Life of St. Francis of Assisi
thirteenth century shed lustre upon the University of Bologna, welcomed
the Brothers Minor to his villa at Ricardina, near the city?[8] We do
not know.
It appears that another professor, Nicolas dei Pepoli, also entered the
Order.[9] Naturally the pupils did not lag behind, and a certain
number asked to receive the habit. Yet all this constituted a danger;
this city, which in Italy was as an altar consecrated to the science of
law, was destined to exercise upon the evolution of the Order the same
influence as Paris; the Brothers Minor could no more hold aloof from it
than they could keep aloof from the ambient air.
This time Francis remained here but a very short time. An ancient
tradition, of which his biographers have not preserved any trace, but
which nevertheless appears to be entirely probable, says that Ugolini
took him to pass a month in the Camaldoli, in the retreat formerly
inhabited by St. Romuald in the midst of the Casentino forest, one of
the noblest in Europe, within a few hours' walk of the Verna, whose
summit rises up gigantic, overlooking the whole country.
We know how much Francis needed repose. There is no doubt that he also
longed for a period of meditation in order to decide carefully in
advance upon his line of conduct, in the midst of the dark conjectures
which had called him home. The desire to give him the much-needed rest
was only a subordinate purpose with Ugolini. The moment for vigorous
action appeared to him to have come. We can easily picture his responses
to Francis's complaints. Had he not been seriously advised to profit by
the counsels of the past, by the experience of those founders of Orders
who have been not only saints but skilful leaders of men? Was not
Ugolini himself his best friend, his born defender, and yet had not
Francis forced him to lay aside the influence to which his love for the
friars, his position in the Church, and his great age gave him such just
title? Yes, he had been forced to leave Francis to needlessly expose his
disciples to all sorts of danger, to send them on missions as perilous
as they had proved to be ineffectual, and all for what? For the most
trivial point of honor, because the Brothers Minor were determined not
to enjoy the smallest privileges. They were not heretics, but they
disturbed the Church as much as the heretics did. How many times had he
not been reminded that a great association, in order to exist, must have
precise and detailed regulations? It had all been labor lost! Of course
Francis's humility was doubted by no one, but why not manifest it, not
only in costume and manner of living, but in all his acts? He thought
himself obeying God in defending his own inspiration, but does not the
Church speak in the name of God? Are not the words of her
representatives the words of Jesus forever perpetuated on earth? He
desired to be a man of the Gospel, an apostolic man, but was not the
best way of becoming such to obey the Roman pontiff, the successor of
Peter? With an excess of condescension they had let him go on in his own
way, and the result was the saddest of lessons. But the situation was
not desperate, there was still time to find a remedy; to do that he had
only to throw himself at the feet of the pope, imploring his blessing,
his light, and his counsel.
Reproaches such as these, mingled with professions of love and
admiration on the part of the prelate, could not but profoundly disturb
a sensitive heart like that of Francis. His conscience bore him good
witness, but with the modesty of noble minds he was ready enough to
think that he might have made many mistakes.
Perhaps this is the place to ask what was the secret of the friendship
of these two men, so little known to one another on certain sides. How
could it last without a shadow down to the very death of Francis, when
we always find Ugolini the very soul of the group who are compromising
the Franciscan ideal? No answer to this question is possible. The same
problem presents itself with regard to Brother Elias, and we are no
better able to find a satisfactory answer. Men of loving hearts seldom
have a perfectly clear intelligence. They often become fascinated by
men the most different from themselves, in whose breasts they feel none
of those feminine weaknesses, those strange dreams, that almost sickly
pity for creatures and things, that mysterious thirst for pain which is
at once their own happiness and their torment.
The sojourn at Camaldoli was prolonged until the middle of September,
and it ended to the cardinal's satisfaction. Francis had decided to go
directly to the pope, then at Orvieto, with the request that Ugolini
should be given him as official protector intrusted with the direction
of the Order.
A dream which he had once had recurred to his memory; he had seen a
little black hen which, in spite of her efforts, was not able to spread
her wings over her whole brood. The poor hen was himself, the chickens
were the friars. This dream was a providential indication commanding him
to seek for them a mother under whose wings they could all find a place,
and who could defend them against the birds of prey. At least so he
thought.[10]
He repaired to Orvieto without taking Assisi in his way, since if he
went there he would be obliged to take some measures against the
fomentors of disturbance; he now proposed to refer everything directly
to the pope.
Does his profound humility, with the feeling of culpability which
Ugolini had awakened in him, suffice to explain his attitude with regard
to the pope, or must we suppose that he had a vague thought of
abdicating? Who knows whether conscience was not already murmuring a
reproach, and showing him how trivial were all the sophisms which had
been woven around him?
"Not daring to present himself in the apartments of so great a
prince, he remained outside before the door, patiently waiting
till the pope should come out. When he appeared St. Francis made
a reverence and said:
"'Father Pope, may God give you peace.' 'May God bless you, my
son,' replied he. 'My lord,' then said St. Francis to him, 'you
are great and often absorbed by great affairs; poor friars
cannot come and talk with you as often as they need to do; you
have given me many popes; give me a single one to whom I may
address myself when need occurs, and who will listen in your
stead, and discuss my affairs and those of the Order.' 'Whom do
you wish I should give you, my son?' 'The Bishop of Ostia.' And
he gave him to him."[11]
Conferences with Ugolini now began again; he immediately accorded
Francis some amends; the privilege granted the Clarisses was revoked;
Giovanni di Conpello was informed that he had nothing to hope from the
_curia_, and last of all leave was given to Francis himself to compose
the Rule of his Order. Naturally he was not spared counsel on the
subject, but there was one point upon which the curia could not brook
delay, and of which it exacted the immediate application--the obligation
of a year's novitiate for the postulants.
At the same time a bull was issued not merely for the sake of publishing
this ordinance, but especially to mark in a solemn manner the
commencement of a new era in the relations of the Church and the
Franciscans. The fraternity of the Umbrian Penitents became an Order in
the strictest sense of the word.
Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Brother
Francis and the other priors or custodes of the Brothers Minor,
greeting and the apostolic benediction.
In nearly all religious Orders it has been wisely ordained that
those who present themselves with the purpose of observing the
regular life shall make trial of it for a certain time, during
which they also shall be tested, in order to leave neither place
nor pretext for inconsiderate steps. For these reasons we
command you by these presents to admit no one to make profession
until after one year of novitiate; we forbid that after
profession any brother shall leave the Order, and that any one
shall take back again him who has gone out from it. We also
forbid that those wearing your habit shall circulate here and
there without obedience, lest the purity of your poverty be
corrupted. If any friars have had this audacity, you will
inflict upon them ecclesiastical censures until repentance.[12]
It is surely only by a very decided euphemism that such a bull can be
considered in the light of a privilege. It was in reality the laying of
the strong hand of the papacy upon the Brothers Minor.
From this time, in the very nature of things it became impossible for
Francis to remain minister-general. He felt it himself. Heart-broken,
soul-sick, he would fain, in spite of all, have found in the energy of
his love those words, those glances which up to this time had taken the
place of rule or constitution, giving to his earliest companions the
intuition of what they ought to do and the strength to accomplish it;
but an administrator was needed at the head of this family which he
suddenly found to be so different from what it had been a few years
before, and he sadly acknowledged that he himself was not in the
slightest degree such a person.[13]
Ah, in his own conscience he well knew that the old ideal was the true,
the right one; but he drove away such thoughts as the temptations of
pride. The recent events had not taken place without in some degree
weakening his moral personality; from being continually talked to about
obedience, submission, humility, a certain obscurity had come over this
luminous soul; inspiration no longer came to it with the certainty of
other days; the prophet had begun to waver, almost to doubt of himself
and of his mission. Anxiously he searched himself to see if in the
beginning of his work there had not been some vain self-complacency. He
pictured to himself beforehand the chapter which he was about to open,
the attack, the criticisms of which it would be the object, and labored
to convince himself that if he did not endure them with joy he was not a
true Brother Minor.[14] The noblest virtues are subject to scruples,
that of perfect humility more than any other, and thus it is that
excellent men religiously betray their own convictions to avoid
asserting themselves. He resolved then to put the direction of the Order
into the hands of Pietro di Catana. It is evident that there was nothing
spontaneous in this decision, and the fact that this brother was a
doctor of laws and belonged to the nobility squarely argues the
transformation of the Franciscan institute.
It is not known whether or not Ugolini was present at the chapter of
September 29, 1220, but if he was not there in person he was assuredly
represented by some prelate, charged to watch over the debates.[15] The
bull which had been issued a week before was communicated to the friars,
to whom Francis also announced that he was about to elaborate a new
Rule. With reference to this matter there were conferences in which the
ministers alone appear to have had a deliberative voice. At these
conferences the essential points of the new Rule were settled as to
principle, leaving to Francis the care of giving them proper form at his
leisure. Nothing better reveals the demoralized state into which he had
fallen than the decision which was taken to drop out one of the
essential passages of the old Rule, one of his three fundamental
precepts, that which began with these words, "_Carry nothing with
you_."[16]
How did they go to work to obtain from Francis this concession which, a
little while before, he would have looked upon as a denial of his call,
a refusal to accept in its integrity the message which Jesus had