been differently arranged in the original
Rule, but the meaning has been the same. The regulations
for fasting seem to have been severer originally, than as
preserved in the Rcgida prima}
As later additions to the fundamental rules we must look
upon the fourth chapter with the statutory beginning In
nomine Domini; this treats besides of the ministers and of
the duty of obedience of the Brothers to them, and must date
from the Chapter-meeting, in which the first ministers M-ere
installed and the first division of provinces was arranged for.
Some other chapters agree also with the Admonitions which
are in existence; thus Chapter V and the fourth and eleventh
Admonitions may be located, and Chapter XXII and the
ninth and tenth Admonitions. A "Reminder'' as referred
to by Thomas of Celano is not to be found in the existing col-
lection of Admonitions; on the contrary, it is in the Regitla
prima, where it is found in the eighteenth chapter.^
A third element in the Rcgida prijna consists finally of what
we may call religious poetry. To this belong first of all the
Lauds or Songs of Praise already spoken of (p. 69), which
* Reg. prima prescribed only one weekly fast: Friday. (Bohmer, p. 4.) If
Jordanus is to be believed {Anal. Fr., I, 4, n. 11), there were in the original
Rule two fast days in the week, namely Friday and Wednesday also. With
special permission of Francis, the Brothers who wished to do so could also fast
on Mondays and Thursdays.
^ Cel., Vita sec, III, 68. There is also an Admonition addressed to the sick
in cap. X of Regula prima, in Speculum pcrfeclionis, cap. 42.
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 223
Francis offered to his Brothers for singing in the towns as the
Good God's Musicians, and where we hnd a rhythm that
reminds us of the later Sun Song.^ What Francis desired
first of all was to inspire men for God. And after finally a
last Admonitio fratrimi — the old name is here kept in the title
of the chapter — his and Cæsarius of Speier's work breaks
forth in a great, swelling Song of Praise, that rises and rises
irresistibly like a stronger and stronger flowing organ sound,
and never stops until the highest summits are reached —
there where all human speech must cease, all human thought
must fail, and nothing remain except the angels' Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus and ceaseless Alleluia of the happy souls. It
is thus the last Chapter sounds:
"Prayer, Song of Praise and Thanksgiving.
"Almighty, highest and Supreme God, holy and just Father,
Lord and King of the Heavens and Earth, we thank thee for
thy own sake, because thou by thy holy wall and by thy only
begotten Son with the Holy Ghost hast created all spiritual and
material things and us in thy form and likeness, and thou
didst place us in paradise. But we fell through our own fault.
And we thank thee, because thou, as thou didst create us
through thy Son, thus also through the true, holy charity,
wherewith thou lovedst us, let him be born, true God and
true Man, of the ever virginal, holiest Virgin Mary and through
his cross and blood and death thou didst wish to free us poor
prisoners. And we thank thee, because the same One, thy
Son, shall return in the glory of his majesty and send the
damned, who have not converted themselves and knew thee
not, into everlasting fire, and will say to all who have known
thee and prayed to thee and served thee in conversion:
' Come here, the blessed of my Father, and inherit the riches
which have been prepared for you even from the beginning of
the world ! '
"And because all we poor sinners are not worthy to name
^ "Beati qui moriuntur in penitentia quia erunt in regno coelorum.
"Ve illis, qui non moriuntur in penitentia, quia erunt filii diaboli . . . et
ibunt in ignem eternum." (Reg. pr., cap. XXI. Bohmer, p. 19.)
"Guai acquelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali. Beati quelli ke trovarane
le tue sanctissime voluntati, ka ki morte secunda nol farra male." {Cantkum
fratris solis; Bohmer, p. 66.)
224 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
thee, so do we pray and implore that our Lord Jesus Christ
thy beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased, together
with the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, will thank thee for all
the great things Thou hast done to us through Him, Alleluia.
And we humbly implore the most blessed Mother and Virgin
Mary, the blessed Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and all the rest
of the choir of holy spirits, Seraphim and Cherubim, Thrones,
Dominations, Principalities, Powers and Mights, Angels and
Archangels, the blessed John the Baptist, John the Evangel-
ist, Peter, Paul and the Blessed Patriarchs and Prophets, the
Holy Innocents, the Apostles, Evangelists, Disciples, Martyrs,
Confessors, Virgins, the blessed Elias and Enoch and all the
Saints, that have been or are to come, that they out of love to
thee and as it pleases thee shall bear our thanks to thee,
thou highest true, everlasting and living God, with thy Son,
our dear Lord Jesus Christ, and the Comforter the Holy Ghost
for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.
''And we Friars Minor, we useless servants, beg and pray
thee all humbly, who in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church wish to serve the Lord God, all who are in orders, all
priests, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes, exorcisers, lectors,
ostiairs, and all the clerics, all monks and all nuns, all children,
all women and maidens, all poor and needy, kings and princes,
laborers, peasants, servants and masters, all virgins, all con-
tinent and all married , all lay-people, men and women, all infants,
children, young and old, well and sick, all large and small and
all kinds of people, races and languages, all nations and all men
everywhere, who are now or are to be, we pray them all humbly
that they will persevere in the true faith and conversion, for
otherwise they cannot be saved. Let us all with all our heart,
with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength and
power, with all our reason and all our dispositions, all our
striving, all our love, all our inner self, all our desire and will
love the Lord our God, who has given us all of our body, all
of our soul and all of our life, he who has created us and re-
deemed us, and out of pure mercy wishes to save us, he who
has given and daily gives all good to us poor, corrupted, putrid,
thankless and evil things.
"Let us therefore seek no tiling else, wish for nothing else,
THE RULES AND ADMONITIONS 225
rejoice and be pleased with nothing else than our Creator and
Redeemer and Saviour, the one, true God, who is the perfect
good, all good, the whole good, the true and highest good, he
who alone is good, pious and mild, happy and loving, he who
alone is holy, just, true and righteous, who alone is good, inno-
cent and pure, from whom and with whom and in whom are
all pardon, all grace, all glory for all penitents, all just men,
all the blest in Heaven. May nothing restrain us therefore,
nothing separate us, nothing drive us from him. Let us all
in all ways, at every time and place, daily and constantly,
truthfully and humbly believe in God and keep him in our
hearts, and let us love, honor, beseech, serve, obey and bless,
praise and glorify, sing praises to and thank the highest and
supreme eternal God, the Threefold and One, the Father, Son
and the Holy Ghost, Creator of all, the Saviour of those who
hope in him and love him, God without beginning and end,
unchangeable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, in-
scrutable, blessed, glorified, extolled, highly exalted, mild,
lovable, dreadful, and worthy to be loved and desired always
and above all things forever and ever. Glory be to the Father,
Son and the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now
and ever shall be. Amen."^
' Bohmer, pp. 23-26. Opuscula, pp. 57-61.
16
CHAPTER IX
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING
TWO years passed before the final Rule of the Order
was finished. In September, 1221, Cæsarius left and
with his missionaries went to Germany, and first on
November 29, 1223, Honorius III with his bull Solet
annuere gave his ratification to the Rule. Between these two
dates lies a whole series of events of which unfortunately
there is left to us no satisfactory account, but during which
there seems to have developed a great opposition between
Francis on the one side and Brother Elias Bombarone and his
adherents on the other side. Hugolin in this dispute had the
difilcult task of being intermediator and as far as possible of
pacifying both parties.
For in order to understand the core of the dispute one must
realize what a development the new Order had experienced in
the last year.
On his resignation Francis had certainly preserved for him-
self a definite position of authority — at the Pentecost Chapter
of 1 22 1, for example, it was he who sent out the German mis-
sionaries, and there are other indications that he always sat
there with an authority by no means small. ^ Francis mean-
while had never been addicted to exercising any real compul-
sion. "He wished rather to reach the goal with the good than
with the bad," says Jordanus. If he could not carry through
his wish, then in God's name he did not wish to rave and
domineer "like the powers of this world." If he did not suc-
^ "potestatem habetis vos," his vicar, Pietro dei Cattani, said to him in the
Holy Land (Jordanus, p. 5). See ditto, pp. 7-8, the expressions "nullum ad
ipsos ire compcllit frater" (Franciscus), "eandem eis o6cJiCM//a?M dare vult,"
"de licenlia beati I-'rancisci."
226
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING 227
ceed in making the Brothers do their duty, then he comforted
himself by being personally doubly dutiful.^
Wills more energetic had full sway over a man of this dis-
position of mind. First and foremost was Elias of Bombarone,
or as he was called later, Elias of Cortona, a will of this stamp,
but behind him stood others who supported him and were on
his side against Francis. One of them we know by name — it
was Brother Petrus Stacia from Bologna. The others appear
on the records only under the title "ministers," by which are
meant more especially the Superiors of the Italian Provinces,
or as the Franciscan expression has it, ministri of these prov-
inces.^
I mentioned Bologna above, and in doing so I named the
centre of the opposition which, within the Order itself, appeared
against Francis. There was from old times a connection
between the Franciscans and the celebrated University town.
As early as 1212 Bernard of Quinta valle had preached there,
and in 12 13 this Friar Minor settled in a house which was
called Le Pugliole, just outside the Porta Galliera. A number
of the most important men within the ranks of the new Order
had studied in Bologna, among them Francis' two first vicars,
'"Omnia per humilitatem maluit vincere quam per judicii potestatem."
{Anal. Fr., I, p. 5, n. 13.) "nolo carnifex fieri . . . sicut potestates hujus saeculi."
(Spec, pcrf., cap. 71.) "nolebat contendere cum ipsis, sed . . . volebat in se
illud implerc." (Ditto, cap. 2.)
*The whole area over which the Order was distributed was divided in 1223
into twelve provinces; each — following Francis' prohibition of the word
prior — was subject to a "servant of the province" {minister provincialis,
compare Matthew xx. 26). The single provinces were then divided into smaller
districts (custodiae) under charge of a citstns or watchman. The superior of a
locus (convent) bore a similar title {guardianus). The minister of a province,
for example of Mark Ancona, had under him custodes for the districts {custo-
diae) Fermo, Ascoli, Camerino, Ancona, Jesi, Fano, and Feletro. The
custos for the custodia of Fermo, so often mentioned in the Fioretti, had under
him guardians in Fallerone, Bruforte, Soffiano, Massa, Penna, Moliano; he
was also guardian of the convent of Fermo. At the head of the whole Order
was the General Minister, a name which was abbreviated to "General" (as
the "Provincial Minister" became "Minister"), but he was still the "Servant
of the whole Order." On this peculiarity of the Franciscan nomenclature the
Chronica XXIV generalium says: "onmes professores ejusdem" (regulae)
"tam praelatos quam subditos, nominibus evangelicis nuncupavit." Even the
designation fratres minores (Friars Minor, lesser brothers) is traced to a place
in the gospel (Matthew xxv. 40 and 45), where the Vulgate has the word
minoribus (in English "lesser").
228 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Pietro dci Cattani and Elias, and the most of the following
Generals of the Order: Johannes Parenti, Aymon of Faver-
sham, Crescentius of Jesi, John of Parma. It has been told
already, that the University Professor, Nicholas of Pepoli, who
from the beginning had been the advocate and benefactor
of the Order, eventually entered it himself; Bologna's most
celebrated lawyer, Accursius, called the great, at about the
same time bequeathed to the Order his villa, La Richardina,
outside the town, where the first convent was soon found to be
too small. And finally Peter of Stacia opened a house of study
for Franciscans, like the theological school opened in Bologna
by the Dominicans.^
But this was displeasing to Francis. All his life he had been
an idiola, as he used to call himself, an ignorant man. He
had nothing against studies, and Sabatier is wrong when he
ascribes to Francis a definite opposition to wisdom. In the
form of an Admonition he once had the following written : "All
theologians and those who serve us with God's word we should
honor and revere, because they give us the spirit and life."^
This study should have a practical object, however; it ought
to serve the proclamation of the Divine Word. Accordingly
only few books were required; in prayer, that which grips the
heart is the best to learn. Francis himself liked to read the
Holy Scriptures; his works show this. But as he grew older
it seemed to him that he had read enough even of God's
word, and that for the rest of his hfe he had enough to do in
pondering over it — and in practising it.^ For — and it was
to this his thought always reverted — example is the best
preaching. He recognized well in his Rule three classes of
members — praedicatores, oratores, lahoratores — and he placed
the preachers above those who prayed and those who worked.
But he says also, "all Brothers ought to preach by their
actions."^ And he goes on to warn against "the wisdom of
^ Ililarin Felder: "Gcschickte der ivissenschafllichcn Studien im Francis-
kanerorden" (Freiburg im Br., 1904), pp. 123-131. The same words in his Testa-
ment {Opusc, pp. 78-79).
^Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 122 (d'Alengon). The same expression in his Testa-
ment {Opusc, pp. 78-79).
* Cel., Vila sec, II, c. 72.
* Reg. prima, cap. XVII (Bohmer, p. 16).
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING 229
this world" and against those who are all word, and do
nothing, against those who try to seem, not to be. "As for
myself," he declares at last, "I know Jesus Christ and him
crucified, that is enough for me."^
A tale is preserved for us in the Speculum perfectionis,
which belongs to this time, and which gives the clearest pos-
sible illustration of Francis' attitude as regards useless and
injurious book-learning.
A young novice had received permission from Brother
Elias to have a copy of David's Psalms and to read them.
When he came to know that it was not pleasing to Francis
that his Brothers should be eager after learning and books, he
wished, for his conscience's sake in reading his Psalter, to
have also Francis' permission to own it. To his request for
this Francis replied:
"The Emperor Charles, Roland, Holger and all the other
heroes fought with the heathen with much sweat and labor
and conquered them and were at last holy martyrs and fell
in the strife for the faith of Christ. But in these days there
are many who only by telling and preaching about what the
saints have done, want to win reputation and glory."
The young novice was not satisfied with this answer, but
still forced his request upon Francis. Francis looked up — he
sat with the other Brothers by the fire warming himself —
and answered:
"My Son! Once you have got the Psalter, then you will
want a Breviary, when you have got a Breviary, you will
want to sit in the high seat like a great prelate and say to
thy Brothers, ^ Bring me my Breviary.'"
And displeased and filled with anxious thoughts of the future
prospects of his Order, he reached down into the warm ashes,
spread a handful upon the head of the Brother so fond of
reading, rubbed the ashes around as if he were washing his
head, and called out again and again, "/ am thy Breviary!
/ am thy Breviary!"
"Brother," said Francis next as he sat down somewhat
quieter, "even I have been tempted to collect books. But as
' "Non pluribus indigeo, fili. Scio Christum pauperem crucifixum." Cela-
no, Vita secunda, II, c. 71.
230 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
I did not know God's will about these things, I took the Book
of Gospels and prayed God to let me know his will. And I
opened the book and at once found these words: 'To you it is
given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the
rest in parables.'"
Francis was silent for a moment and then added: "There
are so many in our days who want to seek wisdom and learn-
ing, that happy is he who, out of love for the Lord our God,
makes himself ignorant and unlearned." ^
Undoubtedly P^ancis was right in thinking that the time in
which he lived was more eager after learning than almost any
other epoch. Not less than seventy new universities were
established in the course of the half-century from 1200 to 1250
— of these eight in Italy alone (Reggio, Vicenza, Padua,
Naples, Vercelli, Rome, Piacenza, Arezzo). The three great
and earher-established universities in Paris, Bologna and
Oxford reached at the same time their full development, and
the powerful uplift in knowledge began which characterized
the later Middle Ages. In this movement the Dominicans
took part from the beginning — it stood in their statutes
inherited from the Augustinian choir-masters. Now the
Friars Minor were to be drawn along in the same tendency of
the day, and it was here that Francis for the first time seri-
ously set himself in opposition, here he showed himself — as
in the vision Brother Leo had — with claws and outstretched
wings defending his Order.^
Francis' wrath first was excited by Peter Staciaand his house
of study in Bologna. Certainly Peter had not established it
by his own hand, but in co-operation with Hugolin, who in
1220 was in Bologna, and had himself recorded as owner of
the requisite building.^ Francis at once travelled thither,
ordered the Brothers to leave the house in the name of obedi-
ence — even one of them who lay sick had to go out — and
took his own abode among the Dominicans. Here the Broth-
* "Tot sunt qui libenter ascendunt ad scientiam quod beatus erit qui se
feccrit stcrilem amore Domini Dei." Spec, per/., c. 4. The place quoted above
is in Luke viii. lo. Compare Celano, Vita secunda, II, c. 147 (d'Al.).
■^ Anal. Fr., Ill, 71-
» Spec, per/., c. 6 (Sab. ed., p. 16).
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING 23 1
ers sought him and promised penance and amendment with
the exception of Peter Stacia, whom the otherwise so cheerful
Francis is said to have cursed — a curse he never to the day
of his death was wiUing to take back.^
It was not only evangelical simplicity which Francis found
to have been impaired by Peter — it was also evangelical
poverty, and therefore was Francis so inflexible. How was
it possible to be a good Friar Minor, if one had to buy great,
fine, learned, expensive books and have big, fine, costly houses
to keep them in? Was it not written in the gospel — and
therefore also in the Rule of the Order — ''Take nothing with
you on the way." "I understand these words thus," said
Francis, "that the Brothers ought to have nothing except a
habit with a rope and underclothing and shoes, as much as is
necessary." "What shall I do?" a minister once asked him.
"I have books that are worth more than fifty pounds of
silver." "For the sake of your books I will not disobey the
books of the gospel which I have promised to follow as my
guide," answered Francis.^ Therefore he did not neglect to
insert in the ideal picture of a General of the Order, which he
once produced, the minor but essential trait: "And he must
not be a collector of books." ^
But more will was needed to carry through this fight than
Francis possessed. It was the others — those who were not
content to honor wisdom at a distance, but wanted to have a
part in it — who were the stronger. If Brother Leo is to be
trusted, Elias and his party even made a direct attempt to
have the Rule written by Francis invahdated, and to accept in
its stead the Dominicans' Rule, for example, in which study
occupied a much more prominent place. At a Chapter of the
Order, perhaps in 1222 or 1223, they secured Hugolin for their
plan. Francis heard the carefully framed remarks of the Car-
dinal. Without answering, he seized his hand, drew him out
among the assembled Brothers and cried out in a loud voice:
'Angelo Clareno, quoted by Hilarin Felder, p. 125, n. i. Actus B. Fran-
cisci, cap. 61.
^ Cel., Vita sec, II, 32 (d'AIengon). The passage of Scripture referred to
is Luke ix. 3. Fifty pounds in modern money is about 450 dollars. (Hilarin
Felder, p. 80, note 2.)
'"Non sit aggregator librorum." Spec, perf., p. 156.
232 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"My Brothers, my Brothers, the Lord called me to travel
the paths of humihty and simplicity and with me all those
who want to follow and copy me. Do not then speak to me
either of the Rule of St. Benedict or of St. Augustin or of St.
Bernard or of any other. For the Lord said to me, that he
wished me to be a fool and a simpleton, the like of which was
never seen before, and that he wished to bring us on another
road than that of wisdom. But God wants to put you all to
shame with your wisdom and knowledge, and I expect that
he will send his master of discipline and punish you, so that
whether you will or not you must with shame turn back to
your place." ^
Was Francis justified in his fear of knowledge? It is true
that the Apostle says, "Knowledge puffe th up; but Charity
edifieth,"but it is also true, what has been said in our day, that
this word must often cover over something far different from
holiness.2 Purely and simply to seek the truth and nothing
but the truth is also a cultivation of God, and the disinterested
seeking of truth exercises a strengthening and purifying influ-
ence on the entire moral being of man. To be open to all
truth is in reality a sign of a will open to all good. It is with
justice that the Apostle speaks in another place of the "hoH-
ness of truth" — he knew that holiness in the will is a fruit
of truth in thought, and that only the full disposition for truth
is the full disposition for holiness.
What most displeased Francis was, perhaps in his innermost
heart, the pride of intelligence, egoism, the perversion of wis-
dom to a means of flattering the vanity of the ego. He did
not desire that man should adorn himself with wisdom so as
to be looked at and esteemed of men. It was much better,
^ Spec, perf., c. 68. "Et dixit mihi Dominus quod volebat me esse unum
novcllum pactum." The correct reading is undoubtedly Pazzum (Ital. Pazzo);
this is found also in a MS. of the fourteenth century edited by Lemmens, the
Verba S. Francisci: "dixit mihi Dominus, quod volebat, quod ego essem unus
novellus pazzus in hoc mundo" {Doc. Ant. Franc, I, Quaracchi, 1901, p. 104).
Bartholomew of Pisa (cd. 1513, fol. 32b) in a like sense has Fatuellum.
Francis was clearly enough thinking of that nnova pazzia, of whom Jacob da
Todi was to sing — that madness of the Cross, which Elias and his followers
never knew or understood.
* V adage "Scientia inflat," cher å qiielques saints et d heatuoup de paresscux.
(The Bollandist van Ortrov in Analecta Bollandiana. Quoted from memory.)
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING 233
he felt, to fall on the knees and pray to God for your fellow
men, alone and unknown m a grotto or a hermitage high up
among the mountains, than in a cathedral with a soul full of
vanity over what a fine fellow one is.
"These are my Knights of the Round Table," Francis was in
the habit of saying with one of the wonted expressions from
the days of his youthful knighthood-mania, ''who live far
away in desert places in prayer and meditation and weep over
their own and the sins of others and live in simphcity and
humbly. For when their souls will go before the Lord, then
will the Lord show them the fruit and recompense for their
work, namely many souls, whom they by their examples, prayers
and tears have saved. 'My dear sons,' he will say, 'others
preached with their learned words, but I saved souls by your
merits; take the payment for your work and the fruit of your
merits, which is the eternal kingdom of heaven.' But those
who have not troubled themselves about anything else than
to know and to show the way to others and have done nothing
for themselves, they must stand naked and empty and to their
shame before the judgment seat of Christ." To this illus-
tration, which Francis was accustomed to give the Brethren
at the General Chapters, he was accustomed to add an extract
from the first book of Samuel (ii. 5): "the barren hath borne
many: and she that had many children is weakened." ^
Prayer and fife in its entirety, not words or theory, was for
Francis the essential in spite of everything — the essential on
which he and his Brothers especially had to depend. Others
might take the way that pleased them, he neither condemned
nor criticized them, as little as he condemned or criticized those
who went in gay and costly clothes. He befieved that he
knew only what it was that he and his were called to make
straight on the earth, and if he finally — as some think — gave
Anthony of Padua (whose Portuguese University acquirements
had been discovered and were to be utihzed) permission to
teach theology to the Brothers in Bologna, then it certainly
happened in the form preserved by tradition:
"To my dearest Brother Antonius greeting in Christ from
Brother Francis. It pleases me that thou readest theology
1 Spec, per/., cap. 72.
234 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
for the Brothers, provided they do not for the sake of this
study give up their prayers and slacken the spirit of devotion,
as it stands in the Rule. Farewell." ^
Francis here alludes to the final Rule in which this precept
is found in the fifth chapter. This chapter may have then
stood in the Rule, but the Rule as a whole may not have been
as yet accepted and recognized. It was first on November 29,
1222 that it was so accepted, and Anthony left Bologna in
1224 to go to Montpellier. If his lectures may have extended
over any considerable space of time, they must have begun
earlier, and it would seem probable that this permission was
given in the summer of 1222, when Francis is known to have
been in Bologna. Anthony at the time was stopping in Forli,
in the province of Romagna, to which also the learned Univer-
sity city belonged.
That Francis, moreover, in spite of all internal changes in
his order, continued to be greeted by the people with the
same inspiration as before, and that his simple sermons even
in the learned Bologna had made the deepest impression, is
made known to us by an eyewitness' tale. In Thomas of
Spalato's Historia Pontificiim Salonitanorum et Spalatensium,
which was written before 1268, the author gives the following:
"The same year" — i.e., 1222 — "on the holiday of the
Assumption" (August 15) "as I was a student in Bologna, I
saw St. Francis preach in the market-place in front of the
court-house, where nearly all the towTi were gathered. But
the beginning of his sermon was, 'Angels, Men, Devils.' He
now spoke so well and skilfully on these three kinds of reason-
able spirits, that many learned men who were present were
not a Httle astonished to hear an unlearned man (idiotae)
speak thus. But the whole theme of his discourse was to
assuage enmities and to create peace. His habit was dirty,
his appearance insignificant, his face not handsome. But
^ Bohmer, "Analcktcu," p. 71. Compare Thomas of Cclano, Vita sec, II,
c. 122 (d'Al.)- " Et beato Antonio cum semel scriberet, sic poni fecit in principio
littcrae: Fratri Antonio episcopo meo." This address, so characteristic of
Francis' politeness, is not to be found in the existing text; but there is no reason
to doubt the authenticity of the letter. It is found for the first time in the
Chroti. XXIV gen. of the last half of the fourteenth century. {Anal. Franc,
III, 132.)
SAINT FRANCIS AND LEARNING 235
God gave his word such power, that many noble families,
between whom there was much old-time enmity and spilled
blood, allowed themselves to be induced to make peace. And
all felt such great devotion and reverence for him, that men
and women in crowds precipitated themselves upon him, and
tried to tear off bits of his habit or even to touch the hem of
his garment."^
It is impossible to read without emotion this old account by
one who himself had seen and heard St. Francis. It seems as
if Francis first wanted to impose upon his learned audience a
little in choosing so academic a theme as the different kinds
of intelligent beings. Angels, Men, Devils. But soon it was
the old Francis again, the preacher disappeared, the people's
speaker remained. And then did his words seize, attack and
inspire for God just as in the old days in Assisi or Arezzo, or
when he established peace between the Wolf of Gubbio and
the citizens of the town. Old hatreds were written in the
Book of Lethe, death and assassinations were stricken from the
tablets, hands were clasped in forgiveness for recent bloodshed.
Near as he was to his death Francis was the same as on the
first day, when he stood upon the steps in the market-place
of Assisi to exhort to peace. He is still the Herald of the Great
King, and his message is exactly the same as fifteen years
before — it is the greeting Jesus Himself had taught him:
Dominus det tibi pacem, the Lord give thee peace.
^ Bohmer, p. 106. Thomas was archdeacon in Spalato (Dalmatia) in
1230 and died May 8, 1268. Hitherto the date of this sermon of Francis
has been given as 1220, following Wadding, but Bohmer {"Analcklen," p. 61)
has definitely proved that it first was given in 1222. According to the Actus
b. Francisci, cap. 36, during this stay in Bologna Francis converted two students
from Mark Ancona, Pilgrim from Fallerone and Ricetius from Muccia, who
afterwards became Friars Minor. "And although Brother Pilgrim was very
learned and very advanced in canon law, he would never want to be considered
a clerk, but a simple lay-brother." This was quite in the spirit of Francis.
See also Fiorctti, cap. 27.
CHAPTER X
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS AND THE THIRD
ORDER
THE development Francis had opposed went its inflex-
ible and unchangeable way. More and more did the
Friars Minor become a learned Order of students like
the Dominicans.
After the Pentecost Chapter of 1219 Brother Pacificusand
his companions went back to France, provided with the Papal
Letters of Introduction of June 1 1 of the same year. This
time their intention was to stay in Paris, whither they seem
not to have gone in 1217, on their first mission journey.
The French clerics seem not to have been satisfied with the
letters brought by the Brothers, and inquired about them in
Rome. The result of this inquiry was a new Papal com-
mendation, addressed directly to the French prelates and dated
May 29, 1220.^ This authorized the Brothers to settle in a
house in St. Denis outside of Paris; they had there not even
a chapel, but attended divine service in the adjacent parish
church. Already in 1234 they had obtained their own large
convent in St. Germain des Pres, and here a seminary was
erected to accommodate 214 students. The number of ap-
plicants soon became so great, that often for long periods
many had to remain enrolled upon the waiting lists, until the
departure of students who had taken their examination gave
room for others.
Franciscans of the old type saw only with doubt and reluc-
tance this new departure. Especially was Brother Giles tire-
less in opposing it. Time after time he used his sharp wit
against the learned Brothers who seemed to him false children
» Pro dilectis filiis. Sbar., I, p. 5- Potth., I, nr. 6263. Hilarin Felder:
"Cesck. dcr wisscnsch. Studien," p. 159.
236
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS 237
of St. Francis. "There is a great difference," said he, "between
a sheep which bleats and one which grazes. For braying does
no one any good, but grazing does itself good. It is so with a
Friar JNIinor who preaches, and one who prays and works.
A thousand and again a thousand times better is it to teach
oneself than to teach the whole world."
Another time he broke out thus: "WTio is the richer — he
who has only a httle garden and cultivates it, or he to whom
the whole world was given and who does nothing with it? So
much wisdom does not help to salvation, but he who really
wishes to know much must work much and bow his head
low."
A Brother came to Giles and wished to have his blessing for
preaching in the market-place in Perugia. "Yes," answered
Giles, "provided thou wilt limit thy preaching to saying, 'A
great cry and little wool is what I give!'" ^
Once Giles went into the garden in front of the hermitage
of Monte Ripido near Perugia, where he Hved for thirty years
after the death of Francis. He heard some laborers in a \-ine-
yard getting scolded by their master, because they talked
instead of working. Faite,faite, e non parlate, "Work, work,
and don't talk," the master of the vineyard said to them.
This was just the word for Giles. He left his cell and sought
the other Brothers: "Hear this now, what the man says,
'Work, work, and don't talk!'"
Another time Giles heard a turtle-dove cooing in the garden.
"O sister dove," said he, "I will learn from you how to serve
the Lord! For thou sayest always Qua, Qua, not La, La, —
here, here on earth, and not there, there in heaven, are we to
serve God. sister dove, how beautifully thou cooest!
children of men, why do you not learn from our sister
dove?"
In such moments, it seemed to Brother Giles as if the old
times were back again, when he and Francis, as God's musi-
cians, wandered through Italy. Inspired by the thought, he
sang his songs in honor of his queen, Poverty, and her sister the
noble lady Chastity, while he kept moving up and down among
1 "docuit eum frater Aegidius quod sic diceret in sermone: Bo, bo, molto
dico e poco fo." {Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 86.)
238 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
his flower-beds and played as if on a violin with two sticks,
one of which he scraped across the other.'
But soon Brother Giles awakened from his memories and
dreams and saw that the good old times were irrevocably
gone, that Francis was dead, and he himself an old man whose
ideas did not interest anyone. It was as if the sun was extin-
guished for h.m, and the flowers in his little garden smelt
sweetly no longer, and the turtle-doves ceased their cooing.
Then Brother Giles sighed deeply and long: "Our ship leaks
and must sink; let him flee who can! Paris, Paris, thou ruin-
estSt. Francis' Order!"
This sigh found its echo from now on among the best of the
sons of St. Francis. "Paris, thou hast ruined Assisi" was
the song of Jacopone da Todi.^ And when Giles in his old
age was placed before the General of the Order, St. Bonaven-
ture, the first question he asked this learned man was the
following: "Father, can we ignorant and unlearned men be
saved?" "Certainly," answered St. Bonaventure kindly.
" Can one who is not book-learned love God as much as one
who is?" asked the old Franciscan again. "An old woman
is in a condition to love God more than a master in theology "
was Bonaventure's answer. Then Giles stood up, went to
the wall of his garden and called out to the wide world, " Hear
this, all of you, an old woman who never has learned any-
thing and cannot read can love God more than Brother
Bonaventure!" ^
This true disciple of Francis of Assisi died soon after
* Anal. Franc, III, p. 86, p. loi. The song praising Poverty reads: "O mi
fratello, o bel fratello, o amor fratello, fami un castcllo, che no abbia pietra e
ferro. O bel fratello, fami una cittade, che no abbia pietra e ligname." For
the sonnet in praise of Chastity, see p. 109, n. i.
* "Mai vedemmo Parigi, che n' ha destrutto Assisi, con la lor lettoria Thanno
messo in mala via." (Jacopone da Todi: Poesic spiriluali, ed. Tresatti. Venice,
1617, I, I, satira 10. Quoted by Felder, ditto, p. 234.)
' Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 86, p. loi. Bonaventure, who in his writings often
alludes to Brother Giles and puts him on the same plane with St. Augustin or
Richard of St. Victor, has not forgotten this incident. In his Collationes in
hexaemeron it is thus told: "Sic ecce, quod una vetula, quae habet modicum
hortum, quia solam caritatem habet, meliorcm fructum habet quam unus
magnus magister, qui habet maximum hortum et scit mysteria et naturas
rerum." (Bonav., Opera, t. V, Quaracchi 1891, p. 418, n. 26.) These colla-
tiones date from the years 1 267-1 273 (I.e. Prolegomena, p. XXXVI).
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS 239
Giles joined his master and those friends who had gone before
him on April 22, 1262 — the eve of the feast of St. George,
the same evening on which he, over fifty years before, had
sat by the fire in his father's house in Assisi and had heard
him tell about Francis and had made up his mind to seek him.
Through a long life he had kept his heart faithful to the first
and only love of his younger days.^
The development of the Order in the direction of study had
taken a greater impulse after the Franciscans went to England,
September 10, 1224. This mission went out from France and
was led by Agnello of Pisa, who had been Custos in Paris.
The Brothers settled first in Canterbury, but as early as
November i, 1224 had estabHshed themselves in Oxford.
Here they received a large accession of students and candidates
from the celebrated University, and study was nowhere more
eagerly pursued than among the English Brothers. Eccles-
ton tells how they, on their bare feet, went long distances in
frost and cold or in unfathomable mud to go to the lectures.
At the same time they adhered most strictly to the Franciscan
vows of poverty; they also had the Franciscan joy with them
in their house; as soon as they saw each other they must
laugh, and even in the church this ecstatic joy would seize
them, so that for sheer happiness they could not say their
choral prayers.- The Franciscanism of the English Brothers
was thus in some ways very genuine, and Elias of Cortona,
when General, had no more fixed opponents of his violations
of the Rule than the learned Friar Minor, Adam of Marsh.^
None the less it was an Englishman, Aymon of Faversham,
who as General of the Order from 1 240 to 1 244 ordained that
none except the book-learned should be officers in the Order.'*
Brother Giles' and Brother Juniper's type was on the point
of dying out. And how could it be otherwise? At the
Pentecost Chapter of 1221 there were present three thou-
sand of the Brethren. But could Francis expect that all
* Fr. Gisbert Menge: "Der sellge Agidiiis von Assisi," Paderborn, 1906,
pp. 114-116.
^ Anal. Franc, I, pp. 217-218, pp. 226-228.
' Anal. Franc, III, pp. 229-230.
^"Hic generalis frater Haymo laicos ad ofiicia ordinis inhabilitavit, quae
usque tunc, ut clerici, exercebant." Anal. Franc, III, p. 251.
24© SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
these, like the first twelve disciples, were to be "Knights
of the Round Table"? Jordanus of Giano tells very honor-
ably of himself that he, instead of being an adventurous
warrior of God's army, energetically set himself in opposi-
tion when it was proposed to send him as a missionary to
Germany.^ Brothers like this were no longer heaven-soaring
larks; Francis saw justly in them chickens, who sought shel-
ter under protecting wings.
The same tendency became manifest in the Third Order at
last, the Order founded by Francis for married men and women.
If we believe Thomas of Celano, it came to pass that
St. Francis, after having preached to the birds at Bevagna,
came to a town called Alviano, between Orte and Orvieto,
near Todi. Here he and Brother Masseo stopped in the
market-place and were going to preach. But it was now
evening, and the many swallows, who still build their nests
in the old grey walls and ruinous towers of Alviano, circled
to and fro with ceaseless twittering and glad little cries in and
out of their nests under the eaves. Francis and IMasseo, as
was their custom, sang their Laud, Timete et honor ate, ^ and
the people collected and stood expectantly in silence, while the
singing lasted. But those who did not keep silence were the
swallows. Lower and lower they swept across the market-
place in ever thicker flocks, and their twittering and cries
increased until at last no sound could be heard. Then Francis
looked up with his patient countenance and said very cheer-
fully: "My sister swallows, it seems to me now tl^at the
time has come when I should have a chance to speak; now you
have said enough! Hear therefore God's word and keep still
and quiet while I preach!" And at once all the swallows
were silent and made no sound, as long as Francis
preached.
"But on account of this miracle and on account of the
glowing words Francis spoke, all the inhabitants of the town
wanted to follow Francis and be his disciples. But Francis
restrained them and said, 'Be not too hasty, I will ordain
for you what you shall do to be saved. ' And from that time
on," the Actus b. Francisci goes on to say, "he thought of
^ Anal. Franc, I, p. 7. * Reg. prima, cap. XXI.
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS 241
establishing a third order qui dicitur continentium, which is
called the abstainers."^
More than once such things happened to Francis. As an in-
stance there was a parish priest who, after he had heard Fran-
cis, wished to live the same life as he did, without, however,
abandoning his field of work. Francis conceded to him to remain
in his church and only ordered him each year, when he had
collected his tithes, to give the poor what might be left of the
tithes of the preceding year.- It was a Franciscan renunciation
of possessions modified to suit the circumstances of the case.
On one of his wanderings Francis met in the town of Poggi-
bonsi in the valley of Elsa (between Florence and Siena) a
merchant named Luchesio, whom, it seemed to him, he had
known in early youth. Like the Sienese, John Colombini,
who figured later, Luchesio had hitherto been a hard and
penurious man, with one exception in his sparing ways. He
was generous with the poor, gave lodging to pilgrims, received
and helped widows and orphans. Francis seems to have had
no influence in his conversion, but only to have given him and
his wife, Bona Donna, a rule of life and a penitential garment.
After this Luchesio devoted all his time to works of charity,
took care of the sick in the hospitals and went out with an
ass loaded with medicines into the fever-laden Maremma, to
bring succor to the many fever patients there. If he was
home, he worked in a little garden he had retained after
parting with his other possessions, and whose fruits he sold.
If this way of life did not bring him enough, he would go out
and beg. Bona Donna seems for a while to have resisted
vigorously these proceedings of her husband, but Kke John
Colombini's wife, she is said to have become converted by a
miracle. After this they Hved in unity together and died at
an interval of a few hours, April 28, 1260.^
^ Gel., V. pr., I, XX, 59. In Actus b. Francisci (Sab. ed., p. 57) the scene
of this incident is laid in Cannara between Fohgno and Bevagna. Bonaven-
ture (XII, 4) gives Alviano. The same name might suggest Laviano in the
valley of Chiana, but Wadding declares positively for Alviano near Todi (see
1212, n. 32). Fioretti (cap. 16) calls the town Savurniano.
^Bernard a Bessa {Anal. Franc, III, pp. 686-687).
* A. SS., April III, pp. 610-616. Count Orlando dei Cattani of Chiusi
received a garment of penance from Francis also (see above p. 162, note i).
17
242 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Around Luchcsio as a centre a circle of people of similar
inclination collected in Poggibonsi, and in the same way, in
other Italian cities, there were formed what Gregory IX was
to designate as Poctiitcntiuni collegia, "communities of peni-
tents." ' It is to be believed that, as in the case above,
Francis gave these penitents a Rule of Life; this was ever
his custom with all who asked him for spiritual guidance.
None of these Rules are in existence, and it is only by the help
of later sources that we can acquire an idea of their actual
scope and contents.^
It was characteristic of the Penitential Brothers — the
expression Tertiary, i.e., Member of the Third Order of
St. Francis, only appeared later — that they sought in their life
in the world to imitate the ways of Francis and his Brothers.
They were to be in the world, but not of the world. As soon
as they entered the Brotherhood they pledged themselves
to give back all unjustly acquired goods — which in many
cases meant to give up everything — to pay the tithes for
which they might stand in arrears, to make their wills in time
to prevent strife among their heirs, not to take an oath, except
in special, extraordinary cases, and not to accept public ofl5ce.
They wore a poor and distinctive habit and divided their
time between prayer and deeds of charity. They generally
lived with their families, but sometimes, like the Friars Minor,
withdrew into solitude.
These Penitential Brothers very soon came in conflict
with the public authorities, on account of their principles.
Impressive in this aspect is an incident that occurred in the
* Gregory IX to Agnes of Bohemia, May 9, 1238 (Sbar., I, p. 241).
*I follow here Karl Miiller's fundamental studies in *' Die Anfånge des
Minoritcnordens," pp. 130 et seq., as well as Le Monnier: Histoire de S. Fran-
Qois, II, pp. 1-40. The regula et vita fratriim vel sororum poenitcntium found
by Sabatier in the Franciscan convent in Capistrano in the Abruzzi and pub-
lished in Opuscules, I, pp. 16-20, comprise probably the Rule written by Francis
and Hugolin in co-operation for the Penitential Brothers and in any case date
from 1228, except for a few later additions. The papal bulls in favor of the
Brothers, quoted by Karl Miiller as above, pp. 132 et seq., are about the best
proofs. See also Mandonnet in Sabatier's Opuscidcs, I, pp. 143-245, Sabatier
in Coll., II, pp. 157-163, Gotz: "Die Regel des Tertiarierordens," and Karl
Miiller: "Ziir Geschichte des BussbrUderordens," both in "Zeitschr. f. Kgsch.,"
Vol. XXIII (1902), pp. 97-107 and 496-524.
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS 243
city of Faenza (near Rimini). Here the citizens had joined
the local Brotherhood in great numbers, and when the mayor
wished them to take the usual oath of obedience, by which
they would oblige themselves to take up arms when the
authorities ordered it, they refused to swear, under the claim
that to swear such an oath involving the taking up of arms
was against their Rule. By every means of compulsion the
mayor tried to force the Brotherhood to take this oath, and
apparently they turned in their need to Francis' friend,
Cardinal Hugohn. This is the only supposition by which
we can explain the fact that Honorius III, in a document of
December 16, 1221, ordered the Bishop of Rimini to take the
Penitential Brothers in Faenza into his protection.^
This dispute between the Penitential Brothers and the
authorities soon spread over the whole of Italy. As a sort of
punishment the cities subjected the Penitential Brothers to
special taxes, or forbade them to give their property to the
poor. In a circular letter to the Archbishops of all Italy,
Honorius orders the clergy to take the side of the Brothers
against the public authorities and to see that they are not
injured in any way, and scarcely had Gregory IX become
Pope when he time after time threatened the enemies of the
Penitential Brothers with "the anger of God and of the holy
Apostles, Peter and Paul."^ More fortunately situated than
the Quakers and Adventists of a later time, the Penitential
Brothers could bring about at least a partial disarming in
the quarrelsome Italian republics and in some degree pave
the way for future days of greater peace. And thus it fell to
Francis' lot, or to that of the movement instituted by him,
to tame the wolves of the Middle Ages.
As soon as the dissension in Faenza broke out, it very natu-
rally occurred to Hugolin to unite the scattered Brotherhoods
into a united and therefore more powerful body. In the late
summer of 1221 he still resided in Bologna and in its environs
^ Significatum est nobis (Sbaralea, I, p. 8. Potth., I, 6736).
'In his letter of March 28, 1230 {Detestanda humani generis, Sb., I, p. 39,
Potth., I, 8159) Gregory IX quotes his predecessor's bull. For Gregory's
other utterances in favor of the Penitential Brothers see Sbar., I, pp. 30
and 65.
244 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
and therefore had much to do with the citizens of Faenza in
various ways.' P>ancis and Hugolin apparently at this time
wrote in common the first Rule for the Penitential Brother-
hood or, as they were already called by Bernard of Bessa,
the Third Order .2 "The Third Order," the secretary of
St. Bonavcnture writes, "is equally for clerics and layfolk,
maidens, widows and married people. The intention of the
Brothers and Sisters of Penance is to live honorably in their
residences and to busy themselves with pious actions and to
flee from the vanities of the world. And among them thou
seest noble knights and others of the great ones of the world
in humble costume acting so beautifully with the poor and
rich that thou canst well see that they truly are God-fearing." '
As has been said, the original Rule of the Third Order,
which Francis and Hugolin wrote, has not been preserved for
us. But it certainly was the foundation of the Rule of 1228,
^ Bohmer has collected the proofs of this (" Analcklen," p. XXXV).
^ The Friars Minor are the first, the Clares are the second.
' Anal. Franc, III, 686. Compare Tres Socii, cap. XIV end, as well as
Mariano of Florence's work, hitherto only existing in manuscript, on the
Third Order (MS. Palatin 147 in the National Library in Florence, studied by
Sabatier in Coll., II, pp. 157-163). It says in it of St. Francis: "Havende
adunque fornito la oratione et sentendosi pieno di divino spirito et con el con-
siglio et adiuto di mcssere Ugolino cardinale Osticnse che fu poi papa Gregorio
nono compose et scripse una breue vita in quatordici rubriche distinta, la quale
comincia: Viri ct mulieres hujus Jraternitatis etc. et intitulola: mcmoriale
propositi fratrum et sororum de poenitentia in domibus propriis existentium.
Sancto Francesco in comporre questa regola essendo col sopradetto cardinale
quello che lo spirito li dictava al cardinale porgeva, ct el cardinale con sua
propria mano alcune cose soperendo scriveva. La quale regola con breve
parole scripta in se grande substantia contiene et e comune a chierici et layci,
homini et donne, soluti et coniugati, vcrgine et vedove et in conclusione contiene
suoi profcssori honestamente vivino nclle lore case in penitentia e che dieno
opera alle opere della pieta fugcndo le mondiale pompe. . . . Et cosi scripta
la regola comincio in decta citta di Firenze a ricevcre al decto ordine li huomini
et donne et questo achade lanno del Signore 1221 ad di venti di maggio."
We see how well Mariano's description of the Order agrees with that of
Bessa. When the Florentine chronicler wishes to claim that the Third Order
originated in Florence, perhaps it is his local patriotism which makes him do
it. But it is also conceivable that the original Latin text employed by Mariano
contained — as Bohmer maintains — the word "Faventia" (Faenza), and
that he read it "Florentia." The Rule of 1228, found by Sabatier, which almost
certainly originated in Faenza, has the exact title given by Mariano: Memorale
propositi fratrum et sororum de poenitentia in domibus propriis existentium. More-
over, the date of publication is here found as 1221, and Chapter I begins Viri
qui huius Jraternitatis fuerint.
THE LEARNED FRANCISCANS 245
the merit of bringing which to light is Sabatier's, and which
was vaHd in the Ravenna district, perhaps in Faenza. This
Rule had the following contents:
The first to the fifth chapter gives directions about clothing,
fasts, prayers; the sixth chapter, paragraph i, is devoted to
the Brothers' confessions and communions, which are fixed
at three times in the year (July, Easter, Pentecost). Para-
graph 2 inculcates conscientious payment of tithes; paragraph
3 contains the prohibition against bearing weapons; paragraph
4 forbids oaths (oaths of allegiance and oaths in court are
excepted) ; paragraph 5 is directed against cursing and swear-
ing. Chapter VII treats of Meetings of the Order (once a
month; mass is read, there is preaching and a collection).
Chapter VIII on the sick; they are to be visited once a week,
to be helped corporally as well as to be admonished spiritually.
Chapter IX on praying for the deceased members and attend-
ing the burials. Chapter X, paragraph i, on making one's
will within three months of the day of reception; paragraph 2,
to observe peace among themselves; paragraph 3, how to meet
the attacks of the public authorities (the Heads of the Brother-
hood shall have recourse to the Bishop). Paragraph 5 of this
chapter treats of the requirements for being a Brother or a
Sister — that one shall make peace with his neighbor, return
ill-gotten goods, and pay arrears of tithes. Chapter XI,
paragraph i, no heretic can be received; paragraph 2, mar-
ried women must not be received without their husbands'
consent. Chapters XII and XIII treat of the maintenance
of discipline in the Order; especially are to be noted Chapter
XIII, paragraphs 8 and 9, in which it is ordered that the
member who has given open scandal and injured the good
name of the Order shall acknowledge his offence before
the assembled Brethren and accept his punishment. If the
offence is very great, the offender can be expelled from the
Order. In paragraphs 13 to 15 it is forbidden to take a com-
plaint against a Brother or a Sister to the courts; all disputes
must be settled within the Order. Paragraph 12 gives
finally an addition to the command to return ill-gotten goods;
if it is not known any more who has been wronged or who his
heirs are, then by a public crier, or by posting on the church
246 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
pillars, all and every one who has been injured by the newly
entering Brother shall be invited to make known his claim. ^
* The Rule of 122S in Sabatier, Opusc, I, pp. 16-30; Bohmer, " Analeklen,"
pp. 73-82.
The Rule for Tertiarics in Florence (Faenza?) given by Mariano in the
manuscript referred to differs, as far as a provisional judgment can go, not a
little from the Rule contained in the Capistrano manuscript. See the list of
chapter-headings in Mariano's version of the Rule given by Sabatier {Coll.,
II, p. 159) and the comparison based thereon with the Capistrano Rule by
Walter Gotz in "Zeitschr. f. Kgsch.," XXIII (1902), pp. loo-ioi. As the Third
Order, as already stated, was formed by the union of originally independent
brotherhoods, there is nothing to preclude the belief that local interpretations
existed along with the general Rule.
For the wider development of the Third Order see Karl Miiller's (not unas-
sailable) presentation in "Anfånge des M. O." pp. 145 et seq.
The Third Order of the present day was reorganized by Leo XIII in 1883
by the Constitution Miscricors Dei filius. See Rev. Eugene d'Oisy's Direc-
toirc des Terliaires de Si. Francois, Paris, 1905.
CHAPTER XI
ELIAS OF CORTONA AND THE FINAL RULE
THE co-operation of Francis and Hugolin on the Rule
of the Friars Minor seems to have gone on in the
same way as their co-operation in the Third Order's
Rule. "St. Francis," says Mariano of Florence,
"said to the Cardinal what the inspiration of the spirit told
him, and the Cardinal wrote it down with his own hand and
then added some things."^
A tale preserved for us in the Legenda antiqua gives a
description of Hugolin's influence and of the correction he
introduced. Francis, for instance, wanted to put into the
Rule that if the ministers did not see to it that the Brothers
followed the Rule literally and verbally, then the Brothers
should be at liberty to follow the Rule, even against the
desires of the ministers. Such a permission Francis had,
among others, once given to Cæsarius of Speier; he alone
or with others of the same mind had Francis' permission to
separate themselves from such of the Brothers who might
appear unfaithful to the Rule, and to be at liberty "to follow
it literally and without interpretation." 2
Undoubtedly Francis by this determination wanted to open
a way of escape for the Brothers who in the questions of
knowledge and poverty did not want to go with the stream.
Hugolin was opposed to such a permission as being the sure
road to the splitting up and dissolving of the Order. But
^ Coll. (Sabatier), II, p. 161. Compare Hugolin's own words in the bull
Quo elongati of September 28, 1230: "in condendo praedictam regulam . . ,
(Francisco) astiterimus" (Sbar., I, p. 68), and Bernard a Bessa in Anal. Franc,
III, p. 686.
'"ad litteram sine glossa" (compare Francis' strong prohibition in his
Testament against interpreting the Rule and saying "it shall be thus under-
stood," Opuscula, p. 82). Sab., Opusc, I, pp. 96-97.
247
248 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Francis strongly advocated that the necessary permission
should be embraced in the Rule, whereupon Hugolin said,
"I will arrange it so that the intent of the Order shall not be
changed, but only the expression." Francis agreed to this,
but what eventually appeared in the Rule is only a very weak
replica of his thought.
In Francis' drawing up it was permitted, and even com-
manded absolutely in the name of obedience, that the
Brothers should disobey their superiors as far as it was neces-
sary for obeying the Rule litleraliter, for the Rule was above
the minister and the oath of obedience was one of obedience
to the Rule, not to the ministers.^ In Hugolin's version
the very Brothers in whom Francis saw his real sons, and to
whom he had, in the person of Cæsarius of Speier, given
his benediction, became a sort of Scrupulists, whom the min-
isters were exhorted to speak to with consideration and to
exert persuasion upon. Those who in the eyes of Francis
w-ere the warriors of the good cause, in Hugolin's Rule become
patients.^
In addition to Hugolin, Brother Elias had also a great
influence, as the Vicar of the Order, on the final form of the
Rule. We have a proof of this in a letter which Francis wrote
to him in the winter of 1222-1223.
Elias had openly gone to Francis with a complaint against
some Brothers and with pious wishes for their amendment.
Francis answered quite out of his usual trend of thought:
"I will tell thee my ideas as well as I can: namely, that
thou regardest it as a blessing only, both when the Brothers
' The same order of thought is to be seen in Thomas of Celano's expression
"obedientiis cunctis Franciscum omnino propono." V. sec, II, 84 (d'AI.).
* We can compare the two texts:
"ad suos ministros debeant et possint rccurrcre [fratres], ministri vero
teneantur eisdem fratribus per obedientiam postulata benigne et liberaliter
concedere; quod si facere nollent, ipsi fratres habeant licentiam et obedientiam
earn" [sc. regulam] "litteraliter observandi, quia omnes tam ministri quam
subditi debent rcgulae esse subjecti" (Sab., Opusc, I, p. 94).
" Et ubicumque sunt fratres qui scircnt et cognoscerent se non posse regulam
spiritualitcr observare, ad suos ministros debeant ct possint rccurrere. Ministri
vero caritative et benigne eos recipiant et tantam familiaritatem habeant circa
ipsos ut dicere possint eis et facere sicut domini servis suis. Nam ita debet
esse quod ministri sint servi omnium fratrum" {Reg. sec., cap. X).
ELIAS or CORTONA 249
and other men oppose thee. . . . Thou must wish that it
should be just so and not otherwise. ... I know with cer-
tainty that in this there is true obedience. And love those
who are opposed to thee, and wish nothing else for them than
what the Lord will give thee. And herein show thou thy
charity, that thou shalt not wish them to be better Chris-
tians. And that shall be more for thee than to withdraw to a
hermitage." ^
In the same deep spirit of charity that accepts everything
from God's hand and will not even extricate itself from dis-
agreeable surroundings or wish the betterment of one's fellow-
men from the desire of effecting their improvement personally,
Francis treats of another question, which undoubtedly often
came upon the stage with him and Ehas. It is the question
of what shall be done with the Brothers who are fallen into
sin. Elias, who was so anxious to improve his neighbor, was
naturally in favor of strong measures — "It takes strong
lye for a scurvy head " is one of the merciless popular proverbs.
Francis, on the other hand, writes:
*'As sure as thou lovest the Lord and me, His servant and
thy servant, see thou to it that no Brother in the whole world,
let him have sinned as he may, in any way, is permitted to
go from thee without forgiveness, if he asks for it. And if
he does not ask for forgiveness, then ask him if he does not
want forgiveness. And if he comes a thousand times even
before thy eyes with sin, then love him altogether more than
thou lovest me, that thou mayest draw him to the Lord,
and be always merciful to such. . . .
"But of all the chapters there are in the Rules and that
treat of deadly sins, we will, with the help of the Lord at the
Pentecost Chapter, together with the Brethren, make a chapter
to this effect: 'If any Brother, prompted by the evil enemy,
falls into deadly sin, then he is obhged to reveal it to his
guardian. And all Brothers who know that he has sinned
must not put him to shame or attack him, but must show
i"et non velis quod sint meliores christiani. Et istud sit tibi plus quam
eremitorium" (Bohmer, p. 28). This is the reading of the three best manu-
scripts. A single MS. (S. Isidore ^\) in Lemmens' Opuscula has (p. 108) the
opposite: "in hoc dilige eos, ut veUs, quod sint meliores christiani."
250 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
him great mercy and keep their Brother's sin very secret, for
the healthy need no physician, only those who suffer illness.
Likewise they are obliged to send him with a companion to
the guardian (custos). And the guardian shall mercifully
help him, as he himself would want to be helped if he were
in a similar case. And if a Brother falls into a venial sin,
then he shall make it known to one of the Brothers, who is a
priest, and if there is no priest, he shall make it known to his
Brother, until he can find a priest, who can give him true
absolution; but no other penance shall be given him than
this: 'Go forth and sin no more!'
"But that thou canst better comply with this letter, so
keep it with thee until Easter. Then thou wilt be with thy
Brothers. And then with the Lord's help we will see that a
treatment is provided for everything lacking in the Rule."
Few parts of Francis' writings give a better insight into the
unbounded mildness and patience of his disposition. He was
not one to extinguish the feeble flame or to break the bending
branch. If we examine the regulation adopted at the Pente-
cost Chapter of 1223, alluded to by Francis, it almost frightens
us to see how little remains of what he desired. It runs thus
short and dry:
"If any Brother, incited by the evil enemy, falls into mortal
sin, and if this is one of the sins which only the minister of
the province can absolve, he is obliged to go to his provincial
minister immediately. And if the minister is a priest, he
shall prescribe a penance for him and absolve him, but if he
is not a priest, then he shall let another priest in the Order
"^ive him a penance, as it seems to him most serviceable
in the »Lord. And the ministers ought to be on their
guard that they are not angry or irritated over the sins of
others, for anger and irritation are hindrances to Christian
charity."^
This leads up to a correct canonical mode of procedure, with
some admonitions which belong elsewhere,- but which were
given a place here to appease Francis in some measure. And
what has become of all of the deep evangelical charity of Fran-
cis' letter — the charity which, face to face with the obdurate
^ Reg. secunda, cap. VII. * Admotiilio XI.
ELIAS OF CORTONA 251
or perhaps defiant sinner, is seized by innermost pity for his
poor unfortunate soul and goes to him, falls on his neck, and
whispers in his ear, "Brother, dear, dear Brother, wilt thou
not pray for forgiveness?" What is there left of the prescrip-
tions in Francis' draught that no Brother shall cast a stone
at the sinner, that all shall keep silent about his fault and help
him, as they themselves will some time need to be helped, and
that if it is only a venial sin (peccaium veniale), then shall
nothing be said to him other than the word of Jesus to the
sinful woman, "Go and sin no more!"
It often happened to Francis that what he had written was
erased or changed beyond all recognition. Thus the great
reverence he had for the sacrament of the altar caused him
to ordain that if the Brothers ever found a piece of paper on
which the words of consecration of the mass, or even the
word " God" or "Lord," was written lying in an inappropriate
place, they should reverentially take up the paper and pre-
serve it with reverence. This unceasing fine character of
reverence, that could not bear to see holy words in wrong
places, the leaders of the Brotherhood did not openly entrust
to the Brothers — the reason given to Francis was that it
would be difficult for them to observe such a command! To
him it was almost a real sorrow of the soul that the word of
the gospel, which had once had so great an effect upon him
and his first friends — the words which had spoken to him
in the Mass of St. Matthew at Portiuncula, and which he had
afterwards found in the Scripture with Bernard of Quintavalle
— that the words "Take nothing for your journey; neither
staff, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money" were not to be allowed
to stand in the Rule he was finally to give the Brethren.
This was mercilessly omitted, and in spite of all Francis'
humility this was very hard for him to endure. The line
drawn through these words of the gospel went like a sting
through Francis' heart; yes, he felt as if all that he had lived
for, and for whose carrying into practice he had devoted his
life, was now pronounced a cobweb of the brain and an
exaggerated theory, and by those who should stand closest
to him and should be the ones to carry out his work. From
this time to the end Francis was, as his truest friend Leo
252 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
has put it, a man deathly sick and marked for death, crat
propc morkin ct gravitcr infirmahatur }
As in a great picture the later legends have preserved the
memories of the entire strife between Francis and his oppo-
nents.
Francis — thus we are told in the Speculum perfectionis and
by Conrad of Offida — had betaken himself to the hermitage
of Fonte Colombo in Rieti, there to give the last touches to
the Rule of the Order 'vvdth fasting and prayer, and he had
chosen Brother Leo and Brother Bonizio as his companions.
"And Francis was in a cave in the mountain side a stone's
throw from the others, and what the Lord revealed to him in
prayer, that he told them. And Brother Bonizio dictated
and Brother Leo wrote. . . .
"It happened that there was a great commotion among
all the Brothers in Italy, because Francis was writing a new
Rule, and the one minister exxited the next. And all who
were in Italy went to Brother Elias, who was then Vicar, and
said to him: ' We have heard that Brother Francis is writing
a new Rule, and we are afraid that it is too hard to be followed.
For he is very strict with himself and could easily command
things we cannot observe. Say this to him, therefore, before
it is ratified by the Pope!'
"Then Elias answered that he would not go alone to
Francis, and they went together. And they came near to the
place, and Brother Elias called out, 'The Lord be praised!'
Then Francis came out and saw them and asked Brother
Elias, ' What do these Brothers want? Have I not said that
no one was to come here?' Brother Elias answered, 'It is
all the ministers in Italy, who have heard that thou writest
^ Spec, perf., cap. 11. See also cap. 3: "licet ministri scirent quod secun-
dum regulam fratres tenerentur sanctum evangelium observare nihilominus
fecerunt removcri de regula illud capitulum Nihil ttilcritis in via." Cap. 65:
"Voluitetiam poni in regula quod ubicumque fratres invenirent nomina Domini.
. . . Et licet non scriberentur hæc in regula, quia ministris non vidcbatur
bonum, ut fratres hæc haberent in mandatum." Cap. 2: "fecit [Fr.] in regula
plura scribi, quae cum assidua orationc ct meditatione a Domino postulabat
pro utilitate religionis, afTirmans ea pcnitus esse secundum Dei voluntatem,
sed postquam ea ostendcbat fratribus vidcbantur eis gravia et importabilia. . . .
Et nolebat contendere cum cis." Compare Cel., Vita secunda. III, 122: "Hoc
sane verbum voluit in regula ponere, sed bullatio facta præclusit."
ELIAS OF CORTONA 253
a new Rule, and now they say that thou shalt write it so that
they can obey it, for if thou dost not do this, they will not
bind themselves by it, and so thou canst write it for thyself
and not for them!'
"Then St. Francis lifted up his voice and cried out, 'O
Lord, answer' thou for me ! ' And then all heard the voice of
Christ in the air, which said: 'Francis, there is nothing in
the Rule of thine but it is all mine, whatever it is, and I wish
that the Rule shall be hterally obeyed, literally, without
interpretation, without interpretation, without interpretation!
And whosoever will not obey it may leave the Order!' Then
St. Francis turned to the Brothers and said to them, 'Have
you heard that? Have you heard that? Or shall it be said
once more to you?' But the ministers went away terrified."^
This relation, which is also found in Ubertino of Casale, is
evidently not intended to refer to the Rule ratified by the
Pope in 1223. I reached this conclusion at the time (1903)
I wrote about Fonte Colombo in my " Pilgrimsbogen " ("The
Pilgrim's Book"), and I argued hotly with Paul Sabatier in
its introduction. The Rule, to which the above relation
refers, and which Christ in apparition approved, is quite
clearly an earlier Rule: that, namely, of which Bonaventure
speaks in his biography, saying that Brother Elias received
it from Francis and soon after said that he had lost it? It was
after this that, at a new residence at Monte Colombo, the Rule
^ Spec, perf., cap. i. Verba Jr. Conradi, I (Sab., O/'zwc, I, pp. 370-374). A
description of Fonte Colombo, "the Franciscan Sinai," is given in Jorgensen's
"Pilgrimsbogen" (Copenhagen, 1903), chapters VIII to X.
*"Volens igitur confirmandam rcgulam ... ad compendiosiorem formam
. . . redigere, in montem quendam cum duobus sociis . . . conscendit, ubi
pane tantum contentus et aqua, ieiunans conscribi earn fecit, secundum quod
oranti sibi divinus Spiritus suggerebat. Quam cum de monte descendens,
servandam suo vicario commississet, et ille paucis elapsis diebus, assereret per
incuriam perditam." Leg. major, IV, 11. The whole description tallies with
Spec. perf. and originated with Brother Illuminato or possibly with Brother
Leo himself. The Spec. perf. also says (cap. i) that "secunda regula, quam
fecit B. Franciscus, perdita fuit." That Brother Elias was not particular in
the means he adopted is seen from his most evident invention ("frater Helias
dixerat, se fuisse receptum ad ordinem sub alia regula domini Innocentii non
bullata; et ideo, quia . . . non voverat paupertatem (!) poterat recipere
pecuniam, ut dicebat." Anal. Franc, III, p. 231. On the preceding page is
Elias' assertion that, in accordance with Francis' wish "quam secreto didici,"
he built the basilica over his grave!).
2 54 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
was produced which Honorius III approved on November
29, 1223, and which Francis wrote because he "feared to
irritate the Brothers and did not wish to contend with them,
but with better knowledge he acceded to them and excused
himself before God. And as for the word of the Lord which
it was given hi-n to announce, that it might not remain
without fruit, so would he live after it himself, and therein he
found at last rest and comforted himself therewith." ^
The above is not to be understood as if the Rule approved
by Rome was quite lacking in the Franciscan imprint. On
the contrary, if we knew no other and had no suspicions
of the changes it has undergone, it would never occur to us
that it was not the Rule written by Francis' own hand. In
it we find the essential maxims characteristic of St. Francis —
first and foremost, in the very prologue, the obligation to
"live after the gospel, in obedience, poverty and chastity."
And here and there in the twelve chapters, of which the
Rule, in accordance with Francis' reverence for the Twelve
Apostles, consists, are found a whole series of real Franciscan
principles. Thus we may cite the absolute prohibition to
accept money (cap. IV) and to own nothing (cap. VI), the
command to work (cap. V), without shame to ask for alms
(cap. V), to wear simple clothes, which it is allowed to patch
with sackcloth and other rags (cap. II) without the Brothers
in the pride of poverty daring to condemn those who dress in
fine clothing and live in luxury and happiness (same chapter).
As the Brothers wander through the world they should be
mild, peaceful, modest, humble, friendly to all. They shall
not contend among themselves and shall judge no one. When
they enter a house their greeting shall be Pax huic domui,
"Peace be to this house," and what is put before them, in
accordance with the gospel, they have permission to eat
(cap. III). The Brothers must not preach if the Bishop of
the place is opposed to it (cap. VI). They must not enter a
nuns' convent (cap. XI). Those who are priests shall say
their ofiice after the custom of the Roman Church, but
^ Spec, perf., cap. 2. Especially is the expression to be noted: "conde-
scendebat invitus voluntati eorum." Francis was brought to this in opposition
to his character and principles.
ELIAS OF CORTONA 255
lay-brothers shall say the Pater noster (cap. III). Those
who cannot read shall preferably not try to learn to do so,
but they shall recollect that what they before all came here
for is to refrain from all pride, all vanity, all envy, all slander
and complaining, all covetousness and all the troubles of the
world, to have the spirit of the Lord and do God's work,
always to pray to Him out of a pure heart and preserve humil-
ity and patience in persecutions and sickness, and to love them
who hate us and torment us and sue us, for the Lord says:
"Love your enemies and pray for them who persecute you
and slander you. Blessed are you who suffer persecution
for justice's sake, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. And
he who endureth to the end shall be saved." (Cap. X.)
Thus in spite of all, even to-day in the Rule of the Friars
Minor there burns a flame of the holy fire Francis came to
the world to kindle, and down through time the best and
noblest among the Franciscans have devoted their lives to
keeping this flame pure. Sine glossa, sine glossa, these words
of Christ to Brother Elias at Fonte Colombo were their
war-cry — "without interpretation, without change" they
wished to live after the law which for them was "the book
of life, the hope of salvation, the seed of the gospel, the way
of the Cross, the state of perfection, the key of paradise, a
first taste and an aspiration after the eternal life."^ Down
through the centuries one form after the other is to be seen,
in whom Francis seems to have again come to fife — John
of Parma, Hubert of Casale, Peter John Olivi, Angelo Clareno,
Gentile of Spoleto, Paolo Trinci, St. Bernardine of Siena,
Matteo da Basci, Stefano Molina. Again and again crowds
of barefoot Brothers gather around these men who in their
coarse brown robes, with rope around their waists, go to the
old hermitages where Francis and his first Brothers prayed,
and where they can chant the old, half- forgotten chapters
of the Rule as if it were a new and unheard song, telling
them to "wander through the world as pilgrims and as
strangers without other possessions here upon earth than the
inahenable treasure of the most exalted poverty" (cap. VI).
' Spec, perf., cap. 76. Written by an Umbrian Spiritual (i.e., a Franciscan
of the strict observance. See Appendix, p. 390)..
256 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
There is a tone of Portiuncula and Rivo Torto that over and
over again exerts its great power, and like the Swiss sentinel
who on Strassburgh's rampart heard the Kuhreigen of his
childhood's days sung across the Rhine, the Friars Minor
cast all things away which might hinder them in swimming
over the rapid stream to their fatherland and home.
CHAPTER XII
TEE LAST VISIT TO ROME AND THE CRIB
AT GRECCIO
FRANCIS was last in Rome in the year 1223, to obtain
the Papal ratification of his Rule, and Hugolin was
helpful to him in this. "When we still occupied a
lower office we were with St. Francis when writing
the Rule, and obtained the confirmation of it by the Holy
See," he says himself in 1230 after he was Pope.^
During this visit Francis undoubtedly again visited " Brother
Jacoba," Jacopa de SettesoH, who in 12 17 had become a
widow. She was one of the two women with whose features,
according to his own statement, he was acquainted (the other
was St. Clara) .^ In her house he felt that he was welcome —
it was his own Bethania, and Jacopa was Mary and Martha
combined. She prepared for him the aliments he liked —
among others the almond cream which he in his last sickness
thought he would like to taste.^ In return he gave her a
legacy, which was exactly in his way of thought. He could
never bear to see a lamb led to the slaughter-house; it re-
minded him of Jesus, as he was taken to Golgotha, and he
^ "quum ex longa familiaritate, quam idem confessor Nobiscum habuit,
plenius noverimus intentionera ipsius; et in condendo praedictam regulam
obtinendo confirmationem ipsius per Sedem Apostolicam sibi astiterimus,
dum adhuc essemus in minori officio constituti." (Gregor IX's Bull Quo elongati
of September 28, 1230 in Appendix to Sabatier's Spec, perf., pp. 315-316.)
''■ Cel., Vit. sec, III, c. 55 (Amoni).
^ "Illam autem comestionem vocant Romani mortariolum quae fit de amyg-
dalis et zucario et de aliis rebus." Spec. (ed. Sab.) p. 221.
Sabatier identifies this favourite food of Francis with the well-known stone-
hard Roman mostaccioli (see Jorgensen's " Pilgrimsbogen," p. 61). On the
other side f. Edouard d'Alengon: Frére Jacqueline, p. 19, n. 2; in mortariolum
(in Old French mortairol) he sees rather "cette creme d'amandes bien connue
aujourd'hui sous le nom de frangipane," a name in which he finds an allusion to
Jacopa's name (her married name was Frangipani).
18 257
258 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
always tried, when he could, to obtain its freedom. Thus
he succeeded in Mark Ancona once in getting a merchant to
buy the lamb, with which he next presented himself before
the Bishop of Osimo. It was only after long explanations
that Francis succeeded in making this prelate understand
why he came in such a procession, and the lamb was then
given to the Nuns of San Severino. Out of its wool a habit
was made, which was sent to Francis at the next Pentecost
Chapter.^ On another occasion Francis gave his cloak as
ransom for two small lambs which a peasant was carrying.
"For when Francis heard the lambs bleating his heart was
moved, and he went and caressed them and comforted them
like a mother who comforts her crying child. And he said
to the peasant, 'Why do you torment so my brothers the
lambs?' But the peasant answered, 'I am going to market
with them to sell them.' 'And then what will they do with
them?' 'Those who buy them will slaughter and eat them!'
'That will not soon happen,' said Francis, and bought them
straightway from the man."^ At Portiuncula he long had a
tame lamb which followed him everywhere, even into church,
where its bleatings were mingled with the songs of the
Brethren.^
Also in the same way in Rome, Francis had procured a lamb
for himself, which upon his departure he gave to Jacopa.
In her house it lived long, and it is told that it followed her
to mass in the morning and that, in its eagerness to go to
church, it would wake its mistress with Httle friendly buttings
of its head when she was late in getting up.'* Out of its wool
Jacopa spun and wove the habit which, in the autumn of
1226, she took with her to Portiuncula, and in which Francis
died.^
It was not only the kind hospitality of Jacop;i de Settesoli
that Francis shared, he was also guest among the Cardinals.
» Cel., Vita pritna, I, XXVIII, n. 78.
* ibidem, n. 79.
' "ovis autem . . . audiens f ratres in choro cantare, et ipsa ecclesiam
ingrediens . . . vocem balatus emittens ante altare Virginis, Matris Agni, ac
si earn salutare gcstiret" (Bonav., VIII, 7).
* Bonaventure, ibidem.
' E. d'Alencon: Frére Jacqueline, p. 24.
THE LAST VISIT TO ROME 259
He followed in this respect his Brothers' example. Already
at an early period of the development of the Order several
Cardinals had wished to have a Friar Minor with them, "not
for the sake of any use or service, but for the devotion they
nourished for the holiness of the Brothers."^ Thus Brother
Giles lived for a time with Cardinal Nicholas Chiaramonti,^
Brother Angelo Tancredi with Cardinal Leone Brancaleone.^
It could be termed a pious custom at the Papal Court to
have a Friar Minor in the house ; Thomas of Celano censures
sharply the idleness and life of luxury of these "Court-
Brothers."'*
In Francis was lacking the material for such a Court-Brother
{frater palatinus). In Hugolin's house he never forgot to go
out and beg his food and to bring the bread thus acquired to
the Cardinal's table.° And scarcely had he with the domesti-
cated Brother Angelo installed himself with Cardinal Leo,
where there was given them a lonely tower which the Cardinal
said was as good as a hermitage, when the tormentors of the
demon came on the first night and fell upon Francis.
"But the next morning Francis said to Brother Angelo:
'Why have the demons beaten me, and why has the Lord
given them power over me? The demons are our Lord's
chastisers, for as the civil authorities send their guastaldi ^ to
punish those who have done wrong, thus does the Lord
chastise and punish by his guastaldi, w^ho are the de\als, those
whom he loves. For the Lord really loves those for whom
he leaves nothing unpunished in this Hfe.
'"And I am now firmly of opinion, that with God's grace
I have offended in nothing, without having done the utmost
therefor to have my injustice absolved and make it good
again. But it may be that this punishment is sent to me
^ "unusquique eorum" [i.e., cardinalium] " desiderabat habere in curia de
ipsis fratribus non pro aliquo servitio recipiendo ab ipsis, sed propter sanctita-
tem fratrum et devotionem qua fervebant ad cos" {Tres Socii, cap. XV, ed.
Amoni, p. 88).
^ See page 109.
^ A. SS., Oct. II, p. 605, n. 322.
* Vita sec, II, 84 and 85 (d'Alenfon).
^ Spec, pcrf., cap. 23. Cel., Vita sec, II, 43 (d'Al.).
^ A Lombard word, corrector or provost.
26o SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
because I have accepted the Cardinal's friendly invitation.
For even if I can accept it, then my Brothers will hear of it,
who wander in foreign lands and suffer hunger and many
troubles, and my other Brothers who live in hermitages and
in poor Httle huts will hear of it, too, and then they wdll com-
plain about me perhaps and say, "We have to suffer while
he is in comfort! " For I am given to the Brothers for a good
example, and it is of more edification to them if I am with
them in their poor little houses, and they will bear their lot
more patiently when they see that I have no better lot than
theirs.'"!
On that very day Francis bade farewell to the Cardinal
and his tower, and although it was a bitter cold December
day, when the rain pours almost constantly down from the
Roman sky, he was not to be held back. Porta Salara was
soon behind him and Francis went to the north, on the miry
road, in blasts of wind and teeming rain. Notwithstanding
the grey sky and the rainy weather his heart was filled with
sunlight all at once, and he involuntarily went ahead faster
so as soon to see his dear valley of Rieti and again to be
among the faithful Brothers in Fonte Colombo.
And now another comfort awaited him above, among the
wild Sabine Hills.
Since his trip to the Holy Land and his visit to Bethlehem,
Francis had a special devotion to the Christmas time. One
year the festival fell on a Friday, and Brother Morico pro-
pounded to the Brothers the opinion, that for that reason
meat might not be eaten on Christmas day. "If it is Christ-
mas it is not Friday," replied Francis. "If the walls could
eat flesh, I would give them it to-day, but as they cannot,
I will at least rub them over with it!" He often said of this
day: "If I knew the Emperor, I would ask him that all
would be ordered on this day to throw out corn to the birds,
especially to our sisters the larks, and that every one who has
' Spec, perf., cap. 67. Compare for Francis' relation to the demons Spec.
Perf., c. 59 (he was disturbed by them at night in the church of S. Pietro di
Bovara, near Trevi); Bartholi, cap. 8 (Co//., II, p. 18; in the church Quatiior
Capdlae, outside of Todi, Francis was tempted to give up his Hfe of penance);
Actus, c. 31 (Francis saw that it was the devil who showed himself to Rufino
in the form of Christ).
THE LAST VISIT TO ROME 261
a beast in the stable should give them a specially good feed
for love of the Child Jesus born in a manger. And this day
the rich should feast all the poor." ^
In the year 1223 Francis himself celebrated Christmas in
a way the world had never seen the match of. In Greccio
he had a friend and well-wisher, Messer John Vellita, who
had given him and his Brothers a wood-grown cliff up above
Greccio, for them to hve there. Francis now had this man
called to Colombo and said to him: "I want to celebrate the
holy Christmas night along with thee, and now listen, how I
have thought it out for myself. In the woods by the cloister
thou wilt find a cave, and there thou mayest arrange a manger
filled with hay. There must also be an ox and an ass, just
as in Bethlehem. I want for once to celebrate seriously the
coming of the Son of God upon earth and see with my own
eyes how poor and miserable he wished to be for our sakes."
John Vellita looked after all of Francis' wishes, and at
midnight of Christmas eve the Brothers came together to
celebrate the festival of Christmas. All carried Hghted
torches, and around the manger the Brothers stood with
their candles, so that it was light as the day under the dark
vaulting of the rocks. Mass was read over the manger as
the altar, so that the Divine Child under the forms of bread
and wine should himself come to the place, as bodily and
discernibly he had been in the stable of Bethlehem. For
a moment it seemed to John Vellita that he saw a real child
lying in the manger, but as if dead or sleeping. Then Brother
Francis stepped forward and took it lovingly in his arms,
and the child smiled at Francis, and with his httle hands
stroked his bearded chin and his coarse grey habit. And
yet this vision did not astonish Messer Giovanni (John).
For Jesus had been dead or else asleep in many hearts, but
Brother Francis had by his voice and his example again
restored the Divine Child to Hfe and awakened it from its
trance.
As the Gospel was now sung, Francis stepped forward
in his deacon's vestments. "Deeply sighing, overcome by
the fullness of his devotion, filled with a wonderful joy, the
1 Cel., Vita sec, II, 151 (d'Al.). Spec, per/., cap. 114.
262 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
holy one of God stood by the manger," says Thomas of Celano.^
"And his voice, his strong voice, and glad voice, clear voice
and ringing voice invited all to seek the highest good."
Brother Francis preached on the Child Jesus. "With
words that dripped with sweetness, he spoke of the poor
King who is born in the night, and who is the Lord Jesus
in the city of David. And every time he would name the
name of Jesus, the fire of his love overcame him, and he
called him instead the Child from Bethlehem. And the
word Bethlehem he said with a sound as if of a lamb that
bleats, and when he had named the name of Jesus, he let his
tongue ghde over his lips as if to taste the sweetness this
name had left there as it passed over them. The holy watch-
night only ended late, and every one went with joy to their
homes.
"But later the place where the manger stood was dedicated
to the Lord for a temple, and over the manger an altar was
erected to the honor of our blessed Father Francis, so that
where the dumb animals formerly ate hay out of the manger,
there men now receive the spotless lamb, our Lord Jesus
Christ, for the salvation of their soul and body, he who in
unspeakable love gave his blood for the life of the world,
and who with the Father and the Holy Ghost in eternal
divine glory Hves and rules for ever and ever. Amen."
^ Vita prima, I, c. XXX. Compare Traclatus de miracuUs, c. Ill, n. 19.
BOOK FOUR
FRANCIS THE HERMIT
Corpus est cella nostra, et anima est
eremita qui moratur intus in cella ad
orandum Dominum et meditandum de
ipso.
The body is our cell, and the soul is a
hermit who stays within in the cell for
praying to the Lord and for meditating
on him.
Francis in Speculum perfectionis.
CHAPTER I
THE WRITER
FROM this period to the day of his death Francis had
two things to Hve for — to Hve himself in accordance
with the gospel to the last degree of perfection and
thus by his example to show the Brethren the right
way, and next by new writings to supply what was wanting
in the Rule approved by the Pope, and what he was not per-
mitted to say in it. Those days in which Francis, at first
alone and then with a following of the Brothers, went about
like an evangelist and one of God's singers, were past and gone;
in the years which were left to him, he was to work with
his pen and in private life.
A considerable part of these his last years Francis spent
in the valley of Rieti. This valley, traversed by the river
Velino, stretches from Terni down towards Aquila, is bordered
on the one side by the Sabine Hills, on the other by the mighty,
cloud-covered and snow-clad Abruzzi, and had been the scene
of one of Francis' earliest mission journeys. Every one of
the httle towns which now as then hang on the mountain
side or cover the mountain tops recalled to him the time
before any of his illusions had vanished, and when he had
still entertained the possibility of throwing a bridge across
from heaven to earth to take all mankind with himself into
paradise. He had now fully learned of what stuff men are
made, and that some, as in the gospel, are taken up with
their oxen, others with their crops, when the invitations go
out for the great supper. But Francis knew also, what again
is to be found in the gospel — that the master in the heavenly
kingdom was enraged and said to his servants: ''Go out
quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in
hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind . . . that
26s
266 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
my house may be filled!" With greater faith than ever
Francis took up the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount:
"Blessed are the poor, Blessed are the peacemakers, Blessed
are the pure of heart!"
After this, when he spoke to his Brothers it was not as one
having authority over them. He still can be disturbed by
ministers and prelates who send his Brothers where he does
not want them to go, and in the emotions of the moment he
can break out: "Who are you that have dared to take my
Brothers away from me?"^ But he depends on God and
on His gimslaldi; if the Friars Minor fall away from their
ideal, men will despise them, yes, persecute them and thus
drive them back into the right paths.^ He himself is no
longer obliged to do more than pray for the Brethren and
by his example hold up the ideal before their eyes, so that
no excuse can be offered for remissness. Can God well ask
more of a sick man?^
And this is the place to speak of Francis' sickness or sick-
nesses, as especially they afflicted him in the last years of his
life. His health had, as we know, never been very good.
We see him in his youth attacked by one fever after another.
Since then his many and long fasts had undermined his con-
stitution. Demons could drive him to the border of despair
by saying to him, " There is salvation for every sinner, ex-
cept for him who has ruined himself by excessive penances!"^
He seldom ate food that was prepared, and dusted it in such
case by throwing ashes on it, saying, that "Sister ashes was
chaste." He slept but little, and then by choice sitting, or
with a stone or log of wood for a pillow.'' In Carceri and
later at La Verna his bed was the bare rock. After he had
led this life for twenty years his body was all broken down;
he had hæmorrhages from the stomach and the Brothers
often believed his end was near.*'
To this must be added the misfortune, that Francis during
his stay in the Orient had contracted the Egyptian eye-
sickness, so that at times he was nearly blind. It was no
^Spec. Perf., cap. 41. Cel., V. sec, III, 18 (Amoni).
*Spec., c. 71. »6>c., c. 81. * Ccl., Vita sec, II, c. 82 (d'AI.).
» Cel., V. pr., I, c. XIX. Bonav., V, i. « Ccl., V. pr., II, VII, n. 105.
THE WRITER 267
wonder then, that in a letter, written in that year, he signs
himself as homo caducus, "a decrepit man." ^ It was almost
a matter of necessity for him to be restricted to an apos-
tolate by letters in which his zeal for leading men to
heaven found expression up to the last. In this last epoch
of his hfe Francis sent out five letters or circular epistles — •
a letter to all Christians, a letter to a Pentecost Chapter at
which he could not be present (1224), a letter to all clerics, a
letter to all guardians (custodes) and a letter to all Superiors.
To these must be added his testament, the testament to the
Clares, and finally his religious poetry — above all his Song
to the Sun. To the same time we may certainly assign a
little autograph writing or letter to Brother Leo.
But now we must not expect to find in the letters of Francis
of Assisi new and surprising thoughts. It was precisely the
old thoughts he wished to inculcate. The letters, moreover,
are addressed to various circles, so that Francis had no rea-
son to avoid repetition. A careless reader will find the five
letters, therefore, poor in ideas and tiring with their constant
repetition of two or three topics, but — Boehmer remarks —
"if one thinks of the personality that stood behind the words,
the simple and unlearned man from Assisi in all his naivete
and abounding love, then do the dead words become loving
flesh, and the poverty of spirit reveals itself as richness.
For the little which Francis possessed was not learned or
prepared, it filled and possessed him completely, and there-
fore his words, notwithstanding all outer lack of elegance,
acted on men with the power of a revelation." ^
If we read through these letters of Francis, we find in reality
nothing else in them than what we already are familiar with
in his Admonitiones and in his Regida prima, and in his letter
to EHas. There are the same precepts to serve and love God,
to live a Hfe of conversion, to fast — also in metaphorical
sense to fast from sin and crime ^ — to love and help our
enemies, not to seek worldly wisdom or exalted positions,
to pray much, to confess and approach the altar, to try to
^ Ep. ad. cap. generale (Bohmer, " Analeklen," p. 57).
^ " Analekten," 52-53.
' "Debemus etiam jejunare et abstinere a vitiis et peccatis" (Anal., p. 52).
26S SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
do good where we have been doing evil. The last precept
gave Francis a chance in one of his documents, in a letter we
might call a contemplative epistle, to introduce a description
of how a sinner dies {De infirmo qui male pocnitd)}
"The body sickens, death approaches," Francis writes.
"The relatives and friends come and say, 'Prepare thy house!'
And his wile and children, his nearest ones and his friends, act
as if they wept. And the sick one looks around and sees
them weep and is moved by a false emotion and thinks to
himself, ' Yes, I will give over myself with soul and body and
all that I have into your faithful hands!' Truly the man
is damned, who gives his soul, his body and all he has, into
such hands and depends upon them! Therefore the Lord
says through the prophet, 'Cursed is he who depends upon
a man ! ' And at once the priest is brought. And the priest
says to him, 'Dost thou wish to do penance for all thy trans-
gressions?' The sick man answers, 'Yes.' And the priest
asks, ' Wilt thou give reparation to all whom thou hast
defrauded and betrayed, as far as thou canst?' He answers
'No.' And the priest says, 'Why not?' He answers,
'Because I have given all to my family and to my friends.'
And thereby he misses his goal, and dies without having done
reparation for his injustice. But what all must know is this,
that where and however a man dies in grievous sin without
having made good his injustice, when he could have done it,
but w^ould not, such a soul the devil at once takes, and how
great his sorrow and pain becomes no one knows, except he
who experiences it. And all motion and all power, all knowl-
edge and wisdom he thought he had, all that is taken away
from him. And he leaves after him his property for his
family and his friends, and they take and divide it up among
themselves and say thereafter, 'May his soul be cursed, that
he has not earned more for us and left us more!' And thus
he loses all in this world, and in the other is tormented in
everlasting hell."
There is in this picture a bitterness in the comprehension
of mankind, that is elsewhere not to be found in Francis.
It is no comfortable picture, he sketches, of these selfish
> £/>. ad omnes fideles, § 12 {Anal., pp. 55-56).
THE WRITER 269
"nearest ones," who stand around the bed of the dying man,
and wiUingly let him go to hell, as long as they can get him
to make a will in their favor. And when they have by
their hypocritical emotions induced the man they pretend
to love to end his unjust life with a last irreparable crime,
they curse him, as soon as he has closed his eyes on this life
and has opened them in everlasting torments, because he has
not scraped together more for their benefit. All through his
life they have seen in him only a work-slave whose wages
they were to get, indifferent whether they were justly or
unjustly earned. That he risked his eternal salvation to
accumulate money enough, that never for a moment occurs to
them — why should they think of that now in his last mo-
ments? We feel as if we were reading one of Leo Tolstoy's
most gripping novels — for example, the short story which is
called, "Before the Judgment Seat of Death," and which
treats of how Ivan Ilitsch under his long last illness lay and
discovered that he never had been loved, that his wife had
never seen in him anything as far as she was concerned but
a source of money for her and nothing else, and perceived that
his children were trained to the same, to regard him as the
old man who was good to "touch," and who now unfortu-
nately was "going off." But more unfortunate than Ivan
Ilitsch, the dying man of Francis of Assisi's little tale does
not get his eyes opened before it is too late — and too late
for ever.
In the letter to the Brethren assembled at the Chapter of
Pentecost, 1224, in the letter to the clerics and to the guardians
(Superiors of convents), Francis especially seeks to emphasize
the precepts which had been omitted from the Rule. He
exhorts the Brethren to great reverence for the sacrament of
the altar; if a number of priests are together only one mass
is to be said, which the others can be content at being present
at; he says to pick up every piece of paper on which holy
words may be and to preserve such with reverence; the
Offfce is to be said with more regard to inner devotion than to
melody of voice,^ the sacred vessels and the altar-cloths
^"non attendentes melodiam vocis, sed consonantiam mentis." ("4«a-
lekten," p. 61.) >
270 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
should be kept shiningly clean, and the most holy sacrament
should be preserved with reverence. And when it is offered
on the altar in the mass, all shall kneel down, praise and
glorify God, and the church bells are to be rung so that all
near can participate in this giving of praise.
"And I, Brother Francis, your little servant, pray and be-
seech you in charity, which is God himself, and with the
desire to kiss your feet, that you with humility and charity
accept these and other of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and practise them and keep them perfectly. And they who
cannot read, let them often have them read for them and have
them with them and live after them to the end with holy
actions, for these words arc spirit and life. And whoso does
not do this shall be called to account at the last day before
the judgment seat of Christ. And all those who accept the
word with joy and embrace it and live after it, an example to
others, and persevere to the end, may they be blessed by
God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen." ^
It seems to have been at this time that Francis conceived
the idea of sending Brothers out to all the provinces with
beautiful, bright ciboria {pyxides), and everywhere where
they found the Lord's Body improperly preserved, they
should give the priest of the place one of the new altar- vessels.
Other Brothers he would send out with good, ornamented
host-irons to make beautiful and pure altar-bread with.^
It is certain, that none of these plans was widely carried out;
yet in the convent of Greccio a host-iron is to be found, which
it is said was presented by Francis.^
The letter to all authorities, namely, "all podestås, consuls,
judges and rectors," originated in Francis' anxiety to work
also upon the community. Religion was for him no private
affair — it was also an affair of the public at large. He
therefore exhorts all those who are in authority not to forget
' Ep. ad otnnes fideles in fine. (Bohmer, pp. 56-57.)
^Spcc. per/., cap. 65. Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 152 (d'.'M.).
* On page 29 is given a sketch of the design which is engraved on this iron.
As I have often been told, the inscription is I H C (= I H S, the three first
letters of the Greek Jesus) except that the H is so separated by the engraving
of the ornament, that it seems to be I I I C, which I (and with me the Fathers
in Greccio) would actually read as a number.
THE WRITER 271
in the presence of their manifold tasks the one thing needful.
When death comes what is there left? As Verlaine was to
sing seven hundred years later — et puis, quand la mort
viendra, que reste-t-il? Therefore Francis exhorted all the
mighty lords to approach the altar just like common men,
and as power is for the present given to them, let them make
a good use of it by means of a herald, or in some other way
have a signal given, and when people hear that signal they
shall all praise and glorify God.^
The letter to Brother Leo seems to have been written at
the time when the indignation and grief over the many
alterations and erasures in the Rule were still fresh both with
him and the master. It is not written in nearly so care-
fully labored a style as the great circular letters, in which
possibly also Cæsarius of Speier, who on June 11, 1223 was
back from Germany, was a collaborator.^ The whole letter
reads:
"Brother Leo, thy Brother Francis sends thee greeting and
peace!
"I speak thus to you, my son, and as a mother, because all
the words which we spoke upon the road I arrange in this
word and advice, and in case thou hast to come to me for
advice afterwards, for thus I do advise thee: In whatever
way it seems better to thee to please the Lord God and follow
in His steps and poverty, do so with the blessing of the Lord
God and with my obedience. And, if it is necessary to thee
on account of thy soul or of other consolation of thine, and
thou desirest, Leo, to come to me, come."^
^ " Analeklen," p. 71. We can here see the germ of the later Franciscan
Angelas prayers. The General Chapter in Pisa (1263) ordered an Ave Maria
said when the evening bell rang (Anal. Fr., Ill, p. 329). In 1295 a Provincial
Chapter for Padua, Venice, Verona, and Friaul ordered three Aves to be said
at the same time of the day. (See C. A. Kneller: "Zttr Gcschichte des Gebelslaii-
tens" in the "Ztschr. f. kath. Theol.," 1904, pp. 394 et seq.) — The letter to
all Superiors is found for the first time in Gonzaga (De orig. seraph, relig.,
pp. 806 et seq.) from a Spanish translation.
2 Jordanus, nn. 30-31 (Anal. Fr., I, p. 11).
3"F. Leo F. Francisco tuo" [Italianism for: Franciscus tuus] "salutem et
pacem. Ita dico tibi, fill mi, et sicut mater, quia omnia verba, quae diximus
in via, breviter in hoc verbo dispone et consilio, et si te post oportet propter
consilium venire ad me, quia ita consilio tibi: In quocumque modo melius
videtur tibi placere Domino Deo et sequi vestigia et paupertatem suam, facialis
272 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Francis gives evidently here a permission to Brother Leo
of the same sort as the one he had given Cæsarius. The
plural number employed in the letter {facialis) might indicate
— as Sabatier thinks — that the permission was not only
accorded to Leo but also to others of like mind. Strictly
speaking, Francis could not do this, for the law-making power
was no longer his, or not his alone. And it appears that he
was not always clear in his mind about this; thus Eccleston
relates that Francis, after the Rule was established, sent out
an order in \'irtue of which the Brethren, when they ate out-
side of the convents, should not take more than three mouth-
fuls so as not to irritate lay people by showing too great an
appetite.' For more than one Brother Francis continued to
be the real Head of the Order, and directly after his death
the contention, that lasted for centuries, broke out between
those who wished in accordance with the permission granted
by the saint to follow the Rule literally,^ and those who
wished to accept the leniencies granted by Rome.
cum benedictionc Domini Dei et mea obcdientia. Et, si tibi est necessarium
propter animam tuam aut aliam consolationem tuam, et vis, Leo, venire ad
me, veni." {"Analcktoi," pp. 68-69.)
In the rendering, two sentences, separated in the text but belonging in con-
nection to each other, are put together. — The letter to Leo is preserved in
the original and is to be found since 1902 in the Dominican convent in Spoleto.
The photograph is in Falocci-Pulignani: Tre aulografi di S. Francesco, S. Maria
degli Angeli, 1895, and in Misc. Franc, VI, pp. 33-39-
1 " Haec fuit autem prima constitutio, quam sanctus Franciscus fecit post
regulam bullatam." Anal. Fr., I, p. 227.
2 Thus Angelo Clareno, who "e.xivit extra obedientiam ordinis, ut regulam
beati Francisci servaret" {Bernardini Aquilani Citron., ed. Lemmens, Romae,
1902, p. s).
CHAPTER II
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
FRANCIS did not wish to preach by word only, but by
actions above all. " And all are to preach by their
example," he had already told the Brothers in his
Rule, and was the first to follow this order. He was
the same in his Hfe as in his speech, says Thomas of
Celano.^
The last years of his life in Rieti show time and again fresh
proofs of this species of honesty. In the days of Advent of
1223 or 1224 he was once spending some time in a hermit cave
at Poggio Bustone.2 As his poor digestion did not permit
him to eat anything that was prepared with oil, he had to
have special food that was prepared with lard (lardo). Fran-
cis personally accused himself of this infraction of the rules of
Advent when he preached on Christmas Day to the people.
"You are come hither," he at once said, "because you think
that I am so pious and God-fearing. Therefore you must
know that I in this fast have eaten food that was prepared
with lard."
It was a trait of the same kind when he, in the winter of
1 220-1 22 1, during one of his frequent attacks of sickness,
recuperated by eating a little meat-soup and boiled meat.
He had hardly recovered when, after he had preached in the
cathedral, he had himself dragged half-naked by his vicar,
Peter of Cattani, with a rope around his neck, down through
the town to the pillory on the market-place. Before the
thronging populace Francis confessed publicly his indulgence.^
1 "idem lingua et vita." Cel., V. sec, II, 93 (d'Al.). Reg. prima, cap. XVII:
"Omnes tamen fratres operibus praedicent."
' 10 miles north of Rieti. See Jorgensen's "Pilgrimsbog," cap. XIII.
^ Spec., cc. 61-62. Cel., V. sec, II, 93-94 (d'Al.). Bonav., VI, 2.
19 273
274 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Another time he was induced by the Brothers, also for the
sake of his infirmity, to have a piece of skin sewed on the
inside of his habit to warm his stomach. "But sew also a
piece on the outside," said Francis, "so all can see that I am
wearing furs! "
"I do not want to be dififerent in secret," he was wont to
say, "from what I am in public!" If he had been invited
into any place and had eaten anything special, he told of it
immediately to the Brothers when he returned. If, as he
went through the streets of Assisi, he gave an alms and felt
a certain sellish pleasure at having done something good, he
confessed it at once to the Brother who accompanied him.^
In the image which he drew of the ideal General of the Order,
he accordingly required that this one should not eat good
food in retirement, but must always let the Brothers see what
came to his table.-
Above all was he devoted to poverty. It is blessed to give
alms, he declared, but it is blessed also to receive them. Bread
that was begged was "Angels' bread." The Brother who
came home from begging should therefore come with song.
Francis had constantly in his mouth the Psalms and texts
of the gospels which praise poverty. When a Brother once
in a hermitage had said to him, "I come from thy cell,"
Francis would not stay in it any longer. A house of hewed
planks was too much for him, a hut of cane and mud was
enough for him, but he liked best to live in caves like the foxes
of the gospel (Matthew viii. 20). The stone house the
citizens of Assisi had built down by Portiuncula he started to
tear down, and had already got a part of the roof torn off
when the podestå sent down a protest to the effect that
Francis thus was destroying the property of the community.
To provide to-day for the needs of to-morrow was something
that might do for the well-to-do ; therefore he commanded the
Brothers not to put green vegetables in water in the evening
to keep for the next day, just as they were not to collect more
in alms than they could eat on the same day. To make his
habit really poor in appearance he liked to have common
* Spec, cc. 62-63. Cel., V. sec, II, pp. 93-94 (d'Al.).
2 Cel., V. sec, II, p. 308, L. 23-26 (d'Al.).
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 275
rags sewed upon it here and there. If he wanted a new
one he would wait until he could beg one.^ The Brother
who objected to going after alms was in danger of being
called "Brother Drone," because he wanted to eat the
honey in the combs, but did not want to fly out and
gather it.^
With all this striving after poverty, Francis could never
find that he and the Brothers were poor enough. "We
ought to be ashamed of ourselves," said he when he encoun-
tered a real ragged beggar; "we want to be called poor and to
be celebrated all over the world for our poverty, and here we
see one who is much poorer than we, but does not boast of
it!" Such a beggar was sacred in the eyes of Francis, and he
would not allow any Brother to speak ill of such or to insult
their poverty. Francis the voluntary pauper wiUingly gave
all he had to this the real pauper — his hood, a piece of his
habit, even his breeches. "They properly belong to them,"
he declared, "and I would have to look upon myself as a thief
if I kept their possessions from them!" "Let us give back to
our brother Poor-man what we have borrowed from him"
was one of his regular expressions on such an occasion. When
anything was given to him, he always held himself ready to
give it up to some one more in need of it. The Brothers thus
often had their work cut out for them in keeping the clothes
on their master's back, especially because he would not wear
new clothes, but always insisted on having those which had
already been worn. Sometimes one Brother would give half
of his habit to Francis, and another the other half. Now and
then the Brothers tried to get back his clothes from those to
whom he had given them, but Francis discovered this and
thereupon warned the beggar possessing them not to give
them up without ample return in the shape of money. At
Celle the Brothers had to buy back Francis' hood from an
old woman.^
1 Spec, perf., cc. 5, 14, 16, 7, 8, 9, 19. Cel., Vila sec, II, cc. 26, 27, 29, 39, 40
(d'Al.). Tractatus de miraculis, V, n. 35. Bonav., Legenda major, VII, 2, 8.
2 Cel., Vita seamda, II, c. 45 (d'Al.).
» Spec, perf., cc. 29-31, 33-35, 37. Cel., V. sec, II, cc. 51-55, 57, 148 (d'Al.).
Bonav., VIII, 5.
276 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
He often had a special object in his alms; thus when he
in Colic near Perugia met a man he had formerly known
and who now was reduced to poverty. In their conversation
the poor man complained especially at having been unjustly
treated by his master, towards whom he accordingly bore a
bitter feeling. "I will give thee willingly my hood, if thou
wilt forgive thy master his injustice," said Francis. And the
other's heart was moved; he forgot his hatred and was filled
with the sweetness of God's spirit.^
In Rieti Francis once discovered a poor woman who, like
himself, had poor eyes; he helped her, not only with clothes,
but also with a dozen loaves of bread.^ Another poor woman,
who had two sons among the Brothers, came to Portiuncula
and complained of her need. Francis gave her the New
Testament which was used in the divine service, so that she
could sell it. "I believe," said he, "that the Lord will be
better pleased that we thus help our mother than if wc keep
the book and let her go away without help." By the title
"our mother" he designated every woman who had given
the Order a son.^
It was in Portiuncula that the altar was menaced with the
loss of its ornaments. To get food for the many Brothers
who now were joining the Order, Peter of Cattani proposed
that the novices should no longer, as hitherto, give their prop-
erty to the poor, but that a part should be made over to the
Order. "By no means," answered Francis; "that is forbidden
in our Rule!" "What shall I do then?" asked the uncertain
vicar. "Take the ornaments of the altar and sell them! It
is better to have a bare altar and keep to the gospel than to
have an ornamented one and depart therefrom!"^
Thus did Francis try to keep his path clear and to follow
the gospel in reality and not only in appearance. Nothing,
therefore, could displease him more than when he thought
the Brothers used the alms laboriously begged in the name
* Spec, c. 32. Cel., V. sec, II, 56 (d'AI.). Colic is a little village on the road
from Assisi to Perugia just before the Ponte S. Giovanni is reached.
^ Spec, c. 33. Cel., I, c. II, 69.
*Spec, c. 38. Cel., II, 58.
* Cel., V. sec, II, 37 (d'AI.). Bonav., VII, 4. Regtd. secunda, cap. II.
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 277
of God in a way unbecoming to poor people. The celebrated
Bishop Ketteler of Mayence once caught a family by sur-
prise who used to receive much assistance from him, and who
were eating roast goose and red wine. All the Bishop said
was that he was glad to see that his gifts had given them
a pleasant evening; Francis on such occasions was much
severer.
It happened that on another Easter Day, in the convent
at Greccio, the Brothers, in honor of the feast-day and of
one of the ministers who had come as a guest, had covered
the table with a cloth and had set out glasses instead of the
tin cups. A little before midday Francis came along and
saw the whole preparation; he quietly crept out, put on an
old hat which a beggar had left after him, and with staff in
hand knocked at the door just as the Brothers were taking
their seats. His appealing voice was heard at the door:
Per I' amor di messer domenedio, faciate elimosina a quisto
povero ed infirtno peregrino ! "For the love of God, give alms
to this poor and infirm pilgrim! "
On the Brothers' friendly invitation Francis entered. He
sat down on the floor by the fireplace, had a dish of soup
brought to him and a piece of bread, and began to eat.
None of the Brothers said anything, and none could get
down a mouthful — it was hard enough to sit there with
that finely spread table while Francis, like a male Cinderella,
with his dish on his lap, crouched down in the corner. Soon
Francis laid down his spoon and said to himself: "Now I
am sitting as a Friar Minor ought to sit ! But when I came
in here and saw the fine spread upon the table, I did not
think I was with poor members of the Order that had to
go every day and beg their bread from door to door!" The
Brothers could stand it now no longer; some of them began
to weep, others rose and went to Francis as he sat there.^
On another occasion there was a similar scene. It was
Christmas time; Francis sat at the table with his Brothers.
One of them spoke of how poor the Child Jesus had been, and
of how sad it must have been for Mary to have her child put
in the stable, without a bed except the manger, with only hay
1 Spec, perf., c. 20. Compare Cel., V. sec, II, 31 (d'Al.) and Bonav., VII, 9.
278 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
and straw for pillow and mattress, with no warmth in the
cold winter night other than the breathing of ox and ass upon
the tender child. Francis sat in silence and listened until he
suddenly burst out into lamentation, took his bread and sat
down upon the cold floor of earth so as to eat there, where it
was no better than it had been with Jesus and Mary.^
So unaccustomed did Francis become to any kind of com-
fort that at last he felt it an annoyance rather than a satis-
faction. Thus the Brothers in Greccio, after he had been
burnt with a hot iron on the temples as a treatment for his
eye sickness, induced him to use a pillow to rest his head
on at night. The morning after Francis appeared and said:
"Brothers, I have not been able to sleep for your pillow!
Everything swam around me, and the legs tremble under me
— I believe there is a devil in the pillow!" He then ordered
a Brother to take the pillow outside and throw it carefully
behind him without looking after it.^
This was not the first time Francis believed himself to be
attacked by the powers of darkness. Of an evening, when he
lingered in lonesome prayer in an empty church or in a cave,
it would often seem to him as if some one was behind him, as
if hurried, soft steps were stealing and moving around him,
as if a horrid head looked over his shoulder and wanted to
read with him out of his prayer book.^ Then he would hear
voices in the storms whistling through the mountain forests,
the demons would laugh at him, while the owl screeched out-
side his cell; but worst of all was the almost inaudible whisper-
ing which, in the deathlike stillness of the hours of the night,
would sound in Francis' ears, as if whispered by hateful and
spiteful lips, "It is all in vain, Francis! Thou canst implore
and pray all thou wishest — yet dost thou belong to we/"
Then would Francis fight for his eternal life, and the Brothers
who came in the morning to look after him found him pale
and exhausted, wearied by the fight with the devouring powers
» Cel., V. sec, II, 151 (d'Al).
2 Spec, per/., cap. 98. Ccl., V. sec, II, 34 (d'AI.).
*"In sero, cum dicebam completorium, sensi diabolum venire ad ccUam
{Spec, ed. Sab., p. 193). Spec, c. 99. Cel., V. sec, II, 81 (d'Al.). Spec, cc. 59-60.
Bonav., X, 3.
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 279
of darkness. ''I feel I am the greatest sinner that ever has
existed," he once said, after such a night, to Brother Pacificus.
But the King of Verse (Pacificus) also saw in a dream the
kingdom of heaven opened and the throne, whence Lucifer
had been cast down, standing ready for Francis on account
of his deep humility.^
^ Spec, ed. Sab., p. no. Bonav., VI, 6.
CHAPTER III
THE TRUE DISCIPLE
FRANCIS, with all these experiences in the spiritual life,
was a good teacher and guide for his disciples. He
taught them not to fear temptations. "No one,"
said he, "ought to consider himself a true servant of
God who is not tried by many temptations and trials. Temp-
tations overcome are a sort of betrothal ring God gives the
soul." On other occasions he turned back to his favorite
conception of the demons as God^ s gtiastaldi (note 6, p. 259).
"Brother Bernard of Quintavalle," he declared, "is visited by
the most deceitful spirits of hell, who are trying to get him to
fall like a star from heaven. Now he is oppressed and bowed
down under their attack, but when death draws near the storm
will cease and there will be a great peace." And so it hap-
pened. In the last days of his hfe Brother Bernard's soul
was quite separated from earthly things, and he "snatched
his food in the air like swallows," said Brother Giles. "And
twenty or thirty days at a time he wandered by himself on
the highest mountain tops and contemplated the things that
are above." But in his dying hour he said to the assembled
Brothers, "Not for one thousand worlds as beautiful as this
would I have served any other master than my Lord Jesus
Christ," and beaming with very great gladness he went into
the eternal fatherland of all the saints.^
Another of the early disciples, Brother Rufino, was attacked
by great temptations. It was with him as with the master —
"the old enemy whispered to his heart that he was not of the
number of those who are destined to eternal life, and that all
he did was therefore in vain." Yes, it even seemed to him
1 Cel., V. sec, II, 19 and 83 (d'Al.)- Fiordli, capp. 6 and 28.
280
THE TRUE DISCIPLE 281
that the Saviour appeared to him and said: "0 Brother
Rufino, why trouble Me with prayer and penance, since thou
art not destined to eternal life? And believe thou Me, for I
well know whom I have chosen and predestined! And this
so-called Francis, son of Peter Bernardone, is also among the
condemned, and all who follow him will suffer for ever in hell.
Therefore seek no advice from him any more, and listen to him
in nothing!" Then was Brother Rufino all dark of soul, and
he lost all faith in and love for his hitherto trusted master,
and sat dark and alone in his cell and would pray no longer
nor go to the Brothers' divine service. What good was it all
— he looked for nothing else than the everlasting fire and the
devil and his angels!
It was in vain that Brother Masseo, at Francis' behest, took
the message to Rufino to come. The unhappy man's answer
sounded angry and short: "What have I to do with Brother
Francis?" Then Francis went personally to get Brother
Rufino out of his dark cloud. "And already at a distance
Francis began to cry out, 'O Brother Rufino, thou miserable
man, whom hast thou believed?' And he showed to him
clearly that it was the devil and not Christ who had shown
himself to him. But if the devil should again say to thee,
'Thou art lost! ' then answer him quietly, 'Open thy mouth and
I will blow into it!' And it will be a sign that it is the devil
that when thou hast answered thus, he will fly away at once.
And thou canst know by this that it has been the devil,
because he has hardened thy heart against all good, which is
precisely his doing, whilst Christ the Blessed One never hardens
a living man's heart, but makes it tender, as he says by the
mouth of the prophet: * I will take thy heart of stone from thee
and give thee a living heart instead!'"
Then Brother Rufino saw how he had been deceived, and
the heart softened in his breast, and he began to weep bitterly
and cast himself down before Francis and once more gave
himself into his master's care. Weeping but happy, strength-
ened and comforted, he arose, and when the devil again
showed himself to him in the likeness of Christ, he answered
him courageously, as Francis had taught him. "Then the
devil was so furious, that he at once went away with so great
282 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
a blast and movement of the stones on Monte Subasio (for
this happened up in Carceri) that they flew a long ways, as
one can see to-day. And while they were rolling down the
ravines, they struck sparks, and Francis and the Brothers
came out in alarm to see what was going on. But Christ
blessed Brother Rufino and restored to him such a spiritual
joy and sweetness and exaltation of soul that day after day
he was out of himself and entranced in God. And from that
same hour he was so fixed in grace and so sure of his everlast-
ing salvation that he became another man, and if he could
have obtained permission for it, he would have given himself
up to prayer and meditation on the things which are above.
Wherefore Francis used to say that Brother Rufmo was sanc-
tified by Christ during his actual Hfe, and that, if only he him-
self would not hear it, he, Francis, would not hesitate to call
him St. Rufino, although he was yet living on the earth." ^
In this environment of his faithful Brothers, living and con-
versing with them constantly, Francis forgot in the world-
remote peace of Rieti all that was upon the other side of the
mountains — the Brothers in Bologna, the Brothers in Paris,
the Brothers at the Curia and the Brothers at the University,
the Brothers who were in all other places than just where
Francis wanted them to be, and did all things differently than
Francis wanted them to. As a counterpoise to it all Francis
issued a letter On the Ideal Friar Minor, a letter which was
not carved out of the air, but in which he employs traits of
character of all his most faithful disciples. "The perfect
Friar Minor," said Francis, "must be as true to poverty as
Bernard of Quintavalle, simple and pure as Leo, chaste as
Angelo, intelligent and eloquent by nature as Masseo; he
must have a mind fixed on high, like Giles; his prayer must
be like that of Rufino, who always prays, and whether he
wakes or sleeps, his mind is with God; he must be patient as
Brother Juniper, strong in soul and body as John de Laudi-
1 Fior., c. 29. Actus, cc. 31 and 35. Anal. Franc, III, pp. 48-52. The word
Francis taught Rufino to say to the devil is worse than what is given above
{Apri la hocca meltdi caco = "Apcri os tuum ct faciam intus faeces")- Cora-
pare a tale of how Francis cured a Brother of conscientious scruples, in Celano's
Vita secunda, II, c. 87 (d'Alenjon). Compare II, c. 6.
THE TRUE DISCIPLE 283
bus, loving as Roger of Todi, and like Brother Lucidus he
must not settle in any place, for when Brother Lucidus had
been more than a month in one place, and found that he
was beginning to like it, then he would at once leave it, saying,
'Our home is in heaven.' " ^
Francis rejoiced in being able also to count in this flock of
the most faithful others than those who were nearest to him.
Thus he once heard with great joy a priest returning from Spain
speak of the Spanish Franciscans. "Thy Brothers," said the
traveller, ''live there in a little hermitage and have so arranged
things that one half of them spend the week taking care of the
house, while the other half give their time to prayer. The
next week the two divisions change about. It so happened
one day that the dinner bell rang, and that one of the Brothers
did not come. As this was a day on which the food was
unusually good, the others went in search of him. They found
him prostrate, with face against the ground, with arms extended
like a cross, apparently lifeless, completely carried away in
an ecstasy. The Brothers went silently away, and after some
time the favored one came in. But as if nothing unusual
had happened to him, he knelt down humbly and begged
forgiveness because he came too late!"
Such an occurrence was exactly in harmony with Francis'
wishes. "I thank thee, O Lord," he cried out, "because thou
hast given me such Brothers!" And as he turned towards
the quarter of the heavens where Spain lay, he blessed with
a great sign of the Cross his faithful and distant Brothers.^
Such a pair of true Franciscans were also those two Brothers
who had gone to the pains of traversing the long road to the
other side of Greccio to see Francis. Now it had become so,
in the last years of Francis' hfe, that when he had withdrawn
from the other Brothers to pray in solitude, no one dared to
approach him and disturb him, and the Brothers took care of
any business that might present itself.^ When the two pil-
grims came, Francis had just gone, and it was uncertain when
^ Spec, perf., c. 85.
2 Cel., V. sec, II, c. 135 (d'Al.).
3 Cel., V. pr., c. VI. Actus, IX, 28-31. Verba Jr. Conradi, I, 11 (in Opuscules
de critique, I, p. 373).
2S4 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
he would come back. The strangers, who had no time to
stay, were much cast down by this and said to each other:
"This is on account of our sins! We are not worthy to be
blessed by our father Francis!" As they were so unhappy
over the affair, the other Brothers accompanied them on the
road down from the convent, comforting them as well as they
could. Suddenly a cry from above was heard — the road
went zigzag down from the lofty caves where the Brothers
lived, and as they turned around they saw Francis standing
up in the entrance of his cell.^ The two strange Brothers
fell upon their knees, and with faces turned to the master
received the blessings he gave them, with a large, slow sign of
the Cross. 2
In the various descriptions of his life are still preserved
many a trait of Francis' fine feelings and tenderness for the
Brothers and of his deep knowledge of the soul. He under-
stood others so well because he understood himself, and the
Brothers often felt that he was reading their hearts. This
was the case with one of his countrymen. Brother Leonard
from Assisi. Weary of long walking, Francis had complied
with the advice of a sympathizer and had mounted an ass
and ridden a part of the way. Brother Leonard walked by
his side and presumably was also tired; in any event he
thought to himself, "Why should Peter Bernardone's son
ride, whilst I, who am of much better ancestry, have to walk?"
How surprised he was when Francis stopped his steed, dis-
mounted, and said as he did so, "It is not becoming, Brother,
that thou, who art of much better family than I, should walk,
while I ride!" Red in the face, Leonard resisted his unchari-
table thoughts and helped Francis to mount again.^
Against such and all other trials and temptations Francis
over and over again advised his Brothers to use three remedies
— the first was prayer, the second was obedience, such that
^ He lived "in cella ultima post cellam majorem," says Spec. pcrf. (cap. 98).
2Cel.. V. sec, II, c. 16 (d'Al.).
' Cel., v., sec., II, c. 5. Compare same, cap. 2 (Francis sees through a Brother
who under guise of holiness, to preserve complete silence, will not even write),
and Actus, cap. 11 (Francis reads in Masseo's heart that he is angry that they
left Siena without paying the Bishop a farewell visit). Compare Bonav.,
Legeiida major, XI, 8, 10, 13.
THE TRUE DISCIPLE 28$
one willingly did another's will, the third was the evangelical
joy in the Lord, which drives away all evil and dark thoughts.
In these three precepts Francis set the best example to his
Brothers. Ever since he resigned the leadership of the Order
he always had a Brother with him, whom he obeyed as
his guardian. It mattered nothing to Francis who it was;
he was as willing to obey the youngest novice in the Order as
Brother Bernard or Brother Peter of Cattani. He was always
pleased with his surroundings, and if anyone happened to do
anything displeasing to him at any time, he would go apart
and pray, until the natural irritation over the incident had
subsided, and never spoke of it to anyone. "Teach us to
be perfectly obedient!" the Brothers asked him once. Then
Francis answered: "Take a corpse and bring it where thou
wilt! It makes no resistance, does not change its attitude,
does not wish to move. If thou placest it on a throne, it
looks down and not up; if thou dressest it in purple, it appears
only paler than before. It is so with the really obedient; he
never asks whither he is sent, he never is concerned as to
how he came here, does not seek to be taken away. If he
acquires honors, they only increase his humility, and the more
he is praised, the more unworthy does he consider himself." ^
Francis wished to be like a corpse, subject, without resistance,
to all, and his true Brother should follow him in this as in all
other things. Per lo merito delta santa ubbedicnza, "by the
merit of holy obedience," Francis once made Brother Bernard
stamp upon his mouth in punishment for some evil thoughts
he had nourished about him.^
In one utterance of Francis this conception of his of obedi-
ence attains an almost Buddhistic character. "Holy obedi-
ence," it says, "annihilates all will of the body and flesh and
causes a body to be dead to itself and ready to obey the soul
and to obey its neighbor, and makes a man subject to all men
here in the world, and not only to all men, but also to all tame
and wild beasts, so that they can do with him what they will,
as power for this is given them by the Lord.''^^ This undeniably
^ Spec, cc. 46-48. Cel., V. sec, II, cc. 111-112 (d'Al.).
^ Fiorelti, cap. 3.
^Opuscula, p. 21. Bohmer, "Analekten," p. 65.
286 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
reminds us of Sakyamuni's disciples, who let themselves be
torn to pieces by tigers rather than resist the evil. And that
this was not a momentary idea of Francis which found expres-
sion in these words is seen in the tales of how he did not want
to put out the fire that was burning his clothes, and of how
he upbraided himself for having taken a skin away from
"Brother Fire" which it wished to "eat!"i
The first great means of bringing about peace for Francis
was obedience, taken as the complete abandonment of all
personal will, the perfect subjection to every command and
every power. "If anyone strikes thee on one cheek, then
offer him the other, and if anyone takes thy cloak from thee,
then do not keep thy habit from him. . . . And if anyone
takes thy property from thee, ask it not again from him. . . .
Therefore if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own
body, he cannot be my disciple. For he who will save his
life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, he
shall save it." ^
The other means of obtaining peace was prayer, constant
and persevering prayer, prayers "without intermission."
Francis himself, as Thomas of Celano says, was not one who
now and then prayed, but "his whole being was changed to
prayer" {7ion tarn orans quani oratio Jaciiis) . It was as if there
was only a thin wall between him and eternity and he often,
as it were, heard the sound of the eternal song of praise on the
other side of the wall. In such moments he suddenly became
silent, broke off the conversation, if he was with the Brothers,
and covered his face with his hood or at the least with his
hands. The disciples then would hear him sigh deeply and
murmur something or other, they would see him also nod his
head, as if he answered some one, and they would steal away.
They knew that the master did not want to be noticed when
he prayed; it is told that the Bishop of Assisi once lost his
voice as punishment for surprising Francis at his prayers.
Francis tried to conceal his piety as much as possible, got up
in the morning as quietly as possible before the others, so as to
escape remark, and went out in the woods to be free from dis-
' Spec, perf., cap. 116-117.
* Luke vi. 29-30; xiv. 26; ix. 24.
THE TRUE DISCIPLE 287
turbance. Sometimes one of the Brothers stole out after him,
and the curious one would sometimes see a great light, and
in this Hght Christ, Mary and many angels would show them-
selves and would talk with Brother Francis. When he at last
came back from his prayers, there was never anything to
notice about him, and he also used to say to his disciples:
''When God's servant receives comfort from God in prayer,
he should, before he ends his praying, lift up his eyes
to heaven and with folded hands say to God, 'Lord, thou
hast sent thy comfort and sweetness from heaven to me an
unworthy sinner; I give them back to thee again, that Thou
mayest keep them for me ! ' And when he then returns to the
Brothers, he must show himself the same poor sinner he is
wont tobe!"^
Besides prayers in sohtude Francis also used zealously
prayers in common with others. In the Fioretti we see him
praying together with Brother Leo. In his letter to the
Brothers assembled at the Pentecost Chapter he gives them
rules for saying the prayers in their Breviaries.^ In spite of
his physical weakness he never was willing to lean against a
wall or partition when he chanted the Psalms in company
with the others. If he was travelling and it was time to pray,
he stopped the requisite time; if on horseback, he dismounted.
When, in December, 1223, he was on the journey home from
Rome, he stood thus in a pouring rain and let himself get wet
through, as he prayed from his Breviary to the end of the
prescribed portion. "Does not the soul need a quiet time for
eating as well as the body?" he asked his companion, who
remonstrated with him.^ Once he had carved a little cup in
his leisure moments, and when it was just finished it was time
for saying the Tierce (the fourth of the canonical times of the
day; it is said at nine o'clock in the morning). During the
prayer his eyes wandered contentedly to the completed work;
yes, so taken up with it was he that he hardly paid any
attention to the Psalms he was saying. Suddenly he
realized his distraction, and in his zeal he seized the beaker
^ Cel., V. sec, II, c. 61, cc. 65-66 (d'Al.). Fior., c. 17. Actus, c. IX, 32-51.
^Opusc, p. io6. "Analekten," p. 61.
» Cel., V. sec, II, 62 (d'Al.). Spec, c. 94.
288 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
that had taken his thoughts from God and threw it into the
fire.'
Prayer was thus something which he took seriously. Chris-
tians are often profuse in promises to pray for each other —
promises which are seldom kept. Francis was not like this.
The abbot of the convent of St. Justin in Perugia had once
recommended himself to Francis to be remembered in his
prayers, when taking leave of him. Francis regarded this as
more than a phrase; he had gone only a few steps when he
said to his companion, "Let us pray for the abbot, as we
promised him."^
Above all, Francis loved to hear mass every day. When he
was stopping in a town, this was easy to do; out in the hermit-
age it was otherwise. It is a long road from Carceri down
to Assisi or from Celle in to Cortona. For Francis it was
certainly the best Christmas present he ever received when
Honorius III, in December, 1224, permitted the Friars Minor
to have their mass read out in their hermitage at an altar they
could transport from place to place with them.^ After this
Francis had Brother Leo or Brother Benedict of Prato, who
were both priests, say mass for him. When neither of these
was there, he would have at least the gospel of the day read
aloud; this one of the Brothers was glad to do just before
midday.*
» Cel., V. sec, II, 63 (d'Al.). Bonav., X, 6.
* Cel., V. sec, II, 67 (d'Al.): "Mos enim iste semper [ei] fuit, ut orationem
postulatus non post tergum projiceret, sed cito hujusmodi promissum impleret."
Bonav., X, 5.
' Such a portable altar consists of the altar-stone only, that can be placed on
a suitable support, where it is to be used. Honorius Ill's permission was given
December 3, 1224 (Sbar., I, p. 20. Potth., I, nr. 7325).
* Spec perf. (ed. Sab.), p. 175, concerning Benedict of Prato. Compare in
note 2, same page, the quotation from Brother Leo's words written in the Brevi-
ary which had belonged to Francis and which is still preserved iu the church
of Santa Chiara in Assisi:
"Beatus Franciscus acquisivit hoc breviarium sociis suis fratri Angelo et
fratri Leoni eoque tempore sanitatis suae voluit diccre semper of^'icium sicut in
regula continetur, et tempore infirmitatis suae quum non poterat dicere volebat
audire et hoc con'inuavit dum vixit. Fecit etiam scribi hoc evangelistare ut
eo die quo non posset audire missam occasione infirmitatis vel alio aliquo mani-
festo impedimento faciebat sibi 'egi evangelium quod eo diedicebatur in ecclesia,
in missa, et hoc continuavit usque ad obitum suum. Dicebat enim: 'Quum
non audio missam, adoro corpus Christi oculis mentis in oratione quemadmo-
THE TRUE DISCIPLE 289
The third means for obtaining peace, which Francis pointed
out to his disciples, was constant cheerfulness.
"Let those who belong to the devil hang their heads — we
ought to be glad and rejoice in the Lord," said he. Melan-
choly was "the sin of Babylon," because it led back to the
abandoned Babylon of the world. "When the soul is troubled,
lonely and darkened, then it turns easily to the outer com-
fort and to the empty enjoyments of the world." Therefore
Francis repeated over and over again the words of the
Apostle: "Rejoice always!" He never wanted to see dark
faces or sour visages — his Brothers should not be mournful
hypocrites, but glad children of light. To those who asked
how this was possible, he answered, "Spiritual joy arises
from purity of the heart and perseverance in prayer!" Only
sin and torpidity are able to extinguish or darken the light
in the heart. "When the soul is cold," said Francis, "and
gradually becomes untrue to grace, then it must be flesh
and blood that are seeking their own! " ^
To keep free not only from every sin but from every
blemish, from every trespass though ever so little, these were
the conditions for living in the divine joy. The least grain
of dust in the eye is enough to stop one from seeing the light.
Francis taught his disciples to be on their guard against such
grains of dust, and he especially warned them against confi-
dential intercourse with women. When talking with persons
of the opposite sex, he liked to look down on the earth or up
into the sky, and when the conversation was too prolonged,
he broke it off abruptly. At Bevagna he and a Brother were
once entertained by a pair of pious women, a mother and her
daughter, and Francis in recompense had spoken some edify-
ing words to them. "Why dost thou not look at the pious
dum adoro quum video illud in missa.' Audito vel lecto evangelic, beatus
Franciscus ex maxima reverentia Domini osculabatur semper evangelium."
Compare Spec, perf., cap. 117: "volebat (Franciscus) semper audlre evange-
lium quod in missa legebatur ilia die priusquam comederet, quando non posset
audire missam." ,,j
St. Clara owned a Breviary written by Leo, which is still preserved in
S. Damiano. See Aug. Cholat : Le Bréviaire de S'-e. Claire {Opusc. de critique, II,
pp. 31-96, Paris, 1904).
1 Cel., V. sec., II, cc. 39, 88, 91 (d'Al.). Spec, cc. 95-96.
20
290 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
young girl who hangs upon every word from thy lips?" the
Brother asked Francis, as they left the place. "Why should
one not be afraid to look upon the bride of Christ?" answered
Francis. Every pious woman in Francis' eyes was the be-
trothed of Christ, to whom he as the poor servant of Christ
did not dare to lift his eyes.^
In recompense for this complete renunciation, Francis
accepted also perfect joy. There were times and hours
W'hcn there was a perfect song within his soul, and he would
begin at last to hum the melody he heard within himself,
hum it in French as in the old days when he went out with
Brother Giles to announce the gospel. Clearer and clearer
would the melody sound to him, and stronger and stronger
did it rise in him — next he would snatch up a couple of
pieces of wood or two boughs, place one to his chin as if it
were a violin, and draw the other one across it as the bow is
used in playing the violin. Louder and louder would he sing,
more and more eagerly did he carry out his imitation playing
whose melody none but himself could hear, while he rhyth-
mically rocked his body back and forth with the tune. Fi-
nally his feelings would overcome him, and letting the violin
and bow fall he would burst into scalding tears, and sink into
his own soul as into a great wave.^
^ Cel., V. sec, II, cc. 78, 80. Compare c. 81 (parable of the Two Pages,
of whom one was bold enough to look upon the king's bride and for that was
cast out of the castle).
* Spec, per/., c. 93. Cel., V. sec, II, c. 90 (d'AI.).
CHAPTER IV
LA VERNA AND THE STIGMATA
DURING the summer of 1224 Francis' health seems
to have improved, and in August he left Rieti.
The goal of this journey was the mountain La
Verna in Casentino, which had been given to him
by Orlando dei Cattani in 12 13; he wished along with the
most faithful Brothers — Leo, Angelo, Masseo, Silvestro,
Illuminato — to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Vir-
gin (August 15) and then to prepare himself by a forty days'
fast for the feast of St. JMichael (September 29), In common
with the rest of the people of the Middle Ages, Francis nour-
ished a special devotion to this Archangel, signifer sanctus
Michaelis, the standard-bearer of the Heavenly Host, and
the one who with his trumpet was to wake the dead in their
graves on the Last Day — "Sjaele-Mikal" (Soul-Michael),
as he is called for that reason in the old Norsk Draumkvaede}
Immediately after having received the Alverna hill as a
gift, Francis had sent a couple of Brothers there to take
possession of it. With the help of the Duke Orlando's people
the Brothers had established themselves upon a plateau
high up on the cUff, and had built some huts of clay and inter-
woven branches, as Francis Hked it; next the Duke Orlando
built a Httle church which received the same name as the
1 Cel., V. sec, 149 (d'Al.). Compare Brother Leo in Francis' Blessing (Ap-
pendix, pp. 347-348). "Beatus Franciscus duobus annis ante mortem suam
fecit quadrigesimam in loco Alverne ad honorem beate Virginis Marie matris
Dei et beati Michaelis archangeli a festo assumpsionis sancte Marie virginis
usque ad festum sancti Michaelis septembris." Besides this fast in honor
of St. Michael, and the lenten fast, and the fast prescribed in the Rule of the
Order from All Saints' Day to Christmas, Francis appears to have fasted forty
days in honor of Sts. Peter and Paul, ending with their feast-day, June 29, and
finally in honor of Mary from June 29 to August 15 (Bonav., IX, 3. Com-
pare Cel., V. sec, II, 150 (d'Al.), on Francis' devotion to the Blessed Virgin).
291
292 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST
Portiuncula chapel, namely, Santa Maria degli Angeli, "Our
Lady of the Angels." ^
During the trip to La Verna, Francis' strength again
failed him, and the Brothers went into a farmyard to borrow
an ass for their master. When the peasant heard who it
was that wanted to use the beast, he came out himself.
"Art thou the Brother Francis there is so much said about?"
he asked. Receiving an affirmative answer, he added, "Then
take care that thou art as good in reality as they say, for
there are many who have confidence in thee!" Stirred to
his innermost depths, Francis cast himself down and kissed
the peasant's feet in thanks for his reminder.^ ]\Iay it not
have been the same peasant who himself undertook to guide
Francis and the Brothers to La Verna? Whoever it was he
was seized by an overwhelming thirst in the burning summer
heat, and during the long hard ascent from the river Corsa-
lone to the convent. When he complained of his thirst to
Francis, the latter kneeled down with him in prayer, and a
moment after he was able to lead the peasant to a spring.'
"But as now Francis and his Brethren climbed the moun-
tain, and rested a little at the foot of an oak" — the Fioretti
tell us — "there was at once a flock of the birds of heaven in
the place, and greeted them with cheerful song and fluttering
of their wings. And some rested on Francis' head, and others
on his shoulders, and again others on his knees and hands.
But when Francis saw this wonder, he said: 'I believe,
dearest Brothers, that it is the pleasure of our Lord Jesus
Christ that we establish a residence on this lonely mountain,
where our sisters the birds rejoice so much over our coming.'
"But when the Count Orlando heard that Brother Francis
and his Friars were going to build on Mount Alverna, he was
highly pleased over it, and the next day he went there with
many from his castle, and they came and brought bread and
wine and other things with them, to Francis and his Friars.
And as he approached the place he found them praying, and
he went up and greeted them. Then Francis arose and re-
ceived Lord Orlando and his followers with great love and
^Seepage 105. ^ Cel., V. sec., II, 103 (d'Al.).
»Cel., V. sec, II, 17 (d'Al.).
LA VERNA AND THE STIGMATA 293
joy, and they sat down to speak together. And after they
had spoken together, and Brother Francis had thanked Count
Orlando for the mountain he had given him, and had preached
a httle, the evening fell. And Lord Orlando took Francis
and his Brethren aside and said to them: 'My dearest Broth-
ers, it is not my intention that you shall suffer from want on
this wild mountain, and therefore I say to you once for all,
that if you are in need of anything you shall only send a
messenger to me after it, and if you do not do so I will be
very angry about it.' And after he had said this he with-
drew with his followers to his castle.
"Francis then made the Friars sit down and determine
how they were to live, and he especially impressed upon them
the keeping of holy poverty in their hearts, and said to them:
'Do not pay so much attention to Lord Orlando's friendly
offering as to break the troth you have promised our Lady,
the holy Poverty!' And after many beautiful and pious
words about this thing, he concluded, saying: 'This is the
way of life I lay upon you and myself. For as I see that my
death approaches, I wish to be alone with God and lament
my sins. And Brother Leo can bring me a little bread and a
little water, as seems fit to him, but if anyone comes, answer
for me, and let no one come to me!' And when he had said
these words, he gave them his blessing and went to his hut,
which was under a great beech tree, and the Friars remained
in their huts." ^
There are still shown by La Verna the places where St.
Francis stopped — the great overhanging stone, Sasso or
Masso spico, under which he used to pray, the dark damp
cave where he had his hard bed on a projecting shelf. Brother
Leo's grotto high up on the mountain side, where Francis
many a morning in the early hours attended his friend's mass
and prayed to the body and blood of our Lord in the
white Host and golden chalice, hfted on high in Brother
Leo's hand as the only comfort for poor pilgrims in this vale
of tears.
For again Francis seems to have become disquieted, troub-
led, and bowed down with thoughts of the future. How was
' Fioretli, 1^ e 2^ considerazione delle sacra sante stimmate. Actus, cap. IX.
294 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
it all going to end? They had taken his Brothers, his sons,
from him, and whither were they taking them now? They
were going there where Francis did not wish them to go, and
he had to look on without power. . . .
In vain did Francis issue his Ideal Image of what a perfect
Friar Minor, a perfect Provincial Minister, a perfect General
of the Order, should be — he knew well that the facts were
widely different. Brother Ehas and others of his mind were
not, as Francis would have it, satisfied with "a book and an
ink-horn and one pen and a signet," — they collected books and
studied church law, and it was only waste of time to exhort
them to act towards their Brothers in the spirit not in the
letter of the law. Again and again might Francis sigh to
God: "Lord, I commit to thee the family thou hast given
me — I cannot lead them any longer myself!" ^ But again
and again the beautiful dream would return, that all was as
in the old days, when nothing stood between him and his
dear children, and they were united in harmony again and
were to be separated no more.^
One day Francis awaked out of this his constant dream,
and realized anew the truth, and had recourse to a method
he had used before, to lift the edge of the veil that hides the
future. He ordered Brother Leo to take the Book of Gospels
and in honor of the Holy Trinity to open it in three places.
Leo did as his master desired, and all three times it opened
at the Passion of Christ. Then Francis understood that
there was nothing for him but to suffer to the end, and that
his days of good fortune were gone for ever. And he resigned
himself to God's will.
In the night which followed, Francis could not sleep.
In vain did he turn on his hard bed — in vain did he listen
for the call of the Friars of La Verna, announcing the hour
for saying matins. *'A11 will be as it should be in heaven,"
i"Domine, recommendo tibi familiam, quam dedisti mihi!" Spec, per/.,
c. 8i. "Sufficiant autem sibi pro se habitus et libellus, pro aliis vero pennarolus
cum calamo et pugillari et sisillum. Non sit aRgregator librorum." Cap. 80.
Compare cc. 71 and 85. and also Cel., V. sec. II, cc. 139-140 (d'Al.).
*"si secundum voluntatem meam fratres vellent ambulare . . . nollem
quod alium ministrum habcrent nisi me usque ad diem mortis meae." Spec,
p. 138. Cel., I.e., c. 141.
LA VERNA AND THE STIGMATA 295
Francis said to comfort himself; "there, at least, there is
eternal peace and happiness!" And with these thoughts he
fell asleep.
Then it seemed to him that an angel stood by his bed with
violin and bow in hand. "Francis," said the shining denizen
of heaven, "I will play for thee as we play before the throne
of God in heaven." And the angel placed the violin to his
chin and drew the bow across the strings a single time only.
Then Brother Francis was filled with so great a joy, and his
soul was filled with such hving sweetness, that it was as if
he had a body no longer, and knew of no secret sorrow. "And
if the angel had drawn the bow down across the strings again,"
thus Francis told his Brothers the next morning — "then
would my soul have left my body from uncontrollable happi-
ness." ^
After the Feast of the Assumption, Francis withdrew from
the Brothers into still greater solitude. The place he had
selected for himself was on the far side of a deep ravine, and
to cross over to it, a felled tree-trunk had to be used as a
bridge over the abyss. Here Francis installed himself in a
hut, and had made the arrangements with Brother Leo that
he should visit him twice in the twenty-four hours, once by
day to bring bread and water, once by night at matins. As
Leo stepped upon the bridge he was to say aloud the words
with which the recitation of the Breviary begins — the verse
of the psalm, "O Lord, thou wilt open my lips" {Domine,
labia mea aperies). If Francis from the other side gave the
proper response: "And my mouth shall declare Thy praise"
{Et OS meum annuntiahit laudem tuam), then Leo was to go
across the bridge and say the matins with Francis. But if
he got no answer he was to go quietly home again. "But
Francis said this because he was sometimes in such a state
of rapture that he could not speak for a whole day, he was so
occupied with God," says the Fioretti.
For a while Brother Leo carried out his master's commands
1 Fioretti, 2^ e 3^ consid. — Of a falcon whose scream used to wake Francis
in the morning, see Cel., V. sec, II, c. 127. When Francis was sick or tired, it
there tells us, the falcon noticed it and waked him at a later hour. Compare
Celano, Tract, de miraculis, IV, 25, and Bonav., VIII, 10.
296 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
correctly. Then there came a night when he stood on the
usual place by the bridge and said the usual words. But
Francis did not answer.
Now it was a moonlit night — clear with the coolness of
autumn, like many September nights in the Apennines.
The county lay clear and silent and lonely, and the moon-
light on the beech trees looked like snow. The moon shone
into the empty hut, and after a brief delay Leo crossed the
bridge.
He carefully crept through the trees — there was no trace
of Francis to be seen. At last he heard a murmuring as of
one who prayed, and by following the noise he discovered
Francis. With arms spread out in the form of a cross and
his face turned to heaven, he lay prostrate, and prayed aloud.
Leo stopped, stood motionless in the shadow of a tree, and
now could hear the words of the master's prayer. In the
clear, almost frosty night air they reached him one by one.
"O my dearest Lord and God," said Francis, invoking
heaven, ''w-hat art thou, and what indeed am I, Thy little,
useless worm of a servant?"
This he repeated over anxi over again, until Brother Leo
in moving trod upon a twig which snapped. At this noise
Francis ceased praying at once and stood up. "In the name
of Jesus," he called out, "stay still, whoever thou art, and do
not move from the place!" And he approached Brother
Leo.
But Brother Leo said afterwards to the other Brothers,
that in this moment he was so frightened that if the earth
had opened he would have gladly hidden himself in its
depths. For he was afraid that Francis, in punishment for
his disobedience, would no longer have him with him. And
his love of Francis was so great that it seemed to him that he
could not live without him.
But Francis came close to the tree and said, "Who art
thou?" And trembling all over. Brother Leo answered, "It
is I — Leo!" But Francis said to him: "God's little lamb,
why hast thou come hither? Have I not told thee that thou
must not spy upon me! In the name of holy obedience,
tell me if thou hast perceived anything!" But he answered'.
LA VERNA AND THE STIGMATA 297
"Father, I heard thee speak and say and with much devotion,
pray: 'My dearest Lord and God, what art thou, and what
am I, thy little, useless worm of a servant?'" And Brother
Leo cast himself on his knees and said with great reverence,
"Father, I beg thee, that thou explainest to me the words
I heard!"
"O little lamb of Jesus Christ," said he, "O my own brother
Leo! In that prayer which thou didst hear, two lights were
manifested to me: one light in which I knew the Creator,
and one in which I knew myself. When I said, 'What art
thou, my Lord and God, and what am I? ' then I was in the
light of contemplation, in which I saw the infinite depth of
the Divine Godhead and my own wretched abyss of misery.
Therefore I said: 'What art thou. Lord, the Highest, the
Wise, the All-good, the All-merciful, that thou troublest
Thyself about me who am the most miserable worm of all,
a little, abhorrent and despicable creation!' These, then,
were the words thou heardest, little lamb of God! But
watch thyself, that thou spiest on me no more, and go back
to thy cell with God's blessing!" ^
The days and nights went by — soon the feast of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14) would be at
hand, the feast in honor of the winning in the year 629 by
the Emperor Heraclius of the True Cross which the Persian
King Cosroes fourteen years before had taken away with him
as conqueror from Jerusalem.
The Cross and the Crucified One had always been an object
of the deepest feehng on Francis' part.
It was the voice of the Cross that in San Damiano's lonely
church in 1207 had converted him from the world to follow
Christ in naked poverty. "From that hour," says the Three
Brothers' Legend, "his heart was so sore and melted with
the memory of Christ's sufferings, that all his life he bore the
wounds of the Lord Jesus in his heart."
It was the sufferings of the Crucified One that stood before
his eyes, when as a young man he went and wept in the woods
by Portiuncula. A person met him there one day and asked
the reason of his sorrow. "I am weeping," answered Francis,
1 Actus, c. IX. Fior., 3^ considerazione.
298 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
for "the pain of my Lord Jesus Christ!" And so great, so
real was his unhappiness, that even the other began to weep.
To honor the Cross was the object of the prayer Francis
had prescribed for his Brothers. "We pray to thee, O Lord,
and praise thee, because with thy Holy Cross thou hast
redeemed /he world!" And he would never permit the
Brothers to step upon two straws or two twigs that were
lying across each other.
And the others thought of him under the symbolism of the
Cross. Silvester dreamt that a cross of gold went out of the
mouth of Brother Francis and over the world, and Brother
Pacificus saw him in a dream in the form of a cross pierced
by two swords. Leo once saw a great gilded cross going in
front of Francis.^
In the Mass of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross it is as if places in the Liturgy were given for all the
words of the Church and gospel referring to the Cross. "This
sign of the Cross," it says, "shall stand in heaven when the
Lord comes to judgment." Or, in the words of Paul: "We
should be glorified in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in
whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection." Or the fol-
lowing: "Christ, our Saviour, who saved Peter on the sea,
save us, have mercy on us by the power of thy Cross."
"Thou strong Cross, thou noble Cross, nobler than all the
trees, no woods produce thy equal, a tree with such leaves
and flowers," is in a h>Tnn for that day. And again about
the Cross, to the Cross: "Thou art fairer than the cedars of
Lebanon, thou art the tree of life in the middle of the garden
of paradise." "Behold the Cross of the Lord! Let all its
enemies fly! The Lion of Judah's stem hath conquered.
Alleluia!"
Penetrated by all these strong words, Francis lay in prayer
outside his cell on the morning of the fourteenth of September.
It was not yet day, but while awaiting the sunrise he prayed,
with face turned to the cast, with hands upraised and extended
arms:
"O Lord Jesus Christ, two favors I beg of thee before I
• Actus, cap. 38. Compare Verba Jr. Conradi {Opusc. de critique, I, pp.
380-381.)
Photo: Anderson
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
From the fresco attributed to Cimabue at Assist
LA VERNA AND THE STIGMATA 299
die. The first is, that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in
my soul and in my body the suffering which thou, O gentle
Jesus, sustained in thy bitter passion. And the second
favor is, that I, as far as it is possible, may receive into my
heart that excessive charity by which thou, the Son of God,
wast inflamed, and which actuated thee wilhngly to suffer
so much for us sinners."
''And as he long prayed thus," says the old story, "he felt
a certainty that God would vouchsafe him these two things,
and that it would be given him to receive both parts, so far as
it was possible for a creature. And after he had received
this promise, he began with great devotion to meditate on
the sufferings of Christ and on the boundless charity of Christ,
and the glow of piety grew so strong in him, that with charity
and pity he was all transformed to Jesus.
''And as he lay in this prayer and burned with this flame,
behold, it came to pass that he in the same morning hour saw
a seraph coming down from heaven with six luminous wings.
And the seraph slowly approached Francis, so that he could
discern and clearly see that it bore an image of a crucified
man, and its wings were so placed that two were raised over
the head, two were extended for flight, and with two it cov-
ered its body.
"But when Francis saw this vision he was much frightened,
and at the same time he was filled with joy and sorrow and
wonder. For he had great joy in the gentle Jesus who
showed Himself to him so intimately and looked so lovingly
upon him, but it gave him inexpressible sorrow to see the
Lord fastened to the Cross. And, moreover, he wondered
over so unusual and astonishing a vision, for he knew that
mortal suffering is not compatible with a seraph's immortal
spirit. But as he wondered thus, it was revealed to him by
the one before him that this vision by a special provision of
God was granted him that he should understand that it was
not by bodily martyrdom, but through an inner flame, that
he should be transformed entirely into the likeness of Christ
the Crucified.
"But now after the wonderful vision had finally disappeared,
an excessive glow was left in Francis' heart, and a living love
300 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
of God, and in his body the vision left a wonderful image and
imprint of Christ's sufferings. For at once in his hands and
feet marks like nails began to appear, so that they seemed
perforated in the middle, and the heads of the nails were
within the palms of the hands and on the top of the feet, and
the points of the nails were on the backs of the hands and
under the feet, and they were bent over, so that there was
space between the flesh and points of the nails for a finger,
as if in a ring, and the nails had a round, black head. And
so in his left side the image of a lance-thrust appeared, with-
out cicatrice, but red and bleeding, out of which blood often
issued from Brother Francis' breast and saturated his habit
and clothes.
"But Francis said nothing of this to the Brothers, but hid
his hands, and he could not put the soles of his feet to the
earth any more. And the Brothers found that his habit and
clothes were bloody when they went to the wash, and then
they understood that he bore the image and hkeness of our
Lord Jesus Christ the Crucilied in his side and likewise on
his hands and feet." ^
1 FioreUi, 3* considerazione. I use this late authority as I think that it is
essentially based on what Leo, Masseo, Angelo, and the other Brothers have
imparted either in writing or orally. We know from Eccleston that Brother
Leo willingly told the younger Brothers in the Order about the stigmatization —
see. Anal. Franc, I, p. 245. It is impossible to doubt that he had also among his
rotuli several relating to the event at La Vema; some of these have appeared
as part of the Actus bcali Franc isci (c. IX, c. XXXIX). Moreover, we possess
directly from Leo's hand the most authentic testimony of Francis' stigmatiza-
tion — his remarks on the blessing Francis wrote and gave him at La Verna
(see Appendix, p. 347). The description of the stigmatization in Thomas of
Celano's Vita prima, II,. c. Ill, and in the Mirac. tral., c. II, n. 4, presents, in
spite of the much shorter form, an unmistakable resemblance to the relation
in the Fioretti, and this is not surjjrising when we recollect that Celano always
worked in company of Leo and the other confidential friends of Francis. (Ap-
pendix, pp. 352, 368-369.) Compare Bonavcnture, XIII, 3, where essentially
the same relation is found.
Since the appearance of Sabatier's defence of the stigmatization of Francis
{Vie de S. Fr., pp. 401-412) the general view among historians has been turned
in the direction of accepting it. Of Karl Hampe's attempt to separate the
stigmatization from the vision of the seraph on Mount Alverna and to transfer
it to a time no more exactly stated shortly before Francis' death, something
will be found said in the Appendix. Hampe's article {'^ Die Wundmale des hl.
Franz v. Assisi") appeared in the " Historisches Zcitschrift," 1906, pp. 385-402.
CHAPTER V
THE FAREWELL TO THE BRETHREN
FRANCIS could not long keep the wonder a secret that
had come to him. For one thing he was in the midst of
a circle of inspired and devoted friends whose central
object he inevitably was, and who were constantly
occupied with him. On the other hand, the miracle caused
him such great pain and made his existence so difficult, that
he had to have recourse to the assistance of others. Probably
Leo was the first one he initiated into the secret. That
Francis might be able to move his hands and feet, bandages
had to be wound around the projecting parts of the nails.
Leo shifted these bandages daily, except — as it is said —
from Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning, because Fran-
cis wished to suffer with Christ. Brother Rufino, too, who
washed for the master, found out all about the mystery,
when he found the left side of the clothes saturated with the
blood from the wound in the side. It was later that he, by
a trick, managed to touch and see this wound. ^
Of the state of Francis' soul, after he had received the
wounds, it is hard to form a conception. From now on he is
so high above ordinary mankind, that the best we can do —
like Brother Leo, who often thought he saw the master float-
ing among the tree-tops — is to cast ourselves down, kiss
1 Actus, cc. 39 and 34. Cel., V. sec, II, cc. 98-100. Thomas of Celano says
here explicitly of Rufino: "Hie solus vidit in vita, caeterorum nullus usque
post mortem" (d'Alen^on's ed., p. 274). It cannot, therefore, be regarded as
a deceit of Brother Elias of Cortona, that Brother Thomas gave credence to,
when we find in the Vita prima (II, c. Ill, n. 95) : "felix Helias, qui dum viveret
sanctus, utcumque illud videre meruit; sed non minus felix Rufinus" etc.
Brother Pacificus by a trick managed to let a friar from Brescia see the
stigmata in the hands. (Cel., V. sec, II, cap. 99, d'Al.)
301
302 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
the dust once trod by the blessed one's feet, and ejaculate
with the faithful disciple: "God be merciful to my sins and
let me by the intercession of this holy man find pity with
thee!"i
The first effect of the stigmatization seems to have been a
great joy, a complete liberation from all care and dejection.
This feeling of inner happiness refound was what gave itself
voice in the Song of Praise Francis wrote immediately after
he had received the wounds, "in thanks for the grace that
had befallen him.'' ^ In its entirety the Laud reads thus:
"Thou art holy, Lord God. Thou art the God of Gods,
who alone doest wonderful things. Thou art strong, thou
art great, thou art most high, thou art omnipotent, thou
art Holy Father, the King of heaven and earth. Thou art
three in one, one Lord God of Gods. Thou art goodness, all
goodness, the greatest goodness, living and true Lord God.
Thou art charity, thou art wisdom, thou art humility,
thou art patience, thou art beauty, thou art security, thou
art quietude, thou art joy, thou art our hope, thou art
justice . . . and temperance. . . . Thou art all our riches
to satiety. . . . Thou art gentleness. . . . Thou art the
protector, thou art the guardian and defender. . . . Thou
art our refuge and strength. Thou art our faith, hope and
charity. Thou art our great sweetness. Thou art infinite
goodness, great and admirable Lord God Almighty, pious and
merciful and Saviour." ^
At this very time when Francis felt himself raised to the
highest summits of Christian joy, and like Moses on Nebo,
already saw the promised land afar off, his best friend was the
*"'Deus, propitius esto mihi peccatori et, per mcrita hujus sanctissimi
viri, fac me tuam sanctissimam misericordiam invenire.' Quum tantum
elevatum aspiceret quod ipsum tangere non valcl^at, se sub sancto Francisco
prosternens, orationem [talem] faciebat [fr. Leo]." Actus, c. 39, 6-7.
*" propter visionem et allocutioncm seraphym et impressionem stigmatum
Christi in corpore suo fecit has laudes . . . et manu sua scripsit, gratias agens
Domino de bencficio sibi collato." Brother Leo's testimony concerning
Francis' blessing given to him. See Appendi.x, pp. 347-348.
'For the Latin te.xt see Appendix, p. 349, n. i. I also refer to Faloci-
Pulignani's monograph: Tre Autograf i di S. Francesco (S. Maria degli Angeli,
1895).
THE FAREWELL TO THE BRETHREN 303
object of a great temptation, — not of bodily, but of spiritual
kind, we are told by the authorities without any further
enlightenment. Was Brother Leo perhaps tempted by a feel-
ing of envy of the master? Did he feel jealous and dis-
quieted in seeing his friend penetrate into regions where he
could not follow him? In any case he seems to have sought
for a proof that he was not forgotten, an assurance that the
old relations, in spite of the wonder that had happened to
Francis, were still as strong as ever. Leo thought of the times
when Francis wrote to him in such a friendly manner, and
every one who knows what effect a dear and well-known
handwriting on a letter can have, will understand Brother
Leo's longing to have something from Francis' hand. He
was to be seen every day, but what good was that, when it
seemed as if the old-time friendship between them was no
longer in existence?
With his usual delicate perception Francis seems to have
known what was troubling his friend's spirit. One day there-
fore he called for Leo, and bade him bring parchment, pen and
ink. While Leo in expectation stood by his side, Francis
wrote down first the Song of Praise given above, then turned
the sheet over and inscribed upon the back in large letters
the Patriarchal Benediction from the Old Testament:
''The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord show
his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn
his countenance to thee, and give thee peace!"
For a moment Francis paused — then he finally added,
"The Lord bless — Brother Leo — thee!" And instead of
his name he put beneath the whole the Old Testament symbol
of the Cross, T (Thau), erected on Golgotha over a human
skull as emblem of death conquered by Christ.
With glance and smile both charged with goodness, Francis
handed the inscribed parchment to Brother Leo. ''Take
this," he said, "and keep it with thee to the day of thy death!"
Then all of Brother Leo's evil thoughts left him, and with
tears in his eyes he seized the pledge of inviolable friendship
which the master gave him. Even until he became an old
man — Leo died in 1271 — he carried next to his heart this
parchment from La Verna, and after his death it went as an
304 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
inheritance to the Franciscan Church in Assisi, where it is to
the present day preserved in the sacristy.^
On the thirtieth of September, Francis with Brother Leo
left Mount Alverna. Duke Orlando had sent an ass on which
the stigmatized one who could not use his feet was to make
the journey. Francis heard mass early in the morning with
his Brothers in the little chapel, and gave them a last
admonition. Then he took leave of each one in turn — of
Masseo, Angelo, Silvestro, Illuminato. "Live in peace,
dearest sons, and farewell ! IMy body is to be separated from
you, but my heart remains with you! I go forth with Brother
Little Lamb of God to Portiuncula, and I come back here
no more! Farewell, sacred mountain: farewell, Mount Al-
verna: farewell, thou Angel mountain! Farewell, dearest
Brother Falcon, who used to wake me with thy screams,
thanks for thy care of me! Farewell, thou great stone, be-
neath which I used to pray; thee I shall see no more! Fare-
well, Santa Maria's Church — to thee, mother of the Eternal
Word, I commend these my sons!" Whilst the Brothers
who remained behind broke into lamentations, Francis went
forth for the last time from the mountain, where so great a
thing had befallen him.^
Francis rode to Borgo San Sepolcro; after he had taken
leave of Duke Orlando in the neighboring town of Chiusi he
' Cel., V. sec, II, c. XX. Bonav., XI, g. — The words of the blessing are
taken from Numbers vi. 24-26. On the letter T/mu see Ezechiel ix. 4. On
Francis of Assisi's use of the same see Bonav., IV, 9, and Cel. Trad, de
miraculis, c. II, n. 3.
* I quote here the Addio di S. Francesco alia Verna, said to have been written
by Brother Masseo. All internal evidence points to the authenticity of the
document, but the copy of it, found in the so-called Capella dell' Ascensione,
and which is the only e.xisting manuscript, dates only from the sixteenth century.
It is a parchment 27 x 13 cm. (10.8x5.2 in.) and begins: Pax XPI. Giesu
Må spcranza mia. jra Masseo peccatore indigtio servo di Giesu XPO Compagno di
fra Francesco da Assisi huomo a Dio gratissimo, and ends: lo fra Masseo ho
scrillo tutto. Dio ci benedica. Sabatier, who did not know of this document,
heard it spoken of as an original autograph {Spec, perf., pp. 303-304); he gives
a copy not difTering more than the above and following the oldest printed copy
(of 1 7 10), ditto, pp. 305-308; the concluding words are worthy of notice: "lo
fr. Masseo ho scritto con lagrime," which indicates that the words were written
under the influence of Francis' recent departure. L' Addio di S. Francesco is
also found printed in Amoni's Italian translation of Celano's Vita sccunda,
Rome, 1880, pp. 314-315, without statement of the source.
THE FAREWELL TO THE BRETHREN 305
crossed the River Rasina, followed by Brother Leo, and took
the road over Mount Arcoppe, Mount Foresto and Mount
Casella. He stopped on the top of Mount Casella, whence
the last view of La Verna is to be had, and he dismounted
and knelt down. And with his glance directed to the distant
La Verna, that far away lifted its ridge up under the heavy
autumn clouds, he made the sign of the Cross over it and broke
out into a last farewell, a last thanksgiving and a last blessing.
"Farewell, thou mountain of God, thou holy mountain.
Mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, mons in quo bene placitum est
Deo habitare! Farewell, Mount Alverna — God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless thee! Live in peace,
but I shall never see thee more!" ^
Francis then mounted his placid steed and rode down to
Monte Casella. He was absorbed in his thoughts for the
rest of the journey, so that he passed through Borgo San
Sepolcro without knowing it; the town was already behind
them when he awoke from his revery and asked if they were
yet near Borgo.^
The journey became a triumphal procession. The populace
met Francis everywhere with olive boughs and the cry
Ecco il Santo! "Here comes the Saint!" He had to give
his hand to be kissed, and miracles were wrought by him;
yes, a woman who lay in agony and whose life was in danger
was cured by laying the bridle of the ass upon her, the same
he had held in his hands.^ From Citta di Castello, where
Francis stopped a whole month, and where he among other
things by a simple command cured a woman who was raving
with hysterics, he went at last to Portiuncula. It was now
November, 1224, and the snow in the Apennines was already
deep. And now it happened that Francis, Brother Leo and
the peasant who had lent them the ass, one evening could
find no human habitation, but had to spend the night in the
mountains. The snow gathered in drifts and they had only
^ Amoni's work named above, p. 315. In La Vema these words are to be
found in a manuscript dated September 30 (also anniversary of the depar-
ture), 1818.
2 Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 64 (d'Al.).
^ Fioretti, 4a considerazione. Cel., Vita prima, I, c. XXII, n. 63. Compare
the quite similar miracle in the succeeding paragraph (64).
3o6 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
a projecting rock to take shelter under. For the two Brothers
this was not so bad, but the peasant cursed and scolded —
this was the reward for his fooHsh kindness; he might have
remained at home and now be lying in his comfortable bed,
etc., etc. Francis managed at last to quiet and calm the
angry man, and when morning came the peasant announced
himself quite satisfied, that he never had slept better than out
here among the rocks and drifts of snow.^
Scarcely was Francis back at Portiuncula when he went
out at once on a missionary trip. It seems as if all of the
zeal of his youth was returned; he talked anew of wanting
to do great things.^ For a while it seemed to him that it
was not too late to begin all over again. "I will go to the
lepers again and serve them and be despised of all men,"
said he.' Riding on his ass, he often visited in one day four
or five towns and preached in them ; * and where he found
lepers he waited on them. The story in the Fioretti certainly
belongs to this period, which tells of the impatient leper
patient whom the Brothers who took care of him could
in no way please, but he abused them with word and blow,
and reviled and abused God and all the saints, so that none
could bear to listen to him.
"But St. Francis himself approached this abandoned leper
and greeted him and said, ' God give thee peace, dear brother! '
But the leper answered, 'What peace can I have when God
has taken everything from me and has made me all decayed
and malodorous? And even then I would not complain of
my disease, but the Brothers thou hast given me to wait
upon and look after me do not do it as they ought!'
"Then Francis said, 'Son, since thou art not contented
with the others, shall I take care of thee?' 'I would like
that,' answered the sick man; 'but what couldst thou do for
me more than the others?' 'I will do all thou wishest,'
* Cel., V. Pr., I, c. 26. Fior., 4^ consid.
* Cel., V. pr., II, c. 6: "Proponebat, Christo duce, ingentia se facturum."
' ditto, " Volebat ad serviendum leprosis redire denuo, et haberi contemptui,
sicut aliquando habebatur."
* Cel., V. prima, II, c. 4: "Replebat omnem terram evangelic Christi, ita ut
una die quatuor aut quinque castella vel etiam civitates saepius circuiret."
"Cum per se ambulare non posset, ascllo vectus circuiret terras."
THE FAREWELL TO THE BRETHREN 307
answered St. Francis. Then the leper said, 'Then I want
thee to wash me all over, for the odor is such that I cannot
stand it.'
"St. Francis thereupon had warm water with many aro-
matic herbs in it prepared; he undressed the sick man and
began to wash him with his hands, and another Brother
helped. And by a miracle from God it came to pass that
where St. Francis touched him with his blessed hands the
leprosy disappeared and the flesh became entirely well. And
as the flesh began to be cured, the soul was also cured; for
when the leper saw that he was well he was overcome by
great sorrow and emotion over his sins and began to weep
bitterly. And when he was entirely healed in soul and body,
he began in humility to accuse himself and said, weeping, in
a loud voice, 'Woe to me, I have made myself worthy of
hell by the injustice I have done the Brothers, and by my
impatience and blasphemy!'
"But St. Francis thanked God for so great a miracle and
went away to distant regions, for from humility he wished
to flee from all honor and sought in all things only God's
honor and glory and never his OM^n." ^
^ Fior., c. 25. On the relation between Francis and the lepers see also
Speculum perfectionis, cc. 44 and 58, with the numerous parallel citations in
Sabatier's edition.
CHAPTER VI
FRANCIS, THE LOVER OF NATURE
THE light which is soon to go out flares up for a last
time, and such a last flaring was Francis' new zeal.
The spirit indeed was willing, but as he sat upon
his ass he seemed more a dead man than a living
one, and for Brother Elias, who for a time was with Francis
in Foligno, it was clear that the master had only a couple
of years to live.^ The eye sickness he had brought from
Egypt, and which he had never attended to, now got the
mastery, and not only Elias, but also others of the Brothers,
begged him to try medical aid.
This did not accord with Francis' ideas. In one of his
Admoniliones he himself had ad\'ised his sick Brothers not
to strive too eagerly for a cure, but to thank God for every-
thing and not wish to have things better than God wanted
them, for God chastises those He loves.^ Instead of con-
sulting a physician, he sought solitude again, and this time
it was to San Damiano that he withdrew himself. In the
vicinity of the Sisters' convent St. Clara had placed a wattle
hut, in which Francis could live.^
It was in the summer of 1225, and the blinding Italian sun
had evidently been bad for Francis' eyes. For a time he was
quite blind and was incidentally plagued by a swarm of field-
mice, who probably had their home in the straw walls of the
hut, and who eventually ran over his face, so that he had
no peace by day or night. Apparently never before had
Francis been more depressed and unfortunate. And yet it
was precisely in this wretched sickness, in the midst of the
» Cel., Vila pr., II, c. 8.
* Spec, pcrf., c. 42. i?r^. pri?na, c. 10.
'Spec, pcrf., c. 100. Fior., c. 19.
308
FRANCIS, THE LOVER OF NATURE 309
darkness of blindness and of the plague of mice, that he
composed his wonderful masterpiece, Canticum fratris solis,
the Canticle of our Brother Sun.
To understand the Sun Song we must understand Francis'
relations to nature. Nothing would be more unjust than to
call him a pantheist. He never confounded himself or God
with nature, and the pantheist's alternations of wild orgies
and pessimistic melancholy was quite foreign to him. Francis
never, like Shelley, wished to be one with the universe; neither
did he, with Werther or Tourguénieflf, shudder as feeling himself
abandoned to the blind inevitableness of things and to nature's
"everlastingly ruminating monsters." Francis' standpoint
as to the conception of nature is entirely and only the first
article of faith — he believed in a Father who was also a
creator.
And out of this common relationship with the one and
same Father he saw in all living beings, yes in all that is
created, only brothers and sisters. In the kingdom of the
heavenly Father there are many mansions, but only one
family. This thought is not Greek and is not German, but
it is true Hebraic and therefore truly Christian. The song
of praise which Ananias, Azarias and Misael sang in the
fiery furnace of the Babylonian tyrant, and which has gone
down to the Church, as it were an inheritance from the syna-
gogue, contains the following:
"All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt
him above all for ever.
O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye heavens, bless the Lord: . . .
O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord :
O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord: . . .
O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: . . .
O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye nights and days, bless the Lord: . . .
3IO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
O ye light and darkness, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord: . . .
O let the earth bless the Lord; let it praise and exalt him
above all for ever.
O ye mountains and hills, bless the Lord: . . .
O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the
Lord: ...
O ye fountains, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the
Lord: ...
O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: . . .
O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye sons of men, bless the Lord: . . .
O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him
above all for ever.
O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: . . .
O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: . . .
Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven, and worthy
of praise and exalted above for ever."^
There is no tone missing in this symphony of all creatures,
where all sing together in the great song of praise from cheru-
bim to atom. Morning after morning, year after year, Francis,
alone or with the Brothers, had sung out of their Breviaries
daily this hymn of all creatures to the Creator. The poetry
of it had won him early; in 12 13 he raised a little chapel
between S. Gemini and Porcaria, and had sentences such as
these painted on the antependium of the altar: ''All who
fear the Lord, praise Him! Praise the Lord, heaven and
earth! Praise Him, all rivers! All creatures, praise the
Lord! All birds of heaven, praise the Lord!"^ Francis'
preaching to the birds at Bevagna is based on the same
ideas: the birds are obliged to praise and bless their good
Creator, who has cared so well for them; for all beings it is
* Daniel iii. 57-67, 70-87 and 56.
* Wadding, 1213, n. 17. The church in the custodianship of Todi was
called LEremila, according to Rudolph of Tossignano there cited.
FRANCIS, THE LOVER OF NATURE 311
undoubted happiness to exist, and it is their simple, filial
duty to thank their Father for hfe.
Francis' feelings about nature gave him a predilection for
all, that justified such an optimism. He turned with special
joy to all the lightsome, beautiful and bright in his surround-
ings — to the light and fire, the pure running water, jSowers
and birds. This feeling about nature was half symbolic —
Francis loved the water because it symbolized the sacred
penitence by which the soul is purified, and because baptism
is effected by water. Therefore he had such great reverence
for water that, when he washed his hands, he turned so that
the drops which fell could not be trod under foot. Over
stones and rocky ground he went with special carefulness,
while he thought of him who is called the chief corner-stone.
The Brother who cut wood in the forest he ordered to leave
a part of the tree standing, so that there might be some hope
of its putting forth branches again — in honor of the Cross of
Christ. He had the gardener arrange a bed where flowers
would grow — to remind the Brothers of Him who is the
Lily of Sharon.
But he possessed an entirely direct love of nature. Fire
and fight seemed to him so beautiful that he never could
endure having a candle extinguished or a lamp put out.
There was to be a place in the convent garden, not only for
the kitchen vegetables, but also for the sweet-smelling herbs
and for "our brothers the Flowers," so that every one who
observed their beauty would be induced to praise God, He
tenderly bent over the young of "our brothers the Robins"
in Greccio, and in Siena built nests for turtle-doves. If he
saw an earthworm lying on the road and twisting about
helplessly, he would take it up and carry it to the side, so that
it would not be crushed. In winter he put honey into the
beehives for the bees to feed on.
Every being was for Francis a direct word from God.^
Like all pious souls he realized in the highest degree the
worth of all things and had reverence for them as for some-
thing precious and holy. He understood God's presence
1 "Omnis enim creatura dicit et clamat: Deus me fecit propter te, homo."
Spec, perj., c. 118,
312 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
among his creatures; when he felt the immovable firmness
and strength of the cHlTs and rocks, he directly felt that God
is strong and is to be trusted. The sight of a flower in the
silence of the early morning or of the mouth of a little bird
confidently opened revealed to him the pure beauty of God
and his purity and the endless tenderness of the Creator.^
This feeling infused Francis with a constant joy in God,
an uninterrupted tendency to thankfulness. In these thanks
all beings were to participate and were to appear to have
pleasure therein. "Our Creator be praised, Brother Pheas-
ant," thus Francis addressed the rare bird, which a well-
wisher had sent him, and the pheasant stayed with Francis
and did not want to be with anyone else. ''Sing the praise
of God, Sister Cicada," he exclaimed under the olive trees at
Portiuncula, and Sister Cicada sang until Francis bade it
be silent. The wild animals often kept him company; for
example, a hare on an island in Lake Thrasimene, a wild
rabbit at Greccio. Near Siena he was surrounded by a
flock of sheep; the gentle animals gathered around him and
bleated, as if they wanted to tell him something. Sailing on
Lake Rieti he was presented with a living fish; he put it
into the water, and for a long time it followed the boat. A
bird which was captured in the same place and given to him
would not leave him until he explicitly commanded it to.^
But above all things Francis was thankful for the sun —
the sun and fire.
"In the morning," he was wont to say, '' when the sun rises,
all men ought to praise God, who created it for our use, for
all things are made visible by it. But in the evening, when
it is night, all men ought to praise God for Brother Fire,
which gives our eyes light at night. For we are all like the
blind, but God gives our eyes light by means of these two
brothers." ^
^ Spec, perf., cc. ii6, ii8. Cel., Vita sec., II, cc. i8, 124 (d'Al.). Actus,
c. 24. Fioretti, c. 22. Spec, perf., p. 232: "nos qui cum eo fuimus, in tantum
videbamus ipsum interius et exterius lætari quasi in omnibus creaturis, quod
ipsas tangendo vel videndo non in terra, sed in coclo ejus spiritus videbatur."
'Cel., Vita sec, II, cc. 126, 129-130. Tract, de mirac., IV, 23-31 (d'Al.).
Bonav., VIII, 7-10.
* Spec, perf., c. 119.
FRANCIS, THE LOVER OF NATURE 313
The Sun Song had its origin in this idea. In his hut
in San Damiano Francis lay Kke a blind man and could
endure neither sunshine nor the light of a fire. And one
night his sufferings were so great that he called out to
God, "Lord, help me, so that I can bear my sickness with
patience!"
Then in spirit it was answered him: "Behold me. Brother;
would you not be very glad if some one for these sufferings
of thine gave thee so great a treasure that the whole world
in comparison therewith is worth nothing?" And Francis
answered, "Yes." But the voice went on, "Then be glad,
Francis, and sing in your sickness and weakness, for the king-
dom of heaven belongeth to thee!"
But Francis arose early the next morning and said to the
Brothers who sat about him: "If the Emperor had given me
the whole Roman kingdom, should I not be greatly rejoiced?
But now the Lord, even while I am living here below, has
promised me the kingdom of heaven, and therefore it is
proper that I should rejoice in my trials and thank God the
Father and Son and Holy Ghost. And therefore I will in
his honor and for your comfort and the edification of our
neighbors compose a new song of praise about the creatures
of the Lord whom we daily make use of, and without whom
we could scarcely live, and whom we nevertheless so often
misuse and thereby offend the Creator. And we are con-
stantly ungrateful and do not think of the grace and benefi-
cence which every day is shown us, and we do not thank
the Lord, our Creator and the Giver of all good things, as we
ought to do."
And Francis sat down and thought. A moment after he
broke out in the first words of the Sun Song, AUissimo,
onnipotente, bon Signore, "Highest, almighty, good Lord!"
But when the song was composed in full, his heart was full
of comfort and joy. And he wished straightway that Brother
Pacificus should take some other Brothers with him and go
out into the world. And wherever they found themselves
they were to stop and sing the new song of praise, and then
as servants of God they should ask for compensation from
their hearers, and the compensation should be that they
314 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
who listened should be converted and become good Christians.*
But the Sun Song itself is this:^
Altissimo, onnipotente bon signore,
Tue so le laude, la gloria, el honore et onne benedictione.
Ad te solo, Altissimo, se konfano,
et nullu homo ene dignu te mentouare.
Laudato sic, Misignore, cum tucte le tue creature,
spetialmente messor lo frate sole,
lo quale iorno et allumini noi per loi.
Et ellu e bellu e radiante cum grande splendore
de te, Altissimo, porta significatione.
Laudato si, Misignore, per sora luna e le stelle
in celu lai formate clarite et pretiose et belle.
Laudato si, Misignore, per frate vento
et per acre et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo,
per lo quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento.
Laudato si, Misignore, per sor aqua,
la quale e molto utile et humile et pretiosa et casta.
Laudato si, Misignore, per frate focu,
per loquale enallumini la nocte,
ed ello e bello et iocundo et robustoso et forte.
Laudato si, Misignore, per sora nostra matre terra,
la quale ne sustenta et governa
et produce diversi fructi con coloriti flori et herba.
Laudate et bcnedicete Misignore et rengratiate
et serviateli cum grande humilitate.
Most high omnipotent good Lord,
Thine are the praises, the glory, the honor, and all benediction.
To thee alone. Most High, do they belong.
And no man i» worthy to mention thee. ■ 't ^^■
Praised he thou, my Lord, with all thy creatures,
Especially tlte han&red- Brother Sun,
Who makes the day and illumines us through thee.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor
Bears the signification of thee, Most High One.
Praised he iltou, my Lord, for Sister Moon and tlw stars.
Thou hast formed them in lieaven clear and precious and
beautiful.
Praised he thou, my Lord, for Brother Wind,
And for the air and cloudy and clear and every weather,
By which thou givest sustenance to thy creatures.
Praised be thou, my Lord, for Sister Water,
it^J , Which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be thou, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
^ Spec, perf., capp. loo, 119. Actus, c. 21. Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 161 (d'Al.).
* Spec, perf., cap. 120. I repeat here only the original Sun Song (from Bohmer,
p. 65, L. 23-31; p. 66, L. 1-13 and 24-25). The two later additions will be
given further on.
FRANCIS, THE LOVER OF NATURE 315
' ^ By whom thou lightest the night,
A»d-he is beautiful aiid jociuid and robust and strong.
Praised be thou, my Lord, for our sister Mother Earth,
Who sustains andgoycrns us, ' ,•
And produces' mr Sous' fruits with colored flowers and -herbage.
Praise and bless my Lord and give him thanks
And serve him with great humility.
.r., II, cc. IV-V. Actus, c. 21. Fior., c.ig. Compare .\. Bour-
net: S. FratK^ois d' Assise, elude sociale et médicalc (Paris, s.a.), pp. 1 18-123.
' Textus originales, p. 63: "paulo ante obitum suum iterum scripsit nobis
ultimam voluntatcrn suam, dicens: Ego frater Franciscus," etc.
316
francis' last testament 317
town, people came out in great crowds to see him. Now
unfortunately the road to the house where Francis was
stopping ran through the priest's httle vineyard, and the
crowds from the town slaked their thirst by eating the poor
priest's ripe grapes, with the usual disregard to be expected
on such occasions. The priest saw this pillaging only with
sorrow and finally complained to Francis. "The vineyard
always gave me thirteen kegs of wine," he said sadly, "and
that was all I used in the whole year." Francis comforted
him and promised him that this season too he would have his
wine, and in fact it is told that the vines this year bore more
profusely than before, so that the priest in the end got twenty
kegs out of them.^
After this Francis stayed a short time in Rieti, in the house
of Thedaldo the Saracen, according to what Wadding says.^
It was here that Francis one evening called Brother Pacificus
and told him to borrow a cithern and sing the Sun Song to
its accompaniment. Pacificus was, however, afraid of arous-
ing a disturbance in the house with his song and playing and
said so. "Then we will let the thought go," said Francis;
"one must give up much to avoid irritating one's weak
brother!"
The following night Francis lay awake and could not
sleep for pain. Outside he heard the last belated wanderers
going home; finally all was still, only the church bell from
time to time sounded through the night. Then Francis
heard outside his window the soft vibrations of a cithern's
strings, and some one began to play outside. The playing
lasted a long, long time — now quite near, now a Httle distant,
as if the player was going back and forth under the window.
Enraptured, carried away, overcome by the music, which
continued to stream out upon the still, hot autumn night,
Francis lay there and listened, and when morning came he
said to Brother Pacificus: "The Lord did not forget me this
time either, but comforted me, as He always does. Instead
of thee, he sent me an angel, who has played for me all night." ^
^ Spec, perf., c. 104. Actus, c. 21. Fiorelti, c. 19.
* 1225, n. 2 (Mariano is the authority).
2 Cel., Vita sec., II, c. 89 (d'Al.). Bonav., V, n.
3t8 saint FRANCIS OF ASSISI
It was only when winter came that Francis left Rieti, going
to the hermitage of S. Eleutherio, where, in spite of his illness
and of the severe cold which prevailed, he would not consent
to have his habit lined with fur.^ Probably about Christmas
time he went to Fonte Colombo.
Meanwhile the Papal physicians had tried every conceiv-
able remedy upon him — bindings, salves and plasters — and
nothing did any good. They had also tried to reform his
whole way of living, and in this they succeeded to some
extent. "Flas not thy body all through thy hfe been a good
and willing servant and ally?" they asked Francis, and he
could not avoid giving "Brother Ass" a good character.
"Then how hast thou treated it in return?" was the further
question, and Francis had to acknowledge that his treatment
had not been the best. Smitten with sorrow, he entered into
himself and exclaimed, "Rejoice, Brother Body, and forgive
me; now I am ready to humor you in your wishes!" ^ As in
so many cases of repentance, this also came too late.
The physicians decided to adopt heroic measures and under-
took the application of red-hot irons to both temples. Accord-
ing to the views of the time such treatment should be very
efficacious; it was used among other cases for hydrophobia.^
When the physician and his assistant approached Francis
with the brazier, in which the glowing irons lay, Francis made
the sign of the Cross over them and said: "Brother Fire,
thou who art nobler and more useful than most other crea-
tures! I have always been good to thee and always will be
so for love of him who has created thee! Now show thyself
gentle and courteous to me and do not burn me more than
I can stand!"
The physician started the burning, and all the Brothers
fled when they heard the flesh hiss under the iron. Francis
only said, when it was over, "If that is not enough burning,
then burn it again, for I have not felt the least pain!" •*
This physician seems to have formed a real friendship with
^ Spec, perf., c. i6.
* Cel., Vila sec, II, c. i6o (d'Al.).
* Bournet, I.e., p. 122.
*Spcc. per/., c. 115. Cel., V. sec., II, c. 125 (d'Al.).
francis' last testament 319
Francis. He often and willingly talked with the Brothers
about their wonderful master. "It is singular," he once
said; "I can remember well the sermons of others, but never
the sermons of Francis. And even if I do remember something
of them, it nevertheless is no longer it!^' ^
Once, when the consultation was lasting a long time,
Francis wished to keep the physician to dinner. The Brothers
said meanwhile that they did not have enough for them-
selves, and certainly not enough to offer a stranger. "Go
and set out what we have," ordered Francis, "and do not let
me have to say it twice!" And hardly had they sat down at
the table when there was a knock at the door and a woman
stood outside with a basket filled with the best food — fine
bread, fish, pies, honey and grapes.-
It was probably on the suggestion of the same physician
that Francis later in the winter changed the bleak Fonte
Colombo for Siena, already in the Middle Ages renowned
for its mild air. It was on the way thither that Francis and
the Brothers, on the plain between San Quirico and Campilia,
met three women, who all looked exactly ahke, and who as
the little group went by bowed the heads in greeting and in
one voice said, "Hail to thee, Lady Poverty!" This meeting
and this remarkable greeting for a long time occupied Francis'
and the Brothers' minds. '
The treatment in Siena did no more good than that in
Rieti, but the stay seems to have benefited Francis. He
Hved in the hermitage of Alberino (now Ravacciano, a httle
north of Siena), and it was here that he one day, among
others, received a visit from a Dominican who, perhaps
not without reference to Francis' own condition, asked for
an interpretation of the words of Ezechiel, If thou dost not
announce to the ungodly his impiety, "I will require his blood
at thy hand." ■* "For I know many who live in mortal sin,"
declared the troubled Dominican, "and I say not this to them.
Shall aU these souls be required of me? " Francis answered, in
1 Cel., V. sec, II, c. 73 (d'Al.).
^ ibid., c. 15.
» Cel., V. sec, II, c. 60 (d'.\l.). Bonav., VII, 6.
* Ezech. iii. 18.
320 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
his usual way of thought, that a Hfc of goodness was the best
sermon for the wicked, and that God's message to the prophet
was most completely corresponded to by such an example.^
The question of the Dominican had made more impression
upon Francis than he wished to acknowledge. One night he
awakened the Brothers and said to them : " I have begged God
to say to me, when I am his servant and when not, for I neither
wish nor desire anything else than truly to serve him. And
the Lord has shown me grace and answered me: 'Thou art
really and truly my servant, when thou thinkest, speakest
and doest all, as it is becoming!' Therefore you have per-
mission to despise me, if I do not do that." ^
In accordance with this was the incident, when in Siena he
inculcated anew the Brothers' obligation of poverty. A cer-
tain "Sir Bonaventure" had presented a piece of ground for
a new convent; Francis gave the following rules for its erection:
The Brothers must for the present accept no more land than
what is strictly necessary. Next they must not build without
the permission of the local Bishop — "for the Lord has called
us to the help of the priests of the Roman Church" and not
to work in opposition to them. Francis had himself given
the best example of this, when in Imola he let himself be
turned away by the Bishop, whom he asked for permission to
preach in the city, but who answered him, "Brother! It is
enough when / preach!"
After they had got the permission of the clerical authorities,
the Brothers were to dig a deep ditch around their ground and
to plant a good hedge behind the ditch, but they were to
build no wall. In front of the hedge the cells were to be built
of mud and wattles, and there was to be no large church, but
only a poor little chapel.^
The improvement which was apparent in Francis' health
was of no duration. One night he had bad hæmorrhages,
and the Brothers thought he was going to die. Weeping
^ Spec, per/., c. 53. Cel., V. sec, II, c. 69 (d'Al.). As early as 1225 the
Dominicans had a convent and church, S. Domenico, in Siena.
^ Spec, per/., c. 74. Cel., V. sec, II, c. 118.
^ Spec, perf., c. 10. The convent of S. Francesco, erected in Siena in 1236,
does not correspond with this description. — For the Bishop of Imola, see Cel.,
V. sec, II, c. 108 (d'Al.).
francis' last testament 321
they knelt around his bed and begged for his last blessing.
As soon as Francis came back to his senses he ordered his
mass-priest, Brother Benedict of Prato, to bring parchment,
pen and ink. "Write," he then said, "that I bless all my
Brethren who are in the Order, or who are going to enter it,
from now until the end of the world. And as a sign that
they have received this my blessing, and for memory of me,
I leave them this testament, that they ought always to love
each other, as 1 have loved them and still love them; that
they should always love and honor our Lady Poverty; that
they should always be true and obedient to the clerks and
prelates of our holy Mother Church." After having dictated
these words, Francis blessed them all, "as he had been wont
to do at the Chapter Meetings" many of the Brothers thought,
and as they again burst forth in sobs, he wearily closed his
eyes.^
The end was not yet — six months were to pass before
Francis in earnest could bid "Sister Death" welcome. For
the present he had enough to do with "Sister Sickness." ^ By
Brother Elias' arrangement he was transported to Celle near
Cortona; here a dropsy was added to his troubles so that his
underbody, legs and feet swelled up. The stomach could
retain no more food; then came severe pains in spleen and
liver. 3 Francis had only the one wish, to see Assisi again
before he died, and in this Elias compHed with his desire. For
fear that the inhabitants of Perugia should by an actual attack
get possession of the sick man (and thereby of the true saint
all saw in Francis), Ehas transported home by a circuitous
route the body of his master, that already in full life was a
rehc to be striven for. By Gubbio and Nocera they approached
the place, not far from Bagni di Nocera, where now the con-
vent of VEremita stands; here they were joined by a body of
armed men sent from Assisi to meet them and to guard them
for the rest of the way. At midday of the same day they
entered the territory of Assisi and stopped in the village of
Satriano (now a lonesome village below Sasso Rosso, very
^ Spec, perf., c. 87. Compare Celano, Vita prima, II, c. VII, n. 105.
2Cel., Vita sec. II, c. 161 (d'Al.). Bonav., XIV, 2.
' Cel., V. prima, I.e. Spec, p. 183 (ed. Sab.).
22
322 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
near to Babbiano). Francis was here received as a guest
in a private house; the soldiers meanwhile wished to go into
the village and buy food for themselves. No one would sell
them anything, and sullen and hungry they returned. "Yes,
this is what you get, when you depend upon your useless
money (muscae, lit., flies). But try now and go from door to
door and beg for a httle in God's name, and you will see
that you will get what you need!" This proved to be true.^
Towards evening the procession entered Assisi. The
invahd was brought to the Bishop's residence, and a watch
was set around the house to prevent all attempts of the
Perugians upon the saint of Assisi.
If the churchly and civil authorities of Assisi were thus
united when it came to the question of securing Francis'
person, there were other topics where there was no such
unity of sentiment. The first knowledge Francis acquired
of the home relations was, that the podestå and Bishop were
in open strife, and that the Bishop had placed the ban upon
the podestå, and the podestå in return had forbidden all
citizens to have anything to do with the Bishop. *'It is a
great shame for us, God's servants," said Francis to his
Brothers, "that no one makes peace here!" And to do what
he could he composed two new verses for his Sun Song, and
then sent a messenger to the podestå to come to the Bishop's
residence, and one to the Bishop to meet him. The summoned
ones came and gathered together on the Piazza del Vescovado
— the same place where, nineteen years before, Francis had
given back his clothes to his father. And when all were there,
two Friars Minor stepped out and sang the first Sun Song, as
Francis had originally written it, and then the new verses:
Laudato si, Misignore, per quelli ke pcrdonano per lo tuo amore
et sostengo infirmitate et tribulatione,
beati quelli kel sosterrano in pace,
ka da te, Altissimo, sirano incoronati.
" Praised be thou, O Lord, for those who give pardon for thy love
and endure infirmity and tribulation,
blessed those, who endure in peace,
who will be, Most High, crowned by thee!"
^ Spec, perf., c. 22. Cel., V. sec, II, c. 47 (d'Al.).
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 323
Whilst the two Brothers sang, all stood with folded hands,
as if the Gospel was being read in church. But when the
song was ended, and the last Laudato si Misignore had ceased
to be heard, the podestå made a step forward, cast himself
down before Bishop Guido and said: "Out of love to our Lord
Jesus Christ and to his servant Francis I forgive you from my
heart and am ready to do your will, as it may seem good to
you!"
But the Bishop leaned over and drew up his enemy, embraced
him and kissed him and said: "On account of my office I
should be humble and peaceful. But I am by nature inclined
to anger, and thou must therefore be indulgent with me."
But the Brothers went in and told Francis of the victory he
had won over the evil spirits of dissension with his song.^
By this time the invalid could not but realize that he had
but little time left. One day he asked the physician who
attended him, a native of Aretino named Bongiovanni, for
the exact truth.^ "With God's help things can go much
better," was the evasive answer. "Tell me the truth, Bem-
hegfiato!" said Francis, who used to call the physician by this
name, because the use of his real name "Good John" seemed
to him in conflict with the words of the gospel, that "One
is good, God" (Matthew, xix. 17). On similar grounds
Francis would call no one master, so as not to be in conflict
with the citation in Matthew, xxiii. 10.
When the physician realized that it was the truth that had
to be told to Francis, he answered without reservation: "I
consider that thou still canst live till the last of September or
the beginning of October!" Francis was silent for a moment
— then he stretched his hands upward and cried out, "Then
be welcome. Sister Death!" And as if by these words he had
opened up again the fount of poetry in his soul, he added to
his Sun Song these last verses:
Laudato si, Misignore, per sora nostra morte corporate,
da la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare.
Guai acquelli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali.
Beati quelli ke trovarane le tue sanctissime voluntati,
ka la morte secunda nol farra male.
^ Spec, perf., cap. loi.
2 Concerning this physician see Bournet, I.e., p. 125, n. 2.
324 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"Praised he thou, O Lord, for our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed those who have discovered thy most holy will,
for to them the second death can do no harm!"^
From this moment Francis wanted Brother Angelo and
Brother Leo to be always with him, in order to sing to him
about Sister Death, when he would desire it. And now it
was in vain that Brother Elias came and warned him not to
give scandal by the constant singing — "there is a watch
set below, and they do not think that thou art a holy man,
when they hear singing and playing always in thy cell!"
Francis had now for a long enough period submitted and
yielded; now when he was about to die, he wanted at least
to have leave to die in his own way. "By the grace of the
Holy Ghost," said he, "I am so completely united with my
Lord and God, that I may well be allowed to be glad and
rejoice in him!"^
But it was not only a time for singing — it was also time for
Francis to put his house in order. In the last weeks his
thoughts flew constantly to two places — to the faithful
Brothers in La Verna and in Rieti, at Portiuncula and Carceri,
and to Clara and her Sisters in San Damiano.
The road from the episcopal residence in Assisi down to
San Damiano is not long, yet Francis had trod it for the last
time. It was in vain that Clara sent messengers to him and
told him to come, so that she could bid him farewell — it was
no longer possible. He had to be satisfied to send her his last
blessing in writing. "Say to Sister Clara," he said to the
Brethren who were to go with the letter, "that I absolve her
for every transgression of the commands of the Son of God or
of mine, which she may have been guilty of, and that she now
must put aside all care and tribulation, for now she cannot
get to see me, but before she dies, both she and her Sisters
shall see me and have great comfort therefrom." ^ Probably
Francis had himself arranged that his body — as it did
^ Spec, perf., capp. 122-123. Compare Cel., Vila sec, II, c. 163 (d'Al.).
'Spec, perf., cap. 121. Acttis, c. 18.
' Spec, perf., c. 108, c. 90.
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 325
happen — was to be taken up to San Damiano after his
death.
All that remained was to leave a word of farewell to the
Brethren. And this the Testament did — that remarkable
document in which Francis from his death-bed looks back
over his hfe, with melancholy and joy dwelling on the first
hours of his conversion's dawn, while he also thought with
sadness of what the coming years were to bring his faithful
disciples. Once again he collects here in short, impressive
sentences all the admonitions from the General Chapters and
from letters.
"The Lord thus gave to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do
penance, because when I was in sin it appeared too bitter to
me to see lepers; and the Lord himself led me among them,
and gave me pity for them. And leaving them, that which
seemed to me bitter was changed for me into sweetness of
soul and body. And afterwards I remained a little and left
the world. And the Lord gave me such faith in churches
that I would simply pray and say: ' We adore thee. Lord
Jesus Christ, here and in all thy churches, that are in the
whole world, and we bless thee, because by thy holy Cross
thou hast redeemed the world.'
"Afterwards the Lord gave me and gives me still such faith
in priests who live by the form of the holy Roman Church on
account of their holy orders, that, if they should do persecution
upon me, I would wish to have recourse to them. And if
I would have as much wisdom as Solomon had, and would
find the very poor priests of this world, I would not wish
to preach without their desire in the parishes in which they
live. And I wish to fear, love and honor these same and all
others as my lords; and I wish to see in them no sin, because
I see the Son of God in them, and they are my lords. And I
do it for this, because I see nothing bodily in this world of the
very highest Son of God except his most holy body and
blood which they receive and they alone administer to others.
And these most holy mysteries I wish above all things to
honor, to venerate and to be placed in precious places. The
most holy names and his written words, wherever I may
have found them in improper places, I wish to gather, and I
326 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
ask that tlicy be collected and be placed in a becoming place.
And all theologians and those who minister the most holy
divine words we ought to honor and venerate as those who
minister to us spirit and life.
" And after the Lord gave me some Brothers, no one showed
me what I ought to do; but the IMost High himself revealed
to me that I should live according to the form of the holy
gospel. And I had it written in a few words and simply;
and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me. And those who came
to receive this life gave all they had to the poor, and were
content with one tunic, patched inside and out, if they wished
it, with a girdle and breeches. And we were unwilling to
have more.
" We clerics said the OfBce like other clerics, the laymen said
the Pater noster; and we remained wiUingly enough in the
churches. And we were simple and subject to all. And I
worked with my hands and wish to work; and all the other
Brothers I strongly wish that they may work at labor which
is of honest nature. And when the price of our labor is not
given to us, we return to the table of the Lord in seeking alms
from door to door.
" The Lord revealed to me a salutation, that we should say:
'The Lord give thee peace.' Let the Brothers beware, that
they do not accept on any account churches, poor habitations
and all other things which are built for them, unless they are
such as suits holy Poverty, which we have promised in the
Rule, always living here as strangers and pilgrims.
" I make it a firm precept of obedience for all the Brothers,
that wherever they are they do not dare to seek for any
letter from the Roman Curia by themselves or by a substi-
tuted person, neither for a church nor for another place, nor
under the guise of preaching, nor for the persecution of their
bodies, but, wherever they may not have been received, let
them fly into another land to do penance with the blessing
of God. And I wish firmly to obey the General Minister of
this Brotherhood and the other guardian, whom it may please
him to give me. And thus I wish to be a captive in his
hands, that I may not go a step or act outside of obedience
and his wish, because he is my lord. And although I may
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 327
be simple and weak, nevertheless I wish to have a cleric who
will perform the Ofi&ce for me as it is contained in the Rule.
"And let all the other Brothers be obliged thus to obey
their guardians and to do the Office according to the Rule.
And those who may have been foimd, who did not do the
Office according to the Rule, and wish to vary in other ways,
or are not Catholics, let all Brothers, wherever they are, be
obliged by obedience, that, whenever they will have found
any of these, they should declare to the nearer guardian of
that place, where they may have found him.^ And the
guardian is firmly obliged by obedience to guard him strictly
like a man in bonds by day and by night, so that he cannot
be taken out of his hands until he shall in his own person
place him in the hands of his own minister. And the min-
ister is firmly obliged by obedience to send him by such
Brothers who will guard him day and night like a man in
bonds, until they present him to the lord of Ostia, who is the
lord, protector, and corrector of the whole Brotherhood.
"And let not the Brothers say: 'This is another Rule;' for
this is a remembrance, an admonition and an exhortation, and
my Testament, which I, Brother httle Francis, make for you
my blessed Brothers for this, that we may observe in a more
catholic way the Rule which God has put before us. And the
General Minister and all other ministers and custodes, let them
be held by obedience not to add or diminish anything in
these words. And let them always have this writing along
with them together with the Rule. And at all Chapters they
hold, when they read the Rule, let them read these words.
And I make it a firm precept of obedience for all my clerical
and lay Brothers, that they do not apply glosses to the Rule
nor to these words by saying, 'They ought to be understood
thus' ; but as the Lord gave it to me to tell and write the Rule
and these words purely and simply, so are you to understand
simply and purely and observe unto the end with holy opera-
tion.
^ "proximiori custodi illius loci, ubi ipsum invenerint, debeant representare."
The affair is so important, that the Brothers shall not keep within the limits of
the custodian, but seek the nearest custodian, whether the convent is in his
jurisdiction or not.
328 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
"And whoever will have observed these things may be filled
with the blessing of the most high Father in Heaven, and on
earth be filled with the blessing of his beloved Son with the
most Holy Ghost the Paraclete and with all virtues of the
heavens and all the saints. And I, Brother Francis, your
little one and servant, as far as I can, confirm to you within
and without this most holy blessing. Amen.^ "
Francis had now taken care of the future as well as he
could. In the Middle Ages even a Papal bull was not always
certain of obedience, and Francis perhaps had not any great
confidence in the obedience which the Brethren would give
to his last will. But his conscience was quiet — he could
do no more.
With a touching charity he continued to love his Brethren
to the last. Like all sick people, Francis lying prostrate now
had one desire and now another. Once he could hardly eat
anything; "but if I had a httle fish," said he, "I believe I
could get it down." Another time he had the desire in the
middle of the night for some leaves of parsley; he thought
that would do him good. It was only unwillingly that the
Brother in charge went to do what seemed to him useless
work, plucking parsley in pitch darkness.- jMore than once
Francis must have seen a cloud of impatience on the Brother's
countenance, and eventually as he lay there he formed scruples
in the matter. "Perhaps I He here," he thought, "and am
the cause of my Brother sinning by anger. It might be,
that if they did not have me to look after they could pray
much more and live in a more regular way." Accordingly
one day he called the Brethren to his bed and bade them
not to be weary of all the inconvenience he occasioned them;
it was not he alone in his person whom all this trouble con-
cerned, but in and with him it related to all the Order. "And
when you are weary of me, keep always before your eyes
that the Lord will reward you for all that you do for me." ^
To occasion the Brothers less trouble Francis finally decided
^Opusaila (Quaracchi), pp. 77-82. "Aualckten" (Bohmcr), pp. 36-40.
Speculum pcrfcclionis (Sabaticr), pp. 309-313.
2 The fish, Spec, per/., c. m. The parsley, Ccl., V. sec, II, c. 22 (d'Al.).
' Spec, perf., c. 89.
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 329
to have himself carried down to Portiuncula. Bishop Guido
was away — gone on a pilgrimage to Monte Gargona, perhaps
as a penance for his strife with the podestå. ^ And the citizens
in Assisi did not oppose the move, but merely let the guard
accompany the party to Portiuncula.^
Accompanied by a great crowd of men the Brothers carried
the sick man out of the city. From the episcopal residence
the party went through la Portaccia, a principal gate now
walled up, between Porta Mojano and Porta S. Pietro. By a
road which here follows the city wall, S. Salvatore delle Pareti
is reached, the leper hospital about half-way between Assisi
and Portiuncula (now Casa Gualdi). As this place so memor-
able in the story of Francis' conversion was approached, the
invalid asked to have the litter set down. *'And so turn me
with my face to Assisi," he said.
There was a moment of deep silence, whilst the sick man
with the assistance of his Brethren was raised up. Above on
the mountain side lay the city wall of Assisi and its gates and
row after row of houses, surrounding the towers of San Rufino
and Santa Maria della Minerva. Over the city, just as to-day,
the bare cliff of Sasso Rosso hung with the German tower on
top. Further away Monte Subasio was blue in the distance,
where Carceri lay, and at whose feet San Damiano hid itself.
And between Francis and the city was the great plain where,
when young, he had taken his lonely rides and dreamt of
doing great things. From this land and this city he had set
forth, to this land and this city he was going back to die.
With his half-blind eyes Francis stared for a long time at
the town, over the mountains, over the plain. Then he
slowly hfted his hands and made the sign of the Cross over
Assisi. "Blessed be thou of the Lord," he cried, "for he has
chosen thee to be a home and an abode for all those who in
truth will glorify him and give honor to his name!"^ Then
he dropped back upon the litter, and the Brothers carried him
on to Portiuncula.
^ Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 166 (d'Al.)- The Bishop was on his way home when
Francis died.
^ This follows from Celano's Tractatus dc miraculis, IV, n. 32: "Custodes
civitatis, qui sollicitis vigiliis custodiebant locum."
^ Actus, c. 18. Spec, perf., c. 124.
330 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
The invalid was taken into a hut which was a few paces
behind Portiuncula chapel. Here it was that he had the
comfort of receiving a visit from "Brother Jacoba," Jacopa de
Settesoli. Just as she arrived Francis was going to dictate
a letter to her asking her to come. The rumor of the master's
incurable sickness had reached Rome, and Lady Jacopa
brought with her the cowl she had woven for him, and which
was to be his shroud, together with wax candles and incense
for the solemnities of the interment. No woman was allowed
to enter Portiuncula, but an exception was made for "Brother
Jacoba." With tears she fell upon the bed of the beloved
master — "like Magdalen at the feet of Jesus," the Brothers
whispered to each other. The visit enlivened Francis, and
to please him still more Jacopa prepared his Roman dainty,
of which he in his sickness had often spoken and wanted to
have. Not only did Francis eat of it, but Brother Bernard of
Quintavalle was called in to also get a portion of the unusual
luxury.^
Jacopa de Settesoli's visit fell in the last week that Francis
lived.2 The Thursday following, which was the first of October,
he collected the Brothers about him and blessed each one of
them. With special love he placed his hand on the head of
Bernard of Quintavalle. "Write," said he to Brother Leo,
"that I, as well as I am able, wish and command that all
Brothers in the whole Order shall honor Bernard, as if it
were myself, for he was the first who came to me and gave his
goods to the poor." ^
Francis then gave a last sermon of admonition to the
Brothers, pressed it upon them above all to be faithful to
poverty, and — as a symbol thereof — to be true to poor
little Portiuncula. "If they drive you out of one door, then
» Spec, per/., cc. 112, 107. Actus, c. 18. Cel., Trac. de mirac, VI, nn. 37-38.
Bernard a Bessa in Anal. Franc, III, p. 1687. Compare Vila Bernardi, ditto,
p. 42, where Bernard is brought down from Assisi on this occasion.
"^Spcc. perf. (Sab.), P- 223.
^Spec. pcrf., cc. 112, 107. Acliis, c. s (Fiorctli, c. 6), where Brother Elias
is blessed by Francis with the left hand only, while Bernard is blessed with the
right and is also made General of the Order. Compare Vita Bernardi in Anal.
Franc, III, p. 42. In Celano, Vita prima (II, c. VII, n. 108) Elias only receives
the blessing; in Vita sec, II, c. 162, Francis blesses all, incipiens a vicario suo.
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 331
go in the other," said he, ''for here is God's house and the
gate of Heaven!" He blessed finally with the whole of his
overflowing heart, not only the absent Brethren but also all
Brothers who should ever enter the Order — ''I bless them,"
said he, "as much as I can — and more than I can.'' Francis
perhaps never said anything which better expresses the whole
of his innermost nature, than this pliisquam possum. The
spirit which actuated him had never rested before it had
done more than it could. And now at the end it gave him
no rest. After he had blessed his disciples he had himself
completely undressed and placed on the bare earth in the hut.
Lying there he took from the guardian as a last alms the cowl,
in which he was to die, and as this did not seem poor enough,
he had a rag sewed to it. In the same way he received a pair
of breeches, a rope, with a hat he wore to hide the scars which
always showed on his temples. Thus he had held his faith
with Lady Poverty to the last and could die without owning
more upon this earth than he had owned when he came
into it.^
Exhausted, Francis fell into a sleep, but early on Friday
morning he awaked with great pains. The Brothers were
constantly gathered about him, and Francis' love to them
constantly sought some new outlet. Thinking it was still
Thursday, the day on which the Lord held the Last Supper
with his disciples, he had them bring a loaf of bread, he
blessed it, broke it, and gave them all bits of it. "And bring
me the Holy Scripture and read the Gospel of Maundy
Thursday to me!" said he. "To-day is not Thursday," one
told him. "I thought it was still Thursday!" he answered.
The book was brought, and as the day dawned the words of
the Holy Scriptures were read over Francis' death-bed — the
words in which were summarized all his hfe and learning:
*' Before the festival-day of the pasch, Jesus knowing that
his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to
the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he
loved them unto the end. And when supper was done, (the
devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son
^ Cel., Vita prima, II, c. VII, nn. 106, loS; c. VIII, n. 109. V. sec, II,
c. 162, nn. 214-215. Spec, perf., pp. 222 and ^;i. Bonav., XIV, nn. 3-4.
332 SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI
of Simon, to betray him,) knowing that the Father had given
him all things into his hands, and that he came from God,
and goeth to God: He riseth from supper, and layeth aside
his garments, and having taken a towel girded himself.
After that he putteth water into a basin, and began to wash
the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel
wherewith he was girded. He cometh, therefore, to Simon
Peter, and Peter saith to him: Lord, dost thou wash my
feet? Jesus answered and said to him: What I do, thou
knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter
saith to him: Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus
answered him: If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part
with me. Simon Peter saith to him: Lord, not only my
feet, but also my hands, and my head. Jesus saith to him:
He that is washed, needeth not but to wash his feet, but is
cleaned wholly. And you are clean, but not all. For he
knew who he was that would betray him; therefore he said:
You are not all clean. Then after he had washed their feet,
and taken his garments, being sat down again, he said to
them: Know you what I have done to you? You call me
Master, and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. If then I,
being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you
also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you
an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also." ^
During the days Francis still lived, none of the Brothers
left his bed-side. Again and again Angelo and Leo had to
sing the Sun Song to him — again and again did the sick one
say the last words: "Praised be thou, O Lord, for Sister
Death!" Again he asked his guardian to have his clothes
removed, when the last hour would come, and received per-
mission to expire lying naked on the earth.
Friday passed and Saturday came (October 3, 1226). The
physician came, and Francis greeted him with the question
of when the portals to the everlasting life should be opened
to him. He required of the Brothers that they should strew
ashes over him — "soon I will be nothing but dust and ashes."
Towards evening he began to sing with unusual strength.
It was no more the Sun Song, but the 141st Psalm of David,
1 St. John xiii. 1-15. Spec, per/., ca.p. SS. Cel., Vila sec, II, c. 163 (dWI.)
FRANCIS LAST TESTAMENT 333
the one which in the Vulgate begins : Voce rnea ad Dominum
clamavi. As the October evening fell rapidly, and it grew
dark in the little hut in the Portiuncula woods, Francis
prayed in the deep stillness, among the disciples listening
breathlessly:
"I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made
supplication to the Lord.
"In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare
my trouble:
"When my spirit failed me, then thou knewest my paths.
"In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare
for me.
"I looked on my right hand, and beheld: and there was no
one that would know me.
" Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath regard
to my soul.
"I cried to thee, O Lord; I said: Thou art my hope, my
portion in the land of the hving.
"Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
"Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger
than I.
"Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name:
the just wait for me, until thou reward me."
While Francis prayed it was quite dark in the little cell.
And as his voice ceased all was still as death — a stillness
which this voice was never more to break. Francis of Assisi
had closed his lips for ever; he went into eternity singing.^
But as a last greeting to the departed singer of God at this
moment, over and around the house there was a loud and
sudden twittering — it was Francis' good friends the larks
who said their last farewell. -
1 "mortem cantando suscepit." Cel., Vita sec, II, c. 162 (d'Al.).
2 Spec, pcrf., c. 113. Cel., Trac. de miraculis, IV, n. 32.
CHAPTER VIII
THE END
THE first who was admitted to see Francis' body was
Jacopa. Weeping she fell upon the master's lifeless
body and with burning tears flowing, kissed over and
over again the wounds in the feet and hands of the
dead saint. Together with the Brothers she watched through
the night by the master's bier, and when Sunday morning
dawned her resolve was taken — she would not leave Assisi,
but would spend the rest of her life in the places where
Francis had walked and worked. Like San Damiano her
house in Assisi became a meeting place for the faithful disci-
ples, and many alms went through her hands, to Brother Leo,
Brother Giles or Brother Rufino. It is certainly more than
a suspicion, when Sabatier says that she closed Brother Leo's
eyes; he died full of years about 1274. She lies buried in the
Franciscan church in Assisi; a fresco shows her in the habit
of a tertiary and with the cowl woven for Francis over her arm;
the inscription reads: Hie reqidescit Jacoha sancta nohilisque
Romana, "Here Jacoba rests, a holy and noble Roman. "^
Early Sunday morning the people came from all sides to
give the dead saint his first homage. The rumor of Francis'
stigmata flew from mouth to mouth, and the influx of those
wishing to see them was beyond computation. The clergy
came in solemn procession down from Assisi to take the
remains, and with olive boughs and Hghted candles in their
hands, with sound of trumpet and hymns of jubilee, the line
reached up to the city. To fulfil the promise Francis had
' Trad, de mirac, VI, n. 39. See also E. d'Alengon:. Frére Jacqueline (Paris,
1899, with reproduction of the fresco), and Sabatier in Spec, per/., p. 85,
and pp. 273-277. For Jacoba and Brother Giles see Anal. Franc, III, p. 102,
Actus, c. 44.
334
THE END 335
made Clara, the road by San Damiano was taken, and with
bitter grief and lamentation the Sisters here said their last
farewell to their beloved guide and teacher.^ Then the pro-
cession went to the church of San Giorgio, to the place where
now is the church of Santa Chiara, and there the Hfeless
body of St. Francis was temporarily laid, until on May 25,
1230, it was removed to the beautiful church of St. Francis
built by Brother Elias.
None of the old chroniclers tell us where Jacopa de Settesoli
remained during this funeral procession. It is quite improb-
able that she as a woman followed in the procession of clericals,
brothers and soldiers. We may believe that she stayed
behind in Portiuncula. When the great procession with all
its splendor and chantings had disappeared among the trees,
she may have again stepped within the hut where Francis
lived and breathed twenty-four years before. And the grue-
some emptiness overcame her — the emptiness which every
death leaves behind it, and how much more such a death!
Only now could she fully realize what she had lost, and
kneehng in the Kttle Portiuncula chapel that was so dark and
desolate to her, she thought with weeping of him whose body
they had borne in triumph to Assisi, but who never again
would call her "Brother Jacoba."
^See page 137.
APPENDIX
AUTHORITIES FOR THE LIFE OF SAINT FRANCIS
OF ASSISI
23
AUTHORITIES FOR THE LIFE OF SAINT FRANCIS
OF ASSISI
IN recent times there have been few sources of more vivid
discussion in the learned world than the question of the
true value of the authorities for the life of St. Francis of
Assisi.
This discussion was aroused by the appearance in 1894 of
Sabatier's Vie de S. Franqois d' Assise and by his edition in 1898
of the work Speculum perfectionis with the bold sub-title, "The
oldest legend of St. Francis, written by Brother Leo and now
published for the first time." Without going too close to the
limits of veracity one can say that the celebrated Frenchman
had to give up nearly all the theories which he undertook to
uphold in this work. But his errors have proved to be very
fruitful, as they have led to new researches, and if one inquires
who it is who above all others in most recent times has found
new grounds for Franciscan researches, it is the name of Paul
Sabatier that first and foremost will form itself upon the lips.
Even a Columbus based his discoveries upon false theories, and
if it should be the last result of the new movement in Franciscan
studies, inspired by Sabatier, that the old modes of thought should
be intrinsically fortified hereafter, tested as they have been by a
sharp critic, they will be only stronger for the test.
In the following pages I shall seek to unravel the difiicult ques-
tion with which we are here concerned, while I pay strict regard
to all the researches hitherto carried on by Sabatier and his school
or by their opponents.
As the first and most authoritative source for the life of Francis
of Assisi we may name
339
340 AUTHORITIES
I — HIS WRITINGS
Brother Francis was not only a preacher, but he also im-
pressed the written word into his service. We have from his
hand, besides the two or three Rules of the Order {Tres Socii, IX,
35), Admonitions, Letters, Psalms of Praise, and Prayers, nearly
all in Latin. We know the names of several people with whom he
corresponded: St. Clara, Sisters of her Order, Cardinal Hugolin,
who afterwards was Pope under the name Gregory IX, Brother
Elias of Cortona and St. Anthony of Padua. ^ We know also the
name of his secretary; it was Brother Leo. Legend presents him
in the eighteenth chapter of the Fiorctti wandering with Francis on
the road from Perugia to Santa Maria degh Angeli, and step by
step Francis called out to him and ordered him to write what he
was now saying — ''Mark that accurately, Brother Leo, and write
that down." This is what Brother Leo constantly did, and he thus
became not only the secretary of Francis of Assisi, but also his
biographer and one of the principal sources of our knowledge of
the Umbrian founder of the Order.
The writings of Francis, whether they were in manuscript or
put down with the pen of Brother Leo, whether they were, like
most, in Latin or, like some, in Italian, are not all in existence.
Thus the Florentine chronicler Mariano (d. 1527) speaks of "some
Praise Songs in Italian to the Sisters of St. Clara"; we have
them no more.^ To make up for this and other losses the Irish
Minorite, Luke Wadding, in his well-known edition of the works
of St. Francis (Antwerp, 1623), injected a quantity of "Sayings,
Conversations, W'itticisms, Comparisons and Examples" which
various legends had placed in the mouth of St. Francis, and which
he now without further research brought forward in direct form
as "Words of St. Francis." Down to the most recent time this
principle has been more or less followed; the year 1904 first pro-
duced a real critical edition, due to the Franciscans in Quaracchi.
1 Acta Sanctorum, Aug. II, p. 767. Seraphicac Lcgislationis Tcxtus originales
(Quaracchi, 1897), pp. 63, 276. Thomas of Celano, Vita prima, II, 5, Vila
secunda, III, 99. Tres Socii, XVI, 67. Speculum perfectiouis, Sabatier's ed.,
cap. 108, Lemmens' edition, cap. 18.
^Opuscula S. P. Fraftcisci Assisiettsis (Quaracchi, 1904), P- IX, n. i. In
the Speculum perfectionis (Sabatier's ed., Paris, 1898), cap. 70, are given "quæ-
dam sancta verba cum cantu," which Francis wrote "pro consolatione et ædi-
ficatione pauperum dominarum"; compare the same work, p. 291, for the
researches which were organized to find them, and Sabatier: Vie de S. Francois
(1894), p. 377; see also the Testament of St. Clara (Acta SS., Aug. II, p. 747)-
HIS WRITINGS 341
In this new edition, Opuscula Saudi Pair is Francisci Assisien-
sis (Ad Claras Aquas, 1904, xvi and 209 pp.), are found only the
works which the writers are justified in accepting. The prin-
cipal source is a manuscript of the fourteenth century (MS.
No. 338 in Assisi, described by Ehrle in Archiv fiir Litteratur und
Kirchen-Geschichte des Mittelalters, Vol. I, pp. 484-485).^
The severity of the criticism to which all was subjected is shown
by the fact that while Wadding in his collection had seventeen
letters of St. Francis, the Quaracchi edition gives only six. Also
the Rule of the Order of the Poor Clares and the Rule of the
Third Order of St. Francis, which were formerly ascribed to St.
Francis, are attributed to him no longer.
While I abandon the sequence in which the editors have arranged
the authentic writings of St. Francis still in existence, I have
divided them into poetic and prose works, and take up in the first
group what I would call Francis of Assisi's
Religious Poems
Francis was by nature of a joyful spirit.
Thomas of Celano, speaking of the time before his conversion,
says that Francis and his friends disturbed the citizens of Assisi
at night with "drunken songs" -; the Tres Socii say that he was
"addicted to joke and song." This delight in song did not leave
him after his conversion. After having abandoned his paternal
inheritance he wandered through the woods "singing the praise
of the Lord"; as he begged the sons of his city in the market-
place of Assisi for stones to restore the church of San Damiano he
did it singing; he went out with Brother Giles on his first mission
trip with song. It was song that comforted him during his many
long sicknesses, and he received the approach of death singing —
mortem cantando suscepit, as Thomas of Celano wrote. ^
His reUgious feeHngs broke forth easily. Often in his prose
writings it is to be remarked how inspiration will suddenly seize
the writer, and in the middle of a Rule of the Order one is aston-
^ See also Sabatier: Vie de S. Franqois, pp. 39-41 and p. 370, n. i, where
the manuscripts in question are given to about 1240, W. Gotz in Brieger's
"Zeitschrift tur Kirchengeschichte," vol. XXII, p. 373, note 2, as well as Faloci
in Miscellanea Francescana, VI, p. 45. The Quaracchi edition contains only
the Latin works and therefore does not include the Sun Song.
^ Cel., V. sec, I, 3; Tres Socii, n. 2.
' Cel., V. pr., I, 7; Tres Socii, nn. 21, S3- Cel.,'F. sec, III, 66, 138. Cel.,
V. pr., I, 8. Cel., V. sec. III, 139.
342 AUTHORITIES
ished to find a Song of Praise to the Almighty, a laud, as the
technical expression eventually became. In the first of the Rules
of the Order, preserved to us in Chap. XXI, Francis himself pro-
duces such a laud for the Brothers to sing, when and how they
wished, and which began thus:
Timete et honorate,
laudete et benedicite,
gratias agile et adorate
Dominum Dcum omnipotentem in trinitate et unitate. . . .
Another more complete laud is preserved for us in the last
chapter of the same Rule,^ and as independent poetical works we
have from the hand of St. Francis of Assisi no less than four Praise
Songs — three in Latin and one in Italian. The Italian is the
celebrated Sun Song, the Latin ones are entitled Laudes Domini,
Laudcs de virtutibus and Laudes Dei.
I. The Sun Song or Song about Creatures {Canlico di /rate sole,
laude delle creature).
That this, the first-born work of the Italian school of poetry, is
not a translation of a Latin text, but was really written by St.
Francis in his mother tongue, is now proved by the old description
of St. Francis' wanderings and doings in Rieti {Libellus actiiiim b.
Patris Francisci tempore quo fuit in civitate Reate et comitatu ejus-
dem). This work seems to belong to the end of the fourteenth
century; a copy of the one which is in the great convent library
in Assisi is dated 1416. In it it is said explicitly that Francis
" had written this Praise Song in the language of the country. . . .
And because our Holy Father has composed it I have not ventured
to change it." ^ The work Speculum perfcctionis, which belongs
to about the year 1300, contains the Sun Song in Chapter 120, the
^ The 17th chapter also has a species of Lauds; they specially resemble the
Laiides Dei named below.
In Chronica XXIV gcneralium it is told — which also belongs here — that
Brother Rufmo on Mt. Alverna more solilo, "in his usual manner," gave
Francis the greeting: Laus et benedictio sit Domi>io Deo nostra {Anal. Fran-
ciscana, III, p. 48).
Chap. XXI of the First Rule of the Order is to be found written side by side
with the Sun Song, in a manuscript in S. Isidoro in Rome dating from the four-
teenth century with the special endorsement De laude et exhortatione, quant
possunt omnes fratres facere. (Doc. antiq. Franc., Lemmens' ed., III, Quaracchi,
1902, p. 62.)
* MS. 679 in Assisi, is given in Marcellino da Civczza's and Teofilo Domeni-
chclli's edition of the Lcgenda Irium sociorum, Rome, 1899, pp. 208.
HIS WRITINGS 343
occasion of its composition is told in Chapter loo, and in Chapters
loi and 123 the reasons are given why it was afterward increased
with some few strophes. Thomas of Celano knows Francis of
Assisi's "song about creatures" and knows that he wrote it on his
sick-bed.^
That the remaining Italian poems, which have long been ascribed
to St. Francis (In Joco amor mi mise and Amor di caritade) were
not by him, but by Jacopone da Todi, was known to Pater Ireneo
Affo a hundred years before the modern north European phi-
lologers knew it.^
2. Laudes Domini, "the praises of the Lord," a laud which
consists (a) in a paraphrase of the Paternoster, (b) of a sort of
part-song, made up in parts from the Apocalypse, from the Book
of Daniel and from the literature of the Church. (Te Deum.)
It is apparently this laud that Francis refers to w'hen he, as
Eccleston tells us, in a letter to the Brothers in France exhorted
them to sing with jubilee the praises of the Divine Trinity with
the words: "Let us praise the Father and the Son with the Holy
Ghost." ^ In the Speculum perfedionis (cap. 82, ed. Sabatier) it
is told that the Brothers in Portiuncula, as a punishment for
having spoken superfluous words, had to recite the prayer "Our
Father" with "The praises of the Lord," and in the same place it
is said that Francis himself was very fond of reciting this prayer
and always strenuously recommended it to the other Brothers.
The rubric in the Assisi Manuscript No. 338 agrees with this.
We are there told that Francis prescribed these Laudes Domini
^ Vita seciinda, III, 138: "Laudes de creaturis tunc quasdam composuit et
eas utcumque ad Creatorem laudandum accendit." Ill, 139: "Invitabat
omnes creaturas ad laudem Dei, et per verba quaedam, quae olim composuerat
ipse eas ad divinum hortabatur amorem."
^ Affo: In canlici di S. Francesco, Guastalla, 1777. In more recent times the
Sim Song was studied by Bohmer ("Romanische Studien," Halle, 1871, H. I,
p. 120), by Ozanam {Les poétes franciscains, 1882, p. 87 and p. 361), by Sabatier
{Vie de S. Fratiqois, pp. 349-353, Speculum perfedionis, pp. 277-283 and p.
198, n. i), by Faloci-Pulignani {Miscellanea Francescana, II, 190, HI, 3-6, IV,
87-88, VII, fasc. I). Delia Giovanna has (in Giortmle storico di leiteratura
italiana, vol. XXV, vol. XXIX, vol. XXXIII) questioned the authenticity
of the Sun Song. On the other side, Misc. Franc, VI, 43-50, and Analecla
Bollandiana, XIV, p. 227. Gotz (Briegers Zeitschrift, vol. XXII, pp. 561-563)
regards the Sun Song "provisionally" as genuine.
Editions of the text of the Sun Song: Papini : Storia di S. Francesco, II, Foligno,
1827, p. 144; Cristofani: Storia di S. Damiano, Assisi, 1883; Faloci: Misc.
Franc, III, 3-6 (five variations): Sabatier: Speculum perfectionis, Paris, 1898,
pp. 284-289 (four variations).
^Analecla Franciscana, I, p. 232.
344 AUTHORITIES
"for all Canonical hours of the day or night and for the Hours of
the Blessed Virgin Mary." ^
As a sort of continuation of these lauds there usually appears
a Creeling to the Blessed V^irgin, which is given in the Quaracchi
edition, p. 123. These must not be confused with:
3. Laiides de virtutihus or Salutatio vir hit um (Quar. ed., pp.
20-21), whose authenticity is testified to by Thomas of Celano, who
{Vita secunda, III, 119) tells us that Francis 'Tn the Laud he com-
posed concerning virtues speaks thus, 'Hail to thee, Queen Wis-
dom, God salutes thee, and thy Sister, the pure holy Simplicity.'"
But this is a literal quotation from Laudes de virtutibus, which,
with its invocations of the "Holy Lady Poverty," of "Lady
Charity," "Sister Humility," and "Sister Obedience," bears so
strong and genuine an imprint of Francis.
4. Laudes Dei. These lauds have a particular status because
the original manuscript of one of them holds a place as one of
the few autographs of St. Francis which have been preserved up
to the present time.^ It is written on the back of another auto-
graph, namely. Blessing to Brother Leo, and the two autograph
pieces are best treated in connection with each other.
According to Thomas of Celano {Vita secunda, II, 18; compare
Bonav., Legenda major, cap. XI, n. 9) it came to pass in the year
1224 that Brother Leo, while he was on Mt. Alvema together with
St. Francis, fell into a great but purely spiritual temptation.
"And he desired inwardly to have a reminder of the word of the
Lord written by the hand of St. Francis. . . . And one day St.
Francis addresses him and says: 'Bring me paper and ink, for I
want to write down the Word of God and his Praise which I have
preserved in my heart.' At once there is brought to him what
he asks for, and with his own hand he writes the praises of God
{laudes Dei), together with the Word as he wished it and finally a
blessing for the Brother, while he says, 'Take this paper with you
and preserve it carefully until your death. By the same all your
temptations flee.' The letter is preserved and afterwards worked
miracles."
This was not the only time that Francis gave some lines to one
of his disciples written by his own hand with the exhortation to
'The Franciscans still use in part this form — see my " Pilgrimsbogen,"
1903- PP- 34-36.
^ There are three: Laudes Dei, Blessing of Brother Leo and a letter to Brother
Leo. See Faloci: Gli A ulografi di S. Francesco in Misc. Francescana, VI (1895),
pp. 32-39, and VII, p. 67.
HIS WRITINGS 345
preserve them. Thus he said in the end of the letter to EUas of
Cortona: "Keep this writing with you, so that you can better
comply with it." ^
Whether Brother Elias followed this advice literally we do not
know, but the humble Brother Leo — "God's little lamb," as the
master called him — faithfully kept with him the blessing from
the hand of St. Francis until his death, that finally occurred on
November 14, 1271. The parchment so faithfully preserved by
him was inherited by the Franciscan convent in Assisi (Sagro
Con ven to), within whose walls Brother Leo ended his days.^
There the autograph, somewhat faded, was smoothed out and
framed; in a list of the relics of St. Francis made in 1348 there
is named "a wooden frame with the blessing of Brother Leo,"
together with "Praise of the Creator written by St. Francis' own
hand." ^ When Wadding was in Assisi in i6ig, he was able, there-
fore, to copy the Laudes Dei for the use of his edition of the works
of St. Francis after the original manuscript, as he himself states. ^
In our days the old autograph is to be found in the sacristy of
the celebrated convent chapel, enclosed in a beautiful silver
reliquary dating from the seventeenth century. Behind the glass
of the reliquary is seen the piece of parchment, 14 centimetres high
and 10 centimetres wide (5.6 inches by 4 inches), with evident
traces of being long kept folded. The first glance shows one that
there are two different handwritings on the parchment. The
larger, which is written with black ink, is from the hand of St.
Francis; the smaller writing, which is in red ink (rubrics), is by
Brother Leo.
The parchment has three things on it from the hand of St.
Francis. The first is the Blessing, the next is the Dedication of
the same, and the third is the Subscription, given in the form of
a hieroglyph.
I. The Blessing. It reads:
Benedicat tibi Dominus et custo
diat te ostendat faciem
suum tibi et misereatur tui
convertat vultum suum ad te
et det tibi pacem.
^ Opitscula, Quaracchi ed., pp. iro, 106, 112, 114-115. Sabatier's Collec-
tion d'études et de documents, vol. II, p. 115.
^ Analecta Franciscana, III, p. 65.
' The list is found in MS. No. 344 in the communal library in Assisi. Misc.
Franc, vol. I, pp. 141-150.
* Edition of 1623, p. loi.
346 AUTHORITIES
This is the blessing of the Old Testament (Numbers vi. 24-26),
as now given in Lutheran churches: "The Lord bless thee and
keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on
thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee
peace!"
2. The Dedication.
Dotninus bene
dicat
Leo te
"The Lord bless, Leo, thee." There is some particular signifi-
cance in the way Brother Leo's name is put in between the verb
of the sentence and its object. It is as if we saw Francis, lifting
his eyes from the parchment, look with love upon his bowed-down
friend and brother. "The Lord bless — Leo! — thee!"
3. The Subscription.
To understand this we must recollect the occasion on which the
blessing was written down. It was on Mt. Alverna at the end of
the month of September, 1224. On the festival of the Elevation
of the Cross immediately before (September 14) St. Francis had
received the stigmata. Now he signed as his signature, not his
name, but a hieroglyph, a symbol whose meaning was the Cruci-
fixion. The upright T is the prophet Ezekiel's letter Thau (Ez.
ix. 4), which in the script of the Middle Ages was accepted as the
sign of the Cross. And this Cross is shown standing on the Mount
Golgotha — the very rough outline of the sketch — together with
a skull, the inner figure resembling a fruit, which in so many
of the Calvaries of the Middle Ages is shown under the foot of the
Cross. A single modern interpreter,^ perhaps too imaginative, has
even claimed to find in the mountain of the sketch, not Golgotha,
but La Verna, and in the jagged line thinks that he sees a crude
attempt to reproduce the rugged profile of La Verna. The mean-
ing of the sketch in any case is the same — an expression of the
words of the Apostle, "I bear the marks of the wounds of the Lord
Jesus on my body!"^
' M. Carmichael: La Bcncdizione dl S. Francesco (Leghorn, igoo).
* As far as this interpretation is correct it must be referred to the time after
the stigmatization and therefore to the last two years of St. Francis' life, as St.
Bonaventure says in his Legend (IV, g): "This sign" (i.e., of the Cross) "the
saint held in an especially great honor, commanded in his sermons that it should
be used, and subscribed it with his own hand in the small letters which he sent
(in eis quas dirigebat littcrulis manu propria subscribebat), exactly as if all
his eflort was to fulfil the words of the prophet and ' mark Thau upon the
THE BLESSING OF BROTHER LEO
Autograph of St. Francis
HIS WRITINGS 347
As already noted, and as every one who visits Assisi can see for
himself, the little bit of parchment shows clear traces of having
been long kept folded up. This indicates that Brother Leo ob-
served his lord and master's command and kept the blessing with
him until he died.
But besides this, in the long time he survived his spiritual father
he preserved the valued memory of his journey to the heathen in
not less than three notes, which are now the most important proofs
of the genuineness of the document. Right over the little seal he
has written thus: Beatus Franciscus scripsit manu sua istani bene-
dictionem mihi fratri Leoni, "The blessed Francis wrote with his
own hand this blessing for me, Brother Leo." Under the signature
comes next: Simili modo fecit istud signum thau cum capite manu
sua, "He also with his own hand made this sign thau with a
head (skull)." Finally, the uppermost part of the parchment
bears the most important of the three additions. What Brother
Leo has written here is this: Beatus Franciscus duohus aunts ante
mortem suam fecit quadragesimam in loco Alverne ad honor em beate
Virginis Marie matris dei et beati Michaelis Archangeli a festo
assumptionis sancte Marie virginis usque ad festum sancti michaelis
septembris et facta est super eum manus domini propter visionem et
allocutionem seraphim et impressionem stigmatum christi in corpore
suo fecit has laudes ex alio latere cartule scriptas et manu sua scripsit
gratias agens domino de beneficio sibi collato.
In English: "Two years before his death the blessed Francis
kept his fast in the locality of Alverna in honor of the Blessed Virgin
Mary Mother of God, and of the holy Archangel Michael, from
the feast of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary up to the
feast of St. Michael in September and the hand of the Lord came
over him on account of the vision and allocution of the seraphim
and of the impression of the stigmata of Christ upon his body he
made these praises written upon the other side of the paper and
giving thanks to the Lord for the benefit conferred on him wrote
with his own hand."
Brother Leo certainly intended with this explicit note to have
verified the genuineness of the blessing beyond any doubt. For
foreheads of the men that sigh and mourn,' in the present case those who
were truly converted to Christ Jesus."
In Thomas of Celano, in this Miracula beati Francisci (first published in the
Analecta Bollandiana, vol. XVIII) is found the following: "the sign 'Thau' was
dear to him above all other signs, and with that alone he subscribed his letters
{missivas cartulas) and marked the walls of his cell all over with it" (ditto, pp.
114-115)-
34S AUTHORITIES
many years the relic in Assisi was regarded as a document of high
rank because it contains the observations of a contemporary and
almost of an eye-witness of the stigmatization.
It happened at the end of the nineteenth century that the well-
known church and art historian, F. X. Kraus, got possession of
a poor facsimile of the parchment, and basing his conclusions
thereon, claimed that it was a counterfeit, and that an examina-
tion of the signature on the document would go to show that the
so-called blessing of St. Francis, at the earliest, can only be ascribed
to the fifteenth century.
The first to oppose this attack — and which came from the
Catholic side — was Paul Sabatier. As an answer to Kraus he
sent to the editor of the journal in w^hich the attack had been
published a photograph of the document in dispute, and in order
to obtain for himself an authoritative opinion the editor placed
this photograph before three authorities on palæography, one
being Wattenbach. In a report dated October 25, 1895, the
unanimous opinion was expressed by the investigators that there
is "no palæographic reason for denying that this manuscript may
date from the time of St. Francis." The French Société Nationale
des Antiquaires came to the same conclusion January 22, 1896,
Later, Walter Gotz placed a copy of the blessing of St. Francis
before Professor Seeliger in Leipzig for his opinion; his answer was
also favorable to the authenticity of the document.^
The blessing may, therefore, be real. The manuscript actually
dates from the thirteenth century, but may we not think that we
stand before a very old copy?
This new doubt emanated again from Kraus, who did not wish
to give up his hypercritical standpoint. He declared that accord-
ing to Thomas of Celano and to Brother Leo the Landes Dei
written by Francis should be found on the other side of the parch-
ment. Now it happens that in Assisi the back of the blessing is
carefully kept hidden — but why? Because the laudes spoken of
are not to be found there!
This was easily answered. The silver back of the rehquary
was simply removed, and there was seen — what Wadding had
already seen in the seventeenth century — the perfectly recogniz-
able Laudes Dei, although partly obliterated, because of the long
time Brother Leo had carried the parchment with him.
1 Kraus and Sabatier in "ThcoloRische LitcraturzcitunR," Leipzig, 1895,
pp. 404 and 627. The French palæographer, Bullclin critique, March 5, 1896.
Seeliger in Bricger's "Zcilschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte," vol. XXII, p. 370.
HIS WRITINGS 349
As an example of St. Francis' Latin poetry this laud is given
in the foot-note below, in the form reconstructed by Faloci {Misc.
Franc, VI, p. 38) with the help of Wadding's copy. The words
which still can be read in the Assisi autograph are printed in
italics.^
As early as the fifteenth century the laud was partly illegible,
while even the oldest copies — such as Bartholomew of Pisa's or
the one in Jacob Oddi's chronicle La Franceschina — do not give
us the complete text. The text in the Quaracchi edition is a Uttle
different from that given below, taken from a manuscript of Assisi
of the fourteenth century, ^yhich the editor suspects to have been
a direct copy of the original.
In near relationship with Francis of Assisi 's religious poetry
must be placed the Officium Passionis Domini arranged by him —
which in fact is made up of quotations from the Bible. Its
genuineness is confirmed by reference to Thomas of Celano's
Biography of St. Clara.^
Prose Writings
These embrace two classes — Letters and Rules of the Order.
Wadding gives seventeen letters from St. Francis in his edition.
The Franciscans in Quaracchi have accepted only six. The eleven
others are partly fragments or later copies of other, authentic
letters, in part without any manuscript proofs, reconstructed by
Wadding in Latin after old Spanish translations. One — the letter
to Anthony of Padua — is excluded from the Quaracchi edition
as doubtful. Sabatier regards it as a forgery, but on the other
hand it is accepted both by Gotz and Lempp.^ Of one of the
letters of which Wadding had only a Spanish translation, Sabatier
^ Tu es sanctus dominus deus. Tu es deus deorum, qui solus facis mirabilia.
Tu es fortis, iu es magnus, tu es altissimus. Tu es omnipotens, tu es pater sande
rex celt et terrae. Tu es trinus et uniis dominus deus deorum. Tu es bonum,
omne bonutn, summum bonum, dominus deus vivus et verus. Tu es caritas,
tu es sapientia, tu es humUilas, tu cs patientia. Tu es pulchritude, tu es securitas.
Tu es quietas, tu es gaiidium. Tu es spes nostra, tu es justitia . . . et temper-
antia . . . tu es omnia divitia nostra ad sufficientiam. . . . Tu es tnansuetudo
."^ . tu es protector, tu es custos et defensor. . . . Tu es refugium nostrum et
virtus. Tu es fides, spes et caritas nostra. Tu es magna dulcedo nostra. Tu
es bonitas infinita, magnus et admirabilis dominus deus, omnipotens, pius et
misericors et salvator.
^A.SS., August II, p. 761.
^ Sabatier, Vie, p. 322. Gotz in "Zeitschr. f. Kirchengesch." (Gotha), vol.
XXII, p. 529, Lempp in same, vol. XII, p. 425, n. 2, and pp. 438 et seq.
350 AUTHORITIES
some few years ago found a Latin counterpart, but which diflfers
considerably from Wadding's text.^
The dilTerent letters will be found described in the biography,
where they belong; there also will be found the necessary critical
elucidations.
The same applies to the Rules of the Order which have been
preserved for us — the first called by Karl Miiller the Rule of
122 1, and the second approved in 1223 by Honorius III. In
connection with the Rules of the Order the so-called Admonitiones
(Admonitions) will also be treated, as well as the Hermit-Rules
belonging with them, and the circular letter, "On Reverence for
the Lord's Body."
The Rule of the Poor Clares and the Rule of the Third Order
of St. Francis, such as we now know them, are no longer
attributed by anybody to St. Francis; in the Rule of the Poor
Clares we find, however, some few lines of his hand, remains of the
Forma vivendl (Mode of life) he originally wrote for the Poor Clares
and of his Ultima voluntas (Last charge) to them. These two will
be spoken of in the proper place.
Finally, we have from the hand of Francis of Assisi a remarkable
document, which can often be found referred to in this work —
his Testament. This document is half of the regular character,
half a sort of autobiography. Its genuineness has been disputed
by Karl Hasse; he regards it as being "made up of real and known
utterances of Francis, in confirmation of his Rule and of the Roman
spirit." For Sabatier it is practically the reverse, "almost a
revocation" of the same Rule. Gotz regards it as so reliable a
document "that all the other remains," according to him, "may be
proved thereby." ^
In reality the genuineness of the Testament is beyond all doubt.
Not only that the descriptions and thoughts therein are so truly
Franciscan and accord with all that we otherwise know of St.
Francis, but, as Gotz has remarked, the speech also bears everywhere
the marks of having been written down from dictation, and is
primitive and unpolished. Besides, a whole quantity of other
criteria speak for its authenticity. Thomas of Celano and Julian
of Speier give it three times separately. Gregory IX refers to it
in his bull {Quo elongati) of September 28, 1230, twice and gives
' Collection d'éludcs, etc., ed. Sabatier, vol. 11, pp. 135 et seq.
''Hase: "Franz v. Assisi" (Leipzig, 1856), p. 136, n. 8. Sabatier: Vie, p.
316. Gotz in Brieger's " Zeitschr. f. Kirchcngesch.," vol. XXII (Gotha,
iQoi), p. 376.
BIOGRAPHERS 35I
it in indirect form. Finally, it is cited twice in the Three Brothers'
Legend.^
Sabatier thinks that Francis wrote his Testament several times
and bases this conclusion on Cap. 87 of the Speculum perfectionis,
where the sick saint has Brother Benedict of Prato called to him
and "in three words" imparts his last will to him and to all the
Brethren.^ He also left to St. Clara and the Sisters of her Order
testamentary notes.^
II — BIOGRAPHERS
The Hst of the biographers of St. Francis, whom it is permissible
to take as original sources, begins shortly after his death with
Thomas of Celano and ends about the year 1400 with works of
compilation such as Bartholomew of Pisa's Conformitates (1385)
and the anonymous Speculum vitae S. Francisci et sociorum ejus
(about 1445). I divide these biographers into four successive
groups, each with its own definite chronological limits and also
with its express character, and I will designate the following
groups, named after the most prominent of the authors or books:
1. Thomas of Celano Group (about 1230).
2. Brother Leo Group (about 1245).
3. St. Bonaventure Group (about 1265).
4. Speculum Group (later than about 1320).^
' As an example I give this single comparison:
Celano, Vita prima, I, 7: sicut ipse in testamento suo loquitur, dicens:
Quia cum essem in peccatis, nimis amarum mihi videbatur videre leprosos, et
Dominus conduxit me inter illos, et feci misericordiam cum illis.
Testament: quia, cum essem in peccatis, nimis mihi videbatur amarum
videre leprosos; et ipse Dominus conduxit me inter illos, et feci misericordiam
cum illis. (Quaracchi ed., p. 76.)
See also Cel., V. pr., I, 15 = Test. (Q. ed.) p. 79; I, 17 = pp. 77-78; Cel., V.
sec, III, 99 = pp. 78-79; Julian of Speier {A. SS., Oct. II, p. 579, n. 182) =
p. 80; Quo elongati (Sab., Spec, perf., pp. 314-322) = p. 82, p. 80. Tres Socii,
IV, II = Cel., V. pr., I, 17; VIII, 26 = as quoted by Julian of Speier.
^The three words were: mutual charity — love of poverty — obedience
to the Church.
' See his Ultima voluntas admitted into the Rule of the Clares. Compare
the following place in St. Clara's testament: "plura scripta nobis tradidit,
ne post mortem suam decUnaremus a paupertate" {A. SS., Aug. II, p. 767.
Seraph, legislationis textus originales, Quaracchi, 1897, p. 276. Wadding,
1253, n. 5).
* As the first biographical work we may name the Circular letter to all the
Brothers, sent out by Elias of Cortona immediately after Francis' death (Wad-
ding, II, pp. 149-150; A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 668-669).
352 AUTHORITIES
I. TuoM.\s OF Celano Group
I assign to this group first and foremost Thomas of Celano's
Vita prima, next JuHan of Spcier's Legend, which later is quoted
in the Speculum historiale, of the Dominican Vincent of Beauvais,
finally the versified biography written by Brother Henry, with
many shorter legends, especially for liturgical use.
(a) Thomas of Celano^ s Vita prima. Thomas of Celano, author
of the celebrated Judgment Day Hymn Dies iræ, was born about
1 200 and entered the Franciscan Order between 12 13 and 12 16.
He was received into the Order by Francis himself, just at the
time when St. Francis had decided to go to Morocco, but was
prevented from carrying out that intention.^ After the Pentecost
Chapter of 1221 he went as a missionary to Germany, in 1222 was
custodian in Mayence, later in Worms and in Cologne; in 1223
the German Pro\åncial, Brother Cæsarius of Speier, installed him
as his \icar, while he, Cæsarius, went to Italy; in 1227 he followed
the new Provincial, Brother Albert of Pisa, to the General Chapter
at Portiuncula. He spent the next year in Italy. His description
of St. Francis' canonization in 1228 leads us to suspect that he
himself was in attendance there. He received from Gregory IX
the commission to prepare a biography of St. Francis and as early
as February 25, 1229, was able to hand the complete work to the
Pope.'^
* On account of the uncertainty of this date we can only say that Celano's
admission to the Order came within these Umits. Vita prima, I, cap. 20: "Sed
bonus Deus, cui mei et multorum . . . placuit recordari, cum jam i visset
versus Hispaniam . . . eum a coepto itinere revocavit. Revertente quoque
ipso ad ecclesiam s. Mariae de Portiuncula, tempore non multo post quidam
litterati viri . . . ei gratissime adhæserunt." See .4. 55.. Oct. II, p. 546, n. 6.
* For biographical notes on Thomas of Celano see Jordanus of Giano {Anal.
Franc, I, pp. 8, 11) and Chronica anonyma {Anal. Frattc, I, pp. 287, 289). In
his preface to his biography of St. Francis he claims to write " jubente domino et
gloriosopapaGrcgorio." One of the MSS. of the Legend (3817, National Lib-
rary, Paris, fourteenth century) contains the following note: " Apud Perusium
felix domnus papa Gregorius nonus secundo gloriosi pontificatus sui anno quinto
kal. martii legendam banc reccpit, confirmavit et censuit fore tenendam."
{Catalogus codicum hagiographoriim latinorum in Bibl. Nat. Parisicnsi, Brussels,
1889, 1, p. 364.) Thomas of Celano's authorship is also testified to by Jordanus
of Giano (1262): "Thoma de Celano, qui legendam sancti Francisci et primam
et secundam postea conscripsit" {Anal. Fran., I, p. 8), by Salimbene (1283,
Parma cd., p. 60): "præcepit (fr. Crescentius) Thomae de Celano, qui
primam legendam beat! Francisci fecerat, ut iterum scriberet alium librum,"
by Bernard of Bessa, St. Bonaventure's secretary, who, in the introduction to
his legend, says (about 1290): "beati Francisci vitara scripsit . . . frater
Thomas, jubente domino Gregorio papa" {Atial. Fr., Ill, p. 666).
BIOGRAPHERS 353
Thomas of Celano explains in the preface that he used two
sources of information: his personal experiences and reliable
witnesses, and that he always strictly followed the truth. 1 There
is no reason to doubt this assertion of a serious man, and the
modern attempts to represent him as a biassed writer and falsifier
of history simply take away the ground which at one time seemed
to have been conquered. To-day, as Gotz has said, "Celano's
Vita prima is the fixed point, from which the determination of the
value of our sources must begin." ^
When Thomas of Celano makes excuses in his preface for his
" unpolished words," it is nothing but modesty. He is really what
he himself calls himself, a vir liter atus, a lettered man, who has
perfect command of his style; one can turn over the pages of all
literature without finding more captivating sketches of men and
occurrences than in Celano, and his Latin is carried along by
a constantly sustained, gently undulating rhythm. The faults
which affect his style are the faults of the time; he does not always
avoid, in spite of his attempts to do so, what he himself entitles
1 "veritate semper prævia . . . quæ ex ipsius ore audivi, vel a Sdelibus et
probatis testibus intellexi . . . verbis licet imperitis studui explicare."
^ Gotz, Brieger's Zeitschrift, Vol. XXIV, p. 166. Attacking Thomas of Celano
see Karl Miiller: "Die Anfånge des Minor itaiordens," pp. 181 et seq. Sabatier:
Speailum perfeciionis, pp. 98-199.; in part Minocchi: La Legenda trium soci-
orum, Florence, 1900, pp. 81-85. ^^ support of Celano see Faloci in Miscel-
lanea Francescana, VIII, pp. 140 et seq., Tilemann: "Speculum perfeciionis
und Legenda trium sociorum," Leipzig, 1902, pp. 23-33, and Gotz. Sabatier
also formerly gave Celano a high standing: "He makes an entirely direct
impression of being honorable and true; if he is partial he does not wish
to be so, and perhaps does not know it. . . . One feels at every instant re-
strained emotion, the heart of the writer overcome with the moral beauty of
his hero." {Vie de S. Frangois, 1894, pp. liv and Ivi.)
But later Thomas of Celano became for Sabatier a real falsifier, who, to serve
a bad cause, found every method good (see Spectdum perfeciionis, Opuscules
de critique historique, III, p. 70, n. i); now he has become the accomplice of
Brother Elias of Cortona and of Cardinal Hugolin and consequently an enemy
of the Franciscan ideal. Yes, Sabatier will in Celano's Vita prima only see an
answer to Brother Leo's Legenda antiquissima, "the Mirror of Perfection,"
issued in 1227. As will be shown later, Brother Leo, in 1227, had issued no such
work and the hypothesis falls to the ground. If Thomas had perhaps in his
first legend, which was written long before the deposition of Elias of Cortona,
looked favourably upon this remarkable and unfortunate man, so in his Vita
secunda, written in 1247, he has given his better views their due expression.
Far from being a malicious betrayer, Thomas reveals himself as a simple,
almost naive soul whose principal failure as a biographer is that of being too
careful a stylist. His picture of St. Francis is essentially the same as we get
from the Legenda trium sociorum and from the Fiorelti. (Sabatier, Vie de S.
Fr., p. ivi, Gotz, Vol. XXIV, pp. 179, 193.)
24
354 AUTHORITIES
"verbal decorations," vcrborum phalleras, and on long-continued
perusal his work may have a tiresome effect — somewhat in the
same way as the writings of the highly rhetorical religious authors
of the seventeenth century in France.^
(b) In perfect sequence to Thomas of Celano's Vita prima
stands Julian of Speier's Legend. Before his entrance into the
Order Julian was choirmaster with Louis VIII of France; besides
the Legend he also composed in prose a Nocturnale Sandi officium
in litlera et cantu} He made the acquaintance of Thomas of
Celano in the General Chapter of 1227. According to Glass-
berger's Chronicle {Anal. Franc, II, 46) Julian's Legend begins
with the words Ad hoc quorundam. But these are precisely the
first words in the prologue to the Bollandists' so-called "second
biography" of St. Francis, which they had ascribed to John of
Ceperano, Notary Apostolic under Gregory IX (see later).
Julian's work is thus preserved; his prose legend — which does
not offer much that is new — as well as his rhymed Office, has in
recent years been an object for deep studies.^
Julian of Speier died 1250,
^ Celano's Vita prima was first published by the Bollandists in Acta Sanc-
torum, Oct. II (1768), then by Rinaldi, 1806, and by Amoni, 1880. A new edi-
tion of all Celano's works is due to Rev. Edouard d'Alengon, Historian of the
Capuchins' Order.
As Thomas described St. Francis' canonization, July 16, 1228, but not the
transfer of his relics to the church of St. Francis (Pentecost, 1230), it is natural
to place the writing of the Legend between these two dates, especially as the
above-named Paris manuscript declares, that Gregory IX, February 25, 1229,
received the Legend and gave it his approval. From the summer of 1228 to
March, 1229, the Papal Curia was part of the time in Perugia and part of the
time in Assisi. Tilemann (in the work already referred to, p. 30) has cast
some doubt upon the note in the Parisian manuscript.
^Bernard of Bessa, Liber de laiidibus b. Fra>icisci: "In Francia vero frater
Julianus, scientia et sanctitate conspicuus, qui etiam nocturnale Sancti officiura
in Httera et cantu posuit." (Anal. Franc., Ill, p. 666.)
' Julian of Speier's Legend is found in a fragmentary state in the Bollandist's
biography of St. Francis, A. SS., Oct. II, pp. 548-727. A complete edition is
based on new manuscripts in the Analecta BoUatidiana, XXI (1902), pp. 160-
202. As Julian describes the transfer of St. Francis' body to the church of
St. Francis, 1230, but does not mention Brother Elias of Cortona as General —
which he became in 1232 — the Legend was probably written in the interim.
(See, however, Anal. Boll., XXI, p. 156, in which its time of composition is
placed three years later.)
Besides the prose legends we possess the rhymed Office (historia as it was
called in the literary expression of the Middle .'Vges). See also J. E. Weis,
Julian von Spcicr (Miinchen 1900) and "Die Chorale Julians von Speier zu
den Reimofftzien dcs Franciskus- und Antoniusfestes . . . nach Ilandschriflen
herausgegeben" (Munich, 1901).
BIOGRAPHERS 355
(c) The legend in verse (Vita metrica) formerly was regarded
as identical with Julian of Speier's rhymed Office or was ascribed
to an EngHshman named John Cantius. Edouard d'Alenfon has
lately {Misc. Franc, IV, pp. 33-34) pointed out that the author
of the Vita metrica is Master Henry of Pisa, the same of whom
SaHmbene so pleasantly writes that he "could write, draw with
colors, which some call illuminating, write notes, compose very
beautiful songs, both for instruments and voice. . . . He was my
singing teacher in the time of Pope Gregory the Ninth. . . . Brother
Henry wrote many melodies and many sequences. He wrote
both text and melody to Christe Deus, Christe meus, Christe rex et
domine, suggested by a maid-servant's song, who went through
the cathedral in Pisa and sang: E tii no cure de me; e no curaro
dete!"'
(d) Liturgical Legends. The short legends divided into the
required nine lessons were used for the choral prayer. Thomas
of Celano himself — and likewise at a later period Bonaventure —
seemed to have extracted these from his long legend. Denifle
found a second legend for liturgical use in a Dominican Book of
Lessons in Toulouse; the nine lessons belonging to the Feast of
St. Francis have since been published by d'Alenfon. The most
remarkable thing about them is perhaps that in the manuscript
they are declared to be taken from a legend which begins with
the words Stella matutina, but as Bernard of Bessa states {Anal.
Franc, III, p. 666), the legend of St. Francis beginning with the
words Quasi stclla matutina was composed by the Notary Apostolic
John of Ceperano. And according to Celano's Vita prima (pub.
in Act. SS., Oct. II, 125) Gregory IX, for his discourse at the
canonization of St. Francis, had chosen this portion of scripture
for his text (Ecclesiasticus, Cap. 50, v. 7). It may well be thought
that the Notary Apostolic had made up his legends about St.
Francis as a sort of a replica of the Pope's address, and that we
thus have the remains of it in the Book of Lessons from Toulouse.
The contents otherwise compares with Celano's Vita prima.^
' Salimbene, Parma ed., p. 64. The poem was first published by Cristofani
(Prato, 1882).
2 Edouard d'Alengon: Spicilcgium Franciscanum. Lcgotda brevis Sancti
Francisci nunc primiim edita (Romae, 1899).
Denifle in Archiv fiir Litt. u. Kg., I (1885), p. 148.
For Thomas of Celano's Legenda brevis, see Papini, Notizie sicure della morte
. . . di S. Fr. d'A. 2^ ed. (Foligno, 1824), pp. 239-243. It is preceded by
a letter to "Brother Benedict" (of Arezzo? See Sabatier, Collection, Vol. II,
p. xliv).
356 AUTHORITIES
2, Brother Leo Group
Among the first disciples there is none who plays a more weighty
or a more effectual role than Brother Leo for futurity's under-
standing of St. Francis.
He was, as already noted, his master's secretary, and also his
confessor and most intimate confidant. In the last years of St.
Francis' life, when God's Poor Little Man from Assisi drew
back more and more into a contemplative life, it was Leo who
was the connecting link between him and the surrounding world.
He was not afraid to go to the master when approach was for-
bidden to all others.
It is therefore obvious that this favorite disciple has seen
and heard much which others neither heard nor saw, and it also
follows that Brother Leo wished to preserve these his reminiscences
for after generations. It thus came about that he began to write
down what the master had said or done — tam de mandato sancti
patris quam etiam de devotione praedicti fratris, as Angelo Clareno
(d. 1337) has rightly seen and said, "as much by command of the
holy father as inspired by the personal devotion Brother Leo
nourished for St. Francis."^ For the space of a hundred years,
down to the days of Hubert of Casale (about 1 259-1338), Brother
Leo's descriptions and the legends emanating directly or indirectly
from him and his circle kept alive the holy fire from the first
days of the Order in the hearts of the young.
The legends in which Brother Leo has a direct part are two:
Legenda trium sociorum and Thomas of Celano's Vita secunda.
The three compilations of a later date rest more or less on his
observations: Speculum perfectionis, Legejuia antiqua, and Actus
b. Francisci ("Fioretti").^
As a companion piece to Legenda trium sociorum comes the
legend whose author the BoUandists term the "Anonymous one
from Perugia," and whom I have also assigned to this group.
a. Legenda trium sociorum, " The Legend of the
Three Brothers^'
Between Celano's first biography of St. Francis and the other
legends dependent on it and the appearance of the group of writ-
^ Archiv fiir Lilt. u. Kirchengesch., Ill, p. 168.
* Furthermore Brother Leo has written a biography of his friend Brother
Giles (SaHmbene, Chronica, p. 322) and took part in the writing of the Legend
of St. Clara. See Cozza Luzi in BollcUino delta societd umbra di storia palria,
Vol. I, pp. 417-426).
BIOGRAPHERS 357
ings which have their origin in Brother Leo of Assisi and his
friends there is an important occurrence : Brother Elias of Cortona's
Generalship and abrupt fall.^ Even those who hitherto had been
adherents of this brilliant man, who was, however, a danger to the
Order at last, could not avoid seeing what he bore on his shield,
and that, if he had obtained permission to carry out his own
ideas, there soon would have been an end of Franciscanism. Due
to the influence of the recognition of this fact, so powerfully
impressed by the Pope's anathema against Elias, it is that refuge
was sought in a return to the spirit of olden times. At the General
Chapter in Genoa, 1244, it was determined to invite all who had
anything to tell about St. Francis to collect their recollections
and send them in to the newly chosen General of the Order, Cres-
centius of Jesi.
As a consequence of this invitation there came two years later
from the little convent of Greccio in the valley of Rieti a selection
of such sketches, written down by three close friends of St. Francis;
namely. Brother Leo and Brother Rufino, both of Assisi, together
with Brother Angelo Tancredi from Rieti. A letter which accom-
panied these papers, addressed to Crescentius and dated August,
1246, named as additional collaborators in the w^ork a number
of the first Brothers of the Order, such as Brother Philip, the
Clares' Visitator, Brother Illuminato from Rieti, Brother Masseo
from Marignano, together with another otherwise unknown
Brother John, who joined in the work because he had kno\\^Ti
intimately Brother Bernard of Quintavalle (d. 1242) and Brother
Giles (Lat. Egidius) — the first two disciples who had joined St.
Francis.
In the letter the authors expressed themselves in the following
way on the scope of their work:
"We who, although unworthy of it, have lived for a long time
along with St. Francis, have, with truth for our guide, wished to
present to your Holiness" — i.e., Crescentius — "a selection of
his many actions which we have either seen ourselves or have
obtained through other Brothers, especially" (here follow the
^ It will undoubtedly be of interest to have a list of the first Generals of the
Order at hand. I therefore give them here:
Vicars (while St. Francis hved): Pietro dei Cattani, September 29, 1220-
March 10, 1221, when he died. EHas of Cortona succeeded and was Vicar to
June 16 (Pentecost), 1227. Generals: Johannes Parenti, June 16, 1227-1232;
Ellas of Cortona, 1232-1239; Albert of Pisa, 1239; Aymon of Faversham, 1240-
1244; Crescentius of Jesi, 1244-1247; John of Parma, 1247-1257; St. Bona-
venture, 1257-1274.
358 AUTHORITIES
names. The original text, as one will see below, has the words
per alios sanclos fratrcs, "through other Holy Brothers." The
difl5culty, which is due to the fact that Leo, Angelo and Rufino
first speak of themselves and then of "other" holy Brothers, is
solved perhaps best by taking sanctos as in apposition to fratres
and to understand it thus: "through other Brothers; namely, the
holy Brother Philip," etc. But if one was in doubt about the
authenticity of the letter, I would afiirm that this expression,
"Brother Leo, Brother Rufino and Brother Angelo wrote it down,"
might make one suspect a falsifier, who unwittingly betrayed him-
self by having the authors of the Legend sign themselves for that
which they were in the eyes of him, a writer of a later period:
sancti fratres.^)
"It is not sufficient for us" — thus the writers go on to say —
"to tell of miracles alone, of which indeed holiness does not con-
sist, but which can indicate its presence,^ but we wish to show the
holy way of Hving and pious regard and desires of our most holy
father Francis, to the praise and glory of the highest God and to
the edification of those who will follow after him. Which, how-
ever, we do not wish to write in the form of a legend, as there are
already written legends of his life and the works of wonder which
the Lord let him perform. But we have plucked the flowers in
the meadow which seemed to us the fairest; we do not offer
therefore a continuous story, for we have omitted much which in
the above-named legends is written both truthfully and in good
style; and if it meets your approval our little work can be added
thereto. We believe, indeed, that if the honorable gentlemen
who wrote the above-named legends had known what we now
are about to tell, they would not have let it pass by, but would
have desired to have written down at least a part thereof in their
beautiful style, and thus handed it down to the memory of coming
generations."^
' The word sanclos we may believe was inserted by a copyist. The Brothers
themselves never gave the Legend the title Legenda triiim sociorum, as it is
now found in the manuscripts.
^ This expression is from Thomas of Celano; miraada, qxiac sanclitatem non
faciunt, sed ostcndnnt, he says in his Vila pn'jna, I, p. i6.
' Reverendo in Christo patri fratri Crescenlio, Dei gratia Generali ministro,
frater Leo, frater RufTmus ct frater Angelus, olim socii, licet indigni, beatissimi
patris Francisci, revercntiam in Domino dcbitam ct devotam.
Cum de mandato proximi praeleriti capituli gencralis et vestro teneantur
fratres signa et prodigia beatissimi patris Francisci, quae scire vel reperire
possunt, vestrae paternitati dirigere; visum est nobis, qui secum licet indigni
fuimus diutius conversati, pauca de multis gestis ipsius, quae per nos vidimus.
BIOGRAPHERS 359
This preface is found in all the fourteen manuscripts of the
Legend which have been preserved for us, and of which the oldest
belongs to the last quarter of the fourteenth century. There are
also found five manuscripts of the Legend in Italian translations.
All these manuscripts present the highly impressive peculiarity
that the writing, the Legend, which in all of them follows the pref-
ace, and which in nearly all of them is practically the same, does
not seem on a little closer examination to answer to what we had
a right to expect from this work according to the authors' own
statements. In the preface the reader is promised, not a descrip-
tion of the life, but a collection of flowers; not a continuous relation
like that of Thomas of Celano or of Julian of Speier, but various
minor traits of the pious ways of St. Francis, and finally nothing
we already knew from earlier works, but absolutely new things
never before published — de l'inédit, as the French say. If Thomas
of Celano had been St. Francis' Plato, the Brothers should now
want to write a collection of Memorabilia in the spirit of Xenophon.
Had the poet of Dies iræ been the great follower of Christ, John,
he would now have wished to write his Logia.
One had every right to expect all this from the Three Brothers'
Legend — and what do we find there? Almost exactly the oppo-
site! Of the eighteen chapters of the Legend the first eight
concern themselves with the history of Francis' youth and con-
vel per alios sanctos fratres scire potuimus, et specialiter per fratrem Philippura
visitatorem pauperum Dominarum, fratrem Illuminatum de Reate, fratrem
Masseum de Marignano, et fratrem Joannem, socium venerabilis fratris Ægidii,
qui plura de his habuit de eodem sancto fratre Ægidio et sanctae memoriae
fratre Bernardo, primo socio beati Francisci, sanctitati vestrae, veritate praevia,
intimare; non contenti narrare solum miracula, quae sanctitatem non faciunt,
sed ostendunt, sed etiam sanctae conversationis eius insignia et pii beneplaciti
voluntatem ostendere cupientes, ad laudem et gloriam summi Dei et dicti patris
sanctissimi, atque aedificationem volentium vestigia eius imitari. Quae tamen
per modum legendae non scribimus, cum dudum de vita sua et miraculis quae
per eum Dominus operatus est, sint confectae legendae. Sed velut de amoeno
prato quosdam flores, qui arbitrio nostro sunt pulchriores, excerpimus con-
tinuantem historiam non sequentes, sed multa seriose relinquentes, quae in
praedictis legendis sunt posita tam veridico quam luculento sermone; quibus
haec pauca, quae scribimus, poteritis facere inseri, si vestra discretio viderit
esse iustum. Credimus enim, quod si venerab libus viris, qui praefatas con-
fecerunt legendas haec nota fuissent, ea minime praeterissent, nisi saltem pro
parte ipsa suo decorassent eloquio, et posteris ad memoriam reliquissent.
Semper integre valeat vestra sancta paternitas in Domino Jesu Christo, in
quo nos filios vestros devotos sanctitati vestrae recommendamus humiliter et
devote. Data in loco Graecii, III idus augusti, anno Domini MCCXLVI.
{Ada SS., Oct. II, p. 723.)
360 AUTHORITIES
version. The next four treat of the reception of the first eleven
Brothers into the Order, the tribulations in the earliest days of
the Order, and Innocent Ill's approval of theR^es. In the next
two chapters is a sketch of the first convent ^^^kp way in which
the Chapters of the Order were held. The fiirWRRh chapter tells
of the death of the first Protector of the Order and the choice of a
new one, the sixteenth of the Brothers' first departure on a Euro-
pean mission. Two concluding chapters — which, moreover, in one
of the manuscripts are put into one — contain finally the descrip-
tion of Francis' death, of his stigmatization (in this inverted order)
and canonization, and this brings the Legend of the Three Brothers
to an end. It must be remarked that this text is almost the
absolute reverse of the author's promise in the letter to Cres-
centius. The Brothers had wished to bring a collection of flowers
— and here we stand before a legend which, if incomplete, is in
good chronological sequence. They had wished to bring new
material, and here, although with many characteristic additions
and minor features, is told the same history of the merchant's son
from Assisi, of his conversion and life with his first disciples, all
which we already knew from Thomas of Celano and Julian of
Speier. Here were missing finally the whole mass of little traits
from St. Francis' inner life, all that which the author had promised
under the name sanctae conversationis eius insignia, and which one
could expect from those who, "although unworthy thereof," had
been with him in his most sacred moments, in his most secret
hours, who had followed him to the grotto at Fonte Colombo,
where he with fast and prayer wrote the Rule of the Order, and
who at his side had climbed up Mt. Alverna and had seen him
come down therefrom, marked on hands and feet by the miracle
of the Lord! Was this really all that the whole body of Francis'
most trusted friends — Leo, Rufino, Angelo, Bernard, Philip,
Illuminato, Masseo and Giles — could tell the world about their
beloved master and glorified spiritual father? For that the two
miserable chapters at the end could not pass for a fulfilment of
the promises of the preface, and that they even did not originally
belong to the Legend, is evident from the difference in style and
their undoubted dependence on Bonaventure's book of 1263 on
St. Francis. These two chapters were clearly enough only written
as a makeshift — as one temporarily throws boards over a house
that has not been sufiiciently advanced in building to resist the
coming of winter.
The Three Brothers' Legend, as it lies before us in manuscript,
BIOGRAPHERS 361
seems also to have been a fragment. But how could it have been
that? Is it conceivable that the Brothers became weary of their
work when half^mshed, that they were tired, that they did not
desire to finish ^^Keath of flowers in honor of St. Francis, which
was to be wov^Wound the Master's name a hundred years later
by other hands, by him or by them who wrote Fioretti ?
The matter stood thus undecided, when the Bollandist Suysken
in 1768, in the second October section of the Acta Sanctorum, pub-
lished the Three Brothers' Legend according to a manuscript in
Louvain. The question stood as before — or rather it was not
disposed of. All manuscripts contain the Legend in this form —
who then could form any other conclusion than that we have here
not only the authentic but also the complete work?
And yet there was one thing which pointed in the other direc-
tion. In Wadding, the celebrated Irish annalist who wrote in the
first quarter of the seventeenth century, and also in the Floren-
tine chronicler, Mariano (d. 1527), used by him, quotations
from the Three Brothers' Legend occur several times, which are
not found in the text published by the Bollandists. Suysken
satisfies himself with the idea that Wadding may have quoted
wrongly, but the thought also was in his mind that Wadding (or
his source Mariano) might have known another Legenda trium
sociorum than the only one which was now before him.^
In these quotations of Wadding it is remarkable that several of
them seem to be so good that they would accord with a legend
of the quality which would be expected from their hands after
the Brothers' letter to Crescentius. There was, for example, a
description of how St. Francis in his eagerness for poverty wanted
to tear down a house with his own hands, which the citizens of
Assisi during his absence had built for the use of the Brothers.
There was another tale of how Francis, in the face of Cardinal
Hugolin, refused to assent to the Brothers in his Order holding
Church preferments. In a third place Wadding relates that
Francis in Bologna, in the same way as at Portiuncula, commanded
all the Brothers to desert the convent which was built for them.
Finally, following always the Three Brothers' Legend, we are told
how St. Francis in his last moments had greeted death with the
words: "Be welcome, Sister Death." ^
1 Omnino oportet Waddingum habuisse Legendam, trium sociorum nomine
(forte non recte) inscriptam, diversam a nostra; aut, quod verisimilius est,
eosdem ab aliis perperam citatos legisse. A. SS., Oct. II, p. 858, n. 238.
2 Wadding, Annales, 1218, n. 10, 1219, n. 1-2, 1220, n. 15, 1224, n. 28. See
also 1210, n. 49, and 1219, n. 3.
362 AUTHORITIES
With these and many other similar extracts before our eyes it
was impossible that one or another would not finally recollect
those words in the letter of the Brothers from Greccio concerning
St. Francis' devout conduct of life. Quotations in Wadding gave
a brief commentary both on one or the other of these expressions,
for what was Francis' "pious intentions," his pit beneplaciti
voluntas, other than the adherence to the evangelical poverty,
whose devoted lover he showed himself both during the occur-
rences in Bologna and the incidents at Portiuncula?
Led by such and similar indications it was that Paul Sabatier,
in his study of the BoUandists' work on St. P>ancis, came to the
conclusion that the Three Brothers' Legend as it exists in the
manuscripts was really a fragment, a torso. In his Vie de Saint
Franqois d' Assise (Paris, 1894) he writes on page Ixiii: "It is
clear that the Three Brothers' Legend, as we now have it, is only
a fragment of the original, which, without doubt, was put together,
arranged, and much abridged by the authorities of the Order
before it was put into circulation." And he remarks, too, that
Crescentius of Jesi, to whom it was sent, was not the most zealous
adherent of the intransigent Franciscanism, such as Leo and his
friends upheld.
Sabatier was here — as so often — unjustly suspicious. The
state of affairs was that the Legend's incompleteness was well
known, and Sabatier had, moreover, the happy fortune in a late
Franciscan work of compilation of nearly finding the missing
part of the Three Brothers' Legend.
The question concerned the work written about 1445 and first
issued in Venice, 1504, Speculum vitae S. Francisci et sociorum ejus.
Out of this formless book Sabatier threw out a whole quantity of
material of all sorts — chapters of St. Bonaventure, devout memo-
randa of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a whole quantity of chapters
which appeared to be the Latin text of the Fioretti, some Franciscan
prayers, with much else. What was now left strongly recall in
style and thought the Three Brothers' Legend. And what made
him certain of his case was that in this heart of the Speculum
there occurred no less than nineteen times an expression in which
the authors constantly referred to themselves and which reads:
nos qui cwn ipso fuimus, "we who were with him." For was not
this precisely the same which the Three Brothers in their letters
to Crescentius had used to designate themselves — that it was
they who, in spite of their unworthiness, had known St. Francis
the longest and the best, visum est nobis, qui secum licet indigni
BIOGRAPHERS 363
fuimus diutiiis convcrsati ? The coincidence of the two expressions
was striking and convincing for Sabatier. There is found in the
printed Speculum vitae (from Folio 2>b to FoKo 136a) undoubtedly
a considerable portion of the missing pages of the Legend. ^
Full of these thoughts, it next happened that Sabatier, in the
Mazarin Library in Paris, found a manuscript, No. 1743, in which
the very chapters which he himself separated from the Speculum
vitae are found joined together under the title Speculum perfectionis
fratris minoris, "Mirror of Perfection of The Friar Minor." How
Sabatier was led by this discovery into new paths, how he, with a
copyist's error in the dating of the manuscript as a starting point,
developed a whole theory about the Speculum perfectionis as the
oldest Franciscan legend, written in May, 1227, in Portivmcula
by Brother Leo — to this we will refer later. In fact he was right,
as far as he, in the Legends of the Speculum, saw the remains of
the complete Legenda trium sociorum. And from this foundation
the task of reproducing the Legend was also taken up by two
Italians, students of St. Francis, the two Franciscans Marcellino da
Civezza and Teofilo Domenichelli. Their work, which appeared
in Rome, 1S89,- had the following interesting history.
About the year 1855 Stanislao Melchiorri, then Annalist of the
Franciscan Order, received a very old manuscript sent him as con-
taining an Italian translation of the Legend of the Three Brothers.
On comparing this translation with the Bollandists' edition of
the original text (and with Rinaldi's edition of 1 831), it appeared
that the Italian legend in the first place did not have the last two
chapters of these editions, and in the second place offered in their
stead a whole quantity of highly important additions. Carried
away as Melchiorri was in the prevalent view of the Legend, as
only identical with the fragment contained in the manuscript, he
regarded these additions as interpolations and edited them with
a preface, in which he declared that the translator, in order to
complete the Legend, had added to it a number of chapters, taken
from Thomas of Celano, St. Bonaventure, Bartholomew of Pisa
and others. But he could not maintain this theory of the origin
of the individual portions.^
^ Sabatier: Vie de S. Fr., pp. Ixx-lxxi.
^ La Leggenda di S. Francesco, scritta da tre suoi compagni (Legenda trium
sociorum) pubblicata per la prima volta nella vera sua integritå dai Padri
Marcellino da Civezza e Teofilo Domenichelli dei Minori. Roma, MDCCCXCIX.
' The book appeared in 1856 in Recanati with the title, Leggenda di S. Fran-
cescod' Assisi scritta dalli suoi compagni die tutt'hora conversavano con liii. In i S62
it was published in France with the less correct title, Legende de S. Franqois
364 AUTHORITIES
According to a note in the manuscript, the legend was written
in the year 1557 by the oratorian, Muzio Achiilei, after another
much older manuscript.^ Muzio is known in history as a disciple
of St. Philip Neri and a friend of the church-historian Baronius,
who often made use of his assistance.
The language from the chronological standpoint might be
assigned to the same period as the Fiorelti; Zambrini, who was
misled by the editor's mistaken conception of the date of the
work as being later than the day of Bartholomew of Pisa (1385),
could not help finding "much of the simplicity of the fourteenth
century therein."- In reality the language of the translation with
its frequent Latinisms, its Latin use of the subjunctive after
quafido (where the Italian now has the indicative), bears the clear
imprint of a century when the new language of the people had
not freed itself from Latin influence.
And now it appeared, that with this translation as a basis,
it was possible to attempt a reconstruction of the Latin Three
Brothers' Legend in its integrity. The often servile fidelity of
the translator, that led him to repeat the Latin text word for word,
made the work easy. The majority of the work was — as was to
be expected — to be found in the Speculum perjedionis brought
to the light by Sabatier (the French scholar's edition of this work,
1898, gave great assistance). By a simple translation of the
Italian legend into Latin, there appeared a whole quantity of
chapters which either plainly agreed with the text in the Speculum
or at any rate originated therefrom. Sixteen of the seventy-nine
chapters of the Melchiorri legends were identical with Chapters
I-XVI in the manuscript legend, fifty-seven agreed with chapters
in the Speculum perfectionis, only six could have been derived
from other sources, apparently from Thomas of Celano.
That the Three Brothers thus in minor part had copied one or
several of the earlier biographies of St. Francis was not remark-
able; they had done this and in a much greater degree in what I,
d^ Assise par ses Irois compagnons; mamiscrit dii Xlll'e siecle publié pour la
premiere fois (!) par M. l'ahbé Symon de Lalreiche. A second edition of this
translation appeared in 1865 (Paris, Lethielleux).
' The notice reads:
Ad lectorem. Superiora hæc divi Francisci gesta e vetustiori quodara
codice manu mea descripsi Mutius Achillcus (a) Sancto Severino, rogatu
venerandi Patris Felicis . . . reccntioris Ordinis Franciscanorum (quos Ca-
puccinos appellant). Septemped. anno a Christi Salvatoris Nostri natalibus
MDLXXVII, VIII Kal. ianuarii.
' sentc molto dclla scmplicitå del trecento. (Zambrini: Le operc volgari
a slampa dci sccoli XIII e XIV. Ed. 4, Bologna, 1884, p. 563.)
BIOGRAPHERS 365
hereafter, will call the first part of their legend (Capp. I-XVI).
It is still more remarkable to see how completely the second part
of the legend now found or rediscovered answered to what the
Three Brothers had promised in the letter to Crescentius. Here
they write in most characteristic detail what they and no other had
seen and heard, here they over and over again repeat their nos
qui cunt eo fuimus, "we who were with him," here we have the
light and perfume of the flowers from the oak woods of Umbria,
from the loneliness of the valley of Rieti, from the cliffs of Alt.
Alverna, as the Brothers had promised. A glance at the titles of
the chapters was enough to show, that here were really found all
those relations of St. Francis' "devout conduct of life" and
"pious intentions," whose existence we had only been able to
suspect hitherto through references of Mariano and Wadding.
All this, however, did not say that the attempts at reconstruction
of da Civezza and Domenichelli should be regarded as completely
successful. As Tilemann^ has remarked, the reconstructed chap-
ters were of a more meagre, more condensed, less freely descriptive
character than the existing pieces in the Speculum perfectionis.
One is tempted to lay the blame for this on the old Italian trans-
lator, whom we can suppose now and then to have lightened his
work by condensing the narrations. What else was there to pre-
vent one from inserting chapters from the Speculum in those places
where the Italian text makes it e\ident that they belonged in the
original legend?
A question still remains: How did it come about that the Three
Brothers' Legend has thus been divided into two halves, of which
the one invariably appears in all the manuscripts accompanied
by the preface, which, in consequence of the division, so poorly
suits it, while the other half portion has led, as it were, a subter-
ranean existence and only in the most recent days has come out
into the light? The answer to this question can be better given
in connection with the treatment of Thomas of Celano's Vita
sccunda.
Here we can only refer to the fact that this work in more recent
times, contemporaneous with the production of the Three Brothers'
Legend in its full scope, has raised for itself critical and — it may as
well be said — hypercritical voices, that desired to rob the beauti-
ful old legend of all its value. It is especially the Bollandist, van
Ortroy, who, with an incredible display of learning, has sought to
1 Heinrich Tilemann : " S pecuhim perfectionis und Legetida trium sociorum,"
Leipsic, 1902, pp. 134-148.
366 AUTHORITIES
show that the Legenda triiim sociorum was a compilation in which
such late authors as Bonaventure (1263) and Bernard of Bessa
(about 1290) were utilized. The letter to Crescentius, according
to van Ortroy, certainly does not belong where it now stands, but
on the other hand belongs to Thomas of Celano's Vila secunda,
which upon the whole should be the Three Brothers' Legend.
This inexpressibly unreasonable hypothesis was powerfully advo-
cated by Paul Sabatier, but has found an adversary in the present
Annalist of the P>anciscan Order, P. Leonard Lemmens. Another
Catholic Franciscan researcher, S. Minocchi, sees in the Legenda
trium sociorum the missing work of John of Ceperano. His legend
begins, namely (see page 355), with the words Quasi steUa matuiina,
and only one of the manuscripts of the Three Brothers' Legend
has a prologue beginning with these words. ^ Other more recent
researchers, such as Faloci-Pulignani, stand firmly on the old
ground, that the first part is the whole of the legend, and this,
although in the edition brought out by Faloci after a manuscript
in Foligno of the Three Brothers' Legend, outside of the sixteen
traditionally accepted chapters and the two unaccepted and
added ones, there are still found two chapters of the second part
of the legend, namely, one "of the Names of the twelve first
Brothers" (Da Civezza-Domenichelli, Cap. XII) and one concern-
ing the Portiuncula indulgence (Cap. XLIX, same work, in a
slightly different form). Da Civezza and Domenichelli finally
weaken their position by following Sabatier in his Speculum
theories, so that they and their introduction to the Legend treat
the Three Brothers' Legend of 1246 as little more than a copy of
what Leo alone had already written in 1227. Even so conservative
a critic as Gotz, who on the whole is friendly to tradition, regards
the authenticity of the Legend as impaired; but he does not deny
that both in the Legetida trium sociorum as well as in the work of
the nearly related anonymous writer from Perugia there is found
valuable material, though, according to his view, material of the
second rank.^
^ Proefulgidus ut lucifer el skut stella matuiina, into quasi sol oriens (MS. Vatic,
7339)- Quasi Stella matuiina is not found here a single time, but always sicut.
(See Da Civezza-Domenichelli, p. 4, n. i. Tilcmann, pp. 125-133.)
^ Van Ortroy, Analecta BoUand., XIX (iQoo), pp. 119-197; Sabatier, Revue
historique, LXXV (1901); Minocchi, Archivio storico ital., XXIV, pp. 249-362,
and Nuovi Studi (1900), pp. loo et seq.; Lemmens, Documcnta anliqua franc,
I (Quaracchi, 1901), pp. 26-27; Faloci-Pulignani, S. Francisci Legenda trium
sociorum, Fulginice (1S98), et La Leggenda, etc., Rome, 1899 pp. i-cxx.xvi;
Gotz, Brieger's Zeitschr. f. Kgsch., XXV (1904), pp. 34, 36-37, 40.
BIOGRAPHERS 367
b. Anonymus Perusinus
When the BoUandists in their time commenced their studies of
the history of St. Francis, they had, among other things on which
to exercise their judgment, a manuscript from Perugia, out of
which they had formerly extracted a biography of the third dis-
ciple of St. Francis of Assisi, Brother Giles. {Ada Sanctorum,
April 23.) In this manuscript there is now found also a biography
of St. Francis, and as the Legend of Giles was undoubtedly a Work
of Brother Leo,i Paplebroch believes that the legend of St. Francis
may also be attributed to him.
In reality this legend offers numerous and close points of com-
parison with the Legenda trium sociorum. Even the title and
preface remind us of this work; these are given here:
"Of the origin and doings of the Friars Minor who were the first
in the Order and faithful friends (socii) of St. Francis.
"In order that the servants of the Lord may not be ignorant
of the ways and the doctrine of holy men, by which it is possible
to progress to God, so have I, who have seen their actions, heard
their words and also been their disciple, related and compiled
several of the doings of our most holy Brother Francis and of some
of the other Brothers in the beginning of the Order." ^ These
words indicate a disciple of the first disciples. Now we know that
Brother Giles lived in the convent of Monte Ripido near Perugia
until his death on April 23, 1261; was it therefore unreasonable
to see in the author of the anonymous legend a young Brother who
— like Ubertino of Casale in Greccio with John of Parma — sat
early and late at the feet of the Franciscan veteran "and heard
his word from his holiest mouth and looked into his angelic coun-
tenance"? ^ Thus already had many Brothers even from distant
England sat in Portiuncula at the feet of the old Brother Leo and
heard him tell of the perfect joy, and how he and St. Francis had
1 Salimbene, Chronica, p. 322.
^ De inceptione et actibus illorum fratrum minorum, qui fuerunt primi in
religione et socii beati Francisci.
Quoniam servi Domini non debent ignorare viam et doctrinam sanctorum
virorum . . . ideo ad honorem Domini et aedificationem legentium et audien-
tium ego, qui acta eorum vidi, verba audivi, quorum etiam discipulus fui,
aliqua de actibus beatissimi fratris nostri Francisci et aliquorum fratrum qui
venerunt in principio religionis, narravi et compilavi, prout mens mea divinitus
fuit docta.
Anonymus Perusinus is partly given in Acta Sanctorum, Oct. II, pp. 549-560,
and completelyby v. Ortroy \n Miscellanea Francescana IX (1902), pp. 33-48.
'Ubertino of Casale, Arbor vitae crucifixae (Venice, 1485), lib. V, cap. III.
368 AUTHORITIES
the same Breviary. The words they thus heard from the older
Brothers were written down.^ We possess still several of these
collections, "Words of Brother Giles," "Words of Brother Leo,"
"Words of Conrad of Offida," and we later find similar notes
among the sources of the Speculum pcrfectionis, in whose intro-
duction we accordingly find the following: "This Work is com-
piled from what the friends of St. Francis wrote or had written
in different convents." - There is certainly nothing to hinder
us from seeing in Anonymus Perusinus (the anonymous writer
of Perugia) a repetition of Brother Giles' recollections, and un-
doubtedly the work, when we omit the preface, can also be regarded
as an extract from or, as Gotz prefers, a sketch of, the Three
Brothers' Legend. With his usual radicalism van Ortroy has
thrown out the preface as a forgery intended to give authority to
the work.^ The anonymous writer did his work after 1290, for
Bernard of Bessa's Legend is referred to in it. But Brother Giles
died April 23, 1261.
c. Thomas of Celano^s Vita secunda
In many manuscripts the Legenda trium sociorum is introduced
by the following words: Hacc sunt quaedam scripta per tres socios
beati Francisci, "These are some things written by three com-
panions of blessed Francis." Leo, Angelo and Rufino had sent
their work to Crescentius of Jesi, as scripta, as written documents,
not as legends. And now what use did he make of the incom-
parably valuable material that thus came into his hands? With
the complete Legenda trium sociorum before one it is easy to answer
this query. The three Socii had written in their preface, that "if
the honored men who had written the foregoing legends had
known these things, they would not have passed them by, but
would have adorned them in their own beautiful style." * There
* Ista scripsit frater Garynus de Sedcnefcld ab ore fratris Leonis. (Eccle-
ston, Anal. Fr., I, p. 245.) Supererant adhuc multi de sociis ... de quibus
ego vid! et ab ipsis audivi quae narro (Angelo Clarcno, ca. 1245-1337, Chron.
Tribidalionnm, quoted in Spec, perf., ed. Sab., p. LXXIX, n. i). Hane his-
torian! habuit frater Jacobus de Massa ab ore fratris Leonis {Actus B. Francisci,
IX, 71). See also the interpolation between chapters 71 and 72 of Spec, per-
fectionis and Actus b. Fr., cap. 65.
* Sabatier's ed., p. 250.
»Gotz, vol. XXV, pp. 40-47. V. Ortroy, Anal. Boll., XIX, p. 123.
* Si venerabililius viris qui præfatas confcccrunt legendas, hæc nota fuissent
ea minima prætcrissent, quin . . . sua decorassent eloquio.
BIOGRAPHERS 369
can be no doubt that they here were thinking of Thomas of
Celano, whose diction they also in another place in the preface
had characterized as "truth-inspiring as well as lucid." ^ And
Crescentius followed this hint — he handed over to Thomas of
Celano the Three Brothers' work for revision. The result of this
was Celano's Vita secunda, which to all intents and purposes is
the Legenda triuni sociorum "decorated," i.e., improved in style.
Even in the preface we can see how the Brothers' simple words
concerning their relation to the manuscript appear in improved
style and amplified sentences.^ And Thomas of Celano regarded
himself as the Three Brothers' interpreter to this degree, that the
legend is not produced as one of his works — he is mentioned in
the prologue only as the author of the later written legends — but
as a work of the Brothers. It is they who, without naming them-
selves, are writing the preface in the plural number; to them
Crescentius gave the commission that they, out of their long
intercourse with St. Francis, should write down his gesta and
dicta, his action and words: it is they who apologize for their low
ability, being only ignorant men. At any rate their prologue
closes with a real Celano-like touch, a flattering pun on the name
of Crescentius of Jesi.^
That it was Brother Thomas of Celano who applied his pen to
the work, is not only perfectly clear on the basis of these internal
criticisms; it is shown by a series of proofs that we cannot reject.
Thus we have in Salimbene, whose chronicle was written 1283-
1284 and who had known both Bernard of Quintavalle and Brother
Leo: (Crescentius) "ordered Brother Thomas of Celano, who had
written the first legend of blessed Francis, that he should write
another book, because many things had been found out about
the blessed Francis which had not been written, and he wrote a
very beautiful book, which he called Memoriale beati Francisci in
^ lam veridico quam luculento sermone.
^ Tres Socii in preface: Sanclæ conversationis ejus insignia et pil bcneplacili
voluntatem ostendere cupientes. While we read in the Prologue of Celano:
Experimere intendimus et vigilanti studio declarare quae sanctissimi patris tarn
in se quam in suis fuerit voluntas bona, beneplacens, et perfecta in omni ex-
ercitio disciplinæ coelestis et summæ perfectionis studio.
' Placuit sanctæ universitati olim capituli generalis et vobis, reverendissime
pater . . . parvitati nostrae injungere, ut gesta vel etiam dicta gloriosi patris
nostri Francisci nos quibus ex assidua conversatione illius et mutua famili-
aritate plus ceteris diutinis experimentis innotuit ad consolationem præsentium
et posterorum memoriam scriberemus. . . . Memoria nostra velut hominum
rudium. . . . Ut ea quæ benedicta vestro judicio docto probantur, cum nomine
vestro vere Crescentio crescant ubique. . . . Prologue to Vila secunda.
25
370 AUTHORITIES
desiderio animae.'^ ' But the legend which under the name of
Vita secunda is ascribed to Thomas of Celano begins as follows:
Incipit memorialc in desiderio animæ de gestis et verbis sanctissimi
patris nostri Francisci. (Amoni's edition, Rome, 1880, pp. 7 et
seq.) Furthermore, Jordanus of Giano in the Chronicle, which
he in 1262 as an old man dictated to Brother Balduin of Branden-
burg in the convent in Halberstadt, expressly names Thomas of
Celano as author both of a lirst and then of a second legend of
St. Francis.- And in the work of Brother Arnold of Serrano,
Chronica XXIV gener aliuni (before 1369), as well as in Nicholas
Glassberger's Chronicle (completed 149 1), both of which are founded
on important, now partly vanished, sources, this view is re-
peated.'
As a last addition to these proofs of Thomas of Celano's
authorship or co-operation with the Brothers, who had best
known St. Francis, we have the beautiful prayer with which
the Vita secunda ends, and in which the Brothers (socii)
invoked their sainted father and called down his blessing on
^ Hie praecepit fratri Thomae de Celano, qui primam Legendam beati
Francisci fecerat, ut iterum scriberet alium librum, eo quod multa invenie-
bantur de beato Francisco, quae scripta non erant. Ft scripsit pulcherrimum
librum, tarn de miraculis quam de vita, quern appellavit: Memoriale beati
Francisci in desiderio animae. Salimbene, Chronica, Parma, 1857, p. 60.
^ et Thoma de Celano qui legendam sancti Francisci et primam, et secundam
postea, conscripsit. Jordanus in Analecla Franciscana, vol. I, Quaracchi, 1887,
p. 8.
* Frater Crcscentius autera, Gcncralis Minister, præcepit universis fratribus,
quod sibi in scriptis mitterent quidquid de vita et prodigiis sancti Francisci
veraciter scirent. . . . Item, eius mandato inducti, frater Leo, confessor beati
Francisci, frater Angelus et frater Rufinus, quondam socii revcrendi Patris,
multa, quæ de ipso Patre beato viderant et a fide dignis fratribus, videlicet
Philippo Longo, Illuminato et Massæo de Marignano ct a fratre lohanne, socio
sancti patris Ægidii, audierunt, per modum legcndæ in scriptis redegerunt et
eidem Generali transmiserunt. Alii etiam plurimi quæ noverant recollegerunt,
et sic multa magnalia, quae Sanctus in divcrsis orbis parlibus fecerat, fuerunt
publicata. Et postmodian ex mandato eiusdem Gencralis Ministri et generalis
capituli compilavit frater Thomas de Ceperano (Celano) primum tractatum
legendæ sancti Francisci, de vita scilicet et verbis et intentione eius circa ea
quæ ad rcgulam pertinent; quæ dicitur Legcnda Antiqua, quam dicto Generali
et capitulo destinavit cum prologo qui incipit: "Placuit sanctæ universitati
vestræ." Glassbcrger, Anal. Franc, tom. II, pp. 68-69. As appears from the
preceding page, note 3, the Preface of Celano's Vita secunda begins with the
exact word cited by Glassberger. The poslmodum, italicized by me gives a
good connection between the Document and Thomas of Celano's work. See
also Bernard of Bessa (ca. i2go) in Anal. Franc, III, 666, and Chronica XXIV
gencralium, Anal. Franc, III, 276.
BIOGRAPHERS 371
"this thy son who now and formerly wrote piously in thy
honor," and who "together with us offers and dedicates
to thee this little work." ^ Only Thomas of Celano can be
seen in this reference. That the poet of Dies irae — as Sabatier,
prejudiced against him, would have it — should have himself
invented this prayer to give thereby to his work the most reli-
able possible character, this is — as Gotz has said — to postu-
late a spiritual impossibility. ^ What should Thomas and the
milder party represented by him, according to Sabatier, have
gained thereby, since the Vita secunda in spite of all collab-
oration extols the true Franciscanism, the absolute ideals from
the first days of the Order, just as strongly as does the Legenda
trium sociorum ?
The legend which Thomas of Celano sent to Crescentius and
which therefore was written in the course of less than one year
(August 12, 1246, date of the completion of the Three Brothers'
Legend, July, 1247, date of Crescentius' removal from the general-
ship), consists of two parts, each with its prologue; the second
part, which has the wider scope, is furthermore divided into two
books.
We should now expect a clear parallelism between these
two parts of Celano 's new work and the two parts of the
Legenda trium sociorum. The first part of Celano's biography
of St. Francis answers with great exactitude to the first part of
the Three Brothers' Legend (below is a comparison of these
^ Vita secunda, III, 143; Oratio sociorum: Supplicamus etiam toto cordis
affectu, benignissime pater, pro illo filio tuo, qui nunc et olim devotus tua
scripsit praeconia. Hoc ipse opusculum . . . una nobiscum tibi offert et
dedicat (Amoni's ed., p. 140).
2 Sabatier in Opuscules de crit. hist., Ill, p. 70, n. i: "Avec une habilété que
je me dispenserai de qualifier, Thomas de Celano park de fagon å suggerer å
ses lecteurs l'idée, que la seconde vie avait été faite en collaboration avec les
Socii."
i Gotz in Briegers "Zeitschrift f. Kgsch." 1903, p. 178: "Mir will scheinen,
die Moglichkeit dieses Betruges sich ausdenken, heisst sie vemeinen. Es
liegt eine seelische Unmoglichkeit vor, ganz abgesehen davon, dass ein Wider-
spruch gegen den Fålscher sich in der spatern Literatur vorfinden musste
auch wenn der erste Protest der Vergewaltigten (i.e. the Socii) uns veloren
gegangen sein sollte." In note 2 on the same page Gotz adds, that from
Sabatier's standpoint it must seem very remarkable that such a conscienceless
falsifier, as Sabatier considers Thomas of Celano to be, should be held in such
high esteem by his superiors and should always get new commissions for work,
which he kept up to the end of his life; "so niedrig stehende Naturen pflegen
sich auch mit ihren Freunden zu iiberwerfen."
372
AUTHORITIES
accordances).' As regards the second part, the contents do not
compare so closely.
Up to the most recent times it has been held that Thomas of
Celano did not send to Crescentius more than the first part of his
Vita secunda, and only wrote the two last and most important
books at the request of Crescentius' successor, John of Parma.^
This belief rests on a note in Chronica XXIV gener alium, in which
it ^ is said of this immediate successor of Crescentius, that he
"repeatedly invited Brother Thomas of Celano to complete his
. Chap. XVI-XVII
^ Tres Socii Vita sec, Celano
Prologue Prologue
Chap. I, n. I, Chap. II, n. 4 . . . . Chap. I
II, 5-6 "II
III, 7-8 "Ill
III, 8-10 "IV
IV "V
V, 13, VI, 16 "VI
VI, 16-20, VII, 23 .... " VII
VII, 24 " VIII
VII, 22 "IX
VIII, 27-28 "X
XII, 46, XIII, 54 "XI
XIII, 55-56 " XII-XIII
XIV, 59 " XIV
XVI and XV " XVI-XVII
(Cap. XXXIII in the complete Legenda trium sociorum, ed. Da Civezza-
Domenichelli, corresponds to Cap. XV in Celano and to Cap. 27 in Spec, per-
fcclionis.)
For every one who with, any degree of attention compares the chapters
which correspond to each other, there can exist no doubt on which side the
originality lies. As fresh and original as are the narrations in the Legenda trium
sociorum, so are they stiff and involved in Thomas of Celano. Moreover, he
abbreviates to such an extent that it is often impossible to understand what
he is telling us, if we do not know it in advance. In one place we see him pass
over a whole scries of narrations of the first disciples {Leg. trium sociorum, Capp.
IX-XI), saying that it would be too long to follow out each narration {longum
esset de singidis persequi. Vita sec, Ccl., I, 10).
It is worthy of remark that Thomas of Celano's working up of the first
part of the Three Brothers' Legend ceases with Cap. XVI; he did not know of
the two chapters 17 and 18 added at a later period and which are found in the
manuscripts. It is impossible to give the time of these editions more accurately
than that it was before 1375 probably, and, as it is based upon St. Bonaventure's
work on St. Francis, they come after 1263.
^Thus Sabatier, Speculum pcrfectionis, p. 125, and the editors of Analecta
Franciscana, vol. II, p. 18.
* Anal. Franc, III, 276.
BIOGRAPHERS 373
biography of St. Francis, for he had only written about his conver-
sation and sayings in his first treatise which he had composed by
command of Brother Crescentius." As Thomas does not treat
of Francis's conversatio and verba in the first, but does treat of
them in the second part of the Vita secunda, it is perfectly clear
that this cannot be the part of the biography which John of Parma
asked him to write. Since van Or troy's publication of a hitherto
unknown treatise on St. Francis' miracles, which without doubt
can be ascribed to Thomas of Celano, we also know thereby
that this is the work John of Parma wished written to complete
the Vita secunda}
The fact that the division between the two parts of Celano 's
new work so accurately corresponds with the conclusion of the
traditional Three Brothers' Legend seems to indicate that there
was a division in this place in the very work sent out from the
Convent in Greccio. In the first part of the manuscript the Three
Brothers describe a period of time, of which it is certain that their
scribe, Brother Leo, knew nothing from his own experiences;
therefore they had to content themselves as best they could with
Thomas of Celano 's relation in the Vita prima, although certain
parts, such for example as that treating of the Brothers' first
missionary trips, are completely worked over con amore. But
the part of their legend which corresponds to the first and third
of Celano 's Vita secunda was made up first and foremost out of
their own remembrances of St. Francis, and the form became —
as the Speculum perfectionis and the Melchiorri Legend show —
completely different: no well arranged history but detached
stories. If the first part reminds us of a regularly arranged legend,
J Published in Analeda BoUandiana, XVIII (1899), pp. 81-177; the manu-
script was found in Marseilles.
Gotz, "Die Qiiellen zur Geschkhte des hl. Franz, v. Assisi," published in book
form in Gotha, 1904, pp. 234 et seq., is inclined to ascribe the work to Julian
of Speier. But as Julian always copied Celano, he must have had an exactly
corresponding work of Thomas before him, and the notes in the Chron. XXIV
gen. indicate this.
That the material for the whole of the Vita secunda was sent immediately
by Crescentius to Thomas is to be seen in this, that he already in the first
volume (chapter XV) treats of a source which in the Legenda trium sociorutn
was not be found in that part, but in the second half of the Legend. Sabatier
therefore suspects unjustly (Vie, p. 76) that John of Parma had at first
given Celano the rest of the Three Brothers' Legend for revision. Moreover, it
was Sabatier who, before v. Ortroy, discovered in an Assisi MS. fragments of
Celano's Treatise on Miracles (Misc. Franc, 1894, pp. 40 et seq. Compare
Opuscules, fasc. Ill, pp. 66-67).
374 AUTHORITIES
the second part supplies precisely the flowers, the jfores which
the Brothers promised to pluck from the fields of their memory.
It is likely that the second part of the Three Brothers' Legend
originally or in very early manuscripts bore the title we know in
some Franciscan manuscripts, now injured by fire: Flores heati
Francisci et sociorum ejus}
That the Three Brothers' Legend did thus consist of two parts
is clearly indicated by a peculiarity we find in several of the manu-
scripts. In these manuscripts we find, namely, together with the
Lcgcnda trium sociorum and in close sequence thereto, sometimes
the Speculum perjectionis, sometimes the Actus beati Francisci et
sociorum ejus. These two compilations of the fourteenth century
are exactly — as will show later — the substitutes of a later time
for the second half of the Three Brothers' Legend, and their pres-
ence in this place is an indication partly of the incompleteness of the
traditional legend and partly of the character of the missing second
portion. In the BoUandists' Leonine manuscript of the Three
Brothers' Legend, the Speculum and the Actus follow it; the same
association occurs in the case of the manuscript N. 1743 of 1459,
in the Mazarin Library, but with the Legettda trium sociorum
between the Speculum and the Actus. In the same library the
manuscript 989 of 1460 contains the Tres socii, Speculum and the
Actus. Manuscript 343 of Liege of 1408 contains: Tres socii,
Actus, Admonitiones, Speculum. Manuscript 1407 in the Riccardi
Library in Florence contains first in Italian the traditional Lcgenda
trium sociorum and Lo specchio di perfectione, and finally a quantity
of St. Francis' letters and prayers, rules for hermits, Admonitiones,
The Blessing of Brother Leo, with a whole lot of small pieces of
the character of the Fioretli, the whole collected under the title
Incominciano alquanti fiori spirituali. Also manuscript 2697 in the
University Library in Bologna of about 1500 contains: (i) Tre
Compagni, (2) Specchio di perfectione, (3) Fiori spirituali. (See
the detailed description of these and many similar manuscripts in
the introduction to Vols. I, II and IV of Sabatier's exhaustive
Collection d'études et de docu7ncnts sur Vhistoire réligieuse et littéraire
du moyen åge. Paris, 1898-1902.)
^ See Papini: Rtruria Francescana (Siena, 1707), pp. 162-163, quoted in
Sabatier's Collection d' eludes et de documents, IV, pp. 30-31. One of these
manuscripts was in vult^ari and they cannot well have had anything else
in them than the Fioretti, and we find in this book a part of the original Fran-
ciscan Flores. The question is first and foremost this: where was the title
first used and what work did it orij^inally indicate? And here it cannot be
denied that the Three Brothers in 1246 used it for their own legend.
BIOGRAPHERS 375
This theory of mine of the original division of the Three Brothers'
Legend into two parts would, among other things, make it clear
how Bartholomew of Pisa, who otherwise knew and cites a more
complete Legenda triimi sociorum than the traditional, is never-
theless (Co«/orw., Milano, 1510, fol. 181-182) able to quote Francis'
prophecy about Cardinal Hugohn's elevation to the Papal throne,
as being "almost at the end of the legend" {quasi in fine legendæ).
This quotation agrees, namely, with the traditional fragmentary
legend, in which the prophecy is certainly found in the last lines
of the last chapter, and can only be brought into unison with the
author's undoubted acquaintance with a completer Legenda irium
sociorum, if we accept that he here by the word legenda has intended
to indicate the first legendary or historic part of the work, which
he distinguished from the flares (flowers) of its second division.^
1 grant, moreover, that the Italian Three Brothers' Legend does
not support this thesis. As this, namely, is contained in Muzio's
copy, no division into two parts is to be found in it, but a whole
quantity of the chapters I have designated as flores are found
intercalated, partly between Chaps. XII and XIV of the first
part of the Legend, partly between Chaps. XIV and XV-XVI of
the same. But whether even the Muzio manuscript gives us an
idea of the original contents of the Three Brothers' Legend or not,
it does not necessarily follow that the division into the two parts
should have been followed in it. In the Middle Ages they took
the most extensive liberties in this respect.^
In any case in the second division (second and third book) of
Celano's Vita secunda, we have to see an editing of the material
the Brothers had sent to Crescentius, and which did not appear in
the first book of the Vita secunda. But we shall go entirely wrong
if we expect to find an actual written authority for every single
chapter in Celano. We must not forget that Thomas not only
drew from the notes of the Brothers, but also from their verbal
descriptions; the prologue and concluding prayer show us that
this co-operation existed, even if we are not in a position to say
^ An indication of Bartholomew of Pisa's knowledge of a complete Three
Brothers' Legend is in Da Civezza-Domenichelli, pp. 46-49. Tilemann,
(same work, p. 69) on account of the contradiction whose explanation is
attempted above, considers the quotations of Bartholomew of Pisa quite
unavailable as proofs of the existence of a Legenda trium sociorum of greater
scope than the traditional one.
2 In this connection is it worthy of remark that Sabatier in the Muzio
manuscript sees an intermediate work between the original and the traditional
Three Brothers' Legend. {Opuscules, fasc. Ill, p. 70.)
376 AUTHORITIES
how and under what forms. We have a right to expect a certain
similarity with other works o£ the Brother Leo group, and such
similarity is found, not only when we compare the Vita secunda
with the Italian Three Brothers' Legend edited by Melchiorri,
but also when we institute the comparison with the work that more
than any other may be said to represent the tradition originating
with Brother Leo and his circle, Speculum pcrfedionis. A whole
quantity of chapters of both works are found introduced in Celano's
Vila secunda — we may compare for instance the Speculum, 30-35,
with the Vita secunda, sec. Ill, 31-34, or the complete Three
Brothers' Legend, Caps. 30, 37, 38, with Caps. 37, 30, 32, in the
same part of Celano's second biography.
There are not a few chapters in the Vita secunda that did not
originate in the Speculum perjectionis, and there are also many
without parallel texts in the Muzio-Melchiorri Legend. In con-
sideration of the exact, almost servile parallelism with the Legenda
trium socionim in the first book of Celano's second biography, I
would be obhged to accept the conclusion that the personal co-opera-
tion between Thomas a}ui the Three Brothers be gait first with the second
book, in whose prologue, exactly in the Brothers' spirit, Francis is
conceived and represented as speculum sanctitatis and imago per-
jectionis. From now on there is less adherence to Celano's method
of work. The dedication to Crescentius preceding the entire
book may — like the Brothers' letter of 1246 to Crescentius —
have been written last.^
* As an illustration of the relation between the Three Brothers' Legend,
Speculum perjectionis, and Celano's Vitasccuiida, I append the following parallel:
Legenda trium sociorum
(Da Civezza-Melchiorri's ed.)
Cap. XIX. Quomodo cxivil cum fervorc ad quemdam fratrcm qui ibat cum
eleemosynis Jaudando Dcum. Alio quoque tempore, bcato Francisco cxistente
apud Sanctam Mariam de Portiunculam, quidam frater, spiritualis valde, venie-
bat per stratam, revertens de Assisio pro eleemosyna, et ibat alta voce lauda-
dando Deum cum magna jucunditate. Quum autem appropinquasset ecclesiae
beatae Mariae, beatus Franciscus audivit eum, qui cum maximo fervore et
gaudio exivit ad eum, occurrens sibi in via, ct cum magna laetitia osculans hume-
rum ejus, ubi apportabat peram cum eleemosyna. Et accepit peram de humero
ejus et sic apportavit ipsam in domum fralrum et coram fratribus dixit: "Sic
volo quod frater meus vadat et revertatur cum eleemos>'na laetus et gaudens et
laudans Deum."
Speculum pcrfectionis (Cap. 25) has exactly the same text (as pauper for
frater is only a copyist's error).
Celano's Vita secunda
(ed Amoni)
III, cap. XXII. QuaJitcr osculatus fuif humerum eleemosynam portantis.
Alio tempore apud Portiunculam cum frater quidam rcdirct de Assisio cum
BIOGRAPHERS 377
Celano's second biography seems thus to rest upon two separate
foundations — partly upon the second part of the Legenda trium
sociorum, partly upon more exact descriptions and statements
from Leo, Angelo and Rufino.
As the Speculum pcrfcctionis, which was written in 13 18, con-
tains much more of the material for Celano's second biography
than the Legenda trium sociorum in the Muzio manuscript, we are
apparently forced to believe that the original Three Brothers'
Legend was less detailed than Brother Thomas' Vita secunda.
But as there is undoubtedly an ancient text, the foundation for
the relations in the Speculum, even when they are not found in the
Italian Legenda trium sociorum, which ancient text concerns also
the relations of Thomas of Celano, there is nothing else for us to
suppose than that the Brothers co-operating with Thomas brought to
light more reminiscences of St. Francis than those they had put
down in their own legefid — the same, which in part is preserved
for us in the Speculum perfectionis}
Whether the question can be answered, as to why in all the
Latin manuscripts of the Three Brothers' Legend only half is
preserved, is doubtful, in the face of all these researches.
There is no doubt that there is a sort of division in the legend
itself, which is almost enough to give the first part of the work an
independent character.
The legend's special value was due to the fact that it was written
by the nearest friends of the departed founder of the Order, but
Celano's second biography had the same pre-eminence and in
addition bore an official stamp, as the Three Brothers' Legend
must be looked upon as a predecessor from which Brother Thomas
extracted the best parts.
This point of view explains well why the Three Brothers'
Legend on the whole returned to the old form. But it does not
explain how the second part of it has disappeared. Thomas of
Celano had worked upon the whole legend — why did not the
whole of it disappear?
eleemosyna, propinquus jam loco coepit in cantum prorumpere, et Dominum
alta voce laudare. Quo audito, repente exilit sanctus, accurrit foras, et oscu-
lato fratris humero, sacculum suo imponit: Benedictus, inquit, sit frater meus,
qui promptus vadit, humilis quaerit, gaudens revertitur.
1 It is clear to the most superficial observation (see the foregoing remark)
how Thomas abbreviated and adorned the simple explicit presentation which
is preserved for us in the Three Brothers' Legend and in the Speculum. Also
how the material is not reproduced word for word, but — as in the parallel
just given — becomes a simple statement much improved in style.
378 AUTHORITIES
The real reason must therefore be sought elsewhere. It lies
in the appearance on the scene of a manuscript that in various
ways crowded upon, even overshadowed all early biographies of
St. Francis — the legend produced by St. Bonaventure as General
of the Order. 1
3. St. Bonaventure Group
Bonaventure (John Fidanza) from Bagnorea had never per-
sonally known St. Francis. He was — this he tells in the pro-
logue to his legend — when a little boy cured by a miracle of the
great Saint.- He was born in 1221 and took Orders when seven-
teen years old, and therefore after Francis' death.
It was a General Chapter in Narbonne in 1260 which entrusted
to Bonaventure the writing of a new legend of St. Francis so that
— in the words of the Chapter's resolution — a "serious and cor-
rect presentation" can be given "of the many different legends"
which now exist. ^
Bonaventure undertook the commission, proposing "according
to his ability to collect the words and actions of the Saint, as it
were certain fragments in part dispersed, less they should perish
by the death of those who had lived in the society of the servant
of God." Like a good historian he then travelled to Assisi and
there sought Francis' "still living familiar friends," "especially
some who knew well how holy he was," who therefore claimed
confidence before all others.^ First and foremost he sought
' Editions of Celano's Vita sccunda, Rome, 1806 (Rinaldi), and Rome, 1880
(Amoni).
It is clear to be seen, that Celano in his authorship always sought the same
authorities. This is evident in the fact that we find in Celano's Traclalus de
iniracidis, written by order of John of Parma — concerning the presence of
Jacopa de Septcmsoliis at the deathbed of Francis — what is a perfect sequel
to the present narration in the complete Three Brothers' Lcgeiid (Cap.
LXXVIII), and Spccidum pcrfcctionis (Cap. 112). Even as the biographer
of St. Clara, he worked in unison with Brother Leo.
* ea quam ad sanctum patrcm habere tencor devotio . . . utpote qui per
ipsius invocationem ct merita in puerili aetate, sicut recenti mcmoria teneo,
a mortis faucibus erutus, si praeconia laudis eius tacuero, timeo sceleris argui
ut ingratus. (Legenda major, ed. Quaracchi, 1898, Prologus, 3).
' ut ablata varictate multarum Icgendarum ex diversis historiarum frag-
mentis, quae de s. Francisco circumferebantur, gravem et sinceram ipse con-
cinnaret historiam. Wadding, 1260, n. 18.
* actus et verba quasi fragmenta quaedam partim neglccta, partimque dis-
persa, quamquam plene non possem, utcumque colligerem, ne, morientibus
his, qui cum famulo Dei convixerant, deperirent . . . adiens locum originis,
BIOGRAPHERS 379
Brother Leo, with whom he had already corresponded, as he had
to send reports to the General of the Order concerning the Clares
in S. Damiano (after 1260 in St. Clara), whose visitator he was.^
Next comes Brother Illmninato, who up to 1273 was Provincial
of Umbria and who seems to have given Bonaventure much
material (on the trip to the Orient in which he took part, and from
the Rieti district, where he had his home). Furthermore, Bona-
venture's work appears as a skilfully prepared compilation of all
the preceding sources — Celano's Vita prima, which he used in
Julian of Speier's adaptation, the first part of the Three Brothers'
Legend, Celano's Vita secunda and Treatise on Miracles — finally
he uses in one place an expression that reminds one of a relation
in the later Speculum perjectionis? There is little new in St.
Bonaventure; most that is new consists of further adornments of
the legends. Thus the Priest Silvester, in the vision which con-
verts him, sees not only a cross issuing from the mouth of St.
Francis, but sees also a dragon that surrounds the whole of
Assisi, and which Francis puts to flight. Also the tale of the man
in Assisi, who in Francis' youth honored him by spreading his
cloak before him in the street, is found for the first time in Bona-
venture.^ In this and other new details we seem to hear the echo
of all the more or less fabulous and numerous tales about St.
Francis, which went from mouth to mouth in the market-place in
Assisi, or were told by the firesides in the evening when they were
entertaining each other with stories.
Thode in his well-known book has undertaken to collect together
these new incidents in Bonaventure's legend.'* Here we must
observe that St. Bonaventure — as the editors of Analecta Fran-
conversationis et transitus viri sancti, cum familiaribus eius adhuc supervi-
ventibus collationem . . . habui diligentem, et maxime cum quibusdam, qui
sanctitatis eius et conscii fuerunt et sectatores præcipui, quibus . . . fides
est indubitabilis adhibenda. (Prolog. 3-4.)
1 Intelligens semper, dilectae in Domino filiae, per carissimum nostrum
fratrem Leonem, quondam socium sancti patris, quomodo velut sponsae regis
aeterni servire Christo pauperi crucifixo in omni puritate studeatis. . . . (Let-
ter of October, 1259, to the Clares in S. Damiano, in Bonaventure's Opera omnia,
Quaracchi, i8g8, VIII, p. 473).
^ See the comparison with Da Civezza-Domenichelli, p. 186, note a. Saba-
tier's assertion {Spec, perf., pp. 130 et seq.), that Bonaventure used the Specu-
lum throughout his work, is refuted by Tilemann (loc. cit., p. 74).
' Legenda major. III, 6; I, i.
*H. Thode: "Franz v. Assisi und die Anfdnge der Kunst der Renaissance in
Italien" Berlin, 1885, p. 535. See also Gotz: "Quellen," Gotha, 1904, pp.
243-257; Tilemann, loc. cit., pp. 72-76.
380 AUTHORITIES
ciscana say in one place — referring to tlie whole of this question
of origin, "for the sake of peace, somewhat modified it,"^ in other
words that he modified the too severe development of the original
Franciscan ideals, as it is found both in Celano and in the Lcgcnda
trium socionim. And here we have the reason for the condemnation
of the last named legend.
After Bonaventure had finished his biography he laid it before
the Chapter of the Order in Pisa in 1263, and they were so pleased
with his work that they resolved to destroy all the other legends of St.
Francis. As Tilemann has said: " they canonized the General's
Legend and proscribed all others."
This momentous resolution reads as follows:
"The General Chapter commands likewise in the name of
obedience, that all legends that have been written about St.
Francis shall be destroyed, and where they are found outside the
Order, the Brothers will seek to dispose of them, because the
legend which was written by the General is made up of what he
heard from their mouths, who were with St. Francis nearly all the
time and knew everything with certainty. . . . " ^
The decree disposed of all earlier legends, but especially of the
two in which this ideal, dangerous to the preservation of peace,
was most definitely announced — Celano's Vita secunda and the
seco}id part of the Three Brothers^ Legend. Thomas of Celano's
work was somewhat protected by the name of its author — he
was indeed the Order's first official historian and, after the canon-
ization of St. Clara in 1255 by Pope Alexander IV, had received
the commission to write also her legend. Nevertheless there are
only two manuscripts of his "Second Biography." And for Leo's,
Rufino's and Angelo's "Wreath of Flowers" no pity was felt,
and with dutiful zeal, following the order of the General Chapter,
the Brothers scattered them before the winds. Only the first half
* Ut pad consulat, aliquatenus mitius procedit S. Bonaventura {Anal. Fr.,
II, p. 22).
* Item praecipit capitulum generale per obedientiam, quod omnes lefjendae
de beato Francisco olim factae delcantur et ubi inveniri poterunt extra ordinem,
ipsas fratres studeant amovere, cum ilia legenda, quae facta est per generalem,
sit compilata, prout ipse habuit ab ore iliorum, qui cum beato Francisco quasi
semper fuerunt et cuncta certitudinaliter sciverint et probata ibi sint posita
diligenter. (Rinaldi's edition of Celano, Rome, 1806, p. XI.) Also Angelo
Clareno (d. ca. 1337) knew that "quae scripta erant in legenda prima, nova
edita a fratre Bonaventura, deleta et destructa sunt, ipso jubcnte." {Chronica
seplem tribidalionum, in "Archiv fiir Litt. u. Kgsch." II, p. 56.) Compare
Wadding, 1260, n. 18.
BIOGRAPHERS 381
was in some cases spared, as well as Celano's Vita prima for the
sake of its less significant character, and yet of the Vita prima
there are only seven manuscripts preserved and of the condemned
Three Brothers' Legend only eighteen manuscripts, while for the
use of the new Quaracchi edition of Bonaventure's work no
less than one hundred and seventy-nine manuscripts were at
hand.
To the same group as St. Bonaventure's legend is naturally
attributed the work De laudibus Sancti Francisci, written by his
secretary, Bernard of Bessa, about 1290. After having decreed
the destruction of all the earlier legends, the highest authorities
of the Order seemed to have realized a too radical treatment of
the old remains, and in 1277 the Chapter of the Order in Padua
invited new researches for the collection of all memoirs of St.
Francis still in existence.^ Bernard of Bessa seems to have ac-
cepted this invitation; in any case his work is later than 1277,
because he (Anal. Franc, III, p. 682) refers to John Peckham as
Archbishop of Canterbury, a dignity to which this Franciscan was
first raised in 1279.^
The fact is that Bernard of Bessa's manuscript presents little
that is new; he is, like his teacher and master, a compiler. In
the prologue he names as his sources Celano's first biography,
John of Ceperano, Julian of Speier and "Brother Bonaventure,
General of the Order, formerly a distinguished teacher of theology
in Paris, then Cardinal in the Holy Roman Church and Bishop
of Albano." But neither the Vita secunda nor the Three Brothers'
Legend is named, which, with the decree of 1263 in mind, seems
very natural, although Bernard used them so much.^ Tilemann
clearly saw that this silence about the Legenda trium sociorum was
an argument for the incompleteness of the traditional legend;
Bernard says nothing of it, nor of Celano's Vita secunda, because
both works contain things that were not well looked upon by
the peace-loving majority. Sabatier suspects that Bernard in his
functions as secretary to Bonaventure had access to the condemned
legends.^ On the other hand, Bernard did not need to have ex-
tracted his story of the visit of Jacopa of Settesoli to the death-
bed of Francis from the yet unwritten Speculum; it is to be
found both in Thomas of Celano's Treatise on Miracles and
^Anal. Boll., XIX, 133.
^Eubel: Hierarchia cath. medii aevi, p. 169.
' Parallel places cited by Tilemann, pp. 79-80.
* Speculum perfectionis, p. CXXXIV.
382 AUTHORITIES
probably also was in the complete form of the Three Brothers'
Legend.*
4. Speculum Group
After 1263 we hear little said of the Three Brothers' Legend;
the Chronica XXIV general ium a hundred years later mentions
it again and quotes the letter to Crescentius.- But until 1271
the man was still living who was, so to say, the living reproduction
of the Three Brothers' Legend; namely, Brother Leo. In spite
of all prohibitions, memories of his beloved lord and master's life
still bloomed in his aged heart, and when the young Brothers
from near and far visited him in his cell at Portiuncula, his mouth
overflowed with what filled his heart, and he told them mulia
magnalia, many great things about St. Francis. Sometimes he
criticized the official legend and declared that things went alto-
gether different from its descriptions. And both his relations and
his criticism were remembered by the young men and written
down for edification and for later discussion. Thus Brother Leo
came in contact with all the best among the Order: Brother Conrad
of Offida (d. 1300), Brother Salimbene, Brother Peter of Tewkes-
bury (Provincial of England), Brother Francis of Fabriano (d. 1322),
Brother Angelo Clareno (entered the Order a little after 1260).^
' Da Civezza and Domenichelli's Legends, cap. LXXVIII.
Bernard of Bessa's work appears in the Analecla Franciscana, III, pp. 666-
692, and by F. Hilarin Felder, Rome, 1897.
^ Anal. Franc, III, p. 262.
' parum ante mortem fratris Leonis apparuit (fratri loanni) sanctus Fran-
ciscus dicens, ut, assumpto fratre Corrado, pergeret ad fratrem Leonem, qui
tunc in sancta Maria de Portiuncula morabatur, et ab ipso inquireret de verbis
et vita sua, scilicet sancti patris Francisci. Quod cum fecisset, ambo multa
magnalia de beato Francisco ab ipso fratre Leone audiverunt. {Anal. Franc.,
Ill, p. 428.)
Sicut dixit mihi frater Leo socius suus (Salimbene, Chronica, p. 75).
Sed et frater Leo, socius sancti Francisci, dixit fratri Petro, ministro Angliae,
quod apparitio seraphim facta fuit sancto Francisco in quodam raptu contem-
plationis, et satis evidentius, quam scribebatur in vita sua. . . . Ista scripsit
frater Garynus de Sedenefeld ab ore fratris Leonis. (Eccleston, Anal. Franc.
I, p. 245. See Anal. Franc, III, p. 646.)
Wadding (1267, n. 5) quotes the following from Francis Venimbemi of Fabri-
ano: De supradicto fratre Petro Cathanii, quod fuit generalis minister, habetur
ex dictis fratris Leonis, unius de sociis sancti Francisci, quem scilicet fratrem
Leonem ego vidi et eius scripta legi, quae recollegit de dictis et vita sanctissimi
patris nostri Francisci.
Finally Angelo Clareno in his Chronica septem tribulationum (quoted in
Sabatier's edition of Spec pcrf., p. 89, n. i) says: Supererant adhuc multi
de sociis . . . de quibus ego vidi et ab ipsis audivi quae narro, qui ex
BIOGRAPHERS 383
And when the young men had departed and Brother Leo was
again alone in his poor Httle cell, whose whitewashed walls always
seemed to him to be shining with bright sunlight, then the old
Franciscan sat down at his work-table and began to write just as
in the old days when St. Francis dictated. Memory after memory
came upon him, one sheet of parchment was written full after
another in his beautiful clear handwriting, and when twilight
came and the clouds grew gold in the evening over Perugia's
distant towers, then Brother Leo rolled up his parchments and
carried them down the road, which under the olive trees passes
along Assisi's wall out to St. Clara's convent. Thither he had
already brought one of his dearest treasures, the Breviary St.
Francis had used; now his reminiscences of the great departed one
were to be entrusted to the guardianship of the Sisters. Little
by little they thus collected a considerable collection of anecdotes,
in part identical with the older writings from the time when he
collaborated with Thomas of Celano; but we may well believe that
many a new page was inserted in this book of reminiscences.
During such quiet hours at the writing table were written also
the "Leaves of Memory," as they may be called, which Leo, like
his master, was wont to give or to send to his disciples, and by
which he impressed them with the Francisqan ideals.^
In these rotuli or schedulæ, "rolls or schedules," of Brother Leo
toto corde revelata eorum patri fideliter et pure servare satagebant. It follows
from the words quoted, that Clareno here and foremost is thinking of Brother
Leo; for it is exactly he who knew what had been revealed to Francis at Fonte
Colombo and on Mt. Alverna and preserved it all in his heart.
^ quod sequitur a sancto fratre Conrado predicto et viva voce audivit a
sancto fratre Leone. . . . Et hoc ipsum in quibusdam rotulis manu sua con-
scriptis, quos commendavit in monasterio sanctae Clarae custodiendos ad
futurorum memoriam dicitur contineri. In illis autem multa scripsit, sicut ex
ore patris audiverat. (Ubertino of Casale, in his work, written 12,05, Arbor vitae
crticifixae, Venice 1485, fol. 222ai. Rotulus, according to Ducange = scheda,
carta in speciem rotulae, seu rotae, convoluta. Brother Leo's documents are
also cdlXeå schedidae, i.e., schedules. Both titles seem to indicate pieces without
connection with each other. St. Francis' Breviary in the convent of Santa Chiara
in Assisi has on its first page a note written by the hand of Brother Leo. It
runs thus: frater Angelus et frater Leo supplicant sicut possunt dominae Bene-
dictae abbatissae pauperum dominarum monasterii sanctae Clarae . . . ut in
memoria et devotione sancti patris librum istum in quo multoties legit dictus
pater semper conservent in monasterio sanctae Clarae. (Quoted in Sabatier's
Spec, perf., p. 175, n. 2.)
Brother Leo's schedule to Brother Conrad of Offida is found interpolated
between Chapters 71 and 72 in the Speculum perfectionis, and in another form
the Actus b. Francisci, cap. 65. Compare Anal. Franc, III, p. 70.
3^4 AUTHORITIES
is found the matter for the three works which complete the circle
of the Franciscan legends; namely, Speculum pcrjectionis, Legaida
anliqua and Actus beati Francisci et sociorwn ejus {Fioretti).
a. Speculum pcrjectionis
As already mentioned, Paul Sabatier, in his search for the miss-
ing portion of the Three Brothers^ Legend in the late Franciscan
compilation, Speculum beati Francisci et sociorum ejus (printed
1504), found a series of chapters which offer the most striking
likeness to the legends of Leo, Angelo and Rufino, and whose
authors — for there appeared to be several — in not less than
sev^entecn places declare that they had been Francis' nearest
friends and companions, nos, qui cum eo fuimus — an expression
which strikingly reminds us of the words in the Brothers' letter to
Crescentius: visum est nobis, qui secum licet hidigni fuimus diutius
conversati. Sabatier was just on the point of concluding that he
here stood face to face with the missing Three Brothers^ Legend
when in a manuscript in the Mazarin Library in Paris (No. 1743)
he found these chapters from the Speculum beati Francisci as a
distinct division with the title Speculum perfcciionis and, what
completely overcame him, with the following ending: "Here
ends the Friars' Minor mirror of perfection. . . . All praise, all
glory be to God the Father and Son and Holy Ghost. Honor and
thanks to the most glorious Virgin Mary and to his Holy Martyr
Kunera, exaltation and veneration to his most Holy Servant
Francis, Amen. Done in the most holy place of St. Mary of Por-
tiuncula and finished May 11, in the year of the Lord 1227." ^
What should at once have made Sabatier doubtful about this
date was the reference immediately preceding it to the German
Saint Kunera, who especially was honored in the district of
Utrecht, but to whom it was hardly probable that an Italian
legend writer in the year 1227 should give a place of honor,
immediately after the Blessed Virgin and before Francis himself.
But the text of the manuscript contains a whole quantity of things
* Explicit speculum perfcctionis fratris minoris, scilicet beati Francisci,
in quo scilicet vocationis et professionis suae pcrfectionem potest sufficientissime
specular!. Omnis laus, omnis gloria sit Deo patri et filio et spiritui sancto.
Honor et gratiarum actio gloriosissimae virgini Mariae, eiusque sanctae Martyri
Kunerae, magnificentia et exaltatio beatissimo ser\'o suo Francisco. Amen.
Actum in sacro sancto loco sanctae Mariae de Portiuncula et completum V °
ydus May, anno domini M°CC°XXVIII°. {Spec. perf.,ed. Sabatier, p. 246.)
The year 1228 in the Florentine reckoning of time used in the above corresponds
to our 1227.
THE SPECULUM PERFECTIONIS 385
which tell against so early an authorship. For example, in speak-
ing of Cardinal Hugolin it says "who afterwards became Pope."
In 1227 the expression should have been: "who has just become
Pope," for Gregory IX (Hugolin) reigned from March 12, 1227,
to August 21, 1 241. But the clause named above is appHed to
Hugolin's name not less than four times (Capp. 21, 23, 43, 65) and
always in the same words. Also in the commencement of Chapter
107 we are told of the death of St. Bernard of Quintavalle. But
this first successor to St. Francis was alive in 1242, as Salim-
bene visited him in this year in the convent in Siena. ^ Sabatier
decided that these statements were later inserts, and published his
work in 1898, as "the oldest legend of St. Francis, written by
brother Leo." ^
Sabatier's edition follows the text of the Mazarin manuscript,
with the exception of one point, and this is very important; namely,
the beginning. The Mazarin manuscript begins with the follow-
ing introduction, fatal to Sabatier's thesis of the early authorship
of the manuscript: "Here begins the mirror of perfection of the
Friars Minor; namely, of St. Francis." This work is compiled as a
legend of various old relations, which the nearest friends of St. Francis
wrote or had written in various convents,'"^ Sabatier on his own
responsibihty omitted this introduction and replaced it with an-
other, which he took from a Vatican manuscript, of the Legenda
antiqua, which, even if akin to it, was a work of different character
and whose introduction was the following: "Here begins the mirror
of perfection of the Friars Minor; namely, of St. Francis," which
the text immediately follows. In 1227, the year after the death of
St. Francis, it is evident that they could not speak of "old rela-
tions" written in various convents by St. Francis' nearest dis-
ciples ; if, therefore, the date of the work was correct, this unsuitable
introduction must be taken away from it.*
^ Vidi enim et primum, scilicet fratrem Bemardum de Quintavalle, cum quo
in conventu Senensi una chyeme habitavi. Et fuit intimus meus amicus et
mihi et aliis juvenibus de beato Francisco multa magnalia referebat {Chronica,
p. 11).
Salimbene entered the Order in 1238.
* . . . Legenda antiquissima auctore fratre Leone.
' Italics mine. The Latin text is as below:
Istud opus compilatimi est per modum legendae ex quisbusdam antiquis
quae in diversis locis scripserunt et scribi fecerunt socii beati Francisci.
Loci, "Places," was the oldest designation of the Franciscan convents.
* See Sabatier's text, p. i. On page 252 in his book he adds the Incipit to
the legend, which was improperly removed, but explains that he has not accepted
it, because it "serait en contradiction manifeste avec tout lecontenu de I'ouvrage,
26 >
386 AUTHORITIES
The appearance of Sabatier's edition of the Speculum excited
active interest among students of Franciscan history, and a whole
quantity of treatises appeared for and against him.^ Among
other things the didactic character of the work was appealed to as
an argument against its early date; for such works, in which the
legend's individual elements, as is the case in the Speculum, are
arranged under heads of virtues — "Of his complete poverty," "Of
his charity to his neighbor," "Of his complete humihty, obedience,"
etc. — as a rule appear only after long perfecting of the legend.
But Sabatier meanwhile held vigorously to his assumed discov-
ery and would not give up even after Minocchi of the convent
Ubrary in Ognissanti, Florence, produced a new manuscript of
the Speculum perfectionis which both in introduction and text
compared perfectly with the Mazarin manuscript, but at the end,
in place of 1227, was dated 1318. The early dating in Sabatier's
manuscript was due, therefore, as van Ortroy had already sus-
pected, to a copyist's error, and a glance at the two dates as
they are found in their manuscripts will show that such an error
could easily take place.^ Now the reference in the introduction
to the compilatory character of the work, and the invocation of
the German saint at the end, became intelligible; the Speculum
was a compilation written in Portiuncula in 13 18, and Sabatier's
manuscript was a copy of it made in a Dutch convent. In 13 18
the Franciscan Order had a number of Dutch and Belgian con-
vents, and a Brother in one of them in the end of the legend had
car l'unité de plan, de style et de pensée se revcle dans toutes les parties de cette
legende." Such arguments based on "unity of style" are always very attract-
ive and this one has its attractions also. But it gives no right whatever to
remove a part of the legend that is found in all manuscripts because it does not
accord with an individual's conception of the character of the work. Sabatier,
in his Collection d'études, II, p. 148, n. 3, has given a further defence of his
method of treatment.
^ In Gotz, "Quellcn," p. 148, n. 2, is given a sketch of the most important
of these.
^ In Anal. Boll., XIX, pp. 59-60, v. Ortroy gives the following convincing
comparison of the Explicit in the two manuscripts explaining the true bearings
of the case:
Maz. Bibl., 1743 Ognissanli-Manuscript
Explicit speculum perfectionis . . . Explicit Speculum perfectionis . . .
Actum in sacro sancto loco sanctae Actum in sacrosancto loco sanctae
Mariae de Portiuncula et completum Mariae de Portiuncula et completum
Vydus may anno Domini M°CC°- V idus mail M°CCC°XVIII.
xxviir.
It is easy to see how the date MCCCXVIII by the putting of an X for a
C became MCCXXVIII.
THE SPECULUM PERFECTIONIS 387
injected his invocation of the patron saint of the locaHty. This
accords with the fact that the manuscript, before it reached the
Mazarin Library in Paris, according to a notice on its first page,
had belonged to a convent in Namur.^
But although, as Gotz has said,^ it can no more be disputed that
the Speculum perfectionis as we now possess it is a compilation
of the year 1318, it is by no means to be denied that, as Sabatier
affirms, it really originated with Brother Leo. It was not written
by him in its present shape, but it is founded on material he left
after him; namely, upon his "schedules," his schedulæ or rotuli.
The existence of these schedules was not forgotten in the half
century which, in 1318, had passed since the death of Brother
Leo. In the course of time they were read and examined by a
whole quantity of men, who ranked among the best in the Order,
and in the battle of the Franciscan ideals which these men waged,
"Brother Leo's Schedules" and what they contained were always
the last and most weighty argument.
The first who thus appealed to Brother Leo was Peter John
Olivi, who died March 14, 1298. In his "Explanation of the
Rule of the Order" he quotes a story that now is found in
the fourth chapter of the Speculum perfectionis and which he says
he read in "Brother Leo's Schedules." ^
The next in series is Angelo Clareno (about 1245-1337), He
joined the Franciscan Order a Httle after 1260 and, as has been
already said, knew several of Francis' disciples, whose communi-
cations he used for his Historia septem tribulationum^ In this
chronicle he now names, as the four biographers of St. Francis,
John (of Ceperano), Thomas of Celano, Bonaventure and "the
man of wonderful simplicity and holiness. Brother Leo, St.
Francis' intimate friend." ^ With this last as authority {ut
scribit frater Leo) he produces three passages, which are now
found in the Speculum perfectionis. Remembering the decree of
1 Ista legenda b. Francisci patris seraphici est fratrum cruciferorum Na-
murcensium. (Tilemann, loc. cit. 95.)
''Gotz: "Quellen," p. 149. Compare Tilemann, pp. 111-113, and H.
Bæhmer: "Analekten ziir Ceschichte des Frandsens von Assisi" (Tiibingen u.
Leipzig, 1904), p. 68.
3 Unde et in cedulis fratris Leonis, quas de his, quae de patre nostro tam-
quam ejus singularis socius viderat et audierat, conscripsit, legitur . . . {Fir-
mamentum trium ordimitn,Venke, 1513, f. 123, quoted by Sabatier in his edition
of Spec, per/., p. 246, n. i. Tilemann, p. 83).
* Tilemann, p. 117.
^vir mirae simplicitatis et sanctitatis frater Leo (Quoted by Sabatier,
Spec, per/., p. 138).
388 AUTHORITIES
1260 we are at liberty to believe that he — as Tilemann and
Sabatier would have it — here gives us the complete Legenda
trium sociorum.^ This is quite probable, because Mariano (d. 1527),
whom Wadding quotes, seems also to have known it, and because
the Italian Three Brothers' Legend, published by Melchiorri, dates
at the earliest from the fourteenth century. If he did not get his
knowledge from the legend, it must have come from Brother Leo's
rotuli.
The principal witness for the existence of Brother Leo's schedules
is Ubertius or Hubert of Casale (1259-ca. 1338). This contender
for original Franciscanism was living in the year 1305 on Mt.
Alverna, and there in the course of seven months wrote his great
work, Arbor vitæ crucifxcB, completed the Michaelmas Eve of the
same year.^
Hubert himself had not known the "ancient Brothers," antiqui
fratres, now the accepted designation of the last of the original
disciples, but through Brother Conrad of Offida (d. 1306) heard
much of what Brother Leo, Brother Masseo and others had told
about St. Francis. In his youth he had been in Greccio, and in
this little mountain convent, that hangs on the clififs like a swal-
low's nest, he had sat at the feet of John of Parma, "looked into
his angeUc face" and heard him tell about Francis and about the
great departed ones, who had lived and written in his cloister —
Leo, Angelo, Rufino. John of Parma died March 19 or 20, 1289,
and Hubert's residence with him was four years before his death.
The impression from the early years of his youth could never be
weakened, and the holy fire, which the great Franciscan from Parma
had Ht, was nourished through Hubert's friendship with Conrad
of Offida and his narrations.^
In the fifth book, third chapter, of Arbor vitæ Hubert gives a
whole quantity of quotations of the words of St. Francis which
Brother Leo had written down with his own hand and which were
preserved in St. Clara's convent in Assisi. "Unfortunately,"
Hubert adds, "I hear that these notes, at any rate in part, cannot
^ Spec, perf., p. 140, n. i. Tilemann, p. 87.
'Arbor vile crucifixe Jesu, Venice, 1485, fol. 262: terminavi in vngilia Mi-
chaelis ArchanReli anni presentis MCCCV a felicissimo ortu veri solis Jesu.
A mei vero vili conversione anno XXXII . . . septem mensium tempore
duravit huius libri tractatus.
' (Hubert on his relations with John of Parma): Nam et ego tunc juvenis
. . . quarto anno ante eius fclicem transitum e.xpressum verbum audivi ab
eius ore santissimo, intuens in eius angelicam faciem. {Arbor vile, fol. 210b.)
Compare Salimbene, p. 317.
THE SPECULUM PERFECTIONIS 389
be found there any more and may even be entirely lost." ^ The
passages Hubert thus produces are now found in Speculum per-
fectionis, capp. i, 2, 26, 3, 71, 73, 4, 11.
That these places in Leo's schedules were also in part derived
from the Three Brothers' Legend follows from what Hubert says,
that "Brother Bonaventure deliberately omitted using them in
his legend"; accordingly he had them before him for use, but he
seemed to think it was proper to pass them by.^
That this does not need to be the very Speculum perfectionis
which Hubert alludes to (as Sabatier would have it), Lemmens
has proved by publishing from a manuscript of the fourteenth
century in S. Isidore in Rome two small pieces written by Brother
Leo with the titles: "Book concerning St. Francis' design with his
Rule" and "Words which Brother Leo wrote," and in which the
places quoted by Hubert are to be found. ^
Six years after having written the Arbor vitæ Hubert of Casale
stood before the Curia in Avignon to answer the complaints which
the advocates of the slack direction of the Order, Raimond of Fron-
sac and Bonagratia of Bergamo, had made against him and the
other fratres spirituales. Again it was — outside of the Fran-
ciscan Rule and St. Francis' Testament — Brother Leo's narra-
tions to which Hubert appealed when he showed that the strict
interpretation of the spiritual Brothers was based upon the very
words of Francis, "which was solemnly written by the holy man,
Leo, his companion, both by the command of the holy father,
as well as from devotion of the said Brother, and which are found
in the book which is kept in the library of the Friars of Assisi
and in those rolls which I have with me, written by the hand of
the same Brother Leo." ^
^ quod sequitur a sancto fratre Conrado praedicto et viva voce audivit a
sancto fratre Leone, qui præsens erat. . . Et hoc ipsum in quibusdam rotulis
manu sua conscripsit, quos commendavit in monasterio sancte Clare custo-
diendos . . . cum multo dolore audivi illos rotulos fuisse distractos _et forsitan
perditos, maxime quosdam ex eis (fol. 222a).
* quae industria frater Bonaventura omisit et noluit in legenda publice
scriberi, maxime quia aliqua erant ibi in quibus etiam ex tunc deviatio regulae
publice monstrabatur {Arbor vitæ, loc. cit.).
* Documenta antiqiia franciscana, ed. Fr. Leonardus Lemmens. I. Scripia
fratris Leonis (Quaracchi 1901). Even if Gotz ("^i(e//en," p. 153, n. 1) is
correct in his view, that we have not Brother Leo's writings in their original
form, we nevertheless can, by the help of Lemmens' manuscript, form a con-
ception of what Brother Leo's "schedules" were.
* sua verba expressa, quae per sanctum virum Leonem eius socium tam de
mandato sancti patris quam etiam de devotione praedicti fratris fuerunt solem-
niter conscripta in libro, qui habetur in armario fratrum de Assisio, et in rotulis
390 AUTHORITIES
The attempt has been made to make Hubert contradict him-
self, by noting that he in 131 1 declared that he possessed the
writings of Brother Leo and then wrote in 1305 that they were
partly lost. But, as Gotz has suggested in answer to this attack,
there is nothing unreasonable in supposing that Hubert's com-
plaint in Arbor vitæ can very well have brought about a new col-
lection of Leo's roluli, and it is reasonable that he himself took
interest in the affair and got the papers into his own hands in
order to secure them from destruction.^
That the compilation of the Speculum perfcctionis in 131 S has
some kind of connection with these efforts of Hubert follows
almost of itself. The relations within the Franciscan Order were
such that a resurrection of the spirit of the first days of the Order
was badly needed. In the years 13 17-13 18 "the zealous ones"
were hard pressed; April 27, 13 17, John XXII called them anew
to a reckoning in Avignon, in spite of Hubert's assertions and
explanations six years before. The "zealous ones" did not suc-
ceed in winning the Pope to their side; in October of the same
year he declared himself against them. Other Papal announce-
ments of this time were directed against them or against the related,
but heretical, Fraticelli. It was then that Angelo Clareno wrote
his letter of defence to the Pope to free the Brethren of the
strict observance from all false accusations. And at the same time
there was issued from Portiuncula as illustrative of the requirements
of the Franciscan Ride in the matters of poverty, obedience, huynility,
etc., this collection of incidents of the Life of St. Francis, which
explained his relation to all these virtues, and in which the Friars
Minor of the fourteenth century could see themselves as in a looking-
glass.'^
In this work we have not only Brother Leo's schedules, but also
all that Brother Bernard, Brother Masseo and the other "old
Brothers" had told in the various convents and which had been
written down and preserved.
ejus, quos apud me habeo, manu ejusdem fratris Leonis conscriptis. (Hubert's
Declaratio, cited by Sabatier, Spec. perf.. p. 150.)
In the catalogue of 138 1 of the convent library in the Sacro Convento in
Assisi, there is named a Liber dictorum beati Francisci in papiro et sine postibiis,
ciiitis principium est: Quid faciet homo in omni tempta.tionc, finis vero: Oratio,
saepe est prcmittenda insidias. Like so many manuscripts of this kind in
the above library, this book cannot be found. (Da Civczza-Dominichclli,
p. XCVII, n. I.)
' Gotz, "Quellen," p. 152.
'Tilcmann, loc. cit., pp. 11 2-1 13.
THE LEGENDA ANTIQUA 391
b. Legenda antiqua
The years following directly after the appearance of the Specu-
lum perjectionis brought better times for the ideal party within the
Order. Gonzalvo of Balboa, who was General from 1303 to 13 16,
and Michael of Cesena (1316-1328) both desired to restore the
old spirit; and to bring this about the last named, in spite of the
decree of 1263, used to have read at meal-times, even in the great
Franciscan convent at Avignon, a legend which was designated as
"the old legend," and which therefore was not Bonaventure's new
one. That he risked something in doing so he very well knew,
and he therefore had it announced that he had only brought
forward this legend to show that even it, without any criticism of
Bonaventure, was "true, useful, authentic and good."^
Under the title Legenda antiqua several manuscripts have been
preserved in reasonable accordance with each other, the most
important in the library of the Vatican. In the preface to this
manuscript we are told that although "Herr Mester Bonaven-
tura's" work is beautiful and good, yet there are several things,
both notable and useful, omitted therefrom, such as Francis'
zeal for poverty, for humility, for charity, for the exact observance
of the Rule, of which a part can be read in the "old legend" of
which Bonaventure has copied a great part, and long passages
word for word, and a part is found in "true words of the friends of
St. Francis, which are put into writing by experienced men in the
Order." The writer says that he knew both "the old legend"
and the "true words" from his student days in Avignon when
the General had the old legend read at meal-times; to this he adds
in the present manuscript other references to a book which be-
longed to "our honorable father and lord. Brother Frederick,
Archbishop of Riga, a very learned man of our Order," together
with a treatise on St. Francis' and his faithful disciples' lives
and actions.^
^(Quædam vero sumpta et reparata sunt de) legenda veteri ipsius sancti
quam et generalis minister me præsente et aliquoties legente fecit sibi et fratri-
bus legi ad mensam in Avinione ad ostendendum earn esse veram, utilem et
autenticam atque bonam. {Legenda antiqua. Sabatier, Collection, I, pp.
152-161, and Tilemann, pp. 120-121.) Compiler's preface to the Legenda
antiqua, Vatican MS. No. 4354. The MS. contains in almost unbroken
sequence 57 chapters of Specnhim perjectionis, along with a quantity of other
material, especially Actios (Fioretti).
^ plura tamen valde notabilia et utilia, zelum caritatis, humilitatis et pau-
pertatis, necnon circa praedictorum et regulæ totius observationem, inten-
tionem et voluntatem ipsius sancti experimentia, tarn in legenda veteri, de qua
392 AUTHORITIES
A Franciscan from the provinces about the Baltic Sea, who had
studied in Avignon under Michael of Cesena, and who later had
access to a book about St. Francis in possession of the Archbishop
Frederick of Riga, therefore was the author of this compilation.
He refers to various authorities, which it is not always easy to
distinguish from one another. In referring to the "veritable
words of St. Francis' friends," which are "put into manuscript
by reliable men in our Order," it seems clear that he was thinking
of the Spcciilufn pcrfcctionis, which at this time had just been
brought out; therefore he has, also, the expressions ze/ww c"ar//a/z5,
hum a i la tis ct paupcrtatis as titles for the different sections of the
Speculum. It is also the Speculum which treats of Francis' zeal
for an exact observance of the Rule.
On the other hand, it is not very clear what kind of an "old
legend" it is of which Bonaventure has copied much, but has
also left out much of the most important character. Sabatier
holds that this is the Speculum perfectionis, but Bonaventure
used nothing of this (see page 379, n. 2). It is more reasonable,
asTilemann does, to consider it a complete Three Brothers' Legend}
Of this Bonaventure used much and left out more — something
which Hubert of Casale complained about. This must be the book
which Michael of Cesena, while General, used to have read at
meal-times in A\ignon.
From Bishop Frederick's book the compilers have only taken
a few miracles, although of rare and impressive nature (rara et
ardua); on the other hand, the writings of St. Francis' friends
seem to be a more important source in which his and their lives
and actions are told of. This collection, in connection with which
idem fr. Bonaventura saepius longas orationes et passus de verbo ad verbum in
suam legendam posuit, quam etiam ex dictis veridicis sanctorum sociorum b.
Francisci per viros probatos ordinis redactis in scriptis, quorum sociorum vita
sancta . . . ipsorum dicta et testimonia credibilia reddit, in imis cum cssem
studens in Avinione reperi, quorum aliqua . . . collegi et inferius annotavi.
Posui autem primo rara et ardua facta seu miracula patris nostri quae in
legenda nova, ut praedicitur, non habentur; quorum quædam in libro reverendi
patris et domini fratris Fridcrici archiepiscopi Rigensis, ordinis nostri studi-
osissimi viri. . . . Quædam vcro sumpta et reparata sunt de legenda veteri
ipsius sancti quam et generalis minister me praesente et aliquoties legente
fecit sibi et fratribus legi ad mensam in Avinione. . . . NonnuUa vero sumpta
de scriptis sanctorum sancti praedicti sociorum, vitam sancti et gesta, socio-
rumque sanctorum ejus experimentia. . . . Demum etiam quaedam de sancto
Antonio rara scripsi et de sancto fratre Johanna de Alvemia. . . . (Printed in
Sabatier and Tilemann, as above.)
'Sabatier, Spec, perf., p. 153, n. i. Tilemann, p. 123.
THE ACTUS 393
the author of the preface gives some narrations about St. Anthony
of Padua and about Brother John of Mt. Alverna, reveals itself
thereby as identical with the Actus b. Francisci et sociorum ejus;
that is to say, with the ancient text of the Fioretti, of whose chap-
ters so very many are devoted to St. Anthony and the ecstatic
Brother from Alverna.
The compilers entitled all this material Legenda antiqua, under
the impression of a certain concordance, both with each other and
with the "old legends" read in Avignon. As the Franciscan
Frederick Baron was Archbishop of Riga from 1304 till his death
in 1340,^ it must have been written during this period. As the
Speculum perfectionis is quoted in it, the authorship of the work
must be later than 13 18. As the Pope in 1328 removed Michael
of Cesena, and the preface shows no knowledge of this punish-
ment of the bold churchman, we have to concede that the collec-
tion belongs between 1318 and 1328.
c. Actus heati Francisci et sociorium ejus
{"Fioretti")
This manuscript is older than the Legenda antiqua, the compiler
of which has adopted a great part of it and cites it as one of his
sources. It appears in many manuscripts united and even mixed
in with the Speculum perfectionis; possibly it can be regarded in
part as the remains of the narrations, unavailable for the last named
work, that are told by "the ancient Brothers."
The core of the Actus is the group of tales which relate to
Brother Bernard, Brother Masseo, Brother Rufino, Brother
Silvester, St. Clara and Brother Leo; undoubtedly this part of
the work had its origin in the real Franciscan tradition, of whose
richness we may form an idea when we remember that tales such
as those about Brother Leo, who said the Breviary with St. Fran-
cis and always answered wrongly, or such as those about the per-
fect joy, were here first put into writing.^
On this foundation a series of chapters about other promi-
nent Franciscans were subsequently erected; Brother Conrad of
1 Sabatier, Collection, I, p. 158,11. i; IV, p. 17, n. i. Eubel: Hierarchia
calk., p. 442.
2 The origin of one chapter is explained by Brother Leo in the work itself,
the proof coming through a succession of witnesses. See close of chapter 9:
Hanc historian! habuit frater Jacobus de Massa ab ore fratris Leonis et
frater Hugolinus de monte Sancta Mariae ab ore dicti fratris Jacobi, et ego
qui scripsi ab ore fratris Hugolini viri per omnia fide digni. {Actus, ed. Saba-
tier, p. 39.)
394 AUTHORITIES
Offida, Brother Giles, Brother John of La Verna (d. 1322) here
play a prominent role. Sabatier believes that he can indicate
Brother Hugolin of Monte Giorgio as the author of this portion, of
whom we know nothing else than that he was called by Celestin V
to fill the Bishop's throne in Teramo in the Abruzzi, while Boni-
face VIII, on December 12, 1295, cancelled this selection.' Some-
times Brother Hugolin seemed to appear as the author of the work;
thus in Chap. LXIX, 21, "and all these things Brother John him-
self told me, Hugolin." In other places, as in the end of Chap. IX,
Hugolin was referred to by the author as the original source, as a
link in the chain, which by Brother Jacob of Massa leads back
to Brother Leo.^ The whole question is, however, of secondary
importance; the principal thing is that in the Actus — of which
the Fioretti is the Italian translation or development — we have a
series of Franciscan traditions collected with diligence, of which
many never strayed far from the convent in Greccio, where Leo,
Angelo, and Rufino two generations earlier plucked \heix flores.
From the first Franciscan centuries many works could be named
which in any case have a certain degree of value as sources, such
as the manuscript Actus b. Francisci in valle Reatina, improperly
ascribed to Angelo Tancredi, and of which some pages are printed
in Sabatier's edition of the Speculum perfectionis, pp. 256 et al.;
Brother Francesco Bartholi's book on the Portiuncula Indulgence
of about 1335, published by Sabatier in the second volume of his
Collection d'études, Paris, 1900; finally Cowwcrcmw beati Francisci
cum domina paupertate (perhaps written in 1227 by John of Parma,
edited by Alvisi, Citta di Castello, 1894, and by d'Alenfon, Rome,
1900), a work which has significance, since Dante evidently derived
from it the principal idea for his celebrated lines about St. Francis
in the eleventh Canto of // Paradiso.
Moreover, after the publication of the Speculum and the Actus,
there came a time of compilation, of combination and even con-
fusion. If it is a question of titles, they are mixed together, and
thus the great work of Brother Fabian of Hungary appears as
Speculum vitæ beati Francisci et sociorum ejus, written in the last
half of the fourteenth century and published in Venice in 1504,
and many times since then in more or less changed and impaired
forms, eventually (Cologne, 1623) as Anliquitates franciscanae,
"written by Brothers Fabian, Hugolin, and other Friars Minor
^ Actus, ed. Sabatier, p. 20.
^The best editions of the Italian Fiorctli are those of Caesari (Verona,
1822), and of P'ornaciari (Florence, 1902, CoUczione Diamante).
HISTORIES OF THE ORDER 395
contemporaneous with the divine Francis" ^ (!) The author tells
about himself, that he visited Mt. Alverna in the year 1343.
Probably he is identical with the Brother Fabian from Hungary
who in 1330 and 1337 was Inquisitor in Hungary and Bosnia.^
A working over of all the important material, which little by
little accumulated, is what we have in Bartholomew of Pisa's
Conformitates, that series of parallels between Christ and Francis
which are carried out with such great acuteness and comprehensive
scope of learning. Bartholomew of Pisa's work, which was begun
in 1385 and was received at the Chapter of the Order in Pisa
August 2, 1399, with thanks and praise, is founded on the most
exact knowledge of the sources of information, combined with a
critical sense of their values. "Of this thing or of that thing,"
one can thus see him declare, "I have not found anything in authen-
tic sources, but on the other hand they are shown in pictures and
inscriptions in several places. My Brother Bonaventure does not
tell this in his legend, his reason being unknown to me, because
it is partly told by Bernard of Bessa and partly confirmed by a
document witnessed by a notary public." ^ This comparative and
discursive method of progress we usually find in Bartholomew of
Pisa, and his method is a predecessor of modern methods.
Ill — OTHER SOURCES
a. Histories of the Order
I. Jordanus of Giano^s Chronicle of the Franciscan arrival in
Germany. It begins with Francis's conversion in 1207 and ends
1238. Brother Jordanus himself tells how he, "in the year of the
Lord 1262, after the Chapter in Halberstadt, remained in the same
convent where the Chapter was held" and there dictated his book
to Brother Balduin of Brandenburg.'* While Jordanus' Chronicle
^ auctoribus ff. Fabiano et Hugolino et aliis minoribus Divo Francisco
coaevis, castigatore autem et emendatore R. P. Philippo Bosquierio. . . .
Coloniae, MDCXXIII.
^ Analecta Franciscana, III, pp. 9-10.
' De isto in loco authentico non reperi, sed depictum et scriptum in pluribus
locis inveni. Sed de nullo præfatorum dominus fr. Bonaventura facit men-
tionem, et quid fuerit in causa ignore: cum tamen de primo dictus Bernardus
Bessa facit mentionem, et secundum de scriptura publica notarii reperi Flor-
entiae transscriptum. {Conformitates, 15 10, p. 149a.)
* Anno ergo Domini MCCLXII post . . . capitulum Halberstadense . . .
in loco capituli remanentes, me narrante et fratre Baldawino scribente . . .
qui et sponte et a frate Bartholomaeo, tunc ministro Saxoniæ, jussus se
obtulit ab scribendum. {Anal. Franciscana, I, p. i.)
396 AUTHORITIES
is considered by several, such as Carl Miiller and van Ortroy, as
an authority of the first rank from the point of view of chronology,
it is proper to remember that Jordanus himself, on the first page of
his book, remarks that he now is an old man, and therefore can
easily make an error in one or the other of his dates.'
Jordanus' Chronicle was first published by G. Voigt (Memora-
bilia des Minor Hen Jord. v. Giano" in " Abhandlungen der siichs.
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften," philos.-hist. KJasse, 1870);
later, after a Berlin manuscript in Analecta Franciscana, I (Qua-
racchi, 1885). A new and complete edition is announced (1905) by
H. Boehmer as the second volume of Sabatier's Opuscules.
II. The first volume of the A nalecta Franciscana contains Brother
Thomas Eccleston's Chronicle of the Brothers' coming to England,
including the period 1224 to 1250, written 1264 to 1274. The first
edition is by Brewer in Rcr. brit. script.: Monumenta Franciscana, I
(London, 1858), and Hewlett, same, Vol. II (London, 1S82).
III. Salimbcne's Chronicle. Brother Salimbene degli Adami of
Parma — or, as he at home and among friends was called, Omne-
bonum, "All good" — was born on October g, 1221, and entered
the Franciscan Order in 1238. He knew Brother Bernard of Quin-
tavalle, with whom he spent a winter in the convent in Siena,
and from whose lips he and the other young men heard many
great things about St. Francis; he also knew Brother Leo, who told
him that St. Francis after his death looked exactly like one who
had been crucified and taken down from the Cross, as well as the
last Brothers whom St. Francis received into the Order, and whom
Salimbene met in a hermitage near Civita di Castello (presumably
Monte Casale).- His Chronicle, written 1282-1287, covers the
years 1 167-1287; the edition published at Parma in 1857 is incom-
plete and contains only the period 121 2-1287. See Em. Michael,
Salimbene und seine Chronik (Innsbruck, 1889).
IV. Catalogue of the first livcnty-four Generals of the Order.
Originally written about 1297, continued later up to 1305. It was
* Super annorum vero numero sicubi per oblivionem, utpote jam senex et
debilis, ut homo erravi, vcniam postulo ab lectore {ibid., p. 2).
* sicut dixit mihi frater Leo socius suus ... in morte videbatur recte sicut
unus crucifixus de cruce depositus. {Chronica, p. 75.) A sociis vero et a
familia dicebar Omnibonum. . . . Cumque de Marchia Anconitana irem ad
habitandum in Tusciam et transirem per Civitatem de Castello, invcni in
heremo quendam nobilem fratrem antiquum . . . qui Till filios milites habe-
bat in sæculo. Hie fuit ultimus frater, quem b. Franciscus et induit et recepit
ad ordinem, ut rctulit mihi. . . . Vidi etiam et primum sc. fr. Bernardum de
Quintavalle, cum quo in convcntu Sencnsi uno hycme habitavi . . . et mihi et
aliis juvenibus de beato Francisco raulta magnalia referebat {Chronica, p. 11).
HISTORIES OF THE ORDER 397
already published in 1 504 in the Speculum vitae, then in the third
volume of Analecta Franciscana, by Ehrle in "Zeitschcr. f. kath.
Theologie," VII (Innsbruck, 1883), p. 338, and in P. Hilarin Felder's
edition of Bernard of Bessa (Rome, 1897).
V. The Chronicles of the (first) twenty-four Generals of the Order.
The author of this work, of which a great part of the material is
taken from the Actus b. Fraticisci, was a Franciscan from the
Province of Aquitania, because this province was the only one
the names of whose Generals he knew. Wadding (1373, n. 24;
1374, n. 16) believes that the author might be that Brother Arnold
of Serrano of whom Bartholomew of Pisa (Conformitates, I,
fructus XI) tells us that he "wrote out all he could find about
the blessed Francis." Gregory XI sent this Brother Arnold to
Spain to reform the convents of the Minorites and Clares in Castile.
As a consequence of the Civil War many Brothers and Sisters
of this country were driven out of their convents and wandered
about, while at the same time in many convents "irregular cus-
toms and abuses" had been introduced (irregulares consuetudines
et deformitates) .
Chronica XXIV gener alium, which is its Latin title, was written
in its essential parts before 1369. Under headings 1327 and 1360
the author expresses his wishes for the canonization of the pious
royal pair Elzéar and Delphina, which took place in 1369. The
Chronicle begins by relating the history of St. Francis and the
earlier Brothers, and is continued down to 1374. Its author had
the best sources for his work; thus we can recognize material
from Celano's two biographies, from the traditional Three Broth-
ers' Legend, from St. Bonaventure and Bernard of Bessa. It is
doubtful if Brother Arnold used Salimbene and Eccleston; on the
other hand he has taken much from Speculum vitae, Legenda antiqua
(as these are now extant in the Vatican, Manuscript 4354) and from
the Actiis (Fioretti), and from Hubert of Casale. He has further-
more drawn upon a collection. Dicta fratris Leonis ("Sayings of
Brother Leo"), from a now lost Chronicon breve, that is ascribed
to Brother Pilgrim of Bologna,^ and finally used verbal tradition.
His work was used a great deal by Mariano of Florence, Marcus
of Lisbon, Rudolf of Tossignano and Wadding. It is pubHshed
in Analecta Franciscana, III (Quaracchi, 1897).
VI. John of Komorowo's Chronicle is especially devoted to the
Order's Polish province, was written about 151 2, and comes down
' See Sbaralea: Supplementum ad Scriptores triiiin ordinum, p. 579, and
Denifle in "Archiv f. Litt. u. Kgsch.," I, p. 145.
398 AUTHORITIES
to 1503. It is published by Zeissberg in Archiv. f. osterr. Gesch.,
Bd. 49 (1872). Brother John died in 1536 and wrote the year
before his death a Mcmoriale ordinis fr alrum minoriuji, published,
18S6, by Liske and Lorkiewicz. See Eubel in Uislorisches Jahr-
buch, 1889, pp. 383 ff., 570 U.
VII. Glassberger's Chronicle. Nicholas Glassberger entered the
Franciscan Order in the year 1472 and for some time was confessor
for the Clares in Nuremberg. He was a very diligent writer, who
among other things copied with his own hand the Chronica XXIV
general iutn, together with the Three Brothers' Legend; a Tyrolean
manuscript of this work from his hand contains the following
concluding note: "The eve of the Vigil of Christmas in the year
of the Lord 1491 ends for me, Brother Nicholas Glassberger, in
great cold and discomfort, owing to the nature of the weather." ^
In 1498 he published Brother Louis of Prussia's Trilogium anintae,
and in 1508 he was progressing with the writing of his Chronicle.
He had for his authorities the Chronicle of the twenty-four Gen-
erals, the Three Brothers' Legend and Bartholomew of Pisa; the
Friars' establishment in Germany he described after Giordano of
Giano; finally he quotes also Brother Jacob Oddi's Italian Chron-
icle of the fifteenth century. ^
Glassberger's Chronicle is published in the Analccta Franciscana,
II (Quaracchi, 1887). See Eubel in Hist. Jahrbuch, 1899, pp. 376
et seq.
VIII. Writings of Angelo Clareno. This celebrated leader of
the "Zealous" among the Brothers {i zclanti) was also called Peter
of Fossombrone. He entered the convent in Cingole and from
1265 joined the zelanti in Mark Ancona. Of the first disciples he
knew Brother Angelo of Rieti, Brother Giles, Brother Leo (see
page, 382, n. 3), and the Brother John, otherwise unknown, who is
' Explicit in provigilia nativitatis Dni, 1491, per me fratrem Nicolaum Glass-
berger in magno frigore et incommoditate juxta temporis qualitatcm. {Anal.
Franc., II, p. 5.)
' Giacomo da Oddi from Perugia was guardian in Portiuncula convent about
1485 and in 1474 wrote his Specchio dclV Ordinc minorc, usually called la Fran-
ceschina. The original manuscript is now in Communal Library in Perugia
and formerly belonged to the Franciscan convent of Monte Ripido near Perugi.
When in the chronicle of the Convent of the Clares of Monte Luce for the year
1574, under the date of February 5, it is said of this book, that xifu gia cotnposto
da un rcvcrendo padre chiamato fra Edigio da Perugia, there is undoubtedly a
confusion with the writings, which are due to the celebrated disciple of St.
Francis of this name. (Aegidio in English is Giles.) La Franceschina contains
much material of interest by some third writer. See Miscellanea Francescana,
VI, 37; LV. 87, 127, 146-150.
HISTORIES OF THE ORDER 399
mentioned in the prologue to the Three Brothers^ Legend} He
died June 15, 1339, in Santa Maria de Aspro, near the city of
Marsico in south Italy. Of him Sabatier says: "We see in him
the revival of a true Franciscan, one of those men who, while
entirely desirous of being submissive sons of the Church, could
not resign themselves to permitting the ideal which they had
embraced to disappear in the realm of imagination. They often
came near to heresy; in their words against the bad priests and
unworthy pontiffs there is a bitterness which the sectaries of the
sixteenth century would not exceed. . . . And yet Protestantism
would do wrong in seeking their ancestors among these. No, they
wished to die, as they had lived, in the communion of this Church,
which they loved with a heroic passion, the same with which certain
former French noblemen, even in 1793, loved France, and poured
out their blood for it, although it was governed by the Jacobins."
As the essence of the doctrine of Angelo Clareno's spiritual
doctrines, Sabatier quotes the follo%ving beautiful words in one of
his letters: Totuni igitur studium esse debet quod unum insepara-
biliter simus per Franciscum in Christo, "Our whole desire should
be that we are inseparably one in Christ through Francis," and
Sabatier ends his description of him thus:
" Clareno and his friends were of those violent souls who would
assail the kingdom of heaven. Thus when, at the end of the
frivolities and sterile preoccupations of the every-day world, we
find ourselves face to face with these men, we are at once humbled
and uplifted, for we find suddenly, hidden in human hearts, hitherto
unexpected powers and unknown melody controlled by them." ^
Angelo Clareno's writings fall into three groups:
(i) Epistola excusatoria, an apology for his and his friends' re-
form movement, presented to Pope John XXII in the year 13 17.
It is published by Ehrle (Archivf. Lilt. u. Kirchengesch.,1, pp. 521 ff.).
(2) "Letter-book" (Liber epistolarum beati Angeli de Clareno).
The Augustinian hermit Simon of Cassia (according to Ossinger,
Biblioth. Augustiniana, p. 214; d. February 2, 1340) brought out a
collection of letters of his friend and teacher Angelo. It is, how-
ever, uncertain that this collection is quite identical with those in
two manuscripts still in existence. Part of the letters were written
from Avignon (1311-1318), part from the vicinity of Rome (13 18-
ca. 1336), some finally from S. Maria de Aspro. A selection of
the letters is given by Ehrle (Archiv I, pp. 543-569).
^ Ehrle, "Archiv" II, p. 279. Sabatier: Vic de S. Fran(^ois (1894), p. CV.
^ Sabatier: Vie de S. Fr. (1894), Introduction, pp. CII-CIII.
400 AUTHORITIES
(3) Historia septem tribulationum ordinis minorum. "History
of the seven tribulations of the Minorite Order." The seven
tribulations which according to Clareno descended upon the Order
of St. Francis are (i) The Vicariate of Ehas of Cortona, (2) his
Generalship, (3) the Generalship of Crescentius of Jesi, (4) the
Generalship of Bonaventure, (5) the persecutions of the strict
Franciscans between 1274 and 1304 (from the council of Lyons
to the death of the Inquisitor, Thomas d'Aversas), (6) the perse-
cutions between 1308 and 1323 (the time of the appearance of the
Speculum pcrjcdionis), finally (7) the Pontificate of John XXII.
"The history of the seven tribulations" occupied in its writing
a long series of years, the earliest section about 13 14, the latest
about 1330. It is incompletely given by Ehrle {Archiv II, pp.
108-163 ^^d 249-336). A complete edition was prepared by
Felice Tocco for Sabatier's Collection d^études et de documents}
b. Authorities outside of the Order
I. Papal hulls and other Instruments of diplomatic or judicial
character. To this belong the bulls of Honorius III and Gregory
IX, and letters in favor of the Franciscan Order, in Sbaralea's
Bullarium franciscanum continued by Eubel, and in Pressuti's
and Auvray's new edition of Registers of Honorius III and Greg-
ory IX. Here belongs Hugolin's Register published by Levi in
Fonti per la Storia deW Italia; here too is best assigned the Count
^ See Ehrle's various treatments of the Vienna Council. ("Archiv" II,
353-416 and III, 1-195), of Petrus Johannes Olivi ("Archiv" III, 409--552),
of Fraticclli and Spirituales ("Archiv" I, 158-164, II, 653-669, III, 533 et
seq., IV, 1-200.) Ehrle's edition of the oldest constitutions of the Franciscan
Order is also important ("Archiv " VI, 1-138). It contains the resolutions of
the General Chapters from before 1316, after older printed works and after
16 different manuscripts.
The following may be counted among the histories of the Order:
Mariano of Florence's Chronicle, which goes down to i486. This exists
only in manuscript and was used by Wadding. Mariano died 1527. Notes
on his life and work have been collected by Sabatier in the second volume of
his Collection d' eludes, pp. 137-146.
Mark of Lisbon's Chronicle, written in Spanish about 1550. The author
died about 1580. It came out in Salamanca, 1626; in German translation,
Munich, 1720.
Rudolph of Tossignano's Historia Seraphicæ religionis (Venice, 1586).
The work of the General of the Order, Gonzaga, entitled De origine sera-
phicæ religionis (Rome, 1587. Venice, 1603), with a description of all the
Franciscan convents.
Henricus Sedulius: Historia Scraphica (Antwerp, 1613).
VARIOUS AUTHORITIES 40I
of Chiusi's Letter of Donation of La Verna, issued July 9, 1274,
and reprinted by Sbaralea in Bull. Franc, IV, p. 156.
2. Jacob of Vitry's Letters and his description of St. Francis
and the Franciscans in the second book of Historia occidentalis.
Of the letters, one was written in Genoa, October, 12 16, the second
in the Holy Land, in the end of August, 1220, after personal inter-
course with St. Francis before Damietta 1219. They are therefore
authorities of the very highest value. The Historia occidentalis,
according to the preface, was begun about 1220 and was probably
completed before the return from the Holy Land in 1227.
The first letter is published in Nouvelles mémoires de Vacademie
de Bruxelles, XXIII, pp. 29-33, ^^^ ^^ better shape in Brieger's
" Zeitschr. f . Kirchengesch.," XIV, pp. 101-106. The second letter
is given in Bongar's Gesta Dei per francos (1611, pp. 1047 f.). His-
toria occidentalis was printed in Douai in 1597. The letters, to-
gether with the corresponding chapters of the Hist, occ, are to be
found in Boehmer's Analekten, pp. 94-106.
Jacob of Vitry was Canon in Oignies in northern France, after-
wards was Bishop of Acre in the Holy Land, and after his return
was Cardinal Bishop of Frascati. He died in 1244.
3. Thomas of Spalato's (and not, as Boehmer, Analekten, p.
Ixi, erroneously writes it, Spoleto) Testimony about St. Francis'
preaching in Bologna in 1220. Printed in Sigonius, De episcopis
Bononiensibus (Bologna, 1586), in Monum. Germ. Scriptores (XXX,
p. 580), in Wadding, 1220, n. 8, and in Acta Sanctorum (Oct. II,
p. 842).
4. Finally, a series of contemporaneous authors, who in their
writings accord St. Francis a more or less explicit description, such
as the Dominican Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264) in the 30th and
31st books of his Speculum historiale; his fellow Dominican Jacob
of Varaggio in "The Golden Legend"; St. Anthony of Florence in
the third part (Tit. 24, cap. 7) of his chronicle; Pietro dei Nadali
(d. shortly before 1406) in his Catalogus sanctorum; the Abbot
Albert of Stade in his Annals; the unrehable Matthew of Paris in
his Historia major, etc.
c. Modern Works
I. The series of modern authors on the subject of St. Francis
begins with the Irish Franciscan, Luke Wadding. This zealous
investigator and indefatigable worker treats in his Annales Mino-
rum (8 vols., Rome, 1625) the whole of the history of St. Francis,
together with the history of the Order up to 1540. His work has
27
402 AUTHORITIES
only one defect, but which was not his fault — outside of St. Bona-
venture he only knew the oldest biographers through Bartholomew
of Pisa, Mariano of Florence and Marcus of Lisbon. It is the
decree of 1263 which this late biographer of St. Francis had to
suffer for.
Candide Chalippe's well known and much read book on St.
Francis (1728) is based entirely upon Wadding's Annals.
2. It is the BoUandists, first Stilling and after his death Suysken,
to whom honor is due for having again brought forward a part of
the old biographies. In the second October volume of the Acta
Sanctorum, published 1768, Celano's Vita prima and the traditional
fragment of the Three Brothers' Legend are printed for the first time,
together with a whole series of fragments of Julian of Speier and the
Anonymous of Perugia. In a detailed commentary and a com-
prehensive collection of Analecta, still further material is collected.
Carl Hase's biography of St. Francis of 1856 is entirely based on
this material.
3. The third development in the field of Franciscan research is
due to an Italian Franciscan, Nicolo Papini, in his two works,
characterized by a sharply critical spirit, Notizie sictire sopra s.
Francesco (Florence, 1822, and Foligno, 1824), together with Storia
de S. Francesco, opera critica (2 volumes, Foligno, 1825). Since
1806 the world was in possession not only of Thomas of Celano's
first biography, but also of his Vita secunda, and Papini now built
up his book with these two works as foundation. And that he did
not use biographies later than the time of Celano — even the Fio-
retti is among those omitted — is only what was to be expected;
those who originate a new principle are always inclined to carry
it too far. Papini 's error in this respect is richly made up for by
Ozanam {Les poétes franciscains d'ltalie, Paris, 1852), by Chaving
de Malan {Vie de S. Francois d' Assise, Paris, 1841), by Leon Le
Monnier {Ilistoire de S. Franqois d' Assise, Paris, 18S9).
4. The most recent studies on Franciscan research came under
the names of Karl Muller {Die Anfdnge des Minor itenordens wider
Bussbruderschaften, Freiburg, 1885), Henry Thode {Der hl. Frans
von Assisi und die Anfdnge der Kunst der Renaissance in Italien,
BerUn, 1885, new edition, 1904), and Paul Sabatier {Vie de S.
Franqois d' Assise, Paris, 1894, 32d edition, 1904). Sabatier must
again and again be extolled as the one to whom the renaissance
of interest in St. Francis and his Order is essentially due. All
that has been written since his work appeared — by Lempp, van
Ortroy, Lemmens, Mandonnet, Minocchi, Gotz, Tilemann, Boeh-
MODERN WORKS 403
mer, Felder, Gustav Schnurer — is to be regarded as a continuation
of Sabatier or as refutation of him. Even the author of the present
book stands in such a relation to Paul Sabatier, and recognizes
it here with deference and thankfulness.
Conditions which I could not control prevented me from
writing this book at one time. A space of a year intervened be-
tween the writing of the first portion (the first two books and the
appendix) and the remainder. As the work was only printed long
after much of the text was written, it was inevitable in these days,
so rich in Franciscan literature, that more than one new work
should have been published. The attentive reader will have felt
this trouble in reading the appendix. In order in some degree to
compensate for this imperfection, a summary is here given of the
last contributions to this line of research.
First and foremost, Boehmer's "Analekten zur Geschichte des
Franciscus von Assisi" is to be named. In the text of my book
it is often used and cited. It contains not only (like the Quaracchi
edition) the unquestioned real Latin writings of Francis of Assisi,
but also the uncertain ones, the fragments as well as the Sun Song.
There is also given the most important of the testimony concern-
ing the Rules of the Order, the stigmatization, and the parts of
the work of Jacques de Vitry, so important in the history of the
Order. Finally, it gives a review of the literature about St. Francis,
with an exact and comprehensive index to the history of St.
Francis and of his Order from 1182 to 1340.
The latter is open to few criticisms. It is undoubtedly incorrect
to state, as on page 128, that the Regula prima in its existing form
was submitted to the Pentecost Chapter of May 30, 1221. Jor-
danus of Giano says, clearly enough, that this Rule came into
existence after this Chapter. Boehmer in his Introduction, p.
xxxix, written apparently at a later period, seems clear on this
point. Could he have been unable to correct it in the index? —
Again he is certainly wrong, when he places St. Francis' last stay
in San Damiano {Spec, perf., c. 100) in October, 1224. Francis
left La Verna only on September 30 of the same year. He
then travelled in slow progress to Citta di Castello, where he
remained an entire month. In snowy weather he thus crossed
the Apennines, at the earliest about the first of November — see
page 305 of this book. But the climate of Assisi in the month
of November is such that one could not sleep in a wattle hut,
404 AUTHORITIES
as Francis did during the residence in question at San Damiano.
Therefore it must be assigned to the next summer (1225), and
what the Speculum tells in chapter loi of the dispute between the
Podestå and the Bishop, which Francis stopped by having the Sun
Song chanted, undoubtedly did not take place in the fall of 1224,
but between May and September, 1226. Francis then lay sick in the
Bishop's palace, and the reconciliation took place then and there.
The account of this in the Speculum naturally falls into chapters
122-123, which Bochmer rightly assigns to the period in question.
• Next referring to the oldest biographies, thanks to the Vicar-
General of the Order, Rev. Edouard d'Alenfon, we now possess
an excellent edition of all the works of Thomas of Celano, the
biographer of St. Francis: Vita prima, Vita secunda, Tractatus de
miracuUs, the short legend for liturgical use, together with the
two sequences composed by Thomas — Sanctitatis nova signa and
Fregit victor virtualis. In the Vita secunda d'Alenf on has removed
the third part of the work introduced by Amoni, and has put in
the original third portion (Amoni's pars II and III — pars II in
d'Alengon. WTiere I in this work have used d'Alenjon's edition,
I have always noted it. Moreover, a table in d'Alengon makes it
easy to find quotations taken from Amoni). The large and
beautifully printed book was published by Uesclée, Lefebvre et
Cie. in Rome, and bears the title S. Francisci Assisensis Vita et
miracula, odditis opusculis liturgicis, auctore Fr. Thoma de Celano
(Ixxxvii +481 pp.).
The work of the Englishman, Rosedale, published in 1904, St.
Francis of Assisi, according to Brother Thomas of Celano (London,
Dent and Co., xxxiv + 174 PP-)) can only be regarded as an
unsuccessful attempt to get first to the mill with one's grain.
Rosedale made good use of d'Alengon's guidance, but his edition
cannot be designated by a milder word than a hasty and per-
functory performance. He has had the curious idea of first print-
ing one MS. (from Assisi) and then the other (from Marseilles),
instead of comparing the two manuscripts of the Vita secunda
and so producing a critical text. As the two relations are thus
given in succession, the whole produces a very bewildering effect.
It is done in very good style, but is full of printer's errors (on the
title page of Vita secunda, for instance, we read "de Assisii^^).
D'Alengon has pointed out a quantity of wrong readings in the
Prolegomena to his own edition (pp. Ixxii-lxxv).
In his well-known collection so often cited in this book. Opus-
cules de Critique (I, pp. 69 et seq.), Paul Sabatier, following the
MODERN WORKS 405
Liegnitz MS. of the Legenda antiqua, calls attention to seven
chapters, which according to his views are the remains of the
original Three Brothers' Legend {Legenda vetus, see page 391 of this
book). Meanwhile van Ortroy has found the same chapters in
Angelo Clareno's Commentaries on the Rules of the Order just as
they are found in a manuscript of the fourteenth century in
S. Isidoro in Rome {Anal. Boll., XXX, pp. 441 et seq.). Clareno's
commentary, where the chapters, according to van Ortroy, belong,
is to appear in Sabatier's Opuscules.
Even if the learned BoUandist is right in his contention, the
contents of the chapters in question may very well have their
origin in the old Three Brothers' Legend. Moreover, the con-
viction is formed more and more that the various names of the
original Franciscan writers are of Httle weight. It appears clear
that there are really only three original sources for the biography
of St. Francis of Assisi:
(i) Francis' writings.
(2) Thomas of Celano's Vita prima.
(3) All that directly or indirectly can be referred back to Brother
Leo and his friends. From Brother Leo's rotuH and the other
scripta fratrum antiquonim originate (a) the Greccio collection from
1246 = the original Three Brothers' Legend {Legenda vetus); (b)
Celano's Vita secunda, with portions of the Treatise on Miracles
(§•52 = Spec. 113; §§37-38 = Spec. 112); (c) Speculum perfectionis,
Actus {Fioretti), Legenda antiqua, and the other collections from
the fourteenth century down to the Speculum vitae of about
1250.
One of these numerous compilations, perhaps based upon Angelo
Clareno's work referred to above, is also the Italian Leggenda
antica given by Salvatore Minocchi under the impressive title
Nuova fonte biographica (Florence, 1905, xxxii + 184 pp.).
As Golubvich remarks {Luce e amore, II, Florence, 1905, pp. 255-
264), the term " Legenda antiqua'^ in the older Franciscan speech
was often the designation of one or another legend that was older
than Bonaventure's biography and was of "Leonine" origin.
Thomas of Celano's Vita secunda is often designated by this name,
which, all things considered, can only be a wrong designation.
The order of the Chapter-meeting of 1263 (see p. 380), in
compliance with which all the legends which were older than
Bonaventure's were to be destroyed, was only known through a
quotation of Rinaldi's from a lost manuscript from Gubbio. The
ominous decree has now been again found by A. G. Little in an
4o6 AUTHORITIES
Oxford MS. {English Historical Review, XIII, pp. 704-708), and by
V. Ortroy {Anal. Boll., XVIII, p. 174) in a Vatican MS. of the
thirteenth century which had belonged to Queen Christina.
Salimbene's chronicle was published by Holder-Egger in Mon.
Germ.; the lirst part appeared in Vol. XXXII. FeHce Tocco is
preparing in Sabatier's Collection d'études an edition of Angelo
Clareno's Chronica scptcm iribulationum, and in Sabatier's Opus-
cules there is to appear a new and complete edition of Jordanus of
Giano by H. Boehmer. In Suttini's Bollclino critico (Florence,
1905, pp. 45-47) Little has published a hitherto unknown source
for the Chronica XXIV gener cdium, namely, Brother Pilgrim of
Bologna's Chronicle (see p. 397).
One could be tempted to regard Nino Tamassia's work, 5".
Francisco d^ Assisi e la sua leggenda (Padua and Verona, 1906, XI
+ 216 pp.), as a contribution characterized by great learning.
The author is professor of the History of Law and of Church Law
in the University of Padua, and his work testifies to a wide-spread
knowledge of works on the ancient Church and Middle Ages.
He here works on the principle that every part of the legend of
St. Francis, to which parallels can be found in earlier hagiography,
necessarily are plagiarisms therefrom. For Tamassia the whole
Franciscus legend resolves itself into a mosaic of reminiscences
and quotations. When Thomas of Celano begins his relation
with the simple words Vir er at in civitate Assisii, the learned pro-
fessor sees at once a quotation from Gregory the Great's biog-
raphy by Benedict of Nurcia, which very naturally begins with
the words Fuit virl "It is a pure illusion," Tamassia therefore
declares, "when modern Franciscan researchers try to find any
remains of historical truth in Celano's writings." Both this
author's Vita prima and Vita secunda are works with a purpose,
arranged by Brother Thomas by Gregory's orders to change the
heretic and Valdensian Francis to a saint after the best orthodox
patterns. Add to this that Tamassia as well as v. Ortroy regard the
Legenda trium socioruni as an unreliable and late work of compila-
tion, and there is certainly nothing more for them to say. Not un-
justly has a critic of Tamassia's book (in Etudes franc, XV, pp. 481
et seq.) put the ironic question: S. Francois a-t-il jamais e.xisté?
It is pleasant to turn from this flight into the extremes of hyper-
criticism to the observations on the questions of the authorities
for the life of St. Francis which Henry Thode has brought together
in the new edition of "Franz von Assisi und die Anfdnge der
Kunst der Renaissance in Italien^' (Berlin, 1904, pp. 586-609).
MODERN WORKS 407
Not without justifiable pride does Thode remark that it was
precisely his book, published originally in 1885, which established
a basis for all modern Franciscan literature; a work in whose
tracks C. Mandachs follows closely in writing on St. Anthony of
Padua. He adheres strongly to the thesis, that in the question
of the sources of the biography of St. Francis after twenty years'
indefatigable research all the essentials are in the older works
(p. 609). Now as always the principal sources are Celano's Vita
prima and Viia secunda, in which last Thode sees the undoubt-
edly real Legenda trium sociorum, that of Leo, Angelo, Rufino and
the others, including Thomas, a composite biography of Francis.
"Alles wissenswethe bezuglich des Heiligen und der Aujfassung, die
seine Junge von ihm hatten, ist in den einzigen wakren Quellen, den
beiden Viten des Thomas zu finden'^ (p. 599).
f I concede that Thode here goes farther in opposition to Sabatier
than I can follow him. For example, it is not clear to me that
the natural and naive style of the relations in the Speculum is to
be taken as a proof of their late origin (pp. 600-601). Even
Sabatier does not claim that the Speculum was written in 1227.
But I do not see that Thode has proved it impossible that Leo's
rotuli in their original simple style even in 13 18 lay before this
man or those men who collected and published the Speculum
perfectionis, and were piously preserved in their original form.
Neither has Thode proved that the Legenda vetus, which was
read at the table in Avignon under Michael of Cesena (p. 391) is
identical with the Speculum perfectionis, although on his page
604 et seq. he upholds this view. The untenability of his
hypothesis becomes at once clear when we examine it in the light
of the explicit utterance in the prologue to the Legenda antiqua on
the subject of the "old legend" — that it, namely, (i) was used
by Bonaventure and (2) is inserted in Leg. antiqua. None of this
applies to the Speculum perfectionis. Bonaventure has not inserted
it, for the simple reason that it was not in existence in his time.
And the Legenda antiqua certainly quotes the Speculum, but from a
source widely different from the Legenda vetus. The two cannot
be identified, and it seems for the present most reasonable — as
on my page 392 — that the "old legend" read in Avignon is to be
understood as having been the original Legenda trium sociorum.
In his commendable zeal to establish Thomas of Celano's throne
in safety against the attacks of Sabatier, Thode goes too far to the
other side. The Speculum will always hold its place in the first
rank among the biographies of St. Francis. It is therefore a pity
40S AUTHORITIES
that Thode — like Lemmens — in the traditional (incomplete)
Three Brothers' Legend can only see a pure compilation — arranged
to form an introduction to the Speculum pcrjedionis. So far
no one — not even v. Ortroy — has shown the sources of charac-
teristic minor traits from the childhood of Francis given in this
work and nowhere else. And until this proof is produced all
credit remains here, as Thode says, "with the old" sources.
Finally, a few words must be said of Karl Hampe's article in
"Hist. Zeitschr.," 1906, ^' Die wundmale des hl. Franz von Assisi."
I cannot go into all this writer's subtilties — such as, that the
seraph who appeared to Francis at La Verna cannot have floated
in the air, because one authority states that the angel showed him-
self standing on a stone (p. 399). When an angel does reveal
himself, he may well overcome first one and then another thing;
but to Hampe it appears that his view is finely adapted to show
the contradictions existing in the sources of information.
There are not many such solid arguments in Hampe's article,
but it is written in the suspicious style affected in certain modern
circles. Nothing is insisted on and nothing is denied, but by a
series of indirect suggestions, general suspicions and indefinite
circumlocutions, the reader is brought into the narcosis of doubt
and uncertainty aimed at by the author. When two testimonies
of the stigmatization, for example, two mutually independent
documents say exactly the same, then he assumes that one of
them has been adapted to fit the other's appearance (p. 398).
This is an easy way to get rid of an inconvenient witness.
It is significant that Hampe — in spite of all this — does not
at all deny Francis' stigmatization. The stigmata existed in
Francis' last year, that is certain (p. 390). Hampe only denies
(i) that they had the appearance given in this book; for example,
according to him they can only have been "vernarbte Locher,
in deren Risse sich der Schmutz gesetzt hat, i.e., inflamed openings,
in whose cracks dirt had accumulated (p. 391); (2) that Francis
received the stigmata on La Verna in September, 1224.
As principal proof for these denials Hampe cites the letter of
Elias of Cortona to Gregory and the French Brothers written
immediately after Francis' death. (Appendix to this book, p.
351, note 4.) It reads thus (see Boehmer, p. 91):
"Non diu ante mortem frater et pater noster apparuit crucifixus,
quinque plagas, quae vera sunt stigmata Christi, portans in cor-
pore suo: nam manus ejus et pedes quasi puncturas clavorum
habuerant ex utraque parte confixas, reservantes cicatrices et
MODERN WORKS 409
clavorum nigredinem ostendentes. Latus vero ejus lanceatum
apparuit et saepe sanguinem evaporavit." Hence Hampe believes
that (i) Francis received the stigmata shortly before his death
{non dill), not two years before; (2) the stigmata did not project
like nails, but were only black {clavorum nigredinem ostendentes).
The answer to this is:
(i) Hampe places too much stress on the expression non diu
written by Elias without regard to later critical historians. Elias
had been in the Order sixteen years when he wrote this, and
had a certain right to use the expression "not long" for a lapse
of two years. But what would Hampe say to it, when Thomas
of Celano describes a lapse of seventeen years by the words paulo
post? This is the case in the Vita secunda I, VI, 11, where it is
said of Francis' prayer in San Damiano: "Ab ea igitur horalique-
facta est anima ejus, ut dilectus ei locutus est. Patuit paulo post
amor cordis per vulnera corporis." ^ And in her Rule St. Clara
writes: ^^ paulo post conversionem ipsius^' (i.e. Francisci) "una
cum sororibus meis obedientiam voluntarie sibi promisi" {Textus
originales, p. 62). When the expression paulo post in Clara's
diction can indicate five years, in that of Thomas of Celano
seventeen years, then Elias can also by non diu have indicated
two years. As far as the reckoning of time went, none of these old
writers apparently weighed their expressions on a bullion-balance.
Finally, with regard to (2) the following is to be said. Hampe
lays much stress on the fact that Elias speaks of the stigmata
only as "clavorum nigredinem ostendentes," whereas Celano says
in Vita prima (H, c. 3; Boehmer, p. 93), "manus et pedes ejus in
ipso medio clavis confixi videbantur. " This seems to him a develop-
ing of the legend.
My view is that the expression "clavorum nigredinem" is only
to be taken as a flower of rhetoric. In those days, if a fine expres-
sion was sought for, one would not say, for example, "per densas
silvas," but "per densitatem sil varum," analogous to the ways of
certain French symbolists in our own times. In like manner
one would not say "clavos nigros," but more elegantly "clavorum
nigredinem." Hinc ilia dissertation
1 1 am indebted to Rev. Michael Bihl for this valuable indication.
2 1 must state here, that Monsignor Dr. N. Paulus, who formerly (" Der
Kathohk, " 1899, I, pp. 97 et seq.) has defended the theory of the origin of the
Portiuncula Indulgence from St. Francis himself, in an article in the "Kol-
nische Zeitung" for July 26, 1906, essentially places himself upon the same
standpoint as P. A. Kirsch. ("That Honorius III did not grant the Portiuncula
Indulgence, Kirsch has convincingly shown".)
4IO AUTHORITIES
TiiE Wolf of Gubbio
The legend of the Wolf of Gubbio in the Fioretti is as follows;
A savage wolf terrorized the inhabitants of Gubbio. It kept
itself in the environs, and no one dared to go out there alone, no
matter if he was armed. St. Francis went out to see the wolf
and to tame it by his influence. He found it in its haunts,
addressed it as Brother Wolf, told it how bad had been its Ufe,
told it that if it would cease its attacks it would be supported,
and thus subdued it. For two years thereafter, we are told, the
wolf went through the town of Gubbio from house to house and
was fed by the inhabitants, and then died. — Te^vnslator's
Note.
INDEX
INDEX
Abruzzi, the, 265.
Abstainers, the Third Order, 241.
Abu Jacob, the Miraniohn, 199.
AccuRSius, celebrated Lawyer of Bo-
logna, bequeaths his villa La Rich-
ardina to the Order, 228; sent to
Morocco, 1 2 19, 197.
Adam of Marsh, B., opposed to Elias
of CoRTONA, 239.
Adjuto, B., sent to Morocco, 12 19,
197.
Admonitions, summary of, 214-217.
Ægidius, B. See Giles, B.
Agnello of Pisa, B., Custos in Paris,
239; leader of EngUsh mission of
1224, 239.
Agnolo, B., 158.
Albernio, hermitage of, near Siena, 319.
Albert, the beggar, 52; meets St.
Francis in Pisa, 146.
Albigenses, 87.
Alviano, the swallows of, 151.
Alexander III and the care of lepers,
2,y, gives Valdes permission to
preach, 88.
Angel plays for St. Francis, 295, 317.
"Angel's Bread," 274.
Angela of Foligno, 73.
Angelo, brother of St. Francis per-
secutes him, 52.
Angelo Clareno, B., his strict obser-
vance, n., 272.
Angelo Tancredi, B., characterized
by St. Francis, 282; humiliated,
158; living with Cardinal Branca-
leone, 259; and Leo with the dying
saint, 324; St. Francis' calls to
him, 76; test of his humility and
obedience, 158.
Angelus meets St. Francis in Pisa,
146.
Antonin of Florence, St., 27.
Apuha, St. Francis' futile trip to,
22-24.
Ascoli, St. Francis preaches in, 153.
Assisi, its history, 8-9, 10, 18, 19, 22,
86-87, 99, 129; peace with Perugia,
November, 1203, 20; blessed by St.
Francis when dying, 329; doors
in, closed to Brothers, 81; Ptolemy's
Aisision, 8; stable in, birthplace of
St. Francis, 10.
Aymon of Faversham, B., 228; at Bo-
logna, 228; favors the book-learned
as officers of the Order, 239.
Barbarossa, 18.
Barbarus, B., 76.
Barbarus, in Cyprus, 202.
Barnabas, on German missions of 1220
or 1221, 210.
Bartholi, Francesco, and the Porti-
uncula indulgence, 170.
Bartholomew of Pisa, analogies be-
tween Our Lord and St. Francis, 9.
Benedict of Arezzo, B., goes as a
missionary to Greece, 1219, 196; the
Portiuncula indulgence, 169.
Benedict of Prato, B., says mass for
St. Francis, 288; writes St.
Francis' blessing on the Order, 321.
Benedictines on Monte Subasio, own-
ers of Portiuncula, 105.
Benedictine Sisters of St. Pauls and
St. Clara, 127.
Berardo, B., leader of the mission-
aries in Seville, 199; sent to Morocco,
1219, 197.
Bernard of Bessa, B., n., 62; testifies
to Hugolin's friendship for St.
Francis in difficulties of 1221, 207;
uses title of Third Order, and de-
scribes it, 244.
Bernard of Quintavalle, B., his
abstraction in God, 106-107; char-
acterized by St. Francis, 282; in
Florence, 70; gives all to the poor
and is converted, April 16, 1209,
62, 65; prays for divine guidance in
the church of St. Nicolo, Assisi, 64;
sometimes acts as leader on trip to
Rome, 1 210, 84; preaches in
Bologna, 1212, 227; settled at
Bologna, 1213, 227; tests St.
Francis' sincerity, 63; St. Francis'
special commendation of, 330; his
last days, 280.
Bernard of Vigilanzio, 76.
413
414
INDEX
Bkrnhard Primtts, 91.
Birds, sermon to the, 149-150; wel-
come the Friars to Mount Alverna,
292.
BoEHMER describes his letters, 267.
BoEHMER and Muller and the Rule
of 1221, 221-222.
Bologna and Bernard of Quinta-
VALLE, 227; centre of opposition
to St. Francis, 227; and the learned
Franciscans, 227-228; St. Fr.\ncis
preaches in, 234-235.
Bona Donna, wife of Luchesio, 241.
BoNizio, B., at Fonte Colombo with
St. Francis and Brother Leo to
finish the Rule, 252.
Brienne, John of, 151; Walter of,
151-
"Brother Ass." 148.
"Brother Francis' Plant," 122.
"Brother Giles' Wisdom," 109.
"Brother Jacoba," 152.
Brothers not to take more than three
mouthfuls when at strange tables,
272.
Cæsarius of Speier, B., a collaborator
in the writing of St. Francis' cir-
cular letters, 271; first German in
the Order, 201; leader of German
mission of 1220 or 1221, 210; helps
St. Francis in writing the Rule of
1221, 213, 221; returns from Ger-
many, June II, 1223, 271; and St.
Francis' Work, 223-225.
Camaldolites of Alonte Subasio, give
San Domiano to the Clares, 129.
Camaldolites and Portiuncula, 105.
Canterbury, the Friars in, 239.
Carceri, the original convent at, 218.
Cathari, 87-88, 153-154.
Cattani, Orlando dei, 161-162.
Cattani, Pietro DEI, B., prays for
divine guidance in the Church of St.
Niccolo, Assisi, 63, 64.
Chapter of Mats (1220 or 1221), 209,
210; of Michaelmas, 12 19, 205;
Pentecost, of May 14, 1217, 182;
Pentecost, of 1218, 194-196; Pen-
tecost, of May 26, 1219, 196, 236;
Pentecost, of 1 2 20 or 1 2 2 1 (of Mats) ,
209-210; Pentecost, of 1221, 200,
201, 239; Pentecost, of 1221 at
Portiuncula, 206; Pentecost, of 1224,
267, 269, 270.
Chapters or Chapter Meetings, 176,
178.
Cheerfulness, 54, 220, 289.
Chiaramonti, Cardinal Nicholas,
164.
Chxustian, Archbishop of Mayence,
18.
Clares follow Rule of St. Benedict
after 12 19, 189; Gregory IX tries
to modify the Rule of Poverty, 190;
Poverty, the core of Observances
of St. Damien, 189; privilege of
poverty ratified by Innocent III,
1215, 185; rigidity of rule makes
Cardinal Hugolin weep, 189;
Severe Cloister of, 189.
Constance of Sicily, 21.
Convents, the first Franciscan, 218.
CoppoLi, Jacopo and the Portiuncula
indulgence, 170.
Crecentius of Jesi, B., at Bologna,
228.
Cross in San Damiano, voice of, 1207,
297-
Crucigers, 77.
Damietta, siege of, beginning May,
1218, 203-204; fight before, on July
29, 1219, 203; attack on by crusaders
repulsed, July 31, 1219, 203; great
defeat of crusaders, August 29, 1219,
203; falls, November 5, 1220, 204.
Dante at the Franciscan convent, 155.
David of Dinant, 87.
Despair, temptation of, 266.
Disciple, the first, 62.
Disciples, first four, 67; first seven, 67;
persecution of early, 69-70; taken
for thieves, 70.
Dominicans and learning, 230; Domin-
icans' Rule for the I'ranciscans, 231.
DoM Pedro, Infanta of Portugal, 199;
Infanta of Portugal at head of the
Miramolin's arm}', 199; mission-
aries put in his care by the Miramo-
LIN, 199.
Donato, story of, n., 124.
Durand of Huesca, 84; adheres to
church, 88; authorized to preach,
83.
Egidio, B. See Giles, B.
Electus, B., goes as a missionary to
Tunis, 1219, 196; a martyr in Tunis,
1219, 197.
Elias Bombarone, B. See Elias of
Cortona, B.
Elias of Cortona, B., n., 27, 227;
opposed to the "Portiuncula men,"
169; placed over Province of Holy
Land, 183; St. Francis in opposi-
INDEX
415
tion, 226-227; and his party said
to have attempted to invalidate the
Rule and substitute the Dominicans'
Rule, 231; and the Final Rule, 248;
visits St. Francis at Fonte Colombo
to plead for a gentler Rule, 252-253;
loses the Rule, 253; begs St.
Francis to have his eyes treated,
316; St. Francis transported to
Assisi by him, 321.
England, Franciscans go there, Sep-
tember 10, 1224, 239.
Ercmi and ritiri, 72.
Erimitorium of the Franciscans, 218.
Favoring dei Scifi, 122, 124.
FiUMi family of Sterpeto, 122.
Florence, St. Antonin of, 27.
Fonte Colombo, the interview at, 252-
253; the original convent at, 218;
St. Francis with Brothers Leo and
Bonizio at, 252-253.
Francis of Fabriano, b. 1251, d.
1322, 171; obtains the Portiuncula
indulgence, 171; his reminiscences,
171; visits Assisi in 1268, 172.
Frangipani family, 152.
Frederick Barbarossa, 18.
Frederick II, 21; and San Damiano,
135-136.
Friars Minor, origin of title, loo-ioi.
Fru Pica, 41, 44-45.
George, Houses of St., 32.
Germany, mission of 1220 or of 1221
to, 210-212.
GiACOMA. See Jacopa.
Giorgio, church of S., 64.
Giles, B., n., 67, after the death of St.
Francis, 238; and the beggar
woman, 66-67; his biography writ-
ten by Brother Leo, 107; and
book learning, 236-237; "Brother
Giles' Wisdom," 109; is called a
hypocrite, 107-108; carries water
and helps the cook in Santi Quattro
Coronati, 108; characterized by St.
Francis, 282; choice of life, 145;
comments on St. Francis' preach-
ing, 67; his conversion, April 23,
1209, 65-66; his devotion to Pov-
erty and Chastity, 237-238; and
the Doctor of Theology, 138; earns
his food while a guest with Cardinal
Nicholas, 109; his employment in
Ancona, 107; episodes in life of, 107-
109; an extensive traveller, 107;
faithful to his first love, 239; in
Florence, 70; gives his rich cloak to
a beggar woman, 66-67; goes as a
missionary to Tunis, 1219, 196;
imitates playing the violin, 109, 238;
instances of his Franciscan good-
ness, 108-109; interrogates St.
Bonaventure, 238; "Knight of the
Round Table," 67, 107; life in the
convent at Perugia, 109; living
with Cardinal Chiaramonti, 259;
his occupations, 108; opposes new
tendency to learning and study,
236-237; "Paris, thou ruinest St.
Francis' Order," 238; prays to find
St. Francis, 66; rejects too large a
payment for wood, 108; his remarks
to the two Cardinals, 109; says that
a priest cannot lie, 108; sells water
in Brindisi, 107; sent out of Tunis
by force, 12 19, 197; stops a doctor
of theology preaching in San Da-
miano, 138; his sonnet to chastity,
n., no; traits illustrating his views
of doing and study, 237-238; his
death, April 22, 1262, 239.
GozzoLi, Benezzo, 9-10.
Gratian, B., and St. Anthony of
Padua, 212.
Greccio, the Christmas at, 1223, 260-
262.
Gregory of Naples, B., vicar of the
Order, 205.
Gregory IX, 181 (see also Hugolin);
grants indulgence to church of St.
Francis in Assisi, 166, 167, 168;
protector of the Third Order, 243;
and Rule of the Clares, 190; and
St. Clara, 133; and St. Clara's
poverty, 136-137; tries to modify
the Rule of Poverty of the Poor
Clares, 190; withdraws his pro-
hibition of preaching by Franciscans
in San Damiano, 133.
GuBBio, the hospital in, 50; John of,
9; St. Francis' friend in, 49; wolf
of, 100, 235, 410.
GuELFUcci, Bona, 125.
Guido, Bishop of Assisi, 1204, n.,
31, 45, 76; probably confessor of St.
Francis, 31; his law suits, 78; ob-
jects to the begging, 77; poverty of
St. Francis, 76-78; receives the
Brothers in Rome, 12 10, 84; and
St. Francis' early preaching, 98.
Guido of Florence, his alms refused,
71-
Guido Vagnotelli, B., enters the
Order, 145.
4i6
INDEX
Henry VI, i8, 21.
HoNORius II and the Porliuncula
Indulgence, 167.
HoNORirs III, authorizes mass for
the Friars Elinor, December, 1224,
288; Bull of 1220, 207; defines the
Dominicans, 187; goes to Rieti,
1225, 316; leaves Rome, April, 1225,
316; letter of commendation for the
missionaries (June 11, 1219), 196;
his letter about Poor Clares to Car-
dinal HuGOLiN, August 27, 1218,
185-186; on December 16, 1221,
orders the Bishop of Rimini to pro-
tect the Third Order in Faenza, 243;
protector of the Third Order, 243;
ratifies Rule, November 29, 1223,
226.
Hubert of Casale and Angela of
FoLiGNO, 171.
HuGOLiN, Cardinal, 165, 180, 181-
182; assists St. Francis in drawing
up Rule of Third Order, 244; in
Bologna, 1221, 243; became Pope
Gregory IX in 1227, 136, 181;
Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, May,
1206, 181; chooses Rule of the
Benedictines for the Poor Clares,
187; defends the cause of the
church against Markwald, 1188, 181;
co-operation with St. Francis on the
final Rule, 247; establishes Order
of Poor Clares, 1217-1219, 185-186;
first visit of, to Friars Minor and
how they impressed him, 164-165;
forbids St. Francis going to France,
1217, 184; founds a convent for the
Franciscans in Viterbo, 181; founds
a convent, San Cosmiato, for the
Poor Clares in Rome, 181; founds
convents in Lombardy and Tuscany,
181-182; founds a poor-house with
church in Anagni and gives it over
to Hospital Brothers, 181; says
that he helped to write the Rule
and to obtain its ratification, 257;
instances of his influence and cor-
recting the final Rvile, 247; inter-
mediator between Elias of Cortona
and St. Francis, 226; Papal Chap-
lain of St. Fustachio, 1198, 181;
Papal Legate in Tuscany to preach
a crusade and allay disputes be-
tween the republics, 183; at Pen-
tecost Chapter of 12 18 as protector
of Order, 194; and the Rule of the
Order of Clares, 186-187; and St.
Francis and the final Rule, 247-248;
St. Francis' Spiritual Father, 184;
secured for side of St. Francis'
adversaries (about 1223), 231; his
view as to Rule dilTered from St.
Francis', 248; washes beggar's feet,
who complains, 195; weakens the
Rule, 247-248, 251; weeps at
rigiditj' of Rule of Poor Clares, 189;
and Humiliations of the Friars, 158.
Idiota, 228.
Illuminato in the Holy Land with
St. Francis, 1219, 204.
Indulgence granted Church of St.
Francis in Assisi, 166, 167, 168;
example of early ones, 166-167; and
the Lateran Council of 1215, 166;
old methods of granting, 166; the
Portiuncula, 166-174.
Itidulgcntia de Terra Sancta, 166.
Innocent III, 11, 31; afraid to enter
Assisi, 86-87; blesses St. Francis'
mission to the Saracens, 152; his
dream, n., 85; driven from Rome, 86;
and the Clares, 130-131; insulted,
85-86; journey of homage through
Umbria, 87; rebellious era of, 87.
Innocent IV in Assisi, 1253, 139; in
Perugia, 1252, 138; and Poor Clares,
189; visits the dying St. Clara,
138-139-
Irslingen, Conrad of, 18, 86.
Jacopa de Settesoli, b. about 1190,
152, 257-258; in Assisi, 334;
epitaph in the Franciscan church
in Assisi, 334; her lamb given her
by St. Francis, 257; meets St.
Francis, i 21 2, 152; prepares al-
mond cream for him, 257; her first
son Giovanni, born 1210, 152; her
second son Gratiano, born 121 7, 152;
visit to the dying saint, 330; a
widow in 1217, 257.
Jacqueline. See Jacopa.
Jacques de Vitry, his description of
the Friars Minor, 163-164; chapter
meetings, 214; in St. Jean d'Acre,
tells of Franciscans, »1 2 19, 203.
John, Morico and Sabbatino, BB.,
early disciples, 67.
John of Parma, 192; at Bologna, 228.
Johannes Parenti, B., 228; enters
the Order, 145.
John of Piano Carpino on German
Mission of 1220 or 1221, 210.
John of San Costanzo, 76.
John of St. Paul, Cardinal, be-
INDEX
417
friends the Brothers in Rome, 12 10,
84-85; interviews Pope about St.
Francis, qo.
John, The Simple, B., his conversion,
115-117; copies St. Francis in all
things, 117.
John of Brienne, 151.
John Capella, B. (of the hat), 67;
tries to establish a new order of
lepers, 12 19, 205.
John Colombini, his wife converted,
241.
John of Giano, B., and the German
mission of 1220 or 1221, 210.
John of Gubbio, 9.
John de Laudibus, B., characterized
by St. Francis, 2S2-283.
John Vellita, Messer, helps St.
Francis with the Christmas cele-
bration at Greccio, 1223, 261.
Jordanus of Giano, B., his account
of the German mission of 1220 or
1 22 1, 211; describes his own charac-
ter, 240; describes St. Francis' dis-
like of compulsion, 226; does not
know what a convent is, 211, 218.
Julian, St., 32.
Juniper, B., or Ginepro, 106, 111-112;
anecdotes of, 106, 111-115; charac-
terized by St. Francis, 282; cooks
a huge meal that is uneatable, 113-
114; his " flaming sparks of words,"
115; "news from God," 115, 139;
and the pig's foot, 112-113; and St.
Clara, 115; and the Seesaw, 114-
115; gives his superior hot porridge
at night, 114; his way of giving
lessons, 114.
Ketteler, Bishop of Mayence, and
the poor family, 277.
Knights of Lazarus, 32.
"Knight of the Round Table," 67,
107.
Larks, their last farewell to the Saint,
333-
Lateran Council of 1215 and Indul-
gences, 166; its Interdiction of New
Orders, 187; and religious orders, 83;
said to have accepted Dominicans
and Friars Minor, 187.
La Verna, gift of, 162, 168; at the
present day, 293.
Lauds, 69, 222-225.
Laymen, as preachers, 83.
Lazarus, Knights of, 32.
Lent, 1211, 147.
28
Leo, B., 106; and angels with the dying
saint, 324; the Blessing of Brother,
303-304; characterized by St.
Francis, 282; describes St. Francis
failing in health, 251-252; he
intrudes on St. Francis' solitude,
295-296; opens the Book of Gospels
for St. Francis' guidance, 294; the
Portiuncula indulgence, 170; the
prayer with St. Francis, i i 7-1 19;
St. Francis prays with him, 287; St.
Francis attendant in his last weeks
of life, 293, 295; with St. Francis
and Brother Bonizio at Fonte
Colombo to finish the Rule, 252;
St. Francis describes the perfect
happiness to him, 119-121; with St.
Francis on La Verna, 295-297;
says part-prayers with St. Francis,
117-119; says mass for St. Francis,
288; and the Stigmata, 301-302;
his story about the attempted in-
validation of the Rule, 231; his
vision of Francis defending his
Order, 230; his eyes possibly closed
by Jacopa de Settesoli, 334; died
about 1274, 334.
Leo IX, St., 32.
Leonard, B., his thoughts read by St.
Francis, 284.
Leper and Martyrius, 32.
Lepers in Middle Ages, 32.
LiBERius, Pope, 105.
LUCHESIO OF POGGIBONSI, 24I-242;
his new hfe, 241; his wife Bona
Donna, 241; and wife died April 28,
1260, 241.
LuciDUS, B., characterized by St.
Francis, 283.
Lucius III and Valdenses in 11 84, 88.
Mariano of Florence, his character
of P1ETR0 Di Bernardone, 45;
describes the preparing of the Rule
of the Third Order, 247.
Mark Ancona, Friars' early days in, 68.
Markwald, 21.
Martyrs of Morocco, 200; of Seville,
their bodies enshrined in Coimbra
by Queen Urraca, 200; news of
their deaths at the Pentecost chap-
ter of 1 221, 200-201.
Martyrius and the leper, 32.
Masseo, B., of Marignano, 74, 97,
106; anecdotes of, 106, no, in;
and Brother Rufino, 281; charac-
terized by St. Francis, 282; his
cheerfulness, in; exercised in hu-
4i8
INDEX
mility by St. Francis, hi; goes
to seek advice for St. Francis from
Sii.vESTKR and St. Clara, 149; his
praying, iii; St. Francis makes
him find the road they are to take,
iio; his success as a beggar, no;
testimony as to Portiuncula indul-
gence, 169-170.
Mats, Chapter of the, 209.
Matthew of Narni, B., 201, 205.
Mayence, Archb. Christian of, 18.
Middle Ages, Church of the, 85-86.
Minerva, temple of, in Assisi, 129.
Mission journey of 1217, 236; to
Tunis, 197-200; to Germany, 210.
Missions, great Franciscan, began 1217,
182-183, 192-193, 220.
Missionaries, their experiences in Ger-
many, 1217, 192; the first, 68-70;
ill-treated, 68-70; in Seville irre-
pressible, 199; in Seville martyred,
200; si.x go to Morocco, 12 19, 196;
start for their provinces, 1217, 192.
Monaldo, uncle of St. Clara and St.
Agnes attempts to recover St.
Agnes by force, 128-129.
Monism, the struggle for, 88-89.
Montcfalco, 10.
Montefeltro, Festival at castle of, 159-
162.
Monte Paolo, hermitage of, 212.
Monte Subasio, 48, 77-105.
MonticeUi, St. Agnes and the Rule
for, 190.
MoRico, SAB-i^TiNO and John, BB.,
early disciples, 67.
Morocco, St. Francis' journey to, 163.
Mount Alverna, the original convent
at, 218; taking possession of, 291.
Mutual love of the Brothers, 82.
Nature, St. Francis' relations to, 309-
312.
Neo-Manichees, 87.
Nicholas, Cardinal, and Giles, 109.
Nicholas IV, Pope, a Franciscan,
his letter of May 14, 1284, 171.
Nicholas of Pepoli, professor in the
University of Bologna, 228; takes up
the Franciscan mission in Bologna,
146.
Niccolo, Church of S., 64.
Ninety brothers volunteer for the
German mission, 210.
NoTTiANO, n., 117.
Novitiate established 1220, 155; of
one year required by Bull of
HoNOEiuS III, 207.
Obedience, perfect, defined by St.
Francis, 285-286; to the Rule first,
248.
Observances of St. Damian, 189-190.
Order to be reorganized, 1221, 207.
Orlando dei Cattani, 161-162; glad
as Friars take possession, 1224, of
La Verna, 292; verbal gift of La
Verna, 168.
Ortis, life in, 96; the rest at, 96-97.
Ortlieb of Strassburgh, 87.
Ortolana, 122, 124.
Orvieto, faction in, 86.
Ostia, Cardinal Hugolin of, 165;
also see Hugolin.
Otto of Aquasparta and the Porti-
uncula indulgence, 170.
Otto, Brother, sent to Morocco, 1219,
197.
Otto of Brunswick, Francis' mes-
sage to, passing through valley of
Spolcto, September, 1209, 82-83.
Over-sanctilication, 62.
Oxford, the Friars established there,
November, 1224, 239.
Pacificus, B., does not play for St.
Francis for fear of making a dis-
turbance, 317; returns to French
mission, 12 19, 236; goes as a mis-
sionary to France, 1209, 196; and
the Sun Song, 313-314; the vision
of, 279.
Padua, St. Anthony of, 212.
Papal commendation of May 29, 1220,
236.
Papal sanction refused Dominicans
and Friars Minor, 187.
Parenti, Johannes, 145-146, 228.
Paris, the Order in, 236.
Paul of Pherme, 124.
Paulinus of Nola, 152.
Pepoli, Nicolo de, 146, 228.
Penitential Brothers, the Third Order,
their life, 242.
"Penitents from Assisi," 81.
Perugians, danger of their capturing
St. Francis in his last illness, 321.
Peter, B., sent to Morocco, 1219, 197.
Peter John Olivi, b. 1248; d. 1298,
upholds authenticity of the Porti-
uncula indulgence, 172.
Peter of Stacia, opposes St. Francis
and opens a House of Study in
Bologna. 226, 228, 230-231.
Peter Valdes, permission to preach
given him by Alexander III in
II 79.
INDEX
419
Philipp Lange, 76.
Philip, Brother, superior of the
Clares, seeks bull of excommimica-
tion to protect them, 205.
PlETRO DEI CaTTANI, 227, 228, 276;
sails with Crusaders, 12 19, 202;
d. March 10, 1221, 208.
PlETRO DI BeRNARDOXE, 4O-4I, 43;
captures and imprisons his son, 44;
tries the civil law against his son,
45-
Pilgrim from Fallerone, B., conver-
sion of, n., 235.
PoenitetUium Collegia, 242.
Poggio Bustone, cave near, 72.
"Poor of Christ," 106.
"Poor men from Lyons," 87.
Portiuncula, 33; St. Francis weeps
at, 42; St. Fr-ANCIs begins its
restoration, 54; called Santa Maria
degli Angeli, St. Mary of the Angels,
54; St. Matthew's mass in, 56;
the first four Friars in, 67; St.
Francis' sermon to the first si.x
disciples in the forest near, 68-69;
its origin and name, 105; owned by
Benedictines, 105, 576; at the
present time, 105; and the Camel-
dolites, 105; abandoned, 1075, 105;
ancient picture in, 105; visions at,
168; "God's house and the gate of
Heaven," 331; legend of Fru Pica
in, 105; life of the Friars in, 105-
106; a vision of, 121; new brothers
received at, about 1214, 163;
Brothers invested with the habit
there, 175; meetings at, on specified
dates, 175-176; the original convent
at, 218; its Rule, 219-220; St.
Fr.-\ncis at, 1224, 306.
Portiuncula indulgence, authenticity
upheld by Peter John Glut in a
pamplilet, 172; first known late in
the thirteenth century, 172; Heri-
BERT Holzapfel and the, 173-174;
legends of, 167-168; not mentioned
in the Speculum Perfcctionis, 174;
the stricter party upholds it, 170-
171; testimony of October 31, 1277,
169, 170, 172; theory of, 172-173.
Poverty, evangelical. 91-92; impaired
by Peter Stacia, 231; of older
Orders, 92; St. Clara's privilege
of, 190-191; St. Francis' new con-
ception of, 92.
Preaching, early, 67-68; by lajnnen,
83-
Priest, first, in the Order, 65.
"Prisons" on Monte Subasio, 77.
Provinces, division of, 1223, n., 227;
or mission-districts, 176, 182.
Raine:r, Prior of St. Michael, 203.
Raynald, Cardinal, later Pope Alex-
ander IV, visits San Damiano, 138.
Rayner of Arezzo and the Porti-
uncula indulgence, 169.
Regula Prima, 214, 220-225.
Renan, Ernest, and Franciscanism,
121.
Restoration of Roman Senate, 1143,
86.
RiCERius, Brother, 102-103.
R1CETIUS from Muccia, B., conversion
of, n., 235.
Rieti, valley of, 71-72, 265; St.
Francis' journey to, 316-317.
Riliri and eremi, 72, 218.
Rivo Torto, life of early disciples
there, 77-81, 82, 97, loi.
Robbers on Monte Casale converted,
156-157-
Robert of Arbrissel, 89.
Roger of Todi, B., characterized by
St. Francis, 283.
RuFiNO, B., 106, 158; his abstraction
in prayer, in; characterized by St.
Francis, 282; choice of life, 145;
humiliation of, 158; his origin, in;
and Massed, 281; and St. Clara,
125; and St. Francis, 281-282;
sanctified while living, 282; tempta-
tions, 280-282; test of his humility
and obedience, 158.
RuFiNUS, Saint, 9.
Rule, additions to the fundamental,
222; the first, 77-80, 213-214; the
final, fears excited about, 252; for
Hermitages, 219; Hugolin's co-
operation with St. Fr.4NCIS in final,
247; of the Clares, 189; Clares',
approved by Pope, 130-131; to be
obeyed litter aliler, 248; for Por-
tiuncula, special, 219-220; ratifica-
rion of early, 94; the, reduced in
strictness, 251-252; of Rivo Torto,
220, 222; of San Damiano, 185; of
Third Order, First, lost, 244; of
1210, 219; of 1221, material for, 221;
final, accepted November 29, 1222,
234; much abbreviated as accepted
by the Pentecost chapter of 1223,
125, 254-256; ratified by Honorius
in, November 29, 1223, 226; of
1228, for Third Order, discovered
by Sab.atier, 244-246.
420
INDEX
Sabbatino, 67
St. Agnes, 123; becomes a nun, 128;
her uncle Monaldo attempts to
remove her from the convent by vio-
lence, 128-129; her visit to the dying
St. Clara, 139; and the Rule of the
Order of Clares, 190.
St. Anthony of Padua in Forli, about
1222, 212, 234; leaves Bologna,
1224, to go to Montpellier, 234;
permission given him to teach the-
ology, 233-234.
St. Bridget on forgiveness of St.
Francis' sins, n., 75.
St. Clara, her family and family
tree, 122, 125; authorities for her
biography, 122-123; Favorini
SciFi, Count of Sasso Rosso, her
father, 122; Ortolana Fiumi of
Sterpeto, her mother, 122; her four
sisters and brother, 122-123; origin
of name of Clara, 123; Ortolana's
pilgrimages, 123; first suitor when
fifteen years old, 124; hears St.
Francis preach in San Rufino and
in San Giorgio, Assisi, in Lent, 1212,
124-125; St. Francis becomes her
spiritual guide, 125; St. Francis'
advice to her, 125; Rufino and
Silvester, BB., assist her, 125;
leaves the world, Palm Sunday,
March 18, 1212, 126; Bona Guel-
Fucci accompanies her when she
visits St. Francis and when she
leaves her home, 125, 127; the flight
from home, 126; reception by the
Franciscans in Santa Maria degli
Angeli after her flight from home,
126; Bishop Guido carries an oHve
branch to her on Palm Sunday, 1212,
126; puts on the habit, 127; taken
to Benedictine Sisters of St. Pauls,
Isola Romanesca, 127-128; trans-
ferred to convent of Sant' Angelo
in Panso, 128; the Camaldolites of
Monte Subasio give San Damiano
for the Clares, 129; her sister
Beatrice and mother Ortolana
join St. Clara, 129; a forma Vi-
vendi written for the Clares by St.
Francis, 130; Innocent III ap-
proves the Rule of the Clares, 130;
Abbess of San Damiano, 1215, 130;
the privilegium pauperlatis, 130-131;
life of the sisters in San Damiano,
130; Gregory IX withdraws his
prohibition of preaching by Fran-
ciscans in San Damiano, 133; St.
Clara and another sister get answer
in prayer for guidance of St.
Francis, 149; Gregory IX's vain
attempts to dissuade her from
poverty, 136-137; Innocent IV,
138-139; Innocent IV ratifies the
privilege of poverty two days before
her death, 190, 191; her final Rule
and privilege of poverty, 140-141;
Cardinal Raynald gives her the
sacrament, 138; Innocent IV visits
her when dying, 139; St. Agnes,
her sister, visits her when dying, 139;
Brothers Leo, Angelo, and Juni-
per visit her when dying, 139;
Juniper's " news from God," 139;
her dying ejaculations, 139; washing
the Sisters' feet, 131; cares for sick
in San Damiano, 131; her industry
and humility, 131, 132; her re-
ligious life and devotion to prayer
and meditation, 131-132; the feast
with the Franciscans in Santa
Maria degli Angeli, 134-135; pro-
vides a wattle hut for St. Francis,
308; St. Francis recites the
Miserere in San Damiano, 133; St.
Francis withdraws from visiting
San Damiano, 133; St. Francis
says farewell to her and her Sisters,
summer, 1225, 316; death message
of St. Francis to her and the Sisters,
137; her last sight of St. Francis,
137; protects San Damiano from
Frederic IPs soldiers, 135-136; her
garden, 140-141; her death in her
sixtieth year, 137; the Blessed
Virgin at her death-bed, 140; soul
taken to heaven, 140.
St. Cyril, 105.
St. Denis, Friars in, 236.
St. Dominic first meets St. Fr.ancis
in Rome about 1217, 194; and the
Lateran Council of 1217, 187; at
the Pentecost Chapter of 1218, 187;
proposes to St. Francis to join the
two Orders, winter of 1 220-1 221,
194; his second meeting with St.
Francis, 195.
St. Francis of Assisi. Biography:
Origin and family, 8-9; Fru Pica
and Portiuncula, 105; birth and
baptism (September 26?) 1182, 8-
11; stable in Assisi his birthplace,
10; baptized John, changed to
Francis by his father, 11; busi-
ness, skill in, 12; extravagance, 15;
French and Latin, knowledge of, 12,
INDEX
421
30-31; imprisonment of 1 202-1 203,
19-20; his illness, 1204, 3-7; feels
that his youth is gone, 6; starts for
the war, 23; returns, 24; the last
festival, 1205, 25-26; vision at
Spoleto, 24; again visited by the
Lord, 1205, 25; a distinguished per-
son his friend after his conversion,
27; gives church goods to poor
priests, 29; goes to Rome about
1205, 30; throws a handful of coins
into the Apostles tomb at Rome, 30;
begging at St. Peter's Rome, 30-31;
lepers, natural abhorrence of, 33-34;
the voice from the Cross, 1207, 38;
sells horse and cloth from his father's
store for the benefit of St. Damiano,
39; starts to repair St. Damiano's
ciiapel, 38-39; the cave near San
Damiano, 40; he enters Assisi,
April, 1207, followed by a mob, 43;
Bernardone's rage on his son's re-
turn from the cave near San Da-
miano, 44; confinement in career
by father, 44; Bernardone at-
tempts to use the law against his
son, 45 ; refuses to appear in his
father's lawsuit, 45; trial before the
Bishop of Assisi, 45-47; disowns
his father, 46; forsakes the world,
April, 1207, 47; the first cowl, 47;
robbers on Monte Subasio, 48-49;
Angelo, his brother, persecutes him,
52; Albert, the beggar, as his
father, 52; a public beggar, 51-52;
begging oil for the sanctuary camp,
53; St. Matthew's mass, 1209, its
message, 56-57; opens the mass-
book in S. Nicolo, Assisi, as a guide
to action, 64; Mark Ancona and
Rieti, trip to, 1209, 67; the forgive-
ness of his sins in the cave at Poggio
Bustone, 74; probably pacified
troubles in Assisi, 12 10, 99; starts
for Rome, summer, 12 10, 84; Rome
decides as to whether his order is
orthodox,, 12 10, 88; interviews
with Pope Innocent TIT, 12 10, 90-
91; Innocent Ill's dream, 1210,
92-93; Innocent III accepts him,
1 2 10, 94; return from Rome, 12 10,
95~97) passes Lent of 1211 on an
Island, 147; missionary journey
of, 1211-1212, 145-146; pacifies
troubles in Perugia, 1211-1212, 145;
third journey to Rome, 121 2, 151;
Innocent III blesses his mission
to the Saracens, 152; imsuccessful
start for the Orient, 1 2 1 2, 153 ; a stow-
away on a ship to Italy, 1212, 153;
stranded in a ship upon the coast of
Slavonia, 1212, 153; spends winter
1 21 2-1 213 in Sartcano near Chiusi,
147; visit to Rome, 1213, 151;
founds a church, 1213, 54; at Sasso
Feltrio, 1213, 159; journey of 1213
to Romagna, 159; travels through
Spain to go to Morocco but falls
sick about 1213-1214, 163; he helps
renovate Santa Maria del Vescovado
in Assisi, 1216, 54; relations with
Cardinals, 12 16, 214; apprehen-
sions as to his reception at the Pen-
tecost Chapter of 1217, 182; preaches
extensive missions at the Pentecost
Chapter of 1217, 182; visits Rome
probably in winter 1217-1218, 193;
interview with the new Pope,
HoNOEius III, probably 1217-1218,
195; preaches to the Brothers at the
Pentecost Chapter of 12 18, 195;
preaches to the Brothers and to the
Morocco missionaries at the Pen-
tecost meeting of 1219, 197-198;
appoints Matthew of Narni his
vicar in Portiuncula, 12 19, 201;
starts for the Holy Land with Pietro
DEI Cattani, 1 2 19, 201, 202; lands
at St. Jean d'Arc, July, 1219, 202;
meets Saracen Conrad, i 2 19, 203-
204; bad news from Italy brought
to him in the Holy Land, 12 19, 205;
returns from Holy Land, 12 19, with
several Brothers, 206; seeks Huco-
lin on return from Holy Land, 12 19,
206; has Egyptian eye sickness, 208;
resigns as Head of the Order, St.
Michael's day, 1220, 208; asks for
missionaries for Germany at the
Chapter of Mats (1220 or 1221), 210;
German mission of 1220 or 1221,
twelve priests and thirteen lay-
brothers go on, 210; sermon in
Bologna, August 15, 1222, 234-235;
fails in health after the Pentecost
Chapter of 1223, 251-252; his last
visit to Rome, 1223, 257; goes North
from Rome, 1223, 260; the crib and
sermon at Greccio, Christmas, 1223,
261-262; Poggio Bustone, advent
near, 1223 or 1224, 273; letter to the
Brethren at the Pentecost Chapter
of 1224, 269-270; meets Orlando
DEI Cattani, 1224, 292-293; fast-
ing in 1224, 291; his health im-
proves, 1224, 291; the final retreat
422
INDEX
before death, 293; cures a woman
of hysterics, 1224, 305; returns to
Portiuncula late in 1224, 306; the
night on the Ap[)ennines, November,
1224, 305; trip to La V^erna, 1224,
292; begs for the stigmata, 298-299;
stigmatization, September 14, 1224,
298-300; leaves Mount Alvema,
September 30, 1224, 304; his eye-
sickness worse, 1225, 308; leaves
San Damiano, summer, 1225, 316;
journey to Rieti, 1225, 316-317;
physician's edorts to cure his eyes,
318; dropsy attacks him, 321; in
Siena, 1225, 319; at Celle, 1225, 321;
leaves Rieti for hermitage of St.
Eleutherio, winter, 1225, 318; his
last will, 316; crowds come to see
him at San Fabiano, 317; hot
cauterizing irons cause no pain, 318;
appeases dispute between the
Podesta and Bishop of Assisi, 1226,
322-323; refuses to say the last
farewell to the Poor Clares, 324;
apologizes for trouble he occasions
the Brethren in his last hours, 328;
his last view of Assisi before enter-
ing the gate to die there, 329; he
blesses Assisi when dying, 329; he
is carried to Portiuncula, 329; his
last blessing of the Order, 331; he
wishes to die in utter poverty,
331; his death October 3, 1226, 333;
the funeral procession, 334.
The Friars: Bernard of Quinta-
VALLE tests his sincerity, 63 ; hides his
holiness from Bernard of Qi'inta-
VALLE, 63; Knights of the Round
Table, 67, 233; calls on Angelo
Tancredi to join the Order, 76;
"et sint minores," origin of Friars
Minor, 100; the hungry Brother,
he eats with him, 103; warns Broth-
ers against excessive mortifications,
103; his kindness to Brothers, 103-
104; he gathers grapes for a sick
Brother, 104; Brother Masseo beg-
ging gets more than St. Francis,
no; exercises Brother Masseo in
humility, in; he makes Brother
Masseo find what city they are to
go to, no; the newer generation of
Franciscans staid with him, no;
"I wish we had a whole grove of
such juniper trees," in; imitated
by Brother John, the simple, 117;
saying part-prayers with Brother
Leo, 117-119; describes the per-
fect happiness to Brother Leo, 119-
121; meets Angelus and Albert
in Pisa, 146; goes out to preach with
Brothers Masseo and Angelo, 149;
Brother Masseo sent to seek advice
as to hermit life, 149; seeks advice
as to hermit life from Brother
Silvester and St. Clara, 149;
Silvester gets answer in prayer
for guidance of St. Francis, 149;
Verse King, the, 154; he humiliates
RuFiNO and Agnolo, 158; promises
paradise to Agnolo, 158; forbids
Brothers to seek written privileges
from the Curia, 168; said to have
applied for Portiuncula indulgence
with Brother Masseo. 167; wishes
to have Brothers with him, 175;
attachment to Elias of Cortona,
183; "My Brothers are minores, let
them not become majores," 194;
Elias of Cortona, vicar of the
Order, 208; "The Brother" his title,
210; wishes Brothers to carry copies
of his admonitions with them, 221;
his and Cæsarius of Speier's work,
223-225; opponents led by Elias
OF Cortona, 226-227; Peter
Stacia and his house of study, 230-
231; permission to teach theology
given to St. Anthony of Padua,
233-234; Elias and the Final Rule,
248; sinning Brothers, 249-251;
assisted by Cæsarius of Speier in
writing his circular letters, 271-
letter to Brother Leo, 271;
Brother Bernard of Quintavalle
280; sends Brother Masseo to
help Brother Rufino, 281-282;
he characterizes different Brothers,
282-283; blesses the Spanish Friars,
283; reads the thoughts of Brother
Leonard, 284; makes Brother
Bernard stamp upon his mouth,
285; Brother Eli.a.s begs him to
have his eyes treated, 316; has his
blessing of the Order written down by
Brother Benedict, 321; asks Broth-
ers .\ngelo and Leo to be with him
as he is dying, 324; "I bless them
as much as I can, and more than I
can," 331; asks the Brothers to
strew ashes over him, 332; Brothers
sing the Sun-Song, 332.
Association Outside the Order:
HuGOLiN, Cardinal, comes to his aid,
180; sees the future Pope in Cardi-
nal HuGOLiN, 181; meets Car-
INDE X
423
DiNAL Hugolin in Florence, 121 7,
183; Cardinal Hugolin his spirit-
ual father, 183-184; casts himself
at Hugolin's feet and begs him
to be the protector of the Brother-
hood, 184; asks Pope to appoint
Cardinal Hugolin protector of the
Order, 193-194; part he took with
Hugolin in the Rule of the Third
Order, 244-247; begs his bread when
Cardinal Hugolin's guest, 259;
John of Colonna, his advocate at
Rome, 92; describes his plans to
Cardinal John of St. Paul, 90;
St. Dominic's admiration for him,
194; St. Dominic, meetings of,
194-195; meets Jacopa de Sette-
SOLI in Rome, 1212, 152; Almond
cream prepared for him by Brother
Jacoba, 257; visits Brother Jacoba,
257; gives a tame lamb to Brother
Jacoba, 258; last visit of Jacopa de
Settesoli, 330.
Sermons, Prayers and Writings: an
early laud, 69; his prayer of the
Cross, 69; his description of life in
the early days of the Order, 78; he
writes a forma vivendi for the Clares,
130; begins to prepare a New Rule
about 1 22 1, with Cæsarius of
Speier, 208; his way of writing his
Rule, 217-218; on pious living in a
hermitage, 218-219; defends his
Rule, 231-232; at Fonte Colombo
to finish the Rule of the Order, 252;
appeals to and is answered by the
Lord at Fonte Colombo as to the
Rule, 253; works on new writings to
supplement the Rule as approved,
265; his letters described by Boeh-
MER, 267; last writings, 267, 269-272;
the dying sinner described, 268-269;
letter of 1223 to Brother Leo, 276-
272; ideal general of the Order, 274;
composes the Sun Song, 309-313;
describes the Franciscan convent,
320; sends St. Clara his last bless-
ing in writing, 324; his Testament,
325-328; his prayer before the cru-
cifix in San Damiano, 38; his early
sermons, 67-68; sermon to the first
six disciples, 68-69; preaches in
Cathedral of Assisi, 98; would not
preach in San Damiano, 133-134;
preaching to the birds, 149-150;
preaching at Montefeltro, 159;
preaches in Ascoli and wins thirty
recruits for the Brotherhood, 153;
his quality of preaching, 154-155;
preaching and admonitions at Chap-
ter meetings, 176, 177-178; preaches
to crusaders, 203; before tlie Soldan,
204; preaches at the Chapter of
Mats, 209-210; his admonitions,
214-217; effect of his sermons in
Bologna, 234-235.
Nature and A nimals: the swallows
in Alviano, 151, 240; his feeling for
lambs, 257-258; his tame lamb at
Portiuncuia, 258; birds welcome him
to Mount Alverna, 292; his love of
nature, 309-313; love of animals
and birds, 311; the sheep near Siena,
312; the fish of Lake Rieti, 31 2; fire,
312; the sun, 312; the wild rabbit
at Greccio, 312; the pheasant, 312;
the hare of Lake Thrasimene, 312;
the cicada, 312; larks, their last
farewell, 333.
St. Germain des Pres and the Friars,
236.
St. Gregory, 152.
St. Michael, St. Francis' devotion
to, 291.
St. Pauls, Benedictine sisters of, and
St. Clara, 127.
St. Peter, St. Francis starts to repair
it, 53-
Salvator Vitalis' Paradisus Sera-
phicus, 105.
Salzburg Brothers and Cæsarius of
Speier, 211-212.
Sancia, sister of King Alfonso gives
Friars Minor a chapel in Alenquer,
Portugal, 198.
San Damiano, its Byzantine crucifix,
37; care of sick in, 131; the cave
near, 40; closure in, about 1219, 133;
its present aspect, 140-141; a gift
to the Clares from the Camaldolites,
129; rebuilding of, 50-51; St.
Francis' first days there, 40; St.
Francis leaves it, summer, 1225,
316; St. Francis sells horse and
cloth from his father's store for its
benefit, 39; St. Francis supplies
money for oil for its sanctuary lamp,
39; special Rule for, 185; the voice
from the crucifix, 38.
San Fabiano, vintage of the priest of,
316-317.
San Rufino, church of, 62-63.
San Salvatore degli Pareti, 77.
San Severino cloister, 154.
Sant' Angelo of Panso, St. Clara and,
128.
424
INDEX
Santa Maria degli Angeli, in Assisi,
St. Clara received into relij^ion
there, 134-135; the name of Por-
tiuncula, 54.
Santa Maria della Rocca, 49, 156.
Santa Maria del Vescovado restored,
1216, 54.
Seminary in Paris, 236.
Septizonium of Septimus Severus, 152.
Sermon to the birds, the, 149-150.
Seville, preaching in, 199.
Silvester, B., choice of life, 145;
complains of price paid him for
stone for S. Damiano, 65; conver-
sion, 65; his dream, 97-98; dream
of St. Francis, 298; longed to be
alone, 106; "no one can serve two
masters," 65; and St. Clara, 123.
Sinner, the dying, described by St.
Francis, 268-269.
Sinning Brothers, how to treat, 249-
250.
Speculum pcrfectionis vfvitten 1318, 174.
Stephen, the lay-brother, 205.
Sun Song, the, 313-315; additional
verses of the, 322, 323.
Terni, Bishop of, and St. Francis, 147.
Testament of St. Francis, 325-328.
Third Order described by Bernard a
Bessa, 244; foundation of the, 240-
246; need of, 179; origin, 240-242.
Thomas of Celano, B., 70; the addi-
tions to the Rule, 215; describes St.
Francis and his prayers, 286; enters
the Order about 12 14, 163; goes
on the German mission, 1220 or
1221, 210; his picture of the life at
Rivo Torto, loi; and St. Francis'
early preaching, 98; St. Francis'
first biographer, 12; and the twenty-
eight admonitions, 217; his view
of acquaintance of St. Francis and
Cardinal Hugolin, 183.
Thomas of Spalato, his account of
St. Francis' preaching in Bologna,
234-235-
ToDi, Jacopone de, 238.
Tunis, mission to, 197.
Tusculum, Bishop of, and Giles, 109.
Universities founded in the thirteenth
century, 230.
Urraca, Queen of Portugal, gives
the F'riars Minor a convent near
Coimbra, 198-199; the Morocco
Martyrs, 200.
Urslingen, Werner of, 100.
Vagnotelli, Guido, 145.
Valdes, Peter, 87-88; his authoriza-
tion to preach, 83; St. Francis, 89.
Velletri, Cardinal Hugolin, bishop
of, 180.
Victorinus, St., 9.
Viri literati, 155-156.
Vitale, B., falls sick in Arragon, 1219,
198.
Washing of feet at Pentecost Chapter
of 1218, 194-195.
Washing the impatient leper, 306-307.
Wadding's story of the swineherd,
145-146.
Walter III of Brienne, 22.
Werner of Urslingen, 100.
William, the first English friar, 152.
Wolf of Gubbio, 235, 410.
Zacharias joins the Order, 151-152.
INDEX TO APPENDIX
Actus beati Francisci (Fioretti), 356.
Actus beati Francisci et Socioriim ejus,
383-384, 393-395-
Actus beati Francisci in Valle Reatma,
394-
Affo, Pater Ieeneo, 343.
Albert of Pisa, B., 352.
Albert of Stude, his annals, 401.
Alvisi, editor of Commercium beati
Francisci . . ■ , 394.
"Ancient Brothers," the, antiqui fra-
Ires, 388.
Angelo Clareno, B., and Brother
Leo's work, 356; his chronicle, 387;
his letter of defence to Pope John
XXII, 390, 399; names the four
biographers of St. Francis, 387;
and the Three Brothers' legend, 387-
38S; his writings, 398-400.
Angelo Tancredi, B., 394.
Ajinales Minorum, 401-402.
Anonymus Perusinus (Anonymous Pe-
rugian), 367-368.
Antiquitates franciscanae, 394-395.
Arnold of Serrano, B., possibly
author of the chronicles of the
twenty-four generals . . . , 397; and
Gregory XI, 397; and the Vita
Secunda, 370.
Arbor vitæ crucifixæ of Hubert of
Casale, 388.
Author of the Legenda Antiqua anony-
mous, 392.
Baldwin of Brandenburgh, 395.
Bartholomew of Pisa, his Coft-
formitates, 351, 395; text of the
laud written for Leo, 349; and the
Vita Secunda, 375.
Bernard of Bessa, author of De
laudibus S. Francisci, 381; a com-
piler, 381; St. Bonaventure's sec-
retary, 381.
Biographers, 351-395-
Bollandists' "Second biography of
St. Francis," 354.
BoEHMER, Analekten zur Geschickte
etc., 403-404.
Book of Lessons from Toulouse, 355.
Cæsarius of Speier, B., 352.
Catalogue of the first twenty-four
generals of the Order, 396-397.
Catalogus sanctorum, 401.
Cantius, John, 355.
CivEzzA Marcelling da, B., 363.
Chapter of Geneva, 1244, 357; of
Narbonne, 1260, 378; of Padua,
1277, invited new researches for the
life of St. Francis, 381; of Pisa,
1263, and the destruction of the
early legends, 380-381.
Chiusi's Letter of Donation, 401.
Chronica XXIV generalium, 382, 397.
Chronicles of the (first) twenty-four
generals of the Order, 397.
Chronicon breve.
Civezza's, da, reconstruction of the
Three Brothers' Legend, 365.
Collaborators in the Three Brothers'
Legend, 357.
Collections of "Words" of the early
Friars, 368.
Commercium beati Francisci cum do-
mina paupertate, 394.
Confer mitates, 395.
Conrad of Offida, B., 393-394; friend
and informant of Hubert of Cas-
ale, 388; and John of Parma, 388.
Crescentius of Jesi, 357; and the
Vita Secunda, 368-369.
o'ALENgoN, Edouaed, and the Vita
Metrica, 355; his editorial work,
394, 404-
Dante and the Commercium beati
Francisci . . . , 394.
De laudibtis Sancti Frandsci, 381.
Destruction of the early legends, 380-
381.
Dicta fratris Leonis, 397.
Die Wundmale des hl. Franz von Assisi,
408.
DOMENICHELLI, TeOFILO, B., 363; his
reconstruction of the Three Brothers'
Legend, 365.
Eccleston, Thomas, B., and his
chronicle, 343, 396.
425
426
INDEX
Ehrle, 344; Angelo of Clareno's
Historia septcm tribulationum, etc.,
399. 400.
Elias of Cortona, 345; his letter to
Gregory and the French Brothers,
408-409.
Epistola excusatoria of Angelo Cla-
RENO, 399.
Eubel and Glassberger's Chronicle,
398; and John of Komorowo's
Works, 398.
Fabian of Hungary, B., his Speculum
vitæ beati Francisci et sociorum ejus,
394-395-
Faloci-Pulignant's text of the laud
written for Leo, n., 349; the Three
Brothers' Legend, 366.
Fiorctii, the translation or develop-
ment of the^lc/ 1<5 tea/ j FranczVcz . . .,
394-
Francesco Bartholi, B., on the
Portiuncula Indulgence, 394.
Francisco d'Assisi e la sua legeiida,
406.
Franz von Assisi und die Anjånge der
Kunst der Renaissance in Italien,
406-408.
Cesla Dei per francos, 401.
Giles, B., 394; at Monte Ripido, 367;
his death, 368.
Glassberger's Chronicle, 398; and
Julian of Speier's Legend, 354.
Gonzalvo of Balboa, general of the
Order, 391.
GoTZ accepts St. Francis' letter to
St. Anthony of Padua, 349; and
Anonymus Pcrusinus, 368; and
Hubert of Casale, 390; and the
Speculum beati Francisci . . . , 387;
and the Vita prima, 353; and the
Vita sr.cunda, 371.
Gregory IX orders Thomas of
Celano to write a life of St. Francis,
352; the Testament, 350-351; and
Brother Arnold of Serrano, 397.
Gubbio, the wolf of, 410.
Henry of Pisa, author of the Vita
metrica, 355; Salimbene, 355.
Historia occidentalis, 401; septem
tribulationum ordinis minorum., 400.
Histories of the Order, 395-400.
Hubert of Casale, Avignon, 388-
390-
HuGOLiN OF Monte Giorgo, B., 394.
Hugolin's Register, 400.
Illuminato, B., and St. Bonaven-
ture's Legend, 379.
Jacob of Massa, B., 394.
Jacob Oddi, B., n., 398.
Jacob of Varaggio and his Golden
Legend, 401.
Jacopone da Todi, 343.
John XXII and the "Zealous" divi-
sion of the Order, 390.
John of Ceperano, 354-355.
John of Komorowo, his chronicle,
397-398; his Mcmoriale ordinis fra-
tium minorum, 398.
John of Parma, B., and Conrad of
Offida, B., 388; possibly author
of commercium beati Fraficisci. . . ,
394; and the Vita secunda, 2>T2-
373.
John Peckham, B., Archbishop of
Canterbury, 381.
John of La Verna, B., 394.
Jordanus of Giano's, B., Chronicle,
370, 395-396-
Julian of Speier, B., biographical
notes of, 354; his legend, 354; his
rhymed Oflke, 354-355-
Karl Hampe, his criticism and inter-
pretation of Elias of Cortona's
letter to Gregory and the French
Brothers, 409; Die Wundmale des
hl. Franz von Assisi, 408.
Karl Hase's biography of St. Fran-
cis, 402.
Legenda Antiqua, 356, 391-393.
Legenda Irium sociorum, 356-366.
Legend by the Anonymous Perugian,
367-368.
Lemmens' publication of S. Isidore
M.S. of pieces by Brother Leo,
389; and the Three Brothers'
Legend, 366.
Leo, B., his associations, 382-383;
his Leaves of Memory, 383 ; his rela-
tion to the Speculum pcrfectionis,
Legenda antiqua and Actus, 383-384;
his schedules or rolls, 383, 387; his
work, 356.
Letter to Crescencius accompanying
the Three Brothers' Legend, text
and discussion, 357-358.
Liber episiolarum beati Angeli de
Clareno, 399.
Little, A. G., and the decree of
destruction of legends, 405-406.
Liturgical Legends, 355.
INDEX
427
Malan, Chaving de, his Vie de S.
FranQois d' Assise, 402.
Mandachs, C, 407.
JSIariano, the Florentine Chronicler,
340; and the Three Brothers'
Legend, 361.
Matthew of Paris, his Historia
major, 401.
Memoriale ordinis fralrum minorum,
398-
Michael of Cesena, General of the
Order, 391, 393; ordered the "Old
Legend" to be read aloud in con-
vents, 391.
Michael Em., on Salimbene's Chron-
icle, 396.
MiNOCHi, Salvatore, his Nuova fonte
biographica, 405; his MS., of the
Speculum bcali Francisci . . . , 386.
MoNNiER, le, and Leon, Histoire de
S. FrauQois d' Assise, 402.
Muller, Carl, Die Anfange des
Minoritenordcns . ■ . , 402; and
Jordanus of Giano's Chronicle,
397-
Muzio Achillei and the Three
Brothers' Legend, 364.
Nicolo Papini, 402.
Notizie sicure sopra s. Francesco,
Papini's, 402.
Oddi's, Jacob, Italian Chronicle, 398.
Officiutn passionis Domini, 349.
Ozanam, his Les pottes Franciscains
d'ltalie, 402.
Papal Bulls as sources for the Life of
St. Francis, 400.
Papelbrock and the Anonymous
Perugian, 367.
Peter John Olivi, B., and Brother
Leo, 387.
Pietro de Nadeli, his Catalogus Sanc-
toruttt, 401.
Pilgrim of Bologna, B., 397.
Quaracchi edition of St. Francis'
writings, 340-341.
RosEDALE, Francis of Assist, accord-
ing to, 404-405.
Sabatier, Paul, and the Actus beati
Francisci . . . , 394; and Angelo
Clareno, 399; and Bernard of
Bessa, 381; his edition of the
Speculum perjectionis, 364; and the
Mazarin M.S., of the Speculum
beati Francisci . . . , 363, 384-387;
his role in Franciscan research, 339;
and the Speculum Vitæ S. Francisci,
362-363; his theories, 339; and the
Three Brothers' Legend, 362, 384-
387; Viede S. Franqois d' Assise, 402;
the Vita secunda, 371.
St. Anthony of Florence, 401.
St. Bonaventure's amplification of,
early legends, 379; his book of 1263
and the Three Brothers' Legend,
360; date of birth, 378; history and
origin of his Legend, 378-381.
St. Francis of Assisi and Benedict
OF Prato, 351; blessing of Brother
Leo, described with the text, 344,
345-349; Forma vivendi of the
Clares, 350; Gotz, Walter, and
the blessing of Brother Leo, 348;
Gotz and the Testament, 350; Gotz
and the Three Brothers' Legend,
366; greeting to the Blessed Virgin,
344; Hasse, Carl, and the Testa-
ment, 350; Julian of Speier and
the Testament, 350; Kraus, F. X.,
and the Blessing of Brother Leo,
348; Laudes Domini, 343, 344;
Laudes de Virtu tibus, 344; Lempp
accepts St. Francis' letter to St.
Anthony of Padua, 349; Leo's,
B., note, 347; Leo preserves St.
Francis' writing, 345; Leo, his
secretary, 340; minor Italian songs
not authentic, 343; Oddi, Jacob,
his text of the laud written for Leo,
349; praise songs or lauds, 342; both
preacher and writer, 340; prose
writings, 349-351; Rules, of the-
Orders, 350; Sabatier, Paul, and
the Blessing of Brother Leo, 348;
Sabatier and St. Francis' letters,
349-350; Sabatier and the Testa-
ment, 350, 351; Sabatier, his view
of St. Francis' letter to St. Anthony
OF Padua, 349; St. Clara and the
Clares, testamentary notes for, 351;
Salulatio virtutum, 344; song about
creatures, 342-343; " Sun Song," the,
342-343; the Testament, 350-351;
"The three Words, "n., 351; Thomas
OF Cel.ano and the Testament, 350;
Ultima Voluntas to the Clares, 350;
Wadding, 1619, sees the "Blessing
of Brother Leo," 345; "Words of
St. Francis," 340; his writings,
340.
Salimbene's, B., chronicle, 396; and
428
INDEX
Henry of Pisa, 355; and the Vita
secunda, 369-370.
Simon of Cassia and Angelo of
Clareno, 399.
Speculum bead Francisci et Sociorum
ejus, 384, 386; only a compilation,
387; discussion of the Mazarin MS.,
384-387. .
Speculum hisloriale, 401.
Speculum pcrjcciionis, 339, 343.
Speculum per/ecHonis Jralis minoris,
356, zdz-
Speculum pcrfecHonis a.nd Vila secunda,
376-377.
Speculum vitæ S. Francisci et sociorum
cj'