Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 19

[3] This forest has disappeared. Some of Francis's counsels have been collected in the Admonitions. See 1 Cel., 37-41.

[4] Vide Angelo Clareno, _Tribul._ cod. Laur., 3b.

[5] 2 Cel., 3, 97 and 98. The Conformities, 142a, 1, cite textually 97 as coming from the _Legenda Antiqua_. Cf. _Spec._, 64b.--2 Cel., 3, 21. Cf. _Conform._, 171a, 1; _Spec._, 19b. See especially Rule of 1221, _cap._ 7; Rule of 1223, _cap._ 5; the Will and 3 Soc. 41. The pa.s.sage, _liceat eis habere ferramenta et instrumenta suis artibus necessaria_, sufficiently proves that certain friars had real trades.

[6] A. SS., Aprilis, t. iii., pp. 220-248; _Fior. Vita d'Egidio_; _Spec._, 158 ff; _Conform._, 53-60.

[7] Other examples will be found below; it may suffice to recall here his sally: "The glorious Virgin Mother of G.o.d had sinners for parents, she never entered any religious order, and yet she is what she is!" A. SS., _loc. cit._, p. 234.

[8] The pa.s.sage of the Will, _firmiter volo quod omnes laborent_, ... has a capital importance because it shows Francis renewing in the most solemn manner injunctions already made from the origin of the Order. Cf. 1 Cel., 38 and 39; _Conform._, 219b. 1: _Juvabant Fratres pauperes homines in agris eorum et ipsi dabant postea eis de pane amore Dei._ _Spec._, 34; 69. Vide also _Archiv._, t. ii., pp. 272 and 299; Eccleston, 1 and 15; 2 Cel., 1, 12.

[9] _Nihil volebat proprietatis habere ut omnia plenius posset in Domino possidere._ B. de Besse, 102a.

[10] Their concord and their joyous semblances The love, the wonder and the sweet regard They made to be the cause of holy thought.

DANTE: Paradiso, canto xi., verses 76-78. Longfellow's translation.

[11] _Amor factus ... castis eam, stringit amplexibus nec ad horam pat.i.tur non esse muritus._ 2 Cel., 3, 1; cf. 1 Cel., 35; 51; 75; 2 Cel., 3, 128; 3 Soc., 15; 22; 33; 35; 50; Bon., 87; _Fior._ 13.

[12] Bon., 93.--_Prohibuit fratrem qui faciebat coquinam ne poneret legumina de sero in aqua calida quae debebat dare fratribus ad manducandum die sequenti ut observaverint illud verb.u.m Evangelii: Nolite solliciti esse de crastino._ _Spec._, 15.

[13] 2 Cel., 3, 50.

[14] _Cap._, 21. Cf. _Fior., I. consid._, 18; 30; _Conform._, 103a, 2; 2 Cel., 3, 99; 100; 121. Vide Muller, _Anfange_, p.

187.

[15] Vide his _Opera omnia postillis ill.u.s.trata_, by Father de la Haye, 1739, f^o. For his life, Surius and Wadding arranged and mutilated the sources to which they had access; the Bollandists had only a legend of the fifteenth century. The Latin ma.n.u.script 14,363 of the Bibliotheque Nationale gives one which dates from the thirteenth. Very Rev. Father Hilary, of Paris: _Saint Antoine de Padone, sa legende primitive_, Montreuil-sur-Mer, Imprimerie Notre-Dame-des-Pres, 1890, 1 vol., 8vo. Cf. _Legenda seu vita et miracula S. Antonii saeculo xiii concinnata ex cod. memb. antoniae bibliothecae_ a P.M. Antonio Maria Josa min. comv. Bologna, 1883, 1 vol., 8vo.

[16] This evangelical character of his mission is brought out in relief by all his biographers. 1 Cel., 56; 84; 89; 3 Soc. 25; 34; 40; 43; 45; 48; 51; 57; 2 Cel., 3, 8; 50; 93.

[17] _Spec._, 134; 2 Cel., 3, 128.

[18] The Order was at first essentially lay (at the present time it is, so far as I know, the only one in which there is no difference of costume between laymen and priests). Vide Ehrle, _Archiv._, iii., p. 563. It is the influence of the friars from northern countries which has especially changed it in this matter. General Aymon, of Faversham (1240-1243), decided that laymen should be excluded from all charges; _laicos ad officia inhabilitavit, quae usque tunc ut clerici exercebant_. (_Chron._ xxiv. _gen._ cod. Gadd. relig., 53, f^o 110a). Among the early Brothers who refused ordination there were surely some who did so from humility, but this sentiment is not enough to explain all the cases. There were also with certain of them revolutionary desires and as it were a vague memory of the prophecies of Gioacchino di Fiore upon the age succeeding that of the priests: _Fior._, 27. _Frate Pellegrino non volle mai andare come chierico, ma come laico, benche fa.s.si molto litterato e grande decretalista._ Cf. _Conform._, 71a., 2. _Fr.

Thomas Hibernicus sibi pollecem amputavit ne ad sacerdotium cogeretur._ _Conform._, 124b, 2.

[19] See, for example, the letter to Brother Leo. Cf.

_Conform._, 53b, 2. _Fratri Egidio dedit licentiam liberam ut iret quoc.u.mque vellet et staret ubic.u.mque sibi placeret._

[20] The hermitage of Monte-Casale, at two hours walk northeast from Borgo San Sepolero, still exists in its original state. It is one of the most significant and curious of the Franciscan deserts.

[21] The office of guardian (superior of a monastery) naturally dates from the time when the Brothers stationed themselves in small groups in the villages of Umbria--that is to say, most probably from the year 1211. A few years later the monasteries were united to form a custodia. Finally, about 1215, Central Italy was divided unto a certain number of provinces with provincial ministers at their head. All this was done little by little, for Francis never permitted himself to regulate what did not yet exist.

[22] _Fior._, 26; Conform., 119b, 1. Cf. Rule of 1221, cap. vii.

_Quic.u.mque ad eos (fratres) venerint, amicus vel adversarius, fur vel latro benigne recipiatur._

[23] 2 Cel., 3, 120; _Spec._, 37; _Conform._, 53a, 1. See below, p. 385, n. 1.

[24] _Fior._, Vita di fra Ginepro; _Spec._, 174-182; _Conform._, 62b.

[25] A. SS., p. 600.

[26] 3 Soc., 56; 2 Cel., 1, 13; Bon., 24.

[27] Bon., 30; 3 Soc., 30, 31; 2 Cel., 3, 52. Cf. _Fior._, 2.

The dragon of this dream perhaps symbolizes heresy.

[28] Bon., 83; 172; _Fior._, 1, 16; _Conform._, 49a, 1, and 110b, 1; 2 Cel., 3, 51.

[29] Bernard de Besse, _De laudibus_, Turin MS., f^o. 102b and 96a. He died November 15, 1271. A. SS., Augusti, t. ii., p. 221.

[30] _Fior._, 8; _Spec._, 89b ff.; _Conform._, 30b, 2, and 140a, 2.

[31] I need not here point out the a.n.a.logy in form between this chapter and St. Paul's celebrated song of love, 1 Cor. xiii.

[32] We find the same thoughts in nearly the same terms in _cap._ v. of the _Verba sacrae admonitionis_.

[33] He is the second of the Three Companions. 3 Soc., 1; cf. 1 Cel., 95; _Fior._, 1; 29, 30, 31; Eccleston, 12; _Spec._, 110a-114b; _Conform._, 51b ff.; cf. 2 Cel., 2, 4.

[34] Very probably that of the Carceri, though the name is not indicated Vide 3 Soc., 1; _Fior._, 4; 10; 11; 12; 13; 16; 27; 32; _Conform._, 51b, 1 ff; _Tribul. Archiv._, t. ii., p. 263.

[35] _Fior._, 11; _Conform._, 50b, 2; _Spec._, 104a.

[36] Rule of 1221, chap. 7. _Omnes fratres, in quibusc.u.mque locis fuerint apud aliquos ad serviendum, vel ad laborandum, non sint camerarii, nec cellarii, nec praesint in domibus corum quibus serviunt._ Cf. 1 Cel., 38 and 40; A. SS., p. 606.

[37] 1 Cel., 103; 39; _Spec._, 28; Reg. 1221, ix.; _Giord._, 33 and 39.

[38] Vide _Spec._, 34b.; _Fior._, 4.

[39] All the details of this story lead me to think that it refers to Portiuncula and the hospital _San Salvatore delle Pareti_. The story is given by the _Conform._, 174b, 2, as taken from the _Legenda Antiqua_. Cf. _Spec._, 56b; _Fior._, 25.

[40] In the _Speculum_, f^o 41a, this story ends with the phrase: _Qui vidit haec scripsit et testimonium perhibet de hiis_. The brother is here called _Frater Jacobus simplex_. Cf.

_Conform._, 174b.

[41] _Conform._, 51b, 1. Cf. 2 Cel., 2, 4; _Spec._, 110b; _Fior._, 29.

CHAPTER IX

SANTA CLARA

Popular piety in Umbria never separates the memory of St. Francis from that of Santa Clara. It is right.

Clara[1] was born at a.s.sisi in 1194, and was consequently about twelve years younger than Francis. She belonged to the n.o.ble family of the Sciffi. At the age when a little girl's imagination awakes and stirs, she heard the follies of the son of Bernardone recounted at length. She was sixteen when the Saint preached for the first time in the cathedral, suddenly appearing like an angel of peace in a city torn by intestine dissensions. To her his appeals were like a revelation. It seemed as if Francis was speaking for her, that he divined her secret sorrows, her most personal anxieties, and all that was ardent and enthusiastic in the heart of this young girl rushed like a torrent that suddenly finds an outlet into the channel indicated by him. For saints as for heroes the supreme stimulus is woman's admiration.