Approval of the First Rule by Pope Innocent III

Source: Legends of Saint Francis, by Saint Bonaventure, 1859 edition

Seeing the family increase, the servant of God wrote down for his brothers and for himself a rule of life founded on the observance of the evangelical counsels, to which he added only a few advices necessary to ensure order in community life. Then he desired to have his rule approved by the Sovereign Pontiff.

Full of confidence in God, he resolved to go with his simple brothers to present himself before the Holy See. God looked favorably upon his intentions; and as his brothers were fearful of the simplicity of their master in so great an undertaking, He reassured them by sending Francis the following vision. He seemed to be walking along a road where, at its edge, he saw a tree of prodigious height. Approaching this tree, and admiring its great height, a divine power suddenly lifted him up and bore him so high that he touched the top of the tree; moreover, it bent its highest branches down toward him with the greatest ease. He understood that this vision foretold the apostolic condescension that awaited him; he rejoiced in this thought, and after encouraging his brothers by recounting it to them, he set out with them for Rome.

Having arrived at the Roman court and been brought before the Sovereign Pontiff, who was then in his palace at the Lateran, walking in a place called the Speculum, absorbed in the gravest thoughts, he took the servant of God for an intruder and harshly drove him away. Francis left, humbly offering his humiliation to God; but the following night, the Pope had this vision: he saw a palm tree rise up between his feet and grow until it became a great tree. Wondering what this vision could mean, God made him understand that this palm represented the poor man whom he had rejected the previous day.

The next morning, therefore, he had his attendants search throughout the city for the poor man in question, who was found near the Lateran, in the Hospital of Saint Anthony. Soon he stood before the Sovereign Pontiff, to whom he explained his intentions, humbly yet earnestly asking him to approve the rule he had presented. The Pope at that time was Innocent III, a man of great wisdom and discernment. He admired the purity of spirit and simplicity of the man of God, his steadfastness, and the noble ardor that animated him. His heart was already moved with affection toward the poor man of Jesus Christ, and he inclined to grant his request.

However, he delayed granting what the little poor man of Jesus was asking, because some cardinals thought they perceived in his project a kind of novelty beyond human strength. But among them there was a cardinal, John of Saint Paul, Bishop of Sabina, a venerable prelate, a friend of all holiness, and protector of the poor of Jesus Christ. Inflamed with holy zeal, he said to the Pontiff and to the other cardinals:

“If we reject the petition of this poor man as containing novelty or excessive virtue, when he is asking for the approval of a rule of evangelical life, we might be guilty of sinning against the Gospel itself; for if one says that there is anything novel, unreasonable, or impossible to observe in the practice of evangelical perfection or in what he requests, he is convicted of blasphemy against Jesus Christ Himself, the author of the Gospel.”

When these counsels had been given, the successor of Saint Peter turned to the poor man of Jesus Christ and said:

“My son, pray to Jesus Christ that He may make His will known to us through you, so that, being more certain, we may safely comply with your desires.”

The servant of God therefore gave himself entirely and fervently to prayer, and obtained to receive what he had explicitly asked for, and what the Pope himself felt inwardly moved to grant him. To this end, he related a parable that God had taught him:

“A rich king joyfully married a beautiful but poor woman, whose children resembled their father and were admitted to his table. He added: It is not to be feared that the sons and heirs of the king, born of a poor mother, after the likeness of Jesus Christ through the virtue of the Holy Spirit, should die of hunger; for these are those who are to be born in the spirit of poverty within a wholly poor order. For if the King of Heaven promises an eternal kingdom to His imitators, how much more will He give them what He never refuses either to the good or to the wicked!”

Hearing this parable and its explanation, the Vicar of Jesus Christ was filled with wonder and no longer doubted that the Savior Himself had spoken through Francis. Moreover, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he affirmed that a vision he had just received would be fulfilled in the man of God. He saw in a dream, the Pope himself later related it, the basilica of the Lateran near collapse, and a tiny, despised, insignificant poor man was supporting it upon his shoulders, preventing it from falling.

“Behold,” he exclaimed, “the one who, by his teaching and his works, will uphold the Church of Jesus Christ!”

From that moment the Pontiff, filled with special zeal, granted his assent to Francis’s request, and continued ever after to hold him in special affection. He thus fulfilled his desires and even promised to add several favors beyond what he asked. He approved his rule, gave him the mission to preach penance, and ordered that all the lay brothers who had accompanied the holy man should receive small tonsures, so that they might more freely proclaim the word of God.