Life of St. Francis of Assisi
be kind to me, and I have truly great need of repose, but the
Brothers who are out in the world, suffering hunger and a
thousand tribulations, and also those others who are in
hermitages or in miserable houses, when they hear of my sojourn
with a cardinal will be moved to repine. 'We endure all
privations,' they will say, 'while he has all that he can
desire; 'but I ought to give them a good example--that is my
true mission." ...
Early next morning, therefore he quitted the tower, and having
told the cardinal all, took leave of him and returned to the
hermitage of Monte Colombo, near Rieti. "They think me a holy
man," he said, "and see, it needed demons to cast me out of
prison."[26]
This story, notwithstanding its strange coloring, shows plainly how
strong was his instinct for independence. To compare the hospitality of
a cardinal to an imprisonment! He spoke better than he knew,
characterizing in one word the relation of the Church to his Order.
The lark was not dead; in spite of cold and the north wind it gayly took
its flight to the vale of Rieti.
It was mid-December. An ardent desire to observe to the life the
memories of Christmas had taken possession of Francis. He opened his
heart to one of his friends, the knight Giovanni di Greccio, who
undertook the necessary preparations.
The imitation of Jesus has in all times been the very centre of
Christianity; but one must be singularly spiritual to be satisfied with
the imitation of the heart. With most men there is need that this should
be preceded and sustained by an external imitation. It is indeed the
spirit that gives life, but it is only in the country of the angels that
one can say that the flesh profiteth nothing.
In the Middle Ages a religious festival was before all things else a
representation, more or less faithful, of the event which it recalled;
hence the _santons_ of Provence, the processions of the _Palmesel_, the
Holy Supper of Maundy Thursday, the Road to the Cross of Good Friday,
the drama of the Resurrection of Easter, and the flaming tow of
Whitsunday. Francis was too thoroughly Italian not to love these
festivals where every visible thing speaks of God and of his love.
The population of Greccio and its environs was, therefore, convoked, as
well as the Brothers from the neighboring monasteries. On the evening of
the vigil of Christmas one might have seen the faithful hastening to the
hermitage by every path with torches in their hands, making the forests
ring with their joyful hymns.
Everyone was rejoicing--Francis most of all. The knight had prepared a
stable with straw, and brought an ox and an ass, whose breath seemed to
give warmth to the poor _bambino_, benumbed with the cold. At the sight
the saint felt tears of pity bedew his face; he was no longer in
Greccio, his heart was in Bethlehem.
Finally they began to chant matins; then the mass was begun, and
Francis, as deacon, read the Gospel. Already hearts were touched by the
simple recital of the sacred legend in a voice so gentle and so fervent,
but when he preached, his emotion soon overcame the audience; his voice
had so unutterable a tenderness that they also forgot everything, and
were living over again the feeling of the shepherds of Judea who in
those old days went to adore the God made man, born in a stable.[27]
Toward the close of the thirteenth century, the author of the _Stabat
Mater dolorosa_, Giacopone dei Todi, that Franciscan of genius who spent
a part of his life in dungeons, inspired by the memory of Greccio,
composed another Stabat, that of joy, _Stabat Mater speciosa_. This hymn
of Mary beside the manger is not less noble than that of Mary at the
foot of the cross. The sentiment is even more tender, and it is hard to
explain its neglect except by an unjust caprice of fate.
Stabat Mater speciosa
Juxtum foenum gaudiosa
Dum jacebat parvulus.
Quae gaudebat et ridebat
Exsultabat cum videbat
Nati partum inclyti.
Fac me vere congaudere
Jesulino cohaerere
Donec ego vixero.[28]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] All this took place with prodigious rapidity. The dimensions
of the Basilica of Assisi, the plans of which were made in 1228,
no more permits it to be considered as a conventual chapel than
Santa-Croce in Florence, San Francesco in Sienna, or the
Basilica San Antonio at Padua, monuments commenced between 1230
and 1240. Already before 1245 one party of the episcopate utters
a cry of alarm, in which he speaks of nothing less than of
closing the door of the secular churches, which have become
useless. He complains with incredible bitterness that the Minor
and Preaching Friars have absolutely supplanted the parochial
clergy. This letter may be found in Pierre de la Vigne,
addressed at once to Frederick II. and the Council of Lyons:
_Epistolae_, Basle, 1740, 2 vols., vol. i., pp. 220-222. It is
much to be desired that a critical text should be given. See
also the satire against the two new Orders, done in rhyme about
1242 by Pierre de la Vigne, and of which, allowing for possible
exaggerations, the greater number of the incidents cannot have
been invented: E. du Meril, _Poesies pop. lat._, pp. 153-177,
Paris, 8vo, 1847.
[2] And not of the 29th, as Sbaralea will have it. _Bull. fr._,
vol. i., n. 10. Horoy, vol. iv., col. 129; the original, still
in the archives of Assisi, bears the title: _Datum Anagnie 11
Kalendas Aprilis pontificatus nostri anno sexto_.
[3] Potthast, 6809; Horoy, iv., col. 129. See also the bull
_Ecce Venit Deus_ of July 14, 1227; L. Auvray: _Registres de
Gregoire IX._, no. 129; cf. 153; Potthast, 8027 and 8028, 8189.
[4] He had finished his mission as legate in Lombardy toward the
close of September, 1221 (see his register; cf. Boehmer, _Acta
imp. sel. doc._, 951). In the spring of 1222 we find him
continually near the pope at Anagni, Veroli, Alatri (Potthast,
6807, 6812, 6849). The Holy See had still at that time a marked
predilection for the Preachers; the very trite privilege of
power to celebrate the offices in times of interdict had been
accorded them March 7, 1222, but instead of the formula usual in
such cases, a revised form had been made expressly for them,
with a handsome eulogy. Ripolli, _Bull. Praed._, t. i., p. 15.
[5] 2 Cel., 3, 93: _Subtrahebat se a consortio fratrum._
[6] It is needless to say that local traditions, in this case,
though as to detail they must be accepted only with great
reserve, yet on the whole are surely true. The geography of St.
Francis's life is yet to be made.
[7] 2 Cel., 3, 59; Bon., 60; _Conform._, 122b, 2.
[8] 2 Cel., 3, 5; _Spec._, 12a; _Conform._, 169b, 2.
[9] Eccl., 6. Vide Liebermann's text, _Mon. Germ. hist.
Script._, t. 28, p. 663.
[10] 2 Cel., 3, 93; Bon., 104 and 105; _Conform._, 101a, 2.
[11] 2 Cel., 3, 93; _Spec._, 49b; 182a; _Conform._, 182a, 1;
_Tribul._, f^o 5a; 2 Cel., 3, 98; 113; 115; 1 Cel., 28, 50; 96;
103; 104; 108; 111; 118.
[12] 2 Cel., 3, 27; _Spec._, 38b; _Conform._, 181b, 1;
_Tribul._, 7b. Cf. _Spec._, 220b; _Conform._, 103b.
[13] Francis's successors were nearly all without exception
students of Bologna. Pietro di Catana was doctor of laws, as
also Giovanni Parenti (Giord., 51).--Elias had been _scriptor_
at Bologna.--Alberto of Pisa had been minister there (Eccl.,
6).--Aymon had been reader there (Eccl., 6).--Crescentius wrote
works on jurisprudence (_Conform._, 121b, 1, etc., etc.).
[14] This name cannot be warranted; he is called Giovanni di
Laschaccia in a passage of the _Conformities_ (104a, 1); Pietro
Schiaccia in the Italian MS. of the _Tribulations_ (f^o 75a);
Petrus Stacia in the Laurentinian MS. (13b; cf. _Archiv._, ii.,
p. 258). _Tribul._, 13b; _Spec._, 184b. This story has been much
amplified in other places. _Spec._, 126a; _Conform._, 104b, 1.
[15] Vide Eccl., 3: History of the entrance of Adam of Oxford
into the Order. Cf., _Chartularium Univ. Par._, t. i., nos. 47
and 49.
[16] Eccleston's entire chronicle is a living witness to this.
[17] _Admonitio_, v.; cf. _Conform._, 141a.
Compare the _Constitutiones antiquae_ (_Speculum_, Morin, iii.,
f^o 195b-206) with the Rule. From the opening chapters the
contradiction is apparent: _Ordinamus quod nullus recipiatur in
ordine nostro nisi sit talis clericus qui sit competenter
instructus in grammatica vel logica; aut nisi sit talis laicus
de cujus ingressu esset valde celebris et edificatio in populo
et in clero_. This is surely far from the spirit of him who
said: _Et quicumque venerit amicus vel adversarius fur vel latro
benigne recipiatur_. Rule of 1221, cap. vii. See also the
Exposition of the Rule of Bonaventura. _Speculum_, Morin, iii.,
f^o 21-40.
[18] Upon Francis's attitude toward learning see _Tribul._,
Laur., 14b; _Spec._, 184a; 2 Cel., 3, 8; 48; 100; 116; 119;
120-124. Bon., chap. 152, naturally expresses only Bonaventura's
views. See especially Rule of 1221, cap. xvii.; of 1223, cap. x.
[19] _Spec._, 7b: _Fecit Franciscus regulam quam papa Honorius
confirmavit cum bulla, de qua regula multa fuerunt extracta per
ministros contra voluntatem b. Francisci_. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 136.
[20] Bull _Quo elongati_ of September 28, 1230; Sbaralea, i., p.
56.
[21] Bon., 55 and 56 [3 Soc., 62]; _Spec._, 76; 124a; _Tribul._,
Laur., 17b-19b; Ubertini, _Arbor. V._, 5; _Conform._, 88a, 2.
[22] _Tribul._, Laur., 19a; _Archiv._, t. iii., p. 601. Cf. A.
SS., p. 638e.
[23] Potthast, 7108.--The work of this bull was completed by
that of December 18, 1223. (The original of the _Sacro Convento_
bears _Datum Laterani XV. Kal. jan._) _Fratrem Minorum_:
Potthast, 7123.
[24] 2 Cel., 3, 19; Bon., 95; _Spec._, 18b; _Conform._, 171a, 1.
[25] 2 Cel., 3, 61 and 62. Cf. Eccl., 6, the account of Rod. de
Rosa.
[26] _Spec._, 47b ff.; 2 Cel., 3, 61; Bon., 84 and 85.
[27] 1 Cel., 84-87; Bon., 149.
[28] This little poem was published entire by M. Ozanam in vol.
v. of his works, p. 184.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XVII
THE STIGMATA
1224
The upper valley of the Arno forms in the very centre of Italy a country
apart, the Casentino, which through centuries had its own life, somewhat
like an island in the midst of the ocean.
The river flows out from it by a narrow defile at the south, and on all
other sides the Apennines encircle it with a girdle of inaccessible
mountains.[1]
This plain, some ten leagues in diameter, is enlivened with picturesque
villages, finely posted on hillocks at the base of which flows the
stream; here are Bibbiena, Poppi, the antique Romena sung by Dante, the
Camaldoli, and up there on the crest Chiusi, long ago the capital of the
country, with the ruins of Count Orlando's castle.
The people are charming and refined; the mountains have sheltered them
from wars, and on every side we see the signs of labor, prosperity, a
gentle gayety. At any moment we might fancy ourselves transported into
some valley of the Vivarais or Provence. The vegetation on the borders
of the Arno is thoroughly tropical; the olive and the mulberry marry
with the vine. On the lower hill-slopes are wheat fields divided by