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

refused to come; "For that matter," he added, "I have decided to follow him no longer; I mean to remain here and live solitary, for in this way I shall be more surely saved than by submitting myself to this man and his nonsense."

Young and enthusiastic for the most part, it was not always without difficulty that the Brothers formed the habit of keeping their work in the background. Agreeing with their master as to fundamentals, they would have liked to make more of a stir, attract public attention by more obvious devotion; there were some among them whom it did not satisfy 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 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, 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 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, 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.