Life of St. Francis of Assisi - Paul Sabatier (free ebook reader for ipad txt) 📗
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the Brothers of Penitence appears to have been that of reducing their wants so far as possible, and while preserving their fortunes to distribute to the poor at proper intervals the free portion of the revenue after contenting themselves with the strictly necessary.[22]
To do with joy the duties of their calling; to give a holy inspiration to the slightest actions; to find in the infinitely littles of existence, things apparently the most commonplace, parts of a divine work; to keep pure from all debasing interest; to use things as not possessing them, like the servants in the parable who would soon have to give account of the talents confided to them; to close their hearts to hatred, to open them wide to the poor, the sick, to all abandoned ones, such were the other essential duties of the Brothers and Sisters of Penitence.
To lead them into this royal road of liberty, love, and responsibility, Francis sometimes appealed to the terrors of hell and the joys of paradise, but interested love was so little a part of his nature that these considerations and others of the same kind occupy an entirely secondary place in those of his writings which remain, as also in his biographies.
For him the gospel life is natural to the soul. Whoever comes to know it will prefer it; it has no more need to be proved than the outer air and the light. It needs only to lead prisoners to it, for them to lose all desire to return to the dungeons of avarice, hatred, or frivolity.
Francis and his true disciples make the painful ascent of the mountain heights, impelled solely, but irresistibly, by the inner voice. The only foreign aid which they accept is the memory of Jesus, going before them upon these heights and mysteriously living again before their eyes in the sacrament of the eucharist.
The letter to all Christians in which these thoughts break forth is a living souvenir of St. Francis's teachings to the Tertiaries.
To represent these latter to ourselves in a perfectly concrete form we may resort to the legend of St. Lucchesio, whom tradition makes the first Brother of Penitence.[23]
A native of a little city of Tuscany he quitted it to avoid its political enmities, and established himself at Poggibonsi, not far from Sienna, where he continued to trade in grain. Already rich, it was not difficult for him to buy up all the wheat, and, selling it in a time of scarcity, realize enormous profits. But soon overcome by Francis's preaching, he took himself to task, distributed all his superfluity to the poor, and kept nothing but his house with a small garden and one ass.
From that time he was to be seen devoting himself to the cultivation of this bit of ground, and making of his house a sort of hostelry whither the poor and the sick came in swarms. He not only welcomed them, but he sought them out, even to the malaria-infected Maremma, often returning with a sick man astride on his back and preceded by his ass bearing a similar burden. The resources of the garden were necessarily very limited; when there was no other way, Lucchesio took a wallet and went from door to door asking alms, but most of the time this was needless, for his poor guests, seeing him so diligent and so good, were better satisfied with a few poor vegetables from the garden shared with him than with the most copious repast. In the presence of their benefactor, so joyful in his destitution, they forgot their own poverty, and the habitual murmurs of these wretches were transformed into outbursts of admiration and gratitude.
Conversion had not killed in him all family ties; Bona Donna, his wife, became his best co-laborer, and when in 1260 he saw her gradually fading away his grief was too deep to be endured. "You know, dear companion," he said to her when she had received the last sacraments, "how much we have loved one another while we could serve God together; why should we not remain united until we depart to the ineffable joy? Wait for me. I also will receive the sacraments, and go to heaven with you."
So he spoke, and called back the priest to administer them to him. Then after holding the hands of his dying companion, comforting her with gentle words, when he saw that her soul was gone he made over her the sign of the cross, stretched himself beside her, and calling with love upon Jesus, Mary, and St. Francis, he fell asleep for eternity.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Text in Firmamentum , 10; Spec. , 189; Spec. , Morin.
Tract., iii., 2b. M. Müller ( Anfänge ) has made a study of the
Rule of 1221 which is a masterpiece of exegetical scent .
Nevertheless if he had more carefully collated the different
texts he would have arrived at still more striking results,
thanks to the variants which he would have been able to
establish. I cite a single example.
Text Firm .--Wadding, adopted by Mr. M.
Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt vel vadunt, caveant sibi a
malo visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis
consilietur solus. Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis
dando penitentiam vel aliud spirituale consilium.
Text of the Speculum , 189 ff.
Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt et vadunt caveant se a malo
visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis concilietur
aut per viam vadat solus aut ad mensam in una paropside
comedat. (!!) Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis dando ...
etc.
This passage is sufficient to show the superiority of the text
of the Speculum, which is to be preferred also in other
respects, but this is not the place for entering into these
details. It is evident that the phrase in which we see the
earliest friars sometimes sharing the repast of the sisters and
eating from their porringer is not a later interpolation.
[2] Tribul. , 12b; Spec. , 54b; Arbor. V., 3; Spec. , 8b.
[3] Cf. cap. 17 and 21.
[4] 2 Cel., 3, 136.
[5] See below, p. 354, text in the Firmamentum , 19 ff.;
Speculum , Morin, tract. iii., 214a ff.; cf. Conform. ,
137 ff.
[6] Cum facit (subditus) voluntatem (prælati) dummodo benefacit
vera obedientia est. Admon. , iii.; Conform. , 139 a , 2.-- Si
vero prælatus subdito aliquid contra animam præcipiat licet ei
non obediat tamen ipsum non dimittat. , Ibid.-- Nullus tenetur
ad obedientiam in eo ubi committitus delictum vel peccatum.
Epist. , ii.
[7] 2 Cel., 3, 89; Spec. , 29b; Conform. , 176b, 1; Bon., 77.
[8] Per caritatem spiritus voluntarii serviant et obediant
invicem. Et hæc est vera et sancta obedientia. Reg. , 1221, v.
[9] Tribul. , Laur. MS., 14b; Spec. , 125a; Conform. , 107b, 1;
184b, 1.
[10] Wadding gives it ( Epist. xvi.), after the autograph
preserved in the treasury of the Conventuals of Spoleto. The
authenticity of this piece is evident.
[11] This plural, which perplexed Wadding, shows plainly that
Brother Leo had spoken in the name of a group.
[12] This date for the new communications between them seems
incontestable, though it has never been proposed; in fact, we
are only concerned to find a time when all three could have met
at Rome (2 Cel., 3, 86; Spec. , 27a), between December 22, 1216
(the approbation of the Dominicans), and August 6, 1221 (death
of Dominic). Only two periods are possible: the early months of
1218 (Potthast, 5739 and 5747) and the winter of 1220-1221. At
any other time one of the three was absent from Rome.
On the other hand we know that Ugolini was in Rome in the winter
of 1220-1221 (Huillard-Bréholles, Hist. dipl. , ii., pp. 48,
123, 142. Cf. Potthast, 6589).--For Dominic see A. SS., Aug.,
vol. i., p. 503. The later date is imperative because Ugolini
could not offer prelatures to the Brothers Minor before their
explicit approbation (June 11, 1219), and this offer had no
meaning with regard to the Dominicans until after the definitive
establishment of their Order.
[13] See the imperial letters of February 10, 1221;
Huillard-Bréholles, vol. ii., pp. 122-127.
[14] 2 Cel., 3, 86; Bon., 78; Spec. , 27b.
[15] Vide K. Eubel: Die Bischöfe, Cardinäle und Päpste aus dem
Minoritenorden bis 1305, 8vo, 1889.
[16] He was in Northern Italy. Vide Registri: Doc. , 17-28.
[17] Reynerius, cardinal-deacon with the title of S. M. in
Cosmedin, Bishop of Viterbo (cf. Innocent III., Opera , Migne,
1, col. ccxiii), 1 Cel., 125. He had been named rector of the
Duchy of Spoleto, August 3, 1220. Potthast, 6319.
[18] Giord, 16. The presence of
To do with joy the duties of their calling; to give a holy inspiration to the slightest actions; to find in the infinitely littles of existence, things apparently the most commonplace, parts of a divine work; to keep pure from all debasing interest; to use things as not possessing them, like the servants in the parable who would soon have to give account of the talents confided to them; to close their hearts to hatred, to open them wide to the poor, the sick, to all abandoned ones, such were the other essential duties of the Brothers and Sisters of Penitence.
To lead them into this royal road of liberty, love, and responsibility, Francis sometimes appealed to the terrors of hell and the joys of paradise, but interested love was so little a part of his nature that these considerations and others of the same kind occupy an entirely secondary place in those of his writings which remain, as also in his biographies.
For him the gospel life is natural to the soul. Whoever comes to know it will prefer it; it has no more need to be proved than the outer air and the light. It needs only to lead prisoners to it, for them to lose all desire to return to the dungeons of avarice, hatred, or frivolity.
Francis and his true disciples make the painful ascent of the mountain heights, impelled solely, but irresistibly, by the inner voice. The only foreign aid which they accept is the memory of Jesus, going before them upon these heights and mysteriously living again before their eyes in the sacrament of the eucharist.
The letter to all Christians in which these thoughts break forth is a living souvenir of St. Francis's teachings to the Tertiaries.
To represent these latter to ourselves in a perfectly concrete form we may resort to the legend of St. Lucchesio, whom tradition makes the first Brother of Penitence.[23]
A native of a little city of Tuscany he quitted it to avoid its political enmities, and established himself at Poggibonsi, not far from Sienna, where he continued to trade in grain. Already rich, it was not difficult for him to buy up all the wheat, and, selling it in a time of scarcity, realize enormous profits. But soon overcome by Francis's preaching, he took himself to task, distributed all his superfluity to the poor, and kept nothing but his house with a small garden and one ass.
From that time he was to be seen devoting himself to the cultivation of this bit of ground, and making of his house a sort of hostelry whither the poor and the sick came in swarms. He not only welcomed them, but he sought them out, even to the malaria-infected Maremma, often returning with a sick man astride on his back and preceded by his ass bearing a similar burden. The resources of the garden were necessarily very limited; when there was no other way, Lucchesio took a wallet and went from door to door asking alms, but most of the time this was needless, for his poor guests, seeing him so diligent and so good, were better satisfied with a few poor vegetables from the garden shared with him than with the most copious repast. In the presence of their benefactor, so joyful in his destitution, they forgot their own poverty, and the habitual murmurs of these wretches were transformed into outbursts of admiration and gratitude.
Conversion had not killed in him all family ties; Bona Donna, his wife, became his best co-laborer, and when in 1260 he saw her gradually fading away his grief was too deep to be endured. "You know, dear companion," he said to her when she had received the last sacraments, "how much we have loved one another while we could serve God together; why should we not remain united until we depart to the ineffable joy? Wait for me. I also will receive the sacraments, and go to heaven with you."
So he spoke, and called back the priest to administer them to him. Then after holding the hands of his dying companion, comforting her with gentle words, when he saw that her soul was gone he made over her the sign of the cross, stretched himself beside her, and calling with love upon Jesus, Mary, and St. Francis, he fell asleep for eternity.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Text in Firmamentum , 10; Spec. , 189; Spec. , Morin.
Tract., iii., 2b. M. Müller ( Anfänge ) has made a study of the
Rule of 1221 which is a masterpiece of exegetical scent .
Nevertheless if he had more carefully collated the different
texts he would have arrived at still more striking results,
thanks to the variants which he would have been able to
establish. I cite a single example.
Text Firm .--Wadding, adopted by Mr. M.
Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt vel vadunt, caveant sibi a
malo visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis
consilietur solus. Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis
dando penitentiam vel aliud spirituale consilium.
Text of the Speculum , 189 ff.
Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt et vadunt caveant se a malo
visu et frequentia mulierum et nullus cum eis concilietur
aut per viam vadat solus aut ad mensam in una paropside
comedat. (!!) Sacerdos honeste loquatur cum eis dando ...
etc.
This passage is sufficient to show the superiority of the text
of the Speculum, which is to be preferred also in other
respects, but this is not the place for entering into these
details. It is evident that the phrase in which we see the
earliest friars sometimes sharing the repast of the sisters and
eating from their porringer is not a later interpolation.
[2] Tribul. , 12b; Spec. , 54b; Arbor. V., 3; Spec. , 8b.
[3] Cf. cap. 17 and 21.
[4] 2 Cel., 3, 136.
[5] See below, p. 354, text in the Firmamentum , 19 ff.;
Speculum , Morin, tract. iii., 214a ff.; cf. Conform. ,
137 ff.
[6] Cum facit (subditus) voluntatem (prælati) dummodo benefacit
vera obedientia est. Admon. , iii.; Conform. , 139 a , 2.-- Si
vero prælatus subdito aliquid contra animam præcipiat licet ei
non obediat tamen ipsum non dimittat. , Ibid.-- Nullus tenetur
ad obedientiam in eo ubi committitus delictum vel peccatum.
Epist. , ii.
[7] 2 Cel., 3, 89; Spec. , 29b; Conform. , 176b, 1; Bon., 77.
[8] Per caritatem spiritus voluntarii serviant et obediant
invicem. Et hæc est vera et sancta obedientia. Reg. , 1221, v.
[9] Tribul. , Laur. MS., 14b; Spec. , 125a; Conform. , 107b, 1;
184b, 1.
[10] Wadding gives it ( Epist. xvi.), after the autograph
preserved in the treasury of the Conventuals of Spoleto. The
authenticity of this piece is evident.
[11] This plural, which perplexed Wadding, shows plainly that
Brother Leo had spoken in the name of a group.
[12] This date for the new communications between them seems
incontestable, though it has never been proposed; in fact, we
are only concerned to find a time when all three could have met
at Rome (2 Cel., 3, 86; Spec. , 27a), between December 22, 1216
(the approbation of the Dominicans), and August 6, 1221 (death
of Dominic). Only two periods are possible: the early months of
1218 (Potthast, 5739 and 5747) and the winter of 1220-1221. At
any other time one of the three was absent from Rome.
On the other hand we know that Ugolini was in Rome in the winter
of 1220-1221 (Huillard-Bréholles, Hist. dipl. , ii., pp. 48,
123, 142. Cf. Potthast, 6589).--For Dominic see A. SS., Aug.,
vol. i., p. 503. The later date is imperative because Ugolini
could not offer prelatures to the Brothers Minor before their
explicit approbation (June 11, 1219), and this offer had no
meaning with regard to the Dominicans until after the definitive
establishment of their Order.
[13] See the imperial letters of February 10, 1221;
Huillard-Bréholles, vol. ii., pp. 122-127.
[14] 2 Cel., 3, 86; Bon., 78; Spec. , 27b.
[15] Vide K. Eubel: Die Bischöfe, Cardinäle und Päpste aus dem
Minoritenorden bis 1305, 8vo, 1889.
[16] He was in Northern Italy. Vide Registri: Doc. , 17-28.
[17] Reynerius, cardinal-deacon with the title of S. M. in
Cosmedin, Bishop of Viterbo (cf. Innocent III., Opera , Migne,
1, col. ccxiii), 1 Cel., 125. He had been named rector of the
Duchy of Spoleto, August 3, 1220. Potthast, 6319.
[18] Giord, 16. The presence of
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