Life of St. Francis of Assisi - Paul Sabatier (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗

preserved the memory of a
chapter held at Portiuncula in presence of Ugolini during a stay
of the curia at Perugia ( Spec. , 137b.; Fior ., 18;
Conform. , 207a; 3 Soc., 61). But the curia did not come back
to Perugia between 1216 and Francis's death. It is also to be
noted that according to Angelo Clareno, Ugolini was with Francis
in 1210, supporting him in the presence of Innocent III. Vide
below, p. 413. Finally the bull Sacrosancta of December 9,
1219, witnesses that already during his legation in Florence
(1217) Ugolini was actually interesting himself for the
Clarisses.

[7] See, for example, the description of the chapter of 1221 by
Brother Giordano. Giord., 16.

[8] With regard to the figure of five thousand attendants given
by Bonaventura (Bon., 59) Father Papini writes: Io non credo
stato capace alcuno di dare ad intendere al S. Dottore simil
fanfaluca, ne capace lui di crederla .

... In somma il numero quinque millia et ultra non è del Santo,
incapace di scrivere una cosa tanto improbabile e relativamente
impossibile. Storia di S. Fr. , i., pp. 181 and 183. This
figure, five thousand, is also indicated by Eccl., 6. All this
may be explained and become possible by admitting the presence
of the Brothers of Penitence, and it seems very difficult to
contest it, since in the Order of the Humiliants, which much
resembles that of the Brothers Minor (equally composed of three
branches approved by three bulls given June, 1201), the
chapters-general annually held were frequented by the brothers
of the three Orders. Tiraboschi t. ii., p. 144. Cf. above, p.
158.

[9] Vide 2 Cel., 3, 121; Spec. , 42b; 127b.

[10] Præcipio firmiter per obedientiam fratribus universis quod
ubicunque sunt, non audeant petere aliquam litteram in Curia
Romana. Test. B. Fr.

[11] A comparison with the Bullary of the Preaching Friars is
especially instructive: from their first chapter at Notre Dame
de Prouille, in 1216, they are about fifteen; we find there at
this time absolutely nothing that can be compared to the
Franciscan movement, which was already stirring up all Italy.
But while the first bull in favor of the Franciscans bears the
date of June 11, 1219, and the approbation properly so called
that of November 29, 1223, we find Honorius already in the end
of 1216 lavishing marks of affection upon the Dominicans;
December 22, 1216, Religiosam vitam . Cf. Pressuti, I regesti,
del Pontefice Onorio III. , Roma, 1884, t. i., no. 175; same
date; Nos attendentes , ibid., no. 176; January 21, 1217,
gratiarum omnium , ib., no. 243. Vide 284, 1039, 1156, 1208. It
is needless to continue this enumeration. Very much the same
could be done for the other Orders; whence the conclusion that
if the Brothers Minor alone are forgotten in this shower of
favors, it is because they decidedly wished to be. It must be
admitted that immediately upon Francis's death they made up for
lost time.

[12] The authenticity of this passage is put beyond doubt by
Ubertino di Casal's citation. Archiv. , iii., p. 53. Cf.
Spec. , 30a; Conform. , 111b, 1; 118b, 1; Ubertino, Arbor
vitæ cruc. , iii., 3.

[13] Burchardi chronicon ann. 1217 , loc. cit. , p. 377. See
also the bulls indicated by Potthast, 5575, 5585-92.

[14] Before 1217 the office of minister virtually existed,
though its definitive institution dates only from 1217. Brother
Bernardo in his mission to Bologna, for example (1212?),
certainly held in some sort the office of minister.

[15] Imprisoned by order of Elias, he died in consequence of
blows given him one day when he was taking the air outside of
his prison. Tribul. , 24a.

[16] Giord., 5 and 6; 3 Soc., 62.

[17] Of Giovanni di Parma, Clareno, Anthony of Padua, etc.

[18] Mark of Lisbon, t. i., p. 82. Cf. p. 79, t. ii., p. 86,
Glassberger ann. , 1217. An. fr. , ii., pp. 9 ff.; Chron
xxiv. gen. , MS. of Assisi, no. 328, f^o 2b.

[19] Spec. , 44a.; Conform. , 119a, 2; 135a; 181b, 1; 1 Cel.,
74 and 75.

[20] Cel., 3, 129. Diligebat Franciam ... volebat in ea mori .

[21] V. bull of January 23, 1217, Tempus acceptabile ,
Potthast, no. 5430, given in Horoy, t. ii., col. 205 ff.; cf.
Pressuti, i., p. 71. This bull and those following fix without
question the time of the journey to Florence. Potthast, 5488,
5487, and page 495.

[22] It is superfluous to point out the error of the Bollandist
text in the phrase Monuit (Cardinalis Franciscum) coeptum non
perficere iter , where the non is omitted, A. SS., p. 704.
Cf., p. 607 and 835, which has led Suysken into several other
errors.

[23] Bon., 51. Cf. Glassberger, ann . 1217; Spec. , 45b.

[24] Heb., iv., 12; 2 Cel., 3, 49; Bon., 50 and 51.

[25] Brother Pacifico interests us [the French people]
particularly as the first minister of the Order in France;
information about him is abundant: Bon., 79; 2 Cel., 3, 63;
Spec. , 41b.: Conform. , 38a, 1; 43a, 1; 71b; 173b, 1, and
176; 2 Cel., 8, 27; Spec. , 38b; Conform. , 181b; 2 Cel., 3,
76; Fior. , 46; Conform. , 70a. I do not indicate the general
references found in Chevalier's Bibliography. The Miscellanea,
t. ii. (1887), p. 158, contains a most precise and interesting
column about him. Gregory IX. speaks of him in the bull Magna
sicut dicitur of August 12, 1227. Sbaralea, Bull, fr., i., p.
33 (Potthast, 8007). Thomas of Tuscany, socius of St.
Bonaventura, knew him and speaks of him in his Gesta
Imperatorum (Mon. germ. hist. script. , t. 22, p. 492).

[26] Eccl., 1; Conform. , 113b, 1.

[27] Toward 1224 the Brothers Minor desired to draw nearer and
build a vast convent near the walls of Paris in the grounds
called Vauvert, or Valvert (now the Luxembourg Garden), (Eccl.,
10; cf. Top. hist. du vieux Paris , by Berty and Tisserand, t.
iv., p. 70). In 1230 they received at Paris from the
Benedictines of Saint-Germain-des-Prés a certain number of
houses in parocchia SS. Cosmæ et Damiani infra muros domini
regis prope portam de Gibardo (Chartularium Universitatis
Parisiensis , no. 76. Cf. Topographie historique du vieux
Paris; Région occid. de l'univ. , p. 95; Félibien, Histoire de
la ville de Paris , i., p. 115). Finally, St. Louis installed
them in the celebrated Convent of the Cordeliers, the refectory
of which still exists, transformed into the Dupuytren Museum.
The Dominicans, who arrived in Paris September 12, 1217, went
straight to the centre of the city, near the bishop's palace on
the Ile de la Cité , and on August 6, 1218, were installed in
the Convent of St. Jacques.

[28] Fior. , 27; Spec. , 148b; Conform. , 71a and 113a, 2;
Bon., 182.

[29] The traces of Francis's visit here are numerous. A Brother
Eudes painted his portrait here.

[30] Bon., 177.

[31] Vide A. SS., pp. 855 and 856. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 136.

[32] Among others those of December 5,