Life of St. Francis of Assisi
[12] Vide A. SS., pp. 608 ff. and 838 ff.
[13] Vide Bull _Multi divinae_ of August 13, 1218. Horoy, t.
iii., col. 12; Potthast, 5891.
[14] The contradiction is so striking that the Bollandists have
made of it the principal argument for defending the error in
their manuscript (1 Cel., 75), and insisting in the face of, and
against everything that Francis had taken that journey. A. SS.,
607.
[15] He died at Cahors, October 31, 1272. His legend is found in
MS. Riccardi, 279, f^o. 69a. _Incipit vita f. Christophori quam
compilavit fr. Bernardus de Bessa custodiae Caturcensis: Quasi
vas auri solidum._ Cf. Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., pp. 106-113, t.
iii., p. 212, and Glassberger, _An. fr._, t. ii., p. 14.
[16] A. SS., Aprilis, t. iii., p. 224; _Conform._, 118b, 1; 54a;
Mark of Lisbon, t. ii., p. 1--Brother Luke had been sent to
Constantinople, in 1219, at latest. Vide _Constitutus_ of
December 9, 1220. Sbaralea, _Bull. fr._, t. i., p. 6; Potthast,
6431.
[17] We owe to M. Mueller (_Anfaenge_, p. 207) the honor of this
publication, copied from a manuscript of the Cottoniana.
[18] Giord., 8.
[19] 1 Cel., 57; Bon., 133-138; 154 and 155; 2 Cel., 2, 2;
_Conform._, 113b, 2; 114a, 2; _Spec._, 55b; _Fior._, 24.
[20] _Conform._, 113b, 2; cf. A. SS., p. 611.
[21] 2 Cel., 3, 92; _Spec._, 30b. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.
_Conform._, 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place
on the return.
[22] With the facilities of that period the voyage required from
twenty to thirty days. The _diarium_ of a similar passage may be
found in Huillard-Breholles, _Hist. Dipl._, t. i., 898-901. Cf.
_Ibid._, Introd., p. cccxxxi.
[23] 2 Cel., 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS., p. 612.
[24] Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here
in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view
this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the
Sources, p. 428.
[25] Vide below, the Study of the Sources, p. 430.
[26] All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry.
[27] "Cil hom qui comenca l'ordre des Freres Mineurs, si ot nom
frere Francois ... vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de
bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le
peche qui comenca a croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li
desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une piece en Surie, et
puis s'en rala en son pais." Historiens des Croisades, ii.
_L'Est de Eracles Empereur_, liv. xxxii., chap. xv. Cf. Sanuto;
_Secreta fid. cruc._, lib. iii., p. xi., cap. 8, 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 _Memoires de l'Academie 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.
Praed._, 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: _Quae 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 great efficacy to his words that he brought back to peace
and harmony many nobles whose savage fury had not even stopped
short before the shedding of blood. So great a devotion was felt
for him that men and women flocked after him, and he esteemed
himself happy who succeeded in touching the hem of his garment."
Was it at this time that the celebrated Accurso the Glossarist,[7]
chief of that famous dynasty of jurisconsults who during the whole