Life of St. Francis of Assisi
before the festival alone in prayer, not far from the hermitage. In the
morning he had a vision. In the rays of the rising sun, which after the
chill of night came to revive his body, he suddenly perceived a strange
form.
A seraph, with outspread wings, flew toward him from the edge of the
horizon, and bathed his soul in raptures unutterable. In the centre of
the vision appeared a cross, and the seraph was nailed upon it. When
the vision disappeared, he felt sharp sufferings mingling with the
ecstasy of the first moments. Stirred to the very depths of his being,
he was anxiously seeking the meaning of it all, when he perceived upon
his body the stigmata of the Crucified.[18]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The passes that give access to the Casentino have all about
one thousand metres of altitude. Until the most recent years
there was no road properly so called.
[2] In France Mount Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of
Dauphiny, presents the same aspect and the same geological
formation. St. Odile also recalls the Verna, but is very much
smaller.
[3] The summit has an altitude of 1269 metres. In Italian they
call it the _Verna_, in Latin _Alvernus_. The etymology, which
has tested the acuteness of the learned, appears to be very
simple; the verb _vernare_, used by Dante, signifies make cold,
freeze.
[4] Name of the highest point on the plateau. Hardly
three-quarters of an hour from the monastery, and not two hours
and a half, as these worthy anchorites believed. This is said
for the benefit of tourists ... and pilgrims.
[5] The forest has been preserved as a relic. Alexander IV.
fulminated excommunication against whomever should cut down the
firs of Verna. As to the birds, it is enough to pass a day at
the monastery to be amazed at their number and variety. M. C.
Beni has begun at Stia (in Casentino) an ornithological
collection which already includes more than five hundred and
fifty varieties.
[6] 1 Cel., 91; Bon., 188; _Fior. i., consid._
[7] _Fior. i., consid.;_ _Conform._, 176b, 1.
[8] Cel., 2, 15; Bon., 100. _Fior. i., consid._
[9] Bon., 118. _Fior. i., consid._
[10] 2 Cel., 100.
[11] _Fior. ii., consid._
[12] The ruins of the castle of Chiusi are three quarters of an
hour from Verna.
[13] _Fior. iv. and v. consid._ These two considerations appear
to be the result of a reworking of the primitive document. The
latter no doubt included the three former, which the continuer
has interpolated and lengthened. Cf. _Conform._, 231a, 1;
_Spec._, 91b, 92a, 97; A. SS., pp. 860 ff.
[14] In current language we often include under the word
mysticism all the tendencies--often far from Christian--which
give predominance in the religious life to vague poetic
elements, impulses of the heart. The name of mystic ought to be
applied only to those Christians to whom _immediate_ relations
with Jesus form the basis of the religious life. In this sense
St. Paul (whose theologico-philosophical system is one of the
most powerful efforts of the human mind to explain sin and
redemption) is at the same time the prince of mystics.
[15] He did not desire to institute a religion, for he felt the
vanity of observances and dogmas. (The apostles continued to
frequent the Jewish temple. Acts, ii., 46; iii., 1; v., 25;
xxi., 26.) He desired to inoculate the world with a new life.
[16] 2 Cel., 3, 29; cf. 1 Cel., 115; 3 Soc., 13 and 14; 2 Cel.,
1, 6; 2 Cel., 3, 123 and 131; Bon., 57; 124; 203; 204; 224; 225;
309; 310; 311; _Conform._, 229b ff.
[17] 1 Cel., 91-94; Bon., 189, 190.
[18] See the annotations of Brother Leo upon the autograph of
St. Francis (Crit. Study, p. 357) and 1 Cel., 94, 95; Bon., 191,
192, 193 (3 Soc., 69, 70); _Fior. iii. consid._ Cf. _Auct. vit.
sec._; A. SS. p. 649. It is to be noted that Thomas of Celano (1
Cel., 95), as well as all the primitive documents, describe the
stigmata as being fleshy excrescences, recalling in form and
color the nails with which the limbs of Jesus were pierced. No
one speaks of those gaping, sanguineous wounds which were
imagined later. Only the mark at the side was a wound, whence at
times exuded a little blood. Finally, Thomas of Celano says that
after the seraphic vision _began to appear, coeperunt apparere
signa clavorum_. Vide Appendix: Study of the Stigmata.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XVII
THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN
Autumn, 1224-Autumn, 1225
The morning after St. Michael's Day (September 30, 1224) Francis quitted
Verna and went to Portiuncula. He was too much exhausted to think of
making the journey on foot, and Count Orlando put a horse at his
disposal.
We can imagine the emotion with which he bade adieu to the mountain on
which had been unfolded the drama of love and pain which had consummated
the union of his entire being with the Crucified One.
Amor, amor, Gesu desideroso,
Amor voglio morire,
Te abrazando
Amor, dolce Gesu, meo sposo,
Amor, amor, la morte te domando,
Amor, amor, Gesu si pietoso
Tu me te dai in te transformato
Pensa ch'io vo spasmando
Non so o io me sia
Gesu speranza mia
Ormai va, dormi in amore.
So sang Giacopone dei Todi in the raptures of a like love.[1]
If we are to believe a recently published document,[2] Brother Masseo,
one of those who remained on the Verna, made a written account of the
events of this day.
They set out early in the morning. Francis, after having given his
directions to the Brothers, had had a look and a word for everything
around; for the rocks, the flowers, the trees, for brother hawk, a
privileged character which was authorized to enter his cell at all
times, and which came every morning, with the first glimmer of dawn, to
remind him of the hour of service.[3]
Then the little band set forth upon the path leading to
Monte-Acuto.[4] Arrived at the gap from whence one gets the last sight
of the Verna, Francis alighted from his horse, and kneeling upon the
earth, his face turned toward the mountain, "Adieu," he said, "mountain
of God, sacred mountain, _mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, mons in quo
bene placitum est Deo habitare_; adieu Monte-Verna, may God bless thee,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; abide in peace; we shall never
see one another more."
Has not this artless scene a delicious and poignant sweetness? He must
surely have uttered these words, in which suddenly the Italian does not
suffice and Francis is obliged to resort to the mystical language of
the breviary to express his feelings.
A few minutes later the rock of the ecstacy had disappeared. The descent
into the valley is rapid. The Brothers had decided to spend the night at
Monte-Casale, the little hermitage above Borgo San-Sepolcro. All of
them, even those who were to remain on the Verna, were still following
their master. As for him, absorbed in thought he had become entirely
oblivious to what was going on, and did not even perceive the noisy
enthusiasm which his passage aroused in the numerous villages along the
Tiber.
At Borgo San-Sepolcro he received a real ovation without even then
coming to himself; but when they had some time quitted the town, he
seemed suddenly to awake, and asked his companion if they ought not soon
to arrive there.[5]
The first evening at Monte Casale was marked by a miracle. Francis
healed a friar who was possessed.[6] The next morning, having decided
to pass several days in this hermitage, he sent the brothers back to the
Verna, and with them Count Orlando's horse.
In one of the villages through which they had passed the day before a
woman had been lying several days between death and life unable to give
birth to her child. Those about her had only learned of the passage of
the saint through their village when he was too far distant to be
overtaken. We may judge of the joy of these poor people when the rumor
was spread that he was about to return. They went to meet him, and were
terribly disappointed on finding only the friars. Suddenly an idea
occurred to them: taking the bridle of the horse consecrated by the
touch of Francis's hands, they carried it to the sufferer, who, having
laid it upon her body, gave birth to her child without the slightest
pain.[7]
This miracle, established by narratives entirely authentic, shows the
degree of enthusiasm felt by the people for the person of Francis. As
for him, after a few days at Monte-Casale, he set out with Brother Leo
for Citta di Castello. He there healed a woman suffering from frightful
nervous disorders, and remained an entire month preaching in this city
and its environs. When he once more set forth winter had almost closed
in. A peasant lent him his ass, but the roads were so bad that they were
unable to reach any sort of shelter before nightfall. The unhappy
travellers were obliged to pass the night under a rock; the shelter was
more than rudimentary, the wind drifted the snow in upon them, and
nearly froze the unlucky peasant, who with abominable oaths heaped
curses on Francis; but the latter replied with such cheerfulness that he
made him at last forget both the cold and his bad humor.
On the morrow the saint reached Portiuncula. He seems to have made only
a brief halt there, and to have set forth again almost immediately to
evangelize Southern Umbria.
It is impossible to follow him in this mission. Brother Elias
accompanied him, but so feeble was he that Elias could not conceal his
uneasiness as to his life.[8]
Ever since his return from Syria (August, 1220), he had been growing
continually weaker, but his fervor had increased from day to day.
Nothing could check him, neither suffering nor the entreaties of the
Brothers; seated on an ass he would sometimes go over three or four
villages in one day. Such excessive toil brought on an infirmity even
more painful than any he had hitherto suffered from: he was threatened
with loss of sight.[9]
Meanwhile a sedition had forced Honorius III. to leave Rome (end of
April, 1225). After passing a few weeks at Tivoli, he established
himself at Rieti, where he remained until the end of 1226.[10]
The pope's arrival had drawn to this city, with the entire pontifical
court, several physicians of renown; Cardinal Ugolini, who had come in
the pope's train, hearing of Francis's malady, summoned him to Rieti for
treatment. But notwithstanding Brother Elias's entreaties Francis
hesitated a long time as to accepting the invitation.[11] It seemed to
him that a sick man has but one thing to do; place himself purely and
simply in the hands of the heavenly Father. What is pain to a soul that
is fixed in God![12]
Elias, however, at last overcame his objections, and the journey was
determined upon, but first Francis desired to go and take leave of
Clara, and enjoy a little rest near her.
He remained at St. Damian much longer than he had proposed to do[13]
(end of July to beginning of September, 1225). His arrival at this
beloved monastery was marked by a terrible aggravation of his malady.
For fifteen days he was so completely blind that he could not even
distinguish light. The care lavished upon him produced no result, since
every day he passed long hours in weeping--tears of penitence, he said,
but also of regret.[14] Ah, how different they were from those tears
of his moments of inspiration and emotion, which had flowed over a
countenance all illumined with joy! They had seen him, in such moments,