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

in Bongars.

[28] Giord., Chron., 11-14.

[29] The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below,
gives some probability to this hypothesis.

[30] Tribul. , Laur. MS., 9b. Cf. 10b: Sepulcro Domini
visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram .

[31] Upon this monastery see a letter ad familiares of Jacques
de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules
de St. Genois in t. xiii. of the Mémoires de l'Académie royale
des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles (1849). Conform. ,
106b, 2; 114a, 2; Spec. , 184.

[32] A. SS., pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638.

[33] Vide Bull Sacrosancta of December 9, 1219. Cf. those of
September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i., p. 3, 11 ff.; Potthast, 6179,
6879a, b, c.

[34] Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218,
6220, 6246. See also Chartularium Universitatis Par. , t. i.,
487.

[35] Bull Quia qui seminant of May 12, 1220. Ripalli, Bul.
Præd. , t. i., p. 10 (Potthast, 6249).

[36] Mon. Germ. hist. Script. , t. 23, p. 376. This passage is
of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the
ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the
perils with which the Humiliati threatened the Church,
Burchard adds: Quæ volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem
Predicatorum instituit et confirmavit. Now these Humiliati
were an approved Order. But Burchard, while classing them with
heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the
sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an
invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly
it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with
regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution
which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all
became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's
vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all
the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the
views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX.

[37] 1 Cel., 25; cf. A. SS., p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the
title of doctor of laws, Giord., 11, which entirely disagrees
with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc., 28 and 29. Cf.
Bon., 28 and 29; Spec. , 5b; Fior. , 2; Conform. , 47; 52b,
2; Petrus vir litteratus erat et nobilis , Giord., 12.

[38] We know nothing more of him except that after his death he
had the gift of miracles. Giord., 11; Conform. , 62a, 1.

[39] He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and
orator (Eccl., 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and
again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the
ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX., which
throws some light upon the practices which have just been
described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and
condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of
Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things
that manuscripts of two of his sermons may be found in the
National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated
simply as fr. Gr. min. , it has only lately become known whose
they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday
and Saturday. MS. new. acq., Lat., 338 f^o 148, 159.

[40] Giord., 11. Cf. Spec. , 34b. Fior. , 4; Conform. , 184a, 1.

[41] Giord., 12. Cf. Bull Sacrosancta of December 9, 1219.

[42] Giord., 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half
way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name.
On the other hand, the 3 Soc., 35, indicate the entrance into
the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the
Franciscan Judas. Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus
est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se
suspendit. Conform. , 104a, 1. Cf. Bernard de Besse , 96a;
Spec. , 2; Fior. , 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we
should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward,
and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were
forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy
attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name
itself.

[43] Giord., 12, 13, and 14.

* * * * *


CHAPTER XIV

THE CRISIS OF THE ORDER[1]

Autumn, 1220


On his arrival in Venice Francis informed himself yet more exactly concerning all that had happened, and convoked the chapter-general at Portiuncula for Michaelmas (September 29, 1220).[2] His first care was doubtless to reassure his sister-friend at St. Damian; a short fragment of a letter which has been preserved to us gives indication of the sad anxieties which filled his mind:

"I, little Brother Francis, desire to follow the life and the
poverty of Jesus Christ, our most high Lord, and of his most
holy Mother, persevering therein until the end; and I beg you
all and exhort you to persevere always in this most holy life
and poverty, and take good care never to depart from it upon the
advice or teachings of any one whomsoever."[3]

A long shout of joy sounded up and down all Italy when the news of his return was heard. Many zealous brethren were already despairing, for persecutions had begun in many provinces; so when they learned that their spiritual father was alive and coming again to visit them their joy was unbounded. From Venice Francis went to Bologna. The journey was marked by an incident which once more shows his acute and wise goodness. Worn out as much by emotion as by fatigue, he one day found himself obliged to give up finishing the journey on foot. Mounted upon an ass, he was going on his way, followed by Brother Leonard of Assisi, when a passing glance showed him what was passing in his companion's mind. "My relatives," the friar was thinking, "would have been far enough from associating with Bernardone, and yet here am I, obliged to follow his son on foot."

We may judge of his astonishment when he heard Francis saying, as he hastily dismounted from his beast: "Here, take my place; it is most unseemly that thou shouldst follow me on foot, who art of a noble and powerful lineage." The unhappy Leonard, much confused, threw himself at Francis's feet, begging for pardon.[4]

Scarcely arrived at Bologna, Francis was obliged to proceed against those who had become backsliders. It will be remembered that the Order was intended to possess nothing, either directly or indirectly. The monasteries given to the friars did not become their property; so soon as the proprietor should desire to take them back or anyone else should wish to take possession of them, they were to be given up without the least resistance; but on drawing near to Bologna he learned that a house was being built, which was already called The house of the Brothers . He commanded its immediate evacuation, not even excepting the sick who happened to be there. The Brothers then resorted to Ugolini, who was then in that very city for the consecration of Santa Maria di Rheno.[5] He explained to Francis at length that this house did not belong to the Order; he had declared himself its proprietor by public acts; and he succeeded in convincing him.[6]

Bolognese piety prepared for Francis an enthusiastic reception, the echo of which has come down even to our times:

"I was studying at Bologna, I, Thomas of Spalato, archdeacon in
the cathedral church of that city, when in the year 1220, the
day of the Assumption, I saw St. Francis preaching on the piazza
of the Lesser Palace, before almost every man in the city. The
theme of his discourse was the following: Angels, men, the
demons. He spoke on all these subjects with so much wisdom and
eloquence that many learned men who were there were filled with
admiration at the words of so plain a man. Yet he had not the
manner of a preacher, his ways were rather those of
conversation; the substance of his discourse bore especially
upon the abolition of enmities and the necessity of making
peaceful alliances. His apparel was poor, his person in no
respect imposing, his face not at all handsome; but God gave
such