Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Paul Sabatier (best historical biographies txt) 📕

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, the candid simplicity, the modest joy, the fervent love which breathe in the faulty Latin of the Three Companions. Yet these scattered friars sighed after the home-coming and the long conversations with their spiritual father in the tranquil forests of the suburbs of Assisi. Friendship among men, when it overpasses a certain limit, has something deep, high, ideal, infinitely sweet, to which no other friendship attains. There was no woman in the Upper Chamber when, on the last evening of his life, Jesus communed with his disciples and invited the world to the eternal marriage 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, thinking only 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