Life of St. Francis of Assisi
to pass that there are any who do not the office according to
the Rule, and who desire to make any other change, or if they
are not Catholics, let all the Brothers, wherever they may be,
be bound by obedience to present them to the nearest custode.
Let the custodes be bound by obedience to keep him well guarded
like a man who is in bonds night and day, so that he may not
escape from their hands until they personally place him in the
minister's hands. And let the minister be bound by obedience to
send him by brothers who will guard him as a prisoner day and
night until they shall have placed him in the hands of the Lord
Bishop of Ostia, who is the lord, the protector, and the
correcter of all the Fraternity.[13]
And let the Brothers not say: "This is a new Rule;" for this is
a reminder, a warning, an exhortation; it is my Will, that I,
little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed Brothers, in
order that we may observe in a more catholic way the Rule which
we promised the Lord to keep.
Let the ministers-general, all the other ministers and the
custodes be held by obedience to add nothing to and take nothing
from these words. Let them always keep this writing near them,
beside the Rule; and in all the chapters which shall be held,
when the Rule is read let these words be read also.
I interdict absolutely, by obedience, all the Brothers, clerics
and layman, to introduce glosses in the Rule, or in this Will,
under pretext of explaining it. But since the Lord has given me
to speak and to write the Rule and these words in a clear and
simple manner, without commentary, understand them in the same
way, and put them in practice until the end.
And may whoever shall have observed these things be crowned in
heaven with the blessings of the heavenly Father, and on earth
with those of his well-beloved Son and of the Holy Spirit the
consoler, with the assistance of all the heavenly virtues and
all the saints.
And I, little Brother Francis, your servitor, confirm to you so
far as I am able this most holy benediction. Amen.
After thinking of his Brothers Francis thought of his dear Sisters at
St. Damian and made a will for them.
It has not come down to us, and we need not wonder; the Spiritual
Brothers might flee away, and protest from the depths of their retreats,
but the Sisters were completely unarmed against the machinations of the
Common Observance.[14]
In the last words that he addressed to the Clarisses, after calling upon
them to persevere in poverty and union, he gave them his
benediction.[15] Then he recommended them to the Brothers, supplicating
the latter never to forget that they were members of one and the same
religious family.[16] After having done all that he could for those
whom he was about to leave, he thought for a moment of himself.
He had become acquainted in Rome with a pious lady named Giacomina di
Settisoli. Though rich, she was simple and good, entirely devoted to the
new ideas; even the somewhat singular characteristics of Francis pleased
her. He had given her a lamb which had become her inseparable
companion.[17]
Unfortunately all that concerns her has suffered much from later
retouchings of the legend. The perfectly natural conduct of the Saint
with women has much embarrassed his biographers; hence heavy and
distorted commentaries tacked on to episodes of a delicious simplicity.
Before dying Francis desired to see again this friend, whom he
smilingly called Brother Giacomina. He caused a letter to be written her
to come to Portiuncula; we can imagine the dismay of the narrators at
this far from monastic invitation.
But the good lady had anticipated his appeal: at the moment when the
messenger with the letter was about to leave for Rome, she arrived at
Portiuncula and remained there until the last sigh of the Saint.[18]
For one moment she thought of sending away her suite; the invalid was so
calm and joyful that she could not believe him dying, but he himself
advised her to keep her people with her. This time he felt with no
possible doubt that his captivity was about to be ended.
He was ready, he had finished his work.
Did he think then of the day when, cursed by his father, he had
renounced all earthly goods and cried to God with an ineffable
confidence, "Our Father who art in heaven!" We cannot say; but he
desired to finish his life by a symbolic act which very closely recalls
the scene in the bishop's palace.
He caused himself to be stripped of his clothing and laid upon the
ground, for he wished to die in the arms of his Lady Poverty. With one
glance he embraced the twenty years that had glided by since their
union: "I have done my duty," he said to the Brothers, "may the Christ
now teach you yours!"[19]
This was Thursday, October 1.[20]
They laid him back upon his bed, and, conforming to his wishes, they
again sang to him the Canticle of the Sun.
At times he added his voice to those of his Brothers,[21] and came back
with preference to Psalm 142, _Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi_.[22]
With my voice I cry unto the Lord,
With my voice I implore the Lord,
I pour out my complaint before him,
I tell him all my distress.
When my spirit is cast down within me,
Thou knowest my path.
Upon the way where I walk
They have laid a snare for me,
Cast thine eyes to the right and look!
No one recognizes me;
All refuge is lost for me,
No one takes thought for my soul.
Lord, unto thee I cry;
I say: Thou art my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
Be attentive to my cries!
For I am very unhappy.
Deliver me from those who pursue me!
For they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of its prison
That I may praise thy name.
The righteous shall compass me about
When thou hast done good unto me!
The visits of death are always solemn, but the end of the just is the
most moving _sursum corda_ that we can hear on earth. The hours flowed
by and the Brothers would not leave him. "Alas, good Father," said one
of them to him, unable longer to contain himself, "your children are
going to lose you, and be deprived of the true light which lightened
them: think of the orphans you are leaving and forgive all their faults,
give to them all, present and absent, the joy of your holy benediction."
"See," replied the dying man, "God is calling me. I forgive all my
Brothers, present and absent, their offences and faults, and absolve
them according to my power. Tell them so, and bless them all in my
name."[23]
Then crossing his arms he laid his hands upon those who surrounded him.
He did this with peculiar emotion to Bernard of Quintavalle: "I desire,"
he said, "and with all my power I urge whomsoever shall be
minister-general of the Order, to love and honor him as myself; let the
provincials and all the Brothers act toward him as toward me."[24]
He thought not only of the absent Brothers but of the future ones; love
so abounded in him that it wrung from him a groan of regret for not
seeing all those who should enter the Order down to the end of time,
that he might lay his hand upon their brows, and make them feel those
things that may only be spoken by the eyes of him who loves in God.[25]
He had lost the notion of time; believing that it was still Thursday he
desired to take a last meal with his disciples. Some bread was brought,
he broke it and gave it to them, and there in the poor cabin of
Portiuncula, without altar and without a priest, was celebrated the
Lord's Supper.[26]
A Brother read the Gospel for Holy Thursday, _Ante diem festum Paschae_:
"Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come
to go from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in
the world he loved them unto the end."
The sun was gilding the crests of the mountains with his last rays,
there was silence around the dying one. All was ready. The angel of
death might come.
Saturday, October 3, 1226, at nightfall, without pain, without struggle,
he breathed the last sigh.
The Brothers were still gazing on his face, hoping yet to catch some
sign of life, when innumerable larks alighted, singing, on the thatch of
his cell,[27] as if to salute the soul which had just taken flight and
give the Little Poor Man the canonization of which he was most worthy,
the only one, doubtless, which he would ever have coveted.
On the morrow, at dawn, the Assisans came down to take possession of his
body and give it a triumphant funeral.
By a pious inspiration, instead of going straight to the city they went
around by St. Damian, and thus was realized the promise made by Francis
to the Sisters a few weeks before, to come once more to see them.
Their grief was heart-rending.
These women's hearts revolted against the absurdity of death;[28] but
there were tears on that day at St. Damian only. The Brothers forgot
their sadness on seeing the stigmata, and the inhabitants of Assisi
manifested an indescribable joy on having their relic at last. They
deposited it in the Church St. George.[29]
Less than two years after, Sunday, July 26, 1228, Gregory IX. came to
Assisi to preside in person over the ceremonies of canonization, and to
lay, on the morrow, the first stone of the new church dedicated to the
Stigmatized.
Built under the inspiration of Gregory IX. and the direction of Brother
Elias, this marvellous basilica is also one of the documents of this
history, and perhaps I have been wrong in neglecting it.
Go and look upon it, proud, rich, powerful, then go down to Portiuncula,
pass over to St. Damian, hasten to the Carceri, and you will understand
the abyss that separates the ideal of Francis from that of the pontiff
who canonized him.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Mortem cantando suscepit._ 2 Cel., 3, 139.
[2] The text here taken as a basis is that of the Assisi MS.,
338 (f^o 16a-18a). It is also to be found in _Firmamentum_, f^o
19, col. 4; _Speculum_, Morin, _tract._ iii., 8a; Wadding, _ann.
1226_, 35; A. SS., p. 663; Amoni, _Legenda Trium Sociorum_;
Appendix, p. 110. Everything in this document proclaims its
authenticity, but we are not reduced to internal proof. It is
expressly cited in 1 Cel., 17 (before 1230); by the Three
Companions (1246), 3 Soc., 11; 26; 29; by 2 Cel., 3, 99 (1247).
These proofs would be more than sufficient, but there is another
of even greater value: the bull _Quo elongati_ of September 28,
1230, where Gregory IX. cites it textually and declares that the
friars are not bound to observe it.
[3] _Promittet Franciscus obedientiam ... papae ... et
successoribus ... qui non possunt nec debent eis praecipere
aliquid quod sit contra animam et regulam._ _Archiv._, _i_, p.
563.
[4] _Quod si quando a quocumque ... pontifice aliquid ...
mandaretur quod esset contra fidem ... et caritatem et fructus
ejus tunc obediet Deo magis quam hominibus._ Ib., p. 561.
[5] _Est [Regula] et stat et intelligitur super eos ... Cum spei
fiducia pace fruemur cum conscientiae et Christi spiritus
testimonio certo._ Ib., pp. 563 and 565.
[6] _Archiv._, ii., p. 274.
[7] _Ad mandatum illud vos dicimus non teneri: quod sine
consensu Fratrum maxime ministrorum, quos universos tangebat
obligare nequivit nec successorem suum quomodolibet obligavit;
cum non habeat imperium par in parem._ The sophism is barely
specious; Francis was not on a par with his successors; he did
not act as minister-general, but as founder.
[8] _Arbor vit. cruc._, _lib._ v., _cap._ 3 and 5. See above, p.