The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi
Translated from the Critical Latin Edition, edited by Fr. Kajetan Esser, O.F.M.
Die opuskula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische
Edition.
Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras aquas, Grottaferrata (Romae) 1976.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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A Letter to Clerics |
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A Letter to the Faithful |
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APPENDIX: Fragments of other Rules |
MARIAE IMMACULATAE VIRGINI
GENERIS HUMANI CORREDENTRICI
OMNIS GRATIAE MEDIATRICI
DEI GENETRICI
ANGELORUM HOMINUMQUE REGINAE
FRANCISCANORUM ORDINUM PATRONAE AC REGINAE
IN PERPETUAM OBLATIONEM
To the Immaculate Virgin Mary,
Corredemptrix of mankind,
Mediatrix of every grace,
Mother of God,
Queen of Angels and Men,
Patroness and Queen of the Franciscan Orders:
As a perpetual oblation.
St. Francis of Assisi lived from 1182 to 1226 A.D.. Since his death St. Francis has been acclaimed by the popes as a "thoroughly Catholic and apostolic man," and praised by many of the faithful as one of the greatest saints of the Roman Catholic Church. In recent times Pope Pius XI, in the Encyclical Letter Rite Expiatis (April 13, 1926 A.D.) confirmed this, saying:
If some dare to compare one with another the heavenly heroes of sanctity destined by the Holy Ghost each to his own special mission among men—these comparisons, the fruit for the most part of party passions, are valueless and are at the same time an insult to God, the author of sanctity—it seems necessary for Us to affirm that there has never been anyone in whom the image of Jesus Christ and the evangelical manner of life shone forth more lifelike and strikingly than in St. Francis. He who called himself the "Herald of the Great King" was also rightly spoken of as "another Jesus Christ," appearing to his contemporaries and to future generations almost as if he were the Risen Christ. He has always lived as such in the eyes of men and so will continue to live for all future time. Nor is it marvelous that his early biographers, contemporaries of the Saint, in their accounts of his life and works, judged him to be of a nobility almost superior to human nature itself. Our Predecessors who dealt personally with Francis did not hesitate to recognize in him a providential help sent by God for the welfare of Christian peoples and of the Church. (n. 2)
St. Francis was born in either the summer or autumn of 1182 A.D., and received the name "John" at his baptism. Being a cloth merchant who frequented France, his father named him "Francis." His mother raised him to be a devout Roman Catholic. He attended the Cathedral school in Assisi and afterwards assisted his father full-time in the family business. After a short service in the military on behalf of Assisi, St. Francis was captured by her rival, the city of Perugia, and imprisoned for a year. When released he returned home an invalid. During a long sickness God weaned his heart from this world and soon he took up the habit of spending long hours in prayer.
One day in January of 1206 A.D. St. Francis paid a visit to San Damiano, a decrepit church on the outskirts of Assisi. There he knelt in prayer before an ancient icon depicting Christ Crucified, with Our Lady and St. John standing beneath His right arm. 1 Suddenly a voice came forth from the icon and said, "Francis, go and rebuild My Church, which as you can see, is falling into ruin." Afterwards, St. Francis resolved to obey Our Lord and set quickly to work repairing that old church.
In the three years that followed St. Francis went on to repair two other churches: San Pietro della Spina, in the countryside south of Assisi, and Santa Maria degli Angeli, also known as the Portiuncula, in the plain below the town. During this time St. Francis lived the life of a hermit.
It was at the Portiuncula, on the Feast of St. Matthias, the Apostle (February 24, 1208 A.D.), that St. Francis began the religious life for which he is famous. While attending Mass he listened intently to the priest, as he read the Gospel: "Take nothing with you on the way, neither gold, nor silver...". After Mass St. Francis asked the priest to explain the meaning of this reading. Thereupon the cleric described to him the life Christ taught to the Apostles. At this St. Francis exclaimed, "This is what I want; this is what I long for with all my heart!"
From that day St. Francis began living simply and literally the religious life which Christ taught in the Gospel. Soon devout Catholic men joined him and they began preaching penance to the people throughout central Italy, France, Spain, Germany, England, Palestine, and Hungary. He himself went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela during these early years. And later in 1219 A.D., moved by a desire for martyrdom, St. Francis journeyed to accompany the soldiers of the Fifth Crusade (1218-1221 A.D.) at Damietta, Egypt. On his return, he did much to improve the discipline of his fledgling order, and in 1223 A.D. retired to the hermitage of Fonte Colombo, in Italy, to write the Rule of the Friars Minor.
St. Francis is particularly noted for the extraordinary and singular grace which Jesus Christ gave him on the morning of September 14, 1224 A.D., while he was at prayer on Mt. Alverna, in Italy. He saw a Seraph come down from Heaven, bearing the Image of the Crucified, from the five wounds of which beams of light shone forth upon his own hands and feet and side. It was then he received the stigmata, which bled profusely for the next three years of his life. Of this extraordinary gift, St. John of the Cross, the Carmelite Doctor of the Church, writes in the second redaction of the Living Flame of Love (1586-91 A.D.):
Let us return to the work of the Seraphim, for he truly inflicts a sore and wounds inwardly in the spirit. Thus, if God sometimes permits an effect to extend to the bodily senses in the fashion in which it existed interiorly, the wound and sore appears outwardly, as happened when the Seraphim wounded St. Francis. When the soul is wounded with love by the Five Wounds (of Christ), the effect extends to the body and these Wounds are impressed on the body and it is wounded, just as the soul is wounded with love. God usually does not bestow a favor upon the body without bestowing it first and principally upon the soul. Thus the greater the delight and strength of love the wound produces in the soul, so much the greater is that produced by the wound outside on the body, and when there is an increase in one there is an increase in the other. ( II,13)
St. Francis passed to his eternal reward on Saturday, October 3, 1226 A.D., during the recitation of Vespers. Both in life and death he worked a great number of miracles, especially for the infirm and those overcome by sudden disasters.
In his short life St. Francis founded three religious orders: one for religious brothers and priests, the Order of Friars Minor; one for religious women, the Poor Clares; one for lay men and women who wished to sanctify their daily lives in a spirit of Christian poverty and prayer, the Third Order. In his own day more than 5,000 men had joined the Friars Minor. Today the number of men who observe St. Francis' Rule numbers over 35,000; the number of Poor Clares is over 1,000; and the number of laymen and women in his Third Order is well over 1,000,000.
St. Francis also was responsible for introducing and fostering many devotions and practices that have characterized Roman Catholicism for the last 800 years: Eucharistic Adoration, devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Christmas crèche and Christmas carols, devotion to Christ's Passion, public preaching, and the promotion of the life of devotion and good works among the laity.
The Popes have made St. Francis patron of Catholic Action, of Italy and of the environment. His is also a most powerful patron for those seeking to repent of their sins and vices. His feast day is October 4. His tomb at Assisi, Italy, is one of the centers of pilgrimage in the Catholic world.
Recommended Reading
The Life of St. Francis, by St. Bonaventure
The Little Flowers of St. Francis.
St. Francis of Assisi, by G. K. Chesterton.
The Life and Times of St. Francis of Assisi
by Pope Pius XIExcerpted from Rite Expiatis (April 13, 1926 A.D.), nn. 6-34.
The terrible conditions existing in the times when St. Francis lived are well known to you, Venerable Brothers. It is quite true that then the faith was more deeply rooted in the people, as is proven by the holy enthusiasm with which not only professional soldiers but even citizens of every class bore arms in Palestine to free the Holy Sepulcher. However, heresies gradually arose and grew in the vineyard of the Lord, propagated either by open heretics or by sly deceivers who, because they professed a certain austerity of life and gave a false appearance of virtue and piety, easily led weak and simple souls astray. They went about, too, amid the multitudes spreading the destructive flames of rebellion. If some of these men, in their pride, believed themselves called by God to reform the Church to which they imputed the faults of private persons, even going to the length of rebelling against the teachings and authority of the Holy See, later they openly manifested the real intention by which they were inspired. It is a notorious fact that before long the greater part of these heretics ended their careers in licentiousness and vice, and succeeded in embroiling the state in difficulties and in undermining the foundations of religion, of property, of the family, and of society. In a word, what happened then is precisely what we see recurring so often in the course of the centuries; rebellions leveled against the Church are followed or accompanied by rebellions against the state, the one receiving aid and comfort from the other.
Although the Catholic faith still lived in the hearts of men, in some cases intact and in others a bit obscured, however lacking they might have been in the spirit of the gospels, the charity of Christ had become so weakened in human society as to appear to be almost extinct. To say nothing of the constant warfare carried on by the partisans of the Empire, on the one hand, and by those of the Church on the other, the cities of Italy were torn by internecine wars because one party desired to rule, refusing to recognize the rights of the barons to govern, or because the strong wished to force the weak to submit to them, or because of the struggles for supremacy between political parties in the same city. Horrible massacres, conflagrations, devastation and pillage, exile, confiscation of property and estates were the bitter fruits of these struggles.
Sad indeed was the fate of the common people, while between lords and vassals, between the greater and the lesser, as they were called, between the owners of land and the peasants existed relations in every sense of the world foreign to the spirit of humanity. Peace-loving people were harassed and oppressed with impunity by the powerful. Those who did not belong to that most unfortunate class of human beings, the proletariat, allowed themselves to be overcome by egotism and greed for possessions and were driven by an insatiable desire for riches. These men, regardless of the laws which had been promulgated in many places against vice, ostentatiously paraded their riches in a wild orgy of clothes, banquets, and feasts of every kind. They looked on poverty and the poor as something vile. They abhorred from the depths of their souls the lepers—leprosy was then very widespread—and neglected these outcasts completely in their segregation from society. What is worse, this greed for wealth and pleasure was not even absent, though many of the clergy are to be commended for the austerity of their lives, from those who should have most scrupulously guarded themselves from such sin. The custom, too, was prevalent of monopolizing wealth and piling up large fortunes. These fortunes were often acquired in divers and sinful manners, sometimes by the violent extortion of money and other times by usury. Many increased and swelled their patrimony by an illicit trade in public of and emoluments, in the administration of justice, and even by the procuring of immunity from punishment for persons convicted of crime.
The Church was not silent under these circumstances; neither did it spare its edicts of punishment; but of what use was all this when even the Emperors drew down on themselves the anathemas of the Holy See, and, to the great scandal of all, contumaciously despised these decrees? Even the monastic life, which had brought so many spiritual fruits to maturity, tarnished now by the dirt of this world, possessed no longer the strength to resist and to defend itself. If the founding of new religious orders brought some small help and strength to the maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline, certainly a much stronger flame of light and love was necessary to reform human society which had been so profoundly disturbed.
To bring light to the people of this world which We have described, and to lead them back to the pure ideals of the wisdom of the Gospels, there appeared, in the Providence of God, St. Francis of Assisi who, as Dante sang, "shone as the sun" (Paradiso, Canto XI), or as Thomas of Celano had already written of a similar figure, "he shone forth as a resplendent star on a dark night, like the morning which spreads itself over the darkness." (Legenda I, No. 37)
As a youth, St. Francis was expansive and highstrung, a lover of luxurious dress. He was accustomed to invite to magnificent banquets the friends he had chosen from among the fashionable and pleasure-loving young men of the town. He walked through the streets with them, singing gaily. But even at that time in his life he became known for the integrity of his moral life, his correctness in conversation, and his utter disdain of wealth. After his imprisonment in Perugia, which was followed by a long illness, he felt himself, not without a certain sense of astonishment, completely transformed. However, as if he desired to flee from the hands of God, he went to Puglia on a military mission. On this journey he felt himself commanded by God in unmistakable terms to return to Assisi and learn there what he must do. After much wavering and many doubts, through divine inspiration and through having heard at solemn Mass that passage from the Gospels which speaks of the apostolic life, he understood at last that he, too, must live and serve Christ "according to the very words of the Holy Gospels." From that time on he undertook to unite himself to Christ alone and to make himself like unto Him in all things. In "all his efforts, public as well as private, he turned to the Cross of Our Lord, and from the moment he began to live as a soldier of Christ, the divers mysteries of the Cross shone round about him." (Thomas of Celano, Treatise on Miracles, No. 2) Truly he was a brave soldier and knight of Christ because of the nobility and generosity of his heart; wherefore to prove that neither he nor his disciples were ever to be separated from Our Lord, he always had recourse to the Gospels as to an oracle whenever he had to make a decision on any matter. The rules of the Orders founded by him were made to agree most scrupulously with the Gospels, and the religious life of his followers with the life of the Apostles. For this reason at the very beginning of his Rule, he wrote: "This is the life and rule of the Friars Minor, to observe the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ." (Beginning of Rule of the Friars Minor)
In order not to prolong this subject unduly, let us see now with what exercise of perfect virtue Francis prepared himself to follow the counsels of divine mercy and to make himself a capable instrument for the reformation of society.
It is not hard to imagine, although We know it is a very difficult task fitly to describe, the love of evangelical poverty which burned within him. Everyone knows how he, because of the noble character bestowed on him by nature, loved to befriend the poor, and how, as St. Bonaventure has said, he was so filled with kindness that being "no mere hearer of the Gospel" he had decided never to deny help to the poor, especially if they in asking for assistance did so with the plea "for the love of God." (Legenda Maior, Chap. I, No. 1) Divine grace completed in him the work of nature and brought him to the highest perfection. Having on one occasion refused alms to a poor man, he forthwith repented and felt impelled to go and seek him out so that by the very abundance of his charity he might succor this man in his poverty.
On another occasion he was with a party of young men, singing in the streets after a gay banquet, when he stopped suddenly and, as if lifted outside himself by a wonderful vision, turned to his companions who had asked him if he was thinking of getting married and quickly replied, with some warmth, that they had guessed rightly because he proposed to take a spouse, and no one more noble, more rich, more beautiful than she could possibly be found, meaning by these words Poverty or the religious state which is founded on the profession of poverty. In fact, he had learned from Our Lord Jesus Christ Who, "although he was rich made Himself poor for us" (II Corinthians viii, 9) that we, too, should become rich by His poverty, which is, in truth, divine wisdom; a wisdom which cannot be overthrown by the sophistries of human wisdom, a wisdom which alone can renew and restore all things. For Christ has said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit; if thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me." (Matt. v, 3, and Matt. xix, 21)
Poverty, which consists in the voluntary renunciation of every possession for reasons of love and through divine inspiration and which is quite the opposite of that forced and unlovable poverty preached by some ancient philosophers, was embraced by Francis with so much affection that he called her in loving accents, Lady, Mother, Spouse. In this regard, St. Bonaventure writes: "No one was ever so eager for gold as he was for poverty, nor more jealous in the custody of a treasure than he was of this pearl of the Gospel." (Legenda Maior, Chap. VII) Francis himself, recommending and prescribing for his followers in the rule of his Order the exercise of this virtue in a very special manner, manifested the high esteem he had for poverty when he wrote these expressive words: "This is the sublimeness of the highest poverty which made you, my dearest brothers, heirs and kings of the Kingdom of heaven, which made you poor in things of this world but enriched you with all virtue. This should be your heritage; to which, giving yourselves up entirely in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, nothing else will you desire forever under heaven." (Rule of Friars Minor, Chap. VI)
The reason why Francis particularly loved poverty was because he considered it a special virtue of the Blessed Virgin, and because Jesus Christ on the Cross, even more especially chose poverty for His spouse. Since then poverty has been forgotten by men and has appeared to the world both irksome and foreign to the spirit of the age.
Often when thinking of these things, St. Francis used to break down and shed bitter tears. Who would not be moved at this spectacle of a man who was so much in love with poverty that he appeared to his former boon companions and, to many others besides, bereft of his senses? What are we to say then of the generations following him which, even if they are very far from an understanding and practice of evangelical perfection, yet are filled with admiration for so ardent a lover of poverty, an admiration that is continually on the increase and which is particularly noteworthy in the men of our own day? Dante anticipated this admiration of posterity in his poem "The Nuptials of St. Francis and Poverty," in which poem one finds it difficult which to admire more, the remarkable sublimity of the ideas expressed or the beauty and elegance of the style. (Paradiso, Canto XI.)
The high ideals and generous love of poverty which possessed the mind and heart of Francis could not be satisfied by a mere renunciation of external wealth. Could one ever succeed in acquiring true poverty, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ, if he did not make himself also poor in spirit by means of the virtue of humility? Francis well understood this truth; he never separated one virtue from the other and greeted them both warmly: "Holy Lady Poverty, may the Lord save you and your sister, Holy Humility.... Holy Poverty destroys all cupidity and avarice and anxiety for the things of this world. Holy Humility destroys pride, all men who are of the world, and all the things which are in the world." (Opusculum, Salutatio Virtutum, p. 20 et seq., edition 1904)
The author of that golden book The Imitation of Christ describes St. Francis in a word when he calls him "humble." "For how much so ever each one is in Thine eyes, O Lord, so much is he and no more, saith the humble St. Francis." (Imitation of Christ, Book III, Chap. 50) In fact, it was the supreme wish of his heart to carry himself always with humility, as the least and last among men. Therefore, from the very beginning of his conversion, he ardently desired to be looked down upon and to be despised by all. Later on, although he became the Founder, the writer of their Rule, and the Father of the Friars Minor, he insisted that one of his followers should become the superior and master on whom even he was to depend. At the earliest possible moment, steeling himself against the prayers and wishes of his disciples, he desired to give up the supreme government of his Order "in order to practice the virtue of holy humility" and to remain "with her till death, living more humbly than any other friar." (Thomas of Celano, Legenda, Chap. II, No. 143)
Cardinals and great lords often offered him hospitality but he abruptly refused all such invitations. Though he exhibited the greatest esteem for all men and rendered each man every possible deference, he looked upon himself as a sinner, considering himself as only one among many sinners. In fact, he believed himself the greatest of all sinners. He was accustomed to say that if the mercy shown him by God had been given to any other sinner, the latter would have become ten times holier than he, and that to God alone must be attributed whatever was found in him of goodness and beauty, for from God only was it derived. For this reason he tried in every possible way to hide those privileges and graces, especially the stigmata of Our Lord imprinted on his body, which might have gained for him the esteem and praise of men. When at times he was praised, either in public or in private, he not only refused to accept such praise but protested that he was worthy only of contempt and abuse and was really saddened thereby. Finally, what must we say about the fact that he thought so humbly of himself that he did not consider himself worthy to be ordained a priest?
On this selfsame foundation of humility he desired that his Order of Friars Minor should be founded and built. He repeatedly taught his followers, in exhortations begotten of a truly marvelous wisdom, that they should glory in nothing, and above all not in their acquisition of virtues or in the possession of divine grace. He admonished them too, and even, on occasion, reproved those friars who because of their duties as preachers, men of letters, philosophers, superiors of convents and provinces, were exposed to the dangers of vain glory. It would take too long to go into details; this is enough to prove our point that St. Francis, following the example and words of Christ (Matt. xx, 26, 28; Luke xxii, 26), considered humility in his followers as the distinctive mark of his Order—namely, "he insisted that his disciples be called 'Minors,' and the superiors of his Order 'Ministers.' He did this in order both to make use of the very language of the Gospels which he had promised to observe and to make his disciples understand by the name which they bore that they must go to the school of the humble Christ in order to learn humility." (St. Bonaventure, Legenda Maior, Chap. VI, No. 5)
We have seen how the Seraphic Father, motivated by the idea of perfect poverty which had taken complete possession of his soul, made himself so small and humble as to obey others (it would be better to say almost everyone) with the very simplicity of a child, for the reason that he who does not deny himself and give up his own will, certainly cannot be said to have renounced all things or to have become humble of heart. St. Francis by his vow of obedience consecrated gladly and submitted fully his will, the greatest gift which God has bestowed on human nature, to the will of the Vicar of Jesus Christ.
What evil they do and how far from a true appreciation of the Man of Assisi are they who, in order to bolster up their fantastic and erroneous ideas about him, imagine such an incredible thing as that Francis was an opponent of the discipline of the Church, that he did not accept the dogmas of the Faith, that he was the precursor and prophet of that false liberty which began to manifest itself at the beginning of modern times and which has caused so many disturbances both in the Church and in civil society! That he was in a special manner obedient and faithful in all things to the hierarchy of the Church, to this Apostolic See, and to the teachings of Christ, the Herald of the Great King proved both to Catholics and non-Catholics by the admirable example of obedience which he always gave. It is a fact proven by contemporary documents, which are worthy of all credence, "that he held in veneration the clergy, and loved with a great affection all who were in holy orders." (Thomas of Celano, Legenda, Chap. I, No. 62) "As a man who was truly Catholic and apostolic, he insisted above all things in his sermons that the faith of the Holy Roman Church should always be preserved and inviolably, and that the priests who by their ministry bring into being the sublime Sacrament of the Lord, should therefore be held in the highest reverence. He also taught that the doctors of the law of God and all the orders of clergy should be shown the utmost respect at all times." (Julian a Spira, Life of St. Francis, No. 28) That which he taught to the people from the pulpit he insisted on much more strongly among his friars. We may read of this in his famous last testament and, again, at the very point of death he admonished them about this with great insistence, namely, that in the exercise of the sacred ministry they should always obey the bishops and the clergy and should live together with them as it behooves children of peace.
The most important side of his obedience, however, is shown by the fact that as soon as the Seraphic Patriarch had drawn up and written out the rules of his Order, he delayed not even an instant in presenting himself personally, together with his first eleven disciples, to Innocent III, in order to gain the Pope's approval of his Rules. That Pontiff of immortal memory, moved deeply by the words and presence of the humble Poverello, embraced Francis with great affection and, divinely inspired, sanctioned the Rules presented to him. He also gave to Francis and to his co-laborers the faculty to preach penance. History attests that Honorius III added a new confirmation to this Rule, after it had been somewhat modified, in answer to the prayers of St. Francis.
The Seraphic Father commanded that the Rule and the Life of the Friars Minor should be the following: to observe the "holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ" living in obedience, without possessing any property, and in all chastity, and this not according to one's own whims or individual interpretation of the Rule, but according to the commands of the Roman Pontiffs, canonically elected. For those who eagerly longed "to follow this manner of life. . . they had to be, first, diligently examined by the Father Ministers concerning their Catholic Faith and their reception of the sacraments of the Church; whether they believed all these things and were firm in their intention to profess them until death." Those who had already become members of the Order must for no reason leave except it be "by order of Our Lord, the Pope." To the clerics of the Order it is prescribed that they celebrate "the divine office according to the calendar of the Roman Church"; to the friars in general it was commanded that they should not preach in the territory of a bishop without his permission, and that they should not enter, not even for reasons of their ministry, the convents of sisters without a special faculty from the Apostolic See. No less reverence and docility towards the Apostolic See is shown by the words which St. Francis uses in commanding that a Cardinal Protector should be appointed for the Order: "In obedience, I enjoin the Ministers to ask the Lord Pope for one of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church to be the guide, protector and corrector of this Brotherhood; so that subordinate at all times and submissive, at the feet of the same Holy Roman Church, and thus firm in the Catholic Faith, . . . we shall observe, as we have faithfully promised to do, the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rule of Friars Minor, passim)
We must speak also of the "beauty and cleanliness of purity" which the Seraphic Father "loved singularly," of that chastity of soul and body which he kept and defended even to the maceration of his own flesh. We have already seen that as a young man, although gay and fashionable, he abhorred everything sinful, even in word. When later on he cast aside the vain pleasures of this world, he began to repress the demands of his senses with great severity. Thus at times when he found himself moved or likely to be influenced by sensual feeling, he did not hesitate to throw himself into a bush of thorns or, in the very depths of winter, to plunge into the icy waters of a stream.
It is also well known that our Saint, desiring to call back men so that they would conform their lives to the teachings of the Gospel, used to exhort them "to love and fear God and to do penance for their sins." (Legend of the Three Companions, No. 33 et seq.) Moreover, he preached and invited all to penance by his own example. He wore a hair shirt, he was clothed in a poor rough tunic, went about barefoot, he slept resting his head on a stone or on the trunk of a tree, ate so little that it was barely sufficient to keep him from dying of starvation. He even mixed ashes and water with his food in order to destroy its taste. He passed the greater part of the year in fasting. Besides all this, no matter whether he was well or ill, he treated his body with the greatest severity; he used to call his body "my brother the ass"; nor could he be induced to give himself any relief or rest, not even when, as during the last years of his life, he was suffering greatly, the sufferings of one nailed to a cross, for he had become like unto Christ because of the stigmata which he bore. Neither did he neglect to inculcate austerity of life in his disciples, and, in this only did "the teachings of the Holy Patriarch differ from his own actions," (Thomas of Celano, Legenda II, No. 129) he advised them to moderate a too excessive abstinence or punishment of the body.
Is there anyone who cannot see that all these virtues proceeded from the one and same fountain of divine love? In truth, as Thomas of Celano writes, "he was ever afire with divine love and longed to perform deeds of great heroism; walking with a strong heart in the way of the divine commandments, he eagerly desired to reach the highest perfection"; and St. Bonaventure testifies that "he seemed like a burning coal alive with the fire of God's love." (Legenda Maior, Chap. IX, No. 1) Wherefore there were those who "seeing him raised so rapidly to a state of intoxication of divine love" burst into tears. (Legend of the Three Companions, No. 21) This love of God he poured out in love for his neighbor, and conquering himself loved with a special tenderness the poor and, among the poor, the most miserable of all, the lepers, whom as a youth he had so abhorred; he dedicated completely both himself and his disciples to their care and service. He also wished that a brotherly love similar to his own should reign among his disciples; because of this his wish, the Franciscan Brotherhood grew to be "a noble edifice of charity, from the living stones of which, gathered from every part of the world, there was built a dwelling for the Holy Ghost." (Thomas of Celano, Legenda I, No. 38 et seq.)
It is Our pleasure, Venerable Brothers, to detain you somewhat more at length in a study of these his sublime virtues, for the reason that, in our times, many infected by the false spirit of secularism, habitually attempt to strip our saintly heroes of the true light and glory of their sanctity. These writers view the saint merely as models of human excellence or as professors of an empty spirit of religion, praising and magnifying them exclusively because of what they have done for the progress of arts and sciences, or because of certain works of mercy which they have accomplished and which have proven helpful to the fatherland and to mankind. We do not cease to wonder how an admiration of this kind for St. Francis, so false and even contradictory in itself, can in any way help his modern admirers who devote their lives to the search for riches and pleasure or who decked out in finery frequent public places, dances and theaters, or who roll in the very mud of voluptuousness, who ignore and cast aside the laws of Christ and His Church. In this context the following warning is very significant: "He who pretends to admire the good works of a saint must at the same time admire the homage and love due to God. Therefore either imitate that which you praise or do not permit yourself to praise that which you do not care to imitate. He who admires the good works of the saints must also distinguish himself by the holiness of his own life." (Roman Breviary, 7th of November, Lesson IV)
St. Francis, trained in the manly virtues We have written about, was called providentially to a work of reform for the salvation of his contemporaries and to assist in the work of the Church Universal.
In the Church of St. Damian where he was accustomed to pray, he heard three times a voice from Heaven saying: "Go Francis, rebuild my house which is falling down." (St. Bonaventure, Legenda Maior, Chap. II) But Francis, because of that deep humility which made him think himself incapable of accomplishing any great work whatsoever, did not understand the meaning of these mysterious words. Innocent III, however, discovered their import through the miraculous vision in which Francis was shown in the act of supporting on his shoulders the Church of the Lateran which was falling to the ground. The Pope then understood clearly that the mission of St. Francis was a very special one, given to him by a most merciful God.
The Seraphic Father founded two Orders, one for men and the other for women, both made up of aspirants to evangelical perfection. He then began a visit to the cities of Italy announcing, either personally or through the first disciples who had come to him, the foundation of his two Orders, preaching penance to the people in few but fiery words, gathering by this ministry and by his words and example almost unbelievable fruits. In all the places where he went to perform the functions of his apostolic ministry the people and clergy came out in procession to meet Francis, and there was much ringing of bells, singing of popular songs, and waving of olive branches. Persons of every age, sex, and condition flocked to him and, by day or night, surrounded the house where he lived so that they might have a chance of seeing him when he went out, of touching him, speaking to him, or listening to his words. No one, even if he were grown gray in habits of vice and sin, could resist the preaching of the Saint. Very many people, even some of mature age, vied with one another in giving up all their earthly goods for love of the evangelical life. Entire cities of Italy, reborn to a new moral life, placed themselves under the direction of Francis. The number of his sons grew beyond reckoning. Such was the enthusiasm which filled all to follow in his footsteps that the Seraphic Patriarch himself was often obliged to dissuade many and turn aside from the proposal to leave the world both men and women who were willing and ready to give up their conjugal rights and the joys of domestic life.
Meanwhile the principal desire which filled these new preachers of penance was to help bring back peace not only to individuals but to families, cities, and even nations, torn by interminable wars and steeped in blood. If at Assisi, Arezzo, Bologna, and in many other cities and towns it was possible to bring about a general era of peace, at times confirmed even by solemn treaties, this was due altogether to the superhuman power of the eloquence of these rough men.
In this work of reform and of bringing about a universal peace, the Third Order assisted greatly. The Third Order is indeed a religious Order but an altogether new type of community at that time, for while it possesses the spirit of a religious order, it does not obligate its members to take vows. It offers to both men and women, living in the world, the means not only of observing the laws of God but of attaining Christian perfection. The Rules of this new order may be reduced to the following principal articles. No one was accepted as a member unless he were of an unquestioned Catholic faith and obedient in all things to the Church; the manner of receiving candidates from each of the sexes into the Order; admission to religious profession was permitted after a year of novitiate, subject to the consent of the wife in the case of husbands and of the husband in the case of wives; love of purity and poverty, especially in the use of clothes, and of modesty in feminine attire; that the Tertiaries should abstain from feasting, from immodest shows and balls; abstinence and fasting; confession and communion three times a year, taking care to make peace with everyone beforehand and to restore the goods rightly belonging to others; not to bear arms except in defense of the Roman Church, of the Christian faith, and of one's own country, or with the consent of one's Minister; the recitation of the canonical hours and other prayers; the duty of making a last will and testament three months after admission into the Order; to restore as soon as possible peace among one's brethren or among those outside the order if any trouble had arisen; what to do in case the rights and privileges of the Order had been violated; not to take an oath except in case of urgent necessity recognized by the Apostolic See. To these rules were added others of no less importance; for example, on the duty of hearing Mass; of attending meetings called on certain fixed days; on the giving of alms by each according to his ability to help the poor and, especially, the sick; on the performing of the last rites for dead members; on the manner of exchanging visits in case of illness; on the manner of bringing back to the ways of virtue those who had fallen or were obstinate in sin; on the duty of not refusing the offices and functions assigned to each and to fulfill these with care; on the manner of settling disputes.
This English translation of the Writings of St. Francis is the first of its kind to appear since the publication in 1976 of the critical Latin edition, by the renowned Franciscan scholar, Fr. Kajetan Esser, O.F.M..
The translation has been made from the Latin text edited by Fr. Kajetan Esser, O.F.M., as published in the Italian-Latin version Gli Scritti di San Francesco d'Assisi, of Edizioni Messaggero Padova, Italy, 1982. Fr. Esser's introductions and notes, were also a major source for historical and textual information for the preparation of this English edition. Although his Latin edition also includes among the writings of St. Francis portions of manuscripts that only report that St. Francis wrote or general paraphrases of what the Saint taught in a particular, now-lost, writing, this English translation has omitted these and included only the writings attributed in some authentic manner to St. Francis himself. This edition therefore comprises all the known works and writings of the Saint.
The ratio interpretandi of this English version is the simple, word-for-word literal transposition of ideas from Latin to English. An attempt was made to avoid all modern idiomatic expressions, as much as possible, and to revert in many cases to those lesser used, but truly Catholic, Latinate words which form the bulk of the erudite English language used so widely in the past. Whenever the English word did not succeed in capturing the meaning of its Latin counterpart, it was complimented by a explanatory footnote. Specifically Franciscan or Catholic terminology was often likewise explained in the notes. Unless otherwise noted, the division of sentences in the English translation is identical to the Latin text.
Capitalization in this work conforms to the custom of Catholic English, in which not only God, the Holy Trinity, and Christ but also the Blessed Virgin, the Saints and the Sacraments of the Church are set apart by the use of the initial capital. Though not as common today as in the past, this serves to capture the reverence and respect that St. Francis embodied for God and His handiwork, both in his life and in his writings.
All the notes and introductions have been written by the English translator. Since this edition is destined for popular use, extensive references and bibliography have been omitted, along with variant readings. Punctuation follows the Latin text as closely as possible. All the scriptural references in round ( ) brackets in the text have been taken from Fr. Esser's work and refer to the Vulgate text of the Bible. For the sake of making St. Francis' own thought transparent to the English reader, scriptural passages quoted by St. Francis are set off from the text with quotation " " marks; translated from his own Latin, they will thus often not correspond to a modern English translation of the same verses. The usage of quotation " " marks in the notes is however standard. Within the text itself, items in square [ ] brackets or italics represent the English translation of items interpolated or added by Fr. K. Esser, or which are traditional in the manuscript tradition through which these writings have come down to the present day. Other items in round ( ) brackets, in either the text or notes, have been added by the English translator for the sake of clarity. Finally the acronym used by Fr. Esser to identify each writing for scholarly purposes is found in square brackets immediately below the title of each work, and his corresponding division of its verses has been denoted by the position of centered "·" dots. These latter two are the basis for the system of citation accepted in scholarly circles for the writings of St. Francis.
The translator wishes to thank God, Mary, St. Francis, the many Franciscan priests and religious who have so edified him during his life, his Latin teachers, especially Mrs. Kansas, and Friar Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., for introducing him to the Latin texts of St. Francis, and all the kind and generous benefactors who assisted in the preparation, editing, and publishing of this translation.
A Note on the Translation of Some Common Latin Terms
Throughout his writings St. Francis frequently returns to his major themes of the love of God, and the prior the necessity of turning away from the attractions of this world. In explaining these, the Saint repeatedly uses Latin in a manner that has no strict equivalent in the English language; and for this reason, a brief explanation will be useful to the reader, prior to reading St. Francis in translation.
The first Latin term is saeculum: which literally means "the time-span of a single generation," and thus denotes "a generation," as well as that indistinct period of time called "an age", or even "the world," in the sense of the contemporary human society. This term is used frequently in the New Testament to refer to corrupt human society (e.g. Lk 16:8; 20:34; Mt 13:22; Jn 4:4; 1 Cor 2:6,8; 2 Cor 4:4; 1 Tm 6:7). Thus in the English translation of St. Francis writings, saeculum, will be normally translated as "age," but when the context requires another English word (i.e. "generation", "world"), it will be followed immediately with the Latin term placed in round ( ) brackets.
The second Latin term is associated with the first: sollicitudo, which means "a diligent or anxious concern," depending on whether it is used in a positive or negative context. St. Francis' usage of this term is almost always in association with saeculum, and this association is most probably on account of Mt 13:22, which speaks of the word of God being suffocated by sollicitudo saeculi istius. Since this could be translated into English as either "a concern for" or "a concern of," it will be helpful to refer to what the learned Jesuit, Cornelius à Lapide says on this text, in his famous Commentarium in Sacram Scripturam:
SOLLICITUDO SAECULI: That is, for secular and temporal affairs, e.g. care for a wife, for children, for family, status, office, the dignity, which one has, or which one seeks for himself or for his own; these as a thorn with it stings lacerate the mind, that is, distract, disturb, kill, would, (and) devour, in accord with that (saying): Res est solliciti plena timoris amor [This thing is a love full of solicitous fear]. Since on the contrary solicitude for salvation and for divine things focus the mind, brighten, heal, (and) invigorate it.
Therefore sollicitudo will be translated either as "anxious concern" (sollicitudo) or "solicitude" depending on the context.
The third Latin term is religio. Literally the word refers to the state of being bound to God, and for this reason St. Francis uses this word almost exclusively as a synonym for the religious Order which God inspired him to found. As can be seen from the twelfth chapter of the Rule of St. Francis, members of other "religions," in the modern sense of the word, were called "infidels" in the Middle Ages. And therefore, lest a contemporary understanding of this term be imposed upon St. Francis' writings, religio will always be translated as "religion," along with a footnote to notify the reader accordingly.
The fourth Latin term is infirmus. It should be noted that throughout his writings, St. Francis never uses the Latin word aegrotus "sick" (one who suffers from a disease), but rather the Latin word infirmus "infirm" (one who is weak in body). In this he is making a distinction which fosters respect not only for those who are ill but also for the aged and poor in health, which distinction is vital in the government of a community of men who make a life-long promise. However, since in English the word "infirm" is used as a predicate adjective or a substantive, "sick" has been chosen to translate the other usages of infirmus. The English reader therefore should take note, not to construe this usage of "sick" in the standard fashion, when reading this translation.
The fifth term is really two Latin words: reddo and refero. The former means "to restore, to render," and the latter "to return, to refer." St. Francis uses the first in regard to restoring unto God the honor and glory, praise and thanks that are His due; and the second, in regard to man's duty to refer unto God all thanks and praise for the good things of this world. In this translations the former will always be translated with the English word "render" and the latter with the English word "return."
The sixth term is really three Latin words: amor, dilectio, caritas. In English these can each be translated by the word "love." However this is problematic, for the Latin terms have distinct meanings, and as such merit differing English words if their sense is to be manifested in translation. For this reason the following arrangement has been chosen for utility's sake. The Latin term caritas, will be always translated by the English word "charity" (or other forms such as "charitable") which, however, is meant here, not in the sense of an alms or donation, but of that supernatural form of love that moves one to give of himself or of his possessions to another. The other Latin terms have similar meanings: amor is often used to signify a natural, human, or sensible love, as well as that love which unites one person to another, and dilectio, the love that proceeds from a rational and free choice and which results in delight in another person. Thus St. Francis speaks of the amor Christi which urges us to follow and serve Christ; while Christ in the Gospels speaks of His own dilectio for His disciples, to show that He has chosen to love us first, while we were yet sinners. Nevertheless, English has no single word to distinguish these two forms of love. Hence the Latin terms amor and dilectio, whether used in as nouns, adjectives, adverbs or verbs, will both be translated with the English word "love" (or other forms such as "loving," "lovable," etc.). However to clarify St. Francis' usage, in each of his writings, the first instance of each term will be indicated in round ( ) brackets with the root Latin word. Thereafter the Latin term will only appear in brackets if St. Francis' switches between them. In this manner both the English reader and the student of St. Francis' theology of love will find the Saint's teaching accessible.
The seventh term is really four Latin prepositions: de, ex, pro, and propter, which are often used in Latin to express the relation between an action and some cause, event or circumstance. Their meanings in Latin are derived from their use in spatial relations: de (down from), ex (out of), pro (in front of), propter (near by). To manifest this precision of expression, a consistent approach will be taken in translation, in which the English "because of," "from," "on behalf of," and "on account of" will be employed, respectively, in this regard. The only exception being the use of the Latin propter to express the intention or goal of an action; in that case it will be translated with the English phrase "for the sake of."
Finally, it should be noted that since St. Francis' use of language to convey obligation is at the heart of the purpose of nearly all his writings, some remark is necessary to clarify the precise translation of the Latin hortatory subjunctive into English. Throughout the Saint's writings one finds the present subjunctive used predominately for the purpose of instructing his listeners in their obligations in life and in such cases there are several ways to render this in English. For example, Father Benen Fahy, O. F. M., in his translation entitled The Writings of St. Francis, (Burns & Oats: 1963), renders this construction predominantly with the English helping verb "should," which in English is used to convey a moral obligation less forceful than "ought to" and "must." The difficulty with this approach is the ambiguity of "should" in the English language: it can signify an obligation either of necessity or fittingness; and thus to employ it extensively in the translation of St. Francis' writings would be to considerably obscure the force and intent of his exhortations. In addition the use of the English helping verbs "should," "would," "may," "might," which are regularly employed in the translation of subjunctive verbs in Latin and which have usages particular to the English language, would present considerable difficulties, since they have no strict equivalent in the Latin language. Hence to employ them extensively in translating St. Francis' writings would be to impose levels of meaning that ultimately are derived more from the verbal habits of the English translator than those of the Saint himself. To avoid these possible misunderstandings, which would obscure St. Francis' thought, this translation will retain the standard approach to the translation of the Latin hortatory subjunctive, set forth in textbooks of the Latin language, which is to render this construction into English in the first person plural and third person, singular and plural, with the simple imperative constructed with the English helping verb "let." In other persons and number, and in all other cases where the subjunctive is used to express obligation, and where English does not permit the use of the helping verb "let," the English helping verb "to be" will be employed instead. Moreover, the imperfect subjunctive, which St. Francis occasionally uses in primary discourse, will be translated with the English helping verb "would" to manifest both the conditionality and continual past action expressed by this Latin construction. Similarly, the other Latin verbs, such as debere (ought to/must/be obliged), licet (it is licit to), and oportet (it is proper), will be rendered in a consistent manner. With these provisions the English reader will be able to at once to recognize and distinguish clearly the intent and force of St. Francis' genius.
Accepted Abbreviations for St. Francis' Writings
included in this translation
Adm The Admonitions
CantSol The Canticle of Brother Sun
BenLeo The Blessing given to Friar Leo
BenBern The Blessing given Friar Bernard
EpAnt The Letter to Saint Anthony
EpCler I A Letter to Clerics: First recension
EpCler I A Letter to Clerics: Later recension
EpCust I The First Letter to the Custodes
EpCust II The Second Letter to the Custodes
EpFid I A Letter to the Faithful: First recension
EpFid II A Letter to the Faithful: Later recension
EpLeo The Letter to Friar Leo
EpMin Letter to a certain Minister provincial
EpOrd The Letter sent to the whole Order
EpRect A Letter to the Rulers of the Nations
ExhLD An Exhortation to Praise God
ExpPat The Exposition of the Our Father
FormViv The Form of Living given to St. Clare
Frag Fragments of other Rules
LaudDei The Praises of God Most High
LaudHor The Praises to be said at every hour
OffPass The Office of the Passion of the Lord
OrCruc A Prayer before the Crucifix
RegB The Regula Bullata
RegNB The Regula non-Bullata
RegEr The Rule given for those in hermitages
SalBVM A Salutation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
SalVirt A Salutation to the Virtues
Test The Testament of Saint Francis
UltVol St. Francis' last Will for Saint Clare
TestSen The Testament given at Siena
VPLaet On true and perfect gladness
Abbreviations Used in this work
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiaticorum Latinorum, Viondobonae 1866 ss.
fn. footnote
fns. footnotes
lit. literally
PL J. P. Migne, Patrologia cursus completus, Series latina, Paris 1944-64.
Gal. Ps. Gallican Psalter
Rom. Ps. Roman Psalter
FOOTNOTES
1 For more on the historical verification of this incident, cf. Fr. Kajetan Esser, O.F.M., Gli Scritti di San Franceso d'Assisi, published by Edizioni Messaggero Padova, Italy, 1982 (reprinted 1995, p. 458. Today the original icon is kept at San Rufino; the icon at San Damiano is a copy.