The first General: Saint Francis of Assisi
Biographical sketch
1 Origins of the Franciscan Order and historical sources of the narration 2 Jesus Christ reveals to Saint Francis the life to lead 3 The imitation of Christ 4 The conformity of the Franciscan life with that of Christ 5 What the houses of the friars should be like
(1) The first General and Founder of the Order of Minors was our Seraphic Father Saint Francis. God converted him miraculously from the vane cares of this world. Our Saviour Jesus Christ revealed to him how he should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel and that he should write his Rule for himself and for all those who from then on would want to observe it. The Seraphic Father therefore began the Order of Minors in 1206, as appears in the Memoriale of the Order. Pope Innocent III approved the first Rule for him and later the second one which we how have was approved by Pope Honorius. As is obvious from the Chronicles of the Order, the whole Order observed this Rule inviolably in its high degree of perfection for a period of twenty years while the Seraphic Father Saint Francis lived.
I feel that I should not keep silent about the marvellous things that the Lord God worked by means of our Father Saint Francis. So that it does look as though we I am speaking of my own head I felt I should repeat what the Three Companions of Father Saint Francis write about these things, namely Brother Leo, Brother Rufino of Assisiand Brother Angelus of Rieti. This appears in their legend entitled the Legend of the Three Companions. This is what they say.
(2) With great humility like a little child Saint Francis understood and accepted that the will of Jesus Christ had been given him from heaven regarding the things that he wrote in the Rule. He was assured that all those things were according to the wish of Jesus Christ. For when He appeared to him one day as crucified He said to him, “Francis, follow me.” The Holy Spirit set him on fire with those words. When the saw the Saviour of the world who wanted to die on the cross and to die between two thieves for the salvation of all he firmly resolved to follow the naked Christ. He was deciding whether to distance himself from his homeland and be separated from all the tumults of the world Just as we read how Saint Mary Magdalen and other Saints finished their lives in harsh deserts with remarkable penance for the love of Christ. Or truly in an exchange with the Lord who died for us, should he go among the infidels and like an Apostle of Christ preach the holy faith to them and receive martyrdom for that faith.
(3) Which of these two ways would more acceptable to the Lord God? Since he was in this doubt, for many days he turned completely to the Lord God with devout prayer. With an immense desire and many tears he asked His Majesty, from whom all graces come and from whom we receive every good thing in the world, to enlighten and assure him. At this, by His usual and infinite mercy, He appeared again and said to him, “Follow me and remain close to the footsteps of my poverty and humility. For to follow my life and to be like me and to abide by the life that I led in the world with my Apostles with all love and perfection is none else but the goal of all perfection. From it come in this world and the next all the gifts and spiritual riches that I promised to all those who will follow me perfectly. They will receive the fulfilment of every grace and glory that I have prepared for my chosen ones. So if you cling to me with all your heart, mind and soul and with all your strength so that all your understanding may be in me and about me and so that all your words are for my glory and for the help and support of my chosen ones, ordering all your actions for the sake of my glory and my love, I will be so pleased with you that you will be my servant and I will always support you. And as I told my Apostles that when they are questioned by worldly princes they ought not think about how they should answer, because the Holy Spirit will speak through their mouths, thus I will speak through your mouth. Whoever will listen to you, will listen to me. Whoever will welcome you will welcome me. Whoever will bless you will be blessed by me. The one who will curse you will not go without punishment. Therefore you yourself and all the Friars whom I will give you will live in my likeness, like foreigners and pilgrims, dead to the world and to yourselves in everything and alive only to me. Therefore base yourself, your Rule and your life on poverty and on the nakedness of my cross. For all the gifts of the riches of grace and glory that I share are founded on, located in and found in my poverty. The infinite and blessed fruitfulness of all my gifts flows from keeping and truly observing my humility. For the heights of my humility are shown in the Gospel to all those who will follow it in this world. And whoever follows it will find peace and mercy and an immense rest in this world, hoping the merits of my passion and my mercy, and from this, through faith, hope and charity, in the future life in my eternal dwelling they will receive the fecundity of my divine essence in which consists the fulfilment of every joy and glory.
“Know that I always watch over and am pleased with those who truly love and possess my humility and poverty. Therefore the Congregation of your Order will be called the Order of Friars Minor so that by this name they will understand that they should be truly humble in heart, more than all the others. I will marvellously honour anyone who is clothed in this garment because humility was the garment of my honour and my praise. Therefore anyone clothed with that habit at his death will find open the doors of my kingdom open.
(4) “Know therefore Francis that I have asked of my Father in this last age a poor, humble, serene and gentle. In poverty and humility it will be like me in every way and will be happy with me alone. In this world I will rest spiritually in this people and find peace in their hearts.
Just as the Father rests and stays in me so that people too will rest and put all its hope in me and will trust in my providence in everything for everything. Just as I depend on my Father through infinite generation, this people would depend spiritually on my providence and not want to possess any earthly thing but hope in my providence in all its needs. It will rest totally in me just as I rest completely in my Father and in the Holy Spirit.
Therefore my Father gave me you along with those who with all their heart and with sincere faith and perfect charity will come to me through you and your instrumentality. I promise you that I will lead and pasture them and they will be my adopted children. I will be their father and whoever will welcome you will welcome me. As for the one who will persecute and despise you, my judgement will be upon the persecutors and loathers. My blessing will be upon all those who will welcome you and support you in my service.
“My Gospel will be your rule. My life will be yours and my cross will be your rest. My love will be your life. My death will be you’re your hope and resurrection. The insults and blasphemies that I received in this world will be you’re your honours and riches, blessings and praises. My taking on death and torments may be your life, your joy and glory. Therefore do not want to have any thing under heaven. Instead your portion and your riches in this world will be to humble yourself and to live subject to every creature and be the lowest, accepting yourself to be afflicted and vilified. This will be your joy.
(5) Hence the places where you live as foreigners and pilgrims in order to serve and praise me will be lowly and poor, built from humble materials, from mud and wicker. They will be far from the noise and vanity of the world. They will under the jurisdiction, ownership and dominion of others. Take up these places with humility, with the permission, obedience and good will of the Ordinaries and Clergy. Dwell in them as foreigners and pilgrims for as long as it suits the proper owners and the Ordinaries. Be always prepared to leave joyfully and with gratitude to those who have accommodated you there until that time. Then they will be just like me when, exercising themselves in my service, they live in other places like foreigners just like my pilgrimage since as Lord of all things I did not want to have anything on the earth that was mine except the dominion from others. Therefore preach my life with example, and my name with works and with words. For when you are hunted out and evicted you will leave those places more readily because you do not reside there. Therefore though this example you will show perfectly that you have nothing to do with those places.
The Testament
6 The Testament is a declaration of the Rule 7 Submission and respect to Church hierarchy 8 The manner of dress and dealing with seculars 9 Manual work and begging 10 Privileges 11 Glosses should not made
(6) This was the reason that when he was close to death he made his Testament in which he says, “After the Lord gave me Friars and companions no one showed me what I should do. However the Most High showed me that I should live according to the form of the Holy Gospel. When these things were revealed to me I had them written briefly and simply and His Holiness confirmed them for me.” He wrote the Testament as a clarification of the Rule and for a sounder and purer observance of the Rule so that the Friars would know with all humility to be always subjects to the Holy Church and the Prelates of that Church. Therefore he adds, “So that we may observe the Rule and the Holy Gospel in a better and more Catholic way. Therefore he showed clearly that what he had written in the Testament and the Rule he had received from Christ.
(7) So the Three Companions say that the Saint wanted us to be subject to the church so that we not only obeyed major Prelates by also the least important Priests who live according to the norm of the Holy Church. When he used to go on a journey and came across Priests he not only kissed their hands but quite often the feet of their horses. Such was his devotion towards them since they are Ministers of the Holy Church and the Most Holy Sacraments. He considered the great dignity with which the Lord God had adorned them by giving them the power to close and open heaven and to consecrate the Body and Blood of the Saviour of the world. Nor did he want to preach against the will of Priests and Rectors., no matter how unimportant they were. He also wanted theologians and preachers of the word held in great veneration considering that through the Holy Scriptures they administer to us spirit and life. Nor did he want his Order to depart from the rites and ceremonies of Holy church in celebrating and officiating, but that it always conform itself in everything. Therefore he said, “Let them do the Office according to the order of the holy Roman Church.”
(8) Then he organised his Order by giving the Friars the norm about dress when he wrote for them the example about how he, Father Saint Francis, and all those early Fathers used to dress. He said, “We were content with one tunic, patched inside and out and we did not want to have anything more.” He hope that this indication from such a Father for the good and zealous sons who would want to follow him would be enough, however without taking away the authority that the Rule gives us to be able to use the second tunic or a mantle instead, just as we find that this Father and all his companions sometimes wore that tunic.
That Father also wanted his Friars to converse with all humility and gentleness so that they show that they are subject to all in all humility by removing from themselves every act of inward and outer pride in speaking and conversing and in all things.
(9) Our Father Saint Francis also wanted that the Friars who had the grace of working to work manually and receive for it necessary food and so conform themselves with those early Fathers who all put the duty to work into their Rule. He did this in order to avoid idleness and to be more like the holy Apostles. One reads about the Apostle Paul who although he was writing epistles and in leading the Church, nonetheless he lived by his labours. In fact he glories in it, saying, “I earned with these hands that which was necessary for physical sustenance for me and my companions.” For the Lord says, “It is better to give alms than to receive them.” Therefore our Father Saint Francis put in his Testament, “I worked with my hands and I want to work and I firmly want my Friars to work.” Most of the Companions of Saint Francis lived from their own labour. However since he knew that it was a difficult thing for the whole Order to live from labour he allowed in the second place to be able to beg for their necessities. Therefore he says, “If the wage for their work is not given them let them have recourse to the table of the Lord.” Therefore the Three Companions say that the blessed Francis had learned from Christ who went begging in order to living during the three days He stayed in the temple. For poor evangelisers it is a great honour to go asking for alms for the love of Our Lord since all created things cannot equal the love God since His Majesty had created them for the benefit of man. However after the sin of the first man God granted us these things through grace and not justice since we have departed from our Father through sin. Therefore by way of alms and through grace we receive all these things as both chosen ones and reprobates. His graces and gifts rain upon the worthy and the unworthy. He does this for love of His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. Therefore that which is asked and given for the love of God and Jesus Christ His Son who became poor in order to make us rich, to make us blessed and to sanctify us in this world through grace and in the next through glory, should rather be called the food of Angels than of men. He said that alms were the inheritance that He had acquired with His precious blood. All the faithful poor are heirs to that inheritance and by it become masters like faithful sons of Jesus Christ. They receive that inheritance through His holy name as if requesting that which is properly due to them through the holy name of Jesus Christ, saying, “Give us alms for the love of Jesus Christ, that is, give us that portion that is justly appropriate for us and which the Saviour of the world has left us as an inheritance.”
(10) Nor did he ever want the Friars to seek privileges from Holy Church at any time. He said, “I firmly command that they not receive letters from the Roman court.” These privileges take from us the simplicity and purity of the renunciation of every earthly thing. Also they furtively put on us the jurisdiction over and possession of earthly things.
(11) Nor did he want the Friars to expand or gloss upon the Rule since the literal meaning of the Rule is its true meaning. Once he assembled in secret with some of his companions, that is, Brother Bernard of Quintavalle, Brother Giles, Brother Angelus, Brother Masseo and Brother Leo. He said to them, “Know, my beloved, that although I am the lowest creature in the world, nonetheless, so that you may grow in the reverence and trust for your vocation and the Rule, God has revealed to me that he has appeared familiarly to such a few, rare saints as he has done to me and still does to me. All the times that I commend myself to Him that he deign to show me something for the benefit of the Order, he kindly always appears and answers all my concerns. Nor do I do anything regarding the leadership of the Order that has Christ has not ascertained first to be His will.”
How Saint Francis made the first Rule
12 Francis’ first Companions 13 The second Franciscan Rule 14 Confirmed by the Pope
(12) Before Father Saint Francis wrote the Rule it pleased the Lord God to increase the Order to number twelve Friars. He gave them to the Seraphic Father Saint Francis as beloved companions and brother like twelve Apostles, in the midst of whom was the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. He was not like someone who wanted to be served by them. He was as if the least, the humblest. For that immense goodness did not descend from heaven to be served but to serve. In exactly the same way the humble Francis was humble among his companions. He served his companions with such charity and regarded himself the least not only among his companions but also among all creatures. He wanted to conform himself completely with the One who had called him from the world to such a high state. For enlightened by Christ he desired nothing else but to follow the footsteps and teaching of his Lord. He realised that it was the will of God to write some norms and a way of life conformed with the Gospel of Christ and the apostolic life because a little while later they numbered twelve. Their names were Brother Bernard of Quintavalle from Assisi, Brother Peter Catani, Brother Giles, Brother Sabbatino, Brother John of the Chapel, Brother Morico, Brother Philip Longo, Brother Constantine, Brother Barbaro, Brother Philip the Lay man, Brother Bernard of Violanti and Brother Angelo Tancredi of Arieti.
(13) Therefore while Saint Francis was at prayer, with many tears he commended himself to the Lord God to show him what he had to do. Kindly the Lord appeared to him and said, “Recollect yourself and write what I will show you and present it to my Vicar,” (who was Pope Innocent III). “Ask him on my part to confirm it for you and all your companions and anyone who will want to observe it. For those who welcome it and observe it humbly will receive my Spirit. They will be clothed with the light of my splendour. However those who despise and violate it will be wrapped in gloom and the darkness of sin. They will become worse than other men for having fallen from such a high vocation and state.”
So withdrawing Father Saint Francis wrote the second Rule since before he had written a very long Rule by himself. It was not divided into chapters and was never in use in the Order. One can see it from some examples from it which the Zoccolanti Fathers have, as is displayed in the friary at Arezzo in Tuscany. Pope Innocent III approved this Rule and the whole Order observed it for some years. However it is openly not believed that Christ revealed this to him otherwise it would not have been necessary to write another Rule, the third one, which we now observe. It is believed that Christ revealed this one to him viva voce. Once it was written, Brother Elias usurped it from him, as will be discussed in its place.
(14) Therefore when this second Rule was written Father Saint Francis assembled all his companions and together with that devout and holy company presented himself to His Holiness Innocent III, asking him for confirmation. However since His Holiness felt that it was too strict and difficult to observe, human nature considered, with kind words he encouraged Father Saint Francis to take up another easier Rule or to submit to one of the approved Rules.
However he remained firm in his first intention. He affirmed that Christ had sent him to ask His Holiness for the confirmation of that Rule and not some other rule. His proposition remained firm. Then moved by the Holy Spirit, in the presence of the Cardinals and His Holiness, the lord John of Saint Paul, Bishop of Sabina and a Cardinal, and also lord Hugo, Bishop of Ostia, took up the protection of Saint Francis. Very effectively they proposed that His Holiness had to approve the Rule. However, as it pleased the Most High God who never stops from enlightening the Shepherd of the Holy Church, in a dream that night the Pope saw a poor man just like Saint Francis. He was holding up on his back the church of Saint John Lateran that threatened to collapse and he held it up valiantly. Instructed by the Holy Spirit, Saint Francis returned to His Holiness the following morning and put before him the parable of a poor woman. She bore children for a King and fed them in the desert. Because they look so much like the King, the King recognised his children when once he passing by that desert. Loving them he took them from the desert and had them eat at his table in palace and left them as heirs to his kingdom. Through this parable he wanted to show that the servants of God resemble Him by grace. When His Majesty recognises that He has created them and regenerated them again by His death, he cannot fail to take care of them like His own children. Since above all it seemed impossible to His Holiness to be able to live without owning anything in common, Father Saint Francis wanted to show him that God would take care of them as He had promised him in the revelation. And on the part of Christ they asked of him confirmation of that Rule.
Therefore His Holiness understood that what Saint Francis asked was on the part of Christ and was not through human invention. Giving thanks to God for this he granted Saint Francis all that he requested and with great kindness blessed him and his companions. On his authority he made them preaches of the Gospel and promised them from then on to grant them whatever was needed for the sound governance and growth of the Order. As they were leaving Rome His Holiness wanted the Lay Friars to have little tonsures so that they could preach the Gospel of Christ more worthily.
How the Angel of God appeared to him on the road
15 The apparition of an Angel 16 In the Rivotorto Hermitage 17 Saint Francis consoles his afflicted Companions
(15) It pleased the most high and infinite Truth to show them with facts what he had promised them in words. Fro when they had already received the approved rule, the servants of God returned to the Valley of Spoleto with great enthusiasm. And as it pleased His Majesty, on the journey they found themselves in certain isolated places quite far from ordinary houses and having had nothing to eat. Already the meal-time had passed and they were exhausted from the exertion of the journey. When they could no longer walk because of their weakness, behold the Lord’s help. For a very charming young man suddenly appeared to them and gave them some bread. When he began to speak about the providence of God and with what care and kindness He provides for His servants and takes care of them they felt themselves so inwardly enlightened and their hearts so on fire with the love of God that they knew clearly that he was the Angel of God. They were so inwardly refreshed by the words of the Angel that they were quite amazingly astonished. When they looked at the Angel’s face he suddenly disappeared from their midst, leaving them rapt and outside of themselves. Then on coming to their senses again they all knelt together on the ground and renewed their profession, promising God to observe the Rule and never to fail in its true observance because of any diabolical or human temptation, nor through any physical need, even it were necessary to die. After giving thanks to God countless times they returned, having understood and been well instructed about how much god loved the Order and how clearly He showed them that the Order was His doing. Through the words of the Angel they realised that God cares more for the bodies and souls of servants than a mother does for her beloved child. They are His first concern in heaven and on earth. They realised that it is impossible that God would not provide for the physical and spiritual needs of His servants. His is always ready to hear their prayers and fulfil in them their holy desires. For He said, “I will not leave you nor abandon you.” And in another place, “Have no fear little flock because it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom of heaven”: how much more than the necessary things of life.
(16) When they had returned to the Valley of Spoleto they lived in the greatest poverty in a shack called Rivo Torto. This was the first friary of the Order, about one mile from the city of Assisi. In that little place it pleased the Lord God to begin His Order and he performed wonderful things there. The blessed Francis and his blessed company were gathered there and since they were unknown and the Order was new, they often suffered shortages of bread and other things to live on. As the Three Companions tell, they often kept themselves alive just on turnips. Relatives persecuted them because at that time to worldly men it seemed impossible and great madness that someone should deprive himself of wealth and live in such poverty for the love of Christ, having despised the things of the world. Because they already had known Father Saint Francis to be generous and quite wealthy and that he delighted in worldly and pointless pleasure. The same for blessed Bernard since he was a rich gentleman. Now they saw him barefoot and badly dressed, begging pieces of bread. To them it appeared it was something vane and madness. Therefore everyone persecuted and scorned them very much.
On the other hand the divine Goodness did not fail to enlighten them inwardly and refresh them. It was something amazing. Even though Saint Francis foresaw that in other regions and cities apart from his own city they would have been welcomed as Religious, nonetheless the did abandon or leave the place where he experienced persecution and scorn. For he was so on fire with the love of God and contempt for himself that wherever he knew that he could be mortified and suffer more for the love of Jesus Christ, there he stayed. Therefore the Holy Spirit made them valiant fighters against the world itself.
Therefore since the Friars had grown in number under their Father and teacher Saint Francis, they grew in virtue every day. Just as they were called Minors, so there were in everything for the love of Christ, both in words and in all their ways. They were humble and abject in the eyes of everyone and submitted to every creature. They loved one another with a wonderful love.
Once two of them went questing for some necessary things for the love of God. A wicked man threw a rock at one of them. Realising this, his companion immediately went in between. He wanted the hurled rock to hit him rather than his brother.
In their speech their words about the love of God were so devout and inspiring that they enthused that love in everyone who heard them. They revered one another with such religiosity that among themselves none of them was known to be the greatest since they were all revered as great. They were happy and had a modest laugh along with a cheerful and happy disposition. They were never idle and often went into the fields and worked part of the day and received what they needed as a wage. When Father Saint Francis sent some of them to distant lands, the others who remained dissolved into teras because it was very hard for them to separate from one another. No matter how difficult or unpleasant it was, they never contradicted a command but willingly fulfilled their Father’s precept quickly. They were very fervent in holy prayer and often felt themselves attacked by the devil, by sleep, or by physical need. In order not to sleep and to be more vigilant they tied themselves up to stay on their feet and not sleep. Some used irons and others bound themselves with wood and twisted wicker.
(17) In this little place our Father Saint Francis appeared to them transformed into a chariot of fire. It was something amazing. For while Father Saint Francis was prayer in the garden at Saint Rufino, the cathedral church of the city, he was lifted up in the spirit and rapt in that chariot. Three times he circled the little place and his external brilliance was such that the lit up all around. Although it was in the dead of night, that brightness came through the windows and the noise was so loud that it woke those who were asleep. Those awake were excited because they knew each other’s conscience inwardly through a supernatural light. And through the windows they clearly saw the Father and teacher transfigured marvellously like the Saviour of the world.
Not long after, when the vision had disappeared, he returned physically to his sons and revealed to them the spread of the Order. He said to them, “Do not be afraid because you are so few because the Lord God has revealed to me that He wants to spread this holy Order throughout the whole world. Holy men from all nations under heaven will come to take the habit. They will be from every kind of background: adorned with learning, nobility, clerics and lay. I say to you that within a short time that the Lord God give increase this Order because the sound of their feet is in my ears.
Since they did not have books in this place to be able to say the Office, Father Saint Francis had a large Cross erected near the house and sang in a loud voice, Ecce lignum crucis, venite adoremus. Then each of them withdrew for mental prayer and to do other private prayers.
How Saint Francis went to the Sultan and then made the second Rule which we now obey
18 Zeal for the salvation of souls 19 Disturbance in the Order during the Founder’s absence 20 He returns to Italy 21 He writes the Rule at Fonte Colombo 22 The conduct of Brother Elias and the Ministers 23 A small variation introduced into the text by the Pope 24 Observance of the holy Gospel
(18) Almost like a blazing Seraph the divine Francis shone everywhere with his teaching and miracles. He showed that the Spirit of Christ lived in him. Nor could he rest while he did not die while preaching Christ’s holy faith for love of Him. He always wanted to conform himself perfectly with His Most High Majesty who wanted to die on the Cross for the sake of universal salvation. He also desired to die for the salvation of his neighbour and to offer himself for death as a spotless victim in sacrifice. On the thirteenth year of his conversion his Order had grown so much that he sent them two by two to all the lands of Christendom to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was just like the Good Shepherd who first began to do before he began to preach, so that it could not be said to him that he commanded the others and stayed out of it in peace, all afire he took to the road in order to go to preach the faith to the great Sultan of Babylon.
(19) Even though when he entered the land of the infidels they took and maltreated him very much, nonetheless it pleased the supreme Creator for him to be led before the Sultan. He fervently preached the faith to him. After many questions the Sultan listened kindly to his words and gave him permission to preach throughout his kingdom. However while he was busy preaching Our Lord revealed to him the state of his Order and that His Majesty did not want to take him to Himself in that way, because for the benefit of the whole Order it was necessary to remain some time in the world. Brother Elias and his followers had agreed together and had taken from the Rule the chapter that commanded the Friars to take nothing for the journey. The Companions of Saint Francis and all the zealous Friars endured this with difficulty and opposed them constantly and fervently. However because they were simple and went about things with humility and charity they did not prevail against the learned Friars and those who governed the Order. In fact these were angry with them and put most of them in prison. Many fled to desert places. The lax Friars did this because they were certain that Father Saint Francis would not return again. Everyone knew about his desire to die for Christ and they thought that the infidels would have martyred him. However Our Lord did not want him to suffer martyrdom in this way but that he finish his life through another more meritorious way. He did not deprive him of the merit of holy martyrdom changed it into another way of suffering.
(20) Therefore when Father Saint Francis saw that it was the will of God for him to return to Italy he return with great haste, leaving that prince well disposed. When the found all the Order tangled up, he firmly reprimanded the persecutors and gathered the wandering sheep to himself who had been dispersed on the day of the dark cloud of ignorance of the lax Friars. He sought the counsel of the Our Lord Jesus Christ about what he should do to give a more solid leadership to his Order. Our Lord kindly appeared to him and told him to withdraw to a solitary place and write the Rule again.
(21) He chose as the most suitable and solitary place the little place in the valley of Riete called Fonte Colombo. Withdrawn to a solitary cell some distance from that place, he commanded under holy obedience that no one dare go to him except Brother Leo of Assisi and Brother Bonizzo of Bologna. Brother Bonizzo wrote it very diligently and when he had finished it he gave it to Brother Leo to keep it. However Brother Elias tolerated this Rule very badly. By means of some of his followers he furtively managed to get his hands on it. He thought he would stop the Saint from making another Rule stricter than the first. However, as the saying goes, many waters cannot extinguish charity. So with the schemes and opposition of the lax could not stop the plan Our Lord God for the Seraphic Francis, namely that the Friars Minor have this Rule which His Majesty had revealed in its entirety. He was like Moses the lawgiver who by fasting for forty days without eating had obtained the tables of the Law written by the finger of the living God. Because of the gluttony and idolatry of the people this zealous Captain and true servant of God broke them when he saw God so dishonoured. Then he did not fail to return and with another forty days of fasting he recovered that which greed had made them lose. So by fasting another forty days the lawgiver Francis rewrote the same Rule that Our Lord had revealed to him.
(22) Therefore when Brother Elias saw that he had not been able to stop the rule he could not rest, much less his followers. However when many Ministers of different Provinces met together they went off to find Brother Elias. They told him that he should do something since he was the Vicar of the Order since they did not intend to oblige themselves to another Rule. Brother Elias replied, “I do not want to go unless you come too.” Happy with this they all gathered below the cell where Father Saint Francis was staying. They did not dare to go against obedience for he had ordered that no one go to him. They did not want to leave without speaking to him so that their journey was not in vane. Standing below the cell they cried out in a loud voice, “Brother Francis we understand that you a making another Rule. You are making it for yourself and not for us because we do not intend to oblige ourselves to another Rule. When Francis the man of God heard the noise he commanded his companions to listen to what the noise might be. Then as the leader of the conspiracy Brother Elias cried out in the name of all, “Father, these are the Ministers of different Provinces who have understood that you are making another Rule. Considering the spirit and fervour that God has given you, they are worried that you are making another, stricter Rule. Having considered the human frailty and the weakness of their Friars they have under their leadership, they will not have the heart to observe it. Therefore they want you to understand that you are making that Rule for you and not for them.”
When Francis the man of God heard these things he withdrew into his cell. With many tears he said, “My Lord, didn’t I tell you that the Friars would not want to listen? Now may Your Majesty satisfy them.” At this he immediately heard a voice in the air that said, “Francis, do not be sad. Everything in the rule I put there myself. There is nothing there which is yours. I want it observed to the letter, to the letter, to the letter, without gloss. I know how much human frailty can do and how much I want to help those who want to observe it simply. Do not worry about those who want to, there will always be someone who will observe it by my grace.” Then as Father Saint Francis turned to the Ministers he said to them, “Did you hear that?”
(23) Confused and frightened by this they all left. When Saint Francis had finished writing the Rule he went with Brother Leo to present it to the Pope, according to the Lord’s command. His Holiness was very pleased with this. He loved Saint Francis very much since he was certain that he had the Spirit of God. Like a caring father he kindly welcomed him. Giving them his blessing he listened to him very lovingly. After having considered well the things that Saint Francis asked him on the part of Christ he granted him everything, conforming himself to his predecessor Pope Innocent III. He said to him, “Blessed is the one who, strengthened by the Spirit of Christ, faithful and devotedly observes this life and Rule until death, for all the things written there are catholic and holy.”
It pleased His Holiness only to moderate one sentence of the Rule which went this way, “In whatever place the Friars are where they cannot observe the Rule spiritually and literally, let them have recourse to their Ministers. When these do not provide for them, they can go off to the desert alone or accompanied.” The Pope said to him, “Francis, this could be a very potent reason that many proud Friars leave the Order under the pretext of wanting to observe the Rule.” Therefore I do not want to change the meaning but moderate the words so that the Friars will know that they are obliged not to stay where they cannot observe the Rule and that the Ministers will know that they are obliged to provide for them.” Father Saint Francis answered, “Holy Father, there is nothing of my own in the Rule. Christ has put everything there. Therefore I cannot and should not remove anything of what Christ has put there. As His Vicar, may Your Holiness do what pleases him. The rule is put at your holy feet. Our Lord knows quite well that the time will come when the Superiors of this Order will persecute those who want to observe the Rule. Therefore He gives you this freedom. This His Holiness changed those words, saying, “In whatever place the Friars are where they cannot observe the Rule spiritually, they should” – note the precept – “and may” – note the freedom it gives to subjects not to be impeded – “have recourse to their Ministers. However let the Minsters welcome them kindly and charitably and may the subjects have such familiarity and authority” – in this case –“that they can tell and command their Ministers like a lord does his servants.”
(24) With the holy Rule confirmed, the blessed Francis took leave of His Holiness. Departing with great joy he returned to the Valley of Spoleto. Because the lax Friars we mentioned above removed that chapter from the first Rule and therefore thought that they were not obliged by the Holy Gospel of Christ, Saint Francis said, “The Friars think they are deceiving God and me by thinking that their fraudulence might be useful for them to the extent that from then on they would be no longer obliged to observe the Gospel. So that they may be without excuses I have put in the Rule, at the beginning and the end, that the Friars are obliged to the observance of the Gospel of Christ.
How Jesus Christ gave Father Saint Francis the Stigmata
25 The imprinting of the Stigmata 26 How and when it happened 27 The efforts of the Seraphic Father to hide is visible effects
(25) The whole orthodox holds in doubtless faith that the Seraphic Father Saint Francis received the sacred stigmata from Our Lord. However the way he received in his holy body the imprint and seals for the supreme King through the immense goodness of Christ, no one quite as fully or in such detail writes about it as clearly as the Three Companions do in the Legend of the Three Companions. These were Brother Rufino, Brother Leo of Assisi and Brother Angelus of Rete. That which the Seraphic Doctor wrote about our Father Saint Francis takes it origin from that Legend, as a more authentic source. However, partly for the same of brevity, in his work the holy Doctor only writes about how the wounds appeared in the hand, feet and side of the Saint. Therefore since I found the way this happened in a book called The Mirror of the Friars MinorI would like to put it down in writing for the encouragement of all. It happened in this way.
(26) It appears that while our Father Saint Francis was on the mountain of Alverna Christ revealed to him that he should prepare himself. For His Majesty intended to do some things in him that had never been done in any saint before. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, because of this he adopted tow means with which he could prepare himself more divinely, that is, fasting and prayer. And so that he could be more enlightened he invoked his Advocate, Saint Michael the Archangel and begged hi to intercede with His Divine Majesty to grant him the true grace with which he could prepare himself worthily. So, like Moses the lawgiver who had to receive the stone tablets on which His Divine Majesty had written the holy law and wanted to fast for forty days, so too the Seraphic Father. After having fasted for the forty days of Saint Michael the Archangel, close to dawn on the day of the Exultation of the Cross he was there with his eyes lifted up to heaven, he began to feel a sweetness in the love of God which, more than usual, he felt burn in his heart. It was amazing! All of a sudden he saw a Seraph descend from heaven. With six burning wings it lit up all mount Alverna and the surrounding places as if the sun had risen. As it came through the air towards him, Father Saint Francis received an immense joy when he saw beneath those wings the most gracious form of the holy Humanity of the Son of God. Equally he was wounded with an immense sorrow on seeing Him crucified. More than usual his mind was transformed in the Lord. When the Lord spoke to him He said some words to him that Father Saint Francis never wanted to reveal to anyone. Then He told him, “Francis, prepare yourself, because I intend to marvellous things in you.” Saint Francis replied, “You know, my Lord, that I have been prepared by all your holy commandments.” Suddenly the Lord extended His right hand over the right hand of Father Saint Francis. Straightaway this touch of Christ wounded his right hand. Because of this imprint he let out the cry of man who received a blow in his own flesh. Crying out he said, “Oh Lord Jesus!” The he fell to the ground straight away. Stunned and sweetly amazed he gazed upon the face of the Lord who said to him again, “Up, Francis. Stretch out your other hand.” When he did this, the Lord approached with His left hand and imprinted the wound in the same way and because of which he fell to the ground again, crying out in a loud and mournful voice. At this the Lord said, “Up, Francis and prepare yourself.” The Lord put His feet over the feet of Saint Francis and impressed the wounds on both his feet. Wounded, he fell again to the ground. Finally the Lord said to him again, “Francis, get up so that I may complete this work in you because I have already decided to do great things in you.” The divine Francis replied, “Oh my Lord, who could endure such sufferings?” The Lord answered, “O Francis, what would you have done if you experienced the pain I felt at the time of my passion – slaps to the face, spit, blows, the crown of thorns, the scourging with many powerful and hard blows, the heavy weight of the cross, that berated I underwent crucifixion between two thieves in the presence of all the people, the insults of the scribes and the Pharisees, the cruel death I underwent for you and for all at the time of my passion – how would you have been to bear it? Getting up, with immense pain and love, the divine Francis said, “My Lord, what is Your Majesty’s command? I am ready for every suffering.” At that the blessed Jesus embraced him tenderly and pressed his side to that of Saint Francis and imprinted on him the wound in his side. The more than he had ever done Francis let out a mournful cry. Weeping he said, “Oh kind Jesus!” The he again fell to the ground, as though he were dead.
(27) In a flash the Lord disappeared from Francis’ view. Beside himself in ecstasy, and because his soul was rapt in Christ and because of the great physical pain that he felt, he stayed on the ground until None, when he used to eat. Because of this it was thought that the imprinting of the stigmata was during the day, at daybreak. Brother Leo used to call Father Saint Francis to eat at the due time. He went and found him on the ground. Drawing near he thought he was on the ground because of physical weakness. He took him and stood him in his feet. Like a man just awake from a deep sleep, when he opened his eyes he gazed at his beloved son, Brother Leo. At this Brother Leo said, “My dear Father, the Friars are waiting for you. They very much want you to eat with them.” The blessed Francis replied, “Go, my son. I am coming.” He went to the refectory as best he could. When he washed his hand he only washed his fingertips. He always did it that way while he bore the sacred stigmata. For many days he did not want to the reveal the imprint of the holy stigmata to the Friars. Later, however, after seeking the advice of some of his more intimate companions, he revealed part of the mystery with great humility and secrecy.
May Our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed who deigned to bestow this beautiful gift to His holy Church, and in particular to the seraphic Order of Saint Francis. Seeing him adorned with the seals of the Most High King gives us great courage to follow in the footsteps of our Father. Amen.
The shape Saint Francis stipulated and wanted for the habit
28 The Franciscan habit is in the shape of the cross 29 Its cloth, colour and size 30 Saint Francis wore the pointed cowl
(28) Francis, the remarkable confessor of Christ, did not fail to make known the shape of the habit that the whole Order had to observe so that it would conform to Our Lord Jesus Christ in everything, including clothing. Just as it is written in the Conformities for perpetual memory of all the Friars, the habit of the Order should be in the shape of the cross. Hence by example and word he made known the shape and dimensions of the habit, its length and breadth, as well as the kind of cloth in regard to it lowliness and colour. According to Brother Leo and Brother Masseo and his other companions, they received the shape of the habit from Saint Francis himself.
(29) So in regard to the material he wanted it to be poor cloth as he wrote in the Rule. It had to be ash coloured or pale in order to represent the pale body of the dead Christ. It was to be of heavy cloth, patched inside and out, in order to keep the body warm and so that one habit would suffice. It width was to be such that it did not need to be folded when tied around the waist. It was not to reach the ground. The sleeves were to reach the fingertips and whole cover the hands not exceed their length. They were to be wide enough so that the hands could pass in and out easily. The cowl was to be square and long enough to cover the face so that the habit may represent the cross and by its poor quality preach contempt for the world and show that the Friar Minor should be dead and crucified to the world. It was meant to subjugate of nakedness and meet the physical needs of those who have become poor for the love of Christ. For them it will be and external sign of their humility and a true indication that they carry the disgrace of the cross of Christ.
(30) Therefore they should not say that Saint Francis never wore the pointed cowl, since it is written also in the Chronicles of the Order that the cowl which the entire Order used to wear was pointed and that this was abandoned at the time of Michael of Cesena.
Biographical Notes
31 Francis’ government 32. The greatness of his works 33. His death 34. His biographers
(31) Therefore from the year 1206 until 1226 the good Father and Founder of the Order of Minors, Saint Francis governed the entire Order in a very holy way since His Holiness had made him General and Father of the whole Order. With example and teaching He maintained it always in the true observance of the Rule of the Rule without deviating to the left or right. Instead the entire Order kept to the straight path, following the norm and life that the Lord God had shown it by means of the Seraphic Francis.
(32) I do not want to stretch out things too long by wanting the tell about the magnificent works that our Father Saint Francis did in such a short time, since the Seraphic Saint Bonaventure has written about these things copiously as have the Chronicles or the Order. May what I write be enough in order to know that the Order of Friars our Rule to him and many Supreme Pontiffs authenticated and approved it. Such a countless number of outstanding men have observed the Rule. Their many miracles that made them illustrious bear witness to just how pleasing they were to God, especially our Father Saint Francis. Therefore the holy Church has canonised them. The large number and variety of miracles worked in every kind of sickness and in death show us how acceptable Francis, the outstanding confessor of Christ, was to Him. I will say nothing about how, since he conformed to Our Lord Jesus Christ in his deeds, Christ wanted to adorn him with the sacred stigmata. In this way the likeness he bore in his soul through grace and the works he did made it clear that Christ dwelt in his heart. Thus He wanted to imprint in his body and his heart the extraordinary deeds of the Supreme Redeemer and in this way make himself like Him so that his most holy soul, adorned by the grace of God, should merit to be assumed by Him into the perfect fruition of the divine essence; and that his holy body be an example to show the whole world how generously His most high Majesty rewards those who serve Him faithfully. For there is no greater honour that to carry the imprint of the moist high Son of God and to resemble Him.
(33) Therefore, the Seraphic Father came to his beloved place, Our Lady of the Angels, so that he could finish the course of his life where he had begun his Order. Quite ready and fully of God the great leader and guide of the Friars Minor passed over to his Creator. His body taken to the city of Assisi where it rests, while in heaven he always prays for his children.
To the praise and glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
(34) By order of Gregory IX, Brother Thomas of Celano wrote the life and miracles of Father Saint Francis. When he presented them to him, His Beatitude approved them. The apostolic notary, John of Ceperano, did the same. Brother Rufino, Brother Leo and Brother Angelus, the Three Companions, wrote the Legend of the Three Companions. The Seraphic Saint Bonaventure wrote the Major and Minor Legends of Father Saint Francis, taking up….