Life of St. Francis of Assisi
request.
When he arrived and the bishop had come forth from the palace,
two friars came forward and said: "Brother Francis has made to
the praise of God a hymn to which he prays you to listen
piously," and immediately they began to sing the Hymn of Brother
Sun, with its new strophe.
The governor listened, standing in an attitude of profound
attention, copiously weeping, for he dearly loved the blessed
Francis.
When the singing was ended, "Know in truth," said he, "that I
desire to forgive the lord bishop, that I wish and ought to look
upon him as my lord, for if one had even assassinated my brother
I should be ready to pardon the murderer." With these words he
threw himself at the bishop's feet, and said: "I am ready to do
whatsoever you would, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and
his servant Francis."
Then the bishop, taking him by the hand, lifted him up and said,
"With my position it would become me to be humble, but since I
am naturally too quick to wrath, thou must pardon me."[36]
This unexpected reconciliation was immediately looked upon as
miraculous, and increased still more the reverence of the Assisans for
their fellow-citizen.
The summer was drawing to a close. After a few days of relative
improvement Francis's sufferings became greater than ever: incapable of
movement, he even thought that he ought to give up his ardent desire to
see St. Damian and Portiuncula once more, and gave the brothers all his
directions about the latter sanctuary: "Never abandon it," he would
repeat to them, "for that place is truly sacred: it is the house of
God."[37]
It seemed to him that if the Brothers remained attached to that bit of
earth, that chapel ten feet long, those thatched huts, they would there
find the living reminder of the poverty of the early days, and could
never wander far from it.
One evening he grew worse with frightful rapidity; all the following
night he had hemorrhages which left not the slightest hope; the Brothers
hastening to him, he dictated a few lines in form of a Will and gave
them his blessing: "Adieu, my children; remain all of you in the fear of
God, abide always united to Christ; great trials are in store for you,
and tribulation draws nigh. Happy are they who persevere as they have
begun; for there will be scandals and divisions among you. As for me, I
am going to the Lord and my God. Yes, I have the assurance that I am
going to him whom I have served."[38]
During the following days, to the great surprise of those who were about
him, he again grew somewhat better; no one could understand the
resistance to death offered by this body so long worn out by suffering.
He himself began to hope again. A physician of Arezzo whom he knew well,
having come to visit him, "Good friend," Francis asked him, "how much
longer do you think I have to live?"
"Father," replied the other reassuringly, "this will all pass away, if
it pleases God."
"I am not a cuckoo,"[39] replied Francis smiling, using a popular
saying, "to be afraid of death. By the grace of the Holy Spirit I am so
intimately united to God that I am equally content to live or to die."
"In that case, father, from the medical point of view, your disease is
incurable, and I do not think that you can last longer than the
beginning of autumn."
At these words the poor invalid stretched out his hands as if to call on
God, crying with an indescribable expression of joy, "Welcome, Sister
Death!" Then he began to sing, and sent for Brothers Angelo and Leo.
On their arrival they were made, in spite of their emotion, to sing the
Canticle of the Sun. They were at the last doxology when Francis,
checking them, improvised the greeting to death:
Be praised, Lord, for our Sister the Death of the body,
whom no man may escape;
alas for them who die in a state of mortal sin;
happy they who are found conformed to thy most holy will,
for the second death will do to them no harm.
From this day the palace rang unceasingly with his songs. Continually,
even through the night, he would sing the Canticle of the Sun or some
other of his favorite compositions. Then, when wearied out, he would beg
Angelo and Leo to go on.
One day Brother Elias thought it his duty to make a few remarks on the
subject. He feared that the nurses and the people of the neighborhood
would be scandalized; ought not a saint to be absorbed in meditation in
the face of death, to await it with fear and trembling instead of
indulging in a gayety that might be misinterpreted?[40] Perhaps Bishop
Guido was not entirely a stranger to these reproaches; it seems not
improbable that to have his palace crowded with Brothers Minor all these
long weeks had finally put him a little out of humor. But Francis would
not yield; his union with God was too sweet for him to consent not to
sing it.
They decided at last to remove him to Portiuncula. His desire was to be
fulfilled; he was to die beside the humble chapel where he had heard
God's voice consecrating him apostle.
His companions, bearing their precious burden, took the way through the
olive-yards across the plain. From time to time the invalid, unable to
distinguish anything, asked where they were. When they were half way
there, at the hospital of the Crucigeri, where long ago he had tended
the leper, and from whence there was a full view of all the houses of
the city, he begged them to set him upon the ground with his face toward
Assisi, and raising his hand he bade adieu to his native place and
blessed it.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The following is the list of monasteries which, according to
Rodolfo di Tossignano, accepted the ideas of Angelo Clareno
before the end of the thirteenth century: Fermo, Spoleto,
Camerino, Ascoli, Rieti, Foligno, Nursia, Aquila, Amelia:
_Historiarum seraphicae religionis, libri tres_, Venice, 1586, 1
vol., f^o, 155a.
[2] _Spec._, 129b; _Fior._, 19. In some of the stories of this
period the evidence is clear how certain facts have been, little
by little, transformed into miracles. Compare, for example, the
miracle of St. Urbano in Bon., 68, and 1 Cel., 61. See also 2
Cel., 2, 10; Bon., 158 and 159.
[3] 1 Cel., 87; 2 Cel., 2, 11; _Conform._, 148a, 2; Bon., 99.
Upon this visit see 2 Cel., 2, 10; Bon., 158 and 159; 2 Cel., 2,
11; 2 Cel., 3, 36.
[4] The present Italian name of the monastery which has also
been called _Monte-Rainerio_ and _Fonte-Palumbo_.
[5] 1 Cel., 101; 2 Cel., 3, 102; Bon., 67; _Spec._, 134a.
[6] 2 Cel., 3, 66; Bon., 69.
[7] _Fior. ii. consid._ Cf. Roger Bacon, Opus tertium (_ap. Mon.
Germ. hist._, _Script._ t. 28, p. 577). _B. Franciscus jussit
fratri cythariste ut dulcius personaret, quatenus mens
excitaretur ad harmonias coelestes quas pluries andivit. Mira
enim musicae super omnes scientias et spectanda potestas._
[8] Village three hours' walk northward from Rieti. Francis's
cell still remains on the mountain, three-quarters of an hour
from the place.
[9] 2 Cel., 3, 71; cf. _Spec._, 43a.
[10] Chapel still standing, a few minutes' walk from Rieti. 2
Cel., 3, 70; _Spec._, 15a, 43a.
[11] 2 Cel., 2, 14; Bon., 167; 2 Cel., 3, 10; Bon., 58; _Spec._,
122b.
[12] Wadding, _ann. 1213_, n. 14, rightly places St. Urbano in
the county of Narni. _L'Eremo di S. Urbano_ is about half an
hour from the village of the same name, on Mount San Pancrazio
(1026 m.), three leagues south of Narni. The panorama is one of
the finest in Central Italy. The Bollandists allowed themselves
to be led into error by an interested assertion when they placed
San Urbano near to Jesi (pp. 623f and 624a). 1 Cel., 61; Bon.,
68. (Vide Bull _Cum aliqua_ of May 15, 1218, where mention is
made of San Urbano.)
[13] As much may be said of the apparition of the three virgins
between Campilia and San Quirico. 2 Cel., 3, 37; Bon., 93.
[14] _Spec._, 12b; _Conform._, 169a, 1.
[15] 2 Cel., 3, 46; Bon., 153; _Spec._, 31b; Ezek., xxxiii., 9.
[16] Two years after, the King of France and all his court
kissed and revered the pillow which Francis had used during his
illness. 1 Cel., 120.
[17] Bagnara is near the sources of the Topino, about an hour
east of Nocera. These two localities were then dependents of
Assisi.
[18] And not Sartiano. Balciano still exists, about half way
between Nocera and Assisi.
[19] 2 Cel., 3, 23; Bon., 98; _Spec._, 17b; _Conform._, 239a,
2f.
[20] 2 Cel., 3, 33; 1 Cel., 105, is still more explicit: "The
multitude hoped that he would die very soon, and that was the
subject of their joy."
[21] 1 Cel., 103 and 104.
[22] 1 Cel., 102; _Spec._, 83b.
[23] 2 Cel., 3, 116; _Spec._, 67a; _Conform._, 143b, 1, and
225b, 2; 2 Cel., 3, 117; _Spec._, 130a.
[24] For the text vide _Conform._, 136b, 2; 138b, 2; 142 b, 1.
[25] _Tribul., Archiv._, ii., pp. 285 ff.
[26] 2 Cel., 3, 118.
[27] These words are borrowed from a long fragment cited by
Ubertini di Casali, as coming from Brother Leo: _Arbor vit.
cruc., lib._ v., _cap._ 3. It is surely a bit of the Legend of
the Three Companions; it may be found textually in the
Tribulations, Laur., f^o 16b, with a few more sentences at the
end. Cf. _Conform._, 136a, 2; 143a, 2; _Spec._, 8b; 26b; 50a;
130b; 2 Cel., 3, 118.
[28] _Tribul._, Laur., 17b.
[29] See, for example, Brother Richer's question as to the
books: Ubertini, _Loc. cit._ Cf. _Archiv._, iii., pp. 75 and
177; _Spec._, 8a; _Conform._, 71b, 2. See also: Ubertini,
_Archiv._, iii., pp. 75 and 177; _Tribul._, 13a; _Spec._, 9a;
_Conform._, 170a, 1. It is curious to compare the account as it
found in the documents with the version of it given in 2 Cel.,
3, 8.
[30] Assisi MS., 338, f^o 28a-31a, with the rubric: _De lictera
et ammonitione beatissimi patris nostri Francisci quam misit
fratribus ad capitulum quando erat infirmus._ This letter was
wrongly divided into three by Rodolfo di Tossignano (f^o 237),
who was followed by Wadding (Epistolae x., xi., xii.). The text
is found without this senseless division in the manuscript cited
and in _Firmamentum_, f^o 21; _Spec._, Morin, iii., 217a;
Ubertini, _Arbor vit. cruc._, v., 7.
[31] This initial (given only by the Assisi MS.) has not failed
to excite surprise. It appears that there ought to have been
simply an N ... This letter then would have been replaced by the
copyist, who would have used the initial of the minister general
in charge at the time of his writing. If this hypothesis has any
weight it will aid to fix the exact date of the manuscript.
(Alberto of Pisa minister from 1239-1240; Aimon of Faversham,
1240-1244.)
[32] This epistle also was unskilfully divided into two distinct
letters by Rodolfo di Tossignano, f^o 174a, who was followed by
Wadding. See Assisi MS., 338, 23a-28a; _Conform._, 137a, 1 ff.
[33] The letter to the clergy only repeats the thoughts already
expressed upon the worship of the holy sacrament. We remember
Francis sweeping out the churches and imploring the priests to
keep them clean; this epistle has the same object: it is found
in the Assisi MS., 338, f^o 31b-32b, with the rubric: _De
reverentia Corporis Domini et de munditia altaris ad omnes
clericos_. Incipit: _Attendamus omnes_. Explicit: _fecerint