On the visitations made by our first Father General, Father Matteo da Bascio

228 Conformity with the will of God is the certain norm of perfection 229 The practice of obedience 230 The visitations of Fra Matteo 221 Memories left to the Friars from the visitations 232 Austerity of life 233 Fraternal charity

(228) The more earthly things are conformed to heavenly things the more it is necessary to say that they are perfect. The government and good ordering of heaven completely depends on and springs from the divine goodness. With its infinite power and goodness the divine essence embraces and gathers all creatures to itself. He transforms them so irreversibly in himself that he renders then immortal, happy and blessed because they can never contemplate anything else with great effect than the universal cause of all good. Therefore this is that Divine Majesty who governs and gathers out of love all his chosen ones,. They are more perfect and have greater merit in so far as they are more united with him through holy contemplation and the knowledge of his goodness. This is just as we see in the world since the more an Order is united with God than another is it is said to be more perfect.

(229) When our Congregation was united and gathered under the rule of its General they benefited very much from that guide given them by God in their General. For if those servants of God lived all the holy virtues earlier. Nevertheless obedience did not have for them that efficacy with goes with it because they were dispersed everywhere. Because of the many persecutions the poor fellows went around like sheep without a shepherd. However when that shepherd began to visit them he revived holy obedience among them for if they had the virtue before they nevertheless could not put it into action. Because he found their hearts quite purified this holy virtue had great power in them so that all them like meek lambs willingly submitted to the shepherd with great joy. They confessed quite frankly that even if they suffered very much in the deserted places, nonetheless it seemed to be of little merit to them because their works were not seasoned by holy obedience.

(230) That great servant of God began with great fervour to visit them in their little friaries. When they knew from a distance that the Father General was coming, with their Guardian they all came out. With a loud voice they all cried out, “Jesus.” Then the Father General responded in the same way. When they met that good shepherd embraced his sons tenderly, giving them the kiss of peace. Then altogether they went back to the Friary. This was beginning of their hospitality towards strangers who came.

He visited them all with great love. He stayed with them at least a week and every day gave them a sermon totally afire with the love of God. Nor could that servant of God ever tire of saying that the Congregation came form God and not from men. “And if anyone is unsure about this, I am sure. For when I was at Montefalcone I had not thought of doing a Reform, no less of reforming myself. However, after being often visited by the Holy Spirit, I knew that not only I but also the whole Order was in need of reform. He made know how far away we were from the true observance of the Rule. This is what woke me up to rethink my situation. In order to be more enlightened I began with great fervour to fast on bread and water more than usual and to pray more often, commending myself resolutely to the Lord God so that he might deign to enlighten me. Something wonderful happened once when I was going to a castle for alms, both when I was going and when I was returning. Both times in the same place I clearly saw revealed before me a barefoot Capuchin Friar. For a good while I saw him going along a short distance ahead of me. Sometimes he went off the road and then came back onto it. He gazed at me graciously. As I hurried up to see who it was he suddenly disappeared from view. I have always believed that it was our Father Saint Francis who, by the mercy of God, wanted to restore his habit and his way of life to the world. Therefore this was the reason I gave myself to prayer with greater fervour. I ate little and slept and slept little. This was because I felt my heart burning with the desire to know what that habit was and what did he want to show me by appearing with it. I will keep silent about what God has revealed to me so that you do not think I was some holy man. God revealed the habit and life of our Father Saint Francis to me, his vilest creature, neither because of my merits nor holiness but for the sake of the good that he wanted to bring from it. Nor will I ever be content until I see myself lead an itinerant life detached form every earthly affection because God revealed to me that this was the intention of our Father Saint Francis – that his Friars would be perfectly detached from the world in perfect poverty. Therefore he called it ‘most high’ poverty, different to all the forms of poverty in the world. Therefore my sons no you can be called legitimate sons of Father Saint Francis. Being in such poor little friaries you have no such affection because fondness for earthly things is a heavy weight which binds the soul to the earth so that it cannot to fly to its creator. Know therefore that our Father Saint Francis was enlightened by God and knew that it was not possible to be completely able to apply oneself to the practice of perfect contemplation without the true foundation of poverty. The desire to possess has set the world on fire. Don’t you see beloved sons that all the virtues were par excellence in our Lord Jesus Christ, nonetheless poverty and humility appeared in His Majesty more than any other did? Therefore it would be of little importance to reform externally if we did not reform ourselves inwardly for God gazes mainly upon the heart. When he finds it purified from affection for oneself and for worldly things he fills it with his Spirit who carries with himself every virtue. Nor would you be able to maintain this state and in such high poverty unless you practise holy prayer because all good comes from God and he most of the time he usually does not give his graces except to the one who asks them of him. It was an amazing thing that when God promised Abraham that he would multiply his people to be more than the stars in the sky, nonetheless the wife of Isaac was sterile and did not produce children. The holy patriarch prayed to God and gave him the fruit of his holy marriage. Therefore the great Father Gregory says that God had promised him the multiplication of his seed with this condition, that Isaac ask it of him in prayer.

(231) “Therefore I leave you with these two very important things: the observance principally of most high poverty which we have promised to God, and the continuous practice of holy prayer. If you continue to exercise yourselves in it you will always be enlightened more by God and the perfect love of God will grow in you. By the grace of God it is not necessary to remind you about abstinence because all of you practise it. Rather I tell you to go moderately with it. I see silence and lovingness among you along with all the other good manners. It only remains to remind you about the frequency of prayer that is most important of all because all the other virtues are imperfect without prayer. Through prayer the love of God increases in us which perfect sour works because God does not take into account how long you have endured in a good work but with how much love. We go barefoot. We fast. We obey. We say the Office, the Masses and do other good works, but we will receive the merit for them from his Divine Majesty according in accord with how much love we have done them. Therefore exercise yourselves in this, in the love of God and in loving one another if you want to be perfect and pleasing to God. We have made our Constitutions. Observe not through fear of punishment but the for the love of God. These will be like a hedge that so that you may never enter to ruin the vine of the Rule you have promised. In so far as you wrap yourselves in this hedge, you will always be innocent of having offended the Rule.”

That holy man hear the culpa few times as I have been informed by those early Fathers. Rather he always lightened with sweetness the great weight that those servants of God carried in that great suffering they went through in the beginning. He was accustomed to say that it pleased him very much that the Friars were joyful and that they often visited one another and had brief spiritual conversations. He said that sadness and melancholy greatly held back he servants of God from the spirit. For this reason he wanted them to be joyful and that they pray often rather than very long in order not to become wearied. They should mix contemplation with vocal prayer and exercised themselves in reading some spiritual book and in speaking about God. Because for the one who is not perfect in contemplation trying too hard makes it too difficulty and generates great tedium. Hence many withdraw from it and fall away from it completely because of tedium and absent-mindedness. Therefore he thought that joy and the joyful practice of the holy virtues profited greatly for continuing in them and in keeping sound.

When the Friars asked him advise, “What can we do Father to please God?” He always answered, “Be humble and be joyful” as if to mean, “If you have these two things, with holy prayer they will be enough.”

(232) At that time he wasn’t necessary to encourage the Friars to practise abstinence or prayer, nor in wearing hair-shirts, even less so in the observance of silence and all good manners. Good and fervent Friars always practised these in the holy Order. If anything they probably practised these too much. It was necessary rather that the Superiors be careful with the friars so that these things wouldn’t be done to extreme. More often than not they extended themselves beyond their strength. Consequently there was a lot of sickness among them. The general desire was so great among those early servants of God that they never thought of anything else except to suffer for the love of Jesus Christ. Because of this the Superiors often strove to console them and instruct them in the way of God. This was especially so for the your so that they would not act off their own heads but would allow themselves to be guided buy their elders. There was a lot to do in this because many of them got sick because they wanted to do more than they could. Because of the great, general austerity and the little possibility there was to show nurse the sick some of them had to leave and go to a more lax Order. Therefore those holy Superiors (acted), just like our Father Saint Francis at the Chapter of the five thousand Friars, called the Chapter of Mats, held at Our Lady of the Angels. That good shepherd took from them more than five hundred iron rings which they wore against their bare skin, as well as a number of hair-shirts and countless other instruments. He did this because they were becoming ill for having been extreme in their way of suffering.

(233) Thus those early Capuchins were so fervent that there was a real need for the Superiors and other Fathers to be balanced and moderate in that austerity. Therefore the servant of God Fra Matteo was a man profoundly expert in penance. It was amazing that during a visitation or in his manner of going about things rank was unknown among the Friars. Rather, as brothers they all desired fraternal correction not only from the Superiors but also from any of the brothers. He was very gracious towards them. Nor was there any need to do any examination because as soon as the Friars were aware of the least fault they accused themselves. And they exaggerated the gravity of the fault as much as they could because of their desire to receive a penance for it. As a result the visitations of this servant of God were always joyful because he never found anything which gave him sorrow. On the contrary, it gave him great joy to see his sons who were so simple and desired so much to suffer. To the praise of God. Amen.