Chapter 1
1The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity. 2Brother Francis promises obedience and reverence to our Lord Pope Honorius and his successors canonically elected and to the Roman Church. 3Let the other brothers be bound to obey Brother Francis and his successors.
4The Earlier Rule said:
This is the life of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that Brother Francis petitioned the Lord Pope to grant and confirm for him; and he did grant and confirm it for him and his brothers present and to come. 5Brother Francis – and whoever is head of this religion – promises obedience and reverence to the Lord Pope Innocent and his successors. 6Let all the brothers be bound to obey Brother Francis and his successors.
7For a sound and Catholic understanding of the Rule in its pure and simple intention as inspired by Jesus Christ in Saint Francis, it is of much value to have an exact knowledge of the history of its beginning and to be aware of the situation in which it was written. 8Saint Francis, after the divine and wonderful apparition that occurred while he was praying totally absorbed in God, saw Jesus Christ as if fixed to a cross quoting to him the text of the holy Gospel: If you want to come after me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. 9He was so totally enkindled with love and so closely transformed into Christ that he went forward wounded from being nailed to the cross with Christ and would long for nothing other than to follow Christ perfectly.
10From Christ living within him, clothed with the Spirit of evangelical poverty, a sense of humility, an affection of piety, love of truth, carrying Christ in his heart and mouth and relying solely on divine guidance, he went with his twelve simple brothers to Lord Innocent III, then Supreme Pontiff. 11Accordingly, brought into the presence of the Supreme Pontiff, he humbly and devoutly explained, tenaciously and effectively pleaded for the proposal divinely inspired to him, namely, to live according to the perfection of the rule and Gospel life that Christ with his disciples had held and taught. He offered to the Pope a life and Rule written in simple words and humbly asked that he and his brothers be given approval.
12The Supreme Pontiff, a person of discretion,
brilliant with wisdom, admiring in the man of God remarkable virtue, the purity of a simple person, firmness of purpose, and fiery ardour of will, was disposed in his heart to give his assent to the pious request. 13Yet he hesitated to do what the messenger of Christ asked because his request seemed to some of the cardinals to be too difficult and almost impossible. 14Then the lord John of St Paul, Bishop of Sabina, a lover of all holiness, and a pious helper of Christ’s poor, inspired by the divine Spirit said to the Supreme Pontiff and to his brother cardinals: 15We must apply the utmost attention and careful reflection lest in rejecting the request of this poor man as difficult, impossible and novel we offend the Gospel of Christ; he asks nothing of us other than to be allowed and confirmed in living the life and rule of the Gospel of Christ. 16For if anyone says that in vowing the Gospel of Christ and observing its perfection there is contained therein something novel or irrational or impossible to observe, he would be guilty of blasphemy against Christ, the author of the Gospel.
17At this observation, the Supreme Pontiff said to Saint Francis: My son, pray to Christ that through your petition he may show us his will, so that once we know it we can approve your desires.
18Francis, at the command of the Vicar of Christ,
giving himself totally to prayer, obtained through his devout prayers both what he should say outwardly and what the Pope should hear inwardly about the things he had requested.
19 On returning into the presence of the Supreme Pontiff and the college of his brothers, he told a parable about a rich king who agreed to live in a desert with a beautiful but poor woman who bore him children bearing the image and likeness of the king. 20Later, when the king again journeyed to this place, he recognized his own image in the children and ordered that the mother and her offspring were to be cared for from his own resources. 21He related the parable as he had received it from God and added his own interpretation: The sons and heirs of the eternal king should not fear that they will die of hunger. They have been born of a poor mother by the power of the Holy Spirit in the image of Christ the King, and they will be begotten by the spirit of poverty in our poor religion. 22For if Christ, the King of glory, promises and gives to his followers the kingdom of heaven, how much more will he supply them with those things that he gives both to good and bad alike?
23Then the most wise Pontiff reflected more carefully on the parable put to him and recognized without a doubt that Christ had spoken in this man. He accepted also, as the Divine Spirit indicated, that a vision he had recently received from heaven was to be fulfilled in this servant of Christ. Because of this he bowed to the request in everything and kindly granted the requests; with great generosity he [Francis] promised for the future that whatever God suggested to him as useful for himself and his brothers he would grant.
24From this it is clearly seen that the Supreme Pontiff, a most wise man, understood exactly that Saint Francis requested as a rule the perfection and life of the Gospel of Christ, in so far as the Gospel of Christ can be contained in a vow; this Rule was written in few words according to the intention of Francis and the Pope granted and confirmed his wish. 25Now the Spirit of Christ at the beginning of the Rule confirmed by Honorius definitively states and decides that: The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
26Rule, that is the canonical Gospel making a command holy, the law of grace, of justice and of the humility of Christ, and a form of life according to the model of the poverty and cross of Christ Jesus. 27Rule, that leads correctly and teaches without error how to live rightly. 28What our grammarians refer to as to decline the declinable parts of speech, the Greeks call to regulate and canonize.
29Life by the Greeks is called zoe and is applied to vegetative and animal life; but bios is used by them only for the virtuous way of life of the saints. 30And so now, in the Rule and in the stories of all the saints, the word life refers to a holy way of life and a perfect practice of the virtues.
31It says the Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers, that is, in the habit, vow, work, speech and disposition of the humble. 32In Christ and for Christ in an inseparable and humble union of brotherly love, they desire to be united to one another, and aim in all their desires to be configured, united and conformed to Christ the head and the first of the afflicted.
33Saint Francis filled with the Spirit of Christ, as Brother Leo testifies, said:
34The religion and life of the Lesser Brothers is a little flock, which the Son of God in this very last hour asked, saying: ‘Father, I want you to make and give me a new and humble people in this very last hour, who would be unlike all others who preceded them by their humility and poverty, and be content to have me alone.’ 35And the Father said to his beloved Son: ‘My Son, your request has been fulfilled.’ 36That is why blessed Francis would say: ‘Therefore the Lord has willed that they be called Lesser Brothers, because they are the people whom the Son of God asked of the Father. 37They are the ones of whom the Son of God speaks in the Gospel: What you did to one of these Lesser Brothers you did to me. 38For although the Lord may be understood to be speaking of all the spiritually poor, in a special way he was predicting the religion of the Lesser Brothers that was to come in his Church’. 39Therefore, as it was revealed to blessed Francis that it was to be called the Religion of the Lesser Brothers, he had it so written in the first Rule, when he brought it before the Lord Pope Innocent, and he approved and granted it, and later announced it to all in the Council.
40This is taken from Brother Leo.
41Christ describes himself as lesser in the kingdom of heaven, calls his Apostles a little flock, and calls poor those to whom the Father has given a kingdom. 42Hence, Saint Francis used to say that God wanted them to be called Lesser Brothers because in everything by humility of heart, mouth, deeds and external clothing they should show themselves to be inferior, humbler and poorer and never presume to become greater in the Church, but always to seek and long for the depth of greater humility.
43So they are people who are lesser by the humility and poverty that Christ, who dwells in the hearts of his disciples, infuses and teaches; to such people can be applied the words of Augustine in De verbis Domini:
44The least are those who have left everything, followed Christ and distributed whatever they had to the poor, so that, free of any worldly shackle, they serve the Lord promptly, and freed from everything of the world fly upward as if with wings on their shoulders.
45And Ambrose, on I Corinthians:
Some brothers are despised for their want and clothing but they are not without grace because they are members of the body of Christ. 46They are accustomed to walk straight ahead by a short route on bare feet. 47While they are thought to be contemptible they are more honourable because they are accustomed to live a cleaner life. 48What seems despicable to humans is usually judged by God to be pleasing.
49And Saint Basil said to Gregory of Nazianzus:
It is impossible for a human mind, occupied and distracted by an infinite number of cares of the world, to look openly and effectively on truth. The mind should be separated from every worldly care not to live bodily outside the world but so that the soul takes away every sympathy for the body; the body is then left without citizenship, home, personal goods, friendship of friends, possessions, means, work or duties, and it becomes unalterable, not teachable, unable to be disciplined in earthly and human patterns but ready in heart to draw holy knowledge from divine Scripture. 50The preparation of a heart is the wiping away of the influences that had held it back by a bad habit.
51And Gregory of Nazianzus says of some religious of his day:
I longed to see that holy choir chanting, the choir that lives before all others according to the example and admonition of the higher life as silent preachers of the law of God and the Gospel of Christ. 52 In these the habit displays badges of virtue, dishevelled head, with hair uncombed and rough, like the Apostles with bare feet, condemning the arrogance and pride of the world by the meanness of their clothing.
53Therefore, from the beginning there have been in the Church religious persons who professed and followed Gospel perfection, people who on the evidence of Dionysius and Philo of the Jews, a most eloquent person, Eusebius, Gregory Nazianzus, Jerome and Basil were described as suppliants or people of prayer or as servants, monks, saints or brothers of the Lord. Their life always flowered in the Church and through Saint Francis this life, until now promised, has most recently been renewed but is followed by few. 54Always in the threshing there is a superabundance of chaff from the grain. For many are called but few chosen. 55They were called ‘suppliants or people of prayer’ because of their divine worship, angelic contemplation and life, unceasing prayer, divine hymns and praises and continual thanksgiving. 56They were called ‘servants of the Lord’ because of the evangelical poverty, perfection, deep humility and meekness they professed and showed in word and deed. 57They were called ‘monks and saints’ from the purity of virginity and the chaste life they observed and held in their hearts, bodies and tongues. 58After distributing to the poor all they had, they carried the cross of penance and mortification of vices and the flesh; outside the towns and castles they lived an angelic rather than a human life.
59Regarding their name Augustine says: ‘“Monos” means only one. 60Who, therefore, live in this way so as to form one person, so that they may be in fact, as it is written, but one heart and one soul, are rightly called monos, that is, one.’ 61According to this interpretation the name of monks is most fitting for the Lesser Brothers.
62Saint Basil calls his religion a ‘fraternity’ that promises and observes the perfection of the Gospel of Christ. 63So those wanting to join this life were ordered, in accord with the Gospel, to distribute all their goods to the poor. 64After profession they received nothing in the form of a gift, legacy or will from secular people. 65But living from the work of their hands, their bodies covered by one tunic and a cloak, sustaining life with water and poor food, they gave themselves to prayer, meditation, and the reading of the divine Scriptures. This is how he defines a life of evangelical perfection.
66St Jerome in his Rule, that the Geeks join to his life in the full histories of the saints, says that he with his brothers observed and kept evangelical perfection. 67And he declares that he had neither possessions nor money. 68Nor did he allow them to prepare any cooked food while in their cells. 69But to be clothed with sackcloth, that is, rough and poor cloth, and to refresh the body in the evening with bread, water, raw vegetables or fruits, and he directed monks dedicated to divine worship to be content with such a diet. 70He states that such a monastic life is evangelical.
71Everyone who has carefully examined the Rule of Saint Francis according to the mind and intention of the Saint himself and of Christ speaking in him, and has observed it purely and devoutly, will recognize with certainty both how much it differs from the two Rules that hold the first place in the Roman Church, namely, the Rules of Saints Augustine and Benedict, and also what difficulty compared to them it contains in its brevity.
72First, it differs from the Rule of the canons and monks in its definition and vow because that Rule and life, when the year (of probation) has come to an end, directs that what is defined as the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ must be observed.
73Second, it differs in the manner of receiving brothers, because it commands those entering the religion to give everything to the poor in accord with the word of the holy Gospel. 74It differs also in forbidding the brothers and ministers from involving themselves in any way with the goods belonging to those entering, or to receive anything for a place or any future needs, lest they take wickedly against the vow what belongs to the poor.
75Third, it differs in the singular form and lack of design in clothing, namely, one tunic patched inside and out or two for those who may want to use a second. In order that the second tunic may be regarded as a cloak it is made according to the normal form of ordinary clothing.
76Fourth, it differs because it professes bare feet, and outside of clear necessity shoes are not to be used, just as Christ commanded his disciples when they were sent to preach.
77Fifth, it differs because they should not ride horseback, nor carry provisions, except in an obvious need or an infirmity.
78Sixth, it differs because in no way are they to receive coins or money, fields or vineyards, animals or any legacies or wills, either personally or through intermediaries. 79So those who have promised evangelical perfection are to have nothing of their own ‘neither individually nor in common’.
80Seventh, it differs because they are not able to sell or buy nor enter into litigation for any reason, be it just or unjust.
81Eighth, it differs because neither for themselves nor for their brothers should they or can they receive, as a price or wage for the work of their hands, any coins or money for food and bodily or spiritual necessity, present or imminent, but only what is necessary for food and clothing, and this with great humility; whatever they receive is to be accepted as if they had begged for an alms. 82However, to those not wanting to give something, they should not show in word, deed or by any other sign that they are offended, nor by litigation nor any questions can they nor should they force people to give by litigation or argument.
83Ninth, it differs in obedience because their obedience extends simply and perfectly in all things and to all things, not looking for a return, nor deciding on where to live, and it excludes nothing, apart from sin, from those who profess it.
84Tenth, it differs because everything they use in food, clothing, divine worship or oratories, books, vestments, in places, gardens or in anything else, they ought to use as things belonging to others and to a lord; and they are to be so mean, poor and almost of no value that, because of their meanness, they would not rightly be able nor ought they be regarded as having value. 85They are to show no violence or resistance over these things to anyone who would steal and take them from them; they are to leave those poor places whenever told to do so by the owners to whom the places belong, showing in work and affection that they live here as strangers and pilgrims.
86Eleventh, it differs because they should not accept, nor, as strangers and pilgrims, live in places, churches or dwellings unless they conform to the poverty professed as contained in the Rule.
87Twelfth, it differs because without special permission granted by the Apostolic See they should not nor can they enter the monasteries of nuns.
88Thirteenth, it differs because the Rule gives authority to the ministers provincial to grant permission and obedience to brothers moved by divine inspiration to go among the Saracens and other non-believers, in accord with what Christ at the Ascension said to his disciples: Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and this is the only Rule to make mention of this.
89Fourteenth, it differs because according to the final command of the Founder in his Testament, that he says is not another or different rule, but simply an explanation of the intention of the Rule revealed by Christ, they are not able nor should they
ask any letter from the Roman Curia, either personally or through an intermediary, whether for a church or another place or under the pretext of preaching or the persecution of their bodies,
and much less is it fitting for them according to the perfection promised to ask for such letters from kings or secular princes.
90Fifteenth, it differs because they are not to put either on the Rule or on the words of his Testament glosses that contain or expound things contrary to the correct and true intention that the Lord gave to Saint Francis.
91From these fifteen points not only is the difference between the two previously mentioned Rules and the Rule of Saint Francis clearly illustrated, but also the height of evangelical perfection and the poverty of Christ as well as the nakedness of the cross are clearly shown. 92Moreover, it is indisputably demonstrated that the will of Christ when inspiring the Rule in him, and the main intention, the final and first will of the founder renewing evangelical life, was that the Religion of the Lesser Brothers would have neither in common nor individually anything of its own. 93But they are to meet the demands of the law of nature and grace by using a provision of food and garments suitable for divine worship; they are to do this as obedient servants of God, as disciples of Christ and sons of the Church, stripped of all ownership, obedient solely to the heavenly king, whose kingdom is not of this world and respecting the observance of the law full of grace and truth, so that living in the flesh they do not war according to the flesh.
94Understanding this, blessed Francis says in the Rule about evangelical poverty: Let this be your portion which leads into the land of the living. Giving yourselves totally to this, beloved brothers, never seek anything else under heaven for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
95And the holy man, Hugh of Digne, says in the booklet he wrote entitled De finibus paupertatis:
Therefore, summarizing into a compendium all that we have examined here and there, we conclude finally that the Order of Lesser Brothers, as lesser, equally as a group and individually, can have as the only thing proper to them that they can have nothing as their own of the things that pass. 96Nothing is more improper to them than ownership. 97And nothing is more proper to them than that there is nothing that they may possess as their own now and for ever. Amen.
98And since genuine disciples of Christ have clung by decision and vow to the imitation of the heavenly life, are dead to the flesh, to the world and to all its concupiscence, and their life is hid with Christ in God, so, relieved of the weight of earthly and visible things, like a light runner and unloaded ship, they finish their journey. 99For this reason pleasures, delights of the world, riches and allurements are unpleasant, bitterness, thorns and annoyances to them; dignities, advancements and honours are dishonour, degradation and an imposition of slavery to them. 100Those who are lesser savour with Christ what is humble and feel that what is regarded as high by people is horrible to God; hating that animal life, they want to be dissolved and to be with Christ. 101Crucified to the world, they carry the Crucified in their body and soul, and transformed into Christ in their senses, memory, mind and affections, they seek and savour only what is heavenly, not the things that are upon the earth.
102Naked as they follow Christ they bear the naked cross of Christ and cling to no earthly concerns. But as strangers and pilgrims in this world they serve the Lord in poverty, nor caring about tomorrow. 103Without house or place, they live without ownership of anything; they do not have cellars, granaries or storerooms of anything. 104They hate all gold, silver and money and spit it out as poison.
105They flee from quarrels over cases; they have and proclaim peace and aspire to that peace that surpasses all understanding. 106Living in small houses that belong to others, in places remote from disturbance, suitable for times of prayer and penance, with constancy in prayer and devout supplication, they dispose God to have mercy on sinners. 107Clothed poorly, refusing double clothing, walking with bare feet or open sandals, they receive with humility what is needed for daily food, acquiring it by their hands or by begging. 108So they have no need of wills or legacies, nor do they buy or sell or store treasures; they do not amass or build up supplies for times and seasons but they are and promise to remain strangers, both individually and in common, from every right to own inheritances, to possess, to alienate, to make claims, to contract debts, to impose obligations, to rent, to demand, to borrow, to acquire for one or for all who are and who promise to be strangers and pilgrims.
109As dead to the world, living for Christ alone and for his kingdom, they work with their hands so that in an apostolic and virtuous manner, avoiding idleness, they may live. When the necessities for life are not given to them for their work, because they can in no way receive coins or money, they have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging alms from door to door to the glory of Christ and for the edification and well-being of the donors. 110Regarding need in poverty as true riches, and lowliness in begging as a high rank of honour of Christ the King, they delight in what they lack in poverty as if in true riches.
111They may not ride on horseback, nor according to the Rule should they ride on horseback when they are healthy or unless some other clear necessity presses on them. 112And without special permission of the Apostolic See they may not enter the monasteries of nuns, and, as lovers of chastity, they flee from seeing, being familiar with and having suspicious dealings with women. 113And because it is forbidden in the Rule for them to be godfathers to men or women, perform marriages or do anything of this kind, they, as people dead to the world, should not under any pretext be involved as executors in wills or payment of debts. 114But by the example of their life and holy works they are to announce the kingdom of God, and preach to people vices and virtues, punishment and glory and bring forth fruits worthy of penance with brevity of speech not in wisdom of speech lest the cross of Christ should be made void. 115And according to the Rule they can do this not only among Christians but also among the Saracens and other non-believers.
116And so that they do not fall from the perfection of the most high poverty and humility of Christ, they are not to use as a legal right any papal privilege, any royal privilege or privilege from any other person, ‘whether for a church or a place or under the pretext of preaching or the persecution of their bodies,’ so as to observe the last command of their father, to carry the cross with Christ and the Apostles and to possess the heavenly freedom of exemption and immunity from the slavery of sin in fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. 117By the grace of this blessedness, they desire to be subject to all and happily love to be regarded as baser and lesser than others; they spontaneously serve lepers, love to be despised by people, rejoice in weakness, sorrow and works of penance, desire the presence of Christ, rejoice when they come close to death and are absent from the prison of the body. 118To rise more perfectly to a hidden union with Christ and a taste of his love and wisdom, they seek out solitary places after the example of Christ and their founder, so that separated from the disturbances of the world they may be enlightened with eternal and divine brightness.
119That the Doctor of the Gentiles, after the example of the earlier fathers, Moses and Elijah the forerunner and of the Lord and master Himself, from time to time devoted himself to contemplation and prayer is evidenced and proclaimed by the cave dedicated to his name, somewhat inaccessible and not a short distance from Tarsus of Cilicia, and another near Corinth that are held in much reverence by the inhabitants and by all the faithful to this day. 120Many disciples of Christ and of the Apostles, such as Eutropius, Frontorius, Memius, and Archippus, are known to have done this from time to time.
121There was no error in this because the Rule and life of Saint Francis fully and perfectly includes and reaches in action and contemplation the heights and aims of the highest perfection, and has a genuine likeness and identity with Jesus Christ, the author of life, and with his disciples.
122Professed brothers, according to the decree of the holy Gospel itself and of the Vicar of Christ, cannot lawfully leave this Order nor, for the sake of a more perfect life, transfer to another order, because no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God. 123Accepted according to the intention, tradition, example and command of the Founder, in whom Christ spoke and his Spirit dwelt, this Rule and life is to be understood simply, happily loved, observed faithfully and purely for the unutterable possession of Christlike virtues; likewise it introduces its lovers and followers to the enjoyment of his graces. 124But any who twist its meaning and interpretation are shown to be wrong and, abandoned to the fantasies of their wickedness, are tormented by seven spirits of evil who repossess the empty house, swept clean and garnished, and their last state by a just judgment of God is made worse than the first.
125From what has been treated briefly, the difference and agreement, equality and singularity, superiority and inferiority, difficulty and concession of the three main Rules, the principal Rules observed and approved by the Church to which other rules and statutes of whatever Order are reduced, can be evident enough to any intelligent person reflecting on them with care and Christian attention. 126Moreover, from the context, exhortations, counsels, prohibitions and commands of these rules, it is most evident that to canons and monks many concessions are made and are lawful according to the perfect observance of their rules that the evangelical rule forbids and prohibits to those professing it.
127Although all perfection of the Christian religion consists in faith in the one Jesus Christ, perfect love of Him now is by grace, and in the future by glory in an open vision of His deity in tension and enjoyment. Nevertheless, to understand the distances and differences of the states existing in the Church between monks of the first and now the modern age, 128we must distinguish separately and discern clearly the conditions in which we now are and those in which they were, lest we accept imperfect for perfect and equate imperfect with perfect. 129In this it must be remembered that the Apostles named those who choose to promise and observe the poverty and virginity of the Gospel of Christ, the order of the perfect, or the suppliants or the servants of God; 130nor did they allow anyone to join this order and use its symbols, unless they had tested that the person was a true lover of evangelical poverty, chastity and of all the counsels of Christ, and had seen evident proof that the person was ready and faithful in observance. 131So it is that all the first fathers understood under the name of monk or an order of monks the perfection of all religious life both active and contemplative.
132When an Abbot was asked by the Emperor how many monks he had in his monastery, he answered: Three. 133And the Emperor said to him: We had heard that you have seventy monks in your monastery. 134The Abbot said to him: I have three true monks each of whom can raise the dead. 135And Saint Macarius, whom Jerome calls an apostle of his time, in comparison with the two monks whom he found naked in the desert, said in sorrow that he was not a monk but had seen monks. 136Saint Basil, moved by a divine revelation, asked the father of a large monastery whether he had any monks; the father answered that he had only one monk. 137After testing his obedience Saint Basil said to the Abbot: He is indeed a monk.
138Saint Pafnuntius, reflecting on the scarcity of good monks, said to Saint John Cassian: We are afraid today that there are so few who reach the perfection of monastic denial, but we read that of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt only a few entered the land of the promise. 139Isaiah says: You have multiplied the nation but have not increased the joy; 140and the Saviour says: Many are called but few chosen.
141What proves the sterility of the present time in which not only have hardly any works of perfection remained, but even faith in the perfection of the Christian religion has weakened almost in everyone so that the statement of Truth, namely, when the Son of man comes shall he find faith on earth, seems to be almost fully realized.
142In fact, to which monks and canons, Lesser Brothers and Preachers is the definition given by the fathers applicable? With what difficulty can one find, in the time of this hardening, anyone who possesses fully the reality of virtue and the fruit of works, and who possesses the truth of the matter defined. Now let the definition itself speak, and let all who read understand.
143Saint Nilus: ‘A monk is a person who neither has nor owns anything under heaven’. 144The same author: ‘A monk is a person who is free of any matter belonging to the world and who crucifies himself against temptations of the flesh and satan; and against contests in the world’. 145Saint Macarius said to Abbot Theodore, that ‘the greatest thing of all is to own nothing’.
146Abbot Pastor: ‘A monk is a person who has mortified every desire of the flesh, abhors rest for the body, hates the praises of others and mourns unceasingly’. 147He also says: ‘A person who is quarrelsome and disparages his brother, renders evil for evil, and one who is angry, haughty or full of words, is not a monk’. 148‘Whoever is a true monk, is always humble, quiet, full of charity, always has the fear of God before his eyes and guards it in his heart.’
149John Climacus:
A monk has an order and firmness of what is incorporeal in a material and poor body. 150A monk does, thinks and speaks only of things pertaining to God, is united with Christ in every place, time and occupation. 151A monk is unceasing in doing violence to nature and tireless in guarding the senses. 152A monk is holy in body, purified in speech and enlightened in mind. 153A monk laments and is sorrowful in soul, disciplines himself, whether awake or asleep, with an unceasing remembrance of death. 154The withdrawal of a monk from the world and his renouncing of it, is a voluntary hatred of something highly esteemed and a renouncing of nature for the sake of a choice of those things that are above nature.
155In truth, a monk is not haughty in his own eyes, has a humble outlook of soul and an unmoved appreciation of the body. 156A monk summons those who attack him like beasts and provokes them when they run from him. 157A monk’s mind is incessantly fixed on God and has sadness in life. 158A monk has unfailing light in the eye of the heart, an abyss of humility, completely overturning and snuffing out every contrary spirit.
160Whatever has been treated in these definitions indicates the active and contemplative sanctification of the religious state, without which those who serve God are like trees that bear flowers and leaves but do not produce fruit. 161In their description all and each religious can examine and know clearly to what degree he is far from or close to the chosen goal of the perfection promised in actions, affections and virtue. 162They describe most clearly an evangelical person in virtue, affections and actions, and they open up the religious way of life that those professing the Gospel of Christ are obliged to walk; 163and they show how significant is what Saint Francis said in his Testament, since this most clearly points out that ‘the Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the pattern of the Holy Gospel.’ 164He says much the same at the beginning of his rule, that the Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 165and he adds at the end that we may observe poverty, humility, and the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as we have firmly promised.
166And to a minister wanting to have permission to keep the books he had, Francis replied that he neither should nor could, for the sake of his books, go against his conscience and the Gospel he had promised, 167and, with the minister saddened by his reply, ‘Francis said to him with intensity of spirit, intending this for all the brothers: You, Lesser Brothers, want to be seen as and called observers of the holy Gospel, but in your deeds you want to have money bags’. 168No life is superior to an evangelical and apostolic life.
169It is no small fault for one who has promised to live the highest way of life to live in an indifferent way and to follow it imperfectly after taking the vow. 170But there is no doubt that from the words and writings of Saint Francis it is clear that he received not from human beings nor through a human being but through a revelation of Jesus Christ, who often appeared to him and marked him with his stigmata, that he should take the Gospel as his rule, promise it, in so far as the Gospel falls under a vow, and that he would ask that this be granted to him by the Church.
171Hence, Saint Francis said that he had promised to observe as a rule the Gospel and life of Christ and that this is what he asked for and petitioned from the Supreme Pontiffs. 172The Gospel contains the most perfect and holy life of Christ and his most divine and supreme authority, now residing in the Church and the Vicar of Christ, without which a religion cannot be founded or started. 173Therefore, the holiness and perfection of the life of Christ, taught and preached in the Gospel, is and ought to be observed and understood as a rule by which one promises to live beyond the demands of duty, to observe the Gospel in imitation of and like the life of Christ as handed down and read in the Gospels and imposed by Christ on the Apostles, but only under obedience to and in unity with the Church.
174This is one of the reasons why the Rule confirmed by Honorius does not contain as many authorities and counsels of the Gospel as are included in the Rule confirmed by Innocent. 175From the definition found in the beginning of the Rule confirmed by Honorius and the repetition of the same sentence at the end of the rule, everything scattered throughout the first is understood. 176And the Apostle writing To the Galatians called the Gospel revealed to him a rule saying: And whosoever shall follow this rule, peace on them and mercy. 177In the same way Saint Francis, commanded in a revelation to observe the Gospel of Christ, designates the Gospel as his life and rule; he said that everything he put in the Rule, he has accepted from Christ, as leading to a Catholic and lawful understanding of evangelical perfection and life, and as suitable for a sincere and pure imitation of his holiness, way of life and full following of him.
178For the Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity.
179All the counsels of the Gospel of Christ are reduced to three, namely, obedience, poverty and chastity, and in these consists every foundation of religious life. 180Therefore, every order in a different way, that is, to a greater or lesser degree of perfection, promises the aforementioned counsels that contain the perfection of the life and teaching of Christ according to the different grades and the various inspirations of the Holy Spirit, allowing for the conditions of time and the structure of the building that is the Church. 181Every state and rule is so much more perfect the more it is like the example shown to Moses on the mountain, namely, Jesus Christ who has been shown to us internally and externally, spiritually and bodily, actively and in contemplation, that is, in his behaviour and affections.
182There are in the Gospel twelve principal counsels to which the others are reduced, like nine to three.
183The first counsel is poverty, the second obedience, the third chastity and these three are the foundation of every order. 184These are against the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life, the three roots of all vices just as poverty, obedience and chastity are the foundations of all the counsels.
185The fourth counsel is charity, namely, love of enemies; this is a counsel concerning love of what is done and a precept concerning love of friendship and affection.
186The fifth is meekness as in the text: If one strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other.
187The sixth is mercy and almsgiving as in the text: Give to everyone who asks of you etc. To give what is superfluous is necessary, but to give what we need is the counsel.
188The seventh is simplicity in speech: Let your speech be yes, yes, no, no, because if a yes or no is in the mouth it should also be in the heart.
189The eighth is to avoid occasions of sin. So it is said: If your eye scandalize you etc. in that occasions of sin, be they temporal or spiritual, are to be completely avoided.
190The ninth is the correctness of one’s efforts and the intention of these efforts, as in: Take heed that you do not your justice before men etc.
191The tenth is a harmony between work and teaching as in: Cast out first the beam out of your own eye etc. and further: They bind heavy and insupportable burdens etc.
192The eleventh is to avoid worry as in: Be not solicitous for our life etc. where excessive care in collecting temporal goods is forbidden.
193The twelfth is fraternal correction as in: If your brother sins against you etc.; this is a counsel when a brother with love and shame is corrected for venial faults, but it is a precept when the faults are mortal.
194Saint Basil, writing in Ad Amphylochium, defines all these counsels as belonging to the substance of the perfection of evangelical life and suited to all who profess this life.
195In truth, it is no small struggle to pursue what is demanded of one who confesses those things belonging to profession. 196Indeed, to choose first of all the way of life that is according to the Gospel, that is, to observe it all even in its smallest detail, and to put aside or despise nothing of what is written therein; as far as it has come to our notice, this is done by very few.
197Therefore, according to the Gospel, one should use a disciplined tongue and an eye trained by discipline, hands for work in accord with a purpose pleasing to God, feet for movement, each member as our Creator determined from the beginning, and what is necessary for life without superfluity in adornment for clothing, restraint in speech and sufficiency in food. 198All this indeed seems to be trivial when stated simply but we have found it to be true that to control them demands a strong struggle.
199For which reason, a strong struggle is needed if one is to possess humbly what is perfect, not keep a memory of a proud lineage, of some trick of nature, of anything that may be superfluous in us either in body or soul, and not to extol this or any conditions surrounding us that give rise to suspicions of superiority and nature. 200An evangelical life has the following qualities, namely, a firm practice of abstinence, love of the work of prayer, compassion from charity to sickness, sharing with the needy, prudence, humble and lowly, sound in faith and contrition. 201An evangelical life is simple and gentle when in sadness, never abandons meditation and effort from the thought of the terrible and unavoidable judgment to which all of us are going. 202The struggles of the ending are kept in mind by only very few, however, to the many living, and to those who ought to be directed by scholars but are removed at present from us, I have thought to say briefly as a reminder the things indicated in the divine Scriptures, and as I have learnt from these divine Scriptures.
203Firstly, a Christian should savour the worthy heavenly vocation and in a worthy way be familiar with the Gospel of Christ; nor should he feel superior, be drawn away by anything from the thought of God but by acts of justice in accord with the law, keep these things in mind. 204A Christian should not swear, lie, blaspheme, injure, fight, be vengeful, render evil for evil or be angry.
205A Christian should be long-suffering no matter what happens, patient, censuring when opportune a person causing harm, but in no way taking vengeance in personal revenge while moved by passion, but should desire to direct a brother according to the command of the Lord.
206A Christian should not say anything against an absent brother with the intention of disparaging him even if what is said is true because this is detraction, but a Christian ought to avoid what disparages a brother. 207A Christian must be careful to avoid speaking scurrilously, laughing, and is not to tolerate those who laugh and mock. 208A Christian should not utter worthless things, anything not useful to those who listen, but only what is allowed to us by the Lord as a necessary usefulness.
209As much as possible workers should hasten the work peacefully and those who preside over works should encourage those entrusted to them with apt words and with due reflection dispense an encouraging word so that the Holy Spirit is not grieved. 210Nor should those in positions of power or office approach or speak to any brother before, being clear in what serves good order, they test in everything what is pleasing to God, what is to be done and what is suitable for the community. 211Also he should not be given to wine nor act wrongly in the use of meat, or in general be a lover of any food or drink. 212For he who strives for the mastery refrains himself from all things. 213But from the things given for the use of each person, nothing is to be held or kept as one’s own.
214Whoever has been put in a position of management, should take care of everything as though it belonged to the Lord, not throwing anything away, being careless, or treating it with indifference. 215Nor should he regard anything as his own but rather as given by God for the service of the brothers who, from being of one mind, know and act in everything in a proper order.
216He is not to murmur in a time of want and scarcity of what is necessary, nor in the burden of the work, when those in charge form a judgment about individual things. 217There should be no shouting or any other image or action by which anger or elation are represented, conscious that God is present or that we are in the presence of God. 218It is necessary to adjust the voice to what is necessary, not be afraid to reply to anyone or do anything, but in everything show to all what is kind and honourable. 219And in no way should the eye or any other action or movement of a limb be used with deceit that may sadden a brother or imply disrespect.
220It is necessary to avoid wearing ornate clothing or shoes as this is to act unlawfully, but poor clothes are to be used in everything necessary for the body. 221One is not, indeed it is to be avoided, to consume anything in abundance and to satiety beyond what is needed, for this is an abuse. One is not to look for honour or to take the first place, for that is pride; each person should honour first all others before oneself, setting no value on oneself but being subject and obedient. 222Also a lazy person should not eat while having the health for work, but one, set a task from the range of jobs, must do violence to oneself in applying oneself and carrying out the work according to one’s ability. 223But each, with the scrutiny of those in charge, does everything with surety and reason even to eating and drinking for the glory of God.
224It is not right to change from one job to another without informing those who should be informed of such works unless somewhere one has been called suddenly to help another in need in an unavoidable necessity. 225Because each one should remain in the work to which he had been appointed, and not, by going beyond due measure, change to things not approved for him, unless perhaps those in charge have given approval to help someone in need; 226it is not fitting to find in the skill of the work of another some reason, arising from contempt and a quarrel, to do something against another.
227One should not envy another’s competence nor be pleased over the failures of anyone, but rather be saddened and upset over the failings of a brother. 228Also, one ought not remain indifferent to sinners, remaining silent or keeping quiet with them, but rather, when one censures, it must be with compassion and fear of God, aimed at bringing the sinner to conversion. 229The one who is censured or accused should accept it promptly, knowing it is intended for his betterment.
230When an innocent person is accused by someone, he should not contradict the accuser to his face nor before others, but if perhaps at some time the accusation will have seemed to be irrational, he should speak with the accuser apart from others, to be exonerated or to explain the situation. 231One should be concerned, as much as possible, when another has something against him. 232Nor is it fitting to keep in mind the malice of a person who has sinned, acknowledged the sin and done penance, but rather it must be dismissed from one’s heart. 233Likewise, when someone says he will do penance for a sin, he must not only be repentant of the sin committed but also bring forth fruits worthy of penance.
234When he has been corrected over his first failings and has become worthy of pardon, should he sin again he should ready himself to receive a judgment of anger worse than the first. 235He who persists in his sin after a first and second correction must be pointed out to the superior, and perhaps he may feel shame when accused by many. 236But if he is not corrected even by this, he is to be cut off from the others as a scandalous person, and be regarded as a heathen and publican, for the strengthening, assurance and the furthering of obedience among the workers, according to the saying: As the wicked fall, the just feel fear. 237He should be mourned as over a limb cut off from a body.
238Nor should the sun set over anger lest the night, coming between the two, becomes a day of judgment and the inevitable judgment follows. 239Also in no way should he put off the time for doing what he is charged with doing, because there is no certainty about tomorrow, for many weighing many things have not experienced the next day. 240One should not be seduced by a full stomach that gives rise to dreams at night. 241One should not be busy with endless work, nor exceed the limits of what is needed according to the Apostle who says: But having food and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. 242Avarice has an element of idolatry.
243It is not fitting to be a lover of money or to treasure what is useless. 244Because one progressing toward God must follow poverty and own nothing, keep oneself safe in all things and be pierced through with the fear of God according to the text: Pierce my flesh with your fear for I am afraid of your judgments.
245Saint Basil teaches that all the preceding has to be accepted by those who progress in the service of the Lord, so that in cooperation with God they may produce worthy and opportune fruits of their vocation, and what has been decided by Christ is imposed on those wanting to live religiously so as not to incur a sentence of future judgment but inherit the glory of eternal happiness. 246All the above are counsels of the Gospel, elements of an evangelical life and rule. All are implicit in it, and all are graces of freedom, loosing one from faults and sins; they are necessary and opportune for those wanting to live religiously, and all are reduced to those three fundamental counsels stated at the beginning of the Rule where it is said: The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity.
248Whoever for the whole course of life remains hateful of one’s own will, remains in love with poverty, grows and thinks, searches and asks with keen desire and continuous sighs to be found truly obedient, poor and chaste in body and soul and pure before God, would choose first for the honour of God every punishment and death rather than consent to abandon the love and struggle of obedience, poverty and chastity.
249Blessed Francis says:
That person who offers himself totally to obedience in the hands of his prelate leaves all that he possesses and loses his body. Whatever he says or does that he knows is not contrary to the will of his prelate has true obedience, provided that what he does is good.
250And he says further on obedience:
Holy Obedience confounds every corporal and carnal wish, binds its mortified body to obedience of the Spirit and obedience to one’s brother, 251so that it is subject and truly submissive to everyone in the world, not only to people but to every beast and wild animal as well that they may do whatever they want with it insofar as it has been given to them from above by the Lord.
252No one can be obedient unless he has first died to all vices and desires, like the monk who lived in the desert on the bank of the Jordan. When he had reached perfect obedience, he wanted to show the monks the way to learn obedience; sometimes he took vipers, carried them in his hand and killed them in front of the brothers and said to them: 253Brothers, run from the praises of people and flee vanity, cut it out of your hearts and the poison of vipers will not harm you. 254And he did this with all the poisonous animals and the young of the wild animals.
255He taught the monks to flee and hate any vices and sins noticeable in themselves so that they might try to reach the opposites of those vices and sins, namely, the obedience of Christian charity that has and enjoys full freedom from the deadly poison of infidelity, love of one’s own will and the feral rage of cruelty. 256That great old man said of this:
Obedience is the salvation of all the faithful; obedience is the mother of all the virtues; obedience is the discoverer of the kingdom of heaven. 257Obedience opens heaven and lifts people from the earth; obedience lives with the angels; obedience is the food of all the saints. 258They were weaned to this and by it came to perfection.
259Saint Francis said about poverty: ‘Holy Poverty confounds the desire for riches, greed, and the cares of this world.’ 260And further: ‘That servant of God who does not become angry or disturbed at anyone lives correctly without anything of his own; blessed is he because nothing remains for him other than to return to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ 261And further: ‘Someone who is truly poor in spirit hates himself and loves those who strike him on the cheek.’
262Chastity or virginity is the first sign of virtue; it is close to God, like to the angels, source of life, friend of holiness, humble teacher of confidence, lady of joy, leader in virtue, alleviating pain, support of faith and hope and protection of charity. 263Chastity is the joyful and lovable temple and dwelling of Jesus Christ, a supernatural denial of nature, an effect of the sanctification of the Incarnate Word and the incorruptible fruit of his death and resurrection. 264Christ, the Word and Wisdom of the Father, dwells in a chaste soul, pours the sight of his joy into it and shows, as in a mirror, the glory of his vision. 265Whatever someone who serves him has, be it wisdom, knowledge, eloquence, prophecy, miracles and the grace of healings it is nothing without chastity.
266A soul that is not chaste cannot please God. 267A chaste person is clean from any filth of flesh and spirit. 268Whoever desires to live with Christ, the Wisdom of God, must turn every desire completely toward a love of chastity; the Creator, giver and preserver of chastity, Jesus, will meet him, and what he does not have from nature, he will give by grace; 269being made chaste he will also make him wise, because without chastity it is impossible for a person to be wise with the wisdom that is above for wisdom will not live in a body subject to sins.
270Indeed, because every virtue, truth and holiness of grace is held for ever in the love and tension of obedience, poverty and chastity, he says: living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity. 271For he who separates himself from the love, observance and practice of obedience, poverty and chastity, the Lamb of God treads under foot and esteems the blood of the testament unclean, offering an affront to the Spirit of grace; he hands himself over to the concupiscence of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of life, deprives himself of eternal goods and puts himself under the most bitter sufferings of hell.
272Brother Francis promises obedience and reverence to our Lord Pope Honorius and his successors canonically elected and to the Roman Church. Let the other brothers be bound to obey Brother Francis and his successors.
273Since in accord with the greatness of faith and the perfection of charity, in every person, situation and order, there is needed a truth of submission, integrity of obedience and unity of an inseparable clinging to Christ, to his vicar and to the Catholic Church. 274So filled with the highest faith and seraphic charity, Francis, the imitator of the life of Christ, promises for himself and for his brothers immediate obedience and reverence in the most perfect and highest way to the Lord Pope Honorius and his successors canonically elected and to the Roman Church. 275He not only promises obedience in the way necessary for the salvation of every believer, but as fundamental to, promoting and perfecting the promise of the evangelical rule and life; every order is more perfect, the closer and more intimately it is united with the Church, and the more reverently and humbly it serves as a subject in obedience the Vicar of Christ, and the sacred Roman College.
276Well-being, salvation and life are in the fulness of such obedience, while error, death and bitter damnation are in abandoning it and holding it in contempt. 277For this reason he says explicitly that he promises obedience and reverence to our Lord Pope Honorius and his successors canonically elected and to the Roman Church; by these words it is understood that he made this promise then to Pope Honorius, to the Pontiffs of his time and to the Church.
278Moroever,as his companions used to relate and Brother Leo writes:
he understood through the Holy Spirit that times of future troubles were drawing near, times in which temporal and spiritual confusions and divisions would abound and the charity of many would grow cold and iniquity abound, the power of the demons would be freer than usual and the purity of his Order and of others would be deformed by stains, and the promised dissension and apostasy of the one empire from the other would be completed in so far that very few would obey out of a love of truth the Supreme Pontiff and the Roman Church. 279And that one not canonically elected and infected with heretical irregularity, at the very time of this trouble, when raised to the papacy would endeavour shrewdly to bring the death of his error to many. 280And that then scandals would be multiplied and his Religion would be divided with many breaking away from others because they would not contradict error or consent to it; and there would be opinions and so many great schisms among people, religious and the clergy that unless those days had been shortened, according to the word of the Gospel, if possible even the elect would be led into error, unless in the midst of such turmoil, by the great mercy of God, the errors were controlled.
281He wanted, therefore, in accord with what he had accepted in the revelation in those words necessary for the truly humble and poor, to those who love to cling faithfully and inseparably to Christ and to his Church, according to the vow of the promise of evangelical life, to give a knowledge of discretion and to announce beforehand the danger of the scandal about to come in the Church and to give a remedy. 282Namely, that then they should proceed cautiously and strengthen themselves and come together more strongly and more perfectly in the observance of the promised life and Rule, when they see someone, not canonically elected, usurp the papacy in a tyrannical manner or when one infected with heretical irregularity perversely holds on to it. 283Then, as he used to say, happy those who persevere in what they began and freely promised the Lord to observe.
284Saint Francis used to say and frequently preached before the Lord of Ostia, many brothers and also to the people, that his brothers, influenced by evil spirits, would stray from the way of holy simplicity and of most high poverty, 285and that they would receive for themselves money, wills and other legacies and, leaving poor and solitary places, they would build rich and great places in castles and towns, giving no witness to a poor state but following the fashion of the world for lords and princes. 286And that, with much shrewdness, human prudence and insistence, they would obtain and request privileges from the Church and the Supreme Pontiffs, not only relaxing the promised Rule and the life revealed to him by Christ, but destroying its purity; armed with these they would proudly presume to enter into litigation and inflict injuries not only on seculars but also on other religious and clergy; 287and that they were digging a pit into which they themselves would finally fall and would sow seeds from which many scandals would be reaped.
288And Christ would rightly send to them, as they deserve, not a pastor but an exterminator who according to their works and efforts would render them their reward. 289He would bring war and a strong trial, just as they merited to bring upon themselves, so that tied up and ensnared in the greed of their desires and punished by a just decree of God, they may humbly return to the state of their vocation, or by a saving, healthy way of living, that before God they have sworn with a firm promise to keep until the end, they may be completely torn out.
290For truth then will be covered in silence by preachers or it will be denied as something contemptible, and holiness of life will be held in derision by those who profess it. 291But those fervent in spirit who will cling to piety and truth out of love, will endure innumerable persecutions as if they were disobedient and schismatics.
292Saint Francis preached, as his companions, namely, Brothers Bernard, Angelo, Masseo, Leo and others of his companions testified after his death, that
there will be such insults and disturbance from demons and wicked people against those walking simply and humbly that, abandoned by all, they will be forced to seek out desert and solitary places, or to go to the unbelievers, or be dispersed, wearing secular dress, leading the life of a pilgrim, or hiding among some faithful, enduring punishments and death from innumerable calumnies and quarrels. 293And he used to say that he is blessed who in that whirlwind will be able to find a faithful companion. 294For those who persecute them, stirred up by evil spirits, will say it is a service to God to kill and wipe off the earth such noxious people.
295Nor will they understand because demons will turn all their force and fury against holiness of life, poverty and the truth of evangelical humility, and, if they were allowed, kill them in their shoots and destroy them even to their roots, that mercifully Christ had renewed by two great lights of heaven, namely, Dominic and Francis. 296Then the wicked will act wickedly and not understand; their eyes will be blinded lest they see with their eyes and their hearts will be hardened and their back bent down always; from blindness, their intention will be subject to evil and, provoking God, they will lose the life of grace and incur eternal damnation, unless penitent they will be converted to Christ, see the ways of life and cease from a persecution of the innocent and humble poor by hatred and oppression. 297The Lord will be a refuge for the afflicted, will save them, take them away from sinners and will free them because they hoped in him. 298For when antichrist and his followers wickedly put themselves above Christ, then the poor and faithful servants of Christ, so as to be conformed to their head, will act faithfully and, with no fear at all, will choose to trade death for eternal life, to obey God rather than men, and to die rather than consent to what is false and perfidious.
299The first chapter of the Rule approved by Pope Innocent was this:
300The rule and life of these brothers is this, namely: ‘to live in obedience, in chastity, and without anything of their own,’ and to follow the teaching and footprints of our Lord Jesus Christ, who says: 301If you wish to be perfect, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me. 302And: If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 303Again: If anyone wishes to come to me and does not hate father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 304And: Everyone who has left father or mother, brother or sisters, wife or children, houses or lands because of me, will receive a hundredfold and will possess eternal life.
305This is the first chapter of The Earlier Rule. The second chapter of this Rule is about the reception and clothing of the brothers:
306If anyone, wishing by divine inspiration to accept this life, comes to our brothers, let him be received by them with kindness. 307If he is determined to accept our life, let the brothers be very careful not to become involved in his temporal affairs but present him to their minister as quickly as possible. 308On his part, let the minister receive him with kindness, encourage him and diligently explain the tenor of our life to him. 309When this has been done, let the above-mentioned person – if he wishes and is capable of doing so spiritually without any difficulty – sell all his belongings and be conscientious in giving everything to the poor.
310Let the brothers and the minister of the brothers be careful not to interfere in any way in his temporal affairs, 311nor to accept money either by themselves or through an intermediary. 312Nevertheless, if the brothers are in need, they can accept, like other poor people, whatever is needed for the body excepting money.
313When he has returned, the minister may give him the clothes of probation for a year, that is, two tunics without a hood, a cord, trousers, and a small cape reaching to the cord. 314When the year and term of probation has ended, he may be received into obedience. 315After this it will be unlawful for him to join another Order or to ‘wander outside obedience’ according to the decree of the Lord Pope and the Gospel, for no one putting his hand to the plow and looking to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God. 316However, if anyone comes who cannot give away his belongings without difficulty but has the spiritual will to do so, let him leave them behind, and it will suffice for him. 317No one may be received contrary to the rite and practice of the Holy Church.
318All the other brothers who have already promised obedience may have one tunic with a hood and, if it is necessary, another without a hood and trousers. 319Let all the brothers wear poor clothes and, with the blessing of God, they can patch them with sackcloth and other pieces, for the Lord says in the Gospel: Those who wear expensive clothing and live in luxury and who dress in fine garments are in the houses of kings. 320Even though they may be called hypocrites, let them nevertheless not cease doing good nor seek expensive clothing in this world, so that they may have a garment in the kingdom of heaven.