The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi

[128] Müller: Anfänge des Minoriten-Orders und der Bussbrüderschaften (Freiburg, 1885), p. 4, seq.

[129] Sabatier: Vie de S. François d’Assise (Paris, 1894), p. 288, seq.

[130] More than a century ago—in t768—Fr. Suyskens demonstrated that the lengthy Rule of twenty-three chapters could not have been presented to Pope Innocent by St. Francis in its present form. (See Acta S. S., t. ii, Oct.) All agree that the first Rule in its original form was very short and simple.

[131] Prof. Müller was therefore right in attempting to reconstruct the Rule in its original form out of this longer one. He has almost conclusively demonstrated that the opening words of this original Rule were: “Regula et vita istorum fratrum haec est.” (See Anfänge, pp. 14-25; 185-188.) Prof. Boehmer has also attempted to reconstruct it from various writings. See his Analekten, p. 27. See also 2 Cel. 3, 110; Speculum Perfectionis (ed. Sabatier), c. 4, n. 42.

[132] His exposition of the Rule may be found in the Monumenta Ordinis Minorum (Salamanca, 1511, tract. 11, fol. 46 v) and in the Firmamenta (Paris, 1512, p. iv, fol. 34 v). In chapter 6 (Mon., fol. 67 v; Firm., fol. 48 r) he says: “This he lays down at greater length in the original rule as follows: ‘When it may be necessary let the friars go for alms,’” etc. On Hugo de Digne see Sbaralea, Supplementum, p. 360; also Salimbene, Chron. Parmensis, 1857, passim.

[133] His exposition of the Rule has never been published, although a critical edition is promised by Fr. Van Ortroy, S.J. (See Anal. Bolland., t. xxi, p. 441 seq.) Meanwhile it may be found at St. Isidore’s, Rome, in the codex 1/92; at the Vatican lib., in cod. Ottob. 522 (in part only) and Ottob. 666, and at the Royal lib. of Munich in cod. 23648. In this exposition Clareno says (cod. Ottob. 666, fol. 50 v): “In the Rule which Pope Innocent conceded to him and approved . . . it was written thus: ‘The Lord commands in the Gospel,’” etc. Clareno died in 2337. On his writings see Fr. Ehrle, S.J., in the Archiv, vol. I (1885), pp. 509-69.

[134] To be sure, the traditional Legend of the Three Companions says of St. Francis: “He made many rules and tried them, before he made that which at the last he left to the brothers.” (See Legenda III Sociorum, n. 35.) But unless these words are understood as referring to different versions of the same Rule, they only raise a new difficulty against the authenticity of this Legend.

[135] “And the Blessed Francis seeing Brother Cæsar learned in the Scriptures commissioned him to embellish with evangelical language the Rule which he himself had put together in simple words.” Chron. Fr. Jordani a Jano: Analecta Franc., t. I, page 6, n. 15. Brother Jordan also notes “that according to the first Rule the Friars fasted on Wednesday and Friday.” (L.c., P. 4, 0. II.)

[136] See Speculum Perfectionis (ed. Sabatier), Appendix, p. 300; also Les Nouveaux mémoires de l’Académie de Bruxelles, t. XXIII, pp. 29-33. Jacques de Vitry died as Cardinal Bishop of Frascati in 1244, leaving a number of writings in which St. Francis figures prominently.

[137] 2 Cel., 3, 90.

[138] Canon Knox Little: St. Francis of Assisi (1904), Appendix, p. 321.

[139] See Van Ortroy, S.J., Annal. Bolland., t. xxiv, fasc. iii, 1905, p. 413.

[140] See 2 Cel., 3, 110.

[141] See Mon., fol. 68 v; Firm., fol. 49 r.

[142] See Cod. Ottob. 666, fol. 99 V.

[143] See Speculum, fol. 193 V.

[144] “Celle de 1210 et celle qui fut approuvée par le pape le p. 30 29 Novembre, 1223,” he writes, “n’avaient guère de commun que le nom.” . . . “Celle de 1210 seule est vraiment franciscaine. Celle de 1223 est indirectement l’œuvre de l’Église.”—Vie de S. François, p. 289.

[145] See Le Monnier: History of St. Francis, p. 337.

[146] See Seraphicæ Legislationis Textus Originales (Quaracchi, 1897), p. 35.

[147] This letter, which is dated “in the tenth year of the Pontificate of Pope Honorius,” may be found in the Annalibus Hannoniæ Fr. Jacobi de Guisia, lib. XXI, cap. xvii; seeMonumenta Germaniæ Historica, Scriptores, t. XXX, P. I, p. 294.

[148] See Mon., fol. 46 V; Firm., fol. 34 v.

[149] See Ehrle: “Controversen über die Anfänge des Minoritenordens” in the Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie, t. XI, p. 725, seq.

[150] “À partir de Bonaventure,” he writes, “la règle primitive tombe dans l’oubli. Les Franciscaines Spirituels du commencement du XIV siècle ne songèrent pas à l’en tirer.” SeeSpec. Perf. (ed. Sab.), p. ix.

[151] In preparing the Quaracchi text, which is the one I translate here, the codices at St. Antony’s and St. Isidore’s, and p. 32 the Florentine codex at Ognissanti were used, besides the versions of this Rule found in the Speculum, Minorum, Monumenta, and Firmamenta (see Introduction for description of these codices and editions). The expositions of the Rule by Hugo de Digne and Angelo Clareno, already mentioned, have often been consulted, as well as the Conformities of Bartholomew of Pisa. The text of the first Rule, given in part in the Conformities, often agrees with the MSS. of Ognissanti and St. Isidore’s.

[152] This last sentence is omitted in Mon. and Firm., also by Wadding.

[153] Matt. 19: 21.

[154] Matt. 16: 24.

[155] Luke 14: 26.

[156] See Matt. 19: 29.

[157] From the Latin caparo. See Du Cange, Glossar. latin.

[158] See the bull Cum secundum of Honorius III, dated September 22, 1220 (Bullarium Franciscanum, t. 1, p. 6.)

[159] Luke 9: 62.

[160] See Matt. 11: 8; Luke 7: 25.

[161] See Mark 9: 28.

[162] Matt. 6: 16.

[163] See Luke 10: 8.

[164] Matt. 7: 22.

[165] See Tob. 4: 6.

[166] Matt. 20: 28.

[167] Heb. 10: 31.