LIFE OF

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

BY

PAUL SABATIER

_Quivere monachus est nihilreputat esse suum nisi citharam_

GIOACCHINO DI FIORE _in Apoc. 182 a 2_

TRANSLATED BY

LOUISE SEYMOUR HOUGHTON

LONDONHODDER & STOUGHTON

1919

Copyright, 1894, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for theUnited States of America. 

Printed by the Scribner PressNew York, U. S. A. 

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_TO THE STRASBURGHERS_

_Friends!_

_At last here is this book which I told you about so long ago. Theresult is small indeed in relation to the endeavor, as I, alas! seebetter than anyone. The widow of the Gospel put only one mite into thealms-box of the temple, but this mite, they tell us, won her Paradise. Accept the mite that I offer you to-day as God accepted that of the poorwoman, looking not at her offering, but at her love_, Feci quod potui, omnia dedi. 

_Do not chide me too severely for this long delay, for you are somewhatits cause. Many times a day at Florence, at Assisi, at Rome, I haveforgotten the document I had to study. Something in me seemed to havegone to flutter at your windows, and sometimes they opened. . . . Oneevening at St. Damian I forgot myself and remained long after sunset. Anold monk came to warn me that the sanctuary was closed. _ "Per Bacco!"_he gently murmured as he led me away, all ready to receive myconfidence_, "sognava d'amore o di tristitia?" _Well, yes. I wasdreaming of love and of sadness, for I was dreaming of Strasbourg. _

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 PAGEINTRODUCTION, xi

 CHAPTER I. YOUTH, 1

 CHAPTER II. STAGES OF CONVERSION, 15

 CHAPTER III. THE CHURCH ABOUT 1209, 28

 CHAPTER IV. STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS, 53

 CHAPTER V. FIRST YEAR OF APOSTOLATE, 71

 CHAPTER VI. ST. FRANCIS AND INNOCENT III. , 88

 CHAPTER VII. RIVO-TORTO, 103

 CHAPTER VIII. PORTIUNCULA, 120

 CHAPTER IX. SANTA CLARA, 147

 CHAPTER X. FIRST ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE INFIDELS, 168

 CHAPTER XI. THE INNER MAN AND WONDER-WORKING, 183

 CHAPTER XII. THE CHAPTER-GENERAL OF 1217, 198

 CHAPTER XIII. ST. DOMINIC AND ST. FRANCIS, 217

 CHAPTER XIV. THE CRISIS OF THE ORDER, 239

 CHAPTER XV. THE RULE OF 1221, 252

 CHAPTER XVI. THE BROTHERS MINOR AND LEARNING, 271

 CHAPTER XVII. THE STIGMATA, 287

 CHAPTER XVIII. THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN, 297

 CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST YEAR, 308

 CHAPTER XX. FRANCIS'S WILL AND DEATH, 333

CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES, 347

 APPENDIX. CRITICAL STUDY OF THE STIGMATA AND OF THE INDULGENCE OF AUGUST 2, 433

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INTRODUCTION

In the renascence of history which is in a manner the characteristic ofour time, the Middle Ages have been the object of peculiar fondness withboth criticism and erudition. We rummage all the dark corners of thelibraries, we bring old parchments to light, and in the zeal and ardorwe put into our search there is an indefinable touch of piety. 

These efforts to make the past live again reveal not merely ourcuriosity, or the lack of power to grapple with great philosophicproblems, they are a token of wisdom and modesty; we are beginning tofeel that the present has its roots in the past, and that in the fieldsof politics and religion, as in others, slow, modest, persevering toilis that which has the best results. 

There is also a token of love in this. We love our ancestors of five orsix centuries ago, and we mingle not a little emotion and gratitude withthis love. So, if one may hope everything of a son who loves hisparents, we must not despair of an age that loves history. 

The Middle Ages form an organic period in the life of humanity. Like allpowerful organisms the period began with a long and mysteriousgestation; it had its youth, its manhood, its decrepitude. The end ofthe twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth mark its fullexpansion; it is the twentieth year of life, with its poetry, itsdreams, its enthusiasm, its generosity, its daring. Love overflowed withvigor; men everywhere had but one desire--to devote themselves to somegreat and holy cause. 

Curiously enough, though Europe was more parcelled out than ever, itfelt a new thrill run through its entire extent. There was what we mightcall a state of European consciousness. 

In ordinary periods each people has its own interests, its tendencies, its tears, and its joys; but let a time of crisis come, and the trueunity of the human family will suddenly make itself felt with a strengthnever before suspected. Each body of water has its own currents, butwhen the hurricane is abroad they mysteriously intermingle, and from theocean to the remotest mountain lake the same tremor will upheave themall. 

It was thus in '89, it was thus also in the thirteenth century. 

Never was there less of frontier, never, either before or since, such amingling of nationalities; and at the present day, with all our highwaysand railroads, the people live more apart. [1]

The great movement of thought of the thirteenth century is above all areligious movement, presenting a double character--it is popular and itis laic. It comes out from the heart of the people, and it looks athwartmany uncertainties at nothing less than wresting the sacred things fromthe hands of the clergy. 

The conservatives of our time who turn to the thirteenth century as tothe golden age of authoritative faith make a strange mistake. If it isespecially the century of saints, it is also that of heretics. We shallsoon see that the two words are not so contradictory as might appear; itis enough for the moment to point out that the Church had never beenmore powerful nor more threatened. 

There was a genuine attempt at a religious revolution, which, if it hadsucceeded, would have ended in a universal priesthood, in theproclamation of the rights of the individual conscience. 

The effort failed, and though later on the Revolution made us all kings, neither the thirteenth century nor the Reformation was able to make usall priests. Herein, no doubt, lies the essential contradiction of ourlives and that which periodically puts our national institutions inperil. Politically emancipated, we are not morally or religiouslyfree. [2]

The thirteenth century with juvenile ardor undertook this revolution, which has not yet reached its end. In the north of Europe it becameincarnate in cathedrals, in the south, in saints. 

The cathedrals were the lay churches of the thirteenth century. Built bythe people for the people, they were originally the true common house ofour old cities. Museums, granaries, chambers of commerce, halls ofjustice, depositories of archives, and even labor exchanges, they wereall these at once. 

That art of the Middle Ages which Victor Hugo and Viollet-le-Duc havetaught us to understand and love was the visible expression of theenthusiasm of a people who were achieving communal liberty. Very farfrom being the gift of the Church, it was in its beginning anunconscious protest against the hieratic, impassive, esoteric art of thereligious orders. We find only laymen in the long list of master-workmenand painters who have left us the innumerable Gothic monuments whichstud the soil of Europe. Those artists of genius who, like those ofGreece, knew how to speak to the populace without being common, were forthe most part humble workmen; they found their inspiration not in theformulas of the masters of monastic art, but in constant communion withthe very soul of the nation. Therefore this renascence, in its mostprofound features, concerns less the archĉology or the architecture thanthe history of a country. 

While in the northern countries the people were building their ownchurches, and finding in their enthusiasm an art which was new, original, complete, in the south, above the official, clericalpriesthood of divine right they were greeting and consecrating a newpriesthood, that of the saints. 

The priest of the thirteenth century is the antithesis of the saint, heis almost always his enemy. Separated by the holy unction from the restof mankind, inspiring awe as the representative of an all-powerful God, able by a few signs to perform unheard-of mysteries, with a word tochange bread into flesh and wine into blood, he appeared as a sort ofidol which can do all things for or against you and before which youhave only to adore and tremble. 

The saint, on the contrary, was one whose mission was proclaimed bynothing in his apparel, but whose life and words made themselves felt inall hearts and consciences; he was one who, with no cure of souls in theChurch, felt himself suddenly impelled to lift up his voice. The childof the people, he knew all their material and moral woes, and theirmysterious echo sounded in his own heart. Like the ancient prophet ofIsrael, he heard an imperious voice saying to him: "Go and speak to thechildren of my people. " "Ah, Lord God, I am but a child, I know not howto speak. " "Say not, I am but a child, for thou shalt go to all those towhom I shall send thee. Behold I have set thee to-day as a strong city, a pillar of iron and a wall of brass against the kings of Judah, againstits princes and against its priests. "

These thirteenth-century saints were in fact true prophets. Apostleslike St. Paul, not as the result of a canonical consecration, but by theinterior order of the Spirit, they were the witnesses of liberty againstauthority. 

The Calabrian seer, Gioacchino di Fiore, hailed the new-born revolution;he believed in its success and proclaimed to the wondering world theadvent of a new ministry. He was mistaken. 

When the priest sees himself vanquished by the prophet he suddenlychanges his method. He takes him under his protection, he introduces hisharangues into the sacred canon, he throws over his shoulders thepriestly chasuble. The days pass on, the years roll by, and the momentcomes when the heedless crowd no longer distinguishes between them, andit ends by believing the prophet to be an emanation of the clergy. 

This is one of the bitterest ironies of history. 

Francis of Assisi is pre-eminently the saint of the Middle Ages. Owingnothing to church or school he was truly _theodidact_, [3] and if heperhaps did not perceive the revolutionary bearing of his preaching, heat least always refused to be ordained priest. He divined thesuperiority of the spiritual priesthood. 

The charm of his life is that, thanks to reliable documents, we find theman behind the wonder worker. We find in him not merely noble actions, we find in him a life in the true meaning of the word; I mean, we feelin him both development and struggle. 

How mistaken are the annals of the Saints in representing him as fromthe very cradle surrounded with aureole and nimbus! As if the finest andmost manly of spectacles were not that of the man who conquers his soulhour after hour, fighting first against himself, against the suggestionsof egoism, idleness, discouragement, then at the moment when he mightbelieve himself victorious, finding in the champions attracted by hisideal those who are destined if not to bring about its complete ruin, atleast to give it its most terrible blows. Poor Francis! The last yearsof his life were indeed a _via dolorosa_ as painful as that where hismaster sank down under the weight of the cross; for it is still a joy todie for one's ideal, but what bitter pain to look on in advance at theapotheosis of one's body, while seeing one's soul--I would say histhought--misunderstood and frustrated. 

If we ask for the origins of his idea we find them exclusively among thecommon people of his time; he is the incarnation of the Italian soul atthe beginning of the thirteenth century, as Dante was to be itsincarnation a hundred years later. 

He was of the people and the people recognized themselves in him. He hadtheir poetry and their aspirations, he espoused their claims, and thevery name of his institute had at first a political signification: inAssisi as in most other Italian towns there were _majores_ and_minores_, the _popolo grasso_ and the _popolo minuto_; he resolutelyplaced himself among the latter. This political side of his apostolateneeds to be clearly apprehended if we would understand its amazingsuccess and the wholly unique character of the Franciscan movement inits beginning. 

As to its attitude toward the Church, it was that of filial obedience. This may perhaps appear strange at first as regards an unauthorizedpreacher who comes speaking to the world in the name of his ownimmediate personal inspiration. But did not most of the men of '89believe themselves good and loyal subjects of Louis XVI. ?

The Church was to our ancestors what the fatherland is to us; we maywish to remodel its government, overturn its administration, change itsconstitution, but we do not think ourselves less good patriots for that. 

In the same way, in an age of simple faith when religious beliefs seemedto be in the very fibre and flesh of humanity, Dante, without ceasing tobe a good Catholic, could attack the clergy and the court of Rome with aviolence that has never been surpassed. St. Francis so surely believedthat the Church had become unfaithful to her mission that he could speakin his symbolic language of the widowhood of his Lady Poverty, who fromChrist's time to his own had found no husband. How could he better havedeclared his purposes or revealed his dreams?

What he purposed was far more than the foundation of an order, and it isto do him great wrong thus to restrict his endeavor. He longed for atrue awakening of the Church in the name of the evangelical ideal whichhe had regained. All Europe awoke with a start when it heard of thesepenitents from a little Umbrian town. It was reported that they hadcraved a strange privilege from the court of Rome: that of possessingnothing. Men saw them pass by, earning their bread by the labor of theirhands, accepting only the bare necessities of bodily sustenance fromthem to whom they had given with lavish hands the bread of life. Thepeople lifted up their heads, breathing in with deep inspirations theairs of a springtime upon which was already floating the perfume of newflowers. 

Here and there in the world there are many souls capable of all heroism, if only they can see before them a true leader. St. Francis became forthese the guide they had longed for, and whatever was best in humanityat that time leaped to follow in his footsteps. 

This movement, which was destined to result in the constitution of a newfamily of monks, was in the beginning anti-monastic. It is not rare forhistory to have similar contradictions to record. The meek Galilean whopreached the religion of a personal revelation, without ceremonial ordogmatic law, triumphed only on condition of being conquered, and ofpermitting his words of spirit and life to be confiscated by a churchessentially dogmatic and sacerdotal. 

In the same way the Franciscan movement was originally, if not theprotest of the Christian consciousness against monachism, at least therecognition of an ideal singularly higher than that of the clergy ofthat time. Let us picture to ourselves the Italy of the beginning of thethirteenth century with its divisions, its perpetual warfare, itsdepopulated country districts, the impossibility of tilling the fieldsexcept in the narrow circle which the garrisons of the towns mightprotect; all these cities from the greatest to the least occupied inwatching for the most favorable moment for falling upon and pillagingtheir neighbors; sieges terminated by unspeakable atrocities, and afterall this, famine, speedily followed by pestilence to complete thedevastation. Then let us picture to ourselves the rich Benedictineabbeys, veritable fortresses set upon the hill-tops, whence they seemedto command all the surrounding plains. There was nothing surprising intheir prosperity. Shielded by their inviolability, they were in thesedisordered times the only refuge of peaceful souls and timid hearts. [4]The monks were in great majority deserters from life, who for motivesentirely aside from religion had taken refuge behind the only wallswhich at this period were secure. 

Overlook this as we may, forget as we may the demoralization andignorance of the inferior clergy, the simony and the vices of theprelates, the coarseness and avarice of the monks, judging the Church ofthe thirteenth century only by those of her sons who do her the mosthonor; none the less are these the anchorites who flee into the desertto escape from wars and vices, pausing only when they are very sure thatnone of the world's noises will interrupt their meditations. Sometimesthey will draw away with them hundreds of imitators, to the solitudes ofClairvaux, of the Chartreuse, of Vallombrosa, of the Camaldoli; but evenwhen they are a multitude they are alone; for they are dead to the worldand to their brethren. Each cell is a desert, on whose threshold theycry

 O beata solitudo. O sola beatitudo. 

The book of the Imitation is the picture of all that is purest in thiscloistered life. 

But is this abstinence from action truly Christian?

No, replied St. Francis. He for his part would do like Jesus, and we maysay that his life is an imitation of Christ singularly more real thanthat of Thomas à Kempis. 

Jesus went indeed into the desert, but only that he might find in prayerand communion with the heavenly Father the inspiration and strengthnecessary for keeping up the struggle against evil. Far from avoidingthe multitude, he sought them out to enlighten, console, and convertthem. 

This is what St. Francis desired to imitate. More than once he felt theseduction of the purely contemplative life, but each time his own spiritwarned him that this was only a disguised selfishness; that one savesoneself only in saving others. 

When he saw suffering, wretchedness, corruption, instead of fleeing hestopped to bind up, to heal, feeling in his heart the surging of wavesof compassion. He not only preached love to others; he himself wasravished with it; he sang it, and what was of greater value, he livedit. 

There had indeed been preachers of love before his day, but mostgenerally they had appealed to the lowest selfishness. They had thoughtto triumph by proving that in fact to give to others is to put one'smoney out at a usurious interest. "Give to the poor, " said St. PeterChrysologus, [5] "that you may give to yourself; give him a crumb inorder to receive a loaf; give him a shelter to receive heaven. "

There was nothing like this in Francis; his charity is not selfishness, it is love. He went, not to the whole, who need no physician, but to thesick, the forgotten, the disdained. He dispensed the treasures of hisheart according to the need and reserved the best of himself for thepoorest and the most lost, for lepers and thieves. 

The gaps in his education were of marvellous service to him. Morelearned, the formal logic of the schools would have robbed him of thatflower of simplicity which is the great charm of his life; he would haveseen the whole extent of the sore of the Church, and would no doubt havedespaired of healing it. If he had known the ecclesiastical disciplinehe would have felt obliged to observe it; but thanks to his ignorance hecould often violate it without knowing it, [6] and be a heretic quiteunawares. 

We can now determine to what religious family St. Francis belongs. 

Looking at the question from a somewhat high standpoint we see that inthe last analysis minds, like religious systems, are to be found in twogreat families, standing, so to say, at the two poles of thought. Thesetwo poles are only mathematical points, they do not exist in concretereality; but for all that we can set them down on the chart ofphilosophic and moral ideas. 

There are religions which look toward divinity and religions which looktoward man. Here again the line of demarcation between the two familiesis purely ideal and artificial; they often so mingle and blend with oneanother that we have much difficulty in distinguishing them, especiallyin the intermediate zone in which our civilization finds its place; butif we go toward the poles we shall find their characteristics growinggradually distinct. 

In the religions which look toward divinity all effort is concentratedon worship, and especially on sacrifice. The end aimed at is a change inthe disposition of the gods. They are mighty kings whose support orfavor one must purchase by gifts. 

Most pagan religions belong to this category and pharisaic Judaism aswell. This is also the tendency of certain Catholics of the old schoolfor whom the great thing is to appease God or to buy the protection ofthe Virgin and the saints by means of prayers, candles, and masses. 

The other religions look toward man; their effort is directed to theheart and conscience with the purpose of transforming them. Sacrificedisappears, or rather it changes from the exterior to the interior. Godis conceived of as a father, always ready to welcome him who comes tohim. Conversion, perfection, sanctification become the pre-eminentreligious acts. Worship and prayer cease to be incantations and becomereflection, meditation, virile effort; while in religions of the firstclass the clergy have an essential part, as intermediaries betweenheaven and earth, in those of the second they have none, each conscienceentering into direct relations with God. 

It was reserved to the prophets of Israel to formulate, with a precisionbefore unknown, the starting-point of spiritual worship. 

 Bring no more vain offerings; I have a horror of incense, Your new moons, your Sabbaths, and your assemblies; When you multiply prayers I will not hearken. Your hands are full of blood, Wash you, make you clean, Put away from before my eyes the evil of your ways, Cease to do evil, Learn to do well. [7]

With Isaiah these vehement apostrophes are but flashes of genius, butwith Jesus the interior change becomes at once the principle and the endof the religious life. His promises were not for those who were rightwith the ceremonial law, or who offered the greatest number ofsacrifices, but for the pure in heart, for men of good will. 

These considerations are not perhaps without their use in showing thespiritual ancestry of the Saint of Assisi. 

For him, as for St. Paul and St. Augustine, conversion was a radical andcomplete change, the act of will by which man wrests himself from theslavery of sin and places himself under the yoke of divine authority. Thenceforth prayer, become a necessary act of life, ceases to be a magicformula; it is an impulse of the heart, it is reflection and meditationrising above the commonplaces of this mortal life, to enter into themystery of the divine will and conform itself to it; it is the act ofthe atom which understands its littleness, but which desires, thoughonly by a single note, to be in harmony with the divine symphony. 

_Ecce adsum Domine, ut faciam voluntatem tuam. _

When we reach these heights we belong not to a sect, but to humanity; weare like those wonders of nature which the accident of circumstances hasplaced upon the territory of this or that people, but which belong toall the world, because in fact they belong to no one, or rather they arethe common and inalienable property of the entire human race. Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe, Michael Angelo, Rembrandt belong to us allas much as the ruins of Athens or Rome, or, rather, they belong tothose who love them most and understand them best. 

But that which is a truism, so far as men of genius in the domain ofimagination or thought are concerned, still appears like a paradox whenwe speak of men of religious genius. The Church has laid such absoluteclaim to them that she has created in her own favor a sort of right. Itcannot be that this arbitrary confiscation shall endure forever. Toprevent it we have not to perform an act of negation or demolition: letus leave to the chapels their statues and their relics, and far frombelittling the saints, let us make their true grandeur shine forth. 

 * * * * *

It is time to say a few words concerning the difficulties of the workhere presented to the public. History always embraces but a very feeblepart of the reality: ignorant, she is like the stories children tell ofthe events that have occurred before their eyes; learned, she reminds usof a museum organized with all the modern improvements. Instead ofmaking you see nature with its external covering, its diffuse life, itsmysterious echoes in your own heart, they offer you a herbarium. 

If it is difficult to narrate an ordinary event of our own time, it isfar more so to describe the great crises where restless humanity isseeking its true path. 

The first duty of the historian is to forget his own time and countryand become the sympathetic and interested contemporary of what herelates; but if it is difficult to give oneself the heart of a Greek ora Roman, it is infinitely more so to give oneself a heart of thethirteenth century. I have said that at that period the Middle Age wastwenty years old, and the feelings of the twentieth year are, if not themost fugitive, at least the most difficult to note down. Everyone knowsthat it is impossible to recall the feelings of youth with the sameclearness as those of childhood or mature age. Doubtless we may haveexternal facts in the memory, but we cannot recall the sensations andthe sentiments; the confused forces which seek to move us are then allat work at once, and to speak the language of beyond the Rhine, it is_the essentially phenomenal hour of the phenomena that we are;_everything in us crosses, intermingles, collides, in desperate conflict:it is a time of diabolic or divine excitement. Let a few years pass, andnothing in the world can make us live those hours over again. Where wasonce a volcano, we perceive only a heap of blackened ashes, andscarcely, at long intervals, will a chance meeting, a sound, a word, awaken memory and unseal the fountain of recollection; and even then itis only a flash; we have had but a glimpse and all has sunk back intoshadow and silence. 

We find the same difficulty when we try to take note of the fieryenthusiasms of the thirteenth century, its poetic inspirations, itsamorous and chaste visions--all this is thrown up against a backgroundof coarseness, wretchedness, corruption, and folly. 

The men of that time had all the vices except triviality, all thevirtues except moderation; they were either ruffians or saints. Life wasrude enough to kill feeble organisms; and thus characters had an energyunknown to-day. It was forever necessary to provide beforehand against athousand dangers, to take those sudden resolutions in which one riskshis life. Open the chronicle of Fra Salimbeni and you will be shocked tofind that the largest place is taken up with the account of the annualexpeditions of Parma against the neighboring cities, or of theneighboring cities against Parma. What would it have been if thischronicle, instead of being written by a monk of uncommonly open mind, alover of music, at certain times an ardent Joachimite, an indefatigabletraveller, had been written by a warrior? And this is not all; thesewars between city and city were complicated with civil dissensions, plots were hatched periodically, conspirators were massacred if theywere discovered, or massacred and exiled others in their turn if theywere triumphant. [8] When we picture to ourselves this state of thingsdominated by the grand struggles of the papacy against the empire, heretics, and infidels, we may understand how difficult it is todescribe such a time. 

The imagination being haunted by horrible or entrancing pictures likethose of the frescos in the _Campo Santo_ of Pisa, men were alwaysthinking of heaven and hell; they informed themselves about them withthe feverish curiosity of emigrants, who pass their days on shipboard intrying to picture that spot in America where in a few days they willpitch their tent. 

Every monk of any notoriety must have gone through this. Dante's poem isnot an isolated work; it is the noblest result of a condition which hadgiven birth to hundreds of compositions, and Alighieri had little moreto do than to co-ordinate the works of his predecessors and vivify themwith the breath of his own genius. 

The unsettled state of men's minds was unimaginable. That unhealthycuriosity which lies at the bottom of the human heart, and which at thepresent day impels men to seek for refined and even perverse enjoyments, impelled men of that time to devotions which seem like a defiance tocommon sense. 

Never had hearts been shaken with such terrors, nor ever thrilled withsuch radiant hopes. The noblest hymns of the liturgy, the _Stabat_ andthe _Dies Irĉ_, come to us from the thirteenth century, and we may wellsay that never has the human plaint been more agonized. 

When we look through history, not to find accounts of battles or of thesuccession of dynasties, but to try to grasp the evolution of ideas andfeelings, when we seek above all to discover the heart of man and ofepochs, we perceive, on arriving at the thirteenth century, that a freshwind has blown over the world, the human lyre has a new string, thelowest, the most profound; one which sings of woes and hopes to whichthe ancient world had not vibrated. 

In the breast of the men of that time we think sometimes we feel thebeating of a woman's heart; they have exquisite sentiments, delightfulinspirations, with absurd terrors, fantastic angers, infernal cruelties. Weakness and fear often make them insincere; they have the idea of thegrand, the beautiful, the ugly, but that of order is wanting; they fastor feast; the notion of the laws of nature, so deeply graven in our ownminds, is to them entirely a stranger; the words possible and impossiblehave for them no meaning. Some give themselves to God, others sellthemselves to the devil, but not one feels himself strong enough to walkalone, strong enough to have no need to hold on by some one's skirt. 

Peopled with spirits and demons nature appeared to them singularlyanimated; in her presence they have all the emotions which a childexperiences at night before the trees on the roadside and the vagueforms of the rocks. 

Unfortunately, our language is a very imperfect instrument for renderingall this; it is neither musical nor flexible; since the seventeenthcentury it has been deemed seemly to keep one's emotions to oneself, andthe old words which served to note states of the soul have fallen intoneglect; the Imitation and the Fioretti have become untranslatable. 

More than this, in a history like the present one, we must give a largeplace to the Italian spirit; it is evident that in a country where theycall a chapel _basilica_ and a tiny house _palazzo_, or in speaking to aseminarist say "Your Reverence, " words have not the same value as onthis side of the Alps. 

The Italians have an imagination which enlarges and simplifies. They seethe forms and outlines of men and things more than they grasp theirspirit. What they most admire in Michael Angelo is gigantic forms, nobleand proud attitudes, while we better understand his secret thoughts, hidden sorrows, groans, and sighs. 

Place before their eyes a picture by Rembrandt, and more often than notit will appear to them ugly; its charm cannot be caught at a glance asin those of their artists; to see it you must examine it, make aneffort, and with them effort is the beginning of pain. 

Do not ask them, then, to understand the pathos of things, to be touchedby the mysterious and almost fanciful emotion which northern heartsdiscover and enjoy in the works of the Amsterdam master. No, instead ofa forest they want a few trees, standing out clearly against thehorizon; instead of a multitude swarming in the penumbra of reality, afew personages, larger than nature, forming harmonious groups in anideal temple. 

The genius of a people[9] is all of a piece: they apply to history thesame processes that they apply to the arts. While the Germanic spiritconsiders events rather in their evolution, in their complex becoming, the Italian spirit takes them at a given moment, overlooks the shadows, the clouds, the mists, everything that makes the line indistinct, bringsout the contour sharply, and thus constructs a very lucid story, whichis a delight to the eyes, but which is little more than a symbol of thereality. 

At other times it takes a man, separates him from the unnamed crowd, andby a labor often unconscious, makes him the ideal type of a wholeepoch. [10]

Certainly there is in every people a tendency to give themselves acircle of divinities and heroes who are, so to say, the incarnation ofits instincts; but generally that requires the long labor of centuries. The Italian character will not suffer this slow action; as soon as itrecognizes a man it says so, it even shouts it aloud if that isnecessary, and makes him enter upon immortality while still alive. Thuslegend almost confounds itself with history, and it becomes verydifficult to reduce men to their true proportions. 

We must not, then, ask too much of history. The more beautiful is thedawn, the less one can describe it. The most beautiful things in nature, the flower and the butterfly, should be touched only by delicate hands. 

The effort here made to indicate the variegated, wavering tints whichform the atmosphere in which St. Francis lived is therefore of veryuncertain success. It was perhaps presumptuous to undertake it. 

Happily we are no longer in the time when historians thought they haddone the right thing when they had reduced everything to its propersize, contenting themselves with denying or omitting everything in thelife of the heroes of humanity which rises above the level of ourevery-day experience. 

No doubt Francis did not meet on the road to Sienna three pure andgentle virgins come from heaven to greet him; the devil did not overturnrocks for the sake of terrifying him; but when we deny these visions andapparitions, we are victims of an error graver, perhaps, than that ofthose who affirm them. 

The first time that I was at Assisi I arrived in the middle of thenight. When the sun rose, flooding everything with warmth and light, theold basilica[11] seemed suddenly to quiver; one might have said that itwished to speak and sing. Giotto's frescos, but now invisible, awoke toa strange life, you might have thought them painted the evening beforeso much alive they were; everything was moving without awkwardness orjar. 

I returned six months later. A scaffold had been put up in the middle ofthe nave; upon it an art critic was examining the paintings, and as theday was overcast he threw upon the walls the beams of a lamp with areflector. Then you saw arms thrown out, faces grimacing, without unity, without harmony; the most exquisite figures took on something fantasticand grotesque. 

He came down triumphant, with a portfolio stuffed with sketches; here afoot, there a muscle, farther on a bit of face, and I could not refrainfrom musing on the frescos as I had seen them bathed in sunlight. 

The sun and the lamp are both deceivers; they transform what they show;but if the truth must be told I own to my preference for the falsehoodsof the sun. 

History is a landscape, and like those of nature it is continuallychanging. Two persons who look at it at the same time do not find in itthe same charm, and you yourself, if you had it continually before youreyes, would never see it twice alike. The general lines are permanent, but it needs only a cloud to hide the most important ones, as it needsonly a jet of light to bring out such or such a detail and give it afalse value. 

When I began this page the sun was disappearing behind the rains of theCastle of Crussol and the splendors of the sunset gave it a shiningaureola; the light flooded everything, and you no longer saw anywherethe damage which wars have inflicted upon the old feudal manor. Ilooked, almost thinking I could perceive at the window the figure of thechatelaine . . . Twilight has come, and now there is nothing up there butcrumbling walls, a discrowned tower, nothing but ruins and rubbish, which seem to beg for pity. 

It is the same with the landscapes of history. Narrow minds cannotaccommodate themselves to these perpetual transformations: they want anobjective history in which the author will study the people as a chemiststudies a body. It is very possible that there may be laws for historicevolution and social transformations as exact as those of chemicalcombinations, and we must hope that in the end they will be discovered;but for the present there is no purely objective truth of history. 

To write history we must think it, and to think it is to transform it. Within a few years, it is true, men have believed they had found thesecret of objectivity, in the publication of original documents. This isa true progress which renders inestimable service, but here again wemust not deceive ourselves as to its significance. All the documents onan epoch or an event cannot usually be published, a selection must bemade, and in it will necessarily appear the turn of mind of him whomakes it. Let us admit that all that can be found is published; butalas, the most unusual movements have generally the fewest documents. Take, for instance, the religious history of the Middle Ages: it isalready a pretty delicate task to collect official documents, such asbulls, briefs, conciliary canons, monastic constitutions, etc. , but dothese documents contain all the life of the Church? Much is stillwanting, and to my mind the movements which secretly agitated the massesare much more important, although to testify to them we have only a fewfragments. 

Poor heretics, they were not only imprisoned and burned, but their bookswere destroyed and everything that spoke of them; and more than onehistorian, finding scarcely a trace of them in his heaps of documents, forgets these prophets with their strange visions, these poet-monks whofrom the depths of their cells made the world to thrill and the papacyto tremble. 

Objective history is then a utopia. We create God in our own image, andwe impress the mark of our personality in places where we least expectto find it again. 

But by dint of talking about the tribunal of history we have made mostauthors think that they owe to themselves and their readers definitiveand irrevocable judgments. 

It is always easier to pronounce a sentence than to wait, to reserveone's opinion, to re-examine. The crowd which has put itself out to bepresent at a trial is almost always furious with the judges when theyreserve the case for further information; its mind is so made that itrequires precision in things which will bear it the least; it putsquestions right and left, as children do; if you appear to hesitate orto be embarrassed you are lost in its estimation, you are evidently onlyan ignoramus. 

But perhaps below the Areopagites, obliged by their functions topronounce sentence, there is place at the famous tribunal for a simplespectator who has come in by accident. He has made out a brief and wouldlike very simply to tell his neighbors his opinion. 

This, then, is not a history _ad probandum_, to use the ancient formula. Is this to say that I have only desired to give the reader a moment ofdiversion? That would be to understand my thought very ill. In the grandspectacles of history as in those of nature there is something divine;from it our minds and hearts gain a virtue at once pacifying andencouraging, we experience the salutary sensation of littleness, andseeing the beauties and the sadnesses of the past we learn better how tojudge the present hour. 

In one of the frescos of the Upper Church of Assisi, Giotto hasrepresented St. Clara and her companions coming out from St. Damian allin tears, to kiss their spiritual father's corpse as it is being carriedto its last home. With an artist's liberty he has made the chapel a richchurch built of precious marbles. 

Happily the real St. Damian is still there, nestled under someolive-trees like a lark under the heather; it still has its ill-madewalls of irregular stones, like those which bound the neighboringfields. Which is the more beautiful, the ideal temple of the artist'sfancy, or the poor chapel of reality? No heart will be in doubt. 

Francis's official historians have done for his biography what Giottodid for his little sanctuary. In general they have done him ill-service. Their embellishments have hidden the real St. Francis, who was, in fact, infinitely nobler than they have made him to be. Ecclesiastical writersappear to make a great mistake in thus adorning the lives of theirheroes, and only mentioning their edifying features. They thus giveoccasion, even to the most devout, to suspect their testimony. Besides, by thus surrounding their saints with light they make them superhumancreatures, having nothing in common with us; they are privilegedcharacters, marked with the divine seal; they are, as the litanies say, vials of election, into which God has poured the sweetest perfumes;their sanctity is revealed almost in spite of themselves; they are bornsaints as others are born kings or slaves, their life is set out againstthe golden background of a tryptich, and not against the sombrebackground of reality. 

By such means the saints, perhaps, gain something in the respect of thesuperstitious; but their lives lose something of virtue and ofcommunicable strength. Forgetting that they were men like ourselves, weno longer hear in our conscience the command, "Go and do likewise. "

It is, then, a work of piety to seek behind the legend for the history. Is it presumptuous to ask our readers to try to understand thethirteenth century and love St. Francis? They will be amply rewarded forthe effort, and will soon find an unexpected charm in these too meagrelandscapes, these incorporate souls, these sickly imaginations whichwill pass before their eyes. Love is the true key of history. 

A book has always a great number of authors, and the following pages owemuch to the researches of others; I have tried in the notes to show thewhole value of these debts. 

I have also had colaborers to whom it will be more difficult for me toexpress my gratitude. I refer to the librarians of the libraries ofItaly and their assistants; it is impossible to name them all, theirfaces are better known to me than their names, but I would here say thatduring long months passed in the various collections of the Peninsula, all, even to the most humble employees, have shown a tirelesshelpfulness even at those periods of the year when the number ofattendants was the smallest. 

Professor Alessandro Leto, who, barely recovered from a grave attack ofinfluenza, kindly served as my guide among the archives of Assisi, deserves a very particular mention. To the Syndic and municipality ofthat city I desire also to express my gratitude. 

I cannot close without a warm remembrance to the spiritual sons of St. Francis dispersed in the mountains of Umbria and Tuscany. 

Dear dwellers in St. Damian, Portiuncula, the Carceri, the Verna, MonteColombo, you perhaps remember the strange pilgrim who, though he woreneither the frock nor the cord, used to talk with you of the SeraphicFather with as much love as the most pious Franciscan; you used to besurprised at his eagerness to see everything, to look at everything, tothread all the unexplored paths. You often tried to restrain him bytelling him that there was not the smallest relic, the most meagreindulgence in the far-away grottos to which he was dragging you, but youalways ended by going with him, thinking that none but a Frenchman couldbe possessed by a devotion so fervent and so imprudent. 

Thank you, pious anchorites of Greccio, thank you for the bread that youwent out and begged when I arrived at your hermitage benumbed with coldand hunger. If you read these lines, read here my gratitude and also alittle admiration. You are not all saints, but nearly all of you havehours of saintliness, flights of pure love. 

If some pages of this book give you pain, turn them over quickly; let methink that others of them will give you pleasure, and will make the nameyou bear, if possible, still more precious to you than it now is. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The mendicant orders were in their origin a true _International_. When in the spring of 1216 St. Dominic assembled his friars at Notre Dame de la Prouille, they were found to be sixteen in number, and among them Castilians, Navarese, Normans, French, Languedocians, and even English and Germans. 

 Heretics travelled all over Europe, and nowhere do we find them checked by the diversity of languages. Arnold of Brescia, for example, the famous Tribune of Rome, appeared in France and Switzerland and in the heart of Germany. 

 [2] The Reformation only substituted the authority of the book for that of the priest; it is a change of dynasty and nothing more. As to the majority of those who to-day call themselves free-thinkers, they confuse religious freedom with irreligion; they choose not to see that in religion as in politics, between a royalty based on divine right and anarchy there is room for a government which may be as strong as the first and a better guarantee of freedom than the second. The spirit of the older time put God outside of the world; the sovereignty outside of the people; authority outside of the conscience. The spirit of the new times has the contrary tendency: it denies neither God nor sovereignty nor authority, but it sees them where they really are. 

 [3] _Nemo ostendebat mihi quod deberem facere, sed ipse Altissimus revelavit mihi quod deberem vivere secundem formam sancti Evangelii. _ Testamentum Fr. 

 [4] The wealthiest monasteries of France are of the twelfth century or were enlarged at that time: Arles, S. Gilles, S. Sernin, Cluny, Vézelay, Brioude, Issoire, Paray-le-Monial. The same was the case in Italy. 

 Down to the year 1000, 1, 108 monasteries had been founded in France. The eleventh century saw the birth of 326 and the twelfth of 702. The convents of Mount Athos in their present state give us a very accurate notion of the great monasteries of Europe at the close of the twelfth century. 

 [5] St. Petrus Chrysologus, sermo viii. , de jejunio et eleemosyna. _Da pauperi ut des tibi: da micam ut accipias totum panem; da tectum, accipe coelum. _

 [6] By what right did he begin to preach? By what right did he, a mere deacon, admit to profession and cut off the hair of a young girl of eighteen? That is an episcopal function, one which can only devolve even upon priests by an express commission. 

 [7] Isaiah i. 10-17. Cf. Joel 2, Psalm 50. 

 [8] The chronicles of Orvieto (_Archivio, storico italiano_, t. I. , of 1889, pp. 7 and following) are nothing more than a list, as melancholy as they are tedious of wars, which, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, all the places of that region carried on, from the greatest to the smallest. 

 [9] Do not forget that in the thirteenth century Italy was not a mere geographical expression. It was of all the countries of Europe the one which, notwithstanding its partitions, had the clearest consciousness of its unity. The expression _profectus et honor Italiĉ_ often appeared from the pen of Innocent III. See, for instance, the bull of April 16, 1198, _Mirari cogimur_, addressed particularly to the Assisans. 

 [10] Note what the Fioretti say of Brother Bernard: "_Stava solo sulle cime dei monti altissimi contemplando le cose celesti. _" Fior. , 28. The learned historian of Assisi, Mr. Cristofani, has used similar expressions; speaking of St. Francis, he says: "_Nuovo Christo in somma e pero degno d'essere riguardoto come la piu gigantesca, la piu splendida, la piu cara tra le grandi figure campeggianti nell' aere del medio evo_" (_Storia d'Assisi_, t. I. , p. 70, ed. Of 1885). 

 [11] It remains open all night. 

 * * * * *

 LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS

 * * * * *

CHAPTER I

YOUTH

Assisi is to-day very much what it was six or seven hundred years ago. The feudal castle is in ruins, but the aspect of the city is just thesame. Its long-deserted streets, bordered by ancient houses, lie interraces half-way up the steep hill-side. Above it Mount Subasio[1]proudly towers, at its feet lies outspread all the Umbrian plain fromPerugia to Spoleto. The crowded houses clamber up the rocks likechildren a-tiptoe to see all that is to be seen; they succeed so wellthat every window gives the whole panorama set in its frame of roundedhills, from whose summits castles and villages stand sharply out againsta sky of incomparable purity. 

These simple dwellings contain no more than five or six littlerooms, [2] but the rosy hues of the stone of which they are built givethem a wonderfully cheerful air. The one in which, according to thestory, St. Francis was born has almost entirely disappeared, to makeroom for a church; but the street is so modest, and all that remains ofthe _palazzo dei genitori di San Francesco_ is so precisely like theneighboring houses that the tradition must be correct. Francis enteredinto glory in his lifetime; it would be surprising if a sort of worshiphad not from the first been centred around the house in which he saw thelight and where he passed the first twenty-five years of his life. 

He was born about 1182. [3] The biographies have preserved to us fewdetails about his parents. [4] His father, Pietro Bernardone, was awealthy cloth-merchant. We know how different was the life of themerchants of that period from what it is to-day. A great portion oftheir time was spent in extensive journeys for the purchase of goods. Such tours were little short of expeditions. The roads being insecure, astrong escort was needed for the journey to those famous fairs where, for long weeks at a time, merchants from the most remote parts of Europewere gathered together. In certain cities, Montpellier for example, thefair was perpetual. Benjamin of Tudela shows us that city frequented byall nations, Christian and Mohammedan. "One meets there merchants fromAfrica, from Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Gaul, Spain, and England, so that one sees men of all languages, with the Genoese and the Pisans. "

Among all these merchants the richest were those who dealt in textilestuffs. They were literally the bankers of the time, and their heavywagons were often laden with the sums levied by the popes in England orFrance. 

Their arrival at a castle was one of the great events. They were kept aslong as possible, everyone being eager for the news they brought. It iseasy to understand how close must have been their relations with thenobility; in certain countries, Provence for example, the merchants wereconsidered as nobles of a second order. [5]

Bernardone often made these long journeys; he went even as far asFrance, and by this we must surely understand Northern France, andparticularly Champagne, which was the seat of commercial exchangebetween Northern and Southern Europe. 

He was there at the very time of his son's birth. The mother, presentingthe child at the font of San Rufino, [6] had him baptized by the name ofJohn, but the father on his return chose to call him Francis. [7] Hadhe already determined on the education he was to give the child; did hename him thus because he even then intended to bring him up after theFrench fashion, to make a little Frenchman of him? It is by no meansimprobable. Perhaps, indeed, the name was only a sort of grateful homagetendered by the Assisan burgher to his noble clients beyond the Alps. However this may be, the child was taught to speak French, and alwayshad a special fondness for both the language and the country. [8]

These facts about Bernardone are of real importance; they reveal theinfluences in the midst of which Francis grew up. Merchants, indeed, play a considerable part in the religious movements of the thirteenthcentury. Their calling in some sense forced them to become colporters ofideas. What else could they do, on arriving in a country, but answerthose who asked for news? And the news most eagerly looked for wasreligious news, for men's minds were turned upon very different subjectsthen from now. They accommodated themselves to the popular wish, observing, hearkening everywhere, keeping eyes and ears open, glad tofind anything to tell; and little by little many of them became activepropagandists of ideas concerning which at first they had been simplycurious. 

The importance of the part thus played by the merchants as they cameand went, everywhere sowing the new ideas which they had gathered up intheir travels, has not been put in a clear enough light; they wereoften, unconsciously and quite involuntarily, the carriers of ideas ofall kinds, especially of heresy and rebellion. It was they who made thesuccess of the Waldenses, the Albigenses, the Humiliati, and many othersects. 

Thus Bernardone, without dreaming of such a thing, became the artisan ofhis son's religious vocation. The tales which he brought home from histravels seemed at first, perhaps, not to have aroused the child'sattention, but they were like germs a long time buried, which suddenly, under a warm ray of sunlight, bring forth unlooked-for fruit. 

The boy's education was not carried very far;[9] the school was inthose days overshadowed by the church. The priests of San Giorgio werehis teachers, [10] and taught him a little Latin. This language wasspoken in Umbria until toward the middle of the thirteenth century;every one understood it and spoke it a little; it was still the languageof sermons and of political deliberations. [11]

He learned also to write, but with less success; all through his life wesee him take up the pen only on rare occasions, and for but a fewwords. [12] The autograph of Sacro-Convento, which appears to beentirely authentic, shows extreme awkwardness; in general he dictated, signing his letters by a simple [Greek: tau], the symbol of the cross ofJesus. [13]

That part of his education which was destined to have most influenceupon his life was the French language, [14] which he perhaps spoke in hisown family. It has been rightly said that to know two languages is tohave two souls; in learning that of France the boy felt his heart thrillto the melody of its youthful poetry, and his imagination wasmysteriously stirred with dreams of imitating the exploits of the Frenchcavaliers. 

But let us not anticipate. His early life was that of other children ofhis age. In the quarter of the town where his house is still shown novehicles are ever seen; from morning till night the narrow streets aregiven over to the children. They play there in many groups, frolickingwith an exquisite charm, very different from the little Romans, who, from the time they are six or seven years old, spend hours at a timesquatting behind a pillar, or in a corner of a wall or a ruin, to playdice or "morra, " putting a passionate ferocity even into their play. 

In Umbria, as in Tuscany, children love above all things games in whichthey can make a parade; to play at soldiers or procession is the supremedelight of Assisan children. Through the day they keep to the narrowstreets, but toward evening they go, singing and dancing, to one of theopen squares of the city. These squares are one of the charms of Assisi. Every few paces an interval occurs between the houses looking toward theplain, and you find a delightful terrace, shaded by a few trees, thevery place for enjoying the sunset without losing one of its splendors. Hither no doubt came often the son of Bernardone, leading one of those_farandoles_ which you may see there to this day: from his very babyhoodhe was a prince among the children. 

Thomas of Celano draws an appalling picture of the education of thatday. He describes parents inciting their children to vice, and drivingthem by main force to wrong-doing. Francis responded only too quickly tothese unhappy lessons. [15]

His father's profession and the possibly noble origin of his motherraised him almost to the level of the titled families of the country;money, which he spent with both hands, made him welcome among them. Wellpleased to enjoy themselves at his expense, the young nobles paid him asort of court. As to Bernardone, he was too happy to see his sonassociating with them to be niggardly as to the means. He was miserly, as the course of this history will show, but his pride and self-conceitexceeded his avarice. 

Pica, his wife, gentle and modest creature, [16] concerning whom thebiographers have been only too laconic, saw all this, and mourned overit in silence, but though weak as mothers are, she would not despair ofher son, and when the neighbors told her of Francis's escapades, shewould calmly reply, "What are you thinking about? I am very sure that, if it pleases God, he will become a good Christian. "[17] The words werenatural enough from a mother's lips, but later on they were held to havebeen truly prophetic. 

How far did the young man permit himself to be led on? It would bedifficult to say. The question which, as we are told, tormented BrotherLeo, could only have suggested itself to a diseased imagination. [18]Thomas of Celano and the Three Companions agree in picturing him asgoing to the worst excesses. Later biographers speak with morecircumspection of his worldly career. A too widely credited storygathered from Celano's narrative was modified by the chapter-general of1260, [19] and the frankness of the early biographers was, no doubt, oneof the causes which most effectively contributed to their definitivecondemnation three years later. [20]

Their statements are in no sense obscure; according to them the son ofBernardone not only patterned himself after the young men of his age, hemade it a point of honor to exceed them. What with eccentricities, buffooneries, pranks, prodigalities, he ended by achieving a sort ofcelebrity. He was forever in the streets with his companions, compellingattention by his extravagant or fantastic attire. Even at night thejoyous company kept up their merrymakings, causing the town to ringwith their noisy songs. [21]

At this very time the troubadours were roaming over the towns ofNorthern Italy[22] and bringing brilliant festivities and especiallyCourts of Love into vogue. If they worked upon the passions, they alsomade appeal to feelings of courtesy and delicacy; it was this that savedFrancis. In the midst of his excesses he was always refined andconsiderate, carefully abstaining from every base or indecentutterance. [23] Already his chief aspiration was to rise above thecommonplace. Tortured with the desire for that which is far off andhigh, [24] he had conceived a sort of passion for chivalry, and fancyingthat dissipation was one of the distinguishing features of nobility, hehad thrown himself into it with all his soul. 

But he who, at twenty, goes from pleasure to pleasure with the heart notabsolutely closed to good, must now and then, at some turning of theroad, become aware that there are hungry folk, who could live a month onwhat he spends in a few hours on frivolity. Francis saw them, and withhis impressionable nature for the moment forgot everything else. Inthought he put himself in their place, and it sometimes happened that hegave them all the money he had about him and even his clothes. 

One day he was busy with some customers in his father's shop, when a mancame in, begging for charity in the name of God. Losing his patienceFrancis sharply turned him away; but quickly reproaching himself for hisharshness he thought, "What would I not have done if this man had askedsomething of me in the name of a count or a baron? What ought I not tohave done when he came in the name of God? I am no better than a clown!"Leaving his customers he ran after the beggar. [25]

Bernardone had been well pleased with his son's commercial aptitude inthe early days when the young man was first in his father's employ. Francis was only too proficient in spending money; he at least knew wellhow to make it. [26] But this satisfaction did not last long. Francis'sbad companions were exercising over him a most pernicious influence. Thetime came when he could no longer endure to be separated from them; ifhe heard their call, nothing could keep him, he would leave everythingand go after them. [27]

All this time political events were hurrying on in Umbria and Italy;after a formidable struggle the allied republics had forced the empireto recognize them. By the immortal victory of Legnano (May 29, 1176) andthe Peace of Constance (June 25, 1183) the Lombard League had wrestedfrom Frederick Barbarossa almost all the prerogatives of power; littlewas left to the emperor but insignia and outward show. 

From one end of the Peninsula to the other visions of liberty weremaking hearts beat high. For an instant it seemed as if all Italy wasabout to regain consciousness of its unity, was about to rise up as oneman and hurl the foreigner from its borders; but the rivalries of thecities were too strong for them to see that local liberty without acommon independence is precarious and illusory. Henry VI. , the successorof Barbarossa (1183-1196), laid Italy under a yoke of iron; he mightperhaps in the end have assured the domination of the empire, if hiscareer had not been suddenly cut short by a premature death. 

Yet he had not been able to put fetters upon ideas. The communalmovement which was shaking the north of France reverberated beyond theAlps. 

Although a city of second rank, Assisi had not been behind in the greatstruggles for independence. [28] She had been severely chastised, hadlost her franchise, and was obliged to submit to Conrad of Suabia, Dukeof Spoleto, who from the heights of his fortress kept her in subjection. 

But when Innocent III. Ascended the pontifical throne (January 8, 1199)the old duke knew himself to be lost. He made a tender to him of money, men, his faith even, but the pontiff refused them all. He had no desireto appear to favor the Tedeschi, who had so odiously oppressed thecountry. Conrad of Suabia was forced to yield at mercy, and to go toNarni to put his submission into the hands of two cardinals. 

Like the practical folk that they were, the Assisans did not hesitate aninstant. No sooner was the count on the road to Narni than they rushedto the assault of the castle. The arrival of envoys charged to takepossession of it as a pontifical domain by no means gave them pause. Notone stone of it was left upon another. [29] Then, with incrediblerapidity they enclosed their city with walls, parts of which are stillstanding, their formidable ruins a witness to the zeal with which thewhole population labored on them. 

It is natural to think that Francis, then seventeen years old, was oneof the most gallant laborers of those glorious days, and it was perhapsthere that he gained the habit of carrying stones and wielding thetrowel which was destined to serve him so well a few years later. 

Unhappily his fellow-citizens had not the sense to profit by theirhard-won liberty. The lower classes, who in this revolution had becomeaware of their strength, determined to follow out the victory by takingpossession of the property of the nobles. The latter took refuge intheir fortified houses in the interior of the city, or in their castlesin the suburbs. The townspeople burned down several of the latter, whereupon counts and barons made request of aid and succor from theneighboring cities. 

Perugia was at this time at the apogee of its power, [30] and had alreadymade many efforts to reduce Assisi to submission. It therefore receivedthe fugitives with alacrity, and making their cause its own, declaredwar upon Assisi. This was in 1202. An encounter took place in the plainabout half way between the two cities, not far from _Ponte SanGiovanni_. Assisi was defeated, and Francis, who was in the ranks, wasmade prisoner. [31]

The treachery of the nobles had not been universal; a few had foughtwith the people. It was with them and not with the _popolani_ thatFrancis, in consideration of the nobility of his manners, [32] passed thetime of his captivity, which lasted an entire year. He greatlyastonished his companions by his lightness of heart. Very often theythought him almost crazy. Instead of passing his time in wailing andcursing he made plans for the future, about which he was glad to talk toany one who came along. To his fancy life was what the songs of thetroubadours had painted it; he dreamed of glorious adventures, andalways ended by saying: "You will see that one day I shall be adored bythe whole world. "[33]

During these long months Francis must have been pretty rudely undeceivedwith respect to those nobles whom from afar he had so heartily admired. However that may be, he retained with them not only his frankness ofspeech, but also his full freedom of action. One of them, a knight, hadalways held aloof from the others, out of vanity and bad temper. Francis, far from leaving him to himself, always showed him affection, and finally had the joy of reconciling him with his fellow-captives. 

A compromise was finally arrived at between the counts and the people ofAssisi. In November, 1203, the arbitrators designated by the two partiesannounced their decision. The commons of Assisi were to repair in acertain measure the damage done to the lords, and the latter agreed, ontheir part, to make no further alliances without authorization of thecommons. [34] Rural serfage was maintained, which proves that therevolution had been directed by the burghers, and for their own profit. Ten years more were not, however, to elapse before the common peoplealso would succeed in achieving liberty. In this cause we shall againsee Francis fighting on the side of the oppressed, earning the title of_Patriarch of religious democracy_ which has been accorded him by one ofhis compatriots. [35]

The agreement being made the prisoners detained at Perugia werereleased, and Francis returned to Assisi. He was twenty-two years old. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Eleven hundred and one metres above the level of the sea; the plain around Assisi has an average of two hundred, and the town of two hundred and fifty, metres above. 

 [2] As in the majority of Tuscan cities the dimensions of the houses were formerly fixed by law. 

 [3] The biographies say that he died (October 3, 1226) in his forty-fifth year. But the terms are not precise enough to make the date 1181 improbable. For that matter the question is of small importance. A Franciscan of Erfurt, about the middle of the thirteenth century, fixes the date at 1182. Pertz, vol. Xxiv. , p. 193. 

 [4] A number of different genealogies have been fabricated for Francis; they prove only one thing, the wreck of the Franciscan idea. How little they understood their hero, who thought to magnify and glorify him by making him spring from a noble family! "_Quĉ rero_, " says Father Suysken, S. J. , "_de ejus gentilitio insigni disserit Waddingus, non lubet mihi attingere. Factis et virtutibus eluxit S. Franciscus non proavorum insignibus aut titulis, quos nec desideravit_. " (A. SS. P. 557a. ) It could not be better said. 

 In the fourteenth century a whole cycle of legends had gathered about his birth. It could not have been otherwise. They all grow out of the story that tells of an old man who comes knocking at the parents' door, begging them to let him take the infant in his arms, when he announces that it will do great things. Under this form the episode certainly presents nothing impossible, but very soon marvellous incidents begin to gather around this nucleus until it becomes unrecognizable. Bartholomew of Pisa has preserved it in almost its primitive form. _Conform_. , 28a 2. Francis certainly had several brothers [3 Soc. , 9. _Mater_ . . . _quĉ cum prĉ ceteris filiis diligebat_], but they have left no trace in history except the incident related farther on. Vide p. 44. Christofani publishes several official pieces concerning _Angelo_, St. Francis's brother, and his descendants: _Storie d'Assisi_, vol. I. , p. 78 ff. In these documents Angelo is called _Angelus Pice_, and his son _Johannectus olim Angeli domine Pice_, appellations which might be cited in favor of the noble origin of Pica. 

 [5] Documentary History of Languedoc, iii. , p. 607. 

 [6] The Cathedral of Assisi. To this day all the children of the town are baptized there; the other churches are without fonts. 

 [7] 3 Soc. , 1; 2 Cel. , 1, 1. Vide also 3 Soc. , edition of Pesaro, 1831. 

 [8] The _langue d'oïl_ was at this epoch the international language of Europe; in Italy it was the language of games and tourneys, and was spoken in the petty princely courts of Northern Italy. Vide Dante, _De vulgari eloquio_, lib. I. , cap. X. Brunetto Latini wrote in French because "the speech of France is more delectable and more common to all people. " At the other end of Europe the Abbot of Stade, in Westphalia, spoke of the _nobility of the Gallic dialect_. _Ann. _ 1224 _apud_ Pertz, Script. Xvi. We shall find St. Francis often making allusions to the tales of the Round Table and the _Chanson de Roland_. 

 [9] We must not be led astray by certain remarks upon his ignorance, from which one might at first conclude that he knew absolutely nothing; for example, 2 Cel. , 3, 45: _Quamvis homo iste beatus nullis fuerit scientiĉ studiis innutritus_. This evidently refers to science such as the Franciscans soon came to apprehend it, and to theology in particular. 

 The close of the passage in Celano is itself an evident proof of this. 

 [10] Bon. , 219; Cf. A. SS. , p. 560a. 1 Cel. , 23. 

 [11] Ozanam, _Documents inédits pour servir à l'histoire littéraire d'Italie du VIIIe au XIIIe siècle_. Paris, 1851, 8vo, pp. 65, 68, 71, 73. Fauriel, _Dante et les origines de la littérature italienne_. Paris, 1854, 2 vols. , 8vo, ii. , p. 332, 379, 429. 

 [12] V. 3 Soc. , 51 and 67; 2 Cel. , 3, 110; Bon. , 55; 2 Cel. , 3, 99; Eccl. , 6. Bernard de Besse, Turin MS. , fo. 96a, calls Brother Leo the secretary of St. Francis. 

 [13] See page 357, n. 8. Bon. , 51 and 308. 

 [14] 1 Cel. , 16; 3 Soc. , 10; 23; 24; 33; 2 Cel. , 1, 8; 3, 67. See also the Testament of St. Clara and the Speculum, 119a. 

 [15] _Primum namque cum fari vel balbutire incipiunt, turpia quĉdam et execrabilia valde signis et vocibus edocentur pueri ii nondum nati: et cum tempus ablactationis advenerit quĉdam luxu et lascivia plena non solum fari sed et operari coguntur. . . . Sed et cum paulo plusculum ĉtate profecerint, se ipsis impellentibus, semper ad deteriora opera dilabuntur. _ 1 Cel. , 1. 

 [16] 2 Cel. , 1. Cf. _Conform. _, 14a, 1. There is nothing impossible in her having been of Provençal origin, but there is nothing to indicate it in any document worthy of credence. She was no doubt of noble stock, for official documents always give her the title _Domina_. Cristofani I. , p. 78 ff. Cf. _Matrem honestissimam habuit_. 3 Soc. , Edition of Pesaro, 1831, p. 17. 

 [17] The reading given by the _Conform_. , 14a, 1, _Meritorum gratia dei filium ipsum noveritis affuturum_, seems better than that of 2 Cel. , 1, 1, _Multorum gratia Dei filiorum patrem ipsum noveritis affuturum_. Cf. 3 Soc. , 2. 

 [18] Bernardo of Besse, Turin MS. , 102 b. : _An integer carne desiderans . . . Quod non extorsisset a Sancto . . . Meruit obtinere a Deo quod virgo esset_. Cf. _Conform_. , 211a, 1, and A. SS. , p. 560f. 

 [19] "_In illa antiphona quĉ incipit: Hic vir in vanitatibus nutritus insolenter, fiat talis mutatis: Divinis karismatibus preventus est clementer. " Archiv. _, vi. , p. 35. 

 [20] Vide p. 395, the decision of the chapter of 1263 ordaining the destruction of legends earlier than that of Bonaventura. 

 [21] 1 Cel. , 1 and 2; 89; 3 Soc. , 2. Cf. A. SS. , 560c. Vincent of Beauvais, _Spec. Hist. Lib. _, 29, cap. 97. 

 [22] Pierre Vidal was at the court of Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, about 1195, and liked his surroundings so well that he desired to establish himself there. K. Bartsch, _Piere Vidal's Lieder_, Berlin, 1857, n. 41. Ern. Monaci, _Testi antichi provenzali_, Rome, 1889, col. 67. One should read this piece to have an idea of the fervor with which this poet shared the hopes of Italy and desired its independence. This political note is found again in a _tenzon_ of Manfred II. Lancia, addressed to Pierre Vidal. (V. Monaci, _loc. Cit. _, col. 68. )--Gaucelme Faidit was also at this court as well as Raimbaud of Vacqueyras (1180-1207). --Folquet de Romans passed nearly all his life in Italy. Bernard of Ventadour (1145-1195), Peirol of Auvergne (1180-1220), and many others abode there a longer or shorter time. Very soon the Italians began to sing in Provençal, among others this Manfred Lancia, and Albert Marquis of Malaspina (1162-1210), Pietro della Caravana, who in 1196 stirred up the Lombard towns against Henry VI. , Pietro della Mula, who about 1200 was at the court of Cortemiglia. Fragments from these poets may be found in Monaci, _op. Cit. _, col. 69 ff. 

 [23] Soc. , 3; 2 Cel. , 1, 1. 

 [24] _Cum esset gloriosus animo et nollet aliquem se prĉcellere_, Giord. 20. 

 [25] 1 Cel. , 17; 3 Soc. , 3; Bon. , 7. Cf. A. SS. , p. 562. 

 [26] 1 Cel. , 2; Bon. , 6; _Vit. Sec. Apud_, A. SS. , p. 560. 

 [27] 3 Soc. , 9. 

 [28] In 1174 Assisi was taken by the chancellor of the empire, Christian, Archbishop of Mayence. A. Cristofani, i. , p. 69. 

 [29] All these events are related in the _Gesta Innocentii III. Ab auctore coĉtaneo_, edited by Baluze: Migne, _Inn. Op. _, vol. I. , col. Xxiv. See especially the letter of Innocent, _Rectoribus Tusciĉ: Mirari cogimur_, of April 16, 1198. Migne, vol. I. , col. 75-77. Potthast, No. 82. 

 [30] See Luigi Bonazzi, _Storia di Perugia_, 2 vols. , 8vo. Perugia, 1875-1879 vol. I. , cap. V. , pp. 257-322. 

 [31] 3 Soc. , 4; 2 Cel. , 1, 1. Cristofani, _op. Cit. _, i. , p. 88 ff. ; Bonazzi, _op. Cit. _, p. 257. 

 [32] 3 Soc. , 4. 

 [33] 3 Soc. , 4; 2 Cel. , 1, 1. 

 [34] See this arbitration in Cristofani, _op. Cit. _, p. 93 ff. 

 [35] Cristofani, _loc. Cit. _, p. 70. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER II

STAGES OF CONVERSION

Spring 1204-Spring 1206

On his return to Assisi Francis at once resumed his former mode of life;perhaps he even tried in some degree to make up for lost time. Fêtes, games, festivals, and dissipations began again. He did his part in themso well that he soon fell gravely ill. [1] For long weeks he lookeddeath so closely in the face that the physical crisis brought about amoral one. Thomas of Celano has preserved for us an incident ofFrancis's convalescence. He was regaining strength little by little andhad begun to go about the house, when one day he felt a desire to walkabroad, to contemplate nature quietly, and so take hold again of life. Leaning on a stick he bent his steps toward the city gate. 

The nearest one, called _Porta Nuova_, is the very one which opens uponthe finest scenery. Immediately on passing through it one finds one'sself in the open country; a fold of the hill hides the city, and cutsoff every sound that might come from it. Before you lies the windingroad to Foligno; at the left the imposing mass of Mount Subasio; at theright the Umbrian plain with its farms, its villages, its cloud-likehills, on whose slopes pines, cedars, oaks, the vine, and the olive-treeshed abroad an incomparable brightness and animation. The whole countrysparkles with beauty, a beauty harmonious and thoroughly human, that is, made to the measure of man. 

Francis had hoped by this sight to recover the delicious sensations ofhis youth. With the sharpened sensibility of the convalescent hebreathed in the odors of the spring-time, but spring-time did not come, as he had expected, to his heart. This smiling nature had for him only amessage of sadness. He had believed that the breezes of this belovedcountry-side would carry away the last shudders of the fever, andinstead he felt in his heart a discouragement a thousand-fold morepainful than any physical ill. The miserable emptiness of his lifesuddenly appeared before him; he was terrified at his solitude, thesolitude of a great soul in which there is no altar. 

Memories of the past assailed him with intolerable bitterness; he wasseized with a disgust of himself, his former ambitions seemed to himridiculous or despicable. He went home overwhelmed with the weight of anew suffering. 

In such hours of moral anguish man seeks a refuge either in love or infaith. Unhappily the family and friends of Francis were incapable ofunderstanding him. As to religion, it was for him, as for the greaternumber of his contemporaries, that crass fetichism with Christianterminology which is far from having entirely disappeared. With certainmen, in fact, piety consists in making one's self right with a king morepowerful than any other, but also more severe and capricious, who iscalled God. One proves one's loyalty to him as to other sovereigns, byputting his image more or less everywhere, and punctually paying theimposts levied by his ministers. If you are stingy, if you cheat, yourun the risk of being severely chastised, but there are courtiers aroundthe king who willingly render services. For a reasonable recompensethey will seize a favorable moment to adroitly make away with thesentence of your condemnation or to slip before the prince a form ofplenary absolution which in a moment of good humor he will sign withoutlooking at it. [2]

Such was the religious basis upon which Francis had lived up to thistime. He did not so much as dream of seeking the spiritual balm which heneeded for the healing of his wounds. By a holy violence he was toarrive at last at a pure and virile faith; but the road to this point islong, and sown thick with obstacles, and at the moment at which we havearrived he had not yet entered upon it, he did not even suspect itsexistence; all he knew was that pleasure leads to nothingness, tosatiety and self-contempt. 

He knew this, and yet he was about to throw himself once more into alife of pleasure. The body is so weak, so prone to return to the oldpaths, that it seeks them of itself, the moment an energetic will doesnot stop it. Though no longer under any illusion with respect to it, Francis returned to his former life. Was he trying to divert his mind, to forget that day of bitter thought? We might suppose so, seeing theardor with which he threw himself into his new projects. [3]

An opportunity offered itself for him to realize his dreams of glory. Aknight of Assisi, perhaps one of those who had been in captivity withhim at Perugia, was preparing to go to Apulia under orders from CountGentile. [4] The latter was to join Gaultier de Brienne, who was in thesouth of Italy fighting on the side of Innocent III. Gaultier's renownwas immense all through the Peninsula; he was held to be one of the mostgallant knights of the time. Francis's heart bounded with joy; it seemedto him that at the side of such a hero he should soon cover himself withglory. His departure was decided upon, and he gave himself up, withoutreserve, to his joy. 

He made his preparations with ostentatious prodigality. His equipment, of a princely luxury, soon became the universal subject of conversation. It was all the more talked about because the chief of the expedition, ruined perhaps by the revolution of 1202 or by the expenses of a longcaptivity, was constrained to order things much more modestly. [5] Butwith Francis kindliness was much stronger than love of display. He gavehis sumptuous clothing to a poor knight. The biographies do not saywhether or not it was to the very one whom he was to accompany. [6] Tosee him running hither and thither in all the bustle of preparation onewould have thought him the son of a great lord. His companions weredoubtless not slow to feel chafed by his ways and to promise themselvesto make him cruelly expiate them. As for him, he perceived nothing ofthe jealousies which he was exciting, and night and day he thought onlyof his future glory. In his dreams he seemed to see his parents' housecompletely transformed. Instead of bales of cloth he saw there onlygleaming bucklers hanging on the walls, and arms of all kinds as in aseignorial castle. He saw himself there, beside a noble and beautifulbride, and he never suspected that in this vision there was any presageof the future which was reserved for him. Never had any one seen him socommunicative, so radiant; and when he was asked for the hundredth timewhence came all this joy, he would reply with surprising assurance: "Iknow that I shall become a great prince. "[7]

The day of departure arrived at last. Francis on horseback, the littlebuckler of a page on his arm, bade adieu to his natal city with joy, andwith the little troop took the road to Spoleto which winds around thebase of Mount Subasio. 

What happened next? The documents do not say. They confine themselves toreporting that that very evening Francis had a vision which decided himto return to Assisi. [8] Perhaps it would not be far from the truth toconjecture that once fairly on the way the young nobles took theirrevenge on the son of Bernardone for his airs as of a future prince. Attwenty years one hardly pardons things like these. If, as we are oftenassured, there is a pleasure unsuspected by the profane in getting evenwith a stranger, it must be an almost divine delight to get even with ayoung coxcomb upon whom one has to exercise so righteous a vengeance. 

Arriving at Spoleto, Francis took to his bed. A fever was consuming him;in a few hours he had seen all his dreams crumble away. The very nextday he took the road back to Assisi. [9]

So unexpected a return made a great stir in the little city, and was acruel blow to his parents. As for him, he doubled his charities to thepoor, and sought to keep aloof from society, but his old companions cameflocking about him from all quarters, hoping to find in him once morethe tireless purveyor of their idle wants. He let them have their way. 

Nevertheless a great change had taken place in him. Neither pleasuresnor work could long hold him; he spent a portion of his days in longcountry rambles, often accompanied by a friend most different from thosewhom until now we have seen about him. The name of this friend is notknown, but from certain indications one is inclined to believe that hewas Bombarone da Beviglia, the future Brother Elias. [10]

Francis now went back to his reflections at the time of his recovery, but with less of bitterness. His own heart and his friend agreed insaying to him that it is possible no longer to trust either in pleasureor in glory and yet to find worthy causes to which to consecrate one'slife. It is at this moment that religious thought seems to have awakedin him. From the moment that he saw this new way of life his desire torun in it had all the fiery impetuosity which he put into all hisactions. He was continually calling upon his friend and leading himapart into the most sequestered paths. 

But intense conflicts are indescribable. We struggle, we suffer alone. It is the nocturnal wrestling of Bethel, mysterious and solitary. Thesoul of Francis was great enough to endure this tragic duel. His friendhad marvellously understood his part in this contest. He gave a few rarecounsels, but much of the time he contented himself with manifesting hissolicitude by following Francis everywhere and never asking to know morethan he could tell him. 

Often Francis directed his steps to a grotto in the country near Assisi, which he entered alone. This rocky cave concealed in the midst of theolive trees became for faithful Franciscans that which Gethsemane is forChristians. Here Francis relieved his overcharged heart by heavy groans. Sometimes, seized with a real horror for the disorders of his youth, hewould implore mercy, but the greater part of the time his face wasturned toward the future; feverishly he sought for that higher truth towhich he longed to dedicate himself, that pearl of great price of whichthe gospel speaks: "Whosoever seeks, finds; he who asks, receives; andto him who knocks, it shall be opened. "

When he came out after long hours of seclusion the pallor of hiscountenance, the painful tension of his features told plainly enough ofthe intensity of his asking and the violence of his knocks. [11]

The inward man, to borrow the language of the mystics, was not yetformed in him, but it needed only the occasion to bring about the finalbreak with the past. The occasion soon presented itself. 

His friends were making continual efforts to induce him to take up hisold habits again. One day he invited them all to a sumptuous banquet. They thought they had conquered, and as in old times they proclaimed himking of the revels. The feast was prolonged far into the night, and atits close the guests rushed out into the streets, which they filled withsong and uproar. Suddenly they perceived that Francis was no longer withthem. After long searching they at last discovered him far behind them, still holding in his hand his sceptre of king of misrule, but plunged inso profound a revery that he seemed to be riveted to the ground andunconscious of all that was going on. 

"What is the matter with you?" they cried, bustling about him as if toawaken him. 

"Don't you see that he is thinking of taking a wife?" said one. 

"Yes, " answered Francis, arousing himself and looking at them with asmile which they did not recognize. "I am thinking of taking a wifemore beautiful, more rich, more pure than you could ever imagine. "[12]

This reply marks a decisive stage in his inner life. By it he cut thelast links which bound him to trivial pleasures. It remains for us tosee through what struggles he was to give himself to God, after havingtorn himself free from the world. His friends probably understoodnothing of all that had taken place, but he had become aware of theabyss that was opening between them and him. They soon accepted thesituation. 

As for himself, no longer having any reason for caution, he gave himselfup more than ever to his passion for solitude. If he often wept over hispast dissipations and wondered how he could have lived so long withouttasting the bitterness of the dregs of the enchanted cup, he neverallowed himself to be overwhelmed with vain regrets. 

The poor had remained faithful to him. They gave him an admiration ofwhich he knew himself to be unworthy, yet which had for him an infinitesweetness. The future grew bright to him in the light of theirgratitude, of the timid, trembling affection which they dared not utterbut which his heart revealed to him; this worship which he does notdeserve to-day he will deserve to-morrow, at least he promises himselfto do all he can to deserve it. 

To understand these feelings one must understand the condition of thepoor of a place like Assisi. In an agricultural country poverty doesnot, as elsewhere, almost inevitably involve moral destitution, thatdegeneration of the entire human being which renders charity sodifficult. Most of the poor persons whom Francis knew were in straitsbecause of war, of bad harvests, or of illness. In such cases materialsuccor is but a small part. Sympathy is the thing needed above all. Francis had treasures of it to lavish upon them. 

He was well requited. All sorrows are sisters; a secret intelligenceestablishes itself between troubled hearts, however diverse theirgriefs. The poor people felt that their friend also suffered; they didnot precisely know with what, but they forgot their own sorrows inpitying their benefactor. Suffering is the true cement of love. For mento love each other truly, they must have shed tears together. 

As yet no influence strictly ecclesiastic had been felt by Francis. Doubtless there was in his heart that leaven of Christian faith whichenters one's being without his being aware; but the interiortransformation which was going on in him was as yet the fruit of his ownintuition. This period was drawing to a close. His thought was soon tofind expression, and by that very act to receive the stamp of externalcircumstances. Christian instruction will give a precise form to ideasof which as yet he has but vague glimpses, but he will find in this forma frame in which his thought will perhaps lose something of itsoriginality and vigor; the new wine will be put into old wine-skins. 

By degrees he was becoming calm, was finding in the contemplation ofnature joys which up to this time he had sipped but hastily, almostunconsciously, and of which he was now learning to relish the flavor. Hedrew from them not simply soothing; in his heart he felt new compassionsspringing into life, and with these the desire to act, to give himself, to cry aloud to these cities perched upon the hill-tops, threatening aswarriors who eye one another before the fray, that they should bereconciled and love one another. 

Certainly, at this time Francis had no glimpse of what he was some timeto become; but these hours are perhaps the most important in theevolution of his thought; it is to them that his life owes that air ofliberty, that perfume of the fields which make it as different from thepiety of the sacristy as from that of the drawing-room. 

About this time he made a pilgrimage to Rome, whether to ask counsel ofhis friends, whether as a penance imposed by his confessor, or from amere impulse, no one knows. Perhaps he thought that in a visit to the_Holy Apostles_, as people said then, he should find the answers to allthe questions which he was asking himself. 

At any rate he went. It is hardly probable that he received from thevisit any religious influence, for his biographers relate the painedsurprise which he experienced when he saw in Saint Peter's how meagrewere the offerings of pilgrims. He wanted to give everything to theprince of the apostles, and emptying his purse he threw its entirecontents upon the tomb. 

This journey was marked by a more important incident. Many a time whensuccoring the poor he had asked himself if he himself was able to endurepoverty; no one knows the weight of a burden until he has carried it, atleast for a moment, upon his own shoulders. He desired to know what itis like to have nothing, and to depend for bread upon the charity or thecaprice of the passer by. [13]

There were swarms of beggars crowding the Piazza before the greatbasilica. He borrowed the rags of one of them, lending him his garmentin exchange, and a whole day he stood there, fasting, with outstretchedhand. The act was a great victory, the triumph of compassion overnatural pride. Returning to Assisi, he doubled his kindnesses to thoseof whom he had truly the right to call himself the brother. With suchsentiments he could not long escape the influence of the Church. 

On all the roadsides in the environs of the city there were then, asnow, numerous chapels. Very often he must have heard mass in theserustic sanctuaries, alone with the celebrant. Recognizing the tendencyof simple natures to bring home to themselves everything that they hear, it is easy to understand his emotion and agitation when the priest, turning toward him, would read the gospel for the day. The Christianideal was revealed to him, bringing an answer to his secret anxieties. And when, a few moments later, he would plunge into the forest, all histhoughts would be with the poor carpenter of Nazareth, who placedhimself in his path, saying to him, even to him, "Follow thou me. "

Nearly two years had passed since the day when he felt the first shock;a life of renunciation appeared to him as the goal of his efforts, buthe felt that his spiritual novitiate was not yet ended. He suddenlyexperienced a bitter assurance of the fact. 

He was riding on horseback one day, his mind more than ever possessedwith the desire to lead a life of absolute devotion, when at a turn ofthe road he found himself face to face with a leper. The frightfulmalady had always inspired in him an invincible repulsion. He could notcontrol a movement of horror, and by instinct he turned his horse inanother direction. 

If the shock had been severe, the defeat was complete. He reproachedhimself bitterly. To cherish such fine projects and show himself socowardly! Was the knight of Christ then going to give up his arms? Heretraced his steps and springing from his horse he gave to the astoundedsufferer all the money that he had; then kissed his hand as he wouldhave done to a priest. [14] This new victory, as he himself saw, markedan era in his spiritual life. [15]

It is far indeed from hatred of evil to love of good. Those are morenumerous than we think who, after severe experience, have renounced whatthe ancient liturgies call the world, with its pomps and lusts; but thegreater number of them have not at the bottom of their hearts thesmallest grain of pure love. In vulgar souls disillusion leaves only afrightful egoism. 

This victory of Francis had been so sudden that he desired to completeit; a few days later he went to the lazaretto. [16] One can imagine thestupefaction of these wretches at the entrance of the brilliantcavalier. If in our days a visit to the sick in our hospitals is a realevent awaited with feverish impatience, what must not have been theappearance of Francis among these poor recluses? One must have seensufferers thus abandoned, to understand what joy may be given by anaffectionate word, sometimes even a simple glance. 

Moved and transported, Francis felt his whole being vibrate withunfamiliar sensations. For the first time he heard the unspeakableaccents of a gratitude which cannot find words burning enough to expressitself, which admires and adores the benefactor almost like an angelfrom heaven. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 1 Cel. , 3; cf. Bon. , 8, and A. SS. , p. 563c. 

 [2] It is enough to have lived in the country of Naples to know that there is nothing exaggerated in this picture. I am much surprised that intelligent and good men fancy that to change the religious formula of these people would suffice to transform them. What a mistake! To-day, as in the time of Jesus, the important matter is not to adore on Mount Moriah or Mount Zion, but to adore in spirit and in truth. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 3 and 4. 

 [4] 3 Soc. , 5. In the existing state of the documents it is impossible to know whom this name designates, for at that time it was borne by a number of counts who are only to be distinguished by the names of their castles. The three following are possible: 1. _Gentile comes de Campilio_, who in 1215 paid homage for his property to the commune of Orvieto: _Le antiche cronache di Orvieto, Arch. Stor. Ital. _, 5th series. , 1889, iii. , p. 47. 2. _Gentilis comes filius Alberici_, who with others had made donation of a monastery to the Bishop of Foligno: Confirmatory Bull _In eminenti_ of April 10, 1210: Ughelli, _Italia Sacra_, 1, p. 697; Potthast, 3974. 3. _Gentilis comes Manupelli_; whom we find in July, 1200, assuring to Palermo the victory over the troops sent by Innocent III. Against Marckwald; Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dipl. _, i. P. , 46 ff. Cf. Potthast, 1126. _Gesta Innocenti_, Migne, vol. I. , xxxii, ff. Cf. Huillard-Bréholles, _loc. Cit. _, pages 60, 84, 89, 101. It is wrong to consider that Gentile could here be a mere adjective; the 3 Soc. Say _Gentile nomine_. 

 [5] 1 Cel. , 4; 3 Soc. , 5. 

 [6] 3 Soc. , 6; 2 Cel. , 1, 2; Bon. , 8. 

 [7] 1 Cel. , 5; 3 Soc. , 5; 2 Cel. , 1, 2; Bon. , 9. 

 [8] 3 Soc. , 6; Bon. , 9; 2 Cel. , 1, 2. 

 [9] 3 Soc. , 6; 2 Cel. , 1, 2. 

 [10] These days are recalled by Celano with a very particular precision. It is very improbable that Francis, usually so reserved as to his personal experience, should have told him about them (2 Cel. , 3, 68 and 42, cf. Bon. , 144). On the other hand, nothing forbids his having been informed on this matter by Brother Elias. (I strongly suspect the legend which tells of an old man appearing on the day Francis was born and begging permission to take the child in his arms, saying, "To-day, two infants were born--this one, who will be among the best of men, and another, who will be among the worst"--of having been invented by the _zelanti_ against Brother Elias. It is evident that such a story is aimed at some one. Whom, if not him who was afterward to appear as the Anti-Francis?) We have sufficient details about the eleven first disciples to know that none of them is here in question. There is nothing surprising in the fact that Elias does not appear in the earliest years of the Order (1209-1212), because after having practised at Assisi his double calling of schoolmaster and carriage-trimmer (_suebat cultras et docebat puerulos psalterium legere_, Salimbene, p. 402) he was _scriptor_ at Bologna (Eccl. , 13). And from the psychological point of view this hypothesis would admirably explain the ascendency which Elias was destined always to exercise over his master. Still it remains difficult to understand why Celano did not name Elias here, but the passage, 1 Cel. , 6, differs in the different manuscripts (cf. A. SS. And Amoni's edition, p. 14) and may have been retouched after the latter's fall. 

 Beviglia is a simple farm three-quarters of an hour northwest of Assisi, almost half way to Petrignano. Half an hour from Assisi in the direction of Beviglia is a grotto, which may very well be that of which we are about to speak. 

 [11] 1 Cel. , 6; 2 Cel. , 1, 5; 3 Soc. , 8, 12; Bon. , 10, 11, 12. 

 [12] 3 Soc. , 7; 1 Cel. , 7; 2 Cel. , 1, 3; 3 Soc. , 13. 

 [13] 3 Soc. , 8-10; Bon. , 13, 14; 2 Cel. , 1, 4. 

 [14] To this day in the centre and south of Italy they kiss the hand of priests and monks. 

 [15] See the Will. Cf. 3 Soc. , 11; 1 Cel. , 17; Bon. , 11; A. SS. , p. 566. 

 [16] 3 Soc. , 11; Bon. , 13. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER III

THE CHURCH ABOUT 1209

St. Francis was inspired as much as any man may be, but it would be apalpable error to study him apart from his age and from the conditionsin which he lived. 

We know that he desired and believed his life to be an imitation ofJesus, but what we know about the Christ is in fact so little, that St. Francis's life loses none of its strangeness for that. His convictionthat he was but an imitator preserved him from all temptation to pride, and enabled him to proclaim his views with incomparable vigor, withoutseeming in the least to be preaching himself. 

We must therefore neither isolate him from external influences nor showhim too dependent on them. During the period of his life at which we arenow arrived, 1205-1206, the religious situation of Italy must more thanat any other time have influenced his thought and urged him into thepath which he finally entered. 

The morals of the clergy were as corrupt as ever, rendering any seriousreform impossible. If some among the heresies of the time were pure andwithout reproach, many were trivial and impure. Here and there a fewvoices were raised in protest, but the prophesyings of Gioacchino diFiore had no more power than those of St. Hildegarde to put a stop towickedness. Luke Wadding, the pious Franciscan annalist, begins hischronicle with this appalling picture. The advance in historic researchpermits us to retouch it somewhat more in detail, but the conclusionremains the same; without Francis of Assisi the Church would perhapshave foundered and the Cathari would have won the day. The _little poorman_, driven away, cast out of doors by the creatures of Innocent III. , saved Christianity. 

We cannot here make a thorough study of the state of the Church at thebeginning of the thirteenth century; it will suffice to trace some ofits most prominent features. 

The first glance at the secular clergy brings out into startlingprominence the ravages of simony; the traffic in ecclesiastical placeswas carried on with boundless audacity; benefices were put up to thehighest bidder, and Innocent III. Admitted that fire and sword alonecould heal this plague. [1] Prelates who declined to be bought by_propinĉ_, fees, were held up as astounding exceptions![2]

"They are stones for understanding, " it was said of the officers of theRoman _curia_, "wood for justice, fire for wrath, iron for forgiveness;deceitful as foxes, proud as bulls, greedy and insatiate as theminotaur. "[3] The praises showered upon Pope Eugenius III. Forrebuffing a priest who, at the beginning of a lawsuit, offered him agolden mark, speak only too plainly as to the morals of Rome in thisrespect. [4]

The bishops, on their part, found a thousand methods, often most out ofkeeping with their calling, for extorting money from the simplepriests. [5] Violent, quarrelsome, contentious, they were held up toridicule in popular ballads from one end of Europe to the other. [6] Asto the priests, they bent all their powers to accumulate benefices, andsecure inheritances from the dying, stooping to the most despicablemeasures for providing for their bastards. [7]

The monastic orders were hardly more reputable. A great number of thesehad sprung up in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; their reputationfor sanctity soon stimulated the liberality of the faithful, and thusfatally brought about their own decadence. Few communities had shown thediscretion of the first monks of the Order of Grammont in the diocese ofLimoges. When Stephen de Muret, its founder, began to manifest hissanctity by giving sight to a blind man, his disciples took alarm at thethought of the wealth and notoriety which was likely to come to themfrom this cause. Pierre of Limoges, who had succeeded Stephen as prior, went at once to his tomb, praying:

 "O servant of God, thou hast shown us the way of poverty, and behold, thou wouldst make us leave the strait and difficult path of salvation, and wouldst set us in the broad road of eternal death. Thou hast preached to us (the virtues of) solitude, and thou art about to change this place into a fair and a market-place. We know well that thou art a saint! Thou hast no need to prove it to us by performing miracles which will destroy our humility. Be not so zealous for thy reputation as to augment it to the injury of our salvation. This is what we ask of thee, expecting it of thy love. If not, we declare unto thee by the obedience which we once owed to thee, we will unearth thy bones and throw them into the river. "

Stephen obeyed up to the time of his canonization (1189), but from thattime forward ambition, avarice, and luxury made such inroads upon thesolitude of Grammont that its monks became the byword and scoff of theChristian world. [8]

Pierre of Limoges was not entirely without reason in fearing that hismonastery would be transformed into a fair-ground; members of thechapters of most of the cathedrals kept wine-shops literally under theirshadows, and certain monasteries did not hesitate to attract custom byjugglers of all kinds and even by courtesans. [9]

To form an idea of the degradation of the greater number of the monks itis not enough to read the oratorical and often exaggerated reproofs ofpreachers obliged to strike hard in order to produce an effect. We mustrun through the collection of bulls, where appeals to the court of Romeagainst assassinations, violations, incests, adulteries, recur onalmost every page. It is easy to see that even an Innocent III. Mightfeel himself helpless and tempted to yield to discouragement, in theface of so many ills. [10]

The best spirits were turning toward the Orient, asking themselves ifperchance the Greek Church might not suddenly come forward to purify allthese abuses, and receive for herself the inheritance of her sister. [11]

The clergy, though no longer respected, still overawed the peoplethrough their superstitious terror of their power. Here and there mighthave been perceived many a forewarning of direful revolts; the roads toRome were crowded with monks hastening to claim the protection of theHoly See against the people among whom they lived. The Pope wouldpromptly declare an interdict, but it was not to be expected that such aresource would avail forever. [12]

To maintain the privileges of the Church the papacy was often obliged tospread the mantle of its protection over those who deserved it least. Its clients were not always as interesting as the unfortunateIngelburge. It would be easier to give unreserved admiration to theconduct of Innocent III. If in this matter one could feel certain thathis only interest was to maintain the cause of a poor abandoned woman. But it is only too evident that he desired above all to keep up theecclesiastical immunities. This is very evident in his intervention infavor of Waldemar, Bishop of Schleswig. 

Yet we must not assume that all was corrupt in the bosom of the Church;then, as always, the evil made more noise than the good, and the voicesof those who desired a reformation aroused only passing interest. 

Among the populace there was superstition unimaginable; the pulpit, which ought to have shed abroad some little light, was as yet open onlyto the bishops, and the few pastors who did not neglect their duty inthis regard accomplished very little, being too much absorbed in otherduties. It was the birth of the mendicant orders which obliged theentire body of secular clergy to take up the practice of preaching. 

Public worship, reduced to liturgical ceremonies, no longer preservedanything which appealed to the intelligence; it was more and morebecoming a sort of self-acting magic formula. Once upon this road, theabsurd was not far distant. Those who deemed themselves pious told ofmiracles performed by relics with no need of aid from the moral act offaith. 

In one case a parrot, being carried away by a kite, uttered theinvocation dear to his mistress, "_Sancte Thoma adjuva me_, " and wasmiraculously rescued. In another, a merchant of Groningen, havingpurloined an arm of St. John the Baptist, grew rich as if by enchantmentso long as he kept it concealed in his house, but was reduced to beggaryso soon as, his secret being discovered, the relic was taken away fromhim and placed in a church. [13]

These stories, we must observe, do not come from ignorant enthusiasts, hidden away in obscure country places; they are given us by one of themost learned monks of his time, who relates them to a novice by way offorming his mind!

Relics, then, were held to be neither more nor less than talismans. Notalone did they perform miracles upon those who were in no special stateof faith or devotion, the more potent among them healed the sick inspite of themselves. A chronicler relates that the body of Saint Martinof Tours had in 887 been secretly transported to some remote hidingplace for fear of the Danish invasion. When the time came for bringingit home again, there were in Touraine two impotent men who, thanks totheir infirmity, gained large sums by begging. They were thrown intogreat terror by the tidings that the relics were being brought back:Saint Martin would certainly heal them and take away their means oflivelihood. Their fears were only too well founded. They had taken toflight, but being too lame to walk fast they had not yet crossed thefrontier of Touraine when the saint arrived and healed them!

Hundreds of similar stories might be collected, statistics might be madeup to show, at the accession of Innocent III. , the greater number ofepiscopal thrones occupied by unworthy bishops, the religious housespeopled with idle and debauched monks; but would this give a trulyaccurate picture of the Church at this epoch? I do not think so. In thefirst place, we must reckon with the choice spirits, who were withoutdoubt more numerous than is generally supposed. Five righteous men wouldhave saved Sodom; the Almighty did not find them there, but he perhapsmight have found them had He Himself made search for them instead oftrusting to Lot. The Church of the thirteenth century had them, and itwas for their sakes that the whirlwind of heresy did not sweep it away. 

But this is not all: the Church of that time offered a noble spectacleof moral grandeur. We must learn to lift our eyes from the wretchedstate of things which has just been pointed out and fix them on thepontifical throne and recognize the beauty of the struggle there goingon: a power wholly spiritual undertaking to command the rulers of theworld, as the soul masters the body, and triumphing in the end. It istrue that both soldiers and generals of this army were often littlebetter than ruffians, but here again, in order to be just, we mustunderstand the end they aimed at. 

In that iron age, when brute force was the only force, the Church, notwithstanding its wounds, offered to the world the spectacle ofpeasants and laboring men receiving the humble homage of the highestpotentates of earth, simply because, seated on the throne of SaintPeter, they represented the moral law. This is why Alighieri and manyothers before and after him, though they might heap curses on wickedministers, yet in the depths of their heart were never without animmense compassion and an ardent love for the Church which they neverceased to call their mother. 

Still, everybody was not like them, and the vices of the clergy explainthe innumerable heresies of that day. All of them had a certain success, from those which were simply the outcry of an outraged conscience, likethat of the Waldenses, to the most absurd of them all, like that of Eonde l'Étoile. Some of these movements were for great and sacred causes;but we must not let our sympathies be so moved by the persecutionssuffered by heretics as to cloud our judgment. It would have been betterhad Rome triumphed by gentleness, by education and holiness, butunhappily a soldier may not always choose his weapons, and when life isat stake he seizes the first he finds within his reach. The papacy hasnot always been reactionary and obscurantist; when it overthrew theCathari, for example, its victory was that of reason and good sense. 

The list of the heresies of the thirteenth century is already long, butit is increasing every day, to the great joy of those erudite ones whoare making strenuous efforts to classify everything in that tohu-bohu ofmysticism and folly. In that day heresy was very much alive; it wasconsequently very complex and its powers of transformation infinite. Onemay indicate its currents, mark its direction, but to go farther is tocondemn oneself to utter confusion in this medley of impulsive, passionate, fantastic movements which were born, shot upward, and fellto earth again, at the caprice of a thousand incomprehensiblecircumstances. In certain counties of England there are at the presentday villages having as many as eight and ten places of worship for a fewhundreds of inhabitants. Many of these people change their denominationevery three or four years, returning to that they first quitted, leavingit again only to enter it anew, and so on as long as they live. Theirleaders set the example, throwing themselves enthusiastically into eachnew movement only to leave it before long. They would all alike find itdifficult to give an intelligible reason for these changes. They saythat the Spirit guides them, and it would be unfair to disbelieve them, but the historian who should investigate conditions like these wouldlose his head in the labyrinth unless he made a separate study of eachof these Protean movements. They are surely not worth the trouble. 

In a somewhat similar condition was a great part of Christendom underInnocent III. ; but while the sects of which I have just spoken move in avery narrow circle of dogmas and ideas, in the thirteenth century everysort of excess followed in rapid succession. Without the slightestpause of transition men passed through the most contradictory systems ofbelief. Still, a few general characteristics may be observed; in thefirst place, heresies are no longer metaphysical subtleties as inearlier days; Arius and Priscillian, Nestorius and Eutychus are deadindeed. In the second place, they no longer arise in the upper andgoverning class, but proceed especially from the inferior clergy and thecommon people. The blows which actually threatened the Church of theMiddle Ages were struck by obscure laboring men, by the poor and theoppressed, who in their wretchedness and degradation felt that she hadfailed in her mission. 

No sooner was a voice uplifted, preaching austerity and simplicity, thanit drew together not the laity only, but members of the clergy as well. Toward the close of the twelfth century we find a certain Pons rousingall Perigord, preaching evangelical poverty before the coming of St. Francis. [14]

Two great currents are apparent: on one side the Cathari, on the other, innumerable sects revolting from the Church by very fidelity toChristianity and the desire to return to the primitive Church. 

Among the sects of the second category the close of the twelfth centurysaw in Italy the rise of the _Poor Men_, who without doubt were a partof the movement of Arnold of Brescia; they denied the efficacy ofsacraments administered by unworthy hands. [15]

A true attempt at reform was made by the Waldenses. Their history, although better known, still remains obscure on certain sides; theirname, _Poor Men of Lyons_, recalls the former movement, with which theywere in close agreement, as also with the Humiliants. All these namesinvoluntarily suggest that by which St. Francis afterward called hisOrder. The analogy between the inspiration of Peter Waldo and that ofSt. Francis was so close that one might be tempted to believe the lattera sort of imitation of the former. It would be a mistake: the samecauses produced in all quarters the same effects; ideas of reform, of areturn to gospel poverty, were in the air, and this helps us tounderstand how it was that before many years the Franciscan preachingreverberated through the entire world. If at the outset the careers ofthese two men were alike, their later lives were very different. Waldo, driven into heresy almost in spite of himself, was obliged to accept theconsequences of the premises which he himself had laid down;[16] whileFrancis, remaining the obedient son of the Church, bent all his effortsto develop the inner life in himself and his disciples. It is indeedmost likely that through his father Francis had become acquainted withthe movement of the _Poor Men of Lyons_. Hence his oft-repeated counselsto his friars of the duty of submission to the clergy. When he went toseek the approbation of Innocent III. , it is evident that the prelateswith whom he had relations warned him, by the very example of Waldo, ofthe dangers inherent in his own movement. [17]

The latter had gone to Rome in 1179, accompanied by a few followers, toask at the same time the approbation of their translation of theScriptures into the vulgar tongue and the permission to preach. Theywere granted both requests on condition of gaining for their preachingthe authorization of their local clergy. Walter Map ([Cross] 1210), who wascharged with their examination, was constrained, while ridiculing theirsimplicity, to admire their poverty and zeal for the apostolic life. [18]Two or three years later they met a very different reception at Rome, and in 1184 they were anathematized by the Council of Verona. From thatday nothing could stop them, even to the forming of a new Church. Theymultiplied with a rapidity hardly exceeded afterward by the Franciscans. By the end of the twelfth century we find them spread abroad fromHungary to Spain; the first attempts to hunt them down were made in thelatter country. Other countries were at first satisfied with treatingthem as excommunicated persons. 

Obliged to hide themselves, reduced to the impossibility of holdingtheir chapters, which ought to have come together once or twice a year, and which, had they done so, might have maintained among them a certainunity of doctrine, the Waldenses rapidly underwent a change according totheir environment; some obstinately insisting upon calling themselvesgood Catholics, others going so far as to preach the overthrow of thehierarchy and the uselessness of sacraments. [19] Hence that multiplicityof differing and even hostile branches which seemed to develop almosthourly. 

A common persecution brought them nearer to the Cathari and favored thefusion of their ideas. Their activity was inconceivable. Under pretextof pilgrimages to Rome they were always on the road, simple andinsinuating. The methods of travel of that day were peculiarly favorableto the diffusion of ideas. While retailing news to those whosehospitality they received, they would speak of the unhappy state of theChurch and the reforms that were needed. Such conversations were a meansof apostleship much more efficacious than those of the present day, thebook and the newspaper; there is nothing like the _viva vox_[20] forspreading thought. 

Many vile stories have been told of the Waldenses; calumny is far toofacile a weapon not to tempt an adversary at bay. Thus they have beencharged with the same indecent promiscuities of which the earlyChristians were accused. In reality their true strength was in theirvirtues, which strongly contrasted with the vices of the clergy. 

The most powerful and determined enemies of the Church were the Cathari. Sincere, audacious, often learned and keen in argument, having amongthem some choice spirits and men of great intellectual powers, they werepre-eminently the heretics of the thirteenth century. Their revolt didnot bear upon points of detail and questions of discipline, like that ofthe early Waldenses; it had a definite doctrinal basis, taking issuewith the whole body of Catholic dogma. But, although this heresyflourished in Italy and under the very eyes of St. Francis, there isneed only to indicate it briefly. His work may have received manyinfiltrations from the Waldensian movement, but Catharism was whollyforeign to it. 

This is naturally explained by the fact that St. Francis never consentedto occupy himself with questions of doctrine. For him faith was not ofthe intellectual but the moral domain; it is the consecration of theheart. Time spent in dogmatizing appeared to him time lost. 

An incident in the life of Brother Egidio well brings out the slightesteem in which theology was held by the early Brothers Minor. One day, in the presence of St. Bonaventura, he cried, perhaps not without atouch of irony, "Alas! what shall we ignorant and simple ones do tomerit the favor of God?" "My brother, " replied the famous divine, "youknow very well that it suffices to love the Lord. " "Are you very sure ofthat?" replied Egidio; "do you believe that a simple woman might pleaseHim as well as a master in theology?" Upon the affirmative response ofhis interlocutor, he ran out into the street and calling to a beggarwoman with all his might, "Poor old creature, " he exclaimed, "rejoice, for if you love God, you may have a higher place in the kingdom ofheaven than Brother Bonaventura!"[21]

The Cathari, then, had no direct influence upon St. Francis, [22] butnothing could better prove the disturbance of thought at this epochthan that resurrection of Manicheism. To what a depth of lassitude andfolly must religious Italy have fallen for this mixture of Buddhism, Mazdeism, and gnosticism to have taken such hold upon it! The Catharistdoctrine rested upon the antagonism of two principles, one bad, theother good. The first had created matter; the second, the soul, which, for generation after generation passes from one body to another until itachieves salvation. Matter is the cause and the seat of evil; allcontact with it constitutes a blemish, [23] consequently the Catharirenounced marriage and property and advocated suicide. All this wasmixed up with most complicated cosmogonical myths. 

Their adherents were divided into two classes--the pure or perfect, andthe believers, who were proselytes in the second degree, and whoseobligations were very simple. The adepts, properly so called, wereinitiated by the ceremony of the _consolamentum_ or imposition of hands, which induced the descent upon them of the Consoling Spirit. Among themwere enthusiasts who after this ceremony placed themselves in_endura_--that is to say, they starved themselves to death in order notto descend from this state of grace. 

In Languedoc, where this sect went by the name of Albigenses, they hadan organization which embraced all Central Europe, and everywheresupported flourishing schools attended by the children of the nobles. InItaly they were hardly less powerful; Concorrezo, near Monza inLombardy, and Bagnolo, gave their names to two congregations slightlydifferent from those in Languedoc. [24]

But it was especially from Milan[25] that they spread abroad over allthe Peninsula, making proselytes even in the most remote districts ofCalabria. The state of anarchy prevailing in the country was veryfavorable to them. The papacy was too much occupied in baffling thespasmodic efforts of the Hohenstaufen, to put the necessary perseveranceand system into its struggles against heresy. Thus the new ideas werepreached under the very shadow of the Lateran; in 1209, Otho IV. , comingto Rome to be crowned, found there a school in which Manicheism waspublicly taught. [26]

With all his energy Innocent III. Had not been able to check this evilin the States of the Church. The case of Viterbo tells much of thedifficulty of repressing it; in March, 1199, the pope wrote to theclergy and people of this town to recall to their minds, and at the sametime to increase, the penalties pronounced against heresy. For all that, the Patarini had the majority in 1205, and succeeded in naming one ofthemselves consul. [27]

The wrath of the pontiff at this event was unbounded; he fulminated abull menacing the city with fire and sword, and commanding theneighboring towns to throw themselves upon her if within a fortnight shehad not given satisfaction. [28] It was all in vain: the Patarini weredealt with only as a matter of form; it needed the presence of the popehimself to assure the execution of his orders and obtain the demolitionof the houses of the heretics and their abettors (autumn of 1207). [29]

But stifled at one point the revolt burst out at a hundred others; atthis moment it was triumphant on all sides; at Ferrara, Verona, Rimini, Florence, Prato, Faenza, Treviso, Piacenza. The clergy were expelledfrom this last town, which remained more than three years without apriest. [30]

Viterbo is twenty leagues from Assisi, Orvieto only ten, anddisturbances in this town were equally grave. A noble Roman, PietroParentio, the deputy of the Holy See in this place, endeavored toexterminate the Patarini. He was assassinated. [31]

But Francis needed not to go even so far as Orvieto to become acquaintedwith heretics. In Assisi the same things were going on as in theneighboring cities. In 1203 this town had elected for podestà a hereticnamed Giraldo di Gilberto, and in spite of warnings from Rome hadpersisted in keeping him at the head of affairs until the expiration ofhis term of office (1204). Innocent III. , who had not yet been obligedto use vigor with Viterbo, resorted to persuasion and despatched toUmbria the Cardinal Leo di Santa Croce, who will appear more than oncein this history. [32] The successor of Giraldo and fifty of the principalcitizens made the _amende honorable_ and swore fidelity to the Church. 

It is easy to perceive in what a state of ferment Italy was during theseearly years of the thirteenth century. The moral discredit of the clergymust have been deep indeed for souls to have turned toward Manicheismwith such ardor. 

Italy may well be grateful to St. Francis; it was as much infected withCatharism as Languedoc, and it was he who wrought its purification. Hedid not pause to demonstrate by syllogisms or theological theses thevanity of the Catharist doctrines; but soaring as on wings to thereligious life, he suddenly made a new ideal to shine out before theeyes of his contemporaries, an ideal before which all these fantasticsects vanished as birds of the night take flight at the first rays ofthe sun. 

A great part of St. Francis's power came to him thus through hissystematic avoidance of polemics. The latter is always more or less aform of spiritual pride; it only deepens the chasm which it undertakesto fill up. Truth needs not to be proved; it is its own witness. 

The only weapon which he would use against the wicked was the holinessof a life so full of love as to enlighten and revive those about him, and compel them to love. [33] The disappearance of Catharism in Italy, without an upheaval, and above all without the Inquisition, is thus anindirect result of the Franciscan movement, and not the least importantamong them. [34]

At the voice of the Umbrian reformer Italy roused herself, recovered hergood sense and fine temper; she cast out those doctrines of pessimismand death, as a robust organism casts out morbid substances. 

I have already endeavored to show the strong analogy between the initialefforts of Francis and those of the Poor Men of Lyons. His thoughtripened in an atmosphere thoroughly saturated with their ideas;unconsciously to himself they entered into his being. 

The prophecies of the Calabrian abbot exerted upon him an influencequite as difficult to appreciate, but no less profound. 

Standing on the confines of Italy and as it were at the threshold ofGreece, Gioacchino di Fiore[35] was the last link in a chain of monasticprophets, who during nearly four hundred years succeeded one another inthe monasteries and hermitages of Southern Italy. The most famous amongthem had been St. Nilo, a sort of untamed John the Baptist, living indesert places, but suddenly emerging from them when his duties ofmaintaining the right called him elsewhere. We see him on one occasionappearing in Rome itself, to announce to pope and emperor the unloosingof the divine wrath. [36]

Scattered in the Alpine solitudes of Basilicata these Calabrian hermitswere continually obliged to retreat higher and higher into the mountainfastnesses to escape the populace, who, pursued by pirates, were takingrefuge in these mountains. They thus passed their lives between heavenand earth, with two seas for their horizon. Disquieted by fear of thecorsairs, and by the war-cries whose echoes reached even to them, theyturned their thoughts toward the future. The ages of great terror arealso the ages of great hope; it is to the captivity of Babylon that weowe, with the second part of Isaiah, those pictures of the future whichhave not yet ceased to charm the soul of man; Nero's persecutions gaveus the Apocalypse of St. John, and the paroxysms of the twelfth centurythe eternal Gospel. 

Converted after a life of dissipation, Gioacchino di Fiore travelledextensively in the Holy Land, Greece, and Constantinople. Returning toItaly he began, though a layman, to preach in the outskirts of Rende andCosenza. Later on he joined the Cistercians of Cortale, near Catanzaro, and there took vows. Shortly after elected abbot of the monastery inspite of refusal and even flight, he was seized after a few years withthe nostalgia of solitude, and sought from Pope Lucius III. A dischargefrom his functions (1181), that he might consecrate all his time to theworks which he had in mind. The pope granted his request, and evenpermitted him to go wherever he might deem best in the interest of hiswork. Then began for Gioacchino a life of wandering from convent toconvent, which carried him even as far as Lombardy, to Verona, where wefind him with Pope Urban III. 

When he returned to the south, a group of disciples gathered around himto hear his explanations of the most obscure passages of the Bible. Whether he would or no he was obliged to receive them, to talk withthem, to give them a rule, and, finally, to instal them in the veryheart of the Sila, the Black Forest of Italy, [37] over against thehighest peak, in gorges where the silence is interrupted only by themurmurs of the Arvo and the Neto, which have their source not far fromthere. The new Athos received the name of Fiore (flower), transparentsymbol of the hopes of its founder. [38] It was there that he put thefinishing touch to writings which, after fifty years of neglect, were tobecome the starting-point of all heresies, and the aliment of all soulsburdened with the salvation of Christendom. The men of the first half ofthe thirteenth century, too much occupied with other things, did notperceive that the spiritual streams at which they were drinkingdescended from the snowy mountain-tops of Calabria. 

It is always thus with mystical influences. There is in them somethingvague, tenuous, and penetrating which escapes an exact estimation. Lettwo choice souls meet, and they will find it a difficult thing toanalyze and name the impressions which each has received from the other. It is so with an epoch; it is not always those who speak to her theoftenest and loudest whom she best understands; nor even those at whosefeet she sits, a faithful pupil, day after day. Sometimes, while on theway to her accustomed masters, she suddenly meets a stranger; she barelycatches a few words of what he says; she knows not whence he comes norwhither he goes; she never sees him again, but those few words of his goon surging in the depths of her soul, agitating and disquieting her. 

Thus it was for a long while with Gioacchino di Fiore. His teachings, scattered here and there by enthusiastic disciples, were germinatingsilently in many hearts. [39] Giving back hope to men, they restored tothem strength also. To think is already to act; alone under the shadowof the hoary pines which surrounded his cell, the cenobite of Fiore waslaboring for the renovation of the Church with as much vigor as thereformers who came after him. 

He was, however, far from attaining the height of the prophets ofIsrael; instead of soaring like them to the very heavens, he alwaysremained riveted to the text, upon which he commented in the allegoricalmethod, and whence by this method he brought out the most fantasticimprobabilities. A few pages of his books would wear out the mostpatient reader, but in these fields, burnt over by theological argumentsmore drying than the winds of the desert, fields where one at firstperceives only stones and thistles, one comes at last to the charmingoasis, with repose and dreams in its shade. 

The exegesis of Gioacchino di Fiore in fact led up to a sort ofphilosophy of history; its grand lines were calculated to make astriking appeal to the imagination. The life of humanity is divided intothree periods: in the first, under the reign of the Father, men livedunder the rigor of the law; in the second, reigned over by the Son, menlive under the rule of grace; in the third, the Spirit shall reign andmen shall live in the plenitude of love. The first is the period ofservile obedience; the second, that of filial obedience; the third, thatof liberty. In the first, men lived in fear; in the second, they rest infaith; in the third, they shall burn with love. The first saw theshining of the stars; the second sees the whitening of the dawn; thethird will behold the glory of the day. The first produced nettles, thesecond gives roses, the third will be the age of lilies. 

If now we consider that in the thought of Gioacchino the third period, the Age of the Spirit, was about to open, we shall understand with whatenthusiasm men hailed the words which restored joy to hearts stilldisturbed with millenarian fears. 

It is evident that St. Francis knew these radiant hopes. Who knows eventhat it was not the Calabrian Seer who awoke his heart to its transportsof love? If this be so, Gioacchino was not merely his precursor; he washis true spiritual father. However this may be, St. Francis found inGioacchino's thought many of the elements which, unconsciously tohimself, were to become the foundation of his institute. 

The noble disdain which he shows for all men of learning, and which hesought to inculcate upon his Order, was for Gioacchino one of thecharacteristics of the new era. "The truth which remains hidden to thewise, " he says, "is revealed to babes; dialectics closes that which isopen, obscures that which is clear; it is the mother of useless talk, ofrivalries and blasphemy. Learning does not edify, and it may destroy, asis proved by the scribes of the Church, swollen with pride andarrogance, who by dint of reasoning fall into heresy. "[40]

We have seen that the return to evangelical simplicity had become anecessity; all the heretical sects were on this point in accord withpious Catholics, but no one spoke in a manner so Franciscan asGioacchino di Fiore. Not only did he make voluntary poverty one of thecharacteristics of the age of lilies, but he speaks of it in his pageswith so profound, so living an emotion, that St. Francis could do littlemore than repeat his words. The ideal monk whom he describes, [41] whoseonly property is a lyre, is a true Franciscan before the letter, him ofwhom the _Poverello_ of Assisi always dreamed. 

The feeling for nature also bursts forth in him with incomparable vigor. One day he was preaching in a chapel which was plunged in almost totaldarkness, the sky being quite overcast with clouds. Suddenly the cloudsbroke away, the sun shone, the church was flooded with light. Gioacchinopaused, saluted the sun, intoned the _Veni Creator_, and led hiscongregation out to gaze upon the landscape. 

It would be by no means surprising if toward 1205 Francis should haveheard of this prophet, toward whom so many hearts were turning, thisanchorite who, gazing up into heaven, spoke with Jesus as a friend talkswith his friend, yet knew also how to come down to console men and warmthe faces of the dying at his own breast. 

At the other end of Europe, in the heart of Germany, the same causes hadproduced the same effects. From the excess of the people's sufferingsand the despair of religious souls was being born a movement ofapocalyptic mysticism which seemed to have secret communication withthat which was rousing the Peninsula. They had the same views of thefuture, the same anxious expectation of new cataclysms, joined with aprospect of a reviving of the Church. 

"Cry with a loud voice, " said her guardian angel to St. Elizabeth ofSchonau ([Cross] 1164), "cry to all nations: Woe! for the whole world hasbecome darkness. The Lord's vine has withered, there is no one to tendit. The Lord has sent laborers, but they have all been found idle. Thehead of the Church is ill and her members are dead. . . . Shepherds of myChurch, you are sleeping, but I shall awaken you! Kings of the earth, the cry of your iniquity has risen even to me. "[42]

"Divine justice, " said St. Hildegarde ([Cross] 1178), "shall have its hour;the last of the seven epochs symbolized by the seven days of creationhas arrived, the judgments of God are about to be accomplished; theempire and the papacy, sunk into impiety, shall crumble awaytogether. . . . But upon their ruins shall appear a new nation of God, anation of prophets illuminated from on high, living in poverty andsolitude. Then the divine mysteries shall be revealed, and the sayingof Joel shall be fulfilled; the Holy Spirit shall shed abroad upon thepeople the dew of his prophecies, of his wisdom and holiness; theheathen, the Jews, the worldly and the unbelieving shall be convertedtogether, spring-time and peace shall reign over a regenerated world, and the angels will return with confidence to dwell among men. "

These hopes were not wholly confounded. In the evening of his days theprophet of Fiore was able, like a new Simeon, to utter his _Nuncdimittis_, and for a few years Christendom could turn in amazement toAssisi as to a new Bethlehem. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Bull of June 8, 1198, _Quamvis_. Migne, i. , col. 220; Potthast, 265. 

 [2] For example, Pierre, Cardinal of St. Chryzogone and former Bishop of Meaux, who in a single election refused the dazzling offer of five hundred silver marks. Alexander III. , Migne's edition, _epist. _ 395. 

 [3] _Fasciculus rerum expetend. Et fugiend. _, t. Ii. , 7, pp. 254, 255 (Brown, 1690). 

 [4] John of Salisbury, _Policrat. _ Migne, v. 15. 

 [5] Among their sources of revenue we find the right of _collagium_, by payment of which clerics acquired the right to keep a concubine. Pierre le Chantre, _Verb. Abbrev. _, 24. 

 [6] Vide _Carmina Burana_, Breslau, 8vo, 1883; Political Songs of England, published by Th. Wright, London, 8vo, 1893; _Poésies populaires latines du moyen âge_, du Méril, Paris, 1847. See also Raynouard, _Lexique roman_, i. , 446, 451, 464, the fine poems of the troubadour Pierre Cardinal, contemporary of St. Francis, upon the woes of the Church, and Dante, _Inferno_, xix. If one would gain an idea of what the bishop of a small city in those days cost his flock, he has only to read the bull of February 12, 1219, _Justis petentium_, addressed by Honorius III. To the Bishop of Terni, and including the contract by which the inhabitants of that city settled the revenues of the episcopal see. Horoy, t. Iii. , col. 114, or the _Bullarium romanum_, t. Iii. , p. 348, Turin. 

 [7] _Conosco sacerdoti che fanno gli usura per formare un patrimonio da lasciare ai loro spurii; altri che tengono osteria coll' insegna del collare e vendono vino_ . . . Salimbene, Cantarelli, Parma, 1882, 2 vols. , 8vo, ii. , p. 307. 

 [8] Vide _Brevis historia Prior. _ _Grandimont. --Stephani Tornacensis. _ Epist. 115, 152, 153, 156, 162; Honorius III. , Horoy's edition, lib. I. , 280, 284, 286-288; ii. , 12, 130, 136, 383-387. 

 [9] Guérard, _Cartulaire de N. D. De Paris_, t. I. , p. Cxi; t. Ii. , p. 406. Cf. Honorius III. , Bull _Inter statuta_ of July 25, 1223, Horoy, t. Iv. , col. 401. See also canon 23 of the Council of Beziers, 1233; Guibert de Gemblours, _epist. _ 5 and 6 (Migne); Honorius III. , lib. Ix. , 32, 81; ii. , 193; iv. , 10; iii. , 253 and 258; iv. , 33, 27, 70, 144; v. , 56, 291, 420, 430; vi. , 214, 132, 139, 204; vii. , 127; ix. , 51. 

 [10] Vide Bull _Postquam vocante Domino_ of July 11, 1206. Potthast 2840. 

 [11] V. _Annales Stadenses_ [_Monumenta Germaniĉ historica, Scriptorum_, t. 16], _ad ann. 1237_. Among the comprehensive pictures of the situation of the Church in the thirteenth century, there is none more interesting than that left us by the Cardinal Jacques de Vitry in his _Historia occidentalis: Libri duo quorum prior Orientalis, alter Occidentalis historiĉ nomine inscribitur Duaci_, 1597, 16mo. Pp. 259-480. 

 [12] V. Honorius III. , Horoy's edition, lib. I. , ep. 109, 125, 135, 206, 273; ii. , 128, 164; iv. , 120, etc. 

 [13] _Dialogus miraculorum_ of Cesar of Heisterbach [Strange's edition, Cologne, 1851, 2 vols. , 8vo], t. Ii. , pp. 255 and 125. This book, with the Golden Legend of Giacomo di Varaggio, gives the best idea of the state of religious thought in the thirteenth century. 

 [14] _Recueil des historiens de France. _ Bouquet, t. Xii. , pp. 550, 551. 

 [15] Bonacorsi: _Vitĉ hĉreticorum_ [d'Achery, _Spicilegium_, t. I. , p. 215] Cf. Lucius III. , epist. 171, Migne. 

 [16] Vide Bernard Gui, _Practica inquisitionis_, Douai edition, 4to, Paris, 1886 p. 244 ff. , and especially the Vatican MS. , 2548, folio 71. 

 [17] A chronicle of St. Francis's time makes this same comparison: Burchard, Abbot of Urspurg ([Cross] 1226) [_Burchardi et Cuonradi chronicon. Monum. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 23], has left us an account of the approbation of Francis by the Pope, all the more precious for being that of a contemporary. _Loc. Cit. _, p. 376. 

 [18] _De nugis Curialium_, Dist. 1, cap. 31, p. 64, Wright's edition. Cf. _Chronique de Laon_, Bouquet xiii. , p. 680. 

 [19] See, for example, the letter of the Italian branch of the Poor Men of Lyons [_Pauperos Lombardi_] to their brethren of Germany, there called Leonistes. In it they show the points in which they are not in harmony with the French Waldenses. Published by Preger: _Abhandlungen der K. Bayer. Akademie der Wiss. Hist. Cl. _, t. Xiii. , 1875, p. 19 ff. 

 [20] These continual journeyings sometimes gained for them the name of _Passagieni_, as in the south of France the preachers of certain sects are to-day called _Courriers_. The term, however, specially designates a Judaizing sect who returned to the literal observation of the Mosaic law: Döllinger, _Beiträge_, t. Ii. , pp. 327 and 375. They should therefore be identified with the _Circonsisi_ of the constitution of Frederic II. (Huillard-Bréholles, t. V. , p. 280). See especially the fine monograph of M. C. Molinier: _Mémoires de l'Académie de Toulouse_, 1888. 

 [21] A. SS. , Aprilis, t. Iii. , p. 238d. 

 [22] I would say that between the inspiration of Francis and the Catharian doctrines there is an irreconcilable opposition; but it would not be difficult to find acts and words of his which recall the contempt for matter of the Cathari; for example, his way of treating his body. Some of his counsels to the friars: _Unusquisque habet in potestate sua inimicum suum videlicit corpus, per quod peccat. _ Assisi MS. 338, folio 20b. Conform. 138, b. 2. --_Cum majorem inimicum corpore non habeam. _ 2 Cel. , 3, 63. These are momentary but inevitable obscurations, moments of forgetfulness, of discouragement, when a man is not himself, and repeats mechanically what he hears said around him. The real St. Francis is, on the contrary, the lover of nature, he who sees in the whole creation the work of divine goodness, the radiance of the eternal beauty, he who, in the Canticle of the Creatures, sees in the body not the Enemy but a brother: _Cĉpit hilariter loqui ad corpus; Gaude, frater corpus. _ 2 Cel. , 3, 137. 

 [23] _Quodam die, dicta fabrissa dixit ipsi testi prĉgnanti, quod rogaret Deum, ut liberaret eam a Dĉmone, quem habebat in ventre . . . Gulielmus dixit quod ita magnum peccatum erat jacere cum uxore sua quam cum concubina. _ Döllinger, _loc. Cit. _, pp. 24, 35. 

 [24] Those of the _Concorrezenses_ and _Bajolenses_. In Italy _Cathari_ becomes _Gazzari_; for that matter, each country had its special appellatives; one of the most general in the north was that of the _Bulgari_, which marks the oriental origin of the sect, whence the slang term Boulgres and its derivatives (vide Matthew Paris, ann. 1238). Cf. Schmit, _Histoire des Cathares_, 8vo, 2 vols, Paris, 1849. 

 [25] The most current name in Italy was that of the _Patarini_, given them no doubt from their inhabiting the quarter of second-hand dealers in Milan: _la contrada dei Patari_, found in many cities. _Patari!_ is still the cry of the ragpickers in the small towns of Provence. In the thirteenth century Patarino and Catharo were synonyms. But before that the term Patarini had an entirely different sense. See the very remarkable study of M. Felice Tocco on this subject in his _Eresia net medio evo_, 12mo, Florence, 1884. 

 [26] Cesar von Heisterbach, _Dial. Mirac. _, t. I. , p. 309, Strange's edition. 

 [27] _Innocentii opera_, Migne, t. I. , col. 537; t. Ii. , 654. 

 [28] _Computruistis in peccatis sicut jumenta in stercore suo ut fumus ac fimus putrefactionis vestrĉ jam fere circumadjacentes regionis infecerit, ac ipsum Dominum ut credimus ad nauseam provocaverit. _ _Loc. Cit. _, col. 654. Cf. 673; Potthast, 2532, 2539. 

 [29] _Gesta Innocentii_, Migne, t. I. , col. Clxii. Cf. _epist. _ viii. , 85 and 105. 

 [30] Campi, _Historia Ecclesiastica di Piacenza_, parte ii. , p. 92 ff. Cf. _Innoc. , epist. _ ix. , 131, 166-169; x. , 54, 64, 222. 

 [31] A. SS. , Maii, t. V. , p. 87. 

 [32] Bull of June 6, 1205, Potthast, 2237; Migne, vii. , 83. This Cardinal Leo (of the presbyterial title of Holy Cross of Jerusalem) was one most valued by Innocent III. To him and Ugolini, the future Gregory IX. , he at this epoch confided the most delicate missions (for example, in 1209, they were named legates to Otho IV. ). This embassy shows in what importance the pope held the affairs of Assisi, though it was a very small city. 

 [33] Not once do we find him fighting heretics. The early Dominicans, on the contrary, are incessantly occupied with arguing. See 2 Cel. , 3, 46. 

 [34] It need not be said that I do not assert that no trace of it is to be found after the ministry of St. Francis, but it was no longer a force, and no longer endangered the very existence of the Church. 

 [35] This strange personality will charm historians and philosophers for a long while to come. I know nothing more learned or more luminous than M. Felice Tocco's fine study in his _Eresia nel medio evo_, Florence, 1884, 1 vol. , 12mo, pp. 261-409. 

 [36] A. SS. , Sept. , t. Vii. , p. 283 ff. 

 [37] A. SS. , Maii, vii. ; Vincent de Beauvais, _Speculum historiale_, _lib. _ 29, _cap. _ 40. La Sila is a wooded mountain, situated eastward from Cosenza, which the peasants call _Monte Nero_. The summits are nearly 2, 000 metres above the sea. 

 [38] Toward 1195. Gioacchino died there, March 30, 1202. 

 [39] A whole apochryphal literature has blossomed out around Gioacchino; certain hypercritics have tried to prove that he never wrote anything. These are exaggerations. Three large works are certainly authentic: _The Agreement of the Old and New Testaments_, _The Commentary on the Apocalypse_, and _The Psaltery of Ten Strings_, published in Venice, the first in 1517, the two others in 1527. His prophecies were so well known, even in his lifetime, that an English Cistercian, Rudolph, Abbot of Coggeshall ([Cross] 1228), coming to Rome in 1195, sought a conference with him and has left us an interesting account of it. Martène, _Amplissima Collectio_, t. V. , p. 839. 

 [40] _Comm. In apoc. _, folio 78, b. 2. 

 [41] _Qui vere monachus est nihil reputat esse suum nisi citharam:_ Apoc. , ib. , folio 183. A. 2. 

 [42] E. Roth, _Die Visionen der heiligen Elisabeth von Schönau_: Brünn, 1884, pp. 115-117. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER IV

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPH

Spring of 1206-February 24, 1209

The biographies of St. Francis have preserved to us an incident whichshows how great was the religious ferment even in the little city ofAssisi. A stranger was seen to go up and down the streets saying toevery one he met, "Peace and welfare!" (_Pax et bonum. _)[1] He thusexpressed in his own way the disquietude of those hearts which couldneither resign themselves to perpetual warfare nor to the disappearanceof faith and love; artless echo, vibrating in response to the hopes andfears that were shaking all Europe!

_"Vox clamantis in deserto!"_ it will be said. No, for every heart-cryleaves its trace even when it seems to be uttered in empty air, and thatof the Unknown of Assisi may have contributed in some measure toFrancis's definitive call. 

Since his abrupt return from Spoleto, life in his father's house hadbecome daily more difficult. Bernardone's self-love had received fromhis son's discomfiture such a wound as with commonplace men is neverhealed. He might provide, without counting it, money to be swallowed upin dissipation, that so his son might stand on an equal footing with theyoung nobles; he could never resign himself to see him giving withlavish hands to every beggar in the streets. 

Francis, continually plunged in reverie and spending his days in lonelywanderings in the fields, was no longer of the least use to his father. Months passed, and the distance between the two men grew ever wider; andthe gentle and loving Pica could do nothing to prevent a rupture whichfrom this time appeared to be inevitable. Francis soon came to feel onlyone desire, to flee from the abode where, in the place of love, he foundonly reproaches, upbraidings, anguish. 

The faithful confidant of his earlier struggles had been obliged toleave him, and this absolute solitude weighed heavily upon his warm andloving heart. He did what he could to escape from it, but no oneunderstood him. The ideas which he was beginning timidly to expressevoked from those to whom he spoke only mocking smiles or thehead-shakings which men sure that they are right bestow upon him who ismarching straight to madness. He even went to open his mind to thebishop, but the latter understood no more than others his vague, incoherent plans, filled with ideas impossible to realize and possiblysubversive. [2] It was thus that in spite of himself Francis was led toask nothing of men, but to raise himself by prayer to intuitiveknowledge of the divine will. The doors of houses and of hearts werealike closing upon him, but the interior voice was about to speak outwith irresistible force and make itself forever obeyed. 

Among the numerous chapels in the suburbs of Assisi there was one whichhe particularly loved, that of St. Damian. It was reached by a fewminutes' walk over a stony path, almost trackless, under olive trees, amid odors of lavender and rosemary. Standing on the top of a hillock, the entire plain is visible from it, through a curtain of cypresses andpines which seem to be trying to hide the humble hermitage and set upan ideal barrier between it and the world. 

Served by a poor priest who had scarcely the wherewithal for necessaryfood, the sanctuary was falling into ruin. There was nothing in theinterior but a simple altar of masonry, and by way of reredos one ofthose byzantine crucifixes still so numerous in Italy, where through thework of the artists of the time has come down to us something of theterrors which agitated the twelfth century. In general the CrucifiedOne, frightfully lacerated, with bleeding wounds, appears to seek toinspire only grief and compunction; that of St. Damian, on the contrary, has an expression of inexpressible calm and gentleness; instead ofclosing the eyelids in eternal surrender to the weight of suffering, itlooks down in self-forgetfulness, and its pure, clear gaze says, not "_Isuffer_, " but, "_Come unto me_. "[3]

One day Francis was praying before the poor altar: "Great and gloriousGod, and thou, Lord Jesus, I pray ye, shed abroad your light in thedarkness of my mind. . . . Be found of me, Lord, so that in all things Imay act only in accordance with thy holy will. "[4]

Thus he prayed in his heart, and behold, little by little it seemed tohim that his gaze could not detach itself from that of Jesus; he feltsomething marvellous taking place in and around him. The sacred victimtook on life, and in the outward silence he was aware of a voice whichsoftly stole into the very depths of his heart, speaking to him anineffable language. Jesus accepted his oblation. Jesus desired hislabor, his life, all his being, and the heart of the poor solitary wasalready bathed in light and strength. [5]

This vision marks the final triumph of Francis. His union with Christ isconsummated; from this time he can exclaim with the mystics of everyage, "My beloved is mine, and I am his. "

But instead of giving himself up to transports of contemplation he atonce asks himself how he may repay to Jesus love for love, in whataction he shall employ this life which he has just offered to him. Hehad not long to seek. We have seen that the chapel where his spiritualespousals had just been celebrated was threatened with ruin. He believedthat to repair it was the work assigned to him. 

From that day the remembrance of the Crucified One, the thought of thelove which had triumphed in immolating itself, became the very centre ofhis religious life and as it were the soul of his soul. For the firsttime, no doubt, Francis had been brought into direct, personal, intimatecontact with Jesus Christ; from belief he had passed to faith, to thatliving faith which a distinguished thinker has so well defined: "Tobelieve is to look; it is a serious, attentive, and prolonged look; alook more simple than that of observation, a look which looks, andnothing more; artless, infantine, it has all the soul in it, it is alook of the soul and not the mind, a look which does not seek to analyzeits object, but which receives it as a whole into the soul through theeyes. " In these words Vinet unconsciously has marvellously characterizedthe religious temperament of St. Francis. 

This look of love cast upon the crucifix, this mysterious colloquy withthe compassionate victim, was never more to cease. At St. Damian, St. Francis's piety took on its outward appearance and its originality. Fromthis time his soul bears the stigmata, and as his biographers have saidin words untranslatable, _Ab illa hora vulneratum et liquefactum estcor ejus ed memoriam Dominicĉ passionis. _[6]

From that time his way was plain before him. Coming out from thesanctuary, he gave the priest all the money he had about him to keep alamp always burning, and with ravished heart he returned to Assisi. Hehad decided to quit his father's house and undertake the restoration ofthe chapel, after having broken the last ties that bound him to thepast. A horse and a few pieces of gayly colored stuffs were all that hepossessed. Arrived at home he made a packet of the stuffs, and mountinghis horse he set out for Foligno. This city was then as now the mostimportant commercial town of all the region. Its fairs attracted thewhole population of Umbria and the Sabines. Bernardone had often takenhis son there, [7] and Francis speedily succeeded in selling all he hadbrought. He even parted with his horse, and full of joy set out upon theroad to Assisi. [8]

This act was to him most important; it marked his final rupture with thepast; from this day on his life was to be in all points the opposite ofwhat it had been; the Crucified had given himself to him; he on his sidehad given himself to the Crucified without reserve or return. Touncertainty, disquietude of soul, anguish, longing for an unknown good, bitter regrets, had succeeded a delicious calm, the ecstasy of the lostchild who finds his mother, and forgets in a moment the torture of hisheart. 

From Foligno he returned direct to St. Damian; it was not necessary topass through the city, and he was in haste to put his projects intoexecution. 

The poor priest was surprised enough when Francis handed over to him thewhole product of his sale. He doubtless thought that a passing quarrelhad occurred between Bernardone and his son, and for greater prudencerefused the gift; but Francis so insisted upon remaining with him thathe finally gave him leave to do so. As to the money, now become useless, Francis cast it as a worthless object upon a window-seat in thechapel. [9]

Meanwhile Bernardone, disturbed by his son's failure to return, soughtfor him in all quarters, and was not long in learning of his presence atSt. Damian. In a moment he perceived that Francis was lost to him. Resolved to try every means, he collected a few neighbors, and furiouswith rage hastened to the hermitage to snatch him away, if need were, bymain force. 

But Francis knew his father's violence. When he heard the shouts ofthose who were in pursuit of him he felt his courage fail and hurried toa hiding-place which he had prepared for himself for precisely such anemergency. Bernardone, no doubt ill seconded in the search, ransackedevery corner, but was obliged at last to return to Assisi without hisson. Francis remained hidden for long days, weeping and groaning, imploring God to show him the path he ought to follow. Notwithstandinghis fears he had an infinite joy at heart, and at no price would he haveturned back. [10]

This seclusion could not last long. Francis perceived this, and toldhimself that for a newly made knight of the Christ he was cutting a verypitiful figure. Arming himself, therefore, with courage, he went one dayto the city to present himself before his father and make known to himhis resolution. 

It is easy to imagine the changes wrought in his appearance by thesefew weeks of seclusion, passed much of them in mental anguish. When heappeared, pale, cadaverous, his clothes in tatters, upon what is now the_Piazza Nuova_, where hundreds of children play all day long, he wasgreeted with a great shout, "_Pazzo, Pazzo_!" (A madman! a madman!) "_Unpazzo ne fa cento_" (One madman makes a hundred more), says the proverb, but one must have seen the delirious excitement of the street childrenof Italy at the sight of a madman to gain an idea how true it is. Themoment the magic cry resounds they rush into the street with frightfuldin, and while their parents look on from the windows, they surround theunhappy sufferer with wild dances mingled with songs, shouts, and savagehowls. They throw stones at him, fling mud upon him, blindfold him; ifhe flies into a rage, they double their insults; if he weeps or begs forpity, they repeat his cries and mimic his sobs and supplications withoutrespite and without mercy. [11]

Bernardone soon heard the clamor which filled the narrow streets, andwent out to enjoy the show; suddenly he thought he heard his own nameand that of his son, and bursting with shame and rage he perceivedFrancis. Throwing himself upon him, as if to throttle him, he draggedhim into the house and cast him, half dead, into a dark closet. Threats, bad usage, everything was brought to bear to change the prisoner'sresolves, but all in vain. At last, wearied out and desperate, he lefthim in peace, though not without having firmly bound him. [12]

A few days after he was obliged to be absent for a short time. Pica, hiswife, understood only too well his grievances against Francis, butfeeling that violence would be of no avail she resolved to trygentleness. It was all in vain. Then, not being able longer to see himthus tortured, she set him at liberty. 

He returned straight to St. Damian. [13]

Bernardone, on his return, went so far as to strike Pica in punishmentfor her weakness. Then, unable to tolerate the thought of seeing his sonthe jest of the whole city, he tried to procure his expulsion from theterritory of Assisi. Going to St. Damian he summoned him to leave thecountry. This time Francis did not try to hide. Boldly presentinghimself before his father, he declared to him that not only wouldnothing induce him to abandon his resolutions, but that, moreover, having become the servant of Christ, he had no longer to receive ordersfrom him. [14] As Bernardone launched out into invective, reproachinghim with the enormous sums which he had cost him, Francis showed him bya gesture the money which he had brought back from the sale at Folignolying on the window-ledge. The father greedily seized it and went away, resolving to appeal to the magistrates. 

The consuls summoned Francis to appear before them, but he repliedsimply that as servant of the Church he did not come under theirjurisdiction. Glad of this response, which relieved them of a delicatedilemma, they referred the complainant to the diocesan authorities. [15]

The matter took on another aspect before the ecclesiastical tribunal; itwas idle to dream of asking the bishop to pronounce a sentence ofbanishment, since it was his part to preserve the liberty of theclerics. Bernardone could do no more than disinherit his son, or atleast induce him of his own accord to renounce all claim upon hisinheritance. This was not difficult. 

When called upon to appear before the episcopal tribunal[16] Francisexperienced a lively joy; his mystical espousals to the Crucified Onewere now to receive a sort of official consecration. To this Jesus, whomhe had so often blasphemed and betrayed by word and conduct, he wouldnow be able with equal publicity to promise obedience and fidelity. 

It is easy to imagine the sensation which all this caused in a smalltown like Assisi, and the crowd that on the appointed day pressed towardthe Piazza of Santa Maria Maggiore, where the bishop pronouncedsentence. [17] Every one held Francis to be assuredly mad, but theyanticipated with relish the shame and rage of Bernardone, whom every onedetested, and whose pride was so well punished by all this. 

The bishop first set forth the case, and advised Francis to simply giveup all his property. To the great surprise of the crowd the latter, instead of replying, retired to a room in the bishop's palace, andimmediately reappeared absolutely naked, holding in his hand the packetinto which he had rolled his clothes; these he laid down before thebishop with the little money that he still had kept, saying: "Listen, all of you, and understand it well; until this time I have called PietroBernardone my father, but now I desire to serve God. This is why Ireturn to him this money, for which he has given himself so muchtrouble, as well as my clothing, and all that I have had from him, forfrom henceforth I desire to say nothing else than '_Our Father, who artin heaven_. '"

A long murmur arose from the crowd when Bernardone was seen to gather upand carry off the clothing without the least evidence of compassion, while the bishop was fain to take under his mantle the poor Francis, who was trembling with emotion and cold. [18]

The scene of the judgment hall made an immense impression; the ardor, simplicity, and indignation of Francis had been so profound and sincerethat scoffers were disconcerted. On that day he won for himself a secretsympathy in many souls. The populace loves such abrupt conversions, orthose which it considers such. Francis once again forced himself uponthe attention of his fellow-citizens with a power all the greater forthe contrast between his former and his new life. 

There are pious folk whose modesty is shocked by the nudity of Francis;but Italy is not Germany nor England, and the thirteenth century wouldhave been astonished indeed at the prudery of the Bollandists. Theincident is simply a new manifestation of Francis's character, with itsingenuousness, its exaggerations, its longing to establish a completeharmony, a literal correspondence, between words and actions. 

After emotions such as he had just experienced he felt the need of beingalone, of realizing his joy, of singing the liberty he had finallyachieved along all the lines where once he had so deeply suffered, soardently struggled. He would not, therefore, return immediately to St. Damian. Leaving the city by the nearest gate, he plunged into thedeserted paths which climb the sides of Mount Subasio. 

It was the early spring. Here and there were still great drifts of snow, but under the ardor of the March sun winter seemed to own itselfvanquished. In the midst of this mysterious and bewildering harmony theheart of Francis felt a delicious thrill, all his being was calmed anduplifted, the soul of things caressed him gently and shed upon himpeace. An unwonted happiness swept over him; he made the forest toresound with his hymns of praise. 

Men utter in song emotions too sweet or too deep to be expressed inordinary language, but unworded music is in this respect superior tosong, it is above all things the language of the ineffable. Song gainsalmost the same value when the words are only there as a support for thevoice. The great beauty of the psalms and hymns of the Church lies inthe fact that being sung in an unknown tongue they make no appeal to theintelligence; they say nothing, but they express everything withmarvellous modulations like a celestial accompaniment, which follows thebeliever's emotions from the most agonizing struggles to the mostunspeakable ecstasies. 

So Francis went on his way, deeply inhaling the odors of spring, singingat the top of his voice one of those songs of French chivalry which hehad learned in days gone by. 

The forest in which he was walking was the usual retreat of such peopleof Assisi and its environs as had any reason for hiding. Some ruffians, aroused by his voice, suddenly fell upon him. "Who are you?" they asked. "I am the herald of the great King, " he answered "but what is that toyou?"

His only garment was an old mantle which the bishop's gardener had lenthim at his master's request. They stripped it from him, and throwing himinto a ditch full of snow, "There is your place, poor herald of God, "they said. 

The robbers gone, he shook off the snow which covered him, and after mayefforts succeeded in extricating himself from the ditch. Stiff withcold, with no other covering than a worn-out shirt, he none the lessresumed his singing, happy to suffer and thus to accustom himself thebetter to understand the words of the Crucified One. [19]

Not far away was a monastery. He entered and offered his services. Inthose solitudes, peopled often by such undesirable neighbors, peoplewere suspicious. The monks permitted him to make himself useful in thekitchen, but they gave him nothing to cover himself with and hardlyanything to eat. There was nothing for it but to go away; he directedhis steps toward Gubbio, where he knew that he should find a friend. Perhaps this was he who had been his confidant on his return fromSpoleto. However this may be, he received from him a tunic, and a fewdays after set out to return to his dear St. Damian. [20]

He did not, however, go directly thither; before beginning to restorethe little sanctuary, he desired to see again his friends, the lepers, to promise them that he would love them even better than in the past. 

Since his first visit to the leper-house the brilliant cavalier hadbecome a poor beggar; he came with empty hands but with heartoverflowing with tenderness and compassion. Taking up his abode in themidst of these afflicted ones he lavished upon them the most touchingcare, washing and wiping their sores, all the more gentle and radiant astheir sores were more repulsive. [21] The neglected sufferer is as muchblinded by love of him who comes to visit him as the child by its lovefor its mother. He believes him to be all powerful; at his approach themost painful sufferings are eased or disappear. 

This love inspired by the sympathy of an affectionate heart may becomeso deep as to appear at times supernatural; the dying have been known torecover consciousness in order to look for the last time into the face, not of some member of the family, but of the friend who has tried to bethe sunshine of their last days. The ties of pure love are stronger thanthe bonds of flesh and blood. Francis had many a time sweet experienceof this; from the time of his arrival at the leper-house he felt that ifhe had lost his life he was about to find it again. 

Encouraged by his sojourn among the lepers, he returned to St. Damianand went to work, filled with joy and ardor, his heart as much in thesunshine as the Umbrian plain in this beautiful month of May. Afterhaving fashioned for himself a hermit's dress, he began to go into thesquares and open places of the city. There having sung a few hymns, hewould announce to those who gathered around him his project of restoringthe chapel. "Those who will give me one stone, " he would add with asmile, "shall have a reward; those who give me two shall have tworewards, and those who give me three shall have three. "

Many deemed him mad, but others were deeply moved by the remembrance ofthe past. As for Francis, deaf to mockery, he spared himself no labor, carrying upon his shoulders, so ill-fitted for severe toil, the stoneswhich were given him. [22]

During this time the poor priest of St. Damian felt his heart swellingwith love for this companion who had at first caused him suchembarrassment, and he strove to prepare for him his favorite dishes. Francis soon perceived it. His delicacy took alarm at the expense whichhe caused his friend, and, thanking him, he resolved to beg his foodfrom door to door. 

It was not an easy task. The first time, when at the end of his round heglanced at the broken food in his wallet, he felt his courage fail him. But the thought of being so soon unfaithful to the spouse to whom he hadplighted his faith made his blood run cold with shame and gave himstrength to eat ravenously. [23]

Each hour, so to speak, brought to him a new struggle. One day he wasgoing through the town begging for oil for the lamps of St. Damian, whenhe arrived at a house where a banquet was going on; the greater numberof his former companions were there, singing and dancing. At the soundof those well-known voices he felt as if he could not enter; he eventurned away, but very soon, filled with confusion by his own cowardice, he returned quickly upon his steps, made his way into the banquet-hall, and after confessing his shame, put so much earnestness and fire intohis request that every one desired to co-operate in this piouswork. [24]

His bitterest trial however was his father's anger, which remained asviolent as ever. Although he had renounced Francis, Bernardone's pridesuffered none the less at seeing his mode of life, and whenever he methis son he overwhelmed him with reproaches and maledictions. The tenderheart of Francis was so wrung with sorrow that he resorted to a sort ofstratagem for charming away the spell of the paternal imprecations. "Come with me, " he said to a beggar; "be to me as a father, and I willgive you a part of the alms which I receive. When you see Bernardonecurse me, if I say, 'Bless me, my father, ' you must sign me with thecross and bless me in his stead. "[25] His brother was prominent in thefront rank of those who harassed him with their mockeries. One wintermorning they met in a church; Angelo leaned over to a friend who waswith him, saying: "Go, ask Francis to sell you a farthing's worth of hissweat. " "No, " replied the latter, who overheard. "I shall sell it muchdearer to my God. "

In the spring of 1208 he finished the restoration of St. Damian; he hadbeen aided by all people of good will, setting the example of work andabove all of joy, cheering everybody by his songs and his projects forthe future. He spoke with such enthusiasm and contagious warmth of thetransformation of his dear chapel, of the grace which God would accordto those who should come there to pray, that later on it was believedthat he had spoken of Clara and her holy maidens who were to retire tothis place four years later. [26]

This success soon inspired him with the idea of repairing the othersanctuaries in the suburbs of Assisi. Those which had struck him bytheir state of decay were St. Peter and Santa Maria, of the_Portiuncula_, called also Santa Maria degli Angeli. The former is nototherwise mentioned in his biographies. [27] As to the second, it was tobecome the true cradle of the Franciscan movement. 

This chapel, still standing at the present day after escapingrevolutions and earthquakes, is a true Bethel, one of those rare spotsin the world on which rests the mystic ladder which joins heaven toearth; there were dreamed some of the noblest dreams which have soothedthe pains of humanity. It is not to Assisi in its marvellous basilicathat one must go to divine and comprehend St. Francis; he must turn hissteps to Santa Maria degli Angeli at the hours when the stated prayerscease, at the moment when the evening shadows lengthen, when all thefripperies of worship disappear in the obscurity, when all the nationseems to collect itself to listen to the chime of the distant churchbells. Doubtless it was Francis's plan to settle there as a hermit. Hedreamed of passing his life there in meditation and silence, keeping upthe little church and from time to time inviting a priest there to saymass. Nothing as yet suggested to him that he was in the end to become areligious founder. One of the most interesting aspects of his life is infact the continual development revealing itself in him; he is of thesmall number to whom to live is to be active, and to be active to makeprogress. There is hardly anyone, except St. Paul, in whom is found tothe same degree the devouring need of being always something more, always something better, and it is so beautiful in both of them onlybecause it is absolutely instinctive. 

When he began to restore the Portiuncula his projects hardly went beyonda very narrow horizon; he was preparing himself for a life of penitencerather than a life of activity. But these works once finished it wasimpossible that this somewhat selfish and passive manner of achievinghis own salvation should satisfy him long. At the memory of theappearance of the Crucified One his heart would swell with overpoweringemotions, and he would melt into tears without knowing whether they wereof admiration, pity, or desire. [28]

When the repairs were finished meditation occupied the greater part ofhis days. A Benedictine of the Abbey of Mont Subasio[29] came from timeto time to say mass at Santa Maria; these were the bright hours of St. Francis's life. One can imagine with what pious care he prepared himselfand with what faith he listened to the divine teachings. 

One day, it was probably February 24, 1209, the festival of St. Matthias, mass was being celebrated at the Portiuncula. [30] When thepriest turned toward him to read the words of Jesus, Francis felthimself overpowered with a profound agitation. He no longer saw thepriest; it was Jesus, the Crucified One of St. Damian, who was speaking:"Wherever ye go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Healthe sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. Freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither silver nor gold nor brass in your purses, neither scrip nor two coats, nor shoes nor staff, for the laborer isworthy of his meat. '"

These words burst upon him like a revelation, like the answer of Heavento his sighs and anxieties. 

"This is what I want, " he cried, "this is what I was seeking; from thisday forth I shall set myself with all my strength to put it inpractice. " Immediately throwing aside his stick, his scrip, his purse, his shoes, he determined immediately to obey, observing to the letterthe precepts of the apostolic life. 

It is quite possible that some allegorizing tendencies have had someinfluence upon this narrative. [31] The long struggle through whichFrancis passed before becoming the apostle of the new times assuredlycame to a crisis in the scene at Portiuncula; but we have already seenhow slow was the interior travail which prepared for it. 

The revelation of Francis was in his heart; the sacred fire which he wasto communicate to the souls of others came from within his own, but thebest causes need a standard. Before the shabby altar of the Portiunculahe had perceived the banner of poverty, sacrifice, and love, he wouldcarry it to the assault of every fortress of sin; under its shadow, atrue knight of Christ, he would marshal all the valiant warriors of aspiritual strife. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 3 Soc. , 26. 

 [2] 3 Soc. , 10. 

 [3] This crucifix is preserved in the sacristy of Santa Chiara, whither the sisters carried it when they left St. Damian. 

 [4] _Opuscula B. Francisci, Oratio I. _

 [5] 3 Soc. , 13; 2 Cel. , 1, 6; Bon. , 12; 15; 16. 

 [6] 3 Soc. , 14. 

 [7] This incident is found in the narrative of 1 Cel. , 8: _Ibi ex more venditis_. 

 [8] 1 Cel. , 8; 3 Soc. , 16; Bon. 16. Foligno is a three hours' walk from Assisi. 

 [9] 1 Cel. , 9; 3 Soc. , 16; Bon. , 6. Cf. A. SS. , p. 567. 

 [10] 1 Cel. , 10; 3 Soc. , 16; Bon. , 17, A. SS. ; p. 568. 

 [11] 1 Cel. , 11. 

 [12] 1 Cel. , 12; 3 Soc. , 17; Bon. , 18. 

 [13] 1 Cel. , 13; 3 Soc. , 18. 

 [14] 1 Cel. , 13. It is possible that at this epoch he had received the lesser order, and that thus he might be subject to the jurisdiction of the Church. 

 [15] 3 Soc. , 18 and 19; 1 Cel. , 14; Bon. , 19. 

 [16] From 1204 until after the death of St. Francis the episcopal throne of Assisi was occupied by Guido II. Vide Cristofano, 1, 169 ff. 

 [17] _Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore o del vescovado. _ Everything has remained pretty nearly in the same state as in the thirteenth century. 

 [18] 1 Cel. , 15; 3 Soc. , 20; Bon. , 20. 

 [19] 3 Soc. , 16; Bon. , 21. 

 [20] 1 Cel. , 16; Bon. , 21. The curious will read with interest an article by M. Mezzatinti upon the journey to Gubbio entitled _S. Francesco e Frederico Spadalunga da Gubbio_. [Miscellanea, t. V. , pp. 76-78. ] This Spadalunga da Gubbio was well able to give a garment to Francis, but it is very possible that the gift was made much later and that this solemn date in the saint's life has been fixed by an optical illusion, almost inevitable because of the identity of the fact with the name of the locality. 

 [21] 1 Cel. , 17; Bon. , 11; 13; 21; 22; 3 Soc. , 11; A. SS. , p. 575. 

 [22] 1 Cel. , 18; 3 Soc. , 21; Bon. , 23. 

 [23] 3 Soc. , 22; 2 Cel. , 1, 9. 

 [24] 3 Soc. , 24; 2 Cel. , 8; _Spec. _, 24. 

 [25] 3 Soc. , 23; 2 Cel. , 7. 

 [26] 3 Soc. , 24; _Testament de Claire_, Wadding, _ann. 1253_ v. 

 [27] Cel. , 21; Bon. , 24. 

 [28] 3 Soc. , 14; 2 Cel. , i. , 6. 

 [29] Portiuncula was a dependence of this abbey. 

 [30] This is the date adopted by the Bollandists, because the ancient missals mark the pericope, Matt. X. , for the gospel of this day. This entails no difficulty and in any case it cannot be very far distant from the truth. A. SS. , p. 574. 

 [31] See in particular Bon. , 25 and 26. Cf. A. SS. , p. 577d. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER V

FIRST YEAR OF APOSTOLATE

Spring of 1209-Summer of 1210

The very next morning Francis went up to Assisi and began to preach. Hiswords were simple, but they came so straight from the heart that all whoheard him were touched. 

It is not easy to hear and apply to one's self the exhortations ofpreachers who, aloft in the pulpit, seem to be carrying out a mereformality; it is just as difficult to escape from the appeals of alayman who walks at our side. The amazing multitude of Protestant sectsis due in a great degree to this superiority of lay preaching overclerical. The most brilliant orators of the Christian pulpit are badconverters; their eloquent appeals may captivate the imagination andlead a few men of the world to the foot of the altar, but these resultsare not more brilliant than ephemeral. But let a peasant or a workingmanspeak to those whom he meets a few simple words going directly to theconscience, and the man is always impressed, often won. 

Thus the words of Francis seemed to his hearers like a flaming swordpenetrating to the very depths of their conscience. His first attemptswere the simplest possible; in general they were merely a few wordsaddressed to men whom he knew well enough to recognize their weak pointsand strike at them with the holy boldness of love. His person, hisexample, were themselves a sermon, and he spoke only of that which hehad himself experienced, proclaiming repentance, the shortness of life, a future retribution, the necessity of arriving at gospelperfection. [1] It is not easy to realize how many waiting souls thereare in this world. The greater number of men pass through life withsouls asleep. They are like virgins of the sanctuary who sometimes feela vague agitation; their hearts throb with an infinitely sweet andsubtile thrill, but their eyelids droop; again they feel the damp coldof the cloister creeping over them; the delicious but baneful dreamvanishes; and this is all they ever know of that love which is strongerthan death. 

It is thus with many men for all that belongs to the higher life. Sometimes, alone in the wide plain at the hour of twilight, they fixtheir eyes on the fading lights of the horizon, and on the eveningbreeze comes to them another breath, more distant, fainter, and almostheavenly, awaking in them a nostalgia for the world beyond and forholiness. But the darkness falls, they must go back to their homes; theyshake off their reverie; and it often happens that to the very end oflife this is their only glimpse of the Divine; a few sighs, a fewthrills, a few inarticulate murmurs--this sums up all our efforts toattain to the sovereign good. 

Yet the instinct for love and for the divine is only slumbering. At thesight of beauty love always awakes; at the appeal of holiness the divinewitness within us at once responds; and so we see, streaming from allpoints of the horizon to gather around those who preach in the name ofthe inward voice, long processions of souls athirst for the ideal. Thehuman heart so naturally yearns to offer itself up, that we have only tomeet along our pathway some one who, doubting neither himself nor us, demands it without reserve, and we yield it to him at once. Reason mayunderstand a partial gift, a transient devotion; the heart knows onlythe entire sacrifice, and like the lover to his beloved, it says to itsvanquisher, "Thine alone and forever. "

That which has caused the miserable failure of all the efforts ofnatural religion is that its founders have not had the courage to layhold upon the hearts of men, consenting to no partition. They have notunderstood the imperious desire for immolation which lies in the depthsof every soul, and souls have taken their revenge in not heeding thesetoo lukewarm lovers. 

Francis had given himself up too completely not to claim from others anabsolute self-renunciation. In the two years and more since he hadquitted the world, the reality and depth of his conversion had shone outin the sight of all; to the scoffings of the early days had graduallysucceeded in the minds of many a feeling closely akin to admiration. 

This feeling inevitably provokes imitation. A man of Assisi, hardlymentioned by the biographers, had attached himself to Francis. He wasone of those simple-hearted men who find life beautiful enough so longas they can be with him who has kindled the divine spark[2] in theirhearts. His arrival at Portiuncula gave Francis a suggestion; from thattime he dreamed of the possibility of bringing together a few companionswith whom he could carry on his apostolic mission in the neighborhood. 

At Assisi he had often enjoyed the hospitality of a rich and prominentman named Bernardo di Quintavalle, [3] who took him to sleep in his ownchamber; it is easy to see how such an intimacy would favor confidentialoutpourings. When in the silence of the early night an ardent andenthusiastic soul pours out to you its disappointments, wounds, dreams, hopes, faith, it is difficult indeed not to be carried along, especiallywhen the apostle has a secret ally in your soul, and unconsciously meetsyour most secret aspirations. 

One day Bernardo begged Francis to pass the following night with him, atthe same time giving him to understand that he was about to make a graveresolution upon which he desired to consult him. The joy of Francis wasgreat indeed as he divined his intentions. They passed the night withoutthinking of sleep; it was a long communion of souls. Bernardo haddecided to distribute his goods to the poor and cast in his lot withFrancis. The latter desired his friend to pass through a sort ofinitiation, pointing out to him that what he himself practised, what hepreached, was not his own invention, but that Jesus himself hadexpressly ordained it in his word. 

At early dawn they bent their steps to the St. Nicholas Church, accompanied by another neophyte named Pietro, and there, after prayingand hearing mass, Francis opened the Gospels that lay on the altar andread to his companions the portion which had decided his own vocation:the words of Jesus sending forth his disciples on their mission. 

"Brethren, " he added, "this is our life and our Rule, and that of allwho may join us. Go then and do as you have heard. "[4]

The persistence with which the Three Companions relate that Francisconsulted the book three times in honor of the Trinity, and that itopened of its own accord at the verses describing the apostolic life, leads to the belief that these passages became the Rule of the newassociation, if not that very day at least very soon afterward. 

 If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. 

 Jesus having called to him the Twelve, gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. 

 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?[5]

At first these verses were hardly more than the official Rule of theOrder; the true Rule was Francis himself; but they had the great meritof being short, absolute, of promising perfection, and of being takenfrom the Gospel. 

Bernardo immediately set to work to distribute his fortune among thepoor. Full of joy, his friend was looking on at this act, which haddrawn together a crowd, when a priest named Sylvester, who had formerlysold him some stones for the repairs of St. Damian, seeing so much moneygiven away to everyone who applied for it, drew near and said:

"Brother, you did not pay me very well for the stones which you boughtof me. "

Francis had too thoroughly killed every germ of avarice in himself notto be moved to indignation by hearing a priest speak thus. "Here, " hesaid, holding out to him a double handful of coins which he took fromBernardo's robe, "here; are you sufficiently paid now?"

"Quite so, " replied Sylvester, somewhat abashed by the murmurs of thebystanders. [6]

This picture, in which the characters stand out so strongly, must havetaken strong hold upon the memory of the bystanders: the Italians onlythoroughly understand things which they make a picture of. It taughtthem, better than all Francis's preachings, what manner of men these newfriars would be. 

The distribution finished, they went at once to Portiuncula, whereBernardo and Pietro built for themselves cabins of boughs, and madethemselves tunics like that of Francis. They did not differ much fromthe garment worn by the peasants, and were of that brown, with itsinfinite variety of shades, which the Italians call beast color. Onefinds similar garments to-day among the shepherds of the most remoteparts of the Apennines. 

A week later, Thursday, April 23, 1209, [7] a new disciple of the nameof Egidio presented himself before Francis. Of a gentle and submissivenature, he was of those who need to lean on someone, but who, the neededsupport having been found and tested, lift themselves sometimes evenabove it. The pure soul of brother Egidio, supported by that of Francis, came to enjoy the intoxicating delights of contemplation with anunheard-of ardor. [8]

Here we must be on our guard against forcing the authorities, and askingof them more than they can give. Later, when the Order was definitelyconstituted and its convents organized, men fancied that the past hadbeen like the present, and this error still weighs upon the picture ofthe origins of the Franciscan movement. The first brothers lived as didthe poor people among whom they so willingly moved; Portiuncula wastheir favorite church, but it would be a mistake to suppose that theysojourned there for any long periods. It was their place of meeting, nothing more. When they set forth they simply knew that they should meetagain in the neighborhood of the modest chapel. Their life was that ofthe Umbrian beggars of the present day, going here and there as fancydictated, sleeping in hay-lofts, in leper hospitals, or under the porchof some church. So little had they any fixed domicile that Egidio, having decided to join them, was at considerable trouble to learn whereto find Francis, and accidentally meeting him in the neighborhood ofRivo-Torto[9] he saw in the fact a providential leading. 

They went up and down the country, joyfully sowing their seed. It wasthe beginning of summer, the time when everybody in Umbria is out ofdoors mowing or turning the grass. The customs of the country havechanged but little. Walking in the end of May in the fields aboutFlorence, Perugia, or Rieti, one still sees, at nightfall, the bagpipersentering the fields as the mowers seat themselves upon the hay-cocks fortheir evening meal; they play a few pieces, and when the train ofhaymakers returns to the village, followed by the harvest-laden carts, it is they who lead the procession, rending the air with their sharpeststrains. 

The joyous Penitents who loved to call themselves _Joculatores Domini_, God's _jongleurs_, no doubt often did the same. [10] They did evenbetter, for not willing to be a charge to anyone, they passed a part ofthe day in aiding the peasants in their field work. [11] The inhabitantsof these districts are for the most part kindly and sedate; the friarssoon gained their confidence by relating to them first their history andthen their hopes. They worked and ate together; field-hands and friarsoften slept in the same barn, and when with the morrow's dawn the friarswent on their way, the hearts of those they left behind had beentouched. They were not yet converted, but they knew that not far away, over toward Assisi, were living men who had renounced all worldly goods, and who, consumed with zeal, were going up and down preaching penitenceand peace. 

Their reception was very different in the cities. If the peasant ofCentral Italy is mild and kindly the townsfolk are on a firstacquaintance scoffing and ill disposed. We shall shortly see the friarswho went to Florence the butt of all sorts of persecutions. 

Only a few weeks had passed since Francis began to preach, and alreadyhis words and acts were sounding an irresistible appeal in the depths ofmany a heart. We have arrived at the most unique and interesting periodin the history of the Franciscans. These first months are for theirinstitution what the first days of spring are for nature, days when thealmond-tree blossoms, bearing witness to the mysterious labor going onin the womb of the earth, and heralding the flowers that will suddenlyenamel the fields. At the sight of these men--bare footed, scantilyclothed, without money, and yet so happy--men's minds were much divided. Some held them to be mad, others admired them, finding them widelydifferent from the vagrant monks, [12] that plague of Christendom. 

Sometimes, however, the friars found success not responding to theirefforts, the conversion of souls not taking form with enough rapidityand vigor. To encourage them, Francis would then confide to them hisvisions and his hopes. "I saw a multitude of men coming toward us, asking that they might receive the habit of our holy religion, and lo, the sound of their footsteps still echoes in my ears. I saw them comingfrom every direction, filling all the roads. "

Whatever the biographies may say, Francis was far from foreseeing thesorrows that were to follow this rapid increase of his Order. The maidenleaning with trembling rapture on her lover's arm no more dreams of thepangs of motherhood than he thought of the dregs he must drain afterquaffing joyfully the generous wine of the chalice. [13]

Every prosperous movement provokes opposition by the very fact of itsprosperity. The herbs of the field have their own language for cursingthe longer-lived plants that smother them out; one can hardly livewithout arousing jealousy; in vain the new fraternity showed itselfhumble, it could not escape this law. 

When the brethren went up to Assisi to beg from door to door, manyrefused to give to them, reproaching them with desiring to live on thegoods of others after having squandered their own. Many a time they hadbarely enough not to starve to death. It would even seem that the clergywere not entirely without part in this opposition. The Bishop of Assisisaid to Francis one day: "Your way of living without owning anythingseems to me very harsh and difficult. " "My lord, " replied he, "if wepossessed property we should have need of arms for its defence, for itis the source of quarrels and lawsuits, and the love of God and of one'sneighbor usually finds many obstacles therein; this is why we do notdesire temporal goods. "[14]

The argument was unanswerable, but Guido began to rue the encouragementwhich he had formerly offered the son of Bernardone. He was very nearlyin the situation and consequently in the state of mind of the Anglicanbishops when they saw the organizing of the Salvation Army. It was notexactly hostility, but a distrust which was all the deeper for hardlydaring to show itself. The only counsel which the bishop could giveFrancis was to come into the ranks of the clergy, or, if asceticismattracted him, to join some already existing monastic order. [15]

If the bishop's perplexities were great, those of Francis were hardlyless so. He was too acute not to foresee the conflict that threatened tobreak out between the friars and the clergy. He saw that the enemies ofthe priests praised him and his companions beyond measure simply to setoff their poverty against the avarice and wealth of the ecclesiastics, yet he felt himself urged on from within to continue his work, and couldwell have exclaimed with the apostle, _"Woe is me if I preach not thegospel!"_ On the other hand, the families of the Penitents could notforgive them for having distributed their goods among the poor, andattacks came from this direction with all the bitter language and thedeep hatred natural to disappointed heirs. From this point of view thebrotherhood appeared as a menace to families, and many parents trembledlest their sons should join it. Whether the friars would or no, theywere an unending subject of interest to the whole city. Evil rumors, plentifully spread abroad against them, simply defeated themselves;flying from mouth to mouth they speedily found contradictors who had nodifficulty in showing their absurdity. All this indirectly served theircause and gained to their side those hearts, more numerous than isgenerally believed, who find the defence of the persecuted a necessity. 

As to the clergy, they could not but feel a profound distrust of theselay converters, who, though they aroused the hatred of some interestedpersons, awakened in more pious souls first astonishment and thenadmiration. Suddenly to see men without title or diploma succeedbrilliantly in the mission which has been officially confided toourselves, and in which we have made pitiful shipwreck, is crueltorture. Have we not seen generals who preferred to lose a battle ratherthan gain it with the aid of guerrillas?

This covert opposition has left no characteristic traces in thebiographies of St. Francis. It is not to be wondered at; Thomas ofCelano, even if he had had information of this matter, would have beenwanting in tact to make use of it. The clergy, for that matter, possessa thousand means of working upon public opinion without ceasing to showa religious interest in those whom they detest. 

But the more St. Francis shall find himself in contradiction with theclergy of his time, the more he will believe himself the obedient son ofthe Church. Confounding the gospel with the teaching of the Church, hewill for a good while border upon heresy, but without ever falling intoit. Happy simplicity, thanks to which he had never to take the attitudeof revolt!

It was five years since, a convalescent leaning upon his staff, he hadfelt himself taken possession of by a loathing of material pleasures. From that time every one of his days had been marked by a step inadvance. 

It was again the spring-time. Perfectly happy, he felt himself more andmore impelled to bring others to share his happiness and to proclaim inthe four corners of the world how he had attained it. He resolved, therefore, to undertake a new mission. A few days were spent inpreparing for it. The Three Companions have preserved for us thedirections which he gave to his disciples:

 "Let us consider that God in his goodness has not called us merely for our own salvation, but also for that of many men, that we may go through all the world exhorting men, more by our example than by our words, to repent of their sins and bear the commandments in mind. Be not fearful on the ground that we appear little and ignorant, but simply and without disquietude preach repentance. Have faith in God, who has overcome the world, that his Spirit will speak in you and by you, exhorting men to be converted and keep his commandments. 

 "You will find men full of faith, gentleness, and goodness, who will receive you and your words with joy; but you will find others, and in greater numbers, faithless, proud, blasphemers, who will speak evil of you, resisting you and your words. Be resolute, then, to endure everything with patience and humility. "

 Hearing this, the brethren began to be agitated. St. Francis said to them: "Have no fear, for very soon many nobles and learned men will come to you; they will be with you preaching to kings and princes and to a multitude of peoples. Many will be converted to the Lord, all over the world, who will multiply and increase his family. "

After he had thus spoken he blessed them, saying to each one the wordwhich was in the future to be his supreme consolation:

 "My brother, commit yourself to God with all your cares, and he will care for you. "

 Then the men of God departed, faithfully observing his instructions, and when they found a church or a cross they bowed in adoration, saying with devotion, "We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee here and in all churches in the whole world, for by thy holy cross thou hast ransomed the world. " In fact they believed that they had found a holy place wherever they found a church or a cross. 

 Some listened willingly, others scoffed, the greater number overwhelmed them with questions. "Whence come you?" "Of what order are you?" And they, though sometimes it was wearisome to answer, said simply, "We are penitents, natives of the city of Assisi. "[16]

This freshness and poetry will not be found in the later missions. Herethe river is still itself, and if it knows toward what sea it ishastening, it knows nothing of the streams, more or less turbid, whichshall disturb its limpidity, nor the dykes and the straightenings towhich it will have to submit. 

A long account by the Three Companions gives us a picture from life ofthese first essays at preaching:

 Many men took the friars for knaves or madmen and refused to receive them into their houses for fear of being robbed. So in many places, after having undergone all sorts of bad usage, they could find no other refuge for the night than the porticos of churches or houses. There were at that time two brethren who went to Florence. They begged all through the city but could find no shelter. Coming to a house which had a portico and under the portico a bench, they said to one another, "We shall be very comfortable here for the night. " As the mistress of the house refused to let them enter, they humbly asked her permission to sleep upon the bench. 

 She was about to grant them permission when her husband appeared. "Why have you permitted these lewd fellows to stay under our portico?" he asked. The woman replied that she had refused to receive them into the house, but had given them permission to sleep under the portico where there was nothing for them to steal but the bench. 

 The cold was very sharp; but taking them for thieves no one gave them any covering. 

 As for them, after having enjoyed on their bench no more sleep than was necessary, warmed only by divine warmth, and having for covering only their Lady Poverty, in the early dawn they went to the church to hear mass. 

 The lady went also on her part, and seeing the friars devoutly praying she said to herself: "If these men were rascals and thieves as my husband said, they would not remain thus in prayer. " And while she was making these reflections behold a man of the name of Guido was giving alms to the poor in the church. Coming to the friars he would have given a piece of money to them as to the others, but they refused his money and would not receive it. "Why, " he asked, "since you are poor, will you not accept like the others?" "It is true that we are poor, " replied Brother Bernardo, "but poverty does not weigh upon us as upon other poor people; for by the grace of God, whose will we are accomplishing, we have voluntarily become poor. "

 Much amazed, he asked them if they had ever had anything, and learned that they had possessed much, but that for the love of God they had given everything away. . . . The lady, seeing that the friars had refused the alms, drew near to them and said that she would gladly receive them into her house if they would be pleased to lodge there. "May the Lord recompense to you your good will, " replied the friars, humbly. 

 But Guido, learning that they had not been able to find a shelter, took them to his own house, saying, "Here is a refuge prepared for you by the Lord; remain in it as long as you desire. "

 As for them, they gave thanks to God and spent several days with him, preaching the fear of the Lord by word and example, so that in the end he made large distributions to the poor. 

 Well treated by him, they were despised by others. Many men, great and small, attacked and insulted them, sometimes going so far as to tear off their clothing; but though despoiled of their only tunic, they would not ask for its restitution. If, moved to pity, men gave back to them what they had taken away, they accepted it cheerfully. 

 There were those who threw mud upon them, others who put dice into their hands and invited them to play, and others clutching them by the cowl made them drag them along thus. But seeing that the friars were always full of joy in the midst of their tribulations, that they neither received nor carried money, and that by their love for one another they made themselves known as true disciples of the Lord, many of them felt themselves reproved in their hearts and came asking pardon for the offences which they had committed. They, pardoning them with all their heart, said, "The Lord forgive you, " and gave them pious counsels for the salvation of their souls. 

A translation can but imperfectly give all the repressed emotion, thecandid simplicity, the modest joy, the fervent love which breathe in thefaulty Latin of the Three Companions. Yet these scattered friars sighedafter the home-coming and the long conversations with their spiritualfather in the tranquil forests of the suburbs of Assisi. Friendshipamong men, when it overpasses a certain limit, has something deep, high, ideal, infinitely sweet, to which no other friendship attains. There wasno woman in the Upper Chamber when, on the last evening of his life, Jesus communed with his disciples and invited the world to the eternalmarriage supper. 

Francis, above all, was impatient to see his young family once more. They all arrived at Portiuncula almost at the same time, having already, before reaching it, forgotten the torments they had endured, thinkingonly of the joy of the meeting. [17]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 1 Cel. , 23; 3 Soc. , 25 and 26; Bon. , 27. Cf. _Auct. Vit. Sec. Ap. _, A. SS. , p. 579. 

 [2] 1 Cel. , 24. We must correct the Bollandist text: _Inter quos quidam de Assisio puer ac simplicem animum gerens_, by: _quidam de Assisio pium ac simplicem_, etc. The period at which we have arrived is very clear as a whole: the picture which the Three Companions give us is true with a truth which forces conviction at first sight; but neither they nor Celano are giving an official report. Later on men desired to know precisely in what order the early disciples came, and they tortured the texts to find an answer. The same course was followed with regard to the first missionary journeys. But on both sides they came up against impossibilities and contradictions. What does it matter whether there were two, three, or four missions before the papal approbation? Of what consequence are the names of those early disciples who are entirely secondary in the history of the Franciscan movement? All these things took place with much more simplicity and spontaneity than is generally supposed. There is a wide difference between the plan of a house drawn up by an architect and a view of the same house painted by an artist. The second, though abounding in inexactitudes, gives a more just notion of the reality than the plan. The same is true of the Franciscan biographies. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 24. Bernard de Besse is the first to call him B. Di Quintavalle: _De laudibus_, fo. 95 h. ; cf. Upon him Mark of Lisbon, t. I. , second part, pp. 68-70; _Conform. _, 47; _Fior. _, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 28; 3 Soc. , 27, 30, 39; 2 Cel. , 1, 10; 2, 19; Bon. , 28; 1 Cel. , 30; Salimbeni, ann. 1229, and _Tribul. Arch. _, ii. , p. 278, etc. 

 [4] 1 Cel. , 24; 3 Soc. , 27, 28, 29; 2 Cel. , 1, 10; 3, 52; Bon. , 28; A. SS. , p. 580. It is evident that the tradition has been worked over here: it soon came to be desired to find a miracle in the manner in which Francis found the passage for reading. The St. Nicholas Church is no longer in existence; it stood upon the piece of ground now occupied by the barracks of the _gendarmerie_ (_carabinieri reali_). 

 [5] Matt. , xix. , 21; Luke, ix. , 1-6; Matt. , xvi. , 24-26. The agreement of tradition upon these passages is complete. 3 Soc. , 29; 2 Cel. , 1, 10; Bon. , 28; _Spec. _, 5b. ; _Conform. _, 37b. 2, 47a. 2; _Fior. _, 2; Glassberger and the Chronicle of the xxiv. Generals reversing the order (Analecta, fr. , t. Ii. , p. 5) as well as the Conformities in another place, 87b, 2. 

 [6] 3 Soc. , 30. Cf. _Anon. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 581a. This scene is reported neither by Celano nor by St. Bonaventura. 

 [7] This date is given in the life of Brother Egidio; A. SS. , _Oct. _, t. Ii. , p. 572; _Aprilis_, t. Iii. , p. 220. It fits well with the accounts. Through it we obtain the approximate date of the definitive conversion of Francis two full years earlier. 

 [8] 1 Cel. , 25; 3 Soc. , 23; Bon. 29. Cf. _Anon. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 582, and A. SS. , _Aprilis_, t. Iii. , p. 220 ff. 

 [9] _Spec. _, 25a: _Qualiter dixit fratri Egidio priusquam esset receptus ut daret mantellum ciudam pauperi. In primordio religionis cum maneret apud Regum Tortum cum duobus fratribus quos tunc tantum habehat. _ If we compare this passage with 3 Soc. , 44, we shall doubtless arrive at the conclusion that the account in the Speculum is more satisfactory. It is in fact very easy to understand the optical illusion by which later on the Portiuncula was made the scene of the greater number of the events of St. Francis's life, while it would be difficult to see why there should have been any attempt to surround Rivo-Torto with an aureola. The Fioretti say: _Ando inverso lo spedale dei lebbrosi_, which confirms the indication of Rivo-Torto. _Vita d' Egidio_, § 1. 

 [10] _An. Perus_, A. SS. , p. 582. Cf. _Fior. _, _Vita di Egidio_, 1; _Spec. _, 124, 136; 2 Cel. , 3, 68; A. SS. , _Aprilis_, t. Iii. , p. 227. 

 [11] _Spec. _, 34a; _Conform. _, 219b, 1; _Ant. Fr. _, p. 96. 

 [12] The Gyrovagi. Tr. 

 [13] 3 Soc. 32-34; 1 Cel. , 27 and 28; Bon. , 31. 

 [14] 3 Soc. , 35. Cf. _Anon. Perus. _; A. SS. , p. 584. 

 [15] Later on, naturally, it was desired that Francis should have had no better supporter than Guido; some have even made him out to be his spiritual director (St. François, Plon, p. 24)! We have an indirect but unexceptionable proof of the reserve with which these pious traditions must be accepted; Francis did not even tell his bishop (_pater et dominus animarum_, 3 Soc. , 29) of his design of having his Rule approved by the pope. This is the more striking because the bishop would have been his natural advocate at the court of Rome, and because in the absence of any other reason the most elementary politeness required that he should have been informed. Add to this that bishops in Italy are not, as elsewhere, _functionaries_ approached with difficulty by the common run of mortals. Almost every village in Umbria has its bishop, so that their importance is hardly greater than that of the curé of a French canton. Furthermore, several pontifical documents throw a sombre light on Guido's character. In a chapter of the decretals of Honorius III. (_Quinta compil. _, lib. Ii. , tit. Iii. , cap. I. ) is given a complaint against this bishop, brought before the curia by the Crucigeri of the hospital _San Salvatore delle Pareti_ (suburbs of Assisi), of having maltreated two of their number, and having stolen a part of the wine belonging to the convent: _pro eo quod Aegidium presbyterum, et fratrem eorem conversum violentas manus injecerat . . . Adjiciens quod idem hospitale quadam vini quantitate fuerat per eumdem episcopum spoliatum. _ _Honorii opera_, Horoy's edition, t. I. , col. 200 ff. Cf. Potthast, 7746. The mention of the hospital _de Pariete_ proves beyond question that the Bishop of Assisi is here concerned and not the Bishop of Osimo, as some critics have suggested. 

 Another document shows him at strife with the Benedictines of Mount Subasio (the very ones who afterward gave Portiuncula to Francis), and Honorius III. Found the bishop in the wrong: Bull _Conquerente oeconomo monasterii ap_. Richter, _Corpus juris canonici_. Leipzig, 1839, 4to, Horoy, _loc. Cit. _, t. I. , col. 163; Potthast, 7728. 

 [16] 3 Soc. , 36 and 37. Cf. _Anon. Perus. Ap. _, A. SS. , p. 585; _Test. B. Francisci_. 

 [17] 3 Soc. , 38-41. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER VI

ST. FRANCIS AND INNOCENT III

Summer 1210[1]

Seeing the number of his friars daily increasing, Francis decided towrite the Rule of the Order and go to Rome to procure its approval bythe Pope. 

This resolution was not lightly taken. It would be a mistake in fact totake Francis for one of those inspired ones who rush into action uponthe strength of unexpected revelations, and, thanks to their faith intheir own infallibility, overawe the multitude. On the contrary, he wasfilled with a real humility, and if he believed that God reveals himselfin prayer, he never for that absolved himself from the duty ofreflection nor even from reconsidering his decisions. St. Bonaventuradoes him great wrong in picturing the greater number of his importantresolutions as taken in consequence of dreams; this is to rob his lifeof its profound originality, his sanctity of its choicest blossom. Hewas of those who struggle, and, to use one of the noblest expressions ofthe Bible, of those who _by their perseverance conquer their souls_. Thus we shall see him continually retouching the Rule of his institute, unceasingly revising it down to the last moment, according as the growthof the Order and experience of the human heart suggested to himmodifications of it. [2]

The first Rule which he submitted to Rome has not come down to us; weonly know that it was extremely simple, and composed especially ofpassages from the Gospels. It was doubtless only the repetition of thoseverses which Francis had read to his first companions, with a fewprecepts about manual labor and the occupations of the newbrethren. [3]

It will be well to pause here and consider the brethren who are about toset out for Rome. The biographies are in agreement as to their number;they were twelve, including Francis; but the moment they undertake togive a name to each one of them difficulties begin to arise, and it isonly by some exegetical sleight of hand that they can claim to havereconciled the various documents. The table given below[4] brieflyshows these difficulties. The question took on some importance when inthe fourteenth century men undertook to show an exact conformity betweenthe life of St. Francis and that of Jesus. It is without interest to us. The profiles of two or three of these brethren stand out very clearly inthe picture of the origins of the Order; others remind one of thepictures of primitive Umbrian masters, where the figures of thebackground have a modest and tender grace, but no shadow of personality. The first Franciscans had all the virtues, including the one which isnearly always wanting, willingness to remain unknown. 

In the Lower Church of Assisi there is an ancient fresco representingfive of the companions of St. Francis. Above them is a Madonna byCimabue, upon which they are gazing with all their soul. It would bemore true if St. Francis were there in the place of the Madonna; one isalways changed into the image of what one admires, and they resembletheir master and one another. [5] To attempt to give them a name is tomake a sort of psychological error and become guilty of infidelity totheir memory; the only name they would have desired is that of theirfather. His love changed their hearts and shed over their whole personsa radiance of light and joy. These are the true personages of the_Fioretti_, the men who brought peace to cities, awakened consciences, changed hearts, conversed with birds, tamed wolves. Of them one maytruly say: "Having nothing, yet possessing all things" (_Nihil habentes, omnia possidentes_). 

They quitted Portiuncula full of joy and confidence. Francis was toomuch absorbed in thought not to desire to place in other hands thedirection of the little company. 

 "Let us choose, " he said, "one from among ourselves to guide us, and let him be to us as the vicar of Jesus Christ. Wherever it may please him to go we will go, and when he may wish to stop anywhere to sleep there we will stop. " They chose Brother Bernardo and did as Francis had said. They went on full of joy, and all their conversations had for their object only the glory of God and the salvation of their souls. 

 Their journey was happily accomplished. Everywhere they found kindly souls who sheltered them, and they felt beyond a doubt that God was taking care of them. [6]

Francis's thoughts were all fixed upon the purpose of their journey; hethought of it day and night, and naturally interpreted his dreams withreference to it. One time, in his dream, he saw himself walking along aroad beside which was a gigantic and wonderfully beautiful tree. And, behold, while he looked upon it, filled with wonder, he felt himselfbecome so tall that he could touch the boughs, and at the same time thetree bent down its branches to him. [7] He awoke full of joy, sure of agracious reception by the sovereign pontiff. 

His hopes were to be somewhat blighted. Innocent III. Had now for twelveyears occupied the throne of St. Peter. Still young, energetic, resolute, he enjoyed that superfluity of authority given by success. Coming after the feeble Celestine III. , he had been able in a few yearsto reconquer the temporal domain of the Church, and so to improve thepapal influence as almost to realize the theocratic dreams of GregoryVII. He had seen King Pedro of Aragon declaring himself his vassal andlaying his crown upon the tomb of the apostles, that he might take itback at his hands. At the other end of Europe, John Lackland had beenobliged to receive his crown from a legate after having sworn homage, fealty, and an annual tribute to the Holy See. Preaching union to thecities and republics of Italy, causing the cry ITALIA! ITALIA! toresound like the shout of a trumpet, he was the natural representativeof the national awakening, and appeared to be in some sort the suzerainof the emperor, as he was already that of other kings. Finally, by hisefforts to purify the Church, by his indomitable firmness in defendingmorality and law in the affair of Ingelburge and in many others, he wasgaining a moral strength which in times so disquieted was all the morepowerful for being so rare. 

But this incomparable power had its hidden dangers. Occupied withdefending the prerogatives of the Holy See, Innocent came to forget thatthe Church does not exist for herself, that her supremacy is only atransitory means; and one part of his pontificate may be likened towars, legitimate in the beginning, in which the conqueror keeps on withdepredations and massacres for no reason, except that he is intoxicatedwith blood and success. 

And so Rome, which canonized the petty Celestine V. , refused thissupreme consecration to the glorious Innocent III. With exquisite tactshe perceived that he was rather king than priest, rather pope thansaint. 

When he suppressed ecclesiastical disorders it was less for love of goodthan for hatred of evil; it was the judge who condemns or threatens, himself always supported by the law, not the father who weeps his son'soffence. This priest did not comprehend the great movement of hisage--the awakening of love, of poetry, of liberty. I have already saidthat at the opening of the thirteenth century the Middle Age was twentyyears old. Innocent III. Undertook to treat it as if it were onlyfifteen. Possessed by his civil and religious dogmas as others are bytheir educational doctrines, he never suspected the unsatisfiedlongings, the dreams, unreasoning perhaps, but beneficent and divine, that were dumbly stirring in the depths of men's hearts. He was abeliever, although certain sayings of the historians[8] open the doorto some doubts on this point, but he drew his religion rather from theOld Testament than from the New, and if he often thought of Moses, theleader of his people, nothing reminded him of Jesus, the shepherd ofsouls. One cannot be everything; a choice intelligence, an ironwill[9] are a sufficient portion even for a _priest-god_; he lackedlove. The death of this pontiff, great among the great ones, wasdestined to be saluted with songs of joy. [10]

His reception of Francis furnished to Giotto, the friend of Dante, oneof his most striking frescos; the pope, seated on his throne, turnsabruptly toward Francis. He frowns, for he does not understand, and yethe feels a strange power in this mean and despised man, _vilis etdespectus_; he makes a real but futile effort to comprehend, and now Isee in this pope, who lived upon lemons, [11] something that recallsanother choice mind, theocratic like his own, sacrificed like him to hiswork: Calvin. One might think that the painter had touched his lips tothe Calabrian Seer's cup, and that in the attitude of these two men hesought to symbolize a meeting of representatives of the two ages ofhumanity, that of Law and that of Love. [12]

A surprise awaited the pilgrims on their arrival in Rome: they met theBishop of Assisi, [13] quite as much to his astonishment as to theirown. This detail is precious because it proves that Francis had notconfided his plans to Guido. Notwithstanding this the bishop, it issaid, offered to make interest for them with the princes of the Church. We may suspect that his commendations were not very warm. At all eventsthey did not avail to save Francis and his company either from asearching inquiry or from the extended fatherly counsels of CardinalGiovanni di San Paolo[14] upon the difficulties of the Rule, counselswhich strongly resemble those of Guido himself. [15]

What Francis asked for was simple enough; he claimed no privilege of anysort, but only that the pope would approve of his undertaking to lead alife of absolute conformity to the precepts of the gospel. There is adelicate point here which it is quite worth while to see clearly. Thepope was not called upon to approve the Rule, since that came from Jesushimself; at the very worst all that he could do would be to lay anecclesiastical censure upon Francis and his companions for having actedwithout authority, and to enjoin them to leave to the secular andregular clergy the task of reforming the Church. 

Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo, to whom the Bishop of Assisi presentedthem, had informed himself of the whole history of the Penitents. Helavished upon them the most affectionate tokens of interest, even goingso far as to beg for a mention in their prayers. But such assurances, which appear to have been always the small change of the court of Rome, did not prevent his examining them for several successive days, [16] andputting to them an infinite number of questions, of which the conclusionwas always the advice to enter some Order already existing. 

To this the unlucky Francis would reply as best he could, often notwithout embarrassment, for he had no wish to appear to think lightly ofthe cardinal's counsels, and yet he felt in his heart the imperiousdesire to obey his vocation. The prelate would then return to thecharge, insinuating that they would find it very hard to persevere, thatthe enthusiasm of the early days would pass away, and again pointing outa more easy course. He was obliged in the end to own himself vanquished. The persistence of Francis, who had never weakened for an instant nordoubted his mission, begat in him a sort of awe, while the perfecthumility of the Penitents and their simple and striking fidelity to theRoman Church reassured him in the matter of heresy. 

He announced to them, therefore, that he would speak of them to thepope, and would act as their advocate with him. According to the ThreeCompanions he said to the pope: "I have found a man of the highestperfection, who desires to live in conformity with the Holy Gospel andobserve evangelical perfection in all things. I believe that by him theLord intends to reform the faith of the Holy Church throughout the wholeworld. "[17]

On the morrow he presented Francis and his companions to Innocent III. Naturally, the pope was not sparing of expressions of sympathy, but healso repeated to them the remarks and counsels which they had alreadyheard so often. "My dear children, " he said, "your life appears to metoo severe; I see indeed that your fervor is too great for any doubt ofyou to be possible, but I ought to consider those who shall come afteryou, lest your mode of life should be beyond their strength. "[18]

Adding a few kind words, he dismissed them without coming to anydefinite conclusion, promising to consult the cardinals, and advisingFrancis in particular to address himself to God, to the end that hemight manifest his will. 

Francis's anxiety must have been great; he could not understand thesedilatory measures, these expressions of affection which never led to acategorical approbation. It seemed to him that he had said all that hehad to say. For new arguments he had only one resource--prayer. 

He felt his prayer answered when in his conversation with Jesus theparable of poverty came to him; he returned to lay it before the pope. 

 There was in the desert a woman who was very poor, but beautiful. A great king, seeing her beauty, desired to take her for his wife, for he thought that by her he should have beautiful children. The marriage contracted and consummated, many sons were born to him. When they were grown up, their mother spoke to them thus: "My sons, you have no cause to blush, for you are the sons of the king; go, therefore, to his court, and he will give you everything you need. "

 When they arrived at the court the king admired their beauty, and finding in them his own likeness he asked, "Whose sons are you?" And when they replied that they were the sons of a poor woman who lived in the desert, the king clasped them to his heart with joy saying, "Have no fear, for you are my sons; if strangers eat at my table, much more shall you who are my lawful sons. " Then the king sent word to the woman to send to his court all the sons which she had borne, that they might be nourished there. 

 "Very holy father, " added Francis, "I am this poor woman whom God in his love has deigned to make beautiful, and of whom he has been pleased to have lawful sons. The King of Kings has told me that he will provide for all the sons which he may have of me, for if he sustains bastards, how much more his legitimate sons. "[19]

So much simplicity, joined with such pious obstinacy, at last conqueredInnocent. In the humble mendicant he perceived an apostle and prophetwhose mouth no power could close. Successor of St. Peter and vicar ofJesus Christ that he felt himself, he saw in the mean and despised manbefore him one who with the authority of absolute faith proclaimedhimself the root of a new lineage of most legitimate Christians. 

The biographers have held that by this parable Francis sought above allthings to tranquillize the pope as to the future of the brethren; theyfind in it a reply to the anxieties of the pontiff, who feared to seethem starve to death. There can be no doubt that its original meaningwas totally different. It shows that with all his humility Francis knewhow to speak out boldly, and that all his respect for the Church couldnot hinder his seeing, and, when necessary, saying, that he and hisbrethren were the lawful sons of the gospel, of which the members of theclergy were only _extranei_. We shall find in the course of his lifemore than one example of this indomitable boldness, which disarmedInnocent III. As well as the future Gregory IX. 

In a consistory which doubtless was held between the two audiences someof the cardinals expressed the opinion that the initiative of thePenitents of Assisi was an innovation, and that their mode of life wasentirely beyond human power. "But, " replied Giovanni di San Paolo, "ifwe hold that to observe gospel perfection and make profession of it isan irrational and impossible innovation, are we not convicted ofblasphemy against Christ, the author of the gospel?"[20]

These words struck Innocent III. With great force; he knew better thanany one that the possessions of the ecclesiastics were the greatobstacles to the reform of the Church, and that the threatened successof the Albigensian heresy was especially due to the fact that itpreached the doctrine of poverty. 

Two years before he had accorded his approbation to a group ofWaldensians, who under the name _Poor Catholics_ had desired to remainfaithful to the Church;[21] he therefore gave his approval to thePenitents of Assisi, but, as a contemporary chronicler has wellobserved, it was in the hope that they would wrest the banner fromheresy. [22]

Yet his doubts and hesitations were not entirely dissipated. He reservedhis definitive approbation, therefore, while lavishing upon the brothersthe most affectionate tokens of interest. He authorized them to continuetheir missions everywhere, after having gained the consent of theirordinaries. He required, however, that they should give themselves aresponsible superior to whom the ecclesiastical authorities could alwaysaddress themselves. Naturally, Francis was chosen. [23] This fact, sohumble in appearance, definitively constituted the Franciscan family. 

The mystics whom we saw going from village to village transported withlove and liberty accepted the yoke almost without thinking about it. This yoke will preserve them from the disintegration of the heretics, but it will make itself sharply felt by those pure souls; they will oneday look back to the early days of the Order as the only time when theirlife was truly conformed to the gospel. 

When Francis heard the words of the supreme pontiff he prostratedhimself at his feet, promising the most perfect obedience with all hisheart. The pope blessed them, saying: "Go, my brethren, and may God bewith you. Preach penitence to everyone according as the Lord may deignto inspire you. Then when the All-powerful shall have made you multiplyand go forward, you will refer to us; we will concede what you ask, andwe may then with greater security accord to you even more than youask. "[24]

Francis and his companions were too little familiar with Romanphraseology to perceive that after all the Holy See had simply consentedto suspend judgment in view of the uprightness of their intentions andthe purity of their faith. [25]

The flowers of clerical rhetoric hid from them the shackles which hadbeen laid upon them. The curia, in fact, was not satisfied withFrancis's vow of fidelity, it desired in addition to stamp the Penitentswith the seal of the Church: the Cardinal of San Paolo was deputed toconfer upon them the tonsure. From this time they were all under thespiritual authority of the Roman Church. 

The thoroughly lay creation of St. Francis had become, in spite ofhimself, an ecclesiastical institution: it must soon degenerate into aclerical institution. All unawares, the Franciscan movement had beenunfaithful to its origin. The prophet had abdicated in favor of thepriest, not indeed without possibility of return, for when a man hasonce reigned, I would say, thought, in liberty--what other kingdom isthere on this earth?--he makes but an indifferent slave; in vain hetries to submit; in spite of himself it happens at times that he liftshis head proudly, he rattles his chains, he remembers the struggles, sadness, anguish of the days of liberty, and weeps their loss. Among thesons of St. Francis many were destined to weep their lost liberty, manyto die to conquer it again. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The date usually fixed for the approval of the Rule by Innocent III. Is the month of August, 1209. The Bollandists had thought themselves able to infer it from the account where Thomas of Celano (1 Cel. , 43) refers to the passage through Umbria of the Emperor Otho IV. , on his way to be crowned at Rome (October 4, 1209). Upon this journey see Böhmer-Ficker, _Regesta Imperii. Dei Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter Philipp, Otto IV. _, etc. , Insbruck, 1879, 4to, pp. 96 and 97. As this account follows that of the approval, they conclude that the latter was earlier. But Thomas of Celano puts this account there because the context led up to it, and not in order to fix its date. Everything leads to the belief that the Brothers retired (_recolligebat_, 1 Cel. , 42) to Rivo-Torto before and after their journey to Rome. Besides, the time between April 23d and the middle of August, 1209, is much too short for all that the biographers tell us about the life of the Brothers before their visit to Innocent III. The mission to Florence took place in winter, or at least in a very cold month. But the decisive argument is that Innocent III. Quitted Rome toward the end of May, 1209, and went to Viterbo, returning only to crown Otho, October 4th (Potthast, 3727-3803). It is therefore absolutely necessary to postpone to the summer of 1210 the visit of the Penitents to the pope. This is also the date which Wadding arrives at. 

 [2] 3 Soc. , 35. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 32; 3 Soc. , 51; Bon. , 34. Cf. _Test. B. Fr. _ M. K. Müller of Halle, in his _Anfänge_, has made a very remarkable study of the Rule of 1221, whence he deduces an earlier Rule, which he believes to be that of 1209 (1210). For once I find myself entirely in accord with him, except that the Rule thus reconstructed (Vide _Anfänge_, pp. 14-25, 184-188) appears to me to be not that of 1210, which was very short, but another, drawn up between 1210 and 1221. The _plures regulas fecit_ of the 3 Soc. , 35, authorizes us to believe that he made perhaps as many as four--1st, 1210, very short, containing little more than the three passages of the vocation; 2d, 1217 (?), substantially that proposed by M. Müller; 3d, 1221, that of which we shall speak at length farther on; 4th, 1226, the Will, which if not a Rule is at least an appendix to the Rule. If from 1221-1226 he had time to make two Rules and the Will, as is universally admitted, there is nothing surprising in his having made two from 1210-1221. Perhaps we have a fragment of that of 1217 in the regulation of hermitages. Vide below, p. 109. 

 [4] Thomas of Celano's list. 1, _Quidam pium gerens animum_; 2, _Bernardus_; 3, _Vir alter_; 4, _Ĉgidius_; 5, _Unus alius appositus_; 6, _Philippus_; 7, _Alius bonus vir_; 8, 9, 10, 11, _Quatuor boni et idonei viri_. 1 Cel. , 24, 25, 29, 31. The Rinaldi-Amoni text says nothing of the last four. Three Companions: 1, _Bernardus_; 2, _Petrus_; 3, _Ĉgidius_; 4, _Sabbatinus_; 5, _Moritus_; _Johannes Capella_; 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, Disciples received by the brethren in their missions. 3 Soc. , 33, 35, 41, 46, 52. Bonaventura: 1, _Bernardus_; 2, . . . 3, _Ĉgidius_; 4, 5, . . . 6, _Silvestro_; 7, _Alius bonus viri_; 8, 9, 10, 11, _Quatuor viri honesti_. Bon. , 28, 29, 30, 31, 33. The Fioretti, while insisting on the importance of the twelve Franciscan apostles, cite only six in their list: Giovanni di Capella, Egidio, Philip, Silvestro, Bernardo, and Rufino. _Fior. _, 1. We must go to the Conformities to find the traditional list, f^o 46b 1: 1, _Bernardus de Quintavalle_; 2, _Petrus Chatanii_; 3, _Egidius_; 4, _Sabatinus_; 5, _Moricus_; 6, _Johannes de Capella_; 7, _Philippus Longus_; 8, _Johannes de Sancto Constantio_; 9, _Barbarus_; 10, _Bernardus de Cleviridante_ (sic); 11, _Angelus Tancredi_; 12, _Sylvester_. As will be seen, in the last two documents twelve disciples are in question, while in the preceding ones there are only eleven. This is enough to show a dogmatic purpose. This list reappears exactly in the _Speculum_, with the sole difference that Francis being there included Angelo di Tancrede is the twelfth brother and Silvestro disappears. _Spec. _, 87a. 

 [5] According to tradition, the five _compagni del Santo_ buried there beside their master are Bernardo, Silvestro, William (an Englishman), Eletto, and Valentino(?)

 [6] 3 Soc. , 46; 1 Cel. , 32; Bon. , 34. 

 [7] 1 Cel. , 33; 3 Soc. , 53; Bon. , 35. 

 [8] St. Ludgarde (1182-1246) sees him condemned to Purgatory till the Last Judgment. Life of this saint by Thomas of Catimpré in Surius: _Vitĉ SS. _ (1618), vi. , 215-226. 

 [9] _Vir clari ingenii, magnĉ probitatis et sapientiĉ, cui nullus secundus tempore suo:_ Rigordus, _de gestis Philippi Augusti_ in Duchesne. _Historiĉ Francorum scriptores coĉtanei_, t. V. , p. 60. --_Nec similem sui scientia, facundia, decretorum et legum perititia, strenuitate, judiciorum nec adhuc visus est habere sequentem. _ Cf. Mencken, _Script. Rer. Sax. _, Leipzig, 1728, t. Iii. , p. 252. _Innocentius, qui vere stupor mundi erat et immutator sĉculi. _ Cotton, _Hist. Anglicana_, Luard, 1859, p. 107. 

 [10] _Cujus finis lĉtitiem potius quam tristitiam generavit subjectis. _ Alberic delle Tre Fontane. Leibnitz, _Accessiones historicĉ_, t. Ii. , p. 492. 

 [11] _Decidit in acutam (febrem) quam cum multis diebus fovisset nec a citris quibus in magna quantitatĉ et ex consuetudine vescebatur . . . Minime abstineret . . . Ad ultimum in lethargia prolapsus vitam finivit. _ Alberic delle Tre Fontane, _loc. Cit. _

 [12] Fresco in the great nave of the Upper Church of Assisi. 

 [13] 1 Cel. , 32; 3 Soc. , 47. 

 [14] Of the Colonna family; he died in 1216. Cf. 3 Soc. , 61. Vide Cardella, _Memorie storiche de' Cardinali_, 9 vols. , 8vo, Rome, 1792 ff. , t. I. , p. 177. He was at Rome in the summer of 1210, for on the 11th of August he countersigned the bull _Religiosem vitam_. Potthast, 4061. Angelo Clareno relates the approbation with more precision in certain respects: _Cum vero Summo Pontifici ea quĉ postulabat [Franciscus] ardua valde et quasi impossibilia viderentur infirmitate hominum sui temporis, exhortabatur eum, quod aliquem ordinem vel regulam de approbatis assumeret, at ipse se a Christo missum ad talem vitam et non aliam postulandam constanter affirmans, fixus in sua petitione permansit. Tunc dominus Johannes de Sancto Paulo episcopus Sabinensis et dominus Hugo episcopus Hostiensis Dei spiritu moti assisterunt Sancto Francisco et pro his quĉ petebat coram summo Pontifice et Cardinalibus plura proposuerunt rationabilia et efficacia valde. Tribul. _ Laurentinian MS. , f^o 6a. This intervention of Ugolini is mentioned in no other document. It is, however, by no means impossible. He also was in Rome in the summer of 1210. (Vide Potthast, p. 462. )

 [15] 1 Cel. , 32 and 33; 3 Soc. , 47 and 48. Cf. _An. Per. _, A. SS. , p. 590. 

 [16] 1 Cel. , 33. 

 [17] 3 Soc. , 48. 

 [18] 3 Soc. , 49; 1 Cel. , 33; Bon. , 35 and 36. All this has been much worked over by tradition and gives us only an echo of the reality. It would certainly have needed very little for the Penitents to meet the same fate before Innocent III. As the Waldenses before Lucius III. Traces of this interview are found in two texts which appear to me to be too suspicious to warrant their insertion in the body of the narrative. The first is a fragment of Matthew Paris: _Papa itaque in fratre memorato habitum deformem, vultum despicabilem, barbam prolixam, capillos incultos, supercilia pendentia et nigra diligenter considerans; cum petitionem ejus tam arduam et executione impossibilem recitare fecisset, despexit cum et dixit: Vade frater, et quĉre porcus, quibus potius debes quam hominibus comparari, et involve te cum eis in volutabro, et regulam illis a te commentatam tradens, officium tuĉ prĉdicationis impende. Quod audiens Franciscus inclinato capite exixit et porcis tandem inventis, in luto se cum eis tamdiu involvit quousque a planta pedis usque ad verticem, corpus suum totum cum ipso habitu polluisset. Sicque ad consistorium revertens Papĉ se conspectibus prĉsentavit dicens: Domine feci sicut prĉcepisti exaudi nunc obsecro petitionem meam_. Ed. Wats, p. 340. The incident has a real Franciscan color, and should have some historic basis. Curiously, it in some sort meets a passage in the legend of Bonaventura which is an interpolation of the end of the thirteenth century. See A. SS. , p. 591. 

 [19] 3 Soc. , 50 and 51; Bon. , 37; 2 Cel. , 1, 11; Bernard de Besse, Turin MS. , f^o 101b. Ubertini di Casali (_Arbor vitĉ crucifixĉ_, Venice, 1485, lib. V. , cap. Iii. ) tells a curious story in which he depicts the indignation of the prelates against Francis. _Quĉnam hĉc est doctrina nova quam infers auribus nostris? Quis potest vivere sine temporalium possessione? Numquid tu melior es quam patres nostri qui dederunt nobis temporalia et in temporalibus abundantes ecclesias possiderunt?_ Then follows the fine prayer inserted by Wadding in Francis's works. The central idea is the same as in the parable of poverty. This story, though not referable to any source, has nevertheless its importance, since it shows how in the year 1300 a man who had all the documents before his eyes, represented to himself Francis's early steps. 

 [20] Bon. , 36. 

 [21] The attempt of Durand of Huesca to create a mendicant order has not yet been studied with sufficient minuteness. Chief of the Waldenses of Aragon, he was present in 1207 at the conference of Pamiers, and decided to return to the Church. Received with kindness by the pope he at first had a great success, and by 1209 had established communities in Aragon, at Carcassonne, Narbonne, Béziers, Nimes, Uzès, Milan. We find in this movement all the lineaments of the institute of St. Dominic; it was an order of priests to whom theological studies were recommended. They disappeared almost completely in the storm of the Albigensian crusade. Innocent III. , _epistolĉ_, xi. , 196, 197, 198; xii. , 17, 66; xiii. , 63, 77, 78, 94; xv. , 82, 83, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 137, 146. The first of these bulls contains the very curious Rule of this ephemeral order. Upon its disappearance vide Ripoli, _Bullarium Prĉdicatorum_, 8 vols. , folio, Rome, 1729-1740, t. I. , p. 96. Cf. Elie Berger, _Registres d'Innocent IV. _, 2752. 

 [22] Burchard, of the order of the Premostrari, who died in 1226. See below, p. 234. 

 [23] 3 Soc. , 52; Bon. , 38. 

 [24] 3 Soc. , 52 and 49. 

 [25] St. Antonino, Archbishop of Florence, saw very clearly that it was _quĉdam concessio simplex habitus et modi illius vivendi et quasi permissio_. A. SS. , p. 839. The expression "approbation of the Rule" by which the act of Innocent III. Is usually designated is therefore erroneous. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER VII

RIVO-TORTO

1210-1211

The Penitents of Assisi were overflowing with joy. After so manymortally long days spent in that Rome, so different from the othercities that they knew, exposed to the ill-disguised suspicions of theprelates and the jeers of pontifical lackeys, the day of departureseemed to them like a deliverance. At the thought of once more seeingtheir beloved mountains they were seized by that homesickness of thechild for its native village which simple and kindly souls preserve tilltheir latest breath. 

Immediately after the ceremony they prayed at the tomb of St. Peter, andthen crossing the whole city they quitted Rome by the Porta Salara. 

Thomas of Celano, very brief as to all that concerns Francis's sojournin the Eternal City, recounts at full length the light-heartedness ofthe little band on quitting it. Already it began to be transfigured intheir memory; pains, fatigues, fears, disquietude, hesitations were allforgotten; they thought only of the fatherly assurances of the supremepontiff--the vicar of Christ, the lord and father of the Christianuniverse--and promised themselves to make ever new efforts to follow theRule with fidelity. 

Full of these thoughts they had set out, without provisions, to crossthe Campagna of Rome, whose few inhabitants never venture out in theheat of the day. The road stretches away northward, keeping at somedistance from the Tiber; on the left the jagged crest of Soracte, bathedin mists formed by the exhalations of the earth, looms updisproportionately as it fades in the distance; on the right, theeverlasting undulations of the hillocks with their wide pasturesseparated by thickets so parched and ragged that they seemed to cry formercy and pardon. Between them the dusty road which goes straightforward, implacable, showing, as far as the eye can reach, nothing butthe quivering of the fiery air. Not a house, not a tree, not a passingbreeze, nothing to sustain the traveller under the disquietude whichcreeps over him. Here and there are a few abandoned huts, their ruinslooking like the corpses of departed civilizations, and on the edge ofthe horizon the hills rising up like gigantic and unsurmountable walls. 

There are no words to describe the physical and moral sufferings towhich he is exposed who undertakes without proper preparation to crossthis inhospitable district. To the weakness caused by lack of air soonsucceeds an insurmountable lassitude. The feet sink in a soft, tenuousdust which every step sends up in clouds; it covers you, penetrates yourskin, and parches your mouth even more than thirst. Little by little allenergy ebbs away, a dumb dejection seizes you, sight and thought becomealike confused, fever ensues, and you cast yourself down by theroadside, unable to take another step. 

In their haste to leave Rome Francis and his companions had forgottenall this, and had imprudently set forth. They would have succumbed if achance traveller had not brought them succor. He was obliged to leavethem before they had shaken off the last hallucinations of fever, leaving them amazed with the unexpected succor which Providence had sentthem. [1]

They were so severely shattered that on arriving at Orte they wereobliged to stop awhile. In a desert spot not far from this city theyfound a shelter admirably adapted to serve them for refuge;[2] it wasone of those Etruscan tombs so common in that country, whose chambersserve to this day as a shelter for beggars and gypsies. While some ofthe brethren hastened to the city to beg for food, the others remainedin this solitude enjoying the happiness of being together, forming athousand plans, and more than ever delighting in the charm of freedomfrom care and renunciation of material goods. 

This place had so strong an attraction for them that it required aneffort of will to quit it at the end of a fortnight. The seduction of alife purely contemplative assailed Francis, and he asked himself ifinstead of preaching to the multitudes he would not do better to live inretreat, solely mindful of the inward dialogue between the soul andGod. [3]

This aspiration for the selfish repose of the cloister came back to himseveral times in his life; but love always won the victory. He was toomuch the child of his time not to be at times tempted by that happinesswhich the Middle Ages regarded as the supreme bliss of the elect inparadise--peace. _Beati mortui quia quiescunt!_ His distinguishingpeculiarity is that he never gave way to it. 

The reflections of Francis and his companions during their stay at Orteonly made their apostolic mission more clear and imperative to them. He, above all, seemed to be filled with a new ardor, and like a valiantknight he burned to throw himself into the thick of the fray. 

Their way now led through the valley of the Nera. The contrast betweenthese cool glens, awake with a thousand voices, and the desolation ofthe Roman Campagna, must have struck them vividly; the stream is only aswollen torrent, but it runs so noisily over pebbles and rocks that itseems to be conversing with them and with the trees of the neighboringforest. In proportion as they had felt themselves alone on the road fromRome to Otricoli, they now felt themselves compassed about with thelife, the fecundity, the gayety of the country. 

The account of Thomas of Celano becomes so animated as it describes thelife of Francis at this epoch that one cannot help thinking that at thistime he must have seen him, and that this first meeting remained alwaysin his memory as the radiant dawn of his spiritual life. [4]

The Brothers had taken to preaching in such places as they came uponalong their route. Their words were always pretty much the same, theyshowed the blessedness of peace and exhorted to penitence. Emboldened bythe welcome they had received at Rome, which in all innocence they mighthave taken to be more favorable than it really was, they told the storyto everyone they met, and thus set all scruples at rest. 

These exhortations, in which Francis spared not his hearers, but inwhich the sternest reproaches were mingled with so much of love, produced an enormous effect. Man desires above all things to be loved, and when he meets one who loves him sincerely he very seldom refuses himeither his love or his admiration. 

It is only a low understanding that confounds love with weakness andcompliance. We sometimes see sick men feverishly kissing the hand ofthe surgeon who performs an operation upon them; we sometimes do thesame for our spiritual surgeons, for we realize all that there is ofvigor, pity, compassion in the tortures which they inflict, and thecries which they force from us are quite as much of gratitude as ofpain. 

Men hastened from all parts to hear these preachers who were more severeupon themselves than on anyone else. Members of the secular clergy, monks, learned men, rich men even, often mingled in the impromptuaudiences gathered in the streets and public places. All were notconverted, but it would have been very difficult for any of them toforget this stranger whom they met one day upon their way, and who in afew words had moved them to the very bottom of their hearts with anxietyand fear. 

Francis was in truth, as Celano says, the bright morning star. Hissimple preaching took hold on consciences, snatched his hearers from themire and blood in which they were painfully trudging, and in spite ofthemselves carried them to the very heavens, to those serene regionswhere all is silent save the voice of the heavenly Father. "The wholecountry trembled, the barren land was already covered with a richharvest, the withered vine began again to blossom. "[5]

Only a profoundly religious and poetic soul (is not the one the other?)can understand the transports of joy which overflowed the souls of St. Francis's spiritual sons. 

The greatest crime of our industrial and commercial civilization is thatit leaves us a taste only for that which may be bought with money, andmakes us overlook the purest and truest joys which are all the timewithin our reach. The evil has roots far in the past. "Wherefore, " saidthe God of old Isaiah, "do you weigh money for that which is not meat?why labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken unto me, and ye shalleat that which is good, and your soul shall delight itself infatness. "[6]

Joys bought with money--noisy, feverish pleasures--are nothing comparedwith those sweet, quiet, modest but profound, lasting, and peacefuljoys, enlarging, not wearying the heart, which we too often pass by onone side, like those peasants whom we see going into ecstasies over thefireworks of a fair, while they have not so much as a glance for theglorious splendors of a summer night. 

In the plain of Assisi, at an hour's walk from the city and near thehighway between Perugia and Rome, was a ruinous cottage calledRivo-Torto. A torrent, almost always dry, but capable of becomingterrible in a storm, descends from Mount Subasio and passes beside it. The ruin had no owner; it had served as a leper hospital before theconstruction by the Crucigeri[7] of their hospital San Salvatoredelle Pareti; but since that time it had been abandoned. Now cameFrancis and his companions to seek shelter there. [8] It is one of thequietest spots in the suburbs of Assisi, and from thence they couldeasily go out into the neighborhood in all directions; it being about anequal distance from Portiuncula and St. Damian. But the principal motivefor the choice of the place seems to have been the proximity of the_Carceri_, as those shallow natural grottos are called which are foundin the forests, half way up the side of Mount Subasio. Following up thebed of the torrent of Rivo-Torto one reaches them in an hour by way ofrugged and slippery paths where the very goats do not willingly venture. Once arrived, one might fancy oneself a thousand leagues from any humanbeing, so numerous are the birds of prey which live here quiteundisturbed. [9]

Francis loved this solitude and often retired thither with a fewcompanions. The brethren in that case shared between them all care oftheir material wants, after which, each one retiring into one of thesecaves, they were able for a few days to listen only to the inner voice. 

These little hermitages, sufficiently isolated to secure them fromdisturbance, but near enough to the cities to permit their going thitherto preach, may be found wherever Francis went. They form, as it were, aseries of documents about his life quite as important as the writtenwitnesses. Something of his soul may still be found in these caverns inthe Apennine forests. He never separated the contemplative from theactive life. A precious witness to this fact is found in theregulations for the brethren during their sojourn in hermitage. [10]

The return of the Brothers to Rivo-Torto was marked by a vast increaseof popularity. The prejudiced attacks to which they had formerly beensubjected were lost in a chorus of praises. Perhaps men suspected theill-will of the bishop and were happy to see him checked. However thismay be, a lively feeling of sympathy and admiration was awakened; thepeople recalled to mind the indifference manifested by the son ofBernardone a few months before with regard to Otho IV. Going to becrowned at Rome. The emperor had made a progress through Italy with anumerous suite and a pomp designed to produce an effect on the minds ofthe populace; but not only had Francis not interrupted his work to goand see him, he had enjoined upon his friars also to abstain from going, and had merely selected one of them to carry to the monarch a reminderof the ephemeral nature of worldly glory. Later on it was held that hehad predicted to the emperor his approaching excommunication. 

This spirited attitude made a vivid impression on the popularimagination. [11] Perhaps it was of more service in forming generalopinion than anything he had done thus far. The masses, who are notoften alive to delicate sentiments, respond quickly to those who, whether rightly or wrongly, do not bow down before power. This time theyperceived that where other men would see the poor, the rich, the noble, the common, the learned, Francis saw only souls, which were to him themore precious as they were more neglected or despised. 

No biographer informs us how long the Penitents remained at Rivo-Torto. It seems probable, however, that they spent there the latter part of1210 and the early months of 1211, evangelizing the towns and villagesof the neighborhood. 

They suffered much; this part of the plain of Assisi is inundated bytorrents nearly every autumn, and many times the poor friars, blockadedin the lazaretto, were forced to satisfy their hunger with a few rootsfrom the neighboring fields. 

The barrack in which they lived was so narrow that, when they were allthere at once, they had much difficulty not to crowd one another. Tosecure to each one his due quota of space, Francis wrote the name ofeach brother upon the column which supports the building. But theseminor discomforts in no sense disturbed their happiness. No apprehensionhad as yet come to cloud Francis's hopes; he was overflowing with joyand kindliness; all the memories which Rivo-Torto has left with theOrder are fresh and sweet pictures of him. [12]

One night all the brethren seemed to be sleeping, when he heard amoaning. It was one of his sheep, to speak after the manner of theFranciscan biographer, who had denied himself too rigorously and wasdying of hunger. Francis immediately rose, called the brother to him, brought forth the meagre reserve of food, and himself began to eat toinspire the other with courage, explaining to him that if penitence isgood it is still necessary to temper it with discretion. [13]

Francis had that tact of the heart which divines the secrets of othersand anticipates their desires. At another time, still at Rivo-Torto, hetook a sick brother by the hand, led him to a grape-vine, and, presenting him with a fine cluster, began himself to eat of it. It wasnothing, but the simple act so bound to him the sick man's heart thatmany years after the brother could not speak of it without emotion. [14]

But Francis was far from neglecting his mission. Ever growing more sure, not of himself but of his duty toward men, he took part in the politicaland social affairs of his province with the confidence of an upright andpure heart, never able to understand how stupidity, perverseness, pride, and indolence, by leaguing themselves together, may check the finest andmost righteous impulses. He had the faith which removes mountains, andwas wholly free from that touch of scepticism, so common in our day, which points out that it is of no more use to move mountains than tochange the place of difficulties. 

When the people of Assisi learned that his Rule had been approved by thepope there was strong excitement; every one desired to hear him preach. The clergy were obliged to give way; they offered him the Church of St. George, but this church was manifestly insufficient for the crowds ofhearers; it was necessary to open the cathedral to him. 

St. Francis never said anything especially new; to win hearts he hadthat which is worth more than any arts of oratory--an ardent conviction;he spoke as compelled by the imperious need of kindling others with theflame that burned within himself. When they heard him recall the horrorsof war, the crimes of the populace, the laxity of the great, therapacity which dishonored the Church, the age-long widowhood ofPoverty, each one felt himself taken to task in his own conscience. 

An attentive or excited crowd is always very impressionable, but thispeculiar sensitiveness was perhaps stronger in the Middle Ages than atany other time. Nervous disturbances were in the air, and upon men thusprepared the will of the preacher impressed itself in a manner almostmagnetic. 

To understand what Francis's preaching must have been like we mustforget the manners of to-day, and transport ourselves for a moment tothe Cathedral of Assisi in the thirteenth century; it is still standing, but the centuries have given to its stones a fine rust of polishedbronze, which recalls Venice and Titian's tones of ruddy gold. It wasnew then, and all sparkling with whiteness, with the fine rosy tinge ofthe stones of Mount Subasio. It had been built by the people of Assisi afew years before in one of those outbursts of faith and union which werealmost everywhere the prelude of the communal movement. So, when thepeople thronged into it on their high days, they not merely had none ofthat vague respect for a holy place which, though it has passed into thecustoms of other countries, still continues to be unknown in Italy, butthey felt themselves at home in a palace which they had built forthemselves. More than in any other church they there felt themselves atliberty to criticise the preacher, and they had no hesitation in provingto him, either by murmurs of dissatisfaction or by applause, just whatthey thought of his words. We must remember also that the churches ofItaly have neither pews nor chairs, that one must listen standing orkneeling, while the preacher walks about gesticulating on a platform;add to this the general curiosity, the clamorous sympathies of many, thedisguised opposition of some, and we shall have a vague notion of theconditions under which Francis first entered the pulpit of San Rufino. 

His success was startling. The poor felt that they had found a friend, abrother, a champion, almost an avenger. The thoughts which they hardlydared murmur beneath their breath Francis proclaimed at the top of hisvoice, daring to bid all, without distinction, to repent and love oneanother. His words were a cry of the heart, an appeal to the consciencesof all his fellow-citizens, almost recalling the passionate utterancesof the prophets of Israel. Like those witnesses for Jehovah the "littlepoor man" of Assisi had put on sackcloth and ashes to denounce theiniquities of his people, like theirs was his courage and heroism, liketheirs the divine tenderness in his heart. 

It seemed as if Assisi were about to recover again the feeling of Israelfor sin. The effect of these appeals was prodigious; the entirepopulation was thrilled, conquered, desiring in future to live onlyaccording to Francis's counsels; his very companions, who had remainedbehind at Rivo-Torto, hearing of these marvels, felt in themselves ananswering thrill, and their vocation took on a new strength; during thenight they seemed to see their master in a chariot of fire, soaring toheaven like a new Elijah. [15]

This almost delirious enthusiasm of a whole people was not perhaps sodifficult to arouse as might be supposed: the emotional power of themasses was at that time as great all over Europe as it was in Parisduring certain days of the Revolution. We all know the tragic andtouching story of those companies of children from the north of Europewho appeared in 1212 in troops of several thousands, boys and girlsmingled together pell-mell. Nothing could stop them, a mania hadovertaken them, in all good faith they believed that they were todeliver the Holy Land, that the sea would be dried up to let them pass. They perished, we hardly know how, perhaps being sold into slavery. [16]They were accounted martyrs, and rightly; popular devotion likened themto the Holy Innocents, dying for a God whom they knew not. Thosechildren of the crusade also perished for an unknown ideal, false nodoubt; but is it not better to die for an unknown and even a false idealthan to live for the vain realities of an utterly unpoetic existence? Inthe end of time we shall be judged neither by philosophers nor bytheologians, and if we were, it is to be hoped that even in this caselove would cover a multitude of sins and pass by many follies. 

Certainly if ever there was a time when religious affections of thenerves were to be dreaded, it was that which produced such movements asthese. All Europe seemed to be beside itself; women appeared stark nakedin the streets of towns and villages, slowly walking up and down, silentas phantoms. [17] We can understand now the accounts which have comedown to us, so fantastic at the first glance, of certain popular oratorsof this time; of Berthold of Ratisbon, for example, who drew togethercrowds of sixteen thousand persons, or of that Fra Giovanni Schio diVicenza, who for a time quieted all Northern Italy and brought Guelphsand Ghibellines into one another's arms. [18]

That popular eloquence which was to accomplish so many marvels in 1233comes down in a straight line from the Franciscan movement. It was St. Francis who set the example of those open-air sermons given in thevulgar tongue, at street corners, in public squares, in the fields. 

To feel the change which he brought about we must read the sermons ofhis contemporaries; declamatory, scholastic, subtile, they delighted inthe minutiĉ of exegesis or dogma, serving up refined dissertations onthe most obscure texts of the Old Testament, to hearers starving for asimple and wholesome diet. 

With Francis, on the contrary, all is incisive, clear, practical. Hepays no attention to the precepts of the rhetoricians, he forgetshimself completely, thinking only of the end desired, the conversion ofsouls. And conversion was not in his view something vague andindistinct, which must take place only between God and the hearer. No, he will have immediate and practical proofs of conversion. Men must giveup ill-gotten gains, renounce their enmities, be reconciled with theiradversaries. 

At Assisi he threw himself valiantly into the thick of civildissensions. The agreement of 1202 between the parties who divided thecity had been wholly ephemeral. The common people were continuallydemanding new liberties, which the nobles and burghers would yield tothem only under the pressure of fear. Francis took up the cause of theweak, the _minores_, and succeeded in reconciling them with the rich, the _majores_. 

His spiritual family had not as yet, properly speaking, a name, for, unlike those too hasty spirits who baptize their productions before theyhave come to light, he was waiting for the occasion that should revealthe true name which he ought to give it. [19] One day someone wasreading the Rule in his presence. When he came to the passage, "Let thebrethren, wherever they may find themselves called to labor or to serve, never take an office which shall put them over others, but on thecontrary, let them be always under (_sint minores_) all those who may bein that house, "[20] these words _sint minores_ of the Rule, in thecircumstances then existing in the city, suddenly appeared to him as aprovidential indication. His institution should be called the Order ofthe Brothers Minor. 

We may imagine the effect of this determination. The _Saint_, foralready this magic word had burst forth where he appeared, [21] theSaint had spoken. It was he who was about to bring peace to the city, acting as arbiter between the two factions which rent it. 

We still possess the document of this _pace civile_, exhumed, so tospeak, from the communal archives of Assisi by the learned and piousAntonio Cristofani. [22] The opening lines are as follows:

 "In the name of God!

 "May the supreme grace of the Holy Spirit assist us! To the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Virgin Mary, the Emperor Otho, and Duke Leopold. 

 "This is the statute and perpetual agreement between the _Majori_ and _Minori_ of Assisi. 

 "Without common consent there shall never be any sort of alliance either with the pope and his nuncios or legates, or with the emperor, or with the king, or with their nuncios or legates, or with any city or town, or with any important person, except with a common accord they shall do all which there may be to do for the honor, safety, and advantage of the commune of Assisi. "

What follows is worthy of the beginning. The lords, in consideration ofa small periodical payment, should renounce all the feudal rights; theinhabitants of the villages subject to Assisi were put on a par withthose of the city, foreigners were protected, the assessment of taxeswas fixed. On Wednesday, November 9, 1210, this agreement was signed andsworn to in the public place of Assisi; it was made in such good faiththat exiles were able to return in peace, and from this day we find inthe city registers the names of those _émigrés_ who, in 1202, hadbetrayed their city and provoked the disastrous war with Perugia. Francis might well be happy. Love had triumphed, and for several yearsthere were at Assisi neither victors nor vanquished. 

In the mystic marriages which here and there in history unite a man to apeople, something takes place of which the transports of sense, thedelirium of love, seem to be the only symbol; a moment comes in whichsaints, or men of genius, feel unknown powers striving mightily withinthem; they strive, they seek, they struggle until, triumphing over allobstacles, they have forced trembling, swooning humanity to conceive bythem. 

This moment had come to St. Francis. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 1 Cel. , 34; 3 Soc. , 53; Bon. , 39. 

 [2] Probably at Otricoli, which lies on the high-road between Rome and Spoleto. Orte is an hour and a half further on. It is the ancient _Otriculum_, where many antiquities have been found. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 35; Bon. , 40 and 41. 

 [4] The only road connecting Celano with Rome, as well as with all Central and Northern Italy, passes by Aquila, Rieti, and Terni, where it joins the high-roads leading from the north toward Rome. 

 [5] 1 Cel. , 36 and 37; 3 Soc. , 54; Bon. , 45-48. 

 [6] Isaiah, lv. , 2. 

 [7] This Order deserves to be better known; it was founded under Alexander III. And rapidly spread all over Central Italy and the East. In Francis's lifetime it had in Italy and the Holy Land about forty houses dedicated to the care of lepers. It is very probable that it was at _San Salvatore delle Pareti_ that Francis visited these unhappy sufferers. He there made the particular acquaintance of a Cruciger named _Morico_. The latter afterward falling ill, Francis sent him a remedy which would cure him, informing him at the same time that he was to become his disciple, which shortly afterward took place. The hospital _San Salvatore_ has disappeared; it stood in the place now called _Ospedaletto_, where a small chapel now stands half way between Assisi and Santa Maria degli Angeli. It was from there that the dying Francis blessed Assisi. For Morico vide 3 Soc. , 35; Bon. , 49; 2 Cel. , 3, 128; _Conform. _, 63b. --For the hospital vide Bon. , 49; _Conform. _, 135a, 1; _Honorii III. Opera_, Horoy, t. I. , col. 206. Cf. Potthast, 7746; L. Auvray, _Registres de Grégoire IX. _, Paris, 1890, 4to, no. 209. For the Crucigeri in the time of St. Francis vide the interesting bull _Cum tu fili prior_, of July 8, 1203; Migne, _Inn. Op. _, t. Ii. , col. 125 ff. Cf. Potthast, 1959, and _Cum pastoris_, April 5, 1204; Migne, _loc. Cit. _, 319. Cf. Potthast, 2169 and 4474. 

 [8] 3 Soc. , 55. 

 [9] All this yet remains in its primitive state. The road which went from Assisi to the now ruined Abbey of Mount Subasio (almost on the summit of the mountain) passed the Carceri, where there was a little chapel built by the Benedictines. 

 [10] _Illi qui religiose volunt stare in eremis sint tres aut quatuor ad plus. Duo ex ipsis sint matres, et habeant duos filios, vel unum ad minus. Illi duo teneant vitam Marthĉ et alii duo vitam Mariĉ Magdalenĉ. _ Assisi MS. , 338, 43a-b; text given also in _Conf. _, 143a, 1, from which Wadding borrows it for his edition of the _Opuscules_ of St. Francis. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 113. It is possible that we have here a fragment of the Rule, which must have been composed toward 1217. 

 [11] 1 Cel. , 42 and 43; 3 Soc. , 55; Bon. , 41. 

 [12] 1 Cel. , 42-44. 

 [13] 2 Cel. , 1, 15; Bon. , 65. These two authors do not say where the event took place; but there appears to be no reason for suspecting the indication of Rivo-Torto given by the _Speculum_, fo. 21a. 

 [14] 2 Cel. , 3, 110. Cf. _Spec. _, 22a. 

 [15] 1 Cel. , 47; Bon. , 43. 

 [16] There are few events of the thirteenth century that offer more documents or are more obscure than this one. The chroniclers of the most different countries speak of it at length. Here is one of the shortest but most exact of the notices, given by an eye-witness (Annals of Genoa of the years 1197-1219, _apud Mon. Germ. Hist. Script_. , t. 18): 1212 _in mense Augusti, die Sabbati, octava Kalendarum Septembris, intravit civitatem Janue quidam puer Teutonicus nomine Nicholaus peregrinationis causa, et cum eo multitudo maxima pelegrinorum defferentes cruces et bordonos atque scarsellas ultra septem millia arbitratu boni viri inter homines et feminas et puellos et puellas. Et die dominica sequenti de civitate exierunt_. --Cf. Giacomo di Viraggio: Muratori, t. Ix. , col. 46: _Dicebant quod mare debebat apud Januam siccari et sic ipsi debebant in Hierusalem proficisci. Multi autem inter eos erant filii Nobilium, quos ipsi etiam cum meretricibus destinarunt (!_) The most tragic account is that of Alberic, who relates the fate of the company that embarked at Marseilles. _Mon. Ger. Hist. Script_. , t. 23, p. 894. 

 [17] The Benedictine chronicler, Albert von Stade (_Mon. Ger. Hist. Script_. , t. 16, pp. 271-379), thus closes his notice of the children's crusade: _Adhuc quo devenerint ignorantur sed plurimi redierunt, a quibus cum quĉreretur causa cursus dixerunt se nescire. Nudĉ etiam mulieres circa idem tempus nihil loquentes per villas et civitates cucurrerunt. _ _Loc. Cit. _, p. 355. 

 [18] _Chron. Veronese, ann. 1238_ (Muratori, _Scriptores Rer. Ital. _, t. Viii. , p. 626). Cf. Barbarano de' Mironi: _Hist. Eccles. Di Vicenza_, t. Ii. , pp. 79-84. 

 [19] The Brothers were at first called _Viri pĉnitentiales de civitate Assisii_ (3 Soc. , 37); it appears that they had a momentary thought of calling themselves _Pauperes de Assisio_, but they were doubtless dissuaded from this at Rome, as too closely resembling that of the _Pauperes de Lugduno_. Vide _Burchardi chronicon. _, p. 376; vide Introd. , cap. 5. 

 [20] Vide Rule of 1221, _cap. _ 7. Cf. 1 Cel. , 38, and Bon. , 78. 

 [21] 1 Cel. , 36. 

 [22] _Storia d'Assisi_, t. I. , pp. 123-129. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER VIII

PORTIUNCULA

1211

It was doubtless toward the spring of 1211 that the Brothers quittedRivo-Torto. They were engaged in prayer one day, when a peasant appearedwith an ass, which he noisily drove before him into the poor shelter. 

"Go in, go in!" he cried to his beast; "we shall be most comfortablehere. " It appeared that he was afraid that if the Brothers remainedthere much longer they would begin to think this deserted place wastheir own. [1] Such rudeness was very displeasing to Francis, whoimmediately arose and departed, followed by his companions. 

Now that they were so numerous the Brothers could no longer continuetheir wandering life in all respects as in the past; they had need of apermanent shelter and above all of a little chapel. They addressedthemselves in vain first to the bishop and then to the canons of SanRufino for the loan of what they needed, but were more fortunate withthe abbot of the Benedictines of Mount Subasio, who ceded to them inperpetuity the use of a chapel already very dear to their hearts, SantaMaria degli Angeli or the Portiuncula. [2]

Francis was enchanted; he saw a mysterious harmony, ordained by Godhimself, between the name of the humble sanctuary and that of his Order. The brethren quickly built for themselves a few huts; a quickset hedgeserved as enclosing wall, and thus in three or four days was organizedthe first Franciscan convent. 

For ten years they were satisfied with this. These ten years are theheroic period of the Order. St. Francis, in full possession of hisideal, will seek to inculcate it upon his disciples and will succeedsometimes; but already the too rapid multiplication of the brotherhoodwill provoke some symptoms of relaxation. 

The remembrance of the beginning of this period has drawn from the lipsof Thomas of Celano a sort of canticle in honor of the monastic life. Itis the burning and untranslatable commentary of the Psalmist's cry:"_Behold how sweet and pleasant it is to be brethren and to dwelltogether. _"

Their cloister was the forest which then extended on all sides ofPortiuncula, occupying a large part of the plain. There they gatheredaround their master to receive his spiritual counsels, and thither theyretired to meditate and pray. [3] It would be a gross mistake, however, to suppose that contemplation absorbed them completely during the dayswhich were not consecrated to missionary tours: a part of their time wasspent in manual labor. 

The intentions of St. Francis have been more misapprehended on thispoint than on any other, but it may be said that nowhere is he moreclear than when he ordains that his friars shall gain their livelihoodby the work of their hands. He never dreamed of creating a _mendicant_order, he created a _laboring_ order. It is true we shall often see himbegging and urging his disciples to do as much, but these incidentsought not to mislead us; they are meant to teach that when a friararrived in any locality and there spent his strength for long days indispensing spiritual bread to famished souls, he ought not to blush toreceive material bread in exchange. To work was the rule, to beg theexception; but this exception was in nowise dishonorable. Did not Jesus, the Virgin, the disciples live on bread bestowed? Was it not rendering agreat service to those to whom they resorted to teach them charity?

Francis in his poetic language gave the name of _mensa Domini_, thetable of the Lord, to this table of love around which gathered the_little poor ones_. The bread of charity is the bread of angels; and itis also that of the birds, which reap not nor gather into barns. 

We are far enough, in this case, from that mendicity which is understoodas a means of existence and the essential condition of a life ofidleness. It is the opposite extreme, and we are true and just to St. Francis and to the origin of the mendicant orders only when we do notseparate the obligation of labor from the praise of mendicity. [4]

No doubt this zeal did not last long, and Thomas of Celano alreadyentitles his chapters, "_Lament before God over the idleness andgluttony of the friars_;" but we must not permit this speedy andinevitable decadence to veil from our sight the holy and manly beauty ofthe origin. 

With all his gentleness Francis knew how to show an inflexible severitytoward the idle; he even went so far as to dismiss a friar who refusedto work. [5] Nothing in this matter better shows the intentions of thePoverello than the life of Brother Egidio, one of his dearestcompanions, him of whom he said with a smile: "He is one of the paladinsof my Round Table. "

Brother Egidio had a taste for great adventures, and is a living exampleof a Franciscan of the earliest days; he survived his master twenty-fiveyears, and never ceased to obey the letter and spirit of the Rule withfreedom and simplicity. 

We find him one day setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Arrived at Brindisi, he borrowed a water-jug that he might carry waterwhile he was awaiting the departure of the ship, and passed a part ofevery day in crying through the streets of the city: "_Alla fresca! Allafresca!_" like other water-carriers. But he would change his tradeaccording to the country and the circumstances; on his way back, atAncona, he procured willow for making baskets, which he afterward sold, not for money but for his food. It even happened to him to be employedin burying the dead. 

Sent to Rome, every morning after finishing his religious duties, hewould take a walk of several leagues, to a certain forest, whence hebrought a load of wood. Coming back one day he met a lady who wanted tobuy it; they agreed on a price, and Egidio carried it to her house. Butwhen he arrived at the house she perceived him to be a friar, and wouldhave given him more than the price agreed upon. "My good lady, " hereplied, "I will not permit myself to be overcome by avarice, " and hedeparted without accepting anything at all. 

In the olive season he helped in the gathering; in grape season heoffered himself as vintager. One day on the Piazza di Roma, where menare hired for day's work, he saw a _padrone_ who could not find a man tothrash his walnut tree; it was so high that no one dared risk himselfin it. "If you will give me part of the nuts, " said Egidio, "I will doit willingly. " The bargain struck and the tree thrashed, there proved tobe so many nuts that he did not know where to put his share. Gatheringup his tunic he made a bag of it and full of joy returned to Rome, wherehe distributed them among all the poor whom he met. 

Is not this a charming incident? Does it not by itself alone reveal thefreshness, the youth, the kindness of heart of the first Franciscans?There is no end to the stories of the ingenuousness of Brother Egidio. All kinds of work seemed good to him provided he had time enough in themorning for his religious duties. Now he is in the service of theCellarer of the Four Crowns at Rome, sifting flour and carrying water tothe convent from the well of San Sisto. Now he is at Rieti, where heconsents to remain with Cardinal Nicholas, bringing to every meal thebread which he had earned, notwithstanding the entreaties of the masterof the house, who would gladly have provided for his wants. One day itrained so hard that Brother Egidio could not think of going out; thecardinal was already making merry over the thought that he would beforced to accept bread that he had not earned. But Egidio went to thekitchen, and finding that it needed cleaning he persuaded the cook tolet him sweep it, and returned triumphant with the bread he had earned, which he ate at the cardinal's table. [6]

From the very beginning Egidio's life commanded respect; it was at onceso original, so gay, so spiritual, [7] and so mystical, that even inthe least exact and most expanded accounts his legend has remainedalmost free from all addition. He is, after St. Francis, the finestincarnation of the Franciscan spirit. 

The incidents which are here cited are all, so to speak, illustrationsof the Rule; in fact there is nothing more explicit than its commandswith respect to work. 

The Brothers, after entering upon the Order, were to continue toexercise the calling which they had when in the world, and if they hadnone they were to learn one. For payment they were to accept only thefood that was necessary for them, but in case that was insufficient theymight beg. In addition they were naturally permitted to own theinstruments of their calling. [8] Brother Ginepro, whose acquaintancewe shall make further on, had an awl, and gained his bread wherever hewent by mending shoes, and we see St. Clara working even on herdeath-bed. 

This obligation to work with the hands merits all the more to be broughtinto the light, because it was destined hardly to survive St. Francis, and because to it is due in part the original character of the firstgeneration of the Order. Yet this was not the real reason for the beingof the Brothers Minor. Their mission consisted above all in being thespouses of Poverty. 

Terrified by the ecclesiastical disorders of the time, haunted bypainful memories of his past life, Francis saw in money the specialinstrument of the devil; in moments of excitement he went so far as toexecrate it, as if there had been in the metal itself a sort of magicalpower and secret curse. Money was truly for him the sacrament of evil. 

This is not the place for asking if he was wrong; grave authors havedemonstrated at length the economic troubles which would have been letloose upon the world if men had followed him. Alas! his madness, ifmadness it were, is a kind of which one need not fear the contagion. 

He felt that in this respect the Rule could not be too absolute, andthat if unfortunately the door was opened to various interpretations ofit, there would be no stopping-point. The course of events and theperiodical convulsions which shook his Order show clearly enough howrightly he judged. 

I do not know nor desire to know if theologians have yet come to ascientific conclusion with regard to the poverty of Jesus, but it seemsevident to me that poverty with the labor of the hands is the ideal heldup by the Galilean to the efforts of his disciples. 

Still it is easy to see that Franciscan poverty is neither to beconfounded with the unfeeling pride of the stoic, nor with the stupidhorror of all joy felt by certain devotees; St. Francis renouncedeverything only that he might the better possess everything. The livesof the immense majority of our contemporaries are ruled by the fatalerror that the more one possesses the more one enjoys. Our exterior, civil liberties continually increase, but at the same time our inwardfreedom is taking flight; how many are there among us who are literallypossessed by what they possess?[9]

Poverty not only permitted the Brothers to mingle with the poor andspeak to them with authority, but, removing from them all materialanxiety, it left them free to enjoy without hindrance those hiddentreasures which nature reserves for pure idealists. 

The ever-thickening barriers which modern life, with its sickly searchfor useless comfort, has set up between us and nature did not exist forthese men, so full of youth and life, eager for wide spaces and theouter air. This is what gave St. Francis and his companions that quicksusceptibility to Nature which made them thrill in mysterious harmonywith her. Their communion with Nature was so intimate, so ardent, thatUmbria, with the harmonious poetry of its skies, the joyful outburst ofits spring-time, is still the best document from which to study them. The tie between the two is so indissoluble, that after having lived acertain time in company with St. Francis, one can hardly, on readingcertain passages of his biographers, help _seeing_ the spot where theincident took place, hearing the vague sounds of creatures and things, precisely as, when reading certain pages of a beloved author, one hearsthe sound of his voice. 

The worship of Poverty of the early Franciscans had in it, then, nothingascetic or barbarous, nothing which recalls the Stylites or the Nazirs. She was their bride, and like true lovers they felt no fatigues whichthey might endure to find and remain near her. 

 La lor concordia e lor lieti sembianti, Amor e maraviglia e dolce sguardo Facean esser cagion de' pensier santi. [10]

To draw the portrait of an ideal knight at the beginning of thethirteenth century is to draw Francis's very portrait, with thisdifference, that what the knight did for his lady, he did for Poverty. This comparison is not a mere caprice; he himself profoundly felt it andexpressed it with perfect clearness, and it is only by keeping itclearly present in the mind that we can see into the very depth of hisheart. [11]

To find any other souls of the same nature one must come down toGiovanni di Parma and Jacoponi di Todi. The life of St. Francis astroubadour has been written; it would have been better to write it asknight, for this is the explanation of his whole life, and as it werethe heart of his heart. From the day when, forgetting the songs of hisfriends and suddenly stopped in the public place of Assisi, he metPoverty, his bride, and swore to her faith and love, down to thatevening when, naked upon the naked earth of Portiuncula, he breathed outhis life, it may be said that all his thoughts went out to this lady ofhis chaste loves. For twenty years he served her without faltering, sometimes with an artlessness which would appear infantine, if somethinginfinitely sincere and sublime did not arrest the smile upon the mostsceptical lips. 

Poverty agreed marvellously with that need which men had at that time, and which perhaps they have lost less than they suppose, the need of anideal very high, very pure, mysterious, inaccessible, which yet they maypicture to themselves in concrete form. Sometimes a few privilegeddisciples saw the lovely and pure Lady descend from heaven to salute herspouse, but, whether visible or not, she always kept close beside herUmbrian lover, as she kept close beside the Galilean; in the stable ofthe nativity, upon the cross at Golgotha, and even in the borrowed tombwhere his body lay. 

During several years this ideal was not alone that of St. Francis, butalso of all the Brothers. In poverty the _gente poverelle_ had foundsafety, love, liberty; and all the efforts of the new apostles aredirected to the keeping of this precious treasure. 

Their worship sometimes might seem excessive. They showed their spousethose delicate attentions, those refinements of courtesy so frequent inthe morning light of a betrothal, but which one gradually forgets tillthey become incomprehensible. [12]

The number of disciples continually increased; almost every week broughtnew recruits; the year 1211 was without doubt devoted by Francis to atour in Umbria and the neighboring provinces. His sermons were shortappeals to conscience; his heart went out to his hearers in ineffabletones, so that when men tried to repeat what they had heard they foundthemselves incapable. [13] The Rule of 1221 has preserved for us asummary of these appeals:

 "Here is an exhortation which all the Brothers may make when they think best: Fear and honor God, praise and bless him. Give thanks unto him. Adore the Lord, Almighty God, in Trinity and unity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Repent and make fruits meet for repentance, for you know that we shall soon die. Give, and it shall be given unto you. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; for if you forgive not, God will not forgive you. Blessed are they who die repenting, for they shall be in the kingdom of heaven. . . . Abstain carefully from all evil, and persevere in the good until the end. "[14]

We see how simple and purely ethical was the early Franciscan preaching. The complications of dogma and scholasticism are entirely absent fromit. To understand how new this was and how refreshing to the soul wemust study the disciples that came after him. 

With St. Anthony of Padua ([Cross] June 13, 1231; canonized in 1233[15]), the most illustrious of them all, the descent is immense. The distancebetween these two men is as great as that which separates Jesus fromSt. Paul. 

I do not judge the disciple; he was of his time in not knowing how tosay simply what he thought, in always desiring to subtilize it, toextract it from passages in the Bible turned from their natural meaningby efforts at once laborious and puerile; what the alchemists did intheir continual making of strange mixtures from which they fancied thatthey should bring out gold, the preachers did to the texts, in order tobring out the truth. 

The originality of St. Francis is only the more brilliant andmeritorious; with him gospel simplicity reappeared upon the earth. [16]Like the lark with which he so much loved to compare himself, [17] hewas at his ease only in the open sky. He remained thus until his death. The epistle to all Christians which he dictated in the last weeks of hislife repeats the same ideas in the same terms, perhaps with a littlemore feeling and a shade of sadness. The evening breeze which breathedupon his face and bore away his words was their symbolicalaccompaniment. 

"I, Brother Francis, the least of your servants, pray and conjure you bythat Love which is God himself, willing to throw myself at your feet andkiss them, to receive with humility and love these words and all othersof our Lord Jesus Christ, to put them to profit and carry them out. "

This was not a more or less oratorical formula. Hence conversionsmultiplied with an incredible rapidity. Often, as formerly with Jesus, alook, a word sufficed Francis to attach to himself men who would followhim until their death. It is impossible, alas! to analyze the best ofthis eloquence, all made of love, intimate apprehension, and fire. Thewritten word can no more give an idea of it than it can give us an ideaof a sonata of Beethoven or a painting by Rembrandt. We are oftenamazed, on reading the memoirs of those who have been great conquerorsof souls, to find ourselves remaining cold, finding in them all no traceof animation or originality. It is because we have only a lifeless relicin the hand; the soul is gone. It is the white wafer of the sacrament, but how shall that rouse in us the emotions of the beloved disciplelying on the Lord's breast on the night of the Last Supper?

The class from which Francis recruited his disciples was still about thesame; they were nearly all young men of Assisi and its environs, somethe sons of agriculturists, and others nobles; the School and the Churchwas very little represented among them. [18]

Everything still went on with an unheard-of simplicity. In theory, obedience to the superior was absolute; in practice, we can see Franciscontinually giving his companions complete liberty of action. [19] Menentered the Order without a novitiate of any sort; it sufficed to say toFrancis that they wanted to lead with him a life of evangelicalperfection, and to prove it by giving all that they possessed to thepoor. The more unpretending were the neophytes, the more tenderness hehad for them. Like his Master, he had a partiality for those who werelost, for men whom regular society casts out of its limits, but who withall their crimes and scandals are nearer to sainthood than mediocritiesand hypocrites. 

 One day St. Francis, passing by the desert of Borgo San Sepolcro came to a place called Monte-Casale, [20] and behold a noble and refined young man came to him. "Father, " he said, "I would gladly be one of your disciples. "

 "My son, " said St. Francis, "you are young, refined, and noble; you will not be able to follow poverty and live wretched like us. "

 "But, my father, are not you men like me? What you do I can do with the grace of Jesus. " This reply was well-pleasing to St. Francis, who, giving him his blessing, incontinently received him into the Order under the name of Brother Angelo. 

 He conducted himself so well that a little while after he was made guardian[21] of Monte-Casale. Now, in those times there were three famous robbers who did much evil in the country. They came to the hermitage one day to beg Brother Angelo to give them something to eat; but he replied to them with severe reproaches: "What! robbers, evil-doers, assassins, have you not only no shame for stealing the goods of others, but you would farther devour the alms of the servants of God, you who are not worthy to live, and who have respect neither for men nor for God your Creator. Depart, and let me never see you here again!"

 They went away full of rage. But behold, the Saint returned, bringing a wallet of bread and a bottle of wine which had been given him, and the guardian told him how he had sent away the robbers; then St. Francis reproved him severely for showing himself so cruel. . . . "I command thee by thine obedience, " said he, "to take at once this loaf and this wine and go seek the robbers by hill and dell until you have found them, to offer them this as from me, and to kneel there before them and humbly ask their pardon, and pray them in my name no longer to do wrong but to fear God; and if they do it, I promise to provide for all their wants, to see that they always have enough to eat and drink. After that you may humbly return hither. "

 Brother Angelo did all that had been commanded him, while St. Francis on his part prayed God to convert the robbers. They returned with the brother, and when St. Francis gave them the assurance of the pardon of God, they changed their lives and entered the Order, in which they lived and died most holily. [22]

What has sometimes been said of the voice of the blood is still moretrue of the voice of the soul. When a man truly wakens another to morallife, he gains for himself an unspeakable gratitude. The word _master_is often profaned, but it can express the noblest and purest of earthlyties. 

Who are those among us, who in the hours of manly innocence when theyexamine their own consciences, do not see rising up before them from outof the past the ever beloved and loving face of one who, perhaps withoutknowing it, initiated them into spiritual things? At such a time wewould throw ourselves at the feet of this father, would tell him inburning words of our admiration and gratitude. We cannot do it, for thesoul has its own bashfulness; but who knows that our disquietude andembarrassment do not betray us, and unveil, better than words could do, the depths of our heart? The air they breathed at Portiuncula was allimpregnated with joy and gratitude like this. 

To many of the Brothers, St. Francis was truly a saviour; he haddelivered them from chains heavier than those of prisons. And thereforetheir greatest desire was in their turn to call others to this sameliberty. 

We have already seen Brother Bernardo on a mission to Florence a fewmonths after his entrance into the Order. Arrived at maturity when heput on the habit, he appears in some degree the senior of this apostoliccollege. He knew how to obey St. Francis and remain faithful to the veryend to the ideal of the early days; but he had no longer that privilegeof the young--of Brother Leo, for example--of being able to transformhimself almost entirely into the image of him whom he admired. Hisphysiognomy has not that touch of juvenile originality, of poetic fancy, which is so great a charm of the others. 

Toward this epoch two Brothers entered the Order, men such as thesuccessors of St. Francis never received, whose history throws a brightlight on the simplicity of the early days. It will be remembered withwhat zeal Francis had repaired several churches; his solicitude wentfurther; he saw a sort of profanation in the negligence with which mostof them were kept; the want of cleanliness of the sacred objects, ill-concealed by tinsel, gave him a sort of pain, and it often happenedthat when he was going to preach somewhere he secretly called togetherthe priests of the locality and implored them to look after the decencyof the service. But even in these cases he was not content to preachonly in words; binding together some stalks of heather he would makethem into brooms for sweeping out the churches. 

One day in the suburbs of Assisi he was performing this task when apeasant appeared, who had left his oxen and cart out in the fields whilehe came to gaze at him. 

 "Brother, " said he on entering, "give me the broom. I will help you, " and he swept out the rest of the church. 

 When he had finished, "Brother, " he said to Francis, "for a long time I have decided to serve God, especially when I heard men speak of you. But I never knew how to find you. Now it has pleased God that we should meet, and henceforth I shall do whatever you may please to command me. "

 Francis seeing his fervor felt a great joy; it seemed to him that with his simplicity and honesty he would become a good friar. 

It appears indeed that he had only too much simplicity, for after hisreception he felt himself bound to imitate every motion of the master, and when the latter coughed, spat, or sighed, he did the same. At lastFrancis noticed it and gently reproved him. Later he became so perfectthat the other friars admired him greatly, and after his death, whichtook place not long after, St. Francis loved to relate his conversion, calling him not Brother John, but Brother St. John. [23]

Ginepro is still more celebrated for his holy follies. 

One day he went to see a sick Brother and offered him his services. Thepatient confessed that he had a great longing to eat a pig's foot; thevisitor immediately rushed out, and armed with a knife ran to theneighboring forest, where, espying a troop of pigs, he cut off a foot ofone of them, returning to the monastery full of pride over his trophy. 

The owner of the pigs shortly followed, howling like mad, but Gineprowent straight to him and pointed out with so much volubility that he haddone him a great service, that the man, after overwhelming him withreproaches, suddenly begged pardon, killed the pig and invited all theBrothers to feast upon it. Ginepro was probably less mad than the storywould lead us to suppose; Franciscan humility never had a more sinceredisciple; he could not endure the tokens of admiration which thepopulace very early lavished on the growing Order, and which by theirextravagance contributed so much to its decadence. 

One day, as he was entering Rome, the report of his arrival spreadabroad, and a great crowd came out to meet him. To escape wasimpossible, but he suddenly had an inspiration; near the gate of thecity some children were playing at see-saw; to the great amazement ofthe Romans Ginepro joined them, and, without heeding the salutationsaddressed to him, remained so absorbed in his play that at last hisindignant admirers departed. [24]

It is clear that the life at Portiuncula must have been very differentfrom that of an ordinary convent. So much youth, [25] simplicity, love, quickly drew the eyes of men toward it. From all sides they were turnedto those thatched huts, where dwelt a spiritual family whose membersloved one another more than men love on earth, leading a life of labor, mirth, and devotion. The humble chapel seemed a new Zion destined toenlighten the world, and many in their dreams beheld blind humanitycoming to kneel there and recover sight. [26]

Among the first disciples who joined themselves to St. Francis we mustmention Brother Silvestro, the first priest who entered the Order, thevery same whom we have already seen the day that Bernardo di Quintevalledistributed his goods among the poor. Since then he had not had amoment's peace, bitterly reproaching himself for his avarice; night andday he thought only of that, and in his dreams he saw Francis exorcisinga horrid monster which infested all the region. [27]

By his age and the nature of the memory he has left behind him Silvestroresembles Brother Bernardo. He was what is usually understood by a holypriest, but nothing denotes that he had the truly Franciscan love ofgreat enterprises, distant journeys, perilous missions. Withdrawn intoone of the grottos of the Carceri, absorbed in the contemplative life, he gave spiritual counsels to his brethren as occasion served. [28]

The typical Franciscan priest is Brother Leo. The date of his entranceinto the Order is not exactly known, but we are probably not far fromthe truth in placing it about 1214. Of a charming simplicity, tender, affectionate, refined, he is, with Brother Elias, the one who plays thenoblest part during the obscure years in which the new reform was beingelaborated. Becoming Francis's confessor and secretary, treated by himas his favorite son, he excited much opposition, and was to the end ofhis long life the head of the strict observance. [29]

 One winter's day, St. Francis was going with Brother Leo from Perugia to Santa Maria degli Angeli, and the cold, being intense, made them shiver; he called Brother Leo, who was walking a little in advance, and said: "O Brother Leo, may it please God that the Brothers Minor all over the world may give a great example of holiness and edification; write, however, and note with care, that not in this is the perfect joy. "

 St. Francis, going on a little farther, called him a second time: "O Brother Leo, if the Brothers Minor gave sight to the blind, healed the infirm, cast out demons, gave hearing to the deaf, or even what is much more, if they raised the four days dead, write that not in this is the perfect joy. "

 Going on a little farther he cried: "O Brother Leo, if the Brother Minor knew all languages, all science, and all scriptures, if he could prophesy and reveal not only future things but even the secrets of consciences and of souls, write that not in this consists the perfect joy. "

 Going a little farther St. Francis called to him again: "O Brother Leo, little sheep of God, if the Brother Minor could speak the language of angels, if he knew the courses of the stars and the virtues of plants, if all the treasures of earth were revealed to him, and he knew the qualities of birds, fishes, and all animals, of men, trees, rocks, roots, and waters, write that not in these is the perfect joy. "

 And advancing still a little farther St. Francis called loudly to him: "O Brother Leo, if the Brother Minor could preach so well as to convert all infidels to the faith of Christ, write that not in this is the perfect joy. "

 While speaking thus they had already gone more than two miles, and Brother Leo, full of surprise, said to him: "Father, I pray you in God's name tell me in what consists the perfect joy. "

 And St. Francis replied: "When we arrive at Santa Maria degli Angeli, soaked with rain, frozen with cold, covered with mud, dying of hunger, and we knock and the porter comes in a rage, saying, 'Who are you?' and we answer, 'We are two of your brethren, ' and he says, 'You lie, you are two lewd fellows who go up and down corrupting the world and stealing the alms of the poor. Go away from here!' and he does not open to us, but leaves us outside shivering in the snow and rain, frozen, starved, till night; then, if thus maltreated and turned away, we patiently endure all without murmuring against him, if we think with humility and charity that this porter really knows us truly and that God makes him speak thus to us, then, O Brother Leo, write that in this is the perfect joy. . . . Above all the graces and all the gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to his friends is the grace to conquer oneself, and willingly to suffer pain, outrages, disgrace, and evil treatment, for the love of Christ!"[30]

Although by its slight and somewhat playful character this story recallsthe insipid statues of the fourteenth century, it has justly becomecelebrated, its spirit is thoroughly Franciscan; that transcendentidealism, which sees in perfection and joy two equivalent terms, andplaces perfect joy in the pure and serene region of the perfecting ofoneself; that sublime simplicity which so easily puts in their trueplace the miracle-worker and the scholar, these are perhaps not entirelynew;[31] but St. Francis must have had singular moral strength toimpose upon his contemporaries ideas in such absolute contradiction totheir habits and their hopes; for the intellectual aristocracy of thethirteenth century with one accord found the perfect joy in knowledge, while the people found it in miracles. 

Doubtless we must not forget those great mystical families, which, allthrough the Middle Ages, were the refuge of the noblest souls; but theynever had this fine simplicity. The School is always more or less thegateway to mysticism; it is possible only to an elect of subtile minds;a pious peasant seldom understands the Imitation. 

It may be said that all St. Francis's philosophy is contained in thischapter of the Fioretti. [32] From it we foresee what will be hisattitude toward learning, and are helped to understand how it happensthat this famous saint was so poor a miracle-worker. 

Twelve centuries before, Jesus had said, "Blessed are the poor inspirit. Blessed are they who suffer. " The words of St. Francis are onlya commentary, but this commentary is worthy of the text. 

It remains to say a word concerning two disciples who were alwaysclosely united with Brother Leo in the Franciscan memorials--Rufino andMasseo. 

Born of a noble family connected with that of St. Clara, the former wassoon distinguished in the Order for his visions and ecstasies, but hisgreat timidity checked him as soon as he tried to preach: for thisreason he is always to be found in the most isolated hermitages--Carceri, Verna, Greccio. [33]

Masseo, of Marignano, a small village in the environs of Assisi, was hisvery opposite; handsome, well made, witty, he attracted attention by hisfine presence and his great facility of speech; he occupies a specialplace in popular Franciscan tradition. He deserves it. St. Francis, totest his humility, made him the porter and cook of the hermitage, [34]but in these functions Masseo showed himself to be so perfectly a_Minor_ that from that time the master particularly loved to have himfor companion in his missionary journeys. 

One day they were travelling together, when they arrived at theintersection of the roads to Sienna, Arezzo, and Florence. 

"Which one shall we take?" asked Masseo. 

"Whichever one God wills. "

"But how shall we know which one God wills?"

"You shall see. Go and stand at the crossing of the roads, turn roundand round as the children do, and do not stop until I bid you. "

Brother Masseo began to turn; seized with a vertigo, he was nearlyfalling, but caught himself up at once. Finally Francis called out, "Stop! which way are you facing?"

"Toward Sienna. "

"Very well; God wills that we go to Sienna. "[35]

Such a method of making up one's mind is doubtless not for the dailyneeds of life, but Francis employed still others, like it, if not inform at least in fact. 

Up to this time we have seen the brethren living together in theirhermitages or roving the highways, preaching repentance. It would, however, be a mistake to think that their whole lives were passed thus. To understand the first Franciscans we must absolutely forget what theymay have been since that time, and what monks are in general; ifPortiuncula was a monastery it was also a workshop, where each brotherpractised the trade which had been his before entering the Order; butwhat is stranger still to our ideas, the Brothers often went out asservants. [36]

Brother Egidio's case was not an exception, it was the rule. This didnot last long, for very soon the friars who entered a house as domesticscame to be treated as distinguished guests; but in the beginning theywere literally servants, and took upon themselves the most meniallabors. Among the works which they might undertake Francis recommendedabove all the care of lepers. We have already seen the important partwhich these unfortunates played in his conversion; he always retainedfor them a peculiar pity, which he sought to make his disciples share. 

For several years the Brothers Minor may be said to have gone fromlazaretto to lazaretto, preaching by day in the towns and villages, andretiring at night to these refuges, where they rendered to these_patients of God_ the most repugnant services. 

The Crucigeri, who took charge of the greater number of leper-houses, always welcomed these kindly disposed aides, who, far from asking anysort of recompense, were willing to eat whatever the patients might haveleft. [37] In fact, although created solely for the care of lepers, theBrothers of this Order sometimes lost patience when the sufferers weretoo exacting, and instead of being grateful had only murmurs or evenreproaches for their benefactors. In these desperate cases theintervention of Francis and his disciples was especially precious. Itoften happened that a Brother was put in special charge of a singleleper, whose companion and servant he continued to be, sometimes for along period. [38]

The following narrative shows Francis's love for these unfortunates, andhis method with them. [39]

 It happened one time that the Brothers were serving the lepers and the sick in a hospital, near to the place where St. Francis was. Among them was a leper who was so impatient, so cross-grained, so unendurable, that everyone believed him to be possessed by the devil, and rightly enough, for he heaped insults and blows upon those who waited upon him, and what was worse, he continually insulted and blasphemed the blessed Christ and his most holy Mother the Virgin Mary, so that there was no longer anyone who could or would wait upon him. The Brothers would willingly have endured the insults and abuse which he lavished upon them, in order to augment the merit of their patience, but their souls could not consent to hear those which he uttered against Christ and his Mother. They therefore resolved to abandon this leper, but not without having told the whole story exactly to St. Francis, who at that time was dwelling not far away. 

 When they told him St. Francis betook himself to the wicked leper; "May God give thee peace, my most dear brother, " he said to him as he drew near. 

 "And what peace, " asked the leper, "can I receive from God, who has taken away my peace and every good thing, and has made my body a mass of stinking and corruption?"

 St. Francis said to him: "My brother, be patient, for God gives us diseases in this world for the salvation of our souls, and when we endure them patiently they are the fountain of great merit to us. "

 "How can I endure patiently continual pains which torture me day and night? And it is not only my disease that I suffer from, but the friars that you gave me to wait upon me are unendurable, and do not take care of me as they ought. "

 Then St. Francis perceived that this leper was possessed by the spirit of evil, and he betook himself to his knees in order to pray for him. Then returning he said to him: "My son, since you are not satisfied with the others, I will wait upon you. "

 "That is all very well, but what can you do for me more than they?"

 "I will do whatever you wish. "

 "Very well; I wish you to wash me from head to foot, for I smell so badly that I disgust myself. "

 Then St. Francis made haste to heat some water with many sweet-smelling herbs; next he took off the leper's clothes and began to bathe him, while a Brother poured out the water. And behold, by a divine miracle, wherever St. Francis touched him with his holy hands the leprosy disappeared and the flesh became perfectly sound. And in proportion as the flesh was healed the soul of the wretched man was also healed, and he began to feel a lively sorrow for his sins, and to weep bitterly. . . . And being completely healed both in body and soul, he cried with all his might: "Woe unto me, for I have deserved hell for the abuses and outrages which I have said and done to the Brothers, for my impatience and my blasphemies. "

One day, Brother John, whose simplicity we have already seen, and whohad been especially put in charge of a certain leper, took him for awalk to Portiuncula, as if he had not been the victim of a contagiousmalady. Reproaches were not spared him; the leper heard them and couldnot hide his sadness and distress; it seemed to him like being a secondtime banished from the world. Francis was quick to remark all this andto feel sharp remorse for it; the thought of having saddened one of_God's patients_ was unendurable; he not only begged his pardon, but hecaused food to be served, and sitting down beside him he shared hisrepast, eating from the same porringer. [40] We see with whatperseverance he pursued by every means the realization of his ideal. 

The details just given show the Umbrian movement, as it appears to me, to be one of the most humble and at the same time the most sincere andpractical attempts to realize the kingdom of God on earth. How farremoved we are here from the superstitious vulgarity of the mechanicaldevotion, the deceitful miracle-working of certain Catholics; how faralso from the commonplace, complacent, quibbling, theorizingChristianity of certain Protestants!

Francis is of the race of mystics, for no intermediary comes between Godand his soul; but his mysticism is that of Jesus leading his disciplesto the Tabor of contemplation; but when, overflooded with joy, they longto build tabernacles that they may remain on the heights and satiatethemselves with the raptures of ecstasy, "Fools, " he says to them, "yeknow not what ye ask, " and directing their gaze to the crowds wanderinglike sheep having no shepherd, he leads them back to the plain, to themidst of those who moan, who suffer, who blaspheme. 

The higher the moral stature of Francis the more he was exposed to thedanger of being understood only by the very few, and disappointed bythose who were nearest to him. Reading the Franciscan authors, one feelsevery moment how the radiant beauty of the model is marred by theawkwardness of the disciple. It could not have been otherwise, and thisdifference between this master and the companions is evident from thevery beginnings of the Order. The greater number of the biographers havedrawn the veil of oblivion over the difficulties created by certainBrothers as well as those which came from the ecclesiastical hierarchy, but we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by this almost universalsilence. 

Here and there we find indications all the more precious for being, soto say, involuntary. Brother Rufino, for example, the same who wasdestined to become one of the intimates of Francis's later days, assumedan attitude of revolt shortly after his entrance into the Order. Hethought it foolish in Francis when, instead of leaving the friars togive themselves unceasingly to prayer, he sent them out in alldirections to wait upon lepers. [41] His own ideal was the life of thehermits of the Thebaïde, as it is related in the then popular legends ofSt. Anthony, St. Paul, St. Paconius, and twenty others. He once passedLent in one of the grottos of the Carceri. Holy Thursday having arrived, Francis, who was also there, summoned all the brethren who weredispersed about the neighborhood, whether in grottos or huts, to observewith him the memories to which this day was consecrated. Rufino refusedto come; "For that matter, " he added, "I have decided to follow him nolonger; I mean to remain here and live solitary, for in this way Ishall be more surely saved than by submitting myself to this man and hisnonsense. "

Young and enthusiastic for the most part, it was not always withoutdifficulty that the Brothers formed the habit of keeping their work inthe background. Agreeing with their master as to fundamentals, theywould have liked to make more of a stir, attract public attention bymore obvious devotion; there were some among them whom it did notsatisfy to be saints, but who also wished to appear such. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 1 Cel. , 44; 3 Soc. , 55. 

 [2] 3 Soc. , 56; _Spec. _, 32b; _Conform. _, 217b, 1; _Fior. Bibl. Angel. _, Amoni, p. 378. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 [13] 2 Cel. , 3, 50. 

 [14] _Cap. _, 21. Cf. _Fior. , I. Consid. _, 18; 30; _Conform. _, 103a, 2; 2 Cel. , 3, 99; 100; 121. Vide Müller, _Anfänge_, p. 187. 

 [15] Vide his _Opera omnia postillis illustrata_, by Father de la Haye, 1739, f^o. For his life, Surius and Wadding arranged and mutilated the sources to which they had access; the Bollandists had only a legend of the fifteenth century. The Latin manuscript 14, 363 of the Bibliothèque Nationale gives one which dates from the thirteenth. Very Rev. Father Hilary, of Paris: _Saint Antoine de Padone, sa légende primitive_, Montreuil-sur-Mer, Imprimerie Notre-Dame-des-Prés, 1890, 1 vol. , 8vo. Cf. _Legenda seu vita et miracula S. Antonii sĉculo xiii concinnata ex cod. Memb. Antoniĉ bibliothecĉ_ a P. M. Antonio Maria Josa min. Comv. Bologna, 1883, 1 vol. , 8vo. 

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

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

 [18] The Order was at first essentially lay (at the present time it is, so far as I know, the only one in which there is no difference of costume between laymen and priests). Vide Ehrle, _Archiv. _, iii. , p. 563. It is the influence of the friars from northern countries which has especially changed it in this matter. General Aymon, of Faversham (1240-1243), decided that laymen should be excluded from all charges; _laicos ad officia inhabilitavit, quĉ usque tunc ut clerici exercebant_. (_Chron. _ xxiv. _gen. _ cod. Gadd. Relig. , 53, f^o 110a). Among the early Brothers who refused ordination there were surely some who did so from humility, but this sentiment is not enough to explain all the cases. There were also with certain of them revolutionary desires and as it were a vague memory of the prophecies of Gioacchino di Fiore upon the age succeeding that of the priests: _Fior. _, 27. _Frate Pellegrino non volle mai andare come chierico, ma come laico, benche fassi molto litterato e grande decretalista. _ Cf. _Conform. _, 71a. , 2. _Fr. Thomas Hibernicus sibi pollecem amputavit ne ad sacerdotium cogeretur. _ _Conform. _, 124b, 2. 

 [19] See, for example, the letter to Brother Leo. Cf. _Conform. _, 53b, 2. _Fratri Egidio dedit licentiam liberam ut iret quocumque vellet et staret ubicumque sibi placeret. _

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

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

 [22] _Fior. _, 26; Conform. , 119b, 1. Cf. Rule of 1221, cap. Vii. _Quicumque ad eos (fratres) venerint, amicus vel adversarius, fur vel latro benigne recipiatur. _

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

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

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

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

 [27] Bon. , 30; 3 Soc. , 30, 31; 2 Cel. , 3, 52. Cf. _Fior. _, 2. The dragon of this dream perhaps symbolizes heresy. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 [40] In the _Speculum_, f^o 41a, this story ends with the phrase: _Qui vidit hĉc scripsit et testimonium perhibet de hiis_. The brother is here called _Frater Jacobus simplex_. Cf. _Conform. _, 174b. 

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

 * * * * *

CHAPTER IX

SANTA CLARA

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

Clara[1] was born at Assisi in 1194, and was consequently about twelveyears younger than Francis. She belonged to the noble family of theSciffi. At the age when a little girl's imagination awakes and stirs, she heard the follies of the son of Bernardone recounted at length. Shewas sixteen when the Saint preached for the first time in the cathedral, suddenly appearing like an angel of peace in a city torn by intestinedissensions. To her his appeals were like a revelation. It seemed as ifFrancis was speaking for her, that he divined her secret sorrows, hermost personal anxieties, and all that was ardent and enthusiastic in theheart of this young girl rushed like a torrent that suddenly finds anoutlet into the channel indicated by him. For saints as for heroes thesupreme stimulus is woman's admiration. 

But here, more than ever, we must put away the vulgar judgment which canunderstand no union between man and woman where the sexual instinct hasno part. That which makes the union of the sexes something almost divineis that it is the prefiguration, the symbol, of the union of souls. Physical love is an ephemeral spark, designed to kindle in human heartsthe flame of a more lasting love; it is the outer court of the temple, but not the most holy place; its inestimable value is precisely that itleaves us abruptly at the door of the holiest of all as if to invite usto step over the threshold. 

The mysterious sigh of nature goes out for the union of souls. This isthe unknown God to whom debauchees, those pagans of love, offer theirsacrifices, and this sacred imprint, even though effaced, though soiledby all pollutions, often saves the man of the world from inspiring asmuch disgust as the drunkard and the criminal. 

But sometimes--more often than we think--there are souls so pure, solittle earthly, that on their first meeting they enter the most holyplace, and once there the thought of any other union would be not merelya descent, but an impossibility. Such was the love of St. Francis andSt. Clara. 

But these are exceptions. There is something mysterious in this supremepurity; it is so high that in holding it up to men one risks speaking tothem in an unknown tongue, or even worse. 

The biographers of St. Francis have clearly felt the danger of offeringto the multitude the sight of certain beauties which are far beyondthem, and this is for us the great fault of their works. They try togive us not so much the true portrait of Francis as that of the perfectminister-general of the Order such as they conceive it, such as it mustneeds be to serve as a model for his disciples; thus they have made thismodel somewhat according to the measure of those whom it is to serve, byomitting here and there features which, stupidly interpreted, might havefurnished material for the malevolence of unscrupulous adversaries, orfrom which disciples little versed in spiritual things could not havefailed to draw support for permitting themselves dangerous intimacies. Thus the relations of St. Francis with women in general and St. Clara inparticular, have been completely travestied by Thomas of Celano. Itcould not have been otherwise, and we must not bear him a grudge for it. The life of the founder of an Order, when written by a monk, in the verynature of things becomes always a sort of appendix to or illustration ofthe Rule. And the Rule, especially if the Order has its thousands ofmembers, is necessarily made not for the elect, but for the average, forthe majority of the flock. [2]

Hence this portrait, in which St. Francis is represented as a sternascetic, to whom woman appears to be a sort of incarnate devil! Thebiographers even go so far as to assure us that he knew only two womenby sight. These are manifest exaggerations, or rather the opposite ofthe truth. [3]

We are not reduced to conjecture to discover the true attitude of theUmbrian prophet in this matter. Without suspecting it, Celano himselfgives details enough for the correction of his own errors, and there arebesides a number of other documents whose scattered hints correspond andagree with one another in a manner all the more marvellous that it isentirely unintentional, giving, when they are brought together, almostall one could desire to know of the intercourse of these two beautifulsouls. 

After the sermons of Francis at St. Rufino, Clara's decision wasspeedily taken; she would break away from the trivialities of an idleand luxurious life and make herself the servant of the poor; all herefforts should be bent to make each day a new advance in the royal wayof love and poverty; and for this she would have only to obey him whohad suddenly revealed it to her. 

She sought him out and opened to him her heart. With that exaltation, aunion of candor and delicacy, which is woman's fine endowment, and towhich she would more readily give free course if she did not too oftendivine the pitfalls of base passion and incredulity, Clara offeredherself to Francis. 

It is one of the privileges of saints to suffer more than other men, forthey feel in their more loving hearts the echo of all the sorrows of theworld; but they also know joys and delights of which common men nevertaste. What an inexpressible song of joy must have burst forth inFrancis's heart when he saw Clara on her knees before him, awaiting, with his blessing, the word which would consecrate her life to thegospel ideal. 

Who knows if this interview did not inspire another saint, Fra Angelico, to introduce into his masterpiece those two elect souls who, alreadyradiant with the light of the heavenly Jerusalem, stop to exchange akiss before crossing its threshold?

Souls, like flowers, have a perfume of their own which never deceives. One look had sufficed for Francis to go down into the depths of thisheart; he was too kind to submit Clara to useless tests, too much anidealist to prudently confine himself to custom or arbitrary decorum; aswhen he founded the Order of Friars, he took counsel only of himself andGod. In this was his strength; if he had hesitated, or even if he hadsimply submitted himself to ecclesiastical rules, he would have beenstopped twenty times before he had done anything. Success is so powerfulan argument that the biographers appear not to have perceived howdetermined Francis was to ignore the canonical laws. He, a simpledeacon, arrogated to himself the right to receive Clara's vows and admither to the Order without the briefest novitiate. Such an act ought tohave drawn down upon its author all the censures of the Church, butFrancis was already one of those powers to whom much is forgiven, evenby those who speak in the name of the holy Roman Church. 

Francis had decided that on the night between Palm Sunday and HolyMonday (March 18-19, 1212) Clara should secretly quit the paternalcastle and come with two companions to Portiuncula, where he would awaither, and would give her the veil. She arrived just as the friars weresinging matins. They went out, the story goes, carrying candles in theirhands, to meet the bride, while from the woods around Portiuncularesounded songs of joy over this new bridal. Then Mass was begun at thatsame altar where, three years before, Francis had heard the decisivecall of Jesus; he was kneeling in the same place, but surrounded nowwith a whole spiritual family. 

It is easy to imagine Clara's emotion. The step which she had just takenwas simply heroic, for she knew to what persecutions from her family shewas exposing herself, and what she had seen of the life of the BrothersMinor was a sufficient warning of the distresses to which she wasexposing herself in espousing poverty. No doubt she interpreted thewords of the service in harmony with her own thoughts:

 "Surely they are my people, " said Jehovah. "Children who will not be faithless!" And he was for them a saviour. In none of their afflictions were they without succor. And the angel that is before his face saved them. [4]

Then Francis read again the words of Jesus to his disciples; she vowedto conform her life to them; her hair was cut off; all was finished. Afew moments after, Francis conducted her to a house of Benedictinenuns[5] at an hour's distance, where she was to remain provisionallyand await the progress of events. 

The very next morning Favorino, her father, arrived with a few friends, inveighing, supplicating, abusing everybody. She was unmovable, showingso much courage that at last they gave up the thought of carrying heroff by main force. 

She was not, however, at the end of her tribulations. Had this scenefrightened the Benedictines? We cannot tell, but less than a fortnightafter we find her in another convent, that of Sant-Angelo in Panso, atAssisi. [6] A week after Easter, Agnes, her younger sister, joined herthere, decided in her turn to serve poverty. Francis received her intothe Order. This time the father's fury was horrible. With a band ofrelatives he invaded the convent, but neither abuse nor blows couldsubdue this child of fourteen. In spite of her cries they dragged heraway. She fainted, and the little inanimate body suddenly seemed to themso heavy that they abandoned it in the midst of the fields, somelaborers looking with pity on the painful scene, until Clara, whose cryGod had heard, hastened to succor her sister. 

Their sojourn in this convent was of very short duration. It appearsthat they did not carry away a very pleasant impression of it. [7]Francis knew that several others were burning to join his two womenfriends; he therefore set himself to seek out a retreat where theycould live under his direction and in all liberty practise the gospelrule. 

He had not long to seek; the Benedictine monks of Mount Subasio alwaysseized every possible opportunity to make themselves popular. Theybelonged to that congregation of Camaldoli, whom the common peopleappear to have particularly detested, and several of whose convents hadlately been pillaged. [8] The abbey no longer counted more than eightmonks, who were trying to save the wreck of their riches and privilegesby partial sacrifices; on the 22d of April, 1212, they had given to thecommune of Assisi for a communal house a monument which is standing thisday, the temple of Minerva. [9]

Francis, who already was their debtor for Portiuncula, once moreaddressed himself to them. Happy in this new opportunity to renderservice to one who was the incarnation of popular claims, they gave himthe chapel of St. Damian; perhaps they were well pleased, by favoringthe new Order, to annoy Bishop Guido, of whom they had reason tocomplain. [10] However this may be, in this hermitage, so well adaptedfor prayer and meditation, Francis installed his spiritualdaughters. [11] In this sanctuary, repaired by his own hands, at thefeet of this crucifix which had spoken to him, Clara was henceforward topray. It was the house of God; it was also in good measure that ofFrancis. Crossing its threshold, Clara doubtless experienced thatfeeling, at once so sweet and so poignant, of the wife who for the firsttime enters her husband's house, trembling with emotion at the radiantand confused vision of the future. 

If we are not entirely to misapprehend these beginnings, we mustremember with what rapidity external influences transformed the firstconception of St. Francis. At this moment he no more expected to found asecond order than he had desired to found the first one. In snatchingClara from her family he had simply acted like a true knight who rescuesan oppressed woman, and takes her under his protection. In installingher at St. Damian he was preparing a refuge for those who desired toimitate her and apart from the world practise the gospel Rule. But henever thought that the perfection of which he and his disciples were theapostles and missionaries, and which Clara and her companions were torealize in celibacy, was not practicable in social positions also;thence comes what is wrongly called the _Tertiari_, or Third Order, andwhich in its primitive thought was not separated from the first. ThisThird Order had no need to be instituted in 1221, for it existed fromthe moment when a single conscience resolved to practise his teachings, without being able to follow him to Portiuncula. [12] The enemy of thesoul for him as for Jesus was avarice, understood in its largestsense--that is to say, that blindness which constrains men to consecratetheir hearts to material preoccupations, makes them the slave of a fewpieces of gold or a few acres of land, renders them insensible to thebeauties of nature, and deprives them of infinite joys which they alonecan know who are the disciples of poverty and love. 

Whoever was free at heart from all material servitude, whoever wasdecided to live without hoarding, every rich man who was willing tolabor with his hands and loyally distribute all that he did not consumein order to constitute the common fund which St. Francis called _theLord's table_, every poor man who was willing to work, free to resort, in the strict measure of his wants, to this table of the Lord, thesewere at that time true Franciscans. 

It was a social revolution. 

There was then at that time neither one Order nor several. [13] Thegospel of the Beatitudes had been found again, and, as twelve centuriesbefore, it could accommodate itself to all situations. 

Alas! the Church, personified by Cardinal Ugolini, was about, if not tocause the Franciscan movement to miscarry, at least so well to hedgeabout it that a few years later it would have lost nearly its wholeoriginal character. 

As has been seen, the word poverty expresses only very imperfectly St. Francis's point of view, since it contains an idea of renunciation, of_abstinence_, while in thought the vow of poverty is a vow of liberty. Property is the cage with gilded wires, to which the poor larks aresometimes so thoroughly accustomed that they no longer even think ofgetting away in order to soar up into the blue. [14]

From the beginning St. Damian was the extreme opposite to what a conventof Clarisses of the strict observance is now; it is still to-day verymuch as Francis saw it. We owe thanks to the Brothers Minor for havingpreserved intact this venerable and charming hermitage, and not spoilingit with stupid embellishments. This little corner of Umbrian earth willbe for our descendants like Jacob's well whereon Christ sat himself downfor an instant, one of the favorite courts of the worship in spirit andin truth. 

In installing Clara there Francis put into her hands the Rule which hehad prepared for her, [15] which no doubt resembled that of the Brotherssave for the precepts with regard to the missionary life. He accompaniedit with the engagement[16] taken by himself and his brothers to supplyby labor or alms all the needs of Clara and her future companions. Inreturn they also were to work and render to the Brothers all theservices of which they might be capable. We have seen the zeal whichFrancis had brought to the task of making the churches worthy of theworship celebrated in them; he could not endure that the linen put tosacred uses should be less than clean. Clara set herself to spinningthread for the altar-cloths and corporals which the Brothers undertookto distribute among the poor churches of the district. [17] In addition, during the earlier years, she also nursed the sick whom Francis sent toher, and St. Damian was for some time a sort of hospital. [18]

One or two friars, who were called _Zealots of the Poor Ladies_, wereespecially charged with the care of the Sisters, making themselves hutsbeside the chapel, after the model of those of Portiuncula. Francis wasalso near at hand; a sort of terrace four paces long overlooks thehermitage; Clara made there a tiny garden, and when, at twilight, shewent thither to water her flowers, she could see, hardly half a leaguedistant, Portiuncula standing out against the aureola of the westernsky. 

For several years the relations between the two houses were continual, full of charm and freedom. The companions of Francis who receivedBrothers received Sisters also, at times returning from their preachingtours with a neophyte for St. Damian. [19]

But such a situation could not last long. The intimacy of Francis andClara, the familiarity of the earlier friars and Sisters would not do asa model for the relations of the two Orders when each had some hundredsof members. Francis himself very soon perceived this, though not soclearly as his sister-friend. Clara survived him nearly twenty-sevenyears, and thus had time to see the shipwreck of the Franciscan idealamong the Brothers, as well as in almost every one of the houses whichhad at first followed the Rule of St. Damian. She herself was led by thepressure of events to lay down rules for her own convent, but to hervery death-bed she contended for the defence of the true Franciscanideas, with a heroism, a boldness, at once intense and holy, by whichshe took a place in the first rank of witnesses for conscience. 

Is it not one of the loveliest pictures in religious history, that ofthis woman who for more than half a century sustains moment by moment astruggle with all the popes who succeed one another in the pontificalthrone, remaining always equally respectful and immovable, notconsenting to die until she has gained her victory?[20]

To relate her life is to relate this struggle; the greater number of itsvicissitudes may be found in the documents of the Roman _curia_. Francis had warded off many a danger from his institution, but he hadgiven himself guardians who were little disposed to yield any of theirrights; Cardinal Ugolini in particular, the future Gregory IX. , took apart in these matters which is very difficult to understand. We see himcontinually lavishing upon Francis and Clara expressions of affectionand admiration which appear to be absolutely sincere; and yet theFranciscan ideal--regarded as the life of love at which one arrives byfreeing himself from all servitude to material things--has hardly had aworse adversary than he. 

In the month of May, 1228, Gregory IX. Went to Assisi for thepreliminaries of the canonization of St. Francis. Before entering thecity he turned out of his way to visit St. Damian and to see Clara, whomhe had known for a long time, and to whom he had addressed lettersburning with admiration and paternal affection. [21]

How can we understand that at this time, the eve of the canonization(July 16, 1228), the pontiff could have had the idea of urging her to befaithless to her vows?

He represented to her that the state of the times made life impossibleto women who possess nothing, and offered her certain properties. AsClara gazed at him in astonishment at this strange proposition, he said, "If it is your vows which prevent you, we will release you from them. "

"Holy Father, " replied the Franciscan sister, "absolve me from my sins, but I have no desire for a dispensation from following Christ. "[22]

Noble and pious utterance, artless cry of independence, in which theconscience proudly proclaims its autonomy! In these words is mirroredat full length the spiritual daughter of the Poverello. 

By one of those intuitions which often come to very enthusiastic andvery pure women, she had penetrated to the inmost depths of Francis'sheart, and felt herself inflamed with the same passion which burned inhim. She remained faithful to him to the end, but we perceive that itwas not without difficulty. 

This is not the place in which to ask whether Gregory IX. Was right indesiring that religious communities should hold estates; he had a rightto his own views on the subject; but there is something shocking, to sayno more, in seeing him placing Francis among the saints at the verymoment when he was betraying his dearest ideals, and seeking to inducethose who had remained faithful to betray them. 

Had Clara and Francis foreseen the difficulties which they would meet?We may suppose so, for already under the pontificate of Innocent III. She had obtained a grant of the privilege of poverty. The pope was somuch surprised at such a request that he desired to write with his ownhands the opening lines of this patent, the like of which had never beenasked for at the court of Rome. [23]

Under his successor, Honorius III. , the most important personage of thecuria was this very Cardinal Ugolini. Almost a septuagenarian in 1216 heinspired awe at first sight by the aspect of his person. He had thatsingular beauty which distinguishes the old who have escaped the usuryof life; pious, enlightened, energetic, he felt himself made for greatundertakings. There is something in him which recalls Cardinal Lavigerieand all the prelates whose red robes cover a soldier or a despot ratherthan a priest. [24]

The Franciscan movement was attacked with violence[25] in variousquarters; he undertook to defend it, and a very long time before thecharge of protector of the Order was officially confided to him, heexercised it with devouring zeal. [26] He felt an unbounded admirationfor Francis and Clara, and often manifested it in a touching manner. Ifhe had been a simple man he might have loved them and followed them. Perhaps he even had thought of doing so. [27] Alas! he was a prince ofthe Church; he could not help thinking of what he would do in case heshould be called to guide the ship of St. Peter. 

He acted accordingly; was it calculation on his part or simply one ofthose states of conscience in which a man absorbed in the end to beattained hardly discusses the ways and means? I do not know, but we seehim immediately on the death of Innocent III. , under pretext ofprotecting the Clarisses, take their direction in hand, give them aRule, and substitute his own ideas for those of St. Francis. [28]

In the privilege which as legate he gave in favor of Monticelli, July27, 1219, neither Clara nor Francis is named, and the Damianites becomeas a congregation of Benedictines. [29]

We shall see farther on the wrath of Francis against Brother Philip, aZealot of the Poor Ladies, who had accepted this privilege in hisabsence. His attitude was so firm that other documents of the samenature granted by Ugolini at the same epoch were not indorsed by thepope until three years later. 

The cardinal's ardor to profit by the enthusiasm which the Franciscanideas everywhere excited was so great that we find, in the register ofhis legation of 1221, a sort of formula all prepared for those who wouldfound convents like those of the Sisters of St. Damian; but even therewe search in vain for the name of Francis or Clara. [30]

This old man had, however, a truly mystical passion for the youngabbess; he wrote to her, lamenting the necessity of being far from her, in words which are the language of love, respect, and admiration. [31]There were at least two men in Ugolini: the Christian, who felt himselfsubdued before Clara and Francis; the prelate, that is, a man whom theglory of the Church sometimes caused to forget the glory of God. 

Francis, though almost always resisting him, appears to have kept afeeling of ingenuous gratitude toward him to the very end. Clara, on thecontrary, had too long a struggle to be able to keep any illusions as tothe attitude of her protector. After 1230 there is no trace of anyrelations between them. 

All the efforts of the pope to mitigate the rigor of Clara's vow ofpoverty had remained vain. Many other nuns desired to practise strictlythe Rule of St. Francis. Among them was the daughter of the King ofBohemia, Ottokar I. , who was in continual relations with Clara. ButGregory IX. , to whom she addressed herself, was inflexible. Whilepouring eulogies upon her he enjoined upon her to follow the Rule whichhe sent to her--that is, the one which he had composed while he was yetcardinal. The Rule of the Poverello was put among the utopias, not tosay heresies. [32] He never, however, could induce St. Clara tocompletely submit herself. One day, indeed, she rebelled against hisorders, and it was the pope who was obliged to yield: he had desired tobring about a wider separation between the friars and the Sisters thanhad formerly prevailed; for a long time after the death of Francis acertain familiarity had continued between St. Damian and Portiuncula;Clara especially loved these neighborly relations, and often begged oneor another Brother to come and preach. The pope thought ill of this, andforbade, under the severest penalty, that any friar of Portiunculashould go to St. Damian without express permission of the Holy See. 

This time Clara became indignant. She went to the few friars attached toher monastery, and thanking them for their services, "Go, " she said;"since they deprive us of those who dispense to us spiritual bread, wewill not have those who procure for us our material bread. " He who wrotethat "_the necks of kings and princes are bowed at the feet of thepriests_" was obliged to bow before this woman and raise hisprohibition. [33]

St. Damian had too often echoed with St. Francis's hymns of love andliberty to forget him so soon and become an ordinary convent. Clararemained surrounded with the master's early companions; Egidio, Leo, Angelo, Ginepro never ceased to be assiduous visitors. These true loversof poverty felt themselves at home there, and took liberties which wouldelsewhere have given surprise. One day an English friar, a celebratedtheologian, came according to the minister's orders to preach at St. Damian. Suddenly Egidio, though a simple layman, interrupted him: "Stop, brother, let me speak, " he said to him. And the master in theology, bowing his head, covered himself with his cowl as a sign of obedience, and sat down to listen to Egidio. 

Clara felt a great joy in this; it seemed to her that she was once againliving in St. Francis's days. [34] The little coterie was kept up untilher death; she expired in the arms of Brothers Leo, Angelo, and Ginepro. In her last sufferings and her dying visions she had the supremehappiness of being surrounded by those who had devoted their lives tothe same ideal as she. [35]

In her will her life shows itself that which we have seen it--a dailystruggle for the defence of the Franciscan idea. We see how courageousand brave was this woman who has always been represented as frail, emaciated, blanched like a flower of the cloister. [36]

She defended Francis not only against others, but also against himself. In those hours of dark discouragement which so often and so profoundlydisturb the noblest souls and sterilize the grandest efforts, she wasbeside him to show him his way. When he doubted his mission and thoughtof fleeing to the heights of repose and solitary prayer, it was she whoshowed him the ripening harvest with no reapers to gather it in, mengoing astray with no shepherd to lead them, and drew him once again intothe train of the Galilean, into the number of those who _give theirlives a ransom for many_. [37]

Yet this love with which at St. Damian Francis felt himself surroundedfrightened him at times. He feared that his death, making too great avoid, would imperil the institution itself, and he took pains to remindthe sisters that he would not be always with them. One day when he wasto preach to them, instead of entering the pulpit he caused some ashesto be brought, and after having spread them around him and scatteredsome on his head, he intoned the _Miserere_, thus reminding them that hewas but dust and would soon return to dust. [38]

But in general it is at St. Damian that St. Francis is the mosthimself; it is under the shade of its olive-trees, with Clara caring forhim, that he composes his finest work, that which Ernest Renan calledthe most perfect utterance of modern religious sentiment, the "Canticleof the Sun. "

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Easy as it is to seize the large outlines of her life, it is with difficulty that one makes a detailed and documentary study of it. There is nothing surprising in this, for the Clarisses felt the rebound of the struggles which divided and rapidly transformed the Order of the Brothers Minor. The greater number of the documents have disappeared; we give summary indication of those which will most often be cited: 1. Life of St. Clara by an anonymous author. A. SS. , _Aug. _, t. Ii. , pp. 739-768. 2. Her Will, given by Wadding (_Annales_, 1253, No. 5), but which does not appear to be free from alteration. (Compare, for example, the opening of this will with Chapter VI. Of the Rule of the Damianites approved by Innocent IV. , August 8, 1253. ) 3. The bull of canonization, given September 26, 1255--that is to say, two years after Clara's death; it is much longer than these documents ordinarily are, and relates the principal incidents of her life. A. SS. , _loc. Cit. _, p. 749; Potthast, 16, 025. 4. Her correspondence. Unhappily we have only fragments of it; the Bollandists, without saying whence they drew them, have inserted four of her letters in the _Acta_ of St. Agnes of Bohemia, to whom they were addressed. (A. SS. , _Martii_, t. I. , pp. 506-508. )

 [2] Reading the Chronicle of Fra Salimbeni, which represents the average Franciscan character about 1250, one sees with what reason the Rule had multiplied minute precautions for keeping the Brothers from all relations with women. 

 The desire of Celano to present the facts in the life of Francis as the norm of the acts of the friars appears still more in the chapters concerning St. Clara than in all the others. Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 132: _Non credatis, charissimi (dixit Franciscus), quodeas perfecte non diligam. . . . Sed exemplum do vobis, ut quemadmodum ego facio, ita et vos faciatis. _ Cf. Ibid. , 134. 

 [3] 2 Cel. , 3, 55. _Fateor veritatem . . . Nullam me si aspicerem recogniturum in facie nisi duas_. This chapter and the two following give us a sort of caricature, in which Francis is represented as so little sure of himself that he casts down his eyes for fear of yielding to desire. The stories of Francis and Jacqueline of Settesoli give a very different picture of the relations between the Brothers and the women in the origin of the Order from that which was given later. Bernard de Besse (Turin MS. , f^o. 113) relates at length the coming of Jacqueline to Portiuncula to be present at St. Francis's death. Cf. _Spec. _, 107; 133; Bon. , 112. Also Clara's repast at Portiuncula. _Fior. _, 15; _Spec. _, 139b. ; A. SS. _Aug. Vita Clar. _, No. 39 ff. 

 [4] Isaiah, lxiii. , 8 and 9 (Ségond's [French] translation). At the Mass on Holy Monday Isaiah lxiii. Is read for the Epistle and Mark xiv. For the Gospel. 

 [5] San Paolo on the Chiasco, near Bastia. 

 [6] At the present day diocesan seminary of Assisi, "_Seminarium seraphicum_. " In the thirteenth century the north gate of the city was there. The houses which lie between there and the Basilica form the new town, which is rapidly growing and will unite the city with Sacro Convento. 

 [7] _Nam steteramus in alio loco, licet parum. Test. Clar. _ It is truly strange that there is not a word here for the house where the first days of her religious life were passed. Cf. _Vit. _, no. 10: _S. Angelus de Panse . . . Ubi cum non plene mens ejus quiesceret. _

 [8] Mittarelli, _Annales Camaldulenses_ (Venice, 1755-1773, 9 vols. , f^o. ), t. Iv. , app. 431 and 435. Cf. 156. 

 [9] The act of donation is still in the archives of Assisi. An analysis of it will be found in Cristofani, t. I. , p. 133. Their munificence remained without result; the bull _Ab Ecclesia_ of July 27, 1232, shows that they were suppressed less than twenty years after. _Sbaralea_, t. 1, p. 81. Potthast, 8984. Cf. , ib. , p. 195, note c, and 340, note a, and the bulls which are there indicated. 

 [10] See p. 81, note ii. 

 [11] 1 Cel. , 18; 21; 3 Soc. , 24; 2 Cel. , 1, 8. 

 [12] _An. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 600. Cf. 3 Soc. , 60. The three Orders are contemporary, one might even say, the four, including among them the one that miscarried among the secular priests (see below). 

 In a letter St. Clara speaks of her Order as making only a part with that of the Brothers: _Sequaris consilia Reverendi Patris nostri fratris Eliĉ Ministri generalis totius ordinis_. A. SS. , Martii, t. I. , p. 507. 

 [13] This point of view is brought into relief by an anecdote in the _De laudibus_ of Bernard of Besse (Turin MS. , 113a). This is how he ends chap. Vii. On the three Orders: _Nec Santus his contentus ordinibus satagebat omnium generi salutis et penitentiĉ viam dare. Unde parochiali cuidam sacerdoti dicenti sibi quod vellet suus, retenta tamen ecclesia. Frater esse, dato vivendi et induendi modo, dicitur indixisse ut annuatim, collectis Eclesiĉ fructibus daret pro Deo, quod de prĉteritis superesset. _

 [14] See the lovely story in the _Fior. _, 13. Cf. _Spec. _, 65a; _Conform. _, 168b. 1. 

 [15] The text of it was doubtless formerly inserted in chapter vi. Of the Rule granted to the Clarisses of St. Damian, August 9, 1253, by the bull _Solet annuere_. Potthast, 15, 086. But this chapter has been completely changed in many editions. The text of the _Speculum_, Morin, Rouen 1509, should be read. _Tract_ iii. , 226b. The critical study to be made upon this text by comparing the indications given by the bull _Angelis guadium_ of May 11, 1238, Sbaralea, i. , p. 242, is too long to find a place here. 

 [16] 2 Cel. , 3, 132. Cf. _Test. B. Clar. _

 [17] _In illa gravi infirmitate . . . Faciebat se erigi . . . Et sedens filabat. _ A. SS. , 760e. _Sic vult eas [sorores] operare manibus suis. _ Ib. 762a. 

 [18] _Fior. _ 33. 

 [19] Rule of 1221, chap xii. _Et nulla penitus mulier ab aliquo frater recipiatur ad obedientiam, sed dato sibi consilio spirituali, ubi voluerit agat penitentiam. _ Cf. Below, p. 252, note 1, the remainder of this chapter and the indication of the sources. This proves, 1, that the friars had received women into the Order; 2, that at the beginning they said The Order in the singular, and under this appellation included Sisters as well as Brothers. We see how far the situation was, even at the end of 1221, from being what it became a few years later. It is to be noted that in all the reforming sects of the commencement of the thirteenth century the two sexes were closely united. (Vide _Burchardi chronicon_, Pertz, 1, 23, p. 376. Cf. Potthast, 2611, bull _Cum otim_ of Nov. 25, 1205. )

 On the 7th of June, 1201 (bull _Incunubit nobis_), Innocent III. Had approved the Rule of the Humiliants. This was a religious association whose members continued to live in their own homes, and who offer surprising points of contact with the Franciscan Order, though they took no vow of poverty. From them issued a more restricted association which founded convents where they worked in wool; these convents received both men and women. Vide Jacques de Vitry, _Hist. Occidentalis_, cap. 28. _De religione et regula Humiliatorum_ (Douai, 1597, pp. 334-337). The time came when from these two Orders issued a third, composed solely of priests. These _Humiliati_ are too little known, though they have had a historian whose book is one of the noble works of the eighteenth century: Tiraboschi, _Vetera Humiliatorum monumenta_ (Milan, 3 vols. , 4to, 1766-1768). Toward 1200 they had monopolized _l'arte della lana_ in all upper Italy as far as to Florence; it is evident, therefore, that Francis's father must have had relations with them. 

 [20] The bull approving the Rule of St. Damian is of August 9, 1253. Clara died two days later. 

 [21] 1 Cel. , 122. Cf. Potthast, 8194 ff. ; cf. Ib. , 709. 

 [22] A. SS. , _Vita Cl. _, p. 758. Cf. Bull of canonization. 

 [23] _Vit. S. Clar. _, A. SS. , p. 758. This petition was surely made by the medium of Francis; and there are several indications of his presence in Perugia in the latter part of the life of Innocent III. _In obitu suo [Alexandri papĉ] omnes familiares sui deseruerunt eum prĉter fratres Minores. Et similiter Papam Gregorium et Honorium et Innocentium in cujus obitu fuit prĉsentialiter S. Franciscus. _ Eccl. Xv. _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 28 p. 568. Sbaralea puts forth doubts as to the authenticity of this privilege, the text of which he gives; wrongly, I think, for Clara alludes to it in her will, A. SS. , p. 747. 

 [24] He was born about 1147, created cardinal in 1198. Vide Raynald, _ann. _, 1217, § 88, the eulogy made upon him by Honorius III. _Forma decorus et venustus aspectu . . . Zelator fidei, disciplina virtutis, . . . Castitatis amator et totius sanctitatis exemplar_: Muratori, _Scriptores rer. Ital. _, iii. , 1, 575. 

 [25] 1 Cel. , 74. 

 [26] The bull _Litterĉ tuĉ_ of August 27, 1218, shows him already favoring the Clarisses. Sbaralea, i. , p. 1. Vide 3 Soc. , 61. _Offero me ipsum, dixit Hugolinus, vobis, auxilium et consilium, atque protectionem paratus impendere. _

 [27] In the Conformities, 107a, 2, there is a curious story which shows Ugolini going to the Carceri to find Francis, and asking him if he ought to enter his Order. Cf. _Spec. _, 217. 

 [28] He succeeded so well that Thomas of Celano himself seems to forget that, at least at St. Damian, the Clarisses followed the Rule given by St. Francis himself: _Ipsorum vita mirifica et institutio gloriosa a domino Papa Gregorio, tunc Hostiensi episcopo. _ 1 Cel. 20. Cf. _Honorii Opera_ Horoy, t. Iii. , col. 363; t. Iv. , col. 218; Potthast, 6179 and 6879 ff. 

 [29] This privilege is inserted in the bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219. _Honorii opera_, Horoy, t. Iii. , col. 363 ff. 

 [30] G. Levi, _Registri dei Cardinali_, no. 125. Vide below, p. 400. Cf. Campi, _Hist. Eccl. Di Piacenza_, ii. , 390. 

 [31] See, for example, the letter given by Wadding: Annals, ii. , p. 16 (Rome, 1732). _Tanta me amaritudo cordis, abundantia lacrymarum et immanitas doloris invasit, quod nisi ad pedes Jesu, consolationem solitĉ pietatis invenirem, spiritus meus forte deficeret et penitus anima liquefieret. _ Wadding's text should be corrected by that of the Riccardi MS. , 279. F^o 80a and b. Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. I. , p. 185; Sbaralea, i. , p. 37. 

 [32] Bull _Angelis gaudium_ of May 11, 1238; it may be found in Sbaralea, i. , p. 242. Cf. Palacky, _Literarische Reise nach Italien_, Prague, 1838, 4to, no. 147. Potthast, 10, 596; cf. 11, 175. 

 [33] A. SS. , _Vit. Clar. _, p. 762. Cf. _Conform. _, 84b, 2. 

 [34] A. SS. , _Aprilis_, t. Iii. , p. 239a; _Conform. _, 54a, 1; 177a, 2. 

 [35] A. SS. , _Vit. Clar. _, p. 764d. 

 [36] The bull of canonization says nothing of the Saracens whom she put to flight. Her life in the A. SS. Relates the fact, but shows her simply in prayer before the Holy Sacrament. Cf. _Conform. _, 84b, 1. Mark of Lisbon t. I. , part 2, pp. 179-181. None of these accounts represents Clara as going to meet them with a monstrance. 

 [37] Bon. , 173; _Fior. _ 16; _Spec. _, 62b; _Conform. _, 84b, 2; 110b 1; 49a, 1. With these should be compared _Spec. _, 220b: _Frater Leo narravit quod Sanctus Franciscus surgens orare_ (sic) _venit ad fratres suos dicens: "Ite ad sĉculum et dimittatis habitum, licentio vos. _"

 [38] 2 Cel. , 3, 134. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER X

FIRST ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE INFIDELS

Autumn, 1212-Summer, 1215

The early Brothers Minor had too much need of the encouragement andexample of Francis not to have very early agreed with him upon certainfixed periods when they would be sure to find him at Portiuncula. Stillit appears probable that these meetings did not become trueChapters-General until toward 1216. There were at first two a year, oneat Whitsunday, the other at Michaelmas (September 29th). Those ofWhitsunday were the most important; all the Brothers came together togain new strength in the society of Francis, to draw generous ardor andgrand hopes from him with his counsels and directions. 

The members of the young association had everything in common, theirjoys as well as their sorrows; their uncertainties as well as theresults of their experiences. At these meetings they were particularlyoccupied with the Rule, the changes that needed to be made in it, andabove all, how they might better and better observe it;[1] then, inperfect harmony, they settled the allotment of the friars to the variousprovinces. 

One of Francis's most frequent counsels bore upon the respect due to theclergy; he begged his disciples to show a very particular deference tothe priests, and never to meet them without kissing their hands. He sawonly too well that the Brothers, having renounced everything, were indanger of being unjust or severe toward the rich and powerful of theearth; he, therefore, sought to arm them against this tendency, oftenconcluding his counsels with these noble words: "There are men whoto-day appear to us to be members of the devil who one day shall bemembers of Christ. "

"Our life in the midst of the world, " said he again, "ought to be suchthat, on hearing or seeing us, every one shall feel constrained topraise our heavenly Father. You proclaim peace; have it in your hearts. Be not an occasion of wrath or scandal to anyone, but by your gentlenessmay all be led to peace, concord, and good works. "

It was especially when he undertook to cheer his disciples, to fortifythem against temptations and deliver them from their power, that Franciswas most successful. However anxious a soul might be, his words broughtit back to serenity. The earnestness which he showed in calming sadnessbecame fiery and terrible in reproving those who fell away, but in thesedays of early fervor he seldom had occasion to show severity; more oftenhe needed gently to reprove the Brothers whose piety led them toexaggerate penances and macerations. 

When all was finished and each one had had his part in this banquet oflove, Francis would bless them, and they would disperse in alldirections like strangers and travellers. They had nothing, but alreadythey thought they saw the signs of the grand and final regeneration. Like the exile on Patmos they saw "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, like a bride adorned for her husband. . . And the throne upon which is seated the Desired of all nations, theMessiah of the new times, he who is to make all things new. "[2]

Yet all eyes were turned toward Syria, where a French knight, Jean deBrienne, had just been declared King of Jerusalem (1210), and towardwhich were hastening the bands of the children's crusade. 

The conversion of Francis, radical as it was, giving a new direction tohis thoughts and will, had not had power to change the foundation of hischaracter. "In a great heart everything is great. " In vain is onechanged at conversion--he remains the same. That which changes is not hewho is converted, but his surroundings; he is suddenly introduced into anew path, but he runs in it with the same ardor. Francis still remaineda knight, and it is perhaps this which won for him in so high a degreethe worship of the finest souls of the Middle Ages. There was in himthat longing for the unknown, that thirst for adventures and sacrifices, which makes the history of his century so grand and so attractive, inspite of many dark features. 

Those who have a genius for religion have generally the privilege ofillusion. They never quite see how large the world is. When their faithhas moved a mountain they thrill with rapture, like the old Hebrewprophets, and it seems to them that they see the dawning of the day"when the glory of the Lord will appear, when the wolf and the lamb willfeed together. " Blessed illusion, that fires the blood like a generouswine, so that the soldiers of righteousness hurl themselves against themost terrific fortresses, believing that these once taken the war willbe ended. 

Francis had found such joys in his union with poverty that he held itfor proven that one needed only to be a man to aspire after the samehappiness, and that the Saracens would be converted in crowds to thegospel of Jesus, if only it were announced to them in all itssimplicity. He therefore quitted Portiuncula for this new kind ofcrusade. It is not known from what port he embarked. It was probably inthe autumn of 1212. A tempest having cast the ship upon the coast ofSlavonia, he was obliged to resign himself either to remain severalmonths in those parts or to return to Italy; he decided to return, butfound much difficulty in securing a passage on a ship which was about tosail for Ancona. He had no ill-will against the sailors, however, andthe stock of food falling short he shared with them the provisions withwhich his friends had overloaded him. 

No sooner had he landed than he set out on a preaching tour, in whichsouls responded to his appeals[3] with even more eagerness than intimes past. We may suppose that he returned from Slavonia in the winterof 1212-1213, and that he employed the following spring in evangelizingCentral Italy. It was perhaps during this Lent that he retired to anisland in Lake Trasimeno, making a sojourn there which afterward becamefamous in his legend. [4] However that may be, a perfectly reliabledocument shows him to have been in the Romagna in the month of May, 1213. [5] One day Francis and his companion, perhaps Brother Leo, arrived at the chateau of Montefeltro, [6] between Macerata and SanMarino. A grand fête was being given for the reception of a new knight, but the noise and singing did not affright them, and without hesitationthey entered the court, where all the nobility of the country wasassembled. Francis then taking for his text the two lines, Tanto è il bene ch' aspetto Ch'ogni pena m'è diletto, [7]

preached so touching a sermon that several of those present forgot for amoment the tourney for which they had come. One of them, Orlando deiCattani, Count of Chiusi in Casentino, was so much moved that, drawingFrancis aside, "Father, " he said to him, "I desire much to converse withyou about the salvation of my soul. " "Very willingly, " replied Francis;"but go for this morning, do honor to those friends who have invitedyou, eat with them, and after that we will converse as much as youplease. "

So it was done. The count came back and concluded the interview bysaying, "I have in Tuscany a mountain especially favorable tocontemplation; it is entirely isolated and would well suit anyone whodesired to do penance far from the noises of the world; if it pleasedyou I would willingly give it to you and your brethren for the salvationof my soul. "

Francis accepted it joyfully, but as he was obliged to be at Portiunculafor the Whitsunday chapter he postponed the visit to the Verna[8] to amore favorable time. 

It was perhaps in this circuit that he went to Imola; at least nothingforbids the supposition. Always courteous, he had gone immediately onhis arrival to present himself to the bishop, and ask of him authorityto preach. "I am not in need of anyone to aid me in my task, " repliedthe bishop dryly. Francis bowed and retired, more polite and even moregentle than usual. But in less than hour he had returned. "What is it, brother, what do you want of me again?" "Monsignor, " replied Francis, "when a father drives his son out at the door he returns by the window. "

The bishop, disarmed by such pious persistence, gave the desiredauthorization. [9]

The aim of Francis at that time, however, was not to evangelize Italy;his friars were already scattered over it in great numbers; and hedesired rather to gain them access to new countries. 

Not having been able to reach the infidels in Syria, he resolved to seekthem in Morocco. Some little time before (July, 1212), the troops of theAlmohades had met an irreparable defeat in the plains of Tolosa; beatenby the coalition of the Kings of Aragon, Navarre, and Castile, Mohammed-el-Naser had returned to Morocco to die. Francis felt that thisvictory of arms would be nothing if it were not followed by a peacefulvictory of the gospel spirit. 

He was so full of his project, so much in haste to arrive at the end ofhis journey, that very often he would forget his companion, andhastening forward would leave him far behind. The biographers areunfortunately most laconic with regard to this expedition; they merelysay that on arriving in Spain he was so seriously ill that a return homewas imperative. Beyond a few local legends, not very well attested, wepossess no other information upon the labors of the Saint in thiscountry, nor upon the route which he followed either in going orreturning. [10]

This silence is not at all surprising, and ought not to make usundervalue the importance of this mission. The one to Egypt, which tookplace six years later, with a whole train of friars, and at a time whenthe Order was much more developed, is mentioned only in a few lines byThomas of Celano; but for the recent discovery of the Chronicle ofBrother Giordano di Giano and the copious details given by Jacques deVitry, we should be reduced to conjectures upon that journey also. TheSpanish legends, to which allusion has just been made, cannot bealtogether without foundation, any more than those which concern thejourney of St. Francis through Languedoc and Piedmont; but in the actualcondition of the sources it is impossible to make a choice, with anysort of authority, between the historic basis and additions to it whollywithout value. 

The mission in Spain doubtless took place between the Whitsunday of 1214and that of 1215. [11] Francis, I think, had passed the previousyear[12] in Italy. Perhaps he was then going to see the Verna. TheMarch of Ancona and the Valley of Rieti would naturally have attractedhim equally about this epoch, and finally the growth of the two branchesof the Order must have made necessary his presence at Portiuncula andSt. Damian. The rapidity and importance of these missions ought in nosense to give surprise, nor awaken exaggerated critical doubts. It tookonly a few hours to become a member of the fraternity, and we may notdoubt the sincerity of these vocations, since their condition was theimmediate giving up of all property of whatever kind, for the benefitof the poor. The new friars were barely received when they in their turnbegan to receive others, often becoming the heads of the movement inwhatever place they happened to be. The way in which we see things goingon in Germany in 1221, and in England in 1224, gives a very livingpicture of this spiritual germination. 

To found a monastery it was enough that two or three Brothers shouldhave at their disposition some sort of a shelter, whence they radiatedout into the city and the neighboring country. It would, therefore, beas much an exaggeration to describe St. Francis as a man who passed hislife in founding convents, as to deny altogether the local traditionswhich attribute to him the erection of a hundred monasteries. In manycases a glance is enough to show whether these claims of antiquity arejustified; before 1220 the Order had only hermitages after the patternof the Verna or the Carceri, solely intended for the Brothers whodesired to pass some time in retreat. 

Returned to Assisi, Francis admitted to the Order a certain number oflearned men, among whom was perhaps Thomas of Celano. The latter, infact, says that God at that time mercifully remembered him, and he addsfurther on: "The blessed Francis was of an exquisite nobility of heartand full of discernment; with the greatest care he rendered to each onewhat was due him, with wisdom considering in each case the degree oftheir dignities. "

This does not harmonize very well with the character of Francis as wehave sketched it; one can hardly imagine him preserving in his Ordersuch profound distinctions as were at that time made between thedifferent social ranks, but he had that true and eternal politenesswhich has its roots in the heart, and which is only an expression oftact and love. It could not be otherwise with a man who saw in courtesyone of the qualities of God. 

We are approaching one of the most obscure periods of his life. Afterthe chapter of 1215 he seems to have passed through one of those crisesof discouragement so frequent with those who long to realize the idealin this world. Had he discovered the warning signs of the misfortuneswhich were to come upon his family? Had he come to see that thenecessities of life were to sully and blight his dream? Had he seen inthe check of his missions in Syria and Morocco a providential indicationthat he had to change his method? We do not know. But about this time hefelt the need of turning to St. Clara and Brother Silvestro for counselon the subject of the doubts and hesitations which assailed him; theirreply restored to him peace and joy. God by their mouth commanded him tocontinue his apostolate. [13]

Immediately he rose and set forth in the direction of Bevagna, [14] withan ardor which he had never yet shown. In encouraging him to persevereClara had in some sort inoculated him with a new enthusiasm. One wordfrom her had sufficed to give him back all his courage, and from thispoint in his life we find in him more poetry, more love, than everbefore. 

Full of joy, he was going on his way when, perceiving some flocks ofbirds, he turned aside a little from the road to go to them. Far fromtaking flight, they flocked around him as if to bid him welcome. "Brother birds, " he said to them then, "you ought to praise and loveyour Creator very much. He has given you feathers for clothing, wingsfor flying, and all that is needful for you. He has made you the noblestof his creatures; he permits you to live in the pure air; you haveneither to sow nor to reap, and yet he takes care of you, watches overyou and guides you. " Then the birds began to arch their necks, to spreadout their wings, to open their beaks, to look at him, as if to thankhim, while he went up and down in their midst stroking them with theborder of his tunic, sending them away at last with his blessing. [15]

In this same evangelizing tour, passing through Alviano, [16] he spoke afew exhortations to the people, but the swallows so filled the air withtheir chirping that he could not make himself heard. "It is my turn tospeak, " he said to them; "little sister swallows, hearken to the word ofGod; keep silent and be very quiet until I have finished. "[17]

We see how Francis's love extended to all creation, how the diffusedlife shed abroad upon all things inspired and moved him. From the sun tothe earthworm which we trample under foot, everything breathed in hisear the ineffable sigh of beings that live and suffer and die, and intheir life as in their death have a part in the divine work. 

"Praised be thou, Lord, with all thy creatures, especially for mybrother Sun which gives us the day and by him thou showest thy light. Heis beautiful and radiant with great splendor; of thee, Most High, he isthe symbol. "

Here again, Francis revives the Hebrew inspiration, the simple andgrandiose view of the prophets of Israel. "Praise the Lord!" the royalPsalmist had sung, "praise the Lord, fire and frost, snow and mists, stormy winds that do his will, mountains and all hills, fruit-trees andall cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and fowls with wings, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the Lord, praise yethe Lord!"

The day of the birds of Bevagna remained in his memory as one of themost beautiful of his whole life, and though usually so reserved healways loved to tell of it;[18] it was because he owed to Clara thesepure ardors which brought him into a secret and delicious communion withall beings; it was she who had revived him from sadness and hesitation;in his heart he bore an immense gratitude to her who, just when heneeded it, had known how to return to him love for love, inspiration forinspiration. 

Francis's sympathy for animals, as we see it shining forth here, hasnone of that sentimentalism, so often artificial and exclusive of allother love, which certain associations of his time noisily displayed; inhim it is only a manifestation of his feeling for nature, a deeplymystical, one might say pantheistic, sentiment, if the word had not atoo definitely philosophical sense, quite opposite to the Franciscanthought. 

This sentiment, which in the poets of the thirteenth century is so oftenfalse and affected, was in him not only true, but had in it somethingalive, healthy, robust. [19] It is this vein of poetry which awokeItaly to self-consciousness, made her in a few years forget thenightmare of Catharist ideas, and rescued her from pessimism. By itFrancis became the forerunner of the artistic movement which precededthe Renaissance, the inspirer of that group of Pre-Raphaelites, awkward, grotesque in drawing though at times they were, to whom we turn to-daywith a sort of piety, finding in their ungraceful saints an inner life, a moral feeling which we seek for elsewhere in vain. 

If the voice of the Poverello of Assisi was so well understood it wasbecause in this matter, as in all others, it was entirelyunconventional. How far we are, with him, from the fierce or Pharisaicpiety of those monks which forbids even the females of animals to entertheir convent! His notion of chastity in no sense resembles thisexcessive prudery. One day at Sienna he asked for some turtle-doves, andholding them in the skirt of his tunic, he said: "Little sistersturtle-doves, you are simple, innocent, and chaste; why did you letyourselves be caught? I shall save you from death, and have nests madefor you, so that you may bring forth young and multiply according to thecommandment of our Creator. "

And he went and made nests for them all, and the turtle-doves began tolay eggs and bring up their broods under the eyes of the Brothers. [20]

At Rieti a family of red-breasts were the guests of the monastery, andthe young birds made marauding expeditions on the very table where theBrothers were eating. [21] Not far from there, at Greccio, [22] theybrought to Francis a leveret that had been taken alive in a trap. "Cometo me, brother leveret, " he said to it. And as the poor creature, beingset free, ran to him for refuge, he took it up, caressed it, and finallyput it on the ground that it might run away; but it returned to himagain and again, so that he was obliged to send it to the neighboringforest before it would consent to return to freedom. [23]

One day he was crossing the Lake of Rieti. The boatman in whose bark hewas making the passage offered him a tench of uncommon size. Francisaccepted it with joy, but to the great amazement of the fisherman put itback into the water, bidding it bless God. [24]

We should never have done if we were to relate all the incidents of thiskind, [25] for the sentiment of nature was innate with him; it was aperpetual communion which made him love the whole creation. [26] He isravished with the witchery of great forests; he has the terrors of achild when he is alone at prayer in a deserted chapel, but he tastesineffable joy merely in inhaling the perfume of a flower, or gazing intothe limpid water of a brook. [27]

This perfect lover of poverty permitted one luxury--he even commanded itat Portiuncula--that of flowers; the Brother was bidden not to sowvegetables and useful plants only; he must reserve one corner of goodground for our sisters, the flowers of the fields. Francis talked withthem also, or rather he replied to them, for their mysterious and gentlelanguage crept into the very depth of his heart. [28]

The thirteenth century was prepared to understand the voice of theUmbrian poet; the sermon to the birds[29] closed the reign of Byzantineart and of the thought of which it was the image. It is the end ofdogmatism and authority; it is the coming in of individualism andinspiration; very uncertain, no doubt, and to be followed by obstinatereactions, but none the less marking a date in the history of the humanconscience. [30] Many among the companions of Francis were too much thechildren of their century, too thoroughly imbued with its theologicaland metaphysical methods, to quite understand a sentiment so simple andprofound. [31] But each in his degree felt its charm. Here Thomas ofCelano's language rises to an elevation which we find in no other partof his works, closing with a picture of Francis which makes one think ofthe Song of Songs. [32]

Of more than middle height, Francis had a delicate and kindly face, black eyes, a soft and sonorous voice. There was in his whole person adelicacy and grace which made him infinitely lovely. All thesecharacteristics are found in the most ancient portraits. [33]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 3 Soc. , 57; cf. _An. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 599. 

 [2] Rev. Xxi. ; 1 Cel. , 46; 3 Soc. , 57-59; _An. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 600. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 55 and 56; Bon. , 129-132. 

 [4] _Fior. _, 7; _Spec. _, 96; _Conform. _, 223a, 2. The fact of Francis's sojourn on an island in this lake is made certain by 1 Cel. , 60. 

 [5] Vide below, p. 400. Cf. A. SS. , pp. 823 f. 

 [6] At present Sasso-Feltrio, between Conca and Marecchio, south of and about two hours' walk from San Marino. 

 [7] The happiness that I expect is so great that all pain is joyful to me. All the documents give Francis's text in Italian, which is enough to prove that it was the language not only of his poems but also of his sermons. _Spec. _ 92a ff. _Conform. _ 113a, 2; 231a, 1; _Fior. , Prima consid. _

 [8] See p. 400. 

 [9] 2 Cel. , 3, 85; Bon. , 82. 

 [10] 1 Cel. , 56; Bon. , 132. 

 [11] Vide Wadding, _ann. 1213-1215_. Cf. A. SS. , pp. 602, 603, 825-831. Mark of Lisbon, _lib. _ i. , _cap. _ 45, pp. 78-80; Papini, _Storia di S. Francesco_, i. , p. 79 ff. (Foligno, 1825, 2 vols. , 4to). It is surprising to see Father Suysken giving so much weight to the _argumentum a silentio_. 

 [12] From Pentecost, 1213, to that of 1214. --_Post non multum vero temporis versus Marochium iter arripuit_, says Thomas of Celano (1 Cel. , 56), after having mentioned the return from Slavonia. Taking into account the author's _usus loquendi_ the phrase appears to establish a certain interval between the two missions. 

 [13] _Conform. _, 110b, 1; _Spec. _, 62b; _Fior. _, 16; Bon. , 170-174. 

 [14] Village about two leagues S. W. From Assisi. The time is indirectly fixed by Bon. , 173, and 1 Cel. , 58. 

 [15] 1 Cel. 58; Bon. , 109 and 174; _Fior. _, 16; _Spec. _, 62b; _Conform. _, 114b, 2. 

 [16] About halfway between Orvieto and Narni. 

 [17] 1 Cel. , 59; Bon. , 175. 

 [18] _Ad hĉc, ut ipse dicebat_ . . . 1 Cel. , 58. 

 [19] Francis has been compared in this regard to certain of his contemporaries, but the similarity of the words only makes more evident the diversity of inspiration. Honorius III. May say: _Forma rosĉ est inferius angusta, superius ampla et significat quod Christus pauper fuit in mundo, sed est Dominus super omnia et implet universa. Nam sicut forma rosĉ_, etc. (Horoy, t. I. , col. Xxiv. And 804), and make a whole sermon on the symbolism of the rose; these overstrained dissertations have nothing to do with the feeling for nature. It is the arsenal of mediĉval rhetoric used to dissect a word. It is an intellectual effort, not a song of love. The Imitation would say: _If thy heart were right all creatures would be for thee a mirror of life and a volume of holy doctrine_, lib. Ii. , cap. 2. The simple sentiment of the beauty of creation is absent here also; the passage is a pedagogue in disguise. 

 [20] _Spec. _, 157. _Fior. _; 22. 

 [21] 2 Cel. , 2, 16; _Conform. _, 148a, 1, 183b, 2. Cf. The story of the sheep of Portiuncula: Bon. , 111. 

 [22] Village in the valley of Rieti, two hours' walk from that town, on the road to Terni. 

 [23] 1 Cel. , 60; Bon. , 113. 

 [24] 1 Cel. , 61; Bon. , 114. 

 [25] 2 Cel. , 3, 54; Bon. , 109; 2 Cel. , 3; 103 ff. ; Bon. , 116 ff. ; Bon. , 110; 1 Cel. , 61; Bon. , 114, 113, 115; 1 Cel. , 79; _Fior. _, 13, etc. 

 [26] 2 Cel. , 3, 101 ff. ; Bon. , 123. 

 [27] 2 Cel. , 3, 59; 1 Cel. , 80 and 81. 

 [28] 2 Cel. , 3, 101; _Spec. _, 136a; 1 Cel. , 81. 

 [29] This is the scene in his life most often reproduced by the predecessors of Giotto. The unknown artist who (before 1236) decorated the nave of the Lower Church of Assisi gives five frescos to the history of Jesus and five to the life of St. Francis. Upon the latter he represents: 1, the renunciation of the paternal inheritance; 2, Francis upholding the Lateran church; 3, the sermon to the birds; 4, the stigmata; 5, the funeral. This work, unhappily very badly lighted, and about half of it destroyed at the time of the construction of the chapels of the nave, ought to be engraved before it completely disappears. The history of art in the time of Giunta Pisano is still too much enveloped in obscurity for us to neglect such a source of information. M. Thode (_Franz von Assisi und die Anfänge der Kunst_, Berlin, 1885, 8vo. Illust. ) and the Rev. Father Fratini (_Storia della Basilica d'Assisi_, Prato, 1882, 8vo) are much too brief so far as these frescos are concerned. 

 [30] It is needless to say that I do not claim that Francis was the only initiator of this movement, still less that he was its creator; he was its most inspired singer, and that may suffice for his glory. If Italy was awakened it was because her sleep was not so sound as in the tenth century; the mosaics of the façade of the Cathedral of Spoleto (the Christ between the Virgin and St. John) already belong to the new art. Still, the victory was so little final that the mural paintings of St. Lawrence without the walls and of the Quattro Coronate, which are subsequent to it by half a score of years, relapse into a coarse Byzantinism. See also those of the Baptistery of Florence. 

 [31] Hence the more or less subtile explanations with which they adorn these incidents. --As to the part of animals in thirteenth century legends consult Cĉsar von Heisterbach, Strange's edition, t. Ii. , pp. 257 ff. 

 [32] 1 Cel. , 80-83. 

 [33] 1 Cel. , 83; _Conform. _, 111a. M. Thode (_Anfänge_, pp. 76-94) makes a study of some thirty portraits. The most important are reproduced in _Saint François_ (1 vol. , 4to, Paris, 1885); 1, contemporary portrait, by Brother Eudes, now at Subiaco (_loc. Cit. _, p. 30); 2, portrait dating about 1230, by Giunta Pisano (?); preserved at Portiuncula (_loc. Cit. _, p. 384); 3, finally, portrait dated 1235, by Bon. Berlinghieri, and preserved at Pescia, in Tuscany (_loc. Cit. _, p. 277). In 1886 Prof. Carattoli studied with great care a portrait which dates from about those years and of which he gives a picture (also preserved of late years at Portiuncula). _Miscellanea francescana_ t. I. , pp. 44-48; cf. Pp. 160, 190, and 1887, p. 32. M. Bonghi has written some interesting papers on the iconography of St. Francis (_Francesco di Assisi_, 1 vol. , 12mo, Citta di Castello, Lapi, 1884. Vide pp. 103-113). 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XI

THE INNER MAN AND WONDER-WORKING

The missionary journey, undertaken under the encouragement of St. Claraand so poetically inaugurated by the sermon to the birds of Bevagna, appears to have been a continual triumph for Francis. [1] Legenddefinitively takes possession of him; whether he will or no, miraclesburst forth under his footsteps; quite unawares to himself the objectsof which he has made use produce marvellous effects; folk come out fromthe villages in procession to meet him, and the biographer gives us tohear the echo of those religious festivals of Italy--merry, popular, noisy, bathed in sunshine--which so little resemble the fastidiouslyarranged festivals of northern peoples. 

From Alviano Francis doubtless went to Narni, one of the most charminglittle towns in Umbria, busy with building a cathedral after theconquest of their communal liberties. He seems to have had a sort ofpredilection for this city as well as for its surrounding villages. [2]From thence he seems to have plunged into the valley of Rieti, whereGreccio, Fonte-Colombo, San Fabiano, Sant-Eleuthero, Poggio-Busconeretain even stronger traces of him than the environs of Assisi. 

Thomas of Celano gives us no particulars of the route followed, but, onthe other hand, he goes at length into the success of the apostle in theMarch of Ancona, and especially at Ascoli. Did the people of thesedistricts still remember the appeals which Francis and Egidio had madeto them six years before (1209), or must we believe that they werepeculiarly prepared to understand the new gospel? However this may be, nowhere else was a like enthusiasm shown; the effect of the sermons wasso great that some thirty neophytes at once received the habit of theOrder. 

The March of Ancona ought to be held to be the Franciscan province _parexcellence_. There are Offida, San-Severino, Macerata, Fornaro, Cingoli, Fermo, Massa, and twenty other hermitages where, during more than acentury, poverty was to find its heralds and its martyrs; from thencecame Giovanni della Verna, Jacopo di Massa, Conrad di Offida, AngeloClareno, and those legions of nameless revolutionists, dreamers, andprophets, who since the _extirpés_ in 1244 by the general of the Order, Crescentius of Jesi, never ceased to make new recruits, and by theirproud resistance to all powers filled one of the finest pages ofreligious history in the Middle Ages. 

This success, which bathed the soul of Francis with joy, did not arousein him the smallest movement of pride. Never has man had a greater powerover hearts, because never preacher preached himself less. One dayBrother Masseo desired to put his modesty to the test. 

 "Why thee? Why thee? Why thee?" he repeated again and again, as if to make a mock of Francis. "What are you saying?" cried Francis at last. "I am saying that everybody follows thee, everyone desires to see thee, hear thee, and obey thee, and yet for all that thou art neither beautiful, nor learned, nor of noble family. Whence comes it, then, that it should be thee whom the world desires to follow?"

 On hearing these words the blessed Francis, full of joy, raised his eyes to heaven, and after remaining a long time absorbed in contemplation he knelt, praising and blessing God with extraordinary fervor. Then turning toward Masseo, "Thou wishest to know why it is I whom men follow? Thou wishest to know? It is because the eyes of the Most High have willed it thus; he continually watches the good and the wicked, and as his most holy eyes have not found among sinners any smaller man, nor any more insufficient and more sinful, therefore he has chosen me to accomplish the marvellous work which God has undertaken; he chose me because he could find no one more worthless, and he wished here to confound the nobility and grandeur, the strength, the beauty, and the learning of this world. "

This reply throws a ray of light upon St. Francis's heart; the messagewhich he brought to the world is once again the glad tidings announcedto the poor; its purpose is the taking up again of that Messianic workwhich the Virgin of Nazareth caught a glimpse of in her _Magnificat_, that song of love and liberty, the sighs of which breathe the vision ofa new social state. He comes to remind the world that the welfare ofman, the peace of his heart, the joy of his life, are neither in money, nor in learning, nor in strength, but in an upright and sincere will. Peace to men of good will. 

The part which he had taken at Assisi in the controversies of hisfellow-citizens he would willingly have taken in all the rest of Italy, for no man has ever dreamed of a more complete renovation; but if theend he sought was the same as that of many revolutionaries who cameafter him, their methods were completely different; his only weapon waslove. 

The event has decided against him. Apart from the _illuminati_ of theMarch of Ancona and the _Fraticelli_ of our own Provence his discipleshave vied with one another to misunderstand his thought. [3]

Who knows if some one will not arise to take up his work? Has not thepassion for worm-eaten speculations yet made victims enough? Are therenot many among us who perceive that luxury is a delusion, that if lifeis a battle, it is not a slaughter-house where ferocious beasts wrangleover their prey, but a wrestling with the divine, under whatever form itmay present itself--truth, beauty, or love? Who knows whether thisexpiring nineteenth century will not arise from its winding-sheet tomake _amende honorable_ and bequeath to its successor one manly word offaith?

Yes, the Messiah will come. He who was announced by Gioacchino di Fioreand who is to inaugurate a new epoch in the history of humanity willappear. _Hope maketh not ashamed. _ In our modern Babylons and in thehuts on our mountains are too many souls who mysteriously sigh the hymnof the great vigil, _Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluantJustum_, [4] for us not to be on the eve of a divine birth. 

All origins are mysterious. This is true of matter, but yet more true ofthat life, superior to all others, which we call holiness; it was inprayer that Francis found the spiritual strength which he needed; hetherefore sought for silence and solitude. If he knew how to do battlein the midst of men in order to win them to the faith, he loved, asCelano says, to fly away like a bird going to make its nest upon themountain. [5]

With men truly pious the prayer of the lips, the formulated prayer, ishardly other than an inferior form of true prayer. Even when it issincere and attentive, and not a mechanical repetition, it is only aprelude for souls not dead of religious materialism. 

Nothing resembles piety so much as love. Formularies of prayer are asincapable of speaking the emotions of the soul as model love-letters ofspeaking the transports of an impassioned heart. To true piety as wellas to profound love, the formula is a sort of profanation. 

To pray is to talk with God, to lift ourselves up to him, to conversewith him that he may come down to us. It is an act of meditation, ofreflection, which presupposes the effort of all that is most personal inus. 

Looked at in this sense, prayer is the mother of all liberty and allfreedom. 

Whether or no it be a soliloquy of the soul with itself, the soliloquywould be none the less the very foundation of a strong individuality. 

With St. Francis as with Jesus, prayer has this character of effortwhich makes of it the greatest moral act. In order to truly know suchmen one must have been able to go with them, to follow Jesus up to themountain where he passed his nights. Three favored ones, Peter, James, John, followed him thither one day; but to describe what they saw, allthat a manly _sursum corda_ added to the radiance and the mysteriousgrandeur of him whom they adored, they were obliged to resort to thelanguage of symbols. 

It was so with St. Francis. For him as for his Master the end of prayeris communion with the heavenly Father, the accord of the divine with thehuman; or rather it is man who puts forth his strength to do the work ofGod, not saying to him a mere passive, resigned, powerless _Fiat_, butcourageously raising his head: "Behold me, Lord, I delight to do thywill. "

"There are unfathomable depths in the human soul, because at the bottomis God himself. " Whether this God be transcendent or immanent, whetherhe be One, the Creator, the eternal and immutable Principle, or whetherhe be, as say the doctors beyond the Rhine, the ideal objectivation ofour Me, is not the question for the heroes of humanity. The soldier inthe thick of battle does not philosophize as to how much truth orfalsehood there is in the patriotic sentiment; he takes his arms andfights at the peril of his life. So the soldiers of spiritual conflictsseek for strength in prayer, in reflection, contemplation, inspiration;all, poets, artists, teachers, saints, legislators, prophets, leaders ofthe people, learned men, philosophers, all draw from this same source. 

But it is not without difficulty that the soul unites itself to God, orif one prefers, that it finds itself. A prayer ends at last in divinecommunion only when it began by a struggle. The patriarch of Israel, asleep near Bethel, had already divined this: the God who passes bytells his name only to those who stop him and do him violence to learnit. He blesses only after long hours of conflict. 

The gospel has found an untranslatable word to characterize the prayersof Jesus, it compares the conflict which preceded the voluntaryimmolation of Christ to the death-struggle: _Factus in agonia_. [6] Wemight say of his life that it had been a long temptation, a struggle, aprayer, since these words only express different moments of spiritualactivity. 

Like their Master, the disciples and successors of Christ can conquertheir own souls only through perseverance. But these words, empty ofmeaning for devout conventicles, have had a tragic sense for men ofreligious genius. 

Nothing is more false, historically, than the saints that adorn ourchurches, with their mincing attitude, their piteous expression, thatindescribably anĉmic and emaciated--one may almost say emasculated--airwhich shows in their whole nature; they are pious seminarists brought upunder the direction of St. Alphonso di Liguori or of St. Louis diGonzagua; they are not saints, not the violent who take the kingdom ofheaven by force. 

We have come to one of the most delicate features of the life ofFrancis--his relations with diabolical powers. Customs and ideas have soprofoundly changed in all that concerns the existence of the devil andhis relations with men, that it is almost impossible to picture tooneself the enormous place which the thought of demons occupied at thattime in the minds of men. 

The best minds of the Middle Ages believed without a doubt in theexistence of the perverse spirit, in his perpetual transformations inthe endeavor to tempt men and cause them to fall into his snares. Evenin the sixteenth century, Luther, who undermined so many beliefs, had nomore doubt of the personal existence of Satan than of sorcery, conjurations, or possessions. [7]

Finding in their souls a wide background of grandeur and wretchedness, whence they sometimes heard a burst of distant harmonies calling them toa higher life, soon to be overpowered by the clamors of the brute, ourancestors could not refrain from seeking the explanation of this duel. They found it in the conflict of the demons with God. 

The devil is the prince of the demons, as God is the prince of theangels; capable of all transformations, they carry on to the end of timeterrible battles which will end in the victory of God, but meantime eachman his whole life long is contended for by these two adversaries, andthe noblest souls are naturally the most disputed. 

This is how St. Francis, with all men of his time, explained thedisquietudes, terrors, anguish, with which his heart was at timesassailed, as well as the hopes, consolations, joys in which in generalhis soul was bathed. Wherever we follow his steps local tradition haspreserved the memory of rude assaults of the tempter which he had toundergo. 

It is no doubt useless to recall here the elementary fact that ifmanners change with the times, man himself is quite as strangelymodified. If, according to education, and the manner of life, such orsuch a sense may develop an acuteness which confounds commonexperience--hearing in the musician, touch with the blind, etc. --we mayestimate by this how much sharper certain senses may have been then thannow. Several centuries ago visual delusion was with adults what it isnow with children in remotest country parts. A quivering leaf, anothing, a breath, an unexplained sound creates an image which they seeand in the reality of which they believe absolutely. Man is all of apiece; the hyperĉsthesia of the will presupposes that of thesensibility, one is conditioned on the other, and it is this which makesmen of revolutionary epochs so much greater than nature. It would beabsurd under pretext of truth to try to bring them back to the commonmeasures of our contemporary society, for they were veritably demigodsfor good as for evil. 

Legends are not always absurd. The men of '93 are still near to us, butit is nevertheless with good right that legend has taken possession ofthem, and it is pitiable to see these men who, ten times a day, had totake resolutions where everything was at stake--their destiny, that oftheir ideas, and sometimes that of their country--judged as if they hadbeen mere worthy citizens, with leisure to discuss at length everymorning the garments they were to wear or the _menu_ of a dinner. Mostof the time historians have perceived only a part of the truth aboutthem; for not only were there two men in them, almost all of them are atthe same time poets, demagogues, prophets, heroes, martyrs. To writehistory, then, is to translate and transpose almost continually. The menof the thirteenth century could not bring themselves to not refer to anexterior cause the inner motions of their souls. In what appears to usas the result of our own reflections they saw inspiration; where we saydesires, instincts, passions, they said temptation, but we must notpermit these differences of language to make us overlook or tax withtrickery a part of their spiritual life, bringing us thus to theconclusions of a narrow and ignorant rationalism. 

St. Francis believed himself to have many a time fought with the devil;the horrible demons of the Etruscan Inferno still haunted the forests ofUmbria and Tuscany; but while for his contemporaries and some of hisdisciples apparitions, prodigies, possessions, are daily phenomena, forhim they are exceptional, and remain entirely in the background. In theiconography of St. Benedict, as in that of most of the popular saints, the devil occupies a preponderant place; in that of St. Francis hedisappears so completely that in the long series of Giotto's frescos atAssisi he is not seen a single time. [8]

In the same way all that is magic and miracle-working occupies in hislife an entirely secondary rank. Jesus in the Gospels gave his apostlespower to cast out evil spirits, and to heal all sickness and allinfirmity. [9] Francis surely took literally these words, which made apart of his Rule. He believed that he could work miracles, and he willedto do so; but his religious thought was too pure to permit him toconsider miracles otherwise than as an entirely exceptional means ofrelieving the sufferings of men. Not once do we see him resorting tomiracle to prove his apostolate or to bolster up his ideas. His tacttaught him that souls are worthy of being won by better means. Thisalmost complete absence of the marvellous[10] is by so much the moreremarkable that it is in absolute contradiction with the tendencies ofhis time. [11]

Open the life of his disciple, St. Anthony of Padua ([Cross] 1231); it is atiresome catalogue of prodigies, healings, resurrections. One would sayit was rather the prospectus of some druggist who had invented a newdrug than a call to men to conversion and a higher life. It may interestinvalids or devotees, but neither the heart nor the conscience istouched by it. It must be said in justice to Anthony of Padua that hisrelations with Francis appear to have been very slight. Among theearliest disciples who had time to fathom their master's thought to thevery depths we find traces of this noble disdain of the marvellous; theyknew too well that the perfect joy is not to astound the world withprodigies, to give sight to the blind, nor even to revive those who havebeen four days dead, but that it lives in the love that goes even toself-immolation. _Mihi absit gloriari nisi in cruce Domini. _[12]

Thus Brother Egidio asked of God grace not to perform miracles; he sawin them, as in the passion for learning, a snare in which the proudwould be taken, and which would distract the Order from its truemission. [13]

St. Francis's miracles are all acts of love; the greater number of themare found in the healing of nervous maladies, those apparentlyinexplicable disquietudes which are the cruel afflictions of criticaltimes. His gentle glance, at once so compassionate and so strong, whichseemed like a messenger from his heart, often sufficed to make those whomet it forget all their suffering. 

The evil eye is perhaps a less stupid superstition than is generallyfancied. Jesus was right in saying that a look sufficed to make one anadulterer; but there is also a look--that of the contemplative Mary, forexample--which is worth all sacrifices, because it includes them all, because it gives, consecrates, immolates him who looks. 

Civilization dulls this power of the glance. A part of the education theworld gives us consists in teaching our eyes to deceive, in making themexpressionless, in extinguishing their flames; but simple andstraightforward natures never give up using this language of the heart, "which brings life and health in its beams. "

"A Brother was suffering unspeakable tortures; sometimes he would rollupon the ground, striking against whatever lay in his way, frothing atthe mouth, horrible to see; at times he would become rigid, and again, after remaining stark outstretched for a moment, would roll about inhorrible contortions; sometimes lying in a heap on the ground, his feettouching his head, he would bound upward as high as a man's head. "Francis came to see him and healed him. [14]

But these are exceptions, and the greater part of the time the Saintwithdrew himself from the entreaties of his companions when they askedmiracles at his hands. 

To sum up, if we take a survey of the whole field of Francis's piety, wesee that it proceeds from the secret union of his soul with the divineby prayer; this intuitive power of seeing the ideal classes him with themystics. He knew, indeed, both the ecstasy and the liberty of mysticism, but we must not forget those features of character which separate himfrom it, particularly his apostolic fervor. Besides this his piety hadcertain peculiar qualities which it is necessary to point out. 

And first, liberty with respect of observances: Francis felt all theemptiness and pride of most religious observance. He saw the snare thatlies hidden there, for the man who carefully observes all the minutiĉ ofa religious code risks forgetting the supreme law of love. More thanthis, the friar who lays upon himself a certain number of supererogatoryfacts gains the admiration of the ignorant, but the pleasure which hefinds in this admiration actually transforms his pious act into sin. Thus, strangely enough, contrary to other founders of orders, he wascontinually easing the strictness of the various rules which he laiddown. [15] We may not take this to be a mere accident, for it was onlyafter a struggle with his disciples that he made his will prevail; andit was precisely those who were most disposed to relax their vow ofpoverty who were the most anxious to display certain bigoted observancesbefore the public eye. 

"The sinner can fast, " Francis would say at such times; "he can pray, weep, macerate himself, but one thing he cannot do, he cannot befaithful to God. " Noble words, not unworthy to fall from the lips of himwho came to preach a worship in spirit and in truth, without temple orpriest; or rather that every fireside shall be a temple and everybeliever a priest. 

Religious formalism, in whatever form of worship, always takes on aforced and morose manner. Pharisees of every age disfigure their facesthat no one may be unaware of their godliness. Francis not merely couldnot endure these grimaces of false piety, he actually counted mirth andjoy in the number of religious duties. 

How shall one be melancholy who has in the heart an inexhaustibletreasure of life and truth which only increases as one draws upon it?How be sad when in spite of falls one never ceases to make progress?The pious soul which grows and develops has a joy like that of thechild, happy in feeling its weak little limbs growing strong andpermitting it every day a further exertion. 

The word joy is perhaps that which comes most often to the pen of theFranciscan authors;[16] the master went so far as to make it one of theprecepts of the Rule. [17] He was too good a general not to know that ajoyous army is always a victorious army. In the history of the earlyFranciscan missions there are bursts of laughter which ring out high andclear. [18]

For that matter, we are apt to imagine the Middle Ages as much moremelancholy than they really were. Men suffered much in those days, butthe idea of grief being never separated from that of penalty, sufferingwas either an expiation or a test, and sorrow thus regarded loses itssting; light and hope shine through it. 

Francis drew a part of his joy from the communion. He gave to thesacrament of the eucharist that worship imbued with unutterable emotion, with joyful tears, which has aided some of the noblest of human souls toendure the burden and heat of the day. [19] The letter of the dogma wasnot fixed in the thirteenth century as it is to-day, but all that isbeautiful, true, potent, eternal in the mystical feast instituted byJesus was then alive in every heart. 

The eucharist was truly the viaticum of the soul. Like the pilgrims ofEmmaus long ago, in the hour when the shades of evening fall and a vaguesadness invades the soul, when the phantoms of the night awake and seemto loom up behind all our thoughts, our fathers saw the divine andmysterious Companion coming toward them; they drank in his words, theyfelt his strength descending upon their hearts, all their inward beingwarmed again, and again they whispered, "Abide with us, Lord, for theday is far spent and the night approacheth. "

And often their prayer was heard. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] 1 Cel. , 62. 

 [2] 1 Cel. , 66; cf. Bon. , 180; 1 Cel. , 67; cf. Bon. , 182; 1 Cel. , 69; Bon. , 183. After St. Francis's death the Narniates were the first to come to pray at his tomb. 1 Cel. , 128, 135, 136, 138, 141; Bon. , 275. 

 [3] As concerning: 1, fidelity to Poverty; 2, prohibition of modifying the Rule; 3, the equal authority of the Will and the Rule; 4, the request for privileges at the court of Rome; 5, the elevation of the friars to high ecclesiastical charges; 6, the absolute prohibition of putting themselves in opposition to the secular clergy; 7, the interdiction of great churches and rich convents. On all these points and many others infidelity to Francis's will was complete in the Order less than twenty-five years after his death. We might expatiate on all this; the Holy See in interpreting the Rule had canonical right on its side, but Ubertino di Casali in saying that it was perfectly clear and had no need of interpretation had good sense on his side; let that suffice! _Et est stupor quare queritur expositio super litteram sic apertam quia nulla est difficultas in regulĉ intelligentia. Arbor vitĉ crucifixĉ_, Venice, 1485. Lib. V. , cap. 3. _Sanctus vir Egidius tanto ejulatu clamabat super regulĉ destructionem quam videbat quod ignorantibus viam spiritus quasi videbatur insanus. Id. Ibid. _

 [4] _Heavens drop down your dew, and let the clouds rain down the Just One. _ Anthem for Advent. 

 [5] _In foramibus petrĉ nidificabat. _ 1 Cel. , 71. Upon the prayers of Francis vide ibid. , 71 and 72; 2 Cel. , 3, 38-43; Ben. , 139-148. Cf. 1 Cel. , 6; 91; 103; 3 Soc. , 8; 12; etc. 

 [6] Luke, xxii. 44. 

 [7] Felix Kuhn: _Luther, sa vie et son oeuvre_, Paris, 1883, 3 vols. , 8vo. T. I. , p. 128; t. Ii. , p. 9; t. Iii. , p. 257. Benvenuto Cellini does not hesitate to describe a visit which he made one day to the Coliseum in company with a magician whose words evoked clouds of devils who filled the whole place. B. Cellini, _La vita scritta da lui medesimo_, Bianchi's edition, Florence, 1890, 12mo, p. 33. 

 [8] On the devil and Francis vide 1 Cel. , 68, 72; 3 Soc. , 12; 2 Cel. , 1, 6; 3, 10; 53; 58-65; Bon. , 59-62. Cf. Eccl. , 3; 5; 13; _Fior. _, 29; _Spec. _, 110b. To form an idea of the part taken by the devil in the life of a monk at the beginning of the thirteenth century, one must read the _Dialogus miraculorium_ of Cĉsar von Heisterbach. 

 [9] Matthew, x. 1. 

 [10] Miracles occupy only ten paragraphs (61-70) in 1 Cel. , and of this number there are several which can hardly be counted as Francis's miracles, since they were performed by objects which had belonged to him. 

 [11] Heretics often took advantage of this thirst for the marvellous to dupe the catholics. The Cathari of Moncoul made a portrait of the Virgin representing her as one eyed and toothless, saying that in his humility Christ had chosen a very ugly woman for mother. They had no difficulty in healing several cases of disease by its means; the image became famous, was venerated almost everywhere, and accomplished many miracles until the day when the heretics divulged the deception, to the great scandal of the faithful. Egbert von Schönau, _Contra Catharos_. Serm. I. Cap. 2. (Patrol. Lat. Migne t. 195. ) Cf. Heisterbach, _loc. Cit. _, v. 18. Luc de Tuy, _De altera Vita_, lib. Ii. 9; iii. 9, 18 (Patrol. Migne. , 208). 

 [12] "But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. " Gal. Vi. 14. This is to this day the motto of the Brothers Minor. 

 [13] _Spec. _, 182a; 200a; 232a. Cf. 199a. 

 [14] 1 Cel. , 67. 

 [15] _Secundum primam regulam fratres feria quarta et sexta et per licentiam beati Francisci feria secunda et sabbato jejunabant. Giord. 11. Cf. Reg. 1221, cap. 3_ and _Reg. 1223, cap. 3_, where Friday is the only fast day retained. 

 [16] 1 Cel. , 10; 22; 27; 31; 42; 80; 2 Cel. , 1, 1; 3, 65-68; Eccl. , 5; 6; _Giord. _, 21; _Spec. _, 119a; _Conform. _, 143a, 2. 

 [17] _Caveant fratres quod non ostendant se tristes extrinsecus nubilosos et hypocritas; sed ostendant se gaudentis in Domine, hilares et convenientes gratiosos. _

 [18] Eccl. , _loc. Cit. _; Giord. , _loc. Cit. _

 [19] Vide _Test. _; 1 Cel. , 46; 62; 75; 2 Cel. , 3, 129; _Spec. _, 44a. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XII

THE CHAPTER-GENERAL OF 1217[1]

After Whitsunday of 1217 chronological notes of Francis's life arenumerous enough to make error almost impossible. Unhappily, this is notthe case for the eighteen months which precede it (autumn of1215-Whitsunday, 1217). For this period we are reduced to conjecture, orlittle better. 

As Francis at that time undertook no foreign mission, he doubtlessemployed his time in evangelizing Central Italy and in consolidating thefoundations of his institution. His presence at Rome during the LateranCouncil (November 11-30, 1215) is possible, but it has left no trace inthe earliest biographies. The Council certainly took the new Order intoconsideration, [2] but it was to renew the invitation made to it fiveyears before by the supreme pontiff, to choose one of the Rules alreadyapproved by the Church. [3] St. Dominic, who was then at Rome to begfor the confirmation of his institute, received the same counsel andimmediately conformed to it. The Holy See would willingly have concededspecial constitutions to the Brothers Minor, if they had adopted for abase the Rule of St. Benedict; thus the Clarisses, except those of St. Damian, while preserving their name and a certain number of theircustoms, were obliged to profess the Benedictine rule. 

In spite of all solicitations, Francis insisted upon retaining his ownRule. One is led to believe that it was to confer upon these questionsthat we find him at Perugia in July, 1216, when Innocent III. Died. [4]

However this may be, about this epoch the chapters took on a greatimportance. The Church, which had looked on at the foundation of theOrder with somewhat mixed feelings, could no longer rest content withbeing the mere spectator of so profound a movement; it saw the need ofutilizing it. 

Ugolini was marvellously well prepared for such a task. Giovanni di SanPaolo, Bishop of the Sabine, charged by Innocent III. To look after theBrothers, died in 1216, and Ugolini was not slow to offer hisprotection to Francis, who accepted it with gratitude. Thisextraordinary offer is recounted at length by the Three Companions. [5]It must certainly be fixed in the summer of 1216[6] immediately afterthe death of Giovanni di San Paolo. 

It is very possible that the first chapter held in the presence of thiscardinal took place on May 29, 1216. By an error very common in history, most of the Franciscan writers have referred to a single date all thescattered incidents concerning the first solemn assizes of the Order, and have called this typical assembly the _Chapter of the Mats_. Inreality for long years all the gatherings of the Brothers Minor deservedthis name. [7]

Coming together at the season of the greatest heat, they slept in theopen air or sheltered themselves under booths of reeds. We need not pitythem. There is nothing like the glorious transparency of the summernight in Umbria; sometimes in Provence one may enjoy a foretaste of it, but if at Baux, upon the rock of Doms, or at St. Baume, the sight isequally solemn and grandiose, it still wants the caressing sweetness, the effluence of life which in Umbria give the night a bewitching charm. 

The inhabitants of the neighboring towns and villages flocked to thesemeetings in crowds, at once to see the ceremonies, to be present whentheir relatives or friends assumed the habit, to listen to the appealsof the Saint and to furnish to the friars the provisions of which theymight have need. All this is not without some analogy with thecamp-meeting so dear to Americans. As to the figures of severalthousands of attendants given in the legends, and furnishing even to aFranciscan, Father Papini, the occasion for pleasantries of doubtfultaste, it is perhaps not so surprising as might be supposed. [8]

These first meetings, to which all the Brothers eagerly hastened, heldin the open air in the presence of crowds come together from distantplaces, have then nothing in common with the subsequentchapters-general, which were veritable conclaves attended by a smallnumber of delegates, and the majority of the work of which, done insecret, was concerned only with the affairs of the Order. 

During Francis's lifetime the purpose of these assemblies wasessentially religious. Men attended them not to talk business, orproceed to the nomination of the minister-general, but in mutualcommunion to gain new strength from the joys, the example, and thesufferings of the other brethren. [9]

The four years which followed the Whitsunday of 1216 form a stage in theevolution of the Umbrian movement; that during which Francis wasbattling for autonomy. We find here pretty delicate shades ofdistinction, which have been misunderstood by Church writers as much asby their adversaries, for if Francis was particular not to put himselfin the attitude of revolt, he would not compromise his independence, andhe felt with an exquisite divination that all the privileges which thecourt of Rome could heap upon him were worth nothing in comparison withliberty. Alas, he was soon forced to resign himself to these gildedbonds, against which he never ceased to protest, even to his lastsigh;[10] but to shut one's eyes to the moral violence which the papacydid him in this matter is to condemn oneself to an entiremisapprehension of his work. 

A glance over the collection of bulls addressed to the Franciscanssuffices to show with what ardor he struggled against favors so eagerlysought by the monastic orders. [11]

A great number of legendary anecdotes put Francis's disdain ofprivileges in the clearest light. Even his dearest friends did notalways understand his scruples. 

 "Do you not see, " they said to him one day, "that often the bishops do not permit us to preach, and make us remain several days without doing anything before we are permitted to proclaim the word of God? It would be better worth while to obtain for this end a privilege from the pope, and it would be for the good of souls. "

 "I would first convert the prelates by humility and respect, " he replied quickly; "for when they have seen us humble and respectful toward them, they themselves will beg us to preach and convert the people. As for me, I ask of God no privilege unless it be that I may have none, to be full of respect for all men, and to convert them, as our Rule ordains, more by our example than by our speech. "[12]

The question whether Francis was right or wrong in his antipathy to theprivileges of the curia does not come within the domain of history; itis evident that this attitude could not long continue; the Church knowsonly the faithful and rebels. But the noblest hearts often make a standat compromises of this kind; they desire that the future should grow outof the past without convulsion and without a crisis. 

The chapter of 1217 was notable for the definitive organization of theFranciscan missions. Italy and the other countries were divided off intoa certain number of _provinces_, having each its provincial minister. Immediately upon his accession Honorius III. Had sought to revive thepopular zeal for the crusades. He had not stopped at preaching it, butappealed to prophecies which had proclaimed that under his pontificatethe Holy Land would be reconquered. [13] The renewal of fervor whichensued, and of which the rebound was felt as far as Germany, had aprofound influence on the Brothers Minor. This time Francis, perhapsfrom humility, did not put himself at the head of the friars chargedwith a mission to Syria; for leader he gave them the famous Elias, formerly at Florence, where he had had opportunity to show his highqualities. [14]

This Brother, who from this time appears in the foreground of thishistory, came from the most humble ranks of society; the date and thecircumstances of his entrance into the Order are unknown, and henceconjecture has come to see in him that friend of the grotto who had beenFrancis's confidant shortly before his decisive conversion. However thismay be, in his youth he had earned his living in Assisi, makingmattresses and teaching a few children to read; then he had spent sometime in Bologna as _scriptor_; then suddenly we find him among theBrothers Minor, charged with the most difficult missions. 

His adversaries vie with one another in asserting that he was the finestmind of his century, but unhappily it is very difficult, in the existingstate of the documents, to pronounce as to his actions; learned andenergetic, eager to play the leading part in the work of thereformation of religion, and having made his plan beforehand as to theproper mode of realizing it, he made straight for his goal, halfpolitical, half religious. Full of admiration for Francis and gratitudetoward him, he desired to regulate and consolidate the movement forrenovation. In the inner Franciscan circle, where Leo, Ginepro, Egidio, and many others represent the spirit of liberty, the religion of thehumble and the simple, Elias represents the scientific andecclesiastical spirit, prudence and reason. 

He had great success in Syria and received into the Order one of thedisciples most dear to Francis, Cĉsar of Speyer, who later on was tomake the conquest of all Southern Germany in less than two years(1221-1223), and who in the end sealed with his blood his fidelity tothe strict observance, which he defended against the attacks of BrotherElias himself. [15]

Cĉsar of Speyer offers a brilliant example of those suffering soulsathirst for the ideal, so numerous in the thirteenth century, whoeverywhere went up and down, seeking first in learning, then in thereligious life, that which should assuage the mysterious thirst whichtortured them. Disciple of the scholastic Conrad, he had felt himselfoverpowered with the desire to reform the Church; while still a laymanhe had preached his ideas, not without some success, since a certainnumber of ladies of Speyer had begun to lead a new life; but theirhusbands disapproving, he was obliged to escape their vengeance bytaking refuge at Paris, and thence he went to the East, where in thepreaching of the Brothers Minor he found again his hopes and his dreams. This instance shows how general was the waiting condition of souls whenthe Franciscan gospel blazed forth, and how its way had been everywhereprepared. 

But it is time to return to the chapter of 1217: the friars who went toGermany under conduct of Giovanni di Penna were far from having thesuccess of Elias and his companions; they were completely ignorant ofthe language of the country which they had undertaken to evangelize. Perhaps Francis had not taken into account the fact that though Italianmight, in case of need, suffice in all the countries bathed by theMediterranean, this could not be the case in Central Europe. [16]

The lot of the party going to Hungary was not more happy. Very often itcame to pass that the missionaries were fain to give up their verygarments in the effort to appease the peasants and shepherds whomaltreated them. But no less incapable of understanding what was said tothem than of making themselves understood, they were soon obliged tothink of returning to Italy. We may thank the Franciscan authors forpreserving for us the memory of these checks, and not attempting topicture the friars as suddenly knowing all languages by a divineinspiration, as later on was so often related. [17]

Those who had been sent to Spain had also to undergo persecutions. Thiscountry, like the south of France, was ravaged by heresy; but already atthat time it was vigorously repressed. The Franciscans, suspected ofbeing false Catholics and therefore eagerly hunted out, found a refugewith Queen Urraca of Portugal, who permitted them to establishthemselves at Coimbra, Guimarraens, Alenquero, and Lisbon. [18]

Francis himself made preparations for going to France. [19] This countryhad a peculiar charm for him because of his fervent love of the HolySacrament. Perhaps also he was unwittingly drawn toward this country towhich he owed his name, the chivalrous dreams of his youth, all ofpoetry, song, music, delicious dream that had come into his life. 

Something of the emotion that thrilled through him on undertaking thisnew mission has passed into the story of his biographers; one feelsthere the thrill at once sweet and agonizing, the heart-throb of thebrave knight who goes forth all harnessed in the early dawn to scan thehorizon, dreading the unknown and yet overflowing with joy, for he knowsthat the day will be consecrated to love and to the right. 

The Italian poet has given the one name of "pilgrimages of love" to thefarings forth of chivalry and the journeys undertaken by dreamers, artists, or saints to those parts of the earth which forever mirrorthemselves before their imagination and remain their chosenfatherland. [20] Such a pilgrimage as this was Francis undertaking. 

 "Set forth, " said he to the Brothers who accompanied him, "and walk two and two, humble and gentle, keeping silence until after tierce, praying to God in your hearts, carefully avoiding every vain or useless word. Meditate as much while on this journey as if you were shut up in a hermitage or in your cell, for wherever we are, wherever we go, we carry our cell with us; Brother body is our cell, and the soul is the hermit who dwells in it, there to pray to the Lord and to meditate. "

Arrived at Florence he found there Cardinal Ugolini, sent by the pope aslegate to Tuscany to preach the crusade and take all needful measuresfor assuring its success. [21] Francis was surely far from expectingthe reception which the prelate gave him. Instead of encouraging him, the cardinal urged him to give up his project. 

 "I am not willing, my brother, that you should cross the mountains; there are many prelates who ask nothing better than to stir up difficulties for you with the court of Rome. But I and the other cardinals who love your Order desire to protect and aid you, on the condition, however, that you do not quit this province. "

 "But, monsignor, it would be a great disgrace for me to send my brethren far away while I remained idly here, sharing none of the tribulations which they must undergo. "

 "Wherefore, then, have you sent your brethren so far away, exposing them thus to starvation and all sorts of perils?"

 "Do you think, " replied Francis warmly, and as if moved by prophetic inspiration, "that God raised up the Brothers for the sake of this country alone? Verily, I say unto you, God has raised them up for the awakening and the salvation of all men, and they shall win souls not only in the countries of those who believe, but also in the very midst of the infidels. "[22]

The surprise and admiration which these words awoke in Ugolini were notenough to make him change his mind. He insisted so strongly that Francisturned back to Portiuncula, the inspiration of his work not even shaken. Who knows whether the joy which he would have felt in seeing France didnot confirm him in the idea that he ought to renounce this plan? Soulsathirst with the longing for sacrifice often have scruples such asthese; they refuse the most lawful joys that they may offer them toGod. We cannot tell whether it was immediately after this interview ornot till the following year that Francis put Brother Pacifico at thehead of the missionaries sent into France. [23]

Pacifico, who was a poet of talent, had before his conversion beensurnamed Prince of Poesy and crowned at the capital by the emperor. Oneday while visiting a relative who was a nun at San Severino in the Marchof Ancona, Francis also arrived at the monastery, and preached with sucha holy impetuosity that the poet felt himself pierced with the sword ofwhich the Bible speaks, which penetrates between the very joints andmarrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. [24] On themorrow he assumed the habit and received his symbolical surname. [25]

He was accompanied to France by Brother Agnello di Pisa, who wasdestined to be put at the head of the first mission to England in1224. [26]

Francis, on sending them forth, was far from dreaming that from thiscountry, which exerted such a fascination over him, was to come forththe influence which was to compromise his dream--that Paris would be thedestruction of Assisi; and yet the time was not very far distant; a fewyears more and the Poverello would see a part of his spiritual familyforgetting the humility of their name, their origin, and theiraspirations, to run after the ephemeral laurels of learning. 

We have already seen that the habit of the Franciscans of this time wasto make their abode within easy reach of great cities; Pacifico and hiscompanions established themselves at St. Denis. [27] We have noparticulars of their work; it was singularly fruitful, since itpermitted them a few years later to attack England with full success. 

Francis passed the following year (1218) in evangelizing tours in Italy. It is naturally impossible to follow him in these travels, the itineraryof which was fixed by his daily inspirations, or by indications asfanciful as the one which had formerly determined his going to Sienna. Bologna, [28] the Verna, the valley of Rieti, the Sacro-Speco of St. Benedict at Subiaco, [29] Gaeta;[30] San Michele on Mount Gargano[31]perhaps received him at this time, but the notes of his presence inthese places are too sparse and vague to permit their being included inany scheme of history. 

It is very possible that he also paid a visit to Rome during this time;his communications with Ugolini were much more frequent than isgenerally supposed. We must not permit the stories of biographers todeceive us in this matter; it is a natural tendency to refer all that weknow of a man to three or four especially striking dates. We forgetentire years of the life of those whom we have known the best and lovedthe most and group our memories of them around a few salient eventswhich shine all the more brilliantly the deeper we make the surroundingobscurity. The words of Jesus spoken on a hundred different occasionscame at last to be formed into a single discourse, the Sermon on theMount. It is in such cases that criticism needs to be delicate, tomingle a little divination with the heavy artillery of scientificargument. 

The texts are sacred, but we must not make fetiches of them;notwithstanding St. Matthew, no one to-day dreams of representing Jesusas uttering the Sermon on the Mount all at one time. In the same way, inthe narratives concerning the relations between St. Francis and Ugolini, we find ourselves every moment shut up in no-thoroughfares, coming upagainst contradictory indications, just so long as we try to refereverything to two or three meetings, as we are at first led to do. 

With a simple act of analysis these difficulties disappear and we findeach of the different narratives bringing us fragments which, beingpieced together, furnish an organic story, living, psychologically true. 

From the moment at which we have now arrived, we must make a much largerplace for Ugolini than in the past; the struggle has definitively openedbetween the Franciscan ideal--chimerical, perhaps, but sublime--and theecclesiastical policy, to go on until the day when, half in humility, half in discouragement, Francis, heartsick, abdicates the direction ofhis spiritual family. 

Ugolini returned to Rome at the end of 1217. During the following winterhis countersign is found at the bottom of the most important bulls;[32]he devoted this time to the special study of the question of the neworders, and summoned Francis before him. We have seen with whatfrankness he had declared to him at Florence that many of the prelateswould do anything to discredit him with the pope. [33] It is evident thesuccess of the Order, its methods, which in spite of all protestationsto the contrary seemed to savor of heresy, the independence of Francis, who had scattered his friars in all the four corners of the globewithout trying to gain a confirmation of the verbal and entirelyprovisional authorization accorded him by Innocent III. --all thesethings were calculated to startle the clergy. 

Ugolini, who better than any one else knew Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia, theMarch of Ancona, all those regions where the Franciscan preaching hadbeen most successful, was able by himself to judge of the power of thenew movement and the imperious necessity of directing it; he felt thatthe best way to allay the prejudices which the pope and the sacredcollege might have against Francis was to present him before the curia. 

Francis was at first much abashed at the thought of preaching before theVicar of Jesus Christ, but upon the entreaties of his protector heconsented, and for greater security he learned by heart what he had tosay. 

Ugolini himself was not entirely at ease as to the result of this step;Thomas of Celano pictures him as devoured with anxiety; he was troubledabout Francis, whose artless eloquence ran many a risk in the halls ofthe Lateran Palace; he was also not without some more personalanxieties, for the failure of his _protégé_ might be most damaging tohimself. He was in all the greater anxiety when, on arriving at the feetof the pontiff, Francis forgot all he had intended to say; but hefrankly avowed it, and seeking a new discourse from the inspiration ofthe moment, spoke with so much warmth and simplicity that the assemblywas won. [34]

The biographers are mute as to the practical result of this audience. Weare not to be surprised at this, for they write with the sole purpose ofedification. They wrote after the apotheosis of their master, and wouldwith very bad grace have dwelt upon the difficulties which he met duringthe early years. [35]

The Holy See must have been greatly perplexed by this strange man, whose faith and humility were evident, but whom it was impossible toteach ecclesiastical obedience. 

St. Dominic happened to be in Rome at the same time, [36] and wasoverwhelmed with favors by the pope. It is a matter of history thatInnocent III. Having asked him to choose one of the Rules alreadyapproved by the Church, he had returned to his friars at Notre Dame deProuille, and after conferring with them had adopted that of St. Augustine; Honorius therefore was not sparing of privileges for him. Itis hardly possible that Ugolini did not try to use the influence of hisexample with St. Francis. 

The curia saw clearly that Dominic, whose Order barely comprised a fewdozen members, was not one of the moral powers of the time, but itssentiments toward him were by no means so mixed as those it experiencedwith regard to Francis. 

To unite the two Orders, to throw over the shoulders of the Dominicansthe brown cassock of the Poor Men of Assisi, and thus make a little ofthe popularity of the Brothers Minor to be reflected upon them, to leaveto the latter their name, their habit, and even a semblance of theirRule, only completing it with that of St. Augustine, such a projectwould have been singularly pleasing to Ugolini, and with Francis'shumility would seem to have some chance of success. 

One day Dominic by dint of pious insistance induced Francis to give himhis cord, and immediately girded himself with it. "Brother, " said he, "Iearnestly long that your Order and mine might unite to form one sole andsame institute[37] in the Church. " But the Brother Minor wished toremain as he was, and declined the proposition. So truly was he inspiredwith the needs of his time and of the Church that less than three yearsafter this Dominic was drawn by an irresistible influence to transformhis Order of Canons of St. Augustine into an order of mendicant monks, whose constitutions were outlined upon those of the Franciscans. [38]

A few years later the Dominicans took, so to speak, their revenge, andobliged the Brothers Minor to give learning a large place in their work. Thus, while hardly come to youth's estate, the two religious familiesrivalled one another, impressed, influenced one another, yet never somuch so as to lose all traces of their origin--summed up for the one inpoverty and lay preaching, for the other in learning and the preachingof the clergy. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The commencement of the great missions and the institution of provincial ministers is usually fixed either at 1217 or 1219, but both these dates present great difficulties. I confess that I do not understand the vehemence with which partisans of either side defend their opinions. The most important text is a passage in the 3 Soc. , 62: _Expletis itaque undecim annis ab inceptione religionis, et multiplicatis numero et merito fratribus, electi fuerant ministri, et missi cum aliquot fratribus quasi per universas mundi provincias in quibus fides catholica colitur et servatur. _ What does this expression, _inceptio religionis_, mean? At a first reading one unhesitatingly takes it to refer to the foundation of the Order, which occurred in April, 1209, by the reception of the first Brothers; but on adding eleven full years to this date we reach the summer of 1220. This is manifestly too late, for the 3 Soc. Say that the brethren who went out were persecuted in most of the countries beyond the mountains, as being accredited by no pontifical letter; but the bull _Cum dilecti_, bears the date of June 11, 1219. We are thus led to think that the eleven years are not to be counted from the reception of the first Brothers, but from Francis's conversion, which the authors might well speak of as _inceptio religionis_, and 1206 + 11 = 1217. The use of this expression to designate conversion is not entirely without example. Glassberger says (_An. Fr. _, p. 9): _Ordinem minorum incepit anno 1206. _ Those who admit 1219 are obliged (like the Bollandists, for example), to attribute an inaccuracy to the text of the 3 Soc. , that of having counted eleven years as having passed when there had been only ten. We should notice that in the two other chronological indications given by the 3 Soc. (27 and 62) they count from the conversion, that is from 1206, as also Thomas of Celano, 88, 105, 119, 97, 88, 57, 55, 21. Curiously, the Conformities reproduce the passage of the 3 Soc. (118b, 1), but with the alteration: _Nono anno ab inceptione religionis_. Giordano di Giano opens the door to many scruples: _Anno vero Domini_ 1219 _et anno conversionis ejus decimo frater Franciscus . . . Misit fratres in Franciam, in Theutoniam, in Hungariam, in Hespaniam_, Giord. , 3. As a little later the same author properly harmonizes 1219 with the thirteenth year from Francis's conversion, everyone is in agreement in admitting that the passage cited needs correction; we have unfortunately only one manuscript of this chronicle. Glassberger, who doubtless had another before him, substitutes 1217, but he may have drawn this date from another document. It is noteworthy that Brother Giordano gives as simultaneous the departure of the friars for Germany, Hungary, and France; but, as to the latter country, it certainly took place in 1217. So the Speculum, 44a. 

 The chronicle of the xxiv. Generals and Mark of Lisbon (Diola's ed. , t. I. , p. 82) holds also to 1217, so that, though not definitely established, it would appear that this date should be accepted until further information. Starting from slightly different premises, the learned editors of the _Analecta_ arrive at the same conclusion (t. Ii. , pp. 25-36). Cf. Evers, _Analecta ad Fr. Minorum historiam_, Leipsic, 1882, 4to, pp. 7 and 11. That which appears to me decidedly to tip the balance in favor of 1217, is the fact that the missionary friars were persecuted because they had no document of legitimation; and in 1219 they would have had the bull _Cum dilecti_, from June 11th of that year. The Bollandists, who hold for 1219, have so clearly seen this argument that they have been obliged to deny the authenticity of the bull (or at least to suppose it wrongly dated). A. SS. , p. 839. 

 [2] Vide A. SS. , p. 604. Cf. Angelo Clareno, _Tribul. Archiv. _, i. , p. 559. _A papa Innocentis fuit omnibus annuntiatum in concilio generali . . . Sicut sanctus vir fr. Leo scribit et fr. Johannes de Celano. _ These lines have not perhaps the significance which one would be led to give them at the first glance, their author having perhaps confounded _consilium_ and _consistorium_. The Speculum, 20b says: _Eam (Regulam Innocentius) approvabit et concessit et postea in consistorio omnibus annuntiavit. _

 [3] _Ne nimia Religionem diversitas gravem in Ecclesia Dei confusionem inducat, firmiter prohibemus, ne quis de coetero novam Religionem inveniat; sed quicumque voluerit ad Religionem converti, unam de approbatis assumat. _ Labbé and Cossart: _Sacrosancta concilia_, Paris, 1672, t. Xi. , col. 165. 

 [4] Eccl. , 15 (_An. Franc. _, t. 1, p. 253): _Innocentium in cujus obitu fuit presentialiter S. Franciscus_. 

 [5] 3 Soc. , 61; cf. _An. Perus. _, A. SS. , p. 606f. 

 [6] Thomas of Celano must be in error when he declares that Francis was not acquainted with Cardinal Ugolini before the visit which he made him at Florence (summer of 1217): _Nondum alter alteri erat prĉcipua familiaritate conjunctus_ (1 Cel. , 74 and 75). The Franciscan biographer's purpose was not historic; chronological indications are given in profusion; what he seeks is the _apta junctura_. Tradition has preserved the memory of a chapter held at Portiuncula in presence of Ugolini during a stay of the curia at Perugia (_Spec. _, 137b. ; _Fior_. , 18; _Conform. _, 207a; 3 Soc. , 61). But the curia did not come back to Perugia between 1216 and Francis's death. It is also to be noted that according to Angelo Clareno, Ugolini was with Francis in 1210, supporting him in the presence of Innocent III. Vide below, p. 413. Finally the bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219, witnesses that already during his legation in Florence (1217) Ugolini was actually interesting himself for the Clarisses. 

 [7] See, for example, the description of the chapter of 1221 by Brother Giordano. Giord. , 16. 

 [8] With regard to the figure of five thousand attendants given by Bonaventura (Bon. , 59) Father Papini writes: _Io non credo stato capace alcuno di dare ad intendere al S. Dottore simil fanfaluca, ne capace lui di crederla_. 

 _. . . In somma il numero quinque millia et ultra non è del Santo, incapace di scrivere una cosa tanto improbabile e relativamente impossibile. Storia di S. Fr. _, i. , pp. 181 and 183. This figure, five thousand, is also indicated by Eccl. , 6. All this may be explained and become possible by admitting the presence of the Brothers of Penitence, and it seems very difficult to contest it, since in the Order of the Humiliants, which much resembles that of the Brothers Minor (equally composed of three branches approved by three bulls given June, 1201), the chapters-general annually held were frequented by the brothers of the three Orders. Tiraboschi t. Ii. , p. 144. Cf. Above, p. 158. 

 [9] Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 121; _Spec. _, 42b; 127b. 

 [10] _Prĉcipio firmiter per obedientiam fratribus universis quod ubicunque sunt, non audeant petere aliquam litteram in Curia Romana. _ _Test. B. Fr. _

 [11] A comparison with the Bullary of the Preaching Friars is especially instructive: from their first chapter at Notre Dame de Prouille, in 1216, they are about fifteen; we find there at this time absolutely nothing that can be compared to the Franciscan movement, which was already stirring up all Italy. But while the first bull in favor of the Franciscans bears the date of June 11, 1219, and the approbation properly so called that of November 29, 1223, we find Honorius already in the end of 1216 lavishing marks of affection upon the Dominicans; December 22, 1216, _Religiosam vitam_. Cf. Pressuti, _I regesti, del Pontefice Onorio III. _, Roma, 1884, t. I. , no. 175; same date; _Nos attendentes_, ibid. , no. 176; January 21, 1217, _gratiarum omnium_, ib. , no. 243. Vide 284, 1039, 1156, 1208. It is needless to continue this enumeration. Very much the same could be done for the other Orders; whence the conclusion that if the Brothers Minor alone are forgotten in this shower of favors, it is because they decidedly wished to be. It must be admitted that immediately upon Francis's death they made up for lost time. 

 [12] The authenticity of this passage is put beyond doubt by Ubertino di Casal's citation. _Archiv. _, iii. , p. 53. Cf. _Spec. _, 30a; _Conform. _, 111b, 1; 118b, 1; Ubertino, _Arbor vitĉ cruc. _, iii. , 3. 

 [13] _Burchardi chronicon ann. 1217_, _loc. Cit. _, p. 377. See also the bulls indicated by Potthast, 5575, 5585-92. 

 [14] Before 1217 the office of minister virtually existed, though its definitive institution dates only from 1217. Brother Bernardo in his mission to Bologna, for example (1212?), certainly held in some sort the office of minister. 

 [15] Imprisoned by order of Elias, he died in consequence of blows given him one day when he was taking the air outside of his prison. _Tribul. _, 24a. 

 [16] Giord. , 5 and 6; 3 Soc. , 62. 

 [17] Of Giovanni di Parma, Clareno, Anthony of Padua, etc. 

 [18] Mark of Lisbon, t. I. , p. 82. Cf. P. 79, t. Ii. , p. 86, Glassberger _ann. _, 1217. _An. Fr. _, ii. , pp. 9 ff. ; _Chron xxiv. Gen. _, MS. Of Assisi, no. 328, f^o 2b. 

 [19] _Spec. _, 44a. ; _Conform. _, 119a, 2; 135a; 181b, 1; 1 Cel. , 74 and 75. 

 [20] Cel. , 3, 129. _Diligebat Franciam . . . Volebat in ea mori_. 

 [21] V. Bull of January 23, 1217, _Tempus acceptabile_, Potthast, no. 5430, given in Horoy, t. Ii. , col. 205 ff. ; cf. Pressuti, i. , p. 71. This bull and those following fix without question the time of the journey to Florence. Potthast, 5488, 5487, and page 495. 

 [22] It is superfluous to point out the error of the Bollandist text in the phrase _Monuit (Cardinalis Franciscum) coeptum non perficere iter_, where the _non_ is omitted, A. SS. , p. 704. Cf. , p. 607 and 835, which has led Suysken into several other errors. 

 [23] Bon. , 51. Cf. Glassberger, _ann_. 1217; _Spec. _, 45b. 

 [24] Heb. , iv. , 12; 2 Cel. , 3, 49; Bon. , 50 and 51. 

 [25] Brother Pacifico interests us [the French people] particularly as the first minister of the Order in France; information about him is abundant: Bon. , 79; 2 Cel. , 3, 63; _Spec. _, 41b. : _Conform. _, 38a, 1; 43a, 1; 71b; 173b, 1, and 176; 2 Cel. , 8, 27; _Spec. _, 38b; _Conform. _, 181b; 2 Cel. , 3, 76; _Fior. _, 46; _Conform. _, 70a. I do not indicate the general references found in Chevalier's Bibliography. The Miscellanea, t. Ii. (1887), p. 158, contains a most precise and interesting column about him. Gregory IX. Speaks of him in the bull _Magna sicut dicitur_ of August 12, 1227. Sbaralea, Bull, fr. , i. , p. 33 (Potthast, 8007). Thomas of Tuscany, _socius_ of St. Bonaventura, knew him and speaks of him in his _Gesta Imperatorum (Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 22, p. 492). 

 [26] Eccl. , 1; _Conform. _, 113b, 1. 

 [27] Toward 1224 the Brothers Minor desired to draw nearer and build a vast convent near the walls of Paris in the grounds called Vauvert, or Valvert (now the Luxembourg Garden), (Eccl. , 10; cf. _Top. Hist. Du vieux Paris_, by Berty and Tisserand, t. Iv. , p. 70). In 1230 they received at Paris from the Benedictines of Saint-Germain-des-Prés a certain number of houses _in parocchia SS. Cosmĉ et Damiani infra muros domini regis prope portam de Gibardo (Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis_, no. 76. Cf. _Topographie historique du vieux Paris; Région occid. De l'univ. _, p. 95; Félibien, _Histoire de la ville de Paris_, i. , p. 115). Finally, St. Louis installed them in the celebrated Convent of the Cordeliers, the refectory of which still exists, transformed into the Dupuytren Museum. The Dominicans, who arrived in Paris September 12, 1217, went straight to the centre of the city, near the bishop's palace on the _Ile de la Cité_, and on August 6, 1218, were installed in the Convent of St. Jacques. 

 [28] _Fior. _, 27; _Spec. _, 148b; _Conform. _, 71a and 113a, 2; Bon. , 182. 

 [29] The traces of Francis's visit here are numerous. A Brother Eudes painted his portrait here. 

 [30] Bon. , 177. 

 [31] Vide A. SS. , pp. 855 and 856. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 136. 

 [32] Among others those of December 5, 1217, Potthast, 5629; February 8, March 30, April 7, 1218, Potthast, 5695, 5739, 5747. 

 [33] 1 Cel. , 74. _O quanti maxime in principio cum hĉc agerentur novellĉ plantationi ordinis insidiabantur ut perderent. _ Cf. 2 Cel. , 1, 16. _Videbat Franciscus luporum more sevire quamplures. _

 [34] 1 Cel. , 73 (cf. 2 Cel. , 1, 17; _Spec. _, 102a); 3 Soc. , 64; Bon. , 78. The fixing of this scene in the winter of 1217-1218 seems hardly to be debatable; Giordano's account (14) in fact determines the date at which Ugolini became _officially_ protector of the Order; it supposes earlier relations between Honorius, Francis, and Ugolini. We are therefore led to seek a date at which these three personages may have met in Rome, and we arrive thus at the period between December, 1217, and April, 1218. 

 [35] A word of Brother Giordano's opens the door to certain conjectures. "My lord, " said Francis to Honorius III. , in 1220, "you have given me many fathers (popes) give me a single one to whom I may turn with the affairs of my Order. " (Giord. , 14, _Multos mihi papas dedisti da unum_, . . . Etc. )

 Does not this suggest the idea that the pontiff had perhaps named a commission of cardinals to oversee the Brothers Minor? Its deliberations and the events to be related in the following chapter might have impelled him to issue the bull _Cum dilecti_ of June 11, 1219, which was not an approbation properly so called, but a safe-conduct in favor of the Franciscans. 

 [36] He took possession of St. Sabine on February 28, 1218. 

 [37] 2 Cel. , 3, 87. The literal meaning of the phrase is somewhat ambiguous. The text is: _Vellem, frater Francisce, unam fieri religionem tuam et meam et in Ecclesia pari forma nos vivere_. _Spec. _ 27b. The echo of this attempt is found in Thierry d'Apolda, _Vie de S. Dominique_ (A. SS. , Augusti, t. I. , p. 572 d): _S. Dominicus in oscula sancta ruens et sinceros amplexus, dixit: Tu es socius meus, tu curres pariter mecum, stemus simul, nullus adversarius prĉvalebit_. Bernard of Besse says: _B. Dominicus tanta B. Francisco devotione cohesit ut optatam ab eo cordam sub inferiori tunica devotissimi cingeret, cujus et suam Religionem unam velle fieri diceret, ipsumque pro sanctitate cĉteris sequendem religiosis assereret. _ Turin MS. , 102b. 

 [38] At the chapter held at Bologna at Whitsunday, 1220. The bull _Religiosam vitam_ (Privilege of Notre Dame de Prouille) of March 30, 1218, enumerates the possessions of the Dominicans. Ripolli, _Bull. Prĉd. _, t. I. , p. 6. Horoy, _Honorii opera_, t. Ii. , col. 684. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XIII

ST. DOMINIC AND ST. FRANCIS

The Egyptian Mission. Summer 1218-Autumn 1220

Art and poetry have done well in inseparably associating St. Dominic andSt. Francis; the glory of the first is only a reflection of that of thesecond, and it is in placing them side by side that we succeed best inunderstanding the genius of the Poverello. If Francis is the man ofinspiration, Dominic is that of obedience to orders; one may say thathis life was passed on the road to Rome, whither he continually went toask for instructions. His legend was therefore very slow to be formed, although nothing forbade it to blossom freely; but neither the zeal ofGregory IX. For his memory nor the learning of his disciples were ableto do for the _Hammer of heretics_ that which the love of the people didfor the _Father of the poor_. His legend has the two defects which sosoon weary the readers of hagiographical writings, when the question isof the saints whose worship the Church has commanded. [1] It isencumbered with a spurious supernaturalism, and with incidents borrowedright and left from earlier legends. The Italian people, who hailed inFrancis the angel of all their hopes, and who showed themselves sogreedy for his relics, did not so much as dream of taking up the corpseof the founder of the Order of Preaching Friars, and allowed him to waittwelve years for the glories of canonization. [2]

We have already seen the efforts of Cardinal Ugolini to unite the twoOrders, and the reasons he had for this course. He went to theWhitsunday chapter-general which met at Portiuncula (June 3, 1218), towhich came also St. Dominic with several of his disciples. Theceremonial of these solemnities appears to have been always about thesame since 1216; the Brothers Minor went in procession to meet thecardinal, who immediately dismounted from his horse and lavishedexpressions of affection upon them. An altar was set up in the open air, at which he said mass, Francis performing the functions of deacon. [3]

It is easy to imagine the emotion which overcame those present when inits beautiful setting of the Umbrian landscape burst forth that part ofthe Pentecostal service, that most exciting, the most apocalyptic of thewhole Catholic liturgy, the anthem _Alleluia, Alleluia, Emitte Spiritumtuum et creabuntur, et renovabis faciem terrĉ_. _Alleluia_, [4] doesnot this include the whole Franciscan dream?

But what especially amazed Dominic was the absence of material cares. Francis had advised his brethren not to disquiet themselves in anyrespect about food and drink; he knew by experience that they mightfearlessly trust all that to the love of the neighboring population. This want of carefulness had greatly surprised Dominic, who thought itexaggerated; he was able to reassure himself, when meal-time arrived, byseeing the inhabitants of the district hastening in crowds to bring farlarger supplies of provisions than were needed for the several thousandsof friars, and holding it an honor to wait upon them. 

The joy of the Franciscans, the sympathy of the populace with them, thepoverty of the huts of Portiuncula, all this impressed him deeply; somuch was he moved by it that in a burst of enthusiasm he announced hisresolution to embrace gospel poverty. [5]

Ugolini, though also moved, even to tears, [6] did not forget hisformer anxieties; the Order was too numerous not to include a group ofmalcontents; a few friars who before their conversion had studied in theuniversities began to condemn the extreme simplicity laid upon them as aduty. To men no longer sustained by enthusiasm the short precepts of theRule appeared a charter all too insufficient for a vast association;they turned with envy toward the monumental abbeys of the Benedictines, the regular Canons, the Cistercians, and toward the ancient monasticlegislations. They had no difficulty in perceiving in Ugolini a powerfulally, nor in confiding their observations to him. 

The latter deemed the propitious moment arrived, and in a privateconversation with Francis made a few suggestions: Ought he not give tohis disciples, especially to the educated among them, a greater share ofthe burdens? consult them, gain inspiration from their views? was therenot room to profit by the experience of the older orders? Though allthis was said casually and with the greatest possible tact, Francis felthimself wounded to the quick, and without answering he drew the cardinalto the very midst of the chapter. 

"My brothers, " said he with fire, "the Lord has called me into the waysof simplicity and humility. In them he has shown me the truth for myselfand for those who desire to believe and follow me; do not, then, comespeaking to me of the Rule of St. Benedict, of St. Augustine, of St. Bernard, or of any other, but solely of that which God in his mercy hasseen fit to show to me, and of which he has told me that he would, byits means, make a new covenant with the world, and he does not will thatwe should have any other. But by your learning and your wisdom God willbring you to confusion. For I am persuaded that God will chastise you;whether you will or no you will be forced to come to repentance, andnothing will remain for you but confusion. "[7]

This warmth in defending and affirming his ideas profoundly astonishedUgolini, who added not a word. As to Dominic, what he had just seen atPortiuncula was to him a revelation. He felt, indeed, that his zeal forthe Church could not be greater, but he also perceived that he couldserve her with more success by certain changes in his weapons. 

Ugolini no doubt only encouraged him in this view, and Dominic, besetwith new anxieties, set out a few months later for Spain. The intensityof the crisis through which he passed has not been sufficientlynoticed; the religious writers recount at length his sojourn in thegrotto of Segovia, but they see only the ascetic practices, the prayers, the genuflexions, and do not think of looking for the cause of all this. From this epoch it might be said that he was unceasingly occupied incopying Francis, if the word had not a somewhat displeasing sense. Arrived at Segovia he follows the example of the Brothers Minor, foundsa hermitage in the outskirts of the city, hidden among the rocks whichoverlook the town, and thence he descends from time to time to preach tothe people. The transformation in his mode of life was so evident thatseveral of his companions rebelled and refused to follow him in the newway. 

Popular sentiment has at times its intuitions; a legend grew up aroundthis grotto of Segovia, and it was said that St. Dominic there receivedthe stigmata. Is there not here an unconscious effort to translate intoan image within the comprehension of all, that which actually took placein this cave of the Sierra da Guaderrama?[8]

Thus St. Dominic also arrived at the poverty of the gospel, but the roadby which he reached it was different indeed from that which St. Francishad followed; while the latter had soared to it as on wings, had seen init the final emancipation from all the anxieties which debase this life, St. Dominic considered it only as a means; it was for him one moreweapon in the arsenal of the host charged with the defence of theChurch. We must not see in this a mere vulgar calculation; hisadmiration for him whom he thus imitated and followed afar off wassincere and profound, but genius is not to be copied. This sacred maladywas not his; he has transmitted to his sons a sound and robust blood, thanks to which they have known nothing of those paroxysms of hotfever, those lofty flights, those sudden returns which make the storyof the Franciscans the story of the most tempest-tossed society whichthe world has ever known, in which glorious chapters are mingled withpages trivial and grotesque, sometimes even coarse. 

At the chapter of 1218 Francis had other causes for sadness than themurmurs of a group of malcontents; the missionaries sent out the yearbefore to Germany and Hungary had returned completely discouraged. Theaccount of the sufferings they had endured produced so great an effectthat from that time many of the friars added to their prayers theformula: "Lord preserve us from the heresy of the Lombards and theferocity of the Germans. "[9]

This explains how Ugolini at last succeeded in convincing Francis of hisduty to take the necessary measures no longer to expose the friars to behunted down as heretics. It was decided that at the end of the nextchapter the missionaries should be armed with a papal brief, whichshould serve them as ecclesiastical passport. Here is the translation ofthis document:

 Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, deacons, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical superiors, salutation and the apostolic blessing. 

 Our dear son, brother Francis, and his companions of the life and the Order of the Brothers Minor, having renounced the vanities of this world to choose a mode of life which has merited the approval of the Roman Church, and to go out after the example of the Apostles to cast in various regions the seed of the word of God, we pray and exhort you by these apostolic letters to receive as good catholics the friars of the above mentioned society, bearers of these presents, warning you to be favorable to them and treat them with kindness for the honor of God and out of consideration for us. 

 Given (at Rieti) this third day of the ides of June (June 11, 1219), in the third year of our pontificate. [10]

It is evident that this bull was calculated to avoid awakening Francis'ssusceptibilities. To understand precisely in what it differs from thefirst letters usually accredited to new Orders it is necessary tocompare it with them; that which had instituted the Dominicans had been, like the others, a veritable privilege;[11] here there is nothing ofthe kind. 

The assembly which was opened at Whitsunday of 1219 (May 26) was ofextreme importance. [12] It closed the series of those primitivechapters in which the inspiration and fancy of Francis were given freecourse. Those which followed, presided over by the vicars, have neitherthe same cheerfulness nor the same charm; the crude glare of full dayhas driven away the hues of dawn and the indescribable ardors of natureat its awakening. 

The summer of 1219 was the epoch fixed by Honorius III. For making a neweffort in the East, and directing upon Egypt all the forces of theCrusaders. [13] Francis thought the moment arrived for realizing theproject which he had not been able to execute in 1212. Strangely enough, Ugolini who, two years before had hindered his going to France, now lefthim in entire liberty to carry out this new expedition. [14] Severalauthors have deemed that Francis, having found in him a true protector, felt himself reassured as to the future of the Order; he might indeedhave thought thus, but the history of the troubles which burst outimmediately after his departure, the astounding story of the kindreception given by the court of Rome to some meddlers who took theopportunity of his absence to imperil his Order, would suffice to showhow much the Church was embarrassed by him, and with what ardor shelonged for the transformation of his work. We shall find later on thedetailed account of these facts. 

It appears that a Romagnol brother Christopher was at this same chapternominated provincial of Gascony; he lived there after the customs of theearly Franciscans, working with his hands, living in a narrow cell madeof the boughs of trees and potter's earth. [15]

Egidio set out for Tunis with a few friars, but a great disappointmentawaited them there; the Christians of this country, in the fear of beingcompromised by their missionary zeal, hurried them into a boat andconstrained them to recross the sea. [16]

If the date of 1219 for these two missions has little other basis thanconjecture, the same is not the case as to the departure of the friarswho went to Spain and Morocco. The discovery has recently been made ofthe account of their last preachings and of their tragic death, made byan eye-witness. [17] This document is all the more precious because itconfirms the general lines of the much longer account given by Mark ofLisbon. It would be out of place to give a summary of it here, becauseit but very indirectly concerns the life of St. Francis, but we mustnote that these _acta_ have beyond their historic value a trulyremarkable psychological--one must almost say pathological--significance;never was the mania for martyrdom better characterized than in theselong pages, where we see the friars forcing the Mahometans to pursuethem and make them win the heavenly palm. The forbearance whichMiramolin as well as his fellow religionists at first show gives anidea of the civilization and the good qualities of these infidels, allthe higher that very different sentiments would be natural in thevanquished ones of the plains of Tolosa. 

It is impossible to call by the name of sermons the collections of rudeapostrophes which the missionaries addressed to those whom they wishedto convert; at this paroxysm the thirst for martyrdom becomes themadness of suicide. Is this to say that friars Bernard, Pietro, Adjutus, Accurso, and Otho have no right to the admiration and worship with whichthey have been surrounded? Who would dare say so? Is not devotion alwaysblind? That a furrow should be fecund it must have blood, it must havetears, such tears as St. Augustine has called the blood of the soul. Ah, it is a great mistake to immolate oneself, for the blood of a single manwill not save the world nor even a nation; but it is a still greatermistake not to immolate oneself, for then one lets others be lost, andis oneself lost first of all. 

I greet you, therefore, Martyrs of Morocco; you do not regret yourmadness, I am sure, and if ever some righteous pedant gone astray in thegroves of paradise undertakes to demonstrate to you that it would havebeen better worth while to remain in your own country, and found aworthy family of virtuous laborers, I fancy that Miramolin, there becomeyour best friend, will take the trouble to refute him. 

You were mad, but I envy such madness, for you felt that the essentialthing in this world is not to serve this ideal or that one, but with allone's soul to serve the ideal which one has chosen. 

When, a few months after, the story of their glorious end arrived atAssisi, Francis discerned a feeling of pride among his companions andreproached them in lively terms; he who would so have envied the lot ofthe martyrs felt himself humbled because God had not judged him worthyto share it. As the story was mingled with some words of eulogy of thefounder of the Order, he forbade the further reading of it. [18]

Immediately after the chapter he had himself undertaken a mission of thesame kind as he had confided to the Brothers of Morocco, but he hadproceeded in it in an entirely different manner: his was not the blindzeal which courts death in a sort of frenzy and forgets all the rest;perhaps he already felt that the persistent effort after the better, thecontinual immolation of self for truth, is the martyrdom of the strong. 

This expedition, which lasted more than a year, is mentioned by thebiographers in a few lines. [19] Happily we have a number of otherpapers regarding it; but their silence suffices to prove the sincerityof the primitive Franciscan authors; if they had wanted to amplify thedeeds of their subject, where could they have found an easieropportunity or a more marvellous theme? Francis quitted Portiuncula inthe middle of June and went to Ancona, whence the Crusaders were to setsail for Egypt on St. John's Day (June 24th). 

Many friars joined him--a fact which was not without its inconveniencesfor a journey by sea, where they were obliged to depend upon the charityof the owners of the boats, or of their fellow-travellers. 

We can understand Francis's embarrassment on arriving at Ancona andfinding himself obliged to leave behind a number of those who soearnestly longed to go with him. The Conformities relate here anincident for which we might desire an earlier authority, but which iscertainly very like Francis; he led all his friends to the port andexplained to them his perplexities. "The people of the boat, " he toldthem, "refuse to take us all, and I have not the courage to make choiceamong you; you might think that I do not love you all alike; let us thentry to learn the will of God. " And he called a child who was playingclose by, and the little one, charmed to take the part of Providence putupon him, pointed out with his finger the eleven friars who were to setsail. [20]

We do not know what itinerary they followed. A single incident of thejourney has come down to us: that of the chastisement inflicted in theisle of Cyprus on Brother Barbaro, who had been guilty of the faultwhich the master detested above all others--evil-speaking. He wasimplacable with regard to the looseness of language so customary amongpious folk, and which often made a hell of religious houses apparentlythe most peaceful. The offence this time appeared to him the more gravefor having been uttered in the presence of a stranger, a knight of thatdistrict. The latter was stupefied on hearing Francis command the guiltyone to eat a lump of ass's dung which lay there, adding: "The mouthwhich has distilled the venom of hatred against my brother must eat thisexcrement. " Such indignation, no less than the obedience of the unhappyoffender, filled him with admiration. [21]

It is very probable, as Wadding has supposed, that the missionariesdebarked at St. Jean d'Acre. They arrived there about the middle ofJuly. [22] In the environs of this city, doubtless, Brother Elias hadbeen established for one or two years. Francis there told off a few ofhis companions, whom he sent to preach in divers directions, and a fewdays afterward he himself set out for Egypt, where all the efforts ofthe Crusaders were concentrated upon Damietta. 

From the first he was heart-broken with the moral condition of theChristian army. Notwithstanding the presence of numerous prelates and ofthe apostolic legate, it was disorganized for want of discipline. He wasso affected by this that when there was talk of battle he felt it hisduty to advise against it, predicting that the Christians wouldinfallibly be beaten. No one heeded him, and on August 29th theCrusaders, having attacked the Saracens, were terribly routed. [23]

His predictions won him a marvellous success. It must be owned that theground was better prepared than any other to receive the new seed; notsurely that piety was alive there, but in this mass of men come togetherfrom every corner of Europe, the troubled, the seers, the enlightenedones, those who thirsted for righteousness and truth, were elbowed byrascals, adventurers, those who were greedy for gold and plunder, capable of much good or much evil, the sport of fleeting impulses, loosed from the bonds of the family, of property, of the habits whichusually twine themselves about man's will, and only by exception permita complete change in his manner of life; those among them who weresincere and had come there with generous purposes were, so to speak, predestined to enter the peaceful army of the Brothers Minor. Franciswas to win in this mission fellow-laborers who would assure the successof his work in the countries of northern Europe. 

Jacques de Vitry, in a letter to friends written a few days later, thusdescribes the impression produced on him by Francis:

 "I announce to you that Master Reynier, Prior of St. Michael, has entered the Order of the Brothers Minor, an Order which is multiplying rapidly on all sides, because it imitates the primitive Church and follows the life of the Apostles in everything. The master of these Brothers is named Brother Francis; he is so lovable that he is venerated by everyone. Having come into our army, he has not been afraid, in his zeal for the faith, to go to that of our enemies. For days together he announced the word of God to the Saracens, but with little success; then the sultan, King of Egypt, asked him in secret to entreat God to reveal to him, by some miracle, which is the best religion. Colin, the Englishman, our clerk, has entered the same Order, as also two others of our companions, Michael and Dom Matthew, to whom I had given the rectorship of the Sainte Chapelle. Cantor and Henry have done the same, and still others whose names I have forgotten. "[24]

The long and enthusiastic chapter which the same author gives to theBrothers Minor in his great work on the Occident is too diffuse to finda place here. It is a living and accurate picture of the early times ofthe Order; in it Francis's sermon before the sultan is again related. Itwas written at a period when the friars had still neither monasteriesnor churches, and when the chapters were held once or twice a year; thisgives us a date anterior to 1223, and probably even before 1221. We havehere, therefore, a verification of the narratives of Thomas of Celanoand the Three Companions, and they find in it their perfectconfirmation. 

As to the interviews between Francis and the sultan, it is prudent tokeep to the narratives of Jacques de Vitry and William of Tyre. [25]Although the latter wrote at a comparatively late date (between 1275 and1295), he followed a truly historic method, and founded his work onauthentic documents; we see that he knows no more than Jacques de Vitryof the proposal said to have been made by Francis to pass through a fireif the priests of Mahomet would do as much, intending so to establishthe superiority of Christianity. 

We know how little such an appeal to signs is characteristic of St. Francis. Perhaps the story, which comes from Bonaventura, is born of amisconception. The sultan, like a new Pharaoh, may have laid it upon thestrange preacher to prove his mission by miracles. However this may be, Francis and his companions were treated with great consideration, a factthe more meritorious that hostilities were then at their height. 

Returned to the Crusading camp, they remained there until after thetaking of Damietta (November 5, 1219). This time the Christians werevictorious, but perhaps the heart of the _gospel man_ bled more for thisvictory than for the defeat of August 29th. The shocking condition ofthe city, which the victors found piled with heaps of dead bodies, thequarrels over the sharing of booty, the sale of the wretched creatureswho had not succumbed to the pestilence, [26] all these scenes ofterror, cruelty, greed, caused him profound horror. The "human beast"was let loose, the apostle's voice could no more make itself heard inthe midst of the savage clamor than that of a life-saver over a ragingocean. 

He set out for Syria[27] and the Holy Places. How gladly would wefollow him in this pilgrimage, accompany him in thought through Judeaand Galilee, to Bethlehem, to Nazareth, to Gethsemane! What was said tohim by the stable where the Son of Mary was born, the workshop where hetoiled, the olive-tree where he accepted the bitter cup? Alas! thedocuments here suddenly fail us. Setting out from Damietta very shortlyafter the siege (November 5, 1219) he may easily have been at Bethlehemby Christmas. But we know nothing, absolutely nothing, except that hissojourn was more prolonged than had been expected. 

Some of the Brothers who were present at Portiuncula at thechapter-general of 1220 (Whitsunday, May 17th) had time enough to go toSyria and still find Francis there;[28] they could hardly have arrivedmuch earlier than the end of June. What had he been doing those eightmonths? Why had he not gone home to preside at the chapter? Had he beenill?[29] Had he been belated by some mission? Our information is tooslight to permit us even to venture upon conjecture. 

Angelo Clareno relates that the Sultan of Egypt, touched by hispreaching, gave command that he and all his friars should have freeaccess to the Holy Sepulchre without the payment of any tribute. [30]

Bartholomew of Pisa on his part says incidentally that Francis, havinggone to preach in Antioch and its environs, the Benedictines of theAbbey of the Black Mountain, [31] eight miles from that city, joined theOrder in a body, and gave up all their property to the Patriarch. 

These indications are meagre and isolated indeed, and the second is tobe accepted only with reserve. On the other hand, we have detailedinformation of what went on in Italy during Francis's absence. BrotherGiordano's chronicle, recently discovered and published, throws all thelight that could be desired upon a plot laid against Francis by the verypersons whom he had commissioned to take his place at Portiuncula, andthis, if not with the connivance of Rome and the cardinal protector, atleast without their opposition. These events had indeed been narrated byAngelo Clareno, but the undisguised feeling which breathes through allhis writings and their lack of accuracy had sufficed with carefulcritics to leave them in doubt. How could it be supposed that in thevery lifetime of St. Francis the vicars whom he had instituted couldtake advantage of his absence to overthrow his work? How could it bethat the pope, who during this period was sojourning at Rieti, how thatUgolini, who was still nearer, did not impose silence on theseagitators?[32]

Now that all the facts come anew to light, not in an oratorical andimpassioned account, but brief, precise, cutting, dated, with everyappearance of notes taken day by day, we must perforce yield toevidence. 

Does this give us reason clamorously to condemn Ugolino and the pope? Ido not think so. They played a part which is not to their honor, buttheir intentions were evidently excellent. If the famous aphorism thatthe end justifies the means is criminal where one examines his ownconduct, it becomes the first duty in judging that of others. Here arethe facts:

On July 25th, about one month after Francis's departure for Syria, Ugolini, who was at Perugia, laid upon the Clarisses of Monticelli(Florence), Sienna, Perugia, and Lucca that which his friend had soobstinately refused for the friars, the Benedictine Rule. [33]

At the same time, St. Dominic, returning from Spain full of new ardorafter his retreat in the grotto of Segovia, and fully decided to adoptfor his Order the rule of poverty, was strongly encouraged in thispurpose and overwhelmed with favors. [34] Honorius III. Saw in him theprovidential man of the time, the reformer of the monastic Orders; heshowed him unusual attentions, going so far, for example, as to transferto him a group of monks belonging to other Orders, whom he appointed toact as Dominic's lieutenants on the preaching tours which he believed itto be his duty to undertake, and to serve, under his direction, anapprenticeship in popular preaching. [35]

That Ugolini was the inspiration of all this, the bulls are here towitness. His ruling purpose at that time was so clearly to direct thetwo new Orders that he chose a domicile with this end in view, and wefind him continually either at Perugia--that is to say, within threeleagues of Portiuncula--or at Bologna, the stronghold of the Dominicans. 

It now becomes manifest that just as the fraternity instituted byFrancis was truly the fruit of his body, flesh of his flesh, so doesthe Order of the Preaching Friars emanate from the papacy, and St. Dominic is only its putative father. This character is expressed inone word by one of the most authoritative of contemporary annalists, Burchard of Ursperg ([Cross] 1226). "The pope, " he says, "_instituted_and confirmed the Order of the Preachers. "[36]

Francis on his journey in the Orient had taken for special companion afriar whom we have not yet met, Pietro di Catana or _dei Cattani_. Washe a native of the town of Catana? There is no precise indication of it. It appears more probable that he belonged to the noble family _deiCattani_, already known to Francis, and of which Orlando, Count ofChiusi in Casentino, who gave him the Verna, was a member. However thatmay be, we must not confound him with the Brother Pietro who assumed thehabit in 1209, at the same time with Bernardo of Quintavallo, and diedshortly afterward. Tradition, in reducing these two men to a singlepersonage, was influenced not merely by the similarity of the names, butalso by the very natural desire to increase the prestige of one who in1220-1221 was to play an important part in the direction of theOrder. [37]

At the time of his departure for the East Francis had left two vicars inhis place, the Brothers Matteo of Narni and Gregorio of Naples. Theformer was especially charged to remain at Portiuncula to admitpostulants;[38] Gregorio of Naples, on the other hand, was to passthrough Italy to console the Brothers. [39]

The two vicars began at once to overturn everything. It is inexplicablehow men still under the influence of their first fervor for a Rule whichin the plenitude of their liberty they had promised to obey could havedreamed of such innovations if they had not been urged on and upheld bythose in high places. To alleviate the vow of poverty and to multiplyobservances were the two points toward which their efforts were bent. 

In appearance it was a trifling matter, in reality it was much, for itwas the first movement of the old spirit against the new. It was theeffort of men who unconsciously, I am willing to think, made religion anaffair of rite and observance, instead of seeing in it, like St. Francis, the conquest of the liberty which makes us free in all things, and leads each soul to obey that divine and mysterious power which theflowers of the fields adore, which the birds of the air bless, which thesymphony of the stars praises, and which Jesus of Nazareth called_Abba_, that is to say, Father. 

The first Rule was excessively simple in the matter of fasts. The friarswere to abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays; they might addMondays and Saturdays, but only on Francis's special authorization. Thevicars and their adherents complicated this rule in a surprising manner. At the chapter-general held in Francis's absence (May 17, 1220), theydecided, first, that in times of feasting the friars were not to providemeat, but if it were offered to them spontaneously they were to eat it;second, that all should fast on Mondays as well as Wednesdays andFridays; third, that on Mondays and Saturdays they should abstain frommilk products unless by chance the adherents of the Order brought someto them. [40]

These beginnings bear witness also to an effort to imitate the ancientOrders, not without the vague hope that they would be substituted forthem. Brother Giordano has preserved to us only this decision of thechapter of 1220, but the expressions of which he makes use sufficientlyprove that it was far from being the only one, and that the malcontentshad desired, as in the chapters of Citeaux and Monte Cassino, to putforth veritable constitutions. 

These modifications of the Rule did not pass, however, without arousingthe indignation of a part of the chapter; a lay brother made himselftheir eager messenger, and set out for the East to entreat Francis toreturn without delay, to take the measures called for by thecircumstances. 

There were also other causes of disquiet. Brother Philip, a Zealot ofthe Clarisses, had made haste to secure for them from Ugolini theprivileges which had already been under consideration. [41]

A certain Brother Giovanni di Conpello[42] had gathered together agreat number of lepers of both sexes, and written a Rule, intending toform with them a new Order. He had afterward presented himself beforethe supreme pontiff with a train of these unfortunates to obtain hisapprobation. 

Many other distressing symptoms, upon which Brother Giordano does notdwell, had manifested themselves. The report of Francis's death had evenbeen spread abroad, so that the whole Order was disturbed, divided, andin the greatest peril. The dark presentiments which Francis seems tohave had were exceeded by the reality. [43] The messenger who broughthim the sad news found him in Syria, probably at St. Jean d'Acre. He atonce embarked with Elias, Pietro di Catana, Cĉsar of Speyer, and a fewothers, and returned to Italy in a vessel bound for Venice, where hemight easily arrive toward the end of July. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] One proof of the obscurity in which Dominic remained so long as Rome did not apotheosize him, is that Jacques de Vitry, who consecrates a whole chapter of his _Historia Occidentalis_ to the Preaching Friars (27, p. 333) does not even name the founder. This is the more significant since a few pages farther on, the chapter given to the Brothers Minor is almost entirely filled with the person of St. Francis. This silence about St. Dominic has been remarked and taken up by Moschus, who finds no way to explain it. Vide _Vitam J. De Vitriaco_, at the head of the Douai edition of 1597. 

 [2] Francis, who died in 1226, is canonized in 1228; Anthony of Padua, 1231 and 1233; Elisabeth of Thuringia, 1231 and 1235; Dominic, 1221 and 1234. 

 [3] 3 Soc. , 61. 

 [4] Shed abroad, Lord, thy Spirit, and all shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. 

 [5] 2 Cel. , 3. 87; _Spec. _, 132b; _Conform. _, 207a, 112a; _Fior. _, 18. The historians of St. Dominic have not received these details kindly, but an incontestable point gained from diplomatic documents is that in 1218 Dominic, at Rome, procured privileges in which the properties of his Order were indicated, and that in 1220 he led his friars to profess poverty. 

 [6] 2 Cel. , 3, 9; _Spec. _, 17a. 

 [7] _Spec. _, 49a; _Tribul. _, Laur. MS. , 11a-12b; _Spec. _, 183a; _Conform. _, 135b 1. 

 [8] The principal sources are indicated in A. SS. , Augusti, t. I. , pp. 470 ff. 

 [9] Giord. , 18; 3 Soc. , 62. 

 [10] Sbaralea, _Bull. Fr. _, t. I, p. 2; Potthast, 6081: Wadding, _ann. 1219_, No. 28, indicates the works where the text may be found. Cf. A. SS. , p. 839. 

 [11] The title sufficiently indicated the contents: _Domenico priori S. Romani tolosani ejusque fratribus, eos in protectionem recipit eorumque Ordinem cum bonis et privilegiis confirmat_. _Religiosam vitam_: December 22, 1216; Pressuti, t. I. , 175, text in Horoy t. Ii. , col. 141-144. 

 [12] Vide A. SS. , pp. 608 ff. And 838 ff. 

 [13] Vide Bull _Multi divinĉ_ of August 13, 1218. Horoy, t. Iii. , col. 12; Potthast, 5891. 

 [14] The contradiction is so striking that the Bollandists have made of it the principal argument for defending the error in their manuscript (1 Cel. , 75), and insisting in the face of, and against everything that Francis had taken that journey. A. SS. , 607. 

 [15] He died at Cahors, October 31, 1272. His legend is found in MS. Riccardi, 279, f^o. 69a. _Incipit vita f. Christophori quam compilavit fr. Bernardus de Bessa custodiĉ Caturcensis: Quasi vas auri solidum. _ Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. Ii. , pp. 106-113, t. Iii. , p. 212, and Glassberger, _An. Fr. _, t. Ii. , p. 14. 

 [16] A. SS. , Aprilis, t. Iii. , p. 224; _Conform. _, 118b, 1; 54a; Mark of Lisbon, t. Ii. , p. 1--Brother Luke had been sent to Constantinople, in 1219, at latest. Vide _Constitutus_ of December 9, 1220. Sbaralea, _Bull. Fr. _, t. I. , p. 6; Potthast, 6431. 

 [17] We owe to M. Müller (_Anfänge_, p. 207) the honor of this publication, copied from a manuscript of the Cottoniana. 

 [18] Giord. , 8. 

 [19] 1 Cel. , 57; Bon. , 133-138; 154 and 155; 2 Cel. , 2, 2; _Conform. _, 113b, 2; 114a, 2; _Spec. _, 55b; _Fior. _, 24. 

 [20] _Conform. _, 113b, 2; cf. A. SS. , p. 611. 

 [21] 2 Cel. , 3, 92; _Spec. _, 30b. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 115. _Conform. _, 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place on the return. 

 [22] With the facilities of that period the voyage required from twenty to thirty days. The _diarium_ of a similar passage may be found in Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dipl. _, t. I. , 898-901. Cf. _Ibid. _, Introd. , p. Cccxxxi. 

 [23] 2 Cel. , 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS. , p. 612. 

 [24] Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the Sources, p. 428. 

 [25] Vide below, the Study of the Sources, p. 430. 

 [26] All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry. 

 [27] "Cil hom qui comença l'ordre des Frères Mineurs, si ot nom frère François . . . Vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le péché qui comença à croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une pièce en Surie, et puis s'en rala en son pais. " Historiens des Croisades, ii. _L'Est de Eracles Empereur_, liv. Xxxii. , chap. Xv. Cf. Sanuto; _Secreta fid. Cruc. _, lib. Iii. , p. Xi. , cap. 8, in Bongars. 

 [28] Giord. , Chron. , 11-14. 

 [29] The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below, gives some probability to this hypothesis. 

 [30] _Tribul. _, Laur. MS. , 9b. Cf. 10b: _Sepulcro Domini visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram_. 

 [31] Upon this monastery see a letter _ad familiares_ of Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules de St. Genois in t. Xiii. Of the _Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles_ (1849). _Conform. _, 106b, 2; 114a, 2; _Spec. _, 184. 

 [32] A. SS. , pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638. 

 [33] Vide Bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219. Cf. Those of September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i. , p. 3, 11 ff. ; Potthast, 6179, 6879a, b, c. 

 [34] Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218, 6220, 6246. See also _Chartularium Universitatis Par. _, t. I. , 487. 

 [35] Bull _Quia qui seminant_ of May 12, 1220. Ripalli, _Bul. Prĉd. _, t. I. , p. 10 (Potthast, 6249). 

 [36] _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 23, p. 376. This passage is of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the perils with which the _Humiliati_ threatened the Church, Burchard adds: _Quĉ volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem Predicatorum instituit et confirmavit. _ Now these _Humiliati_ were an approved Order. But Burchard, while classing them with heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX. 

 [37] 1 Cel. , 25; cf. A. SS. , p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the title of doctor of laws, Giord. , 11, which entirely disagrees with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc. , 28 and 29. Cf. Bon. , 28 and 29; _Spec. _, 5b; _Fior. _, 2; _Conform. _, 47; 52b, 2; _Petrus vir litteratus erat et nobilis_, Giord. , 12. 

 [38] We know nothing more of him except that after his death he had the gift of miracles. Giord. , 11; _Conform. _, 62a, 1. 

 [39] He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and orator (Eccl. , 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX. , which throws some light upon the practices which have just been described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things that manuscripts of two of his sermons may be found in the National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated simply as _fr. Gr. Min. _, it has only lately become known whose they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday and Saturday. MS. New. Acq. , Lat. , 338 f^o 148, 159. 

 [40] Giord. , 11. Cf. _Spec. _, 34b. _Fior. _, 4; _Conform. _, 184a, 1. 

 [41] Giord. , 12. Cf. Bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219. 

 [42] Giord. , 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name. On the other hand, the 3 Soc. , 35, indicate the entrance into the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the Franciscan Judas. _Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se suspendit. _ _Conform. _, 104a, 1. Cf. _Bernard de Besse_, 96a; _Spec. _, 2; _Fior. _, 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward, and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name itself. 

 [43] Giord. , 12, 13, and 14. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XIV

THE CRISIS OF THE ORDER[1]

Autumn, 1220

On his arrival in Venice Francis informed himself yet more exactlyconcerning all that had happened, and convoked the chapter-general atPortiuncula for Michaelmas (September 29, 1220). [2] His first care wasdoubtless to reassure his sister-friend at St. Damian; a short fragmentof a letter which has been preserved to us gives indication of the sadanxieties which filled his mind:

 "I, little Brother Francis, desire to follow the life and the poverty of Jesus Christ, our most high Lord, and of his most holy Mother, persevering therein until the end; and I beg you all and exhort you to persevere always in this most holy life and poverty, and take good care never to depart from it upon the advice or teachings of any one whomsoever. "[3]

A long shout of joy sounded up and down all Italy when the news of hisreturn was heard. Many zealous brethren were already despairing, forpersecutions had begun in many provinces; so when they learned thattheir spiritual father was alive and coming again to visit them theirjoy was unbounded. From Venice Francis went to Bologna. The journey wasmarked by an incident which once more shows his acute and wise goodness. Worn out as much by emotion as by fatigue, he one day found himselfobliged to give up finishing the journey on foot. Mounted upon an ass, he was going on his way, followed by Brother Leonard of Assisi, when apassing glance showed him what was passing in his companion's mind. "Myrelatives, " the friar was thinking, "would have been far enough fromassociating with Bernardone, and yet here am I, obliged to follow hisson on foot. "

We may judge of his astonishment when he heard Francis saying, as hehastily dismounted from his beast: "Here, take my place; it is mostunseemly that thou shouldst follow me on foot, who art of a noble andpowerful lineage. " The unhappy Leonard, much confused, threw himself atFrancis's feet, begging for pardon. [4]

Scarcely arrived at Bologna, Francis was obliged to proceed againstthose who had become backsliders. It will be remembered that the Orderwas intended to possess nothing, either directly or indirectly. Themonasteries given to the friars did not become their property; so soonas the proprietor should desire to take them back or anyone else shouldwish to take possession of them, they were to be given up without theleast resistance; but on drawing near to Bologna he learned that a housewas being built, which was already called _The house of the Brothers_. He commanded its immediate evacuation, not even excepting the sick whohappened to be there. The Brothers then resorted to Ugolini, who wasthen in that very city for the consecration of Santa Maria diRheno. [5] He explained to Francis at length that this house did notbelong to the Order; he had declared himself its proprietor by publicacts; and he succeeded in convincing him. [6]

Bolognese piety prepared for Francis an enthusiastic reception, the echoof which has come down even to our times:

 "I was studying at Bologna, I, Thomas of Spalato, archdeacon in the cathedral church of that city, when in the year 1220, the day of the Assumption, I saw St. Francis preaching on the piazza of the Lesser Palace, before almost every man in the city. The theme of his discourse was the following: Angels, men, the demons. He spoke on all these subjects with so much wisdom and eloquence that many learned men who were there were filled with admiration at the words of so plain a man. Yet he had not the manner of a preacher, his ways were rather those of conversation; the substance of his discourse bore especially upon the abolition of enmities and the necessity of making peaceful alliances. His apparel was poor, his person in no respect imposing, his face not at all handsome; but God gave such great efficacy to his words that he brought back to peace and harmony many nobles whose savage fury had not even stopped short before the shedding of blood. So great a devotion was felt for him that men and women flocked after him, and he esteemed himself happy who succeeded in touching the hem of his garment. "

Was it at this time that the celebrated Accurso the Glossarist, [7]chief of that famous dynasty of jurisconsults who during the wholethirteenth century shed lustre upon the University of Bologna, welcomedthe Brothers Minor to his villa at Ricardina, near the city?[8] We donot know. 

It appears that another professor, Nicolas dei Pepoli, also entered theOrder. [9] Naturally the pupils did not lag behind, and a certainnumber asked to receive the habit. Yet all this constituted a danger;this city, which in Italy was as an altar consecrated to the science oflaw, was destined to exercise upon the evolution of the Order the sameinfluence as Paris; the Brothers Minor could no more hold aloof from itthan they could keep aloof from the ambient air. 

This time Francis remained here but a very short time. An ancienttradition, of which his biographers have not preserved any trace, butwhich nevertheless appears to be entirely probable, says that Ugolinitook him to pass a month in the Camaldoli, in the retreat formerlyinhabited by St. Romuald in the midst of the Casentino forest, one ofthe noblest in Europe, within a few hours' walk of the Verna, whosesummit rises up gigantic, overlooking the whole country. 

We know how much Francis needed repose. There is no doubt that he alsolonged for a period of meditation in order to decide carefully inadvance upon his line of conduct, in the midst of the dark conjectureswhich had called him home. The desire to give him the much-needed restwas only a subordinate purpose with Ugolini. The moment for vigorousaction appeared to him to have come. We can easily picture his responsesto Francis's complaints. Had he not been seriously advised to profit bythe counsels of the past, by the experience of those founders of Orderswho have been not only saints but skilful leaders of men? Was notUgolini himself his best friend, his born defender, and yet had notFrancis forced him to lay aside the influence to which his love for thefriars, his position in the Church, and his great age gave him such justtitle? Yes, he had been forced to leave Francis to needlessly expose hisdisciples to all sorts of danger, to send them on missions as perilousas they had proved to be ineffectual, and all for what? For the mosttrivial point of honor, because the Brothers Minor were determined notto enjoy the smallest privileges. They were not heretics, but theydisturbed the Church as much as the heretics did. How many times had henot been reminded that a great association, in order to exist, must haveprecise and detailed regulations? It had all been labor lost! Of courseFrancis's humility was doubted by no one, but why not manifest it, notonly in costume and manner of living, but in all his acts? He thoughthimself obeying God in defending his own inspiration, but does not theChurch speak in the name of God? Are not the words of herrepresentatives the words of Jesus forever perpetuated on earth? Hedesired to be a man of the Gospel, an apostolic man, but was not thebest way of becoming such to obey the Roman pontiff, the successor ofPeter? With an excess of condescension they had let him go on in his ownway, and the result was the saddest of lessons. But the situation wasnot desperate, there was still time to find a remedy; to do that he hadonly to throw himself at the feet of the pope, imploring his blessing, his light, and his counsel. 

Reproaches such as these, mingled with professions of love andadmiration on the part of the prelate, could not but profoundly disturba sensitive heart like that of Francis. His conscience bore him goodwitness, but with the modesty of noble minds he was ready enough tothink that he might have made many mistakes. 

Perhaps this is the place to ask what was the secret of the friendshipof these two men, so little known to one another on certain sides. Howcould it last without a shadow down to the very death of Francis, whenwe always find Ugolini the very soul of the group who are compromisingthe Franciscan ideal? No answer to this question is possible. The sameproblem presents itself with regard to Brother Elias, and we are nobetter able to find a satisfactory answer. Men of loving hearts seldomhave a perfectly clear intelligence. They often become fascinated bymen the most different from themselves, in whose breasts they feel noneof those feminine weaknesses, those strange dreams, that almost sicklypity for creatures and things, that mysterious thirst for pain which isat once their own happiness and their torment. 

The sojourn at Camaldoli was prolonged until the middle of September, and it ended to the cardinal's satisfaction. Francis had decided to godirectly to the pope, then at Orvieto, with the request that Ugolinishould be given him as official protector intrusted with the directionof the Order. 

A dream which he had once had recurred to his memory; he had seen alittle black hen which, in spite of her efforts, was not able to spreadher wings over her whole brood. The poor hen was himself, the chickenswere the friars. This dream was a providential indication commanding himto seek for them a mother under whose wings they could all find a place, and who could defend them against the birds of prey. At least so hethought. [10]

He repaired to Orvieto without taking Assisi in his way, since if hewent there he would be obliged to take some measures against thefomentors of disturbance; he now proposed to refer everything directlyto the pope. 

Does his profound humility, with the feeling of culpability whichUgolini had awakened in him, suffice to explain his attitude with regardto the pope, or must we suppose that he had a vague thought ofabdicating? Who knows whether conscience was not already murmuring areproach, and showing him how trivial were all the sophisms which hadbeen woven around him?

 "Not daring to present himself in the apartments of so great a prince, he remained outside before the door, patiently waiting till the pope should come out. When he appeared St. Francis made a reverence and said:

 "'Father Pope, may God give you peace. ' 'May God bless you, my son, ' replied he. 'My lord, ' then said St. Francis to him, 'you are great and often absorbed by great affairs; poor friars cannot come and talk with you as often as they need to do; you have given me many popes; give me a single one to whom I may address myself when need occurs, and who will listen in your stead, and discuss my affairs and those of the Order. ' 'Whom do you wish I should give you, my son?' 'The Bishop of Ostia. ' And he gave him to him. "[11]

Conferences with Ugolini now began again; he immediately accordedFrancis some amends; the privilege granted the Clarisses was revoked;Giovanni di Conpello was informed that he had nothing to hope from the_curia_, and last of all leave was given to Francis himself to composethe Rule of his Order. Naturally he was not spared counsel on thesubject, but there was one point upon which the curia could not brookdelay, and of which it exacted the immediate application--the obligationof a year's novitiate for the postulants. 

At the same time a bull was issued not merely for the sake of publishingthis ordinance, but especially to mark in a solemn manner thecommencement of a new era in the relations of the Church and theFranciscans. The fraternity of the Umbrian Penitents became an Order inthe strictest sense of the word. 

 Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Brother Francis and the other priors or custodes of the Brothers Minor, greeting and the apostolic benediction. 

 In nearly all religious Orders it has been wisely ordained that those who present themselves with the purpose of observing the regular life shall make trial of it for a certain time, during which they also shall be tested, in order to leave neither place nor pretext for inconsiderate steps. For these reasons we command you by these presents to admit no one to make profession until after one year of novitiate; we forbid that after profession any brother shall leave the Order, and that any one shall take back again him who has gone out from it. We also forbid that those wearing your habit shall circulate here and there without obedience, lest the purity of your poverty be corrupted. If any friars have had this audacity, you will inflict upon them ecclesiastical censures until repentance. [12]

It is surely only by a very decided euphemism that such a bull can beconsidered in the light of a privilege. It was in reality the laying ofthe strong hand of the papacy upon the Brothers Minor. 

From this time, in the very nature of things it became impossible forFrancis to remain minister-general. He felt it himself. Heart-broken, soul-sick, he would fain, in spite of all, have found in the energy ofhis love those words, those glances which up to this time had taken theplace of rule or constitution, giving to his earliest companions theintuition of what they ought to do and the strength to accomplish it;but an administrator was needed at the head of this family which hesuddenly found to be so different from what it had been a few yearsbefore, and he sadly acknowledged that he himself was not in theslightest degree such a person. [13]

Ah, in his own conscience he well knew that the old ideal was the true, the right one; but he drove away such thoughts as the temptations ofpride. The recent events had not taken place without in some degreeweakening his moral personality; from being continually talked to aboutobedience, submission, humility, a certain obscurity had come over thisluminous soul; inspiration no longer came to it with the certainty ofother days; the prophet had begun to waver, almost to doubt of himselfand of his mission. Anxiously he searched himself to see if in thebeginning of his work there had not been some vain self-complacency. Hepictured to himself beforehand the chapter which he was about to open, the attack, the criticisms of which it would be the object, and laboredto convince himself that if he did not endure them with joy he was not atrue Brother Minor. [14] The noblest virtues are subject to scruples, that of perfect humility more than any other, and thus it is thatexcellent men religiously betray their own convictions to avoidasserting themselves. He resolved then to put the direction of the Orderinto the hands of Pietro di Catana. It is evident that there was nothingspontaneous in this decision, and the fact that this brother was adoctor of laws and belonged to the nobility squarely argues thetransformation of the Franciscan institute. 

It is not known whether or not Ugolini was present at the chapter ofSeptember 29, 1220, but if he was not there in person he was assuredlyrepresented by some prelate, charged to watch over the debates. [15] Thebull which had been issued a week before was communicated to the friars, to whom Francis also announced that he was about to elaborate a newRule. With reference to this matter there were conferences in which theministers alone appear to have had a deliberative voice. At theseconferences the essential points of the new Rule were settled as toprinciple, leaving to Francis the care of giving them proper form at hisleisure. Nothing better reveals the demoralized state into which he hadfallen than the decision which was taken to drop out one of theessential passages of the old Rule, one of his three fundamentalprecepts, that which began with these words, "_Carry nothing withyou_. "[16]

How did they go to work to obtain from Francis this concession which, alittle while before, he would have looked upon as a denial of his call, a refusal to accept in its integrity the message which Jesus hadaddressed to him? It is the secret of history, but we may suppose therewas in his life at this time one of those moral tempests which overbearthe faculties of the strongest, leaving in their wounded hearts only anunutterable pain. 

Something of this pain has passed into the touching narrative of hisabdication which the biographers have given us. 

 "From henceforth, " he said to the friars, "I am dead for you, but here is Brother Pietro di Catana, whom you and I will all obey. " And prostrating himself before him he promised him obedience and submission. The friars could not restrain their tears and lamentations when they saw themselves thus becoming in some sort orphans, but Francis arose, and, clasping his hands, with eyes upraised to heaven: "Lord, " he said, "I return to thee this family which thou hast confided to me. Now, as thou knowest, most sweet Jesus, I have no longer strength nor ability to keep on caring for them; I confide them, therefore, to the ministers. May they be responsible before thee at the day of judgment if any brother, by their negligence or bad example, or by a too severe discipline, should ever wander away. "[17]

The functions of Pietro di Catana were destined to continue but a veryshort time; he died on March 10, 1221. [18]

Information abounds as to this period of a few months; nothing is morenatural, since Francis remained at Portiuncula to complete the taskconfided to him, living there surrounded with brethren who later onwould recall to mind all the incidents of which they were witnesses. Some of them reveal the conflict of which his soul was the arena. Desirous of showing himself submissive, he nevertheless found himselftormented by the desire to shake off his chains and fly away as informer days, to live and breathe in God alone. The following artlessrecord deserves, it seems to me, to be better known. [19]

 One day a novice who could read the psalter, though not without difficulty, obtained from the minister general--that is to say, from the vicar of St. Francis--permission to have one. But as he had learned that St. Francis desired the brethren to be covetous neither for learning nor for books, he would not take his psalter without his consent. So, St. Francis having come to the monastery where the novice was, "Father, " said he, "it would be a great consolation to have a psalter; but though the minister-general has authorized me to get it, I would not have it unknown to you. " "Look at the Emperor Charles, " replied St. Francis with fire, "Roland, and Oliver and all the paladins, valorous heroes and gallant knights, who gained their famous victories in fighting infidels, in toiling and laboring even unto death! The holy martyrs, they also have chosen to die in the midst of battle for the faith of Christ! But now there are many of those who aspire to merit honor and glory simply by relating their feats. Yes, among us also there are many who expect to receive glory and honor by reciting and preaching the works of the saints, as if they had done them themselves!"

 . . . A few days after, St. Francis was sitting before the fire, and the novice drew near to speak to him anew about his psalter. 

 "When you have your psalter, " said Francis to him, "you will want a breviary, and when you have a breviary you will seat yourself in a pulpit like a great prelate and will beckon to your companion, 'Bring me my breviary!'"

 St. Francis said this with great vivacity, then taking up some ashes he scattered them over the head of the novice, repeating, "There is the breviary, there is the breviary!"

 Several days after, St. Francis being at Portiuncula and walking up and down on the roadside not far from his cell, the same Brother came again to speak to him about his psalter. "Very well, go on, " said Francis to him, "you have only to do what your minister tells you. " At these words the novice went away, but Francis began to reflect on what he had said, and suddenly calling to the friar, he cried, "Wait for me! wait for me!" When he had caught up to him, "Retrace your steps a little way. I beg you, " he said. "Where was I when I told you to do whatever your minister told you as to the psalter?" Then falling upon his knees on the spot pointed out by the friar, he prostrated himself at his feet: "Pardon, my brother, pardon!" he cried, "for he who would be Brother Minor ought to have nothing but his clothing. "

This long story is not merely precious because it shows us, even to thesmallest particular, the conflict between the Francis of the earlyyears, looking only to God and his conscience, and the Francis of 1220, become a submissive monk in an Order approved by the Roman Church, butalso because it is one of those infrequent narratives where his methodshows itself with its artless realism. These allusions to the tales ofchivalry, and this freedom of manner which made a part of his successwith the masses, were eliminated from the legend with an incrediblerapidity. His spiritual sons were perhaps not ashamed of their father inthis matter, but they were so bent upon bringing out his other qualitiesthat they forgot a little too much the poet, the troubadour, the_joculator Domini_. 

Certain fragments, later than Thomas of Celano by more than a century, which relate some incidents of this kind, bear for that very reason thestamp of authenticity. 

It is difficult enough to ascertain precisely what part Francis stilltook in the direction of the Order. Pietro di Catana and later BrotherElias are sometimes called ministers-general, sometimes vicars; the twoterms often occur successively, as in the preceding narrative. It isvery probable that this confusion of terms corresponds to a likeconfusion of facts. Perhaps it was even intentional. After the chapterof September, 1220, the affairs of the Order pass into the hands of himwhom Francis had called minister-general, though the friars as well asthe papacy gave him only the title of vicar. It was essential for thepopularity of the Brothers Minor that Francis should preserve anappearance of authority, but the reality of government had slipped fromhis hands. 

The ideal which he had borne in his body until 1209 and had then givenbirth to in anguish, was now taking its flight, like those sons of ourloins whom we see suddenly leaving us without our being able to help it, since that is life, yet not without a rending of our vitals. _Materdolorosa!_ Ah, no doubt they will come back again, and seat themselvespiously beside us at the paternal hearth; perhaps even, in some hour ofmoral distress, they will feel the need of taking refuge in theirmother's arms as in the old days; but these fleeting returns, with theirfeverish haste, only reopen the wounds of the poor parents, when theysee how the children hasten to depart again--they who bear their namebut belong to them no longer. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Giord. , 14; _Tribul. _, f^o 10. 

 [2] Any other date is impossible, since Francis in open chapter relinquished the direction of the Order in favor of Pietro di Catana, who died March 10, 1221. 

 [3] This too short fragment is found in § vi. Of the Rule of the Damianites (August 9, 1253): Speculum, Morin, Tract. Iii. , 226b. 

 [4] 2 Cel. , 2, 3; Bon. , 162; cf. _Conform. _, 184b, 2, and 62b, 1. 

 [5] Sigonius, _Opera_, t. Iii. Col. 220; cf. Potthast, 5516, and 6086. 

 [6] 2 Cel. , 3, 4; _Spec. _, 11a; _Tribul. _, 13a; _Conform. _, 169b, 2. 

 [7] Died in 1229. Cf. Mazzetti, _Repertorio di tutti i professori di Bologna_, Bologna, 1847, p. 11. 

 [8] See _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 28, p. 635, and the notes. 

 [9] Wadding, _ann. 1220_, no. 9. Cf. A. SS. , p. 823. 

 [10] 2 Cel. , 1, 16; _Spec. _, 100a-101b. 

 [11] Giord. , 14; cf. 2 Cel. , 1, 17; _Spec. _, 102; 3 Soc. , 56 and 63. 

 [12] _Cum secundum. _ The original is at Assisi with _Datum apud Urbem Veterem X. Kal. Oct. Pont. Nostri anno quinto_ (September 22, 1220). It is therefore by an error that Sbaralea and Wadding make it date from Viterbo, which is the less explicable that all the bulls of this epoch are dated from Orvieto. Wadding, _ann. 1220_, 57; Sbaralea, vol. I. , p. 6; Potthast, 6561. 

 [13] 2 Cel. , 3, 118; Ubertin, _Arbor. V. _, 2; _Spec. _, 26; 50; 130b; _Conform. _, 136a, 2; 143a, 2. 

 [14] 2 Cel. , 3, 83; Bon. 77. One should read this account in the _Conform. _ according to the _Antigua Legenda_, 142a, 2; 31a, 1; _Spec. _ 43b. 

 [15] _Tribul. _ Laur. MS. , 12b; Magl. MS. , 71b. 

 [16] Luke, ix. , 1-6. _Tribul. _, 12b: _Et fecerunt de regula prima ministri removere_. . . . This must have taken place at the chapter of September 29, 1220, since the suppression is made in the Rule of 1221. 

 [17] 2 Cel. , 3, 81; _Spec. _, 26; _Conform. _, 175b, 1; 53a; Bon. , 76; A. SS. , p. 620. 

 [18] The epitaph on his tomb, which still exists at S. M. Dei Angeli bears this date: see _Portiuncula, von P. Barnabas aus dem Elsass_, Rixheim, 1884, p. 11. Cf. A. SS. , p. 630. 

 [19] _Spec. _, 9b; _Arbor. V. _, 3; _Conform. _, 170a, 1; 2 Cel. , 3, 124. Cf. Ubertini, _Archiv. _, iii. , pp. 75 and 177. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XV

THE RULE OF 1221[1]

The winter of 1220-1221 was spent by Francis chiefly in fixing histhought by writing. Until now he had been too much the man of action tohave been able to give much thought to anything but the _living word_, but from this time his exhausted forces compelled him to satisfy hislonging for souls by some other means than evangelizing tours. We haveseen that the chapter of September 29, 1220, on one side, and the bull_Cum secundum_ on the other, had fixed in advance a certain number ofpoints. For the rest, complete liberty had been given him, not indeed tomake a final and unchangeable statement of his ideas, but to set themforth. The substance of legislative power had passed into the hands ofthe ministers. [2]

That which we call the Rule of 1221 is, then, nothing more than aproposed law, submitted to a representative government at itsparliament. The head of authority will one day give it to the world, sothoroughly modified and altered that Francis's name at the head of sucha document will give but small promise, and quite indirectly, that itwill contain his personal opinion. 

Never was man less capable of making a Rule than Francis. In reality, that of 1210 and the one which the pope solemnly approved in November29, 1223, had little in common except the name. In the former all isalive, free, spontaneous; it is a point of departure, an inspiration; itmay be summed up in two phrases: the appeal of Jesus to man, "Come, follow me, " the act of man, "He left all and followed him. " To the callof divine love man replies by the joyful gift of himself, and that quitenaturally, by a sort of instinct. At this height of mysticism anyregulation is not only useless, it is almost a profanation; at the veryleast it is the symptom of a doubt. Even in earthly loves, when peopletruly love each other nothing is asked, nothing promised. 

The Rule of 1223, on the other hand, is a reciprocal contract. On thedivine side the call has become a command; on the human, the freeimpulse of love has become an act of submission, by which life eternalwill be earned. 

At the bottom of it all is the antinome of law and love. Under the reignof law we are the mercenaries of God, bound down to an irksome task, but paid a hundred-fold, and with an indisputable right to our wages. 

Under the rule of love we are the sons of God, and coworkers with him;we give ourselves to him without bargaining and without expectation; wefollow Jesus, not because this is well, but because we can do nootherwise, because we feel that he has loved us and we love him in ourturn. An inward flame draws us irresistibly toward him: _Et Spiritus etSponsa dicunt: Veni_. 

It is necessary to dwell a little on the antithesis between these twoRules. That of 1210 alone is truly Franciscan; that of 1223 isindirectly the work of the Church, endeavoring to assimilate withherself the new movement, which with one touch she transforms and turnswholly from its original purpose. 

That of 1221 marks an intermediate stage. It is the clash of twoprinciples, or rather of two spirits; they approach, they touch, butthey are not merged in one another; here and there is a mixture, butnowhere combination; we can separate the divers elements withoutdifficulty. Their condition is the exact reflection of what was going onin Francis's soul, and of the rapid evolution of the Order. 

To aid him in his work Francis joined to himself Brother Cĉsar ofSpeyer, who would be especially useful to him by his profoundacquaintance with the sacred texts. 

What strikes us first, on glancing over this Rule of 1221, is itsextraordinary length; it covers not less than ten folio pages, whilethat of 1223 has no more than three. Take away from it the passageswhich emanate from the papacy and those which were fixed at the previouschapter, you will hardly have shortened it by a column; what remains isnot a Rule, but a series of impassioned appeals, in which the father'sheart speaks, not to command but to convince, to touch, to awaken inhis children the instinct of love. 

It is all chaotic and even contradictory, [3] without order, a medleyof outbursts of joy and bitter sobs, of hopes and regrets. There arepassages in which the passion of the soul speaks in every possible tone, runs over the whole gamut from the softest note to the most masculine, from those which are as joyous and inspiring as the blast of a clarion, to those which are agitated, stifled, like a voice from beyond the tomb. 

 "By the holy love which is in God, I pray all the friars, ministers as well as others, to put aside every obstacle, every care, every anxiety, that they may be able to consecrate themselves entirely to serve, love, and honor the Lord God, with a pure heart and a sincere purpose, which is what he asks above all things. Let us have always in ourselves a tabernacle and a home for him who is the Lord God most mighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who says, 'Watch and pray always, that you may be found worthy to escape all the things which will come to pass, and to appear upright before the Son of man. '

 "Let us then keep in the true way, the life, the truth, and the holy Gospel of Him who has deigned for our sake to leave his Father that he may manifest his name to us, saying, 'Father, I have manifested thy name to those whom thou hast given me, and the words which thou hast given me I have given also unto them. They have received them, and they have known that I am come from thee, and they believe that thou hast sent me. I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one. I have said these things, being still in the world, that they may have joy in themselves. I have given them thy words, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou wilt keep them from the evil. Sanctify them through the truth; thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world I have also sent them into the world, and for their sake I sanctify myself that they may themselves be sanctified in the truth; and neither pray I for these alone, but for all those who shall believe on me through their words, that we all may be one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou lovest them as thou hast loved me. I have made known unto them thy name, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. '

 PRAYER. 

 "Almighty, most high and sovereign God, holy Father, righteous Lord, King of heaven and earth, we give thee thanks for thine own sake, in that by thy holy will, and by thine only Son and thy Holy Spirit thou hast created all things spiritual and corporeal, and that after having made us in thine image and after thy likeness, thou didst place us in that paradise which we lost by our sin. And we give thee thanks because after having created us by thy Son, by that love which is thine, and which thou hast had for us, thou hast made him to be born very God and very man of the glorious and blessed Mary, ever Virgin, and because by his cross, his blood, and his death thou hast willed to ransom us poor captives. And we give thee thanks that thy Son is to return in his glorious majesty to send to eternal fire the accursed ones, those who have not repented and have not known thee; and to say to those who have known and adored thee and served thee by repentance, 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. ' And since we, wretched and sinful, are not worthy to name thee, we humbly ask our Lord Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son, in whom thou art well pleased, that he may give thee thanks for everything; and also the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, as it may please thee and them; for this we supplicate him who has all power with thee, and by whom thou hast done such great things for us. Alleluia. 

 "And we pray the glorious Mother, the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, St. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and all the choir of blessed Spirits, Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities and Powers, Virtues and Angels, Archangels, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Peter, Paul, and the holy Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Holy Innocents, Apostles, Evangelists, Disciples, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, the blessed ones, Elijah and Enoch, and all the saints who have been, shall be, and are, we humbly pray them by thy love to give thee thanks for these things, as it pleases thee, sovereign, true, eternal and living God, and also to thy Son, our most holy Lord Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia. 

 "And we supplicate all those who desire to serve the Lord God, in the bosom of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, all priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolytes and exorcists, readers, porters, all clerks, all monks and nuns, all children and little ones, paupers and exiles, kings, and princes, workmen and laborers, servants and masters, the virgins, the continent and the married, laics, men and women, all children, youths, young men and old men, the sick and the well, the small and the great, the peoples of every tribe and tongue and nation, all men in every part of the world whatsoever, who are or who shall be, we pray and beseech them, all we Brothers Minor, unprofitable servants, that all together, with one accord we persevere in the true faith and in penitence, for outside of these no person can be saved. 

 "Let us all, with all our heart and all our thought, and all our strength, and all our mind, with all our vigor, with all our effort, with all our affection, with all our inward powers, our desires, and our wills, love the Lord God, who has given to us all his body, all his soul, all his life, and still gives them every day to each one of us. He created us, he saved us by his grace alone; he has been, he still is, full of goodness to us, us wicked and worthless, corrupt and offensive, ungrateful, ignorant, bad. We desire nothing else, we wish for nothing else; may nothing else please us, or have any attraction for us, except the Creator, the Redeemer, the Saviour, sole and true God, who is full of goodness, who is all goodness, who is the true and supreme good, who alone is kind, pious, and merciful, gracious, sweet, and gentle, who alone is holy, righteous, true, upright, who alone has benignity, innocence, and purity; of whom, by whom, and in whom is all the pardon, all the grace, all the glory of all penitents, of all the righteous and all the saints who are rejoicing in heaven. 

 "Then let nothing again hinder, let nothing again separate, nothing again retard us, and may we all, so long as we live, in every place, at every hour, at every time, every day and unceasingly, truly and humbly believe. Let us have in our hearts, let us love, adore, serve, praise, bless, glorify, exalt, magnify, thank the most high, sovereign, eternal God, Trinity and Unity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator of all men, both of those who believe and hope in him and of those who love him. He is without beginning and without end, immutable and invisible, ineffable, incomprehensible, indiscernible, blessed, lauded, glorious, exalted, sublime, most high, sweet, lovely, delectable, and always worthy of being desired above all things, in all the ages of ages. Amen. "

Have not these artless repetitions a mysterious charm which stealsdeliciously into the very depths of the heart? Is there not in them asort of sacrament of which the words are only the rude vehicle? Francisis taking refuge in God, as the child throws itself upon its mother'sbosom, and in the incoherence of its weakness and its joy stammers outall the words it knows, repeating by them all only the eternal "I amthine" of love and faith. 

There is in them also something which recalls, not only by citations, but still more by the very inspiration of the thought, that which wecall the sacerdotal prayer of Christ. The apostle of poverty appearshere as if suspended between earth and heaven by the very strength ofhis love, consecrated the priest of a new worship by the inward andirresistible unction of the Spirit. He does not offer sacrifice like thepriest of the past time; he sacrifices himself, and carries in his bodyall the woes of humanity. 

The more beautiful are these words from the mystical point of view, theless do they correspond with what is expected in a Rule; they haveneither the precision nor the brief and imperative forms of one. Thetransformations which they were to undergo in order to become the codeof 1223 were therefore fatal when we consider the definitiveintervention of the Church of Rome to direct the Franciscan movement. 

It is probable that this rough draft of a Rule, such as we have it now, is that which was distributed in the chapter of Whitsunday, 1221. Thevariants, sometimes capital, which are found in the different texts, canbe nothing other than outlines of the corrections proposed by theprovincial ministers. Once admit the idea of considering this documentas a rough draft, we are very soon brought to think that it had alreadyundergone a rapid preliminary revision, a sort of pruning, in whichecclesiastical authority has caused to disappear all that was inflagrant contradiction with its own projects for the Order. 

If it is asked, who could have made these curtailments, one name springsat once to our lips--Ugolini. He criticised its exaggerated proportions, its want of unity and precision. Later on it is related that Francis hadseen in a dream a multitude of starving friars, and himself unable tosatisfy their wants, because though all around him lay innumerablecrumbs of bread, they disappeared between his fingers when he would givethem to those about him. Then a voice from heaven said to him: "Francis, make of these crumbs a wafer; with that thou shalt feed these starvingones. "

There is little hazard in assuming that this is the picturesque echo ofthe conferences which took place at this time between Francis and thecardinal; the latter might have suggested to him by such a comparisonthe essential defects of his project. All this, no doubt, took placeduring Francis's stay in Rome, in the beginning of 1221. [4]

Before going there, we must cast a glance over the similarity ininspiration and even in style which allies the Rule of 1221 with anotherof St. Francis's works, that which is known under the title of TheAdmonitions. [5] This is a series of _spiritual counsels_ with regardto the religious life; it is closely united both in matter and form withthe work which we have just examined. The tone of voice is so perfectlythe same that one is tempted to see in it parts of the original draft ofthe Rule, separated from it as too prolix to find place in a Rule. 

However it may be with this hypothesis, we find in The Admonitions allthe anxieties with which the soul of Francis was assailed in thisuncertain and troubled hour. Some of these counsels sound like bits froma private journal. We see him seeking, with the simplicity of perfecthumility, for reasons for submitting himself, renouncing his ideas, andnot quite succeeding in finding them. He repeats to himself theexhortations that others had given him; we feel the effort to understandand admire the ideal monk whom Ugolini and the Church have proposed tohim for an example:

 The Lord says in the Gospels: "He who does not give up all that he has cannot be my disciple. And he who would save his life shall lose it. " One gives up all he possesses and loses his life when life gives himself entirely into the hands of his superior, to obey him. . . . And when the inferior sees things which would be better or more useful to his soul than those which the superior commands him, let him offer to God the sacrifice of his will. 

Reading this one might think that Francis was about to join the ranks ofthose to whom submission to ecclesiastical authority is the very essenceof religion. But no; even here his true feeling is not wholly effaced, he mingles his words with parentheses and illustrations, timid, indeed, but revealing his deepest thought; always ending by enthroning theindividual conscience as judge of last resort. [6]

All this shows clearly enough that we must picture to ourselves momentswhen his wounded soul sighs after passive obedience, the formula ofwhich, _perinde ac cadaver_, goes apparently much farther back than theCompany of Jesus. These were moments of exhaustion, when inspiration wassilent. 

 One day he was sitting with his companions, when he began to groan and say: "There is hardly a monk upon earth who perfectly obeys his superior. " His companions, much astonished, said: "Explain to us, father, what is perfect and supreme obedience. " Then, comparing him who obeys to a corpse, he replied: "Take a dead body, and put it where you will, it will make no resistance; when it is in one place it will not murmur, when you take it away from there it will not object; put it in a pulpit, it will not look up but down; wrap it in purple, it will only be doubly pale. "[7]

This longing for corpse-like obedience witnesses to the ravages withwhich his soul had been laid waste; it corresponds in the moral domainto the cry for annihilation of great physical anguish. 

The worst was that he was absolutely alone. Everywhere else theFranciscan obedience is living, active, joyful. [8]

He drank this cup to the very dregs, holding sacred the revolts dictatedby conscience. One day in the later years of his life a German friarcame to see him, and after having long discussed with him pureobedience:

 "I ask you one favor, " he said to him, "it is that if the Brothers ever come to live no longer according to the Rule you will permit me to separate myself from them, alone or with a few others, to observe it in its completeness. " At these words Francis felt a great joy. "Know, " said he, "that Christ as well as I authorize what you have just been asking;" and laying hands upon him, "Thou art a priest forever, " he added, "after the order of Melchisedec. "[9]

We have a yet more touching proof of his solicitude to safeguard thespiritual independence of his disciples: it is a note to BrotherLeo. [10] The latter, much alarmed by the new spirit which was gainingpower in the Order, opened his mind thereupon to his master, anddoubtless asked of him pretty much the same permission as the friar fromGermany. After an interview in which he replied _viva voce_, Francis, not to leave any sort of doubt or hesitation in the mind of him whom hesurnamed his little sheep of God, _pecorella di Dio_, wrote to himagain:

 Brother Leo, thy brother Francis wishes thee peace and health. 

 I reply _yes_, my son, as a mother to her child. This word sums up all we said while walking, as well as all my counsels. If thou hast need to come to me for counsel, it is my wish that thou shouldst do it. Whatever may be the manner in which thou thinkest thou canst please the Lord God, follow it, and live in poverty. Do this (faites le[11]), God will bless thee and I authorize it. And if it were necessary for thy soul, or for thy consolation that thou shouldst come to see me, or if thou desirest it, my Leo, come. 

 Thine in Christ. 

Surely we are far enough here from the corpse of a few pages back. 

It would be superfluous to pause over the other admonitions. For themost part they are reflections inspired by circumstances. Counsels as tohumility recur with a frequency which explains both the personalanxieties of the author, and the necessity of reminding the brothers ofthe very essence of their profession. 

The sojourn of St. Francis at Rome, whither he went in the early monthsof 1221, to lay his plan before Ugolini, was marked by a new effort ofthe latter to bring him and St. Dominic together. [12]

The cardinal was at this time at the apogee of his success. Everythinghad gone well with him. His voice was all powerful not only in affairsof the Church, but also in those of the Empire. Frederic II. , who seemedto be groping his way, and in whose mind were germinating dreams ofreligious reformation, and the desire of placing his power at theservice of the truth, treated him as a friend, and spoke of him withunbounded admiration. [13]

In his reflections upon the remedies to be applied to the woes ofChristianity, the cardinal came at last to think that one of the mostefficacious would be the substitution of bishops taken from the two newOrders, for the feudal episcopate almost always recruited from localfamilies in which ecclesiastical dignities were, so to speak, hereditary. In the eyes of Ugolini such bishops were usually wanting intwo essential qualities of a good prelate: religious zeal and zeal forthe Church. 

He believed that the Preaching and the Minor Friars would not onlypossess those virtues which were lacking in the others, but that in thehands of the papacy they might become a highly centralized hierarchy, truly catholic, wholly devoted to the interests of the Church at large. The difficulties which might occur on the part of the chapters whichshould elect the bishops, as well as on the side of the high secularclergy, would be put to flight by the enthusiasm which the people wouldfeel for pastors whose poverty would recall the days of the primitiveChurch. 

At the close of his interviews with Francis and Dominic, hecommunicated to them some of these thoughts, asking their advice as tothe elevation of their friars to prelatures. There was a pious contestbetween the two saints as to which should answer first. Finally, Dominicsaid simply that he should prefer to see his companions remain as theywere. In his turn, Francis showed that the very name of his institutemade the thing impossible. "If my friars have been called _Minores_, " hesaid, "it is not that they may become _Majores_. If you desire that theybecome fruitful in the Church of God, leave them alone, and keep them inthe estate into which God has called them. I pray you, father, do not soact that their poverty shall become a motive for pride, nor elevate themto prelatures which would move them to insolence toward others. "[14]

The ecclesiastical policy followed by the popes was destined to renderthis counsel of the two founders wholly useless. [15]

Francis and Dominic parted, never again to meet. The _Master_ of thePreaching Friars shortly after set out for Bologna, where he died onAugust 6th following, and Francis returned to Portiuncula, where Pietrodi Catana had just died (March 10, 1221). He was replaced at the head ofthe Order by Brother Elias. Ugolini was doubtless not without influencein this choice. 

Detained by his functions of legate, he could not be present at theWhitsunday chapter (May 30, 1221). [16] He was represented there byCardinal Reynerio, [17] who came accompanied by several bishops and bymonks of various orders. [18] About three thousand friars were thereassembled, but so great was the eagerness of the people of theneighborhood to bring provisions, that after a session of seven daysthey were obliged to remain two days longer to eat up all that had beenbrought. The sessions were presided over by Brother Elias, Francissitting at his feet and pulling at his robe when there was anything thathe wished to have put before the Brothers. 

Brother Giordani di Giano, who was present, has preserved for us allthese details and that of the setting out of a group of friars forGermany. They were placed under the direction of Cĉsar of Speyer, whosemission succeeded beyond all expectation. Eighteen months after, when hereturned to Italy, consumed with the desire to see St. Francis again, the cities of Wurzburg, Mayence, Worms, Speyer, Strasburg, Cologne, Salzburg, and Ratisbon had become Franciscan centres, from whence thenew ideas were radiating into all Southern Germany. 

The foundation of the Tertiaries, or Third Order, generally in theoldest documents called Brotherhood of Penitence, is usually fixed asoccurring in the year 1221; but we have already seen that this date ismuch too recent, or rather that it is impossible to fix any date, forwhat was later called, quite arbitrarily, the Third Order is evidentlycontemporary with the First. [19]

Francis and his companions desired to be the apostles of their time; butthey, no more than the apostles of Jesus, desired to have all men entertheir association, which was necessarily somewhat restricted, and which, according to the gospel saying, was meant to be the leaven of the restof humanity. In consequence, their life was literally the _apostoliclife_, but the ideal which they preached was the _evangelical life_, such as Jesus had preached it. 

St. Francis no more condemned the family or property than Jesus did; hesimply saw in them ties from which the _apostle_, and the apostle alone, needs to be free. 

If before long sickly minds fancied that they interpreted his thought inmaking the union of the sexes an evil, and all that concerns thephysical activity of man a fall; if unbalanced spirits borrowed theauthority of his name to escape from all duty; if married personscondemned themselves to the senseless martyrdom of virginity, he shouldcertainly not be made responsible. These traces of an unnaturalasceticism come from the dualist ideas of the Catharists, and not fromthe inspired poet who sang nature and her fecundity, who made nests fordoves, inviting them to multiply under the watch of God, and who imposedmanual labor on his friars as a sacred duty. 

The bases of the corporation of the _Brothers and Sisters of Penitence_were very simple. Francis gave no new doctrine to the world; what wasnew in his message was wholly in his love, in his direct call to theevangelical life, to an ideal of moral vigor, of labor, and of love. 

Naturally, there were soon found men who did not understand this trueand simple beauty; they fell into observances and devotions, imitated, while living in the world, the life of the cloister to which for onereason or another they were not able to retire; but it would be unjustto picture to ourselves the _Brothers of Penitence_ as modelled afterthem. 

Did they receive a Rule from St. Francis? It is impossible to say. Theone which was given[20] them in 1289 by Pope Nicholas IV. Is simply therecasting and amalgamation of all the rules of lay fraternities whichexisted at the end of the thirteenth century. To attribute this documentto Francis is nothing less than the placing in a new building of certainvenerated stones from an ancient edifice. It is a matter of façade andornamentation, nothing more. 

Notwithstanding this absence of any Rule emanating from Francis himself, it is clear enough what, in his estimation, this association ought tobe. The Gospel, with its counsels and examples, was to be its true Rule. The great innovation designed by the Third Order was concord; thisfraternity was a union of peace, and it brought to astonished Europe anew truce of God. Whether the absolute refusal to carry arms[21] was anidea wholly chimerical and ephemeral, the documents are there to prove, but it is a fine thing to have had the power to bring it about for a fewyears. 

The second essential obligation of the Brothers of Penitence appears tohave been that of reducing their wants so far as possible, and whilepreserving their fortunes to distribute to the poor at proper intervalsthe free portion of the revenue after contenting themselves with thestrictly necessary. [22]

To do with joy the duties of their calling; to give a holy inspirationto the slightest actions; to find in the infinitely littles ofexistence, things apparently the most commonplace, parts of a divinework; to keep pure from all debasing interest; to use things as notpossessing them, like the servants in the parable who would soon have togive account of the talents confided to them; to close their hearts tohatred, to open them wide to the poor, the sick, to all abandoned ones, such were the other essential duties of the Brothers and Sisters ofPenitence. 

To lead them into this royal road of liberty, love, and responsibility, Francis sometimes appealed to the terrors of hell and the joys ofparadise, but interested love was so little a part of his nature thatthese considerations and others of the same kind occupy an entirelysecondary place in those of his writings which remain, as also in hisbiographies. 

For him the gospel life is natural to the soul. Whoever comes to know itwill prefer it; it has no more need to be proved than the outer air andthe light. It needs only to lead prisoners to it, for them to lose alldesire to return to the dungeons of avarice, hatred, or frivolity. 

Francis and his true disciples make the painful ascent of the mountainheights, impelled solely, but irresistibly, by the inner voice. The onlyforeign aid which they accept is the memory of Jesus, going before themupon these heights and mysteriously living again before their eyes inthe sacrament of the eucharist. 

The letter to all Christians in which these thoughts break forth is aliving souvenir of St. Francis's teachings to the Tertiaries. 

To represent these latter to ourselves in a perfectly concrete form wemay resort to the legend of St. Lucchesio, whom tradition makes thefirst Brother of Penitence. [23]

A native of a little city of Tuscany he quitted it to avoid itspolitical enmities, and established himself at Poggibonsi, not far fromSienna, where he continued to trade in grain. Already rich, it was notdifficult for him to buy up all the wheat, and, selling it in a time ofscarcity, realize enormous profits. But soon overcome by Francis'spreaching, he took himself to task, distributed all his superfluity tothe poor, and kept nothing but his house with a small garden and oneass. 

From that time he was to be seen devoting himself to the cultivation ofthis bit of ground, and making of his house a sort of hostelry whitherthe poor and the sick came in swarms. He not only welcomed them, but hesought them out, even to the malaria-infected Maremma, often returningwith a sick man astride on his back and preceded by his ass bearing asimilar burden. The resources of the garden were necessarily verylimited; when there was no other way, Lucchesio took a wallet and wentfrom door to door asking alms, but most of the time this was needless, for his poor guests, seeing him so diligent and so good, were bettersatisfied with a few poor vegetables from the garden shared with himthan with the most copious repast. In the presence of their benefactor, so joyful in his destitution, they forgot their own poverty, and thehabitual murmurs of these wretches were transformed into outbursts ofadmiration and gratitude. 

Conversion had not killed in him all family ties; Bona Donna, his wife, became his best co-laborer, and when in 1260 he saw her gradually fadingaway his grief was too deep to be endured. "You know, dear companion, "he said to her when she had received the last sacraments, "how much wehave loved one another while we could serve God together; why should wenot remain united until we depart to the ineffable joy? Wait for me. Ialso will receive the sacraments, and go to heaven with you. "

So he spoke, and called back the priest to administer them to him. Thenafter holding the hands of his dying companion, comforting her withgentle words, when he saw that her soul was gone he made over her thesign of the cross, stretched himself beside her, and calling with loveupon Jesus, Mary, and St. Francis, he fell asleep for eternity. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Text in _Firmamentum_, 10; _Spec. _, 189; _Spec. _, Morin. Tract. , iii. , 2b. M. Müller (_Anfänge_) has made a study of the Rule of 1221 which is a masterpiece of _exegetical scent_. Nevertheless if he had more carefully collated the different texts he would have arrived at still more striking results, thanks to the variants which he would have been able to establish. I cite a single example. 

 Text _Firm_. --Wadding, adopted by Mr. M. 

 _Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt vel vadunt, caveant sibi a malo visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis consilietur solus. Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis dando penitentiam vel aliud spirituale consilium. _

 Text of the _Speculum_, 189 ff. 

 _Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt et vadunt caveant se a malo visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis concilietur aut per viam vadat solus aut ad mensam in una paropside comedat. (!!) Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis dando . . . Etc. _

 This passage is sufficient to show the superiority of the text of the Speculum, which is to be preferred also in other respects, but this is not the place for entering into these details. It is evident that the phrase in which we see the earliest friars sometimes sharing the repast of the sisters and eating from their porringer is not a later interpolation. 

 [2] _Tribul. _, 12b; _Spec. _, 54b; _Arbor. _ V. , 3; _Spec. _, 8b. 

 [3] Cf. _cap. _ 17 and 21. 

 [4] 2 Cel. , 3, 136. 

 [5] See below, p. 354, text in the _Firmamentum_, 19 ff. ; _Speculum_, Morin, tract. Iii. , 214a ff. ; cf. _Conform. _, 137 ff. 

 [6] _Cum facit (subditus) voluntatem (prĉlati) dummodo benefacit vera obedientia est. Admon. _, iii. ; _Conform. _, 139_a_, 2. --_Si vero prĉlatus subdito aliquid contra animam prĉcipiat licet ei non obediat tamen ipsum non dimittat. _, Ibid. --_Nullus tenetur ad obedientiam in eo ubi committitus delictum vel peccatum. Epist. _, ii. 

 [7] 2 Cel. , 3, 89; _Spec. _, 29b; _Conform. _, 176b, 1; Bon. , 77. 

 [8] _Per caritatem spiritus voluntarii serviant et obediant invicem. Et hĉc est vera et sancta obedientia. Reg. _, 1221, v. 

 [9] _Tribul. _, Laur. MS. , 14b; _Spec. _, 125a; _Conform. _, 107b, 1; 184b, 1. 

 [10] Wadding gives it (_Epist. _ xvi. ), after the autograph preserved in the treasury of the Conventuals of Spoleto. The authenticity of this piece is evident. 

 [11] This plural, which perplexed Wadding, shows plainly that Brother Leo had spoken in the name of a group. 

 [12] This date for the new communications between them seems incontestable, though it has never been proposed; in fact, we are only concerned to find a time when all three could have met at Rome (2 Cel. , 3, 86; _Spec. _, 27a), between December 22, 1216 (the approbation of the Dominicans), and August 6, 1221 (death of Dominic). Only two periods are possible: the early months of 1218 (Potthast, 5739 and 5747) and the winter of 1220-1221. At any other time one of the three was absent from Rome. 

 On the other hand we know that Ugolini was in Rome in the winter of 1220-1221 (Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dipl. _, ii. , pp. 48, 123, 142. Cf. Potthast, 6589). --For Dominic see A. SS. , Aug. , vol. I. , p. 503. The later date is imperative because Ugolini could not offer prelatures to the Brothers Minor before their explicit approbation (June 11, 1219), and this offer had no meaning with regard to the Dominicans until after the definitive establishment of their Order. 

 [13] See the imperial letters of February 10, 1221; Huillard-Bréholles, vol. Ii. , pp. 122-127. 

 [14] 2 Cel. , 3, 86; Bon. , 78; _Spec. _, 27b. 

 [15] Vide K. Eubel: _Die Bischöfe, Cardinäle und Päpste aus dem Minoritenorden bis_ 1305, 8vo, 1889. 

 [16] He was in Northern Italy. Vide _Registri: Doc. _, 17-28. 

 [17] Reynerius, cardinal-deacon with the title of S. M. In Cosmedin, Bishop of Viterbo (cf. Innocent III. , _Opera_, Migne, 1, col. Ccxiii), 1 Cel. , 125. He had been named rector of the Duchy of Spoleto, August 3, 1220. Potthast, 6319. 

 [18] Giord, 16. The presence of Dominic at an earlier chapter had therefore been quite natural. 

 [19] This view harmonizes in every particular with the witness of 1 Cel. , 36 and 37, which shows the Third Order as having been quite naturally born of the enthusiasm excited by the preaching of Francis immediately after his return from Rome in 1210 (cf. _Auctor vit. Sec. _; A. SS. , p. 593b). Nothing in any other document contradicts it; quite the contrary. Vide 3 Soc. , 60. Cf. _Anon. Perus. _; A. SS. , p. 600; Bon. , 25, 46. Cf. A. SS. , pp. 631-634. The first bull which concerns the Brothers of Penitence (without naming them) is of December 16, 1221, _Significatum est_. If it really refers to them, as Sbaralea thinks, with all those who have interested themselves in the question to M. Müller inclusively--but which, it appears, might be contested--it is because in 1221 they had made appeal to the pope against the podestàs of Faenza and the neighboring cities. This evidently supposes an association not recently born. Sbaralea, _Bull. Fr. _, 1, p. 8; Horoy, vol. Iv. , col. 49; Potthast, 6736. 

 [20] Bull _Supra montem_ of August 17, 1289, Potthast. 23044. M. Müller has made a luminous study of the origin of this bull; it may be considered final in all essential points (_Anfänge_, pp. 117-171). By this bull Nicholas IV. --minister-general of the Brothers Minor before becoming pope--sought to draw into the hands of his Order the direction of all associations of pious laics (Third Order of St. Dominic, the Gaudentes, the Humiliati. Etc. ). He desired by that to give a greater impulse to those fraternities which depended directly on the court of Rome, and augment their power by unifying them. 

 [21] Vide Bull _Significatum est_ of December 16, 1221. Cf. _Supra montem_, chap. Vii. 

 [22] The Rule of the Third Order of the Humiliati, which dates from 1201, contains a similar clause. Tiraboschi, vol. Ii. , p. 132. 

 [23] In the A. SS. , Aprilis, vol. Ii. P. 600-616. Orlando di Chiusi also received the habit from the hands of Francis. Vide _Instrumentum_, etc. , below, p. 400. The Franciscan fraternity, under the influence of the other third orders, rapidly lost its specific character. As to this title, Third Order, it surely had originally a hierarchical sense, upon which little by little a chronological sense has been superposed. All these questions become singularly clearer when they are compared with what is known of the Humiliati. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XVI

THE BROTHERS MINOR AND LEARNING

Autumn, 1221-December, 1223

After the chapter of 1221 the evolution of the Order hurried on with arapidity which nothing was strong enough to check. 

The creation of the ministers was an enormous step in this direction; bythe very pressure of things the latter came to establish a residence;those who command must have their subordinates within reach, must knowat all times where they are; the Brothers, therefore, could no longercontinue to do without convents properly so-called. This changenaturally brought about many others; up to this time they had had nochurches. Without churches the friars were only itinerant preachers, andtheir purpose could not but be perfectly disinterested; they were, asFrancis had wished, the friendly auxiliaries of the clergy. Withchurches it was inevitable that they should first fatally aspire topreach in them and attract the crowd to them, then in some sort erectthem into counter parishes. [1]

The bull of March 22, 1222, [2] shows us the papacy hastening thesetransformations with all its power. The pontiff accords to BrotherFrancis and the other friars the privilege of celebrating the sacredmysteries in their churches in times of interdict, on the naturalcondition of not ringing the bells, of closing the door, and previouslyexpelling those who were excommunicated. 

By an astonishing inadvertence the bull itself bears witness to itsuselessness, at least for the time in which it was given: "We accord toyou, " it runs, "the permission to celebrate the sacraments in times ofinterdict in your churches, _if you come to have any_. " This is a newproof that in 1222 the Order as yet had none; but it is not difficult tosee in this very document a pressing invitation to change their way ofworking, and not leave this privilege to be of no avail. 

Another document of the same time shows a like purpose, thoughmanifested in another direction. By the bull _Ex parte_ of March 29, 1222, Honorius III. Laid upon the Preachers and Minors of Lisbonconjointly a singularly delicate mission; he gave them full powers toproceed against the bishop and clergy of that city, who exacted from thefaithful that they should leave to them by will one-third of theirproperty, and refused the Church's burial service to those whodisobeyed. [3]

The fact that the pope committed to the Brothers the care of choosingwhat measures they should take proves how anxious they were at Rome toforget the object for which they had been created, and to transform theminto deputies of the Holy See. It is, therefore, needless to point outthat the mention of Francis's name at the head of the former of thesebulls has no significance. We do not picture the Poverello seeking aprivilege for circumstances not yet existing! We perceive here theinfluence of Ugolini, [4] who had found the Brother Minor after his ownheart in the person of Elias. 

What was Francis doing all this time? We have no knowledge, but the veryabsence of information, so abundant for the period that precedes as wellas for that which follows, shows plainly enough that he has quittedPortiuncula, and gone to live in one of those Umbrian hermitages thathad always had so strong an attachment for him. [5] There is hardly ahill in Central Italy that has not preserved some memento of him. Itwould be hard to walk half a day between Florence and Rome withoutcoming upon some hut on a hillside bearing his name or that of one ofhis disciples. 

There was a time when these huts were inhabited, when in these leafybooths Egidio, Masseo, Bernardo, Silvestro, Ginepro, and many otherswhose names history has forgotten, received visits from their spiritualfather, coming to them for their consolation. [6]

They gave him love for love and consolation for consolation. His poorheart had great need of both, for in his long, sleepless nights it hadcome to him at times to hear strange voices; weariness and regret werelaying hold on him, and looking over the past he was almost driven todoubt of himself, his Lady Poverty, and everything. 

Between Chiusi and Radicofani--an hour's walk from the village ofSartiano--a few Brothers had made a shelter which served them by way ofhermitage, with a little cabin for Francis in a retired spot. There hepassed one of the most agonizing nights of his life. The thought that hehad exaggerated the virtue of asceticism and not counted enough upon themercy of God assailed him, and suddenly he came to regret the use he hadmade of his life. A picture of what he might have been, of the tranquiland happy home that might have been his, rose up before him in suchliving colors that he felt himself giving way. In vain he disciplinedhimself with his hempen girdle until the blood came; the vision wouldnot depart. 

It was midwinter; a heavy fall of snow covered the ground; he rushed outwithout his garment, and gathering up great heaps of snow began to makea row of images. "See, " he said, "here is thy wife, and behind her aretwo sons and two daughters, with the servant and the maid carrying allthe baggage. "

With this child-like representation of the tyranny of material careswhich he had escaped, he finally put away the temptation. [7]

There is nothing to show whether or not we should fix at the same epochanother incident which legend gives as taking place at Sartiano. One daya brother of whom he asked, "Whence do you come?" replied, "From yourcell. " This simple answer was enough to make the vehement lover ofPoverty refuse to occupy it again. "Foxes have holes, " he loved torepeat, "and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man had notwhere to lay his head. When the Lord spent forty days and forty nightspraying and fasting in the desert, he built himself neither cell norhouse, but made the side of a rock his shelter. "[8]

It would be a mistake to think, as some have done, that as time went onFrancis changed his point of view. Certain ecclesiastical writers haveassumed that since he desired the multiplication of his Order, he forthat very reason consented to its transformation. The suggestion isspecious, but in this matter we are not left to conjecture; almosteverything which was done in the Order after 1221 was done eitherwithout Francis's knowledge or against his will. If one were inclined todoubt this, it would need only to glance over that most solemn and alsomost adequate manifesto of his thought--his Will. There he is shownfreed from all the temptations which had at times made him hesitate inthe expression of his ideas, bravely gathering himself up to summon backthe primitive ideal, and set it up in opposition to all the concessionswhich had been wrung from his weakness. 

The Will is not an appendix to the Rule of 1223, it is almost itsrevocation. But it would be a mistake to see in it the first attemptmade to return to the early ideal. The last five years of his life wereonly one incessant effort at protest, both by his example and his words. 

In 1222 he addressed to the brethren of Bologna a letter filled with sadforebodings. In that city, where the Dominicans, overwhelmed withattentions, were occupied with making themselves a stronghold in thesystem of instruction, the Brothers Minor were more than anywhere elsetempted to forsake the way of simplicity and poverty. Francis's warningshad put on such dark and threatening colors that after the famousearthquake of December 23, 1222, which spread terror over all northernItaly, there was no hesitation in believing that he had predicted thecatastrophe. [9] He had indeed predicted a catastrophe which was nonethe less horrible for being wholly moral, and the vision of which forcedfrom him the most bitter imprecations:

 "Lord Jesus, thou didst choose thine apostles to the number of twelve, and if one of them did betray thee, the others, remaining united to thee, preached thy holy gospel, filled with one and the same inspiration; and behold now, remembering the former days, thou hast raised up the Religion of the Brothers in order to uphold faith, and that by them the mystery of thy gospel may be accomplished. Who will take their place if, instead of fulfilling their mission and being shining examples for all, they are seen to give themselves up to works of darkness? Oh! may they be accursed by thee, Lord, and by all the court of heaven, and by me, thine unworthy servant, they who by their bad example overturn and destroy all that thou didst do in the beginning and ceasest not to do by the holy Brothers of this Order. "[10]

This passage from Thomas of Celano, the most moderate of thebiographers, shows to what a pitch of vehemence and indignation thegentle Francis could be worked up. 

In spite of very natural efforts to throw a veil of reserve over theanguish of the founder with regard to the future of his spiritualfamily, we find traces of it at every step. "The time will come, " hesaid one day, "when our Order will so have lost all good renown that itsmembers will be ashamed to show themselves by daylight. "[11]

He saw in a dream a statue with the head of pure gold, the breast andarms of silver, the body of crystal, and the legs of iron. He thought itwas an omen of the future in store for his institute. [12]

He believed his sons to be attacked with two maladies, unfaithful atonce to poverty and humility; but perhaps he dreaded for them the demonof learning more than the temptation of riches. 

What were his views on the subject of learning? It is probable that henever examined the question as a whole, but he had no difficulty inseeing that there will always be students enough in the universities, and that if scientific effort is an homage offered to God, there is norisk of worshippers of this class being wanting; but in vain he lookedabout him on all sides, he saw no one to fulfil the mission of love andhumility reserved for his Order, if the friars came to be unfaithful toit. 

Therefore there was something more in his anguish than the grief ofseeing his hopes confounded. The rout of an army is nothing incomparison with the overthrow of an idea; and in him an idea had beenincarnated, the idea of peace and happiness restored to mankind, by thevictory of love over the trammels of material things. 

By an ineffable mystery he felt himself the Man of his age, him in whosebody are borne all the efforts, the desires, the aspirations of men;with him, in him, by him humanity yearns to be renewed, and to use thelanguage of the gospel, born again. 

In this lies his true beauty. By this, far more than by a vainconformity, an exterior imitation, he is a Christ. 

He also bears the affliction of the world, and if we will look into thevery depths of his soul we must give this word affliction the largestpossible meaning for him as for Jesus. By their pity they bore thephysical sufferings of humanity, but their overwhelming anguish wassomething far different from this, it was the birth-throes of thedivine. They suffer, because in them the Word is made flesh, and atGethsemane, as under the olive-trees of Greccio, they are in agony"because their own received them not. "

Yes, St. Francis forever felt the travail of the transformation takingplace in the womb of humanity, going forward to its divine destiny, andhe offered himself, a living oblation, that in him might take place themysterious palingenesis. 

Do we now understand his pain? He was trembling for the mystery of thegospel. There is in him something which reminds us of the tremor of lifewhen it stands face to face with death, something by so much the morepainful as we have here to do with moral life. 

This explains how the man who would run after ruffians that he mightmake disciples of them could be pitiless toward his fellow-laborers whoby an indiscreet, however well-intentioned, zeal forgot their vocationand would transform their Order into a scientific institute. 

Under pretext of putting learning at the service of God and of religion, the Church had fostered the worst of vices, pride. According to some itis her title to glory, but it will be her greatest shame. 

Must we renounce the use of this weapon against the enemies of thefaith? she asks. But can you imagine Jesus joining the school of therabbins under the pretext of learning how to reply to them, enfeeblinghis thought by their dialectic subtleties and fantastic exegesis? Hemight perhaps have been a great doctor, but would he have become theSaviour of the world? You feel that he would not. 

When we hear preachers going into raptures over the marvellous spread ofthe gospel preached by twelve poor fishermen of Galilee, might we notpoint out to them that the miracle is at once more and less astoundingthan they say? More--for among the twelve several returned to the shoresof their charming lake, and forgetful of the mystic net, thought of theCrucified One, if they thought of him at all, only to lament him, andnot to raise him from the dead by continuing his work in the fourquarters of the world; less--for if even now, in these dying days of thenineteenth century, preachers would go forth beside themselves withlove, sacrificing themselves for each and all as in the old days theirMaster did, the miracle would be repeated again. 

But no; theology has killed religion. The clergy repeat to satiety thatwe must not confound the two; but what good does this do if in practicewe do not distinguish them?

Never was learning more eagerly coveted than in the thirteenth century. The Empire and the Church were anxiously asking of it the arguments withwhich they might defend their opposing claims. Innocent III. Sends thecollection of his Decretals to the University of Bologna and heapsfavors upon it. Frederick II. Founds that of Naples, and the Patarinithemselves send their sons from Tuscany and Lombardy to study at Paris. 

We remember the success of Francis's preaching at Bologna, [13] inAugust, 1220; at the same period he had strongly reprimanded PietroStaccia, the provincial minister and a doctor of laws, not only forhaving installed the Brothers in a house which appeared to belong tothem, but especially for having organized a sort of college there. 

It appears that the minister paid no attention to these reproaches. WhenFrancis became aware of his obstinacy he cursed him with frightfulvehemence; his indignation was so great that when, later on, PietroStaccia was about to die and his numerous friends came to entreatFrancis to revoke his malediction, all their efforts were in vain. [14]

In the face of this attitude of the founder it is very difficult tobelieve in the authenticity of the note purporting to be addressed toAnthony of Padua:

 "To my very dear Anthony, brother Francis, greetings in Christ. 

 "It pleases me that you interpret to the Brothers the sacred writings and theology, in such a way, however (conformably to our Rule), that the spirit of holy prayer be not extinguished either in you or in the others, which I desire earnestly. Greetings. "

Must we see in this a pious fraud to weaken the numberless cleardeclarations of Francis against learning?

It is difficult to picture to ourselves the rivalry which existed atthis time between the Dominicans and Franciscans in the attempt to drawthe most illustrious masters into their respective Orders. Pettyintrigues were organized, in which the devotees had each his part, tolead such or such a famous doctor to assume the habit. [15] If theobject of St. Francis had been scientific, the friars of Bologna, Paris, and Oxford could not have done more. [16]

The current was so strong that the elder Orders were swept away in itwhether they would or no; twenty years later the Cistercians alsodesired to become legists, theologians, decretalists, and the rest. 

Perhaps Francis did not in the outset perceive the gravity of thedanger, but illusion was no longer possible, and from this time heshowed, as we have seen, an implacable firmness. If later on his thoughtwas travestied, the guilty ones--the popes and most of theministers-general--were obliged to resort to feats of prestidigitationthat are not to their credit. "Suppose, " he would say, "that you hadsubtility and learning enough to know all things, that you wereacquainted with all languages, the courses of the stars, and all therest, what is there in that to be proud of? A single demon knows more onthese subjects than all the men in this world put together. [17] Butthere is one thing that the demon is incapable of, and which is theglory of man: to be faithful to God. "[18]

Definite information with regard to the chapters of 1222 and 1223 iswanting. The proposed modifications of the project of 1221 werediscussed by the ministers[19] and afterward definitively settled byCardinal Ugolini. The latter had long conferences on the subject withFrancis, who has himself given us the account of them. [20]

The result of them all was the Rule of 1223. Very soon a swarm ofmarvellous stories, which it would be tedious to examine in detail, cameto be clustered around the origin of this document; all that we need toretain of them is the memory that they keep of the struggles of Francisagainst the ministers for the preservation of his ideal. 

Before going to Rome to ask for the final approbation he had meditatedlong in the solitude of Monte Colombo, near Rieti. This hill was soonrepresented as a new Sinai, and the disciples pictured their master onits heights receiving another Decalogue from the hands of Jesushimself. [21]

Angelo Clareno, one of the most complacent narrators of thesetraditions, takes upon himself to point out their slight value; he showsus Honorious III. Modifying an essential passage in the plan at the lastmoment. [22] I have already so far described this Rule that there is noneed to return to the subject here. 

It was approved November 25, 1223. [23] Many memories appear to haveclustered about the journey of Francis to Rome. One day CardinalUgolini, whose hospitality he had accepted, was much surprised, and hisguests as well, to find him absent as they were about to sit down attable, but they soon saw him coming, carrying a quantity of pieces ofdry bread, which he joyfully distributed to all the noble company. Hishost, somewhat abashed by the proceeding, having undertaken after themeal to reproach him a little, Francis explained that he had no right toforget, for a sumptuous feast, the bread of charity on which he was fedevery day, and that he desired thus to show his brethren that therichest table is not worth so much to the poor in spirit as this tableof the Lord. [24]

We have seen that during the earlier years the Brothers Minor had beenin the habit of earning their bread by going out as servants. Some ofthem, a very small number, had continued to do so. Little by little, inthis matter also all had been changed. Under color of serving, thefriars entered the families of the highest personages of the pontificalcourt, and became their confidential attendants; instead of submittingthemselves to all, as the Rule of 1221 ordained, they were aboveeveryone. 

Entirely losing sight of the apostolic life, they became courtiers of aspecial type; their character, half ecclesiastic and half lay, renderedthem capable of carrying out a number of delicate missions and ofplaying a part in the varied intrigues for which the greater number ofRoman prelates have always seemed to live. [25] By way of protestFrancis had only one weapon, his example. 

 One day, the Speculum relates, the Blessed Francis came to Rome to see the Bishop of Ostia (Ugolini), and after having remained some time at his house, he went also to visit Cardinal Leo, who had a great devotion for him. 

 It was winter; the cold, the wind, the rain made any journey impossible, so the cardinal begged him to pass a few days in his house and to take his food there, like the other poor folk who came there to eat. . . . "I will give you, " he added, "a good lodging, quite retired, where if you like you may pray and eat. " Then Brother Angelo, one of the twelve first disciples, who lived with the cardinal, said to Francis: "There is, close by here, a great tower standing by itself and very quiet; you will be there as in a hermitage. " Francis went to see it and it pleased him. Then, returning to the cardinal, "Monsignor, " he said, "it is possible that I may pass a few days with you. " The latter was very joyful, and Brother Angelo went to prepare the tower for the Blessed Francis and his companion. 

 But the very first night, when he would have slept, the demons came and smote him. Calling then to his companion, "Brother, " he said, "the demons have come and smitten me with violence; remain near me, I beg, for I am afraid here alone. "

 He was trembling in all his members, like one who has a fever. They passed the night both without sleeping. "The demons are commissioned with the chastisements of God, " said Francis; "as a podestà sends his executioner to punish the criminal, so God sends demons, who in this are his ministers. . . . Why has he sent them to me? Perhaps this is the reason: The cardinal desired to be kind to me, and I have truly great need of repose, but the Brothers who are out in the world, suffering hunger and a thousand tribulations, and also those others who are in hermitages or in miserable houses, when they hear of my sojourn with a cardinal will be moved to repine. 'We endure all privations, ' they will say, 'while he has all that he can desire; 'but I ought to give them a good example--that is my true mission. " . . . 

 Early next morning, therefore he quitted the tower, and having told the cardinal all, took leave of him and returned to the hermitage of Monte Colombo, near Rieti. "They think me a holy man, " he said, "and see, it needed demons to cast me out of prison. "[26]

This story, notwithstanding its strange coloring, shows plainly howstrong was his instinct for independence. To compare the hospitality ofa cardinal to an imprisonment! He spoke better than he knew, characterizing in one word the relation of the Church to his Order. 

The lark was not dead; in spite of cold and the north wind it gayly tookits flight to the vale of Rieti. 

It was mid-December. An ardent desire to observe to the life thememories of Christmas had taken possession of Francis. He opened hisheart to one of his friends, the knight Giovanni di Greccio, whoundertook the necessary preparations. 

The imitation of Jesus has in all times been the very centre ofChristianity; but one must be singularly spiritual to be satisfied withthe imitation of the heart. With most men there is need that this shouldbe preceded and sustained by an external imitation. It is indeed thespirit that gives life, but it is only in the country of the angels thatone can say that the flesh profiteth nothing. 

In the Middle Ages a religious festival was before all things else arepresentation, more or less faithful, of the event which it recalled;hence the _santons_ of Provence, the processions of the _Palmesel_, theHoly Supper of Maundy Thursday, the Road to the Cross of Good Friday, the drama of the Resurrection of Easter, and the flaming tow ofWhitsunday. Francis was too thoroughly Italian not to love thesefestivals where every visible thing speaks of God and of his love. 

The population of Greccio and its environs was, therefore, convoked, aswell as the Brothers from the neighboring monasteries. On the evening ofthe vigil of Christmas one might have seen the faithful hastening to thehermitage by every path with torches in their hands, making the forestsring with their joyful hymns. 

Everyone was rejoicing--Francis most of all. The knight had prepared astable with straw, and brought an ox and an ass, whose breath seemed togive warmth to the poor _bambino_, benumbed with the cold. At the sightthe saint felt tears of pity bedew his face; he was no longer inGreccio, his heart was in Bethlehem. 

Finally they began to chant matins; then the mass was begun, andFrancis, as deacon, read the Gospel. Already hearts were touched by thesimple recital of the sacred legend in a voice so gentle and so fervent, but when he preached, his emotion soon overcame the audience; his voicehad so unutterable a tenderness that they also forgot everything, andwere living over again the feeling of the shepherds of Judea who inthose old days went to adore the God made man, born in a stable. [27]

Toward the close of the thirteenth century, the author of the _StabatMater dolorosa_, Giacopone dei Todi, that Franciscan of genius who spenta part of his life in dungeons, inspired by the memory of Greccio, composed another Stabat, that of joy, _Stabat Mater speciosa_. This hymnof Mary beside the manger is not less noble than that of Mary at thefoot of the cross. The sentiment is even more tender, and it is hard toexplain its neglect except by an unjust caprice of fate. 

 Stabat Mater speciosa Juxtum foenum gaudiosa Dum jacebat parvulus. 

 Quĉ gaudebat et ridebat Exsultabat cum videbat Nati partum inclyti. 

 Fac me vere congaudere Jesulino cohĉrere Donec ego vixero. [28]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] All this took place with prodigious rapidity. The dimensions of the Basilica of Assisi, the plans of which were made in 1228, no more permits it to be considered as a conventual chapel than Santa-Croce in Florence, San Francesco in Sienna, or the Basilica San Antonio at Padua, monuments commenced between 1230 and 1240. Already before 1245 one party of the episcopate utters a cry of alarm, in which he speaks of nothing less than of closing the door of the secular churches, which have become useless. He complains with incredible bitterness that the Minor and Preaching Friars have absolutely supplanted the parochial clergy. This letter may be found in Pierre de la Vigne, addressed at once to Frederick II. And the Council of Lyons: _Epistolĉ_, Basle, 1740, 2 vols. , vol. I. , pp. 220-222. It is much to be desired that a critical text should be given. See also the satire against the two new Orders, done in rhyme about 1242 by Pierre de la Vigne, and of which, allowing for possible exaggerations, the greater number of the incidents cannot have been invented: E. Du Méril, _Poésies pop. Lat. _, pp. 153-177, Paris, 8vo, 1847. 

 [2] And not of the 29th, as Sbaralea will have it. _Bull. Fr. _, vol. I. , n. 10. Horoy, vol. Iv. , col. 129; the original, still in the archives of Assisi, bears the title: _Datum Anagnie 11 Kalendas Aprilis pontificatus nostri anno sexto_. 

 [3] Potthast, 6809; Horoy, iv. , col. 129. See also the bull _Ecce Venit Deus_ of July 14, 1227; L. Auvray: _Registres de Grégoire IX. _, no. 129; cf. 153; Potthast, 8027 and 8028, 8189. 

 [4] He had finished his mission as legate in Lombardy toward the close of September, 1221 (see his register; cf. Böhmer, _Acta imp. Sel. Doc. _, 951). In the spring of 1222 we find him continually near the pope at Anagni, Veroli, Alatri (Potthast, 6807, 6812, 6849). The Holy See had still at that time a marked predilection for the Preachers; the very trite privilege of power to celebrate the offices in times of interdict had been accorded them March 7, 1222, but instead of the formula usual in such cases, a revised form had been made expressly for them, with a handsome eulogy. Ripolli, _Bull. Prĉd. _, t. I. , p. 15. 

 [5] 2 Cel. , 3, 93: _Subtrahebat se a consortio fratrum. _

 [6] It is needless to say that local traditions, in this case, though as to detail they must be accepted only with great reserve, yet on the whole are surely true. The geography of St. Francis's life is yet to be made. 

 [7] 2 Cel. , 3, 59; Bon. , 60; _Conform. _, 122b, 2. 

 [8] 2 Cel. , 3, 5; _Spec. _, 12a; _Conform. _, 169b, 2. 

 [9] Eccl. , 6. Vide Liebermann's text, _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 28, p. 663. 

 [10] 2 Cel. , 3, 93; Bon. , 104 and 105; _Conform. _, 101a, 2. 

 [11] 2 Cel. , 3, 93; _Spec. _, 49b; 182a; _Conform. _, 182a, 1; _Tribul. _, f^o 5a; 2 Cel. , 3, 98; 113; 115; 1 Cel. , 28, 50; 96; 103; 104; 108; 111; 118. 

 [12] 2 Cel. , 3, 27; _Spec. _, 38b; _Conform. _, 181b, 1; _Tribul. _, 7b. Cf. _Spec. _, 220b; _Conform. _, 103b. 

 [13] Francis's successors were nearly all without exception students of Bologna. Pietro di Catana was doctor of laws, as also Giovanni Parenti (Giord. , 51). --Elias had been _scriptor_ at Bologna. --Alberto of Pisa had been minister there (Eccl. , 6). --Aymon had been reader there (Eccl. , 6). --Crescentius wrote works on jurisprudence (_Conform. _, 121b, 1, etc. , etc. ). 

 [14] This name cannot be warranted; he is called Giovanni di Laschaccia in a passage of the _Conformities_ (104a, 1); Pietro Schiaccia in the Italian MS. Of the _Tribulations_ (f^o 75a); Petrus Stacia in the Laurentinian MS. (13b; cf. _Archiv. _, ii. , p. 258). _Tribul. _, 13b; _Spec. _, 184b. This story has been much amplified in other places. _Spec. _, 126a; _Conform. _, 104b, 1. 

 [15] Vide Eccl. , 3: History of the entrance of Adam of Oxford into the Order. Cf. , _Chartularium Univ. Par. _, t. I. , nos. 47 and 49. 

 [16] Eccleston's entire chronicle is a living witness to this. 

 [17] _Admonitio_, v. ; cf. _Conform. _, 141a. 

 Compare the _Constitutiones antiquĉ_ (_Speculum_, Morin, iii. , f^o 195b-206) with the Rule. From the opening chapters the contradiction is apparent: _Ordinamus quod nullus recipiatur in ordine nostro nisi sit talis clericus qui sit competenter instructus in grammatica vel logica; aut nisi sit talis laicus de cujus ingressu esset valde celebris et edificatio in populo et in clero_. This is surely far from the spirit of him who said: _Et quicumque venerit amicus vel adversarius fur vel latro benigne recipiatur_. Rule of 1221, cap. Vii. See also the Exposition of the Rule of Bonaventura. _Speculum_, Morin, iii. , f^o 21-40. 

 [18] Upon Francis's attitude toward learning see _Tribul. _, Laur. , 14b; _Spec. _, 184a; 2 Cel. , 3, 8; 48; 100; 116; 119; 120-124. Bon. , chap. 152, naturally expresses only Bonaventura's views. See especially Rule of 1221, cap. Xvii. ; of 1223, cap. X. 

 [19] _Spec. _, 7b: _Fecit Franciscus regulam quam papa Honorius confirmavit cum bulla, de qua regula multa fuerunt extracta per ministros contra voluntatem b. Francisci_. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 136. 

 [20] Bull _Quo elongati_ of September 28, 1230; Sbaralea, i. , p. 56. 

 [21] Bon. , 55 and 56 [3 Soc. , 62]; _Spec. _, 76; 124a; _Tribul. _, Laur. , 17b-19b; Ubertini, _Arbor. V. _, 5; _Conform. _, 88a, 2. 

 [22] _Tribul. _, Laur. , 19a; _Archiv. _, t. Iii. , p. 601. Cf. A. SS. , p. 638e. 

 [23] Potthast, 7108. --The work of this bull was completed by that of December 18, 1223. (The original of the _Sacro Convento_ bears _Datum Laterani XV. Kal. Jan. _) _Fratrem Minorum_: Potthast, 7123. 

 [24] 2 Cel. , 3, 19; Bon. , 95; _Spec. _, 18b; _Conform. _, 171a, 1. 

 [25] 2 Cel. , 3, 61 and 62. Cf. Eccl. , 6, the account of Rod. De Rosa. 

 [26] _Spec. _, 47b ff. ; 2 Cel. , 3, 61; Bon. , 84 and 85. 

 [27] 1 Cel. , 84-87; Bon. , 149. 

 [28] This little poem was published entire by M. Ozanam in vol. V. Of his works, p. 184. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XVII

THE STIGMATA

1224

The upper valley of the Arno forms in the very centre of Italy a countryapart, the Casentino, which through centuries had its own life, somewhatlike an island in the midst of the ocean. 

The river flows out from it by a narrow defile at the south, and on allother sides the Apennines encircle it with a girdle of inaccessiblemountains. [1]

This plain, some ten leagues in diameter, is enlivened with picturesquevillages, finely posted on hillocks at the base of which flows thestream; here are Bibbiena, Poppi, the antique Romena sung by Dante, theCamaldoli, and up there on the crest Chiusi, long ago the capital of thecountry, with the ruins of Count Orlando's castle. 

The people are charming and refined; the mountains have sheltered themfrom wars, and on every side we see the signs of labor, prosperity, agentle gayety. At any moment we might fancy ourselves transported intosome valley of the Vivarais or Provence. The vegetation on the bordersof the Arno is thoroughly tropical; the olive and the mulberry marrywith the vine. On the lower hill-slopes are wheat fields divided bymeadows; then come the chestnuts and the oaks, higher still the pine, the fir, the larch, and above all the bare rock. 

Among all the peaks there is one which especially attracts theattention; instead of a rounded and so to say flattened top, it upliftsitself slender, proud, isolated; it is the Verna. [2]

One might think it an immense rock fallen from the sky. It is in fact anerratic block set there, a little like a petrified Noah's ark on thesummit of Mount Ararat. The basaltic mass, perpendicular on all sides, is crowned with a plateau planted with pines and gigantic beeches, andaccessible only by a footpath. [3]

Such was the solitude which Orlando had given to Francis, and to whichFrancis had already many a time come for quiet and contemplation. 

Seated upon the few stones of the Penna, [4] he heard only thewhispering of the wind among the trees, but in the splendor of thesunrise or the sunset he could see nearly all the districts in which hehad sown the seed of the gospel: the Romagna and the March of Ancona, losing themselves on the horizon in the waves of the Adriatic; Umbria, and farther away, Tuscany, vanishing in the waters of the Mediterranean. 

The impression on this height is not crushing like that which one has inthe Alps: a feeling infinitely calm and sweet flows over you; you arehigh enough to judge of men from above, not high enough to forget theirexistence. 

Besides the wide horizons, Francis found there other objects of delight;in this forest, one of the noblest in Europe, live legions of birds, which never having been hunted are surprisingly tame. [5] Subtileperfumes arise from the ground, and in the midst of borage and lichensfrail and exquisite cyclamens blossom in fantastic variety. 

He desired to return thither after the chapter of 1224. This meeting, held in the beginning of June, was the last at which he was present. Thenew Rule was there put into the hands of the ministers, and the missionto England decided upon. 

It was in the early days of August that Francis took his way towardVerna. With him were only a few Brothers, Masseo, Angelo, and Leo. Thefirst had been charged to direct the little band, and spare him allduties except that of prayer. [6]

They had been two days on the road when it became necessary to seek foran ass for Francis, who was too much enfeebled to go farther on foot. 

The Brothers, in asking for this service, had not concealed the name oftheir master, and the peasant, to whom they had addressed themselvesrespectfully, asked leave to guide the beast himself. After going on acertain time, "Is it true, " he said, "that you are Brother Francis ofAssisi?" "Very well, " he went on, after the answer in the affirmative, "apply yourself to be as good as folk say you are, that they may not bedeceived in their expectation; that is my advice. " Francis immediatelygot down from his beast and, prostrating himself before the peasant, thanked him warmly. [7]

Meanwhile the warmest hour of the day had come on. The peasant, exhausted with fatigue, little by little forgot his surprise and joy;one does not feel the burning of thirst the less for walking beside asaint. He had begun to regret his kindness, when Francis pointed withhis finger to a spring, unknown till then, and which has never sincebeen seen. [8]

At last they arrived at the foot of the last precipice. Before scalingit they paused to rest a little under a great oak, and immediatelyflocks of birds gathered around them, testifying their joy by songs andflutterings of their wings. Hovering around Francis, they alighted onhis head, his shoulders, or his arms. "I see, " he said joyfully to hiscompanions, "that it is pleasing to our Lord Jesus that we live in thissolitary mount, since our brothers and sisters the birds have shown suchgreat delight at our coming. "[9]

This mountain was at once his Tabor and his Calvary. We must not wonder, then, that legends have flourished here even more numerously than at anyother period of his life; the greater number of them have the exquisitecharm of the little flowers, rosy and perfumed, which hide themselvesmodestly at the feet of the fir-trees of Verna. 

The summer nights up there are of unparalleled beauty: nature, stifledby the heat of the sun, seems then to breathe anew. In the trees, behindthe rocks, on the turf, a thousand voices rise up, sweetly harmonizingwith the murmur of the great woods; but among all these voices there isnot one which forces itself upon the attention, it is a melody which youenjoy without listening. You let your eyes wander over the landscape, still for long hours illumined with hieratic tints by the departed starof day, and the peaks of the Apennines, flooded with rainbow hues, dropdown into your soul what the Franciscan poet called the nostalgia of theeverlasting hills. [10]

More than anyone Francis felt it. The very evening of their arrival, seated upon a mound in the midst of his Brothers, he gave them hisdirections for their dwelling-place. 

The quiet of nature would have sufficed to sow in their hearts somegerms of sadness, and the voice of the master harmonized with theemotion of the last gleams of light; he spoke with them of hisapproaching death, with the regret of the laborer overtaken by theshades of evening before the completion of his task, with the sighs ofthe father who trembles for the future of his children. [11]

For himself he desired from this time to prepare himself for death byprayer and contemplation; and he begged them to protect him from allintrusion. Orlando, [12] who had already come to bid them welcome andoffer his services, had at his request hastily caused a hut of boughs tobe made, at the foot of a great beech. It was there that he desired todwell, at a stone's throw from the cells inhabited by his companions. Brother Leo was charged to bring him each day that which he would need. 

He retired to it immediately after this memorable conversation, butseveral days later, embarrassed no doubt by the pious curiosity of thefriars, who watched all his movements, he went farther into the woods, and on Assumption Day he there began the Lent which he desired toobserve in honor of the Archangel Michael and the celestial host. 

Genius has its modesty as well as love. The poet, the artist, the saint, need to be alone when the Spirit comes to move them. Every effort ofthought, of imagination, or of will is a prayer, and one does not prayin public. 

Alas for the man who has not in his inmost heart some secret which maynot be told, because it cannot be spoken, and because if it were spokenit could not be understood. SECRETUM MEUM MIHI! Jesus felt it deeply:the raptures of Tabor are brief; they may not be told. 

Before these soul mysteries materialists and devotees often meet and areof one mind in demanding precision in those things which can the leastendure it. 

The believer asks in what spot on the Verna Francis received thestigmata; whether the seraph which appeared to him was Jesus or acelestial spirit; what words were spoken as he imprinted them uponhim;[13] and he no more understands that hour when Francis swooned withwoe and love than the materialist, who asks to see with his eyes andtouch with his hands the gaping wound. 

Let us try to avoid these extremes. Let us hear what the documents giveus, and not seek to do them violence, to wrest from them what they donot tell, what they cannot tell. 

They show us Francis distressed for the future of the Order, and with aninfinite desire for new spiritual progress. 

He was consumed with the fever of saints, that need of immolation whichwrung from St. Theresa the passionate cry, "Either to suffer or to die!"He was bitterly reproaching himself with not having been found worthy ofmartyrdom, not having been able to give himself for Him who gave himselffor us. 

We touch here upon one of the most powerful and mysterious elements ofthe Christian life. We may very easily not understand it, but we may notfor all that deny it. It is the root of true mysticism. [14] The reallynew thing that Jesus brought into the world was that, feeling himself inperfect union with the heavenly Father, he called all men to unitethemselves to him and through him to God: "I am the vine, and ye are thebranches; he who abides in me and I in him brings forth much fruit, forapart from me ye can do nothing. "

The Christ not only preached this union, he made it felt. On the eveningof his last day he instituted its sacrament, and there is probably nosect which denies that communion is at once the symbol, the principle, and the end of the religious life. For eighteen centuries Christians whodiffer on everything else cannot but look with one accord to him who inthe upper chamber instituted the rite of the new times. 

The night before he died he took the bread and brake it and distributedit to them, saying, "TAKE AND EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY. "

Jesus, while presenting union with himself as the very foundation of thenew life, [15] took care to point out to his brethren that this unionwas before all things a sharing in his work, in his struggles, and hissufferings: "Let him that would be my disciple take up his cross andfollow me. "

St. Paul entered so perfectly into the Master's thought in this respectthat he uttered a few years later this cry of a mysticism that has neverbeen equalled: "I have been crucified with Christ, yet I live . . . Orrather, it is not I who live, but Christ who liveth in me. " Thisutterance is not an isolated exclamation with him, it is the very centreof his religious consciousness, and he goes so far as to say, at therisk of scandalizing many a Christian: "I fill up in my body that whichis lacking of the sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which isthe Church. "

Perhaps it has not been useless to enter into these thoughts, to show towhat point Francis during the last years of his life, where he renews inhis body the passion of Christ, is allied to the apostolic tradition. 

In the solitudes of the Verna, as formerly at St. Damian, Jesuspresented himself to him under his form of the Crucified One, the man ofsorrows. [16]

That this intercourse has been described to us in a poetic and inexactform is nothing surprising. It is the contrary that would be surprising. In the paroxysms of divine love there are _ineffabilia_ which, far frombeing able to relate them or make them understood, we can hardly recallto our own minds. 

Francis on the Verna was even more absorbed than usual in his ardentdesire to suffer for Jesus and with him. His days went by dividedbetween exercises of piety in the humble sanctuary on the mountain-topand meditation in the depths of the forest. It even happened to him toforget the services, and to remain several days alone in some cave ofthe rock, going over in his heart the memories of Golgotha. At othertimes he would remain for long hours at the foot of the altar, readingand re-reading the Gospel, and entreating God to show him the way inwhich he ought to walk. [17]

The book almost always opened of itself to the story of the Passion, andthis simple coincidence, though easy enough to explain, was enough ofitself to excite him. 

The vision of the Crucified One took the fuller possession of hisfaculties as the day of the Elevation of the Holy Cross drew near(September 14th), a festival now relegated to the background, but in thethirteenth century celebrated with a fervor and zeal very natural for asolemnity which might be considered the patronal festival of theCrusades. 

Francis doubled his fastings and prayers, "quite transformed into Jesusby love and compassion, " says one of the legends. He passed the nightbefore the festival alone in prayer, not far from the hermitage. In themorning he had a vision. In the rays of the rising sun, which after thechill of night came to revive his body, he suddenly perceived a strangeform. 

A seraph, with outspread wings, flew toward him from the edge of thehorizon, and bathed his soul in raptures unutterable. In the centre ofthe vision appeared a cross, and the seraph was nailed upon it. Whenthe vision disappeared, he felt sharp sufferings mingling with theecstasy of the first moments. Stirred to the very depths of his being, he was anxiously seeking the meaning of it all, when he perceived uponhis body the stigmata of the Crucified. [18]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The passes that give access to the Casentino have all about one thousand metres of altitude. Until the most recent years there was no road properly so called. 

 [2] In France Mount Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of Dauphiny, presents the same aspect and the same geological formation. St. Odile also recalls the Verna, but is very much smaller. 

 [3] The summit has an altitude of 1269 metres. In Italian they call it the _Verna_, in Latin _Alvernus_. The etymology, which has tested the acuteness of the learned, appears to be very simple; the verb _vernare_, used by Dante, signifies make cold, freeze. 

 [4] Name of the highest point on the plateau. Hardly three-quarters of an hour from the monastery, and not two hours and a half, as these worthy anchorites believed. This is said for the benefit of tourists . . . And pilgrims. 

 [5] The forest has been preserved as a relic. Alexander IV. Fulminated excommunication against whomever should cut down the firs of Verna. As to the birds, it is enough to pass a day at the monastery to be amazed at their number and variety. M. C. Beni has begun at Stia (in Casentino) an ornithological collection which already includes more than five hundred and fifty varieties. 

 [6] 1 Cel. , 91; Bon. , 188; _Fior. I. , consid. _

 [7] _Fior. I. , consid. ;_ _Conform. _, 176b, 1. 

 [8] Cel. , 2, 15; Bon. , 100. _Fior. I. , consid. _

 [9] Bon. , 118. _Fior. I. , consid. _

 [10] 2 Cel. , 100. 

 [11] _Fior. Ii. , consid. _

 [12] The ruins of the castle of Chiusi are three quarters of an hour from Verna. 

 [13] _Fior. Iv. And v. Consid. _ These two considerations appear to be the result of a reworking of the primitive document. The latter no doubt included the three former, which the continuer has interpolated and lengthened. Cf. _Conform. _, 231a, 1; _Spec. _, 91b, 92a, 97; A. SS. , pp. 860 ff. 

 [14] In current language we often include under the word mysticism all the tendencies--often far from Christian--which give predominance in the religious life to vague poetic elements, impulses of the heart. The name of mystic ought to be applied only to those Christians to whom _immediate_ relations with Jesus form the basis of the religious life. In this sense St. Paul (whose theologico-philosophical system is one of the most powerful efforts of the human mind to explain sin and redemption) is at the same time the prince of mystics. 

 [15] He did not desire to institute a religion, for he felt the vanity of observances and dogmas. (The apostles continued to frequent the Jewish temple. Acts, ii. , 46; iii. , 1; v. , 25; xxi. , 26. ) He desired to inoculate the world with a new life. 

 [16] 2 Cel. , 3, 29; cf. 1 Cel. , 115; 3 Soc. , 13 and 14; 2 Cel. , 1, 6; 2 Cel. , 3, 123 and 131; Bon. , 57; 124; 203; 204; 224; 225; 309; 310; 311; _Conform. _, 229b ff. 

 [17] 1 Cel. , 91-94; Bon. , 189, 190. 

 [18] See the annotations of Brother Leo upon the autograph of St. Francis (Crit. Study, p. 357) and 1 Cel. , 94, 95; Bon. , 191, 192, 193 (3 Soc. , 69, 70); _Fior. Iii. Consid. _ Cf. _Auct. Vit. Sec. _; A. SS. P. 649. It is to be noted that Thomas of Celano (1 Cel. , 95), as well as all the primitive documents, describe the stigmata as being fleshy excrescences, recalling in form and color the nails with which the limbs of Jesus were pierced. No one speaks of those gaping, sanguineous wounds which were imagined later. Only the mark at the side was a wound, whence at times exuded a little blood. Finally, Thomas of Celano says that after the seraphic vision _began to appear, coeperunt apparere signa clavorum_. Vide Appendix: Study of the Stigmata. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XVII

THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN

Autumn, 1224-Autumn, 1225

The morning after St. Michael's Day (September 30, 1224) Francis quittedVerna and went to Portiuncula. He was too much exhausted to think ofmaking the journey on foot, and Count Orlando put a horse at hisdisposal. 

We can imagine the emotion with which he bade adieu to the mountain onwhich had been unfolded the drama of love and pain which had consummatedthe union of his entire being with the Crucified One. 

 Amor, amor, Gesu desideroso, Amor voglio morire, Te abrazando Amor, dolce Gesu, meo sposo, Amor, amor, la morte te domando, Amor, amor, Gesu si pietoso Tu me te dai in te transformato Pensa ch'io vo spasmando Non so o io me sia Gesu speranza mia Ormai va, dormi in amore. 

So sang Giacopone dei Todi in the raptures of a like love. [1]

If we are to believe a recently published document, [2] Brother Masseo, one of those who remained on the Verna, made a written account of theevents of this day. 

They set out early in the morning. Francis, after having given hisdirections to the Brothers, had had a look and a word for everythingaround; for the rocks, the flowers, the trees, for brother hawk, aprivileged character which was authorized to enter his cell at alltimes, and which came every morning, with the first glimmer of dawn, toremind him of the hour of service. [3]

Then the little band set forth upon the path leading toMonte-Acuto. [4] Arrived at the gap from whence one gets the last sightof the Verna, Francis alighted from his horse, and kneeling upon theearth, his face turned toward the mountain, "Adieu, " he said, "mountainof God, sacred mountain, _mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, mons in quobene placitum est Deo habitare_; adieu Monte-Verna, may God bless thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; abide in peace; we shall neversee one another more. "

Has not this artless scene a delicious and poignant sweetness? He mustsurely have uttered these words, in which suddenly the Italian does notsuffice and Francis is obliged to resort to the mystical language ofthe breviary to express his feelings. 

A few minutes later the rock of the ecstacy had disappeared. The descentinto the valley is rapid. The Brothers had decided to spend the night atMonte-Casale, the little hermitage above Borgo San-Sepolcro. All ofthem, even those who were to remain on the Verna, were still followingtheir master. As for him, absorbed in thought he had become entirelyoblivious to what was going on, and did not even perceive the noisyenthusiasm which his passage aroused in the numerous villages along theTiber. 

At Borgo San-Sepolcro he received a real ovation without even thencoming to himself; but when they had some time quitted the town, heseemed suddenly to awake, and asked his companion if they ought not soonto arrive there. [5]

The first evening at Monte Casale was marked by a miracle. Francishealed a friar who was possessed. [6] The next morning, having decidedto pass several days in this hermitage, he sent the brothers back to theVerna, and with them Count Orlando's horse. 

In one of the villages through which they had passed the day before awoman had been lying several days between death and life unable to givebirth to her child. Those about her had only learned of the passage ofthe saint through their village when he was too far distant to beovertaken. We may judge of the joy of these poor people when the rumorwas spread that he was about to return. They went to meet him, and wereterribly disappointed on finding only the friars. Suddenly an ideaoccurred to them: taking the bridle of the horse consecrated by thetouch of Francis's hands, they carried it to the sufferer, who, havinglaid it upon her body, gave birth to her child without the slightestpain. [7]

This miracle, established by narratives entirely authentic, shows thedegree of enthusiasm felt by the people for the person of Francis. Asfor him, after a few days at Monte-Casale, he set out with Brother Leofor Città di Castello. He there healed a woman suffering from frightfulnervous disorders, and remained an entire month preaching in this cityand its environs. When he once more set forth winter had almost closedin. A peasant lent him his ass, but the roads were so bad that they wereunable to reach any sort of shelter before nightfall. The unhappytravellers were obliged to pass the night under a rock; the shelter wasmore than rudimentary, the wind drifted the snow in upon them, andnearly froze the unlucky peasant, who with abominable oaths heapedcurses on Francis; but the latter replied with such cheerfulness that hemade him at last forget both the cold and his bad humor. 

On the morrow the saint reached Portiuncula. He seems to have made onlya brief halt there, and to have set forth again almost immediately toevangelize Southern Umbria. 

It is impossible to follow him in this mission. Brother Eliasaccompanied him, but so feeble was he that Elias could not conceal hisuneasiness as to his life. [8]

Ever since his return from Syria (August, 1220), he had been growingcontinually weaker, but his fervor had increased from day to day. Nothing could check him, neither suffering nor the entreaties of theBrothers; seated on an ass he would sometimes go over three or fourvillages in one day. Such excessive toil brought on an infirmity evenmore painful than any he had hitherto suffered from: he was threatenedwith loss of sight. [9]

Meanwhile a sedition had forced Honorius III. To leave Rome (end ofApril, 1225). After passing a few weeks at Tivoli, he establishedhimself at Rieti, where he remained until the end of 1226. [10]

The pope's arrival had drawn to this city, with the entire pontificalcourt, several physicians of renown; Cardinal Ugolini, who had come inthe pope's train, hearing of Francis's malady, summoned him to Rieti fortreatment. But notwithstanding Brother Elias's entreaties Francishesitated a long time as to accepting the invitation. [11] It seemed tohim that a sick man has but one thing to do; place himself purely andsimply in the hands of the heavenly Father. What is pain to a soul thatis fixed in God![12]

Elias, however, at last overcame his objections, and the journey wasdetermined upon, but first Francis desired to go and take leave ofClara, and enjoy a little rest near her. 

He remained at St. Damian much longer than he had proposed to do[13](end of July to beginning of September, 1225). His arrival at thisbeloved monastery was marked by a terrible aggravation of his malady. For fifteen days he was so completely blind that he could not evendistinguish light. The care lavished upon him produced no result, sinceevery day he passed long hours in weeping--tears of penitence, he said, but also of regret. [14] Ah, how different they were from those tearsof his moments of inspiration and emotion, which had flowed over acountenance all illumined with joy! They had seen him, in such moments, take up two bits of wood, and, accompanying himself with this rusticviolin, improvise French songs in which he would pour out the abundanceof his heart. [15]

But the radiance of genius and hope had become dimmed. Rachel weeps forher children, and will not be comforted because they are not. There arein the tears of Francis this same _quia non sunt_ for his spiritualsons. 

But if there are irremediable pains there are none which may not be atonce elevated and softened, when we endure them at the side of those wholove us. 

In this respect his companions could not be of much help to him. Moralconsolations are possible only from our peers, or when two hearts areunited by a mystical passion so great that they mingle and understandone another. 

"Ah, if the Brothers knew what I suffer, " St. Francis said a few daysbefore the impression of the stigmata, "with what pity and compassionthey would be moved!"

But they, seeing him who had laid cheerfulness upon them as a dutybecoming more and more sad and keeping aloof from them, imagined that hewas tortured with temptations of the devil. [16]

Clara divined that which could not be uttered. At St. Damian her friendwas looking back over all the past: what memories lived again in asingle glance! Here, the olive-tree to which, a brilliant cavalier, hehad fastened his horse; there, the stone bench where his friend, thepriest of the poor chapel, used to sit; yonder, the hiding-place inwhich he had taken refuge from the paternal wrath, and, above all, thesanctuary with the mysterious crucifix of the decisive hour. 

In living over these pictures of the radiant past, Francis aggravatedhis pain; yet they spoke to him of other things than death and regret. Clara was there, as steadfast, as ardent as ever. Long ago transformedby admiration, she was now transfigured by compassion. Seated at thefeet of him whom she loved with more than earthly love she felt thesoreness of his soul, and the failing of his heart. After that, what didit matter that Francis's tears became more abundant to the point ofmaking him blind for a fortnight? Soothing would come; the sister ofconsolation would give him peace once more. 

And first she kept him near her, and, herself taking part in the labor, she made him a large cell of reeds in the monastery garden, that hemight be entirely at liberty as to his movements. 

How could he refuse a hospitality so thoroughly Franciscan? It wasindeed only too much so: legions of rats and mice infested this retiredspot; at night they ran over Francis's bed with an infernal uproar, sothat he could find no repose from his sufferings. But he soon forgot allthat when near his sister-friend. Once again she gave back to him faithand courage. "A single sunbeam, " he used to say, "is enough to driveaway many shadows!"

Little by little the man of the former days began to show himself, andat times the Sisters would hear, mingling with the murmur of the olivetrees and pines, the echo of unfamiliar songs, which seemed to come fromthe cell of reeds. 

One day he had seated himself at the monastery table after a longconversation with Clara. The meal had hardly begun when suddenly heseemed to be rapt away in ecstasy. 

"_Laudato sia lo Signore!_" he cried on coming to himself. He had justcomposed the Canticle of the Sun. [17]

TEXT[18]

 INCIPIUNT LAUDES CREATURARUM QUAS FECIT BEATUS FRANCISCUS AD LAUDEM ET HONOREM DEI CUM ESSET INFIRMUS AD SANCTUM DAMIANUM. 

 ALTISSIMU, onnipotente, bon signore, tue so le laude la gloria e l'onore et onne benedictione. Ad te sole, altissimo, se konfano et nullu homo ene dignu te mentovare. Laudato sie, mi signore, cum tucte le tue creature spetialmente messor lo frate sole, lo quale jorna, et illumini per lui; Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore; de te, altissimo, porta significatione. Laudato si, mi signore, per sora luna e le stelle, in celu l' ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle. Laudato si, mi signore, per frate vento et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo, per le quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento. Laudato si, mi signore, per sor acqua, la quale è multo utile et humele et pretiosa et casta. Laudato si, mi signore, per frate focu, per lo quale ennallumini la nocte, ed ello è bello et jucundo et robustoso et forte. Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra matre terra, la quale ne sustenta et governa et produce diversi fructi con colorite flori et herba. Laudato si, mi signore, per quilli ke perdonano per lo tuo amore et sosteugo infirmitate et tribulatione, beati quilli ke sosterrano in pace, ka da te, altissimo, sirano incoronati. Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale, de la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare: guai a quilli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali; beati quilli ke se trovarà ne le tue sanctissime voluntati, ka la morte secunda nol farrà male. Laudate et benedicete mi signore et rengratiate et serviteli cum grande humilitate. 

TRANSLATION. [19]

 O most high, almighty, good Lord God, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing! {To thee alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce thy Name. }

 Praised be my Lord God with all his creatures, and specially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies to us thee!

 Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, the which he has set clear and lovely in heaven. 

 Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather by the which thou upholdest life in all creatures. 

 Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean. 

 Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong. 

 Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors, and grass. 

 Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown. 

 Praised be my Lord for our sister, the death of the body, from which no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal sin! Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do them harm. 

 Praise ye and bless the Lord, and give thanks unto him and serve him with great humility. 

Joy had returned to Francis, joy as deep as ever. For a whole week heforsook his breviary and passed his days in repeating the Canticle ofthe Sun. 

During a night of sleeplessness he had heard a voice saying to him, "Ifthou hadst faith as a grain of mustard seed, thou wouldst say to thismountain, 'Be thou removed from there, ' and it would move away. " Was notthe mountain that of his sufferings, the temptation to murmur anddespair? "Be it, Lord, according to thy word, " he had replied with allhis heart, and immediately he had felt that he was delivered. [20]

He might have perceived that the mountain had not greatly changed itsplace, but for several days he had turned his eyes away from it, he hadbeen able to forget its existence. 

For a moment he thought of summoning to his side Brother Pacifico, theKing of Verse, to retouch his canticle; his idea was to attach to him acertain number of friars, who would go with him from village to village, preaching. After the sermon they would sing the Hymn of the Sun; andthey were to close by saying to the crowd gathered around them in thepublic places, "We are God's jugglers. We desire to be paid for oursermon and our song. Our payment shall be that you persevere inpenitence. "[21]

"Is it not in fact true, " he would add, "that the servants of God arereally like jugglers, intended to revive the hearts of men and lead theminto spiritual joy?"

The Francis of the old raptures had come back, the layman, the poet, theartist. 

The Canticle of the Creatures is very noble: it lacks, however, onestrophe; if it was not upon Francis's lips, it was surely in his heart:

 Be praised, Lord, for Sister Clara; thou hast made her silent, active, and sagacious, and by her thy light shines in our hearts. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Thirty-sixth and last strophe of the song

 _Amor de caritade Perche m' hai si ferito?_

 found in the collection of St. Francis's works. 

 [2] By the Abbé Amoni, at the close of his edition of the Fioretti, Rome, 1 vol. , 12mo, 1889, pp. 390-392. We can but once more regret the silence of the editor as to the manuscript whence he has drawn these charming pages. Certain indications seem unfavorable to the author having written it before the second half of the thirteenth century; on the other hand, the object of a forgery is not evident. An apochryphal piece always betrays itself by some interested purpose, but here the story is of an infantine simplicity. 

 [3] 2 Cel. , 3, 104; Bon. , 119; _Fior. Ii. Consid. _

 [4] _Parti san Francesco per Monte-Acuto prendendo la via di Monte-Arcoppe e del foresto. _ This road from the Verna to Borgo San-Sepolero is far from being the shortest or the easiest, for instead of leading directly to the plain it lingers for long hours among the hills. Is not all Francis in this choice?

 [5] 2 Cel. , 3, 41; Bon. , 141; _Fior. Iv. Consid. _

 [6] 1 Cel. , 63 and 64; _Fior. Iv. Consid. _

 [7] 1 Cel. , 70; _Fior. Iv. Consid. _

 [8] 1 Cel. , 109; 69; Bon. 208. Perhaps we must refer to this circuit the visit to Celano. 2 Cel. , 3, 30; _Spec. _, 22; Bon. , 156 and 157. 

 [9] 1 Cel. , 97 and 98; 2 Cel. , 3, 137; Bon. , 205 and 206. 

 [10] Richard of St. Germano, _ann. 1225_. Cf. Potthast, 7400 ff. 

 [11] 1 Cel. , 98 and 99; 2 Cel. , 3, 137; _Fior. _, 19. 

 [12] 2 Cel. , 3, 110; Rule of 1221, _cap. _ 10. 

 [13] See the reference to the sources after the Canticle of the Sun. 

 [14] 2 Cel. , 3, 138. 

 [15] This incident appeared to the authors so peculiar that they emphasized it with an _ut oculis videmus_. 2 Cel. , 3, 67; _Spec. _, 119a. 

 [16] _Spec. _, 123a; 2 Cel. , 3, 58. 

 [17] I have combined Celano's narrative with that of the Conformities. The details given in the latter document appear to me entirely worthy of faith. It is easy to see, however, why Celano omitted them, and it would be difficult to explain how they could have been later invented. 2 Cel. , 3, 138; _Conform. _, 42b, 2; 119b, 1; 184b, 2; 239a, 2; _Spec. _, 123a ff. ; _Fior. _, 19. 

 [18] After the Assisan MS. , 338, f^o 33a. Vide p. 354. Father Panfilo da Magliano has already published it after this manuscript: _Storia compendiosa di San Francesco_, Rome, 2 vols. , 18mo, 1874-1876. The Conformities, 202b, 2-203a 1, give a version of it which differs from this only by insignificant variations. The learned philologue Monaci has established a very remarkable critical text in his _Crestomazia italiana dei primi secoli_. Citta di Castello, fas. I. , 1889, 8vo, pp. 29-31. This thoroughly scrupulous work dispenses me from indicating manuscripts and editions more at length. 

 [19] Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series. Macmillan & Company, 1883. 

 [20] 2 Cel. , 3, 58; _Spec. _, 123a. 

 [21] _Spec. _, 124a. Cf. _Miscellanea_ (1889), iv. , p. 88. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XIX

THE LAST YEAR

September, 1225-End of September, 1226

What did Ugolini think when they told him that Francis was planning tosend his friars, transformed into _Joculatores Domini_, to sing up anddown the country the Canticle of Brother Sun? Perhaps he never heard ofit. His _protégé_ finally decided to accept his invitation and left St. Damian in the course of the month of September. 

The landscape which lies before the eyes of the traveller from Assisi, when he suddenly emerges upon the plain of Rieti, is one of the mostbeautiful in Europe. From Terni the road follows the sinuous course ofthe Velino, passes not far from the famous cascades, whose clouds ofmist are visible, and then plunges into the defiles in whose depths thetorrent rushes noisily, choked by a vegetation as luxuriant as that of avirgin forest. On all sides uprise walls of perpendicular rocks, and ontheir crests, several hundred yards above your head, are feudalfortresses, among others the Castle of Miranda, more giddy, morefantastic than any which Gustave Doré's fancy ever dreamed. 

After four hours of walking, the defile opens out and you find yourselfwithout transition in a broad valley, sparkling with light. 

Rieti, the only city in this plain of several leagues, appears far awayat the other extremity, commanded by hills of a thoroughly tropicalaspect, behind which rise the mighty Apennines, almost always coveredwith snow. 

The highway goes directly toward this town, passing between tiny lakes;here and there roads lead off to little villages which you see, on thehillside, between the cultivated fields and the edge of the forests;there are Stroncone, Greccio, Cantalice, Poggio-Buscone, and ten othersmall towns, which have given more saints to the Church than a wholeprovince of France. 

Between the inhabitants of the district and their neighbors of Umbria, properly so called, the difference is extreme. They are all of thestriking type of the Sabine peasants, and they remain to this day entirestrangers to new customs. One is born a Capuchin there as elsewhere oneis born a soldier, and the traveller needs to have his wits about himnot to address every man he meets as Reverend Father. 

Francis had often gone over this district in every direction. Like itsneighbor, the hilly March of Ancona, it was peculiarly prepared toreceive the new gospel. In these hermitages, with their almostimpossible simplicity, perched near the villages on every side, withoutthe least care for material comfort, but always where there is thewidest possible view, was perpetuated a race of Brothers Minor, impassioned, proud, stubborn, almost wild, who did not wholly understandtheir master, who did not catch his exquisite simplicity, hisimpossibility of hating, his dreams of social and political renovation, his poetry and delicacy, but who did understand the lover of nature andof poverty. [1] They did more than understand him; they lived hislife, and from that Christmas festival observed in the woods of Grecciodown to to-day they have remained the simple and popular representativesof the Strict Observance. From them comes to us the Legend of the ThreeCompanions, the most life-like and true of all the portraits of thePoverello, and it was there, in a cell three paces long, that Giovannidi Parma had his apocalyptic visions. 

The news of Francis's arrival quickly spread, and long before he reachedRieti the population had come out to meet him. 

To avoid this noisy welcome he craved the hospitality of the priest ofSt. Fabian. This little church, now known under the name of Our Lady ofthe Forest, is somewhat aside from the road upon a grassy mound about aleague from the city. He was heartily welcomed, and desiring to remainthere for a little, prelates and devotees began to flock thither in thenext few days. 

It was the time of the early grapes. It is easy to imagine thedisquietude of the priest on perceiving the ravages made by thesevisitors among his vines, his best source of revenue, but he probablyexaggerated the damage. Francis one day heard him giving vent to his badhumor. "Father, " he said, "it is useless for you to disturb yourself forwhat you cannot hinder; but, tell me, how much wine do you get on anaverage?"

"Fourteen measures, " replied the priest. 

"Very well, if you have less than twenty, I undertake to make up thedifference. "

This promise reassured the worthy man, and when at the vintage hereceived twenty measures, he had no hesitation in believing in amiracle. [2]

Upon Ugolini's entreaties Francis had accepted the hospitality of thebishop's palace in Rieti. Thomas of Celano enlarges with delight uponthe marks of devotion lavished on Francis by this prince of the Church. Unhappily all this is written in that pompous and confused style ofwhich diplomats and ecclesiastics appear to have by nature the secret. 

Francis entered into the condition of a relic in his lifetime. The maniafor amulets displayed itself around him in all its excesses. Peoplequarrelled not only over his clothing, but even over his hair and theparings of his nails. [3]

Did these merely exterior demonstrations disgust him? Did he sometimesthink of the contrast between these honors offered to his body, which hepicturesquely called Brother Ass, and the subversion of his ideal? Wecannot tell. If he had feelings of this kind those who surrounded himwere not the men to understand them, and it would be idle to expect anyexpression of them from his pen. 

Soon after he had a relapse, and asked to be removed toMonte-Colombo, [4] a hermitage an hour distant from the city, hiddenamidst trees and scattered rocks. He had already retired thither severaltimes, notably when he was preparing the Rule of 1223. 

The doctors, having exhausted the therapeutic arsenal of the time, decided to resort to cauterization; it was decided to draw a rod ofwhite-hot iron across his forehead. 

When the poor patient saw them bringing in the brazier and theinstruments he had a moment of terror; but immediately making the signof the cross over the glowing iron, "Brother fire, " he said, "you arebeautiful above all creatures; be favorable to me in this hour; you knowhow much I have always loved you; be then courteous to-day. "

Afterward, when his companions, who had not had the courage to remain, came back he said to them, smiling, "Oh, cowardly folk, why did you goaway? I felt no pain. Brother doctor, if it is necessary you may do itagain. "

This experiment was no more successful than the other remedies. In vainthey quickened the wound on the forehead, by applying plasters, salves, and even by making incisions in it; the only result was to increase thepains of the sufferer. [5]

One day, at Rieti, whither he had again been carried, he thought that alittle music would relieve his pain. Calling a friar who had formerlybeen clever at playing the guitar, he begged him to borrow one; but thefriar was afraid of the scandal which this might cause, and Francis gaveit up. 

God took pity upon him; the following night he sent an invisible angelto give him such a concert as is never heard on earth. [6] Francis, hearing it, lost all bodily feeling, say the Fioretti, and at one momentthe melody was so sweet and penetrating that if the angel had given onemore stroke of the bow, the sick man's soul would have left hisbody. [7]

It seems that there was some amelioration of his state when the doctorsleft him; we find him during the months of this winter, 1225-1226, inthe most remote hermitages of the district, for as soon as he had alittle strength he was determined to begin preaching again. 

He went to Poggio-Buscone[8] for the Christmas festival. Peopleflocked thither in crowds from all the country round to see and hearhim. "You come here, " he said, "expecting to find a great saint; whatwill you think when I tell you that I ate meat all through Advent?"[9]At St. Eleutheria, [10] at a time of extreme cold which tried him much, he had sewn some pieces of stuff into his own tunic and that of hiscompanion, so as to make their garments a little warmer. One day hiscompanion came home with a fox-skin, with which in his turn he proposedto line his master's tunic. Francis rejoiced much over it, but wouldpermit this excess of consideration for his body only on condition thatthe piece of fur should be placed on the outside over his chest. 

All these incidents, almost insignificant at a first view, show how hedetested hypocrisy even in the smallest things. 

We will not follow him to his dear Greccio, [11] nor even to thehermitage of St. Urbano, perched on one of the highest peaks of theSabine. [12] The accounts which we have of the brief visits he madethere at this time tell us nothing new of his character or of thehistory of his life. They simply show that the imaginations of those whosurrounded him were extraordinarily overheated; the least incidentsimmediately took on a miraculous coloring. [13]

The documents do not say how it came about that he decided to go toSienna. It appears that there was in that city a physician of great fameas an oculist. The treatment he prescribed was no more successful thanthat of the others; but with the return of spring Francis made a neweffort to return to active life. We find him describing the idealFranciscan monastery, [14] and another day explaining a passage in theBible to a Dominican. 

Did the latter, a doctor in theology, desire to bring the rival Orderinto ridicule by showing its founder incapable of explaining a somewhatdifficult verse? It appears extremely likely. "My good father, " he said, "how do you understand this saying of the prophet Ezekiel, 'If thou dostnot warn the wicked of his wickedness, I will require his soul of thee?'I am acquainted with many men whom I know to be in a state of mortalsin, and yet I am not always reproaching them for their vices. Am I, then, responsible for their souls?"

At first Francis excused himself, alleging his ignorance, but urged byhis interlocutor he said at last: "Yes, the true servant unceasinglyrebukes the wicked, but he does it most of all by his conduct, by thetruth which shines forth in his words, by the light of his example, byall the radiance of his life. "[15]

He soon suffered so grave a relapse that the Brothers thought his lasthour had come. They were especially affrighted by the hemorrhages, whichreduced him to a state of extreme prostration. Brother Elias hastened tohim. At his arrival the invalid felt in himself such an improvement thatthey could acquiesce in his desire to be taken back to Umbria. Towardthe middle of April they set out, going in the direction of Cortona. Itis the easiest route, and the delightful hermitage of that city was oneof the best ordered to permit of his taking some repose. He doubtlessremained there a very short time: he was in haste to see once more theskies of his native country, Portiuncula, St. Damian, the Carceri, allthose paths and hamlets which one sees from the terraces of Assisi andwhich recalled to him so many sweet memories. 

Instead of going by the nearest road, they made a long circuit by Gubbioand Nocera, to avoid Perugia, fearing some attempt of the inhabitants toget possession of the Saint. Such a relic as the body of Francis lackedlittle of the value of the sacred nail or the sacred lance. [16] Battleswere fought for less than that. 

They made a short halt near Nocera, at the hermitage of Bagnara, on theslopes of Monte-Pennino. [17] His companions were again very muchdisturbed. The swelling which had shown itself in the lower limbs wasrapidly gaining the upper part of the body. The Assisans learned this, and wishing to be prepared for whatever might happen sent theirmen-at-arms to protect the Saint and hasten his return. 

Bringing Francis back with them they stopped for food at the hamlet ofBalciano, [18] but in vain they begged the inhabitants to sell themprovisions. As the escort were confiding their discomfiture to thefriars, Francis, who knew these good peasants, said: "If you had askedfor food without offering to pay, you would have found all you wanted. "

He was right, for, following his advice, they received for nothing allthat they desired. [19]

The arrival of the party at Assisi was hailed with frantic joy. Thistime Francis's fellow-citizens were sure that the Saint was not going todie somewhere else. [20]

Customs in this matter have changed too much for us to be ablethoroughly to comprehend the good fortune of possessing the body of asaint. If you are ever so unlucky as to mention St. Andrew before aninhabitant of Amalfi, you will immediately find him beginning to shout"_Evviva San Andrea! Evviva San Andrea!_" Then with extraordinaryvolubility he will relate to you the legend of the _Grande Protettore_, his miracles past and present, those which he might have done if he hadchosen, but which he refrained from doing out of charity because St. Januarius of Naples could not do as much. He gesticulates, throwshimself about, hustles you, more enthusiastic over his relic and moreexasperated by your coldness than a soldier of the Old Guard before anenemy of the Emperor. 

In the thirteenth century all Europe was like that. 

We shall find here several incidents which we may be tempted to considershocking or even ignoble, if we do not make an effort to put them allinto their proper surroundings. 

Francis was installed in the bishop's palace; he would have preferred tobe at Portiuncula, but the Brothers were obliged to obey the injunctionsof the populace, and to make assurance doubly sure, guards were placedat all the approaches of the palace. 

The abode of the Saint in this place was much longer than had beenanticipated. It perhaps lasted several months (July to September). Thisdying man did not consent to die. He rebelled against death; in thiscentre of the work his anxieties for the future of the Order, which alittle while before had been in the background, now returned, moreagonizing and terrible than ever. 

"We must begin again, " he thought, "create a new family who will notforget humility, who will go and serve lepers and, as in the old times, put themselves always, not merely in words, but in reality, below allmen. "[21]

To feel that implacable work of destruction going on against which themost submissive cannot keep from protesting: "My God, my God, why? whyhast thou forsaken me?" To be obliged to look on at the still moredreaded decomposition of his Order; he, the lark, to be spied upon bysoldiers watching for his corpse--there was quite enough here to makehim mortally sad. 

During these last weeks all his sighs were noted. The disappearance ofthe greater part of the legend of the Three Companions certainlydeprives us of some touching stories, but most of the incidents havebeen preserved for us, notwithstanding, in documents from a second hand. 

Four Brothers had been especially charged to lavish care upon him: Leo, Angelo, Rufino, and Masseo. We already know them; they are of thoseintimate friends of the first days, who had heard in the Franciscangospel a call to love and liberty. And they too began to complain ofeverything. [22]

One day one of them said to the sick man: "Father, you are going away toleave us here; point out to us, then, if you know him, the one to whomwe might in all security confide the burden of the generalship. "

Alas, Francis did not know the ideal Brother, capable of assuming such aduty; but he took advantage of the question to sketch the portrait ofthe perfect minister-general. [23]

We have two impressions of this portrait, the one which has beenretouched by Celano, and the original proof, much shorter and morevague, but showing us Francis desiring that his successor shall have buta single weapon, an unalterable love. 

It was probably this question which suggested to him the thought ofleaving for his successors, the generals of the Order, a letter whichthey should pass on from one to another, and where they should find, notdirections for particular cases, but the very inspiration of theiractivity. [24]

 To the Reverend Father in Christ, N . . . , Minister-General of the entire Order of the Brothers Minor. May God bless thee and keep thee in his holy love. 

 Patience in all things and everywhere, this, my Brother, is what I specially recommend. Even if they oppose thee, if they strike thee, thou shouldst be grateful to them and desire that it should be thus and not otherwise. 

 In this will be manifest thy love for God and for me, his servant and thine; that there shall not be a single friar in the world who, having sinned as much as one can sin, and coming before thee, shall go away without having received thy pardon. And if he does not ask it, do thou ask it for him, whether he wills or not. 

 And if he should return again a thousand times before thee, love him more than myself, in order to lead him to well-doing. Have pity always on these Brothers. 

These words show plainly enough how in former days Francis had directedthe Order; in his dream the ministers-general were to stand in arelation of pure affection, of tender devotion toward those under them;but was this possible for one at the head of a family whose branchesextended over the entire world? It would be hazardous to say, for amonghis successors have not been wanting distinguished minds and noblehearts; but save for Giovanni di Parma and two or three others, thisideal is in sharp contrast with the reality. St. Bonaventura himselfwill drag his master and friend, this very Giovanni of Parma, before anecclesiastical tribunal, will cause him to be condemned to perpetualimprisonment, and it will need the intervention of a cardinal outside ofthe Order to secure the commutation of this sentence. [25]

The agonies of grief endured by the dying Francis over the decadence ofthe Order would have been less poignant if they had not been mingledwith self-reproaches for his own cowardice. Why had he deserted hispost, given up the direction of his family, if not from idleness andselfishness? And now it was too late to take back this step; and inhours of frightful anguish he asked himself if God would not hold himresponsible for this subversion of his ideal. 

"Ah, if I could go once again to the chapter-general, " he would sigh, "Iwould show them what my will is. "

Shattered as he was by fever, he would suddenly rise up in his bed, crying with a despairing intensity: "Where are they who have ravishedmy brethren from me? Where are they who have stolen away my family?"

Alas, the real criminals were nearer to him than he thought. Theprovincial ministers, of whom he appears to have been thinking when hethus spoke, were only instruments in the hands of the clever BrotherElias; and he--what else was he doing but putting his intelligence andaddress at Cardinal Ugolini's service?

Far from finding any consolation in those around him, Francis wasconstantly tortured by the confidences of his companions, who, impelledby mistaken zeal, aggravated his pain instead of calming it. [26]

 "Forgive me, Father, " said one of them to him one day, "but many people have already thought what I am going to say to you. You know how, in the early days, by God's grace the Order walked in the path of perfection; for all that concerns poverty and love, as well as for all the rest, the Brothers were but one heart and one soul. But for some time past all that is entirely changed: it is true that people often excuse the Brothers by saying that the Order has grown too large to keep up the old observances; they even go so far as to claim that infidelities to the Rule, such as the building of great monasteries, are a means of edification of the people, and so the primitive simplicity and poverty are held for nothing. Evidently all these abuses are displeasing to you; but then, people ask, why do you tolerate them?"

 "God forgive you, brother. " replied Francis. "Why do you lay at my door things with which I have nothing to do? So long as I had the direction of the Order, and the Brothers persevered in their vocation I was able, in spite of weakness, to do what was needful. But when I saw that, without caring for my example or my teaching, they walked in the way you have described, I confided them to the Lord and to the ministers. It is true that when I relinquished the direction, alleging my incapacity as the motive, if they had walked in the way of my wishes I should not have desired that before my death they should have had any other minister than myself; though ill, though bedridden, even, I should have found strength to perform the duties of my charge. But this charge is wholly spiritual; I will not become an executioner to strike and punish as political governors must. "[27]

Francis's complaints became so sharp and bitter that, to avoid scandal, the greatest prudence was exercised with regard to those who werepermitted to see him. [28]

Disorder was everywhere, and every day brought its contingent ofsubjects for sorrow. The confusion of ideas as to the practice of theRule was extreme; occult influences, which had been working for severalyears, had succeeded in veiling the Franciscan ideal, not only fromdistant Brothers, or those who had newly joined the Order, but even fromthose who had lived under the influence of the founder. [29]

Under circumstances such as these, Francis dictated the letter to allthe members of the Order, which, as he thought would be read at theopening of chapters and perpetuate his spiritual presence in them. [30]

In this letter he is perfectly true to himself; as in the past, hedesires to influence the Brothers, not by reproaches but by fixing theireyes on the perfect holiness. 

 To all the revered and well-beloved Brothers Minor, to Brother A . . . , [31] minister-general, its Lord, and to the ministers-general who shall be after him, and to all the ministers, custodians, and priests of this fraternity, humble in Christ, and to all the simple and obedient Brothers, the oldest and the most recent, Brother Francis, a mean and perishing man, your little servant, gives greeting!

 Hear, my Lords, you who are my sons and my brothers, give ear to my words. Open your hearts and obey the voice of the Son of God. Keep his commandments with all your hearts, and perfectly observe his counsels. Praise him, for he is good, and glorify him by your works. 

 God has sent you through all the world, that by your words and example you may bear witness of him, and that you may teach all men that he alone is all powerful. Persevere in discipline and obedience, and with an honest and firm will keep that which you have promised. 

After this opening Francis immediately passes to the essential matter ofthe letter, that of the love and respect due to the Sacrament of thealtar; faith in this mystery of love appeared to him indeed as thesalvation of the Order. 

Was he wrong? How can a man who truly believes in the real presence ofthe God-Man between the fingers of him who lifts up the host, notconsecrate his life to this God and to holiness? One has some difficultyin imagining. 

It is true that legions of devotees profess the most absolute faith inthis dogma, and we do not see that they are less bad; but faith withthem belongs in the intellectual sphere; it is the abdication ofreason, and in sacrificing their intelligence to God they are most happyto offer to him an instrument which they very much prefer not to use. 

To Francis the question presented itself quite differently; the thoughtthat there could be any merit in believing could never enter his mind;the fact of the real presence was for him of almost concrete evidence. Therefore his faith in this mystery was an energy of the heart, that thelife of God, mysteriously present upon the altar, might become the soulof all his actions. 

To the eucharistic transubstantiation, effected by the words of thepriest, he added another, that of his own heart. 

 God offers himself to us as to his children. This is why I beg you, all of you, my brothers, kissing your feet, and with all the love of which I am capable, to have all possible respect for the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Then addressing himself particularly to the priests:

 Hearken, my brothers, if the blessed Virgin Mary is justly honored for having carried Jesus in her womb, if John the Baptist trembled because he dared not touch the Lord's head, if the sepulchre in which for a little time he lay is regarded with such great adoration, oh, how holy, pure, and worthy should be the priest who touches with his hands, who receives into his mouth and into his heart, and who distributes to others the living, glorified Jesus, the sight of whom makes angels rejoice! Understand your dignity, brother priests, and be holy, for he is holy. Oh! what great wretchedness and what a frightful infirmity to have him there present before you and to think of other things. Let each man be struck with amazement, let the whole earth tremble, let the heavens thrill with joy when the Christ, the Son of the living God, descends upon the altar into the hands of the priest. Oh, wonderful profundity! Oh, amazing grace! Oh, triumph of humility! See, the Master of all things, God, and the Son of God, humbles himself for our salvation, even to disguising himself under the appearance of a bit of bread. 

 Contemplate, my brothers, this humility of God, and enlarge your hearts before him; humble yourselves as well, that you, even you, may be lifted up by him. Keep nothing for yourselves, that he may receive you without reserve, who has given himself to you without reserve. 

We see with what vigor of love Francis's heart had laid hold upon theidea of the communion. 

He closes with long counsels to the Brothers, and after having conjuredthem faithfully to keep their promises, all his mysticism breathes outand is summed up in a prayer of admirable simplicity. 

 God Almighty, eternal, righteous, and merciful, give to us poor wretches to do for thy sake all that we know of thy will, and to will always what pleases thee; so that inwardly purified, enlightened, and kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we may follow in the footprints of thy well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

What separates this prayer from the effort to discern duty made bychoice spirits apart from all revealed religion? Very little in truth;the words are different, the action is the same. 

But Francis's solicitudes reached far beyond the limits of the Order. His longest epistle is addressed to all Christians; its words are soliving that you fancy you hear a voice speaking behind you; and thisvoice, usually as serene as that which from the mountain in Galileeproclaimed the law of the new times, becomes here and there unutterablysweet, like that which sounded in the upper chamber on the night of thefirst eucharist. 

As Jesus forgot the cross that was standing in the shadows, so Francisforgets his sufferings, and, overcome with a divine sadness, thinks ofhumanity, for each member of which he would give his life; he thinks ofhis spiritual sons, the Brothers of Penitence, whom he is about to leavewithout having been able to make them feel, as he would have had themfeel, the love for them with which he burns: "Father, I have given themthe words which thou hast given me. . . . For them I pray!"

The whole Franciscan gospel is in these words, but to understand thefascination which it exerted we must have gone through the School of theMiddle Ages, and there listened to the interminable tournaments ofdialectics by which minds were dried up; we must have seen the Church ofthe thirteenth century, honeycombed by simony and luxury, and only able, under the pressure of heresy or revolt, to make a few futile efforts toscotch the evil. 

 To all Christians, monks, clerics, or laymen, whether men or women, to all who dwell in the whole world, Brother Francis, their most submissive servitor, presents his duty and wishes the true peace of heaven, and sincere love in the Lord. 

 Being the servitor of all men, I am bound to serve them and to dispense to them the wholesome words of my Master. This is why, seeing I am too weak and ill to visit each one of you in particular, I have resolved to send you my message by this letter, and to offer you the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and of the Holy Spirit, which are spirit and life. 

It would be puerile to expect here new ideas either in fact or form. Francis's appeals are of value only by the spirit which animates them. 

After having briefly recalled the chief features of the gospel, andurgently recommended the communion, Francis addresses himself inparticular to certain categories of hearers, with special counsels. 

 Let the podestàs, governors, and those who are placed in authority, exercise their functions with mercy, as they would be judged with mercy by God. . . . 

 Monks in particular, who have renounced the world, are bound to do more and better than simple Christians, to renounce all that is not necessary to them, and to have in hatred the vices and sins of the body. . . . They should love their enemies, do good to them who hate them, observe the precepts and counsels of our Redeemer, renounce themselves, and subdue their bodies. And no monk is bound to obedience, if in obeying he would be obliged to commit a fault or a sin. . . . 

 Let us not be wise and learned according to the flesh, but simple, humble, and pure. . . . We should never desire to be above others, but rather to be below, and to obey all men. 

He closes by showing the foolishness of those who set their hearts onthe possession of earthly goods, and concludes by the very realisticpicture of the death of the wicked. 

 His money, his title, his learning, all that he believed himself to possess, all are taken from him; his relatives and his friends to whom he has given his fortune will come to divide it among themselves, and will end by saying: "Curses on him, for he might have given us more and he has not done it; he might have amassed a larger fortune, and he has done nothing of the kind. " The worms will eat his body and the demons will consume his soul, and thus he will lose both soul and body. 

 I, Brother Francis, your little servitor, I beg and conjure you by the love that is in God, ready to kiss your feet, to receive with humility and love these and all other words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to conform your conduct to them. And let those who devoutly receive them and understand them pass them on to others. And if they thus persevere unto the end, may they be blessed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. [32]

If Francis ever made a Rule for the Third Order it must have very nearlyresembled this epistle, and until this problematical document is found, the letter shows what were originally these associations of Brothers ofPenitence. Everything in these long pages looks toward the developmentof the mystic religious life in the heart of each Christian. But evenwhen Francis dictated them, this high view had become a Utopia, and theThird Order was only one battalion more in the armies of the papacy. 

We see that the epistles which we have just examined proceed definitelyfrom a single inspiration. Whether he is leaving instructions for hissuccessors, the ministers-general, whether he is writing to all thepresent and future members of his Order, to all Christians or even tothe clergy, [33] Francis has only one aim, to keep on preaching afterhis death, and perhaps, too, by putting into writing his message ofpeace and love, to provide that he shall not be entirely travestied ormisunderstood. 

Considered in connection with those sorrowful hours which saw theirbirth, they form a whole whose import and meaning become singularlyenergetic. If we would find the Franciscan spirit, it is here, in theRule of 1221, and in the Will that we must seek for it. 

Neglect, and especially the storms which later overwhelmed the Order, explain the disappearance of several other documents which would cast aglimmer of poetry and joy over these sad days;[34] Francis had notforgotten his sister-friend at St. Damian. Hearing that she had beengreatly disquieted by knowing him to be so ill, he desired to reassureher: he still deceived himself as to his condition, and wrote to herpromising soon to go to see her. 

To this assurance he added some affectionate counsels, advising her andher companions not to go to extremes with their macerations. To set heran example of cheerfulness he added to this letter a Laude in thevulgar tongue which he had himself set to music. [35]

In that chamber of the episcopal palace in which he was as it wereimprisoned he had achieved a new victory, and it was doubtless thatwhich inspired his joy. The Bishop of Assisi, the irritable Guido, always at war with somebody, was at this time quarrelling with thepodestà of the city; nothing more was needed to excite in the littletown a profound disquiet. Guido had excommunicated the podestà, and thelatter had issued a prohibition against selling and buying or making anycontract with ecclesiastics. 

The difference grew more bitter, and no one appeared to dream ofattempting a reconciliation. We can the better understand Francis'sgrief over all this by remembering that his very first effort had beento bring peace into his native city, and that he considered the returnof Italy to union and concord to be the essential aim of his apostolate. 

War in Assisi would be the final dissolution of his dream; the voice ofevents crying brutally to him, "Thou hast wasted thy life!"

The dregs of this cup were spared him, thanks to an inspiration in whichbreaks forth anew his natural play of imagination. To the Canticle ofthe Sun he added a new strophe:

 Be praised, Lord, for those who forgive for love of thee, and bear trials and tribulations; happy they who persevere in peace, by thee, Most high, shall they be crowned. 

Then, calling a friar, he charged him to beg the governor to betakehimself, with all the notables whom he could assemble, to the pavedsquare before the bishop's palace. The magistrate, to whom legend givesthe nobler part in the whole affair, at once yielded to the saint'srequest. 

 When he arrived and the bishop had come forth from the palace, two friars came forward and said: "Brother Francis has made to the praise of God a hymn to which he prays you to listen piously, " and immediately they began to sing the Hymn of Brother Sun, with its new strophe. 

 The governor listened, standing in an attitude of profound attention, copiously weeping, for he dearly loved the blessed Francis. 

 When the singing was ended, "Know in truth, " said he, "that I desire to forgive the lord bishop, that I wish and ought to look upon him as my lord, for if one had even assassinated my brother I should be ready to pardon the murderer. " With these words he threw himself at the bishop's feet, and said: "I am ready to do whatsoever you would, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and his servant Francis. "

 Then the bishop, taking him by the hand, lifted him up and said, "With my position it would become me to be humble, but since I am naturally too quick to wrath, thou must pardon me. "[36]

This unexpected reconciliation was immediately looked upon asmiraculous, and increased still more the reverence of the Assisans fortheir fellow-citizen. 

The summer was drawing to a close. After a few days of relativeimprovement Francis's sufferings became greater than ever: incapable ofmovement, he even thought that he ought to give up his ardent desire tosee St. Damian and Portiuncula once more, and gave the brothers all hisdirections about the latter sanctuary: "Never abandon it, " he wouldrepeat to them, "for that place is truly sacred: it is the house ofGod. "[37]

It seemed to him that if the Brothers remained attached to that bit ofearth, that chapel ten feet long, those thatched huts, they would therefind the living reminder of the poverty of the early days, and couldnever wander far from it. 

One evening he grew worse with frightful rapidity; all the followingnight he had hemorrhages which left not the slightest hope; the Brothershastening to him, he dictated a few lines in form of a Will and gavethem his blessing: "Adieu, my children; remain all of you in the fear ofGod, abide always united to Christ; great trials are in store for you, and tribulation draws nigh. Happy are they who persevere as they havebegun; for there will be scandals and divisions among you. As for me, Iam going to the Lord and my God. Yes, I have the assurance that I amgoing to him whom I have served. "[38]

During the following days, to the great surprise of those who were abouthim, he again grew somewhat better; no one could understand theresistance to death offered by this body so long worn out by suffering. 

He himself began to hope again. A physician of Arezzo whom he knew well, having come to visit him, "Good friend, " Francis asked him, "how muchlonger do you think I have to live?"

"Father, " replied the other reassuringly, "this will all pass away, ifit pleases God. "

"I am not a cuckoo, "[39] replied Francis smiling, using a popularsaying, "to be afraid of death. By the grace of the Holy Spirit I am sointimately united to God that I am equally content to live or to die. "

"In that case, father, from the medical point of view, your disease isincurable, and I do not think that you can last longer than thebeginning of autumn. "

At these words the poor invalid stretched out his hands as if to call onGod, crying with an indescribable expression of joy, "Welcome, SisterDeath!" Then he began to sing, and sent for Brothers Angelo and Leo. 

On their arrival they were made, in spite of their emotion, to sing theCanticle of the Sun. They were at the last doxology when Francis, checking them, improvised the greeting to death:

 Be praised, Lord, for our Sister the Death of the body, whom no man may escape; alas for them who die in a state of mortal sin; happy they who are found conformed to thy most holy will, for the second death will do to them no harm. 

From this day the palace rang unceasingly with his songs. Continually, even through the night, he would sing the Canticle of the Sun or someother of his favorite compositions. Then, when wearied out, he would begAngelo and Leo to go on. 

One day Brother Elias thought it his duty to make a few remarks on thesubject. He feared that the nurses and the people of the neighborhoodwould be scandalized; ought not a saint to be absorbed in meditation inthe face of death, to await it with fear and trembling instead ofindulging in a gayety that might be misinterpreted?[40] Perhaps BishopGuido was not entirely a stranger to these reproaches; it seems notimprobable that to have his palace crowded with Brothers Minor all theselong weeks had finally put him a little out of humor. But Francis wouldnot yield; his union with God was too sweet for him to consent not tosing it. 

They decided at last to remove him to Portiuncula. His desire was to befulfilled; he was to die beside the humble chapel where he had heardGod's voice consecrating him apostle. 

His companions, bearing their precious burden, took the way through theolive-yards across the plain. From time to time the invalid, unable todistinguish anything, asked where they were. When they were half waythere, at the hospital of the Crucigeri, where long ago he had tendedthe leper, and from whence there was a full view of all the houses ofthe city, he begged them to set him upon the ground with his face towardAssisi, and raising his hand he bade adieu to his native place andblessed it. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The following is the list of monasteries which, according to Rodolfo di Tossignano, accepted the ideas of Angelo Clareno before the end of the thirteenth century: Fermo, Spoleto, Camerino, Ascoli, Rieti, Foligno, Nursia, Aquila, Amelia: _Historiarum seraphicĉ religionis, libri tres_, Venice, 1586, 1 vol. , f^o, 155a. 

 [2] _Spec. _, 129b; _Fior. _, 19. In some of the stories of this period the evidence is clear how certain facts have been, little by little, transformed into miracles. Compare, for example, the miracle of St. Urbano in Bon. , 68, and 1 Cel. , 61. See also 2 Cel. , 2, 10; Bon. , 158 and 159. 

 [3] 1 Cel. , 87; 2 Cel. , 2, 11; _Conform. _, 148a, 2; Bon. , 99. Upon this visit see 2 Cel. , 2, 10; Bon. , 158 and 159; 2 Cel. , 2, 11; 2 Cel. , 3, 36. 

 [4] The present Italian name of the monastery which has also been called _Monte-Rainerio_ and _Fonte-Palumbo_. 

 [5] 1 Cel. , 101; 2 Cel. , 3, 102; Bon. , 67; _Spec. _, 134a. 

 [6] 2 Cel. , 3, 66; Bon. , 69. 

 [7] _Fior. Ii. Consid. _ Cf. Roger Bacon, Opus tertium (_ap. Mon. Germ. Hist. _, _Script. _ t. 28, p. 577). _B. Franciscus jussit fratri cythariste ut dulcius personaret, quatenus mens excitaretur ad harmonias coelestes quas pluries andivit. Mira enim musicĉ super omnes scientias et spectanda potestas. _

 [8] Village three hours' walk northward from Rieti. Francis's cell still remains on the mountain, three-quarters of an hour from the place. 

 [9] 2 Cel. , 3, 71; cf. _Spec. _, 43a. 

 [10] Chapel still standing, a few minutes' walk from Rieti. 2 Cel. , 3, 70; _Spec. _, 15a, 43a. 

 [11] 2 Cel. , 2, 14; Bon. , 167; 2 Cel. , 3, 10; Bon. , 58; _Spec. _, 122b. 

 [12] Wadding, _ann. 1213_, n. 14, rightly places St. Urbano in the county of Narni. _L'Eremo di S. Urbano_ is about half an hour from the village of the same name, on Mount San Pancrazio (1026 m. ), three leagues south of Narni. The panorama is one of the finest in Central Italy. The Bollandists allowed themselves to be led into error by an interested assertion when they placed San Urbano near to Jesi (pp. 623f and 624a). 1 Cel. , 61; Bon. , 68. (Vide Bull _Cum aliqua_ of May 15, 1218, where mention is made of San Urbano. )

 [13] As much may be said of the apparition of the three virgins between Campilia and San Quirico. 2 Cel. , 3, 37; Bon. , 93. 

 [14] _Spec. _, 12b; _Conform. _, 169a, 1. 

 [15] 2 Cel. , 3, 46; Bon. , 153; _Spec. _, 31b; Ezek. , xxxiii. , 9. 

 [16] Two years after, the King of France and all his court kissed and revered the pillow which Francis had used during his illness. 1 Cel. , 120. 

 [17] Bagnara is near the sources of the Topino, about an hour east of Nocera. These two localities were then dependents of Assisi. 

 [18] And not Sartiano. Balciano still exists, about half way between Nocera and Assisi. 

 [19] 2 Cel. , 3, 23; Bon. , 98; _Spec. _, 17b; _Conform. _, 239a, 2f. 

 [20] 2 Cel. , 3, 33; 1 Cel. , 105, is still more explicit: "The multitude hoped that he would die very soon, and that was the subject of their joy. "

 [21] 1 Cel. , 103 and 104. 

 [22] 1 Cel. , 102; _Spec. _, 83b. 

 [23] 2 Cel. , 3, 116; _Spec. _, 67a; _Conform. _, 143b, 1, and 225b, 2; 2 Cel. , 3, 117; _Spec. _, 130a. 

 [24] For the text vide _Conform. _, 136b, 2; 138b, 2; 142 b, 1. 

 [25] _Tribul. , Archiv. _, ii. , pp. 285 ff. 

 [26] 2 Cel. , 3, 118. 

 [27] These words are borrowed from a long fragment cited by Ubertini di Casali, as coming from Brother Leo: _Arbor vit. Cruc. , lib. _ v. , _cap. _ 3. It is surely a bit of the Legend of the Three Companions; it may be found textually in the Tribulations, Laur. , f^o 16b, with a few more sentences at the end. Cf. _Conform. _, 136a, 2; 143a, 2; _Spec. _, 8b; 26b; 50a; 130b; 2 Cel. , 3, 118. 

 [28] _Tribul. _, Laur. , 17b. 

 [29] See, for example, Brother Richer's question as to the books: Ubertini, _Loc. Cit. _ Cf. _Archiv. _, iii. , pp. 75 and 177; _Spec. _, 8a; _Conform. _, 71b, 2. See also: Ubertini, _Archiv. _, iii. , pp. 75 and 177; _Tribul. _, 13a; _Spec. _, 9a; _Conform. _, 170a, 1. It is curious to compare the account as it found in the documents with the version of it given in 2 Cel. , 3, 8. 

 [30] Assisi MS. , 338, f^o 28a-31a, with the rubric: _De lictera et ammonitione beatissimi patris nostri Francisci quam misit fratribus ad capitulum quando erat infirmus. _ This letter was wrongly divided into three by Rodolfo di Tossignano (f^o 237), who was followed by Wadding (Epistolĉ x. , xi. , xii. ). The text is found without this senseless division in the manuscript cited and in _Firmamentum_, f^o 21; _Spec. _, Morin, iii. , 217a; Ubertini, _Arbor vit. Cruc. _, v. , 7. 

 [31] This initial (given only by the Assisi MS. ) has not failed to excite surprise. It appears that there ought to have been simply an N . . . This letter then would have been replaced by the copyist, who would have used the initial of the minister general in charge at the time of his writing. If this hypothesis has any weight it will aid to fix the exact date of the manuscript. (Alberto of Pisa minister from 1239-1240; Aimon of Faversham, 1240-1244. )

 [32] This epistle also was unskilfully divided into two distinct letters by Rodolfo di Tossignano, f^o 174a, who was followed by Wadding. See Assisi MS. , 338, 23a-28a; _Conform. _, 137a, 1 ff. 

 [33] The letter to the clergy only repeats the thoughts already expressed upon the worship of the holy sacrament. We remember Francis sweeping out the churches and imploring the priests to keep them clean; this epistle has the same object: it is found in the Assisi MS. , 338, f^o 31b-32b, with the rubric: _De reverentia Corporis Domini et de munditia altaris ad omnes clericos_. Incipit: _Attendamus omnes_. Explicit: _fecerint exemplari_. This, therefore, is the letter given by Wadding xiii. , but without address or salutation. 

 [34] We need not despair of finding them. The archives of the monasteries of Clarisses are usually rudimentary enough, but they are preserved with pious care. 

 [35] _Spec. _, 117b; _Conform. _, 185a 1; 135b, 1. Cf. _Test. B. Clarĉ_, A. SS. , Aug. , ii. , p. 747. 

 [36] This story is given in the _Spec. _, 128b, as from eye-witnesses. Cf. _Conform. _, 184b, 1; 203a, 1. 

 [37] 1 Cel. , 106. These recommendations as to Portiuncula were amplified by the Zelanti, when, under the generalship of Crescentius (Bull _Is qui ecclesiam_, March 6, 1245), the Basilica of Assisi was substituted for Santa Maria degli Angeli as _mater et caput_ of the Order. Vide _Spec. _, 32b, 69b-71a; _Conform. _, 144a, 2; 218a, 1; 3 Soc. , 56; 2 Cel. , 1, 12 and 13; Bon. , 24, 25; see the Appendix, the Study of the Indulgence of August 2. 

 [38] 2 Cel. , 108. As will be seen (below, p. 367) the remainder of Celano's narrative seems to require to be taken with some reserve. Cf. _Spec. _, 115b; _Conform. _, 225a, 2; Bon. , 211. 

 [39] _Non sum cuculus_, in Italian _cuculo_. 

 [40] _Spec. _, 136b; _Fior. Iv. Consid. _ It is to be noted that Guido, instead of waiting at Assisi for the certainly impending death of Francis, went away to Mont Gargano. 2 Cel. , 3, 142. 

 * * * * *

CHAPTER XX

FRANCIS'S WILL AND DEATH

End of September-October 3, 1226

The last days of Francis's life are of radiant beauty. He went to meetdeath, singing, [1] says Thomas of Celano, summing up the impression ofthose who saw him then. 

To be once more at Portiuncula after so long a detention at the bishop'spalace was not only a real joy to his heart, but the pure air of theforest must have been much to his physical well-being; does not theCanticle of the Creatures seem to have been made expressly to be sung inthe evening of one of those autumn days of Umbria, so soft and luminous, when all nature seems to retire into herself to sing her own hymn oflove to Brother Sun?

We see that Francis has come to that almost entire cessation of pain, that renewing of life, which so often precedes the approach of the lastcatastrophe. 

He took advantage of it to dictate his Will. [2]

It is to these pages that we must go to find the true note for a sketchof the life of its author, and an idea of the Order as it was in hisdreams. 

In this record, which is of an incontestable authenticity, the mostsolemn manifestation of his thought, the Poverello reveals himselfabsolutely, with a virginal candor. 

His humility is here of a sincerity which strikes one with awe; it isabsolute, though no one could dream that it was exaggerated. And yet, wherever his mission is concerned, he speaks with tranquil and sereneassurance. Is he not an ambassador of God? Does he not hold his messagefrom Christ himself? The genesis of his thought here shows itself to beat once wholly divine and entirely personal. The individual consciencehere proclaims its sovereign authority. "No one showed me what I oughtto do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to liveconformably to his holy gospel. "

When a man has once spoken thus, submission to the Church has beensingularly encroached upon. We may love her, hearken to her, venerateher, but we feel ourselves, perhaps without daring to avow it, superiorto her. Let a critical hour come, and one finds himself heretic withoutknowing it or wishing it. 

"Ah, yes, " cries Angelo Clareno, "St. Francis promised to obey the popeand his successors, but they cannot and must not command anythingcontrary to the conscience or to the Rule. "[3]

For him, as for all the spiritual Franciscans, when there is conflictbetween what the inward voice of God ordains and what the Church wills, he has only to obey the former. [4]

If you tell him that the Church and the Order are there to define thetrue signification of the Rule, he appeals to common sense, and to thatinterior certitude which is given by a clear view of truth. 

The Rule, as also the gospel, of which it is a summary, is above allecclesiastical power, and no one has the right to say the last word intheir interpretation. [5]

The Will was not slow to gain a moral authority superior even to that ofthe Rule. Giovanni of Parma, to explain the predilection of theJoachimites for this document, points out that after the impression ofthe stigmata the Holy Spirit was in Francis with still greater plenitudethan before. [6]

Did the innumerable sects which disturbed the Church in the thirteenthcentury perceive that these two writings--the Rule and theTestament--the one apparently made to follow and support the other, substantially identical as it was said, proceeded from two oppositeinspirations? Very confusedly, no doubt, but guided by a very sureinstinct, they saw in these pages the banner of liberty. 

They were not mistaken. Even to-day, thinkers, moralists, mystics mayarrive at solutions very different from those of the Umbrian prophet, but the method which they employ is his, and they may not refuse toacknowledge in him the precursor of religious subjectivism. 

The Church, too, was not mistaken. She immediately understood the spiritthat animated these pages. 

Four years later, perhaps to the very day, September 28, 1230, Ugolini, then Gregory IX. , solemnly interpreted the Rule, in spite of theprecautions of Francis, who had forbidden all gloss or commentary on theRule or the Will, and declared that the Brothers were not bound to theobservation of the Will. [7]

What shall we say of the bull in which the pope alleges his familiarrelations with the Saint to justify his commentary, and in which theclearest passages are so distorted as to change their sense completely. "One is stupefied, " cries Ubertini of Casali, "that a text so clearshould have need of a commentary, for it suffices to have common senseand to know grammar in order to understand it. " And this strange monkdares to add: "There is one miracle which God himself cannot do; it isto make two contradictory things true. "[8]

Certainly the Church should be mistress in her own house; it would havebeen nothing wrong had Gregory IX. Created an Order conformed to hisviews and ideas, but when we go through Sbaralea's folios and thethousands of bulls accorded to the spiritual sons of him who in theclearest and most solemn manner had forbidden them to ask any privilegeof the court of Rome, we cannot but feel a bitter sadness. 

Thus upheld by the papacy, the Brothers of the Common Observance madethe Zelanti sharply expiate their attachment to Francis's last requests. Cĉsar of Speyer died of violence from the Brother placed in charge ofhim;[9] the first disciple, Bernardo di Quintavalle, hunted like awild beast, passed two years in the forests of Monte-Sefro, hidden by awood-cutter;[10] the other first companions who did not succeed inflight had to undergo the severest usage. In the March of Ancona, thehome of the Spirituals, the victorious party used a terrible violence. The Will was confiscated and destroyed; they went so far as to burn itover the head of a friar who persisted in desiring to observe it. [11]

WILL (LITERAL TRANSLATION). 

 See in what manner God gave it to me, to me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penitence; when I lived in sin, it was very painful to me to see lepers, but God himself led me into their midst, and I remained here a little while. [12] When I left them, that which had seemed to me bitter had become sweet and easy. 

 A little while after I quitted the world, and God gave me such a faith in his churches that I would kneel down with simplicity and I would say: "We adore thee, Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all thy churches which are in the world, and we bless thee that by thy holy cross thou hast ransomed the world. "

 Besides, the Lord gave me and still gives me so great a faith in priests who live according to the form of the holy Roman Church, because of their sacerdotal character, that even if they persecuted me I would have recourse to them. And even though I had all the wisdom of Solomon, if I should find poor secular priests, I would not preach in their parishes without their consent. I desire to respect them like all the others, to love them and honor them as my lords. I will not consider their sins, for in them I see the Son of God and they are my lords. I do this because here below I see nothing, I perceive nothing corporally of the most high Son of God, if not his most holy Body and Blood, which they receive and they alone distribute to others. I desire above all things to honor and venerate all these most holy mysteries and to keep them precious. Whenever I find the sacred names of Jesus or his words in indecent places, I desire to take them away, and I pray that others take them away and put them in some decent place. We ought to honor and revere all the theologians and those who preach the most holy word of God, as dispensing to us spirit and life. 

 When the Lord gave me some brothers no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High himself revealed to me that I ought to live according to the model of the holy gospel. I caused a short and simple formula to be written, and the lord pope confirmed it for me. 

 Those who presented themselves to observe this kind of life distributed all that they might have to the poor. They contented themselves with a tunic, patched within and without, with the cord and breeches, and we desired to have nothing more. 

 The clerks said the office like other clerks, and the laymen _Pater noster_. 

 We loved to live in poor and abandoned churches, and we were ignorant and submissive to all. I worked with my hands and would continue to do, and I will also that all other friars work at some honorable trade. Let those who have none learn one, not for the purpose of receiving the price of their toil, but for their good example and to flee idleness. And when they do not give us the price of the work, let us resort to the table of the Lord, begging our bread from door to door. The Lord revealed to me the salutation which we ought to give: "God give you peace!"

 Let the Brothers take great care not to receive churches, habitations, and all that men build for them, except as all is in accordance with the holy poverty which we have vowed in the Rule, and let them not receive hospitality in them except as strangers and pilgrims. 

 I absolutely interdict all the brothers, in whatever place they may be found, from asking any bull from the court of Rome, whether directly or indirectly, under pretext of church or convent or under pretext of preachings, nor even for their personal protection. If they are not received anywhere let them go elsewhere, thus doing penance with the benediction of God. 

 I desire to obey the minister-general of this fraternity, and the guardian whom he may please to give me. I desire to put myself entirely into his hands, to go nowhere and do nothing against his will, for he is my lord. 

 Though I be simple and ill, I would, however, have always a clerk who will perform the office, as it is said in the Rule; let all the other brothers also be careful to obey their guardians and to do the office according to the Rule. If it come to pass that there are any who do not the office according to the Rule, and who desire to make any other change, or if they are not Catholics, let all the Brothers, wherever they may be, be bound by obedience to present them to the nearest custode. Let the custodes be bound by obedience to keep him well guarded like a man who is in bonds night and day, so that he may not escape from their hands until they personally place him in the minister's hands. And let the minister be bound by obedience to send him by brothers who will guard him as a prisoner day and night until they shall have placed him in the hands of the Lord Bishop of Ostia, who is the lord, the protector, and the correcter of all the Fraternity. [13]

 And let the Brothers not say: "This is a new Rule;" for this is a reminder, a warning, an exhortation; it is my Will, that I, little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed Brothers, in order that we may observe in a more catholic way the Rule which we promised the Lord to keep. 

 Let the ministers-general, all the other ministers and the custodes be held by obedience to add nothing to and take nothing from these words. Let them always keep this writing near them, beside the Rule; and in all the chapters which shall be held, when the Rule is read let these words be read also. 

 I interdict absolutely, by obedience, all the Brothers, clerics and layman, to introduce glosses in the Rule, or in this Will, under pretext of explaining it. But since the Lord has given me to speak and to write the Rule and these words in a clear and simple manner, without commentary, understand them in the same way, and put them in practice until the end. 

 And may whoever shall have observed these things be crowned in heaven with the blessings of the heavenly Father, and on earth with those of his well-beloved Son and of the Holy Spirit the consoler, with the assistance of all the heavenly virtues and all the saints. 

 And I, little Brother Francis, your servitor, confirm to you so far as I am able this most holy benediction. Amen. 

After thinking of his Brothers Francis thought of his dear Sisters atSt. Damian and made a will for them. 

It has not come down to us, and we need not wonder; the SpiritualBrothers might flee away, and protest from the depths of their retreats, but the Sisters were completely unarmed against the machinations of theCommon Observance. [14]

In the last words that he addressed to the Clarisses, after calling uponthem to persevere in poverty and union, he gave them hisbenediction. [15] Then he recommended them to the Brothers, supplicatingthe latter never to forget that they were members of one and the samereligious family. [16] After having done all that he could for thosewhom he was about to leave, he thought for a moment of himself. 

He had become acquainted in Rome with a pious lady named Giacomina diSettisoli. Though rich, she was simple and good, entirely devoted to thenew ideas; even the somewhat singular characteristics of Francis pleasedher. He had given her a lamb which had become her inseparablecompanion. [17]

Unfortunately all that concerns her has suffered much from laterretouchings of the legend. The perfectly natural conduct of the Saintwith women has much embarrassed his biographers; hence heavy anddistorted commentaries tacked on to episodes of a delicious simplicity. 

Before dying Francis desired to see again this friend, whom hesmilingly called Brother Giacomina. He caused a letter to be written herto come to Portiuncula; we can imagine the dismay of the narrators atthis far from monastic invitation. 

But the good lady had anticipated his appeal: at the moment when themessenger with the letter was about to leave for Rome, she arrived atPortiuncula and remained there until the last sigh of the Saint. [18]For one moment she thought of sending away her suite; the invalid was socalm and joyful that she could not believe him dying, but he himselfadvised her to keep her people with her. This time he felt with nopossible doubt that his captivity was about to be ended. 

He was ready, he had finished his work. 

Did he think then of the day when, cursed by his father, he hadrenounced all earthly goods and cried to God with an ineffableconfidence, "Our Father who art in heaven!" We cannot say; but hedesired to finish his life by a symbolic act which very closely recallsthe scene in the bishop's palace. 

He caused himself to be stripped of his clothing and laid upon theground, for he wished to die in the arms of his Lady Poverty. With oneglance he embraced the twenty years that had glided by since theirunion: "I have done my duty, " he said to the Brothers, "may the Christnow teach you yours!"[19]

This was Thursday, October 1. [20]

They laid him back upon his bed, and, conforming to his wishes, theyagain sang to him the Canticle of the Sun. 

At times he added his voice to those of his Brothers, [21] and came backwith preference to Psalm 142, _Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi_. [22]

 With my voice I cry unto the Lord, With my voice I implore the Lord, I pour out my complaint before him, I tell him all my distress. When my spirit is cast down within me, Thou knowest my path. Upon the way where I walk They have laid a snare for me, Cast thine eyes to the right and look! No one recognizes me; All refuge is lost for me, No one takes thought for my soul. Lord, unto thee I cry; I say: Thou art my refuge, My portion in the land of the living. Be attentive to my cries! For I am very unhappy. Deliver me from those who pursue me! For they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of its prison That I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me about When thou hast done good unto me!

The visits of death are always solemn, but the end of the just is themost moving _sursum corda_ that we can hear on earth. The hours flowedby and the Brothers would not leave him. "Alas, good Father, " said oneof them to him, unable longer to contain himself, "your children aregoing to lose you, and be deprived of the true light which lightenedthem: think of the orphans you are leaving and forgive all their faults, give to them all, present and absent, the joy of your holy benediction. "

"See, " replied the dying man, "God is calling me. I forgive all myBrothers, present and absent, their offences and faults, and absolvethem according to my power. Tell them so, and bless them all in myname. "[23]

Then crossing his arms he laid his hands upon those who surrounded him. He did this with peculiar emotion to Bernard of Quintavalle: "I desire, "he said, "and with all my power I urge whomsoever shall beminister-general of the Order, to love and honor him as myself; let theprovincials and all the Brothers act toward him as toward me. "[24]

He thought not only of the absent Brothers but of the future ones; loveso abounded in him that it wrung from him a groan of regret for notseeing all those who should enter the Order down to the end of time, that he might lay his hand upon their brows, and make them feel thosethings that may only be spoken by the eyes of him who loves in God. [25]

He had lost the notion of time; believing that it was still Thursday hedesired to take a last meal with his disciples. Some bread was brought, he broke it and gave it to them, and there in the poor cabin ofPortiuncula, without altar and without a priest, was celebrated theLord's Supper. [26]

A Brother read the Gospel for Holy Thursday, _Ante diem festum Paschĉ_:"Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was cometo go from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were inthe world he loved them unto the end. "

The sun was gilding the crests of the mountains with his last rays, there was silence around the dying one. All was ready. The angel ofdeath might come. 

Saturday, October 3, 1226, at nightfall, without pain, without struggle, he breathed the last sigh. 

The Brothers were still gazing on his face, hoping yet to catch somesign of life, when innumerable larks alighted, singing, on the thatch ofhis cell, [27] as if to salute the soul which had just taken flight andgive the Little Poor Man the canonization of which he was most worthy, the only one, doubtless, which he would ever have coveted. 

On the morrow, at dawn, the Assisans came down to take possession of hisbody and give it a triumphant funeral. 

By a pious inspiration, instead of going straight to the city they wentaround by St. Damian, and thus was realized the promise made by Francisto the Sisters a few weeks before, to come once more to see them. 

Their grief was heart-rending. 

These women's hearts revolted against the absurdity of death;[28] butthere were tears on that day at St. Damian only. The Brothers forgottheir sadness on seeing the stigmata, and the inhabitants of Assisimanifested an indescribable joy on having their relic at last. Theydeposited it in the Church St. George. [29]

Less than two years after, Sunday, July 26, 1228, Gregory IX. Came toAssisi to preside in person over the ceremonies of canonization, and tolay, on the morrow, the first stone of the new church dedicated to theStigmatized. 

Built under the inspiration of Gregory IX. And the direction of BrotherElias, this marvellous basilica is also one of the documents of thishistory, and perhaps I have been wrong in neglecting it. 

Go and look upon it, proud, rich, powerful, then go down to Portiuncula, pass over to St. Damian, hasten to the Carceri, and you will understandthe abyss that separates the ideal of Francis from that of the pontiffwho canonized him. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] _Mortem cantando suscepit. _ 2 Cel. , 3, 139. 

 [2] The text here taken as a basis is that of the Assisi MS. , 338 (f^o 16a-18a). It is also to be found in _Firmamentum_, f^o 19, col. 4; _Speculum_, Morin, _tract. _ iii. , 8a; Wadding, _ann. 1226_, 35; A. SS. , p. 663; Amoni, _Legenda Trium Sociorum_; Appendix, p. 110. Everything in this document proclaims its authenticity, but we are not reduced to internal proof. It is expressly cited in 1 Cel. , 17 (before 1230); by the Three Companions (1246), 3 Soc. , 11; 26; 29; by 2 Cel. , 3, 99 (1247). These proofs would be more than sufficient, but there is another of even greater value: the bull _Quo elongati_ of September 28, 1230, where Gregory IX. Cites it textually and declares that the friars are not bound to observe it. 

 [3] _Promittet Franciscus obedientiam . . . Papĉ . . . Et successoribus . . . Qui non possunt nec debent eis prĉcipere aliquid quod sit contra animam et regulam. _ _Archiv. _, _i_, p. 563. 

 [4] _Quod si quando a quocumque . . . Pontifice aliquid . . . Mandaretur quod esset contra fidem . . . Et caritatem et fructus ejus tunc obediet Deo magis quam hominibus. _ Ib. , p. 561. 

 [5] _Est [Regula] et stat et intelligitur super eos . . . Cum spei fiducia pace fruemur cum conscientiĉ et Christi spiritus testimonio certo. _ Ib. , pp. 563 and 565. 

 [6] _Archiv. _, ii. , p. 274. 

 [7] _Ad mandatum illud vos dicimus non teneri: quod sine consensu Fratrum maxime ministrorum, quos universos tangebat obligare nequivit nec successorem suum quomodolibet obligavit; cum non habeat imperium par in parem. _ The sophism is barely specious; Francis was not on a par with his successors; he did not act as minister-general, but as founder. 

 [8] _Arbor vit. Cruc. _, _lib. _ v. , _cap. _ 3 and 5. See above, p. 185. 

 [9] _Tribul. _, Laur. , 25b; _Archiv. _, i. , p. 532. 

 [10] At the summit of the Apennines, about half way between Camerino and Nocera (Umbria). _Tribul. _, Laur. , 26b; Magl. , 135b. 

 [11] _Declaratio Ubertini_, _Archiv. _, iii. , p. 168. This fact is not to be questioned, since it is alleged in a piece addressed to the pope, in response to the liberal friars, to whom it was to be communicated. 

 [12] _Feci moram cum illis. _, MS. , 338. Most of the printed texts give _miseracordiam_, which gives a less satisfactory meaning. Cf. Miscellanea iii. (1888), p. 70; 1 Cel. , 17; 3 Soc. , 11. 

 [13] It is evident that heresy is not here in question. The Brothers who were infected with it were to be delivered to the Church. 

 [14] Urban IV. Published, October 18, 1263, Potthast (18680), a Rule for the Clarisses which completely changed the character of this Order. Its author was the cardinal protector Giovanni degli Ursini (the future Nicholas III. ), who by way of precaution forbade the Brothers Minor under the severest penalties to dissuade the Sisters from accepting it. "It differs as much from the first Rule, " said Ubertini di Casali "as black and white, the savory and the insipid. " _Arbor. Vit. Cruc. Lib. _ v. , _cap. _ vi. 

 [15] V. _Test. B. Clarĉ_; _Conform. _, 185a 1; Spec. , 117b. 

 [16] 2 Cel. , 3, 132. 

 [17] Bon. , 112. 

 [18] The Bollandists deny this whole story, which they find in opposition to the prescriptions of Francis himself. A. SS. , p. 664 ff. But it is difficult to see for what object authors who take great pains to explain it could have had for inventing it. _Spec. _, 133a; _Fior. _ iv. ; _consid. _; _Conform. _, 240a. I have borrowed the whole account from Bernard of Besse: _De Laudibus_, f^o 113b. It appears that Giacomina settled for the rest of her life at Assisi, that she might gain edification from the first companions of Francis. _Spec. _, 107b. (What a lovely scene, and with what a Franciscan fragrance!) The exact date of her death is not known. She was buried in the lower church of the basilica of Assisi, and on her tomb was engraved: _Hic jacit Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana_. Vide Fratini: _Storia della basilica_, p. 48. Cf. Jacobilli: _Vite dei Santi e Beati dell' Umbria_, Foligno, 3 vols. , 4to, 1647; i. , p. 214. 

 [19] 2 Cel. , 3, 139; Bon. , 209, 210; _Conform. _, 171b, 2. 

 [20] 2 Cel. , 3, 139: _Cum me videritis . . . Sicut me nudius tertius nudum vidistis. _

 [21] 1 Cel. , 109; 2 Cel. , 3, 139. 

 [22] 1 Cel. , 109; Bon. , 212. 

 [23] 1 Cel. , 109. Cf. _Epist. Eliĉ. _

 [24] _Tribul. _ Laur. , 22b. Nothing better shows the historic value of the chronicle of the Tribulations than to compare its story of these moments with that of the following documents: _Conform. _, 48b, 1; 185a, 2; _Fior. _, 6. ; _Spec. _, 86a. 

 [25] 2 Cel. , 3, 139; _Spec. _, 116b; _Conform. _, 224b, 1. 

 [26] 2 Cel. , 3, 139. A simple comparison between this story in the _Speculum_ (116b) and that in the _Conformities_ (224b, 1) is enough to show how in certain of its parts the _Speculum_ represents a state of the legend anterior to 1385. 

 [27] Bon. , 214. This cell has been transformed into a chapel and may be found a few yards from the little church of Portiuncula. Church and chapel are now sheltered under the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. See the picture and plan, A. SS. , p. 814, or better still in _P. Barnabas aus dem Elsass, Portiuncula oder Geschichte U. L. F. V. Den Engeln_. Rixheim, 1884, 1 vol. , 8vo, pp. 311 and 312. 

 [28] 1 Cel. , 116 and 117; Bon. , 219; _Conform. _ 185a, 1. 

 [29] To-day in the _clôture_ of the convent St. Clara. Vide Miscellanea 1, pp. 44-48, a very interesting study by Prof. Carattoli upon the coffin of St. Francis. 

 * * * * *

 CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES

 * * * * *

SUMMARY

I. ST. FRANCIS'S WORKS. 

II. BIOGRAPHIES PROPERLY SO CALLED. 

 1. Preliminary Note. 

 2. First Life by Thomas of Celano. 

 3. Review of the History of the Order 1230-1244. 

 4. Legend of the Three Companions. 

 5. Fragments of the Suppressed Portion of the Legend. 

 6. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. First Part. 

 7. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. Second Part. 

 8. Documents of Secondary Importance:

 Biography for Use of the Choir. Life in Verse. Biography by Giovanni di Ceperano. Life by Brother Julian. 

 9. Legend of St. Bonaventura. 

 10. De Laudibus of Bernard of Besse. 

III. DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS. 

 1. Donation of the Verna. 

 2. Registers of Cardinal Ugolini. 

 3. Bulls. 

IV. CHRONICLERS OF THE ORDER. 

 1. Chronicle of Brother Giordano di Giano. 

 2. Eccleston: Arrival of the Friars in England. 

 3. Chronicle of Fra Salimbeni. 

 4. Chronicle of the Tribulations. 

 5. The Fioretti and their Appendices. 

 6. Chronicle of the XXIV. Generals. 

 7. The Conformities of Bartolommeo di Pisa. 

 8. Glassberger's Chronicle. 

 9. Chronicle of Mark of Lisbon. 

V. CHRONICLERS NOT OF THE ORDER. 

 1. Jacques de Vitry. 

 2. Thomas of Spalato. 

 3. Divers Chroniclers. 

 * * * * *

CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES

There are few lives in history so abundantly provided with documents asthat of St. Francis. This will perhaps surprise the reader, but toconvince himself he has only to run over the preceding list, which, however, has been made as succinct as possible. 

It is admitted in learned circles that the essential elements of thisbiography have disappeared or have been entirely altered. Theexaggeration of certain religious writers, who accept everything, andamong several accounts of the same fact always choose the longest andmost marvellous, has led to a like exaggeration in the contrary sense. 

If it were necessary to point out the results of these two excesses asthey affect each event, this volume would need to be twice and even fourtimes as large as it is. Those who are interested in these questionswill find in the notes brief indications of the original documents onwhich each narrative is based. [1]

To close the subject of the errors which are current in the Franciscandocuments, and to show in a few lines their extreme importance, I shalltake two examples. Among our own contemporaries no one has so wellspoken on the subject of St. Francis as M. Renan; he comes back to himwith affecting piety, and he was in a better condition than any one toknow the sources of this history. And yet he does not hesitate to say inhis study of the Canticle of the Sun, Francis's best known work: "Theauthenticity of this piece appears certain, but we must observe that wehave not the Italian original. The Italian text which we possess is atranslation of a Portuguese version, which was itself translated fromthe Spanish. "[2]

And yet the primitive Italian exists[3] not only in numerousmanuscripts in Italy and France, particularly in the MazarineLibrary, [4] but also in the well-known book of the _Conformities_. [5]

An error, grave from quite another point of view, is made by the sameauthor when he denies the authenticity of St. Francis's Will; this pieceis not only the noblest expression of its author's religious feeling, itconstitutes also a sort of autobiography, and contains the solemn andscarcely disguised revocation of all the concessions which had beenwrung from him. We have already seen that its authenticity is not to bechallenged. [6] This double example will, I hope, suffice to show thenecessity of beginning this study by a conscientious examination of thesources. 

If the eminent historian to whom I have alluded were still living, hewould have for this page his large and benevolent smile, that simple, _Oui, oui_, which once made his pupils in the little hall of the Collègede France to tremble with emotion. 

I do not know what he would think of this book, but I well know that hewould love the spirit in which it was undertaken, and would easilypardon me for having chosen him for scape-goat of my wrath against thelearned men and biographers. 

The documents to be examined have been divided into five categories. 

The first includes _St. Francis's works_. 

The second, _biographies properly so called_. 

The third, _diplomatic documents_. 

The fourth, _chronicles of the Order_. 

The fifth, _chronicles of authors not of the Order_. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] If any student finds himself embarrassed by the extreme rarity of certain works cited, I shall make it my duty and pleasure to send them to him, as well as a copy of the Italian manuscripts. 

 [2] E. Renan: _Nouvelles études d'histoire religieuse_, Paris, 1884, 8vo, p. 331. 

 [3] See above, pp. 304 ff. 

 [4] Mazarine Library, MS. 8531: _Speculum perfectionis S. Francisci_; the Canticle is found at fo. 51. Cf. MS. , 1350 (date of 1459). That text was published by Boehmer in the _Romanische Studien_, Halle, 1871. Pp. 118-122. _Der Sonnengesang v. Fr. D'A. _

 [5] _Conform. _ (Milan, 1510), 202b, 2s. For that matter it is correct that Diola, in the _Croniche degli ordini instituti da S. Francisco_ (Venice, 1606, 3 vols. 4to), translated after the Castilian version of the work composed in Portuguese by Mark of Lisbon, was foolish enough to render into Italian this translation of a translation. 

 [6] See pages 333 ff. 

 * * * * *

I

ST. FRANCIS'S WORKS

The writings of St. Francis[1] are assuredly the best source ofacquaintance with him; we can only be surprised to find them soneglected by most of his biographers. It is true that they give littleinformation as to his life, and furnish neither dates nor facts, [2]but they do better, they mark the stages of his thought and of hisspiritual development. The legends give us Francis as he appeared, andby that very fact suffer in some degree the compulsion of circumstances;they are obliged to bend to the exigencies of his position as general ofan Order approved by the Church, as miracle-worker, and as saint. Hisworks, on the contrary, show us his very soul; each phrase has not onlybeen thought, but lived; they bring us the Poverello's emotions, stillalive and palpitating. 

So, when in the writings of the Franciscans we find any utterance oftheir master, it unconsciously betrays itself, sounding out suddenly ina sweet, pure tone which penetrates to your very heart, awakening with athrill a sprite that was sleeping there. 

This bloom of love enduing St. Francis's words would be an admirablecriterion of the authenticity of those opuscules which traditionattributes to him; but the work of testing is neither long nordifficult. If after his time injudicious attempts were here and theremade to honor him with miracles which he did not perform, which he wouldnot even have wished to perform, no attempt was ever made to burden hisliterary efforts with false or supposititious pieces. [3] The bestproof of this is that it is not until Wadding--that is to say, until theseventeenth century--that we find the first and only serious attempt tocollect these precious memorials. Several of them have been lost, [4]but those which remain are enough to give us in some sort the refutationof the legends. 

In these pages Francis gives himself to his readers, as long ago he gavehimself to his companions; in each one of them a feeling, a cry of theheart, or an aspiration toward the Invisible is prolonged down to ourown time. 

Wadding thought it his duty to give a place in his collection to severalsuspicious pieces; more than this, instead of following the oldestmanuscripts that he had before him, he often permitted himself to be ledastray by sixteenth-century writers whose smallest concern was to becritical and accurate. To avoid the tedious and entirely negative taskto which it would be necessary to proceed if I took him for mystarting-point I shall confine myself to a positive study of thisquestion. 

All the pieces which will be enumerated are found in his collection. They are sometimes cut up in a singular way; but in proportion as eachdocument is studied we shall find sufficient indications to enable usto make the necessary rectifications. 

The archives of Sacro Convento of Assisi[5] possess a manuscript whoseimportance is not to be overestimated. It has already been many timesstudied, [6] and bears the number 338. 

It appears, however, that a very important detail of form has beenoverlooked. It is this: that No. 338 is not _one_ manuscript, but _acollection_ of manuscripts of very different periods, which were puttogether because they were of very nearly the same size, and have beenfoliated in a peculiar manner. 

This artificial character of the collection shows that each of thepieces which compose it needs to be examined by itself, and that it isimpossible to say of it as a whole that it is of the thirteenth or thefourteenth century. 

The part that interests us is perfectly homogeneous, is formed of threeparchment books (fol. 12a-44b) and contains a part of Francis's works. 

1. The Rule, definitively approved by Honorius III. , November 20, 1223[7] (fol. 12a-16a). 

2. St. Francis's Will[8] (fol. 16a-18a). 

3. The Admonitions[9] (fol. 18a-23b). 

4. The Letter to all Christians[10] (fol. 23b-28a). 

5. The letter to all the members of the Order assembled inChapter-general[11] (fol. 28a-31a). 

6. Counsel to all clerics on the respect to be paid to theEucharist[12] (fol. , 31b-32b). 

7. A very short piece preceded by the rubric: "Of the virtues whichadorn the Virgin Mary and which ought to adorn the holy soul"[13] (fol. 32b). 

8. The _Laudes Creaturarum_, or Canticle of the Sun[14] (fol. 33a). 

9. A paraphrase of the _Pater_ introduced by the rubric: _Incipiuntlaudes quas ordinavit. B. Pater noster Franciscus et dicebat ipsas adomnes horas diei et noctis et ante officium B. V. Mariĉ sic incipiens:Sanctissime Pater_[15] (fol. 34a). 

10. The office of the Passion (34b-43a). This office, where the psalmsare replaced by several series of biblical verses, are designed to makehim who repeats them follow, hour by hour, the emotions of the CrucifiedOne from the evening of Holy Thursday. [16]

11. A rule for friars in retreat in hermitages[17] (fol. 43a-43b). 

A glance over this list is enough to show that the works of Francis herecollected are addressed to all the Brothers, or are a sort ofencyclicals, which they are charged to pass on to those for whom theyare destined. 

The very order of these pieces shows us that we have in this manuscriptthe primitive library of the Brothers Minor, the collection of whicheach minister was to carry with him a copy. It was truly their viaticum. 

Matthew Paris tells us of his amazement at the sight of these foreignmonks, clothed in patched tunics, and carrying their books in a sort ofcase suspended from their necks. [18]

The Assisi manuscript was without doubt destined to this service; if itis silent on the subject of the journeys it has made, and of theBrothers to whom it has been a guide and an inspiration, it at leastbrings us, more than all the legends, into intimacy with Francis, makesus thrill in unison with that heart which never admitted a separationbetween joy, love, and poetry. As to the date of this manuscript, onemust needs be a paleographer to determine. We have already found ahypothesis which, if well grounded, would carry it back to theneighborhood of 1240. [19]

Its contents seem to countenance this early date. In fact, it containsseveral pieces of which the _Manual of the Brother Minor_ very early riditself. 

Very soon they were content to have only the Rule to keep company withthe breviary; sometimes they added the Will. But the other writings, ifthey did not fall entirely into neglect, ceased at least to be of dailyusage. 

Those of St. Francis's writings which are not of general interest or donot concern the Brothers naturally find no place in this collection. Inthis new category we must range the following documents:

1. The Rule of 1221. [20]

2. The Rule of the Clarisses, which we no longer possess in its originalform. [21]

3. A sort of special instruction for ministers-general. [22]

4. A letter to St. Clara. [23]

5. Another letter to the same. [24]

6. A letter to Brother Leo. [25]

7. A few prayers. [26]

8. The benediction of Brother Leo. The original autograph, which ispreserved in the treasury of Sacro Convento, has been very wellreproduced by heliograph. [27]

As to the two famous hymns _Amor de caritade_[28] and _In foco l'amormi mise_, [29] they cannot be attributed to St. Francis, at least intheir present form. 

It belongs to M. Monaci and his numerous and learned emulators to throwlight upon these delicate questions by publishing in a scientific mannerthe earliest monuments of Italian poetry. 

I have already spoken of several tracts of which assured traces havebeen found, though they themselves are lost. They are much more numerousthan would at first be supposed. In the missionary zeal of the earlyyears the Brothers would not concern themselves with collectingdocuments. We do not write our memoirs in the fulness of our youth. 

We must also remember that Portiuncula had neither archives nor library. It was a chapel ten paces long, with a few huts gathered around it. TheOrder was ten years old before it had seen any other than a single book:a New Testament. The Brothers did not even keep this one. Francis, having nothing else, gave it to a poor woman who asked for alms, andwhen Pietro di Catania, his vicar, expressed his surprise at thisprodigality: "Has she not given her two sons to the Order?" replied themaster[30] quickly. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Collected first by Wadding (Antwerp, 1623, 4to), they have been published many times since then, particularly by De la Haye (Paris, 1641, f^o). These two editions having become scarce, were republished--in a very unsatisfactory manner--by the Abbé Horoy: _S. Francisci Assisiatis opera omnia_ (Paris, 1880, 4to). For want of a more exact edition, that of Father Bernardo da Fivizzano is the most useful: _Opuscoli di S. Francesco d'Assisi_, 1 vol. , 12mo, pp. 564, Florence, 1880. The Latin text is accompanied by an Italian translation. 

 [2] "_Die Briefe, die unter seinem Namen gehen, mögen theilweise ächt sein. Aber sie tragen kaum etwas zur näheren Kenntniss bei und können daher fast ganz ausser Acht bleiben_. " Müller, _Die Anfänge des Minoritenordens_, Freiburg, 1 vol. , 8vo, 1885, p. 3. 

 [3] Pieces have been often attributed to St. Francis which do not belong to him; but those are unintentional errors and made without purpose. The desire for literary exactness is relatively of recent date, and it was easier for those who were ignorant of the author of certain Franciscan writings to attribute them to St. Francis than to admit their ignorance or to make deep researches. 

 [4] For example, the first Rule; probably also a few canticles; a letter to the Brothers in France, Eccl. , 6; another to the Brothers in Bologna: "_Prĉdixerat per litteram in qua fuit plurimum latinum_, " Eccl. , ib. ; a letter to Antony of Padua, other than the one we have, since on the witness of Celano it was addressed: _Fratri Antonio episcopo meo_ (2 Cel. , 3, 99); certain letters to St. Clara: "_Scripsit Clarĉ et sororibus ad consolationem litteram in quâ dabat benedictionem suam et absolvebat_, " etc. _Conform. _, f^o. 185a, 1; cf. _Test. B. Clarĉ_. A. SS. , Augusti, t. Ii. , p. 767: "_Plura scripta tradidit nobis, ne post mortem suam declinaremus a paupertate_;" certain letters to Cardinal Ugolini, 3 Soc. , 67. 

 It is not to negligence alone that we must attribute the loss of many of the epistles: "_Quod nephas est cogitare, in provincia Marchie et in pluribus aliis locis testamentum beati Francisci mandaverunt (prelati ordinis) districte per obedientiam ab omnibus auferi et comburi. Et uni fratri devoto et sancto, cujus nomen est N. De Rocanato combuxerunt dicum testamentum super caput suum. Et toto conatu fuerunt solliciti, annulare scripta beati patris nostri Francisci, in quibus sua intentio de observantia regule declaratur. _" Ubertino di Casali, _apud Archiv. _, iii. , pp. 168-169. 

 [5] Italy is too obliging to artists, archĉologists, and scholars not to do them the favor of disposing in a more practical manner this trust, the most precious of all Umbria. Even with the indefatigable kindness of the curator, M. Alessandro, and of the municipality of Assisi, it is very difficult to profit by these treasures heaped up in a dark room without a table to write upon. 

 [6] In particular by Ehrle: _Die historischen Handschriften von S. Francesco in Assisi. _ _Archiv. _, t. I. , p. 484. 

 [7] See pages 252 ff . . . And 283. 

 [8] See pages 333 ff. 

 [9] See pages 259 ff. 

 [10] See page 325 ff. 

 [11] See pages 322 ff. 

 [12] See page 327. 

 [13] I give it entire: "_Regina sapientia, Dominus te salvet, cum tua sorore sancta pura simplicitate. --Domina sancta paupertas, Domimus te salvet, cum tua sorore sancta humilitate. --Domina sancta caritas, Dominus te salvet, cum tua sorrore sancta obedientia. Sanctissimĉ virtutes omnes, vos salvet Dominus, a quo venitis et proceditis. _" Its authenticity is guaranteed by a citation by Celano: 2 Cel. , 3, 119. Cf. 126b and 127a. 

 [14] See pages 304 f. 

 [15] I shall not recur to this: the text is in the Conformities 138a 2. 

 [16] The authenticity of this service, to which there is not a single allusion in the biographies of St. Francis, is rendered certain by the life of St. Clara: "_Officium crucis, prout crucis amator Franciscus instituerat (Clara) didicit et affectu simili frequentavit. _" A. SS. , Augusti, t. Ii. , p. 761a. 

 [17] It begins: _Illi qui volunt stare in heremis_. This text is also found in the Conformities, 143a, 1. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 43; see p. 97. 

 [18] _Nudis pedibus incedentes, funiculis cincti, tunicis griseis et talaribus peciatis, insuto capucio utentes . . . Nihil sibi ultra noctem reservantes . . . Libros continue suos . . . In forulis a collo dependentes bajulantes. _ Historia Anglorum, Pertz: _Script. _, t. 28, p. 397. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 135; _Fior. _, 5; _Spec. _, 45b. 

 [19] See page 322 n. 

 [20] See page 252. 

 [21] See page 157. 

 [22] See pages 318 ff. 

 [23] See page 239. 

 [24] See page 327. 

 [25] See page 262. 

 [26] _a. _ _Sanctus Dominus Deus noster. _ Cf. _Spec. _, 126a; _Firmamentum_, 18b, 2; _Conform. _, 202b, 1. 

 _b. _ _Ave Domina sancta. _ Cf. _Spec. _, 127a; _Conform. _, 138a, 2. 

 _c. _ _Sancta Maria virgo. _ Cf. _Spec. _, 126b; _Conform. _, 202b, 2. 

 [27] Vide S. François, in 4to, Paris. 1885 (Plon), p. 233. The authenticity of this benediction appears to be well established, since it was already jealously guarded during the life of Thomas of Celano. No one has ever dreamed of requiring historical proof of this writing. Is this perhaps a mistake? The middle of the sheet is taken up with the benediction which was dictated to Brother Leo: _Benedicat tibi Dominus et custodiat te, ostendat faciem suam tibi et misereatur tui convertat vultum suum ad te et det tibi pacem. _ At the bottom, Francis added the letter _tau_. ~[Greek: Tau]~, which was, so to speak, his signature (Bon. , 51; 308), and the words: _Frater Leo Dominus benedicat te_. 

 Then when this memorial became a part of the relics of the Saint, Brother Leo, to authenticate it in a measure, added the following notes: toward the middle: _Beatus Franciscus scripsit manu sua istam benedictionem mihi fratri Leoni_; toward the close: _Simili modo fecit istud signum thau cum capite manu sua_. But the most valuable annotation is found at the top of the sheet: _Beatus Franciscus duobus annis ante mortem suam fecit quadragesimam in loco Alvernĉ ad honorem Beatĉ Virginia Mariĉ matris Dei et beati Michael archangeli a festo assumptionis sanctĉ Mariĉ Virginis usque ad festum sancti Michael septembris et facta est super eum manus Domini per visionem et allucotionem seraphym et impressionem stigmatum in corpore suo. Fecit has laudes ex alio latere catule scriptas et manu, sua scripsit gratias agens Domino de beneficio sibi collato. _ Vide 2 Cel. , 2, 18. 

 [28] Wadding gives the text according to St. Bernardino da Siena. _Opera_, t. Iv. , _sermo_ 16, _extraord. Et sermo feriĉ sextĉ Parasceves_. Amoni: _Legenda trium sociorum_, p. 166. 

 [29] Wadding has drawn the text from St. Bernardino, _loc. Cit. _, _sermo_ iv. , _extraord. _ It was also reproduced by Amoni, _loc. Cit. _, p. 165. Two very curious versions may be found in the Miscellanea, 1888, pp. 96 and 190. 

 [30] 2 Cel. , 3, 35. This took place under the vicariat of Pietro di Catania; consequently between September 29, 1220, and March 10, 1221. 

 * * * * *

II

BIOGRAPHIES PROPERLY SO CALLED

I. PRELIMINARY NOTE

To form a somewhat exact notion of the documents which are to occupy us, we must put them back into the midst of the circumstances in which theyappeared, study them in detail, and determine the special value of eachone. 

Here, more than anywhere else, we must beware of facile theories andhasty generalizations. The same life described by two equally truthfulcontemporaries may take on a very different coloring. This is especiallythe case if the man concerned has aroused enthusiasm and wrath, if hisinmost thought, his works, have been the subject of discussion, if thevery men who were commissioned to realize his ideals and carry on hiswork are divided, and at odds with one another. 

This was the case with St. Francis. In his lifetime and before his owneyes divergences manifested themselves, at first secretly, then in thelight of day. 

In a rapture of love he went from cottage to cottage, from castle tocastle, preaching absolute poverty; but that buoyant enthusiasm, thatunbounded idealism, could not last long. The Order of the Brothers Minorin process of growth was open not only to a few choice spirits aflamewith mystic fervor, but to all men who aspired after a religiousreformation; pious laymen, monks undeceived as to the virtues of theancient Orders, priests shocked at the vices of the secular clergy, allbrought with them--unintentionally no doubt and even unconsciously--toomuch of their old man not by degrees to transform the institution. 

Francis perceived the peril several years before his death, and madeevery effort to avert it. Even in his dying hour we see him summoningall his powers to declare his Will once again, and as clearly aspossible, and to conjure his Brothers never to touch the Rule, evenunder pretext of commenting upon or explaining it. Alas! four years hadnot rolled away when Gregory IX. , at the prayer of the Brothersthemselves, became the first one of a long series of pontiffs who haveexplained the Rule. [1]

Poverty, as Francis understood it, soon became only a memory. Theunexampled success of the Order brought to it not merely new recruits, but money. How refuse it when there were so many works to found? Many ofthe friars discovered that their master had exaggerated many things, that shades of meaning were to be observed in the Rule, for example, between counsels and precepts. The door once opened to interpretations, it became impossible to close it. The Franciscan family began to bedivided into opposing parties often difficult to distinguish. 

At first there were a few restless, undisciplined men who groupedthemselves around the older friars. The latter, in their character offirst companions of the Saint, found a moral authority often greaterthan the official authority of the ministers and guardians. The peopleturned to them by instinct as to the true continuers of St. Francis'swork. They were not far from right. 

They had the vigor, the vehemence of absolute convictions; they couldnot have temporized had they desired to do so. When they emerged fromtheir hermitages in the Apennines, their eyes shining with the fever oftheir ideas, absorbed in contemplation, their whole being spoke of theradiant visions they enjoyed; and the amazed and subdued multitudewould kneel to kiss the prints of their feet with hearts mysteriouslystirred. 

A larger group was that of those Brothers who condemned these methodswithout being any the less saints. Born far away from Umbria, incountries where nature seems to be a step-mother, where adoration, farfrom being the instinctive act of a happy soul soaring upward to blessthe heavenly Father, is, on the contrary, the despairing cry of an atomlost in immensity, they desired above all things a religiousreformation, rational and profound. They dreamed of bringing the Churchback to the purity of the ancient days, and saw in the vow of poverty, understood in its largest sense, the best means of struggling againstthe vices of the clergy; but they forgot the freshness, the Italiangayety, the sunny poetry that there had been in Francis's mission. 

Full of admiration for him, they yet desired to enlarge the foundationsof his work, and for that they would neglect no means of influence, certainly not learning. 

This tendency was the dominant one in France, Germany, and England. InItaly it was represented by a very powerful party, powerful if not inthe number, at least in the authority, of its representatives. This wasthe party favored by the papacy. It was the party of Brother Elias andall the ministers-general of the Order in the thirteenth century, if weexcept Giovanni di Parma (1247-1257) and Raimondo Gaufridi (1289-1295). 

In Italy a third group, the liberals, was much more numerous; men ofmediocrity to whom monastic life appeared the most facile existence, vagrant monks happy to secure an aftermath of success by displaying thenew Rule, formed in this country the greater part of the Franciscanfamily. 

We can understand without difficulty that documents emanating from suchdifferent quarters must bear the impress of their origin. The men whoare to bring us their testimony are combatants in the struggle over thequestion of poverty, a struggle which for two centuries agitated theChurch, aroused all consciences, and which had its monsters and itsmartyrs. 

To determine the value of these witnesses we must first of all discovertheir origin. It is evident that the narratives of the no-compromiseparty of the right or the left can have but slender value wherecontroverted points are concerned; whence the conclusion that theauthority of a narrator may vary from page to page, or even from line toline. 

These considerations, so simple that one almost needs to beg pardon foruttering them, have not, however, guided those who have studied St. Francis's life. The most learned, like Wadding and Papini, have broughttogether the narratives of different biographers, here and there pruningthose that are too contradictory; but they have done this at random, with neither rule nor method, guided by the impression of the moment. 

The long work of the Bollandist Suysken is vitiated by an analogousfault; fixed in his principle that the oldest documents are always thebest, [2] he takes his stand upon the first Life of Thomas of Celano asupon an impregnable rock, and judges all other legends by that one. [3]

When we connect the documents with the disturbed circumstances whichbrought them into being, some of them lose a little of their authority, others which have been neglected, as being in contradiction withwitnesses who have become so to say official, suddenly recover credit, and in fact all gain a new life which doubles their interest. 

This altered point of view in the valuation of the sources, thiscriticism which I am inclined to call reciprocal and organic, bringsabout profound alterations in the biography of St. Francis. By aphenomenon which may appear strange we end by sketching a portrait ofhim much more like that which exists in the popular imagination of Italythan that made by the learned historians above mentioned. 

When Francis died (1226) the parties which divided the Order had alreadyentered into conflict. That event precipitated the crisis: Brother Eliashad been for five years exercising the functions of minister-generalwith the title of vicar. He displayed an amazing activity. Intrenched inthe confidence of Gregory IX. He removed the _Zelanti_ from theircharges, strengthened the discipline even in the most remote provinces, obtained numerous privileges from the curia, and with incrediblerapidity prepared for the building of the double basilica, destined forthe repose of the ashes of the Stigmatized Saint; but notwithstandingall his efforts, the chapter of 1227 set him aside and chose GiovanniParenti as minister-general. 

Furious at this check, he immediately set all influences to work to bechosen at the following chapter. It even seems as if he paid noattention to the nomination of Giovanni Parenti, and continued to go onas if he had been minister. [4]

Very popular among the Assisans, who were dazzled by the magnificence ofthe monument which was springing up on the _Hill of Hell_, now becomethe _Hill of Paradise_, sure of being supported by a considerable partyin the Order and by the pope, he pushed forward the work on the basilicawith a decision and success perhaps unique in the annals ofarchitecture. [5]

All this could not be done without arousing the indignation of theZealots of poverty. When they saw a monumental poor-box, designed toreceive the alms of the faithful, upon the tomb of him who had forbiddenhis disciples the mere contact of money, it seemed to them thatFrancis's prophecy of the apostasy of a part of the Order was about tobe fulfilled. A tempest of revolt swept over the hermitages of Umbria. Must they not, by any means, prevent this abomination in the holy place?

They knew that Elias was terrible in his severities, but his opponentsfelt in themselves courage to go to the last extremity, and suffereverything to defend their convictions. One day the poor-box was foundshattered by Brother Leo and his friends. [6]

To this degree of intensity the struggle had arrived. At this crisis thefirst legend appeared. 

II. First Life by Thomas of Celano[7]

Thomas of Celano, in writing this legend, to which he was later toreturn for its completion, obeyed an express order of Pope GregoryIX. [8]

Why did he not apply to one of the Brothers of the Saint's immediatecircle? The talent of this author might explain this choice, butbesides the fact that literary considerations would in this case hold asecondary place, Brother Leo and several others proved later that theyalso knew how to handle the pen. 

If Celano was put in trust with the official biography, it is because, being equally in sympathy with Gregory IX. And Brother Elias, hisabsence had kept him out of the conflicts which had marked the lastyears of Francis's life. Of an irenic temper, he belonged to thecategory of those souls who easily persuade themselves that obedience isthe first of virtues, that every superior is a saint; and if unluckilyhe is not, that we should none the less act as though he were. 

We have some knowledge of his life. A native of Celano in the Abruzzi, he discreetly observes that his family was noble, even adding, with atouch of artless simplicity, that the master had a peculiar regard fornoble and educated Brothers. He entered the Order about 1215, [9] onthe return of Francis from Spain. 

At the chapter of 1221 Cĉsar of Speyer, charged with the mission toGermany, took him among those who were to accompany him. [10] In 1223 hewas named custode of Mayence, Worms, Cologne, and Speyer. In April ofthe same year, when Cĉsar returned to Italy, devoured with the longingto see St. Francis again, he commissioned Celano to execute hisfunctions until the arrival of the new provincial. [11]

We have no information as to where he was after the chapter-general heldat Speyer September 8, 1223. He must have been in Assisi in 1228, forhis account of the canonization is that of an eye-witness. He was thereagain in 1230, and doubtless clothed with an important office, since hecould commit to Brother Giordano the relics of St. Francis. [12]

Written in a pleasing style, very often poetic, his work breathes anaffecting admiration for his hero; his testimony at once makes itselffelt as sincere and true: when he is partial it is without intention andeven without his knowledge. The weak point in this biography is thepicture which it outlines of the relations between Brother Elias and thefounder of the Order: from the chapters devoted to the last two years wereceive a very clear impression that Elias was named by Francis tosucceed him. [13]

Now if we reflect that at the time when Celano wrote, Giovanni Parentiwas minister-general, we at once perceive the bearing of theseindications. [14] Every opportunity is seized to give a preponderatingimportance to Elias. [15] It is a true manifesto in his favor. 

Have we reason to blame Celano? I think not. We must simply rememberthat his work might with justice be called the legend of Gregory IX. Elias was the pope's man, and the biography is worked up from theinformation he gave. He could not avoid dwelling with peculiarsatisfaction upon his intimacy with Francis. 

On the other hand, we cannot expect to find here such details as mighthave sustained the pretension of the adversaries of Elias, those unrulyZealots who were already proudly adorning themselves with the title of_Companions of the Saint_ and endeavoring to constitute a sort ofspiritual aristocracy in the Order. Among them were four who during thelast two years had not, so to say, quitted Francis. We can imagine howdifficult it was not to speak of them. Celano carefully omits to mentiontheir names under pretext of sparing their modesty;[16] but by thepraises lavished upon Gregory IX. , Brother Elias, [17] St. Clara, [18]and even upon very secondary persons, he shows that his discretion isfar from being always so alert. 

All this is very serious, but we must not exaggerate it. There is anevident partiality, but it would be unjust to go farther and believe, asmen did later, that the last part of Francis's life was an activestruggle against the very person of Elias. A struggle there surely was, but it was against tendencies whose spring Francis did not perceive. Hecarried with him to his tomb his delusion as to his co-laborer. 

For that matter this defect is after all secondary so far as thephysiognomy of Francis himself is concerned. In Celano's Life, as in theThree Companions or the Fioretti, he appears with a smile for all joys, and floods of tears for all woes; we feel everywhere the restrainedemotion of the writer; his heart is subjected by the moral beauty of hishero. 

III. SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER FROM 1230-1244

When Thomas of Celano closed his legend he perceived more than anyonethe deficiencies of his work, for which he had been able to collect butinsufficient material. 

Elias and the other Assisan brothers had told him of Francis's youth andhis activity in Umbria; but besides that he would have preferred, whether from prudence or from love of peace, to keep silence uponcertain events, [19] there were long periods upon which he had notreceived a single item of information. [20]

He therefore seems to indicate his intention of resuming and completinghis work. [21]

This is not the place to write the history of the Order, but a few factsare necessary to put the documents into their proper surroundings. 

Elected minister-general in 1232, Brother Elias took advantage of thefact to labor with indomitable energy toward the realization of his ownideas. In all the provinces new collections were organized for theBasilica of Assisi, the work upon which was pushed with an activitywhich however injured neither the strength of the edifice nor thebeauty of its details, which are as finished and perfect as those of anymonument in Europe. 

We may conceive of the enormous sums which it had been necessary toraise in order to complete such an enterprise in so short a time. Morethan that, Brother Elias exacted absolute obedience from all hissubordinates; naming and removing the provincial ministers according tohis personal views, he neglected to convoke the chapter-general, andsent his emissaries under the name of visitors into all the provinces tosecure the execution of his orders. 

The moderate party in Germany, France, and England very soon found hisyoke insupportable. It was hard for them to be directed by an Italianminister resident at Assisi, a small town quite aside from the highwaysof civilization, entirely a stranger to the scientific movementconcentred in the universities of Oxford, Paris, and Bologna. 

In the indignation of the _Zelanti_ against Elias and his contempt forthe Rule, they found a decisive support. Very soon the minister had forhis defence nothing but his own energy, and the favor of the pope and ofthe few Italian moderates. By a great increase of vigilance and severityhe repressed several attempts at revolt. 

His adversaries, however, succeeded in establishing secret intelligenceat the court of Rome; even the pope's confessor was gained; yet in spiteof all these circumstances, the success of the conspiracy was stilluncertain when the chapter of 1239 opened. 

Gregory IX. , still favorable to Elias, [22] presided. Fear gave suddencourage to the conspirators; they threw their accusations in theirenemy's face. 

Thomas of Eccleston gives a highly colored narrative of what took place. Elias was proud, violent, even threatening. There were cries andvociferations from both sides; they were about to come to blows when afew words from the pope restored silence. He had made up his mind toabandon his _protégé_. He asked for his resignation. Elias indignantlyrefused. 

Gregory IX. Then explained that in keeping him in charge he had thoughthimself acting in accordance with the wishes of the majority: that hehad no intention to dominate the Order, and, since the Brothers nolonger desired Elias, he declared him deposed from the generalate. 

The joy of the victors, says Eccleston, was immense and ineffable. Theychose Alberto di Pisa, provincial of England, to succeed him, and fromthat time bent all their efforts to represent Elias as a creature ofFrederick II. [23] The former minister wrote indeed to the pope toexplain his conduct, but the letter did not reach its destination. Itmust have reached the hands of his successor, and not been sent forward;when Alberto of Pisa died it was found in his tunic. [24]

All the fury of the aged pontiff was unchained against Elias. One mustread the documents to see to what a height his anger could rise. Thefriar retorted with a virulence which though less wordy was far moreoverpowering. [25]

These events gained an indescribable notoriety[26] all over Europe andthrew the Order into profound disturbance. Many of the partisans ofElias became convinced that they had been deceived by an impostor, andthey drew toward the group of Zealots, who never ceased to demand theobservance pure and simple of the Rule and the Will. 

Thomas of Celano was of this number. [27] With profound sadness he sawthe innumerable influences that were secretly undermining the Franciscaninstitute and menacing it with ruin. Already a refrain was going therounds of the convents, singing the victory of Paris over Assisi, thatis, of learning over poverty. 

The Zealots gained new courage. Unaccustomed to the subtleties ofecclesiastical politics, they did not perceive that the pope, whilecondemning Brother Elias, had in nowise modified the general coursewhich he had marked out for the Order. The ministers-general, Alberto diPisa, 1239-1240, Aymon of Faversham, 1240-1244, Crescentius de Jesi, 1244-1247, were all, with different shades of meaning, representativesof the moderate party. 

Thomas of Celano's first legend had become impossible. The prominencethere given to Elias was almost a scandal. The necessity of working itover and completing it became clearly evident at the chapter of Genoa(1244). 

All the Brothers who had anything to tell about Francis's life wereinvited to commit it to writing and send it to the minister Crescentiusde Jesi. [28] The latter immediately caused a tract to be drawn up inthe form of a dialogue, commencing with the words: "_Venerabilium gestaPatrum_. " So soon after as the time of Bernard de Besse, only fragmentsof this were left. [29]

But happily several of the works which saw the light in consequence ofthe decision of this chapter have been preserved to us. It is to thisthat we owe the Legend of the Three Companions and the Second Life byThomas of Celano. 

IV. LEGEND OF THE THREE COMPANIONS[30]

The life of St. Francis which has come down to us under the name of theLegend of the Three Companions was finished on August 11, 1246, in alittle convent in the vale of Rieti, which appears often in the courseof this history, that of Greccio. This hermitage had been Francis'sfavorite abode, especially in the latter part of his life. He had thusmade it doubly dear to the hearts of his disciples. [31] It naturallybecame, from the earliest days of the Order, the headquarters of theObservants, [32] and it remains through all the centuries one of thepurest centres of Franciscan piety. 

The authors of this legend were men worthy to tell St. Francis's story, and perhaps the most capable of doing it: the friars Leo, Angelo, andRufino. All three had lived in intimacy with him, and had been hiscompanions through the most important years. More than this, they tookthe trouble to go to others for further information, particularly toFilippo, the visitor of the Clarisses, to Illuminato di Rieti, Masseo diMarignano, John, the confidant of Egidio, and Bernardo di Quintavalle. 

Such names as these promise much, and happily we are not disappointed inour expectation. As it has come down to us, this document is the onlyone worthy from the point of view of history to be placed beside theFirst Life by Celano. 

The names of the authors and the date of the composition indicate beforeexamination the tendency with which it is likely to be in harmony. It isthe first manifesto of the Brothers who remained faithful to the spiritand letter of the Rule. This is confirmed by an attentive reading; it isat least as much a panegyric of Poverty as a history of St. Francis. 

We naturally expect to see the Three Companions relating to us with avery particular delight the innumerable features of the legends of whichGreccio was the theatre; we turn to the end of the volume, expecting tofind the story of the last years of which they were witnesses, and arelost in surprise to find nothing of the kind. 

While the first half of the work describes Francis's youth, filling outhere and there Celano's First Life, the second[33] is devoted to apicture of the early days of the Order, a picture of incomparablefreshness and intensity of life; but strangely enough, after having toldus so much at length of Francis's youth and then of the first days ofthe Order, the story abruptly leaps over from the year 1220 to the deathand the canonization, to which after all only a few pages aregiven. [34]

This is too extraordinary to be the result of chance. What has happened?It is evident that the Legend of the Three Companions as we have itto-day is only a fragment of the original, which was no doubt revised, corrected, and considerably cut down by the authorities of the Orderbefore they would permit it to be circulated. [35] If the authors hadbeen interrupted in their work, and obliged to cut short the end, asmight have been the case, they would have said so in their letter ofenvoy, but there are still other arguments in favor of our hypothesis. 

Brother Leo having had the first and principal part in the production ofthe work of the Three Companions, it is often called Brother Leo'sLegend; now Brother Leo's Legend is several times cited by Ubertini diCasali, arraigned before the court of Avignon by the party of the CommonObservance. Evidently Ubertini would have taken good care not to appealto an apocryphal document; a false citation would have been enough tobring him to confusion, and his enemies would not have failed to makethe most of his imprudence. We have at hand all the documents of thetrial, [36] attacks, replies, counter replies, and nowhere do we see theLiberals accuse their adversary of falsehood. For that matter, thelatter makes his citations with a precision that admits of nocavil. [37] He appeals to writings to be found in a press in theconvent of Assisi, of which he gives sometimes a copy, sometimes anoriginal. [38] We are then authorized to conclude that we have herefragments which have survived the suppression of the last and mostimportant part of the Legend of the Three Companions. 

It is not surprising that the work of Francis's dearest friends shouldhave been so seriously mutilated. It was the manifesto of a party thatCrescentius was hunting down with all his power. 

After the fleeting reaction of the generalate of Giovanni di Parma weshall see a man of worth like St. Bonaventura moving for the suppressionof all the primitive legends that his own compilation may be substitutedfor them. 

It is truly singular that no one has perceived the fragmentary state ofthe work of the Three Companions. The prologue alone might havesuggested this idea. Why should it take three to write a few pages? Whythis solemn enumeration of Brothers whose testimony and collaborationare asked for? There would be a surprising disproportion between theeffort and the result. 

More than all, the authors say that they shall not stop at relating themiracles, but they desire above all to exhibit the ideas of Francis andhis life with the Brothers, but we search in vain for any account ofmiracles in what we now have. [39]

An Italian translation of this legend, published by Father StanislausMelchiorri, [40] has suddenly given me an indirect confirmation of thispoint of view. This monk is only its publisher, and has simply been ableto discover that in 1577 it was taken from a very ancient manuscript bya certain Muzio Achillei di San Severino. [41]

This Italian translation contained only the last chapters of the legend, those which tell of the death, the stigmata, and the translation of theremains. [42] It was, then, made at a time when the suppressed portionhad not been replaced by a short summary of the other legends. 

From all this two conclusions emerge for the critics: 1. This finalsummary has not the same authority as the rest of the work, since thetime when it was added is unknown. 2. Fragments of a legend by BrotherLeo or by the Three Companions scattered through later compilations maybe perfectly authentic. 

In its present condition this legend of the Three Companions is thefinest piece of Franciscan literature, and one of the most delightfulproductions of the Middle Ages. There is something indescribably sweet, confiding, chaste, in these pages, an energy of virile youth which theFioretti suggest but never attain to. At more than six hundred years ofdistance the purest dream that ever thrilled the Christian Church seemsto live again. 

These friars of Greccio, who, scattered over the mountain, under theshade of the olive-trees, passed their days in singing the Hymn of theSun, are the true models of the primitive Umbrian Masters. They are allalike; they are awkwardly posed; everything in and around them sinsagainst the most elementary rules of art, and yet their memory pursuesyou, and when you have long forgotten the works of impeccable modernartists you recall without effort these creations of those unknownpainters; for love calls for love, and these vapid personages have verytrue and pure hearts, a more than human love shines forth from theirwhole being, they speak to you and make you better. 

Such is this book, the first utterance of the Spiritual Franciscans, inwhich we already see the coming to life of some of those bold doctrinesthat not only divided the Franciscan family into two hostile branches, but which were to bring some of their defenders to the heretic'sstake. [43]

V. FRAGMENTS OF THE SUPPRESSED PART OF THE LEGEND OF THE THREECOMPANIONS

We may now take a step forward and try to group the fragments of theLegend of the Three Companions, or of Brother Leo, which are to be foundin later writings. 

We must here be more than ever on our guard against absolute theories;one of the most fruitful principles of historic criticism is to prefercontemporary documents, or at least those which are nearest them; buteven with these it is necessary to use a little discretion. 

It seems impossible to attack the reasoning of the Bollandists, whorefuse to know anything of legends written after that of St. Bonaventura(1260), under pretext that, coming after several other authorizedbiographies, he was better situated than anyone for getting informationand completing the work of his predecessors. [44] In reality this isabsurd, for it assumes that Bonaventura undertook to write as ahistorian. This is to forget that he wrote not only for the purpose ofedification, but also as minister-general of the Minor Brothers. Fromthis fact his first duty was to keep silent on many facts, and those notthe least interesting. What shall we say of a biography where Francis'sWill is not even mentioned?

It is easy to turn away from a writing of the fourteenth century, on theground that the author did not see what was going on a hundred yearsbefore; still we must not forget that many books of the end of theMiddle Ages resemble those old mansions at which four or five generatorshave toiled. An inscription on their front often only shows the touch ofthe last restorer or the last destroyer, and the names which are setforth with the greatest complacency are not always those of the realworkmen. 

Such have been many Franciscan books; to attribute them to any oneauthor would be impracticable; very different hands have worked uponthem, and such an amalgam has its own charm and interest. 

Turning them over--I had almost said associating with them--we come tosee clearly into this tangled web, for every work of man bears the traceof the hand that made it: this trace may perhaps be of an almostimperceptible delicacy; it exists none the less, ready to reveal itselfto practised eyes. What is more impersonal than the photograph of alandscape or of a painting, and yet among several hundreds of proofs theamateur will go straight to the work of the operator he prefers. 

These reflections were suggested by the careful study of a curious bookprinted many times since the sixteenth century, the _Speculum Vitĉ S. Francisci et sociorum ejus_. [45] A complete study of this work, itssources, its printed editions, the numerous differences in themanuscripts, would by itself require a volume and an epitome of thehistory of the Order. I can give here only a few notes, taking for basethe oldest edition, that of 1504. 

The confusion which reigns here is frightful. Incidents in the life ofFrancis and his companions are brought together with no plan; several ofthem are repeated after the interval of a few pages in a quite differentmanner;[46] certain chapters are so awkwardly introduced that thecompiler has forgotten to remove the number that they bore in the workfrom which he borrowed them;[47] finally, to our great surprise, wefind several _Incipit_. [48]

However, with a little perseverance we soon perceive a few openings inthe labyrinth. In the first place, here are several chapters of thelegend of Bonaventura which seem to have been put in the van as if toprotect the rest of the book. If we abstract them and the whole seriesof chapters from the Fioretti, we shall have diminished the work bynearly three-quarters. 

If we take away two more chapters taken from St. Bernard of Clairvauxand those containing Franciscan prayers, or various attestationsconcerning the indulgence of Portiuncula, we finally arrive at a sort ofresidue, if the expression may be forgiven, of a remarkable homogeneity. 

Here the style is very different from that in the surrounding pages, closely recalling that of the Three Companions; a single thoughtinspires these pages, that the corner-stone of the Order is the love ofpoverty. 

Why should we not have here some fragments of the original legend of theThree Companions? We find here nothing which does not fit in with whatwe know, nothing which suggests the embellishments of a late tradition. 

To confirm this hypothesis come different passages which we find citedby Ubertini di Casali and by Angelo Clareno as being by Brother Leo, andan attentive comparison of the text shows that these authors can neitherhave drawn them from the Speculum nor the Speculum from them. 

There is, besides, one phrase which, apart from the inspiration andstyle, will suffice at the first glance to mark the common origin ofmost of these pieces. [49] _Nos qui cum ipso fuimus_. "We who have beenwith him. " These words, which recur in almost every incident, [49] arein many cases only a grateful tribute to their spiritual father, butsometimes, too, they have a touch of bitterness. These hermits ofGreccio suddenly recall to mind their rights. Are we not the only, thetrue interpreters of the Saint's instructions--we who lived continuallywith him; we who, hour after hour, have meditated upon his words, hissighs, and his hymns?

We can understand that such pretensions were not to the taste of theCommon Observance, and that Crescentius, with an incontestableauthority, has suppressed nearly all this legend. [51]

As for the fragments that have been preserved to us, though they furnishmany details about the last years of St. Francis's life, they still arenot those whose loss is so much to be regretted. The authors whoreproduce them were defending a cause. We owe them little more than theincidents which in one way or another concern the question of poverty. They had nothing to do with the other accounts, as they were not writinga biography. But even within these narrow limits these fragments are inthe first order of importance; and I have not hesitated to use themlargely. It is needless to say that while ascribing their origin to theThree Companions, and in particular to Brother Leo, we must not supposethat we have the very letter in the texts which have come down to us. The pieces given by Ubertini di Casali and Angelo Clareno are actualcitations, and deserve full confidence as such. As for those which arepreserved to us in the Speculum, they may often have been abridged, explanatory notes may have slipped into the text, but nowhere do we findinterpolations in the bad sense of the word. [52]

Finally, if we compare the fragments with the corresponding accounts inthe Second Life of Celano, we see that the latter has often borrowedverbatim from Brother Leo, but generally he has considerably abridgedthe passages, adding reflections here and there, especially retouchingthe style to make it more elegant. 

Such a comparison soon proves that Brother Leo's narratives are theoriginal and that it is impossible to see in them a later amplificationof those of Thomas of Celano, as we might at first be tempted to thinkthem. [53]

VI. SECOND LIFE BY THOMAS OF CELANO[54]

_First Part_

In consequence of the decision of the chapter of 1244 search was begunin all quarters for memorials of the early times of the Order. In viewof the ardor of this inquiry, in which zeal for the glory of theFranciscan institute certainly cast the interests of history into thebackground, the minister-general, Crescentius, was obliged to takecertain precautions. 

Many of the pieces that he received were doing double duty; others mightcontradict one another; many of them, under color of telling the life ofthe Saint, had no other object than to oppose the present to the past. 

It soon became imperative to constitute a sort of commission charged tostudy and coördinate all this matter. [55] What more natural than to putThomas of Celano at its head? Ever since the approbation of the firstlegend by Gregory IX. He had appeared to be in a sense the officialhistoriographer of the Order. [56]

This view accords perfectly with the contents of the seventeen chapterswhich contain the first part of the second legend. It offers itself atthe outset as a compilation. Celano is surrounded with companions whohelp him. [57] A more attentive examination shows that its principalsource is the Legend of the Three Companions, which the compilersworked over, sometimes filling out certain details, more often makinglarge excisions. 

Everything that does not concern St. Francis is ruthlessly proscribed;we feel the well-defined purpose to leave in the background thedisciples who so complacently placed themselves in the foreground. [58]

The work of the Three Companions had been finished August 11, 1246. OnJuly 13, 1247, the chapter of Lyons put an end to the powers ofCrescentius. It is, therefore, between these two dates that we mustplace the composition of the first part of Thomas of Celano's SecondLife. [59]

VII. SECOND LIFE BY THOMAS OF CELANO[59]

_Second Part_

The election of Giovanni di Parma (1247-1257) as successor ofCrescentius was a victory for the Zealots. This man, in whose work-tablethe birds came to make their nests, [61] was to astonish the world byhis virtues. No one saw more deeply into St. Francis's heart, no one wasmore worthy to take up and continue his work. 

He soon asked Celano to resume his work. [62] The latter was perhapsalone at first, but little by little a group of collaborators formeditself anew about him. [63] Thenceforth nothing prevented his doing withthat portion of the work of the Three Companions which Crescentius hadsuppressed what he had already done with the part he had approved. 

The Legend of Brother Leo has thus come down to us, entirely worked overby Thomas of Celano, abridged and with all its freshness gone, but stillof capital importance in the absence of the major part of the original. 

The events of which we possess two accounts permit us to measure theextent of our loss. We find, in fact, in Celano's compilation all thatwe expected to find in the Three Companions: the incidents belongespecially to the last two years of Francis's life, and the scene ofmany of them is either Greccio or one of the hermitages of the vale ofRieti;[64] according to tradition, Brother Leo was the hero of a greatnumber of the incidents here related[65] and all the citations thatUbertini di Casali makes from Brother Leo's book find theircorrespondents here. [66]

This second part of the Second Life perfectly reflects the newcircumstances to which it owes its existence. The question of Povertydominates everything;[67] the struggle between the two parties in theOrder reveals itself on every page; the collaborators are determinedthat each event narrated shall be an indirect lesson to the Liberals, towhom they oppose the Spirituals; the popes had commented on the Rule inthe large sense; they, on their side, undertook to comment on it in asense at once literal and spiritual, by the actions and words of itsauthor himself. 

History has hardly any part here except as the vehicle of a thesis, afact which diminishes nothing of the historic value of the informationgiven in the course of these pages. But while in Celano's First Life andin the Legend of the Three Companions the facts succeed one anotherorganically, here they are placed side by side. Therefore when we cometo read this work we are sensible of a fall; even from the literarypoint of view the inferiority makes itself cruelly felt. Instead of apoem we have before us a catalogue, very cleverly made, it is true, butwith no power to move us. 

VIII. NOTES ON A FEW SECONDARY DOCUMENTS

a. _Celano's Life of St. Francis for Use in the Choir. _

Thomas of Celano made also a short legend for use in the choir. It isdivided into nine lessons and served for the Franciscan breviaries up tothe time when St. Bonaventura made his _Legenda Minor_. 

That of Celano may be found in part (the first three lessons) in theAssisi MS. 338, fol. 52a-53b; it is preceded by a letter of envoy:"_Rogasti me frater Benedicte, ut de legenda B. P. N. F. Quĉdamexciperem et in novem lectionum seriem ordinarem_ . . . Etc. _B. Franciscus de civitate Assisii ortus a puerilibus annis nutritus extititinsolenter. _"

This work has no historic importance. 

b. _Life of St. Francis in Verse. _

In the list of biographers has sometimes been counted a poem inhexameter verse[68] the text of which was edited in 1882 by thelamented Cristofani. [69]

This work does not furnish a single new historic note. It is the Life byCelano in verse and nothing more; the author's desire was to figure as apoet. It is superfluous, therefore, to concern ourselves with it. [69]

c. _Biography of St. Francis by Giovanni di Ceperano. _

One of the biographies which disappeared, no doubt in consequence of thedecision of the chapter of 1266, [71] is that of Giovanni di Ceperano. The resemblance of his name to that of Thomas of Celano has occasionedmuch confusion. [72] The most precious information which we haverespecting him is given by Bernard of Besse in the opening of his _Delaudibus St. Francisci_: "_Plenam virtutibus B. Francisci vitam scripsitin Italia exquisitĉ vir eloquentiĉ fr. Thomas jubente Domino Gregoriopapa IX. Et eam quĉ incipit: Quasi stella matutina vir venerabilisDominus et fertur Joannes, Apostolicĉ sedis notarius. _"[73]

In the face of so precise a text all doubt as to the existence of thework of Giovanni di Ceperano is impossible. The Reverend Father Deniflehas been able to throw new light upon this question. In a manuscriptcontaining the liturgy of the Brothers Minor and finished in 1256 hefound the nine lessons for the festival of St. Francis preceded by thetitle: _Ex gestis ejus abbreviatis quĉ sic incipiunt: Quasi stella_(_Zeitschrift für kath. Theol. _, vii. , p. 710. Cf. _Archiv. _, i. , p. 148). This summary of Ceperano's work gives, as we should expect, no newinformation; but perhaps we need not despair of finding the very work ofthis author. 

d. _Life of St. Francis by Brother Julian. _

It was doubtless about 1230 that Brother Julian, the Teuton, who hadbeen chapel-master at the court of the King of France, was commissionedto put the finishing touches to the Office of St. Francis. [74]Evidently such a work would contain nothing original, and its loss islittle felt. 

IX. LEGEND OF ST. BONAVENTURA

Under the generalate of Giovanni di Parma (1247-1257) the Franciscanparties underwent modifications, in consequence of which theiropposition became still more striking than before. 

The Zelanti, with the minister-general at their head, enthusiasticallyadopted the views of Gioacchino di Fiore. The predictions of theCalabrian abbot corresponded too well with their inmost convictions forany other course to be possible: they seemed to see Francis, as a newChrist, inaugurating the third era of the world. 

For a few years these dreams moved all Europe; the faith of theJoachimites was so ardent that it made its way by its own force;sceptics like Salimbeni told themselves that on the whole it was surelywiser not to be taken unawares by the great catastrophe of 1260, andhastened in crowds to the cell of Hyères to be initiated by Hugues deDigne in the mysteries of the new times: as to the people, they waited, trembling, divided between hope and terror. Nevertheless theiradversaries did not consider themselves beaten, and the Liberal partystill remained the most numerous. Of an angelic purity, Giovanni diParma believed in the omnipotence of example: events showed how mistakenhe was; at the close of his term of office scandals were not lessflagrant than ten years earlier. [75]

Between these two extreme parties, against which he was to proceed withequal rigor, stood that of the Moderates, to which belonged St. Bonaventura. [76]

A mystic, but of a formal and orthodox mysticism, he saw the revolutiontoward which the Church was hastening if the party of the eternal Gospelwas to triumph; its victory would not be that of this or that heresy indetail, it would be, with brief delay, the ruin of the entireecclesiastical edifice; he was too perspicacious not to see that in thelast analysis the struggle then going on was that of the individualconscience against authority. This explains, and up to a certain pointgains him pardon for, his severities against his opponents; he wassupported by the court of Rome and by all those who desired to make theOrder a school at once of piety and of learning. 

No sooner was he elected general than, with a purpose that never knewhesitation, and a will whose firmness made itself everywhere felt, hetook his steps to forward this double aim. On the very morrow of hisnomination he sketched the programme of reforms against the Liberalparty, and at the same time secured the summons of the JoachimiteBrothers before an ecclesiastical tribunal at Città-della-Pieve. Thistribunal condemned them to perpetual imprisonment, and it needed thepersonal intervention of Cardinal Ottobonus, the future Adrian V. , forGiovanni di Parma to be left free to retire to the Convent of Greccio. 

The first chapter held under the presidence of Bonaventura, in theextended decisions of which we find everywhere tokens of his influence, assembled at Narbonne in 1260. He was then commissioned to compose a newlife of St. Francis. [77]

We easily understand the anxieties to which this decision of theBrothers was an answer. The number of legends had greatly increased, forbesides those which we have first studied or noted there were others inexistence which have completely disappeared, and it had become equallydifficult for the Brothers who went forth on missions either to make achoice between them or to carry them all. 

The course of the new historian was therefore clearly marked out: hemust do the work of compiler and peacemaker. He failed in neither. Hisbook is a true sheaf, or rather it is a millstone under which theindefatigable author has pressed, somewhat at hazard, the sheaves of hispredecessors. Most of the time he inserts them just as they are, confining himself to the work of harvesting them and weeding out thetares. 

Therefore, when we reach the end of this voluminous work we have a veryvague impression of St. Francis. We see that he was a saint, a verygreat saint, since he performed an innumerable quantity of miracles, great and small; but we feel very much as if we had been going through ashop of objects of piety. All these statues, whether they are called St. Anthony the Abbot, St. Dominic, St. Theresa, or St. Vincent de Paul, have the same expression of mincing humility, of a somewhat shallowecstasy. These are saints, if you please, miracle-workers; they are notmen; he who made them made them by rule, by process; he has put nothingof his heart in these ever-bowed foreheads, these lips with their wansmile. 

God forbid that I should say or think that St. Bonaventura was notworthy to write a life of St. Francis, but the circumstances controlledhis work, and it is no injustice to him to say that it is fortunate forFrancis, and especially for us, that we have another biography of thePoverello than that of the Seraphic Doctor. 

Three years after, in 1263, he brought his completed work to thechapter-general convoked under his presidence at Pisa. It was theresolemnly approved. [78]

It is impossible to say whether they thought that the presence of thenew legend would suffice to put the old ones out of mind, but it seemsthat at this time nothing was said about the latter. 

It was not so at the following chapter. This one, held at Paris, came toa decision destined to have disastrous results for the primitiveFranciscan documents. This decree, emanating from an assembly presidedover by Bonaventura in person, is too important not to be quotedtextually: "Item, the Chapter-general ordains on obedience that all thelegends of the Blessed Francis formerly made shall be destroyed. TheBrothers who shall find any without the Order must try to make away withthem since the legend made by the General is compiled from accounts ofthree who almost always accompanied the Blessed Francis; all that theycould certainly know and all that is proven has been carefully insertedtherein. "[79] It would have been difficult to be more precise. We seethe perseverance with which Bonaventura carried on his struggle againstthe extreme parties. This decree explains the almost completedisappearance of the manuscripts of Celano and the Three Companions, since in certain collections even those of Bonaventura's legend arehardly to be found. 

As we have seen, Bonaventura aimed to write a sort of official orcanonical biography; he succeeded only too well. Most of the accountsthat we already know have gone into his collection, but not without attimes suffering profound mutilations. We are not surprised to find himpassing over Francis's youth with more discretion than Celano in theFirst Life, but we regret to find him ornamenting and materializing someof the loveliest incidents of the earlier legends. 

It is not enough for him that Francis hears the crucifix of St. Daraianspeak; he pauses to lay stress on the assertion that he heard it_corporeis auribus_ and that no one was in the chapel at that moment!Brother Monaldo at the chapter of Arles sees St. Francis appear_corporeis oculis_. He often abridges his predecessors, but this is nothis invariable rule. When he reaches the account of the stigmata hedevotes long pages to it, [79] relates a sort of consultation held bySt. Francis as to whether he could conceal them, and adds severalmiracles due to these sacred wounds; further on he returns to thesubject to show a certain Girolamo, Knight of Assisi, desiring to touchwith his hands the miraculous nails. [81] On the other hand, he uses asignificant discretion wherever the companions of the Saint are inquestion. He names only three of the first eleven disciples, [82] andno more mentions Brothers Leo, Angelo, Rufino, Masseo, than theiradversary, Brother Elias. 

As to the incidents which we find for the first time in this collection, they hardly make us regret the unknown sources which must have been atthe service of the famous Doctor; it would appear that the healing ofMorico, restored to health by a few pellets of bread soaked in the oilof the lamp which burned before the altar of the Virgin, [83] has littlemore importance for the life of St. Francis than the story of the sheepgiven to Giacomina di Settesoli which awakened its mistress to summonher to go to mass. [84] What shall we think of that other sheep, ofPortiuncula, which hastened to the choir whenever it heard the psalmodyof the friars, and kneeled devoutly for the elevation of the HolySacrament?[85]

All these incidents, the list of which might be enlarged, [86] betraysthe working-over of the legend. St. Francis becomes a greatthaumaturgist, but his physiognomy loses its originality. 

The greatest fault of this work is, in fact, the vagueness of the figureof the Saint. While in Celano there are the large lines of asoul-history, a sketch of the affecting drama of a man who attains tothe conquest of himself, with Bonaventura all this interior actiondisappears before divine interventions; his heart is, so to speak, thegeometrical locality of a certain number of visitants; he is a passiveinstrument in the hands of God, and we really cannot see why he shouldhave been chosen rather than another. 

And yet Bonaventura was an Italian; he had seen Umbria; he must haveknelt and celebrated the sacred mysteries in Portiuncula, that cradle ofthe noblest of religious reformations; he had conversed with BrotherEgidio, and must have heard from his lips an echo of the firstFranciscan fervor; but, alas! nothing of that rapture passed into hisbook, and if the truth must be told, I find it quite inferior to muchlater documents, to the Fioretti, for example; for they understood, atleast in part, the soul of Francis; they felt the throbbing of thatheart, with all its sensitiveness, admiration, indulgence, love, independence, and absence of carefulness. 

X. DE LAUDIBUS OF BERNARD OF BESSE[87]

Bonaventura's work did not discourage the biographers. The historicvalue of their labor is almost nothing, and we shall not even attempt tocatalogue them. 

Bernard of Besse, a native probably of the south of France[88] andsecretary of Bonaventura, [89] made a summary of the earlier legends. This work, which brings us no authentic historic indication, isinteresting only for the care with which the author has noted the placeswhere repose the Brothers who died in odor of sanctity, and relates amass of visions all tending to prove the excellence of the Order. [89]

Still the publication of this document will perform the valuable officeof throwing a little light upon the difficult question of the sources. Several passages of the _De laudibus_ appear again textually in theSpeculum, [91] and as a single glance is enough to show that theSpeculum did not copy the _De laudibus_, it must be that Bernard ofBesse had before him a copy, if not of the Speculum at least of adocument of the same kind. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] Bull _Quo elongati_ of September 28, 1230. See p. 336. 

 [2] It is needless to say that I have no desire to put myself in opposition to that principle, one of the most fruitful of criticism, but still it should not be employed alone. 

 [3] The learned works that have appeared in Germany in late years err in the same way. They will be found cited in the body of the work. 

 [4] Eccl. , 13. _Voluerunt ipsi, quos ad capitulam concesserat venire frater Helias; nam omnes concessit, etc. _ _An. Fr. , t. I. _, p. 241. Cf. _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. , 28, p. 564. 

 [5] The death of Francis occurred on October 3, 1226. On March 29, 1228, Elias acquired the site for the basilica. The _Instrumentum donationis_ is still preserved at Assisi: Piece No. 1 of the twelfth package of _Instrumenta diversa pertinentia ad Sacrum Conventum_. It has been published by Thode: _Franz von Assisi_, p. 359. 

 On July 17th of the same year, the day after the canonization, Gregory IX. Solemnly laid the first stone. Less than two years afterward the Lower church was finished, and on May 25, 1230, the body of the Saint was carried there. In 1236 the Upper church was finished. It was already decorated with a first series of frescos, and Giunta Pisano painted Elias, life size, kneeling at the foot of the crucifix over the entrance to the choir. In 1239 everything was finished, and the campanile received the famous bells whose chimes still delight all the valley of Umbria. Thus, then, three months and a half before the canonization, Elias received the site of the basilica. The act of canonization commenced at the end of May, 1228 (1 Cel. , 123 and 124. Cf. Potthast, 8194ff). 

 [6] _Spec. _, 167a. Cf. _An. Fr. _, ii. , p. 45 and note. 

 [7] The Bollandists followed the text (A. SS. , Octobris, t. Ii. , pp. 683-723) of a manuscript of the Cistercian abbey of Longpont in the diocese of Soissons. It has since been published in Rome in 1806, without the name of the editor (in reality by the Convent Father Rinaldi), under the title: _Seraphici viri S. Francisci Assisiatis vitĉ dual auctore B. Thoma de Celano_, according to a manuscript (of Fallerone, in the March of Ancona) which was stolen in the vicinity of Terni by brigands from the Brother charged with bringing it back. The second text was reproduced at Rome in 1880 by Canon Amoni: _Vita prima S. Francisci, auctore B. Thoma de Celano. Roma, tipografia della pace_, 1880, in 8vo, 42 pp. The citations will follow the divisions made by the Bollandists, but in many important passages the Rinaldi-Amoni text gives better readings than that of the Bollandists. The latter has been here and there retouched and filled out. See, for example, 1 Cel. , 24 and 31. As for the manuscripts, Father Denifle thinks that the oldest of those which are known is that at Barcelona: _Archivo de la corona de Aragon_, Ripoll, n. 41 (_Archiv. _, t. I. , p. 148). There is one in the National Library of Paris, Latin alcove, No. 3817, which includes a curious note: "_Apud Perusium felix domnus papa Gregorius nonus gloriosi secundo pontificus sui anno, quinto kal. Martii (February 25, 1229) legendam hanc recepit, confirmavit et censuit fore tenendam. _" Another manuscript, which merits attention, both because of its age, thirteenth century, and because of the correction in the text, and which appears to have escaped the researches of the students of the Franciscans, is the one owned by the École de Médicine at Montpellier, No. 30, in vellum folio: _Passionale vetus ecclesiĉ S. Benigni divionensis_. The story of Celano occupies in it the fos. 257a-271b. The text ends abruptly in the middle of paragraph 112 with _supiriis ostendebant_. Except for this final break it is complete. Cf. Archives Pertz, t. Vii. , pp. 195 and 196. Vide General catalogue of the manuscripts of the public libraries of the departments, t. I. , p. 295. 

 [8] Vide 1 Cel. , Prol. _Jubente domino et glorioso Papa Gregorio_. Celano wrote it after the canonization (July 16, 1228) and before February 25, 1229, for the date indicated above raises no difficulty. 

 [9] 1 Cel. , 56. Perhaps he was the son of that Thomas, Count of Celano, to whom Ryccardi di S. Germano so often made allusion in his chronicle: 1219-1223. See also two letters of Frederick II. To Honorius III. , on April 24 and 25, 1223, published in Winckelmann: _Acta imperii inedita_, t. I. , p. 232. 

 [10] Giord. , 19. 

 [11] Giord. , 30 and 31. 

 [12] Giord. , 59. Cf. Glassberger, ann. 1230. The question whether he is the author of the _Dies irĉ_ would be out of place here. 

 [13] This is so true that the majority of historians have been brought to believe in two generalates of Elias, one in 1227-1230, the other in 1236-1239. The letter _Non ex odio_ of Frederick II. (1239) gives the same idea: _Revera papa iste quemdam religiosum et timoratum fratrem Helyam, ministrum ordinis fratrum minorum ab ipso beato Francisco patre ordinis migrationis suĉ tempore constitutum . . . In odium nostrum . . . Deposuit_. Huillard-Breholles: _Hist. Dipl. Fred. II. _, t. V. , p. 346. 

 [14] He is named only once, 1 Cel. , 48. 

 [15] 1 Cel. , 95, 98, 105, 109. The account of the Benediction is especially significant. _Super quem inquit (Franciscus) tenes dexteram meam? Super fratrem Heliam, inquiunt. Et ego sic volo, sit. . . . _ 1 Cel. , 108. Those last words obviously disclose the intention. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 139. 

 [16] 1 Cel. , 102; cf. 91 and 109. Brother Leo is not even named in the whole work. Nor Angelo, Illuminato, Masseo either!

 [17] 1 Cel. , Prol. , 73-75; 99-101; 121-126. Next to St. Francis, Gregory IX. And Brother Elias (1 Cel. , 69; 95; 98; 105; 108; 109) are in the foreground. 

 [18] 1 Cel. , 18 and 19; 116 and 117. 

 [19] Those which occurred during the absence of Francis (1220-1221). He overlooks the difficulties met at Rome in seeking the approbation of the first Rule; he mentions those connected neither with the second nor the third, and makes no allusion to the circumstances which provoked them. He recognized them, however, having lived in intimacy with Cĉsar of Speyer, the collaborator of the second (1221). 

 [20] For example, Francis's journey to Spain. 

 [21] 1 Cel. , 1, 88. _Et sola quĉ necessaria magis occurrunt_ ad prĉsens _intendimus adnotare_. It is to be observed that in the prologue he speaks in the singular. 

 [22] In 1238 he had sent Elias to Cremona, charged with a mission for Frederick II. Salembeni, ann. 1229. See also the reception given by Gregory IX. To the appellants against the General. Giord. , 63. 

 [23] See the letter of Frederick II. To Elias upon the translation of St. Elizabeth, May, 1236. Winkelmann, _Acta_ i. , p. 299. Cf. Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dipl. _ Intr. P. Cc. 

 [24] The authorities for this story are: _Catalogus ministrorum_ of Bernard of Besse, _ap_ Ehrle, _Zeitschrift_, vol. 7 (1883), p. 339; _Speculum_, 207b, and especially 167a-170a; Eccl. , 13; Giord. , 61-63; _Speculum_, Morin. , tract i. , fo. 60b. 

 [25] _Asserabat etiam ipse prĉdictus frater Helyas . . . Papam . . . Fraudem facere de pecunia collecta ad succursum Terrĉ Sanctĉ, scripta etiam ad beneplacitum suum in camera sua bullare clam et sine fratrum assensu et etiam cedulas vacuas, sed bullatas, multas nunciis suis traderet . . . Et alia multa enormia imposuit domino papĉ ponens os suum in celo_. Matth. Paris, _Chron. Maj. _, _ann. 1239_, _ap Mon. Ger. Hist. Script. _, t. 28, p. 182. Cf. Ficker, n. 2685. 

 [26] Vide Ryccardi di S. Germano, _Chron. _, _ap Mon. Ger. Hist. Script. _, t. 19, p. 380, ann. 1239. The letter of Frederick complaining of the deposition of Elias (1239): Huillard-Bréholles, _Hist. Dipl. _, v. , pp. 346-349. Cf. The Bull, _Attendite ad petram_, at the end of February, 1240, ibid. , pp. 777-779; Potthast, 10849. 

 [27] He was without doubt one of the bitterest adversaries of the emperor. His village had been burnt in 1224, by order of Frederick II. , and the inhabitants transported to Sicily, afterward to Malta. Ryccardi di S. Germano, _loc. Cit. _, _ann. _ 1223 and 1224. 

 [28] Vide the prologue to 2 Cel. And to the 3 Soc. Cf. Glassberger, ann. 1244, _An. Fr. _, ii. , p. 68. _Speculum_, Morin, tract. I. , 61b. 

 [29] _Catalogus ministrorum_, edited by Ehrle: _Zeitschrift_, t. 7 (1883). No. 5. Cf. _Spec. _, 208a. Mark of Lisbon speaks of it a little more at length, but he gives the honor of it to Giovanni of Parma, ed. Diola, t. Ii. , p. 38. On the other hand, in manuscript 691 of the archives of the Sacro-Convento at Assisi (a catalogue of the library of the convent made in 1381) is found, fo. 45a, a note of that work: "_Dyalogus sanctorum fratrum cum postibus cujus principium est: Venerabilia gesta patrum dignosque memoria, finis vero; non indigne feram me quoque reperisse consortem. In quo libro omnes quaterni sunt xiii_. "

 [30] The text was published for the first time by the Bollandists (A. SS. , Octobris, t. Ii. , pp. 723-742), after a manuscript of the convent of the Brothers Minor of Louvain. It is from this edition that we make our citations. The editions published in Italy in the course of this century, cannot be found, except the last, due to Abbé Amoni. This one, unfortunately, is too faulty to serve as the basis of a scientific study. It appeared in Rome in 1880 (8vo, pp. 184) under the title: _Legenda S. Francisci Assisiensis quĉ dicitur Legenda trium sociorum ex cod. Membr. _ _Biblioth. Vatic. Num. 7339. _

 [31] 2 Cel. , 2, 5; 3, 7; 1 Cel. , 60; Bon. , 113; 1 Cel. , 84; Bon. , 149; 2 Cel. , 2, 14; 3, 10. 

 [32] Giovanni di Parma retired thither in 1276 and lived there almost entirely until his death (1288). _Tribul. _, _Archiv. _, vol. Ii. (1886), p. 286. 

 [33] 3 Soc. , 25-67. 

 [34] 3 Soc. , 68-73. 

 [35] The minister-general Crescentius of Jesi was an avowed adversary of the Zealots of the Rule. The contrary idea has been held by M. Müller (_Anfänge_, p. 180); but that learned scholar is not, it appears, acquainted with the recitals of the Chronicle of the Tribulations, which leave not a single doubt as to the persecutions which he directed against the Zealots (_Archiv. _, t. Ii. , pp. 257-260). Anyone who attempts to dispute the historical worth of this proof will find a confirmation in the bulls of August 5, 1244, and of February 7, 1246 (Potthast, 11450 and 12007). It was Crescentius, also, who obtained a bull stating that the Basilica of Assisi was _Caput et Mater ordinis_, while for the Zealots this rank pertained to the Portiuncula (1 Cel. , 106; 3 Soc. , 56; Bon. , 23; 2 Cel. , 1, 12; _Conform. _, 217 ff). (See also on Crescentius, Glassberger, ann. 1244, _An. Fr. _, p. 69; Sbaralea, _Bull. Fr. _, i. , p. 502 ff; _Conform. _, 121b. 1. ) M. Müller has been led into error through a blunder of Eccleston, 9 (_An. Fr. _, i. , p. 235). It is evident that the chapter of Genoa (1244) could not have pronounced against the _Declaratio Regulĉ_ published November 14, 1245. On the contrary, it is Crescentius who called forth this _Declaratio_, against which, not without regret, the Zealots found a majority of the chapter of Metz (1249) presided over by Giovanni of Parma, a decided enemy of any _Declaratio_ (_Archiv. _, ii. , p. 276). This view is found to be confirmed by a passage of the Speculum Morin (Rouen, 1509), f^o 62a: _In hoc capitulo (Narbonnĉ) fuit ordinatum quod declaratio D. Innocentii, p. Iv. , maneat suspensa sicut in Capitulo_ METENSI. _Et prĉceptum est omnibus ne quis utatur ea in iis in quibus expositioni D. Gregorii IX. Contradicit. _

 [36] Published with all necessary scientific apparatus by F. Ehrle, S. J. , in his studies _Zur Vorgeschichte des Concils von Vienne_. _Archiv. _, ii. , pp. 353-416; iii. , pp. 1-195. 

 [37] See, for example, _Archiv. _, iii. , p. 53 ff. Cf. 76. _Adduxi verba et facta b. Francisci sicut est aliquando in legenda et sicut a sociis sancti patris audivi et in cedulis sanctĉ memoriĉ fratris Leonis legi manu sua conscriptis, sicut ab ore beati Francisci audivit. _ Ib. , p. 85. 

 [38] _Hĉc omnia patent per sua [B. Francisci] verba expressa per sanctum fratrem virum Leonem ejus socium tam de mandato sancti patris quam etiam de devotione prĉdicti fratris fuerunt solemniter conscripta, in libro qui habetur in armario fratrum de Assisio et in rotulis ejus, quos apud me habeo, manu ejusdem fratris Leonis conscriptis. Archiv. _, iii. , p. 168. Cf. P. 178. 

 [39] 3 Soc. , Prol. _Non contenti narrare solum miracula . . . Conversationis insignia et pii beneplaciti voluntatem_. 

 [40] _Leggenda di S. Francesco, tipografia Morici et Badaloni_, Recanati, 1856, 1 vol. , 8vo. 

 [41] See Father Stanislaus's preface. 

 [42] 3 Soc. , 68-73. 

 [43] The book lacks little of representing St. Francis as taking up the work of Jesus, interrupted (by the fault of the secular clergy) since the time of the apostles. The _viri evangelici_ consider the members of the clergy _filios extraneos. _ 3 Soc. , 48 and 51. Cf. 3 Soc. , 48. _Inveni virum . . . Per quem, credo Dominus velit in toto mundo fedem sanctĉ Ecclesiĉ reformare_. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 141. _Videbatur revera fratri et omnium comitatium turbĉ quod Christi et b. Francisci una persona foret_. 

 [44] A. SS. P. 552. 

 [45] _Venetiis, expensis domini Jordani de Dinslaken per Simonem de Luere_, 30 januarii, 1504. _Impressum Metis per Jasparem Hochffeder_, Anno Domini 1509. These two editions are identical, small 12mos, of 240 folios badly numbered. Edited under the same title by Spoelberch, Antwerp, 1620, 2 tomes in one volume, 8vo, 208 and 192 pages, with a mass of alterations. The most important manuscript resembles that of the Vatican 4354. There are two at the Mazarin Library, 904 and 1350, dated 1459 and 1460, one at Berlin (MS. Theol. Lat. , 4to, no. 196 sĉc. 14). Vide Ehrle, _Zeitschrift_. T. Vii. (1883), p. 392f; _Analecta fr. _, t. I. , p. Xi. ; _Miscellanea_, 1888, pp. 119. 164. Cf. A. SS. , pp. 550-552. 

 The chapters are numbered in the first 72 folios only, but these numbers teem with errors; fo. 38b. Caput lix. , 40b, lix. , 41b, lxi. Ibid. , lxii. , 42a, lx. , 43a, lxi. Besides at fos. 46b and 47b there are two chapters lxvi. There are two lxxi. , two lxxii. , two lxxiii. , etc. 

 [46] For example, the history of the brigands of Monte-Casale, fos. 46b, and 58b. The remarks of Brother Elias to Francis, who is continually singing, 136b and 137a. The visit of Giacomina di Settesoli, 133a and 138a. The autograph benediction given to Brother Leo, 87a; 188a. 

 [47] At fo. 20b we read: _Tertium capitulam de charitate et compassione et condescensione ad proximum. Capitulum_ xxvi. Cf. 26a, 83a, 117b, 119a, 122a, 128b, 133b, 136b, where there are similar indications. 

 [48] Fo. 5b: _Incipit Speculum vitĉ b. Francesci et sociorum ejus_. Fo. 7b; _Incipit Speculum perfectionis_. 

 [49] We should search for it in vain in the other pieces of the Speculum, and it reappears in the fragments of Brother Leo cited by Ubertini di Casali and Angelo Clareno. 

 [50] Fo. 8b, 11a, 12a, 15a, 18b, 21b, 23b, 26a, 29a, 33b, 43b, 41a, 48b, 118a, 129a, 130a, 134a, 135a, 136a. 

 [51] Does not Thomas de Celano say in the prologue of the Second Life: "_Oramus ergo, benignissime pater, ut laboris hujus non contemnenda munuscula . . . Vestra benedictione consecrare velitis, corrigendo errata et superflua resecantes_. "

 [52] The legend of 3 Soc. Was preserved in the Convent of Assisi: "_Omnia . . . Fuerunt conscripta . . . Per Leonem, . . . In libro qui habetur in armario fratrum de Assisio_. " Ubertini, _Archiv. _, iii. , p. 168. Later, Brother Leo seems to have gone more into detail as to certain facts; he confided these new manuscripts to the Clarisses: "_In rotulis ejus quos apud me habeo, manu ejusdem fratres Leonis conscriptis_, " ibid. Cf. P. 178. "_Quod sequitur a sancto fratre Conrado predicto et viva voce audivit a sancto fratre Leone qui presens erat et regulam scripsit. Et hoc ipsum in quibusdam rotulis manu sua conscriptis quos commendavit in monasterio S. Clarĉ custodiendos. . . . In illis multa scripsit . . . Quĉ industria fr. Bonaventura omisit et noluit in legenda publice scribere, maxime quia aliqua erant ibi in quibus ex tunc deviatio regulĉ publice monstrabatur et nolebat fratres ante tempus in famare. _" _Arbor. _, lib. V. , cap 5. Cf. _Antiquitates_, p. 146. Cf. _Speculum_, 50b. "_Infra scripta verba, frater Leo socius et Confessor B. Francisci, Conrado de Offida, dicebat se habuisse ex ore Beati Patris nostri Francisci, quĉ idem Frater Conradus retulit, apud Sanctum Damianum prope Assisium. _" Conrad di Offidia copied, then, both the book of Brother Leo and his _rotuli_; he added to it certain oral information (_Arbor, vit. Cruc. _, lib. V. , cap. 3), and so perhaps composed the collection so often cited by the Conformists under the title of _Legenda Antiqua_ and reproduced in part in the Speculum. The numbering of the chapters, which the Speculum has awkwardly inserted without noting that they were not in accord with his own division, were vestiges of the division adopted by Conrad di Offida. 

 It may well be that, after the interdiction of his book and its confiscation at the Sacro Convento, Brother Leo repeated in his _rotuli_ a large part of the facts already made, so that the same incident, while coming solely from Brother Leo, could be presented under two different forms, according as it would be copied from the book or the _rotuli_. 

 [53] Compare, for example, 2 Cel. , 120: Vocation of John the Simple, and Speculum, f^o 37a. From the account of Thomas de Celano, one does not understand what drew John to St. Francis; in the Speculum everything is explained, but Celano has not dared to depict Francis going about preaching with a broom upon his shoulder to sweep the dirty churches. 

 [54] It was published for the first time at Rome, in 1806, by Father Rinaldi, following upon the First Life (vide above, p. 365, note 2), and restored in 1880 by Abbé Amoni: _Vita secunda S. Francisci Assisiensis auctore B. Thomade Celano ejus discipulo. Romĉ, tipografia della pace_, 1880, 8vo, 152 pp. The citations are from this last edition, which I collated at Assisi with the most important of the rare manuscripts at present known: Archives of Sacro Convento, MS. 686, on parchment of the end of the thirteenth century, if I do not mistake, 130 millim. By 142; 102 numbered pages. Except for the fact that the book is divided into two parts instead of three, the last two forming only one, I have not found that it noticeably differs from the text published by Amoni; the chapters are divided only by a paragraph and a red letter, but they have in the table which occupies the first seven pages of the volume the same titles as in the edition Amoni. 

 This Second Life escaped the researches of the Bollandists. It is impossible to explain how these students ignored the worth of the manuscript which Father Theobaldi, keeper of the records of Assisi, mentioned to them, and of which he offered them a copy (A. SS. , _Oct. _, t. Ii. , p. 546f). Father Suysken was thus thrown into inextricable difficulties, and exposed to a failure to understand the lists of biographies of St. Francis arranged by the annalists of the Order; he was at the same time deprived of one of the most fruitful sources of information upon the acts and works of the Saint. Professor Müller (_Die Anfänge_, pp. 175-184) was the first to make a critical study of this legend. His conclusions appear to me narrow and extreme. Cf. _Analecta_ fr. , t. Ii. , pp. Xvii. -xx. Father Ehrle mentions two manuscripts, one in the British Museum, Harl. , 47; the other at Oxford, Christ College, cod. 202. _Zeitschrift_, 1883, p. 390. 

 [55] The Three Companions foresee the possibility of their legend being incorporated with other documents: _quibus (legendis) hĉc pauca quĉ scribimus poleritis facere inseri, si vestra discretio viderit esse justum. _ 3 Soc. , Prol. 

 [56] One phrase of the Prologue (2 Cel. ) shows that the author received an entirely special commission: _Placuit . . . Robis . . . Parvitati nostrĉ injungere_, while on the contrary the 3 Soc. Shows that the decision of the chapter only remotely considered them: _Cum de mandato proeteriti capituli fratres teneantur . . . Visum est nobis . . . Pauca de multis . . . Sanctitati vestrĉ intimare. _ 3 Soc. , Prol. 

 [57] Compare the Prologue of 2 Cel. With that of 1 Cel. 

 [58] _Longum esset de singulis persequi, qualiter bravium supernĉ vocationis attigerit_. 2 Cel. , 1, 10. 

 [59] This first part corresponds exactly to that portion of the legend of the 3 Soc. , which Crescentius had authorized. 

 [60] Observe that the Assisi MS. 686 divides the Second Life into two parts only by joining the last two. 

 [61] Salimbeni, ann. 1248. 

 [62] Glassberger, ann. 1253. _An. Fr. _ t. Ii. , p. 73. _Frater Johannes de Parma minister generalis, multiplicatis litteris prĉcipit fr. Thomĉ de Celano (cod. Ceperano), ut vitam beati Francisci quĉ antiqua Legenda dicitur perficeret, quia solum de ejus conversatione et verbis in primo tractatu, de mandato, Fr. Crescentii olim generalis compilato, ommissis miraculis fecerat mentionem, et sic secundum tractatum de miraculis sancti Patris compilavit, quem cum epistola quĉ incipit: Religiosa vestra sollicitudo eidem generali misit_. 

 This treatise on the miracles is lost, for one cannot identify it, as M. Müller suggests (_Anfänge_, p. 177), with the second part (counting three with the Amoni edition) of the Second Life: 1^o, epistle _Religiosa vestra sollicitudo_ does not have it; 2^o, this second part is not a collection of miracles, using this word in the sense of miraculous cures which it had in the thirteenth century. The twenty-two chapters of this second part have a marked unity; they might be entitled _Francis a prophet_, but not _Francis a thaumaturgus_. 

 [63] In the Prologue (2 Cel. , 2, Prol. ) _Insignia patrum_ the author speaks in the singular, while the Epilogue is written in the name of a group of disciples. 

 [64] Greccio, 2 Cel. , 2, 5; 14; 3, 7; 10; 103. --Rieti, 2 Cel. , 2, 10; 11; 12; 13; 3, 36; 37; 66; 103. 

 [65] St. Francis gives him an autograph, 2 Cel. , 2, 18. Cf. _Fior. _ ii. _consid. _; his tunic, 2 Cel. , 2, 19; he predicts to him a famine, 2 Cel. , 2, 21; cf. _Conform. _, 49b. Fr. Leo ill at Bologna, 2 Cel. , 3, 5. 

 [66] The text of Ubertini di Casali may be found in the _Archiv. _, t. Iii. , pp. 53, 75, 76, 85, 168, 178, where Father Ehrle points out the corresponding passages of 2 Cel. 

 [67] It is the subject of thirty-seven narratives (1, 2 Cel. , 3, 1-37), then come examples on the spirit of prayer (2 Cel. , 3, 38-44), the temptations (2 Cel. , 3, 58-64), true happiness (2 Cel. , 3, 64-79), humility (2 Cel. , 3, 79-87), submission (2 Cel. , 3, 88, 91), etc. 

 [68] Le Monnier, t. I. , p. Xi. ; F. Barnabé, _Portiuncula_, p. 15. Cf. _Analecta fr. _, t. Ii. , p. Xxi. _Zeitschrift für kath. Theol. _, vii. (1883), p. 397. 

 [69] _Il piu antico poema della vita di S. Francisco d'Assisi scritto inanzi all' anno 1230 ora per la prima volta pubblicato et tradotto da Antonio Cristofani_, Prato, 1882, 1 vol. , 8vo. 288 pp. 

 [70] Note, however, two articles of the Miscellanea, one on the manuscript of this biography which is found in the library at Versailles, t. Iv. (1889), p. 34 ff. ; the other on the author of the poem, t. V. (1890), pp. 2-4 and 74 ff. 

 [71] See below, p. 410. 

 [72] Vide Glassberger, ann. 1244; _Analecta_, t. Ii. , p. 68. Cf. A. SS. , p. 545 ff. 

 [73] Manuscript in the Library of Turin, J. Vi. , 33, f^o 95a. 

 [74] _Plenam virtutibus S. Francisci vitam scripsit in Italia . . . Frater Thomas . . . In Francia vero frater Julianus scientia et sanctitate conspicuus qui etiam nocturnali sancti officium in littera et cantu possuit prĉter hymnos et aliquas antiphonas quae summus ipse Pontifex et aliqui de Cardinalibus in sancti prĉconium ediderunt. _ Opening of the _De laudibus_ of Bernard of Besse. See below, p. 413. Laur. MS. , f^o 95a. Cf. Giord. , 53; _Conform. _, 75b. 

 [75] In proof of this is the circular letter, _Licet insufficentiam nostram_, addressed by Bonaventura, April 23, 1257, immediately after his election, to the provincials and custodes upon the reformation of the Order. Text: _Speculum_, Morin, tract. Iii. , f^o 213a. 

 [76] Salimbeni, ann. 1248, p. 131. The _Chronica tribulationum_ gives a long and dramatic account of these events: _Archiv. _, t. Ii. , pp. 283 ff. "_Tunc enim sapientia et sanctitas fratris Bonaventurĉ eclipsata paluit et obscurata est et ejus manswetudo (sic) ab agitante spiritu in furorum et iram defecit. _" Ib. , p. 283. 

 [77] Bon. , 3. 1. At the same chapter were collected the constitutions of the Order according to edicts of the preceding chapters; new ones were added to them and all were arranged. In the first of the twelve rubrics the chapter prescribed that, upon the publication of the account, all the old constitutions should be destroyed. The text was published in the _Firmamentum trium ordinum_, f^o 7b, and restored lately by Father Ehrle: _Archiv. _, t. Vi. (1891), in his beautiful work _Die ältesten Redactionen der General-constitutionen des Franziskanerordens_. Cf. _Speculum_ Morin, fo. 195b of tract. Iii. 

 [78] The _Legenda Minor_ of Bonaventura was also approved at this time; it is simply an abridgment of the _Legenda Major_ arranged for use of the choir on the festival of St. Francis and its octave. 

 [79] "_Item prĉcipit Generale capitulum per obedientiam quod omnes legenĉ de B. Francisco olim factĉ deleantur et ubi inveniri poterant extra ordinem ipsas fratres studeant amovere, cum illa legenda quĉ facta est per Generalem sit compilata prout ipse habuit ab ore illorum qui cum B. Francisco quasi semper fuerunt et cuncta certitudinaliter sciverint et probata ibi sint posita diligenter. _" This precious text has been found and published by Father Rinaldi in his preface to the text of Celano: _Seraphici viri Francisci vitĉ duĉ_, p. Xi. Wadding seems to have known of it, at least indirectly, for he says: "_Utramque Historiam, longiorem et breviorem, obtulit (Bonaventura) triennio post in comitiis Pisanis patribus Ordinis, quas reverentur cum gratiarum actione_, SUPRESSIS ALIIS QUIBUSQUE LEGENDIS, ADMISERUNT. " Ad ann. , 1260, no. 18. Cf. Ehrle, _Zeitschrift für kath. Theol. _, t. Vii. (1883), p. 386. --"_Communicaverat sanctus Franciscus plurima sociis suis et fratribus antiquis, que oblivioni tradita sunt, tum quia que scripta erant in legenda prima, nova edita a fratre. Bonaventura deleta et destructa sunt_, IPSOJUBENTE _tum quia_ . . . " _Chronica tribul. _, _Archiv. _, t. Ii. , p. 256. 

 [80] Bon. , 188-204. 

 [81] Bon. , 218. 

 [82] Bernardo (Bon. , 28), Egidio (Bon. , 29), and Silvestro (Bon. , 30). 

 [83] Bon. , 49. 

 [84] Bon. , 112. 

 [85] Bon. , 111. 

 [86] Vide Bon. , 115; 99, etc. M. Thode has enumerated the stories relating especially to Bonaventura: (_Franz von Assisi_, p. 535). 

 [87] Manuscript I, iv. , 33, of the library of the University of Turin. It is a 4to upon parchment of the close of the fourteenth century, 124 ff. It comprises first the biography of St. Francis by St. Bonaventura and a legend of St. Clara, afterwards at f^o 95 the _De laudibus_. The text will soon be published in the _Analecta franciscana_ of the Franciscans of Quaracchi, near Florence. 

 [88] In reading it we quickly discover that he was specially well acquainted with the convents of the Province of Aquitania, and noted with care everything that concerned them. 

 [89] Wadding, ann. 1230, no. 7. Many passages prove at least that he accompanied Bonaventura in his travels: "_Hoc enim_ (the special aid of Brother Egidio) _in iis quĉ ad bonum animĉ pertinent devotus Generalis et Cardinalis predictus . . . Nos docuit_. " F^o 96a. _Jamdudum ego per Theutoniĉ partes et Flandriĉ cum Ministro transiens Generali. _ Ibid. , f^o 106a. 

 [90] Bernard de Besse is the author of many other writings, notably an important _Calalogus Ministrorum generalium_ published after the Turin manuscript by Father Ehrle (_Zeitschrift für kath. Theol. _, t. Vii. , pp. 338-352), with a very remarkable critical introduction (ib. , pp. 323-337). Cf. _Archiv für Litt. U. Kirchg. _, i. , p. 145. --Bartolommeo di Pisa, when writing his _Conformities_, had before him a part of his works, f^o 148b, 2; 126a, 1; but he calls the author sometimes _Bernardus de Blesa_, then again _Johannes de Blesa_. See also Mark of Lisbon, t. Ii. , p. 212, and Hauréau, _Notices et extraits_, t. Vi. , p. 153. 

 [91] "_Denique primos Francisci xii. Discipulos . . . Omnes sanctos fuisse audirimus preter unum qui Ordinem exiens leprosus factus laqueo vel alter Judas interiit, ne Francisco cum Christo vel in discipulis similitudo deficeret_, " f^o 96a. 

 * * * * *

III

DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS

In this category we place all the acts having a character of publicauthenticity, particularly those which were drawn up by the pontificalcabinet. 

This source of information, where each document has its date, isprecisely the one which has been most neglected up to this time. 

I. DONATION OF THE VERNA

The _Instrumentum donationis Montis Alvernĉ_, a notarial documentpreserved in the archives of Borgo San Sepolcro, [1] not only gives thename of the generous friend of Francis, and many picturesque details, but it fixes with precision a date all the more important because itoccurs in the most obscure period of the Saint's life. It was on May 8, 1213, that _Orlando dei Catani_, Count of Chiusi in Casentino, gave theVerna to Brother Francis. 

II. REGISTERS OF CARDINAL UGOLINI

The documents of the pontifical chancellery addressed to CardinalUgolini, the future Gregory IX. , and those which emanate from the handof the latter during his long journeys as apostolic legate, [2] are offirst rate importance. 

It would be too long to give even a simple enumeration of them. Thosewhich mark important facts have been carefully indicated in the courseof this work. It will suffice to say that by bringing together these twoseries of documents, and interposing the dates of the papal bullscountersigned by Ugolini, we are able to follow almost day by day thisman, who was, perhaps without even excepting St. Francis, the one whosewill most profoundly fashioned the Franciscan institute. We see alsothe pre-eminent part which the Order had from the beginning in theinterest of the future pontiff, and we arrive at perfect accuracy as tothe dates of his meetings with St. Francis. 

III. BULLS

The pontifical bulls concerning the Franciscans were collected andpublished in the last century by the monk Sbaralea. [3] But from thesewe gain little help for the history of the origins of the Order. [4]

The following is a compendious list; the details have been given in thecourse of the work:

No. 1. August 18, 1218. --Bull _Literĉ tuĉ_ addressed to Ugolini. Thepope permits him to accept donations of landed property in behalf ofwomen fleeing the world (Clarisses) and to declare that thesemonasteries are holden by the Apostolic See. 

No. 2. June 11, 1219. --_Cum delecti filii. _ This bull, addressed in ageneral way to all prelates, is a sort of safe conduct for the BrothersMinor. 

No. 3. December 19, 1219. --_Sacrosancta romana. _ Privileges conceded tothe Sisters (Clarisses) of Monticelli, near Florence. 

No. 4. May 29, 1220. --_Pro dilectis. _ The pope prays the prelates ofFrance to give a kindly reception to the Brothers Minor. 

No. 5. September 22, 1220. --_Cum secundum. _ Honorius III. Prescribes ayear of noviciate before the entry into the Order. 

No. 6. December 9, 1220. --_Constitutus in prĉsentia. _ This bull concernsa priest of Constantinople who had made a vow to enter the Order. Asthere is question here of _frater Lucas Magister fratrum Minorem departibus Romaniĉ_ we have here indirect testimony, all the more preciousfor that reason, as to the period of the establishment of the Order inthe Orient. 

No. 7. February 13, 1221. --New bull for the same priest. 

No. 8. December 16, 1221. --_Significatum est nobis. _ Honorius III. Recommends to the Bishop of Rimini to protect the Brothers of Penitence(Third Order). 

No. 9. March 22, 1222. [5]--_Devotionis vestrĉ. _ Concession to theFranciscans, under certain conditions, to celebrate the offices in timesof interdict. 

No. 10. March 29, 1222. --_Ex parte Universitatis. _ Mission given to theDominicans, Franciscans, and Brothers of the Troops of San Iago inLisbon. 

Nos. 11, 12, and 13. --September 19, 1222. --_Sacrosancta Romana. _Privileges for the monasteries (Clarisses) of Lucca, Sienna, andPerugia. 

No. 14. November 29, 1223. --_Solet annuere. _ Solemn approbation of theRule, which is inserted in the bull. 

No. 15. December 18, 1223. --_Fratrum Minorum. _ Concerns apostates fromthe Order. 

No. 16. December 1, 1224. --_Cum illorum. _ Authorization given to theBrothers of Penitence to take part in the offices in times of interdict, etc. 

No. 17. December 3, 1224. --_Quia populares tumultus. _ Concession of theportable altar. 

No. 18. August 28, 1225. --_In hiis. _ Honorius explains to the Bishop ofParis and the Archbishop of Rheims the true meaning of the privilegesaccorded to the Brothers Minor. 

No. 19. October 7, 1225. --_Vineae Domini. _ This bull contains diversauthorizations in favor of the Brothers who are going to evangelizeMorocco. 

This list includes only those of Sbaralea's bulls which may directly orindirectly throw some light upon the life of St. Francis and hisinstitute. Sbaralea's nomenclature is surely incomplete and should berevised when the Registers of Honorius III. Shall have been published infull. [6]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] It was published by Sbaralea, Bull. , t. Iv. , p. 156, note h. This act was drawn up July 9, 1274, at a time when the son of Orlando as well as the Brothers Minor desired to authenticate the donation, which until then had been verbal. 

 [2] See _Registri dei Cardinali Ugolino d'Ostia e Ottaviano degli Ubaldini pubblicati a cura di Guido Levi dall'Istituto storico italiano. --Fonti per la storia d'Italia_, Roma, 1890, 1 vol. , 4to, xxviii. And 250 pp. This edition follows the manuscript of the National Library, Paris: Ancien fonds Colbert lat. , 5152A. We must draw attention to a very beautiful work due also to Mr. G. Levi: _Documenti ad illustrazione del Registro del Card. Ugolino_, in the _Archivio della societa Romana di storia patria_, t. Xii. (1889), pp. 241-326. 

 [3] _Bullarium franciscanum seu Rom. Pontificum constitutiones epistolĉ diplomata ordinibus Minorum, Clarissarum et Poenitentium concessa, edidit Joh. Hyac. Sbaralea ord. Min. Conv. _, 4 vols. , fol. , Rome, t. I. (1759), t. Ii. (1761), t. Iii. (1763), t iv. , (1768)--_Supplementum ab Annibale de Latera ord. Min. Obs. Romĉ_, 1780. --Sbaralea had a comparatively easy task, because of the number of collections made before his. I shall mention only one of those which I have before me. It is, comparatively, very well done, and appears to have escaped the researches of the Franciscan bibliographers: _Singularissimum eximiumque opus universis mortalibus sacratissimi ordinis seraphici patris nostri Francisci a Domino Jesu mirabili modo approbati necnon a quampluribus nostri Redemptoris sanctissimis vicariis romanis pontificabus multipharie declarati notitiam habere cupientibus profecto per necessarium. Speculum Minorum . . . Per Martinum Morin . . . Rouen_, 1509. It is 8vo, with numbered folios, printed with remarkable care. It contains besides the bulls the principal dissertations upon the Rule, elaborated in the thirteenth century, and a _Memoriale ordinis_ (first part, f^o 60-82), a kind of catalogue of the ministers-general, which would have prevented many of the errors of the historians, if it had been known. 

 [4] The Bollandists themselves have entirely overlooked those sources of information, thinking, upon the authority of a single badly interpreted passage, that the Order had not obtained a single bull before the solemn approval of Honorius III. , November 29, 1223. 

 [5] And not March 29, as Sbaralea has it. The original, which I have had under my eyes in the archives of Assisi, bears in fact: _Datum Anagnie XI. Kal. Aprilis pontificatus nostri anno sexto_. 

 [6] The Abbé Horoy has indeed published in five volumes what he entitles the _Opera omnia_ of Honorius III. , but he omits, without a word of explanation, a great number of letters, certain of which are brought forward in the well-known collection of Potthast. The Abbé Pietro Pressuti has undertaken to publish a compendium of all the bulls of this pope according to the original Registers of the Vatican. _I regesti del Pontifice Onorio III. _ Roma, t. I. , 1884. Volume i. Only has as yet appeared. 

 * * * * *

IV

CHRONICLERS OF THE ORDER

I. CHRONICLE OF BROTHER GIORDANO DI GIANO[1]

Born at Giano, in Umbria, in the mountainous district which closes thesouthern horizon of Assisi, Brother Giordano was in 1221 one of thetwenty-six friars who, under the conduct of Cĉsar of Speyer, set out forGermany. He seems to have remained attached to this province until hisdeath, even when most of the friars, especially those who held cures, had been transferred, often to a distance of several months' journey, from one end of Europe to the other. It is not, then, surprising that hewas often prayed to commit his memories to writing. He dictated them toBrother Baldwin of Brandenburg in the spring of 1262. He must have doneit with joy, having long before prepared himself for the task. Herelates with artless simplicity how in 1221, at the chapter-general ofPortiuncula, he went from group to group questioning as to their namesand country the Brothers who were going to set out on distant missions, that he might be able to say later, especially if they came to suffermartyrdom: "I knew them myself!"[2]

His chronicle bears the imprint of this tendency. What he desires todescribe is the introduction of the Order into Germany and its earlydevelopments there, and he does it by enumerating, with a complacencywhich has its own coquetry, the names of a multitude of friars[3] andby carefully dating the events. These details, tedious for the ordinaryreader, are precious to the historian; he sees there the diverseconditions from which the friars were recruited, and the rapidity withwhich a handful of missionaries thrown into an unknown country were ableto branch out, found new stations, and in five years cover with anetwork of monasteries, the Tyrol, Saxony, Bavaria, Alsace, and theneighboring provinces. 

It is needless to say that it is worth while to test Giordano'schronology, for he begins by praying the reader to forgive the errorswhich may have escaped him on this head; but a man who thus marks in hismemory what he desires later to tell or to write is not an ordinarywitness. 

Reading his chronicle, it seems as if we were listening to therecollections of an old soldier, who grasps certain worthless detailsand presents them with an extraordinary power of relief, who knows nothow to resist the temptation to bring himself forward, at the risksometimes of slightly embellishing the dry reality. [4]

In fact this chronicle swarms with anecdotes somewhat personal, but veryartless and welcome, and which on the whole carry in themselves thetestimony to their authenticity. The perfume of the Fioretti alreadyexhales from these pages so full of candor and manliness; we can followthe missionaries stage by stage, then when they are settled, open thedoor of the monastery and read in the very hearts of these men, many ofwhom are as brave as heroes and harmless as doves. 

It is true that this chronicle deals especially with Germany, but thefirst chapters have an importance for Francis's history that exceedseven that of the biographers. Thanks to Giordano of Giano, we are fromthis time forward informed upon the crises which the institute ofFrancis passed through after 1219; he furnishes us the solidlyhistorical base which seems to be lacking in the documents emanatingfrom the Spirituals, and corroborates their testimony. 

II. ECCLESTON: ARRIVAL OF THE FRIARS IN ENGLAND[5]

Our knowledge of Thomas of Eccleston is very slight, for he has left nomore trace of himself in the history of the Order than of Simon ofEsseby, to whom he dedicates his work. A native no doubt of Yorkshire, he seems never to have quitted England. He was twenty-five yearsgathering the materials of his work, which embraces the course of eventsfrom 1224 almost to 1260. The last facts that he relates belong to yearsvery near to this date. 

Of almost double the length of that of Giordano, Eccleston's work is farfrom furnishing as interesting reading. The former had seen nearlyeverything that he described, and thence resulted a vigor in his storythat we cannot find in an author who writes on the testimony of others. More than this, while Giordano follows a chronological order, Ecclestonhas divided his incidents under fifteen rubrics, in which the samepeople continually reappear in a confusion which at length becomes verywearisome. Finally, his document is amazingly partial: the author is notcontent with merely proving that the English friars are saints; hedesires to show that the province of England surpasses all others[6]by its fidelity to the Rule and its courage against the upholders of newways, Brother Elias in particular. 

But these few faults ought not to make us lose sight of the true valueof this document. It embraces what we may call the heroic period of theFranciscan movement in England, and describes it with extremesimplicity. 

Aside from all question of history, we have here enough to interest allthose who are charmed by the spectacle of moral conquest. On Monday, September 10th, the Brothers Minor landed at Dover. They were nine innumber: a priest, a deacon, two who had only the lesser Orders, and fivelaymen. They visited Canterbury, London, Oxford, Cambridge, Lincoln, andless than ten months later all who have made their mark in the historyof science or of sanctity had joined them; it may suffice to name Adamof Marisco, Richard of Cornwall, Bishop Robert Grossetête, one of theproudest and purest figures of the Middle Ages, and Roger Bacon, thatpersecuted monk who several centuries before his time grappled with andanswered in his lonely cell the problems of authority and method, with afirmness and power which the sixteenth century would find it hard tosurpass. 

It is impossible that in such a movement human weaknesses and passionsshould not here and there reveal themselves, but we owe our chroniclerthanks for not hiding them. Thanks to him, we can for a moment forgetthe present hour, call to life again that first Cambridge chapel--soslight that it took a carpenter only one day to build it--listen tothree Brothers chanting matins that same night, and that with so muchardor that one of them--so rickety that his two companions were obligedto carry him--wept for joy: in England as in Italy the Franciscan gospelwas a gospel of peace and joy. Moral ugliness inspired them with a pitywhich we no longer know. There are few historic incidents finer thanthat of Brother Geoffrey of Salisbury confessing Alexander ofBissingburn; the noble penitent was performing this duty withoutattention, as if he were telling some sort of a story; suddenly hisconfessor melted into tears, making him blush with shame and forcingtears also from him, working in him so complete a revolution that hebegged to be taken into the Order. 

The most interesting parts are those where Thomas gives us an intimateview of the friars: here drinking their beer, there hastening, in spiteof the Rule, to buy some on credit for two comrades who have beenmaltreated, or again clustering about Brother Solomon, who had just comein nearly frozen with cold, and whom they could not succeed inwarming--_sicut porcis mos est cum comprimendo foverunt_, says the piousnarrator. [7] All this is mingled with dreams, visions, numberlessapparitions, [8] which once more show us how different were the ideasmost familiar to the religious minds of the thirteenth century fromthose which haunt the brains and hearts of to-day. 

The information given by Eccleston bears only indirectly on this book, but if he speaks little of Francis he speaks much at length of some ofthe men who have been most closely mingled with his life. 

III. CHRONICLE OF FRA SALIMBENI[9]

As celebrated as it is little known, this chronicle is of quitesecondary value in all that concerns the life of St. Francis. Itsauthor, born October 9, 1221, entered the Order in 1238, and wrote hismemoirs in 1282-1287; it is therefore especially for the middle years ofthe thirteenth century that his importance is capital. Notwithstandingthis, it is surprising how small a place the radiant figure of themaster holds in these long pages, and this very fact shows, better thanlong arguments could do, how profound was the fall of the Franciscanidea. 

IV. THE CHRONICLE OF THE TRIBULATIONS BY ANGELO CARENO[10]

This chronicle was written about 1330; we might therefore be surprisedto see it appear among the sources to be consulted for the life of St. Francis, dead more than a century before; but the picture which Clarenogives us of the early days of the Order gains its importance from thefact that in sketching it he made constant appeal to eye-witnesses, andprecisely to those whose works have disappeared. 

Angelo Clareno, earlier called Pietro da Fossombrone[11] from the nameof his native town, and sometimes da Cingoli, doubtless from the littleconvent where he made profession, belonged to the Zelanti of the Marchof Ancona as early as 1265. Hunted and persecuted by his adversariesduring his whole life, he died in the odor of sanctity June 15, 1339, inthe little hermitage of Santa Maria d' Aspro in the diocese of Marsicoin Basilicata. 

Thanks to published documents, we may now, so to speak, follow day byday not only the external circumstances of his life, but the innerworkings of his soul. With him we see the true Franciscan live again, one of those men who, while desiring to remain the obedient son of theChurch, cannot reconcile themselves to permit the domain of the dream toslip away from them, the ideal which they have hailed. Often they are onthe borders of heresy; in these utterances against bad priests andunworthy pontiffs there is a bitterness which the sectaries of thesixteenth century will not exceed. [12] Often, too, they seem torenounce all authority and make final appeal to the inward witness ofthe Holy Spirit;[13] and yet Protestantism would be mistaken in seekingits ancestors among them. No, they desired to die as they had lived, inthe communion of that Church which was as a stepmother to them and whichthey yet loved with that heroic passion which some of the _ci-devant_nobles brought in '93 to the love of France, governed though she was byJacobins, and poured out their blood for her. 

Clareno and his friends not only believed that Francis had been a greatSaint, but to this conviction, which was also that of the Brothers ofthe Common Observance, they added the persuasion that the work of theStigmatized could only be continued by men who should attain to hismoral stature, to which men might arrive through the power of faith andlove. They were of the violent who take the kingdom of heaven by force;so when, after the frivolous and senile interests of every day we comeface to face with them, we feel ourselves both humbled and exalted, forwe suddenly find unhoped-for powers, an unrecognized lyre in the humanheart. 

There is one of Jesus's apostles of whom it is difficult not to thinkwhile reading the chronicle of the Tribulations and Angelo Clareno'scorrespondence: St. John. Between the apostle's words about love andthose of the Franciscan there is a similarity of style all the morestriking because they were written in different languages. In both ofthese the soul is that of the aged man, where all is only love, pardon, desire for holiness, and yet it sometimes wakes with a suddenthrill--like that which stirred the soul of the seer of Patmos--ofindignation, wrath, pity, terror, and joy, when the future unveilsitself and gives a glimpse of the close of the great tribulation. 

Clareno's works, then, are in the strictest sense of the word partisan;the question is whether the author has designedly falsified the facts ormutilated the texts. To this question we may boldly answer, No. Hecommits errors, [14] especially in his earlier pages, but they are notsuch as to diminish our confidence. 

Like a good Joachimite, he believed that the Order would have totraverse seven tribulations before its final triumph. The pontificate ofJohn XXII. Marked, he thought, the commencement of the seventh; he sethimself, then, to write, at the request of a friend, the history of thefirst six. [15]

His account of the first is naturally preceded by an introduction, thepurpose of which is to exhibit to the reader, taking the life of St. Francis as a framework, the intention of the latter in composing theRule and dictating the Will. 

Born between 1240 and 1250, Clareno had at his service the testimony ofseveral of the first disciples;[16] he found himself in relations withAngelo di Rieti, [17] Egidio, [18] and with that Brother Giovanni, companion of Egidio, mentioned in the prologue of the Legend of theThree Companions. [19]

His chronicle, therefore, forms as it were the continuation of thatlegend. The members of the little circle of Greccio are they whorecommend it to us; it has also their inspiration. 

But writing long years after the death of these Brothers, Clareno feelsthe need of supporting himself also on written testimony; he repeatedlyrefers to the four legends from which he borrows a part of hisnarrative; they are those of Giovanni di Ceperano, Thomas of Celano, Bonaventura, and Brother Leo. [20] Bonaventura's work is mentioned onlyby way of reference; Clareno borrows nothing from him, while he citeslong passages from Giovanni di Ceperano, [21] Thomas of Celano[22] andBrother Leo. [23]

Clareno takes from these writers narratives containing several new andextremely curious facts. [24]

I have dwelt particularly upon this document because its value appearsto me not yet to have been properly appreciated. It is indeed partisan;the documents of which we must be most wary are not those whose tendencyis manifest, but those where it is skilfully concealed. 

The life of St. Francis and a great part of the religious history of thethirteenth century will surely appear to us in an entirely differentlight when we are able to fill out the documents of the victorious partyby those of the party of the vanquished. Just as Thomas of Celano'sfirst legend is dominated by the desire to associate closely St. Francis, Gregory IX. , and Brother Elias, so the Chronicle of theTribulations is inspired from beginning to end with the thought that thetroubles of the Order--to say the word, the apostasy--began so early as1219. This contention finds a striking confirmation in the Chronicle ofGiordano di Giano. 

V. THE FIORETTI[25]

With the Fioretti we enter definitively the domain of legend. Thisliterary gem relates the life of Francis, his companions and disciples, as it appeared to the popular imagination at the beginning of thefourteenth century. We have not to discuss the literary value of thisdocument, one of the most exquisite religious works of the Middle Ages, but it may well be said that from the historic point of view it does notdeserve the neglect to which it has been left. 

Most authors have failed in courage to revise the sentence lightlyuttered against it by the successors of Bollandus. Why make anything ofa book which Father Suysken did not even deign to read![26]

Yet that which gives these stories an inestimable worth is what for wantof a better term we may call their atmosphere. They are legendary, worked over, exaggerated, false even, if you please, but they give uswith a vivacity and intensity of coloring something that we shall searchfor in vain elsewhere--the surroundings in which St. Francis lived. Morethan any other biography the Fioretti transport us to Umbria, to themountains of the March of Ancona; they make us visit the hermitages, andmingle with the life, half childish, half angelic, which was that oftheir inhabitants. 

It is difficult to pronounce upon the name of the author. His work wasonly that of gathering the flowers of his bouquet from written and oraltradition. The question whether he wrote in Latin or Italian has beenmuch discussed and appears to be not yet settled; what is certain isthat though this work may be anterior to the Conformities, [27] it is alittle later than the Chronicle of the Tribulations, for it would bestrange that it made no mention of Angelo Clareno, if it was writtenafter his death. 

This book is in fact an essentially local[28] chronicle; the author hasin mind to erect a monument to the glory of the Brothers Minor of theMarch of Ancona. This province, which is evidently his own, "does itnot resemble the sky blazing with stars? The holy Brothers who dwelt init, like the stars in the sky, have illuminated and adorned the Order ofSt. Francis, filling the world with their examples and teaching. " He isacquainted with the smallest villages, [29] each having at a shortdistance its monastery, well apart, usually near a torrent, in the edgeof a wood, and above, near the hilltop, a few almost inaccessible cells, the asylums of Brothers even more than the others in love withcontemplation and retirement. [30]

The chapters that concern St. Francis and the Umbrian Brothers are onlya sort of introduction; Egidio, Masseo, Leo on one side, St. Clara onthe other, are witnesses that the ideal at Portiuncula and St. Damianwas indeed the same to which in later days Giachimo di Massa, Pietro diMonticulo, Conrad di Offida, Giovanni di Penna, and Giovanni della Vernaendeavored to attain. 

While most of the other legends give us the Franciscan tradition of thegreat convents, the Fioretti are almost the only document which shows itas it was perpetuated in the hermitages and among the people. In defaultof accuracy of detail, the incidents which are related here contain ahigher truth--their tone is true. Here are words that were neveruttered, acts that never took place, but the soul and the heart of theearly Franciscans were surely what they are depicted here. 

The Fioretti have the living truth that the pencil gives. Something iswanting in the physiognomy of the Poverello when we forget hisconversation with Brother Leo on the perfect joy, his journey to Siennawith Masseo, or even the conversion of the wolf of Gubbio. 

We must not, however, exaggerate the legendary side of the Fioretti:there are not more that two or three of these stories of which thekernel is not historic and easy to find. The famous episode of the wolfof Gubbio, which is unquestionably the most marvellous of all theseries, is only, to speak the engraver's language, the third state ofthe story of the robbers of Monte Casale[31] mingled with a legend ofthe Verna. 

The stories crowd one another in this book like flocks of memories thatcome upon us pell-mell, and in which insignificant details occupy alarger place than the most important events; our memory is, in fact, anovergrown child, and what it retains of a man is generally a feature, aword, a gesture. Scientific history is trying to react, to mark therelative value of facts, to bring forward the important ones, to castinto shade that which is secondary. Is it not a mistake? Is there such athing as the important and the secondary? How is it going to be marked?

The popular imagination is right: what we need to retain of a man is theexpression of countenance in which lives his whole being, a heart-cry, agesture that expresses his personality. Do we not find all of Jesus inthe words of the Last Supper? And all of St. Francis in his address tobrother wolf and his sermon to the birds?

Let us beware of despising these documents in which the firstFranciscans are described as they saw themselves to be. Unfolding underthe Umbrian sky at the foot of the olives of St. Damian, or the firs ofthe March of Ancona, these wild flowers have a perfume and anoriginality which we look for in vain in the carefully cultivatedflowers of a learned gardener. 

APPENDICES OF THE FIORETTI

In the first of these appendices the compiler has divided into fivechapters all the information on the stigmata which he was able togather. It is easy to understand the success of the Fioretti. The peoplefell in love with these stories, in which St. Francis and his companionsappear both more human and more divine than in the other legends; andthey began very soon to feel the need of so completing them as to form averitable biography. [32]

The second, entitled Life of Brother Ginepro, is only indirectlyconnected with St. Francis; yet it deserves to be studied, for it offersthe same kind of interest as the principal collection, to which it isdoubtless posterior. In these fourteen chapters we find the principalfeatures of the life of this Brother, whose mad and saintly freaks stillfurnish material for conversation in Umbrian monasteries. Theseunpretending pages discover to us one aspect of the Franciscan heart. The official historians have thought it their duty to keep silence uponthis Brother, who to them appeared to be a supremely indiscreetpersonage, very much in the way of the good name of the Order in theeyes of the laics. They were right from their point of view, but we owea debt of gratitude to the Fioretti for having preserved for us thispersonality, so blithe, so modest, and with so arch a good nature. Certainly St. Francis was more like Ginepro than like Brother Elias orSt. Bonaventura. [33]

The third, Life of Brother Egidio, appears to be on the whole the mostancient document on the life of the famous Ecstatic that we possess. Itis very possible that these stories might be traced to Brother Giovanni, to whom the Three Companions appeal in their prologue. 

In the defective texts given us in the existing editions we perceive thehand of an annotator whose notes have slipped into the text, [34] but inspite of that this life is one of the most important of the secondarytexts. This always itinerant brother, one of whose principalpreoccupations is to live by his labor, is one of the most original andagreeable figures in Francis's surroundings, and it is in lives of thissort that we must seek the true meaning of some of the passages of theRule, and precisely in those that have had the most to suffer from theenterprise of exegetes. 

The fourth includes the favorite maxims of Brother Egidio; they have noother importance than to show the tendencies of the primitive Franciscanteaching. They are short, precise, practical counsels, saturated withmysticism, and yet in them good sense never loses its rights. Thecollection, just as it is in the Fioretti, is no doubt posterior toEgidio, for in 1385 Bartolommeo of Pisa furnished a much longerone. [35]

VI. CHRONICLE OF THE XXIV. GENERALS[36]

We find here at the end of the life of Francis that of most of hiscompanions, and the events that occurred under the first twenty-fourgenerals. 

It is a very ordinary work of compilation. The authors have sought toinclude in it all the pieces which they had succeeded in collecting, andthe result presents a very disproportioned whole. A thorough study of itmight be interesting and useful, but it would be possible only after itspublication. This cannot be long delayed: twice (at intervals of fifteenmonths) when I have desired to study the Assisi manuscript it was foundto be with the Franciscans of Quaracchi, who were preparing to print it. 

It is difficult not to bring the epoch in which this collection wasclosed near to that when Bartolommeo of Pisa wrote his famous work. Perhaps the two are quite closely related. 

This chronicle was one of Glassberger's favorite sources. 

VII. THE CONFORMITIES OF BARTOLOMMEO OF PISA[37]

The Book of the Conformities, to which Brother Bartolommeo of Pisadevoted more than fifteen years of his life, [38] appears to have beenread very inattentively by most of the authors who have spoken ofit. [39] In justice to them we must add that it would be hard to find awork more difficult to read; the same facts reappear from ten to fifteentimes, and end by wearying the least delicate nerves. 

It is to this no doubt that we must attribute the neglect to which ithas been left. I do not hesitate, however, to see in it the mostimportant work which has been made on the life of St. Francis. Of coursethe author does not undertake historical criticism as we understand itto-day, but if we must not expect to find him a historian, we can boldlyplace him in the front rank of compilers. [40]

If the Bollandists had more thoroughly studied him they would have seenmore clearly into the difficult question of the sources, and the authorswho have come after them would have been spared numberless errors andinterminable researches. 

Starting with the thought that Francis's life had been a perfectimitation of that of Jesus, Bartolommeo attempted to collect, withoutlosing a single one, all the instances of the life of the Poverelloscattered through the diverse legends still known at that time. 

He regretted that Bonaventura, while borrowing the narratives of hispredecessors, had often abridged them, [41] and himself desired topreserve them in their original bloom. Better situated than any one forsuch a work, since he had at his disposal the archives of the SacroConvento of Assisi, it may be said that he has omitted nothing ofimportance and that he has brought into his work considerable piecesfrom nearly all the legends which appeared in the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries; they are there only in fragments, it is true, butwith perfect accuracy. [42]

When his researches were unsuccessful he avows it simply, withoutattempting to fill out the written testimonies with his ownconjectures. [43] He goes farther, and submits the documents he hasbefore him to a real testing, laying aside those he considersuncertain. [44] Finally he takes pains to point out the passages inwhich his only authority is oral testimony. [45]

As he is almost continually citing the legends of Celano, the ThreeCompanions, and Bonaventura, and as the citations prove on verificationto be literally accurate, as well as those of the Will, the diversRules, or the pontifical bulls, it seems natural to conclude that he wasequally accurate with the citations which we cannot verify, and in whichwe find long extracts from works that have disappeared. [46]

The citations which he makes from Celano present no difficulty; they areall accurate, corresponding sometimes with the First sometimes with theSecond Legend. [47]

Those from the Legend of the Three Companions are accurate, but itappears that Bartolommeo drew them from a text somewhat different fromthat which we have. [48]

With the citations from the _Legenda Antiqua_ the question iscomplicated and becomes a nice one. Was there a work of this name?Certain authors, and among them the Bollandist Suysken, seem to inclinetoward the negative, and believe that to cite the _Legenda Antiqua_ isabout the same as to refer vaguely to tradition. Others amongcontemporaries have thought that after the approbation and definitiveadoption of Bonaventura's _Legenda Major_ by the Order the Legendsanterior to that, and especially that of Celano, were called _LegendaAntiqua_. The Conformities permit us to look a little closer into thequestion. We find, in fact, passages from the _Legenda Antiqua_ whichreproduce Celano's First Life. [49] Others present points of contactwith the Second, sometimes a literary exactitude, [50] but often theseare the same stories told in too different a way for us to consider themborrowed. [51]

Finally there are many of these extracts from the _Legenda Antiqua_ ofwhich we find no source in any of the documents already discussed. [52]This would suffice to show that the two are not to be confounded. It hasabsorbed them and brought about certain changes while completing themwith others. [53]

The study of the fragments which Bartolommeo has preserved to us showsimmediately that this collection belonged to the party of the Zealots ofPoverty; we might be tempted to see in it the work of Brother Leo. 

Most fortunately there is a passage where Bartolommeo di Pisa cites asbeing by Conrad di Offida a fragment which he had already cited beforeas borrowed from the _Legenda Antiqua_. [54] I would not exaggerate thevalue of an isolated instance, but it seems an altogether plausiblehypothesis to make Conrad di Offida the author of this compilation. Allthat we know of him, of his tendencies, his struggle for the strictobservance, accords with what the known fragments of the _LegendaAntiqua_ permit us to infer as to its author. [55]

However this may be, it appears that in this collection the stories havebeen given us (the principal source being the Legend of Brother Leo orthe Three Companions before its mutilation) in a much less abridged formthan in the Second Life of Celano. This work is hardly more than asecond edition of that of Brother Leo, here and there completed with afew new incidents, and especially with exhortations to perseveranceaddressed to the persecuted Zealots. [56]

VIII. CHRONICLE OF GLASSBERGER[57]

Evidently this work, written about 1508, cannot be classed among thesources properly so called; but it presents in a convenient form thegeneral history of the Order, and thanks to its citations permits us toverify certain passages in the primitive legends of which Glassbergerhad the MS. Before his eyes. It is thus in particular with the chronicleof Brother Giordano di Giano, which he has inserted almost bodily in hisown work. 

IX. CHRONICLE OF MARK OF LISBON[58]

This work is of the same character as that of Glassberger; it can onlybe used by way of addition. There is, however, a series of facts inwhich it has a special value; it is when the Franciscan missions inSpain or Morocco are in question. The author had documents on thissubject which did not reach the friars in distant countries. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] _Chronica fratris Jordani a Giano. _ The text was published for the first time in 1870 by Dr. G. Voigt under the title: "_Die Denkwürdigkeiten des Minoriten Jordanus von Giano_ in the _Abhandlungen der philolog. Histor. Cl. Der Königl. Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_, " pp. 421-545, Leipsic, by Hirzel, 1870. Only one manuscript is known; it is in the royal library at Berlin (Manuscript. Theolog. Lat. , 4to, n. 196, sĉc. Xiv. , foliorum 141). It has served as the base of the second edition: _Analecta franciscana sive Chronica aliaque documenta ad historiam minorum spectantia. Ad Claras Aquas (Quaracchi) ex typographia collegii S. Bonaventurĉ_, 1885, t. I. , pp. 1-19. Except where otherwise noted, I cite entirely this edition, in which is preserved the division into sixty-three paragraphs introduced by Dr. Voigt. 

 [2] Giord. , 81. 

 [3] He names more than twenty four persons. 

 [4] It does not seem to me that we can look upon the account of the interview between Gregory IX. And Brother Giordano as rigorously accurate. Giord. , 63. 

 [5] _Liber de adventu Minorum in Angliam_, published under the title of _Monumenta Franciscana_ (in the series of _Rerum Britannicarum medii Ĉvi scriptores_, _Roll series_) in two volumes, 8vo; the first through the care of J. S. Brewer (1858), the second through that of R. Howlett (1882). This text is reproduced without the scientific dress of the _Analecta franciscana_, t. I. , pp. 217-257. Cf. English Historical Review, v. (1890), 754. He has published an excellent critical edition of it, but unfortunately partial, in vol. Xxviii. , _Scriptorum_, of the _Monumenta Germaniĉ Historica_ by Mr. Liebermann, Hanover, 1888, folio, pp. 560-569. 

 [6] Eccl. , 11; 13; 14; 15. Cf. Eccl. , 14, where the author takes pains to say that Alberto of Pisa died at Rome, surrounded by English Brothers "_inter Anglicos_. "

 [7] Eccl. , 4; 12. 

 [8] Eccl. , 4; 5; 6; 7; 10; 12; 13; 14; 15. 

 [9] It was published, but with many suppressions, in 1857, at Parma. The Franciscans of Quaracchi prepared a new edition of it, which appeared in the _Analecta Franciscana_. This work is in manuscript in the Vatican under no. 7260. Vide Ehrle. _Zeitschrift für kath. Theol. _ (1883), t. Vii. , pp. 767 and 768. The work of Mr. Clédat will be read with interest: _De fratre Salembene et de ejus chronicĉ auctoritate_, Paris, 4to, 1877, with fac simile. 

 [10] Father Ehrle has published it, but unfortunately not entire, in the _Archiv. _, t. Ii. , pp. 125-155, text of the close of the fifth and of the sixth tribulation; pp. 256-327 text of the third, of the fourth, and of the commencement of the fifth. He has added to it introductions and critical notes. For the parts not published I will cite the text of the Laurentian manuscript (Plut. 20, cod. 7), completed where possible with the Italian version in the National Library at Florence (Magliabecchina, xxxvii. -28). See also an article of Professor Tocco in the _Archivio storico italiano_, t. Xvii. (1886), pp. 12-36 and 243-61, and one of Mr. Richard's: Library of the École des chartes, 1884, 5th livr. P. 525. Cf. Tocco, the _Eresia nel medio Evo_, p. 419 ff. As to the text published by Döllinger in his _Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters_, Münich, 1890, 2 vols. , 8vo, II. _Theil Dokumente_, pp. 417-427, it is of no use. It can only beget errors, as it abounds with gross mistakes. Whole pages are wanting. 

 [11] _Archiv. _, t. Iii. , pp. 406-409. 

 [12] Vide _Archiv. _, i. , p. 557 . . . "_Et hoc totum ex rapacitate et malignitate luporum pastorum qui voluerunt esse pastores, sed operibus negaverunt deum_, " et seq. Cf. , p. 562: "_Avaritia et symoniaca heresis absque pallio regnat et fere totum invasit ecclesie corpus_. "

 [13] "_Qui excommunicat et hereticat altissimam evangelii paupertatem, excommunicatus est a Deo et hereticus coram Christo, qui est eterna et in commutabilis veritas. _" _Arch. _, i. , p. 509. "_Non est potestas contra christum Dominum et contra evangelium. _" Ib. P. 560. He closes one of his letters with a sentence of a mysticism full of serenity, and which lets us see to the bottom of the hearts of the Spiritual Brothers. "_Totum igitur studium esse debet quod unum inseparabiliter simus per Franciscum in Christo. _" Ib. , p. 564. 

 [14] For example in the list of the first six generals of the Order. 

 [15] The first (1219-1226) extends from the departure of St. Francis for Egypt up to his death; the second includes the generalate of Brother Elias (1232-1239); the third that of Crescentius (1244-1248); the fourth, that of Bonaventura (1257-1274); the fifth commences with the epoch of the council of Lyon (1274) and extends up to the death of the inquisitor, Thomas d'Aversa (1204). And the sixth goes from 1308 to 1323. 

 [16] "_Supererant adhuc multi de sociis b. Francisci . . . Et alii non pauci de quibus ego vidi et ab ipsis audivi quĉ narro. _" Laur. Ms. , cod. 7, pl. Xx. , f^o 24a: "_Qui passi sunt eam (tribulationem tertiam) socii fundatoris fratres Aegdius et Angelus, qui supererant me audiente referibant_. " Laur. Ms. , f^o 27b. Cf. , Italian Ms. , xxxvii. , 28, Magliab. , f^o 138b. 

 [17] The date of his death is unknown; on August 11, 1253, he was present at the death-bed of St. Clara. 

 [18] Died April 23, 1261. 

 [19] "_Quem (fratrem Jacobum de Massa) dirigente me fratre Johanne socio fratris prefati Egidii videre laboravi. Hic enim frater Johannes . . . Dixit mihi_. . . . " _Arch. _, ii. , p. 279. 

 [20] " . . . _Tribulationes preteritas memoravi, ut audivi ab illis qui sustinuerunt eas et aliqua commemoravi de hiis que didici in quatuor legendis quas vidi et legi. _" _Arch. _, ii. , p. 135. --"_Vitam pauperis et humilis viri Dei Francisci trium ordinum fundatoris quatuor solemnes personĉ scripserunt, fratres videlicet scientia et sanctitate prĉclari, Johannes et Thomas de Celano, frater Bonaventura unus post Beatum Franciscum Generalis Minister et vir mirĉ simplicitatis et sanctitatis frater Leo, ejusdem sancti Francisci socius. Has quatuor descriptiones seu historias qui legerit_. . . . " Laurent. MS. , pl. Xx. , c. 7, f^o 1a. Did the Italian translator think there was an error in this quotation? I do not know, but he suppressed it. At f^o 12a of manuscript xxxvii. , 28, of the Magliabecchina, we read: "_Incominciano alcune croniche del ordine franciscano, come la vita del povero e humile servo di Dio Francesco fondatore del minorico ordine fu scripta da San Bonaventura e da quatro altri frati. Queste poche scripture ovveramente hystorie quello il quale diligentemente le leggiera, expeditamente potra cognoscere . . . La vocatione la santita di San Francisco. _"

 [21] Laur. MS. , f^o 4b ff. On the other hand we read in a letter of Clareno: "_Ad hanc (paupertatem) perfecte servandam Christus Franciscum vocavit et elegit in hac hora novissima et precepit ei evangelicam assumere regulam, et a papa Innocentio fuit omnibus annuntiatum in concilio generali, quod de sua auctoritate et obedientia sanctus Franciscus evangelicam vitam et regulam assumpserat et Christo inspirante servare promiserat, sicut sanctus vir fr. Leo scribit et fr. Johannes de Celano. _" _Archiv. _, i. , p. 559. 

 [22] "_Audiens enim semel quorundam fratrum enormes excessus, ut fr. Thomas de Celano scribit, et malum exemplum per eos secularibus datum. _" Laur. MS. , f^o 13b. The passage which follows evidently refers to 2 Cel. , 3, 93 and 112. 

 [23] "_Et fecerunt de regula prima ministri removeri capitulum istud de prohibitionibus sancti evangelii, sicut frater Leo scribit. _" Laur. Ms. F^o 12b. Cf. _Spec. _, 9a, see p. 248. "_Nam cum rediisset de partibus ultramarinis, minister quidam loquebatur cum eo, ut frater Leo refert, de capitulo paupertatis_, " f^o 13a, cf. _Spec. _, 9a, "_S. Franciscus, teste fr. Leone, frequenter et cum multo studio recitabat fabulam . . . Quod oportebat finaliter ordinem humiliari et ad sue humilitatis principia confitenda et tenenda reduci_. " _Archiv. _, ii. , p. 129. 

 There is only one point of contact between the Legend of the Three Companions, such as it is to-day, and these passages; but we find on the contrary revised accounts in the _Speculum_ and in the other collections, where they are cited as coming from Brother Leo. 

 [24] Clareno, for example, holds that the Cardinal Ugolini had sustained St. Francis without approving of the first Rule, in concert with Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo. This is possible, since Ugolini was created cardinal in 1198 (Vide Cardella: _Memorie storiche de' Cardinali_, 9 vols. , 8vo, Rome, 1792-1793, t. I. , pt. 2, p. 190). Besides this would better explain the zeal with which he protected the divers Orders founded by St. Francis, from 1217. The chapter where Clareno tells how St. Francis wrote the Rule shows the working over of the legend, but it is very possible that he has borrowed it in its present form from Brother Leo. It is to be noted that we do not find in this document a single allusion to the Indulgences of Portiuncula. 

 [25] The manuscripts and editions are well-nigh innumerable. M. Luigi Manzoni has studied them with a carefulness that makes it much to be desired that he continue this difficult work. _Studi sui Fioretti_: Miscelenea, 1888, pp. 116-119, 150-152, 162-168; 1889, 9-15, 78-84, 132-135. When shall we find some one who can and will undertake to make a scientific edition of them? Those which have appeared during our time in the various cities of Italy are insignificant from a critical point of view. See Mazzoni Guido, _Capitoli inediti dei Fioretti di S. Francesco_, in the _Propugnatore_, Bologna, 1888, vol. Xxi. , pp. 396-411. 

 [26] Vide A. SS. , p. 865: "_Floretum non legi, nec curandum putavi. _" Cf. 553f: "_Floretum ad manum non habeo. _"

 [27] Bartolommeo di Pisa compiled it in 1385; then certain manuscripts of the Fioretti are earlier. Besides, in the stories that the Conformities borrow from the Fioretti, we perceive Bartolommeo's work of abbreviation. 

 [28] I am speaking here only of the fifty-three chapters which form the true collection of the Fioretti. 

 [29] The province of the March of Ancona counted seven custodias: 1, Ascoli; 2, Camerino; 3, Ancona; 4, Jesi; 5, Fermo; 6, Fano; 7, Felestro. The Fioretti mention at least six of the monasteries of the custodia of Fermo: Moliano, 51, 53; Fallerone, 32, 51; Bruforte and Soffiano, 46, 47; Massa, 51; Penna, 45; Fermo, 41, 49, 51. 

 [30] At each page we are reminded of those groves which were originally the indispensable appendage of the Franciscan monasteries: _La selva ch' era allora allato a S. M. Degli Angeli_, 3, 10, 15, 16, etc. _La selva d' un luogo deserto del val di Spoleto_ (Carceri?), 4; _selva di Forano_, 42. _di Massa_, 51, etc. 

 [31] The _Speculum_, 46b, 58b, 158a, gives us three states. Cf. _Fior. _, 26 and 21; _Conform. _, 119b, 2. 

 [32] This desire was so natural that the manuscript of the Angelica Library includes many additional chapters, concerning the gift of Portiuncula, the indulgence of August 2d, the birth of St. Francis, etc. (Vide Amoni, Fioretti, Roma, 1889, pp. 266, 378-386. ) It would be an interesting study to seek the origin of these documents and to establish their relationship with the Speculum and the Conformities. Vide _Conform. _, 231a, 1; 121b; _Spec. _, 92-96. 

 [33] Ginepro was received into the Order by St. Francis. In 1253 he was present at St. Clara's death. A. SS. , _Aug. _, t. Ii. , p. 764d. The Conformities speak of him in detail, f^o 62b. 

 [34] The first seven chapters form a whole. The three which follow are doubtless a first attempt at completing them. 

 [35] Conformities, f^o 55b, 1-60a, 1. 

 [36] See _Archiv. _, t. I. , p. 145, an article of Father Denifle: _Zur Quellenkunde der Franziskaner Geschichte_, where he mentions at least eight manuscripts of this work. Cf. Ehrle: _Zeitschrift_, 1883, p. 324, note 3. I have studied only the two manuscripts of Florence: Riccardi, 279, paper, 243 fos. Of two cols. Recently numbered. The Codex of the Laurentian Gaddian. Rel. , 53, is less careful. It is also on paper, 20 x 27, and counts 254 fos. Of 1 column. F^o 1 was formerly numbered 88. The order of the chapters is not the same as in the preceding. 

 [37] The citations are always made from the edition of Milan, 1510, 4to of 256 folios of two columns. The best known of the subsequent editions are those of Milan, 1513, and Bologna, 1590. 

 [38] He began it in 1385 (f^o 1), and it was authorized by the chapter general August 2, 1399 (f^o 256a, 1). Besides, on f^o 150a, 1, he set down the date when he was writing. It was in 1390. 

 [39] I am not here concerned with the foolish attacks of certain Protestant authors upon this life. That is a quarrel of the theologians which in no way concerns history. Nowhere does Bartolommeo of Pisa make St. Francis the equal of Jesus, and he was able even to forestall criticism in this respect. The Bollandists are equally severe: "_Cum Pisanus fuerit scriptor magis pius et credulus quam crisi severa usus_. . . . " A. SS. , p. 551e. 

 [40] He has avoided the mistakes so unfortunately committed by Wadding in his list of ministers general. Vide 66a. 2, 104a, 1, 118b, 2. He was lecturer on theology at Bologna, Padua, Pisa, Sienna, and Florence. He preached for many years and with great success in the principal villages of the Peninsula and could thus take advantage of his travels by collecting useful notes. Mark of Lisbon has preserved for us a notice of his life. Vide _Croniche dei fratri Minori_, t. Iii. , p. 6 ff. Of the Diola edition. He died December 10, 1401. For further details see Wadding, ann. 1399, vii. , viii. , and above all Sbaralea, _Supplementum_, p. 109. He is the author of an exposition of the Rule little known which can be found in the Speculum Morin, Rouen, 1509, f^o 66b-83a, of part three. 

 [41] This opinion is expressed in a guarded manner. For example, f^o 207a, 1, Bartolommeo relates the miracle of the Chapter of the Mats, first following St. Bonaventura, then adding: "_Et quia non aliter tangit dicta pars (legendĉ majoris) hoc insigne miraculum: antiqua legenda hoc refertur in hunc modum_. " Cf. 225a, 2m. "_Et quia fr. Bonaventura succincte multa tangit et in brevi: pro evidentia prefatorum notandum est . . . Ut dicit antiqua legenda. _"

 [42] However, it is necessary to note that not only are there considerable differences between the editions published, but also that the first (that of Milan, 1510) has been completed and revised by its editor. The judgments passed upon Raymond Ganfridi, 104a, 1, and Boniface VIII. , 103b, 1, show traces of later corrections. (Cf. 125a, 1. At f^o 72a, 2m, is indicated the date of the death of St. Bernardin, which was in 1444, etc. ) Besides, we are surprised to find beside the pages where the sources are indicated with clearness others where stories follow one another coming one knows not from whence. 

 [43] F^o 70a, 1: "_Cujus nomen non reperi. _" 1a, 2: "_Multaque non ex industria sed quia ea noscere non valui omittendo. _"

 [44] F^o 78a, 1: _Informationes quas non scribo quia imperfectas reperi. _ Cf. 229b, 2: "_De aliis multis apparitionibus non reperi scripturam, quare hic non pono. _"

 [45] F^o 69a, 1: "_Hec ut audivi posui quia ejus legendam non vidi. _" Cf. 68b, 2m: _Fr. Henricus generalis minister mihi magistro Bartholomeo dixit ipse oretenus. _

 [46] The citations from Bonaventura are decidedly more frequent. We should not be surprised, since this story is the official biography of St. Francis; the chapter from which Bartolommeo takes his quotations is almost always indicated, and, naturally, follows the old division in five parts. Opening the book at hazard at folio 136a I find no less than six references to the _Legenda Major_ in the first column. To give an idea of the style of Bartolommeo of Pisa I shall give in substance the contents of a page of his book. See, for example, f^o 111a (lib. I. , conform. X. , pars. Ii. , Franciscus predicator). In the third line he cites Bonaventura: "_Fr. Bonaventura in quarta parte majoris legende dicit quod b. Franciscus videbatur intuentibus homo alterius seculi. _" Textual citation of Bonaventure, 45. Three lines further on: "_Verum qualis esset b. F. Quoad personam sic habetur in legenda antiqua . . . Homo facundissimus, facie hilaris_, etc. " The literal citation of the sketch of Francis follows as 1 Celano, 83, gives it as far as: "_inter peccatores quasi unus ex illis_, " and to mark the end of the quotation Bartolommeo adds: "_Hec legenda antiqua_. " In the next column paragraph 4 commences with the words: _B. Francisci predicationem reddebat mirabilem et gloriosam ipsius sancti loquutio: etenim legenda trium Sociorum dicit et Legenda major parte tertia: B. Francisei eloquia erant non inania, neo risu digna_, etc. , which corresponds literally with 3 Soc. , 25, and Bon. , 28. Then come two chapters of Bonaventura almost entire, beginning with: _In duodecima parte legende majoris dicit Fr. Bonaventura: Erat enim verbum ejus_, etc. Textual quotation of Bon. , 178 and 179. The page ends with another quotation from Bonaventura: _Sic dicebat prout recitat Bonaventura in octava parte Legende majoris: Hac officium patri misericordiarum_. Vide Bonav. , 102 end and 103 entire. This suffices without doubt to show with what precision the authorities have been quoted in this work, with what attention and confidence ought to be examined those portions of documents lost or mislaid which he has here preserved for us. 

 [47] F^o 31b, 2: _ut dicit fr. Thomas in sua legenda_, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 60. --140a, 2: _Fr. In leg. Fr. Thome_, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 60. --140a 1, cf. 2 Cel. , 3 16. --142b, 1: _Fr. In leg. Thome capitulo de charitate_, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 115. --144b, 1: _Fr. In leg. Fr. Thome capitulo de oratione_, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 40. --144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 65. --144b, 2, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 78. --176b, 2, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 79. --182b, 2, cf. 2 Cel. , 2, 1. --241b, 1, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 141. --181a, 2, cf. 1 Cel. , 27. It is needless to say that these lists of quotations do not pretend to be complete. 

 [48] F^o 36b, 2. _Ut enim habetur in leg. _ 3 Soc. , cf. 3 Soc. , 10. --46b, 1, cf. 3 Soc. , 25-28. --38b 2, cf. 3 Soc. 3. --111a, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 25. --134a, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 4. --142b, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 57 and 58. --167b, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 3 and 8. --168a, 1, cf. 3 Soc. , 10. --170b, 1, cf. 3 Soc. , 39, 4. --175b, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 59. --180b, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 4. --181a, 1, cf. 3 Soc. , 5, 7, 24, 33, and 67. --181a. 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 36. --229b, 2, cf. 3 Soc. , 14. Etc. The reading of 3 Soc. Which Bartolommeo had before his eyes was pretty much the same we have to day, for he says, 181a, 2. Referring to 3 Soc. , 67: "_Ut habetur quasi in fine leg_. 3 _Soc. _"

 [49] F^o 111a, 1, _Sic habetur in leg. Ant. _, corresponds literally with 1 Cel. , 83. --144a, 2. _Franciscus in leg. Ant. Cap. V. De zelo ad religionem_, to 1 Cel. 106. 

 [50] F^o 111b, 1. _De predicantibus loqueus sic dicebat in ant. Leg. _ Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 99 and 106. 140b, 1. Cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 84. --144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 45--144a, 1, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 95 and 15. --225b, 2, cf. 2 Cel. , 3, 116. 

 [51] F^o 31a, 1. Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 83. --143a, 2. Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 65 and 116. --144a, 1. Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 94. --170b. 1. Vide 2 Cel. , 3, 11. 

 [52] F^o 14a, 2. --32a. 1. --101a, 2. --169b, 1. --144b, 2. --142a, 2. --143b, 2. --168b, 1. --144b, 1. 

 [53] Chapters 18 (chapter of the mats) and 25 (lepers cured) of the _Fioretti_ are found in Latin in the Conf. As borrowed from the Leg. Ant. Vide 174b, 1, and 207a. 1. 

 Finally, according to f^o 168b, 2, it is also from the Leg. Ant. That the description of the coat, such as we find at the end of the _Chronique des Tribulations_, was borrowed. See _Archiv. _, t. Ii. , p. 153. 

 [54] F^o 182a, 2; cf. 51b, 1; 144a, 1. 

 [55] He died December 12, 1306, at Bastia, near Assisi. See upon him _Chron. Tribul. Archiv. _, ii. ; 311 and 312; _Conform. _, 60, 119, and 153. 

 [56] Although the history of the Indulgence of Portiuncula was of all subjects the one most largely treated in the Conformities, 151b, 2--157a, 2, not once does Bartolommeo of Pisa refer to it in the _Legenda Antiqua_. It seems, then, that this collection also was silent as to this celebrated pardon. 

 [57] Published with extreme care by the Franciscan Fathers of the Observance in t. Ii. Of the _Analecta Franciscana, ad Clarĉ Aquas_ (Quaracchi, near Florence), 1888, 1 vol. , crown 8vo, of xxxvi. -612 pp. This edition, as much from the critical point of view of the text, its correctness, its various readings and notes, as from the material point of view, is perfect and makes the more desirable a publication of the chronicles of the xxiv. Generals and of Salimbeni by the same editors. The beginning up to the year 1262 has been published already by Dr. Karl Evers under the title _Analecta ad Fratrum Minorum historiam_, Leipsic, 1882, 4to of 89 pp. 

 [58] I have been able only to procure the Italian edition published by Horatio Diola under the title _Croniche degli Ordini instituti dal P. S. Francesco_, 3 vols. , 8vo, Venice, 1606. 

 * * * * *

V

CHRONICLES OUTSIDE OF THE ORDER

I. JACQUES DE VITRY

The following documents, which we can only briefly indicate, are ofinestimable value; they emanate from men particularly well situated togive us the impression which the Umbrian prophet produced on hisgeneration. 

Jacques de Vitry[1] has left extended writings on St. Francis. Like aprudent man who has already seen many religious madmen, he is at firstreserved; but soon this sentiment disappears, and we find in him only ahumble and active admiration for the _Apostolic Man_. 

He speaks of him in a letter which he wrote immediately after the takingof Damietta (November, 1219), to his friends in Lorraine, to describe itto them. [2] A few lines suffice to describe St. Francis and point outhis irresistible influence. There is not a single passage in theFranciscan biographers which gives a more living idea of the apostolateof the Poverello. 

He returns to him more at length in his _Historia Occidentalis_, devoting to him the thirty-second chapter of this curious work. [3]These pages, vibrating with enthusiasm, were written during Francis'slifetime, [4] at the time when the most enlightened members of theChurch, who had believed themselves to be living in the evening of theworld, _in vespere mundi tendentis ad occasum_, suddenly saw in thedirection of Umbria the light of a new day. 

II. THOMAS OF SPALATO

An archdeacon of the Cathedral of Spalato, who in 1220 was studying atBologna, has left us a very living portrait of St. Francis and thememory of the impression which his preachings produced in that learnedtown. [5]

Something of his enthusiasm has passed into his story; we feel that thatday, August 15, 1220, when he met the Poverello of Assisi, was one ofthe best of his life. [6]

III. DIVERS CHRONICLES

The continuation of William of Tyre[7] brings us a new account ofFrancis's attempt to conquer the Soudan. This narrative, the longest ofall three we have on this subject, contains no feature essentially new, but it gives one more witness to the historic value of the Franciscanlegends. 

Finally, there are two chronicles written during Francis's life, which, without giving anything new, speak with accuracy of his foundation, andprove how rapidly that religious renovation which started in Umbria wasbeing propagated to the very ends of Europe. The anonymous chronicler ofMonte Sereno[8] in fact wrote about 1225, and tells us, not withoutregret, of the brilliant conquests of the Franciscans. 

Burchard, [9] Abbot Prémontré d'Ursberg (died in 1226), who was in Romein 1211, leaves us a very curious criticism of the Order. 

The Brothers Minor appeared to him a little like an orthodox branch ofthe Poor Men of Lyons. He even desires that the pope, while approvingthe Franciscans, should do so with a view to satisfy, in the measure ofthe possible, the aspirations manifested by that heresy and that of theHumiliati. 

It is impossible to attribute any value whatever to the long pages givento St. Francis by Matthew Paris. [10] His information is correctwherever the activities of the friars are concerned, and he couldexamine the work around him. [11] They are absolutely fantastic when hecomes to the life of St. Francis, and we can only feel surprised to findM. Hase[12] adopting the English monk's account of the stigmata. 

The notice which he gives of Francis contains as many errors assentences; he makes him born of a family illustrious by its nobility, makes him study theology from his infancy (_hoc didicerat in litteris ettheologicis disciplinis quibus ab ĉtate tenera incubuerat, usque adnotitiam perfectam_), etc. [13]

It would be useless to enlarge this list and mention those chroniclerswho simply noticed the foundation of the Order, its approbation, and thedeath of St. Francis, [14] or those which spoke of him at length, butsimply by copying a Franciscan legend. [15]

It suffices to point out by way of memory the long chapter consecratedto St. Francis in the Golden Legend. Giachimo di Voraggio ([Cross]1298) there sums up with accuracy but without order the essentialfeatures of the first legends and in particular the Second Life byCelano. [16]

As for the inscription of Santa Maria del Vescovado at Assisi it is toounformed to be anything but a simple object of curiosity. [17]

 * * * * *

I have given up preparing a complete bibliography of works concerningSt. Francis, that task having been very well done by the Abbé UlysseChevalier in his _Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen age_, Bio-Bibliographie, cols. 765-767 and 2588-2590, Paris, 1 vol. , 4to, 1876-1888. To it I refer my readers. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] He was born at Vitry sur Seine, became Curé of Argenteuil, near Paris; Canon of Oignies, in the diocese of Namur, preached the crusade against the Albigenses, and accompanied the Crusaders to Palestine; having been made Bishop of Acre, he was present in 1219 at the siege and at the capture of Damietta and returned to Europe in 1225; created Cardinal-bishop of Frascati in 1229, he died in 1244, leaving a number of writings. For his life, see the preface of his _Historiĉ_, edition of Douai, 1597. 

 [2] This letter may be found in (Bongars) _Gesta Dei per Francio_, pp. 1146-1149. 

 [3] _Jacobi de Vitriaco Libri duo quorum prior Orientalis, alter Occidentalis Historiĉ nomine inscribitur studio Fr. Moschi Duaci ex officina Balthazaris Belleri_, 1597, 16mo, 480 pp. Chapter xxxii. Fills pages 349-353, and is entitled _De ordine et prĉdicatione fratrum Minorum_. See above, p. 229. 

 [4] This appears from the passage: _Videmus primus ordinis fundatorem magestrum cui tanquam summo Priori suo omnes alii obediunt. _ _Loc. Cit. _, p. 352. 

 [5] It is inserted in the treatise of Sigonius on the bishops of Bologna: _Caroli Sigonii de episcopis Bononiensibus libri quinque cum notis L. C. Rabbii_, a work which occupies cols. 353-590 of t. Iii. Of his _Opera omnia_, Milan, 1732-1737, 6 vols. , f^o. We find our fragment in col. 432. 

 [6] This passage will be found above, p. 241. 

 [7] _Guillelmi Tyrensis arch. Continuala belli sacri historia_ in Martène: _Amplissima Collectio_, t. V. Pp. 584-572. The piece concerning Francis is cols. 689-690. 

 [8] _Chronicon Montis Sereni_ (at present Petersberg, near Halle), edited by Ehrenfeuchter in the _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. 23, pp. 130-226, 229. 

 [9] _Burchardi et Cuonradi Urspergensium chronicon_ ed. , A. Otto Abel and L. Weiland, _apud Mon. Germ, hist. _, t. 23, pp. 333-383. The monastery of Ursperg was half-way between Ulm and Augsburg. Vide p. 376. 

 [10] _Matthĉi Parisiensis monachie Albanensis, Historia major_, edition Watts, London, 1640. The Brothers Minor are first mentioned in the year 1207, p. 222, then 1227, pp. 339-342. 

 [11] See the article, _Minores_, in the table of contents of the _Mon. Germ. Hist. Script. _, t. Xxviii. 

 [12] _Franz von Assisi_, p. 168 ff. 

 [13] See above, p. 97, his story of the audience with Innocent III. 

 [14] For example, _Chronica Albrici trium fontium_ in Pertz: _Script. _, t. 23, _ad ann. 1207_, 1226, 1228. Vide Fragment of the chron. Of Philippe Mousket ([Cross] before 1245). _Recueil des historiens_, t. Xxii. , p. 71, lines 30347-30360. The number of annalists in this century is appalling, and there is not one in ten who has omitted to note the foundation of the Minor Brothers. 

 [15] For example, Vincent de Beauvais ([Cross] 1264) gives in his _Speculum historiale_, lib. 29, cap. 97-99, lib. 30, cap. 99-111, nearly every story given by the Bollandists under the title of _Secunda legenda_ in their _Commentarium prĉvium_. 

 [16] _Legenda aurea_, Graesse, Breslau, 1890, pp. 662-674. 

 [17] A good reproduction of it will be found in the _Miscellanea francescana_, t. Ii. , pp. 33-37, accompanied by a learned dissertation by M. Faloci Pulignani. 

 * * * * *

APPENDIX

CRITICAL STUDY OF THE STIGMATA AND THE INDULGENCE OF AUGUST 2

I. THE STIGMATA

A dissertation upon the possibility of miracles would be out of placehere; a historic sketch is not a treatise on philosophy or dogmatics. 

Still, I owe the reader a few explanations, to enable him with thoroughunderstanding to judge of my manner of viewing the subject. 

If by miracle we understand either the suspension or subversion of thelaws of nature, or the intervention of the first cause in certainparticular cases, I could not concede it. In this negation physical andlogical reasons are secondary; the true reason--let no one besurprised--is entirely religious; the miracle is immoral. The equalityof all before God is one of the postulates of the religiousconsciousness, and the miracle, that good pleasure of God, only degradeshim to the level of the capricious tyrants of the earth. 

The existing churches, making, as nearly all of them do, this notion ofmiracle the very essence of religion and the basis of all positivefaith, involuntarily render themselves guilty of that emasculation ofmanliness and morality of which they so passionately complain. If Godintervenes thus irregularly in the affairs of men, the latter canhardly do otherwise than seek to become courtiers who expect all thingsof the sovereign's _favor_. 

The question changes its aspect, if we call miracle, as we mostgenerally do, all that goes beyond ordinary experience. 

Many apologists delight in showing that the unheard of, theinexplicable, are met with all through life. They are right and I agreewith them, on condition that they do not at the close of theirexplanation replace this new notion of the supernatural by the formerone. 

It is thus that I have come to conclude the reality of the stigmata. They may have been a unique fact without being more miraculous thanother phenomena; for example, the mathematical powers or the musicalability of an infant prodigy. 

There are in the human creature almost indefinite powers, marvellousenergies; in the great majority of men these lie in torpid slumber, butawaking to life in a few, they make of them prophets, men of genius, andsaints who show humanity its true nature. 

We have caught but fleeting glimpses into the domain of mentalpathology, so vast is it and unexplored; the learned men of the futurewill perhaps make, in the realms of psychology and physiology, suchdiscoveries as will bring about a complete revolution in our laws andcustoms. 

It remains to examine the stigmata from the point of view of history. And though in this field there is no lack of difficulties, small andgreat, the testimony appears to me to be at once too abundant and tooprecise not to command conviction. 

We may at the outset set aside the system of those who hold that BrotherElias helped on their appearance by a pious fraud. Such a claim mightindeed be defended if these marks had been gaping wounds, as they arenow or in most cases have been represented to be; but all the testimonyagrees in describing them, with the exception of the mark on the side, as blackish, fleshy excrescences, like the heads of nails, and in thepalms of the hands like the points of nails clinched by a hammer. Therewas no bloody exudation except at the side. 

On the other hand, any deception on the part of Elias would oblige us tohold that his accomplices were actually the heads of the party opposedto him, Leo, Angelo, and Rufino. Such want of wit would be surprisingindeed in a man so circumspect. 

Finally the psychological agreement between the external circumstancesand the event is so close that an invention of this character would beas inexplicable as the fact itself. That which indeed almost alwaysbetrays invented or unnatural incidents is that they do not fit into theframework of the facts. They are extraneous events, purely decorativeelements whose place might be changed at will. 

Nothing of the sort is the case here: Thomas of Celano is so veraciousand so exact, that though holding the stigmata to be miraculous, hegives us all the elements necessary for explaining them in adiametrically opposite manner. 

1. The preponderating place of the passion of Jesus in Francis'sconscience ever since his conversion (1 Cel. , 115; 2 Cel. , 1, 6; 3, 29;49; 52). 

2. His sojourn in the Verna coincides with a great increase of mysticalfervor. 

3. He there observes a Lent in honor of the archangel St. Michael. 

4. The festival of the exaltation of the cross comes on, and in thevision of the crucified seraph is blended the two ideas which have takenpossession of him, the angels and the crucifix (1 Cel. , 91-96, 112-115). 

This perfect congruity between the circumstances and the prodigy itselfforms a moral proof whose value cannot be exaggerated. 

It is time to pass the principal witnesses in review. 

1. Brother Elias, 1226. On the very day after the death of Francis, Brother Elias, in his capacity of vicar, sent letters to the entireOrder announcing the event and prescribing prayers. [1]

After having expressed his sorrow and imparted to the Brothers theblessing with which the dying Francis had charged him for them, he adds:"I announce to you a great joy and a new miracle. Never has the worldseen such a sign, except on the Son of God who is the Christ God. For along time before his death our Brother and Father appeared as crucified, having in his body five wounds which are truly the stigmata of Christ, for his hands and his feet bore marks as of nails without and within, forming a sort of scars; while at the side he was as if pierced with alance, and often a little blood oozed from it. "

2. Brother Leo. We find that it is the very adversary of Elias who isthe natural witness, not only of the stigmata, but of the circumstancesof their imprinting. This fact adds a peculiar value to his account. 

We learned above (Critical Study, p. 377) the untoward fate of a part ofthe Legend of Brothers Leo, Angelo, and Rufino. The chapters with whichit now closes (68-73) and in which the narrative of the miracle occurs, were not originally a part of it. They are a summary added at a latertime to complete this document. This appendix, therefore, has nohistoric value, and we neither depend on it with the ecclesiasticalauthors to affirm the miracle, nor with M. Hase to call it in question. 

Happily the testimony of Brother Leo has come down to us in spite ofthat. We are not left even to seek for it in the Speculum, the Fioretti, the Conformities, where fragments of his work are to be found; we findit in several other documents of incontestable authority. 

The authenticity of the autograph of St. Francis preserved at Assisiappears to be thoroughly established (see Critical Study, p. 357); itcontains the following note by Brother Leo's hand: "The Blessed Francistwo years before his death kept on the Verna in honor of the B. V. Marymother of God, and St. Michael Archangel, a Lent from the festival ofthe Assumption of the B. V. M. To the festival of St. Michael inSeptember, and the hand of God was upon him by the vision and theaddress of the seraph and the impression of the stigmata upon his body. He made the laudes that are on the other side, . . . Etc. "

Again, Eccleston (13) shows us Brother Leo complaining to Brother Peterof Tewkesbury, minister in England, that the legend is too briefconcerning the events on the Verna, and relating to him the greaternumber of the incidents which form the nucleus of the Fioretti on thestigmata. These memorials are all the more certain that they wereimmediately committed to writing by Peter of Tewkesbury's companion, Brother Garin von Sedenfeld. 

Finally Salembeni, in his chronicle (ad ann. 1224) in speaking ofEzzelino da Romano is led to oppose him to Francis. He suddenlyremembers the stigmata and says, "Never man on earth, but he, has hadthe five wounds of Christ. His companion, Brother Leo, who was presentwhen they washed the body before the burial, told me that he lookedprecisely like a crucified man taken down from the cross. "

3. Thomas of Celano, before 1230. He describes them more at length thanBrother Elias (1 Cel. , 94, 95, 112). 

The details are too precise not to suggest a lesson learned by heart. The author nowhere assumes to be an eye-witness, yet he has the tone ofa legal deposition. 

These objections are not without weight, but the very novelty of themiracle might have induced the Franciscans to fix it in a sort ofcanonical and so to say, stereotyped narrative. 

4. The portrait of Francis, by Berlinghieri, dated 1236, [2] preservedat Pescia (province of Lucca) shows the stigmata as they are describedin the preceding documents. 

5. Gregory IX. In 1237. Bull of March 31; _Confessor Domini_ (Potthast, 10307. Cf. 10315). A movement of opinion against the stigmata had beenproduced in certain countries. The pope asks all the faithful to believein them. Two other bulls of the same day, one addressed to the Bishop ofOlmütz, the other to the Dominicans, energetically condemns them forcalling the stigmata in question (Potthast, 10308 and 10309). 

6. Alexander IV. , in his bull _Benigna operatio_ of October 29, 1255(Potthast, 16077), states that having formerly been the domesticprelate of Cardinal Ugolini, he knew St. Francis familiarly, andsupports his description of the stigmata by these relations. 

To this pontiff are due several bulls declaring excommunicate all thosewho deny them. These contribute nothing new to the question. 

7. Bonaventura (1260) repeats in his legend Thomas of Celano'sdescription (Bon. , 193; cf. 1 Cel. 94 and 95), not without adding somenew factors (Bon. , 194-200 and 215-218), often so coarse and clumsy thatthey inevitably awaken doubt (see for example, 201). 

8. Matthew Paris ([Cross] 1259). His discordant witness barelydeserves being cited by way of memoir (see Critical Study, p. 431). Tobe able to forgive the fanciful character of his long disquisitions onSt. Francis, we are forced to recall to mind that he owed hisinformation to the verbal account of some pilgrim. He makes thestigmata appear a fortnight before the Saint's death, shows themcontinually emitting blood, the wound on the side so wide open thatthe heart could be seen. The people gather in crowds to see the sight, the cardinals come also, and all together listen to Francis's strangedeclarations. (_Historia major_, Watts's edition London, 1 vol. Fol. , 1640, pp. 339-342. )

This list might be greatly lengthened by the addition of a passage fromLuke bishop of Tuy (Lucas Tudensis) written in 1231;[3] basedespecially on the Life by Thomas of Celano, and oral witnesses. 

The statement of Brother Boniface, an eye-witness, at the chapter ofGenoa (1254). (Eccl. 13. )

Finally and especially, we should study the strophes relating to thestigmata in the proses, hymns, and sequences composed in 1228 by thepope and several cardinals for the Office of St. Francis; but such awork, to be done with accuracy, would carry us very far, and theauthorities already cited doubtless suffice without bringing inothers. [4]

The objections which have been opposed to these witnesses may bereduced, I think, to the following:[5]

_a. _ Francis's funeral took place with surprising precipitation. Dead onSaturday evening, he was buried Sunday morning. 

_b. _ His body was enclosed in a coffin, which is contrary to Italianhabits. 

_c. _ At the time of the removal, the body, wrested from the multitude, is so carefully hidden in the basilica that for centuries its preciseplace has been unknown. 

_d. _ The bull of canonization makes no mention of the stigmata. 

_e. _ They were not admitted without a contest, and among those whodenied them were some bishops. 

None of these arguments appears to me decisive. 

_a. _ In the Middle Ages funerals almost always took place immediatelyafter death (Innocent III. Dying at Perugia July 16, 1216, is interredthe 17th; Honorius III. Dies March 18, 1227, and is interred the nextday). 

_b. _ It is more difficult than many suppose to know what were the habitsconcerning funerals in Umbria in the thirteenth century. However thatmay be, it was certainly necessary to put Francis's body into a coffin. He being already canonized by popular sentiment, his corpse was fromthat moment a relic for which a reliquary was necessary; nay more, astrong box such as the secondary scenes in Berlinghieri's picture showsit to have been. Without such a precaution the sacred body would havebeen reduced to fragments in a few moments. Call to mind the wildenthusiasm that led the devotees to cut off the ears and even thebreasts of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. [_Quĉdam aures illius truncabant, etiam summitatem mamillarum ejus quidam praecidebant et pro reliquiissibi servabant. _--_Liber de dictis iv. Ancillarum_, Mencken, vol. Ii. , p. 2032. ]

_c. _ The ceremony of translation brought an innumerable multitude toAssisi. If Brother Elias concealed the body, [6] he may have been ledto do so by the fear of some organized surprise of the Perugians to gainpossession of the precious relic. With the customs of those days, such atheft would have been in nowise extraordinary. These very Perugians afew years later stole away from Bastia, a village dependent on Assisi, the body of Conrad of Offida, which was performing innumerable miraclesthere. (_Conform. _, 60b, 1; cf. Giord. , 50. ) Similar affrays took placeat Padua over the relics of St. Anthony. (Hilaire, _Saint Antoine dePadoue, sa légende primitive_, Montreuil-sur-Mer, 1 vol. , 8vo, 1890, pp. 30-40. )

_d. _ The bull of canonization, with the greater number of suchdocuments, for that matter, makes no historic claim. In its wordyrhetoric we shall sooner learn the history of the Philistines, ofSamson, or even of Jacob, than of St. Francis. Canonization here is onlya pretext which the old pontiff seizes for recurring to his favoritefigures. 

This silence signifies nothing after the very explicit testimony ofother bulls by the same pontiff in 1227, and after the part given to thestigmata in the liturgical songs which in 1228 he composed for theoffice of St. Francis. 

_e. _ These attacks by certain bishops are in nowise surprising; they areepisodes in the struggle of the secular clergy against the mendicantorders. 

At the time when these negations were brought forward (1237) thenarrative of Thomas of Celano was official and everywhere known; nothingtherefore would have been easier, half a score of years after theevents, than to bring witnesses to expose the fraud if there had beenany; but the Bishop of Olmütz and the others base their objectionsalways and only upon dogmatic grounds. 

As to the attacks of the Dominicans, it is needless to recall therivalry between the two Orders;[7] is it not then singular to findthese protestations coming from Silesia (!) and never from CentralItaly, where, among other eye-witnesses, Brother Leo was yet living([Cross] 1271)?

Thus the witnesses appear to me to maintain their integrity. We mighthave preferred them more simple and shorter, we could wish that they hadreached us without details which awake all sorts of suspicions, [8] butit is very seldom that a witness does not try to prove his affirmationsand to prop them up by arguments which, though detestable, areappropriate to the vulgar audience to which he is speaking. 

II. THE PARDON OF AUGUST 2D, CALLED INDULGENCE OF PORTIUNCULA[9]

This question might be set aside; on the whole it has no directconnection with the history of St. Francis. 

Yet it occupies too large a place in modern biographies not to require afew words: it is related that Francis was in prayer one night atPortiuncula when Jesus and the Virgin appeared to him with a retinue ofangels. He made bold to ask an unheard-of privilege, that of plenaryindulgence of all sins for all those who, having confessed and beingcontrite, should visit this chapel. Jesus granted this at his mother'srequest, on the sole condition that his vicar the pope would ratify it. 

The next day Francis set out for Perugia, accompanied by Masseo, andobtained from Honorius the desired indulgence, but only for the day ofAugust 2d. 

Such, in a few lines, is the summary of this legend, which is surroundedwith a crowd of marvellous incidents. 

The question of the nature and value of indulgences is not hereconcerned. The only one which is here put is this: Did Francis ask thisindulgence and did Honorius III. Grant it?

Merely to reduce it to these simple proportions is to be brought toanswer it with a categorical No. 

It would be tedious to refer even briefly to the difficulties, contradictions, impossibilities of this story, many a time pointed outby orthodox writers. In spite of all they have come to the affirmativeconclusion: _Roma locuta est_. 

Those whom this subject may interest will find in the note abovedetailed bibliographical indications of the principal elements of thisnow quieted discussion. I shall confine myself to pointing out theimpossibilities with which tradition comes into collision; they are bothpsychological and historical. The Bollandists long since pointed out thesilence of Francis's early biographers upon this question. Now that thepublished documents are much more numerous, this silence is still moreoverwhelming. Neither the First nor the Second Life by Thomas of Celano, nor the anonymous author of the second life given in the Acta Sanctorum, nor even the anonymous writer of Perugia, nor the Three Companions, norBonaventura say a single word on the subject. No more do very much laterworks mention it, which sin only by excessive critical scruples: Bernardof Besse, Giordiano di Giano, Thomas Eccleston, the Chronicle of theTribulations, the Fioretti, and even the Golden Legend. 

This conspiracy of silence of all the writers of the thirteenth centurywould be the greatest miracle of history if it were not absurd. 

By way of explanation, it has been said that these writers refrainedfrom speaking of this indulgence for fear of injuring that of theCrusade; but in that case, why did the pope command seven bishops to goto Portiuncula to proclaim it in his name?

The legend takes upon itself to explain that Francis refused a bull orany written attestation of this privilege; but, admitting this, it wouldstill be necessary to explain why no hint of this matter has beenpreserved in the papers of Honorius III. And how is it that the bullssent to the seven bishops have left not the slightest trace upon thispontiff's register?

Again, how does it happen, if seven bishops officially promulgated thisindulgence in 1217, that St. Francis, after having related to BrotherLeo his interview with the pope, said to him: "_Teneas secretum hocusque circa mortem tuam; quia non habet locum adhuc. Quia hĉcindulgentia occultabitur ad tempus; sed Dominus trahet eam extra etmanifestabitur. _" _Conform. _, 153b, 2. Such an avowal is not wanting insimplicity. It abundantly proves that before the death of Brother Leo(1271) no one had spoken of this famous pardon. 

After this it is needless to insist upon secondary difficulties; how isit that the chapters-general were not fixed for August 2d, to allow theBrothers to secure the indulgence?

How explain that Francis, after having received in 1216 a privilegeunique in the annals of the Church, should be a stranger to the pope in1219!

There is, however, one more proof whose value exceeds all theothers--Francis's Will:

"I forbid absolutely all the Brothers by their obedience, in whateverplace they may be, to ask any bull of the court of Rome, whetherdirectly or indirectly, nor under pretext of church or convent, norunder pretext of preaching, nor even for their personal protection. "

Before closing it remains for us to glance at the growth of this legend. 

It was definitively constituted about 1330-1340, but it was in the airlong before. With the patience of four Benedictines (of the best days)we should doubtless be able to find our way in the medley of documents, more or less corrupted, from which it comes to us, and little by littlewe might find the starting-point of this dream in a friar who seesblinded humanity kneeling around Portiuncula to recover sight. [10]

It is not difficult to see in general what led to the materialization ofthis graceful fancy: people remembered Francis's attachment to thechapel where he had heard the decisive words of the gospel, and whereSt. Clara in her turn had entered upon a new life. 

When the great Basilica of Assisi was built, drawing to itself pilgrimsand privileges, an opposition of principles and of inspiration came tobe added to the petty rivalry between it and Portiuncula. 

The zealots of poverty said aloud that though the Saint's body rested inthe basilica his heart was at Portiuncula. [11] By dint of repeating andexaggerating what Francis had said about the little sanctuary, they cameto give a precise and so to say doctrinal sense to utterances purelymystical. 

The violences and persecutions of the party of the Large Observanceunder the generalship of Crescentius[12] (1244-1247) aroused a vastincrease of fervor among their adversaries. To the bull of Innocent IV. Declaring the basilica thenceforth _Caput et Mater_ of the Order[13]the Zealots replied by the narratives of Celano's Second Life and thelegends of that period. [14] They went so far as to quote a promise ofFrancis to make it in perpetuity the _Mater et Caput_ of hisinstitute. [15]

In this way the two parties came to group themselves around these twobuildings. Even to-day it is the same. The Franciscans of the StrictObservance occupy Portiuncula, while the Basilica of Assisi is in thehands of the Conventuals (Large Observance), who have adopted all theinterpretations and mitigations of the Rules; they are worthy folk, wholive upon their dividends. By a phenomenon, unique, I think, in theannals of the Church, they have pushed the freedom of their infidelityto the point of casting off the habit, the popular brown cassock. Dressed all in black, shod and hatted, nothing distinguishes them fromthe secular clergy except a modest little cord. 

Poor Francis! That he may have the joy of feeling his tomb brushed by acoarse gown, some daring friar must overcome his very naturalrepugnances, and come to kneel there. The indulgence of August 2d isthen the reply of the Zealots to the persecutions of their brothers. 

An attentive study will perhaps show it emerging little by little underthe generalship of Raimondo Gaufridi (1289-1295); Conrad di Offida ([Cross]1306) seems to have had some effect upon it, but only with the nextgeneration do we find the legend completed and avowed in open day. 

Begun in a misapprehension it ends by imposing itself upon the Church, which to-day guarantees it with its infallible authority, and yet in itsorigin it was a veritable cry of revolt against the decisions of Rome. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] The text was published in 1620 by Spoelberch (in his _Speculum vitĉ B. Francisci_, Antwerp, 2 vols. , 12mo, ii. , pp. 103-106), after the copy addressed to Brother Gregory, minister in France, and then preserved in the convent of the Recollects in Valenciennes. It was reproduced by Wadding (Ann. 1226, no. 44) and the Bollandists (pp. 668 and 669). 

 So late an appearance of a capital document might have left room for doubts; there is no longer reason for any, since the publication of the chronicle of Giordano di Giano, who relates the sending of this letter (Giord. , 50). The Abbé Amoni has also published this text (at the close of his _Legenda trium Sociorum_, Rome, 1880, pp. 105-109), but according to his deplorable habit, he neglects to tell whence he has drawn it. This is the more to be regretted since he gives a variant of the first order: _Nam diu ante mortem_ instead of _Non diu_, as Spoelberch's text has it. The reading _Nam diu_ appears preferable from a philological point of view. 

 [2] Engraved in Saint François d'Assise, Paris, 4to, 1885, p. 277. 

 [3] _Bibliotheca Patrum. _ Lyons, 1677, xxv. , _adv. Albigenses_, lib. Ii. , cap. 11. , cf. Iii. , 14 and 15. Reproduced in the A. SS. , p. 652. 

 [4] The curious may consult the following sources: Salimbeni, ann. 1250--_Conform. _, 171b 2, 235a 2; Bon. , 200; Wadding, _ann. 1228_, no. 78; A. SS. , p. 800. Manuscript 340 of the _Sacro Convento_ contains (fo. 55b-56b) four of these hymns. Cf. _Archiv. _ i. , p. 485. 

 [5] See in particular Hase: _Franz v. Assisi_. Leipsic, 1 vol. , 8vo. , 1856. The learned professor devotes no less than sixty closely printed pages to the study of the stigmata, 142-202. 

 [6] The more I think about it, the more incapable I become of attributing any sort of weight to this argument from the disappearance of the body; for in fact, if there had been any pious fraud on Elias's part, he would on the contrary have displayed the corpse. 

 [7] See, for example, 2 Cel. , 3, 86, as well as the encyclical of Giovanni di Parma and Umberto di Romano, in 1225. 

 [8] The following among many others: Francis had particularly high breeches made for him, to hide the wound in the side (Bon. , 201). At the moment of the apparition, which took place during the night, so great a light flooded the whole country, that merchants lodging in the inns of Casentino saddled their beasts and set out on their way. _Fior. , iii. Consid. _

 Hase, in his study, is continually under the weight of the bad impression made upon him by Bonaventura's deplorable arguments; he sees the other witness only through him. I think that if he had read simply Thomas of Celano's first Life, he would have arrived at very different conclusions. 

 [9] The most important document is manuscript 344 of the archives of Sacro Convento at Assisi. _Liber indulgentiĉ S. Mariĉ de Angelis sive de Portiuncula in quo libra ego fr. Franciscus Bartholi de Assisio posui quidquid potui sollicite invenire in legendis antiquis et novis b. Francisci et in aliis dictis sociorum ejus de loco eodem et commendatione ipsius loci et quidquid veritatis et certitudinis potui invenire de sacra indulgentia prefati loci, quomodo scilicet fuit impetrata et data b. Francisco de miraculis ipsius indulgentiĉ quĉ ipsam declarant certam et veram. _ Bartholi lived in the first half of the fourteenth century. His work is still unpublished, but Father Leo Patrem M. O. Is preparing it for publication. The name of this learned monk gives every guaranty for the accuracy of this difficult work; meanwhile a detailed description and long extracts may be found in the Miscellanea (ii. , 1887). _La storia del perdono di Francesco de Bartholi_, by Don Michele Faloci Pulignani, pp. 149-153 (cf. _Archiv. _, i. , p. 486). See also in the Miscellanea (i. , 1886, p. 15) a bibliographical note containing a detailed list of fifty-eight works (cf. Ibid. , pp. 48, 145). The legend itself is found in the _Speculum_, 69b-83a, and in the _Conformities_, 151b-157a. In these two collections it is still found laboriously worked in and is not an integral part of the rest of the work. In the latter, Bartolemmeo di Pisa has carried accuracy so far as to copy from end to end all the documents that he had before him, and as they belong to different periods he thus gives us several phases of the development of the tradition. The most complete work is that of the Recollect Father Grouwel: _Historia critica S. Indulgentiĉ B. Mariĉ Angelorum vulgo de Portiuncula . . . Contra Libellos aliquos anonymo ac famosos nuper editos_, Antwerp, 1726, 1 vol. , 8vo. Pp. 510. The Bollandist Suysken also makes a long study of it (A. SS. , pp. 879-910), as also the Recollect Father Candide Chalippe, _Vie de saint François d'Assise_, 3 vols. , 8vo, Paris, 1874 (the first edition is of 1720), vol. Iii. , pp. 190-327. 

 In each of these works we find what has been said in all the others. The numerous writings against the Indulgence are either a collection of vulgarities or dogmatic treatises; I refrain from burdening these pages with them. The principal ones are indicated by Grouwel and Chalippe. 

 Among contemporaries Father Barnabas of Alsace: _Portiuncula oder Geschichte Unserer lieben Frau von den Engeln_ (Rixheim, 1 vol. , 8vo. 1884), represents the tradition of the Order, and the Abbé Le Monnier (_Histoire de Saint François_, 2 vols. , 8vo, Paris, 1889), moderate Catholic opinion in non-Franciscan circles. 

 The best summary is that of Father Panfilo da Magliano in his _Storia compendiosa_. It has been completed and amended in the German translation: _Geschichte des h. Franciscus und der Franziskaner übersetzt und bearbeitet_ von Fr. Quintianus Müller, vol. I. , Munich, 1883, pp. 233-259. 

 [10] 2 Cel. , 1, 13; 3 Soc. , 56; Bon. , 24. 

 [11] _Conform. _, 239b, 2. 

 [12] See in particular _Archiv. _, ii. , p. 259, and the bull of February 7, 1246. Potthast, 12007; Glassberger, _ann. 1244_ (_An. Fr. _ t. Ii. , p. 69). 

 [13] _Is qui ecclesiam_, March. 6, 1245, Potthast, 11576. 

 [14] 2 Cel. , 1, 12 (cf. _Conform. _, 218a, 1); 3 Soc. , 56; _Spec. _, 32b ff. ; 49b ff. ; _Conform. _, 144a, 2. 

 [15] _Conform. _, 169a; 2, 217b. 1 ff. Cf. _Fior. _, Amoni's ed. (Appendix to the Codex of the Bib. Angelica), p. 378. 

 * * * * * * * * * *

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

TEXT CONVENTIONS

 Text surrounded by underscores (_text_) indicates italics in the original. 

 Text surrounded by tildes (~text~) indicates bold in the original. 

 'Folio' abbreviation: The original has two versions. 'F' or 'f' followed by superscripted 'o' is transcribed F^o/f^o. 'fo. '/'fos. ' is transcribed 'fo. '/'fos. '. 

 [Cross] is used where the text had a single character that resembled a Maltese Cross, and denotes year of death. 

 Footnotes have been moved from the bottom of each page to the end of each chapter, and renumbered by chapter. 

CHANGES FROM THE ORIGINAL TEXT

 In many spots in the scans, primarily in footnote citations, periods and commas are partially or completely obscured, with white space where the mark would logically appear. Where the scan is unclear, punctuation has been transcribed to match the most common use in the book. Where the punctuation is different from common usage, but clearly present (i. E. No extra white space after an abbreviation or full comma where a period seems to make more sense), the scans have been replicated. 

 There were a number of incidences of missing closing quotation marks, particularly for dialog or prayers. These have been corrected without further comment. 

 Two lines missing from the translation of the prayer commonly known as "The Canticle of All Creatures" (Chapter XVII) have been added. The added text is shown in braces ({}). 

 'Analecta Fracniscana' in CRITICAL STUDY OF THE WORKS, Section IV, Part III, Footnote 9 was changed to 'Analecta Franciscana'. 

 'Served by a poor priest who scarely' in Chapter IV was changed to 'Served by a poor priest who scarcely'. 

 In the original text, 'obediunt' was NOT italicized in the following quotation: "Videmus primus ordinis fundatorem magestrum cui tanquam summo Priori suo omnes alii obediunt. " (CRITICAL STUDY OF THE WORKS, Section III, Part V, Footnote 4). It is italicized here. 

 Chapter XV, footnote 4 had no anchor marker in the original text. The placement of this marker in this transcription is not confirmed.