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

ei evangelicam assumere regulam, et a papa Innocentio fuit
omnibus annuntiatum in concilio generali, quod de sua
auctoritate et obedientia sanctus Franciscus evangelicam vitam
et regulam assumpserat et Christo inspirante servare promiserat,
sicut sanctus vir fr. Leo scribit et fr. Johannes de Celano. "
Archiv. , i., p. 559.

[22] " Audiens enim semel quorundam fratrum enormes excessus, ut
fr. Thomas de Celano scribit, et malum exemplum per eos
secularibus datum. " Laur. MS., f^o 13b. The passage which
follows evidently refers to 2 Cel., 3, 93 and 112.

[23] " Et fecerunt de regula prima ministri removeri capitulum
istud de prohibitionibus sancti evangelii, sicut frater Leo
scribit. " Laur. Ms. f^o 12b. Cf. Spec. , 9a, see p. 248. " Nam
cum rediisset de partibus ultramarinis, minister quidam
loquebatur cum eo, ut frater Leo refert, de capitulo
paupertatis ," f^o 13a, cf. Spec. , 9a, " S. Franciscus, teste
fr. Leone, frequenter et cum multo studio recitabat fabulam ...
quod oportebat finaliter ordinem humiliari et ad sue humilitatis
principia confitenda et tenenda reduci ." Archiv. , ii., p.
129.

There is only one point of contact between the Legend of the
Three Companions, such as it is to-day, and these passages; but
we find on the contrary revised accounts in the Speculum and
in the other collections, where they are cited as coming from
Brother Leo.

[24] Clareno, for example, holds that the Cardinal Ugolini had
sustained St. Francis without approving of the first Rule, in
concert with Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo. This is possible,
since Ugolini was created cardinal in 1198 (Vide Cardella:
Memorie storiche de' Cardinali , 9 vols., 8vo, Rome, 1792-1793,
t. i., pt. 2, p. 190). Besides this would better explain the
zeal with which he protected the divers Orders founded by St.
Francis, from 1217. The chapter where Clareno tells how St.
Francis wrote the Rule shows the working over of the legend, but
it is very possible that he has borrowed it in its present form
from Brother Leo. It is to be noted that we do not find in this
document a single allusion to the Indulgences of Portiuncula.

[25] The manuscripts and editions are well-nigh innumerable. M.
Luigi Manzoni has studied them with a carefulness that makes it
much to be desired that he continue this difficult work. Studi
sui Fioretti : Miscelenea, 1888, pp. 116-119, 150-152, 162-168;
1889, 9-15, 78-84, 132-135. When shall we find some one who can
and will undertake to make a scientific edition of them? Those
which have appeared during our time in the various cities of
Italy are insignificant from a critical point of view. See
Mazzoni Guido, Capitoli inediti dei Fioretti di S. Francesco ,
in the Propugnatore , Bologna, 1888, vol. xxi., pp. 396-411.

[26] Vide A. SS., p. 865: " Floretum non legi, nec curandum
putavi. " Cf. 553f: " Floretum ad manum non habeo. "

[27] Bartolommeo di Pisa compiled it in 1385; then certain
manuscripts of the Fioretti are earlier. Besides, in the stories
that the Conformities borrow from the Fioretti, we perceive
Bartolommeo's work of abbreviation.

[28] I am speaking here only of the fifty-three chapters which
form the true collection of the Fioretti.

[29] The province of the March of Ancona counted seven
custodias: 1, Ascoli; 2, Camerino; 3, Ancona; 4, Jesi; 5, Fermo;
6, Fano; 7, Felestro. The Fioretti mention at least six of the
monasteries of the custodia of Fermo: Moliano, 51, 53;
Fallerone, 32, 51; Bruforte and Soffiano, 46, 47; Massa, 51;
Penna, 45; Fermo, 41, 49, 51.

[30] At each page we are reminded of those groves which were
originally the indispensable appendage of the Franciscan
monasteries: La selva ch' era allora allato a S. M. degli
Angeli , 3, 10, 15, 16, etc. La selva d' un luogo deserto del
val di Spoleto (Carceri?), 4; selva di Forano , 42. di
Massa , 51, etc.

[31] The Speculum , 46b, 58b, 158a, gives us three states. Cf.
Fior. , 26 and 21; Conform. , 119b, 2.

[32] This desire was so natural that the manuscript of the
Angelica Library includes many additional chapters, concerning
the gift of Portiuncula, the indulgence of August 2d, the birth
of St. Francis, etc. (Vide Amoni, Fioretti, Roma, 1889, pp. 266,
378-386.) It would be an interesting study to seek the origin of
these documents and to establish their relationship with the
Speculum and the Conformities. Vide Conform. , 231a, 1; 121b;
Spec. , 92-96.

[33] Ginepro was received into the Order by St. Francis. In 1253
he was present at St. Clara's death. A. SS., Aug. , t. ii., p.
764d. The Conformities speak of him in detail, f^o 62b.

[34] The first seven chapters form a whole. The three which
follow are doubtless a first attempt at completing them.

[35] Conformities, f^o 55b, 1-60a, 1.

[36] See Archiv. , t. i., p. 145, an article of Father Denifle:
Zur Quellenkunde der Franziskaner Geschichte , where he
mentions at least eight manuscripts of this work. Cf. Ehrle:
Zeitschrift , 1883, p. 324, note 3. I have studied only the two
manuscripts of Florence: Riccardi, 279, paper, 243 fos. of two
cols. recently numbered. The Codex of the Laurentian Gaddian.
rel., 53, is less careful. It is also on paper, 20 x 27, and
counts 254 fos. of 1 column. F^o 1 was formerly numbered 88. The
order of the chapters is not the same as in the preceding.

[37] The citations are always made from the edition of Milan,
1510, 4to of 256 folios of two columns. The best known of the
subsequent editions are those of Milan, 1513, and Bologna, 1590.

[38] He began it in 1385 (f^o 1), and it was authorized by the
chapter general August 2, 1399 (f^o 256a, 1). Besides, on f^o
150a, 1, he set down the date when he was writing. It was in
1390.

[39] I am not here concerned with the foolish attacks of certain
Protestant authors upon this life. That is a quarrel of the
theologians which in no way concerns history. Nowhere does
Bartolommeo of Pisa make St. Francis the equal of Jesus, and he
was able even to forestall criticism in this respect. The
Bollandists are equally severe: " Cum Pisanus fuerit scriptor
magis pius et credulus quam crisi severa usus ...." A. SS., p.
551e.

[40] He has avoided the mistakes so unfortunately committed by
Wadding in his list of ministers general. Vide 66a. 2, 104a, 1,
118b, 2. He was lecturer on theology at Bologna, Padua, Pisa,
Sienna, and Florence. He preached for many years and with great
success in the principal villages of the Peninsula and could
thus take advantage of his travels by collecting useful notes.
Mark of Lisbon has preserved for us a notice of his life. Vide
Croniche dei fratri Minori , t. iii., p. 6 ff. of the Diola
edition. He died December 10, 1401. For further details see
Wadding, ann. 1399, vii., viii., and above all Sbaralea,
Supplementum , p. 109. He is the author of an exposition of the
Rule little known which can be found in the Speculum Morin,
Rouen, 1509, f^o 66b-83a, of part three.

[41] This opinion is expressed in a guarded