LEGENDS OP ‘ ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI,
5

BY BROTHER THOMAS OF CELANO,

ETC.

BY

The Rev. H. G-. Rosedale, M.A., D.D., F.S.A., F.R.S.L.

TRANSACTIONS R.S.L., Vol. XXY.





LEGENDS OF

‘ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI,’ BY BROTHER

THOMAS OF CELANO, ETC.

BY THE REV. H. G. ROSEDALE, M.A., D.D., F.S.A., F.H.S.L.

[Read June 22nd, 1904.]

Scattered over Europe there are nine MS. ver-

sions of the first work of Thomas of Celano, known

as the
4

Legenda Grregorii,’ or
4

Life of St. Francis/

written at the instigation of Po^je Gregory IX. This

has been hitherto called the
4

First Life.’ There is at

Assisi a MS. which I shall allude to as the
4 Legenda

Antiqua,’ or life edited from early sources. This has

hitherto been called the
4

Second Life of St. Francis.’

Besides these there is another MS. somewhere in

Europe which I have labelled
4

Tractatus Secundus,’

or ‘Second Life of St. Francis,’ by Thomas of Celano.

Both the second and third of these works cannot be

called the
4

Second Life.’ The Assisi MS. is in

reality not the
4

Second Life,’ but an appendix to

the
4

First Life,’ or a second part of it.

The 4 Tractatus Secundus,’ otherwise called the
4

Marseilles MS.,’ is the real ‘Second Life ’ alluded to

by contemporary writers, and was written ten years

later than the Assisi MS.

1

DeacJsJRfetf



2 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

This is the theme that I set myself to discuss

to-day.

Sufficient hooks were written during the last

century on the subject of
c

St. Francis of Assisi
’ to

fill a good-sized library ; but when we examine the

literature of a still earlier period, we find that there

were few subjects more productive of literary

effort in the Middle Ages than that of the life and

works of the Saint of Umbria. No one will ever be

able to measure the amount of literary work to

which the founder of the Brothers Minor has given

rise. There have been hundreds of books whose

titles only are now known to us ; of many others we

have a still slighter knowledge, and we are aware

that vast quantities of books on the subject have

perished altogether. Notwithstanding all this,

there remains so voluminous a mass of books dealing

with Franciscan matters that few living men have

been able to become, in any sense of the word, con-

versant with the whole. Possibly there are still

many and greater truths to be elicited by future

generations ; but so far as
Franciscan researches

have gone at present, all the literature on the

subject that has at all times been so unceasingly

pouring from the printing presses of Europe

appears to be little more than an elaboration or

enlargement of one great and dominating work.

I feel sure, that, with certain minor reservations,
I

shall find few really well-versed students of this

subject who will not agree with my statement that

until the time of Professor Paul Sabatier, nearly

all the works of the last 600 years dealing with

St. Francis were based on the version of the Saint’s



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 3

life promulgated by St. Bonaventura about the year

1264. Up to the time when Professor Sabatier undid

the grave clothes that hid from sight the greatest of

mediaeval preachers and teachers, every idea and

every piece of real information with regard to the all-

important matter of the work, life, and teaching of

St. Francis of Assisi was based upon, and almost

entirely derived from, the
c Legenda Sancti Fran-

cisci ’ of the Seraphic Father, St. Bonaventura.

In an uncritical day when the c Index Expurga-

torius
5

could dominate the bookstalls of Europe, such

a source sufficed ; but in the noonday light of an

almost dazzling twentieth century research, the

work of St. Bonaventura has fallen into disrepute.

It is now interesting only as indicating traits of

character in the man himself, and illustrating what

he wished to hide, rather than valuable for the facts

he narrates.

A new departure in Franciscan literature dawned
when Professor Sabatier and some other Franciscan

workers went behind this author to the very

sources from which he had, with so much subtlety,

culled the materials for his
£

Legenda.
5

New facts,

new Ideals, and new deductions, were rapidly

borne in upon the world of Franciscan students,

and ever since that time it has been the pre-

Bonaventuran writings that have most influenced

the literature of St. Francis.

It will be well to devote some time to the study

of this subject
;
and in this relation I propose to

mention some of the principal works of that period

which are of especial interest to Franciscans.

Never was there more truth in the well-worn



4 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

saying, “ It is an ill wind that blows nobody any

good,” than in the case of Franciscan records.

Almost the first thing that the Franciscan student

comes to learn is the fact that to the internal

dissensions of the order most of the records which

we so prize to-day are to be attributed.

Doubtless many of those whom I have the honour

of addressing to-night are well aware of the sad

struggles which rent asunder the religious family

which the “ poor little man of Assisi ” had brought

up and cherished, but lest perchance some have

passed oyer the painful side of this great life and

have only cared to read the elevating and noble

characteristics or teaching that fascinated not only

the inhabitants of the valley of Spoletto, but Italy

on both sides of the Appenines and then spread out

to influence and mould the lives of men and women

all over Christendom, lest this beautiful side of the

Franciscan story should be all that has taken hold

of the minds of any here, I feel bound to take upon

myself the ungrateful task of displaying, in all its

disfiguring and debasing aspects, the hatred and

bitter enmity that practically killed the real work of

the Franciscan brotherhood after the death of its

founder.

Would that I could pass over this sad chapter

;

but without it all the Franciscan writings would lose

their real meaning. This party strife is the real

key to those writings which have now become one

of the most valuable literary discoveries of our day.

We must go back to the year 1220. It is a sad

picture that meets our eyes. The rule of absolute

poverty, which the Saint of Umbria has so prized



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 5

and which has hitherto so dominated his life, is in

danger; he has fought desperately to keep his

family of saintly men from falling back into the life

of confidence in earthly power or means ; but the

forces of the world are too much for him.

Cardinal Ugolino, Visitor of the order, has again

and again tried to move him from his resolve that

no “ brother minor ” shall possess anything ; but

although he has never flinched from his faithfulness

to his first love and though his devotion to poverty

has only increased as the years have flown, yet he

feels that the struggle is becoming too much for

him. The influence of the Roman Curia is increas-

ing, there are malign whispers that the saintly

founder of the order is standing in the way of

progress and is endangering the usefulness of the

brothers by risking the anger of the Papal authority.

Weak in body and often tried and grieved in spirit

by the difficulties or the opposition that he has to

encounter, St. Francis feels that he can keep up the

struggle no longer. If it were enemies whom he

had to meet it would be different ; but he cannot

quarrel with those he loves so deeply. There is

another side too to the question. St. Clara, his

own Saint, for all that she is he has made her

—

has given way to the importunities of the Cardinal

of Ostia by relaxing her rule. Those who know

anything of St. Francis must know this, that, there

was very little in his life in which the beloved head

of the Clarisses did not share. Her advice, her

counsel, her sympathy and devotion, were to this

true-souled man more than we shall ever know.

She had been to him the type and symbol of that



6 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

sacred poverty which she had willingly chosen at

his instigation. She was to St. Francis the in-

carnation of that holy poverty to which he had

bound himself for ever.

Now that this noble-hearted, and as no one knew

better than he did, wise and clear-headed woman had

accepted the persuasions and advice of Cardinal

Ugolino and had, after many an effort at resistance,

led the way, what should he do? That was his

great life problem. Perhaps she may be right after

all, and if so, ought he to stand in the way of God’s

will ? Till that moment he had never hesitated to

be guided by her, to follow her lead in most things,

just as in the earlier days she had blindly followed

him. Yet strong as was this personal influence, his

instinct, his experience, his innate sense of vocation

fought against the slightest deviation from the vow

of his entire life. This was the war that was raging

within him, a warfare only too prophetic of that

which was ultimately to be carried on by his sons.

It was ever in his mind, he was perplexed and

anxious and it began to tell on his spirits, and just

before the Chapter General of 1220, when rumours of

insubordination, of argument and opposition, were in

the air, there came upon him a sense of deep depres-

sion, that for all practical purposes closed his career

as the real ruler and leader of the Franciscan order.

Under the influence of a somewhat morbid sentiment

he decides to cease the struggle and to retire into a

life of simple waiting upon God, striving by example

to bring about what he felt he had failed to do by

authority. His abdication is to my mind one of the

most pathetic incidents in history. Hear the great



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST. 7

leader of 250,000 men and women in his farewell

words, given ns by Thomas of Celano and others.

Turning to the brethren he says : “ From henceforth

I am dead to you; but here is brother Pietro di

Catana whom you and I will all obey.” Then he

prays : “ Lord, I return to Thee this family which

Thou hast confided to me. Now, as Thou knowest,

most sweet Jesus, I have neither strength nor ability

to keep on caring for them
;
I confide them, there-

fore, to the ministers. May they be responsible

before Thee at the Day of Judgment, if any brother

by their negligence, or bad example, or by a too

severe discipline, should ever wander away.”

From that day St. Francis had very little share in

the real management of the Order, but his personal

influence could not be ignored. He lived, and as

long as he lived his life remained one of beautiful

and holy poverty. Those who were most anxious to

obtain the universal acceptance of the more moderate

interpretation of his rule felt that no step was

possible so long as he lived, but none the less did

that party, numbering among them the Judas

Iscariot of the Franciscan disciples, lay their plans

for ultimate success. How bitterly St. Francis

felt the progress those plans had made, may be

realised by a quotation from the ‘Legenda Antiqua.’

In reply to a brother who points out to him the

declension of the order from the primitive rule, he

says : “ God forgive you, brother. Why do you lay

at my door things with which I have nothing to do ?

So long as I had the direction of the order and the

brothers persevered in their vocation, in spite of

weakness I was able to do what was needful, but



8 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

when I saw that without caring for iny example or

my teaching, they walked in the way you have

described I confided them to the Lord and to the

ministers. It is true that when I relinquished the

direction, alleging my incapacity as the motive, if

they had walked in the way of my wishes, I should

not have desired that before my death they should

have had any other minister than myself. Though

ill, though bed-ridden even, I should have found

strength to perform the duties of my charge.

But this charge is wholly spiritual. I will not

become an executioner to strike and punish as

political governors must.”

When, however, we read the so-called “ Will ” of

this wonderful man, it is no longer a matter of

surprise to us that he felt there was little left

to live for, and that the call to a higher life was the

only guerdon worth possessing.

The restraint that was so burdensome to a large

proportion of the brothers was removed by the death

of St. Francis on October 3rd, 1226. Brother Elias,

who since March 10th, 1221, had been the head

of the Order, though outwardly adhering to his

master, had in reality placed himself and his powers

entirely at the disposal of Cardinal Ugolino, who

represented the Roman influence in the Franciscan

brotherhood. How that there was no other leader

to fear he made no secret of his intentions. His

great scheme for immortalising his own name by

building the magnificent Basilica of St. Francis

under his influence soon became the one dominating

interest and work of the Franciscan Order, at least

of all those who were not the Zeloti or the partisans



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 9

of the original rule of poverty. These Zeloti, how-

ever, were not to be entirely ignored. What they

lacked in number was made up for in zeal and devo-

tion; nor was their prestige of slight moment, since

they were for the most part those who had been the

closest companions of St. Francis. Brother Leo

became their leader, and the holiest and greatest

characters in the Order ranged themselves under

his banner.

The day of intrigue was over and open warfare

was declared. The work of building this enormous

structure had been begun, and an imposing marble

box for the offerings of the faithful had been set

up. This to the Zeloti was indeed the “ abomination

of desolation.” It was, they maintained, the very

antithesis of the ideals of St. Francis, and though

fully aware of all that it would entail to himself, the

intrepid Leo, assisted by a few friends, shattered

the offending object, and was in consequence

attacked and severely beaten by the emissaries of

Elias and driven out of the town of Assisi.

Elias, however, had to learn what power a

determined opposition can wield. Within a short time

of the events narrated he found himself deposed

from the exalted position which he held. Whether

or not the publication of that important work, the

4

Speculum Perfections,
5

by Brother Leo, tended to

promote this result, or whether indeed the

4 Speculum Perfectionis ’ was really published at

that time, is very difficult to say. To venture to

hold a different opinion from that of so remarkable

and so deeply read a Franciscan scholar as Professor

Paul Sabatier seems almost audacious, yet in spite



10 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

of the many able arguments he adduces for the early

date of the
c Speculum Perfectionis ’ it is difficult to

understand how so many versions of this work can

have been permitted to survive, and at the same

time all tradition on the subject can have been

obliterated, at a time too, when the Zeloti were so

united and so determined to cling to all that was

primitive in the Order.

Fortunately, however, we are not called upon here

to enter upon the thorny path of speculation as to the

date of this mysterious work, for we have at hand

another work which will equally serve the purpose

that is needful to my subject,—the 4 Sacrum Com-
mercium.’

On the fall of Elias, a new ^Minister General was

appointed, one Giovanni Parenti, evidently a man of

wonderful piety, and certainly not lacking in literary

ability, if we may accept the view that six weeks

after his appointment to the post of General, he

published this tractate, which must have had no

slight bearing on the controversv that was raging in

the Franciscan world.

The 6 Sacrum Commercium,’ which we all wel-

come as a literary gem, had doubtless an ulterior

motive. Devotional and exquisitely dramatic, it

none the less struck boldly at the work which Elias

was carrving on with such determination. The

allusion to Elias and his work in Chapter XII is

clear: “Et licet non possit civitatis supra montem

positae abscondi desolatio, tamen imposuerunt ei

nomen discretionem vel providentiam, cum tabs

discretio potius dicenda esset confusio et providentia

bonorum omnium pernitiosa oblivio.” “And although



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 11

the desolation of a city set upon a hill cannot be hid,

yet they gave her the name of Discretion or of

Prudence, though such discretion is rather to be

called confusion, and such prudence a deadly for-

getfulness of all good things.”

The whole work teems with allusions that cannot

have failed to convey a clear meaning to all who

read
;
and if this was the work of so exalted a

personage as the official head of the whole com-

munity, it must have had considerable notoriety.

Before passing on, I cannot refrain from showing

how incisive were the strictures it contained, on the

persons of Elias and his immediate circle—Chapter
XI of the c Sacrum Commercium ’ deals exclusively

with this criticism.

“ Surrexerunt denique in nobis qui non erant ex

nobis, quidam filii Belial loquentes vana, operantes

iniqua, dicentes se pauperes esse cum non essent et

me .... Spreverunt ac maculaverunt me,
sequentes viam Balaam ex Bosor qui mercedum

iniquitatis amavit, homines corrupti mente, . . .

homines assumentes sanctae religionis habitum novem

hominem non induerunt sed veterem paliaverunt.

Detrahebant senioribus suis et eorum qui sanctae

conversationis institutores fuerunt vitam et mores in

occulto mordebant, vocantes eos indiscretos, immi-

sericordes, crudeles, et me quam assumpserant

dicebant otiosa insipidam, turpem incultam, ex-

sanguem et mortuam, aemula mea summo studio

ingerente, quae ovis assumens habitum dolositate

vulpis occultabat lupinam rabiem.” The following

is Canon Rawnsley’s translation, “ There arose after

among us certain sons of Belial speaking vain things.



12 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

working unjust ones, saying that they were poor

when they were not, and me . . . they spurned

and cast dirt upon me, following the way of Balaam

the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity

—

men corrupt of mind and turned aside from truth,

thinking gain is godliness, men taking upon them

the garment of holy religion who have not put on

the new man
;
but are clothed upon with the old.

“ They spoke lightly of those who had gone before,

and subtly slandered the manner of life of them who

were the instructors of the holy walk, calling them

indiscreet, pitiless, cruel
;
and me .... they

called idle, tasteless, foul, rude, coldblooded, and

dead. For my jealous foe brought this about with

all her might, who, taking on her sheep’s clothing,

under a fox’s cunning, hid the ravening of a

wolf.”

The concluding words can but mean Elias himself.

Amidst all the bitter hostility caused by this Fran-

ciscan civil war, the Papal intervention seemed to be

of the greatest possible importance, and in conse-

quence Cardinal Ugolino of Ostia, recently elected

Pope, made the excuse of visiting Perugia in order

to deal personally with these matters, since the

occasion of the canonization of the founder of their

order seemed to be an opportune one for re-uniting

the discordant parties. Accordingly on July 16th

of the following year 1228 Gregory IX entered

Assisi to take part in the great service of the

Canonization of St. Francis.

An account of that event has been given us in the

fullest manner, and the official historian was none

other than Thomas of Celano. To him Gregory



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 13

committed tlie task of recording not only the

Canonization and the list of miracles deemed

necessary for this great event, but also entrusted

our author with the duty of reproducing from the

materials at his disposal a life of St. Francis.

It may be fancy, but it seems to me that the wise

prelate who was at once eager for the advancement

of the order, whose real head he was, and who was

at the same time in real sympathy with, if not the

actual originator of, the plans which Elias was

executing, would make every effort to heal the

breach that threatened to wreck the whole Franciscan

structure. I venture to think that on the occasion

of the visit to Assisi, he was instrumental in bringing

about a modus vivendi between the opposing camps

and probably obtained from the Zeloti the with-

drawal of the obnoxious tract just quoted, whilst he

on his part undertook to have an unbiased life of

the great leader prepared and issued such as would

satisfy all parties.

To Thomas of Celano the work would be given and

possibly with directions to avoid any statements that

might be objected to by the party of the stricter

observance. Thus in 1229 there appeared, under

the title of the
4 Legenda Gfregorii,’ the work which

for nearly a century has been known as the 4 First

Life
5

of St. Francis of Assisi, by Thomas of

Celano.

That this work was intended to bring out on the

one hand the holy poverty of the little brother of

Assisi, and at the same time to emphasise the actual

fact that St. Francis had designated Elias his suc-

cessor, cannot I think be doubted. Realising as we



14 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

must, that Thomas of Celano was certainly not in

personal sympathy with the party of Brother Leo, it

is difficult on any other supposition to account for

the tone of Chapters A xv, xvi of his first work,
which do not attempt in any way to modify the

original rule of the order.

To my mind the 6 Legenda G-regorii ’ was the

masterstroke of the astute Pontiff, and it is evident

that this work received a very extensive recognition

and that it was looked upon as worthy of credence,

and I doubt not as a moderate and unpolemic rela-

tion of events. This seems evident from the fact

that it alone, of all the early Franciscan documents,

has permeated Europe and has been preserved as a

literary treasure in Grermany, France, Italy, Spain,

and England.

Whatever may be the facts yet to transpire on so

complex a subject it is obvious that from the date

of its publication the bitterness which had arisen

amongst the followers of St. Francis was at least

modified and possibly laid to rest for a period of ten

years or more.

Some readers may go even one step further and

suggest that the re-election of Elias as “ Minister

General ” was the direct result of the widespread

publication of the
c Legenda G-regorii

;

’ which, whilst

bearing the “ imprimatur ” of so exalted a person as

the Pope himself, frankly avowed the high position

given to Elias by the dying Saint.

Whichever view we may take, it is clear that

three years later, in spite of the intense bitterness

that had been previously felt and shown towards

him, Elias was elected as head of the order, and



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 15

for the next seven years remained at the helm.

This indicates that there must at least have been a

certain reaction in his favour for which nothing else

will account; moreover, after the year 1229 we

find less of that bitter partisanship which blackens

the pages of history during the years immediately

preceding the “ Canonization.”

From the time of the election of Elias, however,

the clouds began to appear once more. His enormous

efforts to complete the great work of the Basilica

brought him into conflict with the members of the

Franciscan order.

At first, doubtless taught by the experience of

other days, he proceeded with caution
;
but soon the

old spirit became manifest—he organised collections
in every province. When his demands on behalf of

the Basilica were resisted, as being out of keeping

with the spirit of St. Francis, he used his authority

to remove the offending rulers of the order, and as

time proceeded he found it necessary more and more

to practise severities which could not fail to alienate

from him the hearts of those over whom he ruled.

At last the storm broke. In 1239 Pope Gregory IX,

acting on the evident wish of the order, deposed

Elias and declared Alberto di Pisa elected in his

place.

All this time there had been no further demand

for literature on the subject of the Saint’s life. No

doubt the
c Legenda Gregorii ’ had proved sufficiently

complete to satisfy all parties, and it requires no

stretch of imagination to become convinced that

wherever Franciscans went, there a copy of this

precious work would be carried by them. Supposing



16 ST. JTKANCIS OF ASSISI.

then that the
c

Speculum ’ had not been issued, and

that the ‘ Sacrum Commercium ’ had either been with-

drawn by Giovanni di Parenti or secretly suppressed

during the rule of Elias, Thomas of Celano’s work

would be the only authentic Franciscan document of

these earlier years. Yet the
£ Legenda Gregorii

’

was a document which was a menace to the foes of

Elias who werenow in the ascendant. Alberto di Pisa,

the new Minister General, was too preoccupied with

the difficult task in front of him to deal with matters

of a literary kind. He was a diplomatist, and all his

energies had to be directed towards checkmating his

wily opponent Elias in other ways. The latter had

at last found his match, for Alberto di Pisa was not

the type of man that he had been accustomed to

deal with. He was opposed by one who would not

scruple to gain his own ends either by device or by

treachery.

As an example of the adroitness of the new

Minister General it may be mentioned that on his

death an extremely important letter addressed by

Elias to Gregory IX and intercepted by Alberto di

Pisa was found sewn up in his tunic. Like Elias he

had learned the value of strategy, and his alertness

proved the destruction of his foe.

The proud Elias was not, however, the man to

mildly submit to oppression, and he in no measured

terms resented the action of the Pope, who, as he

thought, had betrayed him. Gregory turned upon

him with all his fury and hurled at him vituperation

that one would hardly have expected possible from

such a man
;
yet Elias was no less headstrong ; he

went so far as to reply by accusing the aged Pontiff



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 17

of having misused the money collected for the

Crusades, and of other misdeeds.

From that time Elias was an outcast
; many even

of his supporters declared that he had deceived

them, and soon his name became a scandal among

the members of the order. In the midst of these

events a new “ Minister
55

was elected
; this time an

Englishman—Aymon of Faversham. Doubtless this
election was due to the desire to have at the head of

affairs a man of simpler piety. The new “ Minister

General ” was, we can well believe, hardly prepared
for the subtleties of semi-Eastern methods and

ideals. He found the work of the order quite
sufficient for his powers without launching forth

into new fields. Yet it must again and again have

become evident to those in authority that the promi-

nence given to Elias in the authorised Franciscan

life of the founder placed the leaders of the present

in a delicate and ambiguous position. No doubt
means would have been set on foot to remedy the

evil had not an event taken place which altogether

prohibited any action on the part of the order.

Thomas of Celano’s 4 Legend’ had been authorised

by the successor of St. Peter, and only another

successor could abrogate this.

Little more than a year after the election of

Aymon Gregory IX died, and Celestine IY became
Pope. How much this meant to the Franciscan
brotherhood can scarcely be imagined. The dead

Pontiff had been the mainstay of the brethren from

the earliest days of its inception. He had not only
been this, but his name had added prestige and

dignity to the movement in every province. All

2



18 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

Europe knew that the Franciscan brotherhood was

under the especial protection of Gregory. They had

now lost this mighty arm. So long as he had lived

the reverence for the past must be evidenced; now

the future was all unknown. He, too, had been the

friend of St. Clara, and had always smoothed over

difficulties between the two orders when they had

occurred. How that this great Franciscan had

passed away they began to look to their foundations.

The powers that were had need to be alert. The

dead Pope, whom all praised, had been the friend of

Elias. The official life of St. Francis, which had

doubtless attained its influence partly in consequence

of his support, might become a danger. How that

Elias had become of public scandal, this book,

which asserted the pre-eminence of Elias, might be

used to injure the order now that its great champion

was dead. On the other hand, the undue reverence

which would now be accorded to such a document

bearing the authority of so great a man, would

hinder the publication of any other work supple-

menting the recorded facts by such as might sub-

sequently become known.

Again, now that the party of the Zeloti were in

the ascendant it was felt that the time had arrived

when the order itself might indicate the direction in

which it would walk, without the necessity of always

inquiring first what course was desired by the Court

at Rome.

The “ Zeloti ” had by this time effectually come to

realise that though Elias might be deposed and

disgraced, they the adherents of the first rule, were

not in favour with the Papal “ entourage.” How, if



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 19

ever, the opportunity to use the advantage which

they had obtained, seemed to have arrived.

Now they might get rid of all reference to Elias

in the accepted manual, and they hoped that the

literary material they had in the meantime been

collecting as proof of the opinions of St. Francis

about the rule of poverty, might soon become

incorporated into the text-book of Franciscan

communities.

Undoubtedly, had Celestine IV lived, it would not

have been long before an official application would

be made to him to allow the revision of the offending

document, but alas ! only seventeen days after his

election Celestine IV died. Nothing could now be

done, and the ruling spirits among the Franciscan

brotherhood could only possess their souls in

patience and wait until a new Pope should be

announced, blending with their accustomed prayers

one that the new Pontiff might be a ruler favourable

to the order.

It was, however, a case of hope deferred. The

Curia could not agree
;

disputes and quarrels were

the order of the day, and the Court of Rome became

the scene of many a disgraceful episode. For fully

a year and eight months this sad state of affairs was

maintained, until the 24th of June, 1243, when

Innocent IV was installed in the Pontifical throne.

As a compliment to the new Pope, the succeeding

Chapter General was convened at Genoa, from

which place he had gone to assume the reins of

government. The “ Chapter General ” of Genoa

was one full of new vigour. It was an occasion

when anything was possible, since a new era had



20 ST. FBAN’CIS OF ASSISI.

begun. Whether for good or for evil, a step forward

would have to be taken. The first act was to

appoint Crescentius de Jesi “ Minister General.’’

He stood for the party of moderation—liberty to
diverge slightly within reasonable limits. Still, like

his predecessors, it was necessary that he should in

every way dissociate himself from Elias. In conse-

cpience of the foregoing circumstances, on the ground

that new matter had arisen and that new facts had

been discovered, he easily contrived to obtain the

passage of a measure by the entire order, com-

manding all the brethren who had any knowledge

of facts connected with the life of St. Francis not

already published, or of miracles not previously

mentioned, to forward these to the General in order

that some steps might be taken to circulate this

information to the body of the brethren.

Xo doubt many a brother had some contribution

to send, and in consequence of this, without

interfering with the former work. Crescentius de

Jesi directed a tract to be drawn up entitled

4

Venerabilium gesta Patrum.’ It was in dialogue

form and probably intended to stimulate still further

inquiry and investigation. Unfortunately this tract

has been lost.

The party of the Zeloti had always been the more

active body, and in consequence they were not long

in setting to work. Xow the opportunity of giving

publicity, not only to their own impressions, but to

the documents which they had been carefully

collecting in evidence of the righteousness of their

cause, was most tempting. Under the leadership

of Leo, Angelo, Rufino, Fillippo, IUuminato, Masseo,



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 21

John and Bernard de Quintaville, each added what

they could to the common fund of information. It

will need no words of mine to convince my hearers

that the material that these brethren selected to

compose their work was of one kind and only of

one kind. They wrote with an object, and that

object was the destruction of their opponents’ case.

Every fact that could be adduced to show the

attitude of opposition which the Saint of Umbria

had evinced to the principles of the moderate party

was inserted, until the work became little more than

a diatribe couched in narrative. On August 11th,

1246, the work was completed under the name of

the
c

Legend of the Three Companions.’ It is some-

times called the
4 Legend of Brother Leo ’

;
but

whether this title would not be more correctly

applied to the
c Speculum Perfectionis ’ is a matter

on which I do not at present feel competent to

express a definite opinion.

The brothers who drew up this work appear to

have done more than send it to Crescentius, they

seem to have given it some sort of publicity on their

own account. One of two things must have taken

place. Either request was made by the authors for

a license to be granted for the publication of this

version of the Saint’s life, and permission obtained

on condition of the work being produced in its cen-

sured form, as we have it now
;

or, what is much

more likely, the writers made several copies and sent

them to their friends in each province as a specimen

of the material they had contributed to the common

fund. If we accept this view we can readily under-

stand how Crescentius would immediately take steps



22 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

to have all these books examined, and such portions

as seemed undesirable destroyed. I have no doubt

that it would be this course that would render him

unpopular to the brothers and which led to his

downfall in 1247. It is interesting to note that all

that remains to us of the
c Legend of the Three

Companions
5

is the history of the youth of St.

Francis and the first days of the order, and then

with an obvious hiatus the narrative springs to the

death and canonization of the Saint. The intervening

material is nowhere to be found.

We must not, however, suppose that this legend

had no circulation
;
in fact, the contrary may have

been the case, for after the Council of Paris, when

the earlier books were sought for and destroyed, it

would be just those belonging to the Zeloti which

would be least likely to escape detection, whilst the

vows of obedience would press more strongly upon

them than even on their more moderate brethren.

Under such circumstances it would be safe to suppose

that the
c

Tres Socii ’ version did indeed have a

very real influence within the order. If I mistake

not it was exactly the influence of so dangerous a

document that troubled Crescentius and which led

him to appoint Thomas of Celano, and some think

others in association with him, to revise the material

which had been forwarded to him as General and to

produce from those sources a new and complete life.

That Brother Thomas lost no time in resuming

his work is evident from the fact that although he

probably did not commence his labours until after

the publication of the
6 Legend of the Three Com-

panions,’ yet the result of his labours which has



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 23

come down to us as the c Legenda Antiqua ’ must

have been issued before July, 1247, since it was

forwarded to Crescentius de Jesi as Minister General,

whereas at the Council of Lyons held on that date

John of Parma was elected to the Generalship.

In the book which I have recently seen through

the press entitled
6 Legenda Sancti Francisci auctore

Thoma de Celano,’ I have dilated at considerable

length on the fact that in the Assisi Codex, which

has too long been supposed to be the
4

Tractatus

Secundus ’ or
e

Vita Secunda ’ of Celano, we have in

reality the well-known work of our author entitled
c Legenda Antiqua,’ a title which no doubt had a

direct reference to the sources which, as editor of

the manuscripts sent to Crescentius, had been placed

at his disposal.

So far, I feel that I have been on ground over

which most orthodox and conservative students of

Franciscan lore will be ready to follow me
;
but at

this point I am bound to take a step forward, a step

which will doubtless make many hesitate. To such

I can only say, do not attempt to follow, if you have

other convictions
;
but I cannot but fear that, not

to go forward must logically mean difficulties of a

far greater kind in the immediate future when the

facts which I have already alluded to in my critical

introduction to the text of Celano’s works are more

fully understood.

Professor Paul Sabatier in Part YII of this critical

study of the sources speaks of riie second part of

the second life by Thomas of Celano. He suggests

that this second part was written between 1247 and

1257 and that it consists of parts 2 and 3 of the



24 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

4

Legencla Antiqua ’ or Assisi MS. M. Sabatier

wrote bis life of St. Francis before 1899, or this

portion would have been somewhat different. I am

indebted to none other for having first put me on the

path that has led me to this conclusion. I venture

to think that had M. Sabatier been writing that

passage to-day he would never have spoken of a

second part of a second life, he would either have

alluded to a third life, or he would have done as I

have done, denominated the last work of Brother

Thomas as the 4 Tractatus Secundus.’

His effort to place his readers in possession of

true facts was, however, wonderfully correct, may I

say prophetic
;
he had realised what few of his con-

temporaries realised, viz., that over and above the

4 Legenda Grregorii
5

and the
4

Legenda Antiqua,’

of which we have been speaking, there was a third

work by this author, a work well-known to the

thirteenth century writers and intimately associated

with the name of the 44 Minister General ” John of

Parma. The missing document he naturally assumed

to be the second part of the MS. of Assisi since no

record could be obtained of any other. After the

publication of Professor Paul Sabatier’s life of St.

Francis a discovery was made which has consider-

ably altered the opinions of students on this subject,

as well as those of Professor Sabatier to whom I am

indebted for the first light on this subject in a letter

which he wrote to me more than two years ago.

At this point I must ask my hearers to let me tell

my story of the texts to the end and then return to

the critical examination of whether or no my con-

clusions are correct.



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 25

It lias been suggested by several writers that

Thomas of Celano is hardly a writer of any import-

ance from the fact that he was ready at all times to

take the popular view in order to curry favour. To

my mind the facts point in a totally different

direction.

It is, I think, beyond doubt that Thomas of

Celano did not belong to or even sympathise with

the party of the stricter observance, yet I have

already pointed out that it was in the most awful

moment of party strife that he was commissioned by

Gregory IX to write the 4 Legenda Gregorii,’ and

that such would not have been the case had the

former not been aware that the work of Brother

Thomas would be acceptable to both parties. Com-

bining this fact with the obviously impartial

character of his first work, we should at once see

the reason why the order was satisfied to accept for

so long a period and to spread in every direction

this work of Brother Thomas of Celano. They

trusted him as a sincere and true man.

Again, when in 1246 Crescentius de Jesi was in

need of some one to whom he could commit the task

of editing the numerous works forwarded to him, it

was to Thomas of Celano he turned, as being the one

man wdiose writings would be likely to find accept-

ance with the brothers of each observance, and as

though to confirm this, on the election of John of

Parma, well known to have belonged to the party of

the Zeloti, and the author of the tract,
4

Yenerabilium

gesta Patrum,’ he, like his opponent predecessor,

turned at once to Brother Thomas as the most fit

and acceptable person to complete the work of



26 ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI.

which the
c Legenda Gregorii

5

and the
c

Legenda

Antiqua ’ were but a part.

I have already anticipated what my hearers will

have been prepared for. Owing to the comparative

liberty and indeed prominence given to the Zeloti by

the election of John of Parma, two results had

followed : in the first place those who had hitherto

hesitated to relate accounts of legends and stories

connected with the Saint, were now emboldened to

go to the simpler men who were in power, and tell

their story or deliver it in writing. Thus a vast

number of partly true and often wholly spurious

legends grew up with alarming rapidity.

This was a state of affairs which would be quite

out of accord with the real sympathies of the party

to which Leo and his companions belonged. To

them the mere miracle worker was far inferior to

the truly human, yet grandly self-effacing St.

Francis. In consequence, it became a matter of the

most profound importance to dissociate those legends

which were of some credibility from those that were

only mythical. No one could do this so well as

Brother Thomas, and in consequence we find the

new Minister General, John of Parma, beseeching

him to undertake the work. Brother Thomas im-

mediately set to work and compiled the work on

the miracles which appears in my text as the second

half of the
£

Tractatus Secundus.’ The first half

of this text is a revised and re-edited version of the

c Legenda Antiqua,’ so altered, however, by the

author as to produce an utterly different impres-

sion upon the reader from that which the former

suggests.



b#ROSEDALE (Dr. H. G., F.8.A.) The

Legends of St. Francis of Assisi, by

Brother Thomas of Celano, &e., reprinted

from the Transactions of the Royal
Society

of Literature , with a photo,
facsimile of a

page of the “ Legenda Anonyma
” (80

pp.), 8vo, wrappers
6_d





ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 27

With this work ended, as we shall see, all efforts

to amplify or improve upon the history of the

founder of the Franciscan order.

The days of the brethren of the stricter obser-

vance were numbered. In the year 1257, Cardinal

Bonaventura was elected “ Minister General.”

Already the attempts of both parties to dominate

the order by means of their authentic records had

produced innumerable evils, and it was the difficulties

of a most serious kind which beset the Franciscan

movement that accounts for the readiness with

which the members of the “ Chapter General ” of

Narbonne commissioned Bonaventura to write the

life of St. Francis. From the accession of Bona-

ventura, Thomas of Celano disappears from the

scene. Whilst it is quite reasonable to suppose that

Bonaventura saw in him a literary rival, and that he

could not tolerate a possible critic, I am disposed

also to believe that in reality, Thomas of Celano was

gradually drawn more and more to the party of the

older observance. With years there grew upon him

the memories of St. Francis, and with those memories

there came to him a sense of grief at the wide

departure of the order from the primitive simplicity

which he had known in earlier days. His intimate

association with John of Parma must have made it

appear to the other brethren that he had leanings

towards the party of Leo, whilst the thirty-six

chapters which he devotes to the subject of poverty

in his two later works cannot have failed to indicate

the tendency of his personal bias. These facts

probably laid the seeds of that disfavour which



28 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

injured him upon the advent to power of Bona-

ventura.

Few men were more vigorous in character than

this new 44 Minister General. ” A tremendously
hard worker, a man of indomitable ambition, of

shrewd foresight and remarkable ability, he took in

at once the dangers of the situation, and met them

by suppressing all questions that might lead to any

kind of controversy.

All matters in dispute he deemed inadmissible,

and in consequence the work which he presented

to the
44
Chapter General

55

of Pisa, and which was

in fact, nothing but the writings of Celano condensed

and curtailed with certain additions from the

4 Speculum Perfectionis ’ and the 4 Tres Socii,’

readily met with acceptance, and was in consequence

approved by the whole order.

Would that we could stop at this point, but the

climax came in the following year, an event which I

call
44
the tragedy of Franciscan history.” Bona-

ventura found that his version of the life of St.

Francis, whilst outside the range of party strife, was

considered too feeble a production to become what

he wanted it to be, viz. the text book of the order.

A man of his disposition could brook no opposition,
and in consequence he contrived to obtain a majority

of the votes at the Council of Paris held in 1264,

directing the circulation of the following edict—an
edict which, with one fell blow, destroyed some of

the choicest literature of mediseval days. The edict

runs as follows

—

44
Item praecepit Generale Capitulum per obedien-

tiam, quod omnes legendae de B. Francisco olim



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 29

factae deleantur et ubi inveniri poterant extra

ordinem, ipsas fratres studeant amovere, cum ilia

legenda, quae facta est per Generalem, sit compi-

lata prout ipse habuit ab ore illorum qui cum B.

Francisco quassi semper fuerunt et cuncta certitudi-

naliter sciverint et probata ibi sint posita diligenter.”

“Item : The Chapter General directs that as an act

of obedience, all former legends of the Blessed

Francis be destroyed, and wherever the brothers

can find them outside the order they must

endeavour to do away with them, since this legend

drawn up by the General is compiled from accounts

of those who nearly always accompanied the Blessed

Francis. All that they would know without doubt

and all that has been proved to be true has been

carefully inserted.”

This terrible order was all the more terrible,

because to the Franciscans an absolute blind

obedience to command was a primary tenet, and

thus it came about that so much valuable work

(executed at the cost of much time and effort, and

being in some cases the only real record of much

that concerned the life of the Saint of Umbria) was

lost to the world, and to all intents and purposes

annihilated.

Had it not been for the fact that here and there,

in out-of-the-way places, or through the jealousy of

some other monastic body, a stray version escaped

destruction we should never have known the real

St. Francis of Assisi. How thorough was the work

of destruction and how implacably St. Bonaventura

sought to annihilate all competition will never be

fully known.



30 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

For a generation after the time of St. Bonaventura

no other writer dared to attempt to deal with the

subject of this Saint’s life, and from the year 1264

until the commencement of the nineteenth century

there was no other source of information for writers

on this subject except the work just alluded to.

We must not suppose, however, for a moment that
during all these years there were no books published

dealing with Franciscan matters; on the contrary,

almost every incident of Franciscan work and every

circumstance that could possibly be the subject

of literary effort, was assiduously elaborated in

the multitudinous books to which I have already

alluded
;
but as helps to the real life of the son of

Bernadone they are all practically useless
;

all other

matters they deal with fully
;
but to the all-im-

portant matter of that precious life, character, or

words they add little or nothing in addition to that

which is found in the work of Bonaventura.

One other record, however, came into existence

much later on, which merits a word, but which

was after all the creation of an earlier period. I

allude to the well-known ‘ Fioretti,’ and I think

we may attribute some measure of value to this

work.

To destroy the concise records of the man and his

life in the conventual houses was comparatively

easy
;
but not even the Roman See could destroy

the memories burnt into the hearts of the people by

the devotion and humility of their great teacher.

Here and there one of the real stories or incidents in

which St. Francis had figured was handed down

from father to son, until the stories had assumed in



ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI. 31

many cases at least strange and prodigious dimen-

sions.

The legends were collected and published about

100 years after the death of their hero, but they

nevertheless give us many a light on the life of St.

Francis which we should never have had but for the

indestructible truth which they convey in picture

form. In this relation let me quote the words of

Professor Sabatier in his introduction to the
6

Fioretti.’

They are, like himself, very charming :
“
Francois d’Assisi qui s’est fait aimer et admirer

par son pays d’abord, puis par le monde entier, ce

n’est pas le saint dont Bonaventure et Celano nous

ont esquisse la vague silhouette, c’est l’ltalien tres

original dont toute la vie fut poesie et douleur, chant

d’amour et de compassion revele par les Fioretti et

par frere Leon.”

Before passing on to the later stages of Franciscan

study it may be well to observe that at all times

there have been, here and there, such scraps of

information published as have given clues to that

greater truth which lay behind them. In this

relation we have such works as the c Speculum

Vitae,
5 c The Conformities,’ and the books of Bernard

Bessa, Jourdanus, Eccleston, Salembeni, Careno,

‘ The Chronicles of the XXIV Generals,’ and others

of minor importance
;
but all these affect very little

the whole matter of the life, whilst those later

works which have been lost, so far as they are in

any way recorded, seem to have had no new matter

to contribute.

It was reserved for the nineteenth century to

unwrap from his thick covering of tradition and



32 ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI.

stereotyped ideas, the real St. Francis, but, un-

fortunately, the progress made has been anything

but rapid.

Early in the previous century the Pere Rinaldi

discovered, where we know not, the text of Celano’s

first life, and also some text or texts of what we

may now recognise as the ‘ Legenda Antiqua.’ Both

of these he published in 1806.

In the year 1880, a further stimulus was given

to this subject by the re-publication by the Abb6

Amoni of a version of the works previously pub-

lished by Rinaldi, and which had for all practical

purposes become so rare as to be nearly unob-

tainable. What manuscripts he used for his

revision it is impossible to say, for after having care-

fully gone through every known MS. and compared

the text, I find the variations in each case are of so

extensive a character as to offer no basis upon

which to found a theory. This applies equally to

the versions both of the
‘ Legenda Gregorii ’ and

the ‘ Legenda Antiqua.’

We know, however, that Rinaldi had taken his

text from that belonging to the Monastery of

Falerone, in the March of Ancona. This Codex

was stolen by robbers, so we are told, from the

brother in whose charge it had been placed; that

MS., as far as I can judge, has not yet been

recovered.

I feel sure, too, that Rinaldi did not in making

his recension of the ‘Legenda Antiqua’ confine

himself to the Assisi version, though doubtless he

copied from it.

The real humanity which is everywhere evident in



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 33

those writings had already set men to work to

study, and great thinkers like M. Renan and others

began to occupy themselves with the study of

the genius of the person of whom these records

spoke.

A pupil of M. Renan, from a passing remark of
the latter’s, was led to dive deeper into this fasci-

nating subject, and before the century closed all

Europe was stimulated by the appearance of an

epoch-making book by Professor Paul Sabatier,

which gave back to the world the most delightful

photograph of the Friar of Assisi, who had, in his

day, stirred all Europe to religious enthusiasm.

M. Sabatier in his writings was at once fearless

and considerate
;
but none the less he touched upon

dangerous ground, and in consequence students of

mediaeval literature soon became ranged into two

hostile armies—one which looked to the accomplished
Frenchman for inspiration, the others representing

the influence of the Roman Curia. In their zeal to

obtain and circulate material for their warfare each

party has contributed to the common good, and we

owe much to each.

When the last century closed students were

already awake to the fact that it was in the pre-

Bonaventuran works that the most important

records were to be found, and active search was

made for MSS. of the earlier period. Those few

scholars who had devoted themselves to this some-

what difficult line of research soon found that they

were in possession of the following material :

—

The works published by Amoni and Rinaldi,

that is to say (1) an extremely poor version of

3



34 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

the ‘Legenda Gregorii/ and (2) a slightly better

one of the ‘Legenda Antiqua’; also the following

MSS. :

—

Of the ‘Legenda Gregorii

:

5

At Barcelona, in the

Archivo de la Corona de Aragon, a late Benedic-

tine MS.
;
at Evreux, in the Bibliotheque Municipal

;

at the British Museum, a MS. just mentioned by

two writers, but practically unknown to most

authors
;

at Montpellier, in the Bibliotheque de

l’ecole de Medicine
;

at Oxford, in the Corpus

Christi College Library, a very little known MS.

;

at Paris, in the Bibliotheque National.

Of the 6 Legenda Antiqua :
5

that at Assisi, in the

collection belonging to the Sacro Convento.

Such then, were the only known works by

Thomas of Celano, in 1899, and though to many the

more picturesque writings of Brother Leo and the

£

Tres Soc-ii/ or indeed, the
c

Fioretti
5

appeal

more highly, a scientific age will, I am convinced, be

glad to fall back for its impressions on the more

definite and accurate history and clearer definition

of the brother to whom the whole order again and

again committed the work of constructing the

biography of St. Francis.

I shall, therefore, make little further allusion

to the progress made with the study of the MSS.

belonging to other winters, but shall confine

myself to those with whom the name of Thomas of

Celano is associated.

In dealing with the present subject I trust I may

be excused for the large reference I must of

necessity make to my own researches, but in so

doing I desire to claim nothing for myself, for



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 35

though I have had the good fortune to come across

certain documents of some value, I should never

have known of them, or rather, should never have

been led to look for them, but for information and

assistance so readily accorded to me both by

Professor Paul Sabatier and Frere Edouard

d’Alencon, Archivist General of the Capuchin

Order.

With regard to the works of Thomas of Celano

subsequent to the year 1229, there has always

been considerable mystery. Anyone studying the

‘ Chronicles of the XXIV Generals/ and several other

writings well known to us to-day, cannot doubt

that there was at one time a work of our author in

existence which contained not only the miracles

recorded for the Canonization, such as we have in

the
£ Legenda Gregorii/ but a fuller and more

complete compendium of them written at a much

later date. It seemed as though the terrible edict

of the “ Chapter General ” of Paris had been able to

utterly destroy this later work, when suddenly,

Father Louis Antoine de Porrentruy managed to

secure for his library at Marseilles a MS. which he

purchased at the sale of the books of Prince B.

Boncompagni, and which ultimately proved to be

the missing work. It was in January, 1898, when

this discovery was made
;
but it was not until the

middle of the year 1899 that readers were put in

possession of the fact by the Bollandist fathers, who

were able to give to the world the valuable informa-

tion that this work existed.

The Bollandists, however, made the mistake of

thinking that the first part of the newly discovered



36 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

MS. was in reality only a version of the Assisi

Codex to which the later edition of the e Miracles
’

had been added, but I submit that such a view is

impossible, and though I do not propose to

recapitulate the long and somewhat involved argu-

ment at the commencement of my edition of ‘Celano’s

Lives of St. Francis
5

just published, I shall hope to

introduce such evidence of a new nature as will

make it impossible any further to consider these two

works as being one and the same.

Some years ago, when fascinated by the story of

the Saint of Umbria, I set myself to study the

motives which had actuated and underlain the

action of this great man, I found that the great

obstacle to further progress was the difficulty of

getting a correct text of the life of St. Francis.

With the greatest difficulty I secured copies of the

published works by Amoni, and I had access to the

Bollandist text in the Acta Sanctorum. All were

strangely inaccurate and unreliable, whilst nowhere

was the missing list of miracles to be found. For a

variety of reasons which I need not now detail, I

became convinced that the first step towards a

re-construction of the true conception of the real

St. Francis was to secure a correct version of the

works of Celano. For this reason I travelled over

Europe in search of these works and was fortunate

enough in the first instance to be able to collate and

to photograph the following Codices—Barcelona,
Evreux, Paris, Montpellier, Oxford, and the version

at the British Museum, all these being versions

of the
6 Legenda Grregorii.’ At Assisi I was able

to collate and photograph the Codex which had



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 37

been hitherto known as the e Vita Secunda,’ and

which I have now re-named by its original title of

the ‘Legenda Antiqua.’ Whilst at Assisi, Professor

Sabatier brought to my notice the fact of the

discovery of a further MS. to which I have already

alluded, as belonging to Marseilles. I was

determined to obtain all the information I could on

the subject, and as soon as my work at Assisi

was completed, I made a pilgrimage to Marseilles

and went directly to the Capuchin Monastery, where

I expected to find the precious work.

To my dismay I found the brothers in a state of

semi-siege
;
they were just about to be turned out of

their home. Some of them, into whose hands this

may perchance fall, will possibly remember the

persistent Englishman who would press to obtain

information about the wonderful MS. which he

asserted was in the museum of the order. After

endless waiting and trouble I found that Pere Louis

Antoine de Porrentruy had left Marseilles for some

unknown spot, and that another brother had been

placed in charge of the museum. Could not I see

his successor ? Alas, no ! He, too, was no longer

in Marseilles. Besides this it became a matter of

the greatest doubt whether the MS. was any longer

in the town or not ; one brother told me that all the

valuables from the museum had been removed,

another that the MS. was somewhere in the town,

but in safe keeping, owing to the attack of the

French Government on the religious orders.

Still I was not satisfied
;
where could I find the

present guardian of the work in question ? From

the Superior I ascertained that he had gone to



38 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

Lyons, and I immediately set off thither only to

discover that my quarry had vanished. On arriving

at the address given me, I could at first get no

information whatever, as at the latter place the

gentleman in question was known by another name,

but after finally convincing the cure of the church

to which I had gone that my motives in seeing him

were both friendly and sincere, I was at last

accorded his address in a far-off country abode, to

which he had gone for an indefinite period. I had

not the time to follow him any further, so wrote and

telegraphed to him
;
but alas ! no answer. Again I

wrote, with the same result; and only after my

third attempt did I hear from him to the effect that

he knew nothing of the document in question. My

hopes were shattered
;

the monastery was broken

up ! The brothers were scattered, and the one man

in whose charge it must have been either would not

or could not tell me anything about it ! I cannot go

into all the details of the matter, but suffice it to say

that thanks to the assistance of Professor Sabatier

and Frere Edouard d’Alengon I have been able not

only to reproduce the Marseilles or Boncompagni

document for the first time, so far as our knowledge

of these matters goes, but am also able to offer for

inspection photographs of the text itself, which will

help my hearers to understand what an extremely

beautiful and important version it is.

Having secured the text, the next difficulty was

to identify it and to name it. Let me remind you

that until the present time all writers had been

pleased to accept as final the* fact that the
£ Legenda

Grregorii ’ was in reality the c Vita Prima ’ of early



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 39

writers, and that the Assisi text was the ‘Vita

Secunda
5

or ‘ Tractatus Secundus
5

of the author

of the ‘ XXIV Generals.
5

I have already shown how Professor Sabatier,

following the lead of the more deeply versed students

of Franciscan sources, recognised the necessity of

accepting the view that there had been a third work

containing the miracles. Now that the Marseilles

MS. work was in the possession of the world, men

asked, What is this text? So far no answer has

been given.

The Bollandists, so far as I understand them, seem

to have taken it for granted that the first part of

this work was only another version of the Assisi

codex, and that the ‘ Miracula ’ which occupies half

the entire MS. constitutes a third and separate work.

This would, of course, leave the position of things

unchanged. Professor Sabatier, I am led to believe,

accepted the fact that this MS. might be classified

as a third life.

It is to the measure of importance to be attached

to this third work and its relationship to the already

known texts that Franciscan students will have, in

the future, to devote much thought and study. The

second half of my critical introduction to the
‘ Legenda Sancti Francisci Auctore Thoma de

Celano ’ is devoted to this most important question.

Those who are interested in ascertaining the

grounds upon which I have based my decisions and

conclusions will find them in detail in that volume,

but I cannot stay here to enter upon the difficult

argument; suffice it to say that I have had the

support of learned students of Franciscan lore in



40 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

venturing to re-name the works of Celano which

have so tremendous a bearing on the history of

St. Francis. The results of my labour, however, are

soon told. They are as follows : That the work

published by Rinaldi, and afterwards by Amoni and

the Bollandist Fathers, under the title of the
4

Vita

Prima Sancti Francisci ’ is in reality the £ Legenda

Gregorii,’ or, if it be preferred, the
6

Vita Prima,

Pars Prima.’ Secondly, that the work published by

Rinaldi and Amoni under the title of 4 Vita Secunda

seu Appendix ad Vitam Primam Sancti Francisci ’ is

in reality the
4 Legenda Antiqua ’ already alluded to,

or may be indeed called the 4 Pars Secunda ’ or
4

Appendix ad Vitam Primam Sancti Francisci.’

That a
4

Vita Secunda ’ had been published was too

well known for there to be any question on such a

subject, and therefore I have ventured to call the

Marseilles or Boncompagni document the
4

Tractatus

Secundus.’ I should have preferred to have called it

the
4

Vita Secunda,’ but out of deference to at least

one Franciscan scholar of eminence, and to avoid the

confusion that it would of necessity produce, I have

used the term equally applicable, used by the author

of the
4 XXIV Generals,’ viz. 4 Tractatus Secundus.’

Only last year, thanks to some correspondence

with Frere Edouard d’Alen^on, I was set to work

to search for new MSS. of the 4 Legenda Gregorii,’

which, from its universal acceptance for about thirty-

four years previous to the
44
Chapter General ” of

Paris, had been copied all over Europe. As a result

of my search I was fortunate enough to discover

versions of this great work in the libraries of

Heidelberg, Wurzburg, and in the Monastery of



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 41

Ossegg. All my attempts, however, to find MSS.

were not equally satisfactory, for on one occasion,

when I had travelled from the north to the south of

Austria in the belief that I was on the track of a new

version, I discovered to my dismay that the MS. I

had journeyed so far to see was in reality only an

early copy of Bonaventura’s text badly catalogued,

and I had to return empty. On my way home,

having to wait for a time in a certain Austrian town

for a train, I came across a work which considerably

interested me. It was a very early version of the

life of St. Francis, and I was surprised to find that

the text reproduced to my mind the impression of

Celano’s style
;
I read on and became convinced that

whatever else I had, here was a work almost entirely

culled from the writings of Brother Thomas of

Celano.

As to the date to be attributed to this impor-

tant MS. I find much diversity of opinion. The

authorities of the Imperial Library are quite certain

that it is a thirteenth century work. I was informed

that there could be no doubt about this, and I have

a further letter from the librarian stating that

it is as I have said. I have consulted Dr. Warner,

of the British Museum, whose opinion on these

subjects is second to none in this country, and

he places it quite early in the fourteenth century,

at the end of the first decade, whilst a learned Fellow

of this Society, who has been kind enough to give

me his opinion, places it as late as the middle of the

fourteenth century.

There seems so much to be said for each view

that I find it difficult to form an opinion, and there-



42 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

fore am disposed to fall back upon that of Dr.

Warner, especially as it coincides more closely with

my conjectures as to tbe history of the document in

question, viz., that it is a very early fourteenth cen-

tury copy of an earlier work which must have been

produced soon after the year 1264.

The MS. then, of which two pages are reproduced,

is a copy of a work which was either compiled or

ultimately incorporated by Jacobus de Voragineinto

his great work on the c Life of the Saints.’ I find

it, however, difficult to believe that he could have

been the original author, both from the style itself

and from the fact that at the time of the wholesale

destruction of the texts from which the writer so

freely quotes, Jacobus deVoragine could not have been

much more than thirty-three years of age, whilst as

a Dominican friar he would neither have the means

to possess nor the opportunity of studying the works

in question. On the other hand, it is more than

probable that in editing his
cMagnum opus’ he made

use of existing versions, probably employed some

well-versed Franciscan scholar to complete a short

version of the life of the founder of that Order

—

very possibly it may have been Bernard de Bessa to

whom he applied—hence for the present I prefer to
to call it

c Legenda Anonyma Sancti Francisci.’ The

following is the text, but by comparing the text with

the reproductions of the document itself it will be

seen that the numbers of the paragraphs are mine

and exist only for the purposes of comparison. The

c Legenda Anonyma ’ differs from the version of the

‘Legenda Aurea’ in about 150 different places, but

the differences are not material.



ST. FliANCIS OF ASSISI. 43

N.B .—The portions of text in the third column printed in italics indicate the
words which correspond in both versions.

L.Gr. = Legenda Grregorii.

L.A. = Legenda Antiqua.

T.S. = Tractatus Secundus.

Spec. = Speculum perfectionis.

Ill Soc. = Legend of the Three Companions.

B = Bonaventura.

Thick type in the second column indicates the passage from which the quotation

is made.

Type within brackets in the second column indicates general similarity in the

matter related.

Legenda Anonyma Sancti Francisci.

Codex. Origines.

De nomine sancti Francisci.

Franciscus prius dictus est

Johannes, set postmodum mutato

nomine Franciscus vocatus est.

Cuius mutationis multiplex causa

fuisse videtur. Primo ratione

miraculi convocati
;

linguam

enim gallicam miraculosam a deo

recepisse cognoscitur, unde in

legenda sua, quod semper est, cum

ardore sancti spiritus repleretur,

ardentia verba foris eructans gal-

lice loquebatur. Secundo ratione

officii divulgandi, unde dicitur in

legenda, quod divina providentia

sibi hoc vocabulo indidit, ut ex

singulari et insueto nomine opinio

ministerii eius toti cicius innotes-

ceret orbi. Tertio rationi effectus

consequendi, ut scilicet per hoc

daretur intelligi, quod ipse per se

et per filios suos multos servos

peccati et dyaboli debebat francos

facere. Quarto ratione magUani-

mitatis in corde; nam Franci a

feritate sunt dicti, quod eis inest

naturalis feritas et magnanimi-

tas animorum. Quinto ratione

virtuositatis in sermone, quia eius

sermo instar securis vicia incide-

bat. Sexto ratione honestatis

L.A. I A. 7. Semper enim cum ipse ardore

T.S. A. 8. sancti spiritus repleretur, ardentia

verba foris eructans gallice loque-

batur.

L.A. I A. 1. Cui divina providentia hoc vo-

T.S. A. 1. cabulum indidit, ut ex singulari

et insueto nomine opinio ministerii

eius toti innotesceret orbi, a matre.



44 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

in conversatione. Aiunt enim

Francisca dei signa quedam in-

star securium, qne Rome ante

consules ferebantur, qne erant in

timorem et in honorem.

De sancto Francisco.

1 . Franciscus., servns et amicus

altissimi, in civitate Assisii ortus

et negociator effectus, fere usque

ad 20 etatis sue annum tempus

suum vane vivendo consumpsit.

Quern dominus infirmitatis fla-

gello corripuit ac in virum alte-

rum subito transformavit, ita

quod iam spiritu prophetico pol-

lere cepit.

2. Nam cum quadam vice cum

pluribus a Perusinis captus fuis-

set, diro carcere maneipatus,

dolentibus aliis, hie solus exultat.

Redargutus super hoc a concap-

tivis respondit : Ideo me exultare

noveritis, quia adhuc sanctus per

totum seculum adorabor.

3.

Quadam vice Romam causa

devotionis proficiscens, vesti-

menta sua deposuit et pauperis

cuiusdam vestimenta induens

ante ecclesiam sancti Petri inter

pauperes sedit et cum eis, velud

unus ex illis, 1 avide manducavit

et sepius simile fecisset, nisi

notorum verecundia inpedi-

visset.

1.

Franciscus servus, et amicus

Altissimi.

2. Cum inter perusinos cives

et assisinates, tempore quodam,

fieret non modica strages ex belli

conflictu, captus Franciscus cum

pluribus et vinculatus cum

ceteris squalores carceris patitur.

Absorbentur tristitia concaptivi,

miserabiliter captivitatis sue

plorantes eventum
;

exultat

Franciscus in Domino, vincula

Domino, vincula ridet et spernit.

Dolentes arguunt iocundantem

in vinculis insanum reputant ac

dementem. Respondet Francis-

cus prophetice : In quo exultare

me creditis ? Meditatio alia sub-

est adhuc sanctus adorabor per

seculum totum.

3. Cum, tempore quodam, ro-

mam peregrinantuus adiret,

paupertatis amore vestimenta de-

licata deposuit et cuiusdam pau-

peris vestimentis obtectus, in

paradiso, ante ecclesiam sancti

petri, qui locus ferax est pau-

perum, inter pauperes letanter

resedit velud unum ex ipsis se repu-

tans, avide cum eis manducat.

L.A.I A.l.

T.S.A.l.

L.A. I A.

T.S. A. 1.

(Ill Soc. 4.)

L.A. I A. 3.

T.S. A. 2.

(B. 1. 6, III

Soc. 10.)

1 Fol. 82.



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 45

4.

Antiquus hostis eum a

salubri proposito conatur aver-

tere et feminam quandam sue

civitatis, monstruose gybbosam,

cordi eius inmitit et nisi resipis-

cat a eeptis, similem se facturum

minatur. Set a domino confor-

tatus audivit : Francisce, amara

pro dulcibus sume et te ipsum

contempne, si me cupis agnos-

cere.

5.

Quendam igitur leprosum

obvium babuit et huius homines

multum naturaliter abhorreret,

divini tamen memor oraculi ac-

currens in oscula eius ruit et

post hoc statim ille disparuit.

Quapropter ad leprosorum habit-

acula properat et eorum manus

devote osculans pecuniam donat.

6.

Ecclesiam sancti Damiani

orationis causa ingreditur et

imago Christi eum miraculose

alloquitur : Francisce, vade, in-

quit, repara domum meam, que,

ut cernis, tota destruitur. Ab ea

igitur hora anima eius liquefacta

est et crucifixi compassio eius

cordi mirabiliter est infixa.

Multotiens fecisset consimile, nisi

notorum fuisset verecundia impe-

ditus.

4. Immittit cordi eiusfeminam

quamdam monstruose gibbosam sue

incolam civitatis, que horrendum

cunctis prestabat aspectum.

Huic ilium, si non resipiscat a

eeptis, comminatur similem se

facturum, sed comfortatus a domi-

no salutis et gratie responsum

sibi fieri gaudet: Francisce, in-

quid illi deus, in spiritum pro

carnaliter et vane dilectis in

spiritualia commutato et amara

pro dulcibus sumens contempne te

ipsum,me si velis agnoscere ; nam et

ordine verso sapient tibi que

dico.

5 leprosum die quamdam

obvium habuit, cum iuxta assi-

sium equitaret, .... qui licet

sibi tedium non parvum ingereret

et horrorem, ne tamen velud man-

dati transgressor date fidei fran-

geret sacramentum, ad deobscu-

landum eum, equo lapsus,

accurrit Et statim equum

ascendens et hue et illuc se

convertens, cum campus pateret

undique liber, nullis obiectis

obstaculis, leprosum ilium mi-

nime vidit Ad leprosorum

habitacula tendit et leproso uni-

cuique data pecunia, manum il-

lorum obsculatur

6. Ecclesiam sancti damiani,

que fere diruta erat et ab omni-

bus derelicta, quam, cum spiritu

ducente, causa orationis intraret,

.... ymago Christi .... collo-

quitur

;

.... Francisce, inquid,

vade, repara domum mea, que, ut

cernis, tota destruitur Ab

ea igitur hora liquefacta est anima

eius

L.A. I A. 4.

T.S. A. 3.

(Ill Soc. 11,

12 .)

L.A. I A. 4.

T.S. A. 3.

(B. I 5.)

L.A. I A. 5.

T.S. A. 5.

(B. II 1, III

Soc. 13, 14.)



46 ST. FKANC1S OF ASSISI.

7. Insistit sollicite ecclesie

reparande et venditis, que habe-

bat, cum pecuniam cnidam pres-

bytero daret, et ille timore

parentum recipere recusaret,

coram ipso earn proiciens tam-

quam pulverem vilipendit. Qua-

propter a patre ligatus et captus,

pecuniam eidem restituit. Hanc

vestem pariter resignavit et sic

nudus ad dominum evolavit et

cilicio se induit.

8. Advocat insuper servus dei

quendam simplicem virum, quern

loco patris sui suscipiens rogat,

ut, cum pater eius maledicta con-

geminat, ipse sibi e converso

benedicat.

9. Frater etiam eius carnalis

hiemali tempore Franciscum vili-

bus panniculis tectum, orationi

vacantem ettremebundumvidens,

ait cuidam : Die Francisco, ut de

sudore suo unam tibi numatam

vendat. Quod ille audiens ala-

criter respondit : Revera hanc

domino meo vendam.

10. Quadam die, dum audiret

ea, que dominus discipulis suis

ad predicandum missis locutus

est, statim ad universa servanda

tota virtute consurgit. Solvit

calciamentum de pedibus, tunica

ima, sed vili induitur et pro

corrigia mutavit funiculum.

11. Tempore nivis per silvam

ambulans a latronibus capitur et

ab eis, quis sit, requisitus, preco-

nem dei se esse asserit. Quern

illi arripientes in nivem proiciunt

dicentes : lace, rustice preco

dei.

7 Ibi ex more venditis

omnibus, que portabat Et

invento illic quodam paupere

sacerdote, magnaque cum fide

osculatis manibus eius sacris,

pecuniam ei obtulit

Obstupefactus sacerdos ....

sed timore parentum pecuniam

non recepit.

Quam verus pecuniarum con-

temptor in quamdam fenestram

proiiciens, de ipsa velud de pulvere

curat.

ut nummatam unam nunc tibi

velit vendere de sudore; quo vir

deiauditoexhiliratusnimis subri-

dendo. Respondit : Revera, ego hanc

Domino meo karissime vendam.

11. Per quamdam silvam

laudes domino lingua francigena

decantaret, latrones super eum

subito irruerunt. Quibus ferali

animo eum quis esset interrogan-

tibus, confidenter vir Dei plena

voce respondit dicens : Preco sum

magni regis, quid ad vos P

L.Gr. I A. 5.

(Ill Soc. 16,

20, B. II 1.)

(B. Ill 1, III

Soc. 25.)

L.G. I A. 8.

(B. II 5.)

L.A. I A. 6.

T.S. A. 7.

L.A. I A. 6.

T.S. A. 7.

(Ill Soc. 23,

B. Ill 1.)

8 Advocat itaque servus

dei ideo quemdam virum plebeium

et simplicem satis, quern loco patris

suscipiens, rogat, ut cum pater eius

maledicta congeminat, ipse sibi e

contrario benedicat

9. Frater eius carnalis, . . . .

tempore yemali dum vilibus con-

tectum panniculis, cernit francis-

chum orationi vacantem, frigore

tremebundum, ait cuidam concivi

suo ille perversus : Die francisco,



Directions to Binder.

The two plates of ‘ Legenda Anonyma
’

(accidentally omitted) should he placed

between pages 234 and 235 of Part IY,

Yol. XXY (Rev. H. G. Rosedale’s paper,

“Legends of St. Francis of Assisi”).





ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 47

12. Multi nobiles et ignobiles

clerici et laid spreta seculi pompa

eius vestigiis 1 adheserunt, quos

pater sanctus docet evangelicam

perfectionem adimplere, pauper-

tatem apprehendere et per viam

sancte simplicitatis incedere.

13. Scripsit preterea evangeli-

cam regulam sibi et suis fratri-

bus habitis et habendis, quam

dominus papa Innocentius fir-

mavit.

14. Cepit extunc fervencius

verbi scientiam spargere et civi-

tates et castella fervore mirabili

circuire.

. 15. Frater quidam erat quam

a foris videbatur eximie sanctita-

tis, sed tamen admodum singu-

lars, qui tanta districtione

silencium observabat, ut non

verbis, sed nutibus confiteretur.

Cumque sanctus ab omnibus

laudaretur, vir dei illuc adveniens

dixit : Sinite fratres, nec mihi in

eo dyabolica figmenta laudare.

Moneatur semel vel bis in ebdo-

mada confiteri, quod si non

fecerit, dyabolica temptatio est

et deceptio fraudulenta. Monen-

tibus ilium fratribus digitum ori

suo inposuit et caput excutiens

se nullatenus confessurum innuit.

Non post multos dies ad vomitum

rediit et in facinoris actibus

vitam finivit.

1
Fol. 82.

At illi percutientes eum in de-

fosso loco pleno magnis nivibus

proicerunt dicentes : lace, rustice

preco Dei

(L.Gk A. 11,

13.)

(L.Gk A. 14.)

L.A. I A. 10.

T.S. A. 11.

(Ill Soc. 52

and 53.)

L.A. II A. 1.

T.S. A. 19.

(B. XI 10,
Spec. 102.)

14. Cepit exinde, auctoritate

sibi concessa, virtutum semina

spargere, civitates et castella cir-

cuiens predicare ferventius.

15. Frater quidam erat, quan-

tum a foris videbatur sanctitatis

eximie, conversatione insignis,

tamen admodum singularis ; omni

tempore orationi vacans tanta

districtione silentium observabat,

quod consueverat non verbis, sed

nutibus confiteri Accidit

beatum patrem venire ad locum,

videre fratrem, audire sanctum.

Commendantibus autem omnibus

et magnificantibus ilium, respon-

dit pater : Sinite fratres, nec mihi

in eo dyabolica figmenta laudate.

In veritate sciatis, quod dyabolica

tenptatio est et deceptio fraudu-

Iqnta Quibus pater: Mo-

neatur bis, vel semel obedientia

confiteri
:

quod si non fecerit,

scientis vera esse que dico.

Adsumit eum seorsum vicarius

;

et primo quidem cum eo familia-

riter iocundatus, ultimo con-

fessor iniungit. Respuit ille,

imponensque digitum ori suo,

excusso capite, innuit, se nullatenus



48 ST. FRANCIS OF
ASSISI.

16. Fatigatus ex itinere
servus

dei, dum asinum equitaret, socius

eras scilicet frater Leonardos
de

Assisio similiter fatigatus
intra

se cogitare cepit ac dicere
: Non

de pari ludebant parentes
buius

et mei. Continno vir
dei de

asino descendens dixit
fratri

:

Non convenit me equitare et te

pedes venire, quia nobilior
me

fuisti. Stupefactus frater
ad

pedes patris procidit et
veniam

postnlavit.

17. Transennti sibi aliqnando

mnlier qnedam nobilis concito

gradu occnrrit. Cuius lassitudi-

nem et interclnsos anhelitus

miseratns qnidnam requireret,

inqnisivit. Et ilia : Ora pro

me, pater, qnia salubre
proposi-

tum, qnod concepi, viro meo in-

pediente non exeqnor, sed in

servicio Christi mibi plurimum

adversatur. Cni ille : Vade flba,

scito, de eo consolationem
recipies

et ex parte dei omnipotentis
et

mea sibi denuncies, quod nunc

est tempus salutis, postmodnm

equitatis. Qua denunciante vir

confessurum. Obticnernnt fratres,

timentes scandalum fieri sancti.

Non post multos religionem libens

egreditnr, convertitnr ad secu-

lnm, revertitur ad vomitum, qni

tandem facinora duplicans, peni-

tentia simnl et vita privatus

est.

16. Eo tempore cum revertere-

tur sanctus de ultramare, sotinm

babens fratrem Leonardum de

Assisio, contigit eum itinere fati-

gatum et lapsum, parumper asi-

num eqnitare. Snbseqnens antem

socins et ipse non modicum fessus,

cepit dicere intra se bnmanum

aliquid passus : Non ludebant de

pari parentes huius et mei.
En

antem ipse eqnitat ego pedestre

asinum eius duco. Hoc illo cogi-

tante, protinus de asino descendit

sanctus et ait

:

Non, frater, non

convenit, inquid, ut ego equitem,

tu venias pedes, quia nobilior
et

potentior in seculo me fuisti.

Obstupuit illico frater et rubore

suffusus deprebensum se cognovit

a sancto. Procidit ad pedes
eius et

lacrymis irrigatus, nudum cogita-

tum exposuit veniamque poposcit.

17. Illis diebus cum ad cellam

de cortona vir dei
transiret,

quedam nobilis mulier .... per-

venit ad sanctum; cuius
laxi-

tudinem et interclusos
anhelitus

miseratus, pater sanctissimus

dixit ad earn : Quid tibi,
domina,

placeat? At ilia: Pater ut
mibi

benedicas. Et sanctus :
Nupta

es, an innupta ?
Respondit

dicens : Pater, babeo virum
valde

crudelem, quern
adversarium

patior in servitio iesu
christi ; et

iste mihi dolor precipuus,
quod

bonam voluntatem, quam
mibi

dominus inspiravit, marito
pre-

L.A. II A. 3.

T.S. A. 22.

(B. XI 8.)

L.A. II A. 7.

T.S. A. 27.

(B. XI 6.)



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 49

subito mutatur et continentiam

pollicetur.

pedite, non exequor

:

unde queso,

sancte, ora pro ipso, ut divina

misericordia humiliet cor

illius.

Miratur pater virilem in femina,

senilem animum in puella
;

et

pietate permotus ait : Vade filia

benedicta et scias de viro tuo con-

solationem tibi de proxime affu-

turam. Et adiecit: Dices ei ex

parte dei et mea, quod nunc est

tempus salutis, postmodum equi-

tatis. Benedictione accepta, re-

vertitur mulier, invenit virum,

denuntiat verbum. Cecidit subito

super eum spiritus sanctus et

novum factum de veteri, cum

omni mansuetudine respondere

sic facit : domina, serviamus

domino et salvemus animas

nostras in domo nostra.

18. Cuidam rustico in quadam L.A. II A. 16.

solitudine siti deficienti fontem (B- VII 12.)

aque ibidem suis orationibus

inpetravit.

19. Cuidam fratri admodum L.A. II A. 21.

familiari secretum sancto hoc T.S. A. 32.

instigante spiritu retulit dicens :

Hodie est aliquis servus dei super

terram, propter quern, quoad

vixerit,
1 non permitet dominus

famem supra homines desevire.

Sic procul dubio fuisse narratur.

Set, illo sublato,totain contrarium

condicio permutatur. Nam post
eius felicem transitum predicto

fratri apparuit dicens : Ecce iam

venit fames, quam, dum ego

viverem, venire super terram

dominus non permisit.

20.

In festopasce,cumfratresin L.A. Ill C. I.

heremo greci mensam accuracius T ®- A. 45.

solito albis et vitreis preparas-
(Spec. 20.)

19 die quodam fratri

cuidam, quern attentius diligebat,

retulit verbum istud, quod tunc

de sibi familiari reportaverat

secretario : Hodie, inquid, est

aliquis servus dei super terram,

propter quern, dum vixerit non

permictat dominus famem super

homines desevire Sed illo

sublato, verso penitus ordine im-

mutata sunt omnia Nam

nocte quadam, cum frater ille

dormiret, clara eum voce vocavit

dicens. Frater iam venit fames

quam, donee viverem ego, venire

super terram dominus non pro-

misit

20. Factum est, quodam die

pasche, ut fratres in heremo grecii

mensam, accuratius solito albis et

Fol. 83.

4



50 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

sent, et vir dei hoc conspexit,

protinus gressum retrahens

capellum cniusdam pauperis, qui

tunc aderat, capiti suo inponit et

baculum manu gestans foras

egreditur et ad hostium presto-

latur. Manducantibus igitur

fratribus clamat ad hostium, ut

amore dei peregrino pauperi et

infirmo elemosinam largiantur.

Yocatus pauper ingreditur et in

terra solus recumbens discum

ponit in cinere. Quod videntes

fratres stupore nimio sunt repleti.

Quibus ille mensam vidi paratam

et ornatam et pauperum ostiatim

euntium non esse cognovi.

21 . Paupertatem in se et in aliis

adeo diligebat, ut paupertatem

dominam suam semper vocaret.

Set quando pauperiorem se ipso

videret, protinus invidebat et

se ab illo vinci timebat. Nam

cum die quadam pauperculum

quendam obvium habuisset, ait

socio suo : Magnam verecundiam

intulit nobis huius inopia et

nostram paupertatem plurimum

reprehendit. Nam pro meis

divitiis, pro mea domina pauper-

vitreis prepararent. Descendens

autem pater de cella, venit ad

mensam, conspicit alto sitam

varieque ornatam
;

sed ridenti

mense nequaquam arridet. Fur-

tim et pedetentim retrahit gres-

sum, capellum cuiusdam pauperis,

qui tunc aderat, capiti suo imponit,

et baculum manu gestans egreditur

foras. Expectat foris ad hostium,

donee incipiant fratres
;
siquidem

soliti erant non expectare ipsum,

quando non veniret ad signum.

Illis incipientibus manducare,

clamat verus pauper ad hostium :

Amore domini dei facite, inquid,

heleemosynam isti peregrino pau-

peri et infirmo. Respondent

fratres : Intra hue, homo, illius

amore, quern invocasti.

Repente igitur ingreditur et

sese comedentibus offert. Sed

quantum stuporem credis pere-

grinum civibus intulisse ? Datur

petenti scutella
;
et solo, solus re-

cumbens, discum ponit in cinere :

Modo sedeo, ait, ut frater Minor

;

et ad fratres : Magis nos exempla

paupertatis filii dei quam ceteros

religiosos cogere debet. Mensam

vidi paratam et ornatam et pau-

perum hostiatim euntium non esse

cognovi

21. At vero cum omnem a se

relegasset invidiam, sola carere

non potuit invidia paupertatis

;

si
!
quidem pauperiorem se ipso

videret, protinus invidebat et

emula paupertate concertans,

invici se timebat in illo.

Accidit die quadam, cum predi-

cando vir dei discurreret, pauper-

culum quemdam obvium habere in

via, cuius cum nuditatem prospi-

ceret, compunctus, ad sotium

vertitur dicens : Magnam vere-

L.A. Ill K.

T.S. A. 65.

(Spec. 17.)



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 51

tatem elegi, et ecce aplius relucet

in isto.

22. Dum quidam pauper coram
jj ^ jjj j

eo transiret et vir dei intima T.S. A. 66.

'

fuisset conpassione conmotus,

dixit ei socius : Etsi hie pauper

sit, sed forsitan in tota provincia

non est eo dicior in voluntate.

Cui vir dei dixit : Cito tunicam

exue et pauperi tribue et ad eius

pedes prostratus culpabilem te

clama. Cui ille protinus obedi-

vit.

23. Quadam vice tres mulieres, B. VII 6.
facie et habitu per omnia similes, (L.A. Ill K.

obvias habuit, que eum taliter 78.)

cundiam intulit nobis huius inopia

et nostram paupertatem plurimum

reprehendit. Cui respondit sotius :

Qua ratione, frater ? Et sanctus

lamentabili voce respondit : Pro

meis divitiis, pro mea domina,

paupertatem elegi; et ecce relucet

magis in isto

22. Quidem paupercuius et in-

firmus venit ad locum; ....

cumque patienti compatiens iam

in affectum cordis illius transisset,

dixit sotius sancti ad eum : Frater,

verum est ipsum pauperem esse,

sed forsitan in tota provintia non

est ditior voluntate. Increpat eum

illico sanctus et culpam dicenti

dixit

:

Festina cito et exue te

tunicam tuam et ad pauperis pedes

proiectus, culpabilem te proclama,

nec solum veniam poscas, immo,

eius orationem efflagita. Paruit

et ivit, satisfecit et rediit.

salutaverunt : Bene veniat do-

mina paupertas, et continuo dis-

paruerunt et ultra vise non sunt.

devenisset et ibi bellum intesti-

num conmotum fuisset, vidit vir
dei de burgo super terram illam

demones exultantes, vocansque

socium suum nomine Silvestrum

dixit ei: Vade ad portam civi-

tatis et demonibus, ut de civitate

exeant, ex parte dei omnipotentis

precipe. Qui festinans ante por-

tam valenter exclamavit
: Ex

parte dei et iussu patris nostri

Francisci 1 discedite demones uni-

versi! Sicque omnes cives post

modicum ad concordia redie-
runt.

24. Accidit sicquedein ad civi-

tatem, Aretii ipsam devenire quan-

doque, cum ecce, tota civitas

intestino bello quassata, pro-

pinquum sui minabatur excidium.

Hospitatus itaque vir dei in

burgo, extra civitatem videt supra

terram illam, demones exultantes

et cives ad civium exitia succen-

dentes; vocans autem fratrem,

Silvestrum nomine, virum domini,

digne simplicitatis, precepit ei et

dicens : Vade ante portam civita-

tis
; et ex parte omnipotentis dei,

demonibus precipe, ut quam cito

exeant civitatem. Festinat pia

24. Cum ad civitatem Aretii L.A. Ill M. 6.
T.S. A. 89.

(B. VI 9.)

1

Fol. 83.



52 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

25. Predictus autem Silvester,

dum adlmc sacerdos secularis

esset, vidit in sompnis crucem

auream de ore Francisci proce-

dentem, cnius sumitas celos tan-

gebat, cnius brachia protensa in

latum utrumque mundi partem

amplexando cingebat. Conpunc-

tus sacerdos protinus mundum

deserit et viri dei perfectus imi-

tator efficitur.

26. Existente viro dei in ora-

cione dyabolus eum ter proprio

nomine vocavit. Cui cum sanctus

respondisset, adiecit : Nullus est

adeo in boc mundo peccator, cui,

si conversus fuerit, non indulgeat

dominus. Set quicunque semet-

ipsum penitentia dura necaverit,

misericordiam in perpetuum non

inveniet. Continuo servus dei

per revelacionem cognovit bostis

fallaciam, quomodo nisus fuerit

eum ad teporem reducere. Cer-

nens autem hostis antiquus, quod

sic non prevaluit, gravem carnis

temptacionem eidem inmisit.

Quod vir dei sentiens veste de-

posita cordula durissima se ver-

berat dicens : Eya frater asine,

sic te manere decet, sic subire

flagellum. Set cum temptacio

nequaquam discederet, foras

exiens in magnam nivem se

nudum dimersit. Accipiensque

nivem in modum pile glebas

conpingit. Quas sibi preponens

simplicitas ad obedientiam prose-

quendam
;

et preoccupans in

laudem faciem domini, clamat

ante portam valenter: Ex parte

dei et iussu patris nostri Francisci

procul hinc discedite demones uni-

versi. Eedit ad pacem paulo post

civitas et civilitatis

25. Silvester itaque sacerdos

fuerat secularis .... Videt nam-

que in sompnis crucem auream de

ore procedentem Francisci, cuius

summitas celos tangebat, cuius

bracchia, protensa in latum,

utramque mundi partem amplex-

ando cingebant.

Compunctus sacerdos in visu

dampnosam excutit moram, re-

liquid mundum, viri dei perfectus

imitator efficitur.

26. Malignus ille qui semper

profectibus mordet filiorum dei

.... cum nocte quadam ad ora-

tionem vacaret in cellulam, voca-

vit eum ter dicens : Francisce,

Francisce, Francisce. Qui respon-

dit dicens : Quid vis ? Et ille :

Nullus est in mundo peccator, cui,

si conversus fuerit, non indulgeat

dominus ; sed quicumque semetip-

sum penitentia dura necaverit, in

perpetuum misericordiam non

inveniet. Statim sanctus per reve-

lationem, cognovit hostis fallsum,

quomodo nisusfuerit eum ad tepida

revocare. Quid ergo ? Non des-

titit inimicus aliud inferre cer-

tamen. Cernens enim, quod

laqueum sic occultare non potuit,

alium laqueum preparat, carnis

videlicet incentivum
;

frustra

tamen, quoniam qui spiritus

depreliendit versutiam, carne

sophisticari non potuit. Immictit

ergo in ilium dyabolus gravissi-

mam temptationem luxurie
;

at

L.A. Ill M. 7.

T.S. A. 90.

L.A. Ill 0. 1.

T.S. A. 97.

(B. Y 4.)



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 53

cepit alloqui corpus : Ecce,

inquit, hec maior uxor tua est.

Iste quatuor filii et due filie reli-

quis servus sunt et ancilla. Fes-

tina ergo omnes providere, quia

frigore moriuntur. Si autem

earum multiplex te sollicitudo

molestat, uni domino sollicitus

servi. Illico dyabolus confusus

abscessit et vir dei glorificans in

cellam rediit.

27. Cum apud dominum

Leonem cardinalem sancte crucis

ab eo rogatus aliquamdiu mora-

retur, nocte quadam demones ad

ipsum venientes eum gravissime

verberaverunt
;
vocansque socium

et rem sibi apperiens ait: De-

mones sunt gastaldi dei nostri,

quos destinat ipse ad puniendos

excessus. Ego vero offensam non

recolo, quam per misericordiam

dei satisfactione non laverim.

Set forte ideo gastaldos suos in

me permisit irruere, quia maneo

in curiis magnorum, quod forsi-

tan fratribus meis pauperculis

bonam suspicionem non generat.

beatus pater statim ut percipit,

veste deposita, cordula durissime

verberat dicens : Eia,frater asine,

sic te manere decet, sic subire flagel-

lum : tunica religionis est, furari

non licet: si quo vis pergere,

perge.

Videns autem propter disci-

plinas temptationem non disce-

dere, cum tamen iam livoribus

membra cuncta punxisset, aperta

cellula, floras exiit in hortum et in

magnam nivem demergit se nudum.

Recipit autem nivem plenis con-

ficit manibus et ex ea in modum

pile septem glebas compingit, quas

sibipreponens, cepit alloqui corpus

:

Ecce, inquid, hec maior uxor tua

est

:

porro iste quatuor duo sunt

filij et due filie tue : relique due

servus sunt et ancilla, quos ad

serviendum habere oportet
;

et

festina, inquid, omnes induere,

quoniam frigore moriuntur. Si

autem eorum multiplex sollicitudo

molestat, uni domino sollicitus

servi. Illico dyabolus confusus

abscessit, sanctusque in cella rever-

titur, glorificans dominum.

27. Rogatus quandoque a

domino Leone cardinali sancte

crucis, ut secum in urbe paululum

moraretur, .... nocte cum post

orationem deo fusam vellet quies-

cere, veniunt demones et hostiles

agones immovent sancto dei,

quern diutissime ac durissime

verberantes, ad ultimum quasi

seminecem relinqunt. Illis dis-

cedentibus, separato tandem

anhelitu, vocat sanctus socium

suum .... venienti ait: ... .

Demones sunt castaldi domini

nostri, quos destinat ipse ad puni-

endos excessus ; signum autem

ampliorus est gratie, nichil in

L.A. III P.

T.S. A. 99.



54 ST. FKANCIS OF ASSIST.

quia forte me existimant deliciis

habundare; et surgens summo

mane inde recessit.

28. Existente eo aliquando in

oracione audivit 1 super tectum

domus catervas demonum cum

strep itu discurrentes. Qui con-

citus foras exiens et crucis sibi

signum inprimens dixit. Ex parte

omnipotentis dei dico vobis, de-

mones, ut quicquid vobis permis-

sum est, in meo corpore faciatis

libenter omnia sustinebo, quia,

cum maiorem inimicum non

babeam corpore, vendicabo me

de adversario meo, dum in ipso

vice mea exercebitis ultionem.

Confusi igitur demones evan-

escunt.

29. Frater quidam socius viri

dei in extasi factus inter ceteras

celi sedes vidit unam dignissima

et mirabili gloria prefulgentem.

Qui cum miraretur, cuinam tarn

preclara sedes servaretur, sedes

isti unius de ruentibus princi-

pibus fuit et nunc liumili Fran-

cisco paratur. Et exuens ab

oracione virum dei interrogavit

dicens
:
Quid de te opinaris, pater.

1 Fol. 84.

servo suo impune relinquere,

dum vivit in mundo. Ego vero

offensam non recolo, quam per

misericordiam dei satisfactione

non laverim

;

.... Sed potest

esse, quod ideo castaldos suos in

me permisit irrumpere, quia non

bonam speciem aliis, prefert

mansio mea in curia magnatorum.

Fratres mei, qui in locis pauper-

culis commorantur, audientes me

cum cardinalibus esse, suspica-

bunturforsitan habundare delitiis

;

. . . . Yeniunt ergo mane et

recitatis omnibus, valefaciunt

cardinalem.

28. Cum ergo solus persisteret

orationes longas sentiebat super

tectum vero domus catervas demo-

num cum strepitu discurrentes.

Surrexit itaque protinus et

egressus foras crucis signaculum

fronti imprimis dixit Ex parte

omnipotentis dei dico vobis demones,

ut quidquid vobis permissum est in

meo corpore faciatis ; libens sub-

stineo, quia cum maiorem inimicum

non habeam corpore . vindicabitis

me de adversario meo, dum in ipso

vicemei exercebitis ultionem . Itaque

qui propter spiritual deterrendum

convenerant, spiritum promp-

tiorem in came infirma cernentes,

pudore confusi protinus evanescunt.

29. Socius .... etfactus in ex-

tasi vid.et inter multas in celo sedes

unam ceteris digniorem

,

ornatam

pretiosis lapidibus, omnique gloria

prefulgentem. Miratus intra se

nobilem tbronum et cuius sit

tacitus, pensat; audit inter liec

vocem dicentem sibi : Sedes ista

unius de ruentibus fuit et nunc

humili franciscus servatur

.... Francisehum dicens :

L.A. Ill P. 2.

T.S. A. 102.

L.A. Ill P. 2.

T.S. A. 101.

(B. VI 6.)



ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI. 55

Et ille : Yideor mihi maximus

peccator. Statimque in corde

fratris dixit spiritus: Cognosce,

quod vera fuit visio, quam vidisti,

quoniam ad sedem per superbiam

perditam humilitas levabit

humillimum.

30. In visione dei servus dei

supra se Seraphym crucifixum

aspexit, qui cruciiixionis sue signa

sic ei evidenter impressit, ut

crucifixus videretur et ipse
;
con-

signantur manus et pedes et latus

crucis caractere
;

sed diligenti

studio ab omnium oculis ipsa

stigmata abscondebat. Quidam

tamen hec in vita viderunt, set

in morte plurimi conspexerunt.

Quod autem hec stigmata per

omnia vera exstiterint, multis

miratum contigerunt. Hec inter-

serere sufficiat.

31. In Apulia virquidemnomine

Eogerius ante ymmaginem sancti

Francisci stans cepit cogitare

dicens: Essetne hoc verum, ut

tali claruisset miraculo, an pia

fuisset illusio sive simulata suo-

rum fratrum inventio? Quod

dum mente revolveret, subito

audit sonum quasi spiculum

prosiliens de balista sensitque se

in sinistra manu graviter vulner-

atum, nichil lesionis appareret

cyrotecam. Set cum cyrotheca

de manu extraxit et grave vulnus

quod sagite in palma conspexit.

Ex quo tanta vis procedebat

ardoris, ut totus ex ardore et

dolore deficere videretur. Cumque

peniteret, et se beati Francisci

stigmata credere veraciter testa-

Quid de te, pater, tua tibi ministrat

opinio ? Qui respondit : Videor

mihi maximus peccator, quoniam

aliquem sceleratum tanta fuisset

deus misericordia prosecutus, de-

cuplo me spiritualior esset. Ad

hec statim in cordefratris spiritus

dixit : Cognosce, quod vera fuerit

visio, quam vidisti, quoniam ad

sedem superbia perditam humilitas

levabit humillimum.

31. Apud Potentiam, regni

Apulie civitatem, erat clericus

quidam, Eogerius nomine, vir hono-

rabilis et maioris ecclesie canon -

icus. Hie cum longa foret in-

fismitate quassatus, die quadam

ecclesiam pro sanitate oraturus

intravit, in qua erat ymago beati

Francisci depicta, gloriosa stig-

mata representans. Et accedens

coram ymagine, .... cepit dicere

apud se : Fsset hoc verum, ut tali

claruisset iste sanctus miraculo,

an suorwoa.piafuit illusio ? Simu-

lata, inquid, fuit inventio et for-

tassis a fratribus inventa deceptio.

.... Subito in palma manus

sinistre percutitur, quia sinister

erat, sonum audiens, quasi cum

spiculum prosilit de balista.

(L.Gr. B. 3 B.

XIII 3.)

T.S. Mir. 2.

(B. Mir. I 6.)



56 ST. FEANCIS OF ASSISI.

retur, post duos dies, dum

sanctum dei per sua stigmata

exorasset, fuit continuo liberatus.

32. In regno quoque Castelle

cum quidam Francisco devotus

ad conpletorium pergeret, ab

insidiis ob mortem alterius ibi

paratis ex orrore inpetitum et

letaliter vulner(1)atus semivivus

relinquitur. Deinde gladium in

gutture crudelis lictor infixit et

extrahere non valens recessit. Fit

undique cursus et clamor et ab

omnibuus mortuus plangitur.

Cum autem nocte media campana

fratrumadmatutinam pulsaretur,

uxor clamere cepit: Mi domine,

surge et vade ad matutinam, quia

campana te vocat. Statim ille

manum elevans videbatur alicui

innuere, ut gladium extraberet.

1
Fol. 84.

Moxque tarn vulnere sautius

quam sonitu stupefactus, ciro-

tecam de manu trahit, quia cirote-

catus erat. Cumque nulla fuisset

prius inpalma percussio, conspexit

in medio manus plagam quasi

sagitte ictum, ex qua tanta vis pro-

cedebat ardoris, ut totus sibi vide-

retur in ardore deficere. Mirabile

dictu, nullum in ciroteca vesti-

gium apparebat, ut latenti plage

cordis latentis pena vulneris

responderet.

Clamat exinde per duos dies, et

rugit dolore sevissimo stimulatus,

et increduli cordis velamen ex-

plicat universis. Credere se vera-

citer in sancto Francisco stigmata

sacra fuisse fatetur, et iurat con-

testans omnis dubitationis absces-

sisse fantasmata. Orat suppliciter

sanctum deiper sacra sibi stigmata

subveniri et multas preces multo

impinguat sacrifitio lacrimarum.

Mirumcerte. Infidelitate proiecta,

sanationem mentis sanatio sequi-

tur corporalis

T.S. Mir. 2. 32 In regno Castelle

.... Acciditseroquodam, . . . .

virum quendam .... transire

per viam in qua pro morte alteri

inferenda alterius insidie latita-

bant. Cumque bic ad orandum,

sicut solitus erat, post boram

eompletorii ad ecclesiam fratrum

festinus accederet, quoniam beato

Francisco tota erat devotione

substratus, insurrexerunt filii

tenebrarum in filium lucis, quern

fore credebant emulum ilium

suum dudum ad internectionem

quesitum. Quern ex omni parte

letaliter gladiantes seminecem re-

liquerunt. Sed ultimo crudelis-

simus bostis in illius gutture



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 57

Et ecce videntibus omnibus gla-

dius quasi validissime iactatus

manu pugilis eminus prosilivit.

Statimque ille perfecte sanatus se

erexit dicens : Beatus Franciscus

ad me veniens suaque stigmata

meis vulneribus apponens eorum

suavitate cuncta vulnera delinivit

et contactu mirifice solidavit. Qui

cum vellet discedere, sibi innue-

bam, ut gladium extraheret, quia

loqui aliter non valerem. Quern

statim apprehendens valde proi-

ecit, statimque stigmatibus sanc-

tis vulneribus guttur demulcens

perfecte sanavit.

gladium profunde infixit, nec

valens ilium retrahere, in vulnere

dereliquit.

Accurritur undique et usque ad

celum clamoribus datis, inno-

centis mortem tota deplorat

vicinia Et ecce campana

fratrum pulsavit ad matutinum.

Audiens uxor illius campanam,

gemebunda currit ad lectum : Mi

domine, inquid, surge velociter,

vade an matutinum, quoniam tua

campana te vocat. Statim qui mori

credebatur, ingeminato pectoris

murmure, stridula utcumque

verba balbutiens nitebatur emic-

tere. Et manum elevans contra

infixum gucturi gladium, innuere

alicui ut ilium extraheret vide-

batur. Mirabile certe. Gladius

a loco subito avolans, videntibus

omnibus
,
usque ad hostium domus

quasi manu iaxtatus viri robus-

tissimi prosilivit. Erexit se homo

et perfecta sanitate incolumis,

quasia sompno surgeret,mirabilia

Domini enarravit.

.... Ad hoc ille .... sandus

Franciscus, cui semper devotus

fui, modo a loco recessit et me

integre ab omni plaga curavit.

Stigmata ilia sua sacratissima

meis plagis singulis superposuit,

illorum suavitate cuncta vulnera

delinivit ; illorum contactu, ut

cernitis, confracta omnia mirifice

solidavit. Dum enim murmurantis

pectoris audiebatis impulsus, tunc

ceteris plagis cum omni suavitate

sanitis videbatur pater sanctis-

simus dimisso in gutture gladio

velle discedere. Cui manu debili

innuebam, quia non valebam loqui,

ut gladium extraheret, mortis

imminentis singulare periculum.

Quern statim apprehendens, ut



58 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

33.

In urbe Rome clara ilia

luminaria orbis, scilicet beatus

Dominicus et beatus Franciscus,

coram domino Hostiensi, qui

postea fuit summus pontifex,

aderant, dixitque eis episcopus

:

Cur non facimus de vestris fra-

tribus episcopos et prelatos, qui

documento et exemplo ceteris

prevalent. Fit inter sanctos

de respondendo longa contentio.

Vicit tandem humilitas Francis-

cum, ne se preponeret, vicit et

Dominions, ut primus respon-

dendo humiliter obediret. Dixit

ergo beatus Dominicus : Domine,

gradu bono si cognoscunt sub-

limati sunt fratres mei nec

pro meo posse permittam, ut

aliud assequantur dignitatis.

Post hoc respondens sanctus

Franciscus dixit : Domine, mi-

nores convocati sunt fratres mei,

ut maiores esse non presumant.

34. Columbina simplicitate

plenus omnes creaturas ad crea-

tors hortatur amorem, predicat

avibus, auditur ab eis, tangun-

tur ab ipso, nec nisi licenciate

recedunt. Yrundines, dum eo

predicante garrirent, ipso impe-

rante protinus conticescunt.

35. Apud Portiunculam iuxta

eius cellam cicada in fico residens

frequenter canebat. Quam vir

dei manum extendens vocavit

dicens : Soror mea cicada, veni ad

me. Que statim obediens super

omnes vidistis, valida manu proi-

ecit. Sicque ut prius stigmatibus

sanctis vulneratum guctur demul-

cens et liniens, ita perfecte sanavit,

33. In urbe cum domino Osti-

ensis, qui postea summus pontifex

fuit, clara ilia luminaria orbis

adherant, sanctus Dominicus et

sanctus Francischus

;

.... dixit

tandem episcopus illis: . . . .

Cur, inquid, nonfacimus de vestris

fratribus episcopos et prelatos, qui

documento et exemplo ceterispreva-

lent ? Fit inter sanctos de respon-

dendo contentio, .... Vicit

tamen humilitas Francischum, ne se

preponeret, vicit et dominicum,

ut ipsius respondendo humiliter

obediret.

Respondens ergo beatus domi-

nicus dixit episcopo : Domine,

gradu beato, si cognoscunt, sub-

limati sunt fratres mei, nec pro

meo posse permictam, ut aliud

assequantur specimen dignitatis.

Hoc igitur sic breviter perorante,

inclinans se beatus Francischus

coram episcopo dixit : Domine,

minores ideo vocati sunt fratres

mei, ut maiores fieri non presu-

mant.

35. Iuxta cellulam sancti Dei

apud Portiunculam, super ficum

cicada residens, consueta fre-

quenter suavitate canebat. Ad

quam quandoque beatus pater

manum extendens, ad se benigne

L.A. Ill T. 7.

T.S. A. 124.

(Spec. 43.)

L.A. Ill Y. 6.

T.S. Mir. 4.



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 59

eius manum ascendit. Cui ille

:

Canta soror cicada et dominum

tuum lauda. Que protinus

canens nonnisi licentiata recessit.

36. Parcit lucer( 1)nis
J
lampadi-

bus et candelis nolens sua manu

detnrpare fulgorem, super petras

reverenter ambulat eius intuitu,

qui dicitur petra, legit de via ver-

miculos ne transeuntium pedibus

conculcentur et apibus ne media

pereant glacie hyemali, mel et

optimavina iubet apponi, fraterno

nomine animalia cuncta vocabat.

37. Miro et ineffabili gaudio

replebatur ob creatoris amorem,

solem, lunam et stellas intuebatur

et eas ad creatoris invitabat

amorem. Coronam sibi magnam

fieri proliibebat dicens : Yolo quod

fratres mei simplices partem

habebeant in capite meo.

38. Virquidamodmodum secu-

laris, cum servum dei Franciscum

apud sanctum Severinum predi-

cantem invenisset, vidit deo sibi

revelante sanctum Franciscum

duobus transversis ensibus valde

fulgentibus in modum crucis sig-

natum, quorum unus a capite ad

pedes, alius a manu in manu per

pectus transversaliter tendebatur.

Quern cum nunquam vidisset tali

indicio recognoscens, conpunctus

1
Fol. 85.

vocavit dicens : Soror mea cicada,

veni ad me. Que, velud rationis

compos, statim super manum eius

ascendit. Et ait ad earn : Canta,

soror cicada, et Dominum Crea-

torem tuo iubilo lauda. Que sine

mora obediens canere cepit
;

et

tamdiu canere non cessavit, donee

vir Dei, eius cantibus suam lau-

dem interserens, ut ad solitum

revolaret locum ei mandavit. . . .

Et statim ab eo licentiata

recessit, nec ultra ibidem appa-

ruit

36 Parcit lucernis, lam-

padibus et candelis, nolens sua

manu deturbarefulgorem quinutus

esset lucis eterne; super petras

ambulat reverenter eius intuitu,

qui dicitur petra

;

.... legit de

via vermiculos, ne pedibus concul-

centur et apibus, ne inedia pareant

in glacie yemali,mel et optima vina

iubet apponi
; fraterno nomine

vocat animalia cuncta, ....

38. Erat in marchia Anconi-

tana secularis quidam, sui oblitus

et dei nescius, qui se totum prosti-

tuerat vanitati

Facta autem manu dei super

ilium, videt, corporeis oculis,

sanctum Francischum duobus

transversis ensibus, valde fulgen-

tibus, in modum crucis signatum,

quorum unus a capite ad pedes,

alius a manu in manum per pectus

transversaliter tendebatur.

L.A. Ill Y.

T.S. A. 139.

L.A. Ill A. 87,

T.S. A. 86.

(B. IY 9.)



60 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

ordinem introivit et vitam feli-

citer consumavit.

39. Cum infirmitatem oculorum

ex fletu continuo incurrisset, sua-

dentibus, quod abstineret a lacri-

mis, sic respondit: Non est ob

amorem luminis, quod habemus

comune cum muscis, eterne visi-

tatio repellenda. Cum a fratribus

urgeretur, ut pateretur infirmi-

tati visus remedium adhiberi et

cyrurgicus instrumentumferreum

igne candens manu teneret, vir

dei ait : Mi frater ignis, esto mihi

in hac hora propicius et curialis
;

precor dominum, qui te creavit,

ut tuum mihi calorem temperet.

Et hoc dicens signum crucis

contra illud editit profundatoque

illo in tenera carne ab aure usque

ad supercilium nullum, ut retulit,

dolorem sensit.

40. Apud heremum sancti Ur-

bani servo dei egritudine vali-

dissima laborante, cum ipse vere

defectum senciens vini poculum

postulasset, neque adesset, alla-

tam sibi aquam signo crucis edito

benedixit, mox in optimum vinum

conversa (est ?) ; quod deserti loci

paupertas non potuit, viri sancti

puritas inpetravit.

39. Tempore infirmitatis ocu-

lorum coacto ut mederi sibi

pateretur, vocatur ad locum cyru-

gicus. Yeniens igitur ferreum

instrumentum ad cocturas faci-

endas defert, .... beatus pater

corpus iam horrore concessum

confortans sic alloquitur ignem :

Frater mi ignis pre ceteris rebus

emulandi decoris virtuosum, pul-

chrum et utilem te creavit Altis-

simus. Esto mihi in hac hora

propitius, esto curialis, quia olim

te dilexi in domino. Precor mag-

num dominum, qui te creavit, ut

tuum modo calorem temperet, quo

suaviter urente, valeam subs-

tinere.

Oratione finita, crucis signo

ignem consignat et deinceps in-

trepidus perstat profun-

datur crepitans ferrum in tenera

carne et ab aure usque ad super-

cilium tractim coctura protra-

hitur dixit pater: Pusil-

lanimes et modici cordis, quare

fugistis P In veritate dico vobis,

nec ignis ardorem sensi, nec ullum

carnis dolorem

40. Tempore quo apud heremum

Sancti JJrbani egritudine gravis-

sima laborabat, cum vinum ore

languido postularet, nihil de vino

quod sibi daretur respondetur

adesse. Iubet sibi aquam afferri,

et allatam crucis signaculo bene-

dixit. Mox in alterum usum tran-

siens elementum, saporem pro-

prium exuit, induit peregrinum,

vinum efficitur optimum quod

fuerat aqua pura
;
et quod pau-

pertas non potuit, sanctitas pro-

pinavit.

L.A. Ill Y. 1.

T.S. Mir. 3.

(Bon. Y 8, 9,
Spec. 115.)

T.S. Mir. 3.

(Bon. Y 10.)



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 61

41. Malebat(de?)se vituperium

audire quam laudem et ideo cum

populi merita sua sanctitatis

extollerent, precipiebat alicui

fratri, ut verba ipsum vilificantia

suis auribus inculcando
1 pro-

fertur. Cumque frater ille, licet

invitus, rusticum eum et merce-

narium, inperitum et inutilem

diceret, exhilaratus dicebat :

Benedicat tibi dominus, quia tu

verissima loqueris et talia me

decet audire.

42. Non tarn servus dei preesse

voluit quam subesse, nec tarn

precipere quam parere
;

idcirco

general! cedens officio gardianum

petiit, cuius voluntati per omnia

subiaceret, fratri quoque, cum

quo ire solitus erat, semper pro-

mittebat obedientiam et servabat.

43. Cum frater quidam contra

legem obedientie aliquid fecisset,

et penetentie signa haberet, vir

tamen dei ad illius terrorem eius

capucium in ignem proici iussit.

Cumque per moram capucium

fuisset in medio ignis, precepit

ipsum extrahi et fratri restitui.

Extrahitur autem capucium de

medio flammarum nullum habens

adustionis vestigium.

44. Quodam tempore per

paludes Yeneciarum ambulans in-

venit maximam avium multitu-

dinem cantancium in palude

dixitque ad socium : Sorores aves

laudant creatorem suum. Eamus

et in earum medio horas canonicas

decantemus. Quibus intrantibus

aves mote non sunt
;
set quia ob

nimium garritum se audire ad

invicem non poterant, ait : Sorores

aves, a cantu cessate, donee laudes

debitas deo persolvamus. Quibus

L.Gr. A. 20.

(B. VI 1.)

41.

Cumque frater ille licet

invitus eum rusticum, mercena-

rium, et inutilem diceret, subri-

dens, et applaudens plurimum

respondebat : Benedicat tibi domi-

nus, quia verissima loqueris, talia

enim decet audire filium petri de

bernardone
;

sic loquens : . . . .

L.A. Ill U.

T.S. A. 12.

(B.VI4,Spec.

39.)

L.A. Ill U. 3.

T.S. A. 129.

(B. VI 11.)

42. Non solum generali officio

resignavit, sed, propter maius

obedientie, bonum guardianum

singulare expetiit, quern speciali-

ter coleret in prelatum; . . . .

cui pridem obedientiam sanctam

promiserat : . . . . usque ad mor-

tem subditus ubique permansit.

43. Ablatum quadam vice capu-

tium fratri, qui sine obedientia

solus venerat, in magno igne

jproiici iubet. Nullo autem excu-

tiente caputium,verebantur enim

patris vultum parumper commo-

tum, iubet illud sanctus detrabi

flammis nichil lesionis adeptum

B. VIII 9.

1
Fol. 85.



62 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

statim cessantibus, tacentibus

finitis laudibus licentiam can-

tandi dedit et statim cantum

suum more solito resumpserunt.

45. Invitatus devote a quodam

milite dixit ei : Frater, meis

monitis acquiesce et peccata tua

confitere, quia cito alibi rnandu-

cabis. Qui statim acquiescens

domum suam disposuit et peni-

tentiam salutarem accepit. Cum

ergo ad mensam intrassent hos-

pes, subito exspiravit.

46. Cum quandam avium multi-

tudinem reperisset et eas velud

rationis participes salutasset,

dixit : Fratres mei volucres, mul-

tum debetis laudare creatorem

vestrum, qui plumis vos induit,

peunas ad volandum tribuit, aeris

puritatem concessit et sine vestra

sollicitudine vos gubernat. Aves

autem ceperunt versus eum ex-

tendere colla, protendere aulus,

aperire rostra et in ilium attente

respicere. Ipse quidem per

medium earum transiens tunica

contigebat easdem nec tamen

aliqua de loco est niota, donee

licentia data omnesinsimul avola-

verunt.

47. Cumque apud castrum Al-

marium predicaret, propter garri-

tus yrundinum ibidem nidifi-

cantium au( 1 )diri non poterat.

Quibus ille : Sorores mee yrun-

dines, iam tempus est, ut loquar

et ego, quia vos satis dixistis.

Tenete silentium, donee verbum

domini conpleatur. Cui continuo

obedientes protinus conticuerunt.

1
Fol. 86.

T.S. Mir. 4. 46. Prope Bevanium .... in

quo diversigeneris avium maxima

Multitudo convenerat . ... et

eas velud rationis participes more

solito salutavit dicens :

Fratres mei volucres
,

multum

debitis laudare Creatorem vestrum

et ipsum diligere semper, qui

plumis vos induit et pennas tribuit

ad volandum. Nam inter creaturas
omnes liberas vos fecit et aeris

vobis contulit puritatem. Non

seminatis nec metitis, et sine

vestra sollicitudine vos gubernat.

Ad hec avicule suo modo pluri-

mum gestientes ceperunt exten-
dere colla, protendere alas, aperire

ora et in ilium attente respicere.

Non sunt mote de loco, donee

signo crucis facto ipsis licentiam

et benedictionem dedit

T.S. Mir. 4. 47. Ad quoddam castrum
B. XII 4. nomine Alvianum semel predica-

turus accessit. Congregato populo

et indicto silentio, propter yrun-

dines nidificantes in eodem loco

multumque perstrepentes penitus

audiri non poterat.

Audientibus omnibus, locutus

est eis dicens : Sorores mee yrun-

dines, iam tempus est ut loquar

et ego, quia vos usque modo satis

dixistis. Audite verbum Dei,



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 63

48. Transeunte aliquando viro

dei per Apuliam, in via bursam

magnam reperit denariis tumes-

centem. Quam socius videns

accipere voluit, nt panperibns

erogaret. Sed ille nnllatenus

permisit dicens: Non licet, fili,

alienum anferre. Set cum ille

vehementer instaret, Franciscus

paululum orans iubet, ut bursam

tollat, que iam colubrum pro

pecunia continebat. Quod videns

frater timere cepit, set obedientie

volens inplere mandatum bursam

manibus capit et inde magnus

serpens protinus exilivit. Et ait

sanctus : Pecunia servis dei nihil

aliud est quam dyabolus et

coluber tortuosus.

49. Cum frater quidam graviter

temptaretur, cogitare cepit, quod,

si aliquid scriptum de manu patris

haberet, ipsa protinus temptatio

fugaretur. Set cum rem sibi

nullatenus auderet aperire, qua-

dam vice vocavit eum vir dei

dicens : Porta mihi cartam et atra-

mentum, quia laudes quasdam

dei scribere volo. Quas cum

scripsisset, ait : Accipe cartulam

hanc et usque ad diem mortis

tue custodias diligenter, sta-

tenentes silentium, donee sermo

Domini compleatur. At ille, tan-

quam rationis capaces, subito

tacuerunt

48. Transeunte aliquando viro

dei cum sotio per apuliam juxta

barum, invenit in via bursam

magnam denariis tumescentem,que

funda negotiatorum vocabulo

nuncupatur. Monetur a sotio

sanctus et instanter inducitur, ut

bursa tollatur e terra et pecunia

pauperibus erogetur; attollitur

pietas in egenis et in erogatione

ipsius misericordia commendatur.

Recusat sanctus id penitus se

facturum et commentum affirmat

fore dyaboli : Non licet, inquid,

fili, alienum auferre, .... sed

nondum quiescit frater, ....

..... Recedens inde quantum

iactus est lapidis, orationi sacre

incumbit : rediens ab oratione

iubet fratrem levare bursam, que,

ipso exorante, pro pecunia colu-

brum continebat bursam

manibus capit et ecce, serpens non

modicus de bursa exiliens, dya-

bolicam deceptionem fratri mons-

travit; et ait sanctus ad eum:

Pecunia, servis dei, o frater, nichil

aliud est, quam dyabolus et coluber

venenosus.

49 unus de sotiis, magno

desiderio, cupiebat habere de

verbis domini remarcabile scrip-

tum manu ipsius breviter anno-

tatum. G-ravem enim, qua vexa-

batur, tenptationem, non carnis

sed spiritus, credebat ex hoc

evadere, vel certe levius ferre.

Tali desiderio languens, pavebat

rem aperire patri sanctissimo

;

sed cui homo dixit, spiritus reve-

lavit.

Quadam enim die vocat eum

L.A. Ill E. 3.

T.S. A. 53.

(B. VII 5.)

L.A. II A. 18.

T.S. A. 37.

(B. XI 9.)



64 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

timque omnis temptatio ab eo

recessit.

50. Idem quoque frater, dum

sanctus infirnms iaceret, cogitare

cepit : Ecce morti appropinquat

pater et quam plurimum conso-

larer si post mortem possem

habere tunicam patris mei. Post

modicum sanctus vocat eum

dicens : Tibi trado tunicam istam

et post mortem meam ipsam

habeas pleno iure.

51. Cum apud Alexandriam

Lombardie cum quodam hon-

esto viro hospitatus fuisset, ab

eo rogatur, ut propter evangelium

observanciam de omni apposito

manducaret. Qui cum eius devo-

cionem assensiret, ille accurrens

caponem septennem preparat

manducandum. Manducantibus

illiSj infidelis quidam amore dei

heleemosynam petiit. Mox vir dei

audiens, benedictum membrum

caponis sibi transmittit. Reser-

vat infidelis datum et in crasti-

num, cum sanctus predicaret,

ostendit dicens : Ecce quales

carnes comedit iste Franciscus,

quern ut sanctum honoratis . Nam

mihihoc in sero tribuit. Set cum

beatus Francischus, dicens: Porta

mihi cartam et atramentum, quo-

niam verba domini et laudes eius

scribere volo, que meditatus sum

in corde meo. Allatis protinus

que petierat, scribat, manu pro-

pria, laudes dei et verba que

voluit et ultimo benedictionem

fratris, dicens : Accipe tibi cartu-

lam istam et usque ad diem mortis

tue custodias diligenter. Fugatur

statim omnis ilia tenptatio; ....

50

Nam tempore, quo

infirmus iacebat in palatio apud

Assisium, dictus frater cogitavit

apud se dicens : En morti appro-

pinquat pater et quamplurimum

consolaretur anima mea
,

si post

mortem haberem' tunicam patris

mei. Quasi cordis desiderium

oris petitio fuerit, post varum

statim vocat eum beatus Francis-

chus dicens : Tibi trado tunicam

istam; accipe earn, ut tua de

cetero sit, quam licet ipsam feram,

dum victito, tibi tamen cedat in

morte

51

Cum enim apud A lex-

andriam Lombardie, verbum dei

predicaturus, accederet
;

et a

quodam viro, timente deum

fameque laudabilis, devote fuisset

susceptus hospitio, rogatur ab eo,

ut propter sancti evangelij obser-

vantiam, de omni apposito mandu-

caret, annuit benigne hospitis

devotione devictus. Accurrit ille

festinus et caponem septennem

studiose homini dei preparat

manducandum.

Sedente ad mensam pauperum

patriarcha et familia iocundante,

extemplo adest ad hostium filius

belial, omni gratia pauper, rerum

opportunarum simulans pauper-

tatem. Proponit, sagaciter, amo-

L.A. II A. 19.

T.S. A. 38.

L.A. III G. 6.

T.S. A. 63.



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 65

membrum caponis piscis ab omni-
bus videretur, velud insanus ab

omni populo increpatur. Quod

cum ille didicisset, erubuit et

veniam postulavit. Redieruntque

carnes ad sui speciem, postquam

redivit prevaricator ad mentem.

rem dei heleemosynam expetendo et

voce lacrymabili, propter deum,

sibi postulat subveniri. Recog-

noscit sanctus nomen super omnia

benedictum et dulcius sibi melle

;

gratissime membrum suscipit avis

apposite ac pani superpositum

petenti transmisit. Quid plura P

Beservat infelix datum ut sancto

inferat obprobrium.

In crastinum populo congre-

gato, sanctus more suo predicat

verbum dei. Irruit subito scele

ratus ille et membrum caponis
ostendere nititur omni plebi:

Ecce, garrit: qualis est Francis-

chus iste, qui predicat, quern hono-

ratis ut sanctum; videte carnes,

quas mihi sero, dum comederet,
dedit. Increpant ilium pessimum

universi et velud demone plenum

omnes obiurgant; piscis revera

omnibus apparebat, .... Eru-
buit tandem infelix et facinus

deprehensum, penitentia diluit,

coram omnibus veniam postulavit

a sancto, exponens quam habuit

nephariam voluntatem. Redeunt

52. Dum quadam vice 1 ad men-
sam sederet et de paupertate

beate virginis et filii eius collatio

fieret, protinus vir dei a mensa

surgens singultus ingeminat do-

lorosos et perfusus lacrimis super

nudam humum reliquum panem
manducat.

53. Sacerdotalibus manibus,

quibus conficiendi dominici cor-

poris sacramentum est collata

potestas, magnam volebat rever-
entiam exhiberi. Unde et sepe

dicebat : Si sancto cuiquam de celo

1 Fol. 86.

carnes ad suam speciem, postquam

rediit prevaricator ad mentem.

52. Sedenti namque ad pran-

dium die quadam paupertatem

beate virginis commemorat qui-

dam frater et christi filij eius
inopiam replicat

:
protinus surgit

a mensa, singultus ingeminat do-

lorosos et perfusis lacrymis supra

nudam humum reliquum panem
manducat.

53. Sacerdotalibus manibus, qui-

bus de christo conficiendo tarn

divina collata auctoritas est, mag-

nam volebat reverentiam exhiberi;

frequenter dicebat : Si sancto cui-

cumque de celo venienti et pauper-

culo alicui sacerdoti simul me con-

L.A.IIIDD. 3.

T.S. A. 160.

L.A.III DD. 4.

T.S. A. 161.

5



66 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

venienti et pauperculo alicui

sacerdoti me contingeret obviare,

ad sacerdotis manus osculandas

cicius me conferrem et sancto

dicerem : Expecta, sancte Laur-

enti, quia manus hums verbum

vite contrectant et ultra huma-

num aliquid possident. Mir-

aculis in vita sua multis effulsit.

Nam panes ei ad benedicendum

oblati multis infirmis attulere

salutem. Aquam in vinum con-

vertit et inde eger quidam

gustans protinus sanitatem re-

cepit et multa alia miracula

fecit.

54. Cum vero ad dies iam ap-

propinquaret extremos, longo in-

firmitate conf'ectus super nudam

humum nudum poni se fecitque

omnes fratres ibidem assistentes

ad se vocari et manus singulis

inponens omnes in presentibus

benedixit et instar cene dominice

singulis panis buccellam divisit.

55. Invitabat, uti moris sui

erat, omnes creaturas ad laudem

dei. Nam et mortem ipsam cunc-

tis terribilem et exosam bortaba-

tur ad laudem eique letus occur-

rens ad suum invitabat hospicium

dicens : Bene veniat soror mea

mors ! Adextremam igitur horam

veniens dormuit in domino.

tingeret obviare, prevenire honore

presbyterum et ad manus eius

deoschulandas citius me conferrem

;

dicerem enim : O, especta sancte

Laurenti, quia manus huius verbum

vite contrectant et ultra humanum

aliquid possident.

54. Cum enim ad dies iam pro-

pinquaret extremos, .... confec-

tus namque infirmitate ilia tarn

gravi, que omni languore conclu-

sit, super nudam humum se fecit

nudum deponi, ut hora ilia ex-

trema, in qua poterat adbuc

bosti irasci, nudus luctaret cum

nudo a principio, in finem

dilexit eos. Fecit enim fratres

omnes assistentes ibidem ad se

vocari et . . . . fratribus, exten-

dit frater eos dexteram suam
;
et

incipiens a vicario suo, capitibus

singulorum imposuit bene-

dixitque in illis.

55 Invitabat etiam omnes

creaturas ad laudem dei; et per

verba, que olim composuerat,

ipse eas ad divinum hortabatur

amorem; nam et mortem ipsam

cunctis terribilem et exosam horta-

batur ad laudem, eique letus occur-

rens ad suum invitabat hospitium

:

Bene veniat, inquid, soror mea

mors Et cunctis in eum

christi completis mysteriis, felici-

ter volavit ad deum.

L.A. Ill HH.

T.S. A. 171.

(B. XIV 4 and

5, Spec. 88.)

L.A. Ill HH.

T.S. A. 172.



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 67
56.

Cuius animam quidam fra-

ter vidit in modum stelle similis

lune in quantitate soli in splen-

dore.57.

Minister fratrum in terra

laboris nomine Augustinus in

hora autem ultima positus, cum

iam diu amisisset loquela, subito

damans dixit : Expecta me., pater,

expecta, ecce iam venio tecum.

Querentibus fratribus, quid di-

ceret, ait : Non videtis patrem

nostrum Franciscum, qui vadit

ad celum. Et statim in pace

obdormiens patrem secutus est.

58.

Cum quedam domina, que

beato Francisco devota exstiterat,

dam universe carnis fuisset in-

gressa et clerici et presbiteri

feretro exequias celebrantes as-

tarent, subito mulier se erigit

super lectum et unum de astanti-

bus sacerdotibus vocat dicens

:

Yolo, pater, confiteri. Ego enim

mortua fueram et diro eram car-

ceri mancipata, quoniam pecca-

tum, quod tibi pandam, nondum

confessa fueram, set orante pro

me Francisco 1 ad corpus mihi

redire indultum est, ubi illo reve-

lato peccato veniam merear.

Statimque, ut illud tibi manifes-

tavero, in pace cernentibus vobis

quiescam. Confessa igitur et ab-

solucione recepta, mox in domino

obdormivit.

1 Fol. 87.

L.G. B. 8.

T.S. A. 172.

(B. XIY 6.)

L.A.III HH. 1.

(B. XIV 6.)

T.S. Mir. 7.

(B. Mir. II 1.)

56. Unus /rater ex discipulis

eius fame non modicum Celebris

vidit animam ipsius sanctissimi

patris quasi stellam, lune im-

mensittatem habentem et solis

claritatem pretendentem ....

57. Minister fratrum in terra

laboris tunc erat frater Augusti-

nus, qui in hora ultima positus,

cum diu mmpridem amisisset

loquelam, audientibus qui asta-

bant, de subito clamavit et dixit

:

Expecta me, pater, expecta. Ecce

jam venio tecum. Querentibus

fratribus et admirantibus multum

cui sic loqueretur, audacter res-

pondit : Nonne videtis, inquid,

patrem nostrum Francischum, qui

vadet ad celum ? Et statim illius

anima carne soluta patrem est

secuta sanctissimum.

58 mulier quedam ....

sancto Francisco peculiari devo-

tione inheserat, .... viam uni-

verse carnis intravit Con-

veniunt clerici nocte ad exequias

et vigilias cum psalteriis decan-

tandis
;

circumstat utriusque

sexus orantium multitudo. Et

ecce subito cunctis cernentibus

erigit se mulier super lectum, et

unum de astantibus sacerdotem et

patrinum suum vocat, dicens

:

Volo confiteri, pater, audi pecca-

tum meum. Ego enim mortua

sum et duro eram carcere manci-

panda, quoniam peccatum, quod

tibi pandam, nondum ipsa confessa

fueram. Set orante, inquid, pro

me sancto Francisco, cui devotis-

sima semper fui, redire ad corpus

nunc indultum est mihi, ut illo

revelato peccato veniam merear.

Et ecce vobis videntibus, post-

quam illud tibi detexero, ad

promissam requiem properabo



68 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

Trementer ergo sacerdoti tre-

menti confessa, absolutione re-

cepta, quiete se in lecto collegit

et in Domino feliciter obdormi-

vit

59. Cum fratres de Nucera

plaustrum qnoddam a qnodam

viro mutno peterent, ille indigna-

tus respondit: Ego potius duos

ex vobis cum sancto Francisco

excoriarem, qnam plaustrum

meum vobisaccomodarem. Set in

se reversus, semetipsum redarguit

et blaspbemie penituit, ira dei

formidans. Moxque filius eius

infirmatur et ad extrema deduci-

tur. Qui filium suum defunctum

videns in terra volutabatur et

Sens et sanctum Franciscum in-

vocans dicebat : Ego sum, qui

peccavi, me flagellare debuisti.

Redde, sancte, iam devote pre-

canti, quern abstulisti impie blas-

phemanti ! Mox filius eius sur-

rexit et planctum prohibens ait

:

Cum mortuus essem, sanctus

Franciscus per quandam viam

longam et obscuram me ducens

in quodam tandem loco me in

viridario pulcherrimo collocavit

ac deinde dixit mihi : Revertere

ad patrem tuum, nolo te amplius

tenere.

60. Pauper quidam cuidam

domino debebat quandam pecunie

quantitatem rogat, ut sancti

Francisci amore sibi terminum

prolongaret. Cui ille superbo

respondens : Tali, inquit, te loco

T.S. Mir. 7. 59. Cum fratres de Nuceria pete-

(B. Mir. II 3.) rent qnoddam plaustrum a quodam

viro Petro nomine, quo aliquan-

tulum indigebant, stulte respondit

eis dicens : Ego potius excoriarem

duos ex vobis cum sancto Francisco,

quam accommodarem vobis plaus-

trum. Fenituit statim hominem

verbum tante blasfemie protu-

lisse
;

et percutiens os suum,

misericordiam precabatur. Time-

bat enim ne ultio sequeretur,

.... Infirmatus est statim filius

eius nomine Grapharus, et pauco

spatio lapso, spiritum exalavit.

.... Volutabatur per Jiumum, et

sanctum Franciscum invocare

penitus non cessabat
; et dicebat

:

Ego sum qui peccavi; me flagellare

debuisti. Redde sancte iam peni-

tenti, quern abstulisti impie blas-

femanti Ad hec verba sur-

rexit puer ; et planctum prohibens,

causam retulit sue mortis: Cum

mortuus essem, inquid, venit bea-

tus Franciscus et duxit me per

viam obscuram et longam valde.

Deinde posuit me in quodam

viridario tarn ameno, tarn delec-

tabili, quod totus mundus ei

comparari non posset. Reduxit

me postea per eandem viam, et

dixit mihi : ‘Revertere ad patrem

tuum et matrem tuani. Nolo enim

te hie amplius detinere.’ ....

T.S. Mir. 11. 60. In Massa Sancti Petri

(B. Mir. V 2.) cuidam militi debebat pecunie
quantitatem paupercvikis quidam.

.... Misereri sibi orat supplici-

ter, et dilationem querens amore

sancti Francisci, .... Nam cer-



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 69

recludam, ubi nec Franciscus, nec

aliquis poterit te iuvare. Moxque

ilium vinculatum in carcere obs-

curo inclusit. Paulo post sanctus

Franciscus affuit et fracto carcere

ruptisque vinculis hominem in-

columem reduxit ad propria.

61. Quidam miles operibus et

miraculis sancti Francisci detra-

hens, cum quadam vice luderet

ad taxillos
;
vesania et increduli-

tate plenus circumstantibus ait

:

Si Franciscus est sanctus, ix

veniant in taxillis. Mox in eis

senarius triplicatus apparuit

;

et usque ad ix vices quolibet suo

iactu ter senos accepit. Set in-

sanium addens insanie ait: Si

verum est, quod Franciscus sit

sanctus, cadat hodie gladio corpus

meum ! Si vero sanctus non est,

evadam incolumis. Ludo finito,

ut eius oratio fieret in pecatum,

cum nepoti suo inferret iniuriam,

ille gladium arripiens in viscera

patrui transfixit, protinus inter-

fecit.

62. Vir quidam crure sic per-

dito, uti nullatenus 1 se movere

posset, sanctum Franciscum tali-

bus vocibus inclamabat : Adiuva

me, sancte Francisce, memor de-

vocionis et servitii tui, quod tibi

inpendi. Nam in asino meo te

portavi
;
sanctos pedes tuos, ma-

nus osculatus fui, et ecce morior

doloris huius durissimo cruciatu.

Moxque ille sibi apparens cum

parvulo baculo, qui tau in se

figuram habebat, locum doloris

tetigit et fracto apostemate sani-

tatem protinus recepit et semper

i Fol. 87.

vicose respondens : Tali te, ait,

loco recludam et tali retrudam

carcere, ubi nec Franciscus nec

alius poterit te iuvare. Temptavit

quod dixit. Carcerem adinvenit

obscurum, in quo hominem vincu-

latum coniecit. Faulo post affuit

sanctus Franciscus et fracto carcere

ruptisque compedibus, illesum

hominem reduxit ad propria

62 vir quidam crus per-

diderat sic ex toto, ut nullo modo

progredi vel movere se posset.

Positus itaque in angustia vehe-

menti et auxilio desperatus

humano, cepit nocte quadam, ac

si presentem cerneret beatum

Franciscum, talem coram eo as-

sumere materiam querelandi

:

Adiuva me, sancte Francisce, reco-

lens meum servitium et devotio-

nem tibi impensam. Nam in asino

meo te portavi, sanctos pedes tuos

et sanctas manus osculatus fui.

Semper tibi devotus, semper be-

.
T.S. Mir. 7.

(B. Mir. X 6.)



70 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

signumtau super locum remansit.

Hoc signo sanctus Franciscus

suas literas consueverat consig-

nare.

63.

Cum in castro Pomareto in

montanis Apullie quadam patri

et matri unica fuisset defuncta

et mater sancto Francisco devota

nimia tristicia fuisset absorpta,

apparuit ei sanctus dicens : Noli

flere, quia lucerne tue lumen quod

deploras extinctum, mea est tibi

intercessione reddendum. Mater

igitur sumpta fiducia corpus ex-

tinctum, non permisit efferri, set

sancti Francisci nomen invocans

et mortuam filiam apprehendens

earn incolumem allevavit.

64. In urbe Eoma, cum puer

parvulus de fenestra palacii ceci-

disset et penitus expirasset,

beatus Franciscus invocatur et

vite protinus restituitur.

65. In civitate Suessa, cum

quedam domus corruens quendam

invenem extraxisset et cadaver

iam in lecto posuisset ad sepelien-

dum, mater beatum Franciscum

tota devotione, qua poterat, in-

vocabat. Ecce circa mediam

noctem puer oscitavit et sanus

surrexit et in laudis verba pro-

rupit.

nevolus extiti
;

et ecce morior

doloris huius durissimo cruciatu.

.... Yocatus ab eo venisse se

dixit, ferens remedia sanitatis.

Tetigit locum doloris cum baculo

parvulo, qui figuram than in se

habebat ; etfracto mox apostemate,

post consecutam sanitatem usque

hodie signum thau super locum

remansit. Hoc signo sanctus Fran-

ciscus suas consignabat litteras,

63. In castro Fomarico, in mon-

tanis Apulie posito, patri et matri

unica erat filia, .... Iacet mater

infelix ineffabilibus completa

doloribus et absorta supprema

tristitia, de biis que fiunt nicbil

advertit. Interim sanctus Fran-

ciscus, uno tantum sotio comi-

tatus, visitat desolatum et placitis

affatur colloquiis : Noli flere, in-

quid, nam lucerne tue penitus iam

extincte lumen ecce restitqam.

Surgit extimplo mulier; et que

sibi dixerat sanctus Franciscus

omnibus manifestans, non per-

misit extinctum corpus alibi de-

portari. Et conversa mater ad

filiam, invocans sancti nomen, earn

vivam et incolumem allevavit.

65. Incivitate Suessa . . . .

quandam domum diruit et sub-

verlit,etc Sicque ponentes

cadaver in lecto, cum nox esset,

ad sepeliendmn eum diem cras-

tinum expectabant. Circa vero

mediam noctem cepit iuvenis osci-

tare et, calescentibus membris,

antequam illucesceret dies, totus

revixit et in laudis verba prorupit.

T.S. Mir. 7.

T.S. Mir. 7.

(B. Mir. II 6.)



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 71

66. Frater Jacobus Reatinus,

cum in navicula parva fluvium

quendam cum fratribus trans-

isset et sociis iam super ripam

positis postremo se ad exitum pre-

pararet, revoluta nave ipse in

profundum fluminis est dimersus.

Fratribus igitur pro liberatione

submersi beatum Franciscum in-

vocantibus, ipso etiam corde, ut

poterat, beati Francisci auxilium

inplorante ecce dictus frater per

profundum sicut per aridam am-

bulabat et demersam naviculam

capiens cum ea pervenit ad litus.

Vestimenta autem eius madida

non sunt nec aque gutta proxi-

mavit ad tunicam.

66. Frater lacobus Reatinus,

cum navicula residens vellet flu-

vium transvadare, sotiis primo

positis super ripam, postremo se ad

exitum preparabat. Sed modica

ilia navis, rate per infortunium

revoluta, rectore natante, frater

submersus est inprofundum. Invo-

cabant fratres extra positi affec-

tuosis vocibus beatum Francis-

cum et, ut filio succurreret, lacri-

mosis precibus compellebant.

Submersus etiam frater, de ventre

gurgitis nimis immensi, cum ore

non posset, corde clamabat, ut

poterat. Et ecce, auxiliante sibi

patris presentia, per profundum

sicut per aridam ambulabat
;

et

demersam naviculam capiens, cum

ea pervenit ad litus. Mirabile

dictu. Vestimenta eius madidata

non sunt, nec aque gucta proxi-

mavit ad tunicam.

T.S. Mir. 10.

(B. Mir. IV

3).

The question at once arises, what is the literary

value of this document ? To me, it seems to prove

almost beyond a doubt, that the view, already pro-

pounded,^ my critical introduction to the Franciscan

texts of Thomas of Celano and recapitulated at the

commencement of this paper, is absolutely correct.

To my mind we have here evidence of the most

important kind. Let us examine it in detail.

The original of this work is without doubt a pro-

duction of the thirteenth century, and was doubtless

written either just before, or soon after the terrible

Council of Paris, or possibly a little later, at the

request of Jacobus de Voragine, by someone well

versed in Franciscan affairs.

There can be little or no doubt that the work is

taken almost entirely either from Thomas of Celano’s



72 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSIST.

own works or Bonaventura’ s version of them. I do

not think, however, that the author of this MS.

made much use of the writings of Bonaventura, for

when we remember that Bonaventura’s work was

practically gathered from the
£

Legenda
5

of

Thomas of Celano, and that he did not hesitate to

quote from the latter, in most cases verbatim, we are

not surprised to find a great similarity between the

work of Bonaventura and the
6 Legenda Anonyma

;

5

nor does it take the careful reader long to discoverthat

the similarity is always greatest when the quotation

in this MS. is clearly taken from the works of Celano.

In other words, to all intents and purposes,

though the Bonaventuran text may have influenced

the writer of the
c Legenda Anonyma,’ yet the real

basis being that of Celano, the work of Bonaventura

need hardly be considered in this relationship.

The dissimilarities of this work both from the
£

Speculum Perfectionis ’ and the
£

Tres Socii ’ are

too great for it to be possible for us to suppose that

there was ever any real connection between their

writers and the author of the
£ Legenda Anonyma.’

Thus we are left with only the works of Celano

to compare with the new MS. It seems to me

necessary as a further precaution to eliminate the

£

Miracles.’ Let us suggest for a moment that

the
£

Miracles ’ constituted a separate work and that

the
£ Legenda Antiqua ’ and the first half of the

£

Tractatus Secundus ’ are the same. Now, if they

are the same, then we shall of course expect to find

not only that the first half of the MS. in question,

which for the most part does not . contain extracts

from the
£

Miracles,’ absolutely agrees with these



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 73

two books, but also that the
4 Legenda Anonyma,’

being an extract from the works of Celano, will

after eliminating the ‘Miracles’ either be drawn from

the
4 Legenda G-regorii,’ or will contain passages

that appear both in the
6 Legenda Antiqua

5

and also

in the first part of the
4

Tractatus Secundus.’

If on the other hand this does not prove to be the

case, and there are passages in the 4 Legenda

Anonyma
5

which are not found in the 4 Legenda

Antiqua ’ and yet are found in the
4

Tractatus

Secundus,’ or that there are extracts from the

4

Legenda Antiqua ’ which are not found in the

4

Tractatus Secundus,’ then we shall be forced to

the conclusion that the writer of the
4 Legenda

Anonyma’ was in possession of both documents.

This is just what does occur.

The further we examine the work in question the

more evident does it become that the compiler

was acquainted not only with all the works of

Celano (I mean the three texts, the 4 Legenda

G-regorii,’ the
4 Legenda Antiqua,’ and the 4 Tractatus

Secundus,’ together with the
4

Miracula’), but also

with Bonaventura’s version of them. If it be asked,

Who could that author be ? There are few names

that it would be more reasonable to suggest than

that of Bernard de Bessa, through whose hands must

have passed the Celano MSS. and who probably took

no small share in assisting his employer, St. Bonaven-

tura, to compile his work. I have, however, asked

myself, Could this be the missing work of Griovanni

di Ciperano ? The former, however, seems the more

probable author.

“Mais revenons a nos moutons.” I have made a



74 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

careful comparison between the text of the
c

Legenda

Anonyma’ and those of the writings of Thomas of

Celano, the
c Speculum Perfections, ’ the e Tres

Socii,’ and the
e Legend of Bonaventura.’ The time

at my disposal, however, has been too short for me

to have been able to make anything like an

exhaustive comparison, but the results obtained are

sufficiently clear for us to be able to form certain

definite conclusions.

Comparative Table.

3 2

i
.2 ‘ Legenda

Gregorii.’

* Legenda

Antiqua.’

‘ Tractatus ' Tres
3.2

g -g Bonayentura.O Secundus.’ Socii.’
m mu

» 03

Ph

Introd. IA
-{i

A.{«

1 I A. 1 A. 1

2 I A. A. 1 4-

3 I A. 3 A. 2 10- I 6-

4 I A. 4* A. 3
rn-
112-

5 I A. 4 A. 3 I 5

1

6 I A. 5 A. 5 i
13 ~

L 14
—

II 1-

7 A. 5
;.w_
\20

III-

8 I A. 6
*

A. 7

9 I A. 6 A* 7 23-

10 25- III 1-

11 A. 8 II 5-

12
JA. 11

LA. 13

13 A. 14

f 52—

1 53
—14 I A 10 A. 11

15 II A. 1 | A. 19 103
- XI 10-

16 II A. 3 A. 22 XI 8-

17 II A. 7 A. 27 XI 6-

18 II A. 21
*

VII 12 +

19 II A. 16
*

A. 32

20 III C. 1 A. 45 20

21 III K. * A. 65 17

22 III K. 1 A. 66

23 III K. 9 A. 78 VII 6 +

24 III M. 6 A. 89 VI 9-

25 III M. 7 A. 90



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 75

Section.

1

‘ Legenda

Gregorii.’

‘ Legenda
Antiqua.’

‘ Tractatus

Secundus.’

‘

Tres

Socii.’

*

Speculum

Perfectionis.’ Bonaventura.

j

! 26 Ill 0. 1 * A. 97° V 4-

!
27 III p. A. 99

;

28 Ill P. 2 A.102

j

29 III P. 2 * A. 101

°

VI 6

30 B. 3 - XIII 3 -
;

31 Mir. 2 - Mir. 16-

32 Mir. 2

33 III T. 7
* A. 124 43

34 ? ? ? ?

35 Ill Y. 6 Mir. 4

36 III Y. A. 139

37 > ? ? ? ?

38 Ill A. 87 A. 86 IV 9 +

39 III Y. 1 * Mir. 3 115- V
{9

40 Mir. 3 Y 10
41 A. 20 VI 1 +
42

j

III U. A. 126 39 VI 4

43
;

hi u. 3 A. 129 VI 11 +
44 VIII 9 +

45 ? ? p ? ?

46 Mir. 4

47 Mir. 4 XII 4 +

48 Ill E. 3 A. 53 VII 5-

49 II A. 18 A. 37 XI 9

50 II A. 19 A. 38

51 III G. 6 A. 63

52 III DD. 3 A. 160

53j III DD. 4 A. 161

54 III HH. A. 171 88-

55 Ill HH. A. 172
56 B. 8 A. 172 XIY 6-

57 Ill HH.l* XIV 6 +
58 Mir. 7 Mir. II 1 -

59 Mir. 7 Mir. II 3-

60 Mir. 11 Mir. V 2-
61 ? ? ? ? p ?

62 Mir. 7 Mir. X 6-
63 Mir. 7

1

64 ? p ? ?

65 Mir. 7 Mir. II 6 +

66 Mir. 10- Mir. IV 3 +

Note.—^indicates that the passage in the f Legenda Anonyma 5 is at
any point of difference more like the f Legenda Antiqua/

° indicates that the passage in the
f Legenda Anonyma

5

is at any point

of difference more like the 4 Tractatns Secundus/

+ indicates that there is a strong resemblance between the passage

and the corresponding paragraph in the f Legenda Anonyma/
— indicates that there is only a general resemblance between the

passage and the corresponding paragraph in the
f Legenda Anonyma/



76 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.

From even a cursory study of the foregoing table

it will become evident that for all practical purposes

neither the
4

Tres Socii
5

nor the
4

Speculum

Perfectionis
5

have anything to offer us. As might be

expected, in certain cases they cover some of the

same ground, but the language is not the same,

except at one point, section 33, where, however, it

will be seen that the real version followed is that of

the
4

Legenda Anbiqua.’ We have thus limited our
studies to the three works of Celano and that of St.

Bonaventura. On further examination there appears

to be only one passage for which the
4 Legenda

Anonyma
5

is indebted to Bonaventura, but even

that passage is not of such a character as to niake

anyone willing to assert that it must have been

taken from this author alone. I frankly admit,

however, that there are many passages which,

without being in any way copies of Bonaventura’s

work, give me the impression that the compiler was

so familiar with those writings as to fall into the

Bonaventuran style, which adds force to the argu-

ment in favour of holding Bernard de Bessa as the

author.

We thus have left only the works of Thomas of

Celano, which are without a moment’s doubt the

principal source from which this interesting work

has been drawn.

We now ask, What does our analysis of the 66

paragraphs of this anonymous work tend to show ?

Six of the paragraphs are extracts from the

4

Legenda Grregorii,’ that is to say paragraphs 7,

11, 12, 13, 41 and 56.

Thirty-four paragraphs are found both in the



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 77

€ Legenda Antiqua
5

and the
4

Tractatus Secundus/

and on examining these still more critically it would

seem that there are twelve passages in those

paragraphs which point to the influence of the

4 Legenda Antiqua ’ and three which seem to be

drawn especially from the
4

Tractatus Secundus,’

thus leading the student to feel that the compiler

of the work was at least in possession of the
4 Legenda Antiqua

5

as we know it. But we have

stronger proof. There are certainly two paragraphs,

viz., 18 and 57, which do not occur at all in the

4

Tractatus Secundus/ and if we decide to treat

the
4

Miracula’ as a separate work, there are two

further similar passages in paragraphs 85 and 89.

Turning to the other side of the question we re-

cognise at once that apart from the differences in

favour of the
4

Tractatus Secundus ’ already men-

tioned there is one paragraph, 56, which does not

occur in the
4 Legenda Antiqua/ but is found only

in the
4

Legenda Gfregorii’ and the 4 Tractatus

Secundus.’ I do not know to which we are to

attribute the passage, but the strong influence of

the
4

Tractatus Secundus’ is seen in the numerous

extracts from the 4 Miracula.’ Paragraphs 81, 82,

40, 46, 47, 50, 59, 60, 62, 68, 65, and 66, twelve

passages, are obviously taken direct from the
4

Trac-

tatus Secundus.’

Without, therefore, waiting to identify further

passages, we have before us a document of the

highest literary value, the work of a composer of

the later part of the thirteenth century, who gives

a life of St. Francis in as concise a form as possible.

To do this he evidently quotes from documents



78 ST. FFANCIS OF ASSISI.

which are now well known to us, and we are able

to show that his quotations are real quotations, and

not only the gist of what the earlier writers have said

put into his own language.

The writer of the 4 Vita Anonyma ’ has given us

a work copied almost exclusively from three writings

of Thomas of Celano—the c Legenda Gfregorii,’
from which he quotes six times, and, excluding the

doubtful paragraph 56, there are no fewer than

fifty-one quotations from the remaining two works,

viz. the
6 Legenda Antiqua

5

and the
4

Tractatus

Secundus.’ Of these fifty-one, at least two are

found only in the
4 Legenda Antiqua/ and twelve

others are taken exclusively from the
4

Tractatus

Secundus.’ In other words, all three works are

quoted in such a way as to prove without any

serious question that these three works were all

independent of each other and all known to the

writer of the
4

Vita Anonyma.’

I need hardly say what a comfort it is to me to

have been able to bring this corroborative evidence

to bear on the bold departure that I took in re-

n

a

mino* the works of Thomas of Celano in the recentO

work which I have seen through the press.

The obligation to give to each work the title

which is accorded it by the contemporary writers

was forced home upon me as soon as I went deeply

enough into the subject; but to venture to upset the

accepted view of any matter has always been fraught

with difficulties, and in this case the large number of

quotations in the old style used by innumerable

writers made me dread to complicate their refer-

ences by a new style. Still Truth and Fact were



ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 79

the more important considerations. It was not,

however, till after submitting the proofs of my

Critical Introduction to such men as Dr. Collins

(Bishop of Gibraltar), Professor Little, and the Pre-

sident of the Society of Franciscan Studies in this

country, that I dared to make the necessary correc-

tion in the nomenclature of the texts produced ; but

the
£

Vita Anonyma,’ which I have the honour of

bringing to the notice of men of letters for the first

time to-night, through the medium of this Eoyal

Society, is at least to me, and I trust it will be to

you, more than a vindication of the somewhat diffi-

cult position that I was forced to take up in editing

the works of Thomas of Celano.

Here we must leave the subject for the present

;

but only for the present, for I feel convinced that

scholars will now be disposed to consider the whole

question of this literature, in an even more truly

historical and critical spirit than has been the case

in the past. May they elucidate more and more,

for there is nothing that the disciples of the Little

Brother of Assisi, the man of Simplicity and Truth,

would wish for more sincerely than to be able to

get at the real Saint, more saintly for being human,

more charming and inspiring for the absence of the

hiding veil of tradition which has tended to obscure

him from us in the past.

PRINTED BY ADLARD AND SON, LONDON AND DORKING.