LIFE OF
RANCIS OF ASSISI
FHER CUTHBERT, O.S.F.C
sLJU
A LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
THE LIFE OF JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN.
Based on his Private Journals and Correspondence. By WILFRID
WARD. With numerous Portraits and other Illustrations. 2 vols.
Svo. 36s. net.
MEMOIRS OF SCOTTISH CATHOLICS DURING THE
SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. Selected from
hitherto inedited MSS. by WILLIAM FORBES LEITH, S.J. With Illus
trations. 2 vols. Medium Svo. 7s. 6d. net.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BISHOP CHALLONER (1691-
1781). By EDWIN H. BURTON, D.D., F.R.Hist.Soc., Vice-President of
St. Edmund s College, Ware. With 34 Portraits and other Illustrations.
2 vols. Svo. 25s. net.
THE DAWN OF THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN ENG
LAND, 1781-1803. By the Right Rev. Monsignor BERNARD WARD,
President of St. Edmund s College, Ware. With 38 Illustrations.
2 vols. Svo. 25s. net.
THE EVE OF CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION: being the
History of the English Catholics during the first Thirty Years of the
Nineteenth Century. By the Right Rev. Monsignor BERNARD WARD.
With Portraits and other Illustrations. (In Three Volumes.) Vols.
I. and II. 1803-1820. Svo. 21s. net.
AT HOME WITH GOD: Prie-dieu Papers on Spiritual Sub
jects. By the Rev. MATTHEW RUSSELL, S.J. 3s. 6d. net.
AMONG THE BLESSED: Loving Thoughts about Favourite
Saints. By the Rev. MATTHEW RUSSELL, S.J. With 8 Full-page
Illustrations. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. net.
THE SERMON OF THE SEA, and other Studies. By the
Rev. ROBERT KANE, S.J. Crown Svo. 5s. net.
THE PLAIN GOLD RING: Lectures on Home. By the Rev.
ROBERT KANE, S.J. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. net.
THE WESTMINSTER LIBRARY.
A SERIES OF MANUALS FOR CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND STUDENTS.
Edited by the Right Rev. Mgr. BERNARD WARD and the Rev. HERBERT THURSTON, S.J.
THE MASS: a Study of the Roman Liturgy. By ADRIAN
FORTESCUE, D.D., D.Ph. Crown Svo. 6s. net.
THE NEW PSALTER AND ITS USE. By the Rev. EDWIN
BURTON, D.D., Vice-President of St. Edmund s College, Ware, and the
Rev. EDWARD MYERS, M.A. Crown Svo. 3s. 6d. net.
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO, 39 Paternoster Row, London;
New York, Bombay and Calcutta.
A LIST OF NEW BOOKS.
THE PRICE OF UNITY. By B. W. MATURIN, formerly of
Covvley St. John, Oxford. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.
Father Maturings new book treats of the questions in controversy between
Rome and the English Church.
SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI : a Biography. By JOHANNES
JOERGENSEN. Translated by T. O CoNOR SLOANE. With Illustrations.
8vo. 12s. 6d. net.
THEODICY : Essays on Divine Providence. By ANTONIO ROSMINI
SERBATI. Translated with some omissions from the Italian Edition
of 1845. 3 vols. Crown 8vo. 21s. net.
PRIMITIVE CATHOLICISM: being a Study of the Develop
ment of Christian Institutions. By Mgr. PIERRE BATIFFOL. Trans
lated by HENRY L. BRIANCEAU. 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.
THE CREDIBILITY OF THE GOSPEL ("Orpheus" et
1 Evangile). By Mgr. PIERRE BATIFFOL. Translated by the Rev.
G. C. H. POLLEN, S.J. Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d. net.
BACK TO HOLY CHURCH: Experiences and Knowledge
acquired by a Convert. By Dr. ALBERT VON RUVILLE, Professor of
Modern History in the University of Halle. Translated by G. SCHOE-
TENSACK. With a Preface by the Very Rev. Mgr. ROBERT HUGH
BENSON. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
HUMILITY, THE TRUE TALISMAN : a Study of Catholicism.
By Dr. ALBERT VON RUVILLE. Translated by G. SCHOETENSACK, with
a Preface by the Very Rev. Mgr. ROBERT HUGH BENSON. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. net.
CHRIST IN THE CHURCH: a Volume of Religious Essays.
By the Very Rev. Mgr. ROBERT HUGH BENSON. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. Sermons by the Very Rev.
Mgr. ROBERT HUGH BENSON. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
THE COST OF A CROWN : a Story of Douay and Durham.
A Sacred Drama in Three Acts. By the Very Rev. Mgr. ROBERT
HUGH BENSON. With Illustrations by GABRIEL PIPPET. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d. net.
A MYSTERY PLAY IN HONOUR OF THE NATIVITY OF
OUR LORD. By the Very Rev. Mgr. ROBERT HUGH BENSON.
With Illustrations, Appendices, and Stage Directions. Crown 8vo.
2s. 6d. net. TEXT, with a few Notes, 6d. net.
THE MAID OF ORLEANS: a Play. By Very Rev. Mgr.
ROBERT HUGH BENSON. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. net.
t* An Acting Edition -without the Illustrations can also be had price
Qd. net.
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., 39 Paternoster Row, London ;
New York, Bombay and Calcutta.
LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Jfrhil (Dbstat ;
THOS. BERGH, O.S.E.
Imprimatur :
EDM. SURMONT,
Vic. Gen. Westmonast.
LIFE OF
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
BY
FATHER CUTHBERT, O.S.F.C,
WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA
IQI2
PREFACE
THIS book is an attempt to represent Saint Francis of
Assisi as I have come to know him after many years
study of the early records bearing upon his history.
Hitherto no adequate biography of tKe samtlias been
written in the English tongue, though Canon Ivnox
Little has given us a study of his character, which is
of real merit. Nor does any modern biography,
"to my thinEmgT^
he is revealed in the historical records which have
come down to us. Paul Sabatier s well-known
"Vie dv S. Franqois (TAssise is a delightful piece of
literature ; but had the author possessed the fuller
knowledge supplied by historical research since 1894
a research in which he himself has taken a lead
ing part I think that his book would have been
a more authentic history. J. Jorgensen s recent
work, known to me only in its French translation,
has undoubtedly caught more of the spiritual thought
and mental atmosphere of St. Francis ; and he had
the advantage which M. Sabatier did not possess, of
the research work just referred to. Nevertheless it
seems to me the final biography of the saint is yet to
be desired. I cannot presume to have attained this
desired goal ; but perhaps this present book may do
something towards its attainment : in the hope that it
will do so, the book is published.
vi PEEFACE
I must confess my obligations to the many students
of St. Francis history who have gone before me. It
will not be invidious if I single out for special men
tion the Franciscan editors of Quaracchi, P. Edouard
d Alengon and M. Paul Sabatier, to whose patient
labours all Franciscan research students gladly pay
their tribute of grateful acknowledgment. But to
all of whose labours I have availed myself, and whose
names will be found in this book, I now render my
thanks. Finally I must tender my respectful acknow
ledgment to the most Rev. Fr. Pacificus of Sejano,
Minister-General of the Order of Friars Minor Cap
uchin, for his gracious approbation of this " Life " of
the Seraphic Francis.
FR. CUTHBERT, O.S.F.C.
ST. ANSELM S HOUSE,
OXFORD.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE COMING OF FEANCIS 1
. II. FEANCIS DEEAMS OF GLORY AND FAME 15
III. How FEANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEETY 26
IV. FEANCIS RECEIVES HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CEOSS ... 37
^ V. THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FEATEENITY 50
VI. FlEST MlSSIONAEY JOUENEYS 61
VII. POPE INNOCENT APPEOVES THE ROLE OF THE OEDEE ... 76
=r.
BOOK II.
I. RIVO-TOETO 92
II. THE POEZIUNCOLA 104
III. THE POEZIUNCOLA (continued) 119
IV. SAINT CLAEE 131
V. FIEST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 150
T VI. FEANCIS ATTENDS THE FOUETH LATEEAN COUNCIL . . . 168
VII. THE POEZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 188
BOOK III.
I. A NEW PHASE OPENS IN THE LIFE OF THE FEATEENITY . . 198
II. THE CHAPTEE OF MATS 218
III. FEANCIS GOES TO THE EAST ........ 230
IV. THE REVOLT OF THE VICABS 242
V. BEOTHEE ELIAS ASSUMES THE GOVEENMENT 257
VI. THE THIED OEDEE 271
VII. THE FEIAES ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 291
VIII. THE TRIAL OF FEANCIS 310
vii
viii CONTENTS
BOOK IV.
CHAP. PAGE
I. GBECCIO 326
II. THE STIGMATA 335
III. TOWARDS EVENING 350
* IV. THE LAST JOURNEY 366
v V. TESTAMENT AND DEATH 378
APPENDICES.
I. THE PRIMITIVE EULE OF ST. FRANCIS . . , . . . . 393
ANALYSIS OF REGULA PRIMA 395
II. THE INDULGENCE OF THE PORZIUNCOLA 404
III. THE RULE OF THE THIRD ORDER 412
IV. THE SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ST. FRANCIS , 417
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI . . Frontispiece
From the lUh Century picture at Christ Church, Oxford, ascribed to
Margaritone.
FACING PAGE
GATEWAY, ASSISI (looking towards Perugia) 17
ABOVE SAN DAMIANO 37
BETWEEN GUBBIO AND CITTA DI CASTELLO 61
OLD ASSISI 96
THE CHAPEL OF PORZIUNCOLA . . . 104
SAN DAMIANO 141
THE COUNTRY BEHIND ASSISI 198
PRIMITIVE FRANCISCAN HERMITAGE (Grotto of Soffiano) .... 252
ANCIENT FRANCISCAN FRIARY (Lo Sperimento, near Camerino) . . 304
THE FRIARY OF GRECCIO 330
MONTE ALVERNIA 343
LE CELLE (near Cortona) 366
BOOK I.
CHAPTEE L
THE COMING OF FRANCIS.
As you go to-day along the white road that leads from the
Porziuncola to the city of Assisi, a great peacefulness seems to
pervade all the country-side. The ancient city is in repose,
resting on the slope of a spur of Monte Subasio, like an old
warrior whose fighting days are over. There is something
grim in its aspect even in the soft brilliancy of the Umbrian
sun. Perhaps it is the old mediaeval fortress and the city wall
that can still be seen high up the hill ; perhaps it is the grey
bare surface of the mountains behind ; or perhaps it is the
very position of the city built as it were with its back to the
hill and its face to all comers whether friends or foes. This
touch of sternness, however, does but give a zest to the spirit
of peace which broods over it to-day. Its peacefulness is the
repose of strength ; its rest, the rest of one who has lived.
But Assisi still lives, though its life is not that of the
world of strife and tumult. The raucous voices of the cab-
drivers who invade the city on the occasion of a festa, and
the wily bargaining of the sellers of objets de pitte, and the
obtrusive self-advertisement of the new hotels, these suggest
indeed the world that lies beyond the hill-bound valley ; but
their voices are not the voices which fill the sweet air of
Assisi. These speak neither of barter and gain, nor of strife
and tumult, nor of any of the world s vanities, but of that in
effable peace which is born of the deeper life and the deeper
joys, aye, and of the deeper sorrows of the spirit. For Assisi
even in its spirituality, is very human. The voices in the air
are the voices of men, not of angels ; of men who have
1
2 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
passed through the many complexities of human experience
before they found peace. And so the peacefulness which
broods over the city and this vast plain before it, warms the
heart even whilst it stills the heart s tumult and entices one s
thoughts to the peace eternal.
But there was little suggestion of peace in the atmosphere
of Assisi in the year 1199. The city was then in the throes
of a political upheaval, the outcome of which no one then
foresaw ; certainly not Francis the light-hearted son of the
merchant Pietro Bernardone, whose life story was to be
shaped in no small measure by these present happenings.
Like most of the industrial cities of Italy, Assisi had long
been rebellious at heart against the domination of the German
emperors. The enthusiasm for civic liberty, which had
baulked the ambition of Barbarossa but had been obliged to
bow the head to the energy of his successor, Henry VI, took
new life when death itself put a stop to Henry s victorious
progress in 1197 and a few months later in January, 1198,
Innocent III ascended the Papal throne. At once Innocent
set himself to checkmate the imperial policy inasmuch as it
affected the relations of the Empire with the Church and the
Italian cities. The deliberate aim of that policy under Bar
barossa and his successor had been the subjection of Italy to
the Imperial crown and the subordination of the Church to
the Imperial prerogative. 1 Innocent s policy was to meet
this menace by increasing the temporal power of the Papacy
and welding all the Christian States into a confederacy under
Papal suzerainty. Hardly was he seated in St. Peter s chair,
than he set his hand to eject the German conquerors from
the provinces upon which the Holy See had formerly some
claim to overlordship ; and in pursuance of this policy he
called upon Conrad of Lutzen to deliver up the Kocca of
Assisi and surrender all his holdings to the Pope. Conrad,
an adventurous Suabian, had been created Duke of Spoleto
and Count of Assisi some twenty years previously by Bar
barossa; of late years he had resided mostly at the Eocca
of Assisi. He was a genial, easy-going tyrant, though a
1 Cf. Huillard Breholles, Vie de Pierre de la Vigne, Partie IIP, X.
THE COMING OF FEANCIS 3
brave soldier. The people dubbed him " The Whimsical" :
it has been said of him that he had one quality rare in a
German overlord, he had regard for public opinion, and as
far as his fealty to the emperor allowed, let them rule them
selves. 1 But the foreign yoke galled the cities athirst for
independence and the glory of being their own masters.
Conrad, knowing himself powerless against Innocent, met the
Papal legates at Narni in the spring of the year and signed
the surrender. No sooner did the Assisians hear the news
than they gathered together and in a glorious frenzy razed
the Eocca to the ground. Never again, they were deter
mined, should the hated fortress hold their city in subjection.
Thereupon the Papal legates protested that the Eocca had
become the property of the Holy See and threatened the city
with an interdict. 2 The Assisians, however, took no heed of
the protest, and with the stones of the Eocca set themselves
to build a strong wall round the city. They were determined
to secure their independence.
But with the withdrawal of the German overlordship, the
Assisians were not to find peace, whatever else they might
gain. They very soon discovered that they must either
strengthen their own communal sovereignty or fall into a
state of vassalage to their more powerful neighbour, Perugia
the city which stands so proudly upon a hill at the northern
entrance to the Umbrian valleys, as though it were destined by
nature to guard the land of Umbria against all unfriendly
comers from the north and to keep vigilant watch over the
valleys themselves. And Perugia was fully conscious of the
dignity and power her position gave her amongst her Umbrian
neighbours, nor was she without ambition to extend her sover
eignty and maybe to reduce the valleys to practical vassalage.
Already she had forced Arezzo to cede to her territories in the
neighbourhood of Lake Thrasymene and had incorporated the
district of Umbertide which commands the highways leading
to Gubbio and Citta di Castello in the most eastern Umbrian
valley ; and with these cities she had formed an alliance
1 Ant. Cristofani, Storie di Assisi [ed. 1902], p. 49.
2 Innocent III, Regestorum, Lib. I, LXXXVIII: " Mirari Cogimur".
4 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
which made them little more than her retainers. She was
quick to take advantage of the intestine quarrels of her
neighbours, and by adopting the cause of one party, to bring
all parties under her power. So when in the month of
January, 1200, certain nobles in the territory of Assisi sought
her protection against the Commune, Perugia eagerly made
herself their advocate. That meant trouble for the Assisians,
as they well knew ; but being a stout-hearted people and them
selves ambitious, they had no thought of submitting to
Perugia s dictation. The original cause of the quarrel lay in
the determination of the Commune of Assisi to strengthen
the defences of the city and to force the feudal owners of lands,
in their territories beyond the city walls, to submit to the
common law of the Commune. But some of these nobles
refused to acknowledge the Commune s authority, and at
this the citizens attacked their castles and razed them to the
ground and by force took the lands and buildings which they
required for the city s defence. Nor would they restore to
the dissident nobles their property nor acknowledge their
privileges when Perugia took up their cause. The feud
dragged on for two years and culminated in a battle near
the Ponte San Giovanni, which lies about midway between
the two cities. 1 / The Assisians were worsted in the fight, and
amongst the prisoners taken that day by the Perugians, was
the son of Pietro Bernardone, one of the most wealthy
merchants of Assisi/
Thus Francis appears for the first time in the world s
history, a figure in one of those petty wars which mark the
struggle of mediaeval Italy for civic independence. He was
at this time about twenty years of age, 2 and full of the zest of
1 Cristofani, op. cit. p. 57 ; W. Heywood, A History of Perugia, p. 58
seq. ; Bonazzi, Storia di Perugia, i. p. 257.
a None of the legends give the date of Francis birth ; but it is evident
from Thomas of Gelano, that he was born in 1181 or 1182. Speaking of the
death of Francis on 4 October, 1226, Celano adds : " Twenty years being com-
ted since he most perfectly adhered to Christ" (I Celano, 88) and further
on he again says that Francis died " in the twentieth year of his conversion "
(I Celano, 119). Francis conversion, therefore, took place in 1226 (cf. also,
Leg. 3 Soc. 68; Spec. Perfectionis, cap. 124). But Celano further tells us
that he was then " nearly twenty-five years of age " (I Celano, 2). Albert of
THE COMING OF FBANCIS 5
life. In appearance he was somewhat below middle height,
slender of limb and of dark complexion. A general delicacy of
feature the straight well-shapen nose, the smooth brow, the
hands rather tenuous with tapering fingers betokened an Ortr c
idealist temperament ; the rather thin lips were sensitive, but
with indications of obstinacy, and in the dark eyes was a fear-
less candour and the possibilities of a boundless hot enthusiasm.
The low forehead bespoke a mind intuitive rather than logical. L.Qt \
He carried himself straightly and moved with a quick move
ment. His voice was clear and musical and strong. 1 He
dressed sumptuously as one delighting in colour and a certain
barbaric splendour. Among the gay city youth he had won
a certain proud leadership. r His vivacious and ready wit and
tireless energy and exceeding good nature, made him a boon ^ ,
companion and general favourite ; a certain bizarre fancy and
originality 2 and a great daring, gained him a willing following
of youths given to fantastic and unconventional frolic.! At
times one might detect behind the accustomed gaiety a latent
seriousness of soul and a tendency to a gentle melancholy,
and herein the philosopher might recognize something of the
secret of his ascendency over this undisciplined youth. His
popularity, however, was partly due to the lavishness with
which he spent his money. His father, the wealthy merchant,
gave him an unstinted allowance, and Francis never let money
rest in his purse. It went as freely as it came. Friends and
acquaintances of the family, astonished at his prodigality,
would protest : "he might be a prince instead of the son of/T Cclr\
Pietro Bernard one ". 3 I But Pietro was of that mind that he
Stadt gives the date of Francis birth as 1182 (Mon. Germ. Script. Tom. XVI,
p. 350), but his accuracy is not unimpeachable.
For chronology of Francis life, of. de Gubernatis, Orbis Seraphicus,
Tom. I, p. 15 seq. ; Panfilo da Magliano, Storia compendiosa, Tom. I, p. 5
seq. ; P. Leo Patrem in Miscellanea Francescana, Tom. IX, fasc. 3 ; Boehmer
Analekten, p. 123 seq. ; Golubovich, Biblioteca Bio-Biographica, p. 85 seq. ;
F. Paschal Robinson in Archivum Franc. Hist. an. I, fasc. I, pp. 23-30 ; Mont
gomery Carmichael in Franciscan Annals, October, 1906.
1 1 Celano, 83 ; of. ibid. 73.
2 Of. Leg. 3 Soc. 2 : "In curiositate etiam tantum erat vanus quod aliquando
in eodem induinento pannum valde carumpanno vilissimo consul faciebat ".
3 3 Soc. 2 ; I Celano, 2.
6 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
did not resent his son s lavishness, but rather rejoiced. He
was himself ambitious, and perhaps saw in Francis popularity
with the city youth a foreshadowing of the day when this
son of his would be high in the civic council, perhaps even
consul or podesta : a laudable ambition at a time when the
magistrate of a semi-independent city treated with princes
and Papal legates in some sort of equality. But if this
were Pietro s ambition, Francis himself looked beyond civic
honours. Quite what he aspired to, he himself could not tell
at this time. He dreamed of fame and honours, but without
any definite idea how fame was to come to him. He lived
as yet in a world of legendary romance and had visions of
being a great leader of men and dazzling the world by his
feats and compelling its homage and admiration. 1 The de
ference paid him now by the city youth was but a foretaste
of that which was to come in the larger world where kings
held court and heroes won fame. The city revels were to
lead to revels of tourney and courts of love, where knight
challenged knight, and poets sang : and whether in tourney
or in court of love, Francis would meet all rivals. This ideal
ism stood ever between Francis and his fellow-revellers. To
them the evening frolic was but the excitement of the hour, and
they tasted its coarseness and were besmirched by its sen-
suousness : to Francis it was a crude anticipation of the
battle of life as he had learned it in the romances of chivalry.
Perhaps it was this which kept him morally clean and whole
some amidst the dissipations in which he moved so freely.
Where others came quickly to moral shipwreck, his tempera
ment allowed him to assimilate only the subtler and more
refined sensuousness of the scenes and not the coarser ele
ments. He loved the song and parade, the adulation of the
crowd, the movement and zest and the sense of leadership :
but from grosser evils a natural fastidiousness saved him.
Coarseness was alien to his nature : he was dainty in his food ;
an obscene word made him silent. 2
1 Of. 3 Soc. II, 5.
2 In the early legends one finds apparently conflicting statements. Celano
THE COMING OF FBANCIS 7
A temperament such as his could not have found a more
congenial nursing-ground than Assisi in the years immediately
following the overthrow of the German domination. The
life of the city was quickened ; the proud sense of freedom,
chafed even by the mild suzerainty of Conrad of Lutzen, 1 was
now set loose, and threw a glamour of patriotism even over
the industrial activities of the city. There was a sense of
building up the free commune as well as one s own house.
One thing the German overlord had done for Assisi. He had
given the citizens a period of comparative peace, during which
the city had prospered materially, and the merchants had de
veloped trade and gained wealth. The staple trade of Assisi,
as of the other cities of central Italy, was in woollen stuffs,
and the merchant in search of a market travelled wide and
far. Thus Pietro Bernardone had a brisk business with
France. And it was whilst he was~on one of these journeys
to the French market that Francis, his eldest son, was
born. To commemorate the circumstance the delighted father
on., hia jcejurn home dubbed the... child Francesco " the
Frenchman"; by which pet-name and not by his baptismal
name, Giovanni^ the child was henceforth called. On their
journeys, the merchants not only did business ; they gathered
up and distributed the news of the world. They carried
political and religious thought from one place to another
along the route of their travel, and the news they brought
was debated with that intensity of interest which belongs
only to the more impassioned moments of life ; for at no time
have men lived more keenly and with a greater zest for ideas
than did the citizens of those mediaeval cities. In every de
partment of life, whether in politics, in intellect, or in religion,
the towns were big with change and revolution. There was
S. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. I), on the other hand, says : " Albeit in his youth
Francis was reared in vanity . . . yet he went not astray among wanton
youths after the lusts of the flesh". The contradiction is explained by the
temperament of Francis. The Leg. 3 Soc. 3, suggests the solution : " Erat
tamen quasi naturaliter curialis" etc.
1 Conrad had even permitted the Assisians to join the league of the cities
of Umbria and the Marches, for the defence of civic rights. Of. Cristofani.
op. cit. p. 49.
8 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
a restlessness abroad which none could escape : every town
and city was more or less a radiating centre of critical dis
content and revolutionary ideas ; and nowhere was this spirit
^^ more active than in Italy, where each city in its semi-inde
pendence was a sort of microcosm typical of the Christian
universe. When the men of Assisi stormed the Rocca and
razed it to the ground and built a wall around their city and
sought to subject the nobles to the civic authority, they were
conscious that they were taking part in a world- wide revolu
tion the uprising of the city against the castle. In their
streets and council chambers were discussed all the great
questions agitating the peninsula and the Christian countries,
whether secular or religious. Great as the power of the
Church was, Italy at this time was seething with movements
of Church reform, heretical and otherwise. There were the
Cathari and Paterini, 1 who had swept like great sea waves
over northern and central Italy, and set up conventicles in
all the more populous centres, defying the ecclesiastical
powers. They preached a return to apostolic simplicity in
religion, denounced the Church for its wealth and secular
ambitions, scoffed at the clergy and rejected the sacramental
system. They were the Puritans of the Middle Ages. Then
side by side with the heretical movements there was a wide
spread feeling amongst the Catholics themselves, that all was
not right in the Church. The orthodox discontent found ex
pression in Lombardy and the North in the movement of
the Humiliati, a society of lay-people who bound themselves
to live by their labour, to eschew luxury in food and dress,
to avoid taking part in war or feud and to serve the poor. 2
But the Humiliati, whilst they aroused the conscience, failed
to touch the imagination.
Otherwise was it with the reform propaganda of the
Cistercian Abbot Joachim in the South. 3 Joachim too
1 Of. Gebhardt, L Italic Mystique, p. 26 seq. ; Felice Tocco, L J Eresia nel
Medio Evo, p. 73 seq. The Paterini were in the first instance a movement
supported by the Holy See ; but Arnold of Brescia revived the movement in
opposition to the Church.
2 Of. Tiraboschi, Vetera Hiimiliatorum Monumenta ; Gebhardt, op. cit. p. 34.
3 Cf . Felice Tocco, op. cit. p. 261 seq. ; Gebhardt, op. cit. p. 49 seq.
THE COMING OF FEANCIS 9
preached poverty and humility, but unlike the other re
formers he sought for renovation not by legal enactments
and codes of conduct but by spiritual enlightenment. He was
an Isaias bidding the people prepare for a renewed Kingdom
of God by a clean conscience and prayer and the study of the
Divine Word. When the spirit of the prophet first came
upon him he had retired to a cave in Sicily and there had
prepared himself for his mission by weeping over the sins
of the people and imploring God s mercy. Then he had
entered amongst the Cistercians at Sambucina as a lay-brother,
had afterwards been ordained priest and elected abbot of the
monastery. After a time he resigned the abbacy and secluded
himself in the desert of Pietralata, where he wrote his pro
phetical books concerning the new reign of the Spirit.
Leaving the desert, he went about visiting the monasteries
and preaching reform. Disciples flocked to him, and in 1189
he founded a new monastic community at Flore in Calabria,
which drew to it the eyes of multitudes of people, both of the
clergy and the laity, who soon came to regard it as the holy
Sion whence would issue the long-sought renovation of the
Christian world. Gentle and pitiful, Joachim preached a
gospel of love towards God and man : to many he seemed a
very image of the Christ. His prophecies sent a thrill through
all Catholic Italy, like the stirring of a new day. Men lifted
up their heads in hope and yet in fear ; for the reign of the
Divine Spirit about to come, was to be preceded by a sharp
period of terror when the anti-Christ would appear on
earth. 1
The effect of Joachim s teaching was deep and lasting :
for years after his death the people saw in political and re
ligious events the fulfilment of his prophecies. 2 One of its
immediate effects was the appearance of wandering devotees
who went about calling the people to repentance, and utter-
1 This period of the anti-Christ was to begin, according to Joachim, in 1199.
Cf. Felice Tocco, op. cit. p. 290, n. 1.
2 Thus Frederick II was regarded by many Catholics as the anti-Christ;
whilst on the other hand his partisans gave him almost divine honours, and
likened him to Jesus Christ. Cf. Huillard Breholles, Hist, diplomat, iv. p.
378 ; Vie de P. de la Vigne, Pieces Justificatives, No. 107 et passim.
10 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
ing cryptic prophecies of the coming time. Such a one was
found in Assisi about this very time : he went through the
streets, crying out : Pax et Bonum ! Peace and Well-doing I l
In after times he was regarded as a precursor of that gospel
of peace which Francis was to preach so successfully. The
Franciscan movement was indeed cradled in the expectancy
aroused by the Joachimite prophecies. Another indication
how Assisi was affected by the general religious restlessness
was the election of the heretic, Giraldo di Gilberto, in 1203,
to the chief magistracy, and his remaining in office in spite
of the protests of the Holy See. 2
That Francis was conversant with all these movements
as they were reflected in the life of his native city, there can
be no doubt. In the narrow circle of a mediaeval commune,
the son of a wealthy merchant, and partner in his father s
trade, could not be ignorant of the quick forces of public
opinion which carried men onwards so irresistibly. Neither
can it be doubted that he took his part right willingly in the
struggle for civic independence. But the sentiment which
drew him out to fight against Perugia was hardly a reflective
one but rather a blind instinct of loyalty and a natural love
of adventure. He was as yet of that youthful cast of thought
which values things in proportion to their nearness to one s
personal concerns. To him the deep politics of the city
counsellors would seem trivial compared with the youthful
revels in which he found some semblance of his dream of life-
As to the disputes between Catholics and Paterini and such
like, they would seem to him whom they did not concern,
mere waste of words and temper : if he gave serious thought
to the matter at all, he would probably condemn all heretics
as meddlers in the affairs of other men or as scarecrows at
the feast. He was, in a word, too much wrapt up in his own
dreams to be an ardent politician or religious disputant. In
fact, he never quite descended from his world of dream even
in after life, and was apt to be impatient of meddlers and
heretics to the end. As to the coming of anti-Christ and the
promised new revelation of the Spirit, these things might
1 3 Soo. 26. - Gristofani, op. cit. p. 68.
THE COMING OF FKANCIS 11
have impressed him had they not been so strange to his
outlook on life. He loved the world as it was : things might
not be all as they should be, but there was great joy to be
found there, and he kept close to the joy and shrank in
stinctively from the sight of the sorrow as from some un
explained mystery which would be troublesome if peered
into. 1
But amidst all the confusion of voices which filled the
public places, there was one voice to which the young Francis
listened with a joyous content, the voice of the troubadour. -
Twenty years before the birth of Francis the singing poets
of Provence had begun to invade Italy, drawn thither by the
stir of life and freedom. They came singing aloud the joys
and sorrows of youth and the glory of chivalry. Gaily or
pathetically they lifted their voices in praise of love or adven
ture, passing their fingers deftly and thrillingly over the
varied strings of human emotion. Their songs, too, had the
consistency of a faith however lightly they might be sung.
Passionately they recited the glory of courage and endurance ;
but always their heroes spent themselves for some high
cause, either for the defence of the Christian faith or for the
succouring of the weak or the oppressed. Or else they sang
of love, of love sublimated by sacrifice and worship : 2 for
whether they sang of battle or adventure or of love, a per
sistent note in their harmonies was that of personal devotion
and unselfish endurance for the sake of the good cause or the
beloved. Their,herp_esjw ere chosen from folk-lorejind legend.
Arthur and his Bound Table, Charlemagne and his puissant
paladins, supplied them with inspiring themes. So with his
romance of chivalry and his songs of love the minstrel from
Provence visited the courts of the Italian nobles, 3 whence he
sent forth a haunting voice which set the heart of youth
1 Cf. Testamentum S. F. : " Nimis mihi videbatur amarum videre leprosos ".
2 Cf. M. Fauriel, Dante ct les Origines de la Langue et de la Litterature
Italie-nnes, p. 279 scq. ; cf. Karl Bartoch, Chrestomathie Provencale (a collection
of troubadour songs) ; Em. Monaci, Testi anticlii provenziali.
3 The most famous Provencal singers such as Bernard de Ventadour,
Cadenet, Raimbaut de Vaguerras, Pierre Vidal, were frequently in Italy about
the end of the twelfth century. Fauriel, op. cit. p. 257.
12 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
astir and was as a fresh breeze amidst the pessimism which
had so long depressed the vitality of the peninsula.
Now it may seem a strange thing that this merchant s
son, whom in after years men would come to regard as a
patron saint of democracy, should have had his mind and
character formed by the romance of chivalry and the love-
song of the troubadour. Yet so it was in fact. He drew the
form into which his ambition was cast, out of the tales of
. knight-errantry and knightly adventure, and the love-song
fostered his native instinct for the perfect lover. By tem
perament he had but little taste for book-knowledge; he
loved better the life of action and the free air : but he learned
eagerly the tales of the Bound Table and of Eoland and
Oliver the great paladins. 1 He had no doubt that these
heroes were such as the minstrels pictured them ; he believed
that their peers might be found again and he amongst them.
In truth, were not valiant knights fighting for the faith and
the right and performing prodigies of valour in the Eastern
lands, and even in the Southern provinces of Italy, where the
Germans were warring against the Church ? So he dreamed
his dream, whilst men waged heated controversy over Church
reform and the prophets foretold world-disaster and the
coming of the new life.
To the end of his days this dream of romantic chivalry will
remain with Francis and be the chief secular influence in the
shaping of his story. He will outgrow his early crude ambi
tions of secular achievement and change his ultimate purpose
and take to himself other weapons of combat and extend his
vision of life : but to the last he will always think of himself
as a knight-errant, and the governing law of his life will be
the knightly code of fearless courage, worshipful love and
1 Vide Spec. Perfect, cap. 4 and 72 ; also F. Paschal Kobinson, The
Golden Sayings of Brother Giles, p. 61. The Latin legends of Arthur and his
knights were already published in Italy about the end of the twelfth century ;
as well as the Provencal versions of the romances of Arthur and Charlemagne.
Of. Fauriel, op. cit. I, p. 286. The influence of the troubadour s love-song is
very marked in early Franciscan literature, notably in the religious songs of
Jacopone daTodi ; bnLErancia aeema-to -have drawn hiaunapiration more from
the chivalric romances.
THE COMING OF FBANCIS 13
gentle courtesy. To the end, too, he will be a singer of song
and carry with him the poet s sensitive feeling for the sun
shine and shadows of life. Always he will feel a knightly
scorn for compromise and the by-ways of diplomacy ; he
will be quick to obey the call of the quest and will deem dis
loyalty the blackest of sins,
Some will have it that his romantic temperament was due
to his mother s blood ; for they say the Lady Pica, the wife of
Pietro Bernardone, was of gentle birth and Proven9al origin :
but of this there is no certain proof. 1 Yet there can be little ^
doubt of her saving influence in the formative period of
Francis character. Between mother and son there was that -
close understanding sympathy which is more often felt as an
atmosphere rather than as denned action ; whose influence
therefore is the more subtle and penetrating, whether for
restraint or for direction. It was Pica who, when her neigh- bf
bours were commenting upon Francis princely manners and
ambitions, remarked to their amazement: " I will tell you P y)
how this son qf mine will turn out ; he will become a son of
God ". 2 In her fond watchfulness she had seen how he would
never refuse an alms to a beggar and how whenever the
name of God was uttered in his presence he grew reverent
and worshipful. 3 And out of the experience of her own soul,
_^The early legends tell us nothing concerning the origin of Francis
mother. The supposition of her Provencal origin may have arisen from the
fact that Francis spoke the French tongue (cf. I Celano, 16; II Celano,
13, 127 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 93) but he may have learned this as part of the
education of a merchant s son, who would have need to carry on trade with
France. As to the tradition that Pica was of noble birth, a contemporary
legal document published by Cristofani, op. cit. pp. 50-51, styles her Domina
Pica; from which M. Sabatier (Vie de S. F. p. 8, n. 2) deduces that she
must have been of noble origin. But in Southern Europe the more wealthy
merchants at this time claimed equality of rank with the nobles. Cf. Fauriel,
Preuves de I histoire du Languedoc, in. p. 607. Nothing is really known
concerning the family-origins of Francis. According to a document discovered
by Bishop Spader in the eighteenth century, the Bernardoni migrated to
Assisi from Lucca. Of. P. Marcellino da Civezza, San Francesco oriundo dai
Moriconi di Lucca.
2 II Celano, 3. Further on we shall find Pica encouraging Francis in
his religious adventure.
3 Leg. Maj. i. Cf. Leg. 3 Soc. 9.
14 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
perhaps, she read the significance of these signs. So whilst
his father was hugging his own forecast of his son s future
position in the Commune and begrudging no money that
would help him to secure the highest place; and whilst
friends and neighbours were divided in opinion, some regard
ing him as a spendthrift and wastrel and others as a young
man with a well-formed ambition and assured success, the
Lady Pica held in her heart some dim vision in which knightly
adventure was interwoven with saintship and the spirit of
the troubadour sang its songs in heaven. And who shall say
how far the mother s dream determiaed the life-story of her
son?
CHAPTER II.
FRANCIS DREAMS OF GLORY AND FAME.
AFTER the battle of Ponte San Giovanni, Francis, as we have
said, was lodgedfin prison. 1
Now to the traveller there is no city in Umbria of such a
queenly majesty as Perugia. Built upon a hill-top at the
northern entrance to all the Umbrian valleys, it has a proud
beauty of outline which holds the eye, and compels a sort
of rapturous worship until you enter within the city, and
then there is a certain grimness in its massive public build
ings, instinct with beauty though they are, which indicates
still that almost brutal ambition for power which made
Perugia, in the heyday of its glory, feared and hated by its
neighbours. The Palazzo dei Priori, the symbol of that
strange commingling of brutal strength with exquisite artistic
feeling, was not yet built in Francis time, but the spirit
which demanded it of the builders was there. Perugia had
humbled Assisi, yet not so decisively as to bring the weaker
city to an unconditional surrender, and she was wary enough
not to waste her strength ineffectively. Negotiations followed
but dragged somewhat slowly, and meanwhile the prisoners
were kept in unpitying confinement for the greater part of
a year.
Francis, it would seem, took his imprisonment light-
heartedly enough. He sang and made merry though his
fellow-captives grew depressed and irritable. They were
chafing at the narrow confinement ; he was dreaming his
dream of chivalry. To him this affray of the Ponte San
Giovanni with its untoward consequence, was the beginning
1 Being the son of a wealthy citizen he was not put with the common
soldiery but with the nobles. 3 Soc. 4.
15
16 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
of real life : for battle and captivity were equally incidents
in the knightly adventure upon which he had set his heart.
Those around him, not seeing the light which made his
day, thought him deficient in sanity. " Surely," said one
of them, "you are mad that you can be merry in prison."
" Would you know why I am merry ? " retorted Francis. " I
see the day when all the world will bow in homage before
me." l His good-nature, too, was irrepressible. There was
amongst them a knight of so sour and bitter a temper, that
his fellow-prisoners entirely avoided his company, all except
Francis, who attached himself to the outcast and by kindness
won him to more genial ways and finally healed the breach
between him and his fellows. 2 At length, however, in
November, 1203, a treaty of peace was signed. 3 The
fugitive nobles who had been the cause of the war were to
be reinstated in their property, but on their part they bound
themselves never again to enter into alliance with any
foreign power without the consent of the Commune. 4 Thus
Assisi saved its civic authority though at the cost of a
drubbing. The prisoners were now set free. But the long
confinement and enforced inaction had told upon the health
of Francis, and after his return home an attack of fever was
nearly the end of his earth- story ; though as it happened it
proved instead to be its real beginning. For it was then as
he lay during long weeks upon his sick bed, that there came
i (V *Ttcr\xtp_ Francis the first troublous intimations of a life other than
that of which he had hitherto dreamed, a life dedicated to
God and the quest of eternal things. 5 They were but as the
sound of the far-off sea-waves to one who has never yet seen
the ocean ; he could not tell with any distinctness their
demand, but they brought a trouble to his thoughts and
heart, which was to remain there till the demand was fully
known and accepted. That was not to be yet. With con-
*3 Socii, 4; II Celano, 4. 2 ibid.
3 Leo Patrem (Misc. Franc. Vol. IX, fasc. 3, p. 84) disputes this date of
1203, given by Ant. Cristofani, and argues for 1202. The original document
was discovered in 1910 in the municipal library of Perugia ; but my efforts to
obtain a copy of it have been fruitless.
4 Cristofani, op. cit. p. 93 seq. 5 1 Celano, 3 ; Leg. Maj. i. 2.
GATEWAY, ASSISI
(Looking towards Perugia)
FEANCIS DEEAMS OF GLOEY AND FAME 17
valescence the old dream of adventure and fame came back
and the old eager joy in the dreamland which his fancy
made of the earth. The first disillusionment came when he
took his first walk abroad. He went out by one of the city
gates, his heart hungering for a sight of the fair earth.
There he stood leaning upon a stick and gazing wistfully
upon the wide valley where on a sunny day the scintillating
haze envelops the hills and the plain in a mystic glory, and
the golden towns, dotted along the hillsides, look farther off
than they really are, and the white course of the river winds
across the lowland. And for the first time the living earth
failed him. To his call there came no response : as well
might he have been within the walls of his sick-room.
" The beauty of the fields, the delight of the vineyards and
all that is fair to the eye, could in no way gladden him,"
| says Thomas of Celano ; " wherefore he was amazed at the
j| change which had so suddenly come upon him and thought
them most foolish who could love these things." l
But movement and fresh air in time brought back his
strength and he became restless for action. The events of
the affray with Perugia and the test of sickness had deepened
his character. He was no longer content with the life of
youth ; he must enter into the life of men.
And the opportunity at length came. 2 Since 1198 all Italy
had been watching the struggle which was being waged be
tween the Pope and the Germans for the regency of the Two
Sicilies. At first the war had gone against the Papal forces ;
but the tide had turned with the advent in 1202 of Walter
de Brienne, Prince of Taranto, to whom Innocent III had
entrusted his cause. It was, however, a desperate conflict,
waged by brave and fearless leaders on both sides.
i
soldier ; he was a hero fighting for the Church and Italian
1 1 Celano, 3.
tPostpaucos vero annos "after a few years," says the Legend of the
Three Companions, in introducing the story of the journey to Apulia, after
relating the incident of Francis imprisonment. It was probably in 1205 that
the events which follow took place.
2
18 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
liberty against the hated German. 1 Stirred by the trouba
dours song, soldiers from all parts of Italy flocked to the
Norman s banner, partly for the glory of the adventure,
partly for the material gain which was sure to accrue to a
successful army ; and some of them had already gained re
nown and the worship of the aspirants for knightly honours.
Francis thoughts must often have turned to the southern
battlefields, as he dreamed of the realization of his romance
of chivalry. The setting out of a certain unnamed noble of
Assisi to join the Papal army in Apulia now quickened his
decision.
He too would go to the war and, God willing, gain his
knighthood in the following of a Count Gentile : a captain,
doubtless, of some fame, though his exploits are not men
tioned by Francis biographers. 2 Now having determined
upon his course, Francis set about equipping himself in a
fashion befitting the magnificence of his ambition ; so that
his array outshone in splendour that of his noble companion
in arms though he too was a man of wealth and fashion. 3
The day of departure was at hand and Francis was
already delighting in the glory of his newly bought equip
ment, when he happened to fall in with a knight whose
shabby dress betokened a straitened poverty. And this to
Francis seemed a great shame, that one who belonged to so
high a profession should be clothed so meanly. Straightway
he made over his own gorgeous mantle and tunic and all his
costly apparel to the poor knight. 4
Full of the glory of his coming adventures Francis that
1 The Southern Italians, however, resented being ruled by a foreigner, for
Walter de Brienne was appointed not only commander of the forces, but
Justiciar of Apulia. Of. A. Luchaire, Innocent III, Borne et ritalie, p. 190
seq.
2 The Leg. 3 Soc. says expressly that the Count was named Gentile, from
whom Francis desired to receive knighthood. Lemonnier and Jorgensen sup
pose that the name Gentile was merely a name of honour, and that Walter
de Brienne himself is to be understood. But there were several Counts
Gentile, whose names are recorded in contemporary documents; one of them,
Count Gentile of Manapelli, was instrumental in defeating the Germans at
Palermo in July, 1200. Cf. P. Sabatier, Vie de S. F. p. 19, n. 2.
3 1 Celano, 4. 4 II Celano, d ; 3 Soc. 6 ; Leg. Maj. i. 2.
FKANCIS DBEAMS OF GLOKY AND FAME 19
evening retired to rest, and as he slept he dreamed a sweet
dream. Some one called him by his name and taking him,
led him to a fair palace, set about with knightly arms, the resi
dence of a beautiful bride ; and as he was gazing in admira
tion and wondering to whom this palace belonged, his guide
told him that it was for him and his followers. 1 Francis
awoke, convinced that the dream was an indication of his
destiny, and such was his manifest happiness that his friends
were curious to know what new fortune had come to him.
Francis replied : " I know of a surety that I shall become a
great prince ", 2 So in the joy of his dream he set out on his
way to Apulia. He came the first evening to the city of
Spoleto at the southern end of the valley, where the moun
tains take a bend towards the west : and there he put up
for the night. Again the mysterious voice came to him ;
but now he was but half asleep. And as he listened intently
he heard : " Francis, whom is it better to serve, the lord or
the servant?" And he wonderingly replied: "Surely it is
better to serve the lord". "Why then," asked the voice,
"dost thou make a lord of the servant?" Suddenly the
light entered his soul and he replied humbly: "Lord, what
dost Thou wish me to do? " " Keturn," said the voice, "to
the land of thy birth and there it will be told thee what thou
shalt do : for it may behove thee to give another meaning to
thy dream."
Thoroughly awake, Francis lay pondering upon what
had happened to him. He had no doubt now that these
voices were akin to those troubling thoughts which had come
to him in his sickness ; and they were too real to be honestly
disregarded. Sobered and serious, he arose at daybreak and
without delay got on his horse and rocfe back to Assisi. He *
had put his dream of secular glory behind him. As to the
future he had no plans: he only knew that he must wait
1 3 Soc. 5 ; I Celano, 5 ; II Celano, 6 ; Leg. Maj. i. 3. Celano in his
Legenda Prima says Francis saw his father s house filled with arms ; but in
Legenda Secunda he gives the same description as in 3 Socii. St. Bona-
venture speaks of " a fair palace," but does not allude to the beautiful bride.
2 3 Soc. 5.
2*
20 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
upon the word which was to come to him and make all
things clear. That was all he was conscious of just now ;
and with a magnificent simplicity of soul, he set himself to
wait. There was no sadness in his returning : the glamour
of yesterday had given place to a new serenity and a new
joy ; he had not yet found his heart s desire, but he knew it
would come to him in the mysterious future before which
he was to wait. 1
It bears witness to the sanity of Francis mind that he
was willing to wait and that he attempted no sudden ill-con
sidered break with the life he had hitherto been living. Upon
his return he took up the threads of the old life where he
had left them. He went back to his father s business, though
with no greater enthusiasm than he had hitherto shown ; he
took his place again amongst the youths of the city, who at
once elected him captain of the revel, moved thereto, as the
old chronicler reminds us, by the prodigality with which he
had always contributed to their feasts. 2 But the revel gave
him no longer the whole-hearted simple pleasure of a former
day.
He presided at the banquets his own purse provided, at
which the fine city youths over-ate themselves and drank too
much ; and when they could eat and drink no more and rose
up and went forth into the streets singing riotously, Francis
must lead the way with the wand of leadership in his hand,
as the custom was. 3 Meanwhile in all the byways of the
city was the ill-fed, naked crowd whose excitement was to
witness the procession of the gorgeously- clad, gluttonous
sons of noble and merchant : and Francis since his return
from Spoleto was daily becoming conscious of the contrast
between the life of these poor beggars and that of his own
people. The sight of a beggar would now set struggling
emotions which were a mystery to himself. More jbnd more,
as the weeks_went by, he felt Jiimself becoming.^ stranger
amongst his friends. He would still move amongst them
1 3 Soc. 6 ; II Celano, 6 ; Leg. Maj. i. 3. 2 II Celano, 7.
3 ibid. Celano evidently describes these civic carousals from personal
knowledge or experience.
FEANCIS DEEAMS OF GLOEY AND FAME 21
exchanging witticisms and pleasantries ; he would still lead
off the song and sit at the feast : but his heart was not in it
all as it used to be. Oftentimes he sat at the board in an
abstracted mood, and at the head of the riotous procession
would walk as one in deep thought until aroused by some
rude pleasantry from his companions. As time went on these
abstracted moods became more prolonged and intent; he
would even at times be as one unable to move or speak, so
rapt was he in his own thoughts of the sweet mystery which
was upon him. The revellers, noting these things, had a
ready explanation : Francis must be in love. One day when
he had fallen behind in one of his silent moods, his com
panions turned back and taxed him with his delinquency.
"Art thou in love, Francis?" they cried; "hast found a
maiden to be thy wife, that thou must be always thinking
of her charms and beauty? " Francis, aroused from his ab
straction, replied with unexpected seriousness : " Yea, in truth
I am thinking of taking a wife more noble and beautiful and
richer than any ye have ever seen ". At which they laughed
a coarse incredulous laugh. But Francis was thinking of the
bride of his dream who had come to figure in his thoughts
for the new life into which he was peering, and whom he
afterwards came to know as the Lady Poverty. 1 It was his
first confession of his love even to himself ; and from that
moment, with a lover s humility, he began to wax worthless in
his own eyes and to think bitterly of the wasted years, for so
they seemed now, which had kept him from knowing his
heart s desire.
He became thenceforth even more silent and thoughtful
and more and more sensitive to the spiritual world. Often he
would withdraw from the society of his fellows and steal out
of the city to be alone and to pray. He was yet shy of mani
festing to others his secret ; but the distaste for the old life
was becoming too much for him. Yet he was of that nature -
which instinctively seeks companionship and a certain com
prehending sympathy, and this need drew him frequently
into visiting the poor. He no longer waited for them to come
1 3 Soc. 7 and 13 ; I Celano, 7.
22 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
seeking an alms ; he now sought them out, always taking
with him money or food to relieve their needs, yet taking
something even more precious, the sympathy of a soul itself
lonely and in need. For in these months of spiritual travail
he was living in a great loneliness. There was but one friend
in the city, a young man about his own age, to whom he
could bring himself to speak of the things which had come
into his life : and even to him he could speak only shyly and
in parables, telling him that he had discovered a treasure
of great price and was seeking how to obtain possession of
it. Sometimes he would take his friend with him on his
walks outside the city and in his enigmatic way unbosom his
searching thoughts. They gradually came to directing their
steps to an ancient Etruscan tomb some distance off and in a
lonely place. There Francis would bid his friend remain out
side whilst he himself went in to pray. Those visits to the
ancient tomb were Francis most intimate moments with God
and his own soul. His friend, waiting outside, heard him at
times crying aloud in his southern fashion for very anguish
of soul : it was when the soul of Francis was being riven
by a divine light which revealed him to himself and brought
him to judgment, face to face with his destiny. At such
moments he was in an agony of new desire and conscious
helplessness. To add to his trial, his over-strained nerves
would at times create imaginative horrors out of his moral
fears. He saw himself becoming deformed, even as some of
the poor beggars in the city, at the sight of whom he had
always shrunk back with horror. He met such suggestions
with pleading prayer and did not desist till he had found
strength and comfort. But when he came out again into the
sunlight his countenance would be haggard and drawn be
cause of the pain he had suffered. One clear thought was
gradually shaping itself amidst the ferment of spirit : he
must abandon his accustomed comfort and luxury and ambi
tion and go forth like Abraham of old amongst a strange people.
That insistent calling was beating upon his spiritual sense ;
it drew him with mysterious persuasion ; yet did he still hold
back as one whose bonds are not yet broken, whose vision is
FEANCIS DEEAMS OF GLOEY AND FAME 23
not clear. 1 Who the friend was who stood by him in these
difficult days and comforted him with a discreet sympathy, we
know not. Some have surmised that it was that Elias who ~ ^
afterwards became Minister-General of the Franciscan Order ^
and the anti-type of Francis in Franciscan legend. 2 Were it ***
so we could easily understand Francis attachment to Elias
in the later days when this friend became to him the cause
of many anxious hours. It is, however, only a fanciful sur
mise. Whoever he was, whether Elias or another, may his
memory be blessed for the sake of those first difficult days.
In his perplexity Francis bethought him to undertake a
pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles. Year by year pil
grims trod the white roads leading to Eome, carrying with Q
them their miseries or fears or desires to the heavenly ap- ,
pointed shepherds of Christ s flock, whose bodies lay on the
Vatican Hill.
Francjs therefore joined the pilgrimage, having no doubt
that the apostles would give him comfort and direction. He
took with him rich offerings for the shrine such as in his in
experience he thought all wealthy pilgrims took ; and great
was his surprise and pain when he noticed, during his stay in
the city, how meagre were their offerings. To him it seemed
not merely a lack of generosity but a sort of treason thus to
treat the chief pastors of souls. With a feeling of revulsion
Francis turned from the niggardly pilgrims to the importu
nate beggars who crowded about the doors of the basilica,
and literally poured into their outstretched hands his ready
alms. Beggars were having a strange fascination for him
of late. He was beginning to feel a new sense of freedom
in their presence. Suddenly one day as_he approached St.
Peter s a quick resolve took possession of him. He would
himself become a beggar for the day and learn by experience
what the life must be. It would be more easily done here
1 Cf. 3 Soc. 8 ; I Celano, 6 and 9.
2 P. Sabatier, Vie de S. F. p. 22. The supposition, however, is unlikely.
Had Elias been Francis first friend Celano would certainly have mentioned
the fact in his Legenda Prima in which he constantly extols the merits of
Elias.
24 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
amongst a crowd of strangers : had he been at home he would
have shrunk from the ridicule of his own class, for he was
not yet master of himself. Oftentimes in the past months
he had felt himself a coward and had sought the company of
the poor by stealth, being still held by the conventions of his
class.
Here in Eome a lesser boldness was needed. Moreover,
the pilgrimage and the freshness of thought which comes of
a widening world and the journey to Kome was his first
glimpse of the great world beyond his native province was
giving him a grip of his own soul, bringing the issues of his
mental struggle into greater clearness. Straightway he took
a beggar aside and for a consideration obtained the loan of
his clothes : and all that day he stood outside St. Peter s, clad
as a beggar, asking alms of those who passed in and out.
With the illusion of a strong imagination he was for the time
a veritable beggar, waiting upon another s goodwill for bread
and the courtesy of life, and sharing with his companions at
the door their satisfactions and rebuffs. 1 In the evening he
became again the son of Pietro Bernardone the rich mer
chant ; but for the day he had been of the brotherhood of
beggars, and as he went to his lodgings that night he felt
that he had wandered further away from his father s house
and found a new tie of kinship ; and he felt also that exalta
tion of spirit which comes to a man when he has pitted his
strength against his weakness or diffidence and come forth
the victor : for his fastidiousness had kicked against the un
seemly rags, and the feeling for his own class still had a
subtle power over him. 2
On his return to Assisi he carried with him this new feel
ing of kinship with the poor. He was no longer content to
go out and bestow an alms in secret : that now would have
been a disloyalty. In some way he must proclaim his new
fellowship. Fortunately his father was absent from home,
probably on one of his long journeys to France : else might
Francis story have moved more quickly than it did at this
period, or at least with less idyllic grace. But Francis could
1 II Celano, 8 ; 3 Soc. 10 ; Leg. Maj. i. 6. 2 Of. II Celano, 13.
FEANCIS DEEAMS OF GLOEY AND FAME 25
count upon his mother s tolerant sympathies. One day, to her
surprise, she found the table loaded with bread and meat as for
a large company. On asking whom the guests might be,
Francis replied that it was a feast for the hungry. Then
taking the food from the table he distributed it to the poor at
the door. It was more neighbourly thus to feed them from
his own table.
But the day of days came to him out in the plain. He
had been riding and was returning to the city when a leper
stood in his way, supplicating an alms. At the sight of his
loathsome disfigurement the very soul of Francis sickened, as
it did in the presence of all ugly disease. At an earlier time
he would have flung out his alms and passed quickly on.
But to-day a great wave of pity swept over him, and would
not let him pass on. He reined in his horse and dismounted,
and as he courteously placed his alms in the beggar s hand,
he took the hand and kissed it. Then clasping the leper in
his arms, he himself received from the leper the kiss of peace.
From that moment Francis never again looked back upon
the old ways : in the leper s embrace he plighted his troth to
the new life in which poverty and suffering were lords de
manding his liege service. He had not yet found the Lady
Poverty, but he had entered her domain and become a servant
of her people : and for the present he was at peace.
In his gratitude he now looked upon the lepers as his
peculiar charge: he visited their settlements and brought
them alms ; and always as he gave his alms he kissed their
hands. 1
1 3 Soc. 11 ; II Celano, 9 ; Leg. Maj. i. 5. Of. Testamentum S. Franc.
in Seraph. Legist. Textus Originates (Quaracchi), p. 265.
CHAPTEK III.
HOW FRANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVERTY.
Now all this while since that night of the mysterious voice
at Spoleto, many months ago, Francis regarded himself as
waiting upon the good-will of his Lord, Jesus Christ ; and
whatever happened to him apart from his own seeking (and
he sought but little of his own will these days), he took as
coming from the Divine Will. He doubted not that Christ
Himself had sent the leper across his path and had put it
into his heart to embrace the leper as he did and thus find
the dedicated life. There was yet a period of probation to be
gone through before he would be fully initiated ; of that he
was fully aware; but he was happy with "a sweetness of
soul and body " at being enrolled amongst his Lord s servitors. 1
His most imperious feeling now was one of intense loyalty
to his Divine Master, which went with a shy worship of that
new mystery of life which was gradually being revealed to
him in his intercourse with the poor and suffering. He
recognized clearly that this new life was the gift of the Lord,
and that it must be gained in His service : it was in fact
the kingdom which his Lord shared with His followers.
Through all this kingdom, as he was coming to know it, he
saw the resplendent figure of the Lord Christ reflected hrall :
the beggar and the leper were touched with His majesty, and
the earth they dwelt on, acquired a new sanctity because
this glory of the Christ was upon them. And that was the
singular thing about Francis turning towards religion : it did
not raise a barrier between him and the earth, but the earth
Vide Tcstamentum S. Franc. : " The Lord Himself gave to me, Brother
Francis, thus to begin to do penance. . . . The Lord Himself led me amongst
them [the lepers J and I showed mercy to them : and when I left them what
had seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness of body and soul."
26
HOW FEANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEKTY 27
itself became transformed in his sight and gave him a new
joy. In earlier days he had regarded it with a certain eager
reverence as the scene and circumstance of high chivalry:
now he looked upon it with even greater reverence because
of this new life revealed in it, and found in it an even greater
joy. Such an attitude of mind would hardly have been toler
ated by the professional religious reformers who demanded
an utter negation of present joy and held out as a reward
some distant joy in another world. Instinctively Francis
avoided their counsels : their theories had no relation to
the realities into which he had been caught up. Occasionally
in moments of acute doubt, he sought advice from the bishop,
and came away strengthened and comforted. 1 Doubtless the
bishop thought it would all end in Francis becoming a monk
or entering the priesthood : but whatever he thought, he was
sympathetic and helpful and did not exert any undue pressure
to determine the course of Francis life. But for the most
part Francis kept his own counsel : yet humbly and without
deliberate contradiction of other people s ways, being wholly
wrapt up in the mystery of his own life and in the expectancy
of his Lord s commands. This simplicity of soul was prob
ably the safeguard of his truthfulness and sincerity, as well
as the evidence.
f~^
So we come to those final stages by which Francis reached ri\rv
his great decision. He was walking one day near the little
church of San Damiano which stands on the slope of the hill
outside the city walls as you follow the Via Francesca 2 looking
towards Spello. The church was in a crumbling condition ; 3
i
J Cf. 3 Soc. 10; Spec. Perfect, cap. 10. Francis in the Spec. Perfect,
cites as one reason of his great reverence for bishops, the kindness shown him
by the bishop of Assisi "from the beginning of my conversion". Cf. Ada SS.
Octob. n. p. 584. Bishop Guido was elected in 1204. Cf. Ughelli, Italia
Sacra, I, p. 479, XV.
2 The Via Francesca was one of the principal roads on the way between
San Damiano and the Portiuncula, in the time of St. Francis. To-day it is a
mere narrow path. The name, it may be remarked, was not called after St.
Francis ; it existed before his day.
3 According to Thode, Saint Francois d Assise et I Art Italien, n. p. 13, it
was already in existence in 1030. It was one of those small churches, a
nave without aisles, and rudely built of stone, which abound even to-day in
28 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
no one seemed to have a care for it, and seeing this, Francis
sense of reverence was troubled ; yet at the same time
he felt strangely drawn to enter in. He followed the im
pulse and went and prayed before the altar. Suddenly he
heard a voice speaking as it seemed to him from the crucifix.
" Francis," it said, " go and repair my church which as thou
seest is wholly a ruin." At hearing the voice Francis was at
first startled and terrified ; then he became conscious that it
was his Lord who spoke to him ; and for a while he could
neither speak nor move, but was as one lost to the things of
sense : Jesus Christ, for whose word he had waited, had
spoken. But he remembered that service was demanded of
him and roused himself ; in abashed astonishment he replied :
"Gladly, Lord, will I repair it". And then he felt a mar
vellous love for the crucified Christ take possession of him,
such a love as he had never felt before ; and he knew that for
the sake of Him, he would willingly perform any service even
to the death.
He rose from his knees and went out of the church and
found the priest who served it, sitting near by ; and he offered
him a large sum of money, saying : "I pray thee, signore, to
buy oil and keep a lamp always burning before the Crucified :
and when this money is all expended, I will give thee more".
Then he went on his way, lifted above himself and seeing
Christ crucified, and hearing the Voice, and oblivious to all
else : for the crucifix had become a Living Thing to his spirit,
and the centre of all living things. His Lord the Master of
his life and service was the Crucified, and He had made
Himself known in that ruined church : and Francis was to
repair the church. The facts shone with exuberant, insistent
vitality. The esquire of the Crucified asked no questions, and
formed no argument : his response was entire obedience and
love. But that evening when Francis went back to the city,
he too was already in some wise crucified in spirit, so wholly
had he given his heart to his liege-lord. 1
Italy. San Damiano still exists in almost primitive simplicity, but a side
chapel was built in the seventeenth century to accommodate the famous crucifix
carved by Fra Innocenzio di Palermo.
1 II Celano, 10; 3 Soc. 13, 14; Leg. Maj. i. 5.
HOW FKANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEETY 29
Without delay he set about his new service. He got to
gether a goodly stock of stuffs from his father s store, and
mounting his horse, having first made the sign of the cross,
he set off for Foligno, the busy city in the plain, where mer
chandise would always find a ready sale ; and there he sold
not only the stuffs but also the horse, and then walked back
the ten miles to Assisi, carrying the money he had gained ;
and this he brought at once to the priest at San Damiano.
Bending low, he kissed the priest s hand and offered him the
money for the repairing of the church, and begged, as a favour,
that he might be allowed to dwell with him at San Damiano ;
for he was eager to abide where his service was demanded,
and he had now no stomach for life in his father s house.
The priest was wholly unprepared for the turn events had
taken ; and being a prudent man, but withal kindly, he re
fused to accept so large a sum of money, but consented to
Francis remaining with him. Possibly the priest had heard
talk about Francis strange behaviour since his return from
the pilgrimage to Borne, and was doubtful as to how it would
all end : possibly he did not see the use of expending so much
money on a crumbling way-side church, and preferred to
spend his days in peace. At any rate, Francis could not pre
vail upon him to take the money : so he flung it into a window
sill in the church and left it there. 1 He did not go home but
took up his abode there and then with the priest./
By this time, however, his father had returned to Assisi,
and becoming alarmed at his son s absence, after a few days
he set about making inquiries and at length learned the
whole story of the sales at Foligno and how his son was now
turned acolyte or hermit at San Damiano. And at that
Pietro Bernardone was beside himself with sorrow and anger.
Calling together a party of his friends he set out to put an
end to this foolery. But some one of the household had
already warned Francis, and when Pietro arrived at the little
sanctuary, his son had gone, no one knew whither.
Francis, you see, was not yet a perfect hero. He had no
thought of surrendering before the violence of his father nor
l l Celano, 8-9; II Celano, 11 ; 3 Soc. 16; Leg. Maj. n. 1.
30 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
of going back upon his plighted fealty to the Crucified who
had called him ; but he was not yet man enough to stand his
ground and meet the assault. He shrank before the ridicule
which he knew would be heaped upon him, and equally be
fore the violence, which in filial reverence and in conscience
he could not return ; and even more than from the certain
violence, he shrank from his father s curse which he knew
would surely fall upon him if he held out : and there is no
thing an Italian dreads more even to-day than the parental
curse. But besides all this he was yet shy of confessing be
fore the world this new loyalty which possessed him : even
as every honest man is shy of confessing his heart s love.
He was but a neophyte and was lacking yet the full strength
and confidence of a man. From his first settling down at
San Damiano he had dreaded his father s coming and had
bethought him of a cave into which he might safely retreat,
and thither he had fled when the warning came : and there
he remained in hiding for a whole month, so full of terror
that he hardly ever ventured out into the sunlight. Food
was brought to him secretly by the only friend who knew the
place of his retreat.
These days, however, were not without a joy of their own.
In the dark solitude he held constant communion of soul with
his Divine Lord : new light poured into his mind and
strength into his heart ; at times he would shrink into him
self as he thought of the stormy trouble awaiting him ; at
other times he was exalted with his newly-found happiness.
But the day came when he felt it too great an indignity to the
Lord he served, thus to lurk in dark corners for the fear of
men. No true knight would shirk the combat nor refrain
from open confession of his allegiance. He must live his life
in the open and bear witness to his Lord, and if needs be,
suffer in the doing. So one day, casting all care for himself
upon the Lord he served, he issued forth from his cave and
appeared in the streets of Assisi. He was much changed
in appearance from the gay youth of the past. The mental
struggle he had gone through and the fastings and bodily
discomforts, had made him thin and emaciated and given his
HOW FEANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEETY 31
face a deep pallor as of a corpse. The people meeting him
were shocked : they thought he must verily have gone mad ;
and with the cruelty which the curious often have, they
taunted him upon his madness and jeered at him. And as
Francis, taking it all in the spirit of the Crucified, made no
spirited retort, the gathering crowd took courage and flung
mud and stones at him. Still no sign of anger escaped him.
In truth he was feeling a curious gladness in this baptism of
fire, all the more conscious because of the fears which had
held him back this month past.
But Assisi is but a small city and the news of his son s
reappearance and the reception he was getting, swiftly reached
the ears of Pietro Bernardone, and a new sense of humiliation
was added to his anger. He ran out into the streets and
seized his son and carried him back to his house, meanwhile
giving vent to his fury in imprecations and good moralities :
then when they reached the house, he gave Francis a sound
flogging and finally locked him in a dark room. In such wise
did Pietro think to end this strange freak which was bringing
ridicule upon his house. "When a few days later he had to
go abroad on business, he took the precaution to secure his
prisoner by putting manacles upon his hands and feet. In
time, doubtless, Francis would come to his senses : if not,
Pietro knew what he would do. Fortunately he had other
sons of a less fantastic disposition, who might turn out good
mercers and reputable citizens : there was, in particular,
Angelo, the youngest son, a level-headed youth. 1 Yet it went
sore with Pietro that Francis his eldest, the pride of his am
bitions, should have turned such a failure. And being an
unimaginative man he could make no allowance for the per
sonal equation of temperament or character ; he could only
see wilful opposition to his own designs and a disregard of
the family honour and the flouting of unusual opportunities
for a successful career. It did not occur to him that his
1 Angelo in fact seems to have continued the family tradition and to have
taken his place amongst the notable citizens. He had a son who joined the
Penitential fraternity, as is evident from a legal document published by Cristo-
fani, in which he is styled Picardus contitwns. Of. Cristofani, op. cit. pp. 50-51.
32 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
treatment of his son was selfish and unduly severe : rather
did he curse the fates which allowed this misfortune to hap
pen to himself and his house. His pride in his family was
hurt, and that was the bitter thing to Pietro who had looked
to make the house of Bernardone respected in the commune.
The Lady Pica, however, took a more directly personal
view of the matter, as women are apt to do. She understood
her husband s disappointment, but she also knew and sym
pathized with the romantic disposition of her boy, and in her
heart she was glad that he had turned from the frivolities of
the world to the service of God and the poor. Not that she
altogether approved of his abandonment of his home: he
might serve God and the poor without doing that. And being
a dutiful wife she grieved over her husband s bitterness and
yearned to bring father and son to some mutual accommodation.
So when Pietro had departed she came to Francis and set
forth her thoughts and pleaded tearfully that he should meet
his father s wishes as it were half-way. But there was
that in the Lady Pica s heart which made her but a poor
advocate against the imperious demands of Francis calling :
and she ceased to plead and went over to his side. Francis
must after all be true to the Divine Voice.
When Pietro Bernardone came back from his journey, he
found Francis was gone ; for the Lady Pica had freed her boy
from his chains and sent him forth with a mother s blessing
to obey the call of his soul. And at that Francis had returned
to his lodging at San Damiano.
In the bitterness of his heart Pietro Bernardone cursed
his wife ; then in a blind fury went off to find his son, think
ing still to bring him home and cure him of his folly, or at
the worst to drive him from the city and its neighbourhood.
But as he approached San Damiano, to his astonishment
Francis came out to meet him, bearing himself confidently
and without fear. Pietro, however, determined to make a
brave show of his authority : harsh words and blows fell upon
the son ; but there was no shrinking now. Francis suffered
meekly yet stoutly : for the sake of Christ who had called him,
he would suffer any injury ; but he would not betray his soul
HOW FBANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEBTY 33
by returning to the world s ways. And at last Pietro de
sisted from blows and objurgations and came to bargaining.
Francis should be free to go his own evil ways if he would
renounce his inheritance and restore the money he had taken
at Foligno.
But here there was a difficulty. Francis would willingly
renounce his claims to his father s property ; but the money
he had received at Foligno was no longer his to restore ; he
had given it to the Church for the repair of the building of
San Damiano and the relief of the poor.
A bitter resolve was in the heart of Pietro Bernardone as
he turned back and took his way towards the city. He would
have his own to the last penny, but Francis should be no
longer a son of his. He went at once, making no delay, to the
palace of the commune in the great square and laid a claim
before the consuls for a return of the money his son had taken
and for his disinheritance ; and the consuls, knowing his
trouble and willing to comfort so worthy a citizen, straight
way sent a herald to cite Francis before the communal court.
But the herald brought back word that Francis refused the
summons, declaring that as a man dedicated to religion he
was not subject to the civic authorities but only to the bishop.
Thereupon, finding no help in the consuls, who were un
willing to dispute the case with the Church, Pietro went to
the bishop s court and lodged his complaint there.
Now Bishop Guido was not always a man of peace and
was quick to uphold the rights of the Church against any
attempted infringement on the part of the citizens. But in
this instance at least, he acted with irreproachable discretion.
When Francis received the bishop s summons he answered :
" I will come before the lord bishop gladly, for he is the father
and lord of souls ". At the trial, the bishop bade Francis re
store the money he had given to San Damiano, declaring with
a certain aristocratic scorn : /" God does not wish His Church
to be succoured with goods which perhaps are gotten by in
justice ". Then he bade Francis have a stout heart and trust
in the Lord and have no fear, for that God would provide for
him in his necessities in return for the service of His Church.
3
34 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIS1
At this Francis was moved with gratitude, taking the words
as a promise from God Himself to have a care of him. Rising
up in the court he handed over the money and, as he did so,
cried out : " My lord, not only the money which belongs to him,
but also the clothes I wear, which are his, will I give back " :
and there and then he took off his clothes, and laid them
before the bishop. Standing naked except for a hair-shirt that
he wore beneath his other garments, he turned to the people
who stood about the court and called aloud : " Hear all of ye
and understand : until now I have called Pietro Bernardone
my father ; but because I propose to serve the Lord I return
him his money, concerning which he was troubled, and all
the clothes I had of him : for now I wish to say : Our Father
Who art in heaven, and not, father Pietro Bernardone ".
Never before perhaps had such an act of renunciation
been made in that court. The bishop wept and so did all
the people, as much in admiration as in pity, because of the
simple sincerity of the act. Pietro, steeling his heart,
gathered up the money and clothes, and went out. The people
seeing him take away the clothes, looked after him with ex
clamations of anger : but as the chronicler says : " His father
was inflamed with fury and with an exceeding sorrow ".
There was no triumph in Pietro s heart as he left the court :
he went back to his house conscious that the glamour of the
high position he had once thought to hold amongst its neigh
bours, was gone. He might indeed leave to his sons who
remained with him a wealthy business and a standing in
the commune : but he had dreamt of more than this when
he had watched Francis playing the prince amongst the city s
youth : and that dream would never lighten his blood again.
He returned home a hard and bitter man ; yet not without
his sorrow.
Meanwhile the bishop was befriending Francis as a new
born son of the Church. In compassion he had taken the
young man to his arms and wrapt him about with the folds
of his mantle until a farm-labourer s tunic was brought from
one of the bishop s servants. This Francis put on, first
chalking it with the sign of the cross. Then he took his
HOW FKANCIS FOUND THE LADY POVEETY 35
leave, nor did the bishop seek to prevent him, and for that
too Francis was grateful. 1
It was in truth his marriage day : at last he had found
and wedded the Lady Poverty for whom he had been search
ing with constant loyalty since he had heard the Voice at
Spoleto. He wondered, perhaps, as men are apt to wonder,
that he had been so long unknowing, seeing how near she
had been to him all these days, but not yet understanding that
his blindness was due in part to Poverty s own leading of her
lover. For one must needs first learn the individual graces
and values of one s ideal and test one s capacity for worship
in the presence first of this grace and then of that, and
moreover understand something of the sacrifice which wor
ship entails, before one can truly give oneself to the ideal as
a unity or personality.
All his life, had Francis but known it, he had been wor
shipping the Lady Poverty in an incomplete way. In the
days when he followed the troubadour and sang their songs
in joyous abandonment, he had been worshipping, in some
distant way, the mystery of the actual world of men and
things, which afterwards was one of his joys in his converse
with poverty ; his very prodigality at the civic feast was akin
to the open-handedness of the poverty which in later years
he defined as in part " a free giving " ; 2 in his intercourse
with the poor when he made himself their friend rather than
their patron, he had bowed before the spirit of comradeship
and the quick understanding of misery, which he came to re
cognize as a property of his ideal. For all this varied under
standing he had been grateful and worshipful : yet did the
ultimate worship come to him only on the day of his disin
heritance when his soul and body were set free from the ties
of wealth and secular ambition : and in this freedom he knew
that at last his heart had found its deepest desire. That
freedom in which were gathered all his soul s inspirations as
*! Celano, 13-15; II Celano, 12; 3 Soc. 16-20; Leg. Maj. n. 2-4.
The legend of the Anonymus Perusinus says that Frauds disinheritance took
place on 16 April, 1207. Cf. Ada, SS. Octob. n. p. 572.
2 Of. I Celano, 17.
3*
36 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
in their home, was the Lady Poverty ; that and nothing
less. And now you ""kno w perhaps why the poverty which
was Francis ideal love, is styled " the Lady Poverty ". It is
because of the nobility of life which she brought to Francis :
her simple love of God and His creatures, her generosity and
pitifulness, her sense of kinship with all the world which
acknowledges " our Father in heaven " : all which things, the
lust of wealth and the ambition for power and honours are
apt to pass by as of no account. 1
So Francis had become his own man, so far as the world
saw : but in truth he was the lover of his ideal Poverty.
1 Concerning the significance of Franciscan poverty, cf. The Lady
Poverty, a translation by Montgomery Carmichael of the Sacrum Commer-
cium S. Francisci cum Domina Paupertate; cf. also St. Francis and Poverty,
by the present writer.
ABOVE SAX DAMIAXO
CHAPTEE IV.
FRANCIS RECEIVES HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CROSS.
FRANCIS went back to San Darniano, but he could not at
once settle himself there. For awhile he must leave Assisi
and its neighbourhood and be alone with his own soul. He
was yet somewhat dazed by this freedom which had come to
him, and the fullness of life which it brought. He must have
time to realize his happiness and to get accustomed to this
new liberty. Quite what it all meant he did not even yet
know. Only this was he certain of, that he was now
Christ s servitor, acknowledged as such by the Church, and
that Christ had called him to a life of blissful poverty un
known in the world where men bartered away their souls
freedom for material gain and secular ambition. This little
church of San Damiano was waiting to be repaired, and
across the woods the lepers, his new friends, would be ex
pecting him. But these must wait for a time.
He set out over the hills which lay to the north beyond
Monte Subasio. It was the spring-time when the fields and
the woods and all the earth is instinct with new life, and the
air is still pure from the winter s frosts and rains and fragrant
with the scent of the spring vegetation. High up in the
mountains the snow had not yet melted in the hollows and
nooks where the shadows mock the sun, but upon the plain
and face of the hills was a virginal warmth. As he went
along, now with a quickened step, now at more leisurely pace,
there was joy in the heart of Francis. The friendly earth
had no jar upon his happiness : it too was young and free
and vital as he. Instinctively he recognized the comradeship
of the mountain heights and the deep ravines and the
shadowy woods, and of the bare rugged slopes, so strong and
37
38 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
bracing, and yet revealing a tenderness where the wild flowers
nestle in the rocky soil. And as he went he sang, not in his
native tongue but in the musical language of the Prove^al
troubadour.
So he had come to the heights on the left bank of the
river Chiagio where the hills begin to decline towards Gubbio,
a perilous lonely place where the traveller must beware of
the robbers who infested the neighbourhood, claiming toll
from those who journeyed between the marches of Ancona
and the cities of Umbria. Suddenly he was stopped by a
party of these marauders, who demanded who he might be.
" What is that to you ? " replied Francis. " But know I am
a herald of the Great King." He uttered in simple sincerity
the thought which was in his mind. With ferocious humour
the robbers stripped him of his labourer s tunic and tossed
him into a ditch in which the snow still lay. "Lie there,
thou fool herald ! " they jibed, and so left him. 1
Francis picked himself up gaily : it was an adventure in
this new quest. But he was almost naked and must needs
find some garment to clothe him. Not far away was a
monastery : thither he went and offered himself as a servant,
hoping thus to obtain both food and clothing. The monks
put him to assist in the kitchen, giving him food but refusing
him any garment. In sheer necessity therefore, but witb no
ill-will, Francis left them after a few days. 2 His thoughts
turned now towards a friend of former time who lived in the
city of Gubbio, and thither he made his way. His friend re
ceived him kindly. After all it was not a rare occurrence for
men to embrace a religious penitential life, and a friend at a
distance might well take a more detached view of a man s
1 1 Celano, 16 ; Leg. Maj. n. 5. Tradition places the scene of this inci
dent at Caprignone. Of. Lucarelli, Memorie e Guida Storica di Gubbio, p.
583 seq. ; P. Nicola Gavanna, Jj Umbria Francescana, p. 194 seq.
2 It is impossible to identify this monastery, as there were several monas
teries in the neighbourhood; San Verecondo at Vallingegno, S. Pietro in
Vigneti ; whilst local tradition claims the incident for Santa Maria della
Kocca near Valfabbrica. It is well to know that the prior of the monastery
later on, when Francis had become famous, apologized for the lack of charity
(I Celano, 16).
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CEOSS 39
doings than could be demanded from his daily companions
and neighbours. Anyway, Francis was given a dress similar
to that worn by hermits and pilgrims 4-~a tunic with .aieathern
girdle, and shoes and a staffJ^He then made his way back ,
again to Assisi.
At San Damiano the priest made him welcome, and with
a simple courtesy bade him share what shelter and food was
his. 2 Francis now set himself to fulfil the service which the
Voice had given him to do. He did not yet realize the larger
significance of the bidding to "go and repair My Church ".
That is to come to him later on and then he will know that py^
it is the Church of living souls which he is to help restore to
its strength and beauty. At present he takes the words to
refer merely to the crumbling sanctuary in which he heard
the Voice. As he looked back across the intervening weeks
to the day when the command had come to him, a whole age
seemed to have passed as in a moment of eternity, for there
are happenings in the soul s experience which are as the
moments of eternity, when the clear light leaps suddenly
from out the dim glimmerings of long years. It seemed
strange to him now that he should have thought to buy the
materials for the repairing of the Church with his father s
money. That money, and all the life with which it was as
sociated, was now to him so unreal. Only his blindness could
have made him think to fulfil his service with such a begin
ning. His work and all his life must needs be his homage
to that noble Poverty which had come to him. With a light
heart he appeared for the first time in his native city as a
beggar. He wanted oil to replenish the lamp which he had
lit before the crucifix that day of the Voice. But as he drew
near to the house where he had thought to beg the oil, he
saw a party of his former friends making merry in the door
way ; and at the sight of them his courage failed him, and all
the dignity of his new manhood with which he had started
1 1 Celano, 16 ; Leg. Maj. n. G. According to tradition the friend was a
Frederigo Spadalunga, upon the site of whose house it is said the great church
of San Francesco was afterwards built. Of. G. Mazzatinti in Miscell. Franc.
Vol. V, p. 7G seq.
2 Of. 3Soc. 21.
40 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
on his quest, seemed to shrink within him. He drew back
and went another way. But the weakness did not last long.
Ashamed of his cowardice he retraced his steps, and walking
into the midst of the party he told them to look upon a
coward who had run away in shame. Then boldly he
begged of them some oil, falling as he did so into the lan
guage of Provence : and with the hardly earned oil he re
turned to San Damiano, feeling at once the humiliation and
joy of the day.* After this he was to be seen frequently in
the city, begging stones and mortar and whatever he needed
for the rebuilding of the church. As he went through the
streets he chanted a rhythm in the Provenc/al tongue : " Who
will give stones for the renewing of San Damiano ? whoso
gives one stone shall have one reward ; whoso gives two stones
shall have two rewards ; whoso gives three stones shall have
three rewards ". Some who heard him jeered at him as a
man gone mad, but others more kindly gave him what he
asked for ; and Francis with his load would toil back to his
sanctuary. 2
With the aid of the friendly peasants he set to work upon
the church, borne up in the heavy labour to which he was
unused, by the great happiness in his soul. At times people
from the city or travellers would stop to pass the greetings
of the day and gossip with the builders. Francis, sociable
and generous, would sometimes bid them come and take a
hand at the work. " Come and help us in our work," he
would say, " for this church of San Damiano will one day
be a convent of ladies whose life and fame will glorify our
heavenly Father in all the world." 3 From this saying, it is
evident that Francis in his hours of solitary meditation and
in his labour, was already receiving premonitions of the larger
work before him : but the future was in God s Hands, and
Francis was happy in the work of the present.
Day by day he worked away at the walls ; but meanwhile
1 3 Soc. 24 ; II Celano, 13.
2 3 Soc. 21 ; II Celano, 13 ; Leg. Maj. n. 7.
3 3 Soc. 24; Testamentum S. Clara in Seraph. Legisl. Textus Originates,
p. 274.
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CEOSS 41
he did not forget his friends the lepers. Part of his time he
gave to their service, either at the leper settlement at Santa
Maddalena, or at the hospital of San Salvatore where the
Crucigeri, or Cross-bearing brothers, took them in and nursed
them. And ever his reverence and love for the lepers seemed
to grow in him. One day he met a leper on the road who
was coming back from a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles
in Eome, whither he had gone to beseech for a cure of his
disease. His face was eaten away and he was pitiful to look
upon. Won by Francis brotherly sympathy, the poor sufferer
threw himself upon the ground to kiss the imprint of his feet,
delicately avoiding touching the person of his friend. But
Francis, much moved by this act of courtesy, bent and took
the man in his arms and kissed him on the mouth. At the
kiss, says Saint Bonaventure, the leprosy disappeared. 1
But often at the close of day Francis was spent with his
labours and over-tired. So delicately nurtured as he had
been, not even his new-born happiness and love could
altogether uphold his physical strength. And the priest,
seeing him thus utterly worn, would grow anxious and fear
ful. In his solicitude he began to prepare more appetizing
foods to tempt the young neophyte to eat after his day s
work. At first Francis accepted this kindness with a simple
gratitude ; till one day he began to feel a danger to his voca
tion in the priest s thoughtful care of him, and he took fright,
being mindful of his natural inclination for things delicate
and tasteful. Having left the luxuries of the world he might
yet enslave himself to the simple comforts of this priest s
house and lose his soul s freedom and become a traitor to the
poverty he had come to love. "Not everywhere Francis,"
he argued with himself, " will you find men to minister to
your wants as does this good priest : this is not the life of one
who professes poverty ; nor does it behove thee to get accus
tomed to such things, else wilt thou after awhile return to the
things thou hast cast behind and once more run after de
licacies. Kise up thou lazy one and go begging from door
to door the leavings of the table." So as one in danger of
1 Leg. Maj. n. 6 ; cf . I Celano, 17.
42 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
turning recreant, he went next day into the city, carrying a
dish ; and the citizens humouring his will, gave him the
scraps from their tables, so that his dish was filled. But
when Francis came to eat of it, his ingrained daintiness
kicked, nor at first could he constrain himself to eat. Then
he did battle with himself ; he recalled to mind the poverty
of Christ and the hardships of the poor and his own sworn
allegiance ; and in the end his loyalty conquered. He made
his meal of the mess of broken victuals, even with something
of an appetite, for he began to feel in the eating a strange
spiritual joy. This meal became to him a sort of sacramental
communion, bringing him into closer kinship with the multi
tude who depend for their daily bread upon the goodwill of
men and with those whose generosity was feeding him, and
with the Lord Christ who is at once the Lord of rich and
poor. And over all this great human family into which he
felt himself caught up, lay the bright mystery of the Divine
Providence to whose care he had committed himself on the
day of his disinheritance. In the goodwill of men upon
whom he had no claim beyond the claim of his human ne
cessity, he saw at once the symbol, and in some sense the
fulfilment, of the solicitude of Him Who sends down His rain
upon the just and the unjust with no grudging hand : and
this seemed to him now a duty, that as he had cast his care
upon that Divine bounty he must also trust himself to the
goodwill and bounty of man and all creation. It were no
new thing to him to play the part of the generous giver :
that he had done all his life and would continue to do with
all the means he had : and this too he considered a mark of
noble manhood and a duty of honour for all the children of
God. 1 But in his dependence upon the goodwill of men he
found a more intimate sense of God s Fatherhood and of the
encircling bond of kinship which makes all the world a family :
and for this reason he henceforth regarded the beggar, in his
utter dependence, with an immense reverence as one who
held in his condition the secret of that active love which gives
a man the full freedom of the family of God and makes the
1 Cf. I Celano, 17.
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CKOSS 43
wide earth one domestic hearth. In the same way he came
to reverence all weak and helpless things. It would not be
easy to construct an economic system upon this worship of
the beggar which now became a part of Francis life : for
you would need to work into the system the religious faith
and high qualities of heart and the soaring idealism, which
gave to this worship its equipoise and perfect sanity. More
over it must be remembered that Francis willingness to
receive from others was indissolubly wedded to a readiness to
give a combination of qualities not always linked together.
But as Francis would have told you, he who would accept in
the spirit of brotherhood the gift of another, must place no
fence around his own property. He must himself be a ser
vant to others, before he can rightly accept another s service.
Good service must go with the questing for alms ; else do the
alms become a defrauding of the giver, a species of rapine
and a blasphemy against the Providence which inspires a
generous soul. Francis never spared the idler who lived at
ease on others gifts. Hence in after years when disciples
came to him, he was insistent on the moral obligation of
labour and the service of one s neighbour : just as in these
first days of his alms-seeking, he comes to the city from his
toiling upon the walls of San Damiano and the nursing of
the lepers. Only whilst he gives his own service he will
bargain for no wage but be wholly dependent upon his neigh
bour s good-will and God s over-ruling providence. 1 True,
he might upon this same ground have accepted the kindly
meals offered him by the priest : but Francis was hungering
for the uttermost of poverty and careful for the freedom of
his soul : and he feared lest the simple comfort and regular
provision of the priest s house should make him slack in his
spiritual quest and hold him back from his new-found liberty.
So with heroic resolve he took upon him the estate of the
beggar in the street. And would he have been the Francis
that we love, had he done less ?
From that day Francis, begging his bread from door to
1 Of. Saint Francis and Poverty by the present author : and also St.
Francis of Assist, Social Reformer, by Fr. Leo Dubois.
44 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
door, became a familiar figure in the streets of Assisi. His
daily round was not without its humiliation and suffering.
What he felt most keenly was the bitterness of his father.
Pietro Bernardone never met his son in the street but he
cursed him. This business of going abegging for his bread
was the last indignity Francis had heaped upon the proud
spirit of his house. Very bitter after all was Pietro s lot :
all his canons of respectability were being openly set at nought,
and all the sacred prejudices of his class being violated by this
son of his, whom he might disinherit and disown, but whom
the people, and still more he himself, would always remember
as his son. He could cheat neither his memory nor his heart
by the blatant act of disinheritance : but as the sapient old
chronicle remarks, " because he had loved his son much he
was now ashamed of him and did much grieve over him "- 1
One day Francis, quivering under Pietro s curse, sought
out a simple beggar man. " Come and accompany me on my
quests," he said, " and I will give thee a share in the alms I
receive. And when thou shalt see my father curse me, I on
my part will say to thee : bless me, my father ; and thou
shalt make the sign of the cross over me in my father s stead ! "
At the next meeting of father and son, when Pietro uttered
his usual curse, the beggar made the sign of blessing as had
been agreed. Then Francis turned to his father: " Believe
you not," he said, " that God can give me a father to bless
me against your curses ? " Others of his family affected to
take him less seriously. One cold winter s morning one of
his brothers, in company with a friend, came upon Francis
very barely clad; and the brother said to his friend: "Go
and ask Francis to sell us a drop of his sweat ". Francis
overheard the remark, and laughed aloud. " Nay," he replied
in French, " I sell it more dearly to my Lord." 2
So the days went by. Francis was gradually learning the
lesson of his calling. In the hard realities of those days of
physical discomfort and fatigue and personal humiliation, he
was shedding the last illusions of his upbringing, and gaining
the experience with which the poor and helpless are so in-
1 3 Soc. 23. a 3 Soc. 23 ; II Celano, 12.
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CKOSS 45
timately familiar. His comfort came to him in his long hours
of communion with his Divine Master, when his new experi
ences became transfused with a spiritual glory, and be began
to see the trace of the Eedeemer of the world in the world s
sorrow and hardship and contradictions : and this made his
new life very sweet to him ; for everywhere he began to find
the presence of his Lord, and the earth in its commingling of
sorrow and beauty, of goodness and sin, became to him a
veritable crucifix. This transfigurement of the very earth
was indeed the joy and wonderment of these days of purga
tion, and, as he afterwards confessed, the singular dower of
his Lady Poverty. 1
The rebuilding of San Damiano being at length completed,
Francis set to work upon another crumbling chapel dedicated
to St. Peter which stood some little distance from Assisi, but
the exact site of which is now not known. 2 Then when his
work here was finished, he turned to another wayside chapel
which too was in need of repairs, and to which his heart
went out with a peculiar yearning, for it was dedicated to the
Virgin Mother of God and about it were told strange stories
of angelic visitants. It was known as the chapel of Santa
Maria della Porziuncola Saint Mary of the Little Portion.
How it came by its name nobody can tell with any certitude, 3
though in after years a story was told which may have had
its origin in a local tradition. In the days of St. Cyril the
bishop of Jerusalem, the story goes, four pilgrims left Pales
tine to visit the shrines of the Apostles at Eome and after
wards by the advice of the Pope they came seeking a hermit
age in Umbria where they might peacefully serve God ; and
1 Of. Fioretti, cap. 12.
2 ICelano, 21; Leg. Maj. n. 7. Celano says the Church was near the
city ; but St. Bonaventure says it was further off than San Damiano.
3 The origin of the title " de Portiuncida " is disputed. Some say it was
given to the chapel because of the straitness of the ground given to the Bene
dictines when they built the chapel ; others, that the title was taken from
another chapel built in the neighbourhood of Subiaco. Cf. P. Edouard
d Alencon, Des Origines de VEglise de la Partiuncula. The first known
mention of the name of the Porziuncola is in a legal document of 1045, dis
covered by Froudini in the archives of the Cathedral of Assisi. Cf. P.
Edouard d Alencon L Abbaye de Saint-Benoit ait Mont Soubase, p. 18, n. 1
46 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
they came to this wood near Assisi and built themselves a
chapel and four huts. In memory of the land they came
from, they dedicated the chapel under the title of Saint Mary
of Jehosaphat. They were holy men, and the spot they chose
was holy ; for often in the chapel were heard the voices of
angels praising God. But after a time they bethought them
of their native land, and first burying a relic of our Lady s
sepulchre beneath the altar of the chapel, they returned
to Palestine. But the angels loved the chapel and continued
to visit it and sing the praises of God there ; and from time
to time a hermit would come and dwell by the chapel ; but
more often it was deserted. Then came Saint Benedict, the
father of monks, passing upon a time through Umbria, and
chancing upon the chapel he discovered its holiness and had
it restored. And he went and begged a small plot of ground
adjoining the chapel and built a cell there : and because of the
gift of land, he renamed the chapel, Saint Mary of the Little
Portion. And he sent monks thither from the great monas
tery of Monte Cassino. But the monks after many years
built a monastery on Monte Subasio and forsook the chapel
in the plain. 1 Be the truth of this story what it may, the
chapel was undoubtedly very ancient. It stood in the plain,
two miles from the city, and the intervening ground was
covered with a dense wood. One might easily lose one s way
in the shadowy paths which struck off from the Via Francesca,
the highway that skirted the city walls. Quite possibly this
1 Of. P. Edouard d Alencon, Des Origines de I Eglise de la Portiuncula.
The legend is first found in Paradisus Seraphicus written by P. Salvator Vitalis
and published at Milan in 1645, a work of no critical value. There is more
over no historical record of any visit of St. Benedict to Assisi ; nor of the
hermits who are supposed to have dwelt there. The chapel nevertheless was
very ancient even in St. Francis time. Celano says it was " built in ancient
days " " antiquitus constructa " (I Celano, 21), and St. Bonaventure writes
that it was often visited by angels and that " from olden time it was called
Saint Mary of the Angels " (Leg. Maj. n. 8 ; cf. n Celano, 19). Also, it
belonged to the monks of Monte Subasio. Around these facts the legend may
have been woven by the peasantry before it found its way into Vitalis
book. It is not unlikely that hermits had at times dwelt there before St.
Francis day, owing to the natural seclusion. The wood has long since given
place to olive gardens and vineyards, but there is yet an indication of it out
side the Porta di Mojano as you go towards the Church of San Damiano.
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CEOSS 47
chapel, so remote in its solitude yet so conveniently near the
city, had been one of Francis retreats since first he began
to withdraw from the world : but now as he worked at its
walls the attraction grew upon him. It became like home to
to him, did this leafy solitude with its little chapel : in some
way it was a fitting symbol of the Lady Poverty. Not far
aawy, less than half-an-hour s walk, were the leper settlements,
and not much further off was the city : this human neigh
bourhood was needful for the discharge of those neighbourly
services he owed his fellow-man and for his beggar s quest :
but here in the wood within hail of his fellow-men, he found
what his soul delighted in the companionship of Nature un
spoilt by the artifice of man. He loved the music in the trees
when the wind rustled in the leaves, and the piping of the
birds, and the movement of some animal in the undergrowth :
all beasts of earth or air were dear to him. He loved too
the lights and shadows and the wonderful growth of grass and
tree. All these things seemed to him to lie close to the heart of
created life and to the hand of the Creator, and they warmed
his own heart and filled him with a great reverence. Some
how too they seemed to him the dower of the Lady Poverty,
even as did the beggar and the sufferer, because they lacked
the artificiality of the world of prosperous men and therefore
bespoke more truly and simply the providence of God. And
then this chapel in the wood was as a witness to the nearness
of heaven to the simple things of the earth. It was no strange
thing to him that angels voices should mingle with the voices
of the wood in the Creator s praise, and it was to him a sign
of the nobility of his ideal Poverty that the Mother of God
should have inspired men to dedicate this spot under her
name, as though she would clothe the Lady Poverty in a
mantle of her own glory. 1
Thus in those quiet hours of labour and prayer Francis
was learning the deeper values of the life he had taken.
1 See the Salutatio Virtutum (Opuscula S. P. Franc., ed. Quarracchi,
pp. 20-31), in praise of poverty and the sister virtues which St. Francis always
especially associated with the virtue of poverty. This salutation is in several
MSS. inscribed as a praise of the Blessed Virgin (cf. F. Paschal Robinson, Tlw
Writings of St. Francis, p. 20, n. 6 ; Boehmer, Analekten, pp. vi and xxviii).
48 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
The chapel of the Porziuncola was restored by the opening
of the year 1209, and mass was now occasionally said there.
Again Francis was awaiting the command of the Lord. The
inward assurance which had bidden him set his hand to the
repairing of the three deserted churches and find his vocation
in that employment, had now gone, and his soul was again
listening for the voice of the Lord which was his guidance.
He knew the voice would come to him in God s own time
and he knew the time was near. It was the moment between
the dawn and the day, that moment never afterwards for
gotten by the soul, so full is it of the breaking mystery of life.
The revelation came, as it always comes, even to the expectant
spirit, unexpectedly : and it came to him at the Porziuncola.
One day towards the end of winter it was the feast of
St. Mathias the Apostle, 24 February a priest was saying
mass in the chapel and Francis was assisting, and the Gospel
which the priest read was this : " Going forth, preach, saying :
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. . . . Possess not gold nor
silver nor money in your purses nor scrip for your journey, nor
two coats nor shoes nor a staff; for the workman 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
hence. And when you come into a house, salute it, saying :
Peace be to this house. . . . Behold I send you as sheep in
the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents but
simple as doves. . . . But when they shall deliver you up, take
no thought how or what to speak : for it shall be given you
in that hour what to speak." l
Francis, as was his wont, listened intently as the Gospel
1 Matt. x. 7-19. This is the Gospel for the feast of St. Mathias in the
ancient missals ; whence the Bollandists conclude that it was on this feast
that Francis received his final call (of. Acta SS., 4 October, Tom. II, p.
574; Boehmer, Analekten, p. 124; P. Sabatier, V-ie de S. Francois, p. 78).
Spader in Lumi Seraphici places the event on the feast of St. Luke, 12 Octo
ber, 1208 ; and he is followed by Pere Gratien in Etudes Franciscaines, Tome
XVIII, No. 106, Octobre, 1907, p. 388.
Celano says the restoration of the Porziuncola took place in the third
year of Francis conversion (of. I Celano, 21). So also say Bernard of Besse
(Lib. de Laudibus, in Anal Franc, in. p. 687), and Giordano da Giano (Chron.
Jordani in Anal. Franc, i. p. 2).
HIS KNIGHTHOOD OF THE CKOSS 49
was read, for this book had become verily to him the book of
life. But to-day the words were like the sudden breaking of
bonds : this was the Truth for which his soul had waited.
And yet he was timorous lest perhaps he had not understood
aright. So after mass he begged the priest to read the Gospel
again to him and explain its meaning. This the priest did.
Then Francis exclaimed, no longer hesitating : " This is what
I have been seeking ; this is what my heart yearns for " ; and
in a sweet certainty he at once set about fulfilling his Lord s
command. In that quickly responsive way he always had, he
immediately put off his shoes and laid aside his staff, and
divested himself of his second garment ; and because he was
eager to draw even more nigh to his crucified Master, he
made himself a habit shaped like a cross and instead of a ^
leathern belt he girded himself with a rope. 1 To him it was OQ
his solemn investiture as a knight of Christ.
At^that moment all his early dream of knightly_adventure Ch*
seemed well on the way to be satisfied, he being true and
God s grace assisting. For certainly, he deemed, there could
be no nobler knighthood than this, with Christ for his liege-
lord and his ideal Poverty for the lady of his worship. Out
in the wide world he would go seeking souls in need of suc
cour ; and the powers of evil who raised enmities between God
and man, and man and man, were the recreants against
whom he must war ; and everywhere he would proclaim the
reign of Christ and His peace. And in his love of Poverty
he would find his strength and comfort to serve the Lord
Christ well.
So Francis takes up his life-burden. The golden sunlight
of his youth s dream lies upon his path ; his heart is lifted
up with a great love. The coming years will surely bring
their meed of adventure and disillusion, of sorrow and joy ;
but as he sets out upon his way sturdily and with a glad
emotion, he thinks little of the mystery of the future : enough
for him is the obedience of the day.
1 1 Celano, 22 ; 3 Soc. 25 ; Leg, Maj. in. 1.
CHAPTEK V.
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FRATERNITY.
TAKING the path through the wood one day shortly after that
notable reading of the Gospel, Francis came into the city.
His whole being was alight with the divine inspiration which
was urging him on. Meeting some citizens intent upon their
daily rounds he stopped, and with great earnestness saluted
them: "Brothers, the Lord give you His peace". Hardly
at first did they recognize him in his strange garment, with
the rope round his waist and his feet bare ; but there was a
look in his face as of one gazing beyond the earth into the
heavens, 1 which stopped their ready jest and compelled their
reverence. They had now grown tolerant of his ways ; his
evident sincerity and tenacity of purpose had begun to gain
their respect. They might at times pass the laugh at him or
meet him with a careless quip ; but few were able to resist
his personal charm and the gentle good humour of his retorts.
And then there was his industry in repairing the chapels and
his devotion to the lepers. Those mediaeval folk were easily
swayed either to derision or respect by what they saw of a
man s work and by his bearing amongst them ; and they loved
gallantry and fearlessness of any sort. But to-day there was
something in Francis which quelled all inclination to jocularity
as he poured forth a fervent plea for peace amongst men and
love of the good God. 2 So often they had heard the same
message delivered by some wandering devotee or by the Pope s
legate when he had upbraided them for their feuds or by some
preacher in the Duomo. And always this appeal for peace
l "Totus alter videbatur quam fuerat ; et ccelum intuens dedignabatur
respicere terram" (I Celano, 23).
2 3 Soc. 25 ; Leg. Maj. in. 2.
50
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FEATEENITY 51
amongst Christian men had seemed so right and yet so im
possible. How could any man maintain his standing amongst
his fellows if he were a man of peace and kept apart from the
quarrels of his family or class ? A man might as well turn
monk at once. And yet as Francis pleaded with them they
felt the sanctity of his words and a sense of guiltiness such as
they had seldom felt before. They were not altogether con
vinced ; but as the new evangelist left them and passed on,
they stood silent and amazed, and going their ways, they, for
a while at least, remembered his plea. After this first day of
his mission he went frequently into the city on the same
errand. He preached no set discourse; he merely stopped
the citizens as he met them, with his greeting of peace and
his soulful plea : and soon men began to expect him and wait
upon his words. It was a new excitement, this appearance
of the son of Pietro Bernardone in the role of evangelist ;
and if the truth must be told, the Assisians were probably
not a little gratified. Most cities counted a lay-preacher
amongst their excitements and was he sure of a hearing;
though after a time, when factions formed around him, he
might preach at the risk of his life. But Francis was different
from most of the lay-evangelists. He neither denounced the
magistrates nor the clergy ; he did not pour out vials of wrath
on the sinner s head, nor did he show any contempt for the
weaknesses of men. He spoke as one looking intently upon
a vision of beauty, and asserting its claim upon men s lives,
and sorrowing for the blindness which made a man unseeing ;
or as one who wishes to share with another the treasure he
himself has found. And he was so manifestly happy in
himself and in his message : and in this too he was unlike
most other reformers. But with his change of garment he
seemed to have put on that indefinable quality which marks
a man for moral leadership, which belongs to men who not
only possess a faith but are possessed by it and who besides
have a certain imperative need to share their faith with
others. They do not necessarily make a conscious effort
to attract disciples : the quality of the faith which is in them
does this often without any specific act of will on their part :
4*
52 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
they find themselves leaders rather than make themselves
leaders.
When the spring had run but half its course Francis was
no longer a solitary : his retreat at the Porziuncola had already
welcomed his first disciples, or as he would have said, his
first brothers in the knightly order of Poverty. . They wfira
Bernard da Quintavalle, Peter Cathanii and Giles 1 three
valiant men, as their history afterwards proved.
Bernard da Quintavalle was the first to seek out Francis and
abide with him. 2 Like Francis, he was one of the merchant
class, 3 and wealthy : but in character he was of a very different
mould. His nature was serious and thoughtful and not
easily won over to enthusiasms, but given to weighing the
values of things. He was quick to discern the true from the
Delano, 3 Soc. and Leg. Maj. mention Bernard by name but he is
first styled Bernard da Quintavalle by Bernard of Besse in Liber de laudibus, ed.
Hilarinus a Lucerna, p. 5. Cf. Chron. XXIV, Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 667,
Actus S. Franc. 1. 10-44. Peter is named in the 3 Soc. and is undoubtedly
referred to in I Celano, 25 : Statim autem vir alter . . . qui valde in convcrsa-
tione laudabilis exstitit et quod sancte coepit sanctius post modicum consum-
mavit. It is disputed whether this Peter is the Peter Cathanii who became
Vicar General and died in 1221. But from Celano s description and his
reference to Peter s death it seems probable. Peter Cathanii, according
to the Chron. Jordani (Anal. Franc, i. p. 4) was a doctor of law and highly
respected by St. Francis. Barthol. of Pisa says he was a Canon of the Cathe
dral (De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 472). The words : " Valde in con-
versatione laudabilis " imply something more than uprightness of manners on
the lips of Celano, who always shows much reverence for learning. If it is
urged that Peter s death, supposing him to be the Peter who died in 1221, can
hardly be said to have happened "post modicum" one must remember
Celano s use of such terms : e.g. he speaks of the incident of the Stigmata
as happening "shortly after" (paulo post) Francis heard the Voice from the
crucifix at San Damiano (cf. II Celano, i, 11).
2 So say the 3 Soc. 27, and the Leg. Maj. m. 3. But in I Celano, 24,
mention is made of another, a nameless one, who, says Celano, was the
first to join himself to Francis before the three mentioned in the text. Who
was this nameless one ? And why do none of the other legends refer to him ?
He left behind him a good name, for Celano describes him approvingly : pium
ac simplicem spiritum gerens. Is Celano referring to the poor man whom
Francis took to bless him against his father s curses ? or was he one who
tarried awhile and then went away ? It is impossible to decide.
3 Celano evidently implies this by his use of the phrase " ad mercandum
regnwn coelorum " (I Celano, 24). Such conceits of language were dear to
the chronicler.
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FEATEENITY 53
plausible, but would withhold his judgment till he had proved
his instinct : a cautious man but loyal ; generous but diffi
dent. For some time past Bernard had been observant of
Francis : he had narrowly watched his bearing and resolu
tion; had admired the sincerity and courage of his life of
poverty and his industry in repairing deserted chapels, until
in spite of his caution he began to feel drawn to follow him.
Being a religious man he wanted to save his soul, and already
he felt the vanity of the world. Not wishing to commit him
self in the eyes of the citizens, he visited Francis secretly
and then offered him the hospitality of his house : and
Francis, delighting in his company, went frequently to pass
the night with him. 1 Partly out of reverence for his guest
and partly the better to observe his ways, Bernard had a bed
prepared for Francis in his own chamber. When the time
came they would both retire to rest, but Bernard only feigned
to sleep, being awake with his thoughts. And so he learned
something of the secret of Francis life. For after a short
sleep, Francis would quietly rise and give himself to prayer,
often in his fervour unburdening his soul in murmured praises
of God and the Blessed Virgin. And Bernard, listening,
would say to himself: " Truly this man comes from God ".
At length one evening Bernard said to Francis: "What
should a man do for the best if having for many years held
property of his lord, he now had no wish to retain it any
longer? " Francis replied that he ought to return it to the
lord. Then," said Bernard, "I wish for the love of God
and my Lord Jesus Christ, to dispose of all my temporal
goods which the Lord has conveyed to me, as it may
seem best to thee." And Francis answered: " In the early
morning we will go to the church and from the book of
the Gospels we will get to know what the Lord taught His
disciples to do ".
Meanwhile Peter Cathanii, who had studied in the schools
of Bologna and was a doctor of laws, had also felt the stirring
of the spirit, and like Bernard had taken counsel of Francis,
1 The house of Bernard da Quintavalle is still shown in the Via Sbaraglini
near the Bishop s palace.
54 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
and in some way placed himself under his guidance, as a
scholar under his master. And Francis was glad that a man
of the schools should thus be drawn to the simple ways of
evangelical poverty, and he had a great reverence for one who
was at once learned and God-fearing : he himself being but
little versed in letters.
So when, at daybreak, Francis and Bernard set out, they
called for Peter, and together the three came to the church
of St. Nicholas in the great square. 1 The book of the Gospels
lay near the altar that all might read who cared. But neither
Francis nor Bernard were scholars, and Peter, though he
might be learned in law, had no aptness in the knowledge of
Scripture : and they were all puzzled to know where in the
book they might find the teaching suited to their need. So
Francis knelt before the altar and prayed God to show them
His Will in the opening of the book. Then he took the book
and opened it and his eyes fell upon this passage from the
Gospel of St. Matthew: " If thou wouldst be perfect, go,
sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven ; and come follow Me ". A second
time he opened the book and read this from St. Luke :
" Take nothing for your journey, neither staff nor scrip nor
bread nor money, neither have two coats". Then opening
the book a third time, he came again upon St. Matthew s
gospel at these words : "If any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me ". 2
At this, Francis turned gleefully to his companions :
" Brothers," he exclaimed, " this is our life and rule for our
selves and for all who will join our company. Go, there
fore, and fulfil the word you have heard." So the two
neophytes went off, Bernard to sell all his substance, which
was great, and Peter to dispose of his more modest property. 3
1 It is now the caserna for the constabulary : but the altar-table, long
since removed, is preserved in the Cathedral, being inserted into an altar in a
side chapel to the right of the choir.
2 Matt. xix. 21; Luke ix. 3; Matt. xvi. 24.
3 3 Soc. 27-29; I Celano, 24-25; II Celano, 15; Leg. Maj. m. 3.
Neither Celano nor St. Bonaventure associate Peter with Bernard in this in
cident. I Celano says Peter came immediately after Bernard : Statim autem,
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FKATEENITY 55
A few days later, it was the 16th day of April, there was
a gathering of all the poor of Assisi in the Piazza San
Giorgio : l and Bernard, who had sold his goods, was giving
the money into their hands. Francis was assisting at the
distribution and singing aloud his praises of God. Not a
few of the citizens were there too, looking on at this strange
deed and amazed at such recklessness. In the crowd that
gathered was a priest, by name Sylvester, who at one time
had given Francis stones for the rebuilding of the churches.
He came forward now, seeing so much money going
a-begging, and addressing Francis, exclaimed : " Brother, you
did not pay me well for those stones ; give me now a share
of this money ". " Thou shalt have thy due, sir priest,"
Francis replied smiling ; and taking two handfuls of coins
from Bernard s cloak, he gave them to the priest, and then
another two handfuls. "Art satisfied?" he asked: and Syl
vester muttering that he was now well paid, went home. 2
That day and for days afterwards there was much discus
sion whenever men met in the city streets or in their homes
about this wholesale casting away of one s property by so
notable a citizen as the wealthy Bernard da Quintavalle. 3
But Francis with Bernard and Peter had gone out to the
retreat of the Porziuncola : 4 and Francis was happy because
the Lord had given him true friends and companions.
etc. The account given in 3 Soc. is, however, probably authentic; and it
is to be noticed that whereas I Celano mentions only one opening of the book,
II Celano mentions the three openings as in 3 Soc. Probably Bernard
was the first to approach Francis with a view to joining him ; even 3 Soc.
gives Bernard the first place amongst the three companions.
1 Vita B. Fratris JEgidii [ed. Lemmens], 1, in Documenta Antigua, i.
(Quaracchi), p. 38. It is now the Piazza Santa Chiara, since the church of
Santa Chiara was built over and beside the church of San Giorgio.
2 3 Soc. 30; II Celano, 109 ; Actus S. Franc, i. 38-40.
3 Cf. Vita B. Fr. ^gidii, loc. cit. ; Cum audiret a quibusdam consanguineis
ct ab aliis, etc.
4 3 Soc. 32, says distinctly that Francis and his two companions went
to the Porziuncola, where Celano tells us Francis had begun to dwell con
stantly (of. I Celano, 21). Francis was also dwelling at the Porziuncola
about the time that Morico of the Crutched Friars joined him. The phrase
of St. Bonaventure in Leg. Maj. iv. 8; "cwm oleo accepto de lampade quca
coram Virginia ardebat altari" I imagine refers to the altar in the chapel of
the Porziuncola.
56 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
Eight days later came Giles. He too was a native of
Assisi but a man neither of birth nor wealth, being the son
of a small farmer or husbandman. But what he lacked in
worldly estate was made good to him in the refinement and
nobility of his mind. He was much given to dwelling in his
own thoughts, and was for ever peering into the soul-world :
and he had a shrewd judgment and ready wit. In after years,
when his fame had gone abroad, learned men flocked to him
to gather some pithy word of wisdom, and the men of the
schools grew careful how they challenged his satire and
piercing common sense. Even the great Bonaventure re
vered him as a master in the science of the soul. 1
His coming to Francis was typical of the sagacious sim
plicity of his character. When Bernard was distributing his
wealth on the Piazza San Giorgio, Giles was very likely at
his work in the fields, and it was only from his kinsfolk and
acquaintances that he heard the gossip of the day. But the
story kindled his imagination and desire, and he there and
then determined to seek out Francis and ask to be taken into
his company. On the feast of St. George he went to an early
mass at the Martyrs church, thinking perhaps that Francis
would be there ; and not finding him at the church he set
out to seek him at the Porziuncola, where he was told Francis
now dwelt. The chapel in the wood was unknown to him,
and he knew not its location ; but he went out by the Via
Francesca until he came to the cross-roads near the leper
hospital of San Salvatore ; 2 but here he knew not which path
1 Concerning Bro. Giles of. Fr. Paschal Eobinson, The Golden Sayings
of Brother Giles; P. Gisbert Menge, Der Selige ^gidius von Assisi. His
legend has been published by Lemmens in Doc. Antiqua Franciscana, Pars
I ; and in Analecta Franc, torn. in. p. 74 seq. Cf. De Conformit in Anal.
Franc, iv. pp. 205-13. An Italian version of the legend is found in most
editions of the Fioretti. The Dicta B. JEgidii are published by the Bolland-
ists : Acta SS. 23 Aprilis, p. 227 seq. ; and in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 214 scq.
2 Where the Casa Gualdo now stands. M. Sabatier (Vie di S. Francois,
p. 66) implies that Giles did not know where Francis dwelt, and from this
draws the conclusion that Francis at this time had no fixed abode. But the
Vita B. Fr. uSHgidii, loc. cit., says expressly that Giles " directed his steps to
the Church of St. Mary of the Porziuncola . . . whichplace Brother Giles did
not know ". Giles evidently had no doubt as to where St. Francis was to be
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FEATEKNITY 57
to take. So he stopped and began to pray that God would
show him the road. And whilst he was praying Francis
came out of the wood near by. Then Giles, thanking God,
ran forward and fell upon his knees, saying simply : " Brother
Francis, I want to be with you for the love of God ".
Quick to read souls, Francis recognized at once a true
companion, and his heart went out to him in brotherly ten
derness. "Knowest thou," asked Francis, " how great a
favour the Lord has given thee ? If, my brother, the em
peror came to Assisi and wished to choose one of the citizens
to be his knight or chamberlain, many are they who would
come forward to claim the honour. How much more highly
then shouldst thou esteem it to be chosen by the Lord from
out of so many, and to be called to His court." And bend
ing over him, Francis lifted up the kneeling man and took him
at once to the Porziuncola and introduced him to Brother
Bernard. " See what a good brother the Lord has sent us,"
exclaimed Francis : and then they had their first meal to
gether, eating and conversing merrily. 1 When they had
eaten, Francis took Giles into the city to procure him a habit
like to his own. The novice marched along in great content
of soul ; but the awe and reverence of the day were upon him.
They met a poor woman on the road who cried out for an alms.
Francis having nothing he could give, passed on silently ; but
still the woman pleaded. Giles was troubled, being wishful
to give the woman something, yet waiting to receive the word
from Francis. At the third pleading, Francis turned to him
sweetly and said : " Let us give this poor woman thy cloak " :
and Giles in great gladness took off his cloak and gave it, and in
the giving felt so deep a comfort of spirit as no words could ex
press. The same day Francis gave him the livery of Poverty :
and that was Giles second great happiness in one day. 2
found, only he did not know the way. The leper hospital of San Salvatore
was served by the Crucigeri, an order of nursing brothers which was widely
extended in Italy and in Latin possessions in the East. Cf. Registres de Ore-
goire IX, Luc. Auvray, no. 209, p. 123.
1 Vita B. Fr. JEgidii, loc. cit. pp. 39-40.
2 Ibid., pp. 40-1 ; Aiwn. Perus in Acta SS. 4 October, Vol. II, p. 587 ; cf. 3
Soc. 44.
58 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
Exactly in what order the other disciples came in these
first days it isimpossible_jL sagv* One there was7~PBiIip
surnamed " the Long," whose eloquence in after years was
such that it was said of him : " the Lord touched his lips
with a cleansing fire, that he might speak of God in most
sweet and honeyed words ; and although he had not studied
the Holy Scriptures in the schools, yet did he so understand
and interpret them, that he became a true disciple of those
who, being simple and unlettered, were yet destined to be the
princes of the Jews ". 2 Another was that Sylvester the priest
whom we have met at the distribution of Bernard s wealth.
The part he took on that occasion might hardly mark
him out for a future companion in the Court of Poverty.
But at heart Sylvester was not ungenerous ; and his life was
blameless. He was of those who approved of Francis zeal
in repairing the churches ; but at first he much doubted the
wisdom of his consorting with beggars and his total disregard
of the conventions of ordinary society : to him it seemed a
tempting of Providence or a young man s wilfulness ; 3 and
perhaps too he did not approve of lay-evangelists : often in
deed they became fire-brands and heretics. So when he saw
the money a-going in foolish recklessness he saw no reason
why he should not have his own in payment for the stones
he had formerly given. And yet being a man of some spirit-
1 It is difficult to reconcile the order of the first companions given in the
legends. The 3 Soc. gives the first six as Bernard, Peter, Giles, Sabbatino,
Morico, and John de Capella.
So also in Anon. Perus., Acta SS. loc. cit. p. 584. Celauo puts Bernard,
Peter, and Giles, respectively second, third, and fourth. He then speaks of
Philip as making the brethren seven in number : but whether he includes St.
Francis in the seven is not clear, though at first sight he seems to do so. St.
Bonaventure, after speaking of Bernard, says that five other men were called,
and thus " the number of six sons of Francis was complete ". Is he following
Celano or the 3 Soc., or giving an independent account ?
Bartholomew of Pisa in De Conformit. (Anal. Franc, iv. p. 177) gives
the order thus: Bernard da Quintavalle, Peter Cathanii, Giles, Sabbatino,
Morico, John de Gapella, Philip the Long, John da S. Costanzo, Barbaro,
Bernard de Viridante, Angelo Tancredi, Sylvester.
2 1 Gelano, 25; Actus S. Franc, i. 6. Concerning Philip the Long, cf.
Chron. Jordani in Anal. Franc, i. p. 5.
3 Leg. Maj. in. 5.
THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FKATERNITY 59
uality, in spite of himself, he grew ashamed when Francis
so freely poured the money into his hands ; and when he
went home his soul was troubled ; nor could he banish the
sense that this reckless generosity was more akin to the
spirit of Christ than was his own prudence in which he began
to detect a latent love of money such as he himself perhaps
had frequently upbraided in the lives of others. Then one
night he had a dream. It seemed to him that a huge dragon
was surrounding the city and threatening it with destruc
tion ; but whilst he was trembling for the result, Francis
appeared, and from his mouth there came a golden cross
which reached to the heavens and extended on each side to
the limits of the earth : and the dragon seeing this, was afraid
and fled away. Three nights that same dream came to him
and Sylvester could no longer hesitate to take it as a warning
from God. He sought out Francis and related his dream,
and not long afterwards he joined the company. 1 He became
a lover of solitude, giving himself much to contemplation
and prayer.
Of the remaining first neophytes, one, Morico by name,
came from the leper hospital of San Salvatore. He was of the
nursing brotherhood of the Crucigeri : whom Francis had
tended in a sickness. 2 Another was from Eieti : his name
was Angelo Tancredi and he was a most courteous and gentle
knight in the world before he became a knight of Poverty. 3
Then there was Barbaro, who some years afterwards went
with Francis on a missionary journey to the East ; 4 and yet
another whose name became a warning to the brethren, for
he turned recreant in the end and came by a bad end : he
was John de Capella, a man who loved novelties and his
own will. 5
1 Leg. Maj. in. 5 ; 3 Soc. 31 ; II Celano, 109 ; Actus S. Franc, i. 41-43.
2 3 Soc. 35 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 8. Cf. De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 59,
et passim.
3 Cf. Speculum Perfcctionis [ed. Sabatier], cap. 85, p. 167.
4 De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 177. Cf . II Celano, 155 ; Spec.
Perfect, cap. 51.
5 3 Soc. 35. Cf. Actus S. Franc, i. 3; xxxv. 10. De Conformit. in
Anal. Franc, iv. pp. 494, 178, 440, 193. Some authors think him the same
as John de Compello, mentioned in Chron. Jordani, Anal. Franc, i. p. 5.
60 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
Thus, within a few months from the day he changed his
habit, did Francis find himself the leader of a small group of
disciples. They had come to him without his seeking, drawn
by a kinship of spirit. But as each came it was to him a
new joy ; for he saw in their coming the beginning of a world
regained to the Lord Christ and the Lady Poverty.
CHAPTEE VI.
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEYS.
EVENTS had moved rapidly since that day of St. Mathias, and
still more rapidly since the morning when Bernard had dis
tributed his goods to the poor in the Piazza San Giorgio : just
as after the pause in the springtime the hedges suddenly ex
pand in a tumult of bloom. From a recluse, Francis had
been transformed into an apostle : he was now the leader of a
knightly company of holy poverty. The zeal of an apostle
was upon him, urging him to carry his good news abroad and
win souls to his Lord s allegiance. Hardly had Bernard,
Peter, and Giles put on their vesture of poverty than Francis
must lead them out to fulfil their mission. Himself and
Giles took a road which led across the mountains into the
March of Ancona : the destination of the other two is not
recorded. As Francis went along he sang in a loud voice in
the Proven9al tongue, of the goodness of God Most High : so
gleeful and joyous he was in his love of poverty. Already he
beheld this company of the Lady Poverty, like a goodly order
of knighthood, being filled with generous souls and traversing
the world with its message of penance and love and peace.
" This order of ours," he said to Giles, " is like unto a fisher
man who casts his net into the water and takes in an abun
dant draught of fish; and he casts back the small fish into
the water and chooses the large ones for his baskets." And
Giles knew what he would signify : that only the generous
and large-hearted were fitted for this new life. They did not
preach any formal discourse, but as they passed through the
walled villages and cities they stopped when they met the
people, and Francis exhorted them in homely simple words
to fear and love God and do penance for their sins : and Giles
61
62 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
standing aside would quickly urge the people to listen to
Francis words, for that he was a man who spoke well. Often
enough the villagers and townsmen were in no mood to
listen : they had no wish to be preached at, and grew im
patient of these strangers. Some looked upon them as poor
fools ; others, as fanatics. Others again shook their heads and
were frankly at a loss how to take them, like him who was
heard to remark: "either they are saints or they are stark mad".
Their unusual dress and unkempt appearance frightened
some : young women seeing them approach, would run quickly
away, thinking them wizards or men with an evil eye, who
would cast a spell upon them. Altogether the journey seemed
fruitless of any good result ; but Francis was never one to
bargain for results : he went as his faith urged him leaving
results to follow in God s own time. A loyal knight must
follow the quest, not reckoning the consequences of his toil
so much as the duty to undertake it. Thus Francis and
Giles toured the March of Ancona and then returned to the
Porziuncola. 1 It was then that Sabbatino, Morico, and John
de Capella, all men of Assisi, joined the company. Their
coming was made remarkable by an upheaval of feeling on
the part of the citizens against Francis and his brethren. At
first the novelty of a reputable citizen like Bernard da Quin-
tavalle, distributing all his wealth to the poor, had been an
excitement not to be quickly laughed down. After all if two
or three men care to act in the teeth of common sense and
play the saint, what did it matter ? It was but an interlude
in the serious business of life. Their relatives naturally would
resent such doings, but one or two families do not make the
city. And then in some vague indefinite way that wholesale
renouncement of Bernard had touched the conscience of the
people. The appeal to the Gospel, so dramatically enacted
1 3 Soc. 33. No other legend mentions this journey into the March
of Ancona ; but there is no reason to doubt its authenticity. True, Celano
(I Celano, 28) relates the similitude of the fisherman in connexion with later
incidents ; but it is evident that Celano in this place is not following a chrono
logical order, but is simply summing up the events which happened in the
days before the approbation of the Rule, with a view to set forth St. Francis
spirit of prophecy.
FIBST MISSIONAKY JOUKNEYS 63
under their very eyes, for the moment silenced the prudence
of the world and inclined the Assisians to worship. Love of
an excitement, reverence and cynicism all went to make the
city tolerant. But when, as the days went on, the movement
lost its first novelty and stage-illusion and the citizens began
to feel its presence in their daily life, as a thing asserting
itself in their very homes and making a demand not only on
their emotion but also on their conscience, a reaction took
place. Here were men putting new ideas into the minds of
one s acquaintances and relatives, at variance with the ac
cepted order of things ; which ideas were making themselves
subtly felt at inconvenient moments, keeping one man away
from the riotous feast, detaching another from a family feud,
and everywhere creating an element of hesitation and doubt
in society. And soon it began to be said in the city that it
was all very well for men to give their own property to the
poor, but it was monstrous to expect the citizens afterwards
to support them. The clamour broke loose when Sabbatino
and the other two went to swell the number of these new mendi
cants. The citizens now stoutly refused to give them any
thing. Francis entering the city to beg, was received with
insults and sarcasm. Had he been less sure of his mission
this moment might have been fraught with irreparable
mischief. The malcontent citizens had a show of reason in
their clamour. He was taking men from their families and
civic duties and casting them penniless and homeless upon
the world; wasting the family inheritance and making his
associates a burden to the people from whose midst they had
gone out. To the man in the street it was surely idealism
run mad. At this juncture even those who had hitherto stood
by Francis, began to doubt and counsel compromise. He was
letting loose a flood he might not be able to direct. It was
time to pause and consider whither things were moving.
The bishop sent for Francis, and counselled him to
reconsider his way of life. It seemed hardly prudent, the
bishop urged, to gather men together without any provision
for their bodily needs. To practise poverty was all quite
right : but the monks did that and yet had means to live
64 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
upon. What if the people refused to support him by their
alms? Must they die of starvation? And how could a
number of men live without a house of their own ?
It was a difficult moment for Francis. Bishop Guido had
been his friend and counsellor from the beginning and had
shielded him in time of distress : and in his heart Francis
was deeply grateful. Yet not for an instant did he hesitate.
"My lord," he replied, "if we keep property we shall need
arms to defend ourselves and we shall be continually involved
in litigation and feuds ; and this will oftentimes prevent us
from loving God and our neighbour : therefore do we desire
to possess no temporal goods in this world." The reply
struck home ; for none knew better than Bishop Guido how
the temporalities of churches and abbeys were a constant and
increasing cause of trouble between the clergy and the people,
and between the clergy themselves. His own episcopate was
marred by frequent and acrimonious quarrels over property
with the commune and the religious houses in his diocese. 1
So he refrained from urging his counsel, convinced perhaps in
his heart that God was here working in new ways, the re
vealing of which must be left to time. Francis therefore re
turned to his waiting brethren, with his liberty intact and
with the bishop s blessing if not with his unreserved ap
proval. 2
During the next few months the brethren fashioned
themselves in the spirit and exercises of their vocation
without any notable incident breaking the even tenor of
their lives. It can hardly be said that they had a home in
the ordinary sense of the word ; but the Porziuncola was
their retreat and meeting-place and there they had a small
temporary shelter which Francis had built in the first days
when Bernard and Peter and Giles came to him. 3
Their days were spent in the service of others. If they
were not on a journey bearing witness to the Gospel, they
1 Of. Horoy, Honorii III opera, torn i. col. 163, 200.
2 1 Celano, 28.
3 3 Soc. 32: " Et fecerunt ibi unam domunculam in qua aliquando
pariter morarentur ".
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 65
were tending the lepers in the hospitals or assisting the
farmers in the fields or doing other menial service in return
for their food. 1 Before the day s toil began there was the labour
of the night : the service of the spirit alone in its communion
with God. For after a few hours sleep, whilst yet the world
slept on, they rose and gave themselves to prayer, the inti
mate prayer of the heart. At these times they drew as nigh
as they could to the eternal mysteries, searching out their
own moral weaknesses and strengthening themselves in the
hope and comfort which was given them, They were but
mortal men and none knew it better than themselves. They
had launched out into the deep at the word of the Master
and bravely they were holding on their course, but often it
was with a fear at their heart lest they should fail.
The more the nobility of their calling came home to their
understanding, the more acutely they felt their several weak
nesses. There was Brother Bernard who was constantly
trembling for fear of his own constancy ; 2 Brother Peter was
liable to hesitations of worldly prudence ; 3 nor was Giles,
the mystic, immune from the attractions of the earth. 4
Bach had his own particular care and moral danger-point
against which they must strengthen their souls. But when
they were with men, even their own brethren, they seldom let
any sign of their soul s straggle appear, at least not in any
mark of sadness or weariness. Such knowledge as they
had of each other s struggle came to them by their mutual
sympathy and fraternal understanding or in the personal aloof
ness with which men seek counsel concerning their innermost
need. But the gladness and peace which they possesed abun
dantly, notwithstanding their several temptations, they shared
freely. They were bound to each other not only by their
common faith in Poverty but by a strong mutual affection,
such as comes to men who are wholly and simply given to
1 Concerning the primitive life of the friars, cf . I Celano, 39-41 seq. ;
3 Soc. 36-44; Spec. Perfect, cap. 55; Vita B. Fr. JEgidii, pp. 41-3; De
Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. 207-20.
2 Cf. II Celano, 48. 3 Ibid., 67.
4 Cf . De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 209 et passim.
5
66 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
a common faith and who have no interest which can separate
them from each other. Great was their joy when after being
parted from each other by reason of some journey, they
came together again. At such times, says one who knew
them, " they were filled with such gladness and rejoicing
at again beholding each other, that they remembered nought
of what they had suffered from evil men". 1 Perhaps the
opposition they met with in the world, made them the more
appreciative of each other s welcome.
Amongst them all Francis was as the angel of the house,
ever watchful to assist and encourage each in his peculiar
need as well as to direct the common purpose. He was
gifted with a noble watchfulness for those who depended
upon him, 2 and the brethren confided in him with unhesi
tating simplicity, revealing to him their inmost thoughts and
temptations : but oftentimes they had no need to speak, so
well he read their souls.
And as it was when they were at home with Francis in
their retreat at the Porziuncola, so too was it when they were
sent on a journey into a neighbouring district to bear witness
to the Gospel they had received. Wherever they went they
had a care for the lepers they met on the way ; they shared
the labour of the poor ; sought shelter at night in outhouses or
in the servants quarters or in the porches of houses or
churches ; 3 begged their bread from door to door when they
did not receive it in return for their work ; exhorted men to
good living and God-loving ways : but they would seek out
solitary places for their hours of prayer. One thing the
brethren on these journeys would often miss, the joy and
encouragement of Francis presence. Not infrequently they
were taken for fools or knaves and treated accordingly. At
such times they called to mind the teaching of Francis, and re
flecting on the sufferings of Jesus Christ, nerved themselves
to patient meekness. And this came the more readily to
*3 Soc. 41.
2 "Felici semper curiositate in subditis ferebatur " is the inimitable phrase
of Celano (I Celano, 51).
3 3 Soc. 38; Anon. Perils, loc. cit. p. 584.
FIEST MISSIONAKY JOUENEYS 67
them, because under the inspiration of Francis their daily
life had become to them very vividly a walking in the com
pany of their Divine Master. The Gospel story was to them
not a far-off history but an ever-present event, a world-life
in which they themselves were partakers. Its actuality
lay all around them : by faith they saw the whole earth
gathered about the Person of the Christ. When people
treated them kindly they instinctively passed on the kindness
to Him who was their Life ; when they suffered unkindness,
they took it as He would take it. They looked upon the
world in the light of His purity and loving compassion ; they
were conscious of His Love for all living things as His own
proper domain ; and sin grieved them because of the injury it
was to Him. And since they were His servants and heralds,
their thought was to share His burden of the world s re
demption. In this preoccupation of mind and heart they
came to lose the manners and habits of the world they had
left, and their speech and action as well as their thought
and desire became of a piece with their soul s purpose.
Francis strove hard that it should be so with them, for he
knew that only so could they find the joy of the life they had
chosen.
Thus the summer days had passed and the restful autumn
time, in practises of prayer, self-discipline, and active service
for their fellow-men, and it was now winter, 1 when Francis,
impelled by the spirit, called the brethren together and pro
posed a long quest into distant parts. Another companion
had meanwhile joined them and they were therefore eight in
number.
The brethren were gathered together, probably in the
chapel of the Porziuncola, ready to take their departure,
when Francis addressed them, a peculiar tenderness in his
voice as of a father looking upon his sons going forth to seek
their fortunes and that of their house, in the world. It was
1 The period of the year for the incidents which follow in the text, is de
termined by the stories told of the journey of Brothers Bernard and Giles in
3 Soc. 39-40 (cf. " licet essct magnus frigus," etc.) and in Vita B. Fr. ^gidii,
loc. cit. p. 41 : "in quo itinere . . . frigus et tribulationem perpessus est".
5*
68 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
to be the widest journey they had yet undertaken. In that
quick burning way of his, he spoke to them of the Kingdom
of God of which, as sons of Poverty, they had become heirs.
He besought them never to let their heart s desire get en
slaved to the transitory things of the present, but to keep
their mind s eye fixed upon the things eternal. Then he
reminded them that they were called unto this manner of
life not for their own sakes alone but for the saving of the
world ; wherefore it behoved them to go forth, admonishing
men by word and example to do penance for their sins and
observe the commandments of God. They were to be gentle
and patient, putting their trust in their heavenly Father, and
not to be afraid because they were simple and lowly and de
spised by men ; for the Spirit of God would speak in them.
" You will find some," he went on to say, " who will be
believing, gentle and gracious, who will receive you and your
words with joy ; but others, and these the greater part, will
be unbelieving, proud and blasphemous ; they will revile and
resist you : and against these you shall speak. 1 Set it there
fore in your hearts to bear all things patiently and humbly.
Go forth, therefore, my most beloved, two and two unto all
parts of the earth, announcing peace and inviting to penance
and the remission of sins. To those who question you, make
answer humbly ; bless those who persecute you ; give thanks
to those who injure and calumniate you, for because of these
things an eternal kingdom is prepared for you." When he
had finished speaking, the brethren came one by one and
knelt before him asking his blessing, and as he gave his
blessing to each in turn, he bent down and lifted the brother
up and embraced him, saying: "Cast thy burden upon the
Lord and He will sustain thee". 2
At that the little company parted, going two and two to
north and south and east and west. Francis and his com
panion went south to the valley of Kieti, 3 where in winter the
snows lie thickly on the mountain tops : and of what befell
l i.e. their admonitions will be to these a judgment and warning.
2 3 Soc. 36 ; I Celano, 29 ; Leg. Maj. in. 7.
3 Wadding, Annaks, ad an. 1209.
FIKST MISSIONAKY JOUENEYS 69
them there, we shall shortly hear. Brothers Bernard and
Giles were destined for Spain, where they purposed to visit
the shrine of the apostle St. James at Compostella. 1 Of the
destination of the others there is no record.
Of this journey of the brethren we are told : " When the
brethren came upon a church or a cross, they bowed in prayer
and said devoutly : * We adore Thee, Christ, and we bless
Thee in all Thy churches that are in all the world, for that
by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world ; 2 for they
believed they had come upon a dwelling place of the Lord 3
wherever they found be it only a cross. All who saw them
marvelled exceedingly, for that in habit and manner of life
they were unlike all others and seemed like men from the
hills. Into whatsoever place they entered, were it a city or
walled town or a farm or a house, they brought the message
of peace, encouraging all to fear and love the Creator of
heaven and earth and keep His commandments. Some
heard them gladly; others, contrariwise, mocked them, and
by many they were asked whence they came and of what
Order they were. And although it was toilsome to answer
so many questions, they nevertheless in simplicity acknow
ledged that they were penitents, natives of the city of Assisi :
for as yet their Order was not confirmed as a religion. 4
Many thought them deceivers or fools, nor would they receive
them into their houses lest being thieves they might by
stealth carry off their goods. Wherefore in many places, after
injuries had been done them, they would shelter in the porches
of churches or houses." 5
1 1 Celano, 30 ; Vita B. Fr. Mgidii, loc. cit.
2 Celano says they said this prayer together with the Pater Nosier, since
they were as yet ignorant of the Divine Office (I Celano, 45). The Fribourg
codex of the Liber de Laudibus says the brethren recited three Paters for
each hour of the office, and it adds that Francis made this rule in order not to
impede private and mental prayer. Cf. Bern, a Bessa, Lib. de Laudibiis, ed.
Hilarinus a Lucerna, p. 9, n. 1 ; Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1210.
3 So I translate " locum Domini," in accordance with mediaeval monastic
language.
4 " Beligio " in mediaeval language signifies a form of religious life ap
proved by the Church.
5 3 Soc. 37-8.
70 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
This description of the reception of the brethren on their
journeys finds its echo in the records of many journeys to
come, as we shall have occasion to note in the course of this
history. The friars did not at once become the heroes of the
people amongst whom they appeared. The chronicler just
quoted then goes on to tell of what befell Brothers Bernard
and Giles in the city of Florence, to which city they had
come on their way to Spain. " About this time two of these
[brethren] were at Florence, and they went through the city
begging for a lodging, yet could find none. Now coming
to a certain house which had an oven in the porch they said
one to the other: Here we might take shelter . They
therefore besought the mistress of the house to receive them
within the house, and when she refused they said humbly that
at least she might permit them to rest that night near the
oven. This she granted ; but when her husband came and
found them in the porch, he called his wife and said to her :
Wherefore hast thou granted these ribalds shelter in our
porch ? she replied that she had been unwilling to receive
them into the house but had allowed them to lie outside the
porch where they could steal nothing but the firewood. The
husband therefore would not allow that any shelter should be
given them, although the cold was very great, since he took
them to be ribalds and thieves. So all that night until the
morning they lay near the oven, sleeping lightly enough ;
warmed only by heat divine and covered only by the shelter
of Lady Poverty : and then they went to the nearest church
to hear the morning office.
"When day had come, the woman went to the same
church, and seeing there those brethren devoutly continuing
in prayer, she said within herself : * Were these men ribalds
and thieves as my husband said, they would not thus con
tinue reverently in prayer . And whilst she was pondering
thus, behold a man named Guido was bestowing alms upon
the poor who were waiting in that church, and when he
came to the brethren and would give them both money, as he
gave the others, they refused the money and would not take
it. But he said to them : Wherefore do you, being poor, not
FIEST MISSIONAEY JOUENEYS 71
take money as do the others ? Brother Bernard replied :
It is true that we are poor ; but poverty is not a hard thing
to us as it is to these other poor ; for by God s grace, Whose
counsel we have fulfilled, we have made ourselves poor of
our own accord . At this the man marvelled, and asking
them if they had ever possessed anything, he learned from
them that they had had much property but for the love of
God had given all to the poor . . . Wherefore the said woman,
pondering how that the brethren would not take the money,
went to them and said that she would gladly receive them into
her house, if they would come thither for the sake of being her
guests. To whom they humbly answered : The Lord repay
thee for thy goodwill . But the aforesaid man, hearing that
the brethren had not been able to find a lodging, brought them
into his house, saying : Behold here a lodging made ready
for you by the Lord ; abide therein according to your good
pleasure ; and they giving thanks to the Lord, remained with
him some days, edifying him both by example and by word
in the fear of the Lord, so that afterwards he bestowed much
of his wealth upon the poor." l Of Brother Giles this also is
told, that meeting a poor man on the way he was struck with
pity at his scanty clothing, and having only one tunic of his
own, he gave the man his hood, and himself went hoodless
for twenty days, suffering much from the cold. 2
Francis, as we have said, went to the mountain valley of
Eieti, which lies to the south beyond the valley of Spoleto : 3
and here there came to him a wonderful grace. Ever since
his conversion from the world there had been a mist in his
joy whenever he thought of the neglected years which had
gone before ; and this sorrow had become more and more
poignant as the days went on. Indeed during these past few
1 3 Soc. 39-40. I have omitted, as not needful to this narrative, a pas
sage in which occurs these words descriptive of Brother Bernard : " qui
primopacis et pcenitcntia legationem amplectens, post sanctum Dei cucurrit".
Readers of Dante will recognize the source of the verses in the Divina
Commedia, canto xi. lines 79-81. Cf. Anon. Perus. in Ada SS. loc. cit. p.
585.
2 Vita B. Fr. JEgicUi, loc. cit. p. 41.
3 Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1209.
72 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
months Francis had been experiencing to the uttermost that
self-humiliation which comes with the first consciousness of
a high spiritual destiny. In his large unselfishness he could
not but rejoice as the work of the Lord unfolded itself in the
coming of his companions. At times he would sing aloud
the praises of God in sheer gratitude and exultancy of spirit
at the thought of the grace which was given them. Then,
becoming conscious of himself, he would shrink back, amazed
and fearful, oppressed with the sense of his own deficiency,
and his eyes and heart would weep for the years when he
might have been fitting himself for the task which God had
laid upon him. And then there would come upon him the
awful dread lest the misspent past should take its revenge
and be his undoing in the end.
In such tempest of self-abasement he found himself one
day as he was praying in a solitude above the town of
Poggio-Bustone, on the borders of the Abruzzi ; whither he
had come in his tour of the country of Rieti. It is a spot
of the earth which induces one to deep ponderings, and there
is a certain melancholy in its high mountainous seclusion and
the dark enclosure of the neighbouring hills. 1
In very misery Francis had cast himself upon the Divine
mercy, repeating time after time in a broken spirit : " God
be merciful to me, a sinner " ; for he yet had hope that the
all-pitying Redeemer would show mercy and not let His work
be frustrated by His servant s unworthiness. But the cup
of his humiliation that day was deep and he must drink it to
the dregs. Then suddenly there came to him a complete
and indubitable assurance that all his past sins were forgiven
him, and that by God s grace he would not fail at the last ;
and at that same time he saw as in a vision the company of
Poverty growing into a large host and subduing the earth ;
and he knew his quest and leadership would not be fruitless.
At that his whole being was changed and he came from
his prayer another man; as one who had looked upon the
face of God and found his peace there.
1 The grotto in which Francis prayed is a steep climb above the town : it is
still a place of pilgrimage. Every Easter Monday the peasantry from all the
neighbouring villages march in procession to the grotto and hear mass there.
FIEST MISSIONAKY JOUKNEYS 73
Then was his first thought to share his joy with his
brethren ; for he knew how they too were tried by temptation
and how this vision of his, of the increase of their company,
would be to them an encouragement. Thereupon he be
sought God to turn them all back from their journeys and
bring them together at the Porziuncola. And it happened
that at that same time all the brethren felt a drawing home
wards and returned ; nor did any of them know why they
had at that particular time begun their homeward journey,
until Francis told them of his longing for them to return and
of his prayer.
So they were once more gathered together when Francis
unburdened his mind of his vision, uttering his words as one
who has found a great joy. "My most beloved," he said,
"be comforted and rejoice in the Lord, and be not sad
because you seem to be few. Neither let my simple ways, nor
yours, affright you : for the Lord has shown me that He will
make us to increase into a great multitude and spread abroad
even to the ends of the earth. And that you may be en
couraged to advance on your way, I am compelled to tell you
what I have seen. Kather would I be silent, but my love
compels me to speak. I have seen a great multitude of men
coining to us, desiring to put on the habit of our holy voca
tion and to live under the rule of our blessed religion, and
their sound is in my ears as they come and go under the
orders of holy obedience. I have seen the roads from all the
nations full of men coming into these parts : the French are
coming, the Spaniards are hastening, the Germans and Eng
lish run, and great is the crowd of them who hurry along
speaking other tongues." Then was there great joy in that
small company, for all had caught the enthusiasm of their
leader and his daring ambition to establish the reign of the
crucified Eedeemer. 1 There was in their ambition no thought
l l Gelano, 26-7. Celano relates the incident of St. Francis s assurance
of forgiveness and the subsequent address to the brethren, before mentioning
the missionary journey of the eight; but, as we have remarked before, he
observes a chronological order in his legend, only in a very general sense.
Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1209) accepts the tradition that the assurance
of forgiveness came to Francis at Poggio Bustone. Celano moreover relates
74 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
of self. They loved the Lord Christ and hungered to see
Him in His poverty and humility, the Lord of the earth ; and
they loved their fellowmen and yearned that all should share
the joy they themselves had found.
But Francis, with all his enthusiasm, was already seeing
things with the searching eye of a leader. Much as he
rejoiced with the brethren over this coming multitude, yet he
did not fail to see that with the crowd would come travail
of spirit and a time of trial. Where there is a multitude it
cannot be as with a small family united in heart and ruled by
one single purpose. "My beloved," he said to his compan
ions, " in these first days of our dwelling together, it is like
eating apples all sweet and pleasant to the taste ; a little later
the apples offered to us will not all be so sweet and pleasant,
and in the end some will be of such bitterness that we shall
be unable to eat them, though outwardly they will look fair
and juicy enough " : l which words were to prove a true
prophecy.
But at present neither Francis nor the brethren were
disturbed at any prevision of future troubles. They were
yet living in the first absorbing wonderment of their new
vocation.
And a blessed thing too is that first wonderment which
whilst it lasts is like the vital contentment of a perfect
summer s day, transfusing one s dream with a palpitating
light ; or like the satisfying infinitude of the western sky at
sundown when the clouds have widely parted. Such wonder
ment is the bridal gift of a true love, whether it be the love
of man and maid or the mystic love of the soul and its voca
tion. Out of that wonderment comes the joy and strength
of life, whether in the first blithe marches of achievement or
in the inevitable stages of hardship and disillusions through
which the perfect faith must pass to its triumphant realiza
tion. Yet though his heart was not saddened nor his faith
that the sudden recall of the brethren was due to a vision which Francis
had : " Convenientibus vero in unum, de visione pii pastoris magna gaudia
celebrant" etc., and later: " Beatus pater coepit eis suum aperire propositum,
etc. (I Celano, 30, 31).
1 1 Celano, 28.
FIKST MISSIONAEY JOUKNEYS 75
daunted, Francis felt the need of establishing his company in
a greater security against the dangers to come.
This brotherhood of Poverty was to spread over the earth ;
it would need some definite pledge of world-wide authority
and a definite visible allegiance symbolical of its allegiance
to the world s Saviour. Instinctively Francis turned to the
Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth : he should receive in
Christ s name, the allegiance of the brotherhood and give it its
charter and be its earthly lord and its protector against the
evil of the world.
Now it frequently happens that the incidents which im
mediately determine events fraught with great consequences,
are in themselves trivial : they take their importance from the
accumulating expectancy of a movement to which they be
come a sign. So Francis s decision to seek the Papal sanction
and protection for the brotherhood was quickened by the
coming of four new postulants. With these the company of
Poverty numbered twelve brethren : it was the number of
the Apostles. Now, thought Francis, they lacked but one
thing to make them like unto the first apostolic college ; that
one thing being the manifest commission of Christ, which
could be given them only by Christ s Vicar. So Francis and
the brethren sought direction in prayer and then determined
forthwith to set out for Rome and seek the presence of the
Pope.
The four new brethren were John of San Constanzo,
Barbaro, Bernard de Vigilanzio l and the noble knight,
Angelo Tancredi who had followed Francis from the Valley
of Kieti. 2
1 He is variously designated as Bernard de Vigilanzio, Bernard Vigilanzo
de Vida, and Bernard de Viridante.
2 Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1210) tells a story of the coming of Angelo
Tancredi which is quite in accord with the character of Francis. Meeting
Angelo in the valley of Bieti, Francis accosted him saying : " It is a long
time enough that you have carried the belt and sword and spurs of the world.
Come with me and I will dub you a knight of the army of Christ." But the
source of this story is the Actus S. Franc, in Valle Reatina, a fourteenth
century compilation of doubtful authority. It has recently been edited by
Prof. Pennacchi in Miscellania Francescana, Vol. XIII, pp. 6-21.
CHAPTEK VII
POPE INNOCENT APPROVES THE RULE OF THE ORDER.
THE days were filled with the temperate heat and sunshine
of early spring, and the shortening of the nights was gracious
to the scantily clad brethren hastening to Kome. Francis was
full of expectancy. In his hands he carried with him the
Rule of life which he had written and which was to be the
charter of his alliance with the Lady Poverty, and he was
confident that the Pope would confirm it : for was not
Poverty the bride of Christ in His life on earth, and how then
could the Vicar of Christ repel her ? One night he had a
dream and it seemed to him that he was walking along a
road by the side of which stood a tree of noble height and
very fair to gaze upon ; and when he went and stood beneath
it, in wonder at its height and comeliness, of a sudden he him
self became so tall that he touched the top of the tree and
bent it down to the earth quite easily. 1 Francis related his
dream to the brethren, not doubting that God had sent it him
to foreshadow the triumph of Poverty. To the eager, intense
souls of these men everything indeed in heaven and earth
seemed burdened with the destiny of their Lady Poverty :
as in truth it was so far as they were concerned, so entirely
and simply were they hers.
As they were setting forth on their way to Rome, Francis
had insisted that the brethren should choose one of their
number, other than himself, to be their superior on the way.
" He shall be our captain and as it were Christ s Vicar to
us," he said ; " so that wheresoever he shall lead, we will go
with him; and where he lodges we will lodge." The choice
fell upon Bernard da Quintavalle. Then they took to the
1 1 Celano, 33 ; 3 Soc. 53 ; Leg. Maj. in. 8.
76
THE BULE OF THE OBDEB 77
road, singing the praises of God as they went along or else
conversing with each other upon the things of the spirit which
alone seemed to them worthy of many words. At times they
would break their journey in some retired spot and give them
selves to secret prayer, and when the evening drew in they
sought shelter wherever they happened to find themselves.
In this fashion they passed down the valley of Spoleto and
crossed along the high plateau of Bieti and came into the
lowlands of the Eoman Campagna and at length found them
selves in Eome. For most of them it was their first visit to
the Eternal City, and doubtless with that instinct of faith
which was so strong in the Catholic people of those days,
their first thoughts turned to the tomb of the Apostles in the
great church of St. Peter on the Vatican Hill : for it was this
which made Eome a holy city and in some sense the home
of all Christians. As the brethren passed through the streets
the people would momentarily wonder from what province
these strangely garbed men had come, wholly unaware that
they were looking upon men who were shortly to set the
whole Christian world by the ears and to be the beginning of
a moral revolution before which even Eome must bow in
reverent homage. But the Eomans had seen too many strange
penitents and reformers come to their city and pass away
again forgotten or discredited, to be deeply interested at the
appearance of any new comers, however strange might be
their garb or conduct. And so these twelve brethren might
make their way through the streets until they came to St.
Peter s without arousing any but a passing wonder. They
themselves were too engrossed in their sacred mission and in
their reverence for the ground they trod, to take note of the
passers by. Nor was there such a marked temperamental
difference between the two cities the one they had come to
and the other they had left to make them feel an entire
strangeness even had they been less absorbed in their own
affair. The contrast between Assisi and Eome which strikes
one so forcibly to-day was not so palpable then. The pilgrim
who now passes from the Eternal City to the city of Umbria,
passes from the great highway where the world jostles pain-
78 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
fully but inevitably against the spirit, into an old-world nook
where the spirit broods in peace over the earth. Borne stands
to-day, as ever in its history, as a spirit struggling with the
world ; Assisi is as a spirit which has overcome and is now at
rest. But in the thirteenth century Assisi was a hustling
busy republic with an intensely aggressive consciousness of its
own, with its bishop s court and its senate and its market
place and its political parties, all very much alive and emulous
in some measure even of the city of Borne in its institutions
and ambitions. Life in Borne was on a larger scale, but it
was not so different in quality or character that a citizen of
Assisi could not easily fall in with its main preoccupations
and habits. Even so Borne was such as to strike the imagi
nation of a citizen of far greater cities than Assisi, and never
more so than at this very period when Innocent III was
bringing most of the Christian kingdoms into even temporal
vassalage to the Holy SeeJ There was no movement in the
life of Christendom, whether in imperial or national politics,
or in the domain of thought, or in the strictly ecclesiastical
sphere, which was not in some way or other brought to the
Pope s council-board ; and Innocent wielded his growing
authority with a noble magnificence which took account
of the smaller things even as the greater. 1 No man perhaps
has ever been the ruler of the earth as he was ; he schooled
kings and imposed governments on peoples, and checked
heresy, and did all a legislator could to reform morals : and
all these activities were manifest in the gatherings of men at
his court. There all that was most alive in Christendom
might be found appealing, arguing or bowing before the
Pope s command.
To many men Innocent III has appeared merely as an
ambitious statesman and theotocrat, whose ruling passion
was to extend the dominion of the Papacy in temporal affairs ;
they picture him skilfully playing off one political party against
another or subduing with his iron resolution and sweeping
statesmanship the rebellious secular powers. But there was
another side to the character of Innocent. He was a deeply
1 Cf. A. Luchairc, Innocent III : Rome et Vltalie, p. 233 seq.
THE KULE OF THE OKDEK 79
religious man, ascetic in his personal conduct and with a
yearning desire to purify the Christian world and make its
peoples, socially and individually, more conformed to the law
of Christ. 1 Behind all his political ambitions for the Church
was the aspiration to leave the Christian world purer and
more godly than he found it ; and it can safely be said that
he viewed the extension of the authority of the Papacy in
temporal affairs as a means to the world s purification. He
may have been right or wrong in thinking that temporal
power would strengthen the Holy See for its spiritual mission ;
about that men will argue as long as the world lasts. But
there can be no doubt that the ultimate purpose of the great
Pope was to create a theocracy of the Christian nations under
whose sway the Gospel would be better realized in all spheres
of the world s life. ~ Nobody was more conscious than himself
that this purification must be begun in the ranks of the clergy :
and he was not blind to the inherent strength of the reform-
irig^sects ^wiiich:, however ^tfbublesbme they might be to the
auth~orities,-and- even- heretical: as~ they frequently became, yet
pointed with undeniable though bitter truth to the radical
evil of luxury and secular greed which had fastened upon
laity and clergy alike in the higher ranks of society. 2
The almost utter hopelessness of the task of reform which
he had set himself, made the sadness of his days. Yet he
never relinquished his efforts. He chose as cardinals men of
like mind in this matter with himself. If he fostered a
crusade to crush by force of arms the wide-spreading sect
of the Albigenses, it must be remembered that this sect
was political as well as religious, and menaced established
1 He was the author of an ascetical treatise De contemptu mundi which
was for long in great vogue. His sermons breathe a spirit of burning piety.
2 Innocent in 1201 approved the Rule of the Humiliati an orthodox
society which was nevertheless suspected by many of the bishops ; he also
received the submission of Durandus d Huesca in 1209 and of Bernhard
Primus in 1210, and commissioned them to continue their preaching. Cf. A.
Luchaire, Innocent III: la Croisade des Albigeois, p. 105 ; Migne, Innocentii
III Regest. Lib. XII, LXIX.
Innocent s more pacific attitude of mind towards the heretics is in strik
ing contrast to the unsparing ferocity of some of the bishops. Cf. Migne, op.
cit. Lib. II, CGXXVIII ; A. Luchaire, op. cit. p. 58 seq.
80 LIFE OF ST. FKANGIS OF ASSISI
authority both civil and ecclesiastical. Even here Innocent
did not trust to the secular arm alone, but endeavoured to
arouse the monastic orders to meet the heretical movements
in spiritual warfare by sending forth itinerant preachers in
whom sound orthodoxy would be strengthened by a severe
asceticism and blameless life. 1
But the dead hand of formalism weighed heavily upon
the Pope s efforts to stem the tide of the heretical reforming
movements : they grew in strength and audacity in spite of
crusades and delegated preachers. Even within the confines
of the Papal territories the heretics bade defiance to the Pope. 2
The truth was that the reforming movements, whether heret
ical or orthodox (and they were mostly heretical or suspect)
voiced a vital discontent which was felt by all the more spiritu
ally-minded Catholics, even by the Pope himself. Merely
repressive or argumentative measures can never take away
a vital discontent, and whilst that remains, heresy will always
be latent or active until the discontent gives place to a new
spiritual contentment or whittles away into sheer spiritual
indifference.
As yet the Church had not been able to put forth any
convincing fact which would make people recognize that it
contained within itself the satisfying truth for which the soul
of Christendom was ahungered. What this truth was, men
could only tell in a negative fashion : it was not found in any
of the actual ecclesiastical institutions or tendencies which
they saw with their eyes ; and not finding there what they
wanted, they easily concluded that the whole ecclesiastical
system was altogether wrong, and a mere bondage of the
spirit. Nor could the authorized preachers, even the most
sympathetic, convince them otherwise. These, the sym
pathetic preachers, might deplore the evils in the Church,
1 Innocent would gladly have avoided recourse to the secular arm, though
when he found pacific measures unavailing, he fostered the crusade with
characteristic energy. Of. A. Luchaire, loc. cit.
2 Both at Viterbo and Orvieto the Patarini were strong enough to elect
members of their sect as consuls. Of. Migne, Innocentii III Regest. Lib. II,
1, ccvii. ; Lib. VIII, CCLVIII. Of. Acta SS. Mail, torn, v, p. 86 seq. A. Luch
aire, Innocent III : Borne et Vltalie, pp. 84-91.
THE EULE OF THE OKDEE 81
and argue that these evils were merely the wounds which j
wicked men had inflicted upon the pure body of Christ : but /
the wounds were visible, gaping before the common eye.
Some held fast to the faith of the preachers, and set them
selves to wait prayerfully till the mystery should be cleared.
But these were the few. Many more looked on, cynical or
indifferent, while the preachers preached. Meanwhile the
heretics were aggressive and made headway with the people.
Perhaps to some of the waiting believers there came a vision of
the prophet who was to bring freedom and joy to their souls,
a man not tied to the traditions which hampered the liberty
and dimmed the sight of the orthodox preachers, but one who
with the simplicity of genius would draw forth the truth in its
living beauty from the encasement of the traditions, and re
veal it to orthodox and heretic alike as the legitimate offspring
of the Catholic Faith. But in what fashion such a one would
appear, and how he would present himself to the world, would
remain even to the visionaries a mystery : for no man yet has
painted the coming dawn.
It is quite possible that Pope Innocent had had his visions
of the needed reformer : for Innocent was a mystic as well
as a genius, and to both is given a liberty of mind which
the established conventions cannot contain ; yet when the
moment of recognition came, the Pope at first could not see
clearly and Francis met with a rebuff.
It was in the corridor of the Lateran palace that these
two men first met. Pope Innocent was walking to and fro,
his mind engrossed in his schemes, when Francis, who in his
simplicity had thought to seek out the Pope direct, appeared
before him and began to set forth his petition. But the
Pope, thinking him a mere fanatic, curtly bade him begone. 1
Francis went out, and shortly afterwards had the good
1 Vide the addition to the Leg. Maj. in. 9 [ed. Quaracchi, 1898, p. 28, n. 1],
by Jerome of Ascoli.
Jerome was St. Bonaventure s successor in the Generalate of the Order.
He said he received his knowledge of this incident from the Pope s nephew.
Cf. Anal. Fratic. in. p. 365. Matthew of Paris (Hist. ed. Watts, p. 340)
relates a curious story how the Pope, on first meeting Francis, bade him " go
and roll himself in the mire with the pigs ".
6
82 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
fortune to meet the Bishop of Assisi, who was then on a visit
to the Papal Court. The bishop had no knowledge of Francis
coming, and meeting him unexpectedly in the Eternal City,
was at first alarmed. He thought that perhaps these peni
tents had quitted Assisi for good. But when Francis had
told his purpose he at once promised his support.
Bishop Guido knew quite well the difficulties which
would beset Francis and his petition. One needs a friend
at court if one is to be heard there ; and besides it was
already being said that there were too many of these new
penitential fraternities springing up, much to the detri
ment of the older monastic Orders. 1 So like a prudent man
of affairs, the bishop set himself to gain the interest of an
influential cardinal. None, he knew, would be more likely
to befriend these penitents of his, than the Cardinal John of
St. Paul, Bishop of Sabina. This prelate was a man of
saintly life, noted amongst all the reforming cardinals of
Innocent s Court, for his personal detachment from the
world and his spiritual mind. To him then Francis was
now introduced. The cardinal was already well disposed,
having heard from Bishop Guido all about the wonderful
renunciation and zeal of this new reformer; and he must
,/.. have heard too of his reverence for the bishop and clergy,
which was something unusual in the reformers of the time.
Yet with the native conservatism of a statesman, he could
not see why a new Order should be created : better surely
would it be for these men to enter an established Order : it
would be the safer course and their fervour would help to
bring the older Orders back to their first perfection. His
advice, therefore, was that they should lay aside their peti
tion and enter a monastery. But Francis was firm sweetly
and humbly firm in his conviction that God had called him
< neither to the monastic nor the eremitical life as already
established, but to a new and simple observance of the
Gospel. And after a few days the cardinal too was con
vinced. He saw in these men a spirit different from any he
1 Five years later the Fourth Lateran Council forbade the institution of
new Orders.
THE KULE OF THE OKDEK 83
had yet observed, and he felt that here was something new
in the designs of God for the Church. With this conviction
he determined to bring Francis into the Pope s presence, and
to plead his cause.
So once again Francis was at the feet of Pope Innocent ;
but now the way had been prepared and the stern countenance
of the great Pontiff was intent to hear what he had to say
for himself and his brethren. Quite simply Francis set forth
the Kule of life he desired to follow with the Pope s sanction.
There was a movement of dissent among the attendant
cardinals as Francis proclaimed his purpose to live in abso
lute poverty without any provision for the morrow save his
trust in God s providence and the charity of man ; to carry
nothing on his journeys through the world nor to resist
when an injury should be done to him ; to serve his neigh
bours and to work as the poor, and to eschew all power and
authority over others. To some it appeared to wear a danger
ous resemblance to the innovations of the reformers ; to all it
seemed an impossible rule beyond human endurance, to all \
that is, except the Cardinal John of St. Paul, who rose up to
answer the objectors. " If we reject the petition of this poor
man," he said, " as something novel and too hard to fulfil,
when all he asks is that the law of life of the Gospel be con
firmed unto him, let us beware lest we offend against the
Gospel of Christ. For if anyone shall say that in the observ-j
ance of evangelical perfection and the vow to observe it,
there is contained anything new or irrational or impossible of
observance, such a one is convicted of a blasphemy against
Christ the Author of the Gospel." At that the Pope, in
homage to the saintly cardinal, said to Francis : " My son, go
and pray to Jesus Christ that He may show us His will ; and
when we know His will more certainly, we shall the more
safely sanction your pious purpose ". l
It was an anxious moment for the brethren, but Francis
was confident. " He ran trustfully to Christ and began to
pray, bidding his brethren do the same," says the chroni-
1 Leg. Maj. m. 9; 3 Soc. 47-49; I Celano, 32-33; II Celano, 16;
Anon. Perus, loc. cit. p. 590.
6*
84 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
cler. During his prayer this parable came to him as from
some interior voice : A certain woman, very poor but beauti
ful, dwelt in a desert. And there was a king who loved her
because of her exceeding beauty. With joy he wedded her
and begot of her most handsome sons. Now these sons
grew up, nurtured in all gentleness, and then their mother
spoke to them, saying : " My dear sons, be not ashamed
because you are poor, for you are all the sons of a great king.
Gladly therefore go to his court and ask of him whatever is
necessary to you." They, hearing these words, marvelled
and were glad and being lifted up at this declaration of their
royal lineage and knowing themselves to be heirs to the
king, esteemed their very need as riches. Boldly they pre
sented themselves before the king, nor were they timid
before the face of him whose likeness they bore. And the
king recognizing in them the likeness unto himself, wonder-
ingly inquired whose sons they might be. They told him
they were the sons of the poor woman who dwelt in the
desert. At that the king embraced them and said: "My
sons and heirs you are : fear not. If strangers are fed at my
table, by a greater right must I nourish them for whom all
my possessions are lawfully kept." And afterwards the king
gave order unto the woman that she should send to his court
all the sons that should be born of her, that they might be
nurtured there. 1
With this parable on his lips, Francis presented himself
at the next audience to which he was shortly bidden :
adding as he finished the recital : " Holy Father, I am that
poor woman whom God so loved and of His mercy hath so
honoured ".
Pope Innocent listened in astonishment to this trouba
dour in penitent s garb : it was a new experience even in his
full life, and perhaps at that moment the light began to enter
the Pontiff s mind and he dimly saw that what the world
needed for its purification was the spirit of the troubadour
converted to the service of Christ. He now felt a strange
drawing to this man whom he had at first repulsed, and a
1 II Celano, 16 ; 3 Soc. 50 ; Leg. Maj. in. 10 ; Anon. Perus, ut supra.
THE BULE OF THE OEDEE 85
dream he had once had, came back to his mind and seemed
to him to be receiving a fulfilment in fact. He had dreamt
that the Church of St. John Lateran, the mother church of
Christendom, was about to fall, and a religious, small of
stature and lowly of appearance was holding it up, by setting
his back against it. It seemed to him now that Francis was
the i jDaan of-feis dream, 1 and without further hesitation he
declared his good-will and gave a verbal sanction to the Eule
which had been laid before him. Then Francis promised
obed4encje-to~-the Pope, and when he had thus promised, the
Pontiff bade the other brethren promise obedience to Francis.
Thus was the Franciscan family formally constituted and
provisionally-admitted into the law of the Church : for with
the cautiousness proper to a statesman, Innocent reserved a
more solemn and definite approbation until such time as the
new fraternity had proved itself..-/ Finally, Innocent having
thus recognized the brethren, gavd them his pontifical authority
to preach penance to the people ; that is to say, not to ex- /f\
pound the dogmas of the faith as did the regular preachers
who were trained theologians, but to exhort the people to
live well and avoid evil and love God. fl^Go forth with the
Lord, brothers," he said to them, "and as the Lord shall
deign to inspire you, do ye preach repentance unto all men. /
But when God Almighty shall have multiplied you in
numbers and in grace, come again to me rejoicing and I will
grant more unto you than this and with a greater assurance
commit to you greater powers." 2
That day there was one man at the Papal court who was
unfeignedly satisfied with the issue of the brethren s petition.
The Cardinal John of St. Paul had, in the few days of their
1 II Celano, 17 ; 3 Soc. 51 ; Leg. Maj. in. 10.
2 1 Celano, 33 ; 3 Soc. 51 ; Leg. Maj. in. 10. The preaching of
penance was a recognized faculty in the Middle Ages and was frequently
conceded to laymen. Such preaching implied moral exhortations, but
excluded the expounding of the articles of faith and the sacraments. Vide
Letter of Innocent III to the ministers of the Humiliati, " Incumbit nobis,"
7 June, 1201 (Tiraboschi, Veiera Humil. Mon. ; i p. 128). Cf. P. Hilarin
Pelder, Histoire des Etudes dans Vordre Franciscain, p. 39 seq. Pope
Innocent had commissioned the Humiliati in 1201 ; in 1209 he had given an
even more general permission to Durandus de Huesca and Bernhard Primus.
86 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
sojourn in Eome, come to hold them in great reverence and
affection, and he purposed to take them under his particular
protection at the Boman court, and be, as it were, a father
under God to these poor men. 1
Before they departed he conferred upon them all the small
tonsure, 2 the mark of the clerical state, that thereby they
might have the greater freedom and authority in their preach-
ing. But in his heart there was also the desire to wed these
joyous, humble penitents to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, as an
example to other clerics and for the purifying of the clerical
order itself. 3
Here the reader may be curious, as many have been before
^ him, to know more precisely what this Bule was which Pope
Innocent sanctioned, and in what manner it was set forth.
For the Bule of the Friars Minor underwent many changes
and modifications before it was finally sealed with the solemn
and written approbation of Pope Honorius III in 1223.
That final Bule reflects many issues and experiences in the
development, of the fraternity, which Francis in these earlier
years never contemplated : and in it the fine idealism of his
aspiration is somewhat tempered by the exigencies of the
world, as pure gold is mixed with harder metal to serve the
uses of men. /It was indeed necessary to beat out the finer,
heroic spirit 7 of the founder of the fraternity with an admix
ture of more earthly wisdom for the multitude which gathered
to him after the first enthusiasm had begun to wane : so only
do the idealists retain a following whether in the Church or
outside it. But those who love the memory of Francis will
always turn to the early days of his story before the world
made his spirit anxious, searching those early years with a
1 Of. 3 Soc. 48 : " Volebat ex tune sicut unus de fratribus reputari ".
2 " Fecit coronas parvulas fieri," says St. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. in. 10) :
evidently as distinguished from the larger monastic tonsure. Even to the
end of his days Francis refused to wear the large tonsure : of. II Celano, 193.
Some say that it was at this time that Francis also received the diaconate.
Of. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1210.
3 A similar thought was in the mind of Cardinal Ugolino later on, when
he proposed to take the bishops from the new orders of Franciscans and Do
minicans. Of. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 43.
THE EULE OF THE OEDEE 87
wistful tenderness as men always search out the story of
youth.
Unhappily the parchment which was inscribed with that
early Eule seems not to have been preserved when in later
years Francis found it necessary to rewrite his Eule with
greater detail ; and to-day they who would listen to the Eule
which Pope Innocent blessed at the instance of the Cardinal
John of St. Paul, must disentangle the primitive passages-
from the later accumulating additions with which they are
conjoined in what came to be known as the " FiraLEule^_or
"the Eule of 1221": a compilation which grew out of the
primitive Eule and capitular decrees and Papal ordinances and
which Francis, with the aid of BrotherCsesar of tSpeyer, jmt-
into its present form in the year 1221. l Elsewhere in this
book the reader will find an analysis of this compilation, 2
setting forth the component parts in detail, but here we will
put down those passages which unhesitatingly we may ac
cept as primitive. A few other regulations there may have
been, which now we cannot determine, but they would be of
lesser importance, for the Eule as here set down reflects
faithfully the life of the first brethren as history records it ;
and nothing in that life is lacking in the Eule : one is a
faithful mirror of the other.
The Primitive Eule, then, began in strict Catholic fashion .>
with the invocation of the most Holy Trinity. A preliminary
declaration promised obedience to the Pope, and then the
Eule proper ran in this wise :
The Rule and life of the brothers is this : namely, to live in obedi
ence, in chastity and without property, and to follow the teaching and in
the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ Who says : " If thou wilt be perfect,
go, sell what thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure
in heaven ; and come follow Me " ; 3 also : " If any man will come after Me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me " ; 4 again : f If
any man come to Me and hate not his father and mother and wife and
children and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot
lr This " First Rule " of 1221 must not be confused with the Rule of 1223
above referred to.
2 Vide Appendix I : " The Primitive Rule of St. Francis," pp. 393-403.
3 Matt. xix. 21. 4 Matt. xvi. 24.
88 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
be My disciple ; l and everyone that hath left father or mother, brethren
or sisters, wife or children, houses or lands, for My sake shall receive a
hundred-fold and shall possess life everlasting ". 2
* *
*
If anyone by Divine inspiration shall wish to receive this life and
shall come to our brethren, let him be received kindly by them. Which
being done, he shall sell whatever he possesses and cause it to be given
to the poor.
And all the brethren shall be clothed in vile garments and they can
patch them with sacking and other rags with the blessing of God ; for
our Lord says in the Gospel : " They that are in costly apparel and live
delicately and who are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of
kings ". 3
None of the brothers shall have any power or domination especially
amongst themselves. For so the Lord says in the Gospel : " The princes
of the gentiles lord it over them and they that are the greater, exercise
power upon them : it shall not be so amongst the brethren ; but whoso
ever will be the greater amongst them let him be their minister and
servant ; " and "he who is the greater amongst them let him become as
the lesser ". 4 Neither shall any brother do evil or speak evil unto another ;
nay rather by the charity of the spirit shall they voluntarily serve and
obey each other. And this is the true and holy obedience of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
V
The brethren who know how to work, shall work and exercise the
same craft which they know, if it be not against their soul s salvation and
they can honestly exercise it. For the prophet says: "Because that
thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands, blessed art thou and it shall be
well with thee ; " 5 and the apostle says : " he who will not work, neither
let him eat ; " 6 and let every man abide in the craft and office wherein he
is called. 7 And for their labour they may receive whatever is needful,
except money. And should it be necessary, they may go asking alms like
other brothers.
***
Let all the brothers endeavour to follow in the humility and poverty
of our Lord Jesus Christ and let them remember that of all the world it
behoves them to have nothing save as the Apostle says : "having food
and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content". 8 And they
ought to rejoice when they consort with rude and despised persons, with
the poor and weak and sick and lepers and those who beg by the wayside.
And should it be necessary they may go begging.
# #
ft
1 Luke xix. 26. 2 Of. Matt. xix. 29. 3 Luke vii. 25.
4 Of. Matt. xx. 25-27 ; xxm. 11. 5 Psalm cxxvu. 2.
6 2 Thess. in. 10. 7 Cf. 1 Cor. vii. 24. 8 1 Tim. vi. 8.
THE KULE OF THE OKDEE 89
And all the brothers shall beware lest they calumniate anybody, and
let them not contend in words ; l nay rather let them have a care to keep
silence whenever the Lord grants them this grace. ^KgitW IRJ-, hham
argue between themselves nor with others, but let them have a care to
reply humbly : " We are unprofitable servants ". 2
***
When the brethren go through the world they shall carry nothing by
the way, neither purse nor scrip nor bread nor money nor staff ; and into
whatsoever house they enter they shall first say : Peace be to this house ;
and in the same house remaining, they shall eat and drink what things
are set before them. 3 And let them not resist evil; 4 but if anyone
should strike them on the cheek let them offer to him the other ; and if
anyone take away their garment, let them not forbid him the tunic also.
They shall give to everyone who asketh them ; and if anyone take away
their goods let them not ask again. 5
***
All the brethren shall be Catholics and live and speak after the
manner of Catholics. But should anyone of them stray from the Catholic
faith or life in word or in deed and will not amend, lie shall be altogether
cast out from our fraternity. And all clerics and all religious let us hold
as our lords in respect of those things which regard the salvation of the
soul and do not deviate from our religion ; 6 and their order and office
and ministration we must hold in reverence in the Lord.
V
And this and similar exhortation and praise, all my brothers may an
nounce with the blessing of God, whenever it shall please them and
amongst whatsoever people: "Fear and honour, praise and bless, give
thanks unto and adore the Lord God Almighty in Trinity and Unity,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Creator of all ". Do penance ; 7 bring forth
fruits worthy of penance, 8 for know that ye shall all quickly die. Give
and it shall be given unto you. 9 Forgive and you shall be forgiven. 10
And if you will not forgive men their sins neither will the Lord forgive
you your sins. 11 Confess all your sins. 12 Blessed are they who shall die
in penance for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven. Woe to those
who shall not die in penance, because they shall be the children of the
devil, whose works they do, 13 and they shall go into everlasting fire.
Beware and abstain from all evil and persevere unto the end in
good.
1 Of. 2 Tim. 14. 2 Luke xvn. 10. 3 Luke ix. 3 ; x. 4-8.
4 Of. Matt. v. 39. 5 Cf. Luke vi. 29-30.
6 The word "religion " here means the Rule of the Order.
7 Matt. in. 2. 8 Luke in. 8. 9 Luke vi. 38.
10 Luke vi. 37. n Mark xi. 26. 12 James v. 16.
13 Of. John vni. 44.
90 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
Then followed a brief exhortation to the brethren faith
fully to hold and guard all these words ; and the Rule ended
with the doxology : " Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost : as it was in the beginning, is now
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."
And now perhaps, reader, you will better understand and,
maybe, sympathize with the hesitating prelates who heard
this Rule put forth as the constitution of a new society. But
to rightly appreciate their hesitation and dissent, you must
remember the men who stood before them with this Rule as
their expected charter. They were not trained legalists who,
it might be assumed, would interpret the simple heroism of
these naked Gospel precepts into some compromise with the
weakness of human nature Quite evidently they took the
words literally and without any gloss. They had already
shown their mettle ; had utterly renounced all their property
and become common labourers and beggars ; had put aside
all titles of honour and would not willingly exercise any
authority or hold power over others ; had already shown
themselves non-resisters to the evil men did to them. And
upon these principles they would found a new society !
Nine hundred and ninety-nine men out of every thousand
would pause before approving of such a scheme. It is one
thing to set heroic laws as counsels for individual perfection ;
quite another thing to bind a body of men with the State s
sanction, to the observance of uttermost perfection : and such
it seemed was what Francis asked. Politicians and men
of affairs do not readily make alliance with extreme and
unconventional courses or with policies which contemplate
no looking backwards. Such courses and policies are the
heritage of poets and prophets and other idealists, or of
mystics and saints.
Fortunately for Francis, the poet and saint, there was
the saintly Cardinal of St. Paul ; still more fortunate that
Pope Innocent and many of his counsellors were men in
whom the mysticism of religion blended curiously with the
statesmanship of the world.
THE BULE OF THE ORDER 91
The Primitive Rule was, in fact, the programme of an
adventure of faith ; and it was in the spirit of high adventure
that Pope Innocent approved it. But Innocent himself had
ever been bold in adventure for the faith which was in him,
as his successors learned when they came to steer the heri
tage he left them, amidst the shoals of secular diplomacy.
And stern, forbidding in his aloofness, and magnificent as
the pontiff was, he perhaps felt a certain spiritual kinship
with the gentle, lowly Francis, in the adventurousness of
faith which was common to them both.
BOOK II.
CHAPTEE I.
RIVO-TORTO.
WHEN Francis and his company left Eome after their re
ception by Pope Innocent, their one thought was to prove
themselves worthy of the Pope s confidence. The gracious-
ness of the Pontiff had warmed and lifted their hearts : they
had all the joy of the born soldier in receiving his first
commission.
Before leaving the city they had bade adieu at the tombs
of the Apostles : then they had turned their faces once more
towards Umbria. This time they did not go by the moun
tain valley of Bieti but they directed their steps across the
low country which follows the line of the Tiber till it comes
to the valley of the Nera. As they went along, the events of
the past few days formed the subject of their conversation,
and they discussed amongst themselves the wonderful mercies
God had shown them and the Bule they had promised to ob
serve and how best they might fulfil the work committed to
them by Christ and His Vicar. So engrossed were they in
their talk that they quite forgot the needs of the body, and
at midday they found themselves in a lonely spot with no
house within sight. They had walked since early morning
and were now quite faint with weariness and hunger. Whilst
they were wondering how they might procure some food in
this human wilderness suddenly a man approached them
carrying some bread which he willingly shared with them.
Thus relieved, the brethren saw in the stranger s coming
another instance of God s providence, and they continued
92
KIVO-TOETO 93
their journey, still more convinced that God would never fail
them in their need. 1
At length they came into the neighbourhood of Orte,
where the Nera joins with the Tiber. Here at some distance
from the town they found a quiet place where the ancient
Etruscans in the long past had buried their dead. The cave-
like tombs, now empty, offered shelter : so here the brethren
purposed to abide awhile and give themselves to prayer and
meditation : for they felt the need of collecting and strength
ening their souls energies in uninterrupted communion with
God at this new beginning of their vocation.
For fifteen days they abode in this place : every day some
of them would go into the town and beg food. If after the
common meal, anything were left over, they gave it to the
poor who passed by or they placed it in one of the tombs to
supply part of the next day s meal. But at the end of the
fifteen days they determined to proceed on their way. A
subtle temptation had come into their retreat : the solitude was
becoming very sweet to them and they had begun to argue
amongst themselves whether they could not better fulfil their
vocation by abiding apart from the haunts of men and giving
themselves wholly to a life of contemplation and prayer.
None felt the attraction of solitude more than Francis him
self ; but as he pondered prayerfully upon it, he grew con
vinced that it held a betrayal of his proper vocation. The
poor knight of Christ must have no abiding place on earth,
but wander through the world to win souls to God. So they
broke up this encampment. 2 They passed along the course
of the turbulent Nera through the dark well-wooded valley
which leads into the open spaces of the valley of Spoleto, and
so on to Assisi.
They did not now settle at the Porziuncola : it may be
that they were too many in number for the tiny shelter
Francis had built there ; or it may be that Francis felt a
scruple in claiming, as it were, a permanent abode anywhere
after the temptation which came to him in the wilderness
near Orte. Whatever the reason may have been, they lodged
1 1 Gelano, 34 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 1. 2 1 Celano, 34-5.
94 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
on their return, in a derelict shelter at Rivo-Torto, 1 a dis
trict which lies within a half-hour s walk from the city as
you look across the plain to Cannara. It was not far from
the leper settlement at Santa Maria Maddalena, and one
could easily reach the chapel of the Porziuncola through the
wood in as quick time as it takes to get into the city. 2
The shelter, however, was never built to give housing to
twelve men, and because the brethren in their solicitude for
each other would be apt to remain outside in the open that
others might have more comfort inside, Francis took a piece
of chalk and marked on the wall a place for each one, where
he might rest and pray when his day s work was over.
Here the brethren lodged it would seem far into the fol
lowing winter or longer. Things went hard with them at
times in the way of bodily comfort. Not only was there the
cramped space but now and then there was also a lack of
food, even of the poor fare they were now accustomed to.
Some days they had to appease their hunger with mangels,
the food of beasts. 8
They do not appear to have undertaken any long mission
ary journeys at this time. It may be that Francis thought
it more prudent to exercise his little band in the more inti-
1 "qiioddam tugurium ab Jwminibus derelictum," says 3 Soc. 55.
2 There has been much controversy over the actual site of the shelter at
Rivo-Torto. In the sixteenth century a church was built upon a supposed
site. It is standing to-day and the custodians have no doubt at all about its
claim.
M. Sabatier (Spec. Perfect, p. 95, n. 1) asserts that the shelter was
close to the leper settlement of Santa Maria Maddalena, basing his assertion
on the words of Bartholi, who describes the shelter as " ultra Sanctam Mariam
(i.e. de Portiuncula) per spatium parvis miliaris juxta hospitale leprosorum".
But Bartholi s measurements cannot be taken as accurate. However from
the words of 3 Soc. 55 : Reliquerunt igitur dictum tugurium ad usum pau-
perum leprosorum, it seems probable that the shelter was nearer to the Leper
settlement than the present church of Eivo-Torto. Here I would like to ap
peal for a more reverent care of the chapels of Santa Maria Maddalena and
San Buffino d Arce, than they are given at present. No ground in the neigh
bourhood of Assisi is more sacred to the memory of Francis than these places,
where he so frequently nursed the lepers. May we hope that the day will
come when they will be placed in a more reverent custody ?
3 3 Soc. 55.
KIVO-TOKTO 95
mate ways of the poverty they had vowed, in manual labour
and services for the lepers, and in the habit of self-discipline
and prayer. 1 Perhaps it was that the political turmoil and
troubles which had come upon Umbria, made missionary work
on a larger scale inexpedient for these neophytes. For the
forces of the emperor Otho IV, who had been crowned by
the Pope in the preceding year, and had broken his oath of
fidelity to the Holy See, were now over-running the valley of
Spoleto, laying waste the territories of Perugia and reducing
all Umbria to the imperial power. At the beginning of the
year, Otho had invested one of his captains, Dipold of Acerra,
with the duchy of Spoleto, vacant since the exclusion of Con
rad of Lutzen; and when, on 28 February, Perugia pro
mised to defend the patrimony of the Holy See, Otho at once
let loose his army to ravage and bring into subjection the
Umbrian cities : and all that year the country knew no peace.
In the autumn Otho made an armed progress through the
valley on his way to Bieti. It was probably on this occasion
that Francis .sent one of the brethren to meet the emperor as
he was passing by and to announce to him that his power
would be of short duration. 2 In this fashion did the brethren
in these early days at Eivo-Torto chiefly fulfil their mission
ary duty, by announcing their message to the passers-by or
to the people amongst whom they worked.
But Francis himself did more. On his return from Home
he began to preach not only in the open places of the city
but in the churches. The first church in which he preached
1 1 Celano, 45.
2 Ibid., 43; where, however, the chronicler seems to imply that this in
cident happened as Otho was on his way to Borne to receive the imperial
crown ("ad suscipiendam coronam "). But Otho seems not to have gone by
Assisi on his way to Rome, but by Viterbo (cf. F. Boehmer, Eegesta Imperil,
v. p. 96).
After his coronation, however, Otho passed by Assisi in December, 1209,
and again on his way to Bieti in 1210. He was at Bieti in the November of
that year ; in which same month he was excommunicated by the Pope (cf.
Boehmer, ibid. p. 103 and pp. 126-7 ; Gregorovius, Hist, of the City of Rome,
[Engl. transl.], Vol. V, part i. pp. 86-93. Not improbably Otho s shameless
pillaging of the Papal territories brought upon him the prophetic warning of
Francis.
96 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
was the little church of San Giorgio, 1 where Bernard da
Quintavalle had distributed his goods to the poor.
Shortly afterwards the canons of the Cathedral invited
him to preach every Sunday in the Cathedral itself. 2 These
sermons took place in the early morning when the Italian
people love best to flock to the churches for Mass ; and Francis,
perhaps for greater recollection, went into Assisi on the Satur
day evening and lodged the night in a house in the canons
garden adjoining the Cathedral. There he slept his brief sleep,
and then arose to prepare for his discourse by long hours of
prayer. 3
It is difficult to describe the effect of Francis appear
ance in the pulpit of the Cathedral. One must have seen
an Italian congregation hanging upon the words of a popular
preacher to realize the scene. They are an impressionable
people easily provoked to tears or laughter, to applause or
scorn. They are quick to detect insincerity and are apt to
despise a laboured effort. He who would win them, must speak
heart to heart, and they love to have the message put before
them dramatically, with gesture and movement. The whole
man, body and soul, must speak if they are to listen. And
when they are moved they respond in the same entire human
fashion. They utter their approval or dissent, sometimes in
words, sometimes in gesture, sometimes in a tense attitude
of the whole body. Francis himself was typically Italian
in temperament and character. When he felt strongly, his
whole body reflected his emotion. Unconsciously and with
out effort he would act his thoughts ; his words vibrated with
the emotion of his heart, and arms and feet and all his body
moved in unison with his speech. 4 Then he had that special
gift of the moving speaker, a musical voice, easily able to
modulate its utterance to the character of the emotions. 5 He
lacked a fine presence, he was too small and spare ; and the
1 Chron. Jordan!, No. 60 (Anal. Franc, i. p. 16) ; Leg. Maj. iv, 4.
2 Leg. Maj. iv. 4.
3 The room in which Francis lodged is still shown to the visitor to the
Duomo of Assisi.
4 Of. I Celano, 73, 86 : II Gelano, 107.
5 " Vox vehemens, dulcis, clara atque sonora" (I Celano 83).
EIVO-TOETO 97
coarse, ill-shapen habit he wore rather distracted the eye from
the delicacy of his features. 1 But the bodily presence of the
man was forgotten as soon as he began to speak, and the
inner fire of his spirit shot out its lightning flashes, dazzling
the inward eye with the clearness of the truth he revealed
in the consciences of his hearers. He had no studied rhetoric,
he spoke straight from the fullness of the heart, in pithy sen
tences brittle and swift. His language was homely, as it was
spoken by the people themselves ; he borrowed none of the
phrases of the schools : oftentimes the homeliness of the
speech was elevated only by the sincerity of the speaker, at
other times by the dramatic vividness of the thought or a
poetic sensibility to nature. Not infrequently when people
sought afterwards to recall his words, the words themselves
fell flat or insipid apart from the fire of the spirit with which
they were uttered. Francis power was in himself, not in his
words. He brought them no new doctrine to arrest their
thought ; he was as a flame enkindling the smouldering faith
of his hearers: for awhile he would lift them up into the
clear ardours of heaven, where their souls stood revealed to
themselves and their hearts were aglow with unwonted desire
of the higher life. And at such times " he seemed to those
who beheld him as a man from another world, whose heart
was set on Heaven and his face turned towards it, and who
was seeking to draw them upwards with him". 2 Unflinch
ingly he searched the consciences of his audience ; but there
was a sympathy in his voice which left no sting but only
a confession of the truth : it was as though he were voicing
the hearts of those before him, now that they suddenly stood
in the presence of God.
An example of the substance of his preaching is found in
the letters and written exhortations which he was accustomed
to send to the people by the friars, at those times when sick
ness prevented him from going abroad. Thus one can
imagine him standing before the crowd of citizens in the
Cathedral of Assisi, his whole body working with emotion ,
1 See the letter of Thomas of Spalatro. Of. infra, p. 302.
2 Leg. Maj. iv. Of. II Celano, 107.
98 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
his face tense in its earnestness, uttering some such words as
these : " We must not be wise and prudent according to the
flesh but rather must we be simple, humble and pure. Our
bodies we must hold in opprobrium and contempt since all of
us by our own fault are wretched and corrupt, rotten and
worms, as the Lord tells us by His prophet : I am a worm
and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the
people. 1 And we must never desire to be set above others,
but to be servants and subject to every human creature for
God s sake. And all who shall do in this manner and persevere
therein, upon them the spirit of the Lord shall rest, and He
will make in them His dwelling-place and they shall be children
of our heavenly Father, whose works they do; and they
shall be the spouses, brethren, and mothers of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We are His spouses when the faithful soul is united
with Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost. We are His brethren,
when we do the will of His Father who is in Heaven. We
are His mothers when we bear Him in our heart and our
body by love and a pure and sincere conscience, and bring
Him forth in holy deeds which must shine as an example to
others. how glorious and holy and great it is to have a
Father in heaven ! how holy, fair and lovable it is to
have a Spouse in heaven ! how holy and delightful, pleas
ing and humble, peaceful and sweet, amiable and above all
things to be desired, is it to have such a Brother who laid
down His life for His sheep and prayed to the Father for us,
saying : Holy Father, keep in My name them whom Thou
hast given Me ."
Or again he might be denouncing the folly of avarice and
usury, that folly which was at the root of so much of the
bitterness which set class against class and family against
family in hatred and frequent feuds :
" Look to it ye blind, you who are deceived by your enemies,
the flesh, the world, and the devil. Neither in this world nor
in the next will you have any good thing. You think you
will enjoy the vanities of this world, but you are deceived ;
for the day and the hour comes, of which you think not,
1 Psalm xxi. 6 (Vulgate).
EIVO-TOETO 99
which you know not and are ignorant of. The body sickens,
death draws nigh. Kelatives and friends come and tell you :
Place your affairs in order . And his wife and children, his
relatives and friends make pretence to weep. Looking up
he sees them weeping and is moved by an evil impulse, and
considering cunningly within himself, he says to them : Be
hold I put my body and soul and all that I have, into your
hands . Truly accursed is this man who thus confidently
places his body and soul and all that he has, into such hands.
Wherefore the Lord says by the prophet : Accursed is the
man who trusts in man . Then at once they bring in the
priest ; and the priest says to him : Will you receive penance
for all your sins ? He replies : I will . * Will you make
satisfaction out of your goods as far as you can, for all the
fraud and deception you have committed ? He replies :
No . Then asks the priest : Why not ? Because, says
he, I have already put all my goods into the hands of my
relatives and friends. And he begins to lose his speech, and
thus the wretched man dies a bitter death." l
This dramatic figuring of the deathbed of the usurer or
dishonest merchant would send many a man home with a
chastened spirit, and such sermons were followed not in
frequently by entire conversions, and there came distributions
to the poor of ill-gotten wealth, and not a few put aside alto
gether the unholy business of merchandize and took to less
doubtful employments, such as cultivating the land. 2
1 Both these passages are taken from Epistola I (Opuscula, ed. Quaracchi,
pp. 93-4; 96-7). According to Wadding this letter was written in 1212 or
1213 ; but others think it was written in the spring of 1215, when Francis
was sick with fever. Undoubtedly, however, it sums up the teaching of the
apostolate. Francis, as we know, never hesitated to repeat himself. Thus
passages of this very letter are repeated again in the Regula Prima, cap.
xxn. Of. Fr. Paschal Eobinson, The Writings of St. Francis, pp. 96-7.
2 We find this very frequently happening later on with the tertiaries or
secular followers of Francis. It was doubtless a practice inculcated by Francis
from the beginning on those who sought his advice. He never spared the
avarice engendered by the industrial movement of his time. For this reason
it was that he insisted on his disciples giving their wealth to the poor and
not to their relatives, because he considered that the money begotten of fraud
could only be purified when given in alms.
7 *
100 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
But in all his sermons Francis never failed to urge upon
the citizens the blessings of peace and mutual love nor to de
nounce with pleading earnestness the spirit of hatred and
envy which kept the commune in perpetual ferment, and the
ambition for power which made the higher classes, whether
nobles or burghers, bitterly hated by the lower class of citizen.
It was the same in all the Italian communes : no sooner were
they free from foreign domination, than the more wealthy
began to usurp the government and tyrannize over the less
wealthy, and faction was formed against faction and there
was no common interest save when the German loomed up
again to take away their independence : and oftentimes blood
flowed freely in these internecine quarrels. Francis never
tired of reiterating his cry of "Peace"! and when he
preached the Christian glory of service and mutual subjection,
the citizens knew that his mind s eye was upon the civic feud.
Hard though it was to put off the ingrained habit of
standing by one s own interest or ambition or by that of one s
family or party, yet in the end his persistent pleading told
and men began to utter the old party cries of hatred or arro
gance with less assurance and even with shame.
Those Sunday sermons in the Cathedral, backed by the
life of the brethren at Kivo-Torto, were working their way
into the conscience of the city. Of that there is no doubt.
Assisi was coming to acknowledge a prophet in its son and
submit to his sweet guidance.
An event happened at the beginning of the winter of
1210-1211, to which historians have pointed as an evidence of
Francis influence. On 9 November, the citizens met in
council and signed a treaty of concord amongst themselves.
By this treaty the Majores or higher grade of citizens and the
Minores or lower grade, bound themselves solemnly to work
together for the honour and common good of Assisi, and
each party promised to enter into no alliance with pope or
emperor or king, nor with any city or town, nor with any
person of power, without the consent of the whole commune.
They were to respect each other s rights and henceforth to
live in perpetual harmony. Exiles were to be allowed to
KIVO-TORTO 101
return ; the people who lived in the territories of the commune
outside the city were to have equal rights with those who
lived in the city itself, and the nobles were to renounce their
feudal claims : taxes were fixed and were not to be assessed
arbitrarily to any one s disadvantage. And so civic peace
was to reign. 1
It may be that the presence of the emperor s forces almost
at their gates had something to do in bringing about this act
of civic concord ; at least so far as bringing to reason those
whom Francis words had not yet moved. Nevertheless they
are doubtless right who connect this act of peace with Francis
preaching.
Meanwhile out at Eivo-Torto, Francis was fashioning his
disciples to take their part in the apostolate which he had
begun : nor did his work in the city distract him from this
intimate solicitude for the men who had left all and followed
him. As we have said, the brethren were at times in dire
straits to supply even the barest necessities for their bodily
support. But this in no way discouraged them. In their
fervour of spirit they would oftentimes deny themselves in
order to grow accustomed to do with as little sustenance as
possible : for these men held that they were not really poor
if they asked more of the charity of others than was really
necessary ; and to receive more than they actually needed they
deemed an abuse of others charity and a robbery of other
poor. More than once Francis had need to rebuke their in
discretion. One night the whole company was awakened by
the cries of a young brother who thought he was dying.
Francis arose and saw that it was sheer want of food that
the brother was suffering from, and without more ado he got
together what scraps of food were at hand and himself pre
pared a meal. Then he sat down with the famished brother,
and, to spare his shame, himself took a share. When they
had eaten, Francis spoke his mind to the brethren standing
round: "My best beloved," he said, "I tell you that each
one of you ought to pay heed to his nature ; for some of you
may be strong enough to be sustained on less food than
1 A. Cristofani, op. cit. pp. 79-82.
102 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
others ; yet it is my will that he who needs more food shall
not be bound to imitate those who need less, but let each give
to his body what it requires in order to be strong enough to
serve the spirit. For whilst we must beware of that super
fluity of food which is a hindrance both to body and soul ; in
like manner, nay even more, must we beware of too great ab
stinence, seeing that the Lord wills to have mercy and not
sacrifice."
On another occasion Francis, noticing that a brother was
not well, rose early in the morning and took him to a neigh
bouring vineyard, and choosing a spot near a good vine, sat
down with the brother and together they ate of the grapes. 2
In after years the brethren would relate these incidents to a
younger generation to show what manner of man Francis
was.
And perhaps nothing in these first sensitive days made a
greater impression on the mind of all the brotherhood, than
Francis constant care for them, so maternal in its quick
divining sympathy. He was as their very soul. He per
ceived and felt their temptations and difficulties almost more
clearly than themselves, and his word always brought comfort.
No trouble was too trivial for his watchfulness. He had
known too well the difficulties of those early days when a
man sets forth to walk the higher road in response to the im
perious call of the spirit ; he knew the elation and depression,
the buoyant hope and the blank discouragement which make
the first years of the spiritual life at once a delight and a
torture. And as yet the brethren had not the vicarious se
curity which an individual derives from an established order
of things. The fraternity was only at the beginning of a
corporate consciousness. The shelter of Bivo-Torto was not
possessed of that spirit of place which was to come so swiftly
to the Porziuncola. The one earthly mainstay of the brothers
was Francis himself. Hence they clung to him as a child
1 II Celano, 22 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 27 ; Leg. Maj. v. 7. See also Eccles-
ton, De adventu FF. Min. [ed. Little], col. xv. p. 106, where it is related how
St. Francis compelled Albert of Pisa to take twice the quantity of food he was
accustomed to take.
2 II Celano, 176 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 28.
EIVO-TOETO 103
clings to its mother, with a feeling of blind unreasoning con
fidence. He was their oracle and law, the pledge that God
was with them : and in this belief they found the strength
they often needed in these critical days when their spiritual
feet were yet uncertain of the hard earth they trod. How
deeply this conviction had taken hold of them is shown by
this incident.
Francis had gone as usual one Saturday evening to the
Cathedral to await his Sunday sermon. Now that night,
whilst some of the brethren at Kivo-Torto were sleeping
and others keeping vigil, suddenly they were all startled
and there appeared to them a fiery chariot chasing to and
fro in the shelter, and above the chariot was a ball of
fire of surpassing brightness. At the same moment their
souls were flooded with spiritual light and their consciences
were revealed to each other. Seeking for an explanation
of this marvel as they gathered together, the brothers con
cluded that in the fiery chariot and ball of fire, Francis
spirit had manifested its continual presence with them :
and in this belief they were confirmed when, the next day, on
his return, Francis was already aware of the mystery of the
night. 1 Thus it was that whether in preaching to the people
or in forming the brotherhood, his penetrating sympathy
was as a spirit which moved over the waters, bringing light
out of darkness and an abundant life out of the void.
1 1 Celano, 47 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 4.
CHAPTEE II
THE PORZIUNCOLA.
IN after years the place of the Porziuncola was to acquire
a sort of sacramental significance in the story of Francis and
his friars. It was the sanctuary wherein the sacred fire was
deemed to be enshrined and kept alight and where the spirit
of Francis was held to haunt the earth.
Holy of Holies is this Place of Places,
Meetly held worthy of surpassing honour !
Happy thereof the surname, " of the Angels,"
Happier yet the name, " The Blessed Mary ".
Now a true omen the third name conferreth,
"The Little Portion," on the Little Brethren :
Here where by night a presence oft of Angels,
Singing sweet hymns illumineth the watches.
Here was the old world s broad highway made narrow,
Here the way made broader for the chosen People ;
Here grew the Rule ; here Poverty, our Lady,
Smiting back pride, called back the Cross amongst us. 1
So sang one in after times, uttering in verse the thoughts
of many brethren. And to this day is the place of the Porziun
cola held sacred in the Catholic Church next after the three
holiest sanctuaries of the Holy Land, St. Peter s in Borne
and St. James at Compostella.
The old chroniclers tell how after Francis and the brethren
had taken up their abode there, a certain devout man saw
in a vision a great multitude of men gathered on bended
knees around the little chapel, and they were all blind. With
clasped hands and uplifted faces they were beseeching heaven
in a loud and pitiable voice to give them light, when suddenly
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 84 [S. Evans translation].
104
m.
\ ,
C*
I
I
THE POKZIUNCOLA 105
from the sky there broke forth a great radiance which fell
upon them all and restored their sight. 1 And indeed the
Porziuncola was to bring light to many people who had been
sitting in darkness, as all who know the story of Francis are
aware.
For three years past Francis had loved this chapel in the
woods, and there he and his first disciples, as we have seen,
had found their first meeting-place. It may seem strange
that when he first bethought him of the need of a sort of
nursery for this new brotherhood, he did not at once turn
to the Porziuncola. Yet so it is often in life. The men and
things that are destined to be most intimately bound up with
our ultimate struggles and affections come to us in some sort
as an afterthought or as a fate over-ruling our own decision.
It may be that Francis in the beginning thought to have no
permanent dwelling at all, and that only with the coming of
new novices he grew convinced of the need of some dedicated
spot where the spirit of the Lady Poverty might make for
itself a shelter from the world for the training of the neo
phytes. Then finding the shelter at Kivo-Torto unoccupied,
it would be like Francis to take this as an indication of God s
Providence and to seek no further for a lodging place ; he
would hesitate to cast a longing desire upon any other spot
however attractive, for in such desire he would see a sort of
mental possession. His rule was to take what was freely
given : he would never lay claim to anything.
But Eivo-Torto was nevertheless not destined for long to
be the nursery of the Franciscan brotherhood. A trivial
thing, the discourtesy of a peasant, was the occasion of the
brethren leaving it. One day when they were at prayer, a
peasant, driving an ass, came to the shelter. He was evidently
annoyed to find it already occupied and in some sort of pos
session, and this aroused his anger and induced him to assert
his right to enter in with ostentatious incivility. In a loud
voice he urged his beast : " get you in ; here we will make
ourselves a cosy dwelling " ; and so he went on addressing
to the ass the taunts of usurped ownership and easy living,
1 II Celano, 20 ; Leg. Maj. n. 8 ; 3 Soc. 56.
106 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
which were meant for the ears of the brethren. The dis
courtesy of the man s speech cut Francis to the quick ; he
felt it for his brethren s sake, for willingly though these men
endured personal injury they were yet sensitive to the injury
done to another. 1 Moreover, as he thought the matter over,
he was troubled at the insinuated disloyalty to his Lady
Poverty, and again, at the disturbance such intrusion must
cause to the meditations of the brethren : and he ever had a
feeling of delicacy about intruding between God and the soul
in moments of prayer. So without further delay, he bade the
brethren leave the shelter and seek with him a resting-place
elsewhere. With something of his old wit, he remarked :
" God has not called us to prepare a stable for an ass and to
entertain every passer-by, but to preach the way of salvation
and give ourselves to prayer ". 2
But the difficulty now was where to go ? With his habit
ual deference to the Bishop of Assisi, Francis first went to
him and asked for the use of some chapel where the brethren
might without disturbance make their prayer ; but the bishop
had no chapel to put at their disposal. Next he went to the
canons of the Cathedral, but received the same reply. Finally
he sought out the abbot of the monastery on Monte Subasio,
who at once offered him the chapel of the Porziuncola. But
the abbot made one condition : should the fraternity increase
and grow into a great order, the Porziuncola chapel must
always be regarded as the chief place of the order. Francis
readily acquiesced ; and to his chivalrous soul it seemed to him
that this condition placed the fraternity in perpetual fealty
to the Mother of God "the head, after her Son, of all the
Saints". 3
So the brethren went to the Porziuncola, and around the
i Of. 3 Soc. 42.
2 3 Soc. 55; I Celano, 44.
3 IICelano, 18; 3 Soc. 56; Spec. Perfect, cap. 55. That the Porziun
cola was only given to Francis for the use of the brethren and not as a real
possession, is proved by the bull of Innocent IV, dated 11 March, 1244, in
which amongst other properties of the Abbey of Monte Subasio, is mentioned
the chapel of the Porziuncola. Of. P. Sabatier, Spec. Perfect. Etude Speciale
du cJiapitre 55, p. 269.
THE PORZIUNCOLA 107
chapel they built narrow huts of branches of trees and earth, 1
such as a traveller might build for a temporary rest on a
journey : for Francis was insistent that even here, where
in God s Providence the fraternity would abide for all time,
their abode should have no character of a permanent dwell
ing, so that the brethren might be ready at any moment to
go forth should God call them. It was some years before a
house was built at the Porziuncola, and then it was built by
the citizens of Assisi against the will of Francis. 2 And lest
the brethren should at any time come to regard the chapel as
their own or claim a proprietorship in the land, Francis made
a law that every year they should, by way of rent, take a basket
of fish caught in the river, to the abbot of Monte Subasio :
and for many years this was done until the great abbey was
destroyed. And in his courtesy the abbot would send back a
flask of oil as a receipt. 3
In the century after Francis death, a delightful story was
told as to how the brethren came by this gift of the Porziun
cola. A devout rustic, it runs, standing one day near the
chapel of our Lady heard the angels singing within, and full
of wonderment he ran and told the priest who served the
chapel, and ended by asking : Why do you not ask Brother
Francis and the brothers who live at Rivo-Torto to go and
dwell there ? The priest acted on the suggestion and went and
brought Francis to the spot. No sooner did Francis enter
the chapel than he beheld in vision Christ and His Blessed
Mother ; and he boldly asked our Lord whence He had come.
Our Lord answered: "I am come from beyond the sea". 4
"Wherefore?" asked Francis again; and again our Lord
answered: "To espouse this place to Myself". Francis
coming to himself exclaimed : " I will never leave this spot ".
And he went straightway and besought the abbot to give
1 Of. Spec. Perfect, capp. 9, 10. 2 Vide infra, p. 225.
3 Spec. Perfect, cap. 55. The abbey was destroyed in 1399. But the
custom of sending annually a basket of fish to the Benedictines, has recently
been revived ; the fish being now sent to the monks of San Pietro in Assisi, where
the monks of Monte Subasio took refuge after the destruction of their abbey.
4 Evidently a reference to the traditional origin of the chapel. Vide
supra, p. 45.
108 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
him this place. 1 The story is true at least to the spirit of
the Porziuncola and to that singular affection and rever
ence in which Francis held it. For to him it was in very
truth a place wedded to Christ and his glorious Mother ; 2 and
within its walls the angels sang to him and heaven revealed
its secrets.
Francis delight in settling at this woodland chapel can be
compared only to that of a bridegroom bringing his bride to
the home of her choice. The very name was a joy to him ;
he thought it must have been given to this spot in anticipa
tion of the coming of the Lady Poverty. 3 With a fond re
verence he was solicitous to make this place a mirror of the
perfection of the life to which the brethren were called. He
set it about with a hedge within which no secular person
might set foot, so that no word other than that concern
ing spiritual things might be uttered there. Within that
enclosure even the brethren might not speak save of God
and their soul s welfare.
No idleness was tolerated there ; when the brethren were
not at prayer they were at work ; each must have some craft
to which he could turn when not employed in spiritual exer
cises. 4 Day and night they kept up the service of prayer.
At first, having no books from which to read the canonical
office, they recited instead the Pater Noster at each of the
liturgical hours.
The domestic ordering of the fraternity too was in ac
cordance with the spirit of Poverty : it was based upon
mutual service and brotherly love. 5 Where all were ready to
1 Bartholi, Tractatus de Indulgentia S. M. de Portiuncula, cap. i.
2 Cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 55: "licet enim locus iste sit sanctus et prcelectus
a Christo et a Virgine gloriosa".
3 Cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 55 ; II Celano, 18.
4 Thus Francis carved wooden vessels, probably for the use of the
brethren (of. II Celano, 97) ; in later years he made wafers for sacra
mental use. At Greccio they still preserve the iron mould he had for this
purpose. Brother Giles was an adept in making baskets (of. Conformit. in
Anal. Franc, iv. p. 206). Brother Juniper carried about an awl for mending
sandals (ibid. p. 245).
5 Cf. Begula Prima, cap. v. : Per caritatem spiritus voluntarie serviant et
obediant invicem. Et hcec est vera et sancta obedientia Domini nostri Jesu Christi.
THE POEZIUNCOLA 109
put aside themselves and their own will and to make them
selves servants to each other, and where all were animated
by the same spirit and ideal, authority, as it is generally
understood, was hardly needed. Francis idea of authority
was that of leadership in the harder paths of the vocation and
of service and solicitude for the needs of those who depended
upon him : and this was the idea he impressed upon the
brethren. In the ordinary administration of the daily life of
the brethren he would seldom exercise the authority given
him by the Holy See ; but he had chosen another who was
held not so much as a superior but as a mother of the house
hold, and whose duty it was to care for the temporal needs of
the brethren, to shield them against the intrusions of the outer
world which might be a distraction to their spirit of prayer, and
to set to each his particular office in the common life. But
Francis took care that each brother should have periods when
he might give himself uninterruptedly to the cultivation of the
spirit in seclusion and prayer whilst the active duties were
performed by others. 1
For their daily bread, of course, they went out to work or
beg. They refused no work which was not unbecoming the
unworldliness of their character nor in opposition to their
conscience. They did work in the fields, helping the farm
hands to gather in the harvests or cultivate the soil ; they
even worked as servants in the houses of the citizens : always,
however, doing the menial labour and never accepting any
post of authority. 2 When the day s work was finished they
returned to the Porziuncola, bringing with them the food
they had earned, which went towards the common meal.
But when work was not to be had, or when their employers
1 This method of government was long maintained in its primitive sim
plicity in the hermitages of the Order, after the establishment of a more formal
government in the convents or larger community houses : as is evident from
the Rule which Francis later on gave for those living in hermitages. Cf.
De religiosa habitatione in Eremo, in Opuscula (Quaracchi), pp. 83-4.
When later on more formal superiors were established, Francis still en
deavoured to keep alive this idea of service as the essential characteristic of
the superior in the fraternity : he would have superiors styled " ministers,"
not priors. Cf. Eegula Prima, cap. vi.
2 Cf . Eegula Prima, cap. vn. ; I Celano, 39-40.
110 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
treated them scurvily and sent them home unrewarded, then
they must needs go from door to door and beg. 1
Such was the life with which Francis adorned the Porzi-
uncola that his Lady Poverty might find there an abiding
dwelling-place and set the law of her spirit to the fraternity
in all the time to come. And it was here that the new
postulants were to receive their first instruction in the life
and duties of the brotherhood. There was no formal period
of probation for novices at this time, as there came to be
later on. When anyone sought admission to the fraternity
he was brought to Francis and submitted to his scrutiny. If
the postulant showed signs of a vocation he was given the
habit and received to profession. But first he was obliged to
give whatever property he possessed to the poor. It was
not enough that he left it in the hands of his relatives. These
knights of Poverty were set by God to establish a new order
of things in the world in conformity with the wisdom of the
Gospel of Christ. They were not to establish their families
in wealth and thereby pander to their vanity, but they were
to teach the world by example the beauty of universal love
and pity. They who were in need had a first claim upon
their property according to the charity of Christ ; and to
deny them this charity was in the eyes of Francis to cheat
Christ Himself of His heritage. Only when their relatives
themselves were in want, might the postulants leave them
their goods. It happened on one occasion that a postulant
came to seek admittance into the brotherhood and was bidden
in the usual course to go first and distribute his goods to the
poor. He went back and renounced his possessions, but in
favour of his family. Then he returned and told Francis
what he had done ; but Francis laughed and bade him go
back again to the family he had enriched : " You have given
what is yours to your brethren according to the flesh and
have defrauded the poor. You are not worthy to be reckoned
amongst God s poor. Go your way." 2
But amongst all the neighbourly services which Francis
inculcated upon the brethren, the service of the lepers was
1 Of. Testamentum S. Franc. 2 II Celano, 81.
THE POKZIUNCOLA 111
the most insistent. In his courteous way he used to speak of
them not as " the lepers " but as " my brother-Christians ".
And the brethren entered into his compassionate regard for
them with enthusiasm. It was perhaps the portion of their
service for others which they liked most, once they had over
come their dread of its loathsomeness. The lepers helpless
ness and abandonment appealed strongly to their chivalry.
Sometimes indeed their compassion outran their discretion.
There was a brother, James the Simple they called him, who
was given the care of a leper who was in the last stages of
the terrible disease, and so loathsome to look upon, that he
was not permitted to leave the hospital. The pitying brother
fretted that his charge should be so utterly denied his freedom
and the society of men, and one day brought him to the
Porziuncola to see the brethren. Francis was away when
the leper arrived, and finding him there on his return, he
at once said to Brother James in the presence of the leper :
" you must not lead these brother- Christians abroad in this
fashion; it is not decent, neither for you nor for them".
But no sooner had he uttered the words than he was filled
with pity and remorse because of the presence of the leper.
Straightway he went and threw himself upon his knees before
Peter Cathanii, who was then the " mother" of the com
munity, and accused himself of his lack of thought for the
leper s feelings, and ended by saying : " Confirm unto me the
penance I wish to perform . Brother Peter replied : What
ever it will please thee to do, that do ". " This then is my
penance," said Francis, "I will eat out of the same dish
with my brother-Christian." And at the meal which followed,
Francis and the leper sat side by side and ate out of the
same dish. 1
Perhaps the most difficult lesson the novice had to learn
1 Spec. Perfect, ed. Sabatier, cap. 58 ; ed. Leramens, xxxn. In the former
edition Peter Cathanii is described as Minister General ; but in Lemmens
edition, it is simply said that Peter was present, without giving him any title.
As Peter never was Minister General, it is evident that Sabatier s edition in
this chapter is a later and less reliable version. The probability is that Peter
was fulfilling the office of superior or " mother," since Francis went to him to
confirm his penance.
112 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
was that of begging his bread : and it seems that before re
ceiving the novices to profession they were first tried in this
exercise as well as in others. For there was one novice who,
as the legend bluntly puts it, " did hardly pray at all and
never did work, neither would he go forth for alms ; but he
did eat bravely ". Francis dealt with him somewhat caustic
ally : " Go your way, Brother Fly, since you are willing to
eat the sweat of the other brethren but yourself are idle in
the work of the Lord. Like a barren drone you gain nothing
and do not work, but you devour the labour and gains of the
good bees " : l and so he dismissed him.
Yet was Francis always compassionate for the beginners
who were sent out to beg ; for he himself knew the mortifica
tion of it. To encourage them he would himself go out first
on the quest for alms. He deemed it no sign of a worldly
spirit when a young brother felt shame in begging, but only
when for shame they refused to beg. 2
He himself had now come, from frequent meditation on
the poverty of Jesus Christ, to hold it as a privilege to live
by alms : and more especially by alms won on the quest from
door to door. Such alms he considered more honourable to
poverty than those offered spontaneously, because they were
won by a greater exercise of humility. 3
But for the younger brethren this begging from door to
door was an undoubted trial of their vocation. One day a
brother who had been sent out to beg perhaps one of the
shy ones who had need to summon his courage to his aid
came back carrying his wallet filled with food, over his
shoulder, and as he came along he sang aloud. Francis
hearing his voice at once went out to meet him, and taking
the wallet, embraced the brother and kissed the shoulder over
which the wallet had lain. "Blessed be my brother," he
exclaimed, " who goes forth promptly, quests humbly, and
comes back merrily."
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 24 ; II Celano, 45. 2 II Celano, 71. 3 Ibid.
4 II Celano, 76; cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 25. The evidence of all the early
legends is too clear to admit any doubt upon the fact that the Friars Minor in
the primitive days went begging when other means of subsistence failed them.
THE POEZIUNCOLA 113
To encourage the brethren, Francis often discoursed to
them of the poverty of our Lord. " My brothers most be
loved," he said to them once, "the Son of God was more
noble than any of us ; yet for our sakes He made Himself
poor in this world. For love of Him we have chosen this
way of poverty, wherefore we ought not to be ashamed to go
begging. To be ashamed of the pledge of our heavenly herit
age does not become us who are heirs of the kingdom. I
tell you that many noble and wise men will come and join
our brotherhood, who will take it as an honour to go out and
beg. You, therefore, who are the first-fruits of the brethren,
should rejoice and be glad and not be unwilling to do what
you must hand down to these saints to come." 1
Eventually by his example and fervent exhortations,
Francis so far overcame the repugnance of the brethren that
the questors, each returning from his own quarter of the city
on a day they had been sent out to beg, would lay out their
alms in mock rivalry contending as to who had proved him
self the best beggar. 2
They were, however, on no account allowed to receive
money, even if it were freely offered them. Upon this point
Francis was absolutely decided. Only in rare cases when
the sick were in sore need, and in no other way could be re
lieved, did he allow the brethren to accept money at all ; 3
and even that exception he made reluctantly. For to his
mind money was the symbol of that world from which
Yet two contemporary witnesses outside the Order state that the first Francis
cans did not beg. Burkhardt in his Chronicle (Mon. Germ. Hist. Scriptores,
torn, xxiii. p.>376) says: " Pauper es Minores . . . neqiie pecuniam nee quic-
quam aliud prater victum accipiebant et siquandovcstcm necessariam quispicuu
ipsis spoiite conferebat, ium enim quicquam pcterent ab aliquo ". And Jacques
de Vitry in his well-known letter (cf. P. Sabatier, Spec. Perfect, p. 300) says
of the Poor Clares : " Nihil accipiunt sed de labore manuum vivunt ". The
explanation is probably that the friars only begged in cases of necessity and
without making themselves a nuisance to others. This explanation would
also give another reason for St. Francis special delight in alms gained by
questing, as they would then be a token of a greater poverty and destitution.
1 II Celano, 74 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 18.
2 Spec. Perfect, cap. 18.
J This exception was retained in the Regula Prima of 1221, cap. vm. ; but
is not mentioned in the Rule of 1223.
8
114 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Poverty had set the brethren free, the world of barter and
gain, of avarice and usury and of the hatreds which rose
therefrom. It was, moreover, as he saw it, a sort of charter
of possession in the things of the earth ; it gave a man a lien
upon and in some way bound him up with the material world.
The man who has money, holds the earth in bondage ; his
money thrusts him between God and God s creatures, and too
often he prostitutes the earth which is God s to his own
selfish pleasure : and that to Francis was an unholy thing.
" The earth is the Lord s," expressed, in a very intimate
phrase, the faith of Francis concerning the use man should
make of the visible creation ; and whatever tended to blur
that faith he abhorred with all the passionate sincerity of his
nature. It was not that he had any theories against the right
of private property : in fact he accepted that right so far as
it concerned others who were not of his fraternity : that was
their concern and the concern of the Church. But he grieved
over the abuse of the right ; and in his dealings with men of
the world who sought his counsel, he always insisted that
their property was a trust put into their hands by the pro
vidence of God, not for their own benefit alone but for the
benefit of all who were in need. But for himself and the
brethren he held that God had set them free from this trust
in order that they might more convincingly by word and ex
ample warn the world against the dangers and lust of wealth.
The very existence of the brotherhood dependent upon the
good-will of men for their bodily sustenance, would be a con
tinual reproach to the avaricious, and an invitation to those
who held this world s goods to fulfil their trust in relieving
the needs of the poor.
Hence in sending the brethren out to beg he would say
to them: "Go forth; for in this last hour the Friars Minor
have been placed in the world that the elect may fulfil those
things for which ,the Great Judge will commend them, say
ing : what you did to these My lesser brethren you did unto
Me ." l So long then as men of the world held their goods
in the spirit of a trust and in charity towards their fellow-
ill Celano, 71. Of. Matt. xxv. 40.
THE POBZIUNCOLA 115
men, he found no fault with them: his protest was against
the greed and avarice which he saw festering in the whole
body politic of his day : and of that greed and avarice, money,
in his eyes, was the token. In those times money was not
the general means of barter for common daily needs, as it has
become since. In the simpler arrangement of society a
labourer s wages were more generally paid in food and the
ordinary necessaries of life : money represented not so much
his present need as his future store ; in a large measure it
was the expression of a superfluity. As such it was apt to
breed artificial wants and materialize the whole man : a danger
which indeed seems inherent in money at all times, but which
in those simpler days was the more apparent. Francis had
himself experienced the danger ; he had known the fascina
tion of comfort and luxurious living which grows upon a man
to the dimming of his spiritual sight when the road to
luxuries is opened by a ready purse. He knew too by ob
servation of the world in which he had lived, the brutal arrog
ance and love of power which money is apt to breed in those
who have it. And all these things made him regard money
as a peculiarly unholy possession which not only clogged
the soul in its more spiritual movements, but tended to de
humanize both heart and mind : hence the disdain and almost
virulent reproach with which he came to regard it. Francis,
as you must have seen already, was not of the race of
philosophers who stand aloof and take the world as a mere
mental problem. His philosophy was all bound up with his
own vocation and duty ; he was consecrated to free the world
from the tyranny of the greed and avarice of wealth ; and
as money was the actual weapon with which this tyranny
prosecuted its reign he held it as de facto the devil s snare.
One must understand that in order to understand Francis
and why he would not allow the brotherhood even to touch
the unholy thing. Thus one day a visitor to the chapel of
the Porziuncola, left behind him on the altar a coin. A
brother finding it there, took and threw it into a chest near
the window ; not, it would seem from the legend, altogether
in contempt but with an eye upon future use. Francis,
8*
116 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
hearing what he had done, was much angered, and the
brother in alarm threw himself upon his knees before him
"offering himself even to stripes". It was seldom that
Francis uttered a harsh word, but now he " chided right
bitterly ". As a penance he bade the brother go and take up
the money in his mouth, as beasts do, and carry it in this
fashion outside the enclosure of the Porziuncola and cast it
on a dung-heap. 1
The brethren came to feel with him in this matter of
money and to have the same unreasoning reason ; as was
shown in the case of a young brother who thought to mock
at the solemn conviction of an elder. They were going one
day to the leper hospital when they came across a piece of
money lying in the road. The elder would have] passed on
unheeding, but the younger picked it up and said it would
be of use in assisting some poor leper : but he said this not
so much out of compassion for the leper as in derision of the
other s scruple. But hardly had he touched the coin when
he remembered Francis warnings and presently he was struck
with a great fear and began to tremble violently. He tried
to speak, but was tongue-tied with fear; and it seemed to
him that the piece of money was nothing else than an evil
genius. With a great effort he at length cast it from him
and the spell was broken. Then in great contrition he knelt
before his companion and begged pardon, and recovered his
peace. 2
But perhaps the most marvellous thing about the Porziun
cola was the simplicity of spirit of the men who gathered
there. In that holy place it was as though one had come
into an atmosphere of absolute truthfulness where no guile
or conceit could continue to live. The brethren constantly
strove to know themselves as they were and to appear before
men for what they were. There was with them no pious
dissimulation such as is sometimes justified by religious
people on the plea of edifying their neighbour. In fact, so
far wers they from seeking to edify by deceit that they had an
almost exaggerated anxiety that people should know their
1 1 Celano, 56; Spec. Perfect, cap. 15. 2 II Celano, 66.
THE POKZIUNCOLA 117
weaknesses and faults, especially after men began to respect
them as saints. Thus once when Francis was sick he was
persuaded by the brothers to eat of some fowl they had pro
cured for him. Afterwards, however, he feared that he had
been too self-indulgent, and knowing that the citizens esteemed
him a man of austere life, he was struck with remorse.
Taking a brother he went into the city. At the city s
gate he took his cord and put it around his neck and bade
his companion lead him by the cord through the streets in
the way that criminals are led, meanwhile crying aloud : " Be
hold a glutton who fattens on fine fowl whilst you think him
to be fasting". 1
Any unwonted show of reverence towards the brethren
filled them with alarm or repugnance. Thus one brother
when sent to establish a house in Bologna, came hastily
back to the Porziuncola because the people in that city treated
him as a saint ; 2 and another, when met at the gates of
Kome, by a procession of worthy folk who came out to do
him reverence, turned aside and joined some children in a
game of see-saw, until the waiting worthies turned back in
disgust. 3 Not uncommonly in preaching they would confess
openly their own sins lest people should take them to be as
holy as the doctrine they preached, or because in their simple
sincerity they desired the prayers of the people for their own
salvation. Amongst themselves if one happened even to think
injuriously of another, he would afterwards confess his thought
and beg the other s pardon. 4
So utterly guileless were they, that they could not credit
that others were not as truthful as themselves in word or
action. They believed the best of all men and were not easily
brought to think evil of any. Thus there was a secular priest
to whom some of them were accustomed to go to confession.
He was unhappily a man of ill-fame ; but the brethren could
1 1 Celano, 52. 2 Actus S. Franc, cap. 4 ; Fioretti, cap. 4.
3 Fioretti, Vita di Frate Ginepro, cap. 9.
4 1 Celano, 56 ; 3 Soc. 43. See also what Eccleston says of the truth
fulness which characterized the English friars, in De adventu, ed. Little,
col. v. p. 30.
118 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
not be got to believe him other than he appeared, nor would
they leave off making their confessions to him. 1
But this was perhaps partly out of their reverence for
the priestly office. In every priest they saw only the priestly
dignity in which was reflected the majesty of Christ, and with
all reverence they would kiss the hand which had held the
Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. 2 They
were not given to sitting in judgment upon any man : they
were too conscious of their own defects in the sight of the
holiness of God easily to find fault with the personal conduct
of others : they kept an open eye only for the good in men s
actions, which they took gratefully as food for their own souls.
But the word of a priest was to them almost as the law of
God, such was their reverence for him. Thus once when a
priest said to a brother: "Beware of hypocrisy, brother,"
the brother was much troubled, thinking that the priest
had detected in him a hypocrite. Some other brothers en
deavoured to console him, but he replied : " A priest cannot
lie". 3
Thus were the brethren trained in the wisdom of Poverty ;
and the Porziuncola came to stand in the eyes of men as the
home of a new peace. To some it seemed as though the
radiance of Bethlehem and Nazareth had again broken
through the clouds which encompassed the world and was
flooding the plain below Assisi with a clear and joy-giving
light.
1 1 Celano, 46.
" CL Testamentum S. Franc. : Nolo in ipsis consider ar e peccatum" etc.
3 1 Celano, 46; cf. Vita Fr. Mgidii in Chron. xxiv. Gen.; Anal. Franc.
in. p. 79.
CHAPTEE III.
THE PORZIUNCOLA (CONTINUED).
THEY were heroic days, those first years at the Porziuncola ;
and the men who were formed there at that period were more
or less of the heroic type ; at least as a body. In those days
the brethren had no doubt or hesitation as to the wisdom of
their life. Francis word was their law; and as yet the
difficulties and problems of a world-development had not
come to disturb the harmony of the fraternity. Their thoughts
were borne upon the wings of their spiritual desire far above
the earth. The world s prudence and its conventions were
nothing to them, not that they defied the world on its own
ground but simply because they moved in another sphere of
thought where these things have no part. No man could
claim a place in the ordinary economy of the world and yet
act as they acted. It was an evidence of the inherent
idealism of the Church that their life was approved at all.
We shall see later on what difficulties arose when it became
necessary to bring the fraternity into some sort of relationship
with the established traditions and the wider policy of the
Holy See. But these difficulties had not yet arisen and the
brethren of the Porziuncola were still living in undisturbed
liberty of soul. The world looked on and wondered. At one
moment it might revile the brotherhood as an outrage upon
the conventions and their wisdom ; the next moment it was
on its knees begging pardon, being won by some subtle grace
it could not long withstand.
What, for example, could the world make of a man like
Brother Juniper ? Yet it respected and loved him in spite
of itself. This Brother Juniper was one of the types bred at
the Porziuncola, if one may speak of types in a community
119
120 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
where every member retained a remarkable freshness and in
dividuality of character. But he was typical of a certain
childlike naivete which came in a greater or lesser degree to
all the brethren in their new vocation. In some it was com
bined with a shrewd knowledge of the world or with a native
dignity of bearing or with a high natural intelligence : but all
in some measure were endowed with it. They all had some
thing of the open-eyed wonder and the intentness on the
present moment which is characteristic of early youth.
Brother Juniper himself was naturally of a naive disposi
tion and a man in whom warm feeling was more potent than
calm reason. He was impulsive and given to acting upon
the idea of the moment ; but he was utterly without a
thought of self. He would have died smiling and unconsci
ous of personal merit, for the sake of saving another man pain
or to bear witness to the faith which was in him : and for this
reason Francis esteemed him a very flower of the fraternity.
" Would that I had a forest of such junipers ! " he once ex
claimed when Juniper had perpetrated some gaucherie. His
very indiscretions were redeemed by his absolute sincerity
and selflessness ; so that the old chronicler dwells delightedly
upon his story as one who would say : " See what a simpleton
he is and yet we love and worship him ". Who in fact could
fail to love a man who, being somewhat intemperately re
proved by his superior, is wholly unconcerned about his own
humiliation but much concerned because the superior, in re
proving him, had developed a sore throat ? That happened
in Juniper s case after the death of Francis, and the superior
was one who did not appreciate simplicity as Francis did.
On the evening of his reproof Juniper went into the city and
obtained the materials for a good pottage of flour and butter.
When the night was well advanced there was a knock at the
superior s door, and, on the door being opened, there stood
Juniper with a candle in one hand and the steaming pottage
in the other. " My father," he said, " when thou didst re
prove me for my fault, I saw that thy voice grew hoarse and
I ween it was through overmuch fatigue. Therefore I
thought of a remedy and made this mess of pottage for thee."
THE PORZIUNCOLA 121
The superior was only the more angered at being disturbed
and bade him begone. Juniper, however, was full of pity
and still stood there endeavouring to persuade the superior
to eat the pottage ; but without avail. At length, seeing that
the superior would not eat, Juniper said : " Then if you will
not eat, my father, I pray thee do this for me : hold the candle
and I myself will eat it". The chronicler adds that the
superior " being won by Brother Juniper s piety and simplicity,
was no more wroth, but sat down and ate with him ". Much
the same thing happened frequently as between the brothers
of the Porziuncola and the outer world : men might criticize
this or that action, but the spirit in which it was done, made
them captive. It was this Brother Juniper who played see
saw with the children outside the walls of Rome whilst the
procession of people waited impatiently to do him honour.
Another lesson, learned at the Porziuncola, Juniper carried
out to the letter, namely, that of never refusing an alms to
the poor, if there was aught to give. In after years when the
brethren had convents built for them, Juniper could never
be taught that the books and the furniture of the convent
must not be given away. He so frequently gave away his
own clothing that the superiors at length strictly forbade him
to part with his tunic, however poor a beggar might be. One
day after this, meeting a beggar on the road and having
nothing to give, Juniper said to him : " My superior has for
bidden me to give away my tunic, but if you take it from
me, I will not say thee nay " ; and the beggar straightway
stripped him of his tunic.
In which matter of intemperate giving, as some would
call it, Juniper had a compeer in Francis himself. For once
at the Porziuncola, when a poor woman came there begging,
and there was nothing else to give her of any value, Francis
gave the only book of the Gospels the brothers had.
Yet another incident in Juniper s story must we relate, as
witnessing to the Porziuncola spirit. In his later days he had
as a companion a brother of kindred disposition to his own,
a Brother Amazialbene, whom he loved very dearly because
of his admirable patience and obedience. Now, says the
122 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
chronicler, Brother Amazialbene died, and Juniper, hearing
of his death, felt such sorrow as he had never felt in all his
life before. In his great bitterness of sorrow, he cried out :
" "Woe is me ! wretched man that I am, for now is no good
thing left to me, and the world is undone through the death
of my sweet and dearest brother Amazialbene ! " Pondering
upon his loss, he said : " If it were not that I should not be
able to have peace with the brothers, I would go to his grave
and take up his head, and out of his head I would make two
porringers ; one of which I would always eat out of, in
memory of him and for my devotion s sake ; and out of the
other I would drink whenever I was thirsty and wished to
drink ".
Such was Juniper, one of Francis paladins ; but whom
the Lady Clare, who held him in high reverence, aptly styled :
" The play thing of God". 1
Another typical knight of this company of Poverty was
Brother Masseo, whom Francis held as a true Friar Minor
because of his " gracious aspect and natural good sense and
his fair and devout eloquence " ; a different character, as you
see at once, from the artless Juniper. Francis would often
take Masseo with him on his journeys because when Francis
himself was inclined to keep silence and to pray, Masseo
would hold the people apart and preach to them ; and since
he was of handsome appearance and ready speech, people
listened to him willingly. He was a singular combination of
practical common sense and docile humility.
On one occasion master and disciple were on a journey
and they came to cross-roads, one leading to Florence, an
other to Arezzo and a third to Siena. Masseo, who was
walking ahead because Francis wished to be alone to pray,
on coming to the cross-roads stopped and called back :
Father, by which way are we to go?" "By that which
God shall will," came the reply. " But how can we know
the will of God?" asked Masseo. Francis answered : "By
1 Concerning Bro. Juniper, vide Vita Fr. Juniperi, in Chron. xxiv. Gen.,
Anal. Franc, in. pp. 54-65 ; Fioretti, Vita di Prate Ginepro ; De ConformU. in
Anal. Franc, iv. pp. 245-48 et passim.
THE POEZIUNCOLA 123
the sign I will show thee. Wherefore by the merit of holy
obedience, I command thee that in the cross-road where
thou art now standing, thou turn round and round as chil
dren do and cease not turning till I tell thee." Masseo did
as he was told, whilst Francis prayed to be led as God willed.
Suddenly Francis cried out : " Stand still and tell me towards
what quarter thy face is now turned ". Masseo replied :
"Towards Siena". "That is the way," replied Francis,
"God would have us go." So they resumed their journey,
Masseo going ahead as before, but wondering in his own
mind why Francis had made him play the child before the
folk who were passing by. They came to Siena and were
lodged in the bishop s house. There was a feud raging in
the city at the time, and no sooner had Frarjcis heard of it
than he went out into the city and preached to the people,
beseeching them for the love of God, to have peace amongst
themselves ; and at his pleading the citizens put aside their
quarrel and made peace with each other. On their return to
the bishop s house the friars were received with great honour.
But Francis humility took fright at so much respect, and
early the next morning he woke up Masseo and, without a
word to anyone, stole out of the house and went his way.
As they went along Masseo was much troubled at what
seemed to him a lack of discretion and courtesy on Francis
part, and his mind rebelled against the way Francis had
treated him on the previous day at the cross-roads also
against this discourtesy to the bishop ; till suddenly he began
to recall the wonder Francis had worked by his preaching in
the city : and at that he was filled with remorse, and said
to himself : " If an angel of heaven had wrought such
wonders as did Brother Francis yesterday, it had not been
more marvellous ; wherefore if he had bidden me throw
stones I should have done it and obeyed, for the good ending
of that journey shows that what he does proceeds from the
working of God ".
However in spite of the occasional murmurings of his
" natural good sense," Masseo was profoundly simple and
humble. He might not always be able to square Francis
124 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
proceedings with common prudence, yet he felt that Francis
was nearer to God than most men and therefore he gave him
a childlike obedience. That was the way at the Porziuncola.
The brethren were convinced that God was working His
Will amongst them on new and mysterious lines and that
Francis was raised up to lead them in these ways : and that
was why his word was their law.
Brother Masseo it was who once edified the brotherhood
by a notable example of humility ; for being a man of good
natural parts, humility perhaps shone all the more brightly
in him. One day Francis said to Masseo before all the
brethren : " Brother Masseo, all these thy companions have
the grace of contemplation and prayer ; but thou hast the
grace of preaching the word of God for the satisfying of the
people ; wherefore that they may be able to give themselves
to contemplation, I will that thou perform the offices of the
door and of almsgiving and of the kitchen ; and when the other
brothers eat, thou shalt eat outside the gate, so that when
people come thou mayest satisfy them with good words of
God".
For some days Masseo performed these offices, making
himself the servant of the household. But the other brothers,
feeling the humiliation to which he was put, besought Fran
cis to allow them all to share the labour of the place. Francis
thereupon called Masseo and told him that in consideration for
the request of the other brothers, he relieved him of his duties.
But Masseo answered : " Father, whatever thou dost lay on
me, whether wholly or in part, I deem it altogether God s
deed ". At this Francis was glad and he preached to all the
brothers a sermon on humility which greatly moved their
hearts.
One of the recorded sayings of Brother Masseo is this.
Seeing that some of the brothers were bent on making pil
grimages to the shrines of the saints, Masseo remarked that
he thought it better and more useful to visit living saints than
dead ones. For, said he, in the living saints one learns the
dangers and temptations they have to beware of and fight
against.
THE POKZIUNCOLA 125
On another occasion he composed a chant which he con
stantly sang. The brothers hearing the chant so frequently,
asked him why he did not vary his song. He replied : " Be
cause when a man has found a good thing, he ought not to
change it ".*
Very different in character from the ever-ready Masseo
was Brother Kuffino of the family of the Scefi of Assisi : a
timid and shy man, silent and reserved and at times apt to
be morose : hardly a man, one would have thought, to enter
the joyous company of the Porziuncola. Yet beneath his re
serve there was a great gentleness and an entire sincerity.
His timidity was the result of a highly-strung nervous tem
perament. And perhaps, because in the complexity of his
own character Francis knew something of the self-torture
and moodiness which come from sensitive nerves, he was
usually very gentle with Euffino. But in the case of Francis
there was always a quick rebound from his depressions, a re
bound which Kuffino lacked. Nevertheless there was a cer
tain passive strength in this timorous, diffident brother and
a sincerity of purpose which was in his case the basis of high
spiritual attainment. Francis was wont to style him in his
absence, Saint Euffino. One thing Euffino dreaded, and that
was being sent to preach. If whilst on a journey he was told
to address the people, he at once became incapable of utter
ing a word. One day Francis, wishing to cure him of his
diffidence, commanded him to go to a church in the city and
preach as the Lord should inspire him. Euffino begged to
be spared the ordeal, alleging his incapacity, not without a
certain obstinacy of opinion. Whereat Francis sternly re
proved his hesitation, and as a penance commanded that he
should now go to the church, stripped of his habit and clad
only in his breeches. One can imagine what the command
meant to Euffino, but he went as he was told.
The citizens, seeing him go through the streets, thought
he must be mad, and the boys made sport of him : but Euffino
1 Concerning Bro. Masseo, cf. Fioretti, capp. xi. xn. etc. ; Chron. xxiv.
Gen., Vita Fr. Massaei, Anal. Franc, in. pp. 115-21; Spec. Perfect, cap. 85 ;
De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. pp. 193-7 et passim.
126 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
heroically went through with his task and in his nakedness
came to the church and preached to the people there. No
sooner, however, had Buffino set out than Francis grew re
morseful at his own harshness, and in his southern fashion
thus chided himself : " Son of Pietro Bernardone, thou vile
mannikin, wherefore didst thou command Brother Buffino,
one of the noblest citizens of Assisi, thus to go preaching,
naked ? Please God, thou shalt have experience of what thou
hast made another to endure " ; and forthwith he stripped
off his habit and set out for the city, clad only in his breeches.
But one of the brothers, Leo by name, followed, taking with
him both the habits of the two naked preachers.
As Francis entered the church Buffino was addressing
the people, speaking nervously and with difficulty. He was
telling them to put away deceit and fraud and to give every
man his due. Francis waited until the other had finished
and then himself mounted the pulpit, and preached so con
vincingly on the poverty and nakedness of Christ that the
listeners all wept. And as the two brethren left the church,
now clothed in their habits, the people crowded around to
touch the hem of their garments.
Buffino, however, was not always so docile. On one oc
casion he came to the conclusion that the life of service
amongst strangers and of preaching was not for him and that
he would serve God more faithfully if he gave himself to
prayer in solitude, following the inspiration of his own soul
and not the leadership of Francis ; nor would he listen to
what Francis had to say on the matter. He met all persua
sion by saying that an angel of God had shown him the right
path. So Francis went aside and began to pray.
At first Euffino was relieved and elated when Francis
turned aside, for it seemed to him as though a bright and
glorious angel stood at his side ; and this he took as an en
couragement to go his own way. But suddenly the angel
became an angel of darkness and Euffino was overwhelmed
with confusion and dread, and running to Francis he fell at
his feet in a swoon. Francis lifted him up and comforted
him, saying half playfully, half sadly, " Brother Euffino,
THE POBZIUNCOLA 127
thou poor simpleton, tell me now in whom thou didst put
thy faith ! " And Kuffino drew nearer to Francis in spirit
and promised to obey.
So Kumno trod the high-road of Poverty more often in
fear and hesitation than in gladness. But at the end he
found his peace. He lived for many years after Francis had
left the earth; but when he was dying, his spiritual guide
appeared to him in vision and gave him " a most sweet kiss " ;
and in the comfort of that embrace Buffino met death joy
fully. 1 Surely in this brother of the difficult temperament,
did the spirit of the Porziuncola reveal itself in a mother-love,
pitiful and patient that mother-love which alone can save
such souls as that of Kuffino from its latent despair, and
transform its burden into heroic endurance and ultimate
peace.
Of a happier and bolder cast of mind was Brother Giles,
with whom we are already acquainted, he who followed Ber
nard da Quintavalle and Peter Cathanii in joining the company.
In some ways he had the most original character of all the
disciples: he certainly stands foremost in the group of all
those who embraced the life of Poverty in the earliest years.
So confidently did Francis regard him that he would have
made him a law unto himself in his comings and goings and
the choice of his dwelling-places, only that Giles would not
have it so. Unlike Masseo who preferred living saints to the
dead, Giles, for the first six years of his religious life, was
given to making pilgrimages, now to this shrine, now to that.
Thus he visited in turn St. James at Cornpostella, St. Michael
of Monte Gargano, St. Nicholas of Bari and the Holy Land,
besides his several visits to the tombs of the Apostles in Kome ;
and wherever he went he carried with him the message of
Poverty. He would always, even on his journeys, earn his
bread by the labour of his hands. On his visit to the Holy
1 Cf. Fioretti, xxix. xxx. ; Chron. xxiv. Gen., Vita Fr. Rufini, Anal.
Franc, in. pp. 46-54 ; De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. 197-202 ct passim.
Ruffino was one of the companions called upon by the Minister General,
Crescentius, in 1244, to record in writing their recollections of St. Francis.
Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1210) puts the reception into the Order of Juniper,
Masseo and Ruilino in 1210.
128 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Land, coming to the port of Brindisi, he had to tarry there
some days, awaiting the sailing of a boat. Giles begged a
pitcher and went about the town hawking water. At other
times he made baskets of rushes and sold them for bread ;
or he would carry the dead to burial, or assist labourers in
the fields. Once when he was staying in Borne, he went out
every morning after hearing Mass and gathered faggots in a
wood, and returning to the city went round selling his bundles.
But one day when he was returning with his load of wood,
a woman wished to buy it of him, and a price being fixed
upon, Giles carried the load to her house. The woman see
ing that he was a religious, gave him more than she had
promised, whereat Giles said to her : " Good woman, I would
not that the vice of greed should overtake me : therefore I
will take no more than we agreed upon ". In fact he went
away, leaving half the price behind him with the woman.
"And at this," adds the chronicler, "the woman was filled
with exceeding great reverence for him."
But Giles had a certain sturdy shrewdness and indepen
dence even in his devotion. One day in the market place of
Eome a man was calling for a labourer to beat his walnut
trees. Giles offered himself ; and that evening he might
have been seen making his way back to the house of the
brethren, carrying on his back a load of walnuts tied up in
his habit, which he had stripped off for the purpose. It
was his wages for the day. In the harvest time he would go
into the harvest field with other poor people to glean the
ears which were left by the reapers ; but on these occasions
he usually gave his gleanings to the other poor : for he would
not lay up any store beyond the day s need. Even when
invited to stay in the houses of cardinals or dignitaries, when
these great men began to court the company of the brethren,
Giles insisted on going out each day to earn his bread.
But one day, when he was staying with the Cardinal-
Bishop of Tusculum in Home and it was raining heavily,
the cardinal rallied him : " To-day at least you must eat of
my table ". But he did not know the ingenuity of his guest.
Giles sought out the kitchen, and finding it unclean, he
THE POKZIUNCOLA 129
bargained to clean it up for two loaves. But he always took
care amidst his incessant labour, to find time for prayer.
In the sixth year from his coming to the Porziuncola,
Giles retired to a hermitage near Perugia, and from this time
he seems to have spent his days in one or other of the her
mitages associated with his name in the neighbourhood of
that city, Fabrione, Monte Eipido and Cetona. But he re
mained true to his principle of earning his bread by the work
of his hands. Often was his solitude broken into by men
who came from far and near to gather wisdom from his lips :
for the fame of his wise sayings had gone abroad : and those
who heard them would often commit them to writing for a
better remembrance ; and in after years these writings were
gathered together under the title : " The Golden Sayings of
Brother Giles," and in the book in which they are gathered
they may be read. 1
Such were some of the men who formed the brotherhood
in those first days at the Porziuncola. Others there were
equally worthy of notice, of whom some are already known
to us in this history, like " the venerable Brother Bernard " ;
and others there are who will take their places as our story
proceeds. Notable amongst these is Brother Leo, the pecor-
ello di Dio," as Francis called him, because of his singular
purity and simplicity ; a childlike soul, albeit a good scribe and
useful secretary. Of others again but a passing memory has
been recorded, though they were men for whose presence on
this earth the world should be grateful. One such was
Brother Simon. He spoke so sweetly of the love of God,
that one who spent a whole night with him conversing on
this subject, was surprised by the dawn ; for the night had
passed as though it had been but a few minutes. And
Brother Simon was, moreover, very compassionate towards
those who were tempted. 2
Thus did the Porziuncola gather to itself men of diverse
character and temperament, and what is more marvellous,
1 Vide supra, p. 56, note 1.
1J Of. Fioretti, XL. Wadding (Aimalcs, ad an. 1210) puts the reception into
the Order of Leo and Simon in 1210.
9
130 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
whilst impressing upon all a generic family likeness, it left
each man himself, fostering in each his own peculiar strength
and nobility of spirit, as one cultivates in a fair garden many
varieties of flowers. There was no moulding in a rigid
groove : but the spirit of the place seemed to delight in the
freshness each individual character brought to the riches of
the whole and to treasure it as part of the secret of its joy.
Francis indeed had no wish that all the brethren should be
one external pattern. The true Friar Minor, he would say,
scanning the perfections of the brotherhood, is Brother
Bernard with his enduring faith and love of poverty ; Brother
Leo with his simplicity and purity ; Brother Angelo with his
fine courtesy ; Brother Masseo with his gracious countenance
and natural good sense and eloquence ; Brother Giles with
his gift for contemplation ; Brother Ruffino with his habit of
continuous prayer ; Brother Juniper with his selflessness ;
Brother John with his great strength of body and mind ;
Brother Eoger with his surpassing charity for the souls of
others ; Brother Lucido who in imitation of our Lord, will
have no abiding place on the earth. 1 And this largeness of
spirit was in truth one of the secrets which gave power and
beauty to that Umbrian revival of faith.
1 Of. Spec. Perfect, cap. 85. This chapter is evidently a compilation of
the traditional sayings of St. Francis.
CHAPTER IV.
SAINT CLARE.
IT was in the early spring of 1212 that the Lady Clare left
her father s house and came to the Porziuncola and there
vowed herself to Christ and Poverty in the presence of Francis
and the brethren.
Some writers of late years have woven around this inci
dent an air of uncertain romance as of an affection purified
of grosser earthliness yet nevertheless earthly in its fibre.
But they who have so written do not know either Francis
or Clare. The point where their several affections met and
linked their lives together, was beyond themselves, no other
than the Lord Christ Himself. Him they both loved with
a love which admitted of no other love less sacred and
spiritual.
And they both loved the Christ in His earthly poverty and
in His pity for the world ; and in this revelation of the Christ-
life they both found the full response to their own desire.
And in this they became as children of one birth ; such an en
tire sympathy did it create between them, and so intuitive
an understanding did it give them of each other.
Even before she knew Francis, Clare had been strangely
drawn to the poor as to her own people : and when she and
Francis met it was as two kindred souls recognizing each
other. Their first meeting probably was during the Lent of
1212. Francis had then returned from a series of apostolic
missions in Tuscany and the country around Perugia and was
again preaching in Assisi. The Assisians were now proud of
their prophet and wherever he preached the crowds gathered
to listen. Clare was amongst them. Perhaps she had heard
him before ; at any rate she would have heard of him.
131 9 *
132 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
At this time she was in her eighteenth year. 1 Her family
was one of the noblest in the territories of Assisi, and besides
their castle in the country they had a house in the city, but
a few steps from the church of San Giorgio and from the Ca
thedral. Clare s father was of opinion that she ought to have
been married before this ; but whenever he spoke of marriage
she refused to listen or parried his questions. She had as yet
no definite idea of the future which lay before her, but there
was that in her soul which bade her keep her freedom : already
she was thinking of the life wholly dedicated to Jesus Christ
in virginal chastity. Even in her early girlhood her world
had stretched beyond the earth into the realm of religious
mysteries ; the call of the spirit had drawn her insistently
apart amidst the ordinary pleasures and interests of her
young life. Regularly she would withdraw herself from the
distracting claims which the family life made upon her, and
retire to some secluded nook and recite the Paters which
linked her so sweetly with God, her heavenly Father, and all
the household of the saints. And as she grew in years she
became more and more as one living expectantly in the pre
sent. She took her part in the common round of daily life ;
learned to fulfil the duties which were proper to the daughter
of a noble house, and submitted to her tire- woman s services ;
yet not without an insurgent protest of heart as the time
came when these things began to speak of the family s claim
that she should strengthen the family s position by a becom
ing marriage. She had no intention of marrying for the
family s sake : and when the Lady Clare made up her mind,
her heart was with her mind ; and her heart was strong.
Her education was that of her time and class : that is to
say, she had an elementary knowledge of reading and writing,
1 According to Mariano of Florence, Clare was born on 16 July, 1194.
Tradition says that Clare s father belonged to the noble Assisian family of the
Scefi or Scifi and was lord of Sasso Rosso, a castle on the slope of Monte
Subasio (Cf. V. Locatelli, Vita di S. Chiara, p. 334). But the traditional
association of her family with Sasso Rosso is open to question. Ortolana,
Clare s mother, is, however, mentioned by name in the legend, where it is also
said that she was of noble and knightly family. Cf. Legenda S. Clarse, ed.
Franc. Pennacchi, p. xxix seq.
SAINT CLAKE 133
was proficient in the art of fine needlework and knew how to
order the domestic affairs of a feudal household. Probably
she was conversant in some measure with the romances of
chivalry the literature of the period from listening to the
minstrels who visited her father s house ; and she would gain
a large knowledge of the questions of the day from frequent
intercourse with people keenly alive to the various topics of
that stimulating age when politics and religious questions
were brought from all quarters of the world and gained an
actual value in the intense life of the commune. And so
without being skilled in letters, as they would say in those
days, Clare comes into this history as a woman of cultured
mind. " She loved to listen to a well-prepared and learned
discourse," says he who wrote her legend, " for she held
that the kernel of doctrine, if encased in a shell of well-
chosen words, is more easily discerned and more heartily
relished." 1
But this discrimination in favour of discourses " well pre
pared and learned " was not so much a distinctively intellect
ual trait, as part of the general sensibility of her nature. She
instinctively looked for the greater things of life the things
which really mattered : it was part of the deep sincerity of
her soul and her large spiritual vitality. She could never be
satisfied with weak compromises in a matter of duty, but
neither would she fuss over details of conduct which were
not of the essence of some vital principle. But with this
direct vision for the things of real and enduring value, was
combined a temperament emotionally eager for beauty, per
haps more for moral beauty than for physical.
She loved flowers but it was because she found in them a
figurement of the perfect soul. In her garden she nurtured
the lily because it spoke to her of purity, and the rose because
it spoke of love, and the violet because it is the flower of
1 Leg. S. Clarse, ed. Pennacchi, 37. The legend is published by the Bol-
landists, Ada SS. die 12 Augusti, torn. n. p. 742 seq. A critical edition was
published in 1910 by Prof. Franc. Pennacchi from the Assisi MSS. Cf. also
Fr. Paschal Robinson, Life of St. Clare, and Mrs. Balfour, The Life and
Legend of the Lady Saint Clare, with Introduction by the present writer.
134 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
humility. 1 Music had the power to cast her into a sheer
ecstasy of spiritual delight. 2 But her emotional sensibility
never escaped the control of a mind which was eminently
practical or of a will which was stayed about with loyalties to
whatever won her reverence. Her loyalties were the mould
into which a great strength of character flowed and took
shape. Even the male folk of her family, hard-beaten soldiers
bred of a line which had maintained itself and its possessions
by the sword and brooked not readily any opposition to its
claims, even these stood in some awe of this strong-willed
daughter of their house.
Perhaps it was partly because some sort of preternatural
destiny seemed to hover around her : for shortly before her
birth her mother was one day praying for a safe delivery, when
she heard a voice saying to her : " Fear not, woman ; for you
shall bring forth a light whose rays shall enlighten the earth " :
and because of this mysterious voice, when the child was born,
she was baptized by the name of Clare, that is " the shining
one". 3 With such a mark of predestination upon her Clare
was assured of a certain liberty as one touched by heaven
and not altogether under the despotic paternal sway. And
so as she grew up and showed an inclination to exercises of
religion and the service of the poor, beyond the ordinary, she
was let go her way. Very early the capacity for self-
sacrifice which is inherent in strongly loving natures, showed
itself in her. She would not give to the poor merely of her
superfluous treasures or comforts ; but she would deny her
self of her needful food to feed them. 4 And because of her
marvellous sympathy and gentle understanding ways with
them, the poor loved her and all the city was speaking of her
true charity.
So it was that Francis heard of Clare and how her heart
went out to the poor and how wherever she went she seemed
to bring the light of heaven with her ; and he instinctively felt
1 An old tradition says that Clare grew these three flowers in her tiny
garden at San Damiano because they symbolized her three favourite
virtues.
3 Of. Leg. S. Clarse, 29; Actus S. Franc, cap. 42 ; Fioretti, cap. 35.
-Leg. S. Clarse, 2. *Ibid., 3.
SAINT CLAEE 135
for her a great reverence, as when one comes into the presence
of the utterly pure. And there grew up in him a great desire
to see and speak with this maiden in whom the purity and
gentleness of God was so manifest, that he might win her
wholly to the service of Jesus Christ : "for he was wishful,"
says the old chronicler, " to snatch this noble prey out of the
reach of a wicked world and to lay her, an illustrious trophy,
upon the altar of God ".
Clare on her part, having heard Francis preach, was con
vinced that she had found the one guide to whose counsel
she could wholly trust herself, and was praying in her heart
that some opportunity would be given her of opening out her
thoughts to him : for his sermons had given direction to the
life-long desire, and she was thinking wistfully of a life of
poverty and the love of God such as Francis and the brethren
of the Porziuncola were dedicated to. But it seemed difficult
to find the opportunity without arousing the suspicion of her
kinsfolk, and that she must avoid if it were possible. She was
too well aware that, however wide a liberty might be given
her whilst she kept within the conventions of her rank, and
was yet to be accounted an asset in the family alliances, any
such desire as she now harboured would be regarded as
treacherous to the family interest and honour. It was one
thing to act the lady-bountiful and go amongst the poor dis
tributing alms : that was the recognized privilege of the
daughter of a noble house. Even to enter an established
convent might present no insuperable difficulty ; there were
convents which were, in some sort, appanages of noble
families, and in a dignified fashion secured the patronage of
heaven for the families whose daughters were consecrated
within their walls. But to break through all the recognized
conventions and pass into the ranks of the poor and work for
her bread or depend on alms in the casual way of the street
beggar, as did the brethren at the Porziuncola Clare had
no illusion as to the attitude of her people to any such pro
posal. And yet it was that for which her heart was now
becoming eager.
It was Francis who made the opportunity for their meet-
136 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
ing. 1 He had already accepted, as from the hand of God, the
charge of this rare soul. The charge had come to him not
from his own seeking but in one of those imperious illumina
tions of the spirit, to ignore which is to betray God. And at
that moment the utter reverence which filled his soul banished
all fear. Ever since his turning to the spiritual life, he had
kept vigilant guard over even the most innocent attraction to
the society of women. He had not allowed himself any
friendship with them, however worthy they might be ; and
even when as a messenger of the Gospel he had been com
pelled to give them advice concerning their soul s good, his
words were few. Something in his own nature had bidden
him take this watchful course ; but partly also it was dictated
by his own special conception of the honour in which women
should be held. "Every woman," he would say to his
brethren, "is a spouse of Christ : with what fear and rever
ence therefore should we regard them." 2
The purity of woman was to him a dower of humanity
emanating from the purity of the Kedeerner of men ; setting
the mark of Christ upon human affections and human inter
course. He would not dishonour their purity nor sully his
own by even a careless glance in which might possibly lurk
a traitorous desire. For this reason he would not look them
in the face ; and always spoke to them with eyes downcast.
Only in the company of two women, the Lady Clare
and the Lady Giacoma di Settesoli, did Francis relax
this rule. 3 The one became a ministering Martha to the
brethren, as we shall see in the progress of this history : but
it was the Lady Clare who ministered to the spirit of the
brotherhood. From the beginning she divined so instinctively
the vocation of the brotherhood and so utterly worshipped
it, and her every thought and desire seemed so formed by
its innermost wisdom, that Francis and the brethren regarded
1 Leg. S. Clarse, 5. 2 Of. II Celano, 113-14.
3 Of. II Gelano, 112. Celano does not explicitly state that the two women
to whom Francis referred were St. Clare and the Lady Giacoma ; but there
can be little doubt as to their identity. They were the only two women with
whom he had an established friendship.
SAINT CLAKE 137
her not as a disciple of the fraternity but as one set by God
to witness to them the truth and sanctity of their vocation ;
and they held her in high honour and pure affection because
of what she was to them.
But Clare on her part was wholly unconscious of merit,
and accepted the reverence with which the brethren sur
rounded her as an indication of the nobility of their own
souls ; and with a sweet lowliness would speak of herself
as the little plant which Francis reared in the garden of
Poverty. 1
So it was that Clare was not as other women to the fra
ternity, and that Francis in her company thought of no danger
to himself or the brethren, but took her as a sacred trust
whose very presence on the earth would lead men to the
worship and love of Christ.
After their first meeting, Clare visited Francis frequently.
Perforce she went secretly unknown to her kinsfolk. It was
not the occasion for nice hesitations. If one must needs
seize one s liberty by violence, the blame is to those who
make the violence necessary. Nor would her people them
selves have acted otherwise had it been a matter of their
secular interest. For generations her kinsfolk had carved out
their fortune by personal decision and maintained themselves
by regard to their own interest : it was the tradition of every
feudal household. And Clare in this supreme moment of her
own fortune acted as her father s daughter. She took her de
cision into her own hands. But for modesty s sake she made
a confidante of one of her relatives, an aunt of like character
to her own, who accompanied her on her visits and abetted
her resolution. 2
From these meetings Clare returned home with increased
longing to be free of the world, having in her heart " a vision
of the eternal joys beside which the world appeared more and
more contemptible ; and more and more her soul melted with
a holy yearning to perfect her espousals with the heavenly
1 Cf. Reg. S. Claroe and her Testament, where the expression occurs :
"plantula B. P. Francisci ".
2 Cf. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1238; A. Cristofani, op. cit. p. 92.
138 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
King ". For " Francis acted as a faithful friend of the bride
groom," and Clare "listened to him with the utmost fervour
of heart whenever he spoke of the love of Jesus "- 1
The Lenten season was drawing towards its close when
Clare took the irrevocable step.
Palm Sunday 2 came, and all unknowing with what the
day was burdened, Clare s family went to High Mass in the
Cathedral at which the bishop was to bless and distribute the
palms. For Clare it was her nuptial Mass and she dressed
for it with more than usual care. The distribution of the
blessed palms began, and her family approached the altar in
their turn ; but Clare did not move with them : overcome
with emotion, she remained alone in her place. Whereupon
the bishop left the altar and came and put a palm into her
hand. Not improbably he was in her confidence and thus
kindly gave her encouragement.
That night when her people had retired, Clare, still ac
companied by her faithful friend, left her father s house.
Avoiding the common entrance, she went by a disused
postern gate. The gateway was blocked by huge stones piled
between massive posts, but Clare had strength that night, and
with her own hands she cleared the gate and they passed out.
They came to the Porziuncola, where Francis and the
brethren, having recited matins, were waiting to receive her,
holding lighted torches in their hands; and there in the
night-time Clare vowed herself to God, and Francis sheared
off her hair as a symbol of her vow. And when the day
dawned, Francis led her to the Benedictine convent of San
Paolo at Bastia in the marsh, where the nuns offered her a
shelter till Francis should find a home for her. 3
That was how the Lady Clare fled from her father s house
and came to the Porziuncola, trusting herself to the Provi
dence of the God she sought and to the guidance of Francis.
From that day Clare became one of the brotherhood. But
1 Leg. S. Clarge, 6. 2 In 1212 Palm Sunday fell on 18 March.
3 The convent was destroyed in the fourteenth century to make way for a
fortress, but the church still remains. The marsh has long since been drained.
Bastia, owing to its position in the marsh, was known in early times as Isola
Romana.
SAINT CLAEE 139
not without a further test of strength. The following day
the peace of the convent of San Paolo was violently disturbed
by an incursion of Clare s kinsfolk clamouring for her return
and threatening to take her by force. At their coming she
took refuge in the church ; and when they would have put
hands on her, she unveiled her shorn head, and, laying hold of
the altar, proclaimed her marriage with the service of Jesus
Christ. Perhaps it was the old sense of awe at her predes
tination, perhaps her own calm strength, which stilled their
threatening fury : for they went away, leaving her to the life
of her choice.
After a few days Clare bade farewell to the nuns of San
Paolo and went to lodge in the convent of Sant Angelo in
Panzo, situated on the slope of Monte Subasio little more
than a mile outside the city. 1 Here when hardly a second
week had passed since her own flight, she was joined by her
younger sister Agnes, resolved like herself to leave the world
and be wholly dedicated to religion. Agnes s coming was a joy
to both; for between these two there was a rare mutual
affection. Agnes worshipped Clare with an admiring love
for a greater strength in which she herself became strong ;
and Clare loved the clinging girl because of her sweet simpli
city and companionable spirituality of mind. 2 And each day
since she had left her father s house Clare had yearned for the
younger sister s companionship in her enterprise, and Agnes
had found life joyless since Clare had fled : and in their
prayers both had prayed that they might again be brought
together. Then at the end of a fortnight, Agnes followed
1 The nuns of Sant Angelo some years later removed into the city, and
had a convent on the site of the present seminary ; but at this period they
occupied the old convent outside the city, of which some ruins can still be
seen. It was situated not far from Sasso Rosso, the supposed ancestral home
of Clare. Cf. Vine. Locatelli, Vita di S. Chiara, pp. 40-1 ; Fr. Paschal Robin
son, Life of St. Clare, pp. 139-40. In 1238 the nuns of Sant Angelo had
adopted the Ugoline Rule Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, i. p. 258.
2 The character of Agnes reveals itself clearly in her charming letter to
Clare which is found in Chron. xxiv. Gen., Anal. Franc, in. p. 175. Agnes at
the time of her flight was about fifteen years of age (Wadding, Annales, ad an.
1253 ; Anal. Franc, in. p. 177) ; but it will be remembered that this was a
full marriageable age in those days.
140 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Clare s example and fled secretly, and so came to the convent
of Sant Angelo.
But no sooner was her flight discovered than twelve of
her kinsmen followed clamorously to the convent. Entering
the chapel where the two sisters sought safety they, however,
first spoke softly, thinking thus to win the young girl to re
turn home, but when their soft persuasions failed, they no
longer stemmed their anger but seized her by the hair and
dragged her intemperately from the altar out into the open
ground ; then taking her bodily they thought to force her
homewards. Above the din of their imprecations, the voice
of Agnes called to Clare to come and save her. Clare, in the
first moment of their violence had cast herself prostrate be
fore the altar, praying God to give her sister courage and to
save her. Then with a renewed trust she rose up and hurried
to her sister s rescue.
She overtook them a little way down the mountain side.
Agnes lay helpless on the ground ; for suddenly whether it
was that their fury had enfeebled them, or whatever the cause
these stout men found their burden too heavy for their
strength and with a curse had flung her to the ground. One
of them would have struck her in his rage ; but just then
Clare appeared in their midst and demanded that they cease
their violence and leave her sister to her care.
And once again that strange power which Clare had to
subdue people to her will, sent these men clamouring away.
Then Clare took Agnes gently and led her back to the con
vent. 1 And after that they were not again parted until
Agnes was sent to be abbess of a convent at Monticelli near
Florence, some seven years later. And there she lived for
more than thirty years, all the while yearning to be back
again with Clare. But when Clare lay dying she sent for
Agnes to come to her. Death did not separate them for long,
for Agnes died three months after Clare, and was buried near
her sister. 2
1 Leg. S. Clarse.
2 See the life of St. Agnes, in Chron. xxiv. Gen., Anal. Franc, in. p. 137
seq. ; De Conformii. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 357.
SAN DAMIANO
SAINT CLAEE 141
Clare remained at Sant Angelo until the following year ;
and then to her joy Francis obtained for her from the Bene
dictines of Monte Subasio, the use of the little church of San
Damiano with the small house attached to it. The house was
but a narrow comfortless building ; l but to Clare it meant
home. All through the months at Sant Angelo she was like
a bride yearning for the liberty of her own house. She was
very definite as to the ideal poverty to which she was vowed
and eager for its freedom, even as she always would be. And
what made San Damiano the more sacred to her, was that
Francis in rebuilding it, had foretold that it should be the
home of poor ladies consecrated to the service of God. Clare
treasured all such indications of Francis thoughtfulness for
herself and her sisters that were to be : 2 they gave her a
wonderful sense of security ; for adventurous and purposeful
as she was, she confessed to herself her woman s need of a
strength other than her own, in alliance with which her own
strength becomes more supple and free. It is a need to
which every true woman confesses ; and in the noble sort it
acts as a moral searchlight upon the characters of men, re
vealing the strong and the weak, the true and the unstable.
At San Damiano, then, she settled ; glad that Francis had
provided it for her ; and under her fostering care, San Damiano
became a companion home to the Porziuncola, with just that
difference which a woman s heart and hand will make of
any house. And in a short while other noble ladies of Assisi
made San Damiano their home too.
Francis gave Clare no Rule of life : he merely set before
her the inspiration of absolute poverty and of trust in the
infinite solicitude of God. 3 For the rest, Clare shaped her
1 The convent of San Damiano still preserves many of its pristine fea
tures, and one may still see the refectory and dormitory and other rooms
occupied by Clare and the sisters. The low narrow rooms speak eloquently
of those first days of the Franciscan vocation. Cf. Ant. Cristofani, La Storia
delta Ckiesa e Chiostro di S. Damiano.
2 Vide Testamentum S. Clares, in Textus Orig. (Quaracchi), p. 274.
3 In her Rule (cap. vi), Clare wrote : " Scripsit nobis formam vivendi in hunc
modiim" etc. But this " for ma vivendi " can hardly be called a Rule in the
ordinary sense of the word. It is merely a promise on the part of Francis to
have a special care and solicitude for the sisters. But it states as a motive
142 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIS1
daily course by the example of the brethren so far as a woman
might properly go with them. She gave herself to prayer and
manual labour ; l was helpful to the sick who came to her
for comfort, 2 and welcomed the brethren whenever they
visited the sisters to discourse about Jesus Christ and the
spiritual life. 3 Her daily bread was provided for partly by the
produce of a small vegetable garden which she cultivated ; 4
partly by the alms which the brethren begged for her and
her sisters, even as they begged for themselves. It was a
simple homely life at San Damiano, filled however with keen
spiritual interests and a vital delight in the vocation of holy
poverty. That vocation meant to them a great liberty of soul ;
and in whatever fashion the soul finds its liberty, it finds its
paradise. The enclosure of San Damiano might be narrow
measured by the yard-tape, but what did it matter to those
who lived constantly on the wings of a joyous faith and whose
spiritual horizon was limitless as the heavenly love which
was in their hearts ?
Even the very earth was not so strange to them now as
when they lived in their fathers houses : it was the earth
which the gospel of Poverty was to purify and win back to
the law of Christ. From their enclosure they followed the
active apostolate of the brethren with an alert interest and
for this promise that the sisters have " chosen to live according to the per
fection of the Holy Gospel ". In the mind of St. Francis " the perfection of
the Gospel " always meant absolute poverty.
Concerning the development of the Rule of the Poor Clares see TJie Life
and Legend of the Lady St. Clare, ut supra y Introduction, pp. 11-31.
1 See the letter of Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216, when he was passing
through Italy. Referring to the Poor Clares he writes : " Mulieres verojuxta
civitates in diversis hospitiis simul commorantur nihil accipiunt sed de labore
manuum vivunt " (Sabatier, Spec. Perfect, p. 295). The words " nihil acci
piunt" probably refer to offerings and bequests such as other religious
received. They cannot mean that the sisters did not receive alms of food and
other necessaries. Vide supra, p. 113 ; vide Leg. S. Claras, 37.
2 In the Leg. S. Claras, 32, it is related that Francis was accustomed to send
the sick to Clare to be signed with the sign of the Cross. But Blessed Agnes
of Prague, a close imitator of Clare, used also to cook food for the poor
and mend the clothes of lepers. (Acta SS. Mart. torn. I. p. 510). It is prob
able therefore that the sisters at San Damiano did similar acts of charity.
3 Leg. S. Claras, 37. 4 Cf. Reg. S. Claras, cap. vi.
SAINT GLARE 143
solicitude, born of their love of Christ and the world which
they yearned to see His : and in the brethren s apostolate
they had their part ; if they might not go out to preach for
that was not a woman s work they could pray, and besides
that, they had to guard in their seclusion the sacred fire
which the brethren were to spread abroad. There were times
indeed when Clare envied the brethren their opportunities of
spending themselves in carrying the Gospel to the infidels
and those who knew not Christ ; and perhaps had she lived
in other days, she might have been the foundress of a body
of missionary women. 1 But the time for that had not yet
come ; 2 and in any case the world may be grateful that Clare
was kept to feed the beacon-fire of San Damiano with her
heroic intensity of a pure spiritual longing : for indeed in no
more effectual way could she have realized her own ideal of
becoming " God s helpmate and the support and encourage
ment of the frail members of His ineffable body," 3 as all will
admit who know the story of her life.
Oftentimes in following out the history of the fraternity
one asks oneself what course that history would have taken
had that convent of San Damiano not existed ? And at such
moments one is apt to think of that hillside enclosure as a
lighthouse set in the sea and composedly flashing out its
message of warning or comfort in the storm to the boats that
pass by. For these years of early hopes and unwavering
faith which as yet fold the brethren in a comforting embrace,
must in the very nature of human affairs make way for the
troublous years when faith will clash with earthly experience.
For an association which embodies a vital ideal is much like
1 Of. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1251, where he relates how Glare on hearing
of the martyrdom of the friars in Morocco in 1220, wanted to go herself to
Morocco " to shed her blood for Christ," but was restrained by Francis.
2 At this period the Church did not favour the active ministry of conse
crated women, nor indeed for some centuries later. Owing to the circum
stances of the time enclosure became more and more the law of all convents
of women. Cardinal Ugolino made enclosure one of the fundamental prin
ciples of his reform of religious houses of women.
3 Vide Letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Acta SS. Mart. torn. i. p. 502 ;
Mrs. Balfour, op. cit. p. 147.
144 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
a human personality : it has its youth when the ideal treads
lightly upon the earth and the world mostly draws aside in
indifference or admiration, not to impede the way. But as
the youth s purpose becomes more tangible and his incipient
manhood must be reckoned with, then the earth itself becomes
more ponderous and the world demands its toll and, most
difficult of all, the heart of the man himself is apt to be be
fogged by a consciousness of the earth and his simple delight
in his ideal to be shadowed by conflicting interests. And
that fate especially awaits the man or institution in whom
there is the urgency to subject the world itself to the ideal.
Those troublous years are not far ahead for the fraternity of
poverty; and then the clear vision and indomitable loyalty
of Clare in all that concerns the faith of the brotherhood will
be a saving influence ; and San Damiano, a constant witness
to the pure Franciscan spirit.
From the first settling at San Damiano, Clare became in
some measure an arbiter of the destiny of the fraternity, both
by her decisive fashioning of her own life and that of her
community, and also by the clear-sighted counsel she at times
gave to Francis and the brethren. In her own household
she would have no weak compromise with any principles
which were not of a piece with her own vocation, at least in
the things which mattered. In the first days this was easy
enough to manage. But a new convent, and one that from
circumstances promised to become a kindling light to other
religious communities, could not long continue without
ecclesiastical supervision : and then the difficulties began.
Clare, with her practical good sense, early took the pre
caution to obtain from Pope Innocent III "the privilege,"
as it was termed, of absolute poverty, 1 such as Francis had
taught her to observe. That was in 1215, in which year the
sisterhood became a canonical religious community. 2 Exactly
how this development occurred it is now impossible to tell,
or whether it was due to the initiative of Francis or of the
Bishop of Assisi or of some other prelate in authority. Until
1 Testamentum B. Clarce, in Seraph. Legislat. Textus (Quaracchi), p. 277.
2 Of. Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare, Introduction, p. 20.
SAINT CLAKE 145
then, Clare had refused to assume any title or style of a re
ligious superior, in which she was but following the example
of Francis himself ; but in 1215 she was compelled to take
the office of abbess, though in her sweet humility she begged
that another should be given the headship. Her troubles
began four years later when Cardinal Ugolino, the Papal
Legate for Central and Northern Italy, endeavoured to im
pose upon the sisters at San Damiano and its kindred sister
hoods for by this time San Damiano had become the
exemplar of other communities of women a Rule of his own
composition. 1
These Ugoline Constitutions, as this Eule was afterwards
styled, will be considered later on in this history : here it
suffices to mention that they ignored the "privilege of abso
lute poverty " and assumed the law of corporate possessions ;
and besides this they tended to form the sisters into a new
order distinct from the Franciscan fraternity. From that
time until the day preceding her death, Clare s life was a
long struggle to regain for herself and her sisters her original
Franciscan prerogatives of absolute poverty and of inclusion
in the Franciscan family.
With a gentle reasonableness in which there was no ran
cour, yet with an inflexible determination, she wooed the
authorities to recognize her Franciscan vocation; and her
persistency regained first one position, then another. At the
time the Ugoline Constitutions were promulgated, Francis
was in the East on a mission to the infidels, and the courage
of the first protest fell upon Clare herself. Cardinal Ugo
lino, taking the sisters under his own jurisdiction, appointed
a Cistercian monk to be their visitor or director, but even
before Francis return the Cistercian monk was replaced by
a friar, Philip the Long, one of Francis first companions. 2
It is not an unlikely presumption, from what we know of
1 Cf. ibid. Introduction, p. 17 seq. The Ugoline Constitutions will be
found in Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, i. pp. 263-7; also ibid. pp. 394-9; and again
ibid. pp. 476-83, with the modifications of Innocent IV.
2 Cf. Sbaralea, Butt. Franc, i. p. 46; Chron. Jordani, no. 13 in Anal.
Franc, i. p. 5.
10
146 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
the development of the contest, that Philip s appointment
was an answer to the prayers of Clare. On Francis return
he took upon himself the direct guidance of the sisters at
San Damiano, 1 and this secured Clare and her own community
in the practice of absolute poverty, even if it did not give them
the absolute right to it. But Francis did not claim any juris"
diction over the other communities of Poor Ladies, and these
remained subject to the Ugoline Eule, much to the grief of
Clare herself. This perhaps was the period when she suffered
most acutely and had most need of her courage. Even Francis
himself seemed over- weighed by the troubles which had come
upon the brotherhood in the process of its new developments ;
and at one time he seems to have been ready in sheer weari
ness of spirit to see the links broken which bound San Dami
ano to the brotherhood ; but Clare in her sympathy with him
understood, and her tenacious loyalty again saved the situa
tion. 2 Francis, who had long abstained from visiting the
sisters, was induced to visit them again : and in his last years
Clare never lacked his advice and encouragement. At the
end when he lay dying, his last message to her was to stand
firm in the poverty she had vowed. 3
With that message vibrating in her soul, on the morrow
of Francis canonization, she claimed from Pope Gregory IX,
he who had been Cardinal Ugolino, a formal confirmation of
the "privilege of most high poverty," granted her thirteen
years before by Innocent III; and Gregory acceded to her
demand. 4 He had previously pleaded with her to accept
some small property to secure the community against want ;
and lest Clare should be hesitating because of her vow, he
had offered her a dispensation. Clare had replied: "Holy
Father, never shall I wish to be dispensed from following
Jesus Christ". 5 On another occasion too did Clare s swift
decision cause Pope Gregory to retract his words. He had
1 Cf. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1219.
2 Cf. II Ceiano, 205 ; see also Fioretti, cap. xiv.
:? Cf. Reg. S. Clarse, cap. vi.
4 Cf. Seraph. Legislat. Text. pp. 97-8 ; Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, i. p. 771.
Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare, Introduction, pp. 23-4.
5 Leg. S. Claree, 14.
SAINT CLAEE 147
decreed that the friars should no longer, as had been their
wont, visit the sisters of San Damiano, save those brethren
who were sent to beg alms for them. On learning of this
decree Clare met the brothers who came to do the questing
for the sisters, and bade them go back to their minister and
say that since the friars might not visit San Damiano to in
struct the sisters by their godly conversation and thus feed
their souls, she would have no friar beg bread for their bodies.
At that Pope Gregory revoked his decree. 1 But it was many
years yet before another Pope, Innocent IV, granted to all
the communities of the Poor Ladies the same privilege which
Clare had gained for herself, and not until then was Clare at
peace. It was as though she lived the last years of her life,
only to establish them all in their Franciscan birthright ; for
she died two days after Pope Innocent IV affixed his signature
to the Eule which she had caused to be written as the charter
of their liberty. 2 In everything that did not infringe the
essential character of the Franciscan life Clare had gracefully
submitted to the will of the Pontiffs : she accepted the Ugo-
line regulations save in the matter of poverty, though she
tempered their rigidity with a gentle considerateness for the
weaker sisters in matters of superadded austerities. But she
was tenacious of the right of the sisters to be guided in the
spiritual life by the brethren and to be considered as one
religious family with them. Instinctively she knew that it
was only in this union of the Franciscan family that the
sisters would be maintained in their true character and life ;
and instinctively too perhaps she felt that only in this union
would the brethren themselves be kept loyal to the pure ideal
of their founder. For none recognized more clearly than she,
how surely the prudence of the world would beset the frater
nity and sow dissensions in its ranks unless it was kept stead
fast in the security of its own faith and circumscribed by
strong mutual charity. And so when dissensions did appear
within the fraternity, Clare was not of those who widened
1 Leg. S. Clarte, 37.
2 Cf. Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, i. pp. 671-8 ; Seraph, Legislat. Text. pp.
49-95.
10*
148 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
the rift by intemperate argument. Utterly loyal she stood by
the pure Franciscan ideal, and never wavered nor was un
certain in her witness to it : yet she was no partisan within
the family.
Much as she must have differed from the secular policy of
Brother Elias, she would have him reverenced and obeyed
as the minister of the whole Franciscan family. 1 And per
haps it was that lofty spirit which soared above the rancour
and clamour of the world s battles, which was the secret of
her power, and extorted admiration even from those whom
she compelled to bow to her claims. Certainly Cardinal
Ugolino worshipped the abbess of San Damiano with a father s
affection for a favourite daughter and a client s love for a
favourite saint ; 2 and Pope Innocent IV, who long withstood
her appeals but eventually granted all her demand, would
have canonized her on the day of her burial had not the
cardinals protested against the appearance of unseemly hurry. 3
When Clare at length died, twenty-four years after
Francis had gone to his rest, she left the community of San
Damiano established in the pure observance of Franciscan
Poverty and in the essential Franciscan life, and that whilst
the brethren were still disputing as to the wisdom of the Rule
which Francis had written.
We have anticipated something of Franciscan history in
order to show what manner of woman Clare was and what
her coming meant to the brethren at the Porziuncola and
how she brought to the fraternity a new element of strength.
But in the imagination of the world outside her coming
cast a new and tender glory over the religious revival which
had already set in through the preaching of the brethren. In
her the self-renunciation and endurance of the brethren which
had compelled the reverence of the citizens, gained a more
subtle and sublimated beauty. The purely heroic at the
Porziuncola became the worshipful at San Damiano. There
1 Vide second letter of St. Clare to Agnes of Prague, in Ada SS. Martii,
vol. i. p. 505 ; Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare, p. 144.
2 Vide letter of Gregory IX to St. Clare in Chron. xxiv. Gen., Anal Franc,
in. p. 188.
Leg. S. Clarse, 47.
SAINT CLARE 149
is no record of any harshness on the part of the people
towards Clare and her sisters, but only of love and wonder
ment : their eyes turned towards the convent below the hill
as they would have turned towards the home of Nazareth, and
they mingled their willing services for Clare with an adoring
homage. Was not her mere touch sufficient to rid the sick
of their maladies ? And did not the air seem purer and more
morally wholesome because of her presence ?
That was in fact the great miracle : from the convent of
San Damiano purity radiated like sunlight over the whole
country-side. Evil desire was shamed both in men and women.
The women longed to be pure as Clare, and men learned to
reverence their purity and to be pure themselves. "From
every side," says he who first penned her story, " women ran
to the odour of her ointments ; * virgins hastened after her
example to consecrate themselves to Christ ; married women
lived more chastely ; young men in eager crowds, spurred on
by the heroic example of the weaker sex, cast aside the allure
ments of the flesh." 2 And for that, more than for aught else,
Clare was loved, because in an age which sang of chivalry,
she gave to the world a vision of pure women strong in faith
and fearless in loyalty.
1 A quotation from Cant. i. 3. 3 Leg. S. Clarse, 10.
CHAPTEE V.
FIRST ATTEMPTS TO BEACH THE INFIDELS.
THE Lady Clare had been but a few months with the nuns
of Sant Angelo in Panso when the news of the great victory
of the Christian army of Spain sent a thrill of excitement
through all Christendom. The Moorish power had been
overwhelmed at Las Navas on 16 July. Innocent III had
awaited the result of the campaign with anxiety ; l upon its
issue depended much of his future policy. Now the pos
sibility of a new and successful crusade for the recovery of
the Holy Land seemed nearer. It would be difficult to
over-estimate the effect of the news upon the minds of the
more devout in every Catholic country. They received it
gratefully as a sign of Heaven s favour, and as a new in
centive to give good service for the faith of Christ : for the
infidels were the scourge of the Christian world sent as a
punishment by God, because of the sin and indifference to
religion amongst the Christian peoples. And the indevout
were stirred too ; for the victory of Las Navas they knew
would press forward the movement for a new crusade con
templated by the Pope. But to none did the good news
come as a signal for action more emphatically than to
Francis. He too was elated, as were all true Christians, at
this victory of the Cross : but through his elation there ran
a swift pity for the infidel fighting against God. Perhaps
in his simplicity he thought that so great a disaster would
make them more ready to recognize their errors. At any
rate he felt called to go and preach to them the faith of the
Cross. And so it was that the battle of Las Navas became
1 Cf. Innocentii III. Rcgest. lib. xv. 15 [ed. Migne], Epist. Quanta nunc
necessitas.
150
FIBST ATTEMPTS TO BEACH THE INFIDELS 151
incidentally a factor in the evolution of the Franciscan
apostolate.
Hitherto the journeyings undertaken by the brethren
had not extended very far beyond the confines of Umbria.
Francis himself had spent the greater part of the preceding
year in evangelizing the northern borders of Umbria and
also Tuscany, and in this latter province had established
several hermitages and left small colonies of the brethren.
At Florence he had received many novices into the frater
nity ; amongst them John Parenti, a Doctor of Laws, who
many years later will succeed Francis as Minister-General of
the Order. And here, too, he founded one of the first houses
of the brethren outside Umbria ; for the citizens opened their
hearts to him and gave him a small house near the church of
San Gallo outside the city, where some of the brethren might
dwell. He went too as far as Pisa, where at his preaching
two young men begged to be allowed to join his company :
they were Agnellus, the future leader of the brethren on
their coming to England, and Albert who succeeded Agnellus
as Minister-Provincial of the English Province and then be
came Minister-General of the Order. 1
Yet it was chiefly in the country around Lake Thrasy-
rnene that Francis had worked that year. He had passed
the whole of the great Lent in seclusion upon one of the
islands in the lake the Isola Maggiore ; 2 then he went forth
to evangelize the neighbourhood.
So he came to Cortona and preached there. Now when
the sermon was concluded a youth named Guy approached
Francis and offered him a lodging in his house. He was
a noble youth and very wealthy, but quite unspoiled by his
possessions which he held as a trust for the poor ; and always
1 Of. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1211.
2 Vide Fioretti, cap. vi. ; cf . I Celano, 60. Tradition points out a miracu
lous well on Isola Maggiore, which was granted to the prayer of Francis : "it
is good for headaches," the fishermen of the lake will tell you. A convent of
friars was later built on the island ; the convent church now stands uncared
for and desolate, since the expulsion of the friars about 1862. Many frescoes
attributed to Gozzoli adorn the walls, but they are becoming hardly dis
tinguishable.
152 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIS1
he gave to the poor whatever he did not need for his own
frugal maintenance. Francis gladly accepted his proffered
hospitality. That evening Guy waited upon Francis and his
companion as upon most honoured guests ; he washed their
feet with reverence and himself served them at supper ; and
when the meal was over he begged that they would consider
his goods as their own and whenever they were in want of
habits or anything else allow him to supply their need. Fran
cis was entirely won by the youth s open-handed generosity
and his delicate courtesy ; and when he and his companion
were retiring to rest, he said : "My dear brother, this noble
youth, who is so mindful of and grateful to God, and so loving
and courteous towards his neighbours and the poor, would do
well for our life and company. For know you, dear brother,
that courtesy is one of the properties of God, who of His
courtesy, gives His sun and rain to the just and the unjust :
and courtesy is the sister of charity by which hatred is ex
tinguished and love is cherished. And because I have seen
so much divine virtue in this man, therefore gladly would I
have him for a companion." And at that Francis began to
pray that Guy might become one of the fraternity. Guy
meanwhile felt a keen desire not merely to befriend his guests
in their needs but to be one with them in their life, and
shortly afterwards he came and cast himself on his knees
before Francis, asking to be admitted into his company. So
he distributed all his goods to the poor, and afterwards in the
public church received the habit of Poverty.
Now some little distance from Cortona, at the foot of the
high hill on which the city is built, and on the other side
from the low ground which stretches out to Lake Thrasymene,
there is a gurgling rivulet which comes from the mountains,
passing down its rocky course through a deep ravine ; and by
the side of this rivulet there were then some rock caves.
Hither Francis and Guy now betook themselves, and
made a narrow hermitage so near to the rivulet that its
waters sprayed the walls of their caves. 1 And there Guy
1 In the present friary of the Celle, one is still shown the original cave-
hermitage ; but additions were made to the original building by Brother Elias,
FIKST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 153
made his abode until his death many years later. He divided
his days between prayer and manual work, even when after
a time he was ordained priest by obedience. Now and then
he interrupted his life of contemplation and climbed the long
hill and preached to the people of the city : but it was mostly
by his life that he preached to them : and the Celle the caves
in which Guy and his companions lived became a constant
admonition to the citizens, of the life which is beyond this
earth. 1
At Cortona, too, about the same time that Guy entered
the fraternity, Francis is said to have received another pos
tulant one whose name will become famous in the years
that follow : more famous than that of Guy, but not so blessed
Brother Elias, of whom we shall hear much before the close
of this story. 2
Francis also evangelized the district to the south-east of
the lake, and left remembrances of his tour in the hermitages
he established for his brethren at Cetona and Sarteano in
the mountains. 3 It was at Sarteano that Francis endured
and overcame a great temptation. For one night whilst he
was in prayer he was tempted to repent him of the life of
penance he had undertaken, but immediately arousing him
self he cast away the thought. But to that temptation there
succeeded another, and though Francis scourged himself till
his body was discoloured and wealed, yet the temptation per
sisted. It was then winter and the hillside was covered with
snow. Unable by scourgings to subdue his recalcitrant body,
the Vicar - General of St. Francis, and later on by the Capuchins in the
sixteenth century. As it stands, however, the Celle is one of the few remain
ing convents of the Order which retain the primitive character of Franciscan
" loci ". Even the latest additions are in keeping with the earlier buildings.
1 Cf. Acta SS. Vita B. Guidonis, die 12 Junii, torn. n. p. 601 scq. It
is probable, as J. Jorgensen has pointed out, that Guy is the hero of the story
related in the Fioretti, cap. 36.
2 The Vita B. Guidonis, loc. cit., says that at the Celle, Francis also
received Elias de Villa Ursaria. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1211, takes this
Elias to be the Brother Elias so famous in Franciscan history. It is how
ever doubtful ; for Elias, the Vicar-General, was more probably born in Assisian
territory (vide infra, p. 259).
3 Tradition puts the establishment of these hermitages in the beginning
of 1212. Cf. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1212.
154 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
Francis rushed out naked into the snow and set to make
seven snow heaps. Then in his southern fashion he turned
upon himself, exclaiming : " That large heap is thy wife, those
four are thy two sons and two daughters, the other two are
thy manservant and maidservant. Make haste to clothe
them all for they are dying of cold." Thus he continued to
make mockery bravely of his temptation, until starved with
the bitter cold, he retorted upon himself : " If the care of them
thus troubles thee, betake thyself to serve God only ". The
temptation vanished and Francis returned to his cell thank
ing God. 1
Meanwhile others of the brethren were carrying the
message of Poverty to other cities and districts. Brother
Bernard da Quintavalle had been sent to Bologna, where
scholars from all parts of the Italian peninsula crowded the
law-schools for which the city was famous throughout all
Europe. It was a somewhat bold adventure to carry the
Gospel of simplicity and unworldliness into the midst of this
active world of youthful intellectual ambitions and conceits :
and surely it was the imperious instinct of destiny which took
the brethren thither, as an invading army must make for the
strongholds of the country invaded. For nowhere was the
spirit of the world in more direct contrast with the spirit which
created the fraternity than in the law-schools of Bologna.
There the wisdom of the heart wholly docile to the word
of Christ, which was the only wisdom Francis valued, was
wholly at a discount. Men did not go to the schools to learn
the truth of life or how to live as Christians should who
have eternal souls to think about : indeed most of the
scholars would have laughed at the very notion. Know
ledge was to the student what bales of cloth were to the
merchant, a commodity for making one s way in this world
and getting, if need be, the better of one s neighbour. The
very atmosphere of the schools breathed a subtle materialism :
intellectual conceit and pedantry were its ordinary products :
affectation of intellectual superiority went hand in hand with
a callous brutality and licentiousness.
illCelano, 116.
FIEST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 155
To Bologna, then, the grave and courteous Bernard da
Quintavalle had gone, having first commended his journey to
the Lord Christ his Master. He was received as an object
of sport by the students and citizens. When he appeared in
the streets he was mobbed and ill-treated. But in the end
his meekness and constancy came out victorious. An in
fluential citizen, who was also a doctor of laws, one named
Nicholas di Pepoli, won by the evident holiness of the ill-used
friar, befriended him and gave him a lodging, and after a
time established the brethren in a house just outside the city.
And Bernard came to be reverenced by the people as a saint,
until in his humility he fled away, more fearful of the
honours than of the ill-treatment. Appearing before Francis,
Bernard said to him: "The house is founded near the
city of Bologna ; command the brothers that they maintain
it and stay there ; but I have no more profit there because of
the too great honour which is paid me : for I fear I should
lose more than I should gain ". So Francis sent other
brethren to Bologna, and these in time spread the fame of
the fraternity throughout all Lombardy. 1
Thus had Francis and the brethren exercised themselves
in their vocation, when, as we have said, the victory of Las
Navas set men thinking of the crusade, and turned the
thoughts of Francis towards the conversion of the infidels.
It was not in his character to make any elaborate pre
paration for a new adventure. When a knightly service
called him, he as true knight must obey. Nor indeed was
there any need for delaying preparations. The weapons of
his warfare were always ready, his pity for men who knew
not God and his own fervent faith. His mission, he would
always aver, was that of herald or messenger of the Divine
Redeemer : when he had delivered his message and won men
to the Christ-like life he must leave it to others the clergy and
rulers of the earth to organize and govern Christ s kingdom.
1 Of. Vita Fr. Bernardi in Chron. xxiv. Gen., Anal Franc, in. pp. 36-7 ;
Actus S. Franc, cap. 4 ; Fiorctti, cap. 4; .Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1211;
Vide Acta SS. mense Oct. torn. n. p. 843 seq. ; Hilarin de Lucerne, Histoire
des Etudes, p. 132.
156 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
So with just his faith and pity he set out on this mission
to distant lands as he had undertaken his journeys in Catholic
Italy. After all, God would be with him whether he was
amongst Christians or infidels. And if the infidels would
not be won by his preaching and he must attest his faith by
martyrdom, as very likely would happen were God to grant
such grace to his unworthiness, he would die the better for
the simplicity of his obedience to the call. It might seem
strange to those who do not know Francis, that he thus un
hesitatingly set out for a far-off land, prepared to die on his
quest, whilst yet the fraternity was hardly established. But
Francis did not look upon himself as necessary to the
growth of the brotherhood. God could foster His own work
and raise up another leader for the guidance of the brethren.
The one thing which mattered was that he should obey
the Divine will and set the brethren an example of knightly
fidelity to the vocation in which they were called.
It was probably in the autumn of 1212 that he took boat
for Syria, sailing from Ancona. But this true call of his
spirit for true it was, as we shall see was not to be ful
filled in so direct a fashion. Hardly had they set sail when
a storm arose, and the vessel, driven out of its course, was cast
upon the coast of Dalmatia. There for a time Francis and
his fellow-passengers were stranded. It was now impossible
to proceed to the Holy Land ; there was even a difficulty in
getting a return passage to Italy. Francis had no money to
pay his way and the masters of the boats in those parts, did
not appreciate his plea of poverty. Eventually when all per
suasion proved fruitless, Francis had recourse to the stratagem
of the needy. He and his companion were smuggled on
board a vessel about to sail, with the connivance of one of the
crew, who also undertook the care of a plentiful supply of
provisions which a timely friend provided for the brethren s
use. And this forethought proved of greater advantage to
them than was at first designed. For the weather being
still stormy the boat was long delayed on its journey so that
the sailors ran short of food : but Francis shared his provi
sions with them and thus won their hearts, and by the time
FIKST ATTEMPTS TO KEACH THE INFIDELS 157
the boat reached the port of Ancona, Francis had found a
reverent audience who listened willingly to his fervent dis
courses.
Thus his first endeavour to reach the infidels resulted
only in his evangelizing the crew of a ship, at least so far as
the result was then visible. But as in much that Francis
did, the value was not in the immediate achievement ; it was
rather in the inspiring idea. That yearning of his soul
towards the strangers who stand outside the kingdom of
Christ will remain with him all through his life, and send
him forth again in attempts to win them to the Gospel of
his Lord ; and all his attempts will seem fruitless of their
purpose : and yet they will set in the heart of the Christian
world a new policy towards the peoples whom all Christen
dom regarded only as the enemies of the Cross.
The crusades had indeed been forced upon the Christian
nations as a measure of defence : that was their initial justifi
cation. But it is hard to wage war with a people and yet
retain for them the elemental charity which the Divine
Eedeemer came to cast over the earth. In the course of the
crusades Christendom had come to look upon the infidels as
an evil race, to be exterminated or brought to submission by
the sword. That was the prevalent notion. True, attempts
were occasionally made to convince them of their errors by
argument. Popes themselves had written letters to the Sul
tans in this strain. But these overtures were of the sort
which the general of an army might make in the hope of
obtaining a bloodless submission.
Altogether different was the spirit in which Francis
dreamed his dream of converting them. The infidels were
souls for whom Christ had died, and he would bring to them
the message of the Christ for their own salvation. Fondly
he hoped that if this message were brought to them without
the din of secular warfare or the debatability of worldly argu
ment, they would listen. At least he would meet them in the
spirit of the Kedeemer, and if need be, die meekly at their
hands, as Christ had died, offering his life for their salvation.
1 I Celano, 55 ; Tract, de Mirac. 33 ; Leg. Maj. ix. 5.
158 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Such was the new and spiritual crusade which he conceived
in the simplicity of his own piety and faith. He himself
might accomplish but little in the way of actual conversion
amongst the infidel nations ; for that is frequently the way
with the most vitalizing ideals : they need to be transplanted
into a less sensitive soil from that in which they are born,
before they actualize into tangible results. Francis ideas
concerning the vocation of the fraternity had the essential
vitality of ideal truth. Oftentimes they were of too pure a
spirituality to be wholly acceptable to ordinary mortals ; yet
were they as a flame which purged the accepted standards of
much of their grossness ; and sometimes they cast a glamour
of conviction about new and exalted ways, and thus opened
them to a more common acceptance. So it was with his idea
of converting the infidel by the power of the Gospel itself.
That idea became an integral element in the life of the frater
nity, scattering the brethren in after years into distant lands
beyond the confines of Christendom ; sending them forth in
their poverty and faith without the aid of secular arms or
diplomacy, even as the Apostles went forth in the first days
of the Gospel. 1 And that was one of the good things Francis
did for Christendom : he fanned in the Church a new en
thusiasm for the conversion rather than for the conquest of
" the enemies of the Cross ". That first attempt of Francis
to reach the infidels, which stranded him on the shores of
Christian Dalmatia, was therefore no true failure, but the
first sowing of a seed which will blossom when the winter is
past.
On his return to Italy Francis undertook evangelizing
tours through the Marches of Ancona and Umbria : yet not
without first experiencing a period of doubt as to whether he
was personally called to the active ministry of preaching or
to the secluded apostolate of prayer. But we cannot say
whether this time of hesitation followed at once upon the
frustration of his design to preach to the infidels, or a little
1 The letters of Gregory IX reveal the marvellous activity of the Fran
ciscan friars as simple missionaries amongst the infidels. Cf . Sbaralea, Bull.
Franc, i. pp. 93, 100, 102, 106, 155, 233, 269.
FIEST ATTEMPTS TO KEACH THE INFIDELS 159
later in consequence of another incident the story of which
we will now relate.
About the end of the spring of 1213, Francis was preaching
in the Komagna when he came to Montefeltro on a spur of
the Apennines as you enter Tuscany. It was a small fortress-
town perched upon a rocky ledge high in the mountains and
ruled by the lord of the castle around which the town was
built. The place was in high festival when Francis arrived,
for a relative of the lord of Montefeltro had lately been
knighted and the event was being celebrated with song and
tourney and all the gay pleasantry of a feudal feast ; and from
all the neighbourhood the friends of the knight had gathered
to do him honour. It was just an occasion to fire the
imagination of Francis. The symbols of chivalry never left him
unmoved. A great company had gathered in the courtyard of
the castle perhaps to witness a joust at arms or maybe a min
strels contest. Francis pressed forward, and mounting upon
a parapet, besought the grace of the company that he might
speak. Entering into the spirit of the scene he took as the
text of his discourse a couplet of a minstrel s song :
Tanto e il bene ch aspetto
Ch ogni pena m e diletto "-
" So great is the good I have in sight, In every hardship I
delight ". And straightway he launched into a recital of the
service of Christ as set forth in the heroic endurance of the
Apostles and martyrs and holy men and women, who in their
joy of the heavenly vision had deemed penance and even
death as a small price for so great a gain.
Now amongst the listeners was the lord Orlando dei
Cattani, lord of Chiusi in Casentino ; and such was the effect
of the discourse upon him, that when Francis had finished
speaking and had gone down amongst the crowd, Orlando
sought him out and begged that he might confer with him
concerning his soul s salvation. "Eight willingly," replied
Francis, " but this morning thou must do honour to thy
friends and dine with them and after thou hast dined we will
confer together." So Orlando dined with his friends and
160 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
afterwards he and Francis sat long in conference, and at the
end Orlando offered Francis a retreat on Monte Alvernia
high up in the solitudes of the Apennines, for the use of the
brethren : it was a place, he said, remote from the high-roads
and most suitable for contemplation and the penitential life.
Francis gladly accepted the offer and promised to send breth
ren there at once. He himself was now bound for Assisi,
but later on, he too would follow the brethren. 1
Now it may be that this gracious act of the lord Orlando,
in setting apart for the use of the brethren the secluded re
treat of Monte Alvernia, coming so shortly after the failure
to reach the infidels, may have caused Francis to doubt the
heavenly source of the inspiration which sent him upon that
apparently bootless journey, and to doubt further whether
after all his part in the work of the fraternity was that of a
missionary at all. Not every brother was called to preach ;
some would fulfil the vocation of the brotherhood better in
the activity of the contemplative life. In prayerful solitude
these would cultivate the intensity of spirit which is apt to be
lost on the world s highways, and be as a flame enkindling
the preachers with spiritual fire.
Hence Francis deemed that in the fraternity there should
always be some who would be wholly given to the in
terior life of contemplative prayer, whilst others were em
ployed in the ministry of the divine word. And about this
time he was hesitating as to his own proper part in the life
of the fraternity.
He was again at the Porziuncola when this doubt came
to a head : but whether it was before he met the lord Orlando
or after, we cannot definitely say. 2
l Fioretti, I Consid. Stim. ; Actus, cap. 9. The date of the donation of
Alvernia is attested by the lastrumentum donationis Montis Alvernce to be 8
May, 1213. Of. Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, iv. p. 156, n. h. The Fioretti charac
teristically weaves the story of the donation into the story of the Stigmata,
the principal event in Francis life connected with Monte Alvernia : but the
description of the sermon bears every trace of authenticity. Compare it with
I Gelano, 23 ; 3 Soc. 25 ; Leg. Maj. in. 2 ; and also with the description of
Francis style of preaching in the letter of Thomas of Spalatro (infra, p. 302).
2 More probably it was after the donation of Alvernia, when St. Clare was
already at San Damiano with the sisters who. had joined her. So I conclude
FIEST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 161
Unwilling now to trust to his own judgment, Francis
called Brother Masseo and telling him all his doubt, bade
him go to Sister Clare and beg her first to pray to God
and then declare to him what God should put into her mind
concerning this matter ; and Masseo was to go to Brother
Sylvester also, who was then in solitary retreat, and beg him
in like manner to say what God willed. On Masseo s return
Francis received him ceremoniously as the ambassador of
God and washed his feet and made for him a repast.
Afterwards they went together into the wood, and there
Francis threw himself upon his knees and stretched forth his
arms in the form of a cross and thus listened to Masseo.
Both Sister Clare and Brother Sylvester, Masseo told him,
had declared that Francis vocation was to go forth into the
world and preach the Gospel for the salvation of souls ; for
that the grace of the vocation was not given him for himself
alone but also for the saving of others. Hearing this, Francis
rose up and said with fervent conviction : " Then let us go forth
in the name of God". And taking with him Brothers
Masseo and Angelo Tancredi, he without any delay set out
on a journey. He took the road which leads across the
valley, going by the further side towards Spoleto.
As he went along, his mind wholly free from troublous
doubt, all the country-side seemed to respond to the joyous
gratitude towards God which filled his soul, and a closer
kinship between him and the earth suddenly revealed
itself.
They had passed through Cannara, which you can reach
in about two hours walking from Assisi, and were on their
way to Bevagna, another two hours easy going, allowing for
the fatigue of the lengthening journey, when they came to
the place now called Pian d Area, where the white road is
flanked on either side with wide-stretching verdant fields,
with here and there a group of trees casting a kindly shadow
from the wording of the Leg. Maj. xn. 2. M. Sabatier places the appeal to
St. Clare and Bro. Sylvester after the journey to Spain ; but the wording of
Celano more naturally points to the period immediately following the return
from Slavonia (Dalmatia) and preceding the journey to Spain,
11
162 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
in the hot sunlight. At this spot Francis attention was ar
rested by a multitude of birds of all sorts, who had gathered
there perhaps because of the fine harvests : and at the sight
of them and the sound of their many voices, he felt a great
tenderness towards them, and there came upon him a yearn
ing to make himself a brother to these merry creatures
of God.
At that, he bade his companions stand still, and himself
ran forward into the midst of the birds, half afraid though he
was that they might fly away at his approach. But instead,
and to his surprise, they remained in position as though
awaiting him. And for this Francis felt very grateful and
grew more tender. He greeted them with his usual greeting :
" My brothers, God give you peace " ; and began to speak
caressingly to them. " My brother birds," he said, "much
ought you to praise your Creator and to love Him always ;
Him Who has given you feathers for clothing, wings for
flight and all that you have need of. God has made you
noble among His creatures, for He has given you a dwelling
in the purity of the air, and though you neither sow nor reap,
He yet protects and governs you without any care of your
own." In such wise he spoke to them ; and they at the
sound of his voice grew more confident and came nearer and
moved their heads to look at him and spread out their wings
in great contentment and twittered their trust in him. Then
seeing how trustful and friendly they were, Francis moved
about amongst them : yet they showed no fear. At length he
blessed them with the sign of the cross and bade them de
part : and only then did they fly away. 1
Francis and his two companions then proceeded on their
way to Bevagna. But that had happened to Francis which
even he himself hardly yet understood. The earth had opened
to him another of its great secrets. Once before the mystery
of life had lifted and he had found himself in spirit a brother
to the outcast and the leper ; and that had been the beginning
of his new life. To-day it was a like happening. He had
run to the birds in a heightened sense of that friendliness
1 1 Celano, 58 ; Leg. Maj. xn. 2-3 ; Fioretti, cap. xv. ; Actus, cap. 16.
FIBST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 163
which he had always felt for the brute creatures and which
had before often won their confidence. 1
But as he went on his way he was conscious of a new
and different feeling. It was as though a new sense had been
given him, and his heart beat with an intimate understanding
of the heart-life of the beasts and birds and all sensitive
things. He felt no longer a kindly stranger amongst them :
they had become as life of his life, even as the poor had be
come some years before. And with this new understanding
there came to him a wonderful power over all the wild life
which moves upon the earth and in the air and water. The
most timid or ferocious became fearless or tame at his side.
Many are the stories related by those who knew Francis, of
this singular power of his. For example : at Alviano, Francis
was disturbed in his preaching by the swallows who were
building their nests and chirping and chattering the while.
"My sisters, the swallows," he called to them, "it is now
time for me to speak ; you have been speaking enough all
the time." And at once the swallows ceased their chirping
until the sermon was over. 2 Once at the Porziuncola a cicala
made its home in a fig-tree near Francis cell. At Francis
call she would come and sit upon his hand. Then he would
say : " Sing, my sister cicala, and praise the Lord thy Creator
with a joyful song ". And the cicala would at once begin to
sing and continue singing until Francis joined her in song :
nor would she go away until he bade her. But after eight
days Francis told her to leave the place ; for he would not
hold the wild things even in a willing captivity. Then the
cicala flew away and did not again return. 3 But most
characteristic of all is the story of the wolf of Gubbio. It
happened in the last years of Francis life when he was too
infirm to walk. He was on his way to Gubbio and had
passed the night at the monastery of San Verecondo in the
hills. Next morning he set out upon an ass ; but as he was
about to proceed some peasants came running to him, telling
1 e.g. during his fast on Lake Thrasymene two years previously, a rabbit
attached himself to Francis and would hardly leave him. Cf. I Celano, GO.
" I Celano, 59 ; Leg. Maj. xu. 4. 3 II Celano, 171.
11*
164 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
him not to go forward as the country was over-run with
ravenous wolves, who would surely eat both him and the
ass. Francis answered gaily : " But what harm have I done
to my brothers, the wolves, that they should eat me and the
ass? I will go on in the name of God." When he came to
Gubbio he found the city in a panic of fear. Francis
thereupon preached to the people, telling them that this
trouble had come upon them because of their sins, and
persuading them to live better lives if they would be friends
with God and His creatures. But after the sermon he went
out to seek the particular wolf who was the chief cause of the
terror, and in his marvellous way he tamed the beast, and
brought him into the city in meek and docile mood and had
him fed : and from that time the wolf became the pet of the
city until he died and, as tradition says, was buried honourably
by the citizens on the spot where he had long been lodged, and
where afterwards a church was built to commemorate this
wonderful thing, under the title of San Francesco della
Pace. 1
But on the day when Francis first discovered his brother
hood with the birds he did not yet realize the power that had
come to him. As he went along the road to Bevagna he was
only conscious of a new freedom of spirit amongst God s
creatures which gave him great gladness. Yet athwart the
gladness there fell a shadow of remorse that he had hitherto
been a stranger to all this vast creation and had failed to
preach the word of God to his brothers the birds.
The journey through the valley of Spoleto and that also
1 It has long been the custom to regard the story of the wolf of Gubbio in
the Fioretti, cap. 20, and Actus, cap. 23, as a mere allegory or myth. But the
story has in recent years received two curious supports for its substantial
authenticity. I refer to the Passio S. Verecundi, an almost contemporary
chronicle published by Mgr. Falocci-Pulignani in Miscell Franc, x. pp. 6-7.
This chronicle puts it beyond doubt that Francis came to Gubbio at a time
when the country was being ravaged by hungry wolves. Cf. Archiv. Franc.
Hist. an. i. fasc. i. p. 70. As to the tradition of the wolf s lodgment and death
in Gubbio as related in the text, there is the finding of a wolf s skull imbedded
beneath the ancient walls of the church of San Francesco della Pace, of which
a full account is given in " Gubbio, Past and Present," by L. McCraken (Dent),
p. 283.
FIEST ATTEMPTS TO EEACH THE INFIDELS 165
through the Marches of Ancona, whither Francis also went
about this time, became indeed a veritable triumphal pro
gress. The people crowded around him bringing their sick
to be healed, and they were happy if they could but touch
his garments ; still happier if they could tear off a piece to
keep as a relic : so that he was in danger of going habitless.
Even the things he handled became sacred in their eyes and
were kept reverently for the relief of the sick.
At some places the clergy and townsfolk, hearing of his
approach, came out to meet him ; the church-bells were rung
joyously and the children marched in procession clapping
their hands or carrying palm-branches and singing as they
went along. In the Marches of Ancona and on the borders
of the Eomagna the success of his preaching was especially
remarkable. At Ascoli thirty men, learned clerks some of
them, joined the fraternity. Even the heretical Patarini, who
were strong in numbers in those parts, respected his preach
ing and did not oppose him, though in opposition to their
doctrines he was at pains to impress upon the listening
crowds the duty of obedience to the Koman Church and re
spect for priests. 1
And here we may mention one trait in the apostolate of
Francis which conduced not a little to the success of his mis
sion. It mattered not -to him whether he was preaching to
a large crowd or merely to one or two people : he spoke as
freely and fervently in one case as in the other. 2 Totally
unconscious of himself, he poured out his message of penance
and peace and love with a burning eloquence even if but one
man were listening. The incentive to speak was not de
pendent on the numbers or quality of his audience but in
his own wonder at and realization of the eternal mysteries
and in his zeal to fulfil the commission laid upon him. He
spoke because he must, and from the fullness of his heart.
And it was only when this necessity of speech was upon him
that he could speak at all. At other times, if called upon to
1 1 Celano, 62.
2 " Populorum maximam multitudinem quasi vivum unutn cerncbat ct uni
quasi multitudiiie diligentissime prtcdicabat" (I Celano, 72).
166 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
preach, he would merely bless the people and turn away. 1
He would never speak to them as a matter of form. Nor
could he prepare sermons beforehand as ordinary preachers
must. On the few occasions when he attempted to deliver a
carefully prepared discourse, he failed utterly : the prepared
speech fettered his spirit and his mind became a blank. 2 And
so when he did speak, his words were like the sudden letting
loose of pent-up waters, rugged and swift in their flow, awe
some in their force and in the sense they gave of the volume
of life behind, and yet melodious to the ear and steadying to
the soul of the listener as the flow of vast waters always are.
Francis at length returned to the Porziuncola, but the call to
the infidels was still in his heart, and before the winter had
set in, he had again started out to fulfil his desire. 3
This time his intention was to preach to those Moors who
had been defeated so severely the previous year at Las
Navas : so he took the road to Spain, intending to cross
thence into Morocco. His companions included Brother
Bernard da Quintavalle who had left Bologna in fear of the
reverence paid him there, as we have already said. So eager
was Francis to reach his goal that it was with difficulty his
companions could keep up with him on the road : "he seemed
like one intoxicated in spirit," says St. Bonaventure, so swiftly
did he press forward. But again his adventure was to fail of
its purpose. When he reached Spain the fatigue and the
hard winter weather brought on a sickness, and Francis
could pursue his journey no further. When he was suffi
ciently recovered to be able to travel, he turned his face home
wards, convinced that his immediate duty was with the
brethren in Italy. 4 But some say that on his way home, he
turned aside to seek comfort for his soul at the shrine of St.
James the Apostle at Compostella, and that whilst he knelt
there, he received an inward assurance that this journey
would not be in vain, since on his homeward travel he would
1 1 Celano, 72.
2 Ibid. ; cf. II Celano, 107.
3 Cf. Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 189.
4 1 Celano, 56 ; Leg. Maj. ix. 6.
FIBST ATTEMPTS TO BEACH THE INFIDELS 187
find places for the establishment of the fraternity and receive
many brethren into the Order. 1
1 Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 9 ; see also pp. 189-90, where
various incidents concerning this journey are related. Tradition says that
Francis actually founded places for the friars at Burgos, Logrono, etc., and
that he predicted at Montpellier the foundation of a house of friars there. Cf.
Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1213. On the other hand the Bollandists hold that all
these foundations belong to a somewhat later date. Cf. Acta SS. mense Octob.
ii. p. 603.
CHAPTEK VI.
FRANCIS ATTENDS THE FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL.
FROM the time that Francis had made his first effort to preacl
to the infidels the fraternity had been rapidly increasing in
numbers and activity. Before the close of 1215, the brethren
were well known throughout the whole of central and
northern Italy ; and a beginning of the apostolate had been
made in Spain and southern France.
In Italy the wonderment in which was a curious com
mingling of the readiness to scoff and the impulse to worship
which had been aroused by the friars on their first appear
ance, had given place to a more consistent reverence. Francis
and his brethren had become an accepted fact in the reform
movement of the period ; and throughout lJmbria,"Tuscany,
the Marches of Ancona and Lombardy, dwelling-places of
the fraternity had sprung into being as the nests appear in
the trees in the early spring-time. They were small hermit
ages either on the outskirts of the cities and towns or in the
hills not far away. For the people, won to better thoughts
by the life and preaching of the brethren, were unwilling to
see them depart from their neighbourhood, and the brethren
wanderers as they must be for the .sake of Christ were
glad of a welcoming retreat to which they might retire amidst
their labours and find refreshment for their souls in un
disturbed prayer and in the companionship of each other.
The establishment of the brethren in a neighbourhood
was in the best sense of the term, a social event. They be
came part of the life of the place. For though they accepted
usually only such places as had a certain solitariness to re
commend them, yet they dwelt there only at the will of the
owner or of the commune. They took part in the labour of
168
FEANCIS AT FOUETH LATEEAN COUNCIL 169
the day with the country folk or in the houses of the citizens,
and depended upon them for their daily bread. They
thus made themselves sons of the people even whilst they
were to them apostles of a new religious life ; and their pre
sence pervaded the landscape and brought a new element as
of some intimate concern, into the life of the community and
into every household. That was one of the strange things
about these new religious. They won their way not by de
liberate dominance, whether social or intellectual, over others,
but as children win their way, by very dependence. In their
entire poverty and still more in their gentleness and wide
human sympathies, they threw themselves upon the goodwill
of their fellow-men : and this dependence proved in large
measure their strength. Men grown cynical and suspicious
of attempts to force religion upon them, were softened and
disarmed when it came to them disrobed of every appearance
of worldly interest and ambition. Moreover it was very evi
dent that these men had not embraced poverty as a weapon
of party warfare either in opposition to the Church or in its
defence ; but because they loved it for its own sake as one
loves a precious gain. What the gain really was, or why it
should be allied to such absolute poverty, might be a mystery
to most of those who saw them : yet they felt it was there
and was worth having in their midst. Its presence spelt for
them a vision of purity and charity and noble endurance and
of a joyous faith in the heaven to come. In this way did
the fraternity win the heart of the Italian people ; giving to
them of its own spiritual treasure, yet depending on them
for all manner of human good-will.
And it was not only the laity who thus welcomed and
succoured the brethren. The parish priests were as kindly
and worshipful as their parishioners. Here_ and there a
priest might rebuff them as meddlers and hypocrites"; 1 but
generally speaking the priests were their friends and opened
their doors to them hospitably when the brethren begged &
night s lodging as they went from place to place. And in
deed it would have been strange had it been otherwise ; for
1 e.g. I Celano, 46.
170 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
the brethren showed marked reverence for all priests and
taught the people to respect them. In striking contrast to
the reforming sectaries, Francis and his friars would tolerate
no ill-word against a priest, since to them he was the re
presentative and minister of the priesthood of Christ. To
those who spoke ill of a priest Francis would reply, " I know
not whether his living be worthy of respect or otherwise ; but
this I know that his hands convey the sacraments to many
people and bring salvation to their souls : therefore will I kiss
his hands in all reverence." l
Nor would he allow the brethren to preach in any parish
against the will of the parish-priest, 2 or in any way to inter
fere with their parochial rights. 3 And so whether with the
laity or the clergy, he won his way by gentleness and
humility.
"What perhaps most recommended the brethren to the
authorities of the Church was that, wherever they were re
ceived by the people, the spirit of faction and heresy was
lessened: men forgot their discontent and shook off their
quarrels ; a new sense of life sprang up amongst them, beside
which political programmes and party feuds were of little con
cern. Of those who had hitherto thought of reform as some
thing to set their neighbours right, many now began to take it
as something primarily concerning themselves : and that was
the beginning of peace. Moreover in this new religious re
vival the Church was not set as a bone of contention in the
midst. Francis and the brethren took the Church for granted ;
they did not discuss its claims. On occasion, when drawn
thereto by the heretics, they would assert their belief and pro
fess their reverence, but they did not argue. Very swiftly the
people recognized that the brethren saw in the Church, above
and beyond the petty contentions of men, a Divine presence
amidst the things of earth : and this simple uncontentious
1 Of. Admonit. 26 in Opuscula [Quaracchi], p. 18. Concerning Francis
reverence for priests, cf. II Celano, 8, 146, 201 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 54 ; Regula
Prima, cap. 19 ; Tcstamentum S. F.
2 Cf. Testamentum S. F.; Scripta Fr. Leonis [Lemmens], n. 6; Spec.
Perfect, cap. 50.
3 Cf. Scripta Fr. Leonis, ut supra ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 10.
FBANCI8 AT FOUETH LATEBAN COUNCIL 171
faith did more to revive the loyalty of a people whose faith
was strong in spite of discontent, than all controversy could
have done. The faith of the brethren was its own argument :
such was the ascendancy they obtained over the people s
imagination.
Every year the brethren scattered throughout the Pro
vinces gathered together at some appointed place, 1 about the
time of the Pentecost festival, to receive the instructions -p(\fty
of their spiritual father and to consult with him concerning
the affairs of the fraternity : thus a close union was kept be
tween Francis and all the brethren and between the brethren
themselves.
They do not seem to have met always at the Porziuncola :
at least on one occasion the chapter of the brethren was held
near the monastery of San Verecondo in the neighbourhood
of Gubbio, and at that chapter three hundred brethren were
present : for whom the Abbot provided the necessary food. 2
To these gatherings the brethren came gladly, for the
family spirit was strong amongst them. Francis took the
opportunity to impress upon their minds the fundamental
principles of their vocation and to warn them against the
dangers they must meet with on their journeys. He would
especially remind them of the reverence due to priests and to
the ordinances of the Church, lest they should be led astray
by the heretical reformists. They were, moreover, to avoid
sitting in judgment upon men who lived delicately or were
1 " Semel in anno cum multiplicilucro ad locum determination conveniunt,"
writes Jacques de Vitry in 1216 (vide his letter published by M. Sabatier
in Spec. Perfect, pp. 296 seq. ; and by Boehmer, Analekten. zur Oeschichte des
Franciscus von Assisi, p. 94 seq.). We know also from Celano that St. Francis
from the beginning would frequently call the brethren together to consult
with them about the fraternity (of. I Celano, 29). Probably from the early
days the more important annual Chapter was held at Pentecost in imitation
of the gathering together of the Apostles. 3 Soc. cap. xiv. speaks of the
Chapters of Pentecost and Michaelmas; but it is uncertain whether the
Michaelmas Chapter was instituted before the institution of Provinces in
1217. Pere Mandonnet, O.P. (Les Regies et la gouvernement de VOrdo de Pceni-
tentia t chap. in. p. 201 note), seems to hold that both chapters were of earlier
institution.
2 Leg. de Passione S. Verccundi, in Miscell. Franc, x. p. 6. Cf . Archil).
Franc. Hist. an. i. fasc. i. pp. 69-70.
172 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
proudly clad : rather were they to revere all men as their
lords and brothers. Wherever they came they must endea
vour to bring peace and harmony amongst men, and this they
would do if they had peace and good-will in themselves. In
fine, they were to remember that their mission was " to heal
the wounded, bind up the broken-hearted, and recall them
that had erred". " Many may seem to us," he would add,
"to be limbs of the devil, who nevertheless shall become
disciples of Christ." Sometimes the admonitions and pre
cepts given by Francis at these Chapters were incorporated
in the Eule for their better remembrance. When the Chapter
was over, the brethren again set out for their different places
or went on a journey newly assigned them, with their hearts
burning and their souls braced up.
These were indeed the joyous years of the fraternity s
growth. Without any doubt the brethren had their own in
dividual difficulties and temptations which developed the
strength of their manhood but they were not such as make
history ; and so it is that apart from the incidents related in
the preceding Chapter, the three or four years following the
"conversion" of the Lady Clare, give comparatively sparse
harvest to the historian of the early Franciscan days. His
tory is not made in the equitable sunshine but in the frosts
and tempests and scalding heat : for history is not life itself
but the record of life s transitions and violent efforts.
But that was now about to happen which was to intensify
still more the life of Francis and his brethren and link up
still further their destiny with the religious movement of the
age : though at the time they were hardly conscious of any
unusual stirring in their calmly vivid lives.
In the November of 1215 Francis was summoned to Eome.
Innocent III had convoked a General Council to assemble at
the Lateran on St. Martin s Day, and Francis, as the founder
of a new order, was bidden to be present. 1
1 In fact so unconscious were the friars of any special link between
Francis presence at this Council and subsequent events in his history, that
the early biographers do not even mention his attendance at the Council.
Fortunately we have the evidence of the Dominican author of the Vita
Fratrum (vide infra, p. 181) and of Angelo Clareno (infra, p. 177).
FEANCIS AT FOUETH LATEEAN COUNCIL 173
The Council was in truth an assemblage of all the forces,
spiritual and temporal, of the Catholic world. Archbishops
and bishops and the representatives of kings and princes;
heads of monasteries and universities, and proctors of every
established interest in the Church and petitioners for interests
yet to be established all had come to Eome as to " the ex
alted citadel whence the best public opinion of the age was
to send forth its decrees for the ordering of the Christian
nations". 1 As the assembled prelates and representatives
knew well, it was a council~of war! TEe Pope had called
them together with the acknowledged purpose of bringing
the religious aspirations of the time into immediate conflict
with its devastating worldliness and rising infidelity. He was
willing to stake his whole policy upon an attempt to gather
to his side whatever in Christendom was yet responsive to
the ideal of a Church purified from the evils which were
sapping the very foundations of the Christian life. HLejwQuld
demand from all the Catholic peoples a supreme effort to
root out both heresy and the more insidious worldliness which
were eating into the Church s life, and to arouse the nations
from the apathy which allowed the infidels to keep possession
of the most sacred sanctuaries of Christendom.
The occupation of the Holy Land by the infidels was to
Innocent, as to all the religious spirits of the Middle Ages, a
symbol of the disloyalty of the Christian people to Christ and
the Church. The recovery of the Holy Places was a matter
of honour with every honest Christian ; an attestation of his
faith in the Divine Eedeemer Who had there lived and died.
Innocent III perhaps did not realize how far the temper
of the nations had receded from the point which might have
made a crusade successful ; or if he did, being a mystic as
well as a politician, he may yet have bound himself to issue
his war-cry and shame a recreant world. Also he was not a
man to be diffident of carrying through a purpose to which
he had set his hand. In his masterful spirit he may have
thought himself able to bring the laggard states to decisive
action. But whatever may have .been his further outlook
1 Baronius, Annales, ad an. 1215.
174 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
upon the issue of his policy, he associated the idea of an in
ternal reformation of Christendom with an effort to recover
the Holy Places. A crusade would revive the people s faith
and go hand in hand with moral reform. And for this In
nocent had convoked the Council, to take its opinion and
still more to issue his command.
So on St. Martin s Day, the Conciliar Fathers and dele
gates were assembled in the church of St. John Lateran for
the opening of the first session. Innocent preached the
inaugural sermon. Clearly his words rang out, and in his
voice was an impassioned sincerity. For the moment the
statesman in the Pontiff gave place to the prophet. It would
seem that he already had some intimation that his days
would not be long, and that he must not delay if he would
see the consummation of the work he had taken in hand.
This prescience of an early death hangs pathetically over
the strenuous vitality with which he directed the Council.
It dictated to him the text for his opening sermon : " With
desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you before I
suffer". 1 "Truly," he went on to say, " might this Council
be called a pasch, for the word pasch means passage," and from
this assembly he looked for a threefold passage of the nations
a passage to the Holy Places, a passage from vice to virtue,
a passage from this temporal life to the life eternal. Not in
temporal ambition had he called the Fathers together, but
that the Church might be reformed and the Holy Land be
once more in Christian hands.
If God would not grant him to see the accomplishment
of his desire, he would not refuse to drink this chalice of
Christ s passion : he would not refuse death, though he would
that he might live in the flesh until the work now to be be
gun, were consummated. " Not my will, but God s, be done ! "
Then swiftly he depicted the misery of the Holy Places
trod under foot by the infidels. " Jerusalem, the city of
sorrow, is calling to all who pass by the way to come and see
if there be sorrow like unto hers : and shame and disgrace
will it be to them who pass by unheeding." But another
1 Luke xxn. 15.
FRANCIS AT FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL 175
sorrow called out to them from amidst the abominations
which were in the midst of the Christian peoples, the sorrow
of the Church denied by the people s sin : and at this the
Pontiff deftly took up and expounded the ninth chapter of the
Prophet Ezechiel, applying its reforming ordinances to the
situation of the moment.
He himself, as the supreme pastor of God s Church,
he explained, was "the man clothed in linen with a writer s
ink-horn at his loins ". To him the Lord had said : " Go
through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jeru
salem ; and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh and mourn for all the abominations that are committed
in the midst thereof ". His audience were " the six men that
came from the way of the upper gate ". To them the command
of the Lord was "to go after their leader through the city
and to strike," sparing none save " those upon whom they see
Thau " : they are to strike with all the power at their disposal
interdict, suspension, excommunication and deposition
till the city be cleansed. Yet must they strike in order to
heal, kill in order to quicken ; according to the words of our
Lord: "I will not that the sinner die". Chiefly must they
look to the clerical order : and now Innocent s words, sharp
and decisive as they had been, took on a keener edge :
" When the priest sins, he makes the people sin too ". " How
can the pastors who live evilly reprehend those who live in
iniquity ? These will but reply : the son cannot do but what
he sees his father doing ; it is sufficient for the disciple that
he be as his master ; and so is the prophecy fulfilled : there
shall be like priest like people." l
It was a masterly discourse, superbly courageous, entirely
sincere. Its spirit dominated the deliberations of the Council
and urged the Fathers to the devising of heroic measures.
A new crusade was decided upon ; the Roman Curia was
to be purified of secular ambition and the avarice of its
officials ; and the reformation of the clergy, thus begun at the
fountain-head, was to be carried throughout all ranks.
a Labbaeus, Sacrorum Conciliorum Collectio [edit. 1778], vol. xxn. pp.
968-73.
176 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
So the Council ordained : but the Crusade proved a
failure, and the cleansing of the Eoman Court from the scandal
of avarice was thwarted by the distrust of the nations. 1 And
yet the Fourth Lateran Council has justly been styled the
Great Eeforming Council of the Middle Ages ; for though it
failed of its more immediate and ambitious decisions, it adopted
and uttered with the sacrosanct utterance of the highest
authority, the cry of the age for a more Christian life amongst
clergy and laity, and set in motion forces by which a new life
was to be given to a degenerate faith and a slackened moral
sense. The proclamation of a crusade received but a faint
hearted response ; but the decrees ordering the bishops to
appoint worthy men to preach the word of God in their dio
ceses, and still more the decisive adoption of the penitential
movement and fraternities into the organized system of the
Church, were the salvation of Catholic Christendom.
But it is in reference to Francis and his fraternity that
we are concerned with the Council in this history. Francis
had been called to Rome either by the Pope himself or by the
Cardinal-Protector, John of St. Paul, to represent the interests
of the fraternity. For it had been determined to direct the up
rising of the new penitential fraternities into the already estab
lished ways of the monastic or canonical life, 2 so as to bring
them more effectively under the authority of the Church and
temper the fanaticism which not unfrequently entered into
the constitution of the new fraternities. And in fact the
Council did decree that no new Rules should be allowed, but
all orders founded in the future must adopt one of the tra
ditional Rules as the basis of their organization.
Happily for Francis and his fraternity, their Rule had
1 Of. Abbot Gasquet, Henry III atid the Church, chap. v.
2 The traditional religious communities were of two sorts ; the monks who
mostly followed the Rule of St. Benedict, and the canons-regular who followed
the Rule of St. Augustine. The various congregations either of the monastic
order or the canonical, differed in their constitutions and customs, but they
all professed the same rule according as they were monks or canons. The
Franciscan Rule, however, was sui generis and the Friars Minor were neither
monks nor canons ; they represented the new penitential fraternity pure and
simple.
FRANCIS AT FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL 177
already been approved by the Holy See, and when the question
of the new orders came up for discussion, Pope Innocent
notified the Council of his approbation of the Friars Minor. 1
It is evident that the Pontiff had no intention of going back
upon his original approbation ; for not only did he thus form
ally confirm his sanction of the Rule of the brethren in the
presence of the representatives of the Church ; but about this
same time he extended the "privilege" of absolute poverty,
as accorded to the brethren, to Clare and her sisters at San
Damiano. 2
Such formal approbation was undoubtedly of the first
importance to the life of the fraternity in that it preserved the
individuality of the Franciscan family at a critical moment :
but it did not add anything to the life of the brethren itself
nor tend to expand its vital energies. And yet, as we have
said, this Council was to stir deeply the heart of Francis and
leave its mark upon the fraternity.
It came about in this way : all unconsciously on the part
of the Pontiff and the Council and without deliberation on
the part of Francis as in fact the most vital happenings
occur.
Francis had come to the Council as one might approach a
holy place, expectant of the majesty of God. To him this
assembling of the bishops of Christendom was as another
Pentecost : for truly he believed that where the Church was
thus assembled there would be the Divine Spirit ; and as he
entered the great cathedral church of the Catholic world on
that first day of the Council, this sense of the opening
heavens was upon him. So he had awaited the sermon of the
Supreme Pontiff. One needs the reverential spirit to receive
a prophet s words ; and of all that vast assembly, none was
so reverent as the lowly friar in his unkempt garb. To him
the sermon was as a personal message ; had he not already
known that the judgment of God was hovering over a forgetful
world, held back only by God s own mercy ? And now the
1 Of. Angelo Glareno in Ehrle, Archiv fttr Litteratur und KircJien-Ge-
schichte, torn. i. p. 557.
2 Vide supra, p. 144.
12
178 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
Pontiff speaking as God s representative on earth was announc
ing judgment and extending mercy. Eagerly he seized upon
that promise of mercy in the judgment to come, to all who
were signed with the Thau, the mark of penance and the
new life in Christ. With that mark he would sign him
self and the brethren and all who would listen to his words.
And the Thau seemed, as the Pontiff explained its meaning,
the ordained mark of the sons of Poverty. " Thau," the
Pope said, " is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet "
(Francis treasured those words as indicating the humility
in which the Gospel was founded), "it expresses the form
of the cross such as it was before Pontius Pilate placed
the title upon it. This sign he carries on his forehead
who shows forth the power of the cross in his deeds accord
ing to what the Apostle says : they have crucified their
flesh with the vices and concupiscences ; and again : God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I to the
world. Such a man indeed weeps and groans over the abomi
nations which are in the midst of the city, since the sins of
one s neighbour are the hell of the just."
Every word fell upon the ears of Francis as an echo of
the spirit which had led him on these nine years past ; yet
with a fresh emphasis and as words of a full and immediate
wisdom which gave direction and force to latent energies.
From that moment he took to himself the sign Thau as the
symbol of the vocation of the brethren. It became his sign-
manual : with it he marked his dwelling-places and subscribed
his letters l as with a saving talisman.
But chiefly did he bear the Thau in his very soul : for
now he began to mourn even more passionately than hereto
fore over the world s sin and to feel a greater pity for the
world upon which God s judgment must surely fall if it did
not repent. And from that time too he began to ponder upon
some means of bringing the Divine pardon more swiftly to
repentant souls. Never before perhaps had he realized so
deeply and with such entire conviction the message which
1 Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 3 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 9.
FKANCIS AT FOUKTH LATEKAN COUNCIL 179
Sister Clare and Brother Sylvester had sent him two years
ago, that God had called him not for his own salvation only
but also for the salvation of others.
Of a surety now he felt that the brethren were "the
heralds of the great King" sent to carry out the Pontiff s
commission of judgment and mercy, but chiefly of mercy :
for as Pope Innocent had declared in the summing up of his
sermon : " God desires not the death of the sinner". 1
Men whose lives are a faithful aspiration after some moral
or spiritual ideal, not infrequently experience these sudden
deepenings of their most cherished convictions, wrought by
some unexpected word or action : and these experiences bring
with them a new illumination and assurance and a keener
urgency to realize the cherished life which is in them. In
the beginning of their spiritual growth such urgency is com
monly supplied by the discovery of hitherto unrecognized
objects of reverence or affection ; but later it proceeds not so
much from new ideas or mental recognitions, but rather from
the will or affective faculty itself. A chance word perhaps
will reveal to the heart its own possession not in a new light
but with a fuller, more translucent light : and upon such
revelations does a man s life bound to its final perfections.
In some way Francis must have had the feeling of being
1 1 do not know if anyone has hitherto connected St. Francis devotion
to the sign Thau with Pope Innocent s sermon : but to my mind the con
nexion seems certain. There is no historic evidence of the use of the Thau
until after the Council ; but we know Francis used it not long afterwards ; and we
may be quite sure that that devotion had its origin in some external event, as
all Francis devotions had. Then there are the two visions of Brother Paci-
ficus. In the first vision which happened before the Council, in 1213 or 1214,
he saw Francis marked with two flaming swords in the form of a cross, i.e.
a four-limbed cross (II Celano, 106 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 9) ; another time, but after
the Council, "before he became Minister of France," Pacificus saw him with
the Thau on his forehead (ibid.).
One can hardly read the inaugural sermon of Innocent III without being
struck by its intense sympathy with the penitential spirit which gave rise to
the penitent fraternities of the time. It was such a sermon as Francis could
not have listened to without feeling that the Pontiff in his magisterial capa
city, was proclaiming the gospel of penance such as he himself and the
penitents had been preaching. And it was the Pontiff who proclaimed the
Thau as the badge of the penitent spirit.
12*
180 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
adopted into the declared policy of the assembled Church, as
he listened to Innocent s injunctions to the Council : for un
doubtedly in so far as they referred to the cleansing of
Christian society from internal vice and luxury, they were
the official response to the penitential movement by the su
preme Pastor of Christendom. All unconscious of it as he
was, Francis was in fact in the eyes of the Pontiff, the re
presentative of that movement in its purest form. Another
man there was present at the Council, who was to turn that
movement into a defence of the dogmatic position of the
Church ; and that was Dominic Guzman who had come to
petition the Pope for leave to found a new order of Preachers.
But Dominic s purpose was directly to defend the faith of
Christendom against the argumentative attacks of the here
tics ; whereas the purpose of Francis was that primary aim
of the penitent upheaval, the more perfect practice of the
Gospel-life. How far, one wonders, was Pope Innocent con
scious that in these two men would be found the driving
force which was to realize the prophetic mission of purgation
which he had set before the Council ? And did their pres
ence give inspiration to his thought when he met the Con-
ciliar Fathers at the Lateran ? One would not lightly hazard
an affirmation, knowing how seldom forceful minds, like that
of Pope Innocent, are conscious of their dependence upon the
actions of others. And yet, such was the greatness of his
nature, whether or not he foresaw their future destiny, he
could not let them pass by, but must gather them into the
armoury of the Church. But this formal adoption of the
Franciscan fraternity into the forces of the hierarchy will
necessarily bring about wide-reaching results in its consti
tution and development : it will become more intimately
associated with the general forward policy of the Church : a
secluded growth will no longer be possible ; its individuality
must find its setting in the common life and system of the
Catholic hierarchy, of which it now becomes a more intimate
member. And of this too you may be sure, that the two
fraternities of Francis and Dominic having thus formally
been adopted by the Church, the orthodox penitential move-
FRANCIS AT FOUETH LATERAN COUNCIL 181
ment will gradually find itself entirely drawn within their
enfolding organizations : and the fraternities will grow not
merely from the vital force within them but by the shep
herding care of vigilant authority : and that too will affect
their ultimate history.
But as yet these further consequences are hidden from
the common gaze, in the veils of time ; and they do not detain
the thoughts of Francis whose one purpose is to carry out
his mission as it comes to him. Yet even so, he was conscious
of an enlargement of the horizon which bound the limits of
his activity. He was brought for the first time into definite
alliance with the larger policy of the Church and with other
forces which were working for the regeneration of Catholic
Christendom. Thus before the Council was over he had
entered into comradeship with Dominic Guzman of whom
we have just spoken.
Their first coming together in friendship is one of the
romances of history. Neither knew the other till they came
face to face on one of these busy days in the streets of Rome.
Doubtless on his journey through Italy, Dominic had heard
of the Friars Minor and had been curious as to their founder,
of whose doings men were now talking with wonderment.
One night during his stay in the Eternal City, Dominic in a
dream saw himself and a man he did not know, presented by
the Blessed Virgin to Jesus Christ, as the destined messengers
of divine mercy to the world. The next day, coming across
Francis, he recognized in him the man of his dream and went
forward and claimed acquaintance and told the dream he had
had. Then embracing Francis, he exclaimed : " You are my
comrade and we will run together. Let us stand together
and no enemy shall overcome us." 1
Dominic Guzman was at this time about forty-five years
of age, that is to say, he was Francis senior by about eleven
years. Whilst Francis was still dreaming about a soldier s life
and leading the revels in his native city, Dominic had already
been preaching against the heretics in the South of France.
He had no gay past to trouble his conscience. From child-
1 Vitce Fratrum in Monumenta Ord. FF. PP. vol. i. pars 1, p. 10.
182 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
hood he had been of a religious cast of thought, and had early
been sent to school under some Canons Kegular.
He had a clear logical mind : in after years he would ex
pound the Epistles of St. Paul in the household of the Pope,
during his visits to Eome, like any master in the schools.
Even in his student days he was austere and ascetic in
his personal conduct, and for years would not taste wine.
But withal he was pitiful towards others who were in need.
Once during a famine he sold his books to feed the poor ; at
another time he offered to exchange places with a captive
who had fallen into the hands of the Moors, because the
captive had a family dependent upon him.
His future career w T as determined by his friendship with
Diego, Bishop of Osima. The bishop took Dominic with
him on a visit to Eome in 1205. Pope Innocent was just
then sending three legates and twelve Cistercian abbots to
preach in Languedoc where the Albigensian heresy was mak
ing portentous headway ; and he now attached the Bishop of
Osima and his friend to the mission.
On one occasion a conference had been arranged between
the bishop and Dominic on the one side and the heretics on
the other. The bishop meant to go in great pomp, thinking
to over-awe his opponents, but Dominic persuaded him to
put aside the paraphernalia of his rank and to appear at the
conference barefooted and armed only with the meekness
and humility of the Gospel. 1
In 1206 the Cistercian abbots left the field to go to the
General Chapter of their Order at Citeaux : in truth their
mission had not been a great success. Dominic and his
bishop were left to carry on the work of defence ; then two
years later the bishop died and Dominic became virtually
the leader of the Catholic propaganda. He showed again
of what temper he was when in 1209 he refused to take part
in the crusade against the Albigenses and confined himself to
his own proper work of preaching. He believed that heresy
would not be uprooted by secular arms, but by the word of God
expounded by men whose lives witnessed to their own belief.
1 Vita Fratrum, loc. cit. pars 2, pp. 67-8.
FKANCIS AT FOUETH LATEKAN COUNCIL 183
By 1215 Dominic had gathered around him some priests
of a like mind to his own ; and had received from Fulk,
Bishop of Toulouse, leave to form them into a company of
preachers ; and then he came to Borne to seek the Papal
sanction for his new order of Preachers. At first Innocent
had hesitated to give a formal sanction. He still favoured
the idea of renovating the established monastic orders with
the apostolic spirit rather than of founding new orders. But
when the Council was over, he bade Dominic return to
Toulouse and with the advice of his companions draw up a
Constitution for his fraternity, based, however, upon the
Bule of St. Augustine in accordance with the decree of the
Council regarding new orders. 1
Some hard words have been uttered by a latter-day world
about the founder of the Friars Preachers : he has been de
scribed as a stern inquisitor, more zealous for a theological
system than for the souls of men : yet they who have thus
described him, can hardly have read the records of his life.
He was indeed first and last the defender of the Catholic
Faith against an encroaching heresy : and this mission of de
fence was his life and the mould of his character ; he lived
for that one purpose. One might call him a man of ideas
rather than an idealist : and that would account perhaps for
the fact that in after years Dominic was remembered not for
his personality but for the work he achieved as founder of an
order. 2 We have indeed no well-defined portrait of the man :
but such glimpses of him as we obtain of him from the
chroniclers, show him to have been a conscientious, zealous
worker for the Faith, with a clearer vision of what was need
ful for the overcoming of heresy than most men of his day,
and with a forceful will capable of achieving a purpose he
had set himself to achieve. He perceived the futility of com
bating heresy with the sword whilst the mind was left unin-
structed and unconvinced ; and he saw too that no intellectual
argument would avail unless the preacher manifested in
his own life the Gospel he preached. And so out of his
1 Cf. Ada SS. August!, torn. i. p. 358 seq.
2 Cf. P. Sabatier, Vie de S. Francois, p. 248.
184 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
experience and his own sincerity he conceived of an order of
militant penitents who would make war upon heresy with the
two weapons of theological learning and an ascetic life.
A very different character, you will see at once, from
Francis. It was the meeting of the experimental man of
affairs with the idealist. And yet between these two there
was the bond of a common loyalty wholly separated from
any personal ambition or self-interest. Both were heart and
soul dedicated to the service of Christ without any ulterior
motive, and both had before their minds the reign of the
Christ amongst men as their single objective. In that com
mon loyalty their friendship was established. They met
in the simplicity of their purpose, and knew each other for
what they were ; nor could they ever again be strangers to
each other, however far apart their separate vocations might
lead them. Dominic indeed at one time would gladly have
united the two fraternities under one rule and leadership : so
great was his reverence for Francis. But that was not to be.
Each had his own part to play in the drama of life : neither
could have fulfilled the special purpose for which the other
was designed. Yet their friendship has rightly been crowned
by tradition as a noble companionship in arms : for upon the
minds of their contemporaries they left the conviction of a
sacred emulation in which each strove to accomplish his
separate work for the same Divine Master, with a true rev
erence and regard for each other. How often they met
after that first meeting in Kome, we cannot say : probably
not frequently. But the one authentic reunion related in the
legends bears out the verdict of history. The two leaders
had met in conference with Cardinal Ugolino, and both had
been of the same mind that their fraternities would serve the
Church better in their proper condition of evangelical hu
mility, than if they were to assume rank and position in the
hierarchy : for the cardinal had wished to take the future
bishops from their ranks ; and to that neither of the founders
would agree. When the conference was over and the two
friars were leaving the cardinal s house, Dominic turned to
Francis and begged of him his cord that he might wear it in
FKANCIS AT FOUKTH LATEKAN COUNCIL 185
remembrance. Francis consented, though somewhat reluc
tantly because of the undisguised reverence which prompted
the request. But Dominic receiving the cord, at once girded
himself with it. Then the two spontaneously clasped each
other s hands, and thus for awhile held converse. " Brother
Francis," said Dominic at length, "I would that your order
and mine were one and that we might live in the Church
under the same rule." When finally they parted and took
their different roads, Dominic said to those who were with
him: "In truth I tell you, that all religious should imitate
this holy man Francis, so perfect is his holiness ". 1
Three centuries later Andrea della Eobbia made that
clasping of hands of the two founders, the subject of one of
his immortal terra-cottas ; but as one gazes upon it, remem
bering the life-stories of the two men, one s thoughts are
carried beyond the personal incident, and Francis and
Dominic are types of two spirits usually found amongst men
in active opposition the spirits of liberty and law.
The very breath of Francis life was the liberty of soul
which he found in the service of Christ : the beauty of the
Gospel, as he saw it, was the spiritual freedom it gave as an
inheritance to its faithful observers ; 2 and it was that freedom
he hungered for and sought in all his ardent adventure.
Dominic on the other hand was restless for the law which
the Church had received from Christ : he was zealous for its
ordered dogmas of faith and for the established authority
without which the faith could not stand. Only the fanatic
1 II Celano, 150 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 43. It is impossible to fix precisely
the date of this meeting. It must have been after Cardinal Ugolino first made
the acquaintance of Francis at Florence in 1217. Dominic was in Rome
(where this meeting took place) in the winter of 1217, also in 1218 and again
in December, 1220, and in the earlier months of 1221 (Acta SS. loc. cit. Com
ment. Praev.). The probable date, however, is the winter of 1217-18. We know
that Cardinal Ugolino was in Rome at that time. Cf. Potthast, nos. 5G29 seq.
A meeting between Francis and Dominic in 1216 is mentioned in Umbria
Serafica, Miscell. Franc, n. p. 47 ; and by Galvagno de la Flamma in Man.
Ord. FF. PP. vol. ii. fasc. i. p. 7. Concerning the meeting of the two saints
at the Chapter of Mats in 1219, ride Acta SS. loc. cit.
2 See the discourse of St. Francis on the virtues of Poverty in Fiorelti,
cap. 12 ; Actus, cap. 13.
186 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
will deny that both spirits are of the very essence of life itself,
whether it be found in religion or elsewhere, and therefore at
all times in potential harmony. Yet it is only in the more
exalted natures that this harmony is realized. With lesser
men differences of function can be thought of only as a con
tradiction of principles ; and the potential harmony is buried
in actual honest discord.
In after times something of this discord actually showed
itself in the relations between the disciples of Dominic and
those of Francis ; though the greater spirits amongst them
ever remembered the founders friendship and were true to
it. 1 Historians of a certain type have made the most of
those open antagonisms : though they were such as one
might look for in dealing with the story of men. But what
was of more serious moment was, not the pointed disputes
which generally ended in further protestations of friendship,
but the more or less unconscious spirit of rivalry, under
which the names of religion often cloaked purely secular
ambitions : as when Brother Elias divided the Franciscan
Order into seventy-two provinces, professedly in honour of the
seventy-two disciples of the Gospel, but really to gain a
tactical advantage over the Dominicans, who had formed their
order into twelve provinces in honour of the Apostles. 2
These things did harm to the fraternities and might have
been avoided. But further there was the inevitable influence
which two bodies of men, brought into frequent alliance with
each other and both standing near to the supreme authority
in the Church, were bound to exercise upon each other s de
velopment. This is not the place to discuss the points of
1 Thus Thomas of Celano, after referring to the dissensions between the
two fraternities, pleads for the wider charity of the founders II Celano, 149.
In 1255 John of Parma and Humbert de Romanis, the two Superiors-General,
issued a joint pastoral ordering the friars of the two orders to maintain peace
and concord. Many instances might be cited from the chronicles of the time,
showing the fraternal regard of the two fraternities for each other, side by
side with instances of dissension : e.g. Eccleston relates not only the dispute
of the two orders regarding novices (coll. xiv. ed. Little, p. 101-2) but also how
on their arrival in London the Friars Minor were lodged by the Dominicans
"as members of the family " (coll. n. pp. 11, 12).
2 Eccleston, ed. Little/coll. ix. p. 54.
FKANCIS AT FOUBTH LATEEAN COUNCIL 187
detail in which either fraternity borrowed from the other in
organization and mental outlook. Some say that Dominic
borrowed from Francis the rule of mendicancy which he im
posed on his brethren ; it seems certain that the example of
the Dominicans led to the first formation of theological
studies amongst the Friars Minor. Here, however, we only
refer to these matters, which belong to the later history of
Francis and his fraternity, as showing how events which
happened during the Lateran Council, were the seeds of much
that occurred in the further unfolding of Franciscan story.
The destiny of the fraternity was being shaped, not merely
by the inspiration of Francis, but by its alliance with the
world-forces upon which the Catholic world was being carried
forward in the hot rush of a fully awakened life.
w
uska
CHAPTEK VII.
THE PORZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE.
WHEN Francis again turned his steps towards Umbria, it was
with a vast pity for the world upon which the judgment of
the Church was to fall. That passion for souls which had
been with him since his first call to the apostolate, had be
come a throbbing pain. From all his preaching tours he had
come back to the Porziuncola, more solicitous to save the
sinner and to bring all the earth to a knowledge of the joy to
be had in the service of Christ. He found it hard to be
lieve that the greatest sinner would not repent bitterly of his
wrong-doing and become a true follower of the Gospel, did
he but know the beauty of the law of Christ and his own loss
in ignoring it. 1 And how he yearned to see the whole earth
bound in fealty and comradeship with the Incarnate God, and
the unnatural divorce ended which kept them apart !
More and more as the years went on, the image of the
Divine Master to whom he had given his worship, came to dif
fuse itself through all his vision. Nothing met his eye but what
in some direct way carried his thoughts to his Lord : a lamb
being led to the market made him think of Jesus Christ in
the hands of His executioners ; in the leper he saw Him
marked with the guilt which was not His own ; every babe
took him in spirit to Bethlehem ; the worm crawling on the
ground spoke to him of his Lord s humiliation ; flowers
with their sweetness of colour and scent, reminded him of the
sweetness of the life with Christ; a burning lamp, of the
heavenly Light which came to men : Christ the Rock, the
sure foundation of the Christian s hope, stood before him in
mind whenever he came to a rocky ground. 2
1 Cf . II Celano, 133.
2 Cf. I Celano, 77-81 ; II Celano, 165; Spec. Perfect. 11G-18.
188
THE POKZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 189
And these things of earth were not mere arbitrary sym
bols of Him he loved. In them he felt that the Christ-life
was really adumbrated and in some sense lived, as the artist s
life in the work of his hands. All suffering, he believed, was
in a mysterious fashion allied with the suffering of Christ ; all
rightful joy, with His joy ; all life with His life.
A theologian might explain this by saying that all created
things are made after the image of the Eternal Word of God
which Christ is in His Divinity ; and that in His Humanity
Christ adopted the created life into His own greater inherit
ance. But Francis was not a theologian : he uttered his
beliefs as they inspired him, without inquiring for logical
expositions ; and most frequently the utterance was not in
words but in a mental attitude or the heart s emotion. But
did you ask him why he delighted in earth and sky, he would
tell you, because they revealed to him the Creator who made
them ; l did you ask why he reverenced the poor man begging
by the wayside, he would say : " Brother, when you see a
poor man you have set before you a mirror of the Lord and
His poor mother ". Or as regarding the sick : " In the sick
you see the infirmities which He took upon Himself for our
sake ". 2 But he could never serve the poor or sick without
feeling that he was serving his Lord in their persons : in
their service he sought His Master. 3
This same worshipful tenderness showed itself in other
ways. He would never allow the brethren to uproot a tree or
to cut it down in such wise that it could not grow again ; nor
would he allow them so to enclose a garden that the flowers
and growing things, could not spread out in their natural
freedom. He would take up the worms and slow moving
insects from the road where they might be crushed under foot
and put them in safety. In a hard frost he was known to
put sweet wine and honey near the bees that they might not
die of hunger. 4 All life to him was sacred, because it came
from the Hand of God.
His boundless pity for the sinner was fed by this same
1 1 Celano, 80 seq. 2 II Celano, 85.
3 !&*., 90. *Ibid., 165.
190 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
reverence. For no matter how sinful a man might be, he
was of the flesh and blood and humanity which Christ had
fashioned and taken to Himself. His very jealousy for the
sovereignty of the Eedecmer made him wistful for the salva
tion of the redeemed. He could not honour his Divine
Lord and yet not honour the latent Christ-life he saw in his
Lord s possible disciples : and beyond the guiltiness of the
sinner he always saw that nobility : whence came in part
his unconquerable hopefulness in dealing with the wrong
doer. And to this faith of his were due many miracles of
unlikely conversions. Men accustomed to be judged solely
by the evil they had done and holding themselves, despairingly
or cynically, damned by such judgment, were subdued by this
new standard of judgment. Incredulously at first they would
listen to an appeal which assumed that they were not wholly
evil but capable of much good. They were softened and
grew shy when this saint, as they held him, took for granted
the better nature in which they themselves hardly ventured
to believe : until gradually they began to believe in his belief,
and that for some was the beginning of a life of heroic en
deavour to become what Francis bade them become : as
happened with a band of robbers at Monte Casale in the
mountains behind Borgo San Sepolcro. For some of the
brethren who lived in a hermitage there, were ruthless in
their opinion of the robbers and regarded them as wholly
lost to all grace. But Francis would not have it so. He told
the brethren to invite the robbers to the hermitage and first
satisfy their hunger with good bread and wine ; and when
they were no longer hungry, to speak to them of the love of
God. Finding that the robbers were not at once converted, he
bade the brethren invite them again but to a more sumptuous
banquet of eggs and cheese ; and then again to set before the
robbers the advantages of a good life and to appeal to them
to do penance and live honestly. The robbers were won by
the brotherliness of the appeal, and began to bring firewood
from the woods for the brethren s use in return for the food
they received at the hermitage. Finally they all vowed to
live honestly by the labour of their hands for the future, and
THE POEZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 191
three of them asked to be admitted to the fraternity and were
gladly welcomed by Francis ; and in the end these became
most saintly men. 1 Indeed not a few of the brethren had
thus been won over from utter worldliness or sinfulness, by the
tenderness born of his reverence with which Francis dealt
with them, at the outstart.
But if his faith in the latent goodness of human nature,
worked miracles of conversion, it also accounted much for the
sorrow with which the world s sin at times overwhelmed him.
Had his vision of the latent godliness which is in man, been less
constant and clear, he would have grieved less over the sinner :
sin would have been less of an outrage upon God s creating
and redeeming love ; less of a loss to man. As it was, the
sorrow of Christ had come upon him and was to work his
martyrdom in the end.
And now we must relate how this pity for his fellow-men
led Francis to seek from the Pope an amazing privilege, as it
was thought in those days, namely the great indulgence of
the Porziuncola. The incident has this curious feature at
tached to it, that for half a century after the death of Francis
this indulgence, which was eventually to rank the Porziuncola
as one of the four chief shrines of Christendom, was fenced
about with a singular silence on the part of the official bio
graphers of the saint and is not mentioned by any chronicler
of the time. And for that reason some have denied that it is
authentically a part of Francis story. Yet though the first
written witness to the indulgence was made some sixty years
after the favour was granted but, be it remembered, within
the memory of Francis contemporaries ; and though even
that same written witness has given legitimate grounds for
discussion as to its reliability nevertheless for reasons which
will be given elsewhere in this book, 2 I for my part hold that
the story as here given is authentic, and moreover I will sug
gest how that indulgence came to be asked for, and why for
so many years it was guarded with silence.
And first, for the authentic story. One night in the
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 66 ; Fioretti, cap. 25 ; Actm, cap. 29.
2 Vide Appendix II, p. 404 seq.
192 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
summer of 1216, x Francis rose from his bed, whilst yet the
other brothers were sleeping, and went into the chapel of the
Porziuncola to pray, and as he prayed the Divine Presence
manifested itself to him, and in vision he beheld Jesus Christ
Who bade him go to the Pope and ask that whosoever should
visit the church of the Porziuncola, being truly contrite of heart
and having already confessed his sins, should receive a plenary
indulgence, that is, be freed from all temporal punishment
due to sin. 2 Francis in his wonted fashion made no delay in
fulfilling the Divine Will, but at early dawn called Brother
Masseo and with him set out for Perugia to seek the Sovereign
Pontiff. Now, whether this journey was undertaken before
the death of Innocent III we cannot say. But Francis was
present when Innocent died at Perugia on 16 July, and he
was one of the few who remained by the side of the Pontiff
in his last moments, when most of the attendants fled away
in terror of disease and death. 3
In any case, however, it was to Pope Honorius III that
Francis actually made his petition. Honorius, who was
elected two days after Innocent s death, was a man of an un
worldly mind and simple habits, careless about wealth and
generous to the poor. " Holy Father," said Francis, coming
into the Papal presence, " but a little while past I restored
for you 4 a church in honour of the Virgin Mother of Christ,
1 The date of the incident is fixed by the attestation of Benedict of Arezzo
that Pope Honorius III was at Perugia when Francis obtained the indulgence.
But Honorius was at Perugia certainly from the date of his election, 18 July
until the winter of 1216. Nor is there any indication of his being again there
during his pontificate, though Wadding asserts that he passed through Perugia
on his way to Bologna in October, 1221. But Wadding s evidence at this point
is self -contradictory, since he says Francis was accompanied by Peter Cathanii,
who in fact died in the preceding March.
2 The reader not acquainted with Catholic teaching must understand that
an "indulgence" does not mean a pardon of the guilt of sin but a release
from the temporal punishment which still remains due as an expiation even
after the guilt is forgiven. No "indulgence" can be gained until after the
guilt has been wiped out by true contrition.
3 Eccleston [ed. Little], col. xv. p. 119.
4 The phrase " I restored for you " is curious. It may mean that Francis
would not claim any rights whatever in the church he had restored : it be
longed to the Church inasmuch as it was dedicated to divine service, and to
the Benedictines as trustees for the Church. Or the words may refer to the
THE POKZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 193
and I beseech your holiness that you bestow upon it an in
dulgence without any oblation." The Pope replied that an
indulgence without an oblation attached to it, could not well
be granted, since it was fitting that those who sought such
a favour, should make some sacrifice and put forth a helping
hand to gain it. Yet he would know for how many years
Francis desired the indulgence to be granted whether it was
to continue for one year or three years or seven ; also, how
much of an indulgence he sought. Francis pleaded : " Holy
Father, may it please your holiness to grant not years but
souls ". Something in the heart of the unworldly Pontiff
bade him ask: "How would you have souls?" Francis
made reply: "If it please your holiness, I would that whoso
ever should come to this church, confessed and contrite and
absolved by a priest, should be freed from all guilt and
penalty both in heaven and on earth, from the day of their
baptism till the hour of their entry into this church ". "It
is much that you ask," said the Pope, " and it is not the cus
tom of the Eoman Church to grant such an indulgence."
" My lord," came the instant reply, " what I ask is not from
myself but from Him Who sent me, the Lord Jesus Christ."
Honorius, as we have said, was an unworldly man : and so
Francis simple faith won the day against the dictates of offi
cial prudence. " It is my will that you have what you seek,"
said the Pontiff : and he repeated the words twice over. But
at this some cardinals, who were present, intervened. The
grant of such an indulgence would make the indulgences of
the Crusades, and of the Tombs of the Apostles, valueless in
the eyes of the people, and they urged the Pope to recall his
words. But Honorius would not go back on his word : only
in deference to the cardinals he would restrict the indulgence
to one day in the year, namely the dedication day of the
Church : for it was now determined that the church should
be rightly consecrated and the consecration was fixed for the
day following the feast of St. Peter s Chains. 1 Francis pleaded
coining consecration of the church, which would make it in a special sense the
property of the Church.
1 It is uncertain whether the consecration of the chapel had been already
13
194 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
that the indulgence should continue at least during the octave
of the festival : but to this the Pope would not consent :
what he had already granted was in the face of the opposi
tion of his counsellors ; he would not grant more. Francis
bowed to this decision and was turning away to leave the
papal presence, when the Pope called to him : " Simpleton
that you are, where are you going ? what have you to show
that this indulgence has been granted you ? " " Holy Father,"
replied Francis, " your word is sufficient for me. If this is
the work of God it is for Him to make His work manifest.
I desire no other document : but the Blessed Virgin Mary
shall be the charter and Christ the notary ; and the angels
shall be the witnesses."
So saying, he withdrew and at once took his way back to
Assisi. But his spirit was troubled nevertheless at finding
himself a centre of contention amongst the rulers of the
Church. He had gone to the Pope, thinking only of the
harvest of poor souls which this indulgence would reap.
He had not thought, in his simplicity, that any contention
could arise concerning it : and now the cardinals were in
protest and the Pope himself was evidently timorous of his
own act. By noon he and Masseo reached the leper hospital
about midway between Perugia and Assisi ; and here they
sought food and rest. Fatigued with the hot journey, Francis
fell asleep. When he awoke he spent some little time in
prayer ; and then he called Brother Masseo and said to
him : " Brother Masseo, I tell thee on the part of God that
the indulgence which has been granted me by the Sovereign
Pontiff, has been confirmed in heaven " : and with that as
surance in his soul, Francis went forward again, all content.
The consecration of the little church was duly made,
seven bishops taking part in the ceremony. Francis preached
from a wooden pulpit erected outside the church, and an-
determined upon before Francis came to Perugia or whether it was now de
termined upon in consequence of the grant of the indulgence. The feast of
St. Peter s Chains is on 1 August. The consecration, therefore, was to take
place on 2 August. According to Blessed Francis of Fabriano, the consecration
actually took place on 2 August, 1216 (Bartholi, Tract de Indulg. ed. Saba-
tier, p. Ixix).
THE POBZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 195
nounced the indulgence. ".I want to send you all to Para
dise," he said, " and I announce to you an indulgence I have
received from the lips of the Sovereign Pontiff. And all you
who have come here to-day and all who shall come each year
on this day, with a good and contrite heart, shall have an
indulgence of all their sins. I wanted it for eight days but I
could not get it." l But beyond this announcement Francis
took no further heed to make the indulgence generally known.
He had cast it upon the world in obedience to the Divine
command : for the rest he left it in God s Hands to manifest
His work as He willed. In time the opposition of the cardi
nals would die away : meanwhile the brethren must avoid
any appearance of strife with the pastors of the Church :
more surely would the good-will of the clergy be won by
meekness and more good accrue to the souls of men. 2 And
so he bade the brethren not to preach this indulgence to
the world yet awhile but to wait upon the Will of God. 3
It was many years before the brethren ventured to pro
claim the indulgence far and wide, but in Umbria the story
was told by those who had been present at the consecration
of the little church ; and amongst their friends the brethren
did not conceal a privilege which crowned with a new sanct
ity the place already so holy in their eyes. The pilgrims
visiting the Church on the annual festival day of its dedica
tion confessed their sins and within its walls prayed for that
fuller pardon which Francis had obtained for them.
During the half-century that followed the granting of
the indulgence it seemed as though the time for its wider
promulgation would never come. The Pope and the cardinals
were making every effort to induce the Christian nations to
1 Of. Pet. Zalfani s witness in Barfcholi, op. cit. p. 54. Zalfaiii was present
at the consecration. He was a patrician of Assisi and supported the Pope
in the struggle with Frederick II, and assisted at the canonization of St.
Stanislaus in 1253 in the basilica of San Francesco. Cf. Miscell. Franc, vol.
x. p. 75.
2 Cf. II Celano, 146: " Scitote, inquit, fratres, animarum fructum Deo
gratissimum esse meliusque ilium consequi posse pace, quam disco* " .ia cleri-
corum ".
3 Vide attestation of Giacomo Coppoli in Bartholi, op. cit. p. 52.
13*
196 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
carry out the crusade, and chief amongst the inducements
were the indulgences attached to the taking of the Cross and
to the fitting out of the crusading army in the case of those
who could not take part in the crusade themselves. The
time was inopportune for the proclaiming of any new indul
gence which might attract the attention of the people away
from the urgent necessities of the Holy Land. And then,
too, amongst the brethren who came after Francis, there were
some who would readily have sided with the protesting
cardinals and clergy in this matter. For during this period
of which we are speaking, the Friars Minor together with
the Friars Preachers, were the accredited agents of the Holy
See in fostering the crusade and collecting the funds for it. 1
Thus it happened that Francis dream of a great pardon
for all contrite sinners, was for many years unfulfilled save for
the pilgrims who visited the Porziuncola from the near neigh
bourhood. But in spite of the discretion of the brethren the
annual pilgrimage survived and grew in numbers. Before
the end of the century, crowds from all parts of Italy flocked
every year on the dedication-festival to the Porziuncola in the
hope of pardon : nor has the flow of pilgrims ceased in all the
centuries since. And not only from Italy have the pilgrims
come ; but from all nations of the Christian world. Surely
in this matter Francis faith and meekness have been
abundantly justified.
Now let me tell you how it was, as I think, that Francis
came to ask for this indulgence. It was in truth the immedi
ate outcome of that vast pity for the world in which his
spirit had been steeped at the time of the General Council.
He had gone forth from the Council with the Pope s pro
clamation of judgment and mercy sounding in his ears and
vibrating in his heart. He had taken to himself that symbol
of the renewed life in Christ, the Thau, with which he would
mark, if men were willing, all the earth. And yet his mission
l "Ex Us qui religionem sanctorum Dominici et Francisci professi erant
plurimos [Gregorius] emisit qui per totam Europam Christianas ad bellum
Saracenis inferendum ad hortarentur" (Vita Gregorii IX in Conciliorum
[Parisiis, 1644], torn, xxvin. p. 273.) The friars " Pardoners " became a feature
of the ecclesiastical system under Gregory IX and his succesaors.
THE POBZIUNCOLA INDULGENCE 197
would be in some way incomplete unless he could bring to
those who received the Thau, that full pardon from penalty
and guilt which the Pontiff had solemnly granted to those
who took part in the crusade either personally or by proxy. 1
For many could never avail themselves of the proffered par
don. Francis found himself yearning for a more generous
extension of the indulgence. True, one might gain it not only
by going oneself on the crusade but by giving an alms in its
support. But there were the poor who had no alms to give.
And somehow that condition of alms meaning money-offer
ings right as it was in itself, placed the indulgence outside
the domain of that poverty which Christ Himself loved. To
exclude the poor from a full share in the mercy of the Church
in this time of judgment, seemed an injury to the poor Christ.
And then it was that Francis saw in the church of the Porzi-
uncola which Christ and His blessed Mother had given to the
Lady Poverty as her own sanctuary, the fitting shrine for
this extended favour.
That little church had become to him in very truth another
holy place : was it not beckoning forward that spiritual
crusade for which the Pontiff pleaded as a condition of the
release of the Holy Land ? And was it not the nursing-
mother of that new life which the brethren were to spread
through the world ? The intensity of the thought kept him
much at the Porziuncola during these days ; 2 it knit his soul
in a closer mystic communing with this place of his love ; it
was the subject of his prayer. And then came the vision and
response to his prayer and his appeal to the Pope.
1 Labbseus, torn. xxn. pp. 955-60.
2 Papini says St. Francis evangelized Terra di Lavoro, the Abruzzi and
Apulia before returning to Assisi. But if Mgr. Faloci Pulignani and Mr.
Montgomery Garmichacl are riglit in their judgment (and I see no reason to
doubt it) Francis about this time repaired the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore
in Assisi. Cf. Miscell. Franc, vol. n. pp. 33-7 ; Franciscan Annals, February,
1900.
BOOK III.
CHAPTEK I.
A NEW PHASE OPENS IN THE LIFE OF THE
FRATERNITY.
THE reader who has attentively followed the course of this
history, must have felt that sooner or later the time would
come when the simple faith of the brethren in the ruling of
Francis would be put to the test. Scattered throughout
many provinces and brought frequently into contact with all
conditions of men and the actual facts of the world, they
will hardly in the ordinary way of things remain secluded
in their exalted idealism and simplicity.
For one thing the life of Friar Minor touched the world
at too many points, to remain untouched by it.
The vocation of the fraternity was not merely a negation
or judgment of the world s life ; not even mainly so. It stood
indeed in direct contradiction with the actual world on many
matters of vital interest, as in its renunciation of property
and its policy of peace ; but the fraternity itself was borne in
its birth and progress, upon the wings of that surgent aspira
tion which in matters spiritual and secular was rending
the old order and bringing in the new ; and it was as a
directive rather than as a negative spirit that it entered into
the world. In Francis the new romantic temper of the age,
voiced by troubadour and crusader, was joyously carried into
the service of religion and shot through and through with
spiritual values. The fraternity could not escape its birth
and affinities. 1 It was in truth a product of the Time-spirit
1 Of. The Friars and how they came to England, by the present writer, In
troductory Essay, p. 13 seq.
198
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEENITY 199
and had therefore a natural relationship with all the seething
world in which the Time-spirit could claim a parental right.
That, together with the striking personality of Francis, is the
explanation of the wonderful influence and immediate success
of the movement ; that too accounts for much of the trouble
which is shortly to enter in amongst the brethren and bring
bitter sorrow to the heart of Francis.
On the face of things the trouble began in the endeavour
to give the fraternity a more definite organization. Until now
it might be said that Francis was not merely the leader of the
brethren but their law. They might not all imitate him in
every detail of his daily life as did Brother John the Simple,
who went so far as to kneel when Francis knelt and to cough
when he coughed ; l but in the more intimate concerns of their
vocation they looked to him as their book of life. Without
any exaggeration it might be said that the fraternity lived in
Francis and saw the world through his interpretation of it :
so the brethren came to appreciate poverty and song, the
service of love and suffering. Until now they were un
troubled by any obtrusive question as to their relationship
with the world which lay outside the life of the Porziuncola
which Francis had fashioned there. The atmosphere of that
life they carried with them, however distant they might
travel : it was their conventual grille through which they
conversed with the world at large. They still believed in the
all-sufficiency of divine faith and love to win the world to
Christ : they did not trouble about the human means. And
in truth the human means which they had, their own fervent
speech and persuasive sympathies and their hard laborious
lives, were effective enough for the purpose Francis had
actually set before them.
Nevertheless, from the moment that Francis had sent the
brethren forth to win the world to Christ, and had thrown
the fraternity wide open to admit all sorts and conditions of
men, the troublous problem of the relationship of the brethren
with the outer world was latent, only waiting for circum
stances to reveal it. A world-wide society cannot be
1 Cf. II Celano, 190 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 57.
200 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
governed and led by a simple and immediate dependence
upon a single personality : of necessity a system of govern
ment must grow up which will stand, if not between the
founder s personality and his disciples, at least as the more
immediate rule to which both founder and disciple must sub
mit. The fraternity will then develop a corporate conscious
ness in some way distinct from the personal consciousness
of the founder : it will become impressionable to views other
than those which commend themselves to him ; it may even
find itself thinking in contradiction against him. Sometimes
behind the immediate contradiction there will be a real agree
ment of purpose ; sometimes not. These divergences of view
may result from the intrusions into the fraternity, of elements
foreign to its own proper spirit and purpose and the essential
mind of the founder ; they may also arise from a mere exten
sion of purpose beyond that of which the founder himself is
explicitly conscious, but which is inherent in the vocation
itself of the brethren.
Once, then, the fraternity is spread far and wide and
become less immediately dependent on the personality of
Francis, such vexing problems are sure to arise ; the more
surely because the origins of the fraternity are, as we have
said, in the spirit of the age itself even more truly than in the
person of its founder. Thus as this story proceeds we shall
find the fraternity troubled as to its proper relationship with
the intellectul life of the time ; and troubles will arise too
in regard to its co-ordination with other elements in the
common life of the Catholic Church, with established tradi
tions, papal policy and such like. In all these matters lie pit
falls for the weak and unsteady, and the foreboding of sorrow.
The General Chapter of 1217 marks the parting of the
ways in the development of the fraternity. Not that this
Chapter had to determine any of the difficult questions which
were so soon to cause trouble, but because the policy of ex
pansion and organization therein initiated, inevitably led to
a loosening of the close intimacy between the brethren and
Francis and to a weakening of their sense of immediate
dependence upon him.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEENITY 201
The Chapter assembled at Whitsuntide. Easter that year
had fallen in the very first of the spring days and so the Pente
cost festival came early before the hot sun had spoilt the
freshness of tree and soil. 1
From all the "places" and hermitages of the Order
brethren came, many of them newly-received novices who
had not yet looked upon the face of Francis. 2 They came
from Lombardy and Apulia, from Terra di Lavoro and the
mountains overlooking the Adriatic, in fact from every Italian
province. For many of them it was a home-coming ; they
knew the Porziuncola and loved the shade of its surrounding
wood where they had prayed and felt the stirrings of the
heavenly life which nowhere seemed so near and so real as
in the silences of that holy place. And to the novices and
those who had not yet been there, it was the turning of their
faces towards the Holy Zion from the captivity in which they
had been born. The glory of their vocation was still alto
gether gathered up in Francis and the wattle huts near Assisi.
As the brethren met and welcomed each other their tongues
betrayed their origin or up-bringing. Some spoke with their
native grace of noble birth ; others with the acquired distinc
tion gained in the schools ; whilst others had only the art of
speech which they had learned toiling for daily bread. The
soft sibilant utterance of Umbria mingled with the guttural
dialects of Lombardy and the strident tones of the South.
But here and there was a brother whose words bespoke a
comer from beyond the Alps ; one who passing through Italy,
had met the brethren and joined their ranks : but as yet the
ultramontane brethren were but a handful.
Assembled at the Porziuncola, they gathered together in
groups and built for themselves huts of branches of trees,
which they collected in the woods around. Though they
were an assembly of many hundreds, no distracting noise was
allowed in the neighbourhood of the holy chapel, and no loud
1 In 1217 Pentecost fell on 14 May.
2 At the early Chapters all the brethren, whether professed or novices,
might attend. Of. Cliron. Jordani in Anal. Franc, i. p. 6; Eccleston [ed.
Little], p. 80.
202 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
voice save that of the brother told off to preach. As a rule
the brethren must speak in low tones and only when necessary
or when they met in small companies to converse on spiritual
matters or the affairs of their vocation. 1 But the silence was
eloquent with the feeling of life as is the silence of the spring
time in the fields.
It was a silent uncontentious parliament if you will ; yet a
true parliament, for every brother, even the youngest novice,
might proffer an opinion and would be respectfully listened
to. The Chapter was not a mere parade but a deliberative
assembly. They gathered together to learn in prayer and
mutual intercourse the Divine Will concerning them : each
must speak as his conscience impelled him ; but none thought
to dictate to the others or to impose his own opinion. About
the ultimate decisions of the Chapter they had little anxiety :
these would be as God willed. For the multitude of the
brethren were still living by faith and joyous in the vocation
they had found.
Doubtless amongst so many there were some already in
clined to criticize the simplicity of the fraternity ; men trained
in the assertive knowledge of the schools, in decretals and
jurisprudence ; or accustomed to handle affairs in the world
and not forgetful of their experience : but their criticism was
held in check by the triumphant faith and devotion to their
leader which swayed the gathering.
Two matters had been set down for prayer and considera
tion : the appointment of Provincial ministers and the send
ing of brethren to establish the fraternity in the countries
outside the Italian peninsula. The second proposal merely
signified an extension of the active apostolate of the fraternity,
but it rendered more urgently necessary the more systematic
organization of the fraternity implied in the appointment of
the Provincial ministers.
It would be difficult in any organized system of govern
ment to maintain the pristine simplicity which until now
had characterized the relations of the brethren with their
superiors. The rule of the fraternity was that whenever a
1 Cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 82 ; Actus, cap. 20.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEKNITY 203
number of brethren were living together or travelling on a
journey, one of them was chosen whom the others were to
regard as God s Vicar, 1 and to whom they must render
obedience. But the conception of authority and obedience
as between the brethren, was of that pervading yet easy
character which holds in a family or company closely knit
by mutual regard and established in one mind and purpose ;
where too the burdens of authority and obedience are felt
lightly because they are borne at the same time by the entire
body. Francis idea of the function of a superior in the
fraternity was that of a mother tending her household : it
was the antithesis of the idea of lordship. 2 Jesus Christ
only could claim that function amongst the brethren ; His
word as set forth in the Rule and in the common law of
the Church, was the only absolute law ; and to this all the
brethren were equally subject. But the superior had the care
of the brethren in the observing of this law : he would in
terpret to them the Will of Christ in its application to the
details of daily life, yet not in the spirit of a personal domin
ance which did not belong to him, but as one administering
the law to which he, as well as others, were immediately
bound.
Hence he must regard himself as the servant of the fra
ternity and himself set the example of that "true and holy
obedience " which consists in " voluntary and mutual service
and subjection ". For the motive of this obedience is charity,
the love of Christ and of the brotherhood for Christ s sake ;
and it is the charity which induces a man to serve another
willingly even in the most menial acts. 3 This "true and
1 Cf. 3 Soc. 46.
2 Thus Celano says of Francis and Brother Elias : "quern loco matris
elegerat sibi" (I Celano, 98). See also the description of Bro. Pacifico, by
Bro. Thomas of Tuscany in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, xxn. p. 492 : " Prater
Pacificus . . . ut a beato Francisco pia mater appellaretur ". The idea is also
explicitly set forth in that interesting document, " De religiosa habitation* in
eremo " (Opuscula, pp. 83-4). The same conception underlies the title bestowed
upon the local superiors who were styled custodes, wardens or guardians and
not priors or masters as in other religious communities.
3 " Per caritatem spiritus voluntarie scrviant et obediant invicem. Et licec
est vera et sancta obedientia Domini nostri Jesu Christi " (Reg. i. cap. v.).
204 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
holy obedience " was binding equally upon him who held the
office of superior as upon all the brethren : it was part of the
fealty which the fraternity owed to Him Who " is not come
to be ministered unto but to minister". 1 Authority thus ex
pressed in a service of love and estranged from any thought
of personal predominance, was received with exalted reverence
as the authority of the divinely-humble Christ Himself and
worshipfully obeyed. Criticism of a superior s judgment was
felt to be a disloyalty to the vocation itself. The brethren
would obey the known wish of the superior even though he
did not impose it : 2 but the motive was loyalty to the Lord
Whom they had vowed to follow ; they obeyed Christ in the
superior. 3 And this high obedience was the more easily given
when authority itself bore the marks of Christ s meek service.
Francis idea of obedience was in truth drawn from the
romance of chivalry ; it was the knightly fealty and service
and not the servile submission of the legists.
But this chivalric conception of obedience demands an
initial condition of liberty of soul-liberty even more than
political or economic and a constant loyalty, not easily
maintained in ,a wide and numerous body of men: it soon
needs the support of that more impersonal and coercive law
upon which states are built. The organization of the frater
nity into provinces under Provincial ministers was due not
merely to the extension of the Order : it was the expression
of the need, beginning to be felt, of a more systematic organi
zation and more impersonal objective government. Highly
sensitive as he was, Francis knew that with the appointment
of Provincial ministers, something of the simple fraternal life
of his " knights of the Bound Table " 4 must go : yet he was
" Et nullus vocetur prior sect generaliter omnes vocentur fratres minores. Et
alter alterius lavet pedes (ibid. cap. vi. Cf. Regula n. cap. x.).
1 Matthew xx. 28 (Vulgate) quoted in Reg. I. cap. iv. Hence the superior
was bound in virtue of this obedience to share the hardships of the brethren.
See infra, Francis discourse to the friars.
2 Cf. 3 Soc. 42.
3 Cf . II Celano, 151 : " Subditus, inqitit, prc&latum suum non hominem
considerare debet, sed ilium pro cujus amore est subjectus ".
4 Spec. Perfect, cap. 72.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FKATEBNITY 205
intently anxious that the primitive character of the fraternity
should still maintain itself within the more legal bonds. The
superiors must still be ministers and custodes, not priors or
masters. In promulgating the decision of the Chapter, he thus
pleadingly described their office and duty : " The ministers
must be the servants of the other brethren and tend them as
a shepherd tends his sheep, often visiting them and spiritually
instructing and encouraging them. The other brethren on
their part must obey the minister in all things which are not
contrary to the life of a Friar Minor.
"And between the ministers and the brethren there shall
be this rule of conduct : Whatsoever ye will that men
should do unto you, that do ye to them ; and again this :
what thou wouldst not have done unto thyself, do it not
unto another . And let the minister-servants remember
what the Lord says : I came not to be ministered unto but
to minister ; and that to them is committed the care of the
souls of the brethren, and should anyone be lost through the
minister s fault and bad example, that minister will have to
render an account before our Lord Jesus Christ V l
Thus was the office of Provincial minister established arid
denned.
The provinces were divided according to established geo
graphical boundaries : thus in Italy there were provinces of
Umbria, Tuscany, the Marches of Ancona, Lombardy, Terra
di Lavoro, Apulia, and Calabria. A certain liberty of choice
was given to the brethren as to the province they would join ;
but generally the brethren preferred to leave themselves in
the hands of the ministers. 2 But the stirring moment of the
Chapter was when volunteers were called for, to undertake
missions beyond the Alps. Probably few amongst the
brethren realized the importance of the institution of the
ministers. But the missions beyond the Alps appealed to
their imagination. True, the countries designated, Spain
and Portugal and France, Germany and Hungary (and, as
1 Reg. i. cap. iv.
3 Of. Chron. Jurdani in Anal. Franc, i. no. 18, p. 7, also the case of St.
Anthony of Padua at the Chapter of 1221, infra, p. 303.
206 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
some say, Syria l ) were all Catholic countries ; but the people
were strange, speaking unknown tongues. Few of the
brethren had travelled far beyond their native Italian pro
vince, and the countries beyond the Alps were to them the
land of echo. The chosen bands of missionaries were there
fore looked upon with something of awe and reverence. No
one knew what hardships they might have to encounter.
Not the least uplifted in spirit was Francis as he gazed
upon these elect companions. To him it was a renewal of
the joy of adventure he had felt in the first days of his own
missionary journeys. Nor could he long resist the call their
hardihood made to him. Taking aside some of the brethren
he addressed them : " My best beloved, it is but right that I
should be a pattern and example to all the brethren. I have
sent brethren into far-off parts to undergo much labour and
shame and hunger and thirst and other necessities : it is only
just therefore, and holy obedience requires, that I too go forth
into some distant land ; and so will the brethren be en
couraged to endure patiently their adversities, when they
hear that I suffer the same. Go therefore and pray that the
Lord may grant me to make choice of the province that shall
be most to His praise and the profit of souls and the encour
agement of the brethren." The brothers therefore went and
prayed as he bade them. When they came back, Francis
met them, his face lit up with expectant joy. " In the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ and the glorious Virgin Mary and
all the saints," he exclaimed, " I choose the province of
France wherein is a Catholic people who more than all other
Catholics manifest a special reverence towards the Body of
Christ, which reverence is most pleasing to me. Wherefore
will I most readily go amongst them." But it was not only
as a land devoted to the Blessed Sacrament that Francis
loved France, but as the land of courtesy and song ; and with
his happy tact and sense of the harmony of things, he there-
1 Syria in this case would mean that part which was within the Latin
kingdom of Jerusalem and not the Mahomedan territories. Vide infra,
p. 207 note 5.
2 Spec. Perfect, cap. 65.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEKNITY 207
fore chose as one of his companions on this mission, Brother
Pacifico, the former " king of verses " or poet laureate. 1
Some say that Bernard da Quintavalle was the leader of
the mission to Spain. 2 The mission to Germany was under
the direction of John of Penna not he of the beautiful
visions, 3 but another from Penna in the Abruzzi, a skilful
architect and engineer. 4
So the Chapter broke up in a renewal of fervour and en
thusiasm, because of this breaking of the new ground beyond
the Alps ; and immediately afterwards the roads leading from
the Porziuncola, were dotted with groups of friars making
their way towards their various provinces. 5
1 Cf. Leg. Maj. iv. 9.
2 Cf. Umbria Serafica in Misc. Franc, n. p. 46. 3 Fioretti, cap. 44.
4 Cf. Fra Egidio Giusti, 0. M. Convent : Chifu veramente U ArchiteUo della
Basilica superiore di S. Francesco in Assisi ? (Assisi, 1909).
5 In Series Provinciarum Ord. F.F. M.M., Anno 1217, a P. H. Golubovich,
in Archivum Franc. Hist. Annus I. fasc. i. pp. 2-5 : the names of the Provinces
and Ministers-Provincial are given after Wadding as follows : Tuscany,
minister unknown ; Marches of Ancona, minister, Benedict of Arezzo ; Milan
or Lombardy, minister, John of Strachia ; Terra di Lavore, minister,
Augustine of Assisi ; Apulia, minister unknown ; Calabria, Daniel of Tus
cany ; Germany, minister, John of Penna ; France, minister, Pacificus,
"king of verses"; Provence, minister, John Bonelli ; Spain, minister,
Bsrnard da Quintavalle (?) ; Syria, minister, Elias. The mission to Germany,
however, proved a failure and the German Province was not really constituted
till 1221 under the leadership of Caesar of Spires. On other points too this
list is open to objection.
The Chron. xxiv. Gen. places the institution of the province of Provence
in 1219 (of. Anal. Franc, in. p. 10). It is doubtful too whether Bro. Elias
was sent to Syria in 1217 or 1219. P. Golubovich s list is supported by
Sabatier s edition of the Speculum Perfect, cap. 65, which says that at the
Chapter of 1217 brethren were sent " ad quasdam provincias idtramarinas,"
but in the text of the Speculum edited by P. Lemmens, the reading is "ad
quasdam provincias ultraniontanas" (ed. Lemmens, cap. 37). The 3 Soc. cap.
16, says that the brethren at this Chapter were sent "per universas mundi pro
vincias inquibus fides catholica colitur et scrvatur," but makes no mention of
Syria. Giordano da Giano frankly confesses that he does not know whether
Elias was sent to Syria in 1217 or 1219 (Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. no.
7, p. 3). Glassberger (Anal. Franc, n. p. 9) says that at this Chapter the
friars were sent "fere per universas provincias orbis in quibus fides Catiiolica
viget".
The Leg. 3 Soc. and Glassberger s Chronicle, however, do not necessarily
exclude Syria, since there was already a Latin kingdom of Jerusalem with
208 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
But before they set out Francis had addressed them thus :
" In the name of the Lord go forth two and two, taking the
road in all humility and modesty and especially keeping
silence from the dawn until the hour of terce ; pray to the
Lord in your hearts and let no idle or useless word be spoken
amongst you. For though you be walking abroad, neverthe
less let your conduct be as humble and becoming as in a her
mitage or cell. Indeed wherever we are or wherever we
travel, we have always our cell with us. Brother Body is
our cell and the soul is the hermit who dwells within to pray
and meditate upon the Lord. Of little use is a cell made
with hands if the soul is not at rest in its own cell." l With
these words he sped them on their journey.
These first missions beyond the Alps were, like all the
early Franciscan missions, ventures of knightly faith and
fealty, conceived in the purest spirit of chivalric loyalty and
honour. The brethren were sent forth to bear witness to the
faith that was in them ; their love of Christ and Poverty was
to be their sustaining motive ; patience and endurance their
glory. Theirs was a knightly adventure simply, and no
affair of statecraft or cunning policy. The spirit in which the
mission was undertaken, is happily set forth in a prose-poem
which tells of an incident on the way. Francis, it says, when
setting out on his journey to France, wished first to pay a
visit to the tombs of the Apostles to commend this new ad
venture to their protection. He took with him on this pil
grimage, Brother Masseo. On the way they came to a small
town and, being hungry, went into the town to beg a meal ;
Francis taking one street and Masseo another. " Masseo
being tall and comely in person, had good pieces of bread
given him, large and many, and even entire loaves " ; but
Francis, "because he was a man of mean appearance and
small of stature and accounted a vile beggar by those who
knew him not, received nothing but a few mouthfuls and
many Catholic colonies established in Palestine : and the fact that the General
Chapter whether of 1217 or 1219 established a Province of Syria, shows that
Syria was not altogether considered a missionary region but part of the Catho
lic world.
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 65.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEENITY 209
crumbs of dry bread". "When they had begged enough,
they went together to a place outside the town, where there
was a fair fountain that they might eat ; and beside which
was also a broad and convenient stone, on which each placed
all the alms which he had begged.
Francis, seeing that the pieces of bread which Brother
Masseo had were larger and better than his own, had great
joy and spoke thus : Brother Masseo, we are not worthy
of so great a treasure . And as he repeated these words
several times, Brother Masseo answered him : Father, how
can this be called treasure, when we are in such poverty and
lack the things of which we have need, we who have neither
cloth nor knives nor plates nor porringer nor house nor table
nor man servant nor maid servant . Then said St. Francis :
And this is what I call a great treasure, that there is nothing
here provided by human industry, but everything is provided
by Divine Providence, as we may see manifestly in this bread
which we have begged, in this stone which serves so beauti
fully for our table, and in this so clear fountain ; and there
fore I desire that we should pray to God, that he would cause
holy Poverty which is a thing so noble that God Himself
was made subject to it, to be loved by us with our whole
heart . And when he had said these words and they had
made their prayer and partaken for bodily refreshment of the
pieces of bread and drunk of the water, they arose and went
their way." This intimate communion with his Lady
Poverty had set the heart of Francis in a spiritual rapture.
After a time they came to a church. " Francis said to his
companion : Let us go into this church and pray . And
entering, St. Francis placed himself behind the altar and
betook himself to prayer. And as he prayed he received
from the Divine visitation such excessive fervour, which so
vehemently inflamed his soul with the love of holy Poverty,
that by the increased colour of his face and the unaccustomed
opening of his lips it seemed as though he were breathing out
flames of love. And coming thus all inflamed, to his com
panion, he said to him : * Ah ! Ah ! Ah ! Brother Masseo,
yield thyself to me . And he said this three times, and the
14
210 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
third time he lifted Brother Masseo by his breath into the air
and threw him from him, to the distance of a long spear :
which put Brother Masseo in great astonishment. Now
afterwards, relating the matter to his companions, Brother
Masseo said that during the time he was raised up and thrown
forth by the breath which proceeded from St. Francis, he
tasted such sweetness in his soul, and such consolation of the
Holy Spirit, that in all his life he had never felt the like.
"And this done, St. Francis said to him : My Brother,
let us go to St. Peter and St. Paul and pray them to teach
us, and to give us to possess the immeasurable treasure of
holy Poverty, inasmuch as it is a treasure so exalted, and so
divine, that we are not worthy to possess it in our vile bodies,
seeing that this is that celestial virtue by which all earthly
and transitory things are trodden under foot and all impedi
ments are lifted away from the soul, so that she can freely
unite herself to the Eternal God. And this is the virtue
which makes the soul, while still retained on earth, converse
with the angels in heaven, and this it is which accompanied
Christ to His Cross, with Christ was buried, with Christ was
raised up, with Christ ascended into heaven, which, being
given in this life to the souls who are enamoured of it, facili
tates their flight to heaven, seeing that it guards the arms of
true humility and charity. And therefore let us pray the
most holy Apostles of Christ, who were perfect lovers of this
pearl of the Gospel of Christ, that they will beg for us this
grace from our Lord Jesus Christ, that by His most holy
mercy, He would grant us to be true lovers, observers and
humble disciples of this most gracious, most lovable, evan
gelical Poverty. " l
l Fioretti, cap. 12 (G. T. S. transl.) ; Actus, cap. 13; Chron. xxiv. Gen.,
Anal. Franc, torn. in. 117; De Conformit., Anal Franc, torn. iv. p. 608.
An interesting comparison may be made between the praises of Poverty here
set forth and the prayer to obtain Holy Poverty attributed by Wadding and
others to St. Francis, but which is found for the first time in the Arbor
Vita of Ubertino da Casale. Mr. Montgomery Carmichael says of this
prayer: "though he (Ubertino) puts this prayer into the mouth of St.
Francis, the context points to the fact that he is rather attempting to repro
duce the sentiments of the Saint, than giving a prayer literally written by
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FKATEKNITY 211
Did the sending forth of the brethren into foreign lands
produce no other result than this praise of Poverty, the ad
venture would be memorable : for, as in a lightning-flash, it
reveals the mystery of that loyal worship which Francis kept
for his ideal Lady Poverty.
Francis, when at length he turned his face towards the
north, came to Florence : and here ended this journey so far
as he himself was concerned. For at Florence he met
Cardinal Ugolino, the Papal Legate : and that meeting was
the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the frater
nity.
Ugolino, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Legate of the
Holy See for central and northern Italy, was one of
Innocent the Third s cardinals, and on his father s side was
related to the great Pope. 1 At this time he was about sixty
years of age ; a handsome man, well built and of strong con
stitution : a man of ability rather than of genius ; not gifted
with any striking originality of character nor with the soaring
inspiration so notable in Pope Innocent ; but he was yet
a master of statecraft and a forceful man of affairs such as
the Court of Rome has in all times so commonly produced.
him" (vide The Lady Poverty, p. 193). A similar sentiment is found in
the Sacrum Commercium, cap. vi. ; and finds an echo in Dante s Paradiso,
canto xi. lines 71, 72. It is not at all improbable that Francis went to Rome
before setting out for France. He seems to have gone to Rome whenever he
undertook any scheme of importance. Thus according to Wadding he went
to Rome in 1212 before undertaking the mission to the infidels ; and he was
certainly in Rome several times during the period we are now entering upon.
Cf. II Celano 96, 104, 119, 148 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 67. Nor is it unlikely
that whilst in Rome, Francis was told to consult Card. Ugolino at Florence,
since Ugolino, as legate in Umbria, would be the necessary representative of
the Holy See in those parts. It was probably thus in his capacity as legate
that Card. Ugolino came first to act as "protector" of the Order, until the
inconvenience of having " many popes " in the persons of succeeding legates,
led Francis to request that Ugolino should be permanent protector (cf . Chron.
Jordani, in Anal. Franc, no. 14, p. 5).
J Two "lives" of Ugolino are given in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum
Script, torn. in. pp. 570-4, and 575-87. The second "life" is evidently
by one who knew him well, probably a member of his court. The frank ad
miration of the writer for his subject is united with an intimate knowledge
of details such as one can get only in constant companionship. Not unlikely
he was Giovanni di Campania, the Papal notary.
14*
212 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
He had a marvellous memory and a clear insight into the
bearings of things with which he had to deal. Moreover he
was a scholar, well versed in law and the liberal arts and in
theology, and a fluent and eloquent speaker. 1
Innocent III had done well to bring his relative into his
intimate counsels when he was seeking for men who would
be devoted to the Church s welfare rather than to their own
interest, men who in wielding and holding power, secular as
well as spiritual, would set an example of personal piety and
self-sacrifice. For Cardinal Ugolino was devoted heart and
mind to the Church, and like the great Pontiff, he dreamed
of a Church not only strong in secular dominion to rule an
unruly world, but purified of secular abuses and of wrong
doing, and transfused with the spirit of the Gospel. He
himself was ascetic in the midst of the pomp and ceremonial
of his official state ; and no charge was ever made against
the purity and disinterestedness of his personal life. There
was a curious commingling of opposing elements in his char
acter. Had his education and circumstances been different
he might have found greater satisfaction in the cloister
than in the court. There were stirrings of the mystic
in him at times, which conflicted with the promptings
of that prudence he had learned in the management of
men. At such times he would look with desire upon the life
which took no heed of the world s actuality but was enrap
tured into the unearthly claims of the spirit. 2 This strain of
mysticism drew him into close sympathy with the peniten
tial movement.
Moreover the cardinal with all his calm political insight
and habit of weighing affairs in the scales of common pru-
1 Of. Muratori, loc. cit. p. 575 : " Forma decorus et venustus aspectu, per-
spicacis ingenii et fidelis memories, prcerogativa dotatus, liberalium et utriusque
juris peritia eminenter instructus, fluvius eloquentia TulliancB, sacrce pagince
diligens observator et doctor ".
2 Cf. I Celano, 75 ; II Celano, 63. Bartholomew of Pisa relates that the
Cardinal once asked Francis advice as to whether he should renounce his
dignities and become a Friar Minor ; but the saint refused to advise him one
way or the other. Afterwards Francis foretold Ugolino s elevation to the
Papal chair (Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 454).
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEENITY 213
dence, was yet of an emotional temperament. 1 He was af
fectionate in disposition and could not resist an appeal to his
friendship. He loved to fill the part of a protector and clung
tenaciously to those to whom he gave his heart.
Before his meeting with Francis at Florence, he had al
ready come to regard him and his fraternity with admiration
and was amongst those who held it in favour at the Eoman
Court. He knew well that there were those about the Court
and in the hierarchy who were opposed to the new institute ; 2
and not unlikely the thought had already occurred to him
that if the fraternity was to come safely through the shoals
of intrigue and the dangers of its own simple enthusiasm, it
would need a friend at Court : for the Cardinal of St. Paul,
the powerful patron of the brethren, was no longer there to
defend and counsel them : he had died the year previous. 3
On his part, Francis knew the Cardinal by reputation and
regarded him with reverence not only for his priestly office
but because of his blameless life.
But now when they met for the first time in familiar con
verse, both conceived for each other a strong affection.
Francis confiding nature drew him to the strong man who
was so ready to befriend the brethren and who was at once
so gracious and sympathetic ; and the Cardinal was com
pletely won by the simplicity and unworldliness of Francis :
and so between these two men, so widely dissimilar in many
respects, there sprang up an intimate friendship. The Car
dinal s persuasive influence was at once shown in that he
was able to dissuade Francis from continuing his journey to
France : though not without need of argument. When first
the Cardinal remonstrated that Francis ought to remain in
Italy in consideration of the fact that many prelates sought
to hinder the work of the fraternity, Francis replied in his
vehement way : " My lord, much shame will it be to me if,
having sent others of my brethren into far countries, I myself
remain in these parts and do not share in the hardships and
1 Vide, e.g. his letters to St. Clare, Anal. Franc, m. p. 183.
2 1 Celano, 74 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 10.
:i Eubel, Hier. Cath. i. p. 36.
214 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
troubles which await them ". To which Cardinal Ugolino
answered that none of the brethren ought to be sent into dis
tant countries to die, maybe, of hunger and suffering, and that
they would do better to remain in Italy and peacefully pur
sue their vocation there. Francis cried out warmly : " Think
you, my lord, that it is only to these provinces that the Lord
hath sent the brethren ? Of a truth I tell you that God hath
chosen and sent the brethren for the profit and salvation of
the souls of all the men that are in the world ; and not only
in the countries of the faithful but even in the lands of the
infidels shall they be received and win many souls." The
Cardinal thereupon made no further effort to restrain the
missionary enterprise of the brethren at large ; perhaps he
now recognized that it were wise not to hold back the
brethren nor to repress their energies ; yet he prevailed upon
Francis himself to turn back and to send the brethren to
France under another leader.
Thus it came about that Brother Pacifico, the poet laure
ate, was appointed to establish the fraternity in the land that
Francis loved, next to his own Umbria, above all countries in
the world. 1
Like Francis himself, Pacifico had the true troubadour
spirit, at once poetic and adventurous. When Francis had
first met him some five years previously, he was a gay courtier,
wearing his fresh laurels. They had both come on a visit to
a convent of nuns at San Severino in the Marches of Ancona,
where the poet heard the friar preach and was at once con
verted in heart. After the sermon he sought out the preacher
to ask advice concerning his soul. Francis was setting before
him the greater nobility of service in the court of the Great
King of heaven, when Pacifico exclaimed : " What need of
further argument ? Let us come to deeds. Take me away
from men and give me back to the Most High Emperor."
And there in the presence of the crowd of youths who had
come with him, Pacifico became a friar.
To him his spiritual guide was always " the herald" of
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 65 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 9 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal.
Franc, in. p. 10.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FKATEKNITY 215
the Lord of heaven, and his imagination was apt to see him
invested with the insignia of his spiritual heraldry.
Once that was on the occasion of his conversion he
saw Francis bedecked with two flaming swords crosswise ;
another time, before this journey to France, when Francis
was newly kindled with the thought of his spiritual crusade,
he saw the forehead of his leader, adorned with the sign Thau
emblazoned in many colours. 1
He might not, perhaps, be the man to establish the brethren
in the estimation of matter-of-fact prelates and suspicious
defenders of the faith : and in this respect he does not seem
to have been successful. But to those who had ears for his
song, he could sing the message of Poverty convincingly and
well.
Francis returned to Assisi : God willed it so and he must
obey: for already he was convinced that Cardinal Ugolino
was set by Providence to be his counsellor and support : and,
therefore, before he bade the Cardinal farewell, he had peti
tioned him to preside at the next General Chapter.
Of the experiences of the brethren who went beyond the
Alps at this time, the story has been summed up in this
passage from the Legend of the Three Companions : " They
were received in certain provinces but were not permitted to
build dwelling-places ; and from other provinces they were
expelled in the fear that they might prove to be infidels :
since although the lord Innocent III had sanctioned their
Order and Eule, yet had he not confirmed it by letter ; for
which reason the brethren endured many trials from clerics
and laymen. Wherefore the brethren were compelled to flee
from divers provinces, and thus straitened and afflicted,
sometimes even robbed and beaten by thieves, they returned
in great bitterness of spirit to the Blessed Francis." 2
Other chroniclers give more explicit details. In France
they were taken for heretics and when asked whether they
were Albigenses, not knowing what the word might mean,
they neither affirmed nor denied, and so the people were
1 II Celano, 106 ; Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 3 ; Leg. Maj. iv. 9.
2 3 Soc. 62.
216 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
confirmed in their suspicion. A similar fate awaited the
brethren who were sent to Portugal, and for a time they had
perforce to wander about like vagabonds without a dwelling-
place, until Urracha, Queen of Alfonso II, took them under
her protection. They fared even worse in Germany, where
the language was altogether unintelligible to them. One
word only they secured out of the torrent of strange sounds
they heard ; which word at first brought them comfort.
For seeing them poor and weary, some kindly soul asked if
they wanted shelter, to which the brothers, not understand
ing the question but glad of fellowship, replied " Ja : " and
shelter was given them. But when later, others came inquir
ing whether they were heretics from Lombardy, the brethren
again replied " Ja" : and then the trouble began. They
were stripped and beaten and driven back towards the
frontier. Those Germans were good Catholics : but the
brethren understood only their blows and fury, and fled back
to Assisi carrying with them a fast opinion that no Christian
should venture amongst the Germans unless he were pre
pared for martyrdom. So, too, in Hungary they were taken
for heretics and mummers, and made the sport of the country
they passed through and even treated with the grossest in
sult. Only in Spain do they seem to have met with a kindly
reception : a fact which might be accounted for if, as tradi
tion has it, this mission was led by Bernard da Quintavalle
who had already visited the country. 1 " And so," says one,
" that entire mission came to nothing, because perhaps the
time for sending forth was not yet come : since there is a
time for everything under the sun." 2 But this philosopher
was thinking chiefly of his own province of Germany, where
the brethren gained nothing but the merit of such hardship
and patience as was theirs. In France and Portugal, though
they suffered much, the brethren arrived to stay : as also in
Spain. But it was the last adventure of unaided faith so far
as the fraternity in general were concerned.
1 Of. Chron. Jordani in Anal. Franc, i. nos. 4, 5, 6, p. 3 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen.
in Anal. Franc, in. p. 10 seq. ; Glassberger in Anal. Franc, n. p. 9 seq.
2 Chron. Jordani, loc. cit. no. 8, p. 3.
A NEW PHASE IN LIFE OF FEATEKNITY 217
The brethren were beginning to learn that they who would
gain the world, must take account of the world s demands.
Two causes contributed to the failures : the inability of the
brethren to speak the tongue of the people they went to, and
their lack of knowledge of the conditions prevailing outside
Italy. But even more than this the failures must be attri
buted to the fact that they carried with them no authorizing
document from bishops or Pope ; and that, at a time when
the profession of poverty was mostly the mark of a heretic,
brought them at once under suspicion.
There can be no denying it : the faith of the fraternity
was bruised in this first encounter with the larger world.
The latent disaffection of some of the brethren with the
simplicity of Francis, now found utterance, and a sense of
failure saddened the loyalty of many.
Already some were looking to the Cardinal Legate to
supply Francis lack of the world s prudence, and they did
not fail to set before him the story of this disaster. Francis
took it all very humbly. He would have been more glad at
heart had the brethren taken their failure in simple faith and
patience and without discouragement. But Cardinal Ugo-
lino had now taken the fraternity under his protection and,
seeing in him the authority of the Church, Francis loyally
submitted the fraternity to his direction.
Before the brethren were sent abroad again, they were
armed with commendatory letters from the Holy See.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHAPTER OF MATS.
THE two years following upon the General Chapter of 1217
were a period of intense missionary activity for the brother
hood, as the vast increase in the numbers of the brethren
testifies: for at the Chapter of 1219 about five thousand
brethren were there assembled. 1 Yet few incidents of the
period are recorded. It was one of those brooding periods
when the earth is windless and the sky unbroken, though
in the hidden spaces the elements of disturbance are gather
ing force, sooner or later to burst through the still but heat-
gathering heavens with undeniable storm.
A new era had in fact begun in the history of the fra
ternity. The brethren were no longer regarded by the Holy
See as a free company, acting under the Papal authority but
not recognized as part of its regular army.
Already Cardinal Ugolino, surveying the ecclesiastical
situation with the eye of an organizer, had determined in his
own mind that the right policy was to create a new ecclesi
astical army out of the two fraternities of Friars Minor and
Friars Preachers which would be directly under the orders of
the Holy See. With such a body of men ready to its hand,
the Papacy might effectively carry out its scheme of internal
reforms in the hierarchy and in the Church at large.
The Cardinal had quite definite views as to the shape
these reforms must take, and how these new fraternities
might be utilized for the purpose. The Church needed
bishops of unworldly mind and ascetic conduct, who would
think more of the souls of the people than of temporalities
1 Of. Leg. Maj. iv. 10 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 68 ; Eccleston [ed. Little], coll.
vi. p. 40 ; Actus, cap. 20.
218
THE CHAPTEK OF MATS 219
and secular honours. The monastic state needed to be re
called to its former austerity and discipline. The intellect of
the Catholic world was being dissipated in purely secular
studies, and there was need of preachers who could meet the
heretics, armed at once with a blameless life and theological
learning. In the two new Orders of friars Ugolino saw the
providential means of carrying through these most urgent
reforms. In his mind s-eye he beheld the friars occupying epis
copal sees, setting the older Orders an example of monastic
austerity combined with active work for the faith, and reviv
ing the study of theology. Perhaps at this time he looked
more to the Dominicans for the revival of sacred learning.. For
Dominic had made study one of the primary conditions of his
new Order. One of his first acts in founding the Friars
Preachers had been to send six of his companions to the schools
to go through a course of study to fit them for preaching.
He himself during the Lent of 1217 had gained the ap
plause of the Boman Court by his conferences upon the
epistles of St. Paul. Yet amongst the Friars Minor were a
number of schoolmen. The Cardinal would take that into
account in his views concerning the utility of the fraternity.
He had already pleaded with the two founders to allow
their brethren to be raised to the episcopal dignity as occasion
offered itself when sees were vacant. " In the primitive
Church," argued Ugolino, "the pastors of the Church were
poor men, and men on fire with charity and not with greed.
Why should we not take some of your brethren and make
them bishops and prelates?" Dominic had replied: "My
lord, my brethren, if they know it, are already raised to an
honourable estate ; nor if I can help it, will I permit them to
accept other title of dignity ". And Francis had said : " My
brethren are for this reason called minors that they should
not presume to become the greater amongst their fellow-
men. Our vocation teaches them to abide in the common
way and to follow in the footsteps of Christ s humility,
whereby in the end they will be exalted beyond others in the
eyes of the saints. If you wish that they bear fruit in the
Church of God, hold them and keep them in the state of
220 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
their vocation, and make even the unwilling to return to the
humble level. Wherefore, Father, I pray that you will on
no account allow them to be raised to prelacies, lest they
become the prouder because they are poorer and carry them
selves conceitedly over others." l The Cardinal admired the
humility of the two founders : in that same spirit he would
wish all their brethren to remain : but he did not share their
fears nor did he admit the validity of their more restricted
views restricted, as he thought, by their own admirable
humility and by the very intensity of their mental concentra
tion upon the primary purposes of their institutes. It was, you
see, the demand of the world for a practical utility corre
sponding to its own immediate needs, meeting with an in
spired purpose, at once more universal and exclusive, more
piercingly poignant yet more aloof, than transient policies.
Cardinal Ugolino s scheme was to harness these inspired
purposes to the chariot of the Papal policy of reform; and
when the Cardinal set his mind upon any scheme he clung
to it with confident persistence. And in this case he felt
himself justified in over-riding the scruples of the founders
not only because of the sincerity of his own reforming pro
jects, but because he was persuaded that only by adapting
themselves to the immediate exigencies of the Papal policy,
would the fraternities overcome the suspicion and active
opposition with which they were regarded by many of the
conservative prelates. He was much concerned lest this
opposition should eventually break up the fraternities, and he
exerted himself continually to establish them in the favour of
the Pope and the goodwill of the Eoman Court. Dominic
needed his protection less than Francis did. The character
and purpose of the Friars Preachers was more easily grasped
than that of the Friars Minor : their direct purpose was to
repel the heretics and safeguard the faith. But the purpose
of Francis was not so easily put into an intelligible phrase.
He was a forceful moving spirit grasping at intangible ideals,
who repelled more prudent, level-headed men when they
considered him from afar : one never knew how he might
1 II Celano, 148 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 43.
THE CHAPTEE OF MATS 221
end or how far he might want to go. Ugolino himself had
absolutely no doubt as to his sanity and sanctity : Francis,
he was convinced, was a saint and heaven-sent reformer.
To bring the sceptics to his own view he once arranged
that Francis should preach before the Pope and the Papal
Court. He was anxious Francis should make a good im
pression, and induced him therefore to prepare a sermon
carefully beforehand and commit it to memory. Francis
acquiesced : but when the time came to preach, every word
that he had learned vanished from his mind : fortunately
perhaps for the preacher and his audience ; for recollecting
himself awhile, he then spoke as his heart impelled him. He
was the troubadour herald of divine love, all afire with his
message : the words poured forth mellifluously, yet with
torrential eagerness ; his feet danced to the music of his
words. At first Ugolino held his breath in a great fear and
prayed with all his heart that this preaching might not bring
derision and mockery on his friend. But soon his fear was
set at rest. Curiosity gave place to respectful attention ;
many of those present could not restrain their tears. Francis
had conquered. But one wonders what would have been the
effect, had he managed to utter his carefully-prepared dis
course, he who was nothing but when he was wholly and
spontaneously himself. 1
Meanwhile the spirit of discontent was becoming more
and more articulate in the fraternity, and not a few of the
brethren, chiefly it would seem among the schoolmen, chafed
under the simplicity of Francis and his exalted idealism.
They had neither his simple faith nor his wholesome per
sonality. The untrodden ways along which he would lead
them, brought them a sense of estrangement from the actual
world, Francis himself never felt that estrangement because
he instinctively found his neighbourhood with the essentially
1 Leg. Maj. xn. 7 ; I Gelano, 73. Wadding is probably near the correct
date in placing this sermon in 1217. From the wording of Celano it is clear
that Francis was not yet very well known to Pope Honorius and his Court ;
nor does he seem to have been very well known to Cardinal Ugolino, who
surely in after years would hardly have asked his friend to write his sermon !
222 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
human and vital in the life around him. But these others
had been trained to regard life only as it existed in con
ventional and traditional forms. Outside these forms they
could walk only haltingly and without conviction.
Their failure to enter fully into Francis views was due
partly to temperament, partly to education, partly doubtless
to the persistent obtrusion of a more matter-of-fact world
upon their daily experience. In a more or less vague per
vasive fashion they had been genuinely influenced by the
spirit of Francis : as men are apt to be influenced by a force
ful personality in a time of keen perceptions and emotions.
He had come into their lives like a fresh tonic breeze ; stir
ring their spiritual emotions, and giving them a sense of
spiritual freedom, upon the strength of which they abandoned
their secular avocations and enlisted under his banner. But
of the multitude who donned his armour not all could take to
themselves his thought or live freely in the rare atmosphere of
his desire. Instinctively they turned to the traditional and im
mediately-practical ways in which to exercise the heightened
spiritual vitality with which Francis had endowed them.
They were unconscious that in doing so they would divert
the stream of the Franciscan life from its own proper course
and scatter its energies to its own loss. Francis simple
purpose was to convert the world to the wisdom and beauty
of the Christ-life as it is revealed in the poor and suffering
Eedeemer. And he held that the fraternity was established
by Christ to set an example of this Christ-life, undefiled by
any compromise with secular ambition and prudence : it
had no other aim or duty, no other rightful joy. The dis
contented spirits amongst the brethren did not deny this
purpose, but they quarrelled with Francis teaching concerning
no compromise with the world s prudence. At least, they
held, he should accept the world s prudence in so far as other
religious men accepted it.
Francis had no condemnation for other religious men :
the prudence of the world is good in its own place ; and
these other religious men were the keepers of their own con
science : God did not lead all men in the same way. But
THE CHAPTEE OF MATS 228
the way of the Friars Minor was to live and work as Jesus
Christ Himself lived and worked on earth, in humility and
meekness and poverty, using only spiritual means and not
relying upon any secular influence. If the brethren would
convert men they must be willing to suffer and not shield
themselves with letters of protection ; they must be exiles
upon the earth without any earthly possessions ; they must be
in fact and in appearance as the least of men and not occupy
exalted positions ; they must preach the Gospel in its simpli
city and not with a proud assumption of secular learning.
It was perhaps at this period when the murmurs of the
discontented brethren were beginning to trouble his thoughts,
that Francis uttered his " parable of perfect joy ". Tradition
says he was on his way from Perugia to the Porziuncola
one day in the winter time when the cold was very biting.
Brother Leo, his companion one who never doubted the
wisdom of his leader was walking ahead, leaving Francis to
his meditation, when he heard the voice of Francis calling to
him: " Brother Leo, although the Friars Minor in these
parts give a great example of sanctity and good edification,
write it down and note it well that this is not perfect joy ".
And as they continued their journey, Francis called to Leo
again and yet again, instancing the gift of miracles, the
knowledge of all languages and sciences, and of holy Scrip
ture, and even the power of preaching whereby all infidels
might be converted to the faith of Christ : in all these things
he declared there was not perfect joy. At length Brother
Leo asked : "Father, I pray thee, wherein is perfect joy?"
Francis replied : "When we shall have come to St. Mary of
the Angels, soaked as we are with the rain and frozen with
the cold, encrusted with mud and afflicted with hunger, and
shall knock at the door, if the porter should come and ask,
angrily, * Who are you ? and we reply : We are two of your
brethren ; he should say : You speak falsely ; you are two
good-for-nothings, who go about the world stealing alms from
the poor ; go your way : and if he would not open the door
to us but left us without, exposed till night to the snow and
the wind and the torrents of rain, in cold and hunger ; then
224 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
if we should bear so much abase and cruelty and such a dis
missal patiently, without disturbance and without murmur
ing at him, and should think humbly and charitably that
this porter knew us truly and that God would have him
speak against us O Brother Leo, write that this would be
perfect joy." In this strain Francis continued recounting
possible humiliations and bufferings of body and mind. "If
we should bear all these things," said he, " patiently and
with joy, thinking on the pains of the Blessed Christ, as that
which we ought to bear for His love Brother Leo, write
that it is in this that there is perfect joy." l
The discontented brethren no doubt listened with respect
to this parable when it was afterwards recounted to them,
but whilst admitting the ultimate conclusion as a counsel of
personal perfection, they would yet hold to the lesser joys as
the more immediate evidences of the fraternity s utility.
They were doubtful whether the simplicity of the brethren
did tend to the edification of the people, at least as much as
the more ordered austerity of the ancient monastic rule ;
they were certain that Francis under-rated the joy of learn
ing ; and they would give much to be able to say that all the
infidels were converted to the faith of Christ. And whilst
Francis was praising his Lady Poverty for the life itself
which he found in her, for the nearer approach which she
made for him to the Lord he worshipped ; these others held
her as a handmaiden to serve them in achieving less mystical
purposes. So the storm elements were gathered when the
brethren came together at the Pentecost Chapter, which was
afterwards known as " the Chapter of Mats," because of the
vast number of wattle huts hastily improvised by the arriving
brethren. 2 At the outset an incident happened which was
1 Fioretti, cap. vn. (C.T.S. transl.) ; Actus, cap. 7 ; of. Opuscula, Admonit.
v. p. 8. The Fioretti gives us the parable as enshrined in oral tradition, and
as it was retold by the brethren with a view to accentuate the ultimate
conclusion. But it is substantially contained in the Admonition. It is note
worthy that in the Fioretti Leo is bidden to " write it down ". The Admoni
tion, therefore, may be Leo s written resum of the parable ; or it may be
another recital of the same thought, dictated by Francis himself.
2 Wadding is probably right in describing the Chapter of 1219 as the
" Chapter of Mats " ; although John de Komorowo gives this title to the
THE CHAPTER OF MATS 225
in some way to set the note to the temper of this assembly.
Francis had been on an evangelizing tour and only reached
the Porziuncola when the preparations for the Chapter were
already well advanced. To his dismay he found a large
stone building erected near the chapel. The citizens of
Assisi had built it for the better accommodation of the
Chapter. They had not waited to consult Francis ; probably
they meant to forestall his opposition : saints, like other folk,
need at times to be managed tactfully. So they built the hall
and awaited events. Quick was Francis resentment at this
indignity offered to the Lady Poverty in her own home.
Without delay he took with him some of the brethren, and
climbed upon the roof and began to pull it down. Word was
sent hastily to the civic authorities, and messengers and
soldiers arrived to stop the demolition. " This building," they
cried to Francis, " is not yours ; it belongs to the city." And
their protest was upheld by the seneschal of the Chapter, an
English brother named de Barton. Francis from the roof re
plied : "If so be this house is yours, I have no wish to touch
it " ; and straightway he came down. 1 What else could he
do ? Yet in his heart theie was a foreboding of the trouble
at hand : if at the Porziuncola the brethren would tolerate
this appearance of disloyalty to their chosen poverty, how
could the brethren elsewhere be kept true to their faith ?
On Whitsunday morning Cardinal Ugolino, who was to
preside at the Chapter, arrived from Perugia where he then
had his court : with him came a retinue of nobles and
clerics ; and from all the surrounding country men of all
ranks had assembled to witness this unusual gathering.
When the cardinal s approach was announced, the
brethren went out in procession to meet him. At the sight
of them in their coarse habits and bare feet, Ugolino was
Chapter of 1221 (cf. Anal. Franc, n. p. 18, n. 8). But the Spec. Perfect, dis
tinctly says that Cardinal Ugolino presided at the " Chapter of Mats," whereas
Cardinal Rainerio presided at the Chapter of 1221 (cf. Chron. Jordam, in Anal.
Franc, i. no. 16, p. 6). Giordano s description of the wattle-huts in 1221 is
true of all the earliest Chapters.
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 7; II Celano, 57; Eccleston [ed. Little], coll. vi,
p. 40.
15
226 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
much moved ; here was an army of Christ such as he had
prayed for in his dreams of reform, and with the instinct of
the born commander, he dismounted from his horse, put off
his rich mantle and shoes, and barefoot like the brethren
themselves, walked behind them to the church. 1 There he
sang High Mass, Francis assisting as deacon. When Mass
was over, Francis mounted a pulpit and preached to the
brethren. His text was a minstrel s chant :
Great things we have promised,
But greater are promised to us ;
What we have promised let us fulfil,
To what we are promised let us look forward.
A brief delight and punishment for ever ;
A little suffering and glory infinite !
Upon this theme he figured the life of a Friar Minor a
life of obedience and love, of prayer and patience and chastity,
of peace and concord with God and men, of humility and
meekness, unworldliness and poverty, and as the sum of all,
the casting of all care for oneself upon " the good Shepherd
and Nurse of soul and body, our Lord Jesus Christ the
Blessed ". The same lesson he had preached in the beginning
when the brethren were but three or four in number. To
some it had seemed a mad idea then that men should have no
care for their own bodily being and leave it all to God. To-day
the world did not call Francis mad : he was too manifestly a
saint. Yet some of them doubted his wisdom when, point
ing the moral to his lesson, he commanded the five thousand
friars present to give no thought during the Chapter to
the providing of food or to any other bodily need, but to con
cern themselves wholly with prayer and the praises of God.
In the event, Francis faith was abundantly justified, for
whilst the Chapter lasted, the roads leading to the Porziun-
cola were kept busy with mules and asses laden with pro-
a 3 Soc. 61. Cf. I Celano, 100. Bartholomew of Pisa (Conformit. in
Anal. Franc, iv. p. 454) says Ugolino often put on the habit of the friars when
in their company ; and that he was accustomed on Maundy Thursday to be
clothed in the habit when washing the feet of the poor. Cf. Salimbene,
Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., xxxn. p. 680; Chron. xxiv. Gen., Anal. Franc.
in. p. 228.
THE CHAPTEE OF MATS 227
visions for the multitude of friars. 1 But this miracle, as they
would deem it, might bear witness to the holiness of Francis ;
yet it could hardly establish a rule for general imitation.
Evidently the fraternity needed more practical government :
at least that was the mind of many present ; and these
appealed to the Cardinal for support for their views. Francis
replied in an outburst of indignant sorrow: " My brethren,
my brethren ! The Lord has called me by the way of sim
plicity and humility, and this way hath He pointed out to me
in truth for myself and for them who are willing to believe
me and imitate me. Wherefore I will not that you name
to me any other Eule, neither of St. Benedict nor of St.
Augustine, nor of St. Bernard, nor any other way or manner
of living beside that which the Lord in His mercy hath
shown and given me. The Lord told me that He willed me
to be poor and foolish in this world, and that He willed not
to lead us by any way other than by that knowledge. But
with this learning and wisdom of yours, may the Lord con
found you, and I trust in the castellans of the Lord that
through them God will punish you, and that you will return
to your vocation for all your fault-finding, whether you will
or no." 2
For the moment the dissident brethren were silenced ;
but they were not convinced. Their immediate outlook con
cerning the fraternity was radically different from their foun-
1 Actus, cap. 20 ; Fioretti, cap. xvn. The story as told in the Actus goes
on to relate how St. Dominic was won over to absolute poverty by seeing how
St. Francis faith was fulfilled. But Dominic was in Spain at the time of the
Chapter (cf. Acta SS. Augusti, torn. i. pp. 485-6). It is not improbable that
he may have been present at another Chapter where similar events occurred :
for the first Chapters present many common features. It is, however, note
worthy that Dominic introduced the rule of absolute poverty into his Order
in 1220, influenced most probably by the example of the Friars Minor.
2 Spec. Perfect, cap. 68 ; the reading of the Vatican MS., which I have
followed, is more in accordance with Bartholomew of Pisa (Conformit. in Anal.
Franc, iv. p. 143) than that of the Mazarin MS., which makes Francis say:
" He [the Lord] willed me to be a new Covenant in this world ".
This outburst of Francis is fully in accord with his character (cf. e.g.
II. Celano, 156). Moreover one may note the similarity between the con
clusion of this admonition and Francis words to the Cardinal given in II
Celano, 148 : " Tenete illos . . . ct ad plana reducite vel invitos ".
15 *
228 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
der s ; and it was not in Francis to argue the point logically.
He was a poet bearing witness to the vision he saw : he was
neither logician nor politician to deal with the arguments of
those who were against him. His critics might bow for
awhile before the fervour and sincerity of his pleading.
Many of the brethren probably imagined that the trouble
was finished, but Cardinal Ugolino, with his knowledge of
men, would be thoughtful of the morrow, and doubtless was
thankful in his mind that Providence had made him the
friend of Francis and the brethren for the difficult future
which lay before them.
It were easy, and as foolish as it were easy, to brand the
dissident brethren as weaklings in their vocation or as trai
tors to Francis. That some of them merited to be thus
branded is doubtless true. But for the most part they sincerely
reverenced Francis and were proud to own him their leader.
They felt the stirring of his spirit and gladly responded to it,
as far as it was in them to respond. With these the trouble
Was not of their own making : it was the perennial difficulty
found by a multitude in accepting as a guide in life, an ideal
which demands a clear, spiritual insight and a more than
common aloofness from the set ways of the world. In such
case men suffer because of a lack of the rare simplicity re
quired for the perfect understanding and realization of the
ideal life proposed to them. They are pulled by two loyalties
and are apt to cut an unheroic figure in consequence. And
yet were it not for such men the world would be much the
poorer morally and spiritually. They retail the spiritual life
much as the ordinary intelligent student retails the message
of a master, and it is through the more commonplace intelli
gence that the genius permeates the world. Only at times
the student is apt to misread his text either in the letter
or worse still in the spirit : yet for that reason one does
not universally condemn the purpose of the student nor in
dict his sincerity. So much must be said for the dissident
brethren, if we would rightly appreciate this trouble which
had now come into Francis life.
But the Chapter came to some definite decisions in spite
THE CHAPTEE OF MATS 229
of the trouble which overclouded it. The established pro
vinces were confirmed and others instituted ; l but chiefly it
was determined to send missions to the infidels. One band
of friars, including Brother Giles, 2 was set apart for Tunis ;
another, under the leadership of Brother Vitale, for Morocco ; 3
whilst and this perhaps was the surprise of the Chapter
Francis was to undertake a mission to the Mahometans in
Egypt.
1 Thus France was divided into three provinces the provinces of France
proper, of Provence, and of Aquitaine. John Bonelli " the cudgel of
Florence," was appointed Minister of Provence ; and Christopher of Ro-
mandiola, Minister of Aquitaine. Cf. Golubovich, Arch. Franc. Hist. an. i.
fasc. i. p. 4 ; vide supra, p. 207.
2 Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 78.
Ibid. Vide infra, p. 238. Vitale fell ill in Spain and so did not
reach Morocco ; so his companions went on without him under the leader
ship of Brother Berardo.
CHAPTEK III.
FRANCIS GOES TO THE EAST.
To anyone who did not know Francis, his decision to under
take a mission to the infidels at this critical juncture would
surely seem but another indication of his lack of common
prudence. In truth it was the highest wisdom.
He was not set to fashion the world s commoner ways
with needful compromise and regard for the weaker faith,
but to bear witness to a higher, more absolute truth which
in its purity might be beyond the practical politics of the
actual world and only intelligible to the few.
Francis power was in his fidelity to the truth as he saw
it and in his entire absorption in the vision which led him
on. Because it was a true vision of life, it would compel the
world s homage, even though the world could not fully
understand and accept it ; and in this homage the world
would be, in some measure at least, ruled by it. But if
Francis had turned from the following of his vision to argue
by the way, his argument would have been of little avail,
because the vision itself would have been lost sight of ; since
only in his faithful quest was the vision itself revealed.
Never was it more needful than now that he should be just
himself, the perfect knight of a spiritual chivalry. It is not
for a soldier in the act of battle to debate the merits of his
loyalty, when the cause to which his faith is pledged depends
upon his own good blows. Instinctively Francis felt that,
and it made him the more urgent to take part in this new
adventure for the love of Christ, which at his own suggestion
the Chapter had agreed to.
And this time Cardinal Ugolino did not prevent his leaving
Italy. Whether he attempted to do so at first and afterwards
230
FEANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 231
gave way to the pleading of Francis ; or whether he straight
way consented, we do not know. 1
Nor is it possible to say how far the -Cardinal was con
cerned in the appointment of the two Vicars-General who
were to govern the fraternity during Francis absence.
One of these, Brother Matthew of Narni, a man of noted
sanctity/ 2 was to reside at the Porziuncola and receive the
novices ; the other, Brother Gregory of Naples, was to travel
through the provinces " to console the brethren ". 3 In after
years this Gregory of Naples was to acquire an unenviable
reputation ; 4 and how he fulfilled the trust now committed
to him, we shall soon see.
1 M. Sabatier suggests that the Cardinal favoured Francis absence at
this time in order that he himself might have a freer hand in dealing with
the fraternity : but this is pure assumption based only upon M. Sabatier s
theory that the Cardinal was an out-and-out partisan of the dissident friars
(of. Vie de S. Francois, p. 265 seq.). But the facts of the case as history re
cords them, rather shows that Ugolino was honestly endeavouring to act
impartially as between Francis and the dissidents and to bridge over the
difficulties. As a man of affairs he frequently supported the dissidents in
what he deemed a more practical policy: at the same time he was truly
anxious for the observance of the rule and ideals of Francis, and was anxious
to safeguard them against an unspiritual laxity.
An instance may be found in the letter which Honorius III wrote to the
Friars (Minors and Preachers) who were sent to Morocco in 1225 a letter
probably dictated by Ugolino as Cardinal-Protector. The Friars had found
that they could not get alms of food in that country and had requested a
dispensation allowing the use of money. The dispensation was granted, but
only for so long as the necessity forced the Friars to use it : " quamdiu prce-
scripta vos arctat necessitas . . . dum tamen fraus non interveniat, sive dolus,
vel sinceritatem vestram cupiditas non seducat ". Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 26.
2 Cf . Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 242.
3 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. no. 11, p. 4.
4 He was appointed Provincial of France in 1221 or 1222. At the death of
Francis, Elias addressed a letter to him (vide infra, p. 261). In 1240, he was
deposed from the Provincialate and imprisoned on account of his cruelty to
the brethren (Eccleston [ed. Little], coll. vi, p. 36). M. Sabatier identifies
him with a Gregory of Naples who became Bishop of Bayeux in 1274 (cf. Spec.
Perfect, p. 333) but this is very doubtful (cf. P. Hilarin Felder, Histoire des
]ti4des, p. 181, n. 5). Concerning this Bishop of Bayeux, vide Gallia Chris
tiana, pp. 369-70 ; also titudes Franciscaincs, xxiv. p. 615 seq. and xxvi.
p. 411 seq. M. Sabatier has published in Spec. Perfect, append, vu.
p. 332, a letter of Gregory of Naples which purports to have been written
" anno Dni. 1219, 13 Kalendas Januar. in festo SS. Fabiani et Sebastian! ".
232 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
The two Vicars were both good preachers ; and Gregory
of Naples had been trained in the schools. 1
The government of the fraternity being thus arranged,
Francis set out for Ancona, to find a passage in one of the
boats which were to carry crusaders to the East about the
feast of St. John the Baptist on 24 June. 2 He was accom
panied by Brother Peter Cathanii, the learned doctor of laws,
who in the past had acted as Francis Vicar at the Porziun-
cola; by Brothers Illuminate 3 and Leonard, both men of
noble birth ; by Brother Barbaro, perhaps the Barbaro who
had joined him in the earliest days of the fraternity, and others.
They were thirteen in all ; and it is said that the number
might have been greater, so eager were many of the brethren
to share in this adventure. 4
Leaving Ancona, the band of missionaries came first to
Cyprus where Brother Barbaro lost his temper in a sharp
dispute with another brother, but immediately humbled him
self, much to the edification of a nobleman of the island. 5
About the middle of July they reached Acre, the stronghold
of the Crusaders on the Syrian coast. 6
The letter declares the conditions upon which the Friars Minor receive a
house at Auxerre. The date of the letter, however, cannot be authentic.
Henry de Vill-neuve mentioned in the letter was consecrated Bishop of
Auxerre only on 20 September, 1220 (cf. Eubel, Hierach. Cath. p. 121) ; besides
which, the feast of SS. Fabian and Sebastian is on the 13 Kalends of February.
Possibly the date of the letter should be MCCXXIIII instead of MCCXVIIII
as M. Sabatier gives it. Gregory of Naples was minister of France when
Haymo of Faversham entered the Order, sometime between 22 May, 1222,
and Easter, 1224 (cf. Eccleston [ed. Little], pp. 34-35).
1 Two of his sermons are preserved in the Bibliot. Nationale of Paris.
Cf. Little s Eccleston, p. 36, n. a.
2 Cf. Acta SS. Octob. n. p. 611 ; P. Sabatier, Vie die S. Francois, p. 258.
3 Illuminate had been lord of Kocca Accarina in the Valley of Eieti. Cf .
M. Achille Sansi, Documenti storici, p. 269, quoted by P. Sabatier, Spec.
Perfect, p. 306, n. 3.
4 Bartholomew of Pisa (cf . Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 481) relates
that Francis being unwilling to show favouritism in the choice of his com
panions, called a little child and bade him point out the friars who were to
accompany him.
5 II Celano, 155 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 88.
6 Golubovich, Bibliotheca-Bio-Bibliografica, p. 93. According to Mariano of
Florence, St. Francis touched also at Crete. Cf. ibid. p. 77. Golubovich
FEANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 233
Thence after a few days Francis sailed on to Egypt to
join the Christian army besieging Damietta; from which
point he meant to penetrate into the land of the infidel. This
was Francis first experience of those military expeditions
which had aroused his enthusiasm in his youth and which
still symbolized to him the hardihood and adventure of his
vocation. The glory of chivalry mingled in his mind with this
actual warfare for the Faith which was gathering the knight
hood of Christendom beneath the walls of Damietta : it lay
like a sunlit mist over the spread-out army of the Cross,
giving it a mystic beauty.
But very quickly Francis learned that here too, in the
camp over which one of the most sacred emotions of the
Christian people yearned expectantly, the purest ideal rubbed
shoulders with the most sordid. Heroes there were, fearless
and sincere in their religious devotion, who would die for the
Cross with the martyr s piety : but for the most part the
Cross was a mere war-cry, and the vision which beckoned
the crusader onward was but a purely secular love of adven
ture, or worse still, lust of plunder and the vicious liberty of
the camp. To Francis the shameless vice in the Christian
army was sacrilegious defilement of a sacred cause, and he
did not wonder at the disasters which marked the progress of
this drawn-out siege. 1 So far the fortune of war was balanc
ing between the two armies, though there had been much
bloodshed. But towards the end of August the crusaders
prepared for a grand assault upon the city. Francis, with
prophetic insight, knew that the assault was doomed to
failure and was much troubled and could not decide whether
to warn the leaders of the army or keep silence. The crus
aders were confident of victory. " If I tell them disaster
asserts (p. 93) that St. Francis left all his companions at Acre, excepting
Brother Illuminato, with whom alone he went on to Egypt. I know not on
what authority he makes this statement, which seems in contradiction with
II Celano, 30.
ir The siege of Damietta was begun about 24 August of the preceding year
by Leopold, Duke of Austria. The Papal Legate, Cardinal Pelagio, arrived in
the besieging lines in September, bringing with him an Italian army. Cf.
Golubovich, op. cit. p. 89.
234 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
will happen to them," said Francis to one of his companions,
they will think me a fool ; yet if I remain silent I shall not
escape the judgment of my conscience. Tell me, therefore,
what think you I should do ? " The brother replied : " Less
than nothing is it for thee to be judged by men ; for it is not
now that they will begin to call thee a fool ".
So Francis went and gave his warning. The army, how
ever, laughed and went gaily forward to the attack. Francis
in an agony of soul dared not watch the battle, but twice he
sent his companion to see how things were happening.
Each time the brother returned, saying he could see nothing.
A third time Francis sent him out, and then he came back to
relate that the Christian army was falling back in disarray.
That day the crusaders lost six thousand slain and captive.
Francis grieved much over the dead, especially over the
fallen knights of Spain who had maintained the attack with
utmost gallantry so that few of them returned. 1 Negotiations
were now opened between the leaders of the crusade and the
Sultan of Egypt. On both sides it was merely a stratagem
to mark time : the crusaders were daily expecting reinforce
ments from across the sea : the Sultan hoped diplomatically
to work upon the fears of the Christians and force them to
retire altogether. These negotiations lasted until the end of
September ; when the Sultan, disillusioned as to the intentions
of the Christian army, again began hostilities. 2
Meanwhile Francis had again set common prudence at
nought and had gone over to the Sultan s camp.
After the disastrous repulse of the crusaders, he had
sought out the Papal legate who was with the army, and
requested leave to cross over to the Moslem lines and preach
to the Sultan. The legate heard him incredulously. Was it
not known that the Sultan had offered a golden ducat for the
head of any Christian sent to him ? He would not take upon
himself any responsibility in the matter. It might be an
1 II Celano, 30 ; Leg. Maj. xi. 3. See the accounts of the battle given by
Jacques de Vitry and others, in Golubovich, op. cit. p. 7 seq. The battle was
fought on 29 August.
2 Golubovich, op. cit. p. 94.
FKANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 235
inspiration from God or a temptation from the devil. There
fore he would neither encourage nor dissuade. Let Francis
take his soul into his own hands ; only let him behave himself
so as not to bring shame on the Christian name. 1 That was
sufficient for Francis. Eager to save the souls of the Sultan
and the Moslem people or to die in the attempt for the honour
of his Saviour, he at once set out, taking with him Brother
Illuminate. At the start they came across two lambs on the
road. The face of Francis brightened : he turned to Illuminate
and exclaimed : "Put thy trust in the Lord, brother ; for in
us that saying is fulfilled : Behold I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves ". Perhaps Illuminate needed the
consolation. Outside the Christian lines they were seized by
Moslem soldiers, and, unable as they were to make themselves
understood in the Moslem speech, they were roughly handled.
Eventually as Francis persistently cried out : " Soldan,
Soldan ! " the soldiers took him to the Sultan s camp, and
here Francis could converse with the officials in the lingua
franca. He told them his purpose : he wished to preach the
Gospel of Christ to the Sultan. Among the common soldiery
in the Moslem lines this declaration might have been followed
by a speedy death ; but in the courtly circle of the Sultan s
own camp, it was received with good-humoured tolerance.
The courtier-Moslem was much of a rationalist and was not
averse from debating the relative merits of the Gospel and
the Koran as an intellectual pastime. He was, moreover,
a curious mixture of ferocity and chivalry, even as were
his Christian enemy. So Francis was brought into the
presence of Melek-el-Kamil and expounded the Gospel of
Christ.
Not unlikely the Sultan had consented to the audience as
an interlude in the serious affairs of the day. But as he
listened, he knew that here was more than a profession
of belief, fanatical or conventional. Before the audience was
over he felt himself drawn to this preacher ; and in dismiss-
1 Cf. Leg. Maj. ix. 8 ; Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 481 ; Bernard!
Thesaurarii, Liber de Acquisitione Terra Sanctcp, in Golubovich, op. cit. p. 13
seq.
236 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
ing him for the day, ordered that he should be courteously
provided for in the camp. It seems that there were several
audiences ; l and that the Sultan was so far won over to him
that he asked him to remain at his court and dwell there.
" Willingly," replied Francis, " if you and your people will be
converted to Christ." And seeing that the Sultan was yet
unconverted, Francis proposed a final test. " If you hesitate
as to the merits of the law of Mahomet and the faith of
Christ, command that a great fire be lighted, and I together
with your priests, will enter into the fire that you may know
which is the more worthy and true." To which Melek-el-
Kamil replied that no priest of his would accept the chal
lenge. " Then if you will promise for yourself and your
people, to come to the worship of Christ if I come out of the
fire unhurt, I will enter the fire alone," retorted Francis;
" only," he added, " if I am burnt up, impute it to my sins, and
if the Divine power protects me, acknowledge Christ to be
true God and the Saviour of all."
The Sultan answered that he dared not accept the test for
fear of a tumult amongst his people : yet he begged Francis
not to cease from praying for him that he might come to
know the true Faith. Then he wished to give Francis some
token of his good-will. Would he not accept some precious
gift if not for himself at least for the poor whom he might
relieve in their needs ? And so it seemed that the only result
which was likely to come of further preaching would be a re
iterated offer of gifts. Francis had not come hither for that.
Sorrowfully, therefore, he at length asked permission to
return to the Christian camp, and at Melek-el-Kamil s orders,
he was conducted back with courtesy. 2
1 Of. Jacques de Vitry, Epist. de captione Damiatae, in Golubovich, op. cit.
p. 8: " Cum multis diebus Saracenis verbutn Domini pradicasset ;" Historic/.
Occidentalis (Douai), p. 353 ; Golubovich, op. cit. pp. 9-10.
2 1 Celano, 57 ; Leg. Maj. ix. 8. Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. no. 10.
p. 4. Cf. Golubovich, op. cit. ut supra, p. 235, note 1. In Verba fr. Illu-
minati (Golubovich, op. cit. p. 36) there is a description of Francis first
audience with the Sultan which is quite consistent with Eastern manners.
The Sultan, so the story runs, ordered a carpet to be spread which was
covered with crosses. " If he treads on the crosses," said the Sultan, " I will
FKANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 237
Doubtless when he again appeared in the Christian lines,
many smiled at his simplicity ; yet there were some who felt
that the simple faith in which the enterprise had been under
taken was of more enduring value than any actual achieve
ment. Perhaps these already suspected that for lack of this
same faith the crusade was doomed to ignoble failure, even
though Damietta might be taken.
Damietta did indeed fall before the winter was passed,
thanks to the large reinforcements sent by the Pope ; and on
the feast of the Purification, 1220, the crusaders entered the
city in solemn triumph. And then the discipline of the army
broke down completely, and the greater part succumbed to
the seductive pleasures of the Egyptian spring ; and the last
decencies were openly disregarded. 1
Francis remained with the army till the city was captured,
striving to stem the flood of vice. At last in sheer despair
of doing any good there, he turned his back on the crusade,
and taking advantage of the spring sailings, crossed the
sea to Acre. 2 And with him went a number of clerics from
the suite of the crusading prelates, who renounced high pre
ferments in the Church to enter the fraternity. 3
accuse him of insulting his God ; if he refuses to walk on it, I will accuse him
of insulting me." Francis unhesitatingly walked across the carpet ; and
when taunted by the Sultan that he had trodden on the cross which he pro
fessed to adore, he replied : " You should know our Lord died between two
thieves. We Christians have the true cross ; the crosses of the thieves we
have left to you, and these I am not ashamed to tread upon." The reply is
quite in keeping with Francis character. The Verba fr. Illuminati, are given
by P. Golubovich from the Vatican MS. Ottob. lat. n. 522 of the XIV century,
a collection of stories by a Minorite preacher. P. Golubovich remarks that
the original source of these stories may yet be found. There is, however, no
indication of them in existing authentic documents. See also the stories re
lated in Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 483. Cf. ed. 1513, fol. 223 a.
In the sacristy of the Convento Sagro, Assisi, there is preserved a horn
which is said to have been given by the Sultan to Francis and which the saint
afterwards used to call people together when he was about to preach.
1 " Scordandosi i disagi ed i perigli delta guerra, si diedcro in brdccio alia
mollezza, alia volutta, ed ai placer i tutti cJie loro poteano ispirare la vicinanza
della primavera, il clima ed il bel cielo di Damiata," Michaud, Storia, lib. xn.
in Golubovich, op. cit. p. 96.
2 L estoire de Eracles in Golubovich, p. 14.
3 Gf. Jacques de Vitry, loc. cit. p. 8.
238 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
At Acre, Francis was welcomed by Brother Elias, the
Minister-Provincial of Syria, and with Elias was a novice,
Brother Caesar of Speyer, who had been a famous preacher of
the Crusades and had to flee from his native Germany to
escape the anger of the relatives of the men whom he had in
duced to take the cross. This Caesar was, moreover, a learned
theologian and withal a man of simple, sturdy piety, ready to
lay down his life for a sacred cause. 1 He had gone with the
Christian army to Syria and there had been received as a
friar by Elias.
From Acre, Francis set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy
Places of Palestine, his heart uplifted with a loving rever
ence for the earth which had been trodden by the feet of his
Divine Master. Some say that in the camp of the Sultan
Kamil, he had met Kamil s brother Conradin, the Sultan
of Damascus, who had given him a free pass to visit the
shrines of the Holy Land, which freed him from paying the
customary dues which the Moslem exacted from Christian
pilgrims. 2 He also made a preaching tour of the Christian
colonies in Syria, and gained many adherents to the frater
nity, amongst whom was the prior of the Cathedral at Acre.
It is said that near Antioch a community of Benedictine
monks, won by his preaching, made a vow of absolute
poverty and became Friars Minor. 3 But of these pilgrim
journeys but little certain record is left us, and thus a chapter
in the story of Francis over which one would willingly linger,
comes to an abrupt conclusion.
Meanwhile, however, the missionary enterprise initiated
at the Chapter of 1219, had already been consecrated with
the martyr s blood. Five of the brethren sent to Morocco
had been done to death in those parts, whilst Francis was
still with the crusading army before Damietta. They were
Brothers Berardo, Otho, Pietro, Accurso, and Adjuto. Setting
1 Eventually he died a martyr s death for his zeal for the Franciscan
Rule, as some assert at the connivance of Brother Elias himself. Of. Angelo
Clareno, Hist. VII Tribulat. in Golubovich, pp. 118-19.
2 Angelo Clareno, in Golubovich, p. 56; Conforinit. in Anal. Franc, iv.
p. 482.
3 Conformit., ibid. p. 483.
FEANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 239
out on their enterprise shortly after Francis had started on
his, they had first gone to Seville in Spain, where the Moslem
still ruled ; and for an attempt to preach there, had been
scourged and imprisoned and finally expelled that kingdom.
Thence they had passed over to Morocco. With a zeal
which might well seem intemperate to men of less impulsive
ardour, they not only preached in the streets but had even
entered the mosques and denounced Mahomet there. Im
prisoned and scourged though they were, their fervour was
not to be restrained : in prison they attempted to convert
their jailers. The Moslem, unwilling to proceed to extrem
ities according to law, acceded to the request of the Infante
Pedro of Portugal, who was then resident at the Sultan s
Court, that these impetuous friars should be sent out of the
country. Don Pedro thought thus to save their lives and
probably also to prevent an outburst on the part of the
populace against the Christians in the country.
But the five friars knew nothing of diplomacy and had
not the temper to live and let live. Mahomet was in their
eyes the enemy of Christ, and the souls of this people were
rightful spoils for their Divine Kedeemer. To go back upon
their mission would be but a traitorous backsliding from their
fealty to their Saviour. At the first opportunity they
eluded their guard and returned to the city; then appeared
again before the mosque, appealing to the people to renounce
Mahomet.
Again they were seized and cast into jail and put to the
torture. Whilst upon the rack, they were offered life and
gifts if they would deny Christ and acknowledge Mahomet ;
but their only reply was to utter the praises of Christ and
invite their torturers to worship Him. At length, finding all
persuasions useless, the judges put the law into execution.
The five friars were beheaded and their bodies cast outside
the walls to be the food of dogs. And so they died for the
Christ they loved, not wisely perhaps if we judge them by
the ethics of a more wary world, but gloriously in the sim
plicity of their faith. Thus indeed Don Pedro, the Portuguese
Infante, adjudged their martyrdom. Stealthily he had their
240 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSI8I
bodies rescued and taken to Portugal, where with great re
verence they were laid in the Church of the Canons Eegular
at Coimbra. 1
Now amongst those who flocked to pray beside the mar
tyrs relics was a young Canon Eegular, who listening to the
story of their martyrdom, burned to emulate their example.
Not many days later he went to the Friars Minor who dwelt
outside the city and begged them to give him the habit of
their Order and send him to preach to the Moors : and
gladly the friars welcomed him. That was how Anthony of
Padua as he came to be styled joined the fraternity. The
martyrs had not died in vain if only Anthony s coming were
the result ; as we shall yet see.
When Francis heard the news of the martyrdom he cried
out in a transport of gratitude to heaven : " Now I can truly
say I have five brothers ". And in the days which were upon
him the triumph of their simple faith was as balm to his
spirit. He needed some such consolation ; for the great
sorrow of his life was now fast closing upon him.
He had returned to Acre, not it would seem without some
foreboding of trouble. There he was met by a Brother
Stephen, a lay brother, who had come from Italy, bringing a
message from many of the brethren there, which begged
Francis, if he were still alive, to come back at once and save
his Order. The brother related how the two Vicars-General
were imposing obligations upon the brethren at variance with
the Eule Francis had given them, and how the brethren who
refused to be bound of these new obligations were badly
treated by the Vicars and even driven out of the Order.
Brother Stephen himself had had to flee secretly without the
knowledge of the Vicars. And he brought with him, in con
firmation of his story, a copy of the new Constitutions which
the Vicars had made at a Chapter they had held.
Francis was at table when the Constitutions were brought
to him, and amongst the foods before him was flesh meat.
In the Constitutions he read that the brethren were not
1 Of. Passio Sanct. martyrum frat. Beialdi, etc. in Anal. Franc, in. pp.
579-96 ; ibid. pp. 15-21 ; Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. pp. 322-3.
FKANCIS GOES TO THE EAST 241
to quest for flesh meat not even on days which were not
fasting-days : moreover they were to fast on Mondays as well
as on the days prescribed in the Rule. Whereupon Francis
turned to Peter Cathanii, who was with him. " Messer
Peter, what shall we do ? " he asked. " Ah, Messer Francis,"
replied Peter, " do as you think well, for authority is yours."
" Then we will eat what is set before us according to the
Gospel," said Francis. 1
When the next boats sailed at the end of the summer,
Francis returned to Italy. 2 He took with him Brothers Peter
Cathanii, Elias and Caesar of Speyer for he felt he had need of
these men with their knowledge of affairs : and they were
men in whom he had a great trust.
J Cf. Chron. Jordani in Anal. Franc, i. no. 11, 12, p. 4. Angelus
Claren. Hist. VII Tribulat. in Golubovich, op. cit. p. 56 ; Exposit. super
Regulam, ibid. p. 57. Of. Golubovich, pp. 126-8.
2 The exact time of Francis return to Italy is a matter of controversy.
Golubovich (op. cit. p. 97) argues for March- April, 1221; Sabatier (Vie de S.
Francois, p. 278), in the summer of 1220; Herman Fischer (Der heilige
Franziskus von Assisi wtihrend der Jahre 1219-21, p. 20 seq.), in the early
part of 1220.
The facts we have to guide us in fixing the date are these : Francis was
at Damietta in February, 1220; and afterwards visited Syria and went about
there. Celano evidently implies that Francis spent some time in Syria,
journeying through the country : " deinde Syriam deambulans " (I Celano, xx.
in capite). But Elias, who accompanied Francis back to Italy, was succeeded in
the Provincialate of Syria by Luca di Puglia before 9 December, 1220. Of.
Sbaralea, Bull. Franc, i. p. 6. Again it is noteworthy that the letter ad
dressed by Honorius III to the Superiors of the Order on 22 September, 1220
(Sbaralea, op. cit. i. p. 6) is not addressed to Francis by name, as is usual
in similar letters, but simply : Dilectis filiis prioribus sen custodibus Minorum.
This, however, is hardly a conclusive argument. But we know that Peter
Cathanii died at the Porziuncula on 10 March, 1221. Golubovich assumes
that Peter must have returned to Italy before Francis ; but Giordano da Giano,
who relates these events in detail, says Francis took Peter, Elias, and Caesar
with him on his return (Anal. Franc, i. no. 14, p. 5). The probability, there
fore, is that Francis returned in the September sailings of 1220.
16
CHAPTEE IV.
THE REVOLT OF THE VICARS.
WE must now go back upon the past eighteen months and
review the course of events which had happened amongst
the brethren in Italy.
Two incidents which followed almost immediately after
the General Chapter of 1219 throw a clear, if reflected, light
upon the controversy which had then arisen. On 11 June
the Holy See issued commendatory letters to the brethren,
designed to obtain for them the protection of the bishops in
the various provinces into which they might be sent ; l on
27 July, Cardinal Ugolino published his Constitutions 2 for
the Poor Ladies, or as he styled them, the Poor Nuns of the
Order of San Damiano. 3
The acceptance by the brethren of the commendatory
letter of Honorius III, was in distinct opposition to the will
of Francis : it was one of those changes in the conduct of
the fraternity to which he could never be brought to give his
assent. At the end of his days he wrote in his Testament :
" I firmly command by obedience all the brethren wherever
1 Bull " Cum dilecti" in Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 2 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen.,
Anal. Franc, in. p. 14.
2 Ugolino s Constitutions were dated " Perusii apud monasterium 8.
Petri, VI Kal. Aug. a 1219. Cf. Bull " Sacrosancta Romana Ecclesia" of
9 Dec., 1219 Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 3. The full text of the Constitutions is
found in the Bulls " Cum omnis " of 24 May, 1239 (Sbaralea, ibid. pp.
263-7) and " Solet annuere " of 13 November, 1245 (ibid. pp. 394-9 :
and with some modifications in the bull " Cum omnis " of 5 August, 1247
(ibid. pp. 476-83.) Cf. The Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare, Intro
duction, ii, pp. 11-31.
3 " Moniales pauperes," " Pauperes inclustz DamianiUe," " Moniales
ordinis S. Damiani " were the varying styles used in the Papal bulls.
(Sbaralea, Bull. i. pp. 36, 37, 62, 207, etc.).
242
THE KEVOLT OF THE VICAES 243
they are that they dare not to seek any letter from the
Koman Court, either by themselves or by any intermediary
person, nor for a church nor for any other place, nor on pre
text of teaching, nor on account of bodily persecution ; but
wherever they are not received, let them flee into another
land to live in penance with the blessing of God ". l After
the failure of the missions in Germany in 1217, the question of
asking the Pope to grant the brethren letters of protection
had been mooted. Francis reply was invariably a passionate
refusal. " You Friars Minor you know not the will of God
and will not allow me to convert the whole world as God
wills," he retorted on one occasion; " for I wish by holy
humility and reverence first to convert the prelates; and
these when they see our holy life and our humble reverence
towards them, will themselves ask you to preach and convert
the people ; and they will call the people to hear your preach
ing better than your privileges which will only lead you to
pride. . . . For myself I wish only this privilege from the
Lord that I may never have any privilege from man, save only
the privilege to do reverence to all and to convert mankind
through obedience to our holy Rule, more by example than by
word." 2
If you ask why Francis stood so steadfastly against a mere
precaution of apparently common prudence, the only answer
is that Christ his Master had claimed no right or privilege for
His disciples in this world, but had sent them forth shielded
only with the Divine protection ; 3 and Francis loyalty bade
him take the Gospel as literally as might be.
That first letter of Honorius III was the beginning of the
policy of protection with which the Holy See ever after
fostered the Franciscan movement. In May of the following
year the Pope sent a further letter, couched in stronger terms,
to the bishops of France, who were still hesitating as to the
1 Test. S. Franc, in Seraph. Legisl. Text. p. 268 ; Opuscula, p. 80.
2 Spec. Perfect, cap. 50 ; Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. 471. Cf . Ubertino
da Casale, in Erhle : Archiv. in. p. 53.
3 Cf. Matt. x. 14, 23; Mark vi. 11; Luke ix. 5. It must be remem
bered that Francis took these and similar passages as a direct personal com
mission for himself and his brethren.
16*
244 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
orthodoxy of the new Order. 1 Moreover it became the custom
for some of the cardinals to give letters of their own, for the
better reception of the brethren on their missionary journeys. 2
Undoubtedly this policy was favoured by Cardinal Ugolino.
As he regarded the matter, the brethren might indeed gain
much merit for their own souls and perhaps edify the people,
by patience and meekness under trials. On the other hand,
many of them would fail under too great a trial ; and too,
through lack of this initial prudence, the Church in many
parts would be deprived of the good example and preaching
of the brethren. Francis faith was heroic : but not all men
can be asked to practise heroic virtue. The wind must be
tempered to the shorn lamb. Moreover the Cardinal was a
legalist, trained in the law ; and he thought it only right that
the brethren should show their credentials from the authority
which sent them forth to preach. The fraternity needed
this legal sanction and direction if it were to be of use to the
Church. Without such legal sanction they were in danger
of becoming mere vagrants in the world : a dangerous thing
for most men. This same thought made the Cardinal en
courage a more definite organization than yet existed in the
fraternity. He favoured the brethren living in larger houses
where regular life of a more conventual character could be
observed. Until now the dwelling-places of the brethren had
been of the humblest sort ; either hermitages partly fashioned
out of rocky caves, as one finds to-day at Greccio, Monte
Casale, the Celle near Cortona, and the Carceri near Assisi ;
or they were wattle huts or a poor man s cottage. Always
they were designed for only a few friars ; for Francis taught
that his Lady Poverty could be rightly served only where the
friars were few in number. 8 A conventual life, strictly so
called, did not exist. The friar, though under obedience
to a superior, was very much of a wanderer, alternating his
missionary journeys with periods of retreat. " The itinerant
minstrel of the Lord," was no bad description of him. But
1 Bull " Pro dilectis filiis" Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 5. Of. Anal. Franc, in.
p. 14, n. 9.
2 3Soc. 66. 3 II Celano, 70.
THE EEVOLT OF THE VICARS 245
now those directing the fraternity favoured a greater stability
of community life. 1 The first step in this more rigid organi
zation was a decree obtained from Honorious III, ordaining
that in future no friar should be received to profession till
after a year s probation ; that once professed, no friar should
be allowed to pass over to another Order ; and that no friar
might wander about without letters of obedience from his
minister. 2
The decree was certainly reasonable enough. Even such
an enthusiastic admirer of the brethren as Jacques de Vitry
foresaw danger in the lack of systematic training of the
novices now that the friars were so numerous. 3 Unhappily
the vicars did not confine themselves to such reasonable and
necessary organization.
As we have seen, they enacted constitutions the tendency
of which was to introduce that monastic observance against
which Francis had protested at the Chapter as contrary to
the simplicity of the friar s vocation. The mere addition of
an extra fasting day and the restriction in the use of flesh
meat, might not be much in themselves ; but it is evident
that they were but part of an attempt to change the proper
character of the fraternity and supplant Francis ideal of
a literal gospel observance by a more rigid legalist asceticism
founded on the customs of more ancient Orders. Not un
likely they had in view the Ugoline Constitutions for the
Poor Ladies, and were influenced by them. These Constitu
tions are in fact a document of the first value in tracing the
development of the entire Franciscan family at this period.
Briefly speaking, the Ugoline Constitutions reveal the
J Of. P. Hilarin Pelder, Histoire des Etudes, p. 119 : " Toutefois, c etait
Id encore Id periode de transition de la vie nomade d la stabilite".
2 Bull " Cum secundum consilium," of 22 September, 1220. Sbaralea,
Bull i. p. 6.
3 Epistola " de captione Damiatce," edited by Rohricht in Zeitschrift fiir
Kirchcngeschichte, 16, p. 72 : " Hec autem religio valdepericulosa nobis videtur,
quod non solum perfecti, sed etiam juvenes ct imperfecti qui sub conventuali
disciplina aliquo tempore arctari et probari debuissent, per universum mundum
bini et bini dividuntur ". This passage, however, is wanting in the text
edited by Bongars: Gesta Dei per Francos, torn. i. pp. 1146-9 (cf. Golubovich,
op. cit. p. 7).
246 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
legalist reformer endeavouring to capture the new religious
enthusiasm evoked by Francis and to fasten it within the
closest bonds of traditional asceticism. Upon the wings of
that new fervour, perhaps, the writer of the Constitutions felt
any burden might be borne. His ideal evidently was a
monastic observance which would rival in its hardship and
straitness the strictest of the ancient Eules.
These Constitutions presupposed the profession of the
Benedictine Rule, but further prescribed perpetual abstinence,
continual silence, and the law of enclosure. They were
altogether lacking in that " sweet reasonableness" which
breathes in the legislation of the great monastic founders ;
and certainly missed the liberty of spirit which animates the
Eule of St. Benedict. They exhibit all the rigidity and harsh
externalism of a rule meant to correct and guard against
abuses, with none of the inspiring idealism which is the very
life of a religious order. And from the point of view of the
Franciscan fraternity, they were a reversal of the very
essential law of the Franciscan life, in that they allowed
the Poor Ladies to hold property.
Ugolino had been influenced in drawing up these Constitu
tions by the Cistercian customs ; 1 it is not unlikely that they
were in reality the work of a Cistercian monk, to which the
Cardinal gave his authority and sanction. Perhaps had he
given the drafting of them to one of the brethren, the Ugo-
line Constitutions would have been less foreign in spirit to
the heart of Clare and the Sisters at San Damiano. As it
was, to them the Constitutions was in truth "the great
sorrow ". 2
It is doubtful whether the Cardinal regarded the Poor
Ladies, at least those outside San Damiano, as allied to
the fraternity. They had no formal sanction from the
Holy See, and most of the convents had been founded by
1 He acknowledges this in the bull, " Licet velul ignis," of 9 February,
1237 (cf. Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 209). The first visitor of the Poor Ladies
appointed by him was the Cistercian monk Ambrogio (cf. Sbaralea, Bull. I.
p. 46 ; Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1219.)
2 Cozza-Luzzi, S. Chiara di Assisi, p. 34.
THE EEVOLT OF THE VICAEB 247
himself in virtue of his Legatine powers. San Damiano
might be in a somewhat different position : but even Clare
had received no formal Rule. She had vowed to live in
poverty as the brethren did ; beyond that she observed the
Rule of the brethren as far as women might observe it.
Her vow of poverty had been confirmed and protected by
special privilege by Innocent III ; l but the Cardinal held
that this privilege was personal to herself and the sisters at
San Damiano, and was not to be taken as an obligation
binding upon other Poor Ladies. 2
At San Damiano therefore the sisters might, as a matter
of privilege, observe absolute poverty ; but elsewhere they
must hold property sufficient for their maintenance ; and the
Cardinal himself saw to it that each convent had its due
possessions. Already in 1218 Ugolino had obtained per
mission from the Holy See to found convents and endow
them : 3 these convents were to be the nucleus of his scheme
of reform, and he looked to San Damiano to supply the
needed fervour in the persons of the abbesses whom it
would send to these new houses and to existing communities
which were to adopt the Ugoline reform : for many of the
early convents which looked to San Damiano as in some sort
their mother house, were reformed communities of the Bene
dictine and other Orders. 4
The convents of the Poor Ladies, therefore, outside San
Damiano, were not purely Franciscan in their origin ; and
perhaps it was for that reason that Francis never claimed
jurisdiction over them in the same way as he did over San
Damiano : 5 but Clare herself was staunch in urging that
1 Vide supra, p. 144.
2 Of. Letter " Angelis Gaudium" which Ugolino as Gregory IX sent to
Blessed Agnes of Prague, 11 May, 1238, Sbaralea, Bull. i. 242.
a Of. Bull " LittercB tua " of 7 August, 1218, Sbaralea, ibid. p. 1.
4 e.g. San Severino in the Marches of Ancona ; Spello and Monticelli near
Florence.
5 Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1219) states that Francis before going to the
East had given over the direction of all convents of Poor Ladies, except San
Damiano, to Cardinal Ugolino ; but there is no evidence that he ever regarded
such convents, e.g. San Severino, as quite in the same relationship to him as
San Damiano. It is certain that in some instances he appointed brethren to
248 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
they should all be allowed to observe absolute poverty, and
be made akin to the fraternity if they so willed. 1 Probably
"the great sorrow" with which Clare received the Ugoline
Constitutions was not merely for the sisters who were directly
affected by them, but for the whole fraternity ; her keen
intuition would tell her how the new ordinances would in
fluence the brethren too. Indeed there can be little doubt
that the Vicars were so influenced when they drew up the
Constitutions which spread consternation amongst the true
followers of Francis.
The disloyalty of the Vicars to the mind of Francis went
near to breaking up the fraternity. Their Constitutions at once
called forth an active opposition on the part of those who
were imbued with the primitive spirit ; and this opposition
the Vicars, and the Ministers who sided with them, met with
violent repression. "Not only were they [the opposition]
afflicted with unjust penances, but as men of evil mind they
were cast out from the community of the brethren . . . Many
fleeing from fury, wandered about here and there, bewailing
the absence of their pastor and guide." 2 Moreover, having
broken the bond of loyalty which hitherto had kept the fra
ternity in subjection, the Ministers found themselves unable
to hold the wayward spirits in restraint. Some openly threw
off their obedience and went their own way.
Thus one brother, John de Compello, put himself at the
head of a band of wandering zealots of the fanatical sort
common at the time : they were all lepers, and of both sexes. 3
act as spiritual directors of the Poor Ladies elsewhere e.g. he appointed
Brother Roger to be the director of the Blessed Philippa at Todi (Wadding,
Annales, ad an. 1236), but the close relationship of San Damiano with the
fraternity seems to have been exceptional.
1 Vide e.g. St. Clare s letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Ada SS. Mart.
vol. i. pp. 505-7, transl. by Mrs. Balfour, The Life and Legend of the Lady St.
Clare, pp. 138-54.
2 Angelo Clareno, Hist. VII Tribulat. Golubovich, p. 56. Cf. Chron.
Jordanian Anal. Franc, i. n. 13, p. 4. : " Eodem tempore juit ultra, mare pytho-
nissct qudedam . . . Redite redite quia per absentiam fratris Francisci ordo tur-
batur et scinditur et dissipatur. Et hoc verum fuit."
3 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. n. 13, p. 4. Lempp s contention (Frere
Elie, p 42) that this movement was an attempt to organize the lay penitents
THE EEVOLT OF>THE VICAES 249
Another made himself a pilgrim s habit and went wandering
about exhibiting himself as a fool for humility s sake. 1 At
first on his return Francis hardly realized the mischief that
had been done. He lingered a few days at Venice, whither
the boat had brought him. He was suffering in body as well
as in mind, for his journeys in the East had sorely tried his
delicate health. One little comfort he had here. Walking in
the marshes through the thickets, he came upon a multitude
of birds singing gaily. Whereupon he said to the brother
who was with him : " our sisters the birds are praising their
Creator ; let us go into the midst of them and chant our hours 2
to the Lord " and at their coming the birds were not dis
turbed or frightened. But finding the voices of the birds
distracting, Francis after a time bade them be silent until he
had fulfilled his debt to the Lord. Then when the office was
said, Francis gave them a sign, and they again began to sing. 3
On the homeward journey Francis found the fatigue too
much for his weakness and had perforce to ride on an ass.
Brother Leonard, who trudged along on foot over the hot
ground, envied him this comfort, and became mentally un
reasonable and ill-tempered. " In the world," said he to
himself, " my people would not walk beside the Bernardone,
and here am I compelled to trudge behind his son whilst he
rides". Leonard was of a noble family in Assisi. To his
astonishment hardly was the complaint shaped in his mind
when Francis dismounted and turned to him, saying : " Take
my place, brother ; truly it is not becoming that I should ride
whilst thou, who art of noble stock, should have to walk on
foot ". But Leonard, in utter confusion and penitence, cast
of the Franciscan movement, can hardly be seriously considered. John do
Compello has been identified with John de Capella, one of the first twelve
companions (cf. Anal. Franc, in. p. 4 ; Sabatier, Vie, p. 270) but this is very
doubtful. The only apparent connexion between the two names is the state
ment of Earth, of Pisa, that John de Capella died a leper. (Conformity in
Anal. Franc, iv. p. 178). Cf. Manuscrit de Leignitz in Opuscules de Criti
que, fasc. n. p. 49.
1 II Celano, 32-33. He eventually returned to the order,
2 " Hor& canon,iccc" i.e. the office of the Breviary.
3 Leg. Maj. vin. 9 ; Wadding, Annales, ad. an. 1220.
250 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
himself at Francis feet. 1 So with their primitive simplicity
for their comforter, they went on until they came to
Bologna ; and here Francis had his first actual experience of
the changes which had taken place.
On approaching the city he was informed that the
brethren had built a large convent there ; and hearing the
description of it, Francis was smote to the heart. It ap
peared to him a sign manual of the betrayal of the vocation
of the fraternity. Peter Stacia, 2 the provincial of Lom-
bardy, 3 was himself a doctor of law of the University of
Bologna, and he had built the convent as a study-house for
the brethren. Compared with the buildings hitherto used by
the fraternity, the convent was spacious ; 4 but the worst
feature in the eyes of Francis was that the Provincial in
some way claimed it as the property of the Order, or at least
allowed it to appear that he did so. Thus he had openly
violated the Rule on two essential points : he had departed
from the absolute poverty in which the fraternity was
founded, and he had set at nought that evangelical simplicity
which was the other self of poverty. It would seem too that
Peter Stacia had acted in deliberate disregard of the inten
tions of Francis, drawn on by the desire to emulate the
Dominicans who had opened a school at Bologna in 1219,
the year that Francis had gone to the East. 5 Francis knew
Bologna and the temper of its schools. When he had sent
Bernard da Quintavalle there some years previously it had
been to bear witness in its midst to the simplicity of the
Gospel-mind against the intellectual hardness and conceit
bred in its schools, where law and the literal arts were studied
1 II Celano, 31 ; Leg. Maj. xi. 8.
2 He is also called Joannes della Schiaccia (Conformit.iia.Anal. Franc, iv.
p. 440), Joannes de Sciaca (Actus, cap. 61) ; Joannes do Strachia and Petrus
Joannes de Strachia (Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1216, 1220. Petrus Stacia is
the name given him by Angelus Clarenus, Hist. VI Tribulat).
3 Cf. Golubovich, Series Provinciarum, in Arch. Franc. Hist. an. i. fasc. i.
p. 3.
4 Cf. Angelo Clareno, op. cit. : Hilarinus a Lucerna, Histoire des Etudes,
p. 133, note 2.
5 Cf. Jordanus de Saxonia, De initiisOrd. Praedicat., in Quetif-Echard,
Scriptores Ord. Praedicat. i. p. 18.
THE KEVOLT OF THE VICABS 251
with an ostentatious disregard of theology and the study of
Scripture. Probably Peter Stacia intended to include theo
logy amongst the studies of the brethren ; perhaps even to
open a theological school, such as was already winning
applause for the Dominicans. 1 But Francis had no desire
for theology of that sort, in which intellectual reasoning was
more evident than the heart-study of the Gospel. Still it
was not now a question of the study of theology, but the
more fundamental question of the character and purpose of
the fraternity. Were the brethren to abide in their original
poverty and simplicity ? The new convent of Bologna was a
direct negative : it was the announcement of a new spirit at
variance with the spirit of that poverty which the brethren
had vowed to serve. 2 That was the one clear fact which
the heart of Francis grasped with piercing intuition.
In indignant sorrow Francis refused to enter the convent,
but went and sought a lodging with the Friars Preachers.
There he pondered upon this betrayal which confronted him.
Such an evil example must be met with dire chastisement.
Summoning Peter Stacia to his presence, he upbraided him
with aiming at the destruction of the fraternity and called
down upon him the curse of heaven ; and he would have
ordered all the brethren of the convent to do penance but
that a Friar Preacher interceded for them. If they had
done wrong, this friar urged, they had acted from lack of
judgment, not from malice, and were willing to make repara
tion. So Francis stayed his hand, and only bade them im
mediately quit the convent : nor would he allow even some
sick brethren who were there, to remain. 3 After that he
1 Jacques de Vitry, Historia Occidentalis (Douai) p. 333.
2 Had Peter Stacia gone so far in violation of the Rule as to collect money
for the building ? I am inclined to think so. In the eighth chapter of the
Rule of 1221, Francis emphatic and painstaking regulation that the brethren
shall not collect money for houses or places, evidently implies that the Rule
had been violated in this respect. It is a passionate utterance which a mere
possible danger would not have evoked, but only an actual betrayal. And
that would account for the curse which Francis called down upon the minister
and which he would never revoke.
3 II Celano, 58 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 6 ; Actus, cap. 61 ; Conformity in Anal.
Franc, iv. p. 440.
252 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
continued his journey southwards, learning, as he went, all
the sorrow that had come upon his brethren during his
absence.
Even amongst his earliest companions was found one at
least who had fallen in with the new ways, Philip the Long,
a man of undoubtedly holy life. He had been appointed
Visitor of the Poor Ladies in succession to the Cistercian
monk Ambrogio ; and had procured letters of protection for
them from the Holy See, to safeguard them against trouble
some bishops.
Very quickly now the news of Francis return was carried
throughout the provinces of the peninsula and brought to
the brethren who had fled to mountain hermitages and hidden
places to escape the persecution of the dominant party. To
these suffering ones his appearance was like the breaking of
day after a night of dread. 1 Somehow the rumour had gone
abroad that he was dead : possibly it was a rumour born of
the sufferings and fears of the brethren in the absence of
news ; or it may have been a distorted echo of the martyr
dom of the brethren in Morocco. But everywhere, as the
news of his return was passed from place to place, a great
cry of joy broke forth. 2
Doubtless many of the persecuted brethren dreamed that
now things would be again as they were before the Vicars
had brought trouble into the fraternity. Francis, however,
gauged the situation more accurately. A great betrayal had
happened : but he was clearly aware that things could not be
quite as they were before. Simplicity of faith and unity of
purpose no longer held the brethren in an easy obedience.
The dominant party at least were not satisfied with his
1 According to Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1220) Francis met Cardinal
Ugolino at Bologna, and went with him to a Camaldulese monastery near
Alvernia, where they passed some time in retreat. Upon this statement M.
Sabatier builds the theory that the Cardinal purposely kept Francis out of
the way whilst the ministers were carrying out the Cardinal s policy (Vie de
S. Francois, pp. 277-8). But there is no authentic evidence that Francis
went to Alvernia at this time ; nor does it appear from the Registri that the
Cardinal was at Bologna in 1220, though he was undoubtedly there in 1218,
1219, and 1221 (cf. H. Fischer, Dcr licilige Franziskus, p. 67).
2 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc. I. no. 14, p. 5.
;iia^
PRIMITIVE FRANCISCAN HERMITAGE
(Grotto of Soffiano)
THE EEVOLT OF THE VICAES 253
guidance, and never would be : they were shielding them
selves behind the patronage of those in high places. One
conclusion was clear to his simple soul : the fraternity needed
a ruler who would govern the recalcitrant brethren in a more
masterly fashion than he himself could. It was not in him
to act " the sergeant of the Lord " and coerce men ; if the
brethren would not follow him freely, he was not the leader
for them. 1 Yet it was on his conscience to do what he could
to save this child of his love, as the fraternity was to him. In
his perplexity his thoughts turned to Cardinal Ugolino as the
man whom God had destined to foster by his authority in the
Church, this family of His. Straightway therefore he turned
his steps towards Eome. 2 He avoided meeting the Vicars on
the way : 3 his appeal was to the Holy See.
Arrived in the Eternal City, Francis went to the Lateran
palace and sat down upon the ground outside the door of the
Pope s chamber to await his coming out, too humble to seek
admittance. When at length the Pope came forth, Francis
greeted him : " Father Pope, God give thee peace ! " and the
Pontiff replied : " God bless thee, my son " ; and awaited his
request. " My lord," said Francis, "because you are so great
and busy with affairs of great movement, the poor cannot often
have access to you, nor can they speak with you as often as
there is need." And when Honorius reminded him that there
were cardinals and bishops to whom he could have recourse,
Francis exclaimed : " you have given me many popes ; I
beseech you give me one with whom as necessity arises I may
speak and seek counsel in your stead concerning the affairs of
my Order ". " Whom do you wish that I should give thee,
my son? "asked the Pope. " Give me," said Francis, the
lord Cardinal of Ostia." And thus, according to one witness,
Cardinal Ugolino became Protector of the fraternity at the
Eoman Court. 4
1 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. n. 14, p. 5.
2 Honorius III was in Rome from November, 1220, till April, 1222. Pre
viously to this he had been at Orvieto all the summer and early autumn of
1220, save for a journey to Mantua at the end of July. Cf. Mon. Germ. Hist.
torn. i. p. 83 seq.
3 Spec. Perfect, chap. 71. 4 Chron. Jordani, ut supra.
254 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
But others say that Francis first sought out Cardinal
Ugolino and spoke to him his trouble ; and that the next
morning the Cardinal took Francis with him to the Papal
presence and bade him speak out before the Pope and
cardinals what was in his mind : then afterwards it was that
Francis had private audience with the Pontiff and proffered
his petition that Cardinal Ugolino should be the ruler of the
brethren as the Pope s vicegerent. 1
However this may be, from this time the Cardinal became
the constant adviser of Francis and his " apostolic lord " ; 2
and it was his master-mind that directed the organization of
the fraternity.
His first acts were to compel John de Compello to
disband his wandering community and return to his obedi
ence, and to revoke the " letters of defence " granted to the
Poor Ladies. This latter action is significant of the spirit in
which he assumed his new office. As the supreme arbiter in
the fraternity he consistently endeavoured to meet the
wishes of Francis in as far as he could do so, having regard
to what he considered the needful organization of the Order.
He himself, as we have seen, was not an idealist but a man
of affairs; yet there was that persistent element of mysti
cism in his character which drew him to Francis more closely
than many of the brethren were drawn. To him the ideas
of Francis were never merely unpractical ideas but the in
spiration which he sought to bring within the bounds of the
practicable : and with infinite patience he set himself to bridge
over the gulf which was widening between the mind of the
founder and many of the new leaders of the brethren. Let
justice be done to his memory. Not always did he see as St.
Francis saw : yet he never deliberately offended against the
trust Francis put in him.
Francis did not leave Eome till he and the Cardinal had
1 II Celano, 25 ; 3 Soc. 64-5. Cf. I Celano, 100. The point of agree-
ment between the two narratives is found in 3 Soc. 65. Giordano evidently
relates the final episode in this negotiation. Ugolino was in Borne in the
winter of 1220-1.
2 Cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 23 : " Dominus et Apostolicus nosier"".
THE EEVOLT OF THE VICAKS 255
arrived at an understanding as to the course to be taken in
regard to the fraternity. Peter Cathanii was reinstated at
the Porziuncola as vicar l to administer the ordinary affairs
of the brethren, whilst Francis was to concern himself with
a revision of the Eule such as was needed to bring peace and
order into the disturbance. The revision was to incorporate
the experience which had been gained as to the government
of the brethren.
Not unlikely too the matter of the " letters of defence,"
led to a discussion of the relations between the brethren and
the Poor Ladies, and that the Cardinal then recognized the
distinct privileges attaching to San Damiano ; whilst at the
same time he obtained Francis consent to brethren being ap
pointed directors of other convents. 2 And, as I incline to
think, one other weighty subject was then broached by the
Cardinal, the organization of a new fraternity of lay-penitents
for those men and women, and they were a great multitude,
who had attached themselves to the brethren as informal
followers of the gospel of poverty.
Meanwhile messengers were sent to all the provinces of
the Order to call the brethren to attend a general Chapter
at the following Pentecost. But before the Chapter met
1 It seems certain that the appointment of Peter Cathanii as vicar referred
to in II Celano, 143, and Spec. Perfect, cap. 39, refers to an earlier period, at
a time when Francis was suffering from his recurring sicknesses. Both au
thors say distinctly that it happened a few years after Francis conversion
"paucis annis elapsispost conversionem suam ".
2 According to Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1224) Francis in 1224 wrote a
Rule for the Poor Ladies. But there is no evidence of any such rule except
the Formula Vitae referred to by Gregory IX in his bull Angelis gaudium, of
11 May, 1238 (Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 242). This Formula Vitae is generally
supposed to be contained in the sixth chapter of the Rule of St. Clare, ap
proved by Innocent IV on 9 August, 1253 (Sbaralea, Bull. i. pp. 671-8 ; Seraph.
Legislat. Text. p. 46 seq.).
The probability is that Francis accepted the Ugoline Constitutions for the
sisters at San Damiano, except as they allowed property. Certainly they
were observed at San Damiano even in St. Francis lifetime, for he modified
the rigidity of the fasts in favour of the weaker sisters (vide Epistola III S.
Clarae ad B. Agnet. Boliem., Acta SS. Mart. torn. vii. p. 507). Moreover in
the eventual Rule of St. Clare we find the Ugoline prescriptions of enclosure,
perpetual fast, and silence maintained.
256 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
Peter Cathanii died and Brother Elias, the late Minister-
Provincial of Syria, was appointed in his stead. Peter died
on 10 March, 1221. 1 One wonders how things might have
gone with the brethren in the next few years had he lived
to stand between Francis and the dissident ministers, with
his experience and loyalty : for he had governed the brethren
at the Porziuncola for many years in the absence of Francis,
except for that momentous absence in the East. He, too, like
Cardinal Ugolino, was aware of the difficulty of maintaining
a large multitude in the simplicity of the primitive days ; 2
yet like the Cardinal, never lost his essential faith in Francis.
But, as we have said, he died before the Chapter met.
1 So reads the ancient inscription on the wall of the Porziuncola : " anno
Dn.i MCCXXI id Martii cwpus fr. P. Catanii qiii hie requiescit migravit ad
Dominum ". According to Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 30, Peter
died in 1224 ; Papini (Storia di San Francesco, i. p. 187) interprets the above
inscription as 10 March, 1222, on the ground that the common mediaeval
mode of computation reckoned the beginning of the year from 25 March.
But this is very uncertain. Moreover it was evident from Giordano da Giano s
account of the Chapter of 1221, that Elias was then the virtual superior of
the Order (Chron. Jordani, no. 17, in Anal. Franc, i. p. 6).
2 IIGelano, 67.
CHAPTEE V.
BROTHER ELIAS ASSUMES THE GOVERNMENT.
As one stands to-day in the plain facing Assisi and looks
towards the city, the feature which most persistently holds
the eye is not the mediaeval fortress crowning the hill nor
anything amidst the cluster of bell-towers which lie beneath
the hill s brow, but the great convent to the left where the
mountain slopes steeply down to the river Tescio. Built
upon a long line of great towering arches, because of the
slope of the hill, the Sagro Convento at a distance looks
more like a feudal fortress than a religious house. As you
gaze upon it your thoughts turn for comparison to the for
tress-churches, such as that of Durham, built and held by
priest-soldiers, doughty men in Church and State. No
matter how often you stand to gaze upon the city, nor with
what intention, invariably that great convent-basilica, gleam
ing white against the dark greyish hills, draws your eye to
itself : and if you know and love Franciscan legend, a com
plexity of emotion will as invariably distract you as you
gaze. You will remember how that gleaming convent sym
bolized to many of the followers of Francis a great betrayal ;
how to others it seemed the appropriate expression of the
world s homage to a great and well-loved saint. Perhaps in
your own heart both sentiments will call for acknowledg
ment ; you will be glad that the world gave of its magnifi
cence and its noblest art in the building of a shrine which
was to hold the body of him who deserved the world s best ;
and yet inconsistently you will begrudge the world its share
in him who loved poverty and nature more than wealth and
art. And perhaps in the consciousness of your own complex
feeling you will judge Brother Elias less harshly than some
257 17
258 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
have judged him, and with a greater truth. For this vast
pile of buildings owes its origin and design to that Brother
Elias who became Vicar-General of the Order after the death
of Peter Cathanii. In a sense it is the monument of his
genius and the expression of his character : though not alto
gether. Beyond the confines of Umbria, close to the city of
Cortona is the convent of the Celle, nestling lily-of-the-
valley-wise beside a running stream at the base of a ravine.
That, too, was built by Elias ; and the low narrow building,
wherein a tall man can hardly stand upright, reveals another
cast of character. 1 Yet more or less rightly, the Sagro
Convento has been taken to express the mind and life-pur
pose of the man who had now become the administrator of
the fraternity. The Celle of Cortona represent only a trans
ient, unfulfilled emotion : the Assisian Convent and Basilica
stand for the man.
It is at once a great achievement and a failure. In itself
it is so subtly woven of gracefulness and strength : laughing
to scorn, as it does, the hindrances which the site first put in
the way of its construction 2 and rising from the declivities
in beauteous freedom. Truly a noble example of art ; yet
lacking the supreme glory of art ! Did it but show in its superb
strength some feeling for the sublime unworldliness which
it professes to honour, it would have been a perfectly congru
ous expression of the world s homage. But the building
conveys no such feeling ; it reveals no aspiration towards
what itself is not. It is essentially self-contained, demand
ing attention not for what it is not, but for what it is. It
makes no humble confession of the greater glory of him
whose body it enshrines ; rather it claims his glory as an
1 Salimbene nevertheless blames him for choosing so delightful a spot to
dwell in. Op. cit. p. 104.
2 The Colle d Inferno on which the convent stands was separated from
the city by a deep ravine ; and the underground tomb had to be hewn out of
solid rock. Early prints still show the city and convent thus separated ; and
M. Sabatier is of opinion that one gained admittance to the convent by
means of two drawbridges thrown across the ravine which would give a still
greater similarity to a fortress. Of. Selincourt, Homes of the First Francis
cans, p. 22, n. 2.
BEOTHEE ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEENMENT 259
appanage of its own. And so the Sagro Convento perfect
in most things that make for perfection in art bears a mark
of insincerity and vanity ; and whilst its beauteous strength
dominates your senses, your soul is apt to be depressed : a
sense of tragedy falls upon you at first you hardly know
why.
Much the same complexity of feeling and the same final
emotion comes to one in looking back upon Elias himself. 1
There is a certain fascination in the broad sweep of his ambi
tion, in the strength of purpose which made him, the son of
an artisan, become the trusted counsellor and ambassador of
pope and emperor and the virtual ruler of the citizens of
Cortona. He went far towards making the Franciscan Order
a world-power, throwing its influence into the whirl of politics 2
1 For the story of Brother Elias, of. P. Affo, Vita difrate Elia ; Ed. Lempp,
Frdre Elie de Cortone ; Golubovich, Biblioteca, p. 106 seq^. et alibi. Unfortun
ately the materials for the story of Elias are not abundant, and one has to
take the personal opinions of his contemporaries regarding him with due allow
ance for the strong feeling he excited amongst both friends and adversaries.
The early chroniclers of the Order, from a comprehensible delicacy, avoided
mentioning him except with the briefest references : and so, though the main
outlines of his character and policy stand out clearly in history, there is a
lack of detail, which leaves much scope for subjective theories concerning his
motives and even the details of his story. There has been much speculation
as to the date and place of Elias birth. According to P. Affo he was born at
Beviglia a short distance from Assisi. In the earliest chronicles he is simply
styled Brother Elias without further designation ; the Chron. xxiv. Gen.
(Anal. Franc, in. p. 249) is the first to style him Prater Helias de Assisio ;
by which appellation he was known until the seventeenth century, when the
custom arose of calling him Elias of Cortona, from his place of sepulture.
An inscription on his tomb in the Church of San Francesco, Cortona, in
the sixteenth century, described him as "Helias Coppi di Cortona". Cf.
Anon. Gorton, pp. 36 and 75, in Lempp, p. 36, n. 3. Salimbene, who was
received into the Order by Elias in 1238, says his father came from Castel
Britti in the territory of Bologna and his mother from Assisi ; he further tells
us that Elias was styled Bonusbaro or Bombarone. Cf. Mon. Germ. Hist.
xxxii, pars i, p. 96.
2 e.g. he sent Haymo of Faversham to Nicea to negotiate for the reunion
of the Greek and Latin churches (Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1232-33 ; Eccles-
ton[ed. Little], p. 35) ; he intervened between belligerent Italian parties in the
cause of peace (of. Lempp, p. 107 ; Appendice n. 2). He himself acted as
ambassador of Gregory IX in negotiating with Frederic II (cf. Salimbene, op.
cit. p. 98). See also Huillard-Breholles, Hist. Diplom. v. pars i. p. 346,
17*
260 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
and into the intellectual life of the rising universities 1 and
into the mission-fields of Moslem territory. 2
He was undoubtedly a man of intellectual culture. He
had studied at the University of Bologna, and had acquired
not merely the legal knowledge necessary to practise as a
notary, but a taste for the arts ; and if tradition be true, he
was even attracted to the mysteries of the alchemist. 8 And
not only had he a rare mental ability, but in his bearing with
others he could be gracious in a large and magnificent way,
and he had the gift of winning men s confidence and attach
ing them to his person. But here perhaps one discovers his
weakness. For those who gained his goodwill he had an
abundant kindness which showed itself in frequent atten
tions and timely service ; but those who withstood him he
crushed, when he could, with no hesitation ; and those who
were useless to him he passed by with indifference. He
ruthlessly scourged and imprisoned those who protested
against his policy after Francis death, even though they had
been the special friends of Francis : 4 and as the years went on
he developed an uncontrollable temper ; 5 he could baulk no
opposition. When his purposes were thwarted he pitted him
self in violence first against the brethren who withstood him ;
then against the Pope who censured him. Finally, after be
ing drawn into the Imperial service and leading the em
peror s embassies, he retired into comparative seclusion in
the city of Cortona where the people worshipped him : and
1 Eccleston [ed. Little], pp. 35, 62. Vide Salimbene s famous dictum :
" Hoc solum habuit bonumfr. Helios, quia ordinem fr. minorum ad studium
theologiae promovit " (op. cit. p. 104).
2 He sent missionaries to Georgia, Damascus, Bagdad, Morocco, Tunis,
and Aleppo. Of. Sbaralea, Bull. i. pp. 93, 100, 102, 106, 155, etc. Cf. Golu-
bovich, op. cit. p. 113-4.
3 Cf. Eccleston, p. 36 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 217 and
p. 695. Matthew of Paris (Chron. ad an. 1239) says Elias was a renowned
preacher. Several works on alchemy have been attributed to him, but they
probably belong to the alchemist, Elias Canossa. Cf. Salimbene, op. cit.
p. 160 ; Lempp, p. 121 ; Golubovich, op. cit. 116-7.
4 Cf. Eccleston [ed. Little], p. 36 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in.
p 89 seq. ; Angelo Clareno, Hist. VII Trib. in Golubovich, op. cit. pp. 118-9.
5 Cf. Eccleston, p. 84. Salimbene, op. cit. p. 104 seq.
BEOTHEE ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEENMENT 261
though an outcast from the Order and excommunicated by
the Church, he spent his last years building a large church
under the title of St. Francis, in which he himself was event
ually buried : and to-day that church still stands in Cortona
bearing witness to a life s failure : and the atmosphere of
failure is in the place, so cold and spiritless it stands. But
down in the ravine, the lowly Celle is still alive with fragrant
inspiration.
In judging Elias one must never forget the Celle, even
though he himself at the last seems to have despised it.
Truly a complex character was this man and not to be
lightly judged : one predestined by his weakness to fail and
by his strength to come very near to positive greatness.
One would wonder what could have induced Elias to
become a Friar Minor, did not one remember the humble
Celle. Undoubtedly he had in him some germ of heroic self-
denial ; and if his graciousness was apt to degenerate into
patronage, yet he was not without sincere emotions of attach
ment, as is evident from the letter he wrote to Gregory of
Naples, the Minister of France, in which he announced the
death of Francis. 1 Doubtless it was the evidences of these
qualities, joined with his marked business capacity, which
won Francis confidence. That the appointment of Elias to
be Vicar-General was due to the suggestion of Cardinal
Ugolino is not unlikely : yet it is certain that Francis gave to
Elias, if not an intimate affection, which we may doubt, at
least a high reverence ; 2 and I do not question that the selec
tion of Elias as vicar was in harmony with Francis own
wish. This we know, that he had chosen him as one of his
companions on his return from Syria, together 1 with Peter
Cathanii and Caesar of Speyer, both of whom were Francis
confidants in his time of trouble. 3 In truth it may have
seemed to both Francis and the Cardinal, that Elias with his
1 Cf. Ada SS. Octob. n. p. 668.
2 There is more than a courtier s flattery or a litterateur s fine phrase in
Celano s saying : u f rater Helias qiwm loco matris elegerat si&i," etc. (I Celano,
98). Tradition as well as history shows that Francis held Elias in respect,
even though he came to suspect his policy, and detect his weakness.
3 Caesar of Speyer assisted Francis to revise the Rule. Vide infra, p. 263.
262 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
personal austerity and graciousness, his zeal and ability, was
the desired peacemaker between the two parties in the fra
ternity : and to the Cardinal, Ellas thoughtful solicitude for
Francis in his bodily weakness would be an additional re
commendation. 1 Yet it was a sad day for the brethren when
Elias became vicar. In him the spirit of secularism, sullenly
clamouring for recognition since the Chapter of 1217, devel
oped a Titanic force within the fraternity which his ability
wrested in large measure from its original purpose. He
gave the brethren place and power in the world ; his genius
gained for them political and ecclesiastical consideration ; he
might have made them even more than he did, a vast politi
cal organism, but that the primitive instinct of the fraternity
proved too strong for him and rebelled and at last over
whelmed him. Even then he was not altogether overcome ;
and in his self-chosen seclusion in Cortona, when his disap
pointed days were drawing to a close, he perhaps found some
cynical satisfaction in the thought that those who had
wrought his fall could not escape from the legacy he had left
them, but must accept it even though some of them might
groan at the gift.
All this eventual tragedy is as yet to come. At the time
of his appointment as Vicar, most of the brethren hoped that
he would be Francis staff in his declining health and the
comfort of the brethren.
The general Chapter assembled at the Porziuncola in the
closing days of May, 1221 : 2 three thousand brethren includ
ing the novices, it is reckoned, were present. 3 Cardinal
Ugolino was in the north of the peninsula and could not
attend : Cardinal Bainerio, governor of the duchy of Spoleto,
therefore presided. On the opening day a bishop sang the
Mass. Francis assisted as deacon and afterwards preached,
taking for his text the words of the Psalmist, " Blessed be the
legends prove that Elias showed an anxious care for Francis
physical health. Cf. I Celano, 98, 105; Spec. Perfect, cap. 115; Chron.
Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i no. 17, p. 6.
2 Pentecost fell in 1221 on 30 May.
3 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. no. 16, p. 6.
BEOTHEE ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEBNMENT 263
Lord, my God, who teacheth my hands to fight : " l a fitting
text surely for the occasion.
Francis met the Chapter with the purpose of reasserting
the primitive vocation of the fraternity. Upon the advice of
Cardinal Ugolino, he had re-written the Eule with the as
sistance of Brother Caesar of Speyer. This revised Eule he now
submitted to the Chapter for its acceptance. If the dissident
brethren had expected any modification of the original pro
gramme of the fraternity, they were now much disappointed.
The primitive Eule was maintained intact : but it was am
plified by the addition of certain capitular decrees and papal
enactments and by a number of admonitions with which
Francis sought to strengthen the brethren in the life he would
have them live. 2 Such additional precepts which the revised
Eule contained concerning poverty and the simplicity of
Gospel observance, did but emphasize the manner of life of
the first days and were all in the spirit of the primitive Eule.
Thus the brethren were forbidden to meddle in the temporal
affairs of the novices or to receive any of their goods except in
cases of real necessity, when they might accept a share "like
other poor "; 3 the precept of manual labour remained, but
to emphasize the menial character of the service the brethren
should perform, they were forbidden to be chamberlains or
cellarers or overseers in the houses of others ; nor might they
accept any employment which would give rise to scandal or
be injurious to their souls. 4 Whoever came to be received
into the fraternity, be he friend or foe, thief or robber, is to
be received kindly and made welcome. 5 The brethren must
avoid appearing " sad and gloomy like hypocrites," but they
1 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. The text is from Psalm CXLIII. 1
(Vulgate).
2 Vide infra, Appendix i, p. 393 That Francis was accustomed to submit a
draft of his proposed legislation to the General Chapters is certain (cf. Epis-
tola m. in Opuscula, p. 109 ; II Celano, 128). We may take it therefore that
the revised Rule was submitted to the General Chapter at least in rough draft.
It is, however, not unlikely that Csesar of Speyer gave it a more literary
finishing, and added the quotations from Scripture and the Fathers, after the
Chapter, with a view to submitting the Rule to the Holy See for approbation.
Caesar remained for nearly three months " in the valley of Spoleto" after the
Chapter. Cf. CJiron. Jordani, Anal. Franc, i. no 19. p. 8.
3 Regula i. cap. 2. 4 cap. 7. 5 ibid.
264 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
" must bear themselves as joyful and merry and becomingly
gracious "- 1 They are to confess their sins if possible to a
priest of the Order, but if this be not possible, to some other
priest ; and if a priest is not at hand they shall confess to a
brother who is not a priest, though afterwards they must seek
absolution from a priest. 2 These regulations were not new
but had already been imposed in former Chapters : 3 and
so probably were the declarations that no brother should
ride on horseback except in case of necessity, and that beasts
of burden were not to be kept in the places where the brethren
reside : 4 also that no brother should preach without licence
from his minister. 5 Probably too the enactments concerning
missons to the infidels were but a repetition of a rule made at
the Chapter of 1219. 6 But there were other precepts which
it seems evident arose out of the trouble of the past two years.
Thus, no brother is allowed to receive vows of obedience
from any woman ; 7 the ministers are forbidden to assume
the title of prior. 8 Twice the revised Eule asserts " the liberty
of the Gospel " in regard to the food of the brethren : " they
may eat of all foods which are placed before them, according
to the Gospel" ; and again, "whensoever necessity shall
arise, it is lawful for all the brothers, wherever they may be,
to eat of all foods that men may eat ". 9
One regulation recalls the treatment meted out by the
dissident ministers to the brethren who had opposed them in
Francis absence in the East : " If one of the ministers," says
the Kule, " shall command any of the brothers anything con
trary to our life or against his soul, the brother is not bound
to obey him, because that is not obedience in which a fault
or sin is committed."
Moreover, the ministers "who walk according to the
flesh and not according to the spirit " are to be admonished
by the brethren and if they do not amend, they are to be re
ported to the General Chapter. 10
In the regulations forbidding the collection of money
1 Regula i. cap. 7. 2 cap. 20.
3 Of. Spec. Perfect, cap. 66 : Actwt, cap. 29 : II Celano, 128 ; ibid, 175.
4 Regula i. cap. 15. 5 cap. 17. cap. 16.
7 cap. 12. 8 cap. 6. 9 cap. 3, 9. 10 cap. 5.
BEOTHEK ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEENMENT 265
"for certain houses or places" one hears an echo of the
scandal at Bologna. 1 Finally the conclusion of the Eule
reiterates Francis protest at the preceding General Chapter :
" On the part of Almighty God and of the Lord Pope and by
obedience, I, Brother Francis, strictly command and enjoin
that no one take away from these things that are written in
this life or add anything written to it over and above ; and
that the brethren have no other Eule ". 2
The revised Eule was not a treaty of peace : it was a
challenge thrown down to those who would change the vo
cation of the fraternity ; and as such it was taken by the
dissident ministers. It is evident they had no intention of
observing it. The legal-minded amongst them held that until
the Eule was formally sanctioned by the Holy See, Francis
had no authority to impose it and could not therefore bind the
brethren in conscience to abide by it. 3
The Eule in fact hit them hardly. One minister came to
Francis and asked him what was meant by the words:
" When the brothers go about through the world, let them
carry nothing by the way, neither bag nor purse nor bread,"
etc. 4 Francis unflinchingly replied : " I will have them under
stood thus: the brethren must have nothing besides their
habit, cord and breeches, and as it is said in the Eule, those
who are compelled by necessity, may have shoes ". "What
then shall I do ? " asked the minister thinking of his portable
1 Regula i. cap. 8.
2 The insertion of the words " and of the Lord Pope " may merely mean
that Francis was enjoining the observance of the Rule in virtue of the authority
given him by the Pope Innocent III, when the primitive Rule was approved.
But it may bo that the phrase was inserted with a view to submitting the Rule
for formal approbation either to the Cardinal-Protector, the Pope s represent
ative, or directly to the Holy See.
3 Vide infra, p. 319. The question as to how far Francis could legis
late for the brethren apart from the consent of the ministers continued to be
debated until 1230, when Gregory IX in the bull Quo elongati (cf. Sbaralea,
Bull i. pp. 68-70) declared that the brethren were not held by obedience to
obey regulations made by Francis without the consent of the ministers, that
is, the General Chapter. That was of course a correct legal view. But
Gregory added that the brethren should in every way be ready to conform
themselves to Francis reasonable intentions and holy wishes.
4 Regula i. cap. 14.
266 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
library ; " for I have many books the which are valued at fifty
pounds." Francis exclaimed: " Brother, I must not and
cannot go against my conscience and the profession of the
holy Gospel which we have promised to observe ". At this
the minister grew very sad. Francis continued passionately :
" you brethren who wish to be called Friars Minor by the
people and to appear to them observers of the Gospel and
yet in fact would have your treasure-chests ! But I am not
going to lose the Book of the Gospel for the sake of your
books. Do as you will ; but never shall my permission be
made a snare to the brethren." 1 That "Do as you will"
became very much the despairing cry of Francis in the face
of the continued opposition of the dissident ministers. He
could not coerce them to follow his lead ; he could only go
on bearing witness to the truth which he held to have been
given him by Christ Himself. Let those walk with him
who would ; for the others he disclaimed responsibility.
These on their part at once set to work against the Eule ; not
as yet clamorously but nevertheless persistently. Cardinal
Ugolino was appealed to. To a large extent he was in sym
pathy with them, only he would not have them openly and
truculently offend Francis. With a statesman s acumen he
sought to give effect to what he considered their reasonable
demands whilst yet keeping intact the essential principles of
the Eule. Thus in the matter of the house at Bologna, he
publicly declared that the building belonged to the Holy See
and was not the property of the brethren ; and upon this con
dition induced Francis to consent that the brethren should
return to it and live there. 2
There can be no doubt that Brother Elias was a consent
ing party to the opposition excited by Francis reassertion of
the primitive Eule and his literal adhesion to it. But whilst
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 3 ; II Celano, 62 ; Scripta F. Leonis, Doc. Antiqua,
ed. Lemmens, pars i. pp. 86-7. Of. Hilarin de Lucerne, Histoire des Etudes,
pp. 87-91.
2 The Cardinal was in Bologna in the beginning of August, 1221, when he
officiated at the funeral of S. Dominic. Acta SS., August i. p. 376. It was
probably about this time that he made this public declaration to the citizens
of Bologna.
BEOTHEK ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEBNMENT 267
others boldly and with less reverence uttered their complaints
and declared their intentions, Elias had recourse to a more
subtle diplomacy. In truth he feared to offend Francis.
Something in his acknowledged leader perhaps the holiness
of the saint, perhaps the very fearlessness of the man, maybe
both qualities daunted him. Elias s policy, grounded at
least in part in reverence for Francis, was to gain his confi
dence and be the friend. His reasoning went wholly with
the dissident ministers but his heart was yet held by a certain
reverential affection for him whose vicar he was. Moreover
it may be doubted whether Elias altogether approved of the
independence of the ministers. It was not in his character
to tolerate a divided authority : by instinct he was the auto
crat ; and though he might go some way with the ministers
in their demands, he himself would be the master, as the
ministers were to learn to their cost in the days to come. 1
Elias s policy, therefore, was to temper the more violent
clamours of the dissidents and to work such changes as he
thought well under the authority of the Cardinal Protector
and with a certain deference to Francis own will. And so it
came about that this tragedy which was testing the vitality
of the Order, was less apparent to the multitude of the brethren
at the time than it is to us who look back. As a body they
were hardly aware of the clashing of elemental purposes which
was taking place. They knew that things were changing in
this or that detail of government and that in some things the
primitive simplicity was giving way to what they considered
the demand of circumstance. But the surface of their life was
but little ruffled. Such betrayals of principle which some of
the brethren were guilty of, hardly affected the brethren as a
whole. They were still a joyous company of God s trouba
dours : the original idealism was perhaps somewhat abated,
but enough of it remained to give them a marked distinction
of character. The exuberant vitality of souls set free was
still theirs ; they rejoiced in their poverty and were avid for
1 Cf . Eccleston [ed. Little], pp. 79, 98 ; Salimbene (loc. cit. p. 105) says
" Frequenter mutabat ministros ne nimis radicati fortius insurgerent contra
ipsum ".
268 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
adventure for Christ s sake. Perhaps with most of them
Francis was becoming more of the saint and less of the
leader; but that only gave them a greater pride in their
vocation. One who looked back upon these days with
wistful reminiscence wrote in his chronicle: "Who can ex
press the charity, patience, humility and obedience, and the
fraternal merriment there was amongst the brethren at that
time?" 1
Many of the brethren remembered this General Chapter
not because of the disputes concerning the Eule but because
of the adventure which marked its close. The Chapter had
lasted seven days and was about to disperse when Francis be
thought him that nd provision had been made to send brethren
to Germany. Accordingly the brethren were recalled. Un
able himself to address them because the fatigues of the past
week had utterly broken down his strength and he could hardly
speak, Francis sat on the ground and bade Brother Elias ad
dress the assembly and call for volunteers to undertake the
new mission. Elias thus explained the intention of Francis :
" Brothers, our brother says that there is a certain country,
Germany, where dwell devout Christians, who as you know
often pass through our country, with long staves in their
hands and wearing great boots ; and they sing the praises of
God and the saints as they go along, perspiring in the heat,
to visit the tombs of the Apostles. But because when the
brethren were sent to them once before they were treated
badly, our brother does not wish to compel any brother to
go thither again. Yet if any inspired by zeal for God and
souls, be willing to go, he will give them a like obedience,
nay, a more willing obedience, than he gives to those who go
to the infidels beyond the seas. Let those who are willing
stand up and draw apart." At once ninety brethren arose
" offering themselves to death " ; so great was the terror that
the Germans had struck into the hearts of the brethren by
their treatment of the first mission.
There was one brother, however, an Umbrian by birth,
who was sent somewhat unwillingly, yet happily as it turned
1 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i. no. 16, p. 6.
BEOTHEE ELIAS ASSUMES GOVEENMENT 269
out. Having listened to the story of the martyrs of Morocco,
he was bewailing his misfortune in not knowing any of them
personally. Seeing now the ninety brethren draw apart, he
looked at them with reverence and with a sense of satisfaction
that in them he was gazing upon martyrs that were to be :
for of their fate he had no doubt. Since his infancy he had
been taught to pray that God would shield his faith from the
heresies of the Lombards and his body from the ferocity of
the Germans. But he was not content to look upon the
martyrs from a distance : he wanted to know each one per
sonally so that in after times he might claim acquaintance
with them. He therefore rose up and went over to them
and began asking each his name and birthplace.
Now amongst them was one, a Fra Palmerio, a native of
Apulia. When asked his name, he replied : " My name is
Palmerio ; " then seizing his questioner, he added : " And since
you are here, you too are one of us and must go with us ".
" Not so," replied the other ; " I am not one of you nor have
I any desire to go with you." But Palmerio held him fast
whilst the other brethren were being nominated for the dif
ferent provinces. In vain the captive brother protested,
until he consented to leave his destiny to the decision of
Brother Elias. But when Elias asked him if he wished to
go to Germany or not, the brother hesitated : for he had
been taught to go whither he was sent and not murmur ;
and now he feared lest he might break this rule. Hesitatingly
he replied : " I wish neither to go nor not to go ". And
Elias bade him go. Thus Brother Giordano da Giano was
sent to Germany. 1 He lived many years amongst the
Germans and at last died amongst them in an honoured old
age : and in his last years he dictated a chronicle in which
he set down the story of his coming to Germany and the
marvellous reverence with which this new mission was received
there. In this same chronicle Giordano relates that when he
knew Saint Francis in the flesh, he did not think him a
perfect saint nor altogether free from human weakness, and
that only after Francis canonization did he have a complete
1 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i nos. 17, 18, pp. 6-7.
270 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
veneration for him : l a candid confession which explains
much to the generations that have not known Francis in the
flesh.
The new mission to Germany was as eminently success
ful as the first mission had been a failure. The success
is to be attributed in the first place to the skilful leadership
of Caesar of Speyer and to the fame he had already acquired
amongst his countrymen. Not all the ninety brethren who
offered themselves, were sent on the mission. Caesar took
with him only twenty-five : twelve clerics and thirteen lay
brothers.
Of these several were Germans ; and amongst the clerics
were men who were to become eminent in various ways.
There were Giovanni di Carpine, the future explorer of
Tartary ; Thomas of Celano, who was to write the biography
of Francis ; Brother Barnabas a powerful preacher, besides
that Giordano of whom we have spoken. They went their
way, did these missionary friars, in that chivalrous spirit which
prompted Francis and all true Franciscans, heedless of per
sonal discomfort, adapting themselves unmurmuringly and
courteously to all circumstances; courageous, venturesome,
and merry : as Giordano s chronicle quaintly relates. In
Caesar of Speyer the simplicity of the Franciscan spirit seems
to have blended well with a trained intellect and a wide
knowledge of the world ; as it did indeed in so many of the
brethren of Northren Europe : perhaps it was due to the
deeper loyalty and less mercurial temperament of the Teutonic
race.
1 Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, no. 59, p. 18.
CHAPTEK VI.
THE THIRD ORDER.
WE come now to events .in_fche_hi story of Francis, which will
take us for awhile .apart- from the --ministers and all the
troublous happenings of which they were the cause. This
chapter will help to remind us that the story of Francis is
not merely a story of the Friars Minor. These, as he him
self said, were his "Knights of the Bound Table," taken
from the ordinary avocations of the world s life to fulfil the
quest of the Lord Christ. They were knights-errant, bound
by their vows of errantry to have no fixed home on the earth.
Then there were the Lady Clare and her sisters who had
entered into the bond of this new chivalry, and in their se
clusion were guarding the mirror in which the worshipful
ideal of poverty was faithfully reflected, and keeping alight
the sacred fire as all true damosels of chivalry should.
But there were others in the highways and byways of the
world, who were true liege-folk to this new order of things.
They did not abandon their homes nor the common duties
of domestic life ; they still, most of them, maintained their
position in society, according to the rank in which they were
placed. Some of them indeed established themselves in a
certain moral seclusion from the surrounding life in which
they perforce must keep a foothold ; a few left the world and
retired into solitary places, 1 fired by the teaching of Francis,
yet without formally entering his fraternity. This more or
less informal following of Francis and Clare 2 had grown up
1 e.g. the recluse Praxedis (vide Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 181).
2 The author of the legend of St. Clare speaks of the numbers of women
who sought to imitate her example in their own homes. Of. Leg. S. Clara,
10 b ; Mrs. Balfour, Life and Legend, p. 50 ; F. Paschal Robinson, Life of
St. Clare, p. 19.
271
272 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
without any set rule or vow of obedience. Amongst those
who were influenced by the preaching of the brethren or by
the life itself which blossomed so fragrantly at the Porziun-
cola and San Damiano and other places, were some who drew
closer in spirit than others to the fraternity, and sought to
walk more directly by the laws of its life ; shunning need
less comfort or luxury of food and dress ; purposing to live
chastely in body and mind, and making the poor and luckless
the objects of their especial care.
Thus there came into being a group of devoted followers
of Francis and Clare who were not strictly speaking mem
bers of the fraternity, and yet were bound to it by a sense of
spiritual kinship. 1 Amongst the earliest of these informal
disciples were the Lord Orlando of Chiusi, who gave Monte
Alvernia for the use of the brethren, and the Lady Giacoma
di Settesoli of Rome. Of Orlando we have already spoken. 2
He remained a most attached friend of the fraternity, glad
to consider himself its servitor whenever the opportunity
was given him to do service either to Francis himself or the
other brethren.
The Lady Giacoma 3 was widow of Gratiano Frangipani,
the noble Roman patrician whose genealogy went back to the
1 1 cannot accept unreservedly the conclusions of M. Sabatier and P.
Mandonnet, O.P., that in the beginning of the Franciscan fraternity these
informal disciples who afterwards formed the nucleus of the Third Order,
were considered members of the fraternity in the same sense as the friars and
the sisters of San Damiano. It seems to me that P. Mandonnet seeks to
prove too much (vide Les Origines de L Ordo de Pcenitentid), and that his
conclusion is not consistent with the fact that Francis obtained a formal
Rule from Innocent III in 1209 or 1210, according to which he and the
brethren were to live. It is doubtless true that the members who professed
this Rule had at first but the simplest organization, which, however, gradu
ally became more definite. But there is no evidence that people professing
this Rule separated, one group forming the First Order and another the
Third. And that is what P. Mandonnet must prove to maintain his thesis.
2 Vide supra, p. 159.
3 Concerning the Lady Giacoma, vide P. Edouard d Alencon, Frere Jac
queline ; M. Sabatier, Spec. Perfect. Etude speciale du Chapitre, 112, pp. 273-7.
She is buried in the lower church of the basilica of San Francesco at Assisi
near the high altar. A fresco represents her in the habit of a tertiary, and
there is this inscription : " Hicjacet Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana."
THE THIED OKDEB 273
days of myth. She had sought counsel of Francis during his
visit to Eome in 1212 ; x and from that time looked to him as
her spiritual guide. At the death of her husband she was
left guardian of her two infant sons and administrator of the
family estates. Still very young, and possessed of ample
wealth, life lay before her to choose as she would ; when in
the first days of her widowhood, as it seems, she fell under
the influence of Francis, and determined to devote herself to
the education of her sons and the service of the poor and the
worship of God. One would wish to know more of the Lady
Giacoma than the chroniclers have told us ; for this reason
that, excepting Clare, she was the only woman in whose
presence Francis relaxed the strict reserve with which he
guarded his chivalrous purity, 2 and she was one of the very
few women to whom he ever gave a token of friendship.
That token was a lamb which he had perhaps rescued from
the shambles. 3 A woman of strong character was the Lady
Giacoma, the manifest daughter of a fearless, determined
race. 4 In characteristic fashion Francis was wont to style
her " Brother " Giacoma.
Now neither the Lord Orlando nor the Lady Giacoma
could part with their feudal possessions, which were family
and not personal estates : yet the spirit of poverty had caught
their hearts, and this was shown not only in their greater
charity towards the poor but in their mental attitude towards
the property they administered and which they held in trust
1 Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1212. This date is generally accepted by
Francis biographers.
2 It is generally held that Francis referred to Clare and the Lady Giacoma
when he told a brother that he knew the faces of only two women. Cf. II
Celano, 112. I have purposely spoken of Francis " chivalrous purity," because
I have no doubt that in this as in aught else, he was influenced by the laws
of romantic chivalry.
:J Leg. Major, vm. 7, of. ibid. 6. Nearly all the early biographers mention
St. Francis friendship with the Lady Giacoma ; vide Celano, Tract, de Mirac.
37-9 ; Leg. Maj. ut supra ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 112 ; Bernard de Besse, Lib.
de laudibus, cap. 8.
4 She was of Norman blood and of one of those Norman families which
had gained their footing in Italy with the sword. Cf. P. Edouard d Alencon,
op. cit., p. 11.
18
274 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
from God for the common good, seeking to exercise their
rights with justice towards others, with regard to peace with
their neighbours and without personal avarice. 1 That was
in fact the teaching of Francis in regard to the holding of
property. 2 Personal goods which were wholly at one s own
disposal he taught those who put themselves under his especial
guidance, to distribute to the poor or to the Church, except
what they needed for their own modest sustenance. He
would not have them amass wealth, 3 which was the cause of
distraction from spiritual things, and of feuds and ill-will
with one s neighbours. We may be sure, too, that these
followers of Francis would not be drawn into the family
rivalries and civic contentions, against which Francis pleaded
so vehemently.
But if we would find the more detailed rule by which
their lives were ordered, we shall undoubtedly discover it in the
" Letter to all Christians," which Francis wrote in the early
years of his apostolate. 4 This letter was not indeed written
with the intention of making a special following for the
fraternity, still less was it designed as a rule of life for any
particular association. It was Francis proclamation to the
Christian world, calling upon all people, whether clerics or
1 In 1217 the Lady Giacorna, on behalf of herself and her sons, who were
minors, made a deed renouncing their claims to property which had been for
some time in dispute at law (cf. Edouard d Alencon, Frdre Jacqueline, pp.
14-16 ; and Appendice I, pp. 37-8). P. Edouard suggests that this " act of
peace " was due to the influence of Francis. We know that the later Rule of
the tertiaries inculcated that they should avoid legal litigation (cf . Capestrano
Rule, cap. x. and cap. xm. ; and the Rule of Nicholas IV, cap. xvn.)
2 Cf . Epistola i. Opuscula, p. 87 seq.
S 0f. Bernard de Besse (op. cit. p. 76): " Parochiali cuidam sacerdoti
dicenti sibi quod vellet suus retenta tamen ecclesia, f rater esse, ddto vividi vi-
vendi ct induendi modo, dicitur indixisse, lit annuatim collectis ecclesiaefructibus,
daret pro Deo quod de praeteritis superesset ". All the early tertiaries were
accustomed thus to distribute their superfluous goods. We can only conclude
that it was a traditional practice derived from Francis teaching.
4 Epist. i., in Opuscula S.P.F. (Quaracchi), p. 87; F. Paschal Robin
son, O.F.M., Writings of St. Francis, pp. 98-108. Boehmer (Analekten, p. 49)
publishes this letter under the title, Opusculnm Commonitorium, which is in
deed a more illuminative title. According to Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1213)
it was written in 1213 ; Fr. Paschal Robinson (I.e.) prefers the date 1215.
THE THIED OEDEE 275
laics, men or women, religious or seculars, to lead a more
perfect Christian life, as he therein set forth. If it became
in some sort the special charter of spiritual perfection for
those who now gathered more closely to the fraternity, it was
simply because these took it as the expression of Francis
mind and made it their rule of life. 1
The letter opens with the statement that Francis, on
account of sickness and the weakness of his body, is unable
to visit every one; therefore since he is "the servant of all
and is bound to serve all and minister to them the sweet-
smelling words of his Lord," he proposes to write this
messenger-letter :
"The Word of the Father, so worthy, so holy, and so
glorious, whose coming from heaven the Most High Father
made known by his holy Archangel Gabriel to the holy and
glorious Virgin Mary, from her womb took true flesh of our
humanity and frailty. And He being rich above all, willed
nevertheless, both He and His most blessed Mother, to choose
poverty." Having struck the keynote of his message, Francis
then proceeds to urge the reception of the sacrament of the
Holy Eucharist. " Since the Divine Word offered Himself on
the cross a sacrifice for us, it is the Father s Will that all of
us be saved through Him and that we receive Him with a
pure heart and chaste body ". He then continues : " But few
are they who wish to receive Him and be saved by Him,
although His yoke is sweet and His burden light. They who
will not taste how sweet the Lord is, and love the darkness
more than the light ; who will not fulfil the commandments
of God, they are accursed ; of them it is said by the prophet :
1 On the other hand, however, Francis may have been impelled to set
forth in writing this resume" of his teaching by the demand of the people for
some rule of a more perfect Christian life. According to the Actus, cap. 16,
Francis first " thought to institute the Third Order " during that evangelising
tour he made after receiving the message from Clare and Sylvester (vide
supra, p. 161), and he may have had this or some such thought in mind when
he wrote the letter; though the phrase, "to institute the Third Order," repre
sents the actual outcome of the informal following of the fraternity rather
than the definite purpose of Francis. Francis was not then thinking of three
Orders, but of the extension of the kingdom of God of which the friars were
the apostles.
18*
276 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
They are cursed who decline from Thy commandments. But
how happy and blessed are they who love the Lord and do
as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel : Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul,
and thy neighbour as thyself. Let us therefore love God and
adore Him with a pure heart and a pure mind, because He
Himself seeking this above all things, says : The true adorers
shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For all who
adore Him must adore Him in the spirit, of truth. And let
us say to Him praises and prayers both day and night, saying :
Our Father, Who art in heaven ; because we ought always
to pray and not to faint."
If the announcement of the coming of Jesus Christ in a
chosen poverty, is the keynote of Francis message, this in
sistence upon adoring God in spirit and in truth, is its charac
teristic complement. But he then goes on to lay down the
positive laws, so to speak, of the Christian life. " We must
indeed confess all our sins to a priest and receive from him
the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Moreover let
us bring forth fruits worthy of penance ; and let us love our
neighbours as ourselves : but if anyone will not or cannot l
love his neighbours as himself, at least let him bring upon
them no evil but rather let him do them good. Let those
who have received the power of judging others, exercise
judgment with mercy, even as they themselves wish to obtain
mercy from the Lord : for let judgment without mercy be
done to him who doth not mercy. Let us then have charity
and humility and let us give alms because these wash the
soul from the foulness of sin : for men lose all that they leave
behind in this world, but they carry with them the reward
of charity and the alms which they gave, for which they will
receive from the Lord a recompense and worthy remunera
tion. We must also fast and abstain from vices and sins and
from superfluity of food and drink ; and be Catholics. We
must too visit churches frequently and reverence the clergy,
not so much because of themselves if they are sinners but
because of their ministering of the most holy body and blood
1 The Assisi codex omits the words "or cannot".
THE THIKD OKDEK 277
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they sacrifice on the altar
and receive and administer to others. And let us all know
for certain that no man can be saved except by the blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ and by the holy words of the Lord
which the clergy say and announce and administer and which
they alone and no others must administer. But religious
especially, who have renounced the world, are bound to do
more and greater things but not to leave the other undone.
" We must hold in hatred our bodies with their vices and
sins, because our Lord says in the Gospel : All vices and sins
go forth from the heart. We must love our enemies and do
good to those who hate us. We must observe the precepts and
counsels of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must also deny our
selves and put our bodies under the yoke of servitude and
holy obedience as each one has promised to the Lord. And
no man shall be bound by obedience to obey any one in that
where a sin or fault is committed.
" But he to whom authority is entrusted and who is held
to be the greater, let him be as the lesser and as the servant
of the other brothers, and to each of his brothers let him
show and have the mercy which he would wish to be shown
to himself were he in a like case. Nor let him be angry with
the brother because of the brother s fault, but with all patience
and humility let him kindly teach and encourage him.
" We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh,
but rather we must be simple, humble and pure. And let us
hold our bodies in dishonour and contempt, because through
our own fault we are all wretched and corrupt, foul and
worms, as the Lord says by the prophet : I am a worm and
no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people .
And we must never desire to be above others, but rather we
must be servants and subject to every human creature for
God s sake. And all who shall do such things and persevere
to the end, upon them the spirit of the Lord shall rest, and
He will make in them His dwelling-place and His abode,
and they will be children of the heavenly Father whose works
they do, and they are the spouses, brothers and mothers of
our Lord Jesus Christ. We are His spouses when by the
278 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Holy Spirit the faithful soul is wedded to Jesus Christ ; we
are His brothers when we do the will of His Father who is
in heaven ; we are His mothers when we bear Him in our
heart and body by love and a pure and sincere conscience,
and bring Him forth by holy work which ought to shine as
an example to others. how glorious and holy and great it
is to have a Father in heaven ! how holy, fair and lovable
to have a spouse in heaven ! how holy and how beloved,
pleasing and humble, peaceful and sweet and lovable and
above all things desirable, to have such a Brother who laid
down His life for His sheep and prayed for us to the Father,
saying : Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name, whom Thou
hast given Me." l
Having thus set forth the law of the Christian life, Fran
cis proceeds with a passionate exhortation to praise God and
to avoid the judgment to come^ with a special reference to
the vice of avarice : it is such an exhortation as he must
oftentimes have given utterance to in his sermons. Finally
he begs that all will receive this writing, and that those who
cannot read, will have it read to them. " And all, both men
and women, who shall receive these things kindly and under
stand and send them to others for an example, if they per
severe in them unto the end, may the Father and the Son
and the Holy Ghost bless them. Amen." 2
This letter undoubtedly puts into words the manner of
life which Francis taught all his disciples, whether in the
more constrained enclosure of the religious vows or in the
broader circle of the world. It was the general formulary
of the whole Franciscan life. In practice it would be inter
preted by those living in the world to demand a closer or more
distant approximation to the observances of the brethren
themselves, according to the degree of their fervour or the
conditions of their state. But the letter was to them in very
1 Here follows a long quotation from our Lord s prayer, John xvn. 6-24.
The reader will have noticed that the letter is replete with Gospel phrases,
deftly woven into the text.
2 This ending is characteristic. Vide Regula i ; Testamentum S. Franc. ;
also Epistolee n. et iv., i. Opuscula, pp. G2, 82, 107, 112.
THE THIED OEDEE 279
fact^rule^of life to which they sought to conform -their eon- .
duct. And thus there grew up around the fraternity .a sort
of outer circle of Franciscan penitents who though not bound
by the vows of the fraternity, were yet of one mind and heart
with it in its aspiration towards the Gospel observance which
Francis preached. In their attachment to the teaching of
Francis they became in a marked degree separated in thought
and conduct from the world around them. The poverty of
the brethren was the symbol of their desire as the market
place and fche feudal fortress were the symbols of other folk s
ambitions/ They did not at first nor for some years con
stitute a separate organization from the brethren themselves :
in the larger sense they were considered members of the fra
ternity, even as Clare and her sisters were.y
It was probably during Francis absence in the East that
Cardinal Ugolino definitely conceived the plan of giving these
"secular" penitents a Eule and organization distinct from Qj>.
that of the brethren. May be, in the troubles which followed
upon the attempt of the Vicars to establish a more monastic ! j
regime, some of these penitents themselves had begun to
draw together into some sort of defensive league to assert
their claim to be considered followers of Francis and to be
directed by the brethren, as they did many times in the years
that followed Francis death. 1 Or it may be that some of the
brethren themselves had already begun to form bodies of
penitents under their own personal authority, as John de
Compello did with his lepers. 2 If anything of this sort did
occur, 3 it would be further reason to the Cardinal s mind, for
1 The " conventual " party amongst the friars were always opposed to any
formal dependence of the Third Order on the First ; whereas the " spirituals "
were favourable to a closer alliance. Cf. Mandonnet : Les Regies, in Opuscules
Crit. Hist., fasc. iv. p. 181 seq.
2 The prohibition in the Rule of 1221, chap. 12 : " Et nulld penitus mulier
ab aliquo fratri recipiatur ad obedientiam, sed dato sibi consilio spirituali, sibi
valuer it agat pcenitentiam," perhaps points to some such abuse; though more
likely it was aimed at the common mediaeval custom of exacting oaths of
obedience from one s pupils or penitents.
3 As Ed. Lempp conjectures, vide Frerc Elie, p. 42. But John de Com-
pello s leper-community seem to have been quite a distinct and fanatical
attempt to form a fraternity and not a development of the Franciscan peni-
280 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
carrying out his scheme at once ; but in all likelihood Ugo-
lino had brought the idea of a vast fraternity of " lay peni
tents," such as he had now conceived, back with him from
his legatine journeys in Lombardy. For at this time and for
some years past, that extensive province had been the home
of a similar fraternity, whose Eule, approved by Pope Inno
cent III in 1201, presented itself to the Cardinal as the basis
of a Eule for the new fraternity he was contemplating.
The Humiliati, as these Lombard penitents were named,
are one of the most interesting embodiments of the pre-
Franciscan penitential movement. 1 They were settled in
Lombardy towards the end of the twelfth century. How they
came into being it is impossible to tell with any certainty.
One tradition traces their origin to some Milanese nobles
who fled to Germany a century earlier. These nobles, taking
to heart the lesson of adversity, had in their exile turned
from secular politics to the consideration of their soul s
welfare. Compelled by the loss of their property to live
poorly and by the labour of their hands, they took to weaving
and established amongst themselves a common life, sharing
with each other the profits of their trade and giving gener
ously to the poor. They met at regular times for religious
exercises and were under the authority of a minister"
chosen by themselves. They created in fact a religious
communism. But they were not " religious " in the ordinary
use of the word; they could marry and live in their own
houses. When at length they were at liberty to return to
Milan, they took back with them this manner of life into
their own country.
Whatever may be the value of this tradition, certain it is
that when Innocent III ascended the Papal throne, the Hu
miliati were well established throughout Milanese territory,
and held the woollen trade largely in their hands. They had
tent movement. He may, however, have taken the idea from some inchoate
penitent congregation or community.
1 Concerning the Humiliati cf. Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum Monu-
menta ; Bolland, Ada SS. Sept. vol. vii, p. 320 seq. Jacques de Vitry speaks
of them in his well-known letter of 1216, and in his Historia Occidentalis
(Douia), pp. 334-7.
THE THIKD OKDEE 281
their meeting-places where they met both to transact business
and for religious exercises. 1 Not all of them, however, were
woollen-workers, but all had a trade of some sort. They
dressed simply in a habit of grey woollen stuff.
By the end of the twelfth century the Humiliati had thrown
out two offshoots of a monastic character. One of these
was an institute of men and women who added to the com
mon observances of the fraternity, the three vows of religion ;
the other was an institute of priests who lived in community. 2
The Kule approved by Pope Innocent in 1201, belongs
however to the original lay-fraternity : 3 and it was this which
Cardinal Ugolino was to take as the basis of the Kule he
caused to be written for the new fraternities of lay-penitents.
The Eule of 1201 set before its adherents the imitation of
Jesus Christ in His humility and meekness, as their leading
purpose. Hence the Humiliati were to be patient in adver
sity, to love God and their neighbour, even their enemy, and
to do unto others as they would be done by. They were to
make good any injury they might happen to inflict on any
one. They must obey the prelates of the Church. But the
chief interest in this Kule is in those specific regulations
which were set down with a view to the prevalent evils of the
time. The married members were to be faithful to the
marriage-vow, nor were husbands and wives to separate,
" save on account of fornication ". No member was to pos
sess tithes " since it is in nowise lawful for lay people to hold
tithes," and all tithes and first-fruits were to be delivered up
to the Church. Further, out of their goods and fruits which
remained to them after the payment of their tithes, they were
to give alms to the poor and all superfluity of goods that
1 These meeting-places were styled convenia or parlatoria : hence the Hu
miliati were known also as Fratres de convenio.
2 The organizer of the priest-community of Humiliati was St. John of
Meda (vide Ada SS. loc. cit.). It is noteworthy that afterwards this priest-
community came to be called the " First Order of Humiliati," though a later
organization than the other two, in point of time. Similarly the monastic
communities of men and women came to be known as the Second Order,
and then the original foundation was styled the Third Order of Humiliati.
:! Vide Epist. Innoc. in, " Incumbit vobis," of 7 June, 1201, in Tiraboschi,
vol. n. pp. 128-34 ; Potthast, 1416.
282 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
remained to them after they had made provision for their own
frugal sustenance, were to be distributed to the poor. As to
their clothing, they were to dress neither too finely nor squa
lidly, since neither an affected squalor nor a too careful
cleanliness, befit a Christian ". They were to fast at certain
times and to observe the canonical hours of prayer, saying
for each hour seven Paters in honour of the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. They must provide for the sick brothers and sisters,
and assist at the burial when any brother or sister died.
Finally they were to assemble every Sunday in some fitting
place " where one or several of the brethren of approved faith
and knowledge of religion, and powerful in deed as well as in
word, shall by licence of the diocesan bishop, set forth words
of exhortation to those assembled to hear the word of God,
admonishing and persuading them to live good lives and do
works of piety : but so that they do not speak of the articles
of the Faith and the sacraments of the Church ".* Such was
the original Rule of the Humiliati as approved by the Holy See.
3ut Pope Innocent almost immediately imposed yet
another precept : the Humiliati were not to take unnecessary
oaths. 2 Colourless as this precept might seem to us, it yet
became one of the farthest reaching of the penitential prin
ciples in the years to come : for it was definitely aimed at the
feudal oath which bound a man to take the part of his feudal
lord or the commune in any quarrel, however unjust or arbi
trary. And in fact the refusal of the Humiliati to take the
feudal oath soon brought them into collision with the civic
authorities, and the persecution to which they were subjected
caused Innocent in 1214 to address a sharp remonstrance to
the magistrates and governors of Lombardy. 3 This obligation
1 That is, they were " to preach penance " or give moral discourses, but not
to expound theology. Only " preachers " properly so-called could expound
theology. The permission given to the Humiliati was the same as that given to
Francis when Innocent III commissioned him to preach penance ; only that
Francis commission was more widely extended. He could preach penance
" through the whole world " and not merely at the meetings of the brethren.
The Franciscan tertiary Kule, as we shall see, gave to the ministers of the
tertiaries a privilege exactly similar to that given to the Humiliati.
2 Tiraboschi, vol. n. pp. 135-8 ; Potthast, 1415.
:i Tiraboschi, vol. n. p. 156 ; Potthast, 4944.
THE THIKD OEDEE 283
imposed on the Lombard penitents was a stroke of genius :
it became a most powerful weapon in the hands of the Church
in dealing both with turbulent civic governments and with
the Empire itself ; and one is not surprised that both imperial
governors and city magistrates refused to recognize it and
sought to penalize those who acted upon it. 1
But the Humiliati, although sanctioned by the Church,
were not always above suspicion with the ecclesiastical au
thorities ; 2 some of them indeed went over to the heretics. 3
And like all the earlier penitential movements, they were
tainted with a gloomy puritanism. Somehow they failed to
grasp the beauty and liberty of the Gospel : there was no
joyous song in their religion ; 4 and for that reason they could
never have captured the new spirit of the age with its thirst
for life and freedom. To the end they would remain a mere
provincial fraternity, or a religious sect.
Oftentimes in his observant way, Cardinal Ugolino must
have contrasted the Lombard fraternity with the Umbrian ;
and as we have said, it was probably from Lombardy tL ,t he
brought back to Eome the idea of a new lay-fraternity, such
as he proposed to Francis when they met during the winter
of 1220-1221. 5
Unfortunately the original Eule of the Order of Penance,
as the new fraternity was named, which the Cardinal himself
composed in consultation with Francis 6 is at present lost, if
1 Thus they imposed a war-tax on those who refused to take up arms at
their bidding. Vide infra, p. 287.
2 Cf. Epist. Honorii III, in Tiraboschi, vol. I. p. 77.
:} Chron. Burchardi, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, torn. xxnj. p. 37G.
4 Cf. Gebhardt, L ltalie Mystique, pp. 34-5.
5 Mariano of Florence states that the Eule of the Third Order was written
in 1220 by Francis and Ugolino whilst they were together at Florence. But
it is proved that Ugolino was not at Florence in 1220. Cf. Arcliiv. Franc.
Hist. an. n. fasc. I. p. 96.
6 The decisive part taken by Card. Ugolino in the institution of the Third
Order is not concealed in contemporary chronicles. The author of the Vita
Gregoiii IX in Muratori, Rerum Hal. Script, torn in. p. 575, says: " Pcenit-
entium Fratrum ct Dominarutn inclusarum twvos instituit ordines ct ad summum
usque provexit. Minorum ctiam ordinem intra initia sub limite incerto vagan-
tem nova regulce traditione direxit ct informavit informem"
Ugolino, therefore, according to this author, instituted the two orders of
284 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
indeed it is not altogether destroyed ; and the earliest version
of it known to us, dates only from 1228, seven years after the
institution of the fraternity, 1 and by that time it is probable
some of the original precepts were modified. As it has come
down to us, the Rule is not an inspiring document unless
you read it in its relationship to the circumstances of the
age and the religious fervour which made it possible. It
is a code of legal constitutions clear-cut and calmly thought
out, such as an ecclesiastical lawyer might deal with in
court. It presents none of the glowing idealism of the
early Franciscan days ; it has not even the evangelical fer
vour which we find in Pope Innocent s Rule for the Humili-
ati ; it is simply a Rule for external conduct. The brothers
and sisters are bound to an austere simplicity in dress ; the
price and texture of their garments are rigidly fixed after the
manner of mediaeval sumptuary enactments. They must
observe certain fasts and abstinences and recite a number of
Paters at the canonical hours, unless they are able to read
the psalter, when they must recite the psalms according to
the use of the Papal Court or at least an equal number of
psalms. They are to shun the banquets and stage-plays
which were an immoral feature in the public life of the time ;
to confess their sins and receive Holy Communion three times
in the year; to make good neglected tithes and pay future
tithes faithfully. They must not carry arms ; and except
in certain cases approved by the Sovereign Pontiff, they
must not take the legal oaths. They are not to have recourse
Enclosed Ladies (Poor Glares) and of the Brethren of Penance (tertiaries) but
only directed the organizing of the Friars Minor. The distinction between
the two parts played by the Cardinal as institutor and director is noteworthy.
Ugolino was not merely the adviser of Francis in the composing of the Rule
of the Third Order, no more than in the composing of the Ugoline Constitutions
for the Poor Ladies : he was in both cases the accredited author. Bernard
de Besse, writing sometime later, also says that Cardinal Ugolino wrote the
Rule of the Third Order in consulation with Francis.
His words are : " In regulis sen vivendi formis ordinis istorum dictandis
sacrce memories dominuspapa Gregorius in minori adhuc officio constitutus, beato
Francisco intima familiar it ate conjimctus, devote sursplebat, quod virosancto in
dictandi scientia deer at. " (Lib. de Laudibus, ed. Hilarin a Lucerna, p. 7G.)
1 This is the " Capestrano " Rule, vide Appendix III, infra, p.
THE THIRD ORDER 285
to secular tribunals for litigation amongst themselves, and
they are hound to make their will, if they have property,
within three months after their profession in the fraternity.
Before being admitted to the fraternity the novices must pay
their debts : they must also be at peace with their neighbours.
No one suspected of heresy might be received unless he
had first been acquitted in the bishop s court ; and no married
woman might be admitted except with the consent of her
husband. Should any brother be guilty of scandal and fail
to make reparation he must be expelled from the fraternity
and denounced to the magistrate or governor of the place.
Now in the political and social conditions of the early
thirteenth century, these regulations meant a throwing down
of the gauntlet by the Church against established conven
tions. They struck directly at the monstrous growth of
luxurious habits in food and dress as well as at the inordinate
love of pleasure which drew men and women to tourney and
pageant and public revel, to the neglect of religion and the
serious business of life, and they were calculated to strike a
mortal blow to the degenerate feudal conception of society
which bound men by oath to fight for their party whether
the cause be just or unjust. So far the Rule bears the im
press of Cardinal Ugolino s statesmanship : it was designed
to bring the widespread religious enthusiasm created by
Francis, to bear upon the actual social and political abuses
which were arming the world against the Church and the
Gospel. One seeks in vain throughout the Rule as we now
have it, for any expression of the more universal Franciscan
message as Francis himself delivered it ; just as we seek in
vain for the essential Franciscan life in the Constitutions the
Cardinal gave to the Sisters of St. Clare.
But as in the case of the Poor Ladies the Ugoline Con
stitutions never represented the whole intent of their voca
tion nor the spirit in which they lived, so was it with the
new fraternity of penitents. Behind the Cardinal was
Francis, and his word was the fuller Rule by which they
ordered their lives : and to this law the Cardinal himself
bowed in affectionate reverence if not with entire conviction.
286 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
And so in the lives of the first penitents we find the same
love of poverty and the same exuberant love of their fellow-
men who were in sorrow or need, as make the story of the
first friars so spiritually exhilarating. Thus it was the re
cognized law of the fraternity whether inserted in the
original Eule or merely an unwritten law, we cannot say
that the penitents should distribute every year amongst the
poor, what remained over and above their yearly income
after their own needs were provided for. 1 Many on entering
the fraternity at once disbursed whatever property they did
not need for their own sustenance. They took to nursing
the sick-poor either in the poor man s home or in hospitals.
Thus they spent their lives in emulation of the life of the
Porziuncola, as far as each one might.
The new fraternity grew rapidly : throughout all Italy
within a few years local congregations were established and
the penitents became a social force to be reckoned with by
the secular power. Their very dress was a challenge to the
worldliness around them : they might not wear silk nor
coloured garments ; their furs were simple lamb-skin ; the
open flowing sleeve was forbidden them. 2
They were, moreover, a religious corporation and as such
directly subject to the ecclesiastical courts and not to the
secular. The magistrates of the commune or the governors
of cities and districts, had no right to enforce upon them
public offices or burdens which contravened the letter or
purpose of their profession. Hence they could not be forced
legally to take up arms at the bidding of the secular power
nor to take civic office.
They were a body apart, just as monks and nuns were.
And so wherever a congregation of the penitents was estab
lished the secular authorities found themselves faced by a
body of citizens who were legally protected by the law of the
1 The bull " Detesntanda" of 30 March, 1228, mentions this as one of the
matters in which the penitents were hindered by the civic authorities (cf.
Sbaralea, Bull I. pp. 39-40).
2 Regula Antigua, cap. i. The rule concerning dress, however, was open
to a wide interpretation according to the rank of the person or the customs of
the place, especially in the case of married women
THE THIKD OEDEE 287
Church which was co-ordinate with the law of the empire
and the commune in their withdrawal from secular affairs. 1
The magistrates and governors protested as they had already
protested in the case of the Humiliati, and endeavoured to
withstand the claims of the new fraternity. But the Church
met their opposition not merely on legal grounds, but on
moral grounds. The penitents were men of peace according
to the Gospel, and might not therefore be forced to take part
in feuds and wars which were mostly waged in opposition to
all Christian principle and the common good of Christendom.
They were again men who put the claims of justice and
Christian charity before all other earthly considerations, and
could not therefore be bound by the secular power to as
sume public offices which were notoriously held by prac
tices of corruption and party favour, 2 nor could they be forced
to support the system of usury and dishonest trade with
which industrial enterprise was generally interwoven. 3
The commune had used its power to enmesh the indi-
1 The first intervention of the Holy See on behalf of the new penitents
was on 16 December, 1221, when Honorius III addressed a letter " Significa-
tum nobis " to the Bishop of Rimini, ordering him to protect the penitents of
Faenza and the neighbourhood against the magistrates. Cf. Sbaralea, Bull.
i. p. 8.
2 Humbert de Romanis, the Master-General of the Friars Preachers, says
the penitents refused " offices to which sin attached". Cf. Sbaralea, Bull. i.
p. 142, note e.
3 Cf. bulls " Significatum est," ui supra: " Nimis patenter," of 25 June,
1227 (Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 30) " Dctestanda," of March, 1228 (ibid. pp. 39-40);
"Nimis patenter," of 5 April, 1231 (ibid. p. 71); " Ne is qui bonis" of 15
March, 1232 (ibid. p. 99) ; " Ut cum majori," of 21 November, 1234 (ibid. p.
142). According to these bulls the penitents were freed from taking oaths
except such as were necessary for the Faith, the Church and the making of
wills ; they were not to be compelled to take part in military service ; nor to
pay the special war-taxes imposed on those who did not bear arms ; nor to
accept public offices, and they were not to be hindered from distributing
their superfluous wealth to the poor.
The penitents, however, did not always refuse to pay the war-tax when it
was for the defence of their country. Thus Blessed Peter of Siena (died 1289)
insisted on paying the war-tax though in view of his being a penitent, the ma
gistrates were unwilling to accept it. " This money," he said, " belongs to
my country when it is needed for its defence " (cf. Wadding, Annales, ad an.
1289).
288 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
vidual in all manner of unchristian practice ; the Church re
plied by withdrawing the individual who aspired to a more
Christian life, from the commune s jurisdiction in the matters
which affected his Christian profession. 1 Thus there arose in
many places a new civic struggle between the partisans of the
established order of feud and rapine and the partisans of the
idea of peace and neighbourly service. Of the eventual de
velopments of the fraternity of penance and how it became the
support of the Papacy in its struggle with the Empire, this is
not the place to tell the story ; we are but concerned with
its origins and its relationship with Francis. As we have seen,
it was in part the creation of Cardinal Ugolino and as
such belongs to the general history of the Holy See in the
thirteenth century ; nevertheless it was a true outcome of
the Franciscan revival of Faith and but for Francis it could
hardly have come into being.
The first penitent congregation was established in Flor
ence, probably at the direct instigation of the Cardinal him
self ; 2 and it is noteworthy as showing the spirit in which the
fraternity was nurtured : for the Florentine penitents at once
established a hospital in which they themselves served the
sick poor. 3 And in fact whatever may have been the political
1 The authority claimed by the Italian commune over the individual left
him but little liberty of action even in the most intimate concerns of personal
life. His private life was regulated by consular decree. His clothes, dwel
ling-place, even the trees he might plant in his garden were thus fixed. As
Emile Gebhardt remarks : " La cite italienne n est, en effet, une ceuvre de
liberte et d egalite qiCen apparence. La communante y surveillc e y entrave
I individu, car les franchises de V association republicaine ont pour garantie V abdi
cation de toute volonte personelle " (U Italic Mystique,^. 21). The ecclesias
tical jurisdiction of the Middle Ages was, at least in the first instance, sup
ported by public opinion as an escape from this secular tyranny.
2 Mariano of Florence says the Florentine congregation was established
on 20 May, 1221. He may have had access to documents in the city archives
which are unknown to us. Of. Bartholi, Tract, de Indulgentia, ed. Sabatier,
Appendice, pp. 160-1 ; Compendium Chron. FF. Min. in Archiv. Franc. Hist.
an. ii. fasc. i. p. 98. Cardinal Ugolino and Francis were in Florence in April,
1221. Of. Rob. Davidsohn, Gescliichte von Florenz, II, Band i. pp. 125-9.
3 Of. Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1221; Sbaralea, Bull. n. p. 293. The
hospital stood first in the piazza of Santa Maria Novella ; it was afterwards
transferred to the Church of San Martino, whence the Florentine penitents
became known as the Brothers and Sisters of San Martino.
THE THIED OEDEE 289
and social influence of the new fraternity of penance, its chief
glory is in that sublime spirit of loving compassion and simple
unworldliness which runs through the story of its beginnings.
A typical Franciscan penitent was Saint Elizabeth of Hun
gary, who had the sick-poor removed from their squalid huts
and conveyed to her castle on the Wartburg, where she
nursed them herself with sisterly care; and who, when re
leased from the cares of State, renounced the pomp and con
ventions of Court life and went to live in a cottage, working
with her hands as the honest poor must work for their bread.
In after years men fondly recited the story how her husband,
the Duke of Thuringia, found red and white roses in her
mantle when he was searching for the bread which he knew
she was secretly carrying to the poor. Those roses are at
least symbolical of the sweet charity which made all her
menial services for the poor a spring of artless joy. And that
same sweet charity lies like a golden haze upon the stories of
all the first Franciscan penitents.
Thus, as an instance, take the story of the merchant
Luchesio, whom tradition says was the first penitent received
into the fraternity. When Francis met him in the spring
of 1221, he was a retired merchant living in exile at Poggibonzi
in Florentine territory, and edifying the neighbourhood by
his charity to the poor and his love of religion. But Lu
chesio had not always been a man of remarkable Christian
habits. In his young days, when he was a successful merchant
at Cagiano in the territory of Siena, he was known as a gay
spirit with ambitions to rise in the world ; and he was not
above paying court to the nobles and the men of influence,
whom he would oblige with his money and delight with his
ready wit. He married a woman of sensibility and beauty,
who shared his ambitions and contributed not a little to his
popularity. People named her Buona Donna the gracious
lady : and this name befitted her through the coming vicis
situdes which were to mark her husband s career.
Luchesio was an ardent politician : he could hardly have
attained to any social consideration if he had not been. Then
with a turn of the wheel fortune went against the Guelphs
19
290 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
and in favour of the Ghibellines, and Luchesio had to flee
for safety into the friendly Florentine town of Poggibonzi.
Adversity and exile chastened his spirit and his thoughts
turned to religion. Thus he was prepared to listen when
Francis came along searching for souls. With the consent of
the faithful Buona Donna, Luchesio now sold his property,
all except four acres of land, and distributed the money to the
poor. Then husband and wife received from Francis the
colourless woollen habit of the penitents. From that time
Luchesio worked his own small farm and lived on its produce.
His house became a hostelry for the poor whom Francis-like
he fed daily before he fed himself. Frequently he would take
long journeys seeking out the sick, and finding them he would
bring them to his house, sometimes putting them upon an
ass, at other times bearing them on his shoulders : and
Buona Donna received and nursed them. On occasions when
the malaria was abroad, Luchesio would journey to stricken
districts even as far as the sea-coast, to distribute medicines
and food. When his own means ran short he went round
questing from his neighbours for the wherewith to feed the
hungry.
Thus in incessant service for the needy and in self-denying
love of God and their neighbour, Luchesio and his wife came
to the life eternal. They had been true companions in life and
they kept their companionship in death. Both fell mortally
sick about the same time. Buona Donna prayed she might
not out-live her husband and her prayer was heard. Luchesio
rose from his bed to assist his wife in her last agony ; then
he returned to bed and died also : "in death they were not
divided " *
1 Cf. Acta SS. Aprilis, torn. in. pp. 594 seq. ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal.
Franc, in. p. 27 ; Wadding, Annales, ad ann. 1213 and 1221.
CHAPTEE VII.
THE FRIARS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL.
AND now, reader, I must ask you to give your attention to
that question of schools for the friars, which brought sorrow
into the life of Francis in his latter years and which has ever
since been a source of controversy amongst those who speak
of him.
Some there are who would have us believe that Francis
was altogether antagonistic to learning and that, if he had
had his way, he would have banned the teaching of the
schools from his fraternity for all time. And, indeed, it is
easy to find words of his which, taken apart from the circum
stances in which they were uttered and from the context of
his life, might well seem to favour this judgment of him.
But of no man were it more misleading so to quote his words.
Francis, be it remembered, was no philosopher given to utter
ing abstract or universal propositions. He was at all times a
man of action dealing directly with the concrete case before
him. And as it happens, most of Francis sayings concern
ing book-learning were uttered in the stress of a struggle for
the maintenance of the very life of the fraternity as he had
founded it : in which struggle the question of scholastic
studies was chiefly advocated by those who lacked sympathy
with the original purpose of the fraternity and looked for in
spiration to the outer world. Had they achieved their
purpose, the fraternity would have been totally transformed
from that which it was designed to be, into something
utterly foreign to its own character and vocation. Francis,
therefore, was in the position of a man who feels himself
bound to guard what has been entrusted to him against
291 19 *
292 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
those who would snatch it from his keeping in order to
pervert it to some traitorous use.
In such circumstances friendly argument with the enemy
at the gate will seem a dangerous approach to disloyalty.
With the demand of some of the brethren that they should
be allowed to make book-studies and attend schools, went
the contention, either openly confessed or implicit, that the
fundamental ideal of poverty must be reconsidered and
brought into closer relationship with what the dissident
brethren considered the greater usefulness of the fraternity ;
and so when the question of studies was brought up, it was
complicated by its connexion with a policy of secular pru
dence which to the soul of Francis meant a betrayal of the
life of Poverty.
To state the truth of the matter at once, Francis did not
anathematize academic study and book-learning as an evil in
itself, but he valued as a supreme treasure of his vocation
that heart-knowledge which is gained in the battle of life
when men are wholly intent upon the achievement of the
cause to which they are consecrated. Any learning other than
this was to him a mere mental luxury and a distraction from
the real business of life, and tended to self-conceit more than
to the service of God.
Now he was convinced that the demand for books and
/ schools which had arisen amongst the brethren had no re
lationship with the vocation to which they were dedicated
but to purposes apart : and in great measure this was but too
true. Had it been otherwise the bitter controversies which
now arose, would never have arisen : for Francis, far from
being indifferent to mental culture, had a native feeling for
it. He gave peculiar reverence to men whose judgments were
weighted with solid learning, and especially to theologians of
the right sort who spoke of religion with understanding and
wisdom : these he declared were lords amongst men and de
serving of homage. 1 It is to be noted, that he was accustomed
1 Of. Testamentum 8. Franc. : " Et omnes tlieologos et qui ministrant verba
divina debemus honorare et venerari sicut qui ministrant nobis spiritum et
vitam ".
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 293
to fill the more responsible offices in the fraternity with learned
brethren. Thus he appointed Peter Cathanii, a doctor of
law, to be his first Vicar-General ; he sent Pacifico, the poet-
laureate, as minister to France ; the two Vicars set to govern
the fraternity during his absence in the East were both men
of parts intellectually ; Brother Elias, as we know, had ac
quired some reputation in the schools of Bologna. Nor was
he himself without mental culture. He had been greatly in
fluenced by the new romantic literature of his time and
made use of the romances of chivalry in his instruction of
the brethren. He emulated too the minstrels of Provence.
At one time he had felt the attraction to more exact studies. 1
Nor is this incident without significance : for once when some
brethren were anxious to study the Scriptures and there was
only one volume at hand, Francis took and divided the leaves
and distributed to each brother a portion, that the brothers
might not have to wait till the whole volume could be passed
round in turn. 2
But where Francis fell foul of many of the schoolmen
who had entered the fraternity, was in his plain disregard for
what we now call the theory of "learning for learning s
sake ". He held that knowledge is to be valued only in rela
tion to character and action. He would say: "As much
knowledge has a man, as he does deeds; and a religious
prays well only inasmuch as he works well : for the doer is
known by his fruits ". 3 And again he would say that " they
who rely upon book-learning in the day of sorrow and battle,
will find their hands empty"; 4 since it is not learning but
the fulfilment of one s duty which makes a man spiritually
strong.
Moreover he held as of little account that preaching which
is based on book-knowledge rather than on spiritual experi
ence. His brethren, he would say, were not called by God to
be orators to tickle the fancy of the audience with elegance
1 Cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 4 : " Ego similiter tentatus fui habere Zi&ros," etc.
2 S. Bonaventure, Epist. de Tribus Qucestionibus, no. 10, in Opera Omnia
(Quaracchi), vol. vm. p. 334 b.
8 Spec. Perfect, cap. 4. *ibid. cap. 70.
294 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
of language and fine conceits, but to be preachers of the
Divine Word. They were to speak God s message. This
message they would learn more truly in prayer and in ponder
ing in the heart upon Divine Truth, than in books. He would
say : " The preacher should first draw in by secret prayer what
he is afterwards to pour out in sacred discourse ; he must rather
grow hot within than utter cold words outwardly ".
It was not by fine words that the people would be con
verted but by the glowing spirit : nor could he repress his
scorn for those brethren who took credit to themselves when
they had delivered some elaborately prepared oration and
gained the people s applause. " Why do you boast of people
converted," he would exclaim, when it is my simple
brethren who have converted them by their prayers?" 1
His indignation with these vain scholars arose partly
from his great reverence for life itself. Life with its
emotions and duties, was too sacred to be their plaything.
Knowledge begotten of life filled him with a sense of awe :
it meant to him a coming into the very presence of God, the
source of all Truth. As showing his singular reverence for
this higher knowledge we must note that he held in great
respect all spoken and written words, since they symbolized
to him this divine self-revelation : which respect was shown
in naive fashion. He would never obliterate a word he had
written, however unnecessary it might be to the sense of his
writing ; and he was accustomed to gather up any scraps of
writing he found on the road and put them aside in reverence.
Once when it was pointed out to him, perhaps not
without sarcastic intention, that the scrap of writing he had
rescued was from some heathen author, he replied that it
mattered not, since the words, whether of heathens or of
other men, all came from the wisdom of God. 2
This intense reverence for the written word showed itself
also in his method of reading : for whenever he came upon a
passage which stimulated his thought, he would read no
further, but closed the book and pondered upon what he had
read that he might not lose aught of a good thing. And that
1 II Celano, 163-4. 2 1 Celano, 82.
THE FKIARS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 295
was how he would have the brethren read. One good book
read thus, he said, was better than a thousand treatises
hurriedly skimmed over. 1
Thus Francis, as you see, was no contemner of reading ;
but he would have the brethren study only what would
strengthen and inflame the heart with the knowledge proper
to their vocation. And he would have them think more with
the heart than with the brain. For life for the Friar Minor,
meant above all else the love of Jesus Christ and of the
world for Christ s sake. Hence he would have it that the
one desirable object of study was Jesus Christ the Lord of
the fraternity. Yet this saying must not be understood in
any narrow sense. Did not the tales of Roland and the Pala
dins stimulate Francis in the service of His Divine Master ?
Whatever touched his heart with a generous impulse spoke
to him of his Lord s life and service, and he took tribute in
the way of knowledge from all the good and noble things he
found upon the earth whether in the deeds of men or in the
existence of other creatures. He found,
" tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
"Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
All told him of the life he thirsted for. Perhaps this very
receptivity of his being to the voices of Nature itself, made
him feel less the need of books than do men of duller intui
tions and slower hearts ; and for this reason perhaps he failed
to appreciate the need which most men have of seeking an
interpretation of their own experience in the writings of
others. But though this may have had some influence upon
his attitude towards the accumulation of books by the brethren,
it was not the ground of his opposition. His real opposition
came from his instinctive perception that in their book-learn
ing, many of the brethren were losing their simplicity of heart
and the pure ideal of their calling : they were setting aside
that heart-knowledge which is gained by spiritual experience
and the fulfilment of one s proper purpose, for the sake of a
mere intellectual satisfaction : and that meant ruin to the
1 II Celano, 102.
296 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
character of the fraternity. Such purely intellectual know
ledge, or knowledge trained upon mere secular purposes, was
what men mostly acquired in the schools, and for this reason
he would say that when a learned man entered the fraternity,
if he wished to be a true Friar Minor, he must in some sort
leave behind him the learning he had gained in the world.
He once expressed his mind concerning the reception of school
men, in this fashion : "I would have a man of letters come
to me with this petition : See, brother, I have lived long in
the world and have never truly known my God. Give me, I
beseech you, a place removed from the turmoil of the world
where I may grieve over my past years, and where, gathering
together the scattered energies of my heart, I may reform my
soul for better things. And he added : " What think you
would the man become who made such a beginning ? Verily
he would go forth to all things with the strength of a lion
unchained. Such a man might at length be confidently as
signed to the true ministry of the Word, because he would
pour forth that which was boiling within him." 1 That
parable strikes the keynote of Francis opposition to aca
demic studies. In the schools men " did not truly know their
God ".
But the brethren who were clamouring to be allowed to
study, saw only in Francis attitude a stern unreasoning op
position to learning. And Francis had not the gift of making
a logical analysis of a situation and of unravelling the tangled
threads of a complexity. Perhaps if he had, the others would
not have understood : they too were encumbered by a mental
horizon beyond which they could not see.
They saw what others, not of the fraternity, were doing,
and felt what they might do if they were as other men. The
Friars Preachers, for example, were studying theology and
opening schools and becoming a power in the Church ; and
why not they ? Very subtly the sense of power was moulding
their thoughts : they were conscious of the power latent in
the fraternity, as a new-born virile nation exults in its energy ;
and they were keen for conquest. It was an intoxication of
1 II Celano, 194.
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 297
the mind and they would gladly use the world s weapons to
subdue the world. And then, many of them felt that fascina
tion for study which was beginning to draw men in their thou
sands to the great centres of learning, such as Bologna and
Salerno. 1 The fraternity, recruited widely from all classes
and conditions, could hardly escape that new enthusiasm for
learning which was sweeping over Christendom.
And a wonderful thing it seemed, that gift of knowledge.
True, the schools were as yet in that early stage in which
memory and fancy are cultivated almost to the exclusion of
the deeper reflective faculty, and when the forms of knowledge
and the art of expression are of more immediate concern than
knowledge itself. Yet even so they seemed to open out an
infinitude of mental liberty and to transform a man as by
magic from the condition of a clod of earth into something
more ethereal. There was an intoxication in the conceit,
which those will forgive who remember in their own case the
fascination of that youthful exercise of the intellect and the
first sadness that comes of the awakening to a deeper reality.
Most of the brethren who came from the schools, now that
the fraternity was becoming a power with the people, had
passed through no deep spiritual experience which would
have sobered their minds and brought grace to their know
ledge : they had but succumbed to the general enthusiasm
which Francis evoked. The learning of the schools was still
an idol of their desire.
Thus between them and Francis there was a gulf of mis
understanding. Each spoke of learning and the study of
books with his heart turned towards a goal different from
that which attracted the other. And that was what Francis
felt. The anxiety for books and schools was a symptom of
a spirit turning away from the truth which he had taught
them and looking towards the outer world in which poverty
had no part. " Wheedled by the evil spirits, these brethren
of mine will depart from the way of holy simplicity and
most high poverty," he cried out. " They will receive monies
1 Bologna, it is said, at this time numbered ten thousand students. Of.
Denifle, Die Universittiten des Mittelalters, i. pp. 135-6.
298 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
and bequests and legacies of all kinds ; they will leave poor
and solitary places and build sumptuous houses for themselves
in boroughs and cities, which will proclaim to men not the
condition of the poor but the pomp of princes and lords of
the world ; with much cunning and human prudence and im
portunity they will seek and procure privileges from the
Church and the Sovereign Pontiffs, not only relaxing but
destroying the purity of the Eule they have promised to
observe and of the life revealed to them by Christ." l
The difficulty became acute over the convent which Peter
Stacia had built at Bologna during Francis absence in the
Bast. That convent was to Francis a symbol of the evil
which the unholy desire for learning would work amongst
the brethren, leading them to set at naught the poverty and
simplicity proper to their vocation. Whether Peter Stacia
had meant to establish a school of theology after the example
of the Dominicans, or whether he intended the brethren at
Bologna to follow the ordinary curriculum of law and arts in
the university, we cannot say. In either case he had acted
openly in defiance of Francis and with manifest disregard for
the original spirit of the fraternity. In uttering his malediction
upon the head of Peter Stacia, Francis had cursed the secular
ambition which was invading the Order. That curse struck
terror into the hearts of many ; the more so because Francis
to the end of his life could never be induced to recall it.
Nevertheless the restless anxiety for study was not stilled.
It was deliberately encouraged by Brother Elias, who even
permitted the lay -brethren to have books for study. And this
seemed to Francis the greater evil; for from the time the
troubles began, he had begun to fasten his faith upon the lay-
brethren as the upholders of the simplicity of the fraternity. 2
1 Legenda Vetus, no. 1, in Opuscules de Critique Historique, torn. i. fasc.
in. pp. 87-8. The passage undoubtedly expresses the actual fears of Francis,
though perhaps in the language of the writer of the legend. Compare with it
II Celano, 69, 157.
2 Of. Spec. Perfect, cap. 72 ; Eccleston [ed. Little], col. xm. p. 88. Elias
pursued a policy of favouring the lay-brothers and attaching them to his
person. They became his chief supporters later on. Cf. Salimbene, loc. cit.
pp. 99-100.
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 299
With mingled indignation and sorrow he therefore one day
listened to a lay-brother novice who came to him to ask
leave to have a psalter. The Vicar-General had already given
him the desired permission, but knowing Francis mind re
garding this matter, the novice was uneasy, and yet he
dearly wanted the psalter to read and study. " Father," he
said, " it would be a great comfort to me to have a psalter,
and the General has allowed it unto me ; nevertheless I would
fain have it with your knowledge and approval." But Francis
met the request with an outburst of pent-up sorrow : " Charles
the Emperor, Eoland and Oliver and all the paladins and
puissant men who were mighty in war, pursuing the heathen
with sore sweat and labour even to the death, achieved a vic
tory worthy of remembrance and at last themselves died in
battle martyrs for the faith of Christ ; but now there are
many who only for the telling of the deeds they did, would
have honour and human praise. Likewise amongst ourselves
there are many who only by reciting and preaching the works
which the saints have done, wish to receive honour and praise."
The novice went away but returned after some days with the
same request. Francis was sitting by the fire. When the
novice had recited his petition, Francis replied somewhat
caustically : " and when you have got the psalter you will
covet and desire a breviary. And when you have got a bre
viary you will sit in a high chair like a great prelate and call
to your brother : bring me my breviary V Then he took a
handful of ashes and in dramatic mockery made as though to
wash his head with the ashes, murmuring meanwhile aloud :
" Me, a breviary ! Me, a breviary ! " The novice shamefacedly
looked on. But afterwards Francis took him more gently
and persuasively : " Brother," he said, " I too have likewise
been tempted to have books, but whilst I was still ignorant of
God s will concerning this matter I took a book wherein were
written the Gospels of the Lord, and I prayed that in the
first opening of the book He would show me His Will ; and
having finished my prayer, in the first opening of the book
this word of the Gospel came to me : To you it is given to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to others
300 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
in parables ." Then after awhile he added meditatively : " So
many there are who are ready to exalt themselves unto know
ledge, that he will be blessed who makes himself barren for
the love of the Lord God ". Not for some months did the
novice again seek to have the psalter, but at last the tempta
tion once more grew strong ; and again he applied to Francis
one day when he was standing near his cell at the Porziuncola.
Francis answered tersely : " Go ; act in this matter as your
minister has told you ". The novice, however, had not gone
many steps when Francis ran after him and bade him come
back to the spot where he had spoken. Then he knelt at the
novice s feet and confessed that he had spoken wrongly against
the Eule : " Brother, I have done wrong," he said, " for who
soever would be a true Friar Minor, must have nothing save
only, as the Eule allows, a tunic and cord and breeches and,
those who need them, shoes ". So ended that incident to the
novice s discomfiture. 1
Matters stood thus between Francis and the brethren,
when in 1221 or 1222 the precise date cannot be fixed
the house of studies at Bologna was reopened, as we have
said, through the intervention of Cardinal Ugolino, 2 who
on the occasion of a visit to Bologna, made a public declara
tion that the house did not belong to the Friars Minor but
to the Holy See, and that the brethren had but the simple
use of it. The declaration was designed to meet Francis
scruples on the point of poverty. It may be doubted whether
he was altogether consenting to this arrangement ; but the
essential principle of non-ownership being conceded, he made
no further opposition to the friars returning there.
The Cardinal had undoubtedly come to the conclusion
that it was in the interest of the Church that the Friars
Minor should study theology and have theological schools.
There were several reasons for such a step. Men of heroic
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 4 ; II Celano, 195.
2 Ugolino was at Bologna in July, August, and October of 1221. Cf . Guido
Levi, Registri, pp. 24, 38, 108, 121. He was still in Northern Italy in the
beginning of 1222, and may have visited Bologna that year also, although
there is no record of such a visit. Cf. supra, p. 266.
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 301
sanctity and high spiritual enlightenment, such as Francis
and some others in the fraternity, might perhaps do well
as preachers without scholastic training ; but not all the
brethren, nor by far the greater part, were of such ex
ceptional spirituality. And in any case, even if they had
been, circumstances now were different. In the beginning
and until lately, the preaching of the brethren had been
confined to the preaching "of penance," that is, of right
Christian conduct : they had not been called upon to expound
the dogmas of faith. But in view of the spread of heresy
the Cardinal meant to extend the scope of the friars preach
ing so as to instruct the people in the Faith and combat the
heretics. But for this, theological training would be neces
sary. Already the Church was suffering from itinerant
preachers who, in sheer ignorance of Catholic theology,
preached heresy. 1
But the Cardinal had a yet further purpose. One of the
crying needs of the day was for theological schools for the train
ing of the clergy. In the universities theology was either ex
cluded from the course of studies or it was expounded on purely
speculative principles which led to all manner of heresies. The
Aristotelean philosophy seemed to be regarded as of higher au
thority than the Fathers of the Church in the interpreting of
Holy Scripture. 2 Even in the monastic schools the studies
were mostly concerned with law and medicine to the neglect of
Scripture and theology. 3 The Holy See had endeavoured to
remedy the evil by ordaining the establishment of Church
schools ; but the ordinance had remained largely a dead
letter owing to the lack of competent masters. 4 The Do
minicans had from the beginning taken the matter in hand
with immediate success, and Cardinal Ugolino looked to the
1 Vide e.g. the Constitution of Odo, Bishop of Paris, concerning ignorant
preachers. Harduin, Ada Condi, vi. p. 1945, no. 41.
2 The doctrines of Amaury de Bena and David de Dinant had been but
recently solemnly condemned, and in consequence the reading of Aristotle,
whether in public or private, was forbidden (cf. Denifle-Chatelain, Chartul.
Universit. Paris, i. no. 11, p. 70 ; no. 12, p. 71 ; no. 22, p. 81).
3 Cf. Denifle-Chatelain, loc. cit. no. 32, p. 90.
4 Cf. Denifle, Die Universitaten, i. p. 708A.
302 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
Friars Minor to do the same. The reopening of the house
at Bologna was preliminary to inducing Francis to consent
to the opening of a theological school for the brethren.
From the summer of 1222 and throughout the following
year it is evident that Francis had Bologna much in mind.
On the feast of the Assumption, 1222, he was in the city and
preached one of his unforgettable sermons in the great piazza
before a vast crowd of citizens and students; and to the
students it seemed a wonderful thing that a man unversed in
the arts of the schools, should plunge so easily into the mys
teries of religion and carry his audience along untrodden
paths of thought as one at home there. Many of the students
saw him for the first time, and they looked upon a small
emaciated man in a patched unkempt garment, whose out
ward appearance was in strange contrast to his warm graceful
eloquence as he discoursed to them on the duties and respon
sibilities of men who share with angels and devils the gift of
reason. 1 Again, a little before Christmas, the city was
startled by a letter which Francis had written to the brethren
and which he ordered them to read in all the schools of the
city. In it he foretold the great earthquake which shook all
Lombardy on Christmas Day and for many days afterwards,
and was remembered with terror in the years to come. 2 Yet
again he was at Bologna in the following April, when he
preached to the people and predicted another earthquake
which happened on the Good Friday. 3
1 Thomas of Spalatro, at the time a student at Bologna, has left a vivid
pen-picture of Francis appearance on this occasion. Of. Historia Pontificwn
Salanitanorum et Spalatinorum, edited by Heinemann in Hon. Germ. Hist.
Script, xxix. p. 580. Sigonius (De Episcopus Bonon. Opera Omnia, in. col.
432) took liberties with the text of Thomas of Spalatro and added the date
1220 : and this date was accepted by later writers. But Heinemann, makes it
clear that this sermon was preached in the same year as the great earthquake at
Brescia, which occurred on 25 December, 1222. Computing the year by the
most common method, from 25 March, this places the sermon on 15 August,
1222 ; and this is the date now generally accepted. Of. Golubovich, op. cit.
p. 98 ; Boehmer, Analekten, p. 106.
2 Eccleston [ed. Little], col. vi. p. 40. Cf. Muratori, Annali d Italia,
ad an. 1222.
3 Cf . Fr. Barthol. della Pugliola, Chron. di Bologna, in Muratori, Rerum
Ital. Script, xviu. col. 254.
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 303
It is not unlikely that these visits to Bologna had some
reference to the establishment of a theological school such as
Cardinal Ugolino desired. At any rate the predestined man
had now appeared in this very province of the Romagna, who
was to bring this difficult question to some sort of solution.
He was Brother Anthony, afterwards to be known as Saint
Anthony of Padua. 1
Anthony s appearance in history is somewhat in the
nature of a romance, as is frequently the case with men of
magnetic personality. He had become a Friar Minor, as we
have seen, at the shrine of the martyred friars of Morocco in
the church of the Canons Eegular at Coimbra. His one desire
then was to preach the Faith to the infidels and perhaps be
martyred in the cause. But shipwreck and sickness brought
him to Italy just before the time of the General Chapter of
1221 and he had found his way to the Chapter in the com
pany of other friars. But when the brethren were dispersing
to their provinces Anthony, an unknown friar and of a retir
ing disposition, was nearly being passed over when Gratiano,
the Minister-Provincial of Lombardy, invited him to join that
province. As a priest he would be useful, Gratiano thought,
to say Mass for the brethren in some solitary hermitage. So
Anthony was sent to San Paolo in the mountains near Forli
in the Romagna. There he gave himself to solitary prayer
and to menial services amongst the brethren. No one sus
pected his wide rea ding of theology or his talent for
preaching.
Gratiano and the friars in fact thought him a simple man
with just enough knowledge of Latin to enable him to say
1 Concerning -Anthony of Padua, cf. Vita Primitiva, ed. Hilaire de Paris;
also another version of the same legend in Portugallice Mon. Hist. Script, vol.
i. ; yet another version edited by Josa, Legenda sen Vita et miracula sancti An-
tonii (Bologna, 1883). Cf. Rigaldi, Vita B. Antonii, ed. by d Auraules ; Chron.
xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc. III. p. 121 seq. ; Kerval, S. Ant. de Padua, Vita
duce.
For a critical examination of these early sources cf . Lepitre, Saint Antoine
de Padoue (Paris, 1901) ; Holland, Acta SS. Junii, die 13 ; P. Niccolo dal-Gal,
S. Antonio di Padova (Quaracchi, 1907); Hilarin de Lucerne, Histoire
des Etudes, p. 139 seq.
304 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
Mass. But some months afterwards there was an ordination
of priests at Forli and the brethren of San Paolo were bidden
to be present. The brethren were all assembled in the house
of the Order at Forli for their evening meal, with some
Dominican friars as their guests ; and after the collation the
Guardian asked one of the Dominicans to address the com
munity upon divine things. But not one of the guests would
consent. Thereupon Anthony was ordered to speak in simple
words as God should inspire him. He too excused himself,
but the Guardian insisted. Then upon obedience he rose up
and spoke and to their amazement the assembled brethren
discovered they had harboured a genius in the guise of a
simpleton.
Anthony was now torn, much against his will, from the
retreat of San Paolo, and within a short while the people of
the Romagna were awake to the new preacher who had risen
suddenly amongst them.
There was that about Anthony which made his preaching
distinctive. He had all the moral fervour of a penitential
preacher ; but to the heart aflame he added a clear argumen
tative intellect and a memory well stocked with the lore of
Scripture and the Fathers of the Church. That was indeed
what those people in the Romagna needed in the way of
preaching. Nowhere had the heretics gained ground more
surely than in that province, and religion had taken an argu
mentative turn because of them.
The Cathari, who denied the authority of the Church and
the validity of the sacraments and who held to the creed that
the creation was in part of evil origin, were to be found every
where, making adherents and bringing doubt into the minds
of the people. For their authority they appealed to the Scrip
tures, the texts of which they expounded by that subjective
method which was in vogue both amongst orthodox and un
orthodox and which allows its disciples a free play of opinion
or fancy in the interpretation : and so the Cathari were able
to read their own tenets into any Scripture passage they chose,
and to pass off their own tenets as the inspired word of Holy
Writ. In fact they claimed to read anew the Scriptures in
THE|FBIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 305
the light of enlightened reason. 1 Anthony, on the other
hand, had mastered the Scriptures in the light of the Catholic
instinct and patristic teaching. As he arrayed his texts they
shone with the accumulated wisdom of the saintly Catholic
teachers of the past : but the wisdom had become his own
in his long meditative vigils and rapt spiritual experience.
And so as he poured out the traditional teaching of those
who had gone before him, it palpitated with the living con
viction of his own heart. Strangely enough, seeing that he
was regarded as "the hammer of heretics," his sermons
were not of a controversial character : they might have been
preached before a community of orthodox monks as appro
priately as before a crowd in the cathedral or market-place. 2
As we have them in writing, they are discourses on the spiri
tual life rather than expositions of Catholic teaching meant to
combat heretical views.
He was indeed of the race of the mystics and not of the
dialecticians. His argument was fashioned not to display a
logical consistency or inconsistency, but to convey some felt
truth of the inner life, or some experience of faith. And after
all, whether for the confuting of unbelievers or the confirm
ing of believers, it is this manner of argument which sways
the world.
Such was the friar whose eloquence had set the Eomagna
astir. Already at this time when Francis was preaching at
Bologna, people were telling the story how at Kimini, where
Cathari and Ghibellines had long made mockery of the
Church and would not listen to the new preacher, Anthony
had bidden them follow him to the sea-shore ; and how when
they came there, he had called to the fishes to hear the word
of God; and how at his call the surface of the sea moved
1 Of. Felice Tocco, U Eresia nel Media Evo, pp. 128-9 : " I perfetti cathari
parevano animati da una fede pih razionale et pi-ii studiosi dei sacri testi ".
One finds a similar instance of this style of interpretation amongst the Chris
tian Scientists of to-day.
2 Vide Opera Omnia S. Antonii, ed. de la Haye (Parisiis, 1641), mostly a
collection of sermons. Doubtless as they are written we have but the schema
of his sermons ; and in the actual delivery he may have made local applica
tions which are not embodied in the text.
20
306 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
with the fish who rose up to listen whilst he preached. 1 But
Anthony s miracles and he was a singular wonder-worker
were but another form of his preaching, that is, an argu
ment of the faith which was in him. Francis must have
heard of the doings of this newly-known disciple who to the
brethren seemed himself the greatest of his miracles ; for
never, they thought, had there been such a combination of
learning and simple faith, of the majestic power of eloquence
with such utter self-effacement.
Here then was the theologian after Francis own heart.
Later on when Anthony was appointed to teach theology,
Francis addressed a letter to him beginning: "Brother
Anthony, my bishop : " it was a compliment which came
from the heart and from i the glad reverence with which he
welcomed him.
Anthony s appointment as lector of theology at Bologna
was made probably during the winter of 1223. Francis then
wrote to him : "It pleases me that you should read sacred
theology to the brethren so long as on account of this study
they do not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer as is
ordained in the Rule". 2
In after years there was a persistent tradition that before
taking up the lectorship at Bologna, Anthony went to
Vercelli the better to fit himself by study for the task
imposed upon him. That city was the seat of a new theo
logical school recently established in the abbey of San
Andrea. Thomas G-allo, who presided over the abbey school,
was, as all the world knows, a man of high repute amongst
1 Rigaldas (op. cit. p. 89) says this miracle occurred near Padua ; but see
Lepitre, cap. 4, Engl. transl. p. 62 seq.
2 Of. Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 132; II Celano, 163. The
exact reading of this letter has been a matter of doubt ; hence the Quaracchi
editors put it amongst the doubtful writings of St. Francis in their edition of
the Opuscula (p. 179) ; so also does Boehmer, Analekten, p. 71 : but both
regard the substance as authentic. The discovery of a copy of the letter in
MS. de Leignitz seems, however, to put the authentic^ beyond doubt. Cf.
Opuscules de Critique Hist. torn. i. p. 76. The reference in the letter to the
Rule proves that it was written after the promulgation of the Rule of 1223, as
the words : " Sanctce orationis spiritum non extinguant " are a quotation from
the fifth chapter of that Rule.
THE FKIAKS ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 307
the learned theologians of his day. He was a disciple of the
theological school of St. Victor in Paris, and himself the
author of an exposition of the writings attributed to Denis
the Areopagite. Whether Anthony, however, actually studied
at Vercelli is doubtful ; but this is certain, that he knew the
master of the school and was on terms of friendship with
him: for Gallo himself has written: "Many have pene
trated into the secrets of the most holy Trinity, as I myself
know by experience of Anthony of the Order of Minors in
the friendly intercourse I had with him. He was but little
versed in secular arts yet in a short while he became so con
versant with mystical theology that aflame inwardly with
heavenly love he outwardly shone with sacred knowledge." l
No other testimony is needed to explain why Francis con
sented to Anthony teaching theology. If theology had to be
taught, Anthony was the predestined teacher after Francis
own heart.
And no mere accident was it that drew Anthony into
friendship with Thomas Gallo, but rather an affinity of spirit.
The Victorine school of theology was mystical rather than
dialectical. Though it did not ignore the speculative the
ology then coming into vogue, yet it subordinated this
new method of thought to the positive teaching of the
Fathers of the Church, and sought for the vision of truth
rather than for its analysis. 2
The mystic of all ages has held that life itself cannot
be adequately measured by the mere logical faculty of the
mind but only by the intuition of the whole personality when
attuned to the truth by moral as well as mental discipline.
With the purely dialectical school of theology the pure
Franciscan spirit could never have come to terms : too wide
a "gulf separated this school of cold reasoning from the heart-
governed temperament of the true sons of Poverty. In
1 E. Salvagnini, S. Antonio di Padova e i suoi tempi (Torino, 1887), p. 93.
The author discovered this passage in an unedited manuscript of Gallo in the
Turin Library. Another version is given in MS. de Leignitz, loc. cit. p. 76 ;
Glassberger, Anal. Franc, n. p. 34 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in.
p. 131.
2 Cf. Hugon. de S. Viet, in Migne, Bibliotheca, torn. CLXXV.-CLXXVII.
20*
308 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
purely academic learning the soul of the Franciscan must
ever be a stranger ; its affinity is with the realities of life in
which the whole spirit of man and not merely the intellect,
grows and gains its liberty.
Much the same spirit urged the disciples of the school of
St. Victor in their intellectual life. They sought for know
ledge by the exercise of all the spiritual faculties : not only
must a man read ; he must work and pray. And out of the
experience of life, knowledge would come, and the highest
knowledge might be gained only in the highest experience,
namely, the intimate union of the creature with God. In
other words these mystics held that experience and love are
the springs whence alone true knowledge can be drawn : to
the logical faculty they gave but the subordinate function of
arranging and formulating the knowledge thus acquired. In
the Holy Scriptures and in the teaching of the Fathers of
the Church they looked for the witness of that spiritual
experience which is conserved in the Catholic Church by the
Divine Spirit dwelling therein : but they held that this wit
ness can be adequately apprehended only by the believing
soul inflamed with love of the truth revealed.
With these mystical schools the Franciscan spirit was, as
we have said, akin ; and thither it might safely go to seek its
mental stimulus and discipline, provided the friar kept in view
just one point of difference between the learning desirable for
a Friar Minor and that of the established schools. The differ
ence was this. The Friar Minor was by vocation a missionary
and apostle ; he was set to bring the Gospel to the people either
by word or by example. Even the mystic may become one
of a class apart from the multitude of men in their spiritual
life and wander into some by-path where the common ele
mental experiences of men raise no call for sympathy or con
sideration. But to the mind of Francis, the Friars Minor must
always keep a hold of the hand of all humankind in its striving
after the spiritual life : they must form no aristocracy even in
their sacred studies but keep intact their moral fellowship with
the ignorant and unlearned. In their sermons and discourses
they must speak simply and briefly so that the poorest and
THE FEIAES ESTABLISH A SCHOOL 309
most ignorant people might understand and derive profit. 1
Moreover the most learned brother must be willing and able
to set aside his learning and serve men, when need be, in com
mon and menial service. Study, however sacred, must never
displace that life of Poverty which implied a sympathetic
understanding of the life of the poor whether spiritual, mental
or material. These truths Francis insistently urged upon the
learned brethren. Thus one day when a brother was cutting
his tonsure, Francis bade him be careful to cut only a small
tonsure, "for," he said, "I wish that my simple brethren
should have a share in my head ". 2 It was a warning to the
brethren who were clerics that they must be such that the
unlearned as well as the learned should be at home with
them.
To the end Francis watched the formation of schools for
the brethren with some trepidation of spirit. For Anthony
and such as he, there was no cause to fear ; but for the many
others he feared lest the love of study should cause them to
lose the simplicity of spirit which belonged to their vocation.
Of the later story of the Franciscan schools and their
great influence on the development of thought in the thir
teenth and fourteenth centuries, this is not the place to
speak. Only here we will remark that their best influence
was due to Francis persistency that intellectual studies should
be subordinated to life itself and in no way lead them astray
from the vocation which they had vowed. It was this which
gave to the Franciscan schoolmen a certain marked in
dividuality of thought and to the Franciscan preachers their
peculiar power with the people : and that will be the justi
fication of Francis in his opposition to Peter Stacia and his
kind.
1 Regula ii. cap. ix. 3 II Celano, 193.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE TRIAL OF FRANCIS.
THE two years immediately following the General Chapter
of 1221 may well be described as the agony of Francis.
Like thunderclouds the troubles about the Eule descended
r ^V} Coupon his spirit, oppressing him with forebodings and weari
ness and despondency.
This was indeed the great trial of his faith in the Order
he had founded, and even in the vocation in which he had
led the brethren. In the early days his faith had been tested
by the allurements and mockery of the world he had left ; but
then he had found in the trial the stimulating joy of a newly
found love and loyalty. The future had lain before him as a
caressing vision of hope and liberty ; and as the years grew
upon each other, this vision had justified itself in the forma
tion of the fraternity and the beauteous lives of many
brethren : and ever at the heart of Francis there was the
deepening sense of joy until that doubt concerning the
wisdom of his teaching had entered into the fraternity.
Then there came to Francis that vital pain which can
\\ come only to a man from the contradiction of the people he
ihas nurtured and loved as his own life. The lightness and
buoyancy seemed now to have passed from his spirit and a
new note entered into his utterances. He was no longer the
leader full of the thrilling assurance of victory and the loyalty
of his own following, whose words glow with confidence even
when rebuking. He became as one bearing witness against
betrayal and disloyalty.
To this soreness of spirit was added an increasing physi
cal weakness and pain. He had returned from the East,
broken in health, and the disease which within a few years
310
THE TKIAL OF FRANCIS 311
was to end his life was already making life a torture. 1 But
the physical pain he could have borne blithely enough: it
was the mental suffering which brought black night into his
soul. Hitherto he had seen so clearly the purpose of God
in the formation of the fraternity ; now it was as though
God were withdrawing His guiding Hand and the powers of
evil were let loose.
The immediate effect upon Francis himself was a certain
restriction of that liberty of soul which had hitherto been so
distinctive a trait of his character. He became acutely fearful
of evil and wrongdoing. The Gospel liberty which he cher-
rished as a condition of the service of love, he now saw beset
with dangers from the incursion of a worldliness of mind
which only too readily would wrest this liberty to the destruc
tion of the Rule.
This haunting dread of evil now tinged his words and
personal conduct with a harshness really foreign to his own
spirit. Thus in the earlier days he had allowed the brethren
to receive money in cases of necessity for the relief of the
lepers ; now he began to discourage this liberty, seeing how
many of the brethren had not a firm faith in absolute poverty. 2
So too in his teaching concerning obedience a change is per
ceptible. Hitherto he had asked of the brethren an obedience
founded in mutual charity, a submission to each other and
to all men, warmed and transfused with the impelling activity
of love. Now this jubilant note of self -submission is lacking.
The obedient brother he likens to a corpse without will of
its own, moved hither and thither by the will of others. 3
The emphasis is laid on the submission rather than on the
charity which impels to submission.
Another instance of the change which had come over
Francis was in his relations with the sisters at San Damiano.
Regarding them as members of the fraternity of Poverty, he
had for them a chivalrous affection as pure and detached
from any earthliness as it was sincere. He was to them a
1 Of. Spec. Perfect, cap. 91.
2 Of. II Celano, 68. The permission is retained in the Rule of 1221, but
not in that of 1223.
3 II Celano, 152 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 48.
312 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
gentle knight, succouring them in their needs and supporting
them with his courage and counsel in the high path of their
vocation. Between him and them there was the exalted
intercourse of souls too utterly absorbed in a vision beyond
themselves to entertain any lesser desire. So it had been
since Clare first entered the brotherhood, and no thought that
evil might come to others from this wise and noble inter
course, had darkened the soul of Francis. But now he was
troubled lest in this too others might wrest the liberty of the
children of God to their own spiritual harm.
He ceased therefore to visit the sisters. And it might
easily have come about at this time that the sisters would
have been entirely separated from the fraternity and left
without the direction of the brethren even in spiritual matters
had not Clare herself intervened to save the situation. With
a woman s instinct she divined the trouble in Francis mind
and its probable consequences to herself and the sisters, and
with a woman s courage she set herself to defend Francis
against himself. Through some of the brethren she protested
against his self-imposed estrangement from San Damiano,
setting forth that it was a betrayal of his promised care of
them. In his pain Francis replied to those who brought the
protest : " Think not, dear brethren, that I do not love them
perfectly ; for if it were a fault to cherish them in Christ, was
it not a greater fault to have united them to Christ ? And
indeed it had been no wrong not to call them, but not to care
for them when called were the utmost unkindness. But I am
giving you an example, that as I am doing, so also should
you do." In the end he was prevailed upon to visit the
sisters and to preach to them. Yet even then the trouble was
present : for whilst the sisters were waiting upon his words,
he took some ashes and sprinkling them upon the ground
around him and upon his head, he recited the psalm Miserere
and immediately took his departure. But some say that
Clare did not rest until she persuaded Francis to dine with her
and some of the sisters in proof of his fatherly care for them. 1
1 Vide II Celano, 205-7 : The incident recorded in Actus, cap. 15, and
Fioretti, cap. 15, should probably be read in conjunction with the passages
THE TEIAL OF FKANCIS 313
In his distress Francis now frequently withdrew from the
larger company of the brethren and betook himself to secluded
hermitages, where in solitary prayer he wrestled with the evil
which had come upon him and the fraternity. 1 At times
when reports were brought to him of brethren who were de
parting from the proper ways of the fraternity he would break
out into bitter lamentation. Such reports were like the touch
of a coarse hand to his raw spirit. Thus hearing one day that
certain brethren were growing long beards out of a love of
novelty, and it would seem to impress the people with an
appearance of austerity, he uttered this cry to heaven: "O
Lord Jesus Christ Who didst choose Apostles twelve in num
ber, and though one of them fell, yet did the others cleave to
Thee and, filled with one spirit, did preach the holy Gospel :
Thou, Lord, in this last hour, remembering Thy mercy of
old, didst plant the religion of the brethren to be a prop to
Thy Faith, that through them the mystery of Thy Gospel
might be fulfilled. Who then shall make satisfaction for
them before Thee, if they not only do not set examples of
light to all men, for which purpose they were sent, but rather
show forth the works of darkness ? By Thee most holy Lord
and by all the heavenly court, and by me thy poor little one,
let them be cursed who by their evil example put to shame
and destroy what Thou hast built up hitherto by the holy
brethren of this Order and dost not cease to build up." 2 Of
others he bitingly exclaimed : " These sons of a father who
was a beggar, will not be ashamed some day to wear the scarlet
cloth of gallants with only a change of colour ". 3
Yet it must not be thought that these traitorous brethren
cited from Celano. Doubtless the author of the Actus has embellished the
story, but on general principles (vide infra, p. 441) we must accept the fact that
Francis dined with Clare in token of the amity between them.
1 II Celano, 157.
2 II Celano, 156. Eccleston says that after the Chapter at which John
Parent! was elected Minister-General, Brother Elias retired to a hermitage and
allowed his hair and beard to grow, and that by this pretence of sanctity
(simulatio sanctitatis) he regained the good-will of che brethren (cf. ed. Little,
p. 81).
3 II Celano, 69 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 15. In I Celano, 16, the same phrase
is used referring to Francis in hi.s youth : " qui quondam scarulaticis utebatur ".
314 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
represented the whole fraternity, or that the dissident ministers
carried with them all the brethren. Could the difficulty have
been settled by an appeal to the loyalty of the brethren to the
person of Francis, undoubtedly the greater number in the
fraternity would have rallied to his side. But between Francis
and the brethren there was now a legally organized system
of government and many of the chief offices were in the
hands of dissident ministers, at least in Italy ; and these were
the more worldly-wise amongst the brethren and in their
worldly wisdom lay their power. They too had their following.
Amongst those who adhered to Francis and the primi
tive ways, were some who blamed him for not dealing more
cavalierly with his opponents : if Francis would only take the
reins of government into his own hands and depose the dissi
dent ministers, all would be well. Sometimes they would
come to him and upbraid him for casting into strange hands
the care of the fraternity. But Francis had gauged the situa
tion better than they and he knew himself. To one who thus
upbraided him he replied : " My son, I love the brethren as far
as I can, but if they would follow in my ways I would indeed
love them more, nor would I make myself a stranger unto
them. But some there are amongst the superiors who draw
them other ways, proposing to them the example of the
ancients and esteeming my counsels but little ; but in the end
it will appear more clearly what they do and in what manner
they are doing it . " l Francis preferred wisely to let the recalci
trant ministers have their way for awhile, trusting that in the
end their opposition would defeat itself by manifesting clearly
its inherent worldliness. At another time when he was again
urged to depose certain ministers who were clinging to office
and abusing their trust, he answered : " Let them live as they
like, for the damnation of a few is of lesser moment than the
loss of many ". 2
For things eventually came to this pass that very easily
might a schism have occurred in the fraternity. The line
taken by the dissident ministers had brought about a
cleavage of feeling and the brethren were now morally
1 II Celano, 188 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 41. 2 ibid,
THE TEIAL OF FRANCIS 315
divided into two camps : those who stood by the primitive
observance and those who favoured a more secular policy.
Moreover, in the general disturbance there were some who
lost all idea of subordination to authority and went their
own individual ways in defiance of their superiors. 1 Nor was
there now that union of heart amongst the brethren which
in earlier days had made poverty joyous and lightsome.
Quarrels and angry words were no longer unknown and there
was a tendency to take life easily and to shirk labour. 2
Undoubtedly the vast increase in the number of the breth
ren had much to do with this laxity of discipline. In such
a multitude as they now were, it were impossible but that many
would be drawn to the Order by the prevalent enthusiasm of the
moment rather than by any real purpose of self-renunciation.
The Order had become popular, which is always a danger
to any religious society. Francis himself recognized the
difficulty. "Would that there were fewer Friars Minor ! "
he once exclaimed, " and that the world seeing a Friar Minor
but rarely should wonder at their fewness." 3 And yet he had
felt constrained to open wide the door of the fraternity as
Christ had opened wide the door of His Church.
This laxity of discipline on the part of some tended to
complicate the issue between Francis and the ministers : it
gave colour to the plea that the idealism of the Rule was too
heroic for ordinary mortals and was an evidence to the ancient
Rules which could be more easily enforced.
Never did the real strength of Francis show itself more
splendidly than in the situation thus created. A weaker, less
temperate man would have taken one of two lines of action.
Either in despair of his own idealism he would have sur
rendered or he would have so set himself in opposition as to
have produced a schism or even the total disruption of the
fraternity. Francis did neither. Dear to him above all else
J Cf. II Celano, 32; Conformit,, in Anal. Franc, iv. pp. 432-3. On 18
Dec. 1223, Honorius III issued the bull: " Fratrum Minorum," excommuni
cating those who left the fraternity (Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 19).
2 Of. Spec. Perfect, cap. 52 ; Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 445.
3 II Celano,l70.
316 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
was the vocation of Poverty ; but as part of this supreme affec
tion was his love of the brotherhood which he held to be the
God-designed witness on earth to the Poverty he worshipped :
and right loyally he strove by prayer and example and exhorta
tion to keep it intact. True, if it could not be maintained in
honourable fidelity to the evangelical observances of Poverty,
he would rather that it were not maintained at all. And
there were times when it seemed to him that it would come
to this that the faithful servitors of the Eule would be driven
from the community and be forced to seek the life of Poverty
in secluded hermitages away in the forests and wildernesses. 1
In dread of this ultimate evil overtaking the Order, he
made it known that should the body of the fraternity abandon
the path of Poverty, the brethren who purposed to remain
faithful might with his sanction and blessing separate from
the faithless community and go and dwell apart. Thus a
German friar once came to him with this petition : " If in my
days the brethren turn aside from the pure observance of the
Kule as thou, speaking by the Holy Ghost, hast foretold, give
me thy command that I, alone or together with other brothers
who wish to observe the Rule purely, shall draw apart from
those who do not observe it ". Francis listened with great joy ;
then blessed the brother, saying : " By Christ and by me, what
you ask is granted you ; " and placing his right hand on the
other s head he added : " Thou art a priest for ever according
to the order of Melchisedeck ". 2
It is said that in his final Rule of 1223 he wished to insert
a clause granting a like liberty to all the brethren in similar
circumstances. 3
But this liberty had reference to that ultimate calamity
when the brethren should find their allegiance to the com
munity a betrayal of the allegiance they owed the Rule. In
such a situation Francis recognized but one honourable duty,
allegiance to the Rule they had vowed. But short of this
final calamity Francis counselled patience. Some there were
amongst the more faithful brethren who would at once have
1 Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 428.
"Legcnda Vetus, cap. 3, in Opuscules, p. 96. 3 Vide infra, p. 323.
THE TEIAL OF FEANCIS 317
separated from the party of the ministers and thus have
broken up the fraternity. But to this suggestion Francis
would not listen. Better, as long as may be, to suffer perse
cution at the hands of the ministers for justice sake : for he
yet trusted that by this patient suffering the whole fraternity
would be purified and brought back to its proper allegiance.
So for the guidance of these suffering brethren he had this
" admonition" written down : "If a prelate command a sub
ject anything against his soul, it is lawful for the subject not
to obey him, nevertheless the subject must not cast the pre
late off; and if in consequence the subject suffer persecution
from some, let him love them the more. For he who would
rather endure persecution than wish to be separated from his
brethren, truly abides in perfect obedience, since he lays
down his life for the brothers." And knowing that there
were some who would gladly separate, not so much for the
sake of the better observance of the Eule but to follow their
own will, he added : " For there are many religious who under
the pretext of seeking better things than those commanded
by their superiors, look back and return to the vomit of their
own will. These are homicides and by their bad example
cause the loss of many souls." 1
As for himself, faithful to the vision of the Lord Christ,
which was the light of his life, he met the opposition of the
ministers and the unspiritual tendencies which were showing
themselves amongst the brethren, with the same exalted
patience and courageous meekness to which he exhorted
i Admonitio III in Opuscula, p. 7. Both in the Rule of 1221 and that of
1223 Francis inserted a regulation ordering the brethren who could not observe
the Rule spiritually to have recourse to their ministers. " The ministers are
to receive them kindly and charitably," etc. (Reg. 1223, cap. x.). This regula
tion evidently refers to those who need a greater liberty in the observance of
the Rule, following as it does upon the command that the brethren obey their
superiors " in all things they have promised the Lord to observe and which
are not against their soul or our Rule ".
Fr. Paschal Robinson in his translation of the Rule (vide The Writ
ings of St. Francis, p. 72) has inserted in brackets " the culprits," as though
those having recourse had committed some fault ; whereas the brethren hav
ing recourse as implied in this chapter of the Rule are the brethren desirous
of more perfect observance. Of. Conformit. in Anal. Franc, pp. 422-3.
318 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
others. When urged to use his legal authority and force
observance of the Rule by penalties, he replied: "I am not
minded to become an executioner to punish and scourge them
like magistrates of this world : my office is spiritual only,
namely to overcome their vices and spiritually to correct them
by my words and example "^
At times indeed the native instinct of domination which in
early years had made him aspire to be captain of a following,
would assert itself, as when on an occasion he cried out :
" If I come to the Chapter I will show them of what kind
my will is ". 2 But always he corrected himself by recalling
the humility and meekness proper to a Friar Minor ; as in
this picture he drew of his proper conduct at the Chapter. " It
seemeth to me," he said to his companion, " that I am not a
true Friar Minor save I be in the state I will tell you. Be
hold the brethren with great devotion invite me to the Chap
ter, and moved by their devotion I go to the Chapter with
them. And when they are gathered together they beseech me
to announce the Word of God unto them and preach among
them. And rising up I preach to them as the Holy Spirit shall
have taught me. Now suppose when the preaching is ended
that all cry out against me : We will not have you reign over
us ; for you are not eloquent as is befitting, and you are too
simple and unlearned and we are sore ashamed to have such
a superior over us, so simple and despised : wherefore do not
presume to be called our superior. And so they cast me out
with contumely and disgrace. It seems to me I am no Friar
Minor if I do not rejoice when they hold me of no account
and cast me out with shame." 3
Thus he would keep himself fast in the spirit of the vo
cation he had vowed. Not as the lords of the earth but as
the suffering Christ, would he overcome the evil which had
arisen up against him.
At the Pentecost Chapter of 1223 the question of a revised
Rule was again discussed. 4 Not unlikely Cardinal Ugolino
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 71 ; Scripta Fr. Leonis, loc. cit. p. 97.
2 II Celano, 188 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 41. 3 Spec. Perfect, cap. 64.
4 Cf. Epistola in. " Ad quemdam Ministrum," in Opuscula, p, 109 seq. This
letter was evidently written in 1223; it alludes to "chapters in the Bule
THE TEIAL OF FEANCIS 319
had persuaded Francis of the necessity of recasting the Eule
with a view to obtaining the final and solemn approbation of
the Holy See. It was becoming more and more urgent that
the fraternity should have a Eule weighted with an authority
none of the brethren could call in question.
True, Innocent III had sanctioned the original Eule ; but
his verbal approval in its very nature left the Eule in a transi
tional stage, and gave the brethren a legitimate freedom to
modify or extend its provisions as experience should require,
and subject to ecclesiastical authority to alter its character.
That fact the learned ministers, experts in canon law, knew
full well. Moreover, as it stood with its many additional re
gulations, the Eule could hardly claim to have received Papal
sanction. Its authority therefore was a matter of doubt and
debate, and the fraternity was consequently without a final
legal appeal within itself. It had been different in the earlier
years when the brethren had accepted the word of Francis in
unquestioning faith ; but the governance by faith had now in
large measure given place to the governance by law, and it
was the more needful that the Eule should be definitely de
fined by the highest authority in the Church.
But from a legal point of view the Eule of 1221 was open
to objection. It was too diffuse a document, a patchwork,
as we have seen, of the original Eule and capitular decrees
and papal enactments and of lengthy admonitions ; and in its
general character it set forth a prophetic vision of perfection
rather than a workable code of discipline for the ordinary
mortals who must enter into so vast a society : and without
any doubt Cardinal Ugolino had urged upon Francis the need
of giving to the Eule a more concise and legal form, such as
the Holy See would require before giving its final approval. 1
So once again Francis set himself to rewrite the Eule.
Very tremulous was he at putting his hand to the Eule which
which speak of mortal sins," viz. chapters v. xm. and xx. of the Rule of 1221,
and suggests an amendment which actually appears in the Rule of 1223.
1 Ugolino s part in the final revision of the Rule is plainly indicated in
the bull " Quo elongati " of 28 September, 1230 (Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 68) : " In
condendo prcedictam regulam obtinendo confirmationem ipsius per Sedem Apos-
tolicam, sibi astiterimus ".
320 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
he had already written, lest it should be like the irreverent
touch of Oza upon the ark of the Lord. But one night whilst
this trouble was upon him he dreamt that he had gathered
from the ground tiny crumbs of bread with which to feed a
hungry multitude of brethren. And so small were the crumbs
that he feared lest in the distribution they would fall from his
hands. Then a voice called out to him : Francis, make of all
these crumbs one host and so feed those who wish to be fed.
This he did : and as many of the brethren who would not
receive the host, or, who having received, scorned it, were
at once struck with leprosy. This dream puzzled Francis,
for he felt that it was an answer to his prayer, and yet he
could not tell its meaning. But the next day as he was again
praying, he heard a voice, saying : " Francis, the crumbs of
last night, are the words of the Gospel : the host is the Rule ;
the leprosy is wickedness". 1 Francis took his dream as a
divine intimation that he must rewrite the Rule.
But for this task he would retire far from the clamorous
multitude. Taking with him two companions, Brothers Leo
and Bonizzo, he left the Porziuncola and went to a secluded
spot in the mountains near Rieti, known as Monte Rainerio. 2
It was a wild rock-cavern far up the mountain side, reached
by a precipitous pass. The mountain was densely wooded ;
the cavern overlooked a wild dingle which lay far below where
a mountain-stream rushed down a strong course. On the brow
of the mountain was a house belonging to the Lady Columba,
a pious widow, who gave Francis the freedom of her moun
tain estate, and supplied him with food, whilst respecting his
wish for solitude.
At Monte Rainerio nature is a veritable god of strength.
There is in its aspect and in the view of the towering peaks
which stretch away darkly into the Abruzzi, a sense of inde
structible might, most impressive in its majesty : and the
1 II Celano, 209 ; Leg. Maj. cap. iv. 2.
2 It is now known as Fonte Colombo, which name, I was told when I was
there, is derived from Fundus Columbce, the estate of the Lady Columba. But
in the Speculum Perfectionis the retreat of Francis on Monte Bainerio is named
Eremitorum de Fonte Columbannn (capp. 67, 110, 115).
THE TRIAL OF FEANCIS 321
vast stillness of its solitude is as the stillness of a massive soul.
Perhaps it was this which drew Francis to seek refuge there
in this crisis of his great trouble : for never did he need strength
more than now. The Rule was written, Francis praying and
fasting meanwhile ; and afterwards he returned to the Por-
ziuncola and delivered what he had written to Brother Elias,
the Vicar-General, that he might make it known to the minis
ters. Then happened a curious thing. After a few days
Elias told Francis that the new Rule was lost through some
body s carelessness ! l A most strange carelessness surely ;
and one cannot but think that it was purposely destroyed, but
whether by Elias or by some other, we cannot say. Nor does it
matter who actually destroyed it : this only we can say without
contradiction that Elias and the dissident ministers would have
none of it. The new Rule, if shorter in form than the Rule
of 1221, yet contained all the provisions to which the ministers
objected. They clamoured that the brethren should be al
lowed to receive and hold sufficient corporate property to safe
guard them against penury. 2 Other religious orders held
property ; why not they ? Francis could but reply as he had
always replied, that God had called them to follow Christ in
the way of most high poverty such as he and the brethren had
practised in the beginning, and that he would not prove a
traitor to his calling.
Again Francis went back to his retreat on Monte Rai-
neiro, sad at heart because of this persistent opposition, and
again with prayer and fasting he dictated to Brother Leo 3
the new Rule. But the ministers, now thoroughly disturbed,
1 Leg. Maj. iv. 11 ; cf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 1 ; Verba S. Franc, no. 2, in
Documenta Antiqua, ed. Lemmens, pars i. p. 101. St. Boriaventuro says that
Elias "asserted it was lost through carelessness" " assereretper incuriam
perditam; " but the Spec. Perfect, and the Verba simply say it was lost, with
out casting any blame upon Elias. It is not improbable that the first draft
of the new Rule was written before the Pentecost Chapter, and that it was
from Monte Rainerio that Francis wrote his letter " ad qucmdam ministrum"
above referred to.
2 Verba S. Franc, loc. cit. p. 101.
3 Cf. Ubertino da Casale, Arbor Vitae, lib. v. cap. 3 : " nam quod sequitor
a sancto fratre Conrado pradicto et viva voce audivit a sancto fratre Leone qui
presens erat et regulam scripsit ".
21
322 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS iOF ASSIST
pursued him to his solitude, protesting they would not observe
the Rule as he had written it. Francis met them with a
righteous indignation in which scorn blended with sorrow,
and bade them if they would not observe the Rule to leave
the Order. 1
Now it is impossible to say exactly what rearrangement
Francis made of the former Rule of 1221, in those suffering
days on Monte Raineiro : for when the Rule was again
written out he went with it to Rome to present it to
Cardinal Ugolino before submitting it to the Pope for ap
proval, and it is possible that it was then that the Cardinal
persuaded Francis to omit certain regulations to which the
ministers objected. Most notable in the Rule as finally
sanctioned is the omission of the chapter of the primitive
Rule approved by Innocent III, which says in the words of the
Gospel: "When the brethren travel through the world let
them carry nothing by the way, neither bag nor purse, nor
bread, nor money, nor a staff," etc. 2 This evangelical ad
monition had more than any other been the formative
influence of the Franciscan vocation ; it was the most com
plete expression of that sublime trust in the providence of
God, upon which the life of the fraternity was established,
and from its observance came most of the characteristic
traits in the primitive Franciscan story. 3 Francis would not
willingly have deleted such a chapter, and it could only have
been at the Cardinal s urging that he was prevailed upon to
do so ; and to overcome the scandal of the ministers op
position. 4 After all the Cardinal might point out, the Rule
commanded absolute poverty, and in that precept this other
was essentially contained.
1 Gf. Spec. Perfect, cap. 1; Verba S. Franc., loc. cit. pp. 101-2. See the
account given in the Actus 8. Franc, in Valle Reatina, a fifteenth century
document, and published by M. Sabatier in Legenda Antiquissima, pp. 255-61.
Of. Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 516 ; Angelo Clareno, Expositio Re-
gulae, fol. 43 b.
2 Vide supra, p. 89.
3 Of. e.g. 3 Soc. cap. 11 ; Chron. Jordani, in Anal. Franc, i, no. 6, p. 3.
4 " Quia valde timuit scandalum in se etinfratres" says the Spec. Perfect.
cap. 2.
THE TEIAL OF FEANCIS 323
Other precepts Francis wished to insert in the new Eule
which the ministers would not have. There was, for instance,
a precept concerning the reverence due to the Blessed Sacra
ment. If the brethren on their journeys through the world
should find the Blessed Sacrament reserved in unbecoming
pyxes or tabernacles they were to admonish the priests to
make a more honourable provision, and if the priests failed,
the brethren were to do this in their stead. In practice such
a rule would undoubtedly have caused friction between the
friars and the clergy. 1 But whether these regulations were
omitted in the draft of the Eule which Francis brought with
him from Monte Eainerio or were afterwards deleted, we
cannot say. One chapter in the new Eule, however, seems
to have been changed whilst it was under the examination of
the Holy See. Francis, in the tenth chapter, had given licence
and obedience to the brethren to observe the Eule literally,
even against the wishes of the ministers. But the Pope
caused this chapter to be amended in this wise, that whilst
the liberty to observe the Eule is retained, the obligation to
grant this liberty rests with the ministers, and the liberty is
not at the discretion of the subjects themselves. 2
And so after much patient travail of body and spirit on
the part of Francis the new Eule was at last completed. As
one reads it, one misses the exuberance of admonition and
aspiration which were native to Francis : it is as though his
spirit had been chastened. Of the essential principles of the
vocation he surrendered nothing. The new Eule still binds
the brethren to absolute poverty ; postulants on entering the
fraternity must first distribute their goods to the poor ; the
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 65.
2 Of. Legenda Veins, 2, in Opuscules de Critique, i. pp. 93-5. Already in
the Rule of 1221 (cap. 6) it was laid down that the brethren who could not
observe the Rule in some particular place should have recourse to the minister
who was bound to provide for the brethren " sicut ipse vellet sibi fieri ".
Practically the same regulation appears in the Rule of 1223, but with this
difference. The wording of the latter Rule, both as it bears on the liberty of
the subject to have recourse and also on the duty of the minister to listen to
the petition, is more emphatic. This more emphatic wording of the Rule of
1223 is in favour of the authenticity of the story told in Legenda Veins. Cf.
Hist. vn. Trib. in Erhle, Archiv. in. p. 601.
21*
324 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
brethren must be content with poor garments ; they must be
peaceful and humble and refrain from judging others ; they
must work, yet so as not to extinguish in themselves the
spirit of prayer, and in cases of necessity they must go ask
ing alms with confidence ; they must not own any house or
lands or anything else but be as pilgrims and strangers in
this world.
All through it is still the same life set forth as of old :
only, as we have said, set forth in a more chastened mood.
Yet, wrought as it was in the crucible of sorrow and heart-
pain, the Eule had gained perhaps a certain strength and
durability even if it had lost something of its inspiring ideal
ism. We may say that it gives us more purely the essential
Francis of all time if less of the historical Francis of a
particular period. And with every law-giver whose law is a
reflex of his own life, it is needful that the more essential self
be separated from its immediate and transitory expression : so
only will his law endure : and this separation is usually
wrought in the fire of contradiction. So was it with Francis.
The Eule was solemnly approved by Pope Honorius III
on 29 November, 1223. 1
Were the recalcitrant ministers satisfied ? It would seem
not. Elias, the Vicar-General, as we know, refused to con
sider himself bound by it, claiming in after times that he had
not made any profession of it ; 2 and some of the ministers
so interpreted it as to cause Francis sorrow even to the end
of his life.
But now there gradually settled upon the spirit of Francis
a great peace. Finally and irrevocably he had vindicated the
right of absolute poverty for the children of God.
One day as he was still sorrowing over the false brethren
there came to his spirit this comfort from the Lord Christ :
" poor little man, why are you distressed ? Have I so set
you a shepherd over My religion that you know not that I
am its chief Protector ? I set over it you, a simple man, to
1 The text will be found in Sbaralea, Bull. i. pp. 15-19 ; Seraph. Legislat.
Textus, pp. 35 seq.
2 Eccleston [ed. Little], col. xiii. p. 85.
THE TKIAL OF FKANCIS 325
the end that those who will, may follow you in those things
I work in you for an example to others. It is I who have
called them ; I who will keep and feed them ; and I will make
good the falling away of some by putting others in their place,
in such wise that if these others be not born I will cause them
to be born. Be not therefore perturbed but work out thy
salvation ; for even if the religion should come to but three
members, yet through My gift shall it remain unshaken." l
Another time as he was praying in the chapel of the Por-
ziuncola, this word came to his spirit : " Francis, if thou wilt
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, thou shalt bid a moun
tain remove and it shall remove ". Francis asked : " Which is
the mountain I should wish to remove?" The interior
voice replied : " The mountain is thy temptation ". And in
tears Francis said : " Be it done unto me, Lord, as Thou
hast said ". 2
Thus was his spirit renewed in peace as when a man has
battled with a great terror and the terror has vanished.
Suffering did not pass from him, nor did the doings of the
recalcitrant brethren commend them to him. Much that
was passing in the life of the fraternity was to him as a
dim mystery. But the fraternity, itself the pledge of the
truth of that revelation of Poverty which was his life, would
endure in the keeping of God : and with that assurance
he was content. And now it remained for him to complete
in himself this work of God, to the glory of Christ and as an
example to those who willed to follow him.
J II Celano, 158; Spec. Perfect, cap. 8 ; Leg. Maj. cap. vm. 3.
2 Celano, 115; Spec. Perfect, cap. 99. This "temptation of the spirit"
which lasted " several years " according to Celano, and " more than two
years " according to the Speculum Perfect., evidently from the context happened
in Francis later years, and most likely was concerned with his troubles with
the ministers.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTEK I.
"GRECCIO."
PASSING from the valley of Spoleto into the valley of Kieti
to the south, the traveller is at once conscious of being in a
new country, notwithstanding that in the maps the high
mountain-bound district of Kieti is marked as a portion of
Umbria.
There is a certain aloofness both in the character of the
land and of the people ; an aloofness not at all unkindly. On
the contrary, you will find there a genial hospitality, a de
sire to make the stranger at home. Yet is there a certain
princely air in the way Kieti dispenses of its best, such as you
frequently find amongst unconquered people of the hills. The
ravages of war and foreign domination and incessant rebellion
have not lain so heavily upon this upland valley as upon the
more populous and suave valley of Spoleto to the north ; though
Kieti too has seen foreign armies march through its mountain
passes and along its open roads. But Kieti is somewhat apart
from the main thoroughfares of the world, safeguarded by its
height above the more level roads and by its natural ramparts
of pass and peak. Nevertheless it. is not too far apart.
Through it in former days ran one of the main roads from
Kome to the north ; and in its city the Popes had a palace
and held court there when they sought a nerve-bracing at
mosphere away from the sultriness of Rome. But you feel
sure, as the genius of the place comes home to your con
sciousness, that even Popes were welcomed here with a cer
tain sturdy simplicity, and that the Kietans, whilst able to
appreciate the splendour and vivacity of the court, yet held
326
" GKECCIO " 327
to their mountain valley with a certain proud content. The
court might come and go, a shadow from the outer world ;
but the mountains and the valley were always there. It is
strange how this sense of seclusion with mystic affinities to
the world-life, grows upon you. Coming from the north, you
are met at the very entrance to the hill-passes which divide
the two valleys, by the boisterous waterfalls at Marmore,
where the river Velino rushes down in a cloud of spray from
the plateau beyond the hills into the lowland around Terni.
If you have dwelt long enough in the valley of Spoleto to ab
sorb something of its historical reminiscences, and to feel the
intensity and strength of the human life that has played its
part there, you will suddenly halt at the rushing sound and
majestic force of the waters ; for the moment you will be
conscious that here is a new force, the force of nature, and
as you look to the wall of hills beyond, the awe of that
mysterious incalculable strength comes upon you. Then
through a mountain-gorge you come to the Lago di Piediluco
or as the Franciscan chronicler calls it, the Lake of Eieti
closely enfolded by steep broken hills above which and be
yond, you see the mountains ranging away to the clustering
snow-capped peaks of the Abruzzi. A sailing boat is leisurely
making its way across the still waters of the lake as I pass by :
probably the boatman dwells in one of those white villages on
the shore.
Through the low hills you enter the upland valley, a wide
cultivated amphitheatre closely engirdled by the massed
mountains. The plain is flat save for a hillock here and
there which you might take for a sheltering island when the
mists lie on the ground. Far to the south is the gleaming
city : but inexorably your eye will be drawn to the encom
passing mountains with their dark gorges and shadowy
hollows and the occasional village clinging trustfully to some
steep ascent. There is a great stillness in the bracing at
mosphere, and a curious sense of seclusion. You miss the
long mysterious distances of the valley of Spoleto, which to
north and south sweep past the sentinel hills ; you miss the
fortress-cities and towns which make the great northern
328 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
valley quick with the reminiscences of struggle and ambi
tion ; you miss the grey, treeless mountains which lie facing
each other in two drawn-out lines, bidding each other a
mutual defiance even in their rest. For here in Bieti the
massed hills and mountain peaks seem as brothers-in-arms
guarding the plain which they encircle, as men guard the
sanctity of their home. So jealously do they encircle it that
you can hardly detect the passes which lead to the outer
world ; yet withal do they guard it tenderly. On all the
lower slopes the eye delights in the foliage of woods or in a
blossoming soil. Bugged and stony are the primitive paths
by which you climb the hills, yet they lead to homesteads set
in the midst of olives or of vines : and in all the valley the
air is at once soft and bracing. In truth in this upland
cloister, nature has sought to bind men to herself by a
manifold attraction ; revealing at once her majesty and dire
strength, her solicitude and providence, her lightsomeness
and homeliness : as though by this varied revelation of
beauty she would bring to them a complete detachment from
the world beyond. No wonder that the peasant is strong
and blithesome, and that with a kindly humanity clearly indi
cated in his face and speech there is yet in his air a certain
detached dignity and other- worldliness as of the mountain peaks
above him. Nor do we wonder that Francis frequently
sought shelter in this valley of Bieti amidst the stress and
distractions of his busy apostolate ; nor that in the years of
his great trouble it was hither he came to nerve himself for
endurance and battle. And fitting, too, it was that this wide
upland retreat should be associated intimately with those
last years when with the expectancy of death in his mind,
the clamours of the world were no longer able to disturb the
deep peace which had now come to him.
When Francis left Borne after the solemn approbation of
the Bule by Honorius III, he felt that the supreme act of his
ministry had been accomplished. He knew that in many
ways the simplicity of the first years was gone ; but so far as
he could, he had secured for all who loved the vocation of
poverty, the liberty to follow it with the supreme sanction of
"GBECCIO" 329
the Church. And now he felt that beyond setting the good
example, his task was finished : and in his new freedom he
turned all-desiringly to the life hidden with Christ his Lord.
From this time the world of men will but little disturb the
soul of Francis : more and more he will be drawn into the
embrace of the Beloved, and the voices of the earth will reach
his spirit only through that mystic life which is the border
land of eternity.
Christmas was now at hand. It was only two weeks to
the sweet festival, and Francis was again in the valley of
Eieti, probably in his rock-cell on Monte Eainerio ; and
thither he had invited a friend, Giovanni da Vellita, 1 to come
to him. Giovanni lived at Greccio a few miles northward as
you follow the road which leads to the lake. He had some
years earlier met Francis out on one of his preaching tours,
and had fallen under the spell of his spirit, and become one
of his informal disciples. He was a man of some substance
and owned land in his native district, and because he wished
to induce Francis to dwell occasionally in the neighbourhood
and also because he knew of Francis love of solitary
retreats, he had set aside for his use some caves in the high
rock facing the town of Greccio and had built a rude hermit
age such as Francis loved, around the caves, where some
brethren might dwell. Now the town of Greccio is con
structed as it were on a high rocky ledge within a wide
hollow. It looks down upon comfortable homesteads and
vineyards sheltered from the north wind by the bare
mountain steeps. At the bend of the hollow opposite the
town the bare rock falls perpendicularly to the lower slopes
several hundred feet below. At the head of the rock is the
hermitage given to the brethren by Giovanni ; but around
the hermitage above the sheer fall of rock, the bareness of
the mountain is relieved by warm sheltering woods.
Francis knew the hermitage well, and now he had a long-
1 S. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. cap. x. 7) describes Giovanni as : " Miles
quidam virtuosus et verax, qui propter Christi amorem sceculari relicta militia ".
From this one might deduce that Giovanni was a Penitent Brother, or as we
say now, a tertiary.
330 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
ing to celebrate the Christmas festival there. In the peace
which had come back to his soul, the world was again trans
figured with sacramental types; and as he pondered this
Advent season upon the mystery of Bethlehem, never before
had he seemed to thirst so vehemently for the vision of Christ
on earth. The sweetness of this Divine condescension had
entered into his soul with a vital urgency ; in spirit he gazed
upon the love-illumined poverty of the birth of his Lord : and
he longed even for bodily vision of what he had spiritually
divined. In earthly form he would that he might behold this
love-mystery, and thus wed heaven to earth in his apprehen
sion of it : thus would God become again a dweller amongst
the things of time.
So when Giovanni came, Francis said to him : "I would
make a memorial of that Child Who was born in Bethlehem
and in some sort behold with bodily eyes the hardships of
His Infant state, how He lay in a manger on the hay, with
the ox and the ass standing by. If you will, we shall celebrate
this festival at Greccio and do you go before and prepare as
I tell you ". Giovanni therefore went back to Greccio and in
the wood near the hermitage he had a stable built, with a
manger : and near the manger an altar. And Francis sent
word to all the brethren in the valley of Rieti to join him at
Greccio for the Christmas festival.
Christmas eve came, and as the time for the midnight
Mass drew near, the people from the town and from the hol
low, all flocked to the hermitage, carrying with them lighted
torches which flicked weird shadows against the hill-side as
men and women strode sturdily on : and when they gathered
in a crowd around the stable all that side of the hollow
seemed ablaze. Francis was the deacon at the Mass, his
ministrations enthused with the rapture and solicitude of the
Mother tending her Babe. But when after the Gospel he
stood forth to preach, the crowd felt as though a hidden mys
tery was in very deed being revealed to their eyes : so subtly
did the preacher convey to them his own vision of Bethlehem
and set them throbbing with his own emotions. 1 He seemed
1 Fr. Paschal Robinson thinks Francis gained his special devotion to the
Christmas mystery whilst on his visit to the Holy Land. It is very probable.
" GEECCIO " 331
not to be conscious of the crowd before him, but to see only
the Divine Babe in His mother s care, caressed by poverty
and worshipped by simplicity. Tenderly he greeted the
Divine Infant, calling Him "Child of Bethlehem" and
"Jesus" and as he uttered the words, they lingered on his
lips with surpassing sweetness; and at the word "Beth
lehem " he bleated forth the music of the name as though he
were voicing the worship of the sheep on the Judean hillside.
At times he would turn to the manger and bend over it
caressingly. Giovanni, the builder of the crib, afterwards
averred that he saw a child lying as it were dead in the
manger, who awakened to life at Francis touch. But all
the people believed that that night Greccio had become
another Bethlehem. 1
During the remaining days of that winter and far into
the early spring, Francis would seem to have abided in this
rocky hermitage ; not altogether, however, withdrawn from
the company of men. For the same love which drew him
ever nearer to Christ the Beloved in solitude, sent him forth
again to impart to his fellow-men the gospel of Christ s re
deeming love. By the people of Greccio and the neighbour
hood he was revered as teacher and prophet. Many were the
stories which in after years these grateful folk told of his
doings amongst them, how he delivered them from the
ravages of wolves and from pestilences which had brought
dread and sorrow into their homes, and from the hailstorms
which had beaten down their vineyards, and so had given
them a period of happiness ; and how this happiness had
1 1 Celano, I, xxx. 84-86 ; II Celano, II, vn. 35 ; S. Bonav. Leg. Maj. cap. x.
7. S. Bonaventure says that Francis had previously obtained the Pope s per
mission to construct the crib, " ne hoc novitati posset ascribi ". From this it
would seem that the " crib," now so familiar in Catholic churches at Christ-
mastide, was not then known. Shortly after Francis death a chapel was built
on the site of the crib. The chapel still exists ; near it is a larger chapel built
somewhat later. Until last year the hermitage of Greccio was still an unspoilt
Franciscan hermitage, reminiscent of the first Franciscan days. But now a
large church has been built, overshadowing the rude simplicity of the hermit
age with ambitious modernity. One almost wishes that an ecclesiastical com
mission for the preservation of ancient shrines might be established to ward off
modern vandalism of this sort.
332 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
continued as long as they remembered to serve God as
Francis had taught them, but was taken from them again
when they forget his teaching and went back to evil ways. 1
They remembered, too, how on one occasion he had suddenly
left them and set out for Perugia, the proud city to the
north. For Francis had learned in prayer that the Perugians
were letting armed bands loose upon their neighbours in
very lust of strife and domination : and in his compassion
he hurried forth to end the misery. But the people of Perugia
would not listen to his appeal. Then did Francis foretell that
within a short while they would be at feud amongst themselves
and that sorrow and death should come upon them. And so
it befell. 2 But this story probably belongs ^_to_ _an_earlier
period in Francis history.
Thus now in active ministry for souls, now in prayerful
seclusion, did Francis find his peace the peace of absorption
in the life of the God-Man who had drawn to Himself all
the desire of His worshipping disciple. To be with Christ,
whether in Bethlehem or Nazareth or on the public road or
on the cross of Calvary that had long been all his thought ;
and now he seemed to be entering into a realization more in
timate than even he would have dared to ask for. Love had
regained its liberty in his soul and with all the purer ardour
and fullness because of the night of trial in which his faith
had been tested. And here in the homely neighbourhood of
Greccio he was tasting the first sweets of his liberty re
gained.
The Easter festival found him still in this sacred retreat.
Amidst all the glorious hopes of the life to come with which
the mystery of that day filled the soul of Francis, his, heart
turned clingingly to the earthly price by which they were won.
Heaven had been gained for men only through the self-
effacement of Him who being the world s God, yet made
Himself a mere stranger and pilgrim upon the earth : and in
1 Of. II Celano, vn. 35, 36.
2 II Celano, II, vu. 37. The Perugians were constantly fighting amongst
themselves. W. Heywood (-4 History of Perugia, pp. 35-7) mentions three
notable civil wars, respectively in 1214, 1218 and 1223.
"GBECCIO" 333
the urgency of his love Francis in spirit was a pilgrim with
his Lord.
Coming to the refectory of the brethren on that Easter
day, he found the table laid with unwonted luxury with
table-cloths and cut-glass and the other appointments of a
comfortable home, lent for the occasion by some friend of
the brethren : for the brethren had thought to honour the
festival in this fashion. But this symbolism of an abiding
home, was out of accord with Francis vision of his pilgrim
Lord. Gently yet emphatically did he therefore play the
part of the pilgrim-Christ. Waiting till the brethren had
begun their meal, he appeared at the door of the refectory,
with a poor man s hat on his head and a staff in his hand,
pilgrim wise ; and called out : " For the love of the Lord
God give alms to this poor sick pilgrim". The brethren
hearing the call, bade him enter. Then Francis took a dish
from the table and after the manner of a lowly servitor, sat
on the ground. " Now I am seated like a Friar Minor," he
said, addressing the abashed assembly. " When I saw the
table so well laid and adorned, I bethought me that it was
not the table of men who beg their bread from door to door.
More than all other religious should we be constrained by
the poverty of the Son of God." And the brethren, at
least some of them, took the lesson to heart ; one of them
even wept aloud : for it seemed to them that like the dis
ciples on the road to Emmaus, Christ had been with them
and yet they had not known Him. 1
In truth, to the eyes of those who were with him and who
loved him, Francis was at this time being caught up more
and more into the semblance of Him whom his soul loved ;
and more and more the earth they trod with him became
transfigured in their thought, as though they were indeed
1 Cf. II Celano, 61 ; Leg. Maj. cap, vn. ; Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier],
cap. 20. In the Spec. Perfect, this incident is related as happening on
a Christmas day ; but Celano and St. Bonaventure both put it at the Easter
festival and point to the motive indicated in the text. It is not at all im
probable, as M. Sabatier has suggested (I.e. p. 41, n. 1), that similar incidents
happened on other occasions ; for Francis never hesitated to repeat himself.
Cf. II Celano, 200.
334 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
living with the Lord Christ Himself in His sojourn upon the
earth : so irresistibly were they compelled by Francis own
absorption to walk in the company of the Lord. Perhaps to
those of them who had stood by and ministered to him in
his days of trial, there came a sense of loneliness as they felt
his spirit being thus withdrawn from the need of their
ministrations by the caress of the Divine Love, and a sweet
sadness would at times mingle with their worshipful rever
ence : for they knew they could but stand at the door of the
sanctuary into which he was entering. And yet because
they loved him so well their hearts would be uplifted with a
triumphant gladness : and after all he was yet so near them.
Amidst the homesteads and sheltered ways of Greccio and
the Bieti plateau they could not but feel that he was in an
intimate sense at home with them. And when the time of
the Pentecost Chapter drew nigh and they must sally forth
once again into the world s highway, they doubtless looked
with impatient expectancy to a coming back to Greccio.
Francis was indeed to return to the valley of Eieti ; but
not immediately. That was to happen in the meanwhile which
would put a wondrous seal upon his transfiguration : and
when he did return, Brother Leo, his faithful friend and dis
ciple, understood better the mystery which had been brood
ing over Francis during those winter months of peace.
CHAPTEK II.
THE STIGMATA.
IT was in the month of September that the mysterious event
occurred which was to set indelibly the seal of his life s
passion upon the body of Francis as it was already set upon
his soul.
About the middle of June he had attended the Pentecost
Chapter 1 a Chapter to be noted by Englishmen inasmuch
as Brother Agnellus of Pisa, a man altogether after Francis
own heart, was then commissioned to establish the Order of
Friars Minor in England. The story of the coming of
Agnellus and his brethren has been many times retold in
these later days ; and how with skilful impetuosity they pushed
on before the close of the year to Canterbury, London, and
Oxford, and won from the inhabitants a cordial and abiding
place for the friars in their midst. 2
They landed at Dover on the tenth day of September,
1224 ; 3 they heard the bells of Canterbury calling the people
1 Pentecost fell in 1224 on 11 June.
2 Cf. Eccleston, De Adventu FF. Min. in Angliam, first published by Brewer
in Mon. Franciscana, i. after the Cotton and York codices. A fragment after
the Lamport codex was published by Hewlett in Mon. Franciscana, n. An
edition based on these published texts was published in Analecta Franciscana,
i. ; and a new edition was published in Mon. Germ. Script, xxxin. But the de
finitive edition has been given by Prof. A. G. Little in Collections des fitudcs,
torn. vii. Cf. also " Tlie Chronicle of Thomas of Eccleston," translated by the
present writer ; Tlie Coming of the Friars, by Dr. Jessop.
3 Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1220) following the Chron. xxiv. Gen., says
Agnellus was sent to England by the Chapter of 1219, and actually arrived in
1220. But Eccleston says distinctly: Anno Domini MCCIIIJ tempore
domini Honorii im-pm . . . feria 3" post festum nativitatis beatce Virginis quod
illo anno fuit die dominica. Cf. Eccleston [ed. Little], p. 3. Both the
Chronicle of Lanercost [ed. Stevenson, p. 30] and the Annals of Worcester
335
336 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
to Mass on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross,
four days later ; and perhaps to the heart of Agnellus keeping
an early vigil, there came some intimation of the miracle
which was happening to him whom he loved so well.
Not by fortuitous chance had Francis some time before
the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, gone to Monte
Alvernia, the high mountain retreat which the lord Orlando
had many years before set apart for the use of the brethren.
Something there was in his soul which made him wistful for
the uttermost seclusion; and for the seclusion of great
height.
For the time the sweet homeliness of Greccio would have
been an imprisonment to his soul, and the battle-training at
mosphere of Monte Bainerio would have jarred with the sense
of the mystery which was upon him. His spirit was drawn
to a rarer atmosphere ; it called for a sublimer aloofness from
the world of men. So to Monte Alvernia Francis now went,
which is so far apart from and above the world s highways,
and where the silence is of the skies and the very air so keen
and rare.
Even to-day when a good road has been built to carry the
pilgrim up the long ascent and a spacious friary crowns the
summit, Alvernia is awe-inspiring in its remoteness from the
meeting-places of the world. Far away are towns and
villages which are but blurs in the landscape below. A rich
foliage clothes the lower heights, giving comfort to the plain ;
but above this the mountain-sides are bare and rocky,
desolate of human comfort : only on the top do the trees
again appear, casting a grateful shadow in the sunlight.
And all around, as far as the eye can see, are towering peaks
gazing upon the sky ; a multitude they are, yet with wide
distances between as though each were strong to stand alone
in the wide encompassing space : and, as we have said, the
air is keen and there is the silence of great height.
[Annales Monast. iv. p. 416], give the same year 1224, as Eccleston. The
probability therefore is that Agnellus was actually commissioned by the
Chapter of 1224 and not by the Chapter of 1219 : since he would hardly have
allowed five years to elapse before fulfilling his commission : such a delay
would have been in disaccord with the custom of the brethren.
THE STIGMATA 337
To accompany him on his journey and to be the com
panions of his vigil, Francis chose only his most trusted dis
ciples. There was Leo, the little lamb of God, most trusted
of all ; there were besides, Angelo Tancredi, the courteous
knight, and Masseo the friend of many journeys, and
Kuffino and Silvestro the contemplatives, and Illuminato who
had been with him in his crusade in the East, and, as I
think, Bonizzo, who had tended him in his trial at Monte
Rainerio. 1
As yet however he was wholly unaware of the happening
which was to be : this only he knew, that the aspiration of
long years was receiving a fulfilment and that a new revela
tion of the Lord Christ was upon him. On the day of his
arrival he had chosen a cell apart from the cells of the other
brethren ; a rude hut under a beech tree. Here he proposed
to submit himself to the will of his Lord, undisturbed by
human intrusions : only Brother Leo was to come to him at
stated times to bring him a little bread and water for his
bodily refreshment and to assist him spiritually with priestly
ministrations. The other brethren were to abide apart, to
comfort him with their prayers and to keep secular folk
who might visit the spot, from approaching the " secret
bower" where God was communing with His servant. 2
Now began that series of Divine manifestations which
was to make Alvernia a holy mountain in the eyes of the
Christian people.
One day as Francis was standing by his cell under the
beech tree and wondering at the curious conformation of the
mountain which at its summit is split into great fissures by
1 Bonizzo was cited as a special witness to the stigmata by John of
Parma at the General Chapter of Genoa (cf. Eccleston, ed. Little, coll.
xin. pp. 93-4). Eccleston does not say he was actually with Francis on
Monte Alvernia, but we know that he was one of Francis companions in his
last years. Eccleston tells us that Ruffino was on Monte Alvernia at the time
of the stigmata (I.e.) ; Leo, Masseo, Angelo and Illuminato are named in the
Fioretti, Delle sacre sante Stimate, in. Consid. Silvestro is mentioned in
TJ Addio di san Francesco. St. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. xin. 4) also mentions
Illuminato. Vide infra, passim.
2 Fioretti, Delle sacre sante stimatc, n. Consid.
22
338 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
some momentous cataclysm, Francis was rapt in prayer.
" Then," says a chronicler, "it was revealed to him by God
that these fissures so wonderful, were miraculously wrought
in the hour of Christ s passion when as the Evangelist says,
the rocks were rent asunder." 1 From that moment Alvernia
was holy ground to Francis : it became to him a speaking
witness to the Passion of his Lord. And with this intimation
there came to him some dim understanding of the mystery
in his soul : and thereat his soul grew more aflame with love
of his Crucified Master : and from this time he became more
insensible to the external world and more rapt in contempla
tion. Oftentimes Brother Leo coming to visit him would find
him in ecstasy lifted above the earth, his body yielded to the
impulse of the spirit ; and then Leo s soul would overflow
with affection and reverence and at times drawing nigh
timidly he would kiss the feet of Francis, beseeching God,
as he did so, to have mercy upon his own unworthiness and
in spite thereof to give him a share in Francis grace.
But one day when the feast of the Assumption drew near,
Francis bade Leo go and stand at the door of the oratory of
the brethren ; and himself going to a distance, he called to
Leo who at once responded. Whereupon Francis went still
further away and again called to Leo, and this time Leo did not
hear the call. Then coming back, Francis told Leo that he
proposed to abide during the approaching Lent of St. Michael,
which begins the day after our Lady s feast, in a more secluded
spot near where he had stood when Leo could notjhear his call.
The spot chosen was on a ledge of rock which stood out from
the body of the ground, divided from it by a deep chasm. On
the other side the rock falls sheer down a hundred feet or
more to the sloping ground. They bridged the chasm with
a plank and constructed a wicker cell and then Francis gave
Leo and the other brothers his instructions for the guarding
of his retreat. None were to come nigh save Leo who was
to bring him a portion of bread and water each day and to
come again at the midnight hour for matins : but even Leo
must not cross the bridge over the chasm unless Francis
l ,Fioretti, loc. cit.
THE STIGMATA 339
answered his signal ; and the signal was these opening words
of the matins-service : Domine labia mea aperies. And if
Francis did not reply Leo must go away quickly and not
cross the bridge. 1
Alone on his rocky ledge, Francis now entered into that
purgatory of the soul which precedes the more intimate
unions of man with God. At times his spirit would be op
pressed and the powers of evil would seem to be let loose
to torment him even with bodily violence, testing the tenacity
of his spirit. It was the ultimate temptation of the strong,
when evil is no longer felt as a personal weakness but as an
objective reality, the more terrifying because so foreign to
one s own desire. Then it is that the soul most needs un
wavering faith and trust in the reality of the heavenly good :
to stand firm in such temptation is man s highest act of
worship, the complete submission of himself to God. In
such temptation the body suffers even with the spirit and
the whole man is cast into the crucible. So was it now
with Francis. Once when Leo came to him Francis held
him in conversation, seeking comfort : "If the brethren did
but know," he pathetically exclaimed, "how many and how
grievous are the anguishes and afflictions which the devils work
upon me, there is not one of them but would be moved with
pity and tenderness towards me." : But alternating with
combat and suffering, there came to Francis moments of clear
vision when heaven opened to him its secret, and at times the
very sweetness of the life eternal entered into his soul and
filled him with ravishing joy. One day as he was meditating
upon the joy of the Blessed and thirsting for a share in it,
there appeared to him an angel of God in great splendour
A spirit of music it must have been, for with a viol which he
carried, he uttered music of such sweetness, that Francis
lost all bodily sense. 3
Nor must we forget to relate how in his solitude Francis
was much comforted by the friendship of a falcon whose
l Fioretti, loc. cit. 2 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 99.
3 Fioretti, loc. cit. A somewhat similar incident is related in II Celano,
126.
22*
340 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
nest was near his cell. For the falcon attached itself to
him, abiding near him in his prayer, and singing meanwhile
its own song of praise : and at midnight when it was time
for Francis to rise for matins, the bird would flutter against
his cell until he arose. And for that falcon Francis had a
great love. 1
Meanwhile upon Brother Leo, the faithful keeper of his
master s retreat, there fell a tender awe and fear, knowing as
he did the trouble through which Francis was passing and
divining some great heavenly favour at hand. One night
when he came to the bridge and called aloud " Domine labia
mea aperies," no answer came, and for once the fear in his
soul made him disregard the injunction to go back and not
pass the bridge. Crossing over to the cell, he found it empty
and went on to a wooded spot where he thought Francis
might be. There indeed Francis was. In the moonlight
Leo saw him kneeling in prayer with face and arms uplifted
towards heaven, and heard him repeating with fervour :
" Who art Thou, my most sweet God ? Who am I, a most
vile worm and Thy useless servant?" And Leo knew that
he was a witness to some intimate colloquy between Francis
and his Lord : but what the colloquy portended Leo could
not understand. But looking on amazed, he saw a flame
resting over the head of Francis who three times extended
his hand towards it. And after awhile, which seemed to
Leo a great age, the flame returned to heaven. Then in
terror at his intrusion Leo began to move away as softly as
he might. But Francis hearing his footsteps upon the
leaves, called to him not to go away : whereat Leo was in
such fear and shame that he wished the earth would open
and swallow him. But chiefly he feared lest because of his
disobedience Francis would relieve him of his attendance :
and at that thought the heart of Leo became a great void.
But Francis, divining his trouble and the love which had
conquered his will to obey, rebuked him but gently and kept
him by his side. Emboldened at such gracious tenderness,
1 Fioretti, loc. cit. ; I Celano, 168 ; Tract, de Mirac. 25 ; Leg. Maj.
vni. 10.
THE STIGMATA 341
Leo asked Francis to explain the meaning of that Divine
visitation, and then he learned that the words he heard were
the protest of Francis humility because our Lord Christ had
asked of him so unworthy, three gifts. And the Lord had
bidden him three times put his hand to his bosom : and each
time Francis had found there a ball of fire, which he offered,
at first not understanding the mystery ; but Christ had told
him that these balls of fire were the virtues of poverty,
chastity and obedience which were in the heart of Francis. 1
Then when they had spoken of these things, Francis went
with Leo to the oratory where Mass was said : there Francis
cast himself upon the ground before the Altar and prayed that
God would make known to him His will concerning the
mystery which lay upon him. And when he had prayed he
signed himself with the sign of the cross ; then wistfully bade
Leo take the book of the Gospels from the altar and read the
first passage upon which his eye alighted.
The passage was one which relates how it behoved
Christ to suffer. A second and third time Leo opened the
book at Francis bidding, and each time the reading con
cerned the passion of our Lord. Gently and with joy Francis
submitted to what he believed was an indication of the
Divine Will : by suffering he too must come into the King
dom of God, even as it was with his Lord : and into his soul
there came a great longing to share in the passion of Christ
and to have in himself that divine love which impelled Christ
to suffer for men. 2
With this prayer in his heart Francis awakened one morn
ing about the feast of the Holy Cross or as some say, on the
very day of the Holy Cross. 3 One chronicler tells us that
1 Fioretli, loc. cit. in. Consid.
2 Fioretti, loc. cit. ; II Celano, 92, 93 ; Leg. Maj. xm. 2.
3 S. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. xni. 3) says: " Quodammanc circa festuin Ex-
altationis sanctcc, crucis ". The Chron. xxiv. Gen. (Anal. Franc, in. p. 30) :
" Circa festum Exalt ationis sanctce crucis vel ut in quodani revelations divina, in
eodemfesto ". This revelation is evidently that mentioned in the Instrumen-
tum de Stigmatibus compiled by Brother Philip, Provincial of Tuscany, by com
mand of the Minister-General, in 1283. Vide Anal. Franc, in. p. 374 ; and pp.
641 seq. The Fioretti says : " Viene il di seguenete, cioeil di della santissima
Croce ". Celano gives no indication of the day.
342 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
on the previous day whilst Francis was praying in his cell,
an angel had appeared to him and had bidden him prepare
himself to suffer patiently what God was about to work in
him ; and Francis had replied that he was willing to receive
patiently whatever it would please his Lord to do unto him. 1
But whether the angel appeared to his bodily sense or made
his presence felt by the inner understanding, is not said. Yet
this we may well believe that to the soul of Francis there
came some Divine intimation of that which was now to
happen to him. Francis, then, was kneeling at his morning
prayer on this day of days when he saw in vision a strange
form coming towards him, whereat he was much terrified. 2
But as this strange thing came near and stood on a stone
above him he saw one who was a man and yet a Seraph.
His arms were extended and his feet conjoined, and his body
was fastened to a cross. Two wings were raised above his
head, two were extended as in flight and two covered the
body. 3 But the face was beauteous beyond all earthly
beauty ; and yet it was the face of suffering. And at that
Francis was filled with great joy because of the beauty of
that face ; and then with exceeding pity and sorrow because
of the pain and suffering which was there. 4 Suddenly in a
moment of great agony the Seraph smote him as it were in
body and soul, so that Francis was in great fear ; and yet
again the Seraph spoke to him as a friend making clear
many things which hitherto had been hidden from him : as
he afterwards told his companions. 5 And then after a
moment which seemed an age, the vision disappeared.
When Francis came to himself, his first thought was one
of perplexity as to what this vision could mean ; for he knew
that no heavenly spirit can suffer mortal pain. In this per-
1 Fioretti, loc. cit.
2 Leg. Maj. xin. 3 ; Eccleston [ed. Little], col. xiii, p. 93.
3 Compare the description of the Seraphim in Isaias vi. 2.
4 1 Celano, II, in. 94 ; Celano, de Miraculis, n. 4 ; Leg. Maj. loc. cit. ;
Fioretti, loc. cit.
Of. Eccleston [ed. Little], xiii, p. 93.
6 Fioretti, loc. cit. : " Disparendo dunque questa visione mirabile dopo
grande spazio ".
THE STIGMATA 343
plexity of mind he rose from his knees and stood pondering
amazedly : whilst still in his soul was the mingled sorrow
and joy of the vision. As he stood thus, the meaning was
made clear : for in the body of Francis appeared the marks of
the crucified Seraph : in his hands and feet were the scars of
wounds and in the scars were the impressions of nails, so
formed that they might be taken for the nails of the cross ; the
round heads black in appearance, protruding in the palms of
the hands and on the insteps of the feet ; whilst on the back
of the hands and on the soles of feet were the bended points
of the nails : and his right side was as though pierced by a
lance. 1 The Seraph of the vision was the spirit of the Crucified
suffering through love, which now had taken entire possession
of God s dear poor one ; 2 of which possession the external
marks were the sign and seal.
Now at this happening Francis was alone in his solitude :
not even Leo being present ; 3 and at first he thought never
to reveal to any man this wonderful thing which had come to
1 Celano, loc. cit. ; Leg. Maj. loc. cit. ; Fioretti, loc. cit. For description of
the stigmata see also the letter of Brother Elias to Gregory of Naples written
to announce the death of St. Francis (Boehmer, Analekten, p. 90). See also
the attestations of Gregory IX in his letters " Nonminus dolentes " and " Cum
sceculi vanitate " in Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 213 seq.
2 S. Bonaventure, ut supra, says it was Christ sub sped Seraph who ap
peared to Francis. Gelano in Legenda Prima (loc. cit.) speaks rather vaguely ;
" vidit in visione Dei virum unum quasi seraphim sex alas habentem," but in the
Tractatus de Miraculis he says more positively: "vidit in visione Seraph in
cruce positwn ". It is curious to note the difference in treatment of the story of
the stigmata between the earliest paintings and those of Giotto and his suc
cessors. In the former the saint is alone, standing up amid trees and flowers
indicative of a wood ; in the latter, the saint is generally depicted kneeling,
with Brother Leo near at hand, and upon rocky ground. It is, however, to be
noted that the marks of the stigmata, as Celano expressly says, appeared after
the vision, when Francis had risen up and whilst he was pondering on the
significance of what he had seen. Another difference is that in the earliest
paintings the Seraph has the conventional face of a Seraph, whereas in the
later paintings, it is the face of our Lord. It is the difference between Celano
and S. Bonaventure. Cf. Matrod, Deux Eniaux Franciscains an Louvre.
Had Leo been present Celano would surely have adduced him as a wit
ness to so wonderful an event. Moreover, S. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. xni. 4)
implies that none of the saint s familiar companions (socii familiares) knew
of what had happened.
344 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
him : even as every true man will jealously hide the most
precious gift to his heart, not speaking of it even to his friends.
And then again he was in doubt for that it was impossible al
together to hide this manifest sign from those who were most
with him ; and because it was thus manifest, would he be
setting himself against the Will of God and taking wholly to
himself what God had meant perhaps for a sign and comfort
to others ? Thus he knew not whether he should speak or
remain silent. But at length he called to him his companions
and in general terms set this question to them, whether one
should reveal or hide a favour which God had granted him.
Whereupon Illuminate saw that Francis spoke as one much
amazed, and divined that something extraordinary had
happened : so he replied : " Brother, thou knowest that not
for thyself alone are the heavenly secrets revealed to thee,
but for others also. Therefore is it to be feared that if thou
dost hide what thou hast received for the profit of many, thou
wilt be judged guilty of the hidden talent ". l Then shyly and
as by constraint Francis told the brothers of the vision and
the stigmata ; adding that the Seraph had told him many
things of which he could not speak. Yet he kept hidden from
their sight the marks in his body, covering his hands and
feet with his tunic. Only to Leo did he willingly bare his
wounds, when because of the pain and the bleeding he must
needs have them bound with bandages. 2
But to Buffino the contemplative, Francis spoke intim
ately of some of the things that had been revealed to him
concerning the Order, in the moment of the vision ; namely,
that the life and profession of the Friars Minor should never
fail even to the day of judgment ; also that no one who
maliciously persecuted the Order would have a long life ; that
no evil person wishing to live wickedly, could long remain in
the Order; and that whosoever loved the Order from his
heart, however great a sinner he might be, should at last find
mercy. 3
1 Leg. Maj. xni. 4 ; Fioretti, loc. cit.
z Fiorctti t loc. cit. ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc. HI. p. 68.
3 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 79. Eccleston, loc. cit. Of. Fioretti,
in. Consid., where the promises are amplified and include this, that the breth-
THE STIGMATA 345
Now seeing how God had dealt with him, Francis heart
was filled with unutterable gratitude ; and even the very ground
became sacred and precious to him. And the remembrance of
that smiting by the Seraph filled him always with renewed
wonder : so had the angel dealt with the patriarch Jacob
of old, smiting him into submission to His will. Then Fran
cis, because he was unable to perform the act himself on
account of his wounds, bade Kuffino consecrate the stone
upon which the Seraph had stood, even as Jacob had con
secrated the stone of his vision, washing it and anointing it
with oil : l and from that day that stone has been held sacred
by all the generations of the brethren. 2
But because his heart was full, he must needs utter in
words what his soul felt, constrained by a poet s need : and
yet because of the strangeness of this mystery and the fear
which was still upon him, his tongue was held and he could
speak but haltingly in borrowed words. So taking parch
ment and pen he wrote this psalm, which a later generation
of men styled " The Praise of the Most High God " : though
as you will see, it had more fittingly been styled, " The
Praise of the Crucified":
Thou art the Holy Lord God ; Thou art God of gods, Who alone
workest marvels.
Thou art strong, Thou art great, Thou art most high ; Thou art
almighty, Thou holy Father, King of heaven and earth.
Thou art threefold and one ; Lord God of gods.
Thou art good, every good, the highest good ; the Lord God, living
and true.
Thou art love, charity ; Thou art wisdom ; Thou art humility.
Thou art patience ; Thou, fortitude and prudence.
Thou art security, Thou art rest ; Thou art joy and gladness.
ren who observed the Rule perfectly, will at their death enter into eternal life
without passing through purgatory.
1 Eccleston, loc. cit. Later writers attribute this act to Leo (cf. Anal.
Franc, m. p. 67) but Eccleston had the story from Peter of Tewkesbury who
had it from the lips of Leo himself.
2 It is encased in a grille in the Chapel of the Stigmata : and on it is this
inscription : " Hie signasti Domine, servum tuum Franciscum ". Twice a day
after matins and vespers the friars proceed to the chapel in solemn procession
and venerate this sacred spot.
346 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Thou art justice and temperance ; Thou art all our wealth and
plenty.
Thou art beauty, Thou art gentleness ; Thou art the protector ;
Thou art the keeper and the defender.
Thou art our refuge and strength ; Thou art our faith, hope, and
charity.
Thou art our great sweetness ; Thou art our eternal life.
Infinite Goodness, great and wonderful Lord God Almighty : loving
and merciful Saviour. 1
Thus in the strength of his joy, Francis sang his Magnificat.
It has often been said that those who are nearest to God,
are nearest to the hearts of their fellow-men : and of this we
have an instance in Francis in this day of his exaltation. For
whilst he was being thus fashioned in the likeness of his Lord
and enduring both the pain and the sweetness of the fashion
ing, Brother Leo, that faithful friend and servitor, was passing
through a trial of his own, hard to endure. Out of his very
familiarity with Francis had come his trial. He had witnessed
the agony through which the master he worshipped, was pass
ing to his glory ; he had caught some glimpse of life of the
elect. And then there had come upon him this doubt : how
could he, so unworthy and so mean, stand beside this holy
one of God or ever hope to attain to the eternal life ? And
Leo s heart was heavy almost to despair. At one moment he
would determine to cast himself upon the pity of Francis ;
but again he drew back, fearing with inconsequent fear lest
Francis should reject him ; and then he were lost indeed. Then
in his agony of soul he thought that if only Francis would
write with his own hand some words of Holy Scripture which
1 Opusciila S. Franc. (Quaracchi), p. 124; Boehmer, Analekten, p. 66;
Tlie Seraphic Keepsake, by Reginald Balfour, p. 54. The original autograph is
preserved in the sacristy of the Sagro Convento, Assisi. On one side of the
sheet are written the Praises; on the other the Blessing of St. Francis given
to Brother Leo (vide infra). Of. Fr. Paschal Robinson, Writings of St.
Francis, pp. 146-9.
Mr. Balfour (loc. cit. p. 52) has pointed out the inadequacy of the con
ventional title given to the Praises. He says: "This title is misleading,
because in the Praise of God Most High, Saint Francis does not dwell with
any special emphasis upon that aspect of Almighty God, which humanity
sums up in the word Creator . . . . Saint Francis addresses ... in a word,
the loving and merciful Saviour ".
THE STIGMATA 347
had come to Leo as a promise of day, and give him the writ
ing, it would be to him a token of God s favour and something
to hold to in his desolation. And yet even this he feared to
ask : dreading the awful climax of a refusal But in this
hour of his own joy, when Francis was writing his Praises of
the Crucified Saviour, there came to his receptive heart an
understanding of the soul of Leo abiding mutely beside him.
And when he had written those Praises, turning the parch
ment over, he inscribed these words of Holy Writ :
The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord show His face to thee and have mercy upon thee.
The Lord turn His countenance to thee and give thee peace. 1
And beneath these words and to give them a personal applica
tion Francis wrote :
Brother Leo may our Lord bless thee.
And then not content till he had made this message complete,
he drew beneath the blessing the rude figure of a head and
upon this, yet so drawn as to pass through the letters of Leo s
name, he drew the sign Thau.
Then Francis gave the parchment to the suffering Leo,
saying : " Take this sheet and carefully keep it by thee till the
day of thy death ". And to his amazement Leo saw written
there the very words he had desired to be written ; and there
too he saw himself marked with the sign of the elect. And
at that moment the dread of despair vanished from his soul ;
nor did it ever return. 2
1 Numbers vi. 24-6. The translation is according to the Vulgate, as was
the Latin text inscribed by Francis.
2 II Celano, II, xx. 49 ; Leg. Maj. xi. 9 ; Fioretti, loc. cit. n. Consid. The
Fioretti puts the temptation of Brother Leo before the impressing of the stig
mata ; but Gelano clearly states that the blessing was written at the same
time as the Praises. Now we know from Leo s own testimony that the
Praises were written " after the vision and speech lie had of the Seraph and the
impression in his body of the stigmata of Christ ". So Leo tells us in the note
he added to this very parchment which Francis gave him (vide note on pre
ceding page).
The character of Leo s temptation which, as all the chroniclers say, was
" of the spirit and not of the flesh" "71071 carnis sed spiritus" is indicated
by the words of the blessing and the sign than upon the head. Leo s descrip
tion: " signum thau cum capite " written on the same sheet is significant of
348 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
Francis abode on Monte Alvernia until after St. Michael s
feast. 1 On the day of his departure the lord Orlando came
from his castle of Chiusi to bid him farewell ; and an ass
being brought, Francis was placed upon it ; and with Brother
Leo in attendance and a peasant, the owner of the ass, he
began his journey back to the Porziuncola. But before
starting Francis called to him his companions of these un
forgettable days and bade them abide in charity and be
constant in prayer and have a care of this holy mountain.
Then whilst the brethren were weeping because of his parting
and the tenderness of his words, Francis and Leo and the
peasant took the road which goes by Monte Acuto and down
the steep ways into Borgo San Sepolcro.
On the journey Francis became lost in prayer to all visible
things, and even as they passed through Borgo San Sepolcro
he did not hear the acclamation of the townsmen nor heed
the town itself.
In the evening they came to the hermitage of Monte
Casale up in the mountains above the town, where Francis
pityingly gave health and peace to an epileptic brother : and
at Monte Casale he rested : for this place is fashioned for joy
and contentment, so paradisal is its beauty. But after a few
days he passed on to Citta di Castello in the plain, where
the people received him with delight and brought to him
their sick to be cured. Here he remained many days at the
prayer of the people ; and when he again took up his journey
the first snows were falling on the mountains over which he
must pass on his way to the Porziuncola. That night they
were storm-bound in the hills and could not proceed : and at
this the owner of the ass on which Francis rode not he who
came from Alvernia, but another murmured and was in sore
temper because of the cold. But Francis took his hand and
its prophetic interpretation. Cf. Ezechiel ix. 6; of. R. Balfour, loc. cit. p.
66 sec[. Mr. Montgomery Carmichael (La Benedizione di san Francesco) argues
that the sign manual represents a cross on Monte Alvernia : but this imagina
tive supposition is in contradiction to Leo s own description and to the known
custom Francis had of signing his letters with the sign than. Cf . Celano, Tract,
de Mirac. 11. 3 ; cf . Edouard d Alencon, La Benediction de St. Francois.
1 Leg. Maj. xm. 5.
THE STIGMATA 349
at the touch the cold seemed to vanish from the man s body
and he passed the night without discomfort amidst the rocks. 1
Next day they journeyed on and came to the Porziun-
cola : and to the eyes of Leo it seemed as they drew nigh
this sacred place, that a bright cross preceded them, and on
the cross was the figure of the Crucified : and it went before
them until they entered the enclosure. 2
Thus Francis came home, himself little heeding the voices
of men : but all the countryside were telling the marvel which
had happened to him : and in the soul of Leo there was a
great joy.
1 Leg. Maj. xm. 7 ; Fioretti, loc. cit. iv. Consid.
2 For this journey our chief authority is the Fioretti, loc. cit. All the
country between Alvernia and Assisi, through which Francis passed, is full of
local traditions handed down by the people through the centuries.
CHAPTEK III.
TOWARDS EVENING.
IT is a marvellous thing that on his return from Alvernia,
Francis seemed to glow with new energy in spite of the fact
that his body was now almost wholly broken with sickness
and pain ; for to the gastric troubles and consequent debility
which had increased much since his journey to the East,
there was now added the pain and weakness of the stigmata.
A mere touch made his wounds throb with pain, 1 and there
were frequent bleedings which robbed him of his poor
physical strength. 2 Because of the wounds in his feet and
the fleshy nails, he could not walk except with acute suffer
ing. 3 And yet in spirit he was as one whose youth is
renewed.
Incredible as it might seem, hardly had he returned to
the Porziuncola than he set out on an evangelizing tour,
riding on an ass. 4 The brethren pityingly besought him to
rest and to have a care of his body and to submit himself
to medical treatment ; but he gaily brushed aside their
anxieties: where would be his knightly honour, if bearing
the marks of Christ s passion, he sought to avoid the pain ?
He had taken his Master s cup, and he must needs drink it
that he might fulfil in himself the sufferings of Christ which
yet were lacking in him.
The truth is, Francis knew that his days on earth were
drawing near their end, and he was like a bride solicitous
only to prepare the home against the corning of him whom
her soul worships. Why waste the time in useless cares ?
1 II Celano, 138 ; Tract, de Miraculis, 4 ; Leg. Maj. xm. 8.
2 1 Celano, 95 ; II Celano, 136. Tract, de Miraculis, 4.
*ibid. 4 1 Celano, 98.
360
TOWAEDS EVENING 851
The brethren, too, knew that his days were numbered.
They had but to look upon his weakened body : and then
there was a mysterious warning which had come to Brother
Elias one night when he and Francis were stopping at
Foligno. In his dream Elias had seen a venerable priest
clothed in white garments, who bade him arise and tell
Francis that in two years time he would go the way of all
flesh at the call of the Lord. 1 When Francis heard the
message, his soul bounded with joy and all his being turned
eagerly to that call of the Lord : but the brethren in their
love for him and in their self-pity, were made only the more
anxious to tend him with all services, and, if it might be, to
ward off the approaching day.
And shortly a new aggravation of illness forced him to
submit somewhat to their solicitations. His malady brought
on a trouble of the eyes, so that he could hardly endure the
light ; and he was altogether in great pain. 2 Then did Brother
Elias become more importunate, bidding him as his guardian
to take medical advice. But Elias did more : he sent word
to Cardinal Ugolino, knowing well how Francis held him in
great reverence.
It was now early summer ; and the cardinal was with the
papal court at Rieti. 3 At the court was a physician of great
skill. The cardinal, therefore, sent an urgent message to
Francis to come and be treated at Rieti. Francis submitted ;
and arrangements were made to carry him thither by easy
stages. 4
Now this journey was to be memorable both for what
happened at its beginning and towards its end ; but chiefly
for what happened at the beginning.
On the first day Francis journeyed only as far as the con
vent of San Damiano, less than an hour s slow ride from the
Porziuncola : for he much desired to visit Sister Clare both
1 1 Celano, 109 ; Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sab.], cap. 121.
2 Celano, 98.
3 Honorius III had been compelled by a rising of the Romans to quit Rome
at the end of April. After a short stay at Tivoli, he came with his court to
Rieti and remained there until the end of 1226.
4 1 Celano, 99 ; Fioretti, xvm.
352 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
for his own soul s comfort and for hers. In these days of his
peace when the hand of the Lord lay so mightily, yet so sweetly,
upon him, he turned to Clare for understanding sympathy as
to no one else. None other was there in all the earth who
understood so well as she, this mystery which had come to
him, and what his own thought and desire must be concerning
it. For to her too in the walled garden of her heart, Christ
had revealed Himself : and she knew, and knowing, wor
shipped. No word of hers would tarnish the bloom upon this
"secret of the King". With her therefore Francis could
speak as to none other. And because she knew him so well,
her woman s pity for his sufferings never made her less a
companion to him in his determination to suffer even to the
uttermost what pain should be sent him, that so he might
the more fully probe the love which made Christ his Lord
suffer. Hence when others who understood him less though
they loved him well, claimed the guardianship of his body, he
turned once more to Clare for the comfort of his spirit.
It was to be but a passing visit and the next day would
see the travellers again on the road. But that night Francis be
came much worse and it was soon evident that he could travel
no further for the present. Then Clare, divining Francis
wish, had a hut built for him in the convent garden, a hut of
wattles such as he had at the Porziuncola : and thither Francis
was carried in the loving care of Angelo Tancredi, Kuffino,
Leo and Masseo ; l Clare s vigilant sympathy hovering over
them all. For between all these first disciples of Poverty
there was a spirit of comradeship in which few of the later
generation could share: and doubtless Clare was thankful
that in these days of pain Francis should be tended by the
companions of those first joyous years.
The suffering grew intense and to the agony of nerve and
limb was added the dread loss of sight.
To increase his discomfort the hut was over-run with mice.
Now ordinarily Francis would not have minded this much,
because of his love of all creatures, even the meanest. But
1 1 Celano, 102. Celano does not give their names, but his description of
them leaves no doubt.
TOWAEDS EVENING 353
in his blindness and pain their importunate intrusions set all
his nerves ajar : and for once he felt a certain pity for him
self and grew fearful lest his patience should fail. In this
new need he turned to the Lord and besought Him to come
to his aid. Hardly had he uttered the cry when to his spirit
there came the responding question : " Tell me, brother, if
anyone should give thee in return for thy infirmities and
sufferings, a treasure so vast and precious that the whole
earth by comparison would be as nothing to it, wouldst thou
not greatly rejoice? " Francis answered musingly : " Great
indeed, Lord, would be this treasure and very precious and
exceedingly wonderful and desirable". The voice replied,
" Then, brother, be glad and make merry in thine infirmities
and sufferings ; and for the rest, thou mayest be assured of
My Kingdom, even as if thou wert already there ".
Now as when on a dreary journey suddenly one comes
upon an entrancing scene of loveliness and forgets in a
moment the dragging weariness and leaps with a new under
standing and joy of life, so now it was with Francis. The
dread veil of despondency lifted and he felt only the treasure of
life which the earth held, scintillating with the mystic promise
of the fuller life to come. And all his being throbbed with the
pleasure of it and his heart was full of gratitude for the fair
world which promised yet a fairer. And through the remain
ing hours of the night his whole being was eager with
worship, and he could have kissed the earth and the sky
for the promise they had brought him. So he passed the
night.
But as soon as day broke Francis arose and called his
companions, for he could not rest with his joy unshared.
" My brothers," he exclaimed, " if the emperor promised his
kingdom to one of his liege-men, should not that man be very
glad ? And if he gave him his whole empire, should he not
yet even more rejoice ? Surely then ought I to be glad of my
infirmities and sufferings, and be comforted in our Lord and
for ever give thanks to God the Father and to His only Son
our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit, because of this
so great favour He has done to me ; for he has deigned to
23
354 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
assure me, His unworthy servant whilst yet I live in the flesh,
of the possession of His Kingdom. Wherefore to the praise
of the Lord and for our own comfort and for the edification
of our neighbour, I will make a new hymn concerning those
creatures of the Lord which minister to our daily need and
without whom we could not live."
So saying, Francis sat down and pondered : then lifting
his voice he uttered in the Italian tongue this song :
Most high omnipotent, good Lord,
Thine are praise, glory and honour and all benediction,
To Thee alone, Most High, do they belong :
And no man is there, worthy Thee to Name.
Praise be to Thee, my Lord, with all Thy creatures,
Chiefest of all, Sir Brother Sun
Who is our day, through whom Thou givest light :
Beautiful is he ; radiant, with great splendour :
Of Thee, Most High, he is a true revealer.
Praise be to Thee my Lord, for Sister Moon and for the stars ;
In heaven hast thou formed them, bright, precious and fair.
Praise be to Thee my Lord, for Brother Wind, and for the
air and for the cloud, for clear sky and all weathers,
By which Thou givest nourishment to all Thy creatures.
Praise be to Thee my Lord, for Sister Water ; she
Most useful is, and humble, precious and pure.
Praise be to Thee my Lord, for Brother Fire ; by whom
Thou lightest up the night :
And fair is he and merry, mighty and strong.
Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for our Sister, Mother Earth,
The which sustains and keeps us :
She brings forth diverse fruits, the many-hued flowers and grass.
O Creatures all ! praise and bless my Lord, and grateful be,
And serve Him with deep humility.
Having uttered his hymn, Francis caused it to be written
down, entitling it " The Canticle of Brother Sun ". And he
set it to a melody, and straightway taught the brethren to
sing it. 1
i Of. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sab.], cap. 100, 118, and 119 ; II Celano, 213.
The Canticle of the Sun is given in Spec. Perfect, cap. 120; and in
Conformit. lib. n. fruct. xi. ii. It also exists in many MSS. Of. Sabatier,
Spec. Perfect., Etude Speciale du Chap. 120, pp. 277-91; Fr. Paschal
TOWAKDS EVENING 355
Thus out of that night of pain did Francis issue forth the
singer of a new song, one of those songs of the soul s awaken
ing which the world treasures with material instinct : for
they are the joyous cry of an attained life attained within
the soul of the singer which the world s heart has long
desired to see and the vision of which will never again be
wholly lost. Therefore are they taken to the heart of the
world as the break of day is taken to the heart of the patient
earth : for they are light, and warmth, and colour, all that
makes life free and glad.
The " Canticle of Brother Sun " is a song of the kin
ship of all God s creatures and of God s Fatherhood of them
all, and of the liberty which the heart of man finds in the
vision of this truth. That is the palpitating cry which breaks
out in its halting cadence and rugged line. It is the glad an
nouncement of life where men had seen but counterfeit or
negation. Those who had sang of religion before him had be
moaned the tyranny of the sense-world and had seen freedom
of soul only in the life beyond the grave : pathetically they
bewailed their exile here on earth ; joyous only when they
could escape in faith and hope from the earth on which they
were born. But to Francis, mother earth and the sky
above and all the things which God has made were insistent
pledges of the life eternal, tokens of the Divine Life which
creates both present and future : and he knew no other way
of immersing his own being in the Eternal Sea than by im
mersion in the sea of life around him; only this was he
careful of, to keep his soul pure from selfish desire and to
abide in the faith of Christ His Lord ; believing that only so
would the created world give up to him its secret.
And now with his faith in God so secure and all selfish
ness utterly banished in his union with his God, his heart
and mind were free and all his being confessed with joyous
clear confession his faith in the visible world. That was the
liberty into which Francis had come and which he sang in his
song. How it sent a thrill through the heart of Christendom
Kobinson, The Writings of St. Francis, pp. 150-3 ; Boehmer, Analekten,
p. Ixiii.
23*
356 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
and was one of the beginnings of a new religious sense and
of a new secular art, you may read elsewhere ; x and also how
it was one of the beginnings of that Italian speech which
Dante Alighieri moulded into such perfect melody. 2 For in
the uttering of this song Francis used neither the Latin of the
clerk nor the language of the Proven9al troubadour, as in the
songs he had hitherto sung, but with the instinct of the true
poet he strung his verse to the melody of his own people s
tongue. It was but an untutored speech, the speech of his
people, unrecognized by the scholar save as a menial in the
house. Yet could no other speech have borne the burden of his
song : for no true poet yet has sung truly in an alien tongue
or in any other save that of his own blood.
Was Clare present when Francis composed his hymn ? In
deed it may well be that the world owes this song in part to
her inspiring sympathy : for never had Francis been more
truly himself than in these days at San Damiano. He had
become again the joyous troubadour of the Lord, even as he
had been in the days before his great trial : but just as the
early beauty will sometimes reappear in the countenance of
one who has gone through years of suffering, ennobled and
spiritually transfigured ; or as the golden dawn is fulfilled in
the mellow brilliance of evening sunlight ; so was it with
Francis in this rejuvenation of his spirit. More and more
ardent he grew to conquer the world by love and poetry, believ
ing that if men could but be brought to gaze upon the beauty
of God and His works, they would be impelled to love and
serve Him. In his recovered freedom all the world was again
transfigured in the mystic light of his glowing idealism.
An incident now happened which confirmed him in this
glad outlook. Whilst he was still at San Damiano, a long-
smouldering feud burst into flame between the municipality
of Assisi and the bishop. The bishop excommunicated the
J Cf. E. Gebhart, L ltalie Mystique, pp. 282-3; ibid. pp. 83-4; Miintz,
Hist, de Vart pendant la Renaissance : Les Primitifs ; Thode, St. Frangois
dAssise et VArt Italien.
2 Of. Ozanam, Les Po&tes Franciscains, p. 82 ; Matthew Arnold, Essays in
Criticism, p. 243 ; Monaci, Crestomazia italiana dei primi secoli, fasc. i. pp.
29-31.
TOWAKDS EVENING 357
magistrates, and these forbade the citizens to have any busi
ness relations with the bishop s court either for buying or sell
ing. When the news reached the ears of Francis he sent for
Brother Pacifico, the poet and singer, and for others of the
brethren. One of them he bade go and summon the magis
trates to the bishop s palace, and they out of reverence at
once complied with the request. On their arrival they were
met by Pacifico and his companions and by the bishop s court.
Then, following out the injunction of Francis, the brethren
sang the "Canticle of Brother Sun," as Francis had taught
them ; but with this additional stanza, composed for the oc
casion :
Praise be to Thee my Lord for those who pardon grant for love of
Thee,
And weakness bear and buffetings :
Blessed are they who in peace abide,
For by Thee Most High, they shall be crowned.
As the brethren sang, the bishop and the magistrates felt
themselves strangely moved : into the misty, heated world of
their petty rivalries and recriminations had come this song of
Francis as a gentle believing spirit, and before it they grew
ashamed and silent ; and then they became humble and re
pentant ; and finally as the song ended, their hearts leaped to
better things and they wept in their humiliation. Without
argument or bargaining they held out to each other the hand
of peace and parted in friendship. 1
Francis was happy when the brethren returned and told
what had happened. In his joy he planned to send Brother
Pacifico and his fellow-singers on tour through the world.
They were to go from place to place preaching and singing the
praises of the Lord. First a brother, one who had the gift
of words, was to preach and at the conclusion of the sermon
the others were to sing this song of God s creatures: and
when they had sung they were to say to the people : " We
are God s jongleurs ; and for that we have sung to you, we
ask a reward : and our reward will be that you all abide in
sincere penitence ". 2
1 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 101. 2 ibid. cap. 100.
358 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
It was six weeks or more before Francis could continue
his journey to Eieti. 1 Perhaps in the heart of Clare there
was a foreboding that this was to be his last visit to San
Damiano. His going would leave a void in her daily life, for
all these weeks she had ministered watchfully both for the
comfort of his soul and the alleviation of his bodily suffer
ing, 2 yet would she rejoice, understanding the joy which had
come to him and that it would remain. In the intimacy of
these days she had learned much that would stand her in
good stead in the days to come when the defence of Francis
ideals was to be committed into her brave hands.
So Francis went on his way broken in body but greatly
uplifted in spirit. By slow stages they had him borne over
the road he knew so well. At length they came to the wooded
hills that lie out in the plain near to Bieti ; and once again
Francis was too ill to be carried further. So the brethren
stopped at the church of San Fabiano where the priest offered
the shelter of his house. And here happened that other in
cident which was to make this journey notable.
The priest was very poor : his chief source of income was
a small vineyard which in the best years produced twelve
measures of wine : and the vineyard adjoined the house.
Now when it became known that Francis had arrived at the
house of the priest of San Fabiano, all manner of people,
cardinals and bishops and citizens, went out to do him rever
ence and for some days the priest s house was as a shrine of
pilgrimage. But alas for the vineyard ! With no considera
tion for the priest s poverty, the pilgrims helped themselves
to his fat grapes, and in a few days the vines were bare of
their best. In despair the priest bewailed his prospect of
hungry days ahead and began to regret his hospitality.
1 There are various readings in the MSS. of the Spec. Perfect, regarding
the length of Francis stay. Some say 60 days ; others 50. Of. Spec. Perfect.
[ed. Sabatier], p. 195 seq. The Conformit. says 40 days. One MS. published
in Miscellanea Franc, vi. p. 47 seq. has " ultra spatium 4 dierum ; " but as M.
Sabatier has pointed out (Zofc. cit.) the expression is vague and unlikely. Prob
ably it is a copyist s error for " ultra spatium 40 dierum ".
2 A pair of sandals which Clare made to relieve the pain of his stigmatized
feet are still preserved at San Damiano.
TOWAEDS EVENING 359
Francis, made aware of the havoc caused by his presence,
pitied the poor priest and asked that he would come to him.
" Be not disturbed, signore," he exclaimed confidently when
the priest came ; " we cannot alter things now, but we can
trust in the Lord to make good this loss which you have
suffered on my account. Tell me how many measures of wine
you get when the year is at its best ". The priest replied that
twelve measures was his best output. "Then be not sad,"
said Francis, "and utter no further words of complaint: if
you get less than twenty measures this year I will make good
that quantity." And indeed when a few weeks later the time
for pressing the grapes came, the priest to his joy got twenty
measures of good wine. 1
Francis coming to Eieti was in fact a Palm-Sunday tri
umph. The rumour of the stigmata had preceded him : he
was "the saint," whom all hastened to honour and revere.
One man whose cattle had been struck by some disease, came
to the brethren and besought them to give him the water in
which Francis washed his hands and feet, and returning home
he sprinkled the cattle with the water and they recovered. 2
In the city Francis was lodged in the bishop s palace : and
hither the sick were brought to him that he might heal them
by his prayers and blessing. One of these was a canon, a
worldly cleric crippled as the result of evil living. With piteous
tears he clamoured to be signed with the sign of the cross.
Francis acceded to his request but with this sharp rebuke :
" You have lived according to the desires of the flesh and not
according to the judgments of God: how then shall I sign
you with the cross ? But I sign you in the name of Christ :
yet know that greater evils will befall you if you return to
your vomit : for on account of the sin of ingratitude things
worse than the first come upon a man." The canon was
1 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 104 ; Fioretti, xvm. A new ohurch
marked the scene of this miracle a few years later. It was consecrated by
Gregory IX. It then became known by the title of S. Maria della Foresta.
A house for the friars was built adjoining it. Tke house and church have of
late years been temporarily closed owing, I was told, to lack of alms for their
support.
a Leg. Maj. xm. 6 ; Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 18.
360 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
cured : but unhappily went back to his evil ways, and shortly
was killed by a falling roof whilst rioting in the house of some
friends. 1
Meanwhile Francis was suffering greatly. Yet amidst his
bodily agonies he continued to find an absorbing sweetness
in meditating upon the beauty of God in His creation. All
the creation seemed to sing of the glory of its Creator to his
pain-racked senses : and this is the more wonderful when we
remember how pain is apt to turn all sensible comfort into
bitterness. One day, when he was suffering more than usual
in eyes and head, he had a great desire to hear the viol. One
of the brothers attending him, had been a violist in the world.
Francis called for him and said : " Brother, the children of
the world do not understand divine sacraments : and musical
instruments which in former times were set apart for the
praise of God, man s wantonness has converted to the mere
delight of the ear. Now I would have you go secretly and
borrow a viol and bring comfort with some honest melody
to brother Body who is so full of pains ". But the brother
had not Francis unworldliness. He protested that people
might think he was given to levity if he asked for such a thing.
"In that case," replied Francis, "let it be. It is better to
put aside good things than to give scandal." Yet were his
thoughts that day full of the mystery of music. The next
night as he was lying awake thinking of God, suddenly there
came to him the sound as of a viol being played ; and as the
bow touched the strings, such surpassing melody came forth
as no earthly viol could produce : so that Francis forgot all
his pain. The morning following he said to the brother :
" Brother, our Lord who consoles the afflicted never leaves me
without consolation. I could not hear the viol of men ; but
I have heard one far sweeter." And he told his experience
of the night. 2
Probably to escape the noise of the world Francis had
himself removed from the city to the hermitage of Monte Eain-
erio. Here he underwent the treatment which the physician
prescribed. To relieve the agony of one of his eyes, it was
1 ll Celano, 41 ; Leg. Maj. xi. 5. 3 II Celano, 126; Leg. Maj. v. 11.
TOWARDS EVENING 361
thought well to cauterise his upper cheek. When the phy
sician suggested this, Francis replied that he was willing to
submit to whatever Brother Elias his superior should deter
mine, for in the matter of his body he had no will of his own
but was altogether in their hands.
So the iron for the cautery was got ready. For a
moment Francis feared lest in the application he might
shrink from the pain : but bracing his spirit to the ordeal he
looked steadily at the iron in the fire : " my brother fire ! " he
exclaimed, " amongst all creatures most noble and useful, be
courteous to me in this hour, for I have ever loved thee and
ever will love thee for love of Him Who created thee ". The
attendant brethren, less brave, left the room : but Francis
making the sign of the cross over the burning iron, submitted
without a tremor. When the operation was over the breth
ren came back. "0 weak-spirited and of little faith, why
did you flee? " Francis said to them; " in truth I tell you I
felt not any pain nor sense of heat, so that if it is not well
burned, he may burn me better ".
But little relief came from this cauterising. Another time
afterwards they opened the veins above the ear : but equally
without giving relief. Another physician was called into con
sultation. He cauterised both ears, piercing them with the
burning iron : and yet no relief came. 1 The serene endurance
with which Francis underwent all these operations was a
marvel to those who attended him. One of the physicians
told the brethren, he would have applied such drastic remedies
with fear even to the strongest man ; yet this man so weak
and ill, bore all without a sign of grief. 2
The secret of his endurance was, in truth, that indomitable
joy which had come to him with the renewal of his spirit on
Alvernia and at San Damiano. He was living in that joy and
not in his bodily troubles. Frequently would he break into
song, sometimes composing new canticles and setting them
to music : in these moments of inspiration he was once again
back in the wattle hut at San Damiano where his soul had
1 Spec. Perfect, [ed, Sabatier], cap. 115; Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 14.
2 ibid. ; Leg. Maj. v. 9.
362 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
found its new utterance : and because of the remembrance,
he sent these canticles to Clare, knowing how she would
rejoice in them and how well she understoood. 1
He was eager too for new adventures for the love of his
Lord Christ. In the knowledge and vision which had come
to him it seemed as though he were but at the beginning of
life. " My brothers," he would say, "let us begin to serve
the Lord God, for hitherto we have done nothing or hardly
anything." With a sort of caress his desire went back to
the aspirations of his early days. At times he wished to
return to the service of the lepers. At other times, however, he
thought to retire to some far-off hermitage, where the world
would not trouble him, and give himself wholly to prayer:
this was when some echo of his troubles cast a shadow over
his joy. 2 Yet again the surgent missionary instinct would be
strong in him and he longed to go forth and proclaim God s
love, and urge men to praise and worship Him. Unable to
do this and yet unwilling to be a silent and useless herald of
his Lord, he would dictate messages of faith to be sent abroad
to stir up men to love God. Of such sort is the letter
addressed to the governors and magistrates of the people in
all parts of the world, in which he begged of them to see that
due reverence be paid to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar
and that the people be warned by a crier or by other means
every evening to give praise and thanks to God. Another
letter he caused to be written to the custodes of the Friars
Minor, urging them to announce and preach the praises of
the Lord and to exhort the people to respond to the call of the
bells and worship God. 3
So the winter wore on. The physicians remedies
brought but temporary reliefs : they could not arrest the
disease. Cardinal Ugolino therefore advised that Francis be
taken to Siena where the physicians were of good repute in their
1 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 90.
2 Celano, 103; Leg. Maj. xiv. 1.
3 Opuscula S.P.F. (Quaracchi), Epist. iv. and v. pp. Ill and 113. Cf. p. 192.
Pr. Paschal Kobinson, The Writings of St. Francis, pp. 125 and 127. Boehmer
(Analekten, p. 70) classes the letter to the governors amongst the " doubtful "
writings ; but internal evidence is all in its favour.
TOWAEDS EVENING 363
profession. 1 So in the first spring days they set out for the
Tuscan city : and amongst the attendants was a physician
who was under a vow to enter the Order. 2
The journey was lightened by an incident which belongs
to the romance of Francis story. They had reached Tuscany
and were passing through the undulating country between
Campilia and San Querico, when three poor women met them
in the road ; three sisters they might have been so similar
were they in feature and dress. Seeing Francis, they bowed
and saluted him with this novel salutation : " Welcome,
Sir Poverty ! " 3 : then passed on. A chivalrous delight
thrilled the heart of Francis at this unexpected greeting,
and for awhile he was wholly entranced in the thought.
Then he remembered how poor the three women seemed to
be, and he begged the physician to go back and give them
each an alms : and this the physician did, giving to each a
piece of money. But when on rejoining the company, the
physician and brethren looked back, the women were
nowhere to be seen. In after days the story went that these
three women were the three evangelical virtues, poverty,
chastity and obedience : and they who told the story thought
it not strange that this witness should have been given to the
singular holiness of Francis. 4 But to Francis they were but
the messengers of heaven bearing witness to his mystic
alliance with the Lady Poverty.
1 1 Celano, 105.
2 " Medicum quendarn. Ordini obligatum," II Celano, 93.
3 " Bene veniat, Domina Paupertas." As Mr. Montgomery Carmichael
suggests, Domina in this instance is adjectival to Paupertas, and conse
quently is governed as to gender by the noun with which it is associated. As
addressed to a man the words therefore should be rendered Sir Poverty (or
Lord Poverty) and not Lady Poverty as translators usually render them. Cf .
Celano s Legenda Secunda in Art in Franciscan Annals, July, 1911, p. 217.
4 II Celano, 93 ; Leg. Maj. vii. 6. Celano notes the fact of the disap
pearance, but merely adds : " Plurimum stupefacti mirabilibus [Dei] eventum
adnumerant, mulieres non fuisse scientes, qua avibus ocius transvolassent ".
But St. Bonaventure, less cautious, unhesitatingly adopts the construction
put upon the occurrence by the saint s physician and attendants. Yet he
only cites the saint s companions (not the saint himself) as seeing in the
occurrence " a something mysterious ". It is he who adds the detailed
explanation of the three evangelical virtues.
364 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
Of his sojourn at Siena this only need be said, that the
citizens received him with a reverent tenderness : they were
anxious to look upon him and hear his voice. One sent him
a live pheasant, knowing how he loved the birds ; l another, a
Dominican friar, learned in theology, came to him propound
ing a thesis ; 2 a Friar Minor, a stranger from Brescia, by
stratagem got sight of the stigmata. 3 But not all the skill of
the physicians was of any avail : Francis grew weaker and it
was seen that his end was fast approaching.
One night he had a violent hemorrhage, and the attendant
brethren thought he must surely die. In their distress they
gathered around him, weeping and crying out : " Father, what
shall we do without thee ? To whom wilt thou leave us
orphans ? Always hast thou been to us father and mother,
begetting and bringing us forth in Christ. Thou hast been
our captain and shepherd, our teacher and corrector, teach
ing and correcting more by example than by word. Whither
therefore shall we go, sheep without a shepherd ? orphaned
sons without a father, men rude and simple without a cap
tain? " Thus did they make lament, unable to restrain their
grief. Finally they begged him at least to leave his blessing
to all his sons and some written testament of his will that
in after times the brethren might be able to say : " These
words did our Father leave to us his brethren and sons, at
his death ".
At that Francis bade them call Brother Benedict of Pirato,
a holy priest who had said Mass for him during his sickness.
And when Brother Benedict came, Francis said to him :
Write how that I do bless all my brethren who are now in
our religion or who shall ever come into it even to the end of
the world. And since on account of my weakness and the
pain of my infirmity I am not able to speak much, in these
three words I briefly lay open my will and intention to all
the brethren present and to come : namely that in token of
my memory and blessing and last will, they love one another
as I have loved them ; that they forever love and observe our
1 II Celano, 170 ; Tract de Mirac. 26.
2 II Celano, 103. 3 ibid. , 137.
"TOWAKDS EVENING" 365
Lady Poverty ; and that they always be loyal and subject to
the prelates and clergy of Holy Mother Church." l
Meanwhile word had been sent to Brother Elias, who came
hurrying to Siena, to take Francis back to Assisi : for he
knew that Francis wished to die where he had found his
vocation, and too that the people of Assisi would never for
give him if he allowed the saint to die elsewhere. Moreover,
it is not unlikely that Elias was already dreaming of the
great shrine he would build to receive the body of the saint.
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 87.
CHAPTEE IV.
THE LAST JOURNEY.
THE return journey from Siena was accomplished not without
difficulty. At the Celle, the hermitage in the ravine outside
Cortona, they had to rest several days. 1 Whilst they were
there a poor man came to the hermitage bewailing his lot,
for his wife was dead and he had a family to support but no
means. At once Francis gave him the new cloak which the
brethren had but just procured to replace another which he
had given away to a beggar on the road. With shrewd
humour he bade the man on no account to give it up to
anyone unless he were first well rewarded. At that moment
the brethren came hastily on the scene, claiming the cloak.
But a look from Francis steeled the man s heart and he
clung to his gift till the brethren gave him compensation. 2
Leaving the Celle, Blias avoided the direct road which
leads to Assisi by Perugia ; for he knew that the Perugians
would not scruple to seize a dying saint, in order to add
his relics to the treasures of the city. He therefore turned
aside through the mountains, taking the long road round by
Gubbio and Nocera ; and for greater security he sent word
to Assisi that a guard be sent to meet them beyond the
mountains. So at Bagnara above Nocera an armed escort
awaited them. As they moved forward they came to the
village of Satriano in the hills. Here the soldiers, hungry
from long fasting and the journey, sought to buy food ; but
the villagers, probably resenting an overbearing importunity,
refused to sell. In their predicament the soldiers came back
to Francis and said laughingly: "It is needful that you
1 1 Celano, 105.
2 II Gelano, 87, 88. Of. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 35.
366
LE CELLE
(Near Cortona)
THE LAST JOUBNEY 367
share with us your alms, else must we go foodless ". Francis
retorted: "And right is it you can find nothing since you
put your trust in your flies instead of God ". By flies
he meant their coins. Then he bade them go back to the
villagers and beg food humbly for the love of God. The
villagers thus appealed to, gave of what they had. 1
As the party approached Assisi they were met by the citi
zens who had come out as for a festival. With loud cries they
welcomed the saint, and strange as it might seem to men of
this day, their joy was the greater because they knew he could
not live long. He was in truth no longer the man, but the
saint, in the eyes of these mediaeval folk : they were anxious
to give him the honours of sainthood and already anticipated
the glory of enshrining his body and invoking his aid from
heaven. 2 So careful were they that this sacred treasure
should not be again exposed to loss, they would not allow
him to be taken out to the Porziuncola in the exposed plain,
but had him lodged in the bishop s palace in the city. And
Francis had to submit. He understood his people and he
had no fear now of their adulation. Spontaneously and simply
he referred the world s praise of himself to the sweet Saviour,
so utterly did he see himself as the servant whom the King
had deigned to honour : which indeed is the supreme humility
of a perfect love. So when one day a brother in the freedom
of familiar converse, laughingly asked him for how much he
would sell his sackcloths to the Lord, seeing that silken cover
lets would later on cover his body ; Francis cheerfully replied :
" you speak the truth ; it shall be so for the praise and bless
ing of my God ". 3
And now as he lay on his sick bed, his thoughts went
out frequently to the brotherhood he had founded : and per
haps with the greater tenderness because of the thoughtful
attentions the brethren were showering upon him in their
anxiety. 4 Sometimes, too, brethren would come to him seek
ing advice and direction in the difficulties which they foresaw
1 Celano, 77 ; Leg. Maj. vn. 10.
2 1 Celano, 105 ; Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 22.
3 Spec. Perfect, [ed. SabatierJ, cap. 109. 4 e.g. ibid. cap. 111.
368 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
would arise after his death. Francis replied to them with a
simple directness, not always without a troublous emotion as
he brought his soaring ideals to judgment upon the things
that were. One day a brother a man of singular piety and
wholly devoted to the Order, says the chronicle asked
Francis : " Father, you will pass hence, but the family which
has followed thee, will be left behind in this vale of tears.
Suggest, if thou canst, one in whom thy spirit rests, upon
whom the Ministership-General may safely belaid." Francis
feelingly made answer: " My son, I see none fitted to be the
leader of this great army, the shepherd of this vast flock. But
I will try to describe, and as the saying is, fashion with my
hand, one in whom may be clearly seen what sort of man
should be the father of this family.
" He should be a man of the highest character, of great dis
cretion and of praiseworthy reputation ; a man without private
attachments, lest the greater love he shows to some should
scandalize the whole body; a man to whom the study of
prayer is his friend, who will give certain hours to prayer
and certain hours to the flock committed to his care. For
at dawn of day he should be present at the celebration of
Mass and in prolonged devotion commend himself and his
flock to the Divine protection. But after prayer let him stand
in public to be heckled by all, to reply to all and with gentle
ness to make provision for all. He should be a man who will
create no foul clique by accepting persons; one who will
care no less for the lowly and simple than for the learned and
great. A man, to whom it may be allowed to excel in the
gift of learning, but who nevertheless in his conduct will bear
the image of pious simplicity and foster virtue. A man who
will abhor money, the chief cause of corruption to our pro
fession and perfection ; who being the head of a poor Order
and setting himself before the others as their example, will
never wrongfully make use of money-chests. Nought else
should he have save a habit and little book on his own ac
count, and on account of the brethren a box of pens and a
seal. Let him not be a collector of books nor given to over
much reading, lest he take away from his office what he gives
THE LAST JOUKNEY 369
to study : a man, who, since he is the last resource of those
who are in trouble, will console the afflicted so that the dis
ease of despair may not overcome the sick through his lack
of means to renew them in health. That he may bend the
froward to meekness, let him abase himself and waive some
what of his right in order to gain a soul for Christ. Let him
not shut up the bowels of tenderness towards those who have
fled from the Order as if they were sheep who have perished,
knowing how overpowering must be the temptations which
can urge a man to so great a fall.
" I would have him honoured by all as one holding the
place of Christ, and provided for in all things necessary with
all goodwill. But it behoves him not to take pleasure in
honours nor to delight in favours more than in injuries. If
through weakness or weariness he needs more palatable
food, let him not take it in private but in public that other
invalids may be relieved of shame in providing for their
bodies. To him chiefly it belongs to discover the secret con
science and to draw forth the truth from the hidden springs
and not to lend ear to tattlers. Finally such a man should
he be, who will on no account blemish the manly beauty of
justice out of a desire to hold on to dignity ; a man who feels
so great an office to be more of a burden than a dignity.
Nevertheless let not apathy be brought about through exces
sive gentleness, nor discipline be dissolved through mistaken
indulgence ; for whilst he is an object of love to all, he shall
be no less an object of terror to them who do evil. I would
also that he have associates endowed with goodness, who
even as he, will set an example of all good things ; men
stern against the world s pleasures, strong in the face of
hardships ; yet becomingly genial, that they may receive all
who come to them with a holy cheerfulness. Behold the
General of the Order, such as he should be." l
To these days of bedridden sickness we owe indeed many
of the sayings of Francis that have come down to us ; for
some of the brethren, anxiously looking to the time when he
1 II Celano, 184-6 ; Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier] cap. 80.
24
370 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIS1
would be no longer with them, were diligent in writing down
his words. 1
As the Pentecost Chapter drew near at which ministers
and brethren from all the provinces of Italy were to be pre
sent, Francis longed once again to be amongst them. That
being impossible he dictated a letter to be read at the Chapter.-
It was for the most part a passionate plea that the brethren
should " show all the reverence and all the honour they
possibly can to the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ, in Whom the things that are in heaven and
the things that are on earth, are brought into peace with and
reconciled to Almighty God," and he begged the priests " being
pure, to offer the sacrifice purely, with a holy and clean
intention, not for any earthly interest, neither from fear nor
love of man/ but with a will directed to God.
" Call to mind, my brothers, priests," he wrote, " what is
written in the law of Moses : how those transgressing even
materially died by the decree of the Lord without any
mercy. 3 How much more and worse punishments does he
deserve to suffer who hath trodden under foot the Son of
God and hath esteemed the Blood of the testament unclean
by which he was sanctified and hath offered an affront to
grace. 4 For man despises, soils, and treads under foot the
Lamb of God when, as the Apostle says, not discerning and
distinguishing the holy bread of Christ from other nourish
ments or works, he either eats unworthily or, if he be worthy,
he eats in vain and unbecomingly ; since the Lord has said by
the prophet : Cursed be the man that doth the work of the
Lord deceitfully . 5 And He condemns the priests who will
not take this to heart saying : I will curse your blessings . 6
Hear ye, my brothers : if the Blessed Virgin Mary is so
honoured, as is meet, because she bore Him in her most
1 Cf . Spec. Perfect, cap. 87.
^Opuscula S.P.F. (Quaracchi), Epist. n. p. 98 and p. 185; Fr. Paschal
Robinson, The Writings of St. Francis, p. 109 ; Ubertino da Casale (Arbor
Vita, V, cap. vn.) tells us this letter was written " in fine dierum suorum" " at
the end of his days. 1
3 A reference to 1 Cor. n. 27. 4 Hebrews x. 29.
5 Gf . Jeremias XLVIII. 10. 6 Malachi 11. 2.
THE LAST JOUKNEY 371
holy womb ; if the Blessed Baptist trembled and did not
dare to touch the holy forehead of God ; if the sepulchre in
which He lay for some time, is venerated ; how holy, just and
worthy ought he to be who touches with his hands, who
receives with his heart and his mouth, and proffers to be
received by others, Him Who is now no more to die but to
triumph in a glorified eternity ; on Whom the angels desire
to look. 1 Consider your dignity, brothers, priests, and be ye
holy because He Himself is holy. 2 And as the Lord God
has honoured you above all, through this mystery, even so
do you also love and reverence and honour Him above all."
In these and many more words did he plead with them
once again for that which he had so yearningly pleaded for,
ever since the far-off days which ushered in his conversion
when he had been struck with shame at the neglect of
the churches and the lack of reverence for the sacrament
of the altar. 3
One other document Francis wrote about this time, namely
1 Of. 1 Peter i. 12. 2 Cf. Leviticus xi. 44.
3 There is one passage in this letter ordering that "one mass only" be
celebrated each day in the places of the brethren, even if there be many
priests in the community. Melanchthon used this passage as an argument
against private masses in his Apology. Of. Opuscula, I.e. p. 104; Fr.
Paschal Robinson, p. 115. It may be taken for granted that St. Francis
had no intention of condemning a practice favoured by the Church, for
he was too Catholic in his obedience : but this mere statement of a self-
evident principle hardly solves the question raised. The simple answer,
however, seems to be that Francis was legislating for a particular purpose
and against an actual evil. He wished the brethren to celebrate " not for
any earthly interest" (vide Opuscula, I.e. p. 101), but as concentrating their
being upon the fulfilment of the divine Will. The frequent legislation of the
Church concerning offerings for masses, indicates the danger against which
Francis wished to guard the brethren. Better have one mass said with an
entirely spiritual intention, than many masses with an intention less spirit
ual. In a word, it was a regulation meant to guard and foster reverence for
the Blessed Sacrament : just as in certain cases a priest might advise less
frequent reception of the sacraments, with no intention of condemning as a
general principle the more frequent reception. Idealist as he was, Francis
was no theorician : he always spoke and acted in reference to particular
actualities. Hence there is a peculiar danger in reading absolute principles
into his actions or sayings : one may so easily render absolute, what in his
mind was merely relative to a particular contingency.
24*
372 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
his Last Will and Testament, and in that too we shall find
the same anxious thought and the same passionate prayer. 1
Meanwhile, despite the buoyant energy of his spirit, his
bodily strength was rapidly failing. A physician of Arezzo
named Buongiovanni, with whom Francis was on terms of
friendship, now came to visit him. " Tell me, Bembern-
gnate," said Francis (addressing him familiarly), "tell me
what you think of this dropsy of mine." Buongiovanni
answered warily : " All will go well with you by God s grace ".
" Tell me the truth," retorted Francis, " and do not be afraid,
for by God s grace I am no craven that I should fear death :
by the grace of the Holy Spirit that worketh in me, I am so
made one with my Lord that I am equally content to live or
die." Then the physician said plainly: "According to our
medical science your sickness is incurable and I believe that
you will die at the end of September or by the fourth of the
nones of October ". At that Francis lay back in his bed and
stretched out his hands to heaven: "Welcome, Sister
Death! " he exclaimed ; and in his face was a great happi
ness. 2
But some little while after the physician had gone, Francis
fell into such unwonted pain that even his exalted spirit
could hardly maintain its cheerfulness. Then one of the
brothers his name is not recorded, but blessed should it be
for that in this extremity he was a true disciple of his master
came and stood by him, speaking the right words of com
fort : " Father," he said, " thy life and conversation was and
is a light and mirror not only to thy brethren but to the
whole Church ; and the same will be thy death ; and although
to thy brethren and many others, thy death will be a matter
of sadness and sorrow, to thyself it will be a consolation and
measureless joy ; thou wilt pass from sore labour into exceed
ing rest, from many temptations and griefs into eternal peace,
from the earthly poverty which thou hast loved and perfectly
1 See also Verba Admonitionis, i. (Opuscula, [Quaracchi] ; p. 1 Fr. Paschal
Robinson, loc. cit. p. 5) ; and the exhortation De reverentia corporis Domini
(Opuscula, loc. cit. p. 22 ; Fr. Paschal Robinson, loc. cit. p. 22).
2 Spec. Perfect, cap. 122.
THE LAST JOUENEY 373
observed, to true and infinite riches and from this temporal
death itself to the endless life where thou shalt see face to
face thy Lord God whom in this world thou hast loved with
so great a fervour of love and desire ". Then after a while he
went on : " Father, know of a truth that unless the Lord
send thee healing from heaven, thy sickness is incurable
and thou hast but a short time to live, as the physicians have
said. But this I have said for the comforting of thy spirit
that thou mayest rejoice both in body and mind so that when
thy brethren and others shall visit thee they may find thee
always rejoicing in the Lord, and after thy death both to
those who see this thing and those who hear of it, thy death
may be a perpetual memorial, as was and always will be thy
life and doings."
At this Francis revived in spirit and again the gladness
came into his voice as he replied : " If it be so that it please
my Lord that I die shortly, then call to me Brother Angelo
and Brother Leo that they may sing to me of Sister Death ".
They came, full sad and sorrowing, and as Francis desired
they sang to him the " Canticle of the Sun," weeping as they
sang. But when they came to the last verse, Francis, now
again all fervour of joy, added yet another verse :
Praise be to thee, my Lord, for our sister, Bodily Death,
From whom no living man can flee ;
Woe is to them who die in mortal sin.
But blessed they who shall find themselves in Thy most holy will.
To them the second death shall do no ill.
Outside the palace the soldiers who had been set by the city
magistrates to guard the place and prevent Francis being taken
away by stealth, heard the singing and spoke of it, as men
will speak eagerly of the unwonted to their friends. For it
is not the way of men to die singing ; at least it is not how
men expect a saint to die. And now the singing came fre
quently to their ears as they kept their watch, not only in
the day but even in the night. The talk of the people at last
reached the ears of Brother Elias, and he was disturbed in
mind lest Francis reputation for sanctity should be lessened.
He came therefore to Francis and expostulated : " My dearest
374 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
Father, truly glad am I both for thy own sake and that of thy
companions at the joy thou showest in thy sickness. But
the men of this city think thee a saint and believing that thou
must shortly die, they ask, when they hear these praises being
sung by day and night : How is it he thus openly rejoices, he
who is about to die and should be thinking of his death ? "
But Francis replied straightly : "Do you remember how at
Foligno you had a vision and told me someone had said to
you that I should not live beyond two years ? Before that
by God s grace I frequently pondered by day and night upon
my end ; but from the hour of that vision I have been the
more careful to think daily of the day of my death. Leave
me, brother, to rejoice in the Lord and in His praises and in
my infirmities, for by the grace of the Holy Spirit working in
me, I am so united and wedded to my Lord that by His
mercy I can well be merry in the Most High ". 1
Yet at this time his suffering was very great, and all strength
seemed to have left his body so that he was unable to move
himself and depended entirely on those who tended him. A
brother pityingly asked him which he would rather have, this
drawn-out daily suffering or the cruel death of a martyr?
Francis replied : " Son, that to me has been and is dearest
and most acceptable, which it pleases my God to let happen
to me ; yet in regard to the distress of my suffering, this sick
ness, were it but to last three days, is more grievous than any
martyrdom ". And indeed every member of his body was in
pain. 2
But one day it seemed as though he were on the very
point of death. In alarm the brethren gathered around him
and besought him to bless them before he died : they were
Elias and some others whom Francis had especially desired
to come to him. As they pressed near, Francis extended his
hands in blessing. Being blind, he was unable to see them.
Then happened a characteristic incident. Elias was on
Francis left, whether by accident or design we know not.
The days which had passed since first Elias had been appointed
Vicar-General, had revealed to himself and to the dying leader,
1 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier] cap. 121 . 2 1 Celano, 107.
THE LAST JOUBNEY 375
the gulf of the spirit which separated them : yet Elias loved
Francis in his own way and in this hour craved his blessing.
Francis divined what was passing in the soul of his master
ful lieutenant : pitiful and generous, he would not deny
him this pledge of fellowship ; praying it might be fellowship
indeed. Crossing his arms, he asked upon whose head his
hand rested. They told him: "upon the head of Brother
Elias ". " That is as I wish," replied Francis ; and thereupon
he invoked this blessing upon him : " My son I bless thee in
all things, and through all things, and as the Most High has
multiplied my brothers and sons in thy hands, so upon thee
and in thee do I bless them all. May God the King of all,
bless thee in heaven and on earth. I bless thee as far as I
can and more than I can ; and what I cannot do, may He do
in thee, He Who can do all things."
With his right hand still on the head of Elias, he con
tinued : " Farewell in the fear of God, all ye my sons, and
abide in Him always ; for exceeding temptation is about to
come to you and tribulation draws nigh. Happy shall they
be who persevere in those things which they have begun, for
the scandals that are to be, shall cause some to part therefrom.
But I am hastening to the Lord and I trust to go now to my
God Whom with devotion I have served in my spirit." 1 Sadly
through the blessing wailed the insistent prophetic fear !
Shortly after this Elias obtained the consent of the city
to remove the dying saint to the Porziuncola, for Francis
had a certain longing of heart to die there in the bridal home
of the Lady Poverty : and because of his urgency they dared
not refuse. 2 So, late in the summer, 3 Francis made the last
stage of his last home-coming journey.
1 1 Celano, 108.
2 M. Sabatier suggests (Spec. Perfect, p. 243, note 1) that Elias had Francis
r emoved to the Porziuncola to avoid the disedification he feared from Francis
joyous singing. Possibly this had some weight with Elias ; but surely one
cannot know Francis without recognising his indomitable will in matters of
moment to his own vocation. It was only by constraint that at any time he
would lodge in palaces. One can hardly think of him consenting to die in
one.
y l Celano, 109, tells us that Francis was only a few days at the Porziun
cola before his death : "paucis qiiievisset diebus ".
376 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
Out by the gate of the city, called Portaccia, 1 they carried
him lying on a bed, and descending the hill they reached the
high road. 2 How well Francis knew it ! That road was
bound to his heart by countless associations with the doings
and aspirations of all these past years since his conversion :
and as he was carried along now, these associations came to
his memory in a long swift procession ; and his heart swelled
with emotion, as he lived again in quick remembrance of those
past days : and over his soul there swept a yearning solicitude
for the fraternity of his love mingled with keen gratitude to
this city of its birth.
They had come about half the journey and had reached
the hospital of the Crucigeri 3 whence there is a clear view of
the city. There Francis bade the bearers stand and put the
bed on the ground and turn his face to the city. It was as
though he would gaze upon the city for the last time ; but he
was blind. Yet with his face turned towards it, he raised
himself upon the bed, and in the hearing of those who stood
by, prayed thus rerniniscently and with supplication : " Lord,
whereas of olden time this city was, as I believe, a place and
dwelling of wicked men, now do I see that because of Thine
abundant mercy in the time that it pleased Thee, Thou hast
marvellously shown forth in her the multitude of Thy mercies
and because of Thine own goodness hast taken her to Thyself
to be the place and dwelling of those who should acknowledge
Thee in truth and give glory to Thy Holy Name and make
manifest to all Christian people the sweet odour of good
fame, of holy life, of the truest Gospel teaching and perfection.
I beseech Thee, therefore, Lord Jesus Christ, Father of
mercies, that Thou consider not our ingratitude but be mind
ful always of Thine own most abundant tenderness which
Thou hast shown forth in her, that she may be ever the place
and dwelling of them who acknowledge Thee truly and glorify
1 The Portaccia is now walled up. It is between the Porta di Mojano and
the Porta S. Pietro.
2 The old Perugia-Foligno road ran nearer to the city than does the new
road ; it went by San Damiano. To-day it is but an unkempt path.
3 On the site where the Casa Gualdi now stands.
THE LAST JOUENEY 377
Thy blessed and most glorious name for ever and ever.
Amen." l Then again the solemn procession passed on.
So Francis was brought back to the Porziuncola to die.
1 Spec. Perfect, cap. 124 The traditional blessing, inscribed over the Porta
Nuova in Assisi, reads : " Benedicta tu a Domino, Sancta Civitas Deofidelis, quia
per te animce multa salvabuntur et in te multi servi Altissimi Jiabitabunt et de
te multi eligentur ad regnum aternum." Of. Fioretti, Delle sacre sante stimate,
iv. Consid. ; Wadding, Annales, ad an. 1226.
But the text of the Speculum Perfect., apart from other considerations, is
more in the spirit of Francis. It is a prayer for the fraternity as well as for
the city. Moreover the transition from the form of supplication to that of
prophecy, leads one to suspect the shorter version. It is just the sort of change
one finds in later versions.
CHAPTEE V.
TESTAMENT AND DEATH.
THE evening light had fallen upon the life of Francis when
he came back for the last time to his beloved chapel in the
wood : upon his spirit there was the mystic peace of the day s
labour finished.
But if the lowlands were in shadow, the hilltops were
aglow, those beacons of his chosen life towards which Francis
had, through the long years, turned with persistent desire.
Peacefully triumphant they stood out now amid the falling
darkness, still holding the light of the day that was passing
and pledging the fair day to come. Shortly now would his
earth s day be closed : it had held its troubles and sorrows,
its difficulties and temptations ; but these he remembered
only as favours of his Lord s love Who had called him in the
way of the Cross. But mostly it had been a day of joy, and
as a day of joy Francis looked back upon it in the evening
light. For the earth had given to him his Lady Poverty and
the fraternity ; he had walked its ways as a herald of the Lord
and in his adventurous wandering had found the knowledge
and hope of his soul s desire. Truly had earth s life been to
him the preparation-phase of the great High Mass of the
Christian life, with humble confession of sin and glorifying
of God, with scriptural lesson and Gospel promise. Now as
he was about to pass to the very offering of the mystic sacri
fice, with a backward look of deepest gratitude and a stretch
ing forth to the mystery before him, he gathered his soul
together and in measured tones of unwavering conviction said
his Credo. This was the Testament which Francis dictated
in these last days at the Porziuncola/ to be a memorial to his
1 Wadding (Annales, ad an. 1226) says that the Testament was written at
the Celle of Cortona, when Francis rested there on his journey back from Siena.
378
TESTAMENT AND DEATH
379
brethren to the end of time. It was a confession of his faith
in" the vocation to which he and the brethren had been called.
" This is the way in which the Lord led me," it says in effect ;
" in this leading I believe." Thus like the martyrs and the
heroes of chivalry and all true men, he uttered his Credo in the
face of death.
The Testament runs thus (and you who read it may see
therein as in a mirror, the soul of this long story of Francis
life ; and that you may have a more distinct remembrance
I indicate its several articles of belief in the margin) :
His belief The Lord gave to me Brother Francis thus
in the to begin to do penance : for when I was in sin
service of it seemed to me too bitter a thing to see lepers,
lepers : and the Lord Himself led me amongst them,
and I dealt mercifully with them. 1 And when
I left them, what had seemed bitter to me, was
changed into sweetness of soul and body ; and
afterwards I tarried yet awhile and then left
the world.
in churches, And the Lord gave me such faith in churches
that I would simply pray and say : We adore
Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all
Thy Churches which are in all the world ; and
we bless Thee because by Thy holy Cross
Thou hast redeemed the world.
in priests After that, the Lord gave me and He gives
and the me still so much faith in priests who live
Roman according to the form of the Holy Roman
Church. Church, on account of their Order, that if they
This seems very doubtful, for at the Celle Francis had a relapse owing to an
increase of dropsy (Of. I Colano, 105), and would hardly be able to dictate a
lengthy document such as the Testament. The tradition which assigns the
writing of the Testament to the Porziuncola seems therefore more probable.
Gregory IX in the bull " Quo elongati " (Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 68) says Francis
wrote it " circa ultimum vitce suc&" but this phrase might of course refer to
any time within a few months of his death.
1 Some versions read : " I made a sojourn with them " "fed moram (in
stead of misericordiam) cum illis ". Vide Miscell. Franc, in. p. 70. But in
I Celano, 17, we find the passage quoted as in the text.
380
LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
persecuted me, I would have recourse to them.
And if I had as much wisdom as Solomon had,
That and I found priests of this world, poor and
priests lowly, I would not preach against their will in
must be the parishes in which they live. And these and
reverenced ; all other [priests] I desire to fear, love, and
honour as my lords ; and I am unwilling to
consider sin in them, because in them I see the
Son of God, and they are my lords. And I do
this because in this world I see nothing cor
porally of the Most High Son of God Himself
except His most Holy Body and Blood which
they receive and which they alone administer
to others.
as also the And I desire that these most holy mysteries
mysteries of be above all things honoured, and revered and
the altar, placed in precious places.
and the Wheresoever I should find His most holy
Names and Names and written Words in unseemly places,
Words of I desire to gather them up and I beseech that
God ; they be gathered up and put in some becoming
place.
and theo- And all theologians and those who minister
logians and to us the most Divine Words we must honour
ministers of and revere as those who minister to us spirit
the Divine and life.
Words. And after that the Lord had given me some
brothers, no one showed me what I ought to
His belief do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me
concerning that I must live according to the form of the
the Rule Holy Gospel : and I made it to be written in
few words and simply ; and the Lord Pope
confirmed it for me.
And those who came to receive this life, gave
to the poor all that they possessed and they
were content with one tunic patched within
and without, those who wished, and with
a cord and breeches : and we wished for no-
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 381
and the life thing more. We clerics said the office like
of the other clerics, the lay brothers said the Pater-
fraternity, nosier, and willingly enough we abode in
churches. And we were simple and subject to
all. And I worked with my hands, and so I
[still] desire to work, and I firmly desire that
all the other brethren work in some honest
employment. Let those who know not [how
to work] learn, not through desire to receive
the price of their labour but for example s sake
and to repel idleness. And when the price of
our labour is not given to us, let us have re
course to the table of the Lord, begging alms
from door to door. The Lord revealed to me
this salutation, that we should say : " The Lord
give thee peace". Let the brethren take care
not on any account to receive churches, poor
dwelling-places or any other things which are
built for them, unless they be such as become
the holy poverty which we have vowed in the
Kule, always dwelling here as pilgrims and
strangers. I strictly command all the brethren
by obedience that wherever they may be, they
shall not dare to ask any letter at the Eoman
Court, either themselves or by any intermediary
person, neither for a church nor for any other
place, nor under pretext of preaching, nor on
account of bodily persecution ; but wherever
they are not received, let them flee into another
land to do penance with the blessing of God.
And I firmly desire to obey the Minister-General
of this fraternity and that guardian whom it
shall please him to give me. And I desire to
be so held in his hands that I cannot go or act
beyond obedience and his will, because he is my
master. And although I am simple and weak,
nevertheless I desire always to have a cleric
who will perform the office for me as is con-
382
LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
tained in the Kule. And all the other brothers
are bound to obey their guardians and to per
form the office according to the Bule. And
That the should any be found who do not perform the
brethren office according to the Rule and who wish in
must be some way to change it, or who are not Catholics,
Catholics; let all the brothers, wheresoever they are, be
and that bound by obedience, wheresoever one of those
heretics be found to present him to the nearest custos
must be de- of the place where he is found. And the custos
livered up. is strictly bound by obedience to guard him
strongly as a prisoner both by day and by
night, so that he cannot be taken out of his
hands, until he shall personally place him in
the hands of his minister. And the minister is
strictly obliged by obedience to send him by
such brothers as shall guard him day and night
as a prisoner until they present him before the
lord of Ostia, who is the lord, protector and
corrector of the whole fraternity.
This is not And the brethren shall not say : This is an-
another other Rule ; for this is but a remembrance,
Rule but a admonition and exhortation and my testament,
remem- which I, Brother Francis, your little one, make
brance. for you my blessed brethren, to the end that we
may observe in a more Catholic way the Rule
which we have promised to the Lord. And let
the Minister-General and all the other ministers
and custodes be bound by obedience not to add
to, nor take away from, these words ; and let
them always have this writing with them beside
the Rule. And in all Chapters which they hold,
when they read the Rule let them read also
these words. And I strictly command by obe
dience all my brethren, whether clerics or lay-
brethren, that they put no glosses on the Rule
nor on these words, saying : So they are to be
understood. But, as the Lord gave me simply
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 383
and purely to speak and to write the Kule and
these words, so you shall understand them sim
ply and purely, and with holy doing observe
them unto the end. And whosoever shall observe
these things let him be filled in heaven with the
A blessing, blessing of the Most High Father, and on earth
with the blessing of His beloved Son, together
with the Most Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, and
all the Powers of heaven and all the saints. And
I, Brother Francis, your little one and servant,
in so far as I can, confirm unto you within and
without this most holy blessing. Amen. 1
It was nigh upon the feast of St. Michael, heaven s
sentinel, when Francis made his last preparations to meet
the summoner, Death. Full deliberately would he die, even
as he had lived. Then knowing that the days were few, he
bade the brethren send a messenger quickly to Rome to trie
Lady Giacoma di Settesoli she who had befriended him so
often in the past, to beg her to come to him 2 and bring with
her a fitting panoply for death : a gown of grey cloth, a napkin
to cover his face, a cushion for his head, wax-candles to burn
at his bier and some sweet-cake such as she sometimes had
made for him when he visited her house. 3 For at the end
Francis would make a feast for his body that it might share
in the joy of his soul. 4
But before the messenger had started, the brethren were
J Cf. Opuscula S. P. F. (Quaracchi), pp. 76-82, and pp. 173-176; Fr.
Paschal Robinson, The Writings of St. Francis, p. 79 seq. There is no question
of the authenticity of the Testament : it is cited textually in I Celano, 17 ; II
Celano, 163 ; 3 Soc. vin, 29 ; Leg. Maj. in. 2. Also in the bull of Gregory IX,
" Quo elongati" (Sbaralea, Bull. Franc. I. p. 68) and in St. Bonav. Epist. de tribus
Quaest. (Opera Omnia [Quaracchi], torn. vm. p. 335.
2 It is evident from Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 37, that Francis desired the
Lady Giacoma to visit him, and not merely as the Spec. Perfect, cap. 112,
might be taken to imply that she should send him the things needed for his
burial.
3 " Mostacciuolo, a confection of almonds and sugar and other things "
(Spec. Perfect, loc. cit.).
4 See also the incident of the parsley he fancied, II Gelano, 51.
384 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
aroused by the tramping of horses and the buzz of many
voices at their very gate, and the porter came hurrying to say
that the Lady Giacoma with her sons and a great retinue
was waiting without. "Now blessed be God," replied
Francis, " Who has sent our Brother Giacoma to us. Open
the gates and lead her inside. For the rule concerning
women is not for Brother Giacoma." So the Lady
Giacoma was brought into the cell where Francis lay;
and greatly did all the brethren marvel when they saw
that she brought with her all that Francis had bidden them
ask her to bring. But the Lady Giacoma told them how she
was praying and a voice spoke to her spirit, telling her to
hasten if she wished to see the blessed Francis, and to take
with her the things she had brought. Glad indeed were the
Lady Giacoma and all her company that they had arrived to
see the saint alive ; and the gladness mingled with the pity
of their tears : it might have been a festive home-gathering
rather than a meeting for a burial. For a time after
their coming, Francis seemed to regain strength, so that the
brethren hoped desperately that his end would yet be not so
near at hand. But the Lady Giacoma wished to remain
now until the end : and Francis bade her remain until the
Sunday, saying he would die on the Saturday. So sending
back part of her retinue, she took up her abode near the
cells of the brethren, she and her sons and some few of her
esquires. 1
Beyond the woods at San Damiano the spirit of Clare
was keeping vigil over the death-bed at the Porziuncola :
and the more harmoniously since Clare herself was stricken
with sickness. 2 Eight willingly she acknowledged the claim
of the chapel in the wood to hold him at the last, for it was
the shrine and symbol of his vocation and of her own vows :
and valiantly she submitted to give to him that comfort of
the spirit. Yet was she sorely stricken, knowing that in this
life she would not again see nor converse with him : and
Delano, Tract, de Mirac. 37,38; Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier] cap. 112;
Bern, a Bessa, Liber de Laud. vm. ; Fioretii, iv. Consid.
2 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier] cap. 108.
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 385
upon her there was already the sorrow of the orphaned ; and
for that she wept bitterly. Then one of the brethren brought
to Francis the message of her grief, and at the telling he was
greatly moved ; and he bethought him how best he might
console her, since now he could not visit her. After awhile
he bade a brother write down these words :
" I, little Brother Francis, desire to follow the life
and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus Christ, and of
His most holy mother, and to persevere therein until
the end. And I beseech you, rny ladies, and I give you
counsel that you live always in this most holy life and
poverty. And be greatly careful of yourselves lest by
the teaching or counsel of any one, you in any way or at
any time draw away from it." l
This writing he bade the messenger take back to Clare,
saying: " Go and tell Sister Clare to put aside all sorrow and
sadness, for though she cannot now see me, yet before her
death both she herself and her Sisters shall see me and have
great comfort of me ". 2 Now after his death the brethren re
membering these words, brought his body to San Damiano,
as we shall further on relate, that Clare and the Sisters
might gaze once more upon it. And this was a partial fulfil
ment of the promise. But to the soul of Clare the promise
which brought her sure comfort, meant more than this. She
who understood Francis with the understanding of an utterly
kindred spirit, knew that he had sent her a pledge of the
spirit rather than of the body. In the after-years when Clare
and the Sisters of San Damiano were to be the foremost de
fenders of his ideal, then would his spirit be with them to be
their stay and comfort ; and they would know that he was
with them ; and that would be their joy. Such comfort it
was that Francis sent to Clare and her Sisters as his dying
legacy : and no greater comfort could he send. And Clare
1 The text is given in the Rule of St. Clare, cap. vi. Vide Leg. Seraph.
Textus Origitiales (Quaracchi), p. 63 ; and in Opuscula (Quaracchi), p. 76.
Of. Test. S. Clares, Boll. Acta SS. die 12 Aug. Tom. n. p. 747 ; Leg. Seraph.
Textus, p. 276.
2 Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier] cap. 108.
25
386 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
understood in this as in all else that concerned the secret of
his soul.
One last care now remained, and that was for his Lady
Poverty and the home she had made with him in the Por-
ziuncola. Very tenderly had his heart grown round this
place : for in truth it was his special dower to the bride of
his love, and he would not that it should ever pass away
from her. Gathering the brethren around him, he besought
them never to desert it. " See, my brothers," he pleaded*
" that you never leave this place : if you are thrust out on one
side, enter it again on the other : for truly this place is holy
and the dwelling of God. Here when we were but a few,
the Most High multiplied us ; here with the light of His
wisdom, he enlightened the hearts of His poor ones ; here
with the fire of His love, He set our wills on fire : here whoso
ever prays with a devout heart, will obtain what he asks, and
whosoever offends will be more hardly punished. Wherefore,
sons, hold this place of God s dwelling, worthy of all
honour ; and with all your heart in the voice of exultation and
praise, confess to God therein." l
The shadows were now fast closing, ushering in the last
solemn act of that evening sacrifice. St. Michael s day had
come and passed, bringing doubtless to Francis its own
call from the leader of heaven s army, whom he had been
accustomed to honour with a knight s true devotion. 2
Francis now prepared to lay down his offering upon the
Altar of his Lord. Wishing to pledge once more his faith to
Poverty, he called the brethren around him and bade them
lay him upon the bare ground and remove his tunic. Then
with face turned upwards to the heavens and his left hand
covering the wound in his right side, he said to those around :
" I have done what it was mine to do ; may Christ teach you
what is yours ". At that the brethren wept aloud. But the
Father Guardian divining his thought, brought to Francis
a tunic, and breeches and a sackcloth cap, and said to him :
" know that this tunic and breeches and cap are lent thee by
me in holy obedience ; and that thou mightest know that
1 1 Celano, 106 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 83. 2 Cf . II Celano, 197.
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 387
thou hast no right of property in them, I deprive thee of all
power of giving them to anyone else ". At these words the
face of Francis beamed with a great joy, for he saw in this
loan, a pledge that he had kept faith with Lady Poverty. 1
A while afterwards with a great content of soul, he bade
two of the brethren whom he specially loved, sing to him
in a loud exultant voice the verse of the " Canticle of Brother
Sun " which declares the praise of God in Sister Death. But
whilst yet they sang, his own feeble voice broke into that
hymn of a dauntless hope, the 141st psalm : 2 "I cried to the
Lord with my voice ; with my voice to the Lord I made sup
plication ". Every verse of that psalm might be taken as a
text for the unfolding of the singer s story ; each verse wend
ing towards the final prayer : " Bring my soul out of prison
that I may praise Thy Name ; the just wait for me until Thou
reward me". 3
Thinking that the end must surely be nigh, Bernard da
Quintavalle, the first of his noble companions and the most
revered, said to him : " Ah, gentle Father, alas ! thy sons are
fatherless now and the true light of their eyes is taken from
them. Be mindful of the orphans whom thou leavest and
forgive them their offences and gladden them all, both those
who are present and those who are absent, with thy holy
blessing." And Francis made reply: "See, my son, I am
called by God : I forgive my brethren, whether present or ab
sent, all their offences and faults and, as far as I can, I absolve
them : do thou proclaim this to them and bless them all for
me ". But to soothe them in their grief he spoke to those
about him comforting words ; and he besought them to love
1 II Celano, 214 ; Leg. Maj. xiv. 4 Francis used a cap to cover the scars
left by the cauterizing of his eyes.
2 i.e. according to the Vulgate : the 142nd according to the Authorized
Version.
:! St. Bonaventure (Leg. Maj. xiv. 5) places this singing of the psalm at
the very end and makes Francis die singing the last verse. And this version
of the story has been generally followed by later biographers. But in the nar
rative of events leading up to Francis death in I Celano, 109 seq. it precedes the
blessing and the reading of the Gospel. In II Celano, 217 we read that after
giving his blessing to the brethren, Francis lived a few days : " proinde paucos
dies, qui usque ad transitutu," etc.
25 *
388 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
God and Poverty and "to put the Holy Gospel before all
other ordinances "- 1 And then they drew near and he blessed
them, laying his hands upon their heads : but to Brother
Bernard he gave a blessing of special tenderness and solicitude,
because he was the first of those who had come to him : and
he bade all the brethren hold him in particular honour as the
chief and foremost of their knightly band. 2
Then, with his mind still bent upon the imitation of
his Lord, he bade them bring some bread, and because he
was too weak to break it himself, he had it broken into small
pieces, and to each brother he gave a piece : and so he gave
1 II Celano, 216.
2 1 Celano, 109, does not mention Bernard da Quintavalle by name, but
says : " Frater quidain de assistentibus quern sanctus satis magno diligebat
amore ". I think, however, that there can be little doubt that the incident he
refers to is the same as that recorded in Fioretti, cap. vi. ; and Chron. xxiv.
Gen. (Anal. Franc, in. p. 42). True in II Celano, 216, where this second
blessing is again referred to, it is said : " Incipiens a vicario stto capitibus
singidorum imposuit ; " but Celano omits the details, and there is nothing
in this phrase which contradicts the story in the Fioretti, for there too we
read that Francis first placed his hand upon the head of Elias, though he
had called for Bernard. In the sequel, at Brother Bernard s suggestion he
placed his left hand on the head of Elias at the same time as he held his right
hand on the head of Bernard ; thus saving the dignity of the Vicar-General.
The words given in I Celano, 109 : " quibus tu liccc denuntians, ex parte mea
omnibus benedices," certainly lend colour to the more explicit commission
given to Bernard in the Fioretti. It is certainly singular that Francis should
have commissioned Bernard and not Elias, to convey his last blessing to
the brethren. But that it was not Elias who was thus commissioned is fairly
evident since Celano, who in the Prima Legenda is always explicit regarding
the privileges accorded to Elias, does not attribute this privilege to him.
There is nothing inconsistent in the Fioretti story with the known history of
Francis. If it is objected that Francis could not have said : "Sia ilprincipale de
tuoifratelli," etc., one has only to remember Francis descriptions of true obed
ience, as not merely a submission to legal superiors but as implying a ready
submission, prompted by love, to all one s neighbours: and this wider obed
ience he would have both superiors and subjects practise towards all. (Cf.
Regula i. cap. v.) Why not then in a pre-eminent degree towards Bernard,
the first Friar Minor after Francis himself ? Further, may not one see a
delicate reference in II Celano, 216 : " Nullus sibi hanc benedictionem usurpct
. . . sedportius ad officium detorqiiendum " to the curse pronounced by Francis,
according to the Fioretti story, against those who should deal injuriously with
Bernard ?
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 389
his last commandment of mutual love as Christ his Master
had given it at the Last Supper. 1
Now his earthly cares were finished : yet Sister Death
lingered on her way. Francis awaited her coming with
song : content that she should come when his Lord willed.
Around his bed the brethren sang the song he loved most, the
" Canticle of Brother Sun ".
But at length they knew that Death was already at the
door. With chivalrous salutation Francis exclaimed : " Wel
come, Sister Death ! " and turning to his physician, he bade
him as a herald announce her coming boldly ; for he added,
" She is to me the gate of life ". To the brethren he said :
" When you see me at my extremity, put me upon the ground
as you saw me three days ago and when I am dead leave
me there for such space of time as it takes a man leisurely to
walk a mile ". 2
So at the end they laid him habitless on the bare earth.
Divining his wish the brethren had prepared to read to him
in his last moments the Gospel of the Passion according to
St. John ; but Francis, not knowing their intention, himself
asked that that Gospel should be read. Then when the
reading was over he bade them lay him upon sackcloth and
sprinkle him with ashes in anticipation of his burial : for in
his courtesy he would welcome death in all its dread offices.
And whilst the brethren stood around in solemn reverence
and sad expectancy, he died. 3 It was then just after the
hour of sunset. Outside the cell a multitude of larks had
gathered in the twilight and were sending their melodies
joyously through the still air. 4 And one of the brothers, a
holy man, at that same moment saw a brilliant orb of light
1 II Celano, 217 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 88.
- II Celano, 217 ; cf . Leg. Maj. xiv. 4.
:! I Celano, 110 ; Leg. Maj. xiv. 5. There is a discrepancy between these
two authors. According to Celano the reading began at chapter xn. :
" Ante sex dies Paschce " ; according to St. Bonaventure, at chapter xui. :
" Ante diemfestum Paschcp ". Cf . Montgomery Carmichael, " The Gospel read to
S. Francis in transitu, " in Dublin Review, April, 1903.
4 Leg. Maj. xiv. G ; Celano, Tract, de Mirac. 32.
390 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST
borne by a little cloud, ascending as it were across many
waters in a straight course to heaven. 1
But within the cell the brethren were gazing in amaze
ment and awe upon the lifeless body, forgetting for awhile
their loss in the wonderful thing they saw. For the body so
long contracted with pain, became supple and smooth and
straight, and the dark flesh became exceeding white, and into
the eyes long dull with disease, there came as it were the
light of day. And then for the first time, most of them saw
the five wounds of the stigmata ; and it seemed to them as
though they were gazing upon the very Body of Christ
Himself. And all that night crowds from the city came
hurrying in to see this miracle which had been so carefully
hid from the sight of men : and all the people wept aloud,
but it was more for joy than for sorrow. 2 Early the next
morning they bore the body of the saint in solemn state to
the little church of San Giorgio within the city, where
Francis had learned his letters and preached his first
sermon ; for the citizens would have no delay lest the Peru-
gians might come swiftly and take the body. All the city, it
seemed, took part in the procession : some held lighted
tapers, but most of them carried boughs of olive and other
trees ; and as they went along the singing of hymns alternated
with the blare of trumpets. It was not the sad carrying of a
man to his grave but the triumphant translation of a saint s
relics.
Remembering the message Francis had sent to Clare from
his death-bed, the brethren would not take the shorter way
to the city through the great gate, but went round by San
Damiano ; and there they carried the body into the church,
and certain of the brothers took the body from its coffin and
held it in their arms at the opened grille at which the sisters
received the Holy Communion. Then Clare and all the
1 1 Celano, 110 ; Leg. Maj. xiv. 6. According to Chron. xxiv. Gen.
(Anal. Franc, in. p. 226), this brother was a Brother James. He is mentioned
in the martyrology of Fortunatus Hueber under 7 June.
I Celano, 112, 113. See the Letter of Brother Elias to Gregory of Naples
(Bcehmer, Analekten, p. 90).
TESTAMENT AND DEATH 391
sisters wept bitterly, realizing more poignantly their loss in
the sweet presence of the dead. But when they all had
kissed the wounded hands, the procession again formed and
went on its way until it came to the church of San Giorgio.
There they laid the body in a temporary shrine to await the
building of the great church which was to be the glory of
the city and of all the land of Umbria. The day was the
fourth of October, in the year 1226. a
Less than two years later, on 16 July, 1228, Francis was
canonized by his friend Cardinal Ugolino, now become Pope
under the title of Gregory IX. 2 And straightway by order
of the Pontiff, Brother Elias set his imperious genius to the
construction of the great church which was to be at once the
saint s sepulchre and the monument of a world s homage. 3
Hither on 25 May, 1230, the body of Francis was carried and
secretly buried ; but the story of that second burial belongs
not so much to the history of Francis as to another history. 4
Even in its eager desire to honour him the world must needs
kick against him, not understanding the spirit which dwelt
in him. He was not of the world. And yet the world loved,
and in its blundering fashion, worshipped him. It was so
in his life ; it was even so in his death. But whilst the
world went on its blundering way, there were some, and
they were not a few, who both loved and understood.
Francis had not lived in vain.
1 Cf. I Celano, 116-18 ; Leg. Maj. xv. 1-6 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 108 ; Fioretti,
iv. Consid. According to the ecclesiastical usage of the time, the day was
reckoned from the decline of the sun, i.e. the hour of vespers, and not from
midnight. Thus Francis died according to our style of computing the day, at
sunset on 3 October, and was buried on 4 October.
2 The bull of canonization was published on 19 July. Gf. Sbaralea, Bull.
i. p. 42 seq.
:! By Papal authority money for the building of the church was collected
throughout Europe. Cf. Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 46 ; Glassberger, in Anal. Franc.
n. p. 56.
4 Vide letter of Gregory IX " Speravimus," Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 66 seq. ;
Eccleston, op. cit. pp. 80-82; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 212.
APPENDIX I.
THE PRIMITIVE RULE OF ST. FRANCIS.
THAT the Primitive Rule approved orally by Innocent III is contained in
the so-called Regula Prima of 1221, J there can be, I think, little doubt.
1. The Regula Prima professes in the prologue to be that confirmed
by Innocent III. As the Regula Prima stands this would be impossible ;
for Innocent III died in 1216, and many of the ordinances in that Rule
are easily traceable to a later date. Yet Francis would not have retained
this prologue if the Primitive Rule was not incorporated in the Regula
Prima.
2. But anyone who reads the Regula Prima will be struck by its
patchwork character as regards style : it has manifestly been built up by
accumulation ; it is not homogeneous.
At times the ingrafting of new additions is clumsily done, as e.g.
cap. ii. concerning the goods of novices ; cap. x., where it goes on to say
that the brethren shall have no power or domination amongst themselves.
Again there are repetitions, as though the legislator was re-enacting a
former ordinance with increased emphasis ; e.g. in capp. in. and ix.
it is laid down that the brethren may eat of whatever food is set before
them.
Yet, again, the difference in character and style between different pas
sages is very marked. There is a lack of consistency of tone. The voice
of the idealist alternates at one time with that of the legalist, at another
with that of the master evidently arguing with those who doubt ; e.g.
compare cap. i. or cap. xiv. or the opening of cap. ix. with cap. xv.
and cap. vni. ; and the difference is not merely a difference of subject-
matter ; the tone is different : there is a difference in the immediate out
look, like the difference between sunshine and a grey day. Some of the
passages glow with the simplicity of the apostle in the first time of his
enthusiasm, with his idealism yet unbruised by experience with the world :
and in these passages you find something of the sublime universality of
the Gospel. Other passages are manifestly written in view of actual con
tingencies and lack the glow and joyous fervour of the former.
3. Now it is undoubtedly those passages which glow with the sim-
^f. Opuscula (Quaracchi), pp. 2G-G2.
393
394 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
plicity of the idealism of the primitive Franciscan life, which belong to the
Primitive Rule. The other passages were written afterwards to incorporate
either capitular decrees, e.g. in cap. vn. the warning against "sad hypo
crites " ; or papal injunctions, e.g. in cap. n. concerning novices and in
cap. v. concerning those who wander about without obediences ; or they
were ordinances made to meet new situations, as cap. xvi. concerning
missions to the infidels, and cap. xviu. concerning the holding of Chapters.
In one chapter cap. xxii. we have apparently a summary of St.
Francis s admonitions to the brethren.
Now in regard to the Primitive Rule, Celano tells us that Francis
wrote it " for himself and his brethren, present and to come, simply and
in few words," and that he used chiefly the words of the Gospel, after
whose perfection alone he aspired (I Celano, 32) ; and St. Bonaventure
says : " He wrote for himself and his brethren in simple words a rule of
life in which, taking the observance of the Gospel as an inviolable founda
tion, he inserted a few other things which seemed necessary for a uniform
mode of life " (Leg. Maj. in. 8).
The Primitive Rule, therefore, was brief and chiefly consisted of
passages from the Gospel, but with a few enactments necessary for the
common life of the fraternity.
M. Sabatier (Vie de S. Francois, chap. in. p. 101 seq.) asserts that
the Primitive Rule was nothing else than the passages of the Gospel which
Francis had read to his first companions he evidently refers to the read
ing of the Gospel in the Church of St. Nicholas (vide supra} together
with certain regulations concerning manual labour and the occupations of
the brethren. But this is putting a limitation upon the passages of the
Gospel used by Francis in his Primitive Rule, which is unwarranted by
the descriptions given by Celano and St. Bonaventure.
We may surely assume that the dominant characteristics of the primi
tive life, as we know it from history, were reflected in the Primitive Rule,
and that they for the most part found an evangelical formula there. And
that is just what we find when we collect together those passages of the
Regula Prima which bear the manifest impress of the primitive simplicity
and idealism of the Franciscan spirit. Again, anyone conversant with
the life and character of Francis would expect of the Primitive Rule that
it would be almost exclusively an expression of principles rather than a
code of practical regulations or of "constitutions". Francis was from
beginning to end an idealist and a poet. In the practical application of
his ideals he waited on circumstance ; he made a practical regulation
only when a situation arose, which demanded a practical decision, and then
his decision was formulated by the occasion : he never seems to have run
ahead of the occasion, but he waited until the actual demand for a
decision came to him. Thus he acted in the various stages of his "con
version " : we find the same mode of action in the development of his
vocation and apostolate.
APPENDIX I
395
As regards the additions to the Primitive Rule in the Regula Prima,
they may be summed up as :
1. Oapitular ordinances.
2. Judicial or prophetic warnings against evident dangers.
3. Papal decrees.
4. All that concerns the ministers, and also clerics as separate from
lay-brothers.
5. Those passages which presuppose that the brethren are widely
scattered, as where phrases of this sort occur : universis fra-
tribus " ; " ubicumque sunt " (or " fuerint ").
With these principles of exegesis before us we may now proceed to
give an analysis of the Regula Prima in detail. It will be seen that the
result obtained differs in many instances from that arrived at by Karl
Miiller (Die Anfdnge des Minoritensordens, pp. 14-25) who seems to me
to have included in the Primitive Rule certain portions of the Regula
Prima which belong to a somewhat later date, and even passages which
I incline to think were inserted as late as 1221.
ANALYSIS OF EEGULA PEIMA.
Text.
PROLOGUE.
In nomine
Patris et Filii
et Spiritus
Sict. Amen.
Haec est vita
quam frater
Franciscus
petiit sibi con-
cedi et confir-
mari a domino
papa Inno-
centio. . . .
Et alii fratres
teneantur
fratri Fran
cisco et ejus
successoribus
obedire.
Remarks.
Primitive.
***
Primitive ; but probably inserted by the Pope.
Celano in speaking of the Primitive Rule, quotes the
phrase of this passage: " fratribus suis habitis et futu-
ris " (I Celano, 32). 3 Soc. 52, says : " The other brothers
according to the precept of the lord Pope in like manner
promised obedience and reverence to the Blessed
Francis ".
M. Sabatier (cf. De I authenticite de la legende de S.
Francois, p. 20, note) denies that these words of 3 Soc.
refer to the Primitive Rule ; but that is simply because
they militate against M. Sabatier s particular theory re
garding the Primitive Rule.
Also it is asserted in Analecta Bollandiana, xix. p.
129, that the passage "Et alii fratres teneantur," etc., is
an interpolation in the Regula Prima from the Rule of
1223. But this is mere assumption. It is more probable
396
LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
that the words were transferred from the Regula I into
the Regula II.
***
CHAPTER I.
Regula et vita
istorum
fratrum . . .
et vitam aeter-
nam possidebit.
***
CHAPTER II.
Si quis divina
inspiratione
. . . recipiatur
ab eis.
***
.***
Quodsi fuerit
firmus acci-
pere . . .
diligenter ex-
ponat.
*
* #
Si vult et
potest spiri-
tualiter . . .
pauperibus
studeat erogare.
***
Caveant autem
alii pauperes
The whole of this chapter is primitive. The earliest
life is entirely shaped by it ; e.g. in regard to the pas
sage from Matthew xix. 29 : " Si quis vult venire ad me"
etc., cf. 3 Soc. 45 : " Sollicite etiam petebant ne mitteren-
tur ad terram ubi nati erant" etc.
***
*
* *
Primitive. The words : " si quis divina inspiratione "
are quite in St. Francis style of speaking. Compare the
idea of Divine calling in his words to Bro. Giles, Vita B. F.
Aeyidii [ed. Lemmens], p. 39. The phrase is used in
the Forma vivendi Francis gave S. Clare (Opuscula [ed.
Quaracchi], p. 75) and in Regula n. cap. xu.
So also the words " benigne recipiatur ab eis " are
quite characteristic of Francis spirit. Cf. I Celano, 27-
31 ; Vita B. F. Aegidii, loc. cit. I. pp. 39-40.
*
* *
This passage, as it stands, could only have been
written after the institution of Ministers-Provincial in
1217 ; and it is probably a regulation against some actual
abuse. Francis himself advised and assisted Bernard da
Quintavalle in disposing of his goods. But later experi
ence in this matter as in others, may have made Francis
take a stricter view.
*
* *
This is certainly primitive. From the beginning
Francis insisted upon the candidates distributing their
goods to the poor. Probably the contingent phrase " si
vult et potest spiritualiter et sine impedimento " was
inserted by the Pope, as a measure of prudence. Cf. II
Celano, 80, 81.
*
* *
As it stands this passage is of later date. But some
such prohibition of receiving any part of the goods of
novices was in force quite early in the fraternity, as is
evident from II Celano, 67. It is curious that the
warning against meddling with the goods of novices is
given twice, almost in the same words. Quite manifestly
this chapter has been subjected to frequent interpola
tions.
***
APPENDIX I
397
Et cum
reversus . . .
si necesse
fuerit,
cingulum et
braccas.
*
* *
Et omnes fra-
tres, vilibus . . .
in domibus re-
gum sunk
.*** .
Et licet dican-
tur hypocritae
. . . regno
coelorum.
Of later date. The regulations concerning novices are
not earlier than 22 September, 1220, when Honorius III
published the Bull " Cum secundum " (Bull. Franc. I,
p. 6). The permission to have two tunics is opposed to
primitive practice. Of. I Celano, 39 : " Sola tunica erant
contenti ". Cf. Spec. Perfect* cap. 3 ; Testamentum S,
Franc.
***
Primitive.
***
Doubtful. We read in Celano how the friara at an
early period were denounced as hypocrites (I Celano, 46).
This admonition was probably designed to meet similar
circumstances.
CHAPTER III.
Dicit Domi-
nus: Hoc
genus . . .
quolibet die.
Omnes fratres
jejunent . . .
secundem
Evangelium.
Of capitular origin. In the beginning of the Order the
brethren said the Pater Noster and Adoramus Te Christe
instead of the ecclesiastical office : as Celano and St.
Bonaventure bear witness (I Celano, 45 ; Leg. Maj. iv.
3). Celano gives as the reason that the brethren were
ignorant of the office : " in simplicitate spiritus ambu-
lantes adhuc ecclesiastieum officium ignorabant ; " St.
Bonaventure, that they had not the necessary books :
"pro eo quod nondum ecclesiastlcos libros habebant ".
Note that both Celano and St. Bonaventure are speak
ing of the time following the approbation of the Rule.
The passages which allow the brethren who can read,
whether clerics or lay-brothers, to have books for saying
office can hardly have been put in on Francis initiative :
cf. II Celano, 195; Spec. Perfect, cap. 4. Probably
these passages were inserted at a General Chapter on
the initiative of the ministers.
***
Doubtful. Giordano da Giano (in Anal. Franc, i. p. 6)
says : " secundum primam regulam fratres feria quarta
et sexta jejunabant ". From the beginning the brethren
would observe the accustomed lents of the Church, and
probably others according to their devotion. The lent
preceding Christmas as it stands in the text is but a
lengthening of the Advent Lent which in many places
began at St. Martin s feast, and in other places at the
398
LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
CHAPTER IV.
In nomine Do
mini omnes
fratres, etc.
*
* *
CHAPTER V.
Ideoque ani-
mas vestras
. . . sed male
habentibus.
beginning of Advent. It was Francis intense devotion
to the Sacred Incarnation which probably led him to
lengthen this fast. Similarly his devotion to our Lord s
earthly life led him to begin the Easter Lent immediately
after the feast of the Epiphany, because on that day the
Church celebrates (amongst other mysteries) the baptism
of Jesus Christ, and immediately after His baptism our
Lord began His fast in the desert. Quite possibly, there
fore, these fasts may have been of primitive observance ;
as would also be the permission " to eat of all foods set
before them". But whether the passage as it stands
was substantially in the primitive Rule, is doubtful. In
reference to Giordano s statement, it is noteworthy that
the Humiliati fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays.
***
Of later origin : probably capitular, after the establish
ment of the Provinces in 1217.
***
Capitular ; after the institution of Chapters and minis
ters.
Omnes fratres Primitive. This passage as it stands is utterly unlike
non habeant any legal enactment and breathes the simple evangelical
aliquam potes- idealism of St. Francis. Cf. 3 Soc. 41 seq.
tatem . . .
voluntarie ser-
viant et obedi-
ant invicem.
Et haec est vera
et sancta obedi-
entia D. N. J.
Christi.
***
Et omnes Capitular decree in view of the troubles of 1220. Cf.
fratres . . . Bull "Cum Sccundum," of 22 September, 1220. Cf. II
benedicti sint Celano, 32-4.
a Domino.
APPENDIX I
399
CHAPTER VI.
Fratres in
quibuscumque
locis . . .
laret pedes .
CHAPTER VII.
Omnes fra-
tres ... in
eadem domo
sunfc.
Capitular : after institution of ministers.
But the passage : " Nullus vocetur prior sed generaliter
omnes vocentur fratres minor es " may be anterior to the
preceding passages. Honorius III, in the Bull " Cum
Secundum," speaks of the ministers as "priors," and it
may have been that the passage was inserted in the Rule
at the Chapter of 1221, in consequence of this. On the
other hand, Honorius III may have used the term in
ignorance of the Rule, which was not yet solemnly
approved.
*
* *
Doubtful. Celano relates that it was on hearing the
words of the Rule, " Et sint minores " being read aloud,
that Francis exclaimed : "I will that this fraternity be
called the Order of Friars Minor " (I Celano, 38).
If we knew at what date the brethren took the name
of Friars Minor, we should have more exact ground
upon which to base our decision as regards this passage.
I incline to think that it was inserted very soon after
the approbation of the Rule, with the rapid increase in
the number of the brethren and their diffusion abroad.
Possibly the wording of the opening paragraphs may
have been slightly changed in a later revision of the
Rule. Celano quotes the phrase alluded to as " Et sint
minores"; whereas the actual phrase is as: "sed sint
minores ".
Et Fratres qui Primitive. Cf. I Celano, 39-40. " tiiebus vero mani-
sciunt laborare bus propriis qui noverant laborabant," etc. ; " Nullum
. . . sicut alii officium exercere volebantde quo posset scandalumexoriri,"
fratres. etc. Cf. Testamentum S. Franc.: lt Et ego manibus
meis laborabam," etc. Also Vita B. F. sEyidii, loc. cit.
p. 42 seq.
Et liceat eis
habere ferra-
menta et in-
strumenta suis
artibus neces-
Doubtful. From the style I think it to be a some
what later addition.
400
LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
Omnes fratres
studeant bonis
operibus . . .
insistere de-
bent.
***
Caveant sibi
fratres . . .
benigne re-
cipiatur.
* *
Et caveant sibi
. . . conveni-
enter gratiosos.
***
CHAPTER VIII.
Dominus prae-
cipit . . . cir-
cumeant.
CHAPTER IX.
Omnes fratres
studeant . . .
vadant pro
eleemosynis.
Later : probably inserted by Caesar of Speyer in
1221. The quotations are from SS. Jerome and Anselm.
(cf . Opuscula, p. 34, notes 1 and 2. )
***
Later. As it stands this paragraph is of later date
when the brethren had acquired " loci " and hermit
ages.
***
Capitular. Cf. II Celano, 128.
***
Later. Evidently from the admonitory style it was
written in view of certain dangers or abuses.
***
Primitive. Cf. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 44 ;
[ed. Lemmens], no. 12.
Et non vere
cuiidentur . .
praemium a
Domino.
***
Et secure .
non habet
legem.
CHAPTER X.
Si quis fra-
trum, etc.
Later : probably originally an admonition addressed
to the brethren.
Cf. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Sabatier], cap. 18 ; LemmenSj
De Legenda Veteri in Doc. Antiqua, fasc. n. p. 94.
Also cf. Epistola i. in Opuscula, p. 91: "Homines
enim omnia perdunt, etc.
***
Later. The passage referring to the use of foods :
" Et quandocumque necessitas supervenerit," etc., is
probably capitular decree of 1221, in answer to the in
novations of the Vicars-General during Francis absence
in the East. Cf. Chron. Jordani, no. 11, in Anal.
Franc. I. p. 4.
***
Later. I judge this from the style (e.g. <e Ubicumque
fuerit "). There is a summary of this chapter in II
Celano, 175.
***
APPENDIX I
401
CHAPTER XL
Et omnes fra-
tres . . .
Servi inutiles
sumus.
***
Efc non iras-
cantur, etc.
CHAPTER XII.
Omnes^fra-
tres, etc.
***
Primitive. It sets forth one of the most distinguishing
marks of the first friars their fear of useless and un
charitable words. Cf. 3 Soc. 46 et passim ; I Celano,
41, 54. Cf. II Celano, 182, where there is an evident
comparison between the primitive and later days.
b
# #
Doubtful. From the interweaving of scriptural texts
taken mostly from the epistles I doubt whether it can be
ascribed to St. Francis. More likely it is the work of
Caesar of Speyer. Cf . Chron. Jordani, no. 15, in Anal.
Franc, i. p. 5.
Later. It contemplates the presence of priests amongst
the brethren, whereas it is doubtful whether there was
even one priest amongst those who went with Francis to
Rome. Moreover, Francis himself received SS. Clare
and Agnes to obedience in 1212 ; also the anchoress
Praxedis. Cf. Celano, Trac. de Mirac. 181. This regu
lation, therefore, must have been of later origin.
I incline to regard this chapter as written in 1221, on
account of the abuses of John de Compello and others.
Cf. Chron. Jordani, no. 13, in Anal. Franc, i. p. 5.
Possibly, however, the first paragraph was written earlier
than 1221. The exacting of oaths of obedience was a
very common practice in the thirteenth century. Masters
would thus bind their scholars to follow them. Cf.
Rashdall, Universities, Vol. I. p. 172.
CHAPTER XIII.
Si quis, etc.
***
CHAPTER XIV.
Quando fratres,
etc.
***
CHAPTER XV.
Injungo omni
bus, etc.
Later. (Cf. " habitu ordinis ".)
Primitive, cf. I. Celano, 17 ; 3 Soc. 44.
*
* #
Later. (Cf. "tarn clericis tarn laicis ".)
CHAPTER XVI.
Dicit Dominus,
etc.
Later, written in view of foreign missions, probably in
1219 or 1221.
2G
402 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
CHAPTER XVII.
Nullus fra- Later, after institution of ministers ; and probably
trum, etc. not earlier than 1220.
***
CHAPTER XVIII.
Quolibet anno, Later, after institution of the Chapters,
etc.
***
CHAPTER XIX.
Omnes fratres Primitive. The phrase " a nostra fraternitate " indi-
sint catholici, cates a very early origin. The following admonition to
etc. respect the clergy is also probably primitive. Cf. I
Celano, 46 ; Testamentum S. Franc.
***
CHAPTER XX.
Fratres mei Later. Cf . Epistola in. in Opuscula, p. 108.
" benedicti,"
etc.
***
CHAPTER XXI.
Et hanc vel Primitive. Cf. Vita B. F. Aeyidii, loc. cit. p. 41 ;
talem exhor- 3 Soc. 33.
tationem, etc.
***
CHAPTER XXII.
Attendamus. Later. Cf. Epistola i. in Opuscula, pp. 89 and 94,
for similar exhortations.
* *
* * * *
CHAPTER XXIII.
Omnipotens Later. (Cf. " Fratres Minores ".) This and preceding
. . . detes- chapter probably worked up by Caesar of Speyer.
tabilis est in
saecula
saeculorum.
***
In nomine Probably primitive. Compare the ending up of the
Domini rogo Testament,
omnes fratres
. . . et repo-
nant haec.
APPENDIX I 403
Efc ex parte Later : probably 1221. Of. Spec. Perfect, [ed. Saba-
Dei . . . tier], cap. 68 : " Et ideo volo quod non nominetis mihi
fratres aliquam regulam," etc.
habeant.
***
Gloria Patri, Probably primitive,
etc.
26
APPENDIX II.
THE INDULGENCE OF THE PORZIUNCOLA.
THE arguments against the authenticity of the Indulgence are based on
two principal accounts : the silence of the first biographers and chroniclers,
and the well-known repugnance of St. Francis to seek special privileges
from the Roman Courb. We will take this second objection first. It can
indeed hardly be said to bear examination.
That St. Francis did forbid his friars to apply to the Roman Court
for privileges is well known. At the same time he himself sought and
accepted certain very great privileges.
He went to Rome for the confirmation of his Rule, though at the
time there was no law obliging him to do so ; he accepted the commission
to preach and asked for the appointment of a Cardinal Protector. Hence
he could not have meant to forbid the seeking for or acceptance of all
favours from the Holy See. We must understand then the sort of privi
leges he meant to ban from the fraternity. It is evident from his own
writings, e.g. his Testament, that he had in view privileges which he con
sidered detrimental to the profession of evangelical humility and meekness,
and especially such as would make the friars independent of the bishops
and clergy in the prosecution of their missionary enterprise. Such was
Francis reverence for the priesthood that he would have his fraternity
submissive to all bishops and priests in all matters that pertained to their
office : he would not preach in any parish without the consent of the parish
priest, nor would he dwell in any place without the bishop s leave. (Cf.
Regula n. cap. ix. ; Testamentum 8. Franc.) If the clergy opposed the
brethren in their ministry, the brethren were to gain over their goodwill,
not by recourse to the Holy See, but by obedience and reverence (II
Celano, 146, 147). But the Porziuncola indulgence was in no sense a
privilege of immunity for the brethren : it was a measure of mercy for all
repentant souls ; it in no way set the brethren above the clergy or other
people, but was an outpouring of God s grace upon the world. That at
least was how Francis viewed it. Nor could the indulgence have been
obtained in any other way than by the authority of the Pope. No bishop
could grant such an indulgence.
This objection, therefore, so far as it affects the authenticity of the
indulgence, falls to the ground.
404
APPENDIX II 405
But the silence of the first biographers and chroniclers is a more valid
objection. Whichever way we take it, this silence is a difficulty. Neither
Celano nor Saint Bonaventure, nor the Speculum Perfectionis, nor any of
the primitive legendists as much as refer to it. The chapter in the
traditional Legend of the Three Companions is evidently a later addition. 1
P. Ehrle, S.J., has indeed made a discovery which may prove of primary
importance in the ultimate solution of this question. In a catalogue of MSS.
which belonged in 1375 to the papal library at Avignon he found this indica
tion : Item in volumine signato per C epistole Augustini, Soliloqiiium Augustini,
meditaciones Ancelmi, Hugo de claustro animcz, plures epistoke fratris Bona-
vcnturai de evdngelica paupertate, de indulgentia Beatce Maria, Portuensi
Assisii. . . ." (Of. Ehrle, Bibliotheca Romanorum Pontificum, vol. i. p. 463.)
But until the letter " de indulgentia," itself is brought to light one cannot use
it as evidence upon the mere indication of a catalogue ; for it was not un
common to attribute to famous writers, writings which they never wrote.
Consequently I cannot follow Mgr. Faloci-Pulignani in his conclusions based
upon this reference. (Cf. Misc. Franc, vol. x. p. 69, quoted with approval by
Pere Rene, O.M. Cap. in Etudes Franciscaines, torn. xx. p. 375, note 1.)
The question now is as to the motive of this silence. At best the argu
ment from silence is a negative argument, and if we can find a probable
motive, the value of the silence is largely, if not altogether, discounted.
Various motives have been suggested. Pere Gratien, O.M. Cap. (Ltudes
Franciscaines, torn. xvm. p. 4=81) suggests that in the beginning the
indulgence had not the important character it afterwards assumed, and
thinks this a sufficient explanation of the maintained silence.
But the indulgence was undoubtedly an unusual favour for those
days, and could not have been regarded otherwise, 2 nor can we think that
in enumerating the exceptional privileges of the Porziuncola chapel (cf.
I Celano, 106 ; II Celano, 18-20 ; Spec. Perfect, cap. 83 ; 3 Soc. cap.
xiu.) the biographers, anxious as they were to set forth the sanctity of the
place, would have omitted mention of so special a favour without some
special reason.
Granting then that the indulgence really existed, we are driven to
attribute the silence to a deliberate policy. Were there reasons for a
1 It is true the chapter on the indulgence appears in the reconstituted
version of the 3 Soc. published by Padri Marcellino da Civezza and Teofilo
Dominichelli ; but this reconstituted text has yet to prove its own authen
ticity, notwithstanding the doughty championship of M. Paul Sabatier who
is wholly in its favour. Cf. Bartholi, Tractatus de Indulgentia, ed. Sabatier,
Introduction.
2 Pere Rene, loc. cit. pp. 349-50, asserts that plenary indulgences were
not so rare at the time as has been generally held : but his instances are all
of a generation later than St. Francis, when possibly a more liberal policy
was adopted by the Holy See in consequence of the granting of the Porziun
cola indulgence. Precedents have a way of repeating and even expanding
themselves.
406 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
policy of silence? Upon this point the story of the indulgence the
authenticity of which we shall examine further on gives a clear indication.
It tells us how the granting of the indulgence by the Pope aroused oppo
sition amongst the cardinals. They wished Honorius to revoke the grant ;
and when he refused to revoke it altogether, they prevailed upon him to
limit its operation to one day in the year, namely 2 August. Now we know
that even towards the end of the thirteenth century and during the
fourteenth, there was still opposition to the indulgence ; and the story
indicates that opposition was started against it from the first. Nor is the
opposition unintelligible. "If this indulgence is granted," urged the
cardinals, "it will bring to nought the indulgence for going beyond the
seas [i.e. for the crusades] and people will think nothing of the indulgence
to be gained at St. Peter s." The indulgence would, so to speak, in
fringe the monopoly of the constituted holy places. It is not at all
unlikely that the friars, in deference to the wishes of the Curia, would
cease to proclaim the indulgence, lest it should lessen the devotion of
the people towards St. Peter s and the crusades ; especially since the
friars were shortly appointed by the Holy See as the accredited collectors
for the crusades.
It may very well have been felt too that silence was necessary not
merely to benefit the Holy Land, but to prevent the formal revocation of
the indulgence. Yet I can hardly allow that a policy of silence based on
expediency would have commended itself to Brother Leo and the Saint s
companions, had it not been imposed upon them as a sacred duty by
Francis himself. Their zeal would assuredly have escaped their discretion.
But those who know the character of Francis will have no difficulty
in attributing this silence partly to Francis himself. It is quite what
one would expect that, seeing the opposition of the cardinals to the in
dulgence, Francis would not allow any open conflict to arise between the
friars and the Curia. He would not have the indulgence cradled in any
breach of charity nor in even the appearance of hostility towards the
clergy. Just as he would not use the privilege of preaching granted him
by the Holy See, when the bishops were opposed to it ; so he would not
preach the indulgence in the face of their opposition, but would leave it,
as he would say, in the care of God Who would make it manifest in His
own time. And in fact the official witnesses expressly tell us that Francis
did impose this silence at least until his own death. For according to
the testimony of Giacomo Coppoli, the friend of Brother Leo, Francis
told Leo : ""Keep this secret until the day of my death," etc. Cf. Bar-
tholi, Tract, de Indulgentia, ed. Sabatier, p. liii.
The silence of the first biographers is therefore no invalidating argu
ment, provided the positive evidence in favour of the indulgence can bear
scrutiny. We come then to the attesting evidence.
We may follow M. Paul Sabatier in classifying this evidence into two
groups : the official evidence and the popular. (Cf . Bartholi, Tractatus
APPENDIX II 407
de Indulgentia, ed. Sabafcier, Introduction, p. xxxviii seq.) The first
official evidence comes to us from the second half of the thirteenth
century. In 1277 Brother Angelo, Minister-Provincial of Umbria, set
himself to collect what evidence might still be gathered concerning the
granting of the indulgence ; and thus he obtained certain written attesta
tions subscribed by a public notary.
There was the evidence of Benedict of Arezzo, who had lived with
St. Francis, and who heard the story of the indulgence from Brother
Masseo himself who was with St. Francis when the indulgence was
granted : also the attestations of a certain Giacomo Coppoli, a citizen of
Perugia, who repeated what he had heard from Brother Leo ; of Pietro
Zalfaiii, who was present at the promulgation of the indulgence ; and of
Brother Oddo, and others.
As to what M. Sabatier styles the "popular" witness to the indul
gence that is, its story as handed down on the lips of the people we
have an example in the statement attributed to a " Michaelo Bernardi,
formerly of Spello ". According to this statement Michaelo Bernardi
heard the story of the indulgence one day when he visited the Porziun-
cola and found there Peter Cathanii and others of the saints companions
talking amongst themselves about the granting of the indulgence. In
this statement we find details which are lacking in the official evidence,
and which at first sight are in contradiction with it. Thus in the official
evidence it is stated that the Pope was at Perugia when Francis went
to him ; in the statement of Michaelo Bernardi, Francis goes to Rome
to see the Pope. Again, Michaelo Bernardi makes Christ himself fix
the second day of August for the gaining of the indulgence ; and his
narrative is adorned with picturesque details, e.g. of the miraculous
roses. Bernardi s statement was incorporated in the diploma of Bishop
Conrad of Assisi, published in 1335. M. Sabatier and Pere Gratien
entirely reject this story as a work of popular imagination creating its
own beliefs. Papini (Storia di San Francesco, n. p. 242) had already
questioned whether Michaelo Bernardi had even existed ; but Spader
(quoted by Sabatier, op. cit. p. Lxxxviii, note 1), asserts that a Pietro
Bernardi was a member of the Cancelleria of Assisi in 1228, and that in
1360 members of the family were still living in Spello.
That Bernardi s statement manifests a love of the marvellous none
will deny. But it is not to be put aside too lightly. In some respects it
is consistent with known historical facts. It speaks of Francis taking
Peter Cathanii to Rome in the month of January. Honorius certainly was
in Rome in January, both in 1217 and in 1221. (Cf. Pressutti, Reg.
Hon. m. pp. 38 and 485) ; Peter Cathanii did not die till 10 March, 1221.
Hence those who accept Bernardi s statement hold that it refers not to the
original grant of the indulgence made at Perugia in 1216 ; but to a second
journey undertaken either in January, 1217 or 1221, to get the Pope to
determine a definite day for the indulgence, which had not yet been fixed.
408 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
(Of. P. Panfilo, Storia di S. Fran. i. p. 331.) The Chron. xxiv. Gen.
(Anal. Franc, in. p. 29) dates the grant of the indulgence in 1221.
Wadding follows this date for the original grant, but mentions a second
journey in 1223. There may indeed be a substratum of historical truth
in Bernardi s recital : but that is the most that can be said for it.
We must now take note of another class of evidence what one may
call the undesigned evidence left by witnesses who had no intention of
giving evidence, but who merely mention the indulgence as a matter of
fact. Evidence of this sort is all the more convincing simply because it
is unintentional. We have two instances of the kind.
In 1280 the Minister-General Bonagrazia forbade the friars to receive
offerings of money in the church of the Porziuncola on the day of the
indulgence : * and this witness is the more important because Bonagrazia
was an opponent of the Spirituals and would not have tolerated any
doubtful privilege which tended to exalt the Porziuncola over the basilica
of San Francesco, which was, so to speak, the camp of the party of the
Community in the Order. We may take it, therefore, that the indulgence
must have been well established by 1280.
The second instance is the statement of Ubertino da Casale in the
first prologue to his first book of the Arbor Vitce, to the effect that he
himself visited the Porziuncola on 2 August, 1284, or 1285, to gain the
indulgence.
In the face of this "undesigned" evidence it is difficult to follow the
contention of Dr. Kirsch (Der Portiuncula Ablass in Theol. Quartal-
schriftj 1906, 1 and 2) that the indulgence was concocted by the Spirituals
between 1288 and 1295. Whatever may be said as to the origin of the
indulgence, it was clearly drawing pilgrims to the Porziuncola in 1280 and
was then a well-established event, and Dr. Kirsch s theory that the in
dulgence was concocted by the Spirituals between 1288 and 1295 falls
to the ground.
But what about the "official" evidence ? for, of course, the authen
ticity of the attribution of the indulgence depends chiefly upon that.
Dr. Kirsch and Joh. Joergensen consider the " attestations of 1277 "
to be a mere forgery penned at or after the time that the Spirituals, as
they contend, were striving to foist the indulgence upon the conscience
of Christendom. They object in the first place that the original docu
ment of the attestations has yet to be found ; and in the .second place
they appeal to the internal witness of the attestations themselves for
their own condemnation.
Now it is quite true that the original document of the attestations is
unknown ; but the attestation of Benedict of Arezzo exists in an authentic
document of the thirteenth century and in another document the date of
which is more uncertain but which nevertheless is not later than the be-
1 Anal. Franc, in. p. 373.
APPENDIX II 409
ginning of the fourteenth century. 1 Bishop Theobald refers explicitly
to the attestations in his diploma of 1310. The objection on the score
of the disappearance of the original document is not one to be pressed
too far, else it would reduce all history into a very small compass. What
purported to be copies of the attestations were certainly known before
the end of the thirteenth century and in the beginning of the four
teenth.
Of greater weight would be any objections established from the
internal testimony of the documents themselves.
Of all the attestations three are of first importance, as giving us
original details of the story of the indulgence the attestations of
Benedict and Rainerio of Arezzo, of Pietro Zalfani, and of Giacomo
Coppoli.
Dr. Kirsch objects to the attestation of Benedict and Rainerio of
Arezzo, that they profess to have received the story of the indulgence
from Brother Masseo, the companion of St. Francis. Accepting the
statement of Wadding that this Brother Masseo died in 1280, Dr. Kirsch
asks why Brother Masseo himself was not called as a witness in 1277 ?
Dr. Kirsch ought surely to have known that Wadding s dates are un
reliable, and in fact it has been proved that the Masseo who died in
1280 was another religious of that name and not the saint s companion. 2
But Joergensen objects that Benedict of Arezzo was a man given to
seeing the marvellous, and therefore altogether unreliable as a witness.
He bases this statement upon the biography of the friar written by one,
Naiines, in 1302, in which the most extraordinary events are chronicled. 3
But one may well ask how far the description of these marvels is to be
attributed to Benedict himself and how far to an imaginative biographer ?
Authentic accounts of Benedict of Arezzo show him to have been a
trusted counsellor in the affairs of the Order. He filled the office of
Minister-Provincial for thirty years, from 1217 to 1239. And the
account he gives in his attestation is^purely matter-of-fact and without
any indication of the marvellous.
As to the attestation of Zalfani, Joergensen rejects it on the ground
that Zalfani says St. Francis held a paper in his hand when he was
announcing the indulgence. "Without doubt," says Joergensen, "in
the mind of the old man that paper was the papal bull ; though [he adds]
they tell us that Francis obstinately refused to accept one. " But what
ever may have been in the mind of Zalfani, he certainly does not say
that it was a papal bull : that it is only Joergensen s reading of Zalfani s
mind !
1 Of. M. Sabatier ; Bartholi, pp. xliv-xlix; P. Holzapfel in Archiv. Franc.
Hist. an. i. fasc. i. p. 38.
2 Of. P. Lemmens, Catalogus S. Fratrum Minorum, p. 6.
3 Of. P. Golubovich, Biblioteca, i. pp. 129-48; Ada SS. Augusti, vi. p.
808-11.
410 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
Both Kirsch and Joergensen reject the evidence of Giacorao Coppoli
on the ground that it contradicts the attestation of Zalfani. In Coppoli s
attestation St. Francis, after relating the story of the indulgence to
Brother Leo, is said to have told him: "Keep this a secret until the
day of my death ". But how could Francis have; bidden Leo keep the
indulgence a secret if it was already promulgated in the presence of
seven bishops ?
This objection surely strains at mere words. The explanation I have
given in the text (p. 195) is perfectly natural, that it was in face of the
continued and growing opposition that Francis afterwards inculcated
silence on his companions. 1
In fact the attestations have two strong points in their favour : they
are quite simple and matter-of-fact in tone : whilst giving separate sup
plementary details, they are in no wise contradictory of each other and
it may be added, they in no wise contradict the story of St. Francis as it
is authentically known to us.
Taking the evidence, then, as it stands, we find that the indulgence
was well-established in 1280 and that the " official " attestations bear the
marks of credibility.
But there is yet another question to be considered. Would the
Holy See have allowed the indulgence to stand if there were not some
strong tradition to sanction it ? It must be remembered that about 1280
and for some years afterwards there was clamorous opposition to the indul
gence on the part of the clergy at large. Moreover inside the Franciscan
Order there was the strife between the Friars of the Community who
regarded the Sagro Convento as the mother-house of the Order, and the
Spirituals who gave that title to the Poiziuncola. In 1288 Pope Nicholas
IV granted indulgences for visiting the basilica of the Sacro Convento on
its dedication- day. Would he have allowed the Porziuncola indulgence
to stand without a new and special grant had it been only newly heard of ?
We know how in 1296 Boniface VIII revoked a similar indulgence granted
by his predecessor to the church of Collemaggio ; would he have allowed
the Porziuncola indulgence to continue in spite of the opposition to it, if
there were any doubt that it was already long established and authentic ?
The toleration of the indulgence by the Holy See towards the end of
the thirteenth century suggests that the indulgence must have been long
in existence and that its authenticity was then unquestioned by the high
est authority.
In short, the rejection of the authenticity of the indulgence raises
questions as difficult to answer as does its acceptance.
1 1 pass over the objection raised on the score that according to Coppoli
Francis bade Leo keep the secret until liis (Leo s) death. It is based on the
reading of one of the MSS: " usque ad mortem tuam". But the MS. of
Florence and that of Volterra have : " usque ad diem mortis mcca ".
APPENDIX II 411
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
(1) P. Sabatier : Fr. Bartholi, Tractatus de Indulgentia S. Maria de
Portiuncula : Cf. De testimonio B. Benedicti de Aretio in Arch.
Franc. Hist. an. iv. fasc. in.
(2) Against the authenticity :
Dr. Anton Kirsch : Der Portionkula-Ablass in Theol. Quartal-
schrift, 1906, i. and n. ; Job. Joergensen : Saint Francois
d Assise, livre in. chap. in. (Cf. ibid. Appendix I, written
for the French edition, in which the author modifies his
conclusions. In the English translation which has come to
hand whilst this book was in the press, I find that Joergen
sen has re-written his chapter on the indulgence and now
admits the authenticity.) Van Ortroy, S.J., in Anal.
Bolland. xxvi. p. 140.
(3) For the, authenticity :
P. Sabatier : Un nouveau chapitre de la Vie de S. Frangois ;
Pere Gratien, O.M. Cap. in Etudes Franciscaines, torn,
xvin. p. 478 seq. Mgr. Faloci Pulignani : Gli storici
deir Indulgenza della Porziuncula in Misc. Franc, vol.
x. p. 65 seq. P. Holzapfel, O.F.M. : Entstehung des Por-
tiuncula-Ablesses in Archiv. Franc. Hist. an. i. fas. i. p.
31 seq. P. Rene, O.M. Cap. : L Indulgence de la Por
tiuncula, in Jfitudes Franciscaines, tome xx. p. 337 seq.
Dr. Alf. Fiereus : De geschied Kundige oorsprong van den
aflaat van Portiunkula.
APPENDIX III.
THE RULE OF THE THIRD ORDER.
THE earliest copy of the Rule of the Third Order at present known to us
dates only from 30 March, 1228, seven years, that is, after the institution
of the Brothers of Penance. This copy was discovered a few years since
amongst the documents of the Franciscan friary of Capestrano in the
Abruzzi, by Prof. Vincenzo de Bartholomaeis and edited by M. Paul
Sabatier in Opuscules de Critique Historique, torn. I. fasc. I. under the
title Regula Antiqua Fratrum et Sororum de Pcenitentia.
M. Sabatier does not regard this Capestrano Rule as the original
Rule of the Third Order. According to him the first twelve chapters had
their origin shortly after the death of St. Francis ; and the thirteenth
chapter, about 1230. 1 It holds the same relationship, he thinks, to the
original Rule of the Penitents as the Rule of 1223 holds to the primitive
Rule of the Friars Minor. 2 P. Mandonnet, O.P., on the other hand,
holds that the Capestrano Rule, with the exception of the thirteenth
chapter, is the original Rule of 1221. ;J Yet again, Boehmer in his collec
tion of the writings of St. Francis, ranks this Rule amongst the "spuri
ous " works ; 4 whilst W. Goetz holds that it is a mere mosaic of legislative
documents. 5
To me it seems that the first twelve chapters of the Capestrano Rule 6
are a revision of the original Rule, made shortly after Ugolino s elevation
to the Papal throne, and that the revision represents the substitution as
the dominant principle in the fraternity, of the prohibition to take the
feud-oath in place of the renunciation of superfluous wealth.
From the beginning the prohibition of the feud-oath was a leading
1 Regula Antiqua, pp. 10-11. *ibid. p. 10, note 2.
3 Les Regies et le Gouvernement deVOrdo de Pcenitentia an xm e siecle
Opuscules de Critique Hist. torn. I. fasc. iv.
4 Analekten, p. 73.
5 Die Regel des Tertiarierordens, in Zeitschrift fur Kircliengeschichte, vol.
xxin. p. 97 seq.
6 The thirteenth chapter of the Capestrano Rule is manifestly a collection of
local statutes added on to the original text. Such statutes would correspond
to the decrees of the chapters amongst the Friars Minor, and not unlikely were
the actual decrees of chapters held by the Penitents.
412
APPENDIX III 413
idea in the formation of the fraternity, and undoubtedly the prohibition
was in accord with the mind of Francis. But whereas Francis thought
chiefly of the moral causes of the feud-spirit, namely avarice and secular
ambition, and was intent upon developing both love of God and of man by
means of evangelical poverty, Ugolino, with a statesman s instinct, looked
directly to the legal means by which the feud-spirit might be combated.
Ugolino s conception, in other words, was that of a religious corporation
protected by the Church in its refusal to undertake the oath and military
service, whilst Francis saw in the fraternity a spiritual family bound
together in a love of evangelical poverty and in evangelical charity.
In all probability the original Rule approximated more nearly to that
of the Humiliati than does the Capestrano Rule, inasmuch as there is
reason to believe that it contained the ordinances concerning the distri
bution of superfluous income and also the admonitions concerning
conjugal chastity. As we have seen, the practice of the first Franciscan
tertiaries was to distribute the wealth which they did not require for
their own modest needs ; for Ugolino himself, as Gregory IX, on 30
March, 1228, issued the bull " Detestanda," in which he forbade the
penitents from being hindered in this practice by the secular author
ities. 1 And as regarding the precept concerning conjugal chastity, it is
noteworthy that the Penitents were also known as " Continentes," "the
continent," which shows that they made a special profession of chastity,
even as the Humiliati did. 2
It would be interesting were we able to determine precisely the
motives which induced Ugolino to delete these regulations from the
Rule, supposing them to have really formed part of the original Rule. In
the absence of documentary evidence we can only fall back upon con
jecture. It is possible that, as the tertiaries increased in numbers and
came to take in a very large section of the community, the practice
of an annual distribution of superfluous wealth may have tended to pro
duce economic results which in the opinion of the Holy See, as well as of
the civic authorities, may have been injurious to the common welfare. It
1 Vide supra, p. 287.
2 Ordo Continentium is a style frequently used in public documents to de
signate the tertiaries. (Of. Sbaralea, Bullar. i. p. 99, note f.) One of St.
Francis nephews is described as " Picardus Continens " ; i.e. Picardo, of the
Third Order, is an ancient genealogy given by Ant. Cristofani, in Delle Storie
[ed. 1902], p. 51. Of. also Bartholi, Tract, de Indulgentia [ed. Sabatier], pp.
70, 86 ; also Fioretti, in. Consid. delle Stim. A religious community of tertiary
sisters was existing in Germany in 1233 under the title of " Virgines Contin
entes " (Sbaralea, ibid. p. 108). The appellation must have had reference
directly to conjugal chastity, considering that it was chiefly for married
persons that the fraternity was instituted : but it not unfrequently happened
that married penitents mutually consented to live according to the evangeli
cal council. A case of this sort is mentioned in II Celano, 38.
414 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
would undoubtedly interfere with the industrial development of the
State, and that was a matter of much concern to the Italian communes in
the thirteenth century, whose very independence rested upon industrial
prosperity. Ugolino therefore may well have considered that on this point
the magistrates and governors had a legitimate grievance. It would be dif
ferent were the tertiaries comparatively few in number : then their action
would not greatly affect the State : but in some places the greater part of
the citizens became tertiaries and then their withdrawal from industrial
enterprise would undoubtedly be a set-back to the commune.
As to the law of conjugal chastity, Ugolino may have considered that
the common precept of the Gospel in this matter was sufficient, and that a
special precept in the Rule of the Penitents might tend to foster a practice
which if it became widespread, would frustrate the very object of Christian
marriage. We know that there was a tendency amongst married penitents
to bind themselves by mutual agreement to live as brother and sister. Such
a practice when confined to the few, doubtless had a good effect upon the
community in the way of self-restraint and regard for purity : but if such
a practice became general it would lead to obvious moral and social dan
gers. Moreover in the actual condition of Italy, seeing how the peninsula 3
especially in the central and northern provinces, was inoculated with the
tenets of the Cathari and Patarini, there was a danger lest amongst the
common people, the practice of distributing superfluous wealth and of
renouncing marriage rights, might develop into the communism and the
Manichean view of marriage, preached by the heretics. This danger
became imminent since the Third Order was thrown wide open to all
Catholics of whatever rank or condition.
Such reasons might well have led Ugolino to revise the Rule l in the
direction of concentrating the corporate purpose of the fraternity upon a
matter which could be more directly supervised by the ecclesiastical au
thorities and which was of vital concern to the papal policy, namely the
suppression of the claim of the secular authority to enforce military
service in pursuance of civic feuds or against the Church.
On the other hand, the regulations concerning dress, food and the
religious exercises of the Penitents found in the Capestrano Rule are
probably derived from the original Rule. They are evidently based upon
the Rule of the Humiliati.
As to the government of the fraternity, the Capestrano Rule implies
1 A statement in Annales Wormatienses (Mon. Germ. Script, torn. xvn.
p. 75) merits attention. Under the year 1227 appears this passage : <- Ordo
Pcenitentium eodem anno a papa confirmatur " . If this could be taken as au
thentic evidence one might suppose that in that year the revision of the Rule
was made with a view to a more solemn approbation by the Holy See. But
the Annales Wormatienses are not always exact. Thus under the year 1208
we find : *" Eodem anno incepit ordo Fratrum Minorum ET PR^DICATORUM ".
APPENDIX III 415
that the Penitents are governed by their own ministers, 1 but under the
judicial supervision of a visitor whose duty it is to correct abuses and
punish delinquents. The visitor has the power to dispense the brethren
from particular observances of the Rule in cases of necessity, and also to
expel recalcitrant members. 2 It is not said in the Rule that the visitor,
shall be a Friar Minor ; though one of the additional statutes ordains
that "the visitor and ministers of this fraternity shall ask the minister or
custos of the Friars Minor for a Friar Minor from the convent, and that
this fraternity be governed and ruled by the advice of this friar and by
the will of the friars ".
Now according to Bernard de Besse the Penitents in the beginning
had Friars Minor as their ministers and only later on chose their minis
ters from their own body. 3 P. Mandonnet argues that the period when
the Penitents were under the jurisdiction of Friars Minor as their minis
ters, was before 1221 ; and this is indeed one of his grounds for asserting
that before that year the friars and the penitents formed one organic fra
ternity. 4 But this argument is based upon the assumption that the
Capestrano Rule is that of 1221. As a matter of fact we have no evidence
to show whether the ministers of the Penitents before 1228 were chosen
from the friars or from the Penitents themselves, except the evidence of
Bernard de Besse.
But the additional statute to the Capestrano Rule to which we have
just referred shows that in 1228, although the Penitents had their local
ministers chosen from their own body, they were yet "governed and
ruled by the advice " of the Friars Minor appointed to advise them, and
"by the will of the Friars Minor" corporately. It would seem from
this that the Penitents were claiming the right to be under the jurisdic
tion of the Friars Minor, just as St. Clare was claiming this right for the
Poor Ladies, and that this right was admitted at least in practice at the
time the statute was made.
In 1234 however the Penitents were placed under the jurisdiction of
the bishops * quatenus ad visitationem et correctionem eorum ". 5 Never
theless the Penitents still asserted their claim to be governed by the
friars ; for St. Bonaventure refused to exercise jurisdiction over them
or to be concerned with their government. G Yet even as late as 1287 it
seems that the ministers of the friars were also at times ministers of the
Penitents. 7 In fact it was not until 1290 that the question of govern -
1 Cf. capp. 7, 8, 10, 12. 2 C f. cap. 12.
3 Cf. Lib. de Laud. (op. cit. p. 76). *Les Rtgks, p. 178 seq.
s Vide bull " Ut cum majori" of 21 November, 1284. Sbaralea, Bull. i.
p. 142.
6 Cf. S. Bonaventurae, Determinationes, pars, ii Qusest. 16. Opera Omnia
(Quaracchi) vm. p. 368.
7 See the letter of John Boccamazzi written to the guardians of the Friars
Minor at Strasburg and other places, quoted by Mandonnet, op. cit. p. 180,
note 2.
416 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
ment was finally settled. In 1289, Nicholas IV had again revised the Rule
of the Penitents l and ordained that they should choose ministers from
their own body and that the visitor should be any approved religious, not
necessarily a Friar Minor. But the Penitents vehemently protested, and
in 1290 Nicholas ordained that the visitor must be a Friar Minor. 2 Still,
the ministers, both local and provincial, of the Penitents were chosen from
amongst themselves : 3 and except for the visitation, were no longer under
the effective government of the friars. It is not improbable therefore that
Bernard de Besse in stating that the Penitents "in the beginning"
were governed by a friar as minister, is referring to a period as late as
1234 when the fraternity of the Penitents was "governed and ruled by
the advice " of a Friar Minor and " by the will of the Friars Minor".
The question of the government and development of the Third Order
is however full of difficulties and yet awaits an exhaustive critical
treatment.
1 Vide Sbaralea, Bull. i. pp. 94-7 ; Seraph. Legislat. Textus, pp. 77-96.
2 Vide bull " Unigenitus Dei Filius " of 8 August, 1290 (Sbaralea, ibid. pp.
167-8).
3 Of. Gli Statuti di una antica congregatione Francescana di Brescia, in
Arch. Franc. Hist. an. i. fasc. iv. pp. 540-68 ; also, Ada et Statuta Generalis
Capituli Tertii Ordinis . . . Bononice celebrates an. 1289, in Arch. Franc. Hist.
an. ii. fasc. i. pp. 63-71.
APPENDIX IV.
THE SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF ST. FRANCIS.
"THERE are few lives in history so well documented as that of Saint
Francis," wrote M. Paul Sabatier in 1894. l With still more truth might
the same be said to-day. For during the last seventeen years, a number
of documents have been brought to light, some of them of the first im
portance. One document of primary value, of which all traces had been
lost, has been discovered, namely the Tractatus de Miraculis, by Thomas of
Celano ; other documents hidden away in uncatalogued libraries and un
known to students have been recovered, such as the Capestrano Rule of
the Third Order, and the treaty of peace between Perugia and Assisi in
1203.
Critical research has moreover shown the existence of early documents
which remain only as parts of later compilations, as in the case of the
Speculum Perfectionis ; it has forced students to revise their judgment
and acknowledge a greater value in some received works, e.g. the Fioretti,
and the Liber Conformitatum by Bartholomew of Pisa ; further it has
given recognition to many hitherto neglected works such as Bartholi s
Tractatus de Indulgentia S. M. de Portiuncula, the Sacrum Commercium
S. Francisci cum Domina Paupertate ; and finally it has resulted in the
recovery of more authentic texts of works already published, as e.g. the
Opuscula of St. Francis, the First and Second Legends of Thomas of
Celano, the Legend of St. Clare, the Anonymus Perusinus, Eccleston s
Chronicle De Adventu FF. Minorum in Angliam ".
Every year, almost, has seen the appearance of some new document
or text : nor, it would seem, are the recoveries yet exhausted. The legend
Quasi stella attributed to John of Ceperano has yet to be found ; so too
is it with the original rotuli of Brother Leo, and some letters of St.
Francis. We have not yet got a definite text of the Vita Fratris Aegidii
written by Brother Leo. Research is still eager for the original Fioretti,
and for fuller authentic information concerning St. Francis pilgrimage
in Palestine and his visit to Spain.
Whilst it must be admitted that the discoveries already made have
brought to light but few facts arid sayings which have not been in some
way recognized in the hitherto accepted story of the saint, nevertheless
1 Vie de St. Franqois, p. xxxiii.
417 27
418 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
we are now in a better position to obtain a true historical perception of
the saint s character and deeds, and of the purpose and achievement of
his life. Mere facts are but the alphabet of authentic history : it is in
the right concatenation of facts that we get the authentic word of history.
But for this true spelling several conditions are imperative : not only
must we know the external circumstances of time and place and associa
tion into which the fact or saying is born : we need to know also the
character and temperament, the mental atmosphere and moral outlook
from which a man s actions and words are derived ; and this is generally
the more difficult thing to attain to.
Now the results of critical research into the sources of Franciscan his
tory have certainly enabled us to place the facts of St. Francis life and his
words, in a more authentic setting in regard to the external circumstances
to which they belong, as well as to judge in many instances with more or
less assurance of matters which have given the critics food for debate.
But more than that, with the recovery and authentication of many docu
ments, we are able more closely to follow the workings of the saint s
mind and of the minds of his associates. The Speculum Perfectionis which
is largely derived from the saint s own companions, brings one into the
very atmosphere which surrounded the saint s later years ; whilst the
larger assurance with which we can now accept the Fioretti and other
later compilations substantially increases our power of steady vision.
Curiously enough it seems to me the wider our knowledge of the
sources of the Franciscan story becomes, the more accurate appears that
traditional estimate of Francis, which has been kept sacred in the people s
mind through all the ages since he lived. Biographers who have sought
to explain the Francis of the early legends have too frequently succeeded
only in distorting the proportions of his life and in writing around the
bare facts of his story, a thesis which has but a stranger s claim upon the
tolerance of the spirit of the early legends. But popular tradition has
been more tenacious of that spirit ; and now our fuller knowledge of the
early legends is bringing us critically into the company of the popular
tradition ; only with a more accurate appreciation of the values of the
material out of which the traditional figure has been woven.
x-
-X-
The sources of our knowledge of St. Francis fall into four main
divisions :
(1) The saint s writings ;
(2) The documents left by the biographers of the saint and the
chroniclers of the Order ;
(3) The writings of others who did not professedly deal with the
history of the Franciscan Order ;
(4) Diplomatic and legal documents.
APPENDIX IV 419
I.
THE WRITINGS or THE SAINT.
These have been handed down in two sets of codices, representing, as
some think, two distinct traditions, Conventual and Observant ; l the " Con
ventual " codices are chiefly the Assisi MS. 388, and those contained in
the Fac secundum exemplar compilations ; 2 typical of the " Observant "
codices is the Ognissanti MS. The writings as contained in the first set
were practically reproduced in the Chronicle of Mariano of Florence,
whilst the Conformities of Bartholomew of Pisa gives them in the order
of the second set. Wadding published in 1623 an edition of the writ
ings, 3 in which he included not only dicta of the saint extracted from the
legends, and which in form are certainly not authentic, but also other
matter, such as the canticle, Amor di Caritate, which both in substance
and form belongs to other authors. From Wadding s time until quite
recent years the editors and translators of the " Works of St. Francis "
merely reproduced Wadding. But in 1904 the Franciscans of Quaracchi
published a new critical edition. 4 In the same year H. Boehmer pub
lished his critical study of the Opuscula," and W. Goetz republished with
some emendations his valuable examination of the writings 6 which had
already appeared in the Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte. In 1906 a criti
cal English translation of the Opuscula was published by Father Paschal
Robinson, O.F.M. 7
As a result of critical research the following writings are more or less
generally accepted as authentic :
1. The two Rules of the Friars Minor of 1221 and 1223.
2. The Testament.
3. The Forma Vivendi inserted in the Rule of St. Clare.
4. The regulations De religiosa habitatione in eremo and De reverentia
Corporis Christi.
1 Sabatier : " Les Opuscules de Saint Francois " in Opuscules de Critique
Hist. fasc. x. pp. 133-4. Of. Fr. Paschal Eobinson, O.F.M. , Writings of St.
Francis, p. xviii. 2 Vide infra, p. 437.
3 B. P. Francisci Assisiatis Opuscula. Portions of the writings had already
been printed in the Speculum Vitce and the Firmamentum trium Ordinum.
4 Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis (Quaracchi).
5 Analekten zur Geschichte des Franciscus von Assisi (Tubingen).
6 Die Quellen zur Geschichte des hi. Franciscus von Assisi (Gotha).
7 The Writings of St. Francis. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) The translation is
enriched with many original critical notes, and besides the Latin works con
tained in the Quaracchi edition, includes the " Canticle of the Sun ". Other
critical studies of the writings are : Les Opuscules de Saint Francois, by P.
Sabatier (a critical examination of the works of the Quaracchi editors, Boehmer
and Goetz), and Les Opuscules de Saint Francois d Assise, by Pere Ubald
d Alencon, O.M.Cap.
27 *
420 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
5. The Admonitions Verba Admonitionis.
6. The chartula given to Brother Leo.
7. Six letters.
8. Some prayers.
9. The Canticle of the Sun.
The authenticity of the two Rules of the Friars Minor is unquestioned.
Their history is set forth in the body of this book and need not detain us
here. Neither is there any doubt in regard to the Forma Vivendi inserted
in the Rule of the Poor Clares, since we have it on the authority of St.
Clare herself that this Forma was written for her and the sisters by the
saint. 1
The Testament is well authenticated both by Thomas of Celano 2 and
the bull " Quo elongati " of Gregory IX, 3 as well as by the Leg. 3 Soc. 4 and
St. Bonaventure. 5
The short document De religiosa habitatione in eremo 6 is certainly
one of the most precious of Franciscan monuments. It sets forth the
manner of life to be lived by the brethren in the small hermitages which
were so numerous in the early days of the Order. The exact date of its
composition is unknown ; but it could hardly have been written after
1219, when the Order began to be organized on more conventional lines.
The exhortation De reverentia Corporis Christi 7 was written in the
last years of the saint s life. The Speculum Perfectionis speaks of a regula
tion St. Francis wished to insert in the Rule concerning the care the friars
should have for the Blessed Sacrament, "and although," it adds, "these
things are not written in the Rule because the Ministers did not think it
well that the brethren should be obliged to these things by obedience,
nevertheless he willed to leave the brethren a record of his intention both
in his Testament and in his other writings ". 8 We have in this exhortation
one of the writings in which the saint thus expressed his will. 9 It is a
touching monument of St. Francis devotion to the Sacrament of the
Altar.
The Admonitions Verba Admonitionis 10 are accepted as authentic
i Of. Reg. S. Clara, cap. vi. ; cf . Fr. Paschal Robinson, The Rule of St.
Clare, p. 11.
2 Cf. I. Celano, 17. Vide Joergensen, Saint Francois, Introd. p. xxxi,
note 2.
3 Sbaralea, Bull. i. p. 68 seq. 4 Leg. 3 Soc. 29.
5 Leg. Maj. in. 2. 6 Opuscula, p. 83 ; Boehmer, Analekten, p. 67.
7 Opriscula, p. 22 ; Boehrner, loc. cit. p. 62. 8 Cap. 65.
9 Wadding includes this document amongst the Letters (Letter 13). He
adds an opening salutation ; To my reverend masters in Christ, to all clerics,
etc. Sabatier (Speculum Perfect, p. clxvi) thinks it to be a postscript to the
letter " To a certain Minister ".
10 Opuscula S. F. Francisci (Quaracchi), pp. 3-19 ; The Writings ofS. Fran
cis, translated by Fr. Paschal Robinson, O.F.M. pp. 3-19 ; Boehmer, Analekten,
pp. 40-8.
APPENDIX IV 421
by all the critics. 1 Joergensen suggests that they were set forth by
Francis at the Chapters of Pentecost, and were the first additions made
to the primitive Rule. The suggestion is plausible, and might account for
the special care and reverence with which they are preserved. Yet there
are difficulties in the way of accepting this opinion in regard to the whole
series. The Admonition " Of Perfect and Imperfect Obedience" (No. 3),
for example, bears evidence that it was written after Francis return from
the East, when the troubles in the Order had began. 2 The same might
be said of the fifth, sixth, and seventh Admonitions. :J But whatever
were the circumstances of their origin, these words of admonition were
undoubtedly frequently on the lips of Francis. 4 They were his " Sermon
on the Mount ".
Of seventeen letters attributed to the saint by Wadding, only six are
admitted as indubitably authentic by the Quaracchi editors : namely, the
letters "To all the Faithful," "To all the Brethren," "To a certain
Minister," "To the Rulers of Peoples," "To all Custodes," and "To
Brother Leo". 5 They also admit the substantial authenticity of the
well-known letter to St. Anthony, but are doubtful as to its form. 6
Boehmer accepts only five of the Quaracchi letters as beyond any
doubt, and puts the letter " To the Rulers," as well as that to St. Anthony
amongst the "doubtful writings". 7 Goetz, on the other hand, accepts
both letters, 8 but holds the letter "To all Custodes" as doubtful. All
three letters are certainly conformable to the style of thought and speech
manifested in other authentic writings of the saint ; and bear the mark
of his personality. Francis seems to have been no niggard in the matter
of writing letters : the letters we now have are but a few of those he is
known to have written. 9
1 Goetz, Quellen zur Geschichte des hi. Franz von Assist, in Zeitsch. filr
Kirchengescht. xxn. p. 551 ; Joergensen, loc. cit. p. 324 ; Van Ortroy, Anal.
Boll. xxiv. fasc. in. p. 411.
2 Vide supra, p. 315.
3 1 am quoting the numbers given in the Quaracchi edition of the
Opuscula.
4 St. Bonavenfcure quoting from Admonition 20, says : " This word he had
continually in his mouth " (Leg. Maj. vi. 1). Again he prefaces a saying of
St. Francis similar to Admonition 28, thus : " He would often say to his com
panions such words as these " (Leg. Maj. x. 4). In Admonition 5 we have
another version of the Parable of Perfect Joy related in the Fiorettii, cap.
vni. Similar parallels are e.g. Admon. 4 = llegula i. cap. vi. ; Adrnon. 6 =
Spec. Perfect, cap. 4. Regula i. cap. xvn. ; Admon. 26 = Testament (con
cerning the honour due to priests) ; I Celano, 62.
5 Opuscula, pp. 87-116. 6 Opuscula, p. 179.
7 Analekten, pp. 70-1. 8 Quellen, loc. cit. p. 535, and pp. 528-64.
9 " Plura scripta tradidit nobis," says St. Clare in her Testament.
Eccleston speaks of a letter written to the friars in France (De Adventu
422 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
The prayers of St. Francis generally received as authentic are the
Praises, the Salutations of the Virtues and of the Blessed Virgin, the
Praises of God, and the Office of the Passion. The Quaracchi editors also
include a prayer to obtain Divine Love. The, Praises Laudes are a
paraphrase of the Our Father in the mediaeval style, 1 together with
an extended doxology. This prayer is evidently referred to in the
Speculum Perfectionis,* from which it would seem that the Praises were
frequently recited by St. Francis and the brethren. It is not unlikely
that it was this prayer which the saint ordered the brethren in France to
recite. 3
The " Salutation of the Blessed Virgin " and the "Salutation of the
Virtues " form one prayer of praise in some of the ancient MSS ; though
in others they are disjoined. 4 Thomas of Celano textually quotes the
" Salutation of the Virtues ". 5 If we may take it, as the rubric in certain
codices describe it, namely as a praise "of the virtues with which the
Blessed Virgin was adorned and which should adorn the holy soul," the
salutation is another instance of St. Francis habit of looking for a con
crete embodiment of his ideals. For him the merely abstract had no
attraction except as it was realized in some living reality to which he
could give his heart. The Praises of God is the prayer of praise written
by the saint on Mount Alvernia after he had received the stigmata. 6
An Office, of the Passion is mentioned in the Legend of St. Clare, as
having been composed by St. Francis ; and the Quaracchi editors
consider that the office given in several ancient MSS. is that referred
to. Boehmer altogether omits it from his collection. Yet it bears
a striking similarity of construction to the Laudes Dei, the " Praises of
God". The psalms, so styled, are a string of passages gathered from
various psalms and other parts of Scripture, illustrative of a single idea
or motive. For example : the ordinary " psalm " for prime is a song of
trust in God s mercy ; the Easter matins " psalm" is a canticle of joy in
the mystery of the Resurrection. The Christmas vespers "psalm" is
however a gem of the purest Franciscan water, and hardly anyone but
Francis could have written it. 7
ed. Little, p. 40), and of another written to the friars at Bologna (ibid.).
Letters to Cardinal Ugolino are mentioned in I Celano, 82, and in the Leg. 3
Soc. 67.
1 Compare the paraphrases of the Kyrie, in mediaeval liturgy.
2 Cap. 82. Cf. Sabatier, Opuscules, fasc. x. p. 137. Boehmer, however,
classes the paraphrase of the Our Father amongst the " doubtful " writings.
3 Eccleston, loc. cit.
4 Cf. Boehmer, Analekten, pp. vi and xxviii ; Sabatier, Opuscules de Saint
Francois, in Opuscules de Critique Hist. fasc. x. p. 134 ; Fr. Paschal Robinson,
Writings of St. Francis, pp. xx and xxi.
5 II Celano, 189. G Vide infra, p. 345.
7 Vide Opuscula, p. 147 ; Fr. Paschal Robinson, loc. cit. p. 175. Cf . Saba
tier, Les Opuscules, 159-60.
APPENDIX IV 423
All the above-mentioned writings are in Latin, but a number of poems
in the Italian tongue have been attributed to the saint. Of these, how
ever, only one is admitted as authentic, the " Canticle of the Sun". 1 The
poems " Amor di caritate " included in the works of St. Francis by Wad
ding are of later origin, perhaps by Jacopone da Todi. None of the saint s
songs in the French tongue 2 have come down to us.
The authentic writings of the saint which have come down to us there
fore do not make a bulky volume ; yet they are sufficient to give us a true
insight into the character of his mind and heart. They reveal to us a
poet rather than a philosopher, an apostle rather than a statesman. They
utter the intuitive knowledge of the heart and the heart s desire ; they are
never the evenly-balanced productions of the logical thinker. Yet they give
in brief, compendious fashion, a very complete teaching of the spiritual life
as we find it set forth in lives of the first Franciscans recorded in the
early legends. And for this reason the writings taken in connexion with
the legends, are a source of primary importance for our knowledge of the
first Franciscan days.
II.
THE EARLY LEGENDS AND CHRONICLES OP THE ORDER.
These documents may be divided into four main divisions :
1. The official biographies ;
2. The writings of the saint s companions ;
3. The later compilations ;
4. The chronicles dealing professedly with the history of the Order
rather than with the life of the saint.
1. The Official Biographies.
When in 1228 Gregory IX canonized St. Francis, he commanded
Brother Thomas of Celano to write the Life of the Saint. 3 Brother
Thomas undertook the work and produced his Legenda Prima, sometimes
styled Legenda Gregoriana in compliment to the Pontiff who ordered it
to be written. It was evidently finished before 25 May, 1230, since it
contains no reference to the translation of the body of St. Francis. 4
1 The Quaracchi Opuscula does not include this canticle, the editors
strangely enough confining their edition to the Latin works.
*"Altaet clara voce laudes gallice cantans" Leg. 3 Soc. 33. "Gallice
cantabat de Domino" II Gelano, 127.
3 The Legenda Prima was first published by the Bollandists, Ada SS. die
4 Octobris. The Legenda, Prima and Legenda Secunda were published by
Rinaldi in 1806; in 1880 Amoni republished Rinaldi s edition. A definite
edition of both legends was published by P. Edouard d Alencon in 1906
(Home, Desclee). This last edition was preceded in 1904 by Dr. Rosedale s
unfortunate edition in which a great deal of labour seems to have been wasted
through undue hurry.
4 The Paris Codex says the Legenda Prima was presented to the Pope at
Perugia on 25 February, 1229. (Of. Ed. d Alen9on, op. cit. p. xxvi). Tile-
424 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
The author tells us in the prologue that he has sought to narrate
with devotion and truth " veritate semper praevia et magistra " what
he himself had heard from the lips of St. Francis, or what he had heard
from truthful and approved witnesses. He divides his book into three
parts, " lest the difference of times might bring confusion into the order
of the incidents and so lead to doubt of their truth ". The first part is
above all devoted to the sincerity of the saint s conversion and life, to his
holy conduct and godly examples, together with a few miracles wrought
by him during his lifetime. The second part concerns the last two years
of the saint s life and his death. The third part relates certain selected
miracles worked after death. Reference is also made to the honour shown
to Francis by Pope Gregory in inscribing his name in the roll of the saints.
The miracles contained in the third part, it should be noted, are those
which are " read out and announced to the people in the presence of the
Pope," l evidently the miracles attested in the acts of canonization. We
must not, however, be misled by Brother Thomas anxiety not to confuse
the order of events. The events contained in the first part happened
before the last two years of the saint s life : and the more prominent
events in this part are placed undoubtedly in chronological order. But
we must not look for the same careful order in the less prominent events,
which are often grouped together to set forth some trait in the saint s
character.
It has been said of the Legenda Prima that it was a manifesto in favour
of Elias as against the party in the Franciscan Order which held by the
primitive traditions. 2 In proof of this accusation, attention is drawn to
the fact that Brother Thomas never once mentions by name the faithful
companions of the saint, Leo, Ruflino, Angelo, etc., whereas he goes out
of his way to set forth the claims of Elias to the respect of the Order,
with the purpose, it is said, of securing his election to the office of
General. 3 The argument proves too much more, that is to say, than we
are warranted in concluding from the writings of Celano and our knowledge
of him. Thomas was undoubtedly something of a courtier, so far at
least as it came naturally to him to do homage to those whom he could put
on pedestals. But it was an honest courtiership, not inconsistent with
truth and sincerity. I should say that in his earlier years Thomas was
apt to form his opinion of men by the place they held in the opinion of
mann (Speculum Perfectionis und Leg. Trium Sociorum) throws doubt upon
this ascription. On 21 February, 1229, Gregory IX published a letter
concerning the saint s canonization. (Sbaralea, Bull. I. p. 49.)
1 Vide Incipit to pars in.
2 Sabatier, Vie de S. Frangois, p. liv. Cf. Spec. Perfect. XGVIII-CIX.
3 Elias is mentioned by name eight times in the course of the legend. It
must be said that M. Sabatier does not impute bad faith and conscious con
spiracy to Thomas of Celano but regards him rather as a blind complaisant
tool in the hands of Elias.
APPENDIX IV 425
the world around him. He writes of St. Clare and her religious sisters l
with a fervent admiration which must have put their humility to the blush
when they read his book : but then all Italy was in open admiration of
their wonderful virtue. His naive adulation of Gregory IX is touching
in its manifest sincerity : he is praising the protector of the Order, the
friend of St. Francis and the brethren, as well as the Pope. 2 In similar
fashion and with similar motive he speaks openly of Elias. Thomas of
Celano is evidently impressed by the fact that Elias is the Vicar-General
of the Order : and his reverence for the Vicar-General was in all proba
bility heightened by the commanding position Elias held in the eyes of
the Papal Court and, in fact, of all who came in contact with him. Few
people escaped the fascination of that strange personality : 3 he was a man
to be reckoned with, whatever office he held. But if Brother Thomas
was outspoken in his praise of those in high position, he was not less
generous to those who were more lowly in the world s eyes. In all his
references to Elias he gives no such encomium of his personal virtue apart
from his devotion to St. Francis, as he does of that of the four faithful
companions of the saint Angelo, Ruffino, Leo, and Masseo. 4 He does
not indeed mention them by name, as he doubtless would have done had
they been Vicars-General or men in authority, but nobody who knew
them could mistake whom he was describing ; certainly not Elias himself.
Their virtues are announced in much the same fervent style as are those
of St. Clare and her sisters.
It is, however, quite evident that Thomas of Celano, when he wrote
his Legenda Prima, was of opinion that Elias had been a faithful friend to St.
Francis and had fulfilled the office of Vicar-General with true merit : nor
is it unlikely that he went out of his way to praise Elias because of the
opposition which he knew there was against him on the part of many of
the friars. But Thomas with his generous disposition to distribute praise
wherever he considered praise was due, would in such case only deem that
he was accepting "the leadership and governance of truth " " veritate
semper praevia et magistra " : and this he would hold was the more im
perative in regard to a man of such outstanding genius. It does not prove
that he was in any narrow sense of the word a partisan of Elias as against
his opponents. It is likely too that in writing the Legenda Prima he
was brought into immediate relations with Elias in the matter of the
saint s canonization and glorification. To Elias was committed the work
of building the saints shrine ; to Thomas, the work of setting forth the
1 1 Celano, 18-20. 2 Of. I Celano, 20, 74, 99-101, 121-2.
3 e.g. Several years later St. Clare wrote to Agnes of Prague : " I urge you
to follow the counsels of our most reverend Father, Brother Elias, Minister-
General of the whole Order, and put them before all other counsels given you
to follow, and value them as more precious than any other gift " (Epist. n.
vide Ada SS., Martii, vol. i. p. 505).
4 I Celano, 102.
426 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS.OF ASSISI
saint s claim to canonization for that was what the Legenda Prima was
designed to be by Gregory IX. From Elias he would naturally seek
information regarding the saint s life. Is it surprising that under the
circumstances Elias figures prominently in the narrative ?
Another fault found with the Legenda Prima is that it avoids all refer
ence to the difficulties which arose between St. Francis and some of the
friars and that it does not set forth the intentions of the saint regarding
poverty and the life of the Order, such as we find in the Legenda Secunda
and other documents. But the Legenda Prima was written not for the
brethren of the Order but for the Catholic world : its purpose was to draw
the veneration of Catholics in general to wards, the newly canonized founder
of the Order. The scope of the work was thus narrowed to one of general
edification, and any reference to the internal politics of the Order would
have been considered out of place. The Legenda Secunda was written by
command of the General of the Order, and was designed for the benefit
of the friars ; but the Legenda Prima was written by order of the Pope
to announce the claim of St. Francis upon the devotion of the Catholic
world at large. Brother Thomas did not profess to give a full account of
the saint s life : twice he warns his readers that his story is incomplete. l
We have, therefore, no reason to doubt the sincerity and truthfulness
of the Legenda Prima ; although to complete the authentic history of the
saint we must have recourse to other documents. It is in fact the founda
tion upon which our critical knowledge of St. Francis must be built up. 2
***
Celano s Legenda Secunda at once brings us into difficulties. It was
written by command of the Minister-General Crescentius and was finished
before 1247, when Crescentius ceased to be General. The command came
about in this way. At the General Chapter of 1244 it was decreed that
the brethren who had any personal knowledge of St. Francis should com
mit their recollections to writing and so forward them to the Minister-
General. Chief amongst those who obeyed the decree were the three
companions of the saint, Leo, Angelo, and Ruffino : but others also sent
in their writings. Having thus collected material, Crescentius committed
to Thomas of Celano the task of writing a second legend. 3
The new legend was written in two books. The first book is a record
of facts concerning the conversion of St. Francis which had not come to
the knowledge of the author when he wrote the Legenda Prima, together
with a few incidents of the saint s later life. In the second book the
1 1 Celano, Prologus, 88.
2 Of. Goetz, loc. cit. p. 166 ; Joergensen, op. cit. p. xxxiv ; Thode, op. cit.
p. 277.
3 Vide II Gelano, Prologus ; cf. Salimbene, loc. cit. p. 176. Bernard a
Bessa, Catalogus Gen. Minist. no. 5 ; Chron. Jordani a Jano in Anal. Franc.
i. p. 8 ; Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 261.
APPENDIX IV 427
author purposes to set forth the desire and intention of the holy founder
in regard both to himself and the brethren. 1
Now several things are to be noted in regard to this legend, which how
ever we shall consider more fully later on when dealing with the writings of
the saint s companions. There is in the first place an obvious difference of
style in the composition of the two books of the legend. The first book
is written in the style of a biography, just as the Legenda Prima was
written : whilst the second book is a collection of stories grouped together
to illustrate different virtues or doctrines of the saint.
Again, whereas in the Legenda Prima the author refers to himself as
solely responsible for his work, in the Legenda Secunda he associates
himself with others," evidently with those whose writings furnished him
with the materials out of which his legend is composed : but he speaks
of them as co-authors with himself ; nay, in regard to the second book,
they take the place of the principal authors, whilst Celano himself is
hardly more than the scribe or editor. 3
Yet another trait to be remarked is that the Legenda Secunda, espe
cially in the second book, bears traces of the difficulties through which
the Order had passed. Time and again, the author presses home the
example of the saint and his expressed will, to rebuke those friars who
had left the straight road of poverty and simplicity. And in reference to
this it must be recalled that Crescentius, the Minister-General, to whom
the legend is dedicated, did not favour the party of the strict observance
as did his successor, John of Parma ; he was rather of the " legal " party
as was St. Bonaventure the "moderate" party as some might call
them 4 . The publication of the second book of the Legenda Secunda is to
be remembered in estimating the views and attitude of the various parties
1 Cf. II Celano, Prologus, 2.
2 e.g. I Celano, Prologus, = audivi, potui, ejus merear esse discipulus,
etc. ; II Celano, Prologus, == concurrimus, percutimur, sumeremus, oramus ergo,
etc.
3 Vide Oratio sociorum sancti with which the second book of II Celano
concludes.
4 Crescentius was in fact a determined opponent of the extreme zelators.
Cf. Anal. Franc, in. p. 263. On the other hand, he seems to have favoured
John of Parma whom he sent as his representative to the Council of Lyons
in 1245. Cf. Salimbene, loc. cit. p. 176. From this it would seem that Cre
scentius was not the partisan that Sabatier represents him to be. In his
Introduction to the Speculum Perfectionis, Sabatier has been led by a mis
reading of the Chronicle of the XXIV Generals to a severe condemnation of
Crescentius on the ground that he suppressed the second book of the Legenda
Secunda or forbade it to be written. At the time of the publication of
the Speculum Perfectionis, Celano s Tractatus de Miraculis had not been
discovered. It is now certain that it was this Tractatus which is spoken of as
the " second part" of the Legenda Secunda by the author of the Chron. xxiv.
Gen. (Anal. Franc, in. p. 276). Vide infra.
428 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
in the Order concerning the primitive observance. And that is all we
need say at this point about this legend, except to call attention to what
Celano says in his prologue concerning the miracles of the saint. " Cer
tain miracles are inserted," he says, " as the opportunity of placing them
occurred." The miracles are evidently not a first consideration in this
legend. One remembers how Brother Thomas excuses himself in the
Legenda Prima for not relating more miracles : " we have determined to
set forth rather the excellence of his life and the upright manner of his
conduct, since miracles do not make sanctity but only manifest it "- 1
The same purpose animates him in the Legenda Secunda. But others
of the friars were more anxious to preserve these proofs of the sanctity
of their holy founder : hence John of Parma, on assuming the office of
General in succession to Crescentius, repeatedly urged Thomas of Celano
to complete his legends by a work on the saint s miracles. So the
trusted biographer again took up his pen and wrote the Tractatus de
Miraculis. The exact date when this treatise was written is unknown,
but it was completed whilst John of Parma was General, that is before
his resignation in 1247. 2 Apart from the miracles, the treatise records
several incidents in the saint s life, not given in the legends ; notably the
visit of the Lady Giacoma di Settisoli to Francis on his deathbed. 3
The publication of the Legenda Secunda and of the writings of the
companions of the saint, undoubtedly furnished the party of the strict
observance in the Order with a weapon they would not be slow to use.
Here, they would say, we have evidence of the intentions and mind of
St. Francis. Under John of Parma this party nourished, but their
opponents were not silenced : partisan spirit ran high on both sides.
St. Bonaventure, on succeeding John of Parma, sought to bring about a
pacification of the opposing elements. Whatever criticism one may pass
upon the policy with which he endeavoured to compass this purpose, the
purpose itself can only be judged necessary and godly. In pursuance of
this policy, then, he undertook, at the instance of the General Chapter,
held at Narbonne in 1260, to write a new biography of St. Francis which
the brethren might read without incitement to controversy. To fit him-
1 1 Celano, 70.
2 Of. Chron. xxiv. Gen. in Anal. Franc, in. p. 276. Perhaps if we knew
the date of the Chapter of Genoa held under John of Parma to which
Eccleston makes reference we should be able to form a more exact con
clusion. At that chapter, Eccleston tells us, John of Parma ordered Brother
Bonizzo, one of the saint s companions, to relate before the brethren the truth
of the stigmata, which many people were calling in question (De Adventu,
ed. Little, p. 93). It is noteworthy that the Tractatus de Miraculis devotes a
long chapter to the miracle of the stigmata, written with an evident purpose
of convincing the unbelievers (cf. ibid. 5, " Nulli sit ambiguitati locus," etc.).
3 Concerning the authenticity of the Tractatus cf . Van Ortroy, Anal. Boll.
xvni. pp. 81-93.
APPENDIX IV 429
self for this work Bonaventure made new inquiries amongst the brethren
yet living, who had known the saint : but it shows the completeness with
which Thomas of Celano had accomplished his task as biographer, that as
a result of this inquiry, the new biography adds but few details not
recorded in Celano s work. On the other hand, it omits much that
Celano has given us.
As a book of devotion and a stimulus to religious fervour there are
few biographies to compete with St. Bonaventure s Legend of St. Francis : l
it is in truth the life of a saint written by a saint. Historically it leaves
much to be desired. The Legenda Major as this legend is generally
styled is not primarily a history but a book of edification. Such in
cidents as it relates are undoubtedly authentic. For the most part St.
Bonaventure seems to have availed himself of the works of Thomas of
Celano, notwithstanding his own independent inquiries. 2 The fault of
the book, from the historian s point of view, is in its omissions. Con
sequently the figure of St. Francis, impressed upon our mental retina
after reading the Legenda Major, falls short in many ways of the im
pression we receive from the work of Celano. Bonaventure s St. Francis
is emphatically a cloistered monk, notwithstanding his missionary ex
cursions ; Celano s St. Francis embraces the whole world in his vast
spiritual freedom and sympathy. Having completed his Legenda Major,
St. Bonaventure wrote his Legenda Minor for the use of the friars in
choir. Several liturgical legends already existed, compiled chiefly from
the Legenda Prima of Celano. 3
1 A definitive edition of this legend was published by the Quaracchi editors
in the Opera Omnia of St. Bonaventure, torn. vm. It has also been published
separately together with the Legenda Minor (vide infra) under the title :
Seraphici Doctoris S. Bonaventurce, : Legendce dues de vita S. Francisci
(Quaracchi, 1898).
2 Cf. Van Ortroy, Anal Boll xvm. pp. 95-7.
3 e.g. The legend published by Ed. d Alencon in his edition of Celano s
legends (pp. 435-45).
Other legends compiled chiefly from the Legenda Prima of Celano are :
(1) The legend of Julian of Speyer, edited by Van Ortroy in Analecta
Bollardiana, xxi. pp. 148-202. Cf. Ada SS. Octob. n. p. 548 seq. ; Anal. Boll.
xix. p. 321 seq.
(2) The legend Quasi stella, of which, however, we have only a choir
version, the original being lost. Cf. Ed. d Alencon, in Anal. Ord. P.M. Cap.
vol. xiv. pp. 370-3.
(3) Vita Brevis, auctore Bartholomceo Tridentino, in Anal. Ord. P.M. Cap.
vol. xm. pp. 248-50.
(4) VitaMetrica, written about 1230 : sometimes, but erroneously, attributed
to John of Kent. It was edited from the MSS. in the municipal library of
Assisi by A. Cristofani : II piu antico poema della vita di S. Francesco (Prato,
1882).
430 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSIST
We come now to an important event in the history of Franciscan
documents.
In 1266 the General Chapter held at Paris decreed that all the earlier
legends should be proscribed and as far as possible destroyed, and that
St. Bonaventure s legend alone should in future be read. Not all the
copies of the earlier legends, however, were destroyed ; in spite of the
capitular decree some few copies remained io the hands of those who
championed the more primitive observance : but for the most part they
ceased to exist : "it took just 632 years to recover all the scattered frag
ments of Celano s legends "- 1
So ends the history of the early legends written by authority : and
yet it is not the end, as we shall see.
But before passing on to the next set of documents, we may mention
here the Legenda Stce. Clarce. z It is now generally attributed to Thomas
of Celano 3 and was probably written, like Celano s Legenda Prima, as an
official biography consequent upon the saint s canonization. 4
*Fr. Paschal Robinson, O.F.M., A Short Introduction to Franciscan
Literature, pp. 10-11. [I take this opportunity of recommending this excellent
booklet to those who want a brief but sure indication of Franciscan sources.]
The decree was published by Rinaldi in his edition of Celano s legends
(p. 11.) See also Erhle, Archiv, p. 39 ; English Historical Review, xm. pp.
704-8. Van Ortroy discovered another copy in the Vatican library. Cf.
Anal. Boll xvm. p. 174. The learned Jesuit critic does not believe in the
" draconian severity " of the decree and thinks it referred merely to the litur
gical legends. But in the first place the wording of the decree precludes
this limitation, since it orders that any copies found outside the Order shall
if possible be destroyed. Surely the purpose of the decree must have been
more serious than merely substituting one office by another. Cf. Lemmens,
Documenta antiqua, 11. p. 11. Moreover, the fact remains that for centuries
the earlier legends were practically lost sight of. Cf. also the Hist. VII Tri-
bulationum (Erhle, Archiv, n. p. 265) : "qua scripte erant in legenda prima,
nova edita a fratre Bonaventura, deleta et destructa sunt ipso jubente ". It
seems, however, that the Legenda Prima of Celano, and its dependent
biographies, were not rigorously included in this decree, since Bernard of
Besse mentions them in his Liber de Laudibus. Perhaps this was owing to
the fact that the Legenda Prima was written by Papal authority.
2 It was first published in 1573 by Surius in De probatis SS. vitis, torn,
iv. Another edition was given by the Bollandists, Acta SS., sub die 12
Augusti. A definitive edition has lately been published by Prof. Pennacchi,
based on the Assisi MS. 338. An English translation from the same MS. was
made by Fr. Paschal Robinson. O.F.M., in 1910, The Life of St. Clare.
Cf. Mrs. Balfour, The Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare (London,
Longmans, 1910).
3 Cf. Fr. Paschal Robinson, loc. cit. p. xxii.-xxviii. ; Ed. d Alencon, S.
Francisci Assis. p. xlvi. ; Sabatier, Spec. Perfect, p. Ixxv ; Van Ortroy, in
Anal. Boll. xxn. p. 360.
4 Cf. Fr. Paschal Robinson, loc. cit. p. xxix.
APPENDIX IV 431
2. The Writings of the Saint s Companions.
We have already seen how in response to the command of the
General Chapter of 1244, amongst others the three companions of St.
Francis, Leo, Angelo, and Ruffino sent their recollections in writing to
the Minister-General Crescentius. These writings of the three compan
ions play an important part in the history of Franciscan documents and
have been and still are the subject of much controversy.
That the saint s companions did actually send writings to the Minis
ter-General is undoubted. Apart from the prefatory letter to the tradi
tional " Legend by the Three Companions," we have the testimony of the
Legenda Secunda. The dispute is as to the character of the writings and
their subsequent history. M. Sabatier and others hold that these docu
ments are nothing else than the traditional "Legend of the Three Com
panions ". Others again deny this and assert that the documents must be
sought elsewhere, for instance in Celano s Legenda Secunda or in the
Speculum Perfectionis. The more probable opinion, it seems to me, is
that the writings of the three companions so far as they exist at all in
authentic form are to be found in the Speculum Perfectionis, and in less
authentic form in the second book of the Legenda Secunda. At the same
time we cannot say that either of these documents contains all that the
three companions sent to Crescentius. The traditional " Legend of the
Three Companions," on the other hand, is not the work of the com
panions, but was written by an unknown author either before or shortly
after the publication of Celano s Legenda Secunda. It may be based
partly on the writings of the companions, but this is not in any way
certain.
At the outset it is to be noticed that the traditional * Legend of the
Three Companions," Legenda 3 Soc. as we shall henceforth write it, cor
responds very closely with the first book of the Legenda Secunda. It is
inconceivable that this correspondence is accidental : and for this reason
amongst others, it seems to me that the Legenda 3 Soc. in the form it has
come down to us, is the author s complete work, excepting only the pro
logue or preface, 1 and the additional chapter on the Porziuncola indulgence
1 Concerning the question of the integrity of the legend, cf. : For the inte
grity : Faloci-Pulignani, in Miscellanea Franciscana, torn. vn. p. 81 scq. ; S.
Minocchi, La Legenda trium Soc. : Nouvi studi. Against the integrity. PP.
Marcellino de Civezza et Teofilo Domenichelli : La Leggenda di San Francesco
scritta de tre suoi compagni; Sabatier, De Vautlienticite de la legende de S.
Francois, dite des Trois compagnons ; Description du Speculum Vita in Opuscules
de Critique Hist. i. fasc. 6 ; Van Ortroy, La legende de S. Francois, in Anal.
Boll, xix, p. 119 seq. ; Ed. d Alenpon, La Legende de S. Francois dite Legende
des trois Compagnons ; Tilemann, Speculum Perfectionis und Legenda Trium
Sociorum. I may call attention here to the unconvincing reconstruction of the
legend by P. Marcellino da Civezza and P. Teofilo Domenichelli (op. cit.). To
432 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
which is quite evidently a later addition. At the same time we may note
the close correspondence between the Speculum Perfectionis and the second
book of the Legenda Secunda.
Are we then to conclude that the Legenda 3 Soc. and the Spec. Perfect.
are compiled mainly from the Legenda Secunda ? Or may it be that all
three works are compiled from another identical source, namely the
writings sent by the three companions and others to the Minister-General
Crescentius? No other alternative is admissible in view of the self-
revelation of the Legenda Secunda as to its own authorship. We know
of a certain ity that this legend is based upon these writings.
Now the first thing to consider in the Legenda 3 Soc. is the prefatory
letter which purports to be written by the three companions, Leo, Angelo,
and Ruffino. It tells us that in obedience to the decree of the last i Chapter
[i.e. of 1244] they have thought it well to acquaint the Minister-General
of some of the deeds of St. Francis of which they had personal know
ledge, or which they had learned from other holy friars. The letter is
dated : Greccio, 15 August, 1246. The curious thing about this letter is
the following passage : " per>modum legendce non scribimus cum dudum
de vita sua [S. Francisci] et miraculis quce per eum Dominus operatus est,
sint confectce legendce. 1 Sed velut de ameno prato quosdam floras arbitrio
nostro pulchriores excerpimus, continuatam historiam non sequentes, sed
multa seriose relinquentes, quce in prcedictis legendis sunt posita tarn
veridico quam luculento sermone."
But the Legenda 3 Soc., contrariwise, is certainly written in the
manner of a legend ; and the first sixteen chapters, at any rate, are a
"continuous history". Consequently it is difficult to believe that the
prefatory letter and the body of the legend are one original work. In
nearly all the ancient MSS., however, the Legenda 3 Soc. is followed by
chapters from the Speculum Perfectionis ; and if, as I believe, this com
pilation contains many of the original writings of the companions, it is
easy to account for the presence of the letter at the beginning of the MSS.
We have spoken of the close correspondence between this legend and
the first book of the Legenda Secunda : but there are notable differences
both in style and matter. The writer of the Legenda 3 Soc. was not a
literary stylist as was Thomas of Celano. He writes freely and with ima
gination, but his words and phrases are homely, without any marks
of the scholar. As to the matter, the Legenda 3 Soc. includes incidents
which find no place in any of Thomas of Celano s writings, e. g. the first
missionary journey of St. Francis and Brother Giles in the Marches of
me it seems that the Italian version upon which the reconstruction is built
up, is merely an attempt to complete the traditional legend by some translator
desirous of producing a full biography from ancient sources.
1 i.e. the Legenda Prima and the legend of Julian of Speyer. The wording
of the letter shows an acquaintance with the Legenda Prima, e.g. the phrase
veritate pr&via (cf. I Celano, Prologus) : " Miracula qua sanctitatem non
faciunt sed ostendunt (cf. I Celano, 70).
APPENDIX IV 43B
Ancona ; the intervention and death of Cardinal John of St. Paul ; the
adventure of Brother Bernard at Florence ; the sending of the friars to
Germany and Hungary. Even in relating the same incidents as Celano,
the Legenda 3 Soc. frequently adds intimate details ; e.g. both legends
relate the conversation between St. Francis and Bernard da Quintavalle,
which preceded the latter s " conversion " ; but it is the Legenda 3 Soc.
which tells us that Bernard approached Francis secretly and invited him
to spend a night in his house. So, too, both legends give the parable of
the fisherman, but the Legenda 3 Soc. alone mentions that it was spoken
to Brother Giles. Such instances might be multiplied.
Hence it is evident that even if the author of the Legenda 3 Soc. made
use of the Legenda Secunda, he nevertheless had before his eyes other
documents. As to what these documents were, three suppositions are
possible : they may have been the original documents of the witnesses,
including the three companions, who sent their written attestations to
the General Crescentius ; or they may have been other documents written
from time to time by those who wished to preserve evidences of St.
Francis life, similar to those collected about 1270 concerning the Por-
ziuncola indulgence (vide supra, pp. 407 seq.) ; or they may have been
documents of a later period and of less authentic character.
This third supposition, however, seems the least tenable. For if the
Legenda 3 Soc. were, as Van Ortroy and others assert, a later legend of the
fourteenth century, how is it that it contains no reference to the Por-
ziuncola indulgence ? * The omission of any such reference indicates to
my mind that the Legenda 3 Soc. was not written after the indulgence
had become widely published.
As I have said, the close correspondence of this legend with the first
book of the Legenda Secunda proves either that Celano deliberately took
the Legenda 3 Soc. as his model, or that the author of the Legenda 3 Soc.
deliberately shaped his legend upon the first book of the Legenda Secunda.
I confess that I cannot determine to my own satisfaction which of these
alternatives is the more probable. If we had any definite indication as to
the actual witnesses, other than the three companions, who sent in their
writings to the General Crescentius, we might be able to solve, with more
or less certainty, this troublesome problem. As it is, I can but note the
following conclusions :
1. On the supposition that the author of the Legenda 3 Soc. worked
over the writings of Celano, he did so not as a mere revisionist but with
the intention of writing a new legend, embracing details which Celano had
omitted ; and for this purpose he used other documents, including the
legends prior to the Legenda Secunda. 2
1 As before mentioned the chapter on the indulgence is evidently a later
addition.
2 For instance cap. xvm. seems to show an acquaintance with the legend
of Julian of Speyer.
28
434 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSISI
2. He may however, whilst following the ground-plan of Celano s work,
have compiled from the original documents which Celano made use of ; and
the instances of verbal correspondence between the two legends may be due
to the fact that both were taken from the same source. This is more
probable ; for the style of the Legenda 3 Soc. almost precludes the con
clusion that the author was quoting directly from Celano : so far M.
Sabatier s Critique of the Legenda 3 Soc. seems to me conclusive. 1
3. Whoever the writer was, he was not of the militant party of the
strict observance, though his sympathies were eminently drawn to the
primitive ideal. There is in the style a clear detachment from the rest
lessness and agitation of the militant partisan. He can speak with a cer
tain pride of the grand basilica built in honour of St. Francis even as he
takes a pride in the poverty of the saint and the first brethren.
4. The legend was not written much later than 1270, since it does not
mention the Porziuncola indulgence.
5. The writings of the companions may have contributed matter to
the Legenda 3 Soc. ; but in any case they are not the sole source of the
legend. 2
*
* *
The case is different when we come to the Speculum Perfectionis.
Here we undoubtedly have some, if not all, of the documents written by
the three companions.
If we compare the Speculum Perfectionis with the second book of the
Legenda Secunda, it is at once evident that the two works are in the main
closely related in both matter and form : and a study of the two docu
ments makes it clear that in the Spec. Perfect, we have original writings
which Celano edited and somewhat refashioned. 3
It has yet to be determined how far the original Spec. Perfect, is the
work of the three companions, and whether the compilation which first
bore that name was exclusively their work. What is certain is that the
edition published by M. Sabatier in 1898 is a compilation containing other
writings besides the work of the companions. It is one of the numerous
compilations which came into existence about the beginning of the four
teenth century. 4 The earliest MSS. which contains the Spec. Perfect, as
1 De V authenticite de la Legende de Saint Frangois dite des Trois Com-
pagnons (Paris, 1901).
2 Besides the authors already cited, cf . A. Fierens, La Question Franciscaine
in Revue d Histoire Ecclesiastique, 15 Avril, 1906.
3 Cf. Lemmens, Doc. Antiq. n. pp. 17-18 ; Sabatier, Spec. Perfect, cxix. seq.
4 M. Sabatier entitled his work : Speculum Perfectionis seu S. Francisci
Assisiensis Legendi Antiquissima, auctore fratre Leone ; and he announced
that it was written in 1227. He was led to this conclusion by the date
affixed to the Mazarine MS. upon which his edition is based. That MS. gives
the date 1228. It is now certain that this is a scribe s mistake for 1318. Con
cerning the question of the Spec. Perfect, cf. Van Ortroy, Anal. Boll. xix.
APPENDIX IV 435
edited by M. Sabatier, have the date 1318. Fr. Lemmens, O.F.M., has
however published what he considers an earlier and more authentic
version which differs from that of M. Sabatier in both matter and arrange
ment. It is a much shorter document ; and unlike the other versions,
the incidents it records are not grouped together in the manner of II
Celano, 11. The probability is that it is a late compilation ; and that
the Sabatier compilation is the more authentic. 1 The difficulty, however,
remains how to distinguish between what belongs to the companions and
what to other writers in M. Sabatier s edition. One may say at once that
the passages corresponding with Gelano s book are substantially authentic.
Such passages occur in eighty-six chapters of the Spec. Perfect. But even
in these we cannot say that we have always the original text of the com
panions, though for the most part the evidence favours the Spec. Perfect.
as against Celano. 2 But besides the passages corresponding with the
Legenda Secunda there are ten chapters, the authenticity of which is
guaranteed by Ubertino da Casale and other writers of the time of Uber-
tino. We know that Ubertino had in his hands the rotuli of Brother Leo
and that he was acquainted with a book written by Brother Leo, which
at the time was in the treasury of the Sagro Convento. His quotations
from the writings of Brother Leo may therefore be accepted as authentic. 3
But whether the rotuli formed part of the documents sent to Cresceiitius,
or whether they were an independent document, we have no means of
judging. But for practical purposes the question is of little moment.
As regards the remaining portions of Sabatier s edition they have the
same value, neither more nor less, which belongs to many other docu
ments which appear in the compilations made at the beginning of the four
teenth century, for the authenticity of which we have no positive proof.
Further research may yet prove them to be authentic, or may give us the
original documents upon which these portions are based. But of this
more will be said as we proceed.
***
3. The Later Compilations.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century there set in a period of
restless activity on the part of the friars to gather together all that had
been written about St. Francis. St. Bonaventure s legend, far from
satisfying the body of the friars, only produced dissatisfaction. The
p. 58 seq. ; Faloci-Pulignani, in Misc. Franc, torn. vii. ; Ed. d Alencon, An-
nales Franciscaines, torn, xxxvu. ; Little, in English Historical Review, vol.
xvn. p. 655 ; A. Fierens, loc. cit. Cf. fitudes Franciscaines, xxvu. p. 337 seq.
See also the works cited above concerning the Leg. 3 Soc.
1 In Doc. Antiq. n. Cf. Van Ortroy, Anal. .BoZZ.-xxi. p. 114 ; Faloci-Pulig
nani, Misc. Franc, vm. p. 131 ; Lemmens, Voix de Saint Antoine, Avril, 1903.
2 Cf. Sabatier, Spec. Perfect, passim ; Goetz, Die Quellen, pp. 216-21.
a Cf . Lemmens, Doc. Antiq. i. p. 75 seq. ; Sabatier, Spec. Perfect. CXL. sea.
28*
436 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
party of the strict observance did not conceal their opinion that this
legend did not give an adequate account of St. Francis intentions con
cerning the vocation of the Order : even the "moderate " party desired
a more complete biography. At the General Chapter of Padua, held in
1277, under St. Bonaventure s successor, it was ordained that the brethren
in all the provinces should seek information as to the deeds of St. Fran
cis and other holy brothers. l Shortly after this there appeared the Liber
de Laudibus,* written by Bernard of Besse, who had been one of St. Bona
venture s secretaries. It is but a small work ; yet of great value, inasmuch
as it relates several incidents concerning St. Francis and the Order, not
found in the earlier legends. The author evidently was acquainted not
only with the earlier Celanese legends but also with Celano s later works
and the writings of the companions : though his acquaintance with these
documents may have been at second hand. 3
Probably somewhat earlier the legend known as the Anonymus
Perusinus 4 was written, which also contains a few details not found in the
official legends. In fact it would seem that the period of active compila
tions began about 1270. An instance of this activity in gathering to
gether the records of St. Francis life is to be seen in regard to the
Porziuncola indulgence. 5 Probably not unconnected with this activity
was the formal act of donation concerning Monte Alvernia made by
Count Roland of Chiusi in 1274. 6
At first these compilations, it would seem, were made independ
ently by individuals or communities, anxious to make good the omissions
in the legend by St. Bonaventure, or to collect the traditions which
had been preserved in particular provinces. Later there was an active
research for lost documents, notably those of the saint s companions.
About the beginning of the fourteenth century these original collections
are found incorporated in larger collections; and these larger collec
tions were again later on gathered together into one series of docu-
1 Glassberger, Anal. Franc, n. p. 89.
2 Two editions of this work were published in 1897 : one by Fr. Hilarin of
Lucerne, the other by the Quaracchi editors in Anal. Franc, torn. in. Both
publications include the Catalogus Generalium Ministrorum attributed to
the same author. Of. Archiv. Franc. Hist, an n. fasc. in. p. 430 seq.
3 It is curious that Bernard of Besse does not mention the Legenda
Secunda amongst the existing legends, though he makes express mention
of Celano s Legenda Prima. He could hardly have been ignorant of its
existence. The explanation would seem to be that the Legenda Secunda
was still officially banned, and not improbably he quoted from extracts which
were made by various brethren at the time when the codices of this and
other banned legends were being destroyed.
4 Published in part in Acta SS. Octob. u. Comment. Pr&v. The complete
text is given by Van Ortroy in Misc. Franc, ix. pp. 33-48.
5 Vide supra, p. 407. 6 Of. Sbaralea, Bull. iv. p. 156, note h.
APPENDIX IV 437
mentis. Thus the Actus S. Francisi in which the greater part of the original
Floretum was incorporated, and the Speculum Perfectionis, comprising
amongst other documents, a collection of the writings of the companions,
are found incorporated in a larger collection, compiled by a friar from
the Baltic province, and known as the " Fac secundum exemplar" collec
tion. It is found in a large number of codices scattered throughout
Europe, of which the Vatican MS. 4354 is one of the earliest examples. 1
The collection was probably made between 1318 and 1328. 2
The compiler of this collection tells us in a preface that he gathered
his materials from four sources :
(a) A book of Frederic, Archbishop of Riga. 3
(6) The Legenda Vetus, which he had heard read in the refectory of
the friars at Avignon, and which was read there by command of
the Minister- General. 4
(c) The writings of the companions of St. Francis.
(d) Finally, he has written " certain wonderful things" concerning
St. Anthony, John of Alvernia, and other holy brothers.
When we turn to the collection itself we find that it embraces :
(a) Eighty-one chapters of the Spec. Perfect. , though not in the same
order as in Sabatier s edition and in some cases with notable
variants.
(6) Nearly the whole of the Actus S. Francisci.
(c) Six chapters concerning the observance of the Rule which would
seem to have been taken together out of some other document.
(d) Some writings of St. Francis.
(e) Sayings of Brother Giles and other friars.
(/) Attestations concerning the Porziuncola indulgence.
These documents are found in all the codices : but in some cases
additions have been made by copyists or collectors.
One would like to know how far the collections, which now go by the
title, Fac secundum, exemplar, represent the actual collection made by
the Baltic friar. Is the entire collection save for a few manifest addi
tions his, or has it been greatly added to ?
M. Sabatier, after a study of the Leignitz MS., 5 concludes that the
collection, as therein represented, is in two parts : the first part being
the original collection of the Baltic friar. Now this first part embraces
1 Of. Sabatier, Spec. Perfect. CLXXVI.-CC. ; Description du Manusrit Fran-
ciscain de Leignitz in Opuscules, torn. i. fasc. n. ; also cf. ibid. fasc. in.
2 Cf. Joergensen, op. cit. p. Ixxxviii : Sabatier says between 1322 and 1328.
Cf. Actus S. Franc. Preface, p. xviii.
y Frederick was Archbishop of Riga from 1304 until 1341.
4 Either Gonsalvez or Michael of Cesena, both of whom were favourable
to the strict observance. Gonsalvez was Minister-General 1304-1313 ; Michael
of Cesena, 1316-1328.
5 Cf. Opuscules, i. fasc. in.
438 LIFE OF ST. FBANCIS OF ASSIST
sixty-one chapters taken from the Spec. Perfect. ; seven chapters of un
known origin, but all bearing upon the strict observance of the Rule ;
and thirty-one chapters corresponding to the Actus, of which the first
sixteen chapters concern St. Francis, whilst the last fifteen tell the
wonderful deeds of St. Anthony, John of Alvernia, and other friars of
"blessed memory". There are eight intercalated chapters which seem
to stand apart from these groups. From this M. Sabatier concludes
that :
(a) " The book of Archbishop Frederic " was in fact the Spec. Perfect.
(6) The seven chapters bearing on the observance of the Rule are
from the Legenda Vetus.
(c) The first sixteen chapters corresponding to the Actus are from
writings of the companions of the saint.
(d) The last fifteen chapters of the Actus are those writings relating
to St. Anthony, of which the Baltic friar speaks.
If the order of chapters given in the Leignitz MS. could be shown to
be the original order, there would certainly be much to be said in favour
of M. Sabatier s conclusions. Further on, however, we shall note one
serious objection to this division. Meanwhile, those seven chapters
which, according to M. Sabatier, are extracted from the Legenda Vetus
are of primary interest to the students of Franciscan history. Whether
they are portions of the Legenda Vetus or not, is a matter of secondary
importance. What really matters is their substantial authenticity.
There can be no doubt that they represent a tradition of the party of
the strict observance, and moreover a tradition with its source in the
earlier days of the Order before 1246 ; but it may be doubted whether
the tradition is given in these documents in its primitive form. A com
parison of the chapter, " De apparitione stupenda angeli," * with the recital
and explanation of the same story by Celano " indicates an evolution as to
form. In Celano s day the various explanations of the vision are given as
distinct from the story of the vision : in the present document the ex
planation is worked into the vision itself. Again the chapter, " De statu
malo fi(,turo fratrum," 3 is manifestly a recital in which the original words
of St. Francis have been repeated in the light of later events. On the
other hand, the chapter, " De euntibus inter fideles," 4 is but a summary
of chapter xvi. of the Rule of 1221. Of special interest are the chapters
1 Opuscules, p. 99.
2 II Celano n. 82, cf. ad finem : Plures oraculum istud religioni coaptant,
etc.
3 Opuscules, p. 87.
4 Opuscul&s, p. 102. The phrase " Hanc petere judicabat " [S. Franciscus]
proves that the writer is summarizing this chapter of the Rule ; arid there is
no reason to think we have here an earlier version than is contained in the
Rule of 1221.
APPENDIX IV 439
" De intentione Sancti Francisci" l and " Exemplum de prcedicta volun-
tate ".* In the former chapter we have an interesting account of how the
Pope modified the Rule of 1223 before confirming it. 3 A similar account
is given in the Historia VII Tribulat, 4 and it is most probably based upon
the writings of Brother Leo : though doubtless the conversation between
St. Francis and the Pope is to be taken with due regard to the custom of
ancient and mediaeval historians of making their characters speak always
in the first person. Nor is the story of the German friar in the latter
chapter at all improbable, having regard to what we know of St. Francis
mind. We may therefore take these chapters as witnessing to an early
tradition.
But whether as they stand in the collection " Fac secundum exemplar,"
these chapters were taken from the Legenda Vetus, or whether, as seems
more likely, from " the truthful sayings of the holy companions of St.
Francis, put into writing by approved men of the Order " as the Baltic
friar writes we have no certain test to judge by.
True it is, the friar tells us in his preface that the Legenda Vetus he
refers to was quoted verbally and frequently by St. Bonaventure in the
Legenda Major, and from this description we might be led to infer that
it could be no other than the Celanese legends or the Legenda 3 Soc.
But then amongst the documents in the collection there are none that can
be identified with these legends.
A not improbable hypothesis is that this Legenda Vetus was a collection
of manuscripts embracing the Legenda 3 Soc. and the Spec. Perfect. of
which there are known examples 5 and that it is a portion of the Spec.
Perfect, which the Baltic friar extracted. In fact it would seem that the
collections based upon documents or traditions earlier than the Legenda
Major were generically described as Legenda Vetus or Legenda Antiqua.
The collection " Fac secundum exemplar " is itself styled Legenda Antiqua ;
yet the Legenda Antiqua quoted in later writings is not always found to
indicate this collection.
*
* *
Some consideration must now be given to the Fioretti, that delightful
Italian book which has done so much to make the Franciscan legend
known and loved. The Fioretti shares with the Sacrum Commercium 6
1 Opuscules, p. 90. 2 ibid. p. 96.
:i Vide supra, p. 323. 4 Erhle, Archiv, in. p. 601.
5 Whence it is concluded by some critics that the Legenda 3 Soc. and the
original Spec. Perfect, formed one legend, namely the complete legend by the
companions. Of. Tilemann, op. cit. p. 123 ; Joergensen, op. cit. p. Ixxxvi.
r> Sacrum Commercium B. Francisci cum Domina Paupertate, edited by
P. Ed. d Alencon (Rome, 1900), who claims that it was written in 1227 by
Giovanni Parenti, the first Minister- General after St. Francis. An exquisite
English translation has been made by M. Montgomery Carmichael under the
title, The Lady Poverty (London : Murray, 1902).
440 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
the claim to be the purest literary embodiment of the Franciscan spirit.
But whereas this latter work is an allegory, the Fioretti claims to be
history. The claim has indeed been much disputed, and for a long time
the book was held by the critics to be without historical value. To-day,
in the light of recent research, the historian regards the Fioretti more
favourably.
There can be no doubt now that the Italian work is a translation
from a Latin original. The translator is unknown : l whoever he was, he
had a marvellous gift of literary expression, which has made his work one
of the literary treasures of the world. In the printed editions and in
most of the MSS. the Fioretti has attached to it four other documents :
the Considerations upon the Sacred Stigmata, the life of Brother
Jupiter, the life of Brother Giles, and the sayings of Brother Giles : but
these do not belong to the original book. 2
The Fioretti proper falls into two main sections : the first section
comprises the first thirty-eight chapters, which tell of St. Francis and his
companions ; the second section takes in the last thirteen chapters,
relating the wonderful deeds of certain friars of the Marches of Ancona.
These are two chapters intercalated between the two sections, of which
St. Anthony of Padua is the hero.
It becomes evident as one studies the Fioretti that we have here a
compilation from different sources. The first section probably represents
a compilation of much earlier date than the second : also, it probably ori
ginated in the Marches, and is in fact a collection of stories which
different friars of that province had heard from the saint s own com
panions. For in cap. 16 we are explicitly told that Brother James of
Massa had the story of the preaching to the birds from Brother Masseo
himself ; and in cap. 32, Brother James of Fallerone is said to have spoken
with the same Brother Masseo about the incident related in that chapter.
Further, it is noteworthy that nearly all the friars whose glories form
the subject of the second section were intimate with St. Francis and his
companions, or at least with their associates. Brother Simon was received
into the Order during the lifetime of the saint ; :5 Brother James of Faller
one (as we have said) had spoken with Brother Masseo ; 4 Brother James of
Massa, with Brothers Masseo, Giles, and Juniper ; 5 Brother John of la
Penna received the habit from Brother Philip, probably Philip the Long,
one of the first companions and a preacher of great eloquence ; 6 Brother
Peter of Monticello and Brother Bentivoglio both were received by St.
Francis himself ; " whilst Brother Conrad of Offida 8 and Brother John of
1 It has been attributed to Giovanni di San Lorenzo but without suf
ficient historical evidence.
2 Of. The Little Flowers of St. Francis, Introduction. (London, Cath.
Truth Soc., ed. 1912.)
3 Vide cap. 41. 4 loc. cit. 5 Capp. 16 and 48.
6 Cap. 45. 7 Cap. 42. 8 Capp. 42-4.
APPENDIX IV 441
Fermo, in their retreats on Monte Alvernia, 1 must have made the ac
quaintance of those who knew the saint s companions. May not we
assume that these friars were held in special reverence in the Marches
because of their intimacy with those who knew the story of the first
Franciscan days ? In the Marches the friars of the strict observance
were numerous and venturesome. They would be likely to treasure tra
ditions of the primitive life ; and those who delivered the traditions
would be held in high reverence. Consequently we may believe that the
Fioretti represents, as far as it goes, the story of St. Francis as told in
the Marches of Ancona, by those who knew St. Francis and his compan
ions ; and we shall not be far wrong in assuming that the stories circu
lating amongst the friars of the Marches were collected and written down
not long after 1270, at the time- when the friars were so anxious to
collect and preserve the traditions concerning their holy founder. If we
admit all this, then the Fioretti must be regarded as a source of Francis
can history of no mean value. At the same time we have a canon of
criticism by which to judge the historical value of the stories as they
stand : they have, in short, the value of oral traditions of the first or
second generation.
But in judging the historical value of the Fioretti we shall have a
surer test when we discover the Latin original of the Italian translation.
So far we can only test it by the corresponding chapters in the Actus B.
Francisci, a Latin compilation of a somewhat earlier date than the Fioretti.
In this compilation all but six chapters of the Fioretti are found in an
almost equivalent Latin version ; but with a difference which proves the
Actus to be the earlier and more authentic version. For in the Actus the
personal note is more in evidence : the stories are more frequently related
with an addition such as : " as I myself have seen ". a But this character
istic of the Actus, it should be noted, is found almost exclusively in the
chapters corresponding with the second section of the Fioretti.
We have already noticed that six chapters of the Fioretti have no
corresponding passages in the Actus. From this it would seem that the
translator of the Fioretti had before him a Latin work other than the
Actus, from which this compilation itself was also partly quarried. Which
conclusion is the more probable since the Actus, which is by far the more
lengthy work, is evidently drawn from other sources besides those from
which the Fioretti springs. In some parts one misses the true ring
of the story-tellers of the Marches. 3 On the other hand there are some
" Non-Fioretti " chapters in the Actus which might well find a place in
the Fioretti. It is, however, not unlikely that the original Fioretti was
1 Capp. 49-53.
<J Of. T. W. Arnold : Tlie Auttwrsliip of the Fioretti, Occasional Paper
(International Society of Franciscan Studies British Branch), No. III.
3 e.g. Actus, capp. 58, 61, 62, 65.
442 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST
added to by different collectors amongst the friars of the Marches. A
definitive edition of the Actus may solve these difficulties. 1
It has been justly remarked that the Fioretti can be claimed by no
individual author. It is a compilation of several lesser compilations.
All we can say as to individual authorship is that a certain Brother
Ugolino Brunforte had something to do with it. He was probably one of
several collectors of the traditions in the Marches. 2 The Fioretti dates
from not later than 1328, since it is for the greater part found in the col
lection " Fac secundum exemplar ". It could not have been completed
before 1322, in which year Brother John of Fermo (or John of Alvernia
as he is usually called) died.
*
* -it-
There yet remain other sources for which the same collection " Fac se
cundum exemplar " may be said to stand sponsor, such as the Vitce of
Brothers Giles and Juniper, all of which have doubtless a similar history
to the compilations already referred to. One of these at least can be
traced authentically to Brother Leo, the companion of St. Francis, and
that is the Vita Fr. ^Egidii.
We have the testimony of Salimbene that Brother Leo wrote the life
of Brother Giles ; and though it is doubtful whether any extant " Life "
is Brother Leo s original work, there can be no doubt that the " Lives "
in the Chron. xxiv. Gen., 3 and the Fioretti and others similar to these,
are more or less versions of that work. The Incipit, with which these
" Lives " for the most part begin, contains an affirmation that the writer
was well acquainted with Brother Giles and his companions. 4 In the
Fribourg and Leignitz codices of the " Fac secundurn exemplar " collection
Brother Leo is expressly mentioned as the author. But according to
mediaeval usage, this need not mean more than that the work is substanti
ally drawn from that of the author named. 5
1 M. Sabatier s edition published in Collection deludes, torn. iv. is
confessedly but a tentative edition. (Vide ibid. Preface.) It is to be noticed
that in the collection "Fac secundum exemplar," the Actus is a much shorter
compilation and excludes ten chapters of the Fioretti, which however appear
in other portions of the collection.
2 Of. Fioretti, cap. 45 ; Actus, cap. 9. Ugolino entered the Order about
1278. In 1295 he was appointed Bishop of Teramo by Celestine V, but the
appointment was quashed by Boniface VIII. Ugolino died in 1348.
3 Anal. Franc, in. pp. 74-114.
4 "Prout a suis sociis intellexi et ab eodem viro sancto, cui familiar is fui t
experientia didici."
5 In 1901 Fr. Lemmens published what he then considered to be the
original Vita Fr. Aegidii by Brother Leo (Doc. Antiq. i) : but this work is
evidently a much later version. Cf. Van Ortroy in Anal. Bull xxi. p. 122 ;
Sabatier, Actus, p. Ixviii. Concerning the Vita B. Fr. Aegidii, cf. Menge, Der
APPENDIX IV 443
Here we may call attention to the writings of certain of the Spirituals,
to which we have indeed already referred. There can be no doubt that
we owe it to the zeal, temperate or intemperate as you may judge it, of the
party of the strict observance that the writings of the companions have
come down to us at all. These writings were to them a sort of fifth gospel
which they held in exceeding reverence and quoted as a final argument.
It is thus that some of the writings of Brother Leo have come down to us,
which he wrote concerning the intention of St. Francis in the matter of the
Rule. They are found textually quoted in the writings of Peter John Olivi l
[died 1398], Ubertino da Casale 2 [died circa 1338], and Angelo Clareno 3
[died 1336]. Two Opuscules, closely corresponding with the descriptions
given by Ubertino da Casale and Angelo Clareno of two books written by
Brother Leo, were published in 1901 by Father Lemmens from a MS. in
the Convent of St. Isidore. They are the Intentio Regulx and the Verba
S. P. Francisci. 4
x-
x- *
Of the compilations made at the end of the fourteenth century, little
need be said here.
The Chronicle of the Twenty-four Generals was completed about 1374.
The authorship has been generally ascribed to Arnold of Sarano, who, as
Bartholomew of Pisa tells us, was "for a long time Minister of Aqui-
taine," and " transcribed all that he could find concerning the Blessed
Francis". 5 Internal evidence proves that it was written by a friar of
Aquitaine, for the author shows an intimate knowledge of the provincials
of tha.t province. 6 Whoever he was, the author was a painstaking com
piler, and he had a knowledge of documents which are now lost. 7
Critically he is often at fault. 8
More interesting, as regards the history of St. Francis, is the work
of Bartholomew of Pisa, De Conformitate Vitce Beati Francisci ad Vitam
Domini Jesu, which was approved by the General Chapter of Assisi in
1399. The author, with the instinct of the historian, constantly gives the
Selige Aegidius von Assisi ; Fr. Paschal Robinson, The Golden Sayings of
Brother Giles, Introduction.
1 Expositio Regula, cap. x.
2 Arbor Vitce, Responsio and Declaratio.
3 Expositio Regulcc and Hist. VII Tribulat.
4 Cf. Doc. Antiq. i. p. 75 seq. It is, however, doubtful whether the Verba
as published by Lemmens is the primitive text. Cf. ibid. pp. 81-2.
5 De Conformit. in Anal. Franc, iv. p. 573. Wadding (Annales, ad an.
1376) says : "a quibusdam judicatur auctor Chronicorum XXIV Generalium .
6 In all probability, however, the compilation is not the work of one author,
but of several.
7 e.g. He had seen the letter which accompanied the Tractates de Mira-
culis (Anal. Franc, in. p. 276).
8 The chronicle has been edited in Anal. Franc, in.
444 LIFE OF ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI
sources of his recitals. He thus refers by name to Thomas of Celano,
St. Bonaventure, the Legend of the Three Companions, the Speculum Per-
fectionis. But his frequent reference to the Legenda Antiqua is rather
puzzling. For the most part the passages thus referred to, are found in the
" Fac secundum exemplar" collection, but sometimes such passages are
found not in that collection, but elsewhere, e.g. the Legenda Prima
of Celano. Possibly he had before him a larger collection than any we
now possess, in which these other passages were embodied. 1
4. The Chronicles dealing professedly with the History of the Order
rather than with the Life of St. Francis.
Two early chronicles giving an account of the beginnings of the
German and English Provinces of Friars Minor are of great value as
regards the story of St. Francis. Brother Giordano de Giano, who wrote
an account of the first years of the Friars Minor in Germany, was present
at the General Chapter of 1221 and had some personal knowledge of the
saint whose sanctity, however, the chronicler naively confesses he did
not fully appreciate until the saint s canonisation. 2 Giordano dictated
his chronicle in 1262 when he was advanced in years, 3 but he seems to
have been endowed with an accurate memory, since in only a few details
is his evidence called in question by critical research. For candour and
simple human feeling there are few chronicles to put beside that of the
Italian friar who went to Germany in fear of his life, but learned to love
the country as though it were his own. His account of how he came to
be included amongst the friars sent on the German mission in 1221 shows
that he was of a curious and observant cast of mind in regard to matters
which interested him. Though concerned chiefly with the progress of
the Order in Germany, the chronicle gives many illuminative stories
relating to the life of St. Francis, notably to the saint s journey to the
East, and his subsequent recall to quell the disturbances which had
meanwhile arisen in the Order.
***
The Chronicle of Thomas of Eccleston : De, Adventu FF. Minorum in
Angliam, though not so rich in matters concerning St. Francis as the
preceding, is nevertheless our authority for the coming of the friars to
England in 1224. Incidentally, too, it adds to our knowledge of the
saint s character. It was finished about 1260. 4
1 A critical edition of the De Conformitate has been published by the
Quaracchi Fathers in Anal. Franc, iv. and v.
2 Chron. Jordani, no. 59, in Anal. Franc, i. p. 18.
3 The chronicle has been published in Anal. Franc, i. ; and by Boehmer,
in Collection d Etudes, Tome iv. A continuation of the chronicle is given in
Archiv. Franc. Hist., January, 1910.
4 Eccleston s chronicle has been edited by Brewer in Monumenta Fran-
ciscana, i. and in part by Howlett in Monumenta Franc, n. ; and again by the
APPENDIX IV 445
Salimbene s Chronicle contributes incidentally to our knowledge of
early Franciscan days and sources. It was written between 1282 and
1287. * Though written by a Friar Minor, it can hardly be called a
chronicle of the Order in the strict use of the words. He tells us much
about the Order and many things besides in an intimate sort of way : it
might be described as a book of gossip, but of gossip shot through with
keen observation and shrewd judgments.
***
Passing by the Chronicle of the xxiv. Generals, of which we have
already spoken, we come next to the sixteenth century chronicles, notable
amongst which are the Chronicles of Mariano of Florence 2 and the Chron
icle of Mark of Lisbon. 3 Both chroniclers seem to have had access to
documents which are now lost. Mariano of Florence has given us valu
able information concerning the early days of the Third Order.
Glassberger s Chronicle, written about 1508, is chiefly concerned with
the German Province ; it is incidentally of interest as concerning St.
Francis. 4
Finally there is Luke Wadding s stupendous work, Annales Minorum,
published between 1625 and 1654. As might be expected in such a mighty
labour undertaken by one man, the critical faculty was less in evidence
than the acquisitive. Wadding s chronology is frequently at fault ; and
the sources from which he compiled were often of inferior value even when
more authentic records were at hand.
III.
WRITERS OTHER THAN THOSE OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER.
Under this heading the first place must be given to the writings of
Jacques de Vitry. Two letters of his are known, one written from Genoa
in 1216, and another from Damietta in 1219, both detailing his observa
tions of St. Francis and the new Franciscan Order. He also mentions
them in his Historia Occidentalis. As of an eye-witness, looking on from
outside the Order, his shrewd observation is of special weight.
Quaracchi editors in Anal. Franc, i. A definitive edition has been published
by Prof. A. G. Little (Paris, 1909). Of. The Chronicle of Thomas of Eccles-
ton (London, 1909) by the present writer.
1 Of . Chronica fratris Salimbene Parmensis (Parma, 1857). A critical
edition was published in 1905, in Mon. Germ. Hist. Script, xxxn. pars i.
2 Mariano s chronicles are not yet published, but a compendium of the
chronicles is given in Archiv. Franc. Hist. an. i. fasc. u. seq.
3 Published at Lisbon in 1556-68.
4 This chronicle is published in Anal. Franc, n. Other works of incidental
value to the student of the first Franciscan days are Umbria Serafica by
Antonio a Stronconio (Misc. Franc, n.) ; Historiarum Seraphicce Religionis, by
Rudulphius Tossiauinensis ; De origine Seraphicfe Religionis, by Ven. Francis
Gonzaga.
446 LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
Again, there is the declaration of Thomas of Spalatro, who was
present when St. Francis was preaching in Bologna in 1222, in which he
describes the appearance of the saint and his manner of preaching. l
Besides these, we have numerous valuable evidences in various chron
icles of the time. But for all these I refer my readers to the scholarly
collections of such evidences, published by P. Golubovich in his encyclo
paedic Bibliotheca Bio-Biblioyrafica della Terra Santa (Quaracchi, 1906),
and by P. Lemmens in Archiv. Franc. Hist. an. i. fasc. I. seq. under the
title Testimonia Minor a saec XIII de S. P. Francisco.
IV.
DIPLOMATIC AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS.
These include Papal letters, 2 the registers of Honorius III 3 and
Gregory IX, 4 and various legal documents, notably the Instrumentuni
Donationis Montis Alvernae. 5 The recently discovered peace-treaty
made between Perugia and Assisi in 1203 is of value as affording
authentic evidence regarding the war in which St. Francis took part.
1 Of. supra, p. 302.
2 Of. Sbaralea, Bullarium Franciscanum and tha calendar of Papal letters
by Potthast.
3 Pressutti, Regesta Honorii III.
4 Registres, ed. Auvray ; Guido Levi, Registri dei Cardinal Ugolino d Ostia
e Ottaviano degli TJbaldini.
5 Sbaralea, loc. cit. iv. p. 156. Of incidental value are the contract
published by P. Ed. d Alencon in Frdre Jacqueline, pp. 37-8 ; and the legal
document published by A. Gristofani in Delle Storie di Assisi, ed. 1902, pp.
50-1.
INDEX.
ACCURSO, Br. : martyred, 339.
Acre : St. Francis at, 377-8.
" Actus S. Francisci " : compilation en
titled, 437, 441.
Adjuto, Br. : martyred, 239.
Agnellus, Br., of Pisa : joins the Fra
ternity, 151 ; is sent to England,
335.
Agnes, sister of St. Clare : joins her
sister Clare at Sant Angelo, 139 ;
is rescued from her friends by
Clare, 140 ; is sent to Monticelli
as Abbess, 140.
Agnes of Prague, Blessed: works for
poor, 142.
Albert, Br., of Pisa : joins the Frater
nity, 151.
Albigenses : crusade against, 182.
Alvernia, Monte : is given for use by
the brethren, 160 ; Francis retires
to, 336 ; Francis leaves, 348.
Amazialbene, Br. : Br. Juniper s
sorrow at death of, 121.
Ambrogio, Cistercian monk : visitor of
the Poor Ladies, 252.
Ancona : Francis missionary journey
through marches of, 61 ; Francis
sails from, 156 ; Province of the
Marches of, 205.
Andrea della Robbia : 185.
Angelo Bernardone: brother of St.
Francis, 31.
Angelo Clareno : writings of, 439,
443.
Angelo Tancredi, Br. : joins the Frater
nity, 59, 75 ; goes on journey with
Francis, 161 ; accompanies Francis
to M. Alvernia, 337 ; and to Rieti,
352 ; his writings, 431.
Anonymus Perusinus : legend by, 436.
Anthony, St., of Padua : joins the Fra
ternity, 240 ; his appearance in
history, 303 ; is sent to San Paolo,
303 ; is called upon to preach, 304 ;
preaches to the fishes, 305 ; is ap
pointed Lector of Theology, 306 ;
his friendship with Gallo, 306;
influence of the Victorine School,
307.
Antonio a Stronconio : author of
Umbria Serafica, 445.
Apulia : Francis joins Papal army in,
18 ; is made a Province, 205.
Aristotelian philosophy : attitude of
Church towards, 301.
Arnold of Brescia: and the Pater-
ini, 8.
Ascoli : thirty clerics join Fraternity
at, 165.
Augustine, St. : Rule of, 176, 227.
BALTIC FRIAR : his collection of docu
ments, 437.
Barbaro, Br. : joins the Fraternity, 59,
75 ; accompanies Francis to the
East, 232.
Barbarossa, his policy : subordination
of Church to Empire, 2.
Barnabas, Br. : goes to Germany, 270.
Bartholomew of Pisa : author of De
Conformitate, 443.
Beggars, Francis drawn to, 23.
Benedict, Br. , of Pirato : writes Francis
will and testament, 364.
Benedict, St. : in the story of the
Porziuncola, 46 ; his Rule, 176,
227.
Berardo, St. : martyred in Morocco,
239.
Bernard of Besse : legend by, 436.
Bernard, Br. , da Quintavalle : joins the
Fraternity, 52 ; in Florence, 70 ; is
appointed Vicar, 76 ; is sent to
Bologna, 154, 250 ; goes with
Francis to Spain, 166 ; is sent to
the Province of Spain, 207, 216 ; is
comforted by Francis, 387.
Bernard da Vigilanzio, Br. : joins the
Fraternity, 75.
Bernardone, Pietro : father of St.
Francis, 4, 29.
Bologna : Br. Bernard da Quintavalle is
sent to, 154; Francis and the
School of, 250, 300 seq.
447
448
LIFE OF ST. FKANCIS OF ASSISI
Bonaventure, St. : legends by, 429
seq.
Bonizzo, Br. : goes with Francis to
Monte Rainerio, 320 ; goes with
Francis to Monte Alvernia, 337.
Buona Donna : a Franciscan penitent,
289.
Burkhardt, Abbot : witness to Francis
can life, 113.
C/ESAR, of Speyer, Br. : joins the Fra
ternity, 238 ; meets Francis in East,
238 ; accompanies Francis to Italy,
241 ; assists Francis in re-writing
the Kule, 263 ; leads the mission
to Germany, 270.
Calabria : is made a Province, 205.
Casale, Monte : Francis and the robbers
at, 190.
Cathari : religious reformers, 8 ; their
creed and teaching, 304.
Celle, the : Francis founds friary of,
153 ; Francis sick at, 36G.
Cetona : Francis visits to, 153.
Clare, St. ; vows herself to Christ and
Poverty, 131; character of, 132
sqq. ; seeks her liberty, 187 ; leaves
her father s house, 138; goes to
Benedictine Convent of San Paolo
at Bastia, 138 ; leaves Convent of
San Paolo for San Angelo, 139 ; is
taken by Francis to San Damiano,
141 ; her mode of life at San
Damiano, 141 ; her influence on
the destiny of the Fraternity, 144 ;
seeks the "privilege of poverty"
from Innocent III, 144 ; is com
pelled to become Abbess, 145 ;
her attitude to the Ugoline Consti
tutions, 145, 147 ; secures formal
confirmation of the " privilege "
of poverty from Gregory IX, 146,
247 ; her Rule approved of by
Innocent IV, 148 ; her loyalty to
the Franciscan ideal, 148 ; her
sorrow and grief at Francis illness,
384; receives a message from
Francis, 385 ; her death, 148.
Colombo, Fonte : vide Monte Rainerio.
Columba, the lady : offers hospitality
and a retreat to Francis, 320.
Communes, Italian : their struggle for
independence, 2 ; ambition of
power, 3 ; internecine quarrels,
100, 332 ; lack of individual liberty
in, 288.
Conrad of Lutzen : his character. 3 ;
surrenders to Innocent III, 3.
Conradin : Sultan of Damascus, 238.
Cortona : Francis preaches at, 151 ;
Elias builds church at, 261.
Courtesy : a property of God, 152.
Crescentius, Minister General : com
missions Thomas of Celano to
write legend, 427.
Crucigeri : nursing brothers, 41.
Crusades : their justification, 157 ;
some causes of their failure, 178,
237; Francis foretells defeat of,
233.
DALMATIA : Francis stranded in, 156,
158.
Damiano, San : church of, its antiquity,
27.
Damietta : Francis at, 233 ; the fall of,
237.
Diego, Bishop of Osima : goes with St.
Dominic to preach against Albi-
genses, 182.
Dipold of Acerra: becomes Duke of
Spoleto, 95.
Dominic, St. : at the Lateran Council,
180 ; his meeting with St. Francis,
181 ; character and training of,
182-3 ; founds the Order of
Preachers, 183 ; the parting of
St. Francis and, 185.
ELIAS, Br. : joins the Fraternity, 153 ;
Minister Provincial of Syria, 207 ;
meets Francis at Acre, 238 ; ac
companies Francis to Italy, 241 ;
is appointed Vicar at the Porziun-
cola, 256 ; the career of, 259 ;
characteristics of, 260 ; opposi
tion to Francis and the Primitive
Rule, 266 ; policy of, 266 ; encour
ages the desire for study, 298 ; his
attitude to the new Rule, 321 ;
refuses to obey, 324; receives a
mysterious warning, 351 ; brings
Francis from Siena, 365 ; is blessed
by Francis, 375; constructs the
great Church at Assisi, 391.
Elizabeth, St., of Hungary : a Francis
can penitent, 289.
" FAC SECUNDUM EXEMPLAR ": collec
tion of documents, 437.
Fioretti : its history, 440.
Florence : Br. Bernard da Quintavalle
at, 70; St. Francis at, 211.
Francis, St., Biography : characteris-
ti&, 4 ; taken prisoner, 5 fmSiwiice
oi troubadours on, 11 ; first illness
of, 16; goes to join Papal army
in Apulia, 18 ; first pilgrimage to
INDEX
449
Borne, 23 ; repairs the Church I
of San Damiano, 27 ; goes to |
Gubbio, 38; repairs Church of j
S. Maria della Porziuncola, 45 ;
missiona 
