Life of St. Francis of Assisi

185. [9] _Tribul._, Laur., 25b; _Archiv._, i., p. 532. [10] At the summit of the Apennines, about half way between Camerino and Nocera (Umbria). _Tribul._, Laur., 26b; Magl., 135b. [11] _Declaratio Ubertini_, _Archiv._, iii., p. 168. This fact is not to be questioned, since it is alleged in a piece addressed to the pope, in response to the liberal friars, to whom it was to be communicated. [12] _Feci moram cum illis._, MS., 338. Most of the printed texts give _miseracordiam_, which gives a less satisfactory meaning. Cf. Miscellanea iii. (1888), p. 70; 1 Cel., 17; 3 Soc., 11. [13] It is evident that heresy is not here in question. The Brothers who were infected with it were to be delivered to the Church. [14] Urban IV. published, October 18, 1263, Potthast (18680), a Rule for the Clarisses which completely changed the character of this Order. Its author was the cardinal protector Giovanni degli Ursini (the future Nicholas III.), who by way of precaution forbade the Brothers Minor under the severest penalties to dissuade the Sisters from accepting it. "It differs as much from the first Rule," said Ubertini di Casali "as black and white, the savory and the insipid." _Arbor. vit. cruc. lib._ v., _cap._ vi. [15] V. _Test. B. Clarae_; _Conform._, 185a 1; Spec., 117b. [16] 2 Cel., 3, 132. [17] Bon., 112. [18] The Bollandists deny this whole story, which they find in opposition to the prescriptions of Francis himself. A. SS., p. 664 ff. But it is difficult to see for what object authors who take great pains to explain it could have had for inventing it. _Spec._, 133a; _Fior._ iv.; _consid._; _Conform._, 240a. I have borrowed the whole account from Bernard of Besse: _De Laudibus_, f^o 113b. It appears that Giacomina settled for the rest of her life at Assisi, that she might gain edification from the first companions of Francis. _Spec._, 107b. (What a lovely scene, and with what a Franciscan fragrance!) The exact date of her death is not known. She was buried in the lower church of the basilica of Assisi, and on her tomb was engraved: _Hic jacit Jacoba sancta nobilisque romana_. Vide Fratini: _Storia della basilica_, p. 48. Cf. Jacobilli: _Vite dei Santi e Beati dell' Umbria_, Foligno, 3 vols., 4to, 1647; i., p. 214. [19] 2 Cel., 3, 139; Bon., 209, 210; _Conform._, 171b, 2. [20] 2 Cel., 3, 139: _Cum me videritis ... sicut me nudius tertius nudum vidistis._ [21] 1 Cel., 109; 2 Cel., 3, 139. [22] 1 Cel., 109; Bon., 212. [23] 1 Cel., 109. Cf. _Epist. Eliae._ [24] _Tribul._ Laur., 22b. Nothing better shows the historic value of the chronicle of the Tribulations than to compare its story of these moments with that of the following documents: _Conform._, 48b, 1; 185a, 2; _Fior._, 6.; _Spec._, 86a. [25] 2 Cel., 3, 139; _Spec._, 116b; _Conform._, 224b, 1. [26] 2 Cel., 3, 139. A simple comparison between this story in the _Speculum_ (116b) and that in the _Conformities_ (224b, 1) is enough to show how in certain of its parts the _Speculum_ represents a state of the legend anterior to 1385. [27] Bon., 214. This cell has been transformed into a chapel and may be found a few yards from the little church of Portiuncula. Church and chapel are now sheltered under the great Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. See the picture and plan, A. SS., p. 814, or better still in _P. Barnabas aus dem Elsass, Portiuncula oder Geschichte U. L. F. v. den Engeln_. Rixheim, 1884, 1 vol., 8vo, pp. 311 and 312. [28] 1 Cel., 116 and 117; Bon., 219; _Conform._ 185a, 1. [29] To-day in the _cloture_ of the convent St. Clara. Vide Miscellanea 1, pp. 44-48, a very interesting study by Prof. Carattoli upon the coffin of St. Francis. * * * * * CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES * * * * * SUMMARY I. ST. FRANCIS'S WORKS. II. BIOGRAPHIES PROPERLY SO CALLED. 1. Preliminary Note. 2. First Life by Thomas of Celano. 3. Review of the History of the Order 1230-1244. 4. Legend of the Three Companions. 5. Fragments of the Suppressed Portion of the Legend. 6. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. First Part. 7. Second Life by Thomas of Celano. Second Part. 8. Documents of Secondary Importance: Biography for Use of the Choir. Life in Verse. Biography by Giovanni di Ceperano. Life by Brother Julian. 9. Legend of St. Bonaventura. 10. De Laudibus of Bernard of Besse. III. DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS. 1. Donation of the Verna. 2. Registers of Cardinal Ugolini. 3. Bulls. IV. CHRONICLERS OF THE ORDER. 1. Chronicle of Brother Giordano di Giano. 2. Eccleston: Arrival of the Friars in England. 3. Chronicle of Fra Salimbeni. 4. Chronicle of the Tribulations. 5. The Fioretti and their Appendices. 6. Chronicle of the XXIV. Generals. 7. The Conformities of Bartolommeo di Pisa. 8. Glassberger's Chronicle. 9. Chronicle of Mark of Lisbon. V. CHRONICLERS NOT OF THE ORDER. 1. Jacques de Vitry. 2. Thomas of Spalato. 3. Divers Chroniclers. * * * * * CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES There are few lives in history so abundantly provided with documents as that of St. Francis. This will perhaps surprise the reader, but to convince himself he has only to run over the preceding list, which, however, has been made as succinct as possible. It is admitted in learned circles that the essential elements of this biography have disappeared or have been entirely altered. The exaggeration of certain religious writers, who accept everything, and among several accounts of the same fact always choose the longest and most marvellous, has led to a like exaggeration in the contrary sense. If it were necessary to point out the results of these two excesses as they affect each event, this volume would need to be twice and even four times as large as it is. Those who are interested in these questions will find in the notes brief indications of the original documents on which each narrative is based.[1] To close the subject of the errors which are current in the Franciscan documents, and to show in a few lines their extreme importance, I shall take two examples. Among our own contemporaries no one has so well spoken on the subject of St. Francis as M. Renan; he comes back to him with affecting piety, and he was in a better condition than any one to know the sources of this history. And yet he does not hesitate to say in his study of the Canticle of the Sun, Francis's best known work: "The authenticity of this piece appears certain, but we must observe that we have not the Italian original. The Italian text which we possess is a translation of a Portuguese version, which was itself translated from the Spanish."[2] And yet the primitive Italian exists[3] not only in numerous manuscripts in Italy and France, particularly in the Mazarine Library,[4] but also in the well-known book of the _Conformities_.[5] An error, grave from quite another point of view, is made by the same author when he denies the authenticity of St. Francis's Will; this piece is not only the noblest expression of its author's religious feeling, it constitutes also a sort of autobiography, and contains the solemn and scarcely disguised revocation of all the concessions which had been wrung from him. We have already seen that its authenticity is not to be challenged.[6] This double example will, I hope, suffice to show the necessity of beginning this study by a conscientious examination of the sources. If the eminent historian to whom I have alluded were still living, he would have for this page his large and benevolent smile, that simple, _Oui, oui_, which once made his pupils in the little hall of the College de France to tremble with emotion. I do not know what he would think of this book, but I well know that he would love the spirit in which it was undertaken, and would easily pardon me for having chosen him for scape-goat of my wrath against the learned men and biographers. The documents to be examined have been divided into five categories. The first includes _St. Francis's works_. The second, _biographies properly so called_. The third, _diplomatic documents_. The fourth, _chronicles of the Order_. The fifth, _chronicles of authors not of the Order_. FOOTNOTES: [1] If any student finds himself embarrassed by the extreme rarity of certain works cited, I shall make it my duty and pleasure to send them to him, as well as a copy of the Italian manuscripts. [2] E. Renan: _Nouvelles etudes d'histoire religieuse_, Paris, 1884, 8vo, p. 331. [3] See above, pp. 304 ff. [4] Mazarine Library, MS. 8531: _Speculum perfectionis S. Francisci_; the Canticle is found at fo. 51. Cf. MS., 1350 (date of 1459). That text was published by Boehmer in the _Romanische Studien_, Halle, 1871. pp. 118-122. _Der Sonnengesang v. Fr. d'A._ [5] _Conform._ (Milan, 1510), 202b, 2s. For that matter it is correct that Diola, in the _Croniche degli ordini instituti da S. Francisco_ (Venice, 1606, 3 vols. 4to), translated after the Castilian version of the work composed in Portuguese by Mark of Lisbon, was foolish enough to render into Italian this translation of a translation. [6] See pages 333 ff. * * * * * I ST. FRANCIS'S WORKS The writings of St. Francis[1] are assuredly the best source of acquaintance with him; we can only be surprised to find them so neglected by most of his biographers. It is true that they give little information as to his life, and furnish neither dates nor facts,[2] but they do better, they mark the stages of his thought and of his spiritual development. The legends give us Francis as he appeared, and by that very fact suffer in some degree the compulsion of circumstances; they are obliged to bend to the exigencies of his position as general of an Order approved by the Church, as miracle-worker, and as saint. His works, on the contrary, show us his very soul; each phrase has not only been thought, but lived; they bring us the Poverello's emotions, still alive and palpitating. So, when in the writings of the Franciscans we find any utterance of their master, it unconsciously betrays itself, sounding out suddenly in a sweet, pure tone which penetrates to your very heart, awakening with a thrill a sprite that was sleeping there. This bloom of love enduing St. Francis's words would be an admirable criterion of the authenticity of those opuscules which tradition attributes to him; but the work of testing is neither long nor difficult. If after his time injudicious attempts were here and there made to honor him with miracles which he did not perform, which he would not even have wished to perform, no attempt was ever made to burden his literary efforts with false or supposititious pieces.[3] The best proof of this is that it is not until Wadding--that is to say, until the seventeenth century--that we find the first and only serious attempt to collect these precious memorials. Several of them have been lost,[4] but those which remain are enough to give us in some sort the refutation of the legends.