Life of St. Francis of Assisi

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 quæ 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, fo. 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 sæculo xiii concinnata ex cod. memb. antoniæ bibliothecæ 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, quæ usque tunc ut clerici exercebant. (Chron. xxiv. gen. cod. Gadd. relig., 53, fo 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., fo. 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 sacræ 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 præsint 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.