Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Paul Sabatier (top 10 inspirational books .txt) 📕

23. "Et fecerunt de regula prima ministri removeri capitulum istud de prohibitionibus sancti evangelii, sicut frater Leo scribit." Laur. Ms. fo 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," fo 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, fo 62b.

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

35. Conformities, fo 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. Fo 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 (fo 1), and it was authorized by the chapter general August 2, 1399 (fo 256a, 1). Besides, on fo 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, fo 66b-83a, of part three.

41. This opinion is expressed in a guarded manner. For example, fo 207a, 1, Bartolommeo relates the miracle of the Chapter of the Mats, first following St. Bonaventura, then adding: "Et quia non aliter tangit dicta pars (legendæ majoris) hoc insigne miraculum: antiqua legenda hoc refertur in hunc modum." Cf. 225a, 2m. "Et quia fr. Bonaventura succincte multa tangit et in brevi: pro evidentia prefatorum notandum est ... ut dicit antiqua legenda."

42. However, it is necessary to note that not only are there considerable differences between the editions published, but also that the first (that of Milan, 1510) has been completed and revised by its editor. The judgments passed upon Raymond Ganfridi, 104a, 1, and Boniface VIII., 103b, 1, show traces of later corrections. (Cf. 125a, 1. At fo 72a, 2m, is indicated the date of the death of St. Bernardin, which was in 1444, etc.) Besides, we are surprised to find beside the pages where the sources are indicated with clearness others where stories follow one another coming one knows not from whence.

43. Fo 70a, 1: "Cujus nomen non reperi." 1a, 2: "Multaque non ex industria sed quia ea noscere non valui omittendo."

44. Fo 78a, 1: Informationes quas non scribo quia imperfectas reperi. Cf. 229b, 2: "De aliis multis apparitionibus non reperi scripturam, quare hic non pono."

45. Fo 69a, 1: "Hec ut audivi posui quia ejus legendam non vidi." Cf. 68b, 2m: Fr. Henricus generalis minister mihi magistro Bartholomeo dixit ipse oretenus.

46. The citations from Bonaventura are decidedly more frequent. We should not be surprised, since this story is the official biography of St. Francis; the chapter from which Bartolommeo takes his quotations is almost always indicated, and, naturally, follows the old division in five parts. Opening the book at hazard at folio 136a I find no less than six references to the Legenda Major in the first column. To give an idea of the style of Bartolommeo of Pisa I shall give in substance the contents of a page of his book. See, for example, fo 111a (lib. i., conform. x., pars. ii., Franciscus predicator). In the third line he cites Bonaventura: "Fr. Bonaventura in quarta parte majoris legende dicit quod b. Franciscus videbatur intuentibus homo alterius seculi." Textual citation of Bonaventure, 45. Three lines further on: "Verum qualis esset b. F. quoad personam sic habetur in legenda antiqua ... homo facundissimus, facie hilaris, etc." The literal citation of the sketch of Francis follows as 1 Celano, 83, gives it as far as: "inter peccatores quasi unus ex illis," and to mark the end of the quotation Bartolommeo adds: "Hec legenda antiqua." In the next column paragraph 4 commences with the words: B. Francisci predicationem reddebat mirabilem et gloriosam ipsius sancti loquutio: etenim legenda trium Sociorum dicit et Legenda major parte tertia: B. Francisei eloquia erant non inania, neo risu digna, etc., which corresponds literally with 3 Soc., 25, and Bon., 28. Then come two chapters of Bonaventura almost entire, beginning with: In duodecima parte legende majoris dicit Fr. Bonaventura: Erat enim verbum ejus, etc. Textual quotation of Bon., 178 and 179. The page ends with another quotation from Bonaventura: Sic dicebat prout recitat Bonaventura in octava parte Legende majoris: Hac officium patri misericordiarum. Vide Bonav., 102 end and 103 entire. This suffices without doubt to show with what precision the authorities have been quoted in this work, with what attention and confidence ought to be examined those portions of documents lost or mislaid which he has here preserved for us.

47. Fo 31b, 2: ut dicit fr. Thomas in sua legenda, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 60.—140a, 2: Fr. in leg. fr. Thome, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 60.—140a 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3 16.—142b, 1: Fr. in leg. Thome capitulo de charitate, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.—144b, 1: Fr. in leg. fr. Thome capitulo de oratione, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 40.—144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 65.—144b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 78.—176b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 79.—182b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 2, 1.—241b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 141.—181a, 2, cf. 1 Cel., 27. It is needless to say that these lists of quotations do not pretend to be complete.

48. Fo 36b, 2. Ut enim habetur in leg. 3 Soc., cf. 3 Soc., 10.—46b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 25-28.—38b 2, cf. 3 Soc. 3.—111a, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 25.—134a, 2, cf. 3 Soc, 4.—142b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 57 and 58.—167b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 3 and 8.—168a, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 10.—170b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 39, 4.—175b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 59.—180b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 4.—181a, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 5, 7,