The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi

[408] Cod. As. and Mon. omit “wisdom.”

[409] See Luke 8: 18.

[410] These words are not found except in Cod. As., which omits the following sentence: “All to whom this letter may come.”

[411] See I John 4: 16.

[412] Cod. As. and Mon. read: “that these words and others.”

[413] Cod. As. and Mon. omit what follows up to “And all those.”

[414] See John 6: 64.

[415] See Matt. 10: 22.

[416] So Ubertino da Casale tells us in his Arbor Vitae, finished on Mount La Verna, September 28, 1305 (l. v, cap. vii).

[417] As we learn from the rubric in the Assisi MS. 338: “De lictera et ammonitione beatissimi patris nostri Francisci quam misit fratribus ad capitulum quando erat infirmus.”

[418] Hist. Seraph., fol. 173 v.

[419] Epistles X, XI, and XII in his edition.

[420] Following this MS., Mgr. Faloci edited the first part of the letter (to “world without end. Amen,”—see page 116) in his Miss. Frances, t. VI, P. 94.

[421] The Mon. and Firm., like Rodolfo (fol. 273 v), give only the first part of the letter, which Wadding makes Epis. XII.

[422] It is placed immediately before the letter in the other family of MSS. mentioned in the Introduction, to which the Ognissanti MS. belongs.

[423] Cod. As. omits this invocation.

[424] Cod. As. adds “to Brother A, minister general.” It has been surmised that St. Francis wished this letter to be read at the opening of all subsequent chapters, with a view to perpetuating his spiritual presence among the brothers. In this hypothesis, the copyist was supposed to fill in here the initial of the minister general governing the order at the time he wrote. The fact that A is the initial given at the head of the Assisian MS. may afford a clue to the date of its composition (Albert of Pisa governed the order 1239-40, andAymon of Faversham, 1240-44), but in the body of the letter the minister general is referred to as Brother H [Helias (?) 1232-39]. Cod. An. at the head of the letter reads Brother T [Thomas of Farignano (?), 1367-73].

[425] See Apoc. 1: 5.

[426] See Gen. 19:1 and elsewhere.

[427] See Luke 1: 32.

[428] See Acts 2: 14.

[429] See Isa. 55: 3.

[430] See Ps. 135: 1.

[431] See Tob. 13: 6.

[432] Cod. An. reads: “you may make all stand dumbfounded who oppose Him in word or deed.”

[433] See Tob. 13:4.

[434] See Heb. 12:7.

[435] See Heb. 12: 7.

[436] See Col. 1: 20.

[437] The word priests is added in Cod. As., and by Ubertino.

[438] See Eph. 6: 6, and Col. 3:22.

[439] Cod. As. reads: “to the Lord.”

[440] Luke 22: 39

[441] Cod. O., Mon., and Firm., with Ubertino, omit the rest of this sentence.

[442] See I Cor. 11: 27.

[443] See Heb. 10: 28.

[444] Heb. 10: 29.

[445] See I Cor. 11:29.

[446] See Jerem. 48: 10.

[447] Mal. 2: 2.