Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 10

He did not, however, go directly thither; before beginning to restore the little sanctuary, he desired to see again his friends, the lepers, to promise them that he would love them even better than in the past.

Since his first visit to the leper-house the brilliant cavalier had become a poor beggar; he came with empty hands but with heart overflowing with tenderness and compa.s.sion. Taking up his abode in the midst of these afflicted ones he lavished upon them the most touching care, washing and wiping their sores, all the more gentle and radiant as their sores were more repulsive.[21] The neglected sufferer is as much blinded by love of him who comes to visit him as the child by its love for its mother. He believes him to be all powerful; at his approach the most painful sufferings are eased or disappear.

This love inspired by the sympathy of an affectionate heart may become so deep as to appear at times supernatural; the dying have been known to recover consciousness in order to look for the last time into the face, not of some member of the family, but of the friend who has tried to be the sunshine of their last days. The ties of pure love are stronger than the bonds of flesh and blood. Francis had many a time sweet experience of this; from the time of his arrival at the leper-house he felt that if he had lost his life he was about to find it again.

Encouraged by his sojourn among the lepers, he returned to St. Damian and went to work, filled with joy and ardor, his heart as much in the sunshine as the Umbrian plain in this beautiful month of May. After having fashioned for himself a hermit's dress, he began to go into the squares and open places of the city. There having sung a few hymns, he would announce to those who gathered around him his project of restoring the chapel. "Those who will give me one stone," he would add with a smile, "shall have a reward; those who give me two shall have two rewards, and those who give me three shall have three."

Many deemed him mad, but others were deeply moved by the remembrance of the past. As for Francis, deaf to mockery, he spared himself no labor, carrying upon his shoulders, so ill-fitted for severe toil, the stones which were given him.[22]

During this time the poor priest of St. Damian felt his heart swelling with love for this companion who had at first caused him such embarra.s.sment, and he strove to prepare for him his favorite dishes.

Francis soon perceived it. His delicacy took alarm at the expense which he caused his friend, and, thanking him, he resolved to beg his food from door to door.

It was not an easy task. The first time, when at the end of his round he glanced at the broken food in his wallet, he felt his courage fail him.

But the thought of being so soon unfaithful to the spouse to whom he had plighted his faith made his blood run cold with shame and gave him strength to eat ravenously.[23]

Each hour, so to speak, brought to him a new struggle. One day he was going through the town begging for oil for the lamps of St. Damian, when he arrived at a house where a banquet was going on; the greater number of his former companions were there, singing and dancing. At the sound of those well-known voices he felt as if he could not enter; he even turned away, but very soon, filled with confusion by his own cowardice, he returned quickly upon his steps, made his way into the banquet-hall, and after confessing his shame, put so much earnestness and fire into his request that every one desired to co-operate in this pious work.[24]

His bitterest trial however was his father's anger, which remained as violent as ever. Although he had renounced Francis, Bernardone's pride suffered none the less at seeing his mode of life, and whenever he met his son he overwhelmed him with reproaches and maledictions. The tender heart of Francis was so wrung with sorrow that he resorted to a sort of stratagem for charming away the spell of the paternal imprecations.

"Come with me," he said to a beggar; "be to me as a father, and I will give you a part of the alms which I receive. When you see Bernardone curse me, if I say, 'Bless me, my father,' you must sign me with the cross and bless me in his stead."[25] His brother was prominent in the front rank of those who hara.s.sed him with their mockeries. One winter morning they met in a church; Angelo leaned over to a friend who was with him, saying: "Go, ask Francis to sell you a farthing's worth of his sweat." "No," replied the latter, who overheard. "I shall sell it much dearer to my G.o.d."

In the spring of 1208 he finished the restoration of St. Damian; he had been aided by all people of good will, setting the example of work and above all of joy, cheering everybody by his songs and his projects for the future. He spoke with such enthusiasm and contagious warmth of the transformation of his dear chapel, of the grace which G.o.d would accord to those who should come there to pray, that later on it was believed that he had spoken of Clara and her holy maidens who were to retire to this place four years later.[26]

This success soon inspired him with the idea of repairing the other sanctuaries in the suburbs of a.s.sisi. Those which had struck him by their state of decay were St. Peter and Santa Maria, of the _Portiuncula_, called also Santa Maria degli Angeli. The former is not otherwise mentioned in his biographies.[27] As to the second, it was to become the true cradle of the Franciscan movement.

This chapel, still standing at the present day after escaping revolutions and earthquakes, is a true Bethel, one of those rare spots in the world on which rests the mystic ladder which joins heaven to earth; there were dreamed some of the n.o.blest dreams which have soothed the pains of humanity. It is not to a.s.sisi in its marvellous basilica that one must go to divine and comprehend St. Francis; he must turn his steps to Santa Maria degli Angeli at the hours when the stated prayers cease, at the moment when the evening shadows lengthen, when all the fripperies of worship disappear in the obscurity, when all the nation seems to collect itself to listen to the chime of the distant church bells. Doubtless it was Francis's plan to settle there as a hermit. He dreamed of pa.s.sing his life there in meditation and silence, keeping up the little church and from time to time inviting a priest there to say ma.s.s. Nothing as yet suggested to him that he was in the end to become a religious founder. One of the most interesting aspects of his life is in fact the continual development revealing itself in him; he is of the small number to whom to live is to be active, and to be active to make progress. There is hardly anyone, except St. Paul, in whom is found to the same degree the devouring need of being always something more, always something better, and it is so beautiful in both of them only because it is absolutely instinctive.

When he began to restore the Portiuncula his projects hardly went beyond a very narrow horizon; he was preparing himself for a life of penitence rather than a life of activity. But these works once finished it was impossible that this somewhat selfish and pa.s.sive manner of achieving his own salvation should satisfy him long. At the memory of the appearance of the Crucified One his heart would swell with overpowering emotions, and he would melt into tears without knowing whether they were of admiration, pity, or desire.[28]

When the repairs were finished meditation occupied the greater part of his days. A Benedictine of the Abbey of Mont Subasio[29] came from time to time to say ma.s.s at Santa Maria; these were the bright hours of St.

Francis's life. One can imagine with what pious care he prepared himself and with what faith he listened to the divine teachings.

One day, it was probably February 24, 1209, the festival of St.

Matthias, ma.s.s was being celebrated at the Portiuncula.[30] When the priest turned toward him to read the words of Jesus, Francis felt himself overpowered with a profound agitation. He no longer saw the priest; it was Jesus, the Crucified One of St. Damian, who was speaking: "Wherever ye go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. Freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither silver nor gold nor bra.s.s in your purses, neither scrip nor two coats, nor shoes nor staff, for the laborer is worthy of his meat.'"

These words burst upon him like a revelation, like the answer of Heaven to his sighs and anxieties.

"This is what I want," he cried, "this is what I was seeking; from this day forth I shall set myself with all my strength to put it in practice." Immediately throwing aside his stick, his scrip, his purse, his shoes, he determined immediately to obey, observing to the letter the precepts of the apostolic life.

It is quite possible that some allegorizing tendencies have had some influence upon this narrative.[31] The long struggle through which Francis pa.s.sed before becoming the apostle of the new times a.s.suredly came to a crisis in the scene at Portiuncula; but we have already seen how slow was the interior travail which prepared for it.

The revelation of Francis was in his heart; the sacred fire which he was to communicate to the souls of others came from within his own, but the best causes need a standard. Before the shabby altar of the Portiuncula he had perceived the banner of poverty, sacrifice, and love, he would carry it to the a.s.sault of every fortress of sin; under its shadow, a true knight of Christ, he would marshal all the valiant warriors of a spiritual strife.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] 3 Soc., 26.

[2] 3 Soc., 10.

[3] This crucifix is preserved in the sacristy of Santa Chiara, whither the sisters carried it when they left St. Damian.

[4] _Opuscula B. Francisci, Oratio I._

[5] 3 Soc., 13; 2 Cel., 1, 6; Bon., 12; 15; 16.

[6] 3 Soc., 14.

[7] This incident is found in the narrative of 1 Cel., 8: _Ibi ex more venditis_.

[8] 1 Cel., 8; 3 Soc., 16; Bon. 16. Foligno is a three hours'

walk from a.s.sisi.

[9] 1 Cel., 9; 3 Soc., 16; Bon., 6. Cf. A. SS., p. 567.

[10] 1 Cel., 10; 3 Soc., 16; Bon., 17, A. SS.; p. 568.

[11] 1 Cel., 11.

[12] 1 Cel., 12; 3 Soc., 17; Bon., 18.

[13] 1 Cel., 13; 3 Soc., 18.

[14] 1 Cel., 13. It is possible that at this epoch he had received the lesser order, and that thus he might be subject to the jurisdiction of the Church.

[15] 3 Soc., 18 and 19; 1 Cel., 14; Bon., 19.

[16] From 1204 until after the death of St. Francis the episcopal throne of a.s.sisi was occupied by Guido II. Vide Cristofano, 1, 169 ff.

[17] _Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore o del vescovado._ Everything has remained pretty nearly in the same state as in the thirteenth century.

[18] 1 Cel., 15; 3 Soc., 20; Bon., 20.

[19] 3 Soc., 16; Bon., 21.

[20] 1 Cel., 16; Bon., 21. The curious will read with interest an article by M. Mezzatinti upon the journey to Gubbio ent.i.tled _S. Francesco e Frederico Spadalunga da Gubbio_. [Miscellanea, t. v., pp. 76-78.] This Spadalunga da Gubbio was well able to give a garment to Francis, but it is very possible that the gift was made much later and that this solemn date in the saint's life has been fixed by an optical illusion, almost inevitable because of the ident.i.ty of the fact with the name of the locality.

[21] 1 Cel., 17; Bon., 11; 13; 21; 22; 3 Soc., 11; A. SS., p.

575.

[22] 1 Cel., 18; 3 Soc., 21; Bon., 23.

[23] 3 Soc., 22; 2 Cel., 1, 9.

[24] 3 Soc., 24; 2 Cel., 8; _Spec._, 24.

[25] 3 Soc., 23; 2 Cel., 7.

[26] 3 Soc., 24; _Testament de Claire_, Wadding, _ann. 1253_ v.