On the true observance of Poverty
5 Poverty as the foundation of the Franciscan Rule 6 Poverty in dress 7 Austerity in food and austerity of life 8 Poverty of buildings 9 On superfluous and curious things 10 God provides for the needs of the Friars 11 They kept all things in common 12 The owners of the friaries 13 The punishments of Friars who own things 14 On provisions 15 Recourse to spiritual friends 16 Spiritual poverty 17 Zeal for poverty
(5) Enlightened by the Holy Spirit those Venerable Fathers knew that the true foundation of our Rule is nothing other than the observance of poverty as one sees that our Father Saint Francis had rooted this in his heart when he takes all ownership from us in the Rule. And not only ownership but also the use of unnecessary and inappropriate things. Therefore he repeats it in the Rule and it is found written in the many talks that he gave to his Friars so many times that it seemed that he had no greater zeal for anything else than most high poverty.
(6) Therefore this was the reason that those early Fathers of our Congregation tried to observe most high poverty in everything that they used, as in clothing. For when the General Chapter had been celebrated in Saint Euphemia in Rome, the Lady Marchioness Victoria Colonna bought many pieces of natural wool so that all the Friars could be clothed with one habit each. Because of this such devotion came upon the Friars of the Provinces of Saint Francis, the Marches and Tuscany – where there is only fine wool – who having contempt for the cloth of their own regions did not want to be clothed in anything but natural wool. They patched these habits with sackcloth and other bits and pieces and some of them kept them so well out of zeal for that lowliness that they wore those habits for fourteen and fifteen years. No matter how corpulent a Friar was, the habit never exceeded twelve palms, however generally the habit was ten or eleven palms. One would never find a Friar wearing three garments because they firmly believed that wearing three garments would be against the precept of the Rule, as is clear in the declarations of the Supreme Pontiffs.
The example of their austere clothing was such among the seculars that their clothes could have been call hairshirts rather than habits and when the seculars saw them they made the sign of the cross.
Most of them also went barefoot in summer and winter. However in summer they all went barefoot. When they wore sandals these were very simple, poor soles tied on. They often went collecting boots and bits of leather that they found along the roads.
(7) They were also very austere in their eating. For many years it lasted that they did not want to receive chickens, pigeons or birds, even if they were brought to them. When these things were put before them in the houses of seculars they didn’t want to eat any of them. They said, “These things are not the food of poor Capuchins.” And when meat was brought to the friary, they did not want to receive it unless it was poor quality meat and that it was enough for just one meal or two at the most. They rarely ate meat. The Friars did not have frying pans in the friaries because they said that frying is against poverty. They did not eat roasts and similar such delicacies. Rather their life was generally vegetables, cooked bread and greens, or salad. Many of them hardly ever ate minestra, but greens and raw foods. Many very austere Friars fasted almost continuously on bread and water.
Quite a number of Friars wore a hairshirt and afflicted their bodies very much. They were also very austere in regard to sleep for during summer they all slept on bare boards. During winter some of them put down a little straw with a mat on top. It lasted for many years in the Congregation that they did not use straw mattresses or cloth sheets except for the sick or the very old and weak. Instead they all slept on boards.
(8) They also practised strict poverty in their dwellings because the house that were built for them were so low that a tall man could manage to touch the roof. They did this in order to conform to those places that our Father Saint Francis established and which can still be seen today, especially in the Province of Saint Francis. This is obvious in the friaries at the Carecere of Assisi, Monteluco in Spoleto, Speco di Sant Urbino, Speco di Canale, Scarzuola and other examples that were built according to the will of Father Saint Francis. They are all just one ground floor and the little cells made of lattice and mud and poorly covered. Finding themselves in such poverty, the poor Capuchins gloried in these so much because they felt that everything cried out of spirit and devotion. When it was necessary for any seculars to see these places they were overwhelmed with such devotion that they used to say while sighing and weeping, “Blessed are you, servants of God, because you have detached yourself from the fallacies of this world, and in these poor, remote little places you serve Him with such an austere life.”
(9) They also observed extreme poverty in the things that they used which were not against holy poverty. Hence they did not want there to be two of anything, taking up that passage of Nicholas III – where one thing is enough, two are excessive. They didn’t want to keep any old habits except enough to suffice for a change of habit when a couple of Friars arrived soaking wet. Instead they used the old habits to patch other ones.
When the Father Vicar General did his visitation he also visited the cellar. When he found napkins there for more than one change while the others were washed, and there were other things that would suffice, he gave away the extra for the love of God. He did the same with the vessels in the kitchen. When there were superfluous things or things that were too unusual, he gave them away for the love of God. They had so much zeal about using nothing except that which was necessary that they often ate their salad and their minestra from the same plate because they did not have enough vessels to use.
They did the same with the things in the sacristy. So for many years they used pewter chalices. However since they saw that this pewter stained the corporal, out of reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, they ordered that in each there be two chalices with a silver cup only and that this number not be exceeded. They kept just enough vestments and altar cloths as necessary so that when one set was washed they had another to use. When these exceeded that number, they gave them to the poor churches of secular Priests.
(10) They were also very strict about keeping stores of anything, neither bread nor wine, for more than a week. Hence many times during the winter and heavy snow the poor Friars in the more remote houses far from the towns suffered extremely severe conditions because they could not leave the friary and go questing because of the heavy snowfall. However Our Lord God often provided for them miraculously. This happened the friary at Borgo San Sepolcro called Montecasale where our Father Saint Francis lived and his cell is there as well as the rock where he slept. The place is in the Apennines about three miles from the city of Borgo and this miracle happened in my time. The Venerable Father Eusebius of Ancona, the first Vicar Provincial of the Province of Saint Francis, was there and the Guardian was Father Anthony of Cetona. Both men were mirrors of holiness. It happened that there was a great fall of snow so that not only could they not leave the friary, but they could not even open a window without the wind filling everything with snow. Because the house is in a valley enclosed by mountains, the wind produced drifts of snow in some places more than a few metres deep. When the poor Friars found themselves without bread and without anything else to eat, the Father Guardian called two stronger Friars and said to them, “My sons, you see where we find ourselves. If you have the courage, try to see if it is possible to cross the mountains and go to the city for some alms. If you see that you can’t, come back here. I give you the merit of holy obedience.” When the two Friars heard this they fell to their knees and with great gladness offered to make the attempt. Because there was just enough bread for them the Guardian wanted them to eat it so that they could be stronger to resist the cold. However when the Venerable Father Eusebius came to learn of this he did not want those poor fellows to put themselves into danger. Instead he had all the Friars of the house called to the church and gave them a devout talk about the Providence of God who can never fail His servants. “Therefore, blessed sons. Let us commend ourselves devoutly to our Lord Jesus Christ and let us not doubt that He will provide for us. For this morning if there are some beans or other vegetables in the house, cook them so that we may supplement them with the small amount of bread there is.” It was a miracle of God, that while sharing out that small quantity of bread, as little as there was, giving a small amount to each one, together with a bowl of beans, they were all more than sufficiently restored. They knew clearly that it was not the material food that had satisfied them but the grace of God. They all said, “If Our Lord gives us this food, we have little else to worry about.”
Another miracle also happened. As the snowfall and bad weather intensified, a number of persons in the city heard a voice that night, “The poor Friars of Montecasale are dying of hunger.” The evening before a certain Religious, when he saw the bad weather, cried out in a loud voice, “What terrible weather! Go to tell the Friars at Montecasale that the Angel will provide for them this time! He despised them because he felt that it was an indiscreet life not to provide for themselves in such places.” However, as it pleased the Lord God, in the morning there mayhem arose in the city because of the voice heard during the night. They quickly provided two strong mules and loaded them with bread, wine and everything that was needed. Fifteen of the noblest and valorous young men of the city set out to make the journey, well dressed in boots and hoods and with shovels in their hands. Within a short time they got to Montecasale. The cold was so great that it was necessary to warm up the blankets and cover the mules with them for all of them had long icicles hanging from their hides. The Friars wept from devotion when they saw the great charity of those young men who said in their fervour, “Fathers, do not worry about any of the things necessary for the body because even if snow should fall higher than these mountains, we hope in the Divine Goodness who will give us the grace to cross them. Know that we have seen great miracles. For although the roads may be very bad and the snow very deep, and the passes through these mountains are so bad, nonetheless we have arrived so easily that it is obvious that god has carried us here through the air. We thought we would have to make a road with these shovels. Nevertheless the mules arrived here by themselves without any difficulty. Now we are sure how much God takes care of you and how much Saint Francis loves you. It would seem to us that everything would have gone badly if it had not been for your holy prayers. Therefore do not worry. Abandon all your cares to the one who provides for you and pray for us sinners.”
After resting a little they returned with great gladness. If the poor Friars at first commended themselves to God so that he would provide for their physical needs, then with great fervour they thanked our Lord god and said with many tears, “Now who would not want to serve God who takes such care of His servants? Now if he takes such care of our bodies, how much care must we think that He takes for our souls?” It lasted for many days that they continuously prayed in particular for that kind city. And not long after, when a great enmity arose, the Venerable Father Joseph of Milan came there. After he did about four or six sermons there, because of the great devotion that they had for the Congregation the Lord God gave this grace to that good Father – that one morning one morning more than one hundred reconciliations over murder were accomplished. The entire city was reconciled.
It was by God’s providence that the Religious whom we mentioned above said, “Tell the Friars at Montecasale that the Angel will provide for them.” Because not long after during that same night the voice was heard which cried out, “the Capuchins are dying of hunger” and everyone thought that it was the voice of an Angel in order to confound the little faith of that Religious and to show how much our Lord God takes account of His servants who hope totally in His providence.
I don’t think I should remain silent about another time in the same house when the Venerable Father Bartholomew of Spello was the Guardian. Similarly it was a time of heavy snow and the poor Friars had no bread and could not in any way leave the place because of the snow and the Lord God provided for them. For there was a rich farmer in a villa called the Villa di Efra. He was resting that night in his bed when he clearly heard a voice that spoke to him in his mind, “Arrange to take bread to the poor Friars at Montecasale tomorrow morning.” Because of that voice he felt his heart warm so much in the love of God and in devotion towards those poor Friars that, as he later told the Friars, he could not sleep the whole night but instead dissolved into tears out of compassion so that those servants of God might not suffer. He felt it took a thousand years for morning to come. When dawn came he put about forty large loaves into a bag. Having slung it over his shoulder he set out through the snow staff in hand. It was something truly amazing. Although he was old and not very robust nonetheless he passed through that snow in such fervour of spirit was if he had been a bird. It was alpine country, frightening just to look at and so steep that even in good weather in summer one can only go there with the greatest effort. Nonetheless he got there without injury. When the Friars saw this they reprimanded him for having put himself into such danger. He happily replied, “It was not me but father Saint Francis who brought me here.”
This fostered great devotion in that region and all the Friars kneeling on the floor before the Blessed Sacrament gave thanks to our Lord god. With many tears they said, “My Lord, by these signs we are sure that you show us love with how much providence and care You provide for Your servants. So were are determined never to fail to trust in Your Providence and to observe the Rule that we have promised You since You provide for us so mercifully in all our needs.”
It would take too long to want to relate the examples of how Our Lord God provided miraculously for the needs of our early Fathers, especially since I have narrated many of these in the lives that I have written about our holy Fathers. May these suffice to make known how acceptable to God are true observers of the Rule of Saint Francis and how much those please Him who stay within the true observance of poverty and trust in His providence.
(11) Also those servants of God of the Congregation of Capuchins were so anxious not to offend holy poverty and incur property because no one would touch anything in the friary without the permission of the Father Guardian. They kept all the necessary things in common. When a Friar needed something, even a needle, thimble, and thread in order to sew something, he always asked permission. No one had anything for his use except what the Rule allowed him, namely, the habit, the tunic or mantle, the cord, the drawers, the Priests the breviary and the Lay Friars the rosary. And if someone wanted books in order to study some devout things he kept them with the permission of the Father Guardian. This detachment from all earthly things was very beneficial because Our Lord God filled them with spirit and devotion so that although they were Lay Friars and simple, the spoke so highly about the things of God nonetheless that even the seculars, as learned as they may have been, were amazed. They were averse to all ownership. If anyone of them carelessly showed the Superior that he wanted to stay in a certain place and the Prelate then assigned him there, he could never rest until he had himself removed from there since he felt that he had imposed his own wish.
(12) Furthermore they had the custom that at the beginning of the year at a certain time all the Guardians of Congregation went to the owners of the houses and as a sign that the house did not belong to the Friars, the Guardians brought the owners the rent which was a basket of salad. The Guardians said to them, “we have lived in your place for one year. Now we give it back to you. And if you are happy for us to live there another year, we will dwell in it as your possession. Otherwise we can leave.” They did this because they were averse to all ownership. Nor would they have cut down anything significant in the forest without first obtaining the permission of the owner. Because of this they continued in the greatest peace and the owners of the houses had a greater love to maintain them for us and have the woods watched so that nothing was cut down.
(13) The examples of the punishments received at death by “owners” in the Order were very helpful. Among all these there was one told of which was quite frightening. There was a Friar in the body of the Order who was gravely ill. When he was close to death he cried out in such a loud voice that was heard throughout the entire friary. As the Friars came running he told them how the demons wanted to strangle him and had appeared to him in the most horrible forms. However when the Friars encourage him to go to confession he always responded that there was no more time. After the Friars had left him again, soon after he cried out in a loud voice. When the Friars returned they found him dead they found him dead with the mark on his throat of the rope that had strangled him. When they searched his habit they found two coins and clearly understood that our Lord God had given him to the power of the demons because of grave sin and they had strangled him.
I shall not remain silent about an example that happened in my time to a Friar of the body of the Order. I knew him but out of decency I shall not mention his name. He kept some coins in his cell that he had earned through with his industry. He became mortally ill and although all the Friars had begged him to give the keys to the money to his Superior and that he should confess it, there was no way he would confess even though he was asked for many days. When constrained by obedience his heart hardened even more. As death approached he took the key and clasped it in his hands. No one was capable of taking it from him. He wanted to die with it. After his death they got it from his hands with pliers. All those Venerable Fathers believed that he was damned. So he was buried in the garden without any funeral.
Examples such as these terrified the poor Capuchins and their fervour to observe holy poverty increased.
(14) They were also so zealous about the things that they used daily that they did not want stores for more than a week of any necessary food. When the Vicars made their visitation they had them give away all the superfluous stores of apples, vegetables, onions, nuts and other fruit and firmly reprimanded the Guardians. The purity of their life in the true observance of evangelical poverty was such that during the visitations there was little else to reprimand except some surplus of these things which they regarded as a great transgression. They said, “Blessed are we if the Congregation continues in this zeal about not offending the rule in the smallest things. However when these things are no longer taken into account the precepts of the Rule will take a blow. They felt that the limits of poverty were exceeded when in a friary there might have been more than half a mina of nuts or other fruit. They were accustomed to say: “It begins in a little way. All the precepts of the Rule are observed more easily with the precept of poverty. This happens because the Superiors have greater zeal about it. However everyone agrees that it is easy to offend the Rule in the matter of poverty.”
(15) They did not want to have recourse to spiritual friends in order to have things bought no matter how necessary they may be, even for the sick, when these things can be found by begging. Their enthusiasm not to spend money was such that when they heard it mentioned they closed in on themselves. Once there was a zealous Friar who was in the fraternity in the friary of the Carcere in Assisi. Because of his devotion it was his custom to go to pray in a certain little oratory that was in the woods. A certain very devout Tertiary called John Mary also used to go there. How this happened no one knows but that servant of God found a coin there and when he saw it he fled. Returning to the friary he found this John Mary. When John Mary asked him where he had just come from he answered him, “I have come from your oratory.” And beside himself with anger he said to him, “You have left some money there. You should not have to count money in our place. I think you dropped it while you were counting your money there. I used to go to that oratory to do me some good and you have committed this sin.” When John Mary asked him if he would point out the coin to him, the Friar took a long pole and indicated where it was with that, as if it were a poisonous snake. He never wanted to go to that oratory again. It happened that seculars used to put some farthings on the altar out of devotion. These were swept up as if they were dirt without being taken into any account. This was because the Superiors often gave them sermons about the great zeal of our Seraphic Father that the Friars not get involved with money. Also because they knew from their experience that nothing has ruined the Order more than the desire of the lax Friars for money.
(16) I do not wish to be silent about the spiritual poverty that they had. They were so far from every earthly affection that if one of them, with the permission of the Superior, would have had some little book or other little thing, as soon as he realised that he had some affection for it he returned it to the Guardian. That poor little Friar said, “Father I no longer want this book because I know I have a certain affection for it. When I need to use it I will get it and then return it to its place.”
This renunciation of all earthly things was not in vane because it disposed them for all the obediences of their Superiors no matter how difficult they were. Their mind was averse to the things of the world in such a way that they were rapt in God continuously. When the beautiful inspirations came that God sent them, their hearts were found pure and ready to accept the words with which the Holy Spirit called them to the contemplation of heavenly things. Although they seemed extreme things they were nonetheless things of great perfection because they removed from them every impediment that could stop them from hearing the utterances of God. Therefore it was so easy for them to keep their minds on God that they endured a much greater effort in having to apply themselves to daily concerns than to remain at prayer. Therefore each avoided having an office in the Order as much as he could and the one who had to do nothing else than obey his Superior called himself blessed. This was why it was necessary to put in the Constitutions that when Friars were elected for some office they should not be obstinate in refusing it. And if anyone at some time organised to be assigned to the fraternity in some place, he did not rest until he had himself removed from that house since they felt this was ownership of one’s own will.
(17) No tongue could express the great zeal that I saw in those saints of God regarding this spiritual poverty. They said it was the foundation of all perfection. When they saw some houses that exceeded holy poverty in building, or meat was received too often, there was no Friar who would stay in them willingly. Once when I was in the friary of Narni, a gentleman called Mr Theodore because of his devotion once a week used to bring to the poor Friars two pounds of meat. Often they gave it back to him. That small amount of meat caused such anguish that even though that friary was very devout the Friars stayed there unwillingly nonetheless. They said, “I am happy to be in this house because it is quite solitary and very suited to the spirit. However because of this blessed meat I am here unwillingly.” It was the same in the friary at Norsia. They evicted Benedict Fenocchiuolo and forbad him to ever go the friary because he sometimes brought them a little meat. However he thought up a ruse to send it via a third person. However when the Friars became aware of this they did not accept it on any account.
Once in another house a small amount of tuna was given to old Brother Angelo of Collescipoli. When the Friars saw it they did not want to eat it. It stayed there so long that it went off and in my presence, Brother Raniero del Borgo, when he was a novices, gave it to the cat.
Therefore no one wondered over these things nor thought them extreme because the desire of those true servants of God to do penance was such that they avoided in every way all those things that delighted the senses. It was enough for them just to meet the extreme needs of nature because the abundance of spiritual sweetness was such that they didn’t care about things that delight the senses. Their fear of losing the great gift of contemplation was such that they avoided every bodily delight contrary to that contemplation.
This is why they avoided all friendships and dealings with seculars. Often when some devotees came to speak with them, the Friars got away as soon as they could and said to the devout person, “While you keep me here speaking with you I am not praying to God for you. Let me go to prayer because that will be better for you.” With holy cautions like these they left them. Once in my presence the Lady Marchioness of Pescara cane to the friary at Narni to visit the holy Brother Anthony of Montesicardo. She had been talking with him for a long time about the things of God when the bell rang for the Office. The Lady suddenly saw most of the Friars emerge from the woods all with tearful eyes, barefoot and austere. Because of this she rose to her feet and made the sign of the cross. She felt that she saw those holy ancient Fathers who came out of the desert. Therefore these were the fruits of the most high poverty which those servants of God observed.