Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 30

[21] 2 Cel., 3, 92; _Spec._, 30b. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.

_Conform._, 142b, 1. This incident may possibly have taken place on the return.

[22] With the facilities of that period the voyage required from twenty to thirty days. The _diarium_ of a similar pa.s.sage may be found in Huillard-Breholles, _Hist. Dipl._, t. i., 898-901. Cf.

_Ibid._, Introd., p. cccx.x.xi.

[23] 2 Cel., 22; Bon 154, 155; cf. A. SS., p. 612.

[24] Jacques de Vitry speaks only incidentally of Francis here in the midst of salutations; from the critical point of view this only enhances the value of his words. See the Study of the Sources, p. 428.

[25] Vide below, the Study of the Sources, p. 430.

[26] All this is related at length by Jacques de Vitry.

[27] "Cil hom qui comenca l'ordre des Freres Mineurs, si ot nom frere Francois ... vint en l'ost de Damiate, e i fist moult de bien, et demora tant que la ville fut prise. Il vit le mal et le peche qui comenca a croistre entre les gens de l'ost, si li desplot, par quoi il s'en parti, e fu une piece en Surie, et puis s'en rala en son pais." Historiens des Croisades, ii.

_L'Est de Eracles Empereur_, liv. x.x.xii., chap. xv. Cf. Sanuto; _Secreta fid. cruc._, lib. iii., p. xi., cap. 8, in Bongars.

[28] Giord., Chron., 11-14.

[29] The episode of Brother Leonard's complaints, related below, gives some probability to this hypothesis.

[30] _Tribul._, Laur. MS., 9b. Cf. 10b: _Sepulcro Domini visitato festinat ad Christianorum terram_.

[31] Upon this monastery see a letter _ad familiares_ of Jacques de Vitry, written in 1216 and published in 1847 by Baron Jules de St. Genois in t. xiii. of the _Memoires de l'Academie royale des sciences et des beaux arts de Bruxelles_ (1849). _Conform._, 106b, 2; 114a, 2; _Spec._, 184.

[32] A. SS., pp. 619-620, 848, 851, 638.

[33] Vide Bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219. Cf. those of September 19, 1222; Sbaralea, i., p. 3, 11 ff.; Potthast, 6179, 6879a, b, c.

[34] Vide Potthast, 6155, 6177, 6184, 6199, 6214, 6217, 6218, 6220, 6246. See also _Chartularium Universitatis Par._, t. i., 487.

[35] Bull _Quia qui seminant_ of May 12, 1220. Ripalli, _Bul.

Praed._, t. i., p. 10 (Potthast, 6249).

[36] _Mon. Germ. hist. Script._, t. 23, p. 376. This pa.s.sage is of extreme importance because it sums up in a few lines the ecclesiastical policy of Honorius III. After speaking of the perils with which the _Humiliati_ threatened the Church, Burchard adds: _Quae volens corrigere dominus papa ordinem Predicatorum inst.i.tuit et confirmavit._ Now these _Humiliati_ were an approved Order. But Burchard, while cla.s.sing them with heretics beside the Poor Men of Lyons, expresses in a word the sentiments of the papacy toward them; it had for them an invincible repugnance, and not wishing to strike them directly it sought a side issue. Similar tactics were followed with regard to the Brothers Minor, with that overplus of caution which the prodigious success of the Order inspired. It all became useless when in 1221 Brother Elias became Francis's vicar, and especially when, after the latter's death, he had all the liberty necessary for directing the Order according to the views of Ugolini, now become Gregory IX.

[37] 1 Cel., 25; cf. A. SS., p. 581. Pietro di Catana had the t.i.tle of doctor of laws, Giord., 11, which entirely disagrees with what is related of Brother Pietro, 3 Soc., 28 and 29. Cf.

Bon., 28 and 29; _Spec._, 5b; _Fior._, 2; _Conform._, 47; 52b, 2; _Petrus vir litteratus erat et n.o.bilis_, Giord., 12.

[38] We know nothing more of him except that after his death he had the gift of miracles. Giord., 11; _Conform._, 62a, 1.

[39] He was not an ordinary man; a remarkable administrator and orator (Eccl., 6), he was minister in France before 1224 and again in 1240, thanks to the zeal with which he had adopted the ideas of Brother Elias. He was nephew of Gregory IX., which throws some light upon the practices which have just been described. After having been swept away in Elias's disgrace and condemned to prison for life, he became in the end Bishop of Bayeux. I note for those who take an interest in those things that ma.n.u.scripts of two of his sermons may be found in the National Library of Paris. The author of them being indicated simply as _fr. Gr. min._, it has only lately become known whose they were. These sermons were preached in Paris on Holy Thursday and Sat.u.r.day. MS. new. acq., Lat., 338 f^o 148, 159.

[40] Giord., 11. Cf. _Spec._, 34b. _Fior._, 4; _Conform._, 184a, 1.

[41] Giord., 12. Cf. Bull _Sacrosancta_ of December 9, 1219.

[42] Giord., 12. Ought we, perhaps, to read di Campello? Half way between Foligno and Spoleto there is a place of this name.

On the other hand, the 3 Soc., 35, indicate the entrance into the Order of a Giovanni di Capella who in the legend became the Franciscan Judas. _Invenit abusum capelle et ab ipsa denominatus est: ab ordine recedens factus leprosus laqueo ut Judas se suspendit._ _Conform._, 104a, 1. Cf. _Bernard de Besse_, 96a; _Spec._, 2; _Fior._, 1. All this is much mixed up. Perhaps we should believe that Giovanni di Campello died shortly afterward, and that later on, when the stories of this troubled time were forgotten, some ingenious Brother explained the note of infamy attached to his memory by a hypothesis built upon his name itself.

[43] Giord., 12, 13, and 14.

CHAPTER XIV

THE CRISIS OF THE ORDER[1]

Autumn, 1220

On his arrival in Venice Francis informed himself yet more exactly concerning all that had happened, and convoked the chapter-general at Portiuncula for Michaelmas (September 29, 1220).[2] His first care was doubtless to rea.s.sure his sister-friend at St. Damian; a short fragment of a letter which has been preserved to us gives indication of the sad anxieties which filled his mind:

"I, little Brother Francis, desire to follow the life and the poverty of Jesus Christ, our most high Lord, and of his most holy Mother, persevering therein until the end; and I beg you all and exhort you to persevere always in this most holy life and poverty, and take good care never to depart from it upon the advice or teachings of any one whomsoever."[3]

A long shout of joy sounded up and down all Italy when the news of his return was heard. Many zealous brethren were already despairing, for persecutions had begun in many provinces; so when they learned that their spiritual father was alive and coming again to visit them their joy was unbounded. From Venice Francis went to Bologna. The journey was marked by an incident which once more shows his acute and wise goodness.

Worn out as much by emotion as by fatigue, he one day found himself obliged to give up finishing the journey on foot. Mounted upon an a.s.s, he was going on his way, followed by Brother Leonard of a.s.sisi, when a pa.s.sing glance showed him what was pa.s.sing in his companion's mind. "My relatives," the friar was thinking, "would have been far enough from a.s.sociating with Bernardone, and yet here am I, obliged to follow his son on foot."

We may judge of his astonishment when he heard Francis saying, as he hastily dismounted from his beast: "Here, take my place; it is most unseemly that thou shouldst follow me on foot, who art of a n.o.ble and powerful lineage." The unhappy Leonard, much confused, threw himself at Francis's feet, begging for pardon.[4]

Scarcely arrived at Bologna, Francis was obliged to proceed against those who had become backsliders. It will be remembered that the Order was intended to possess nothing, either directly or indirectly. The monasteries given to the friars did not become their property; so soon as the proprietor should desire to take them back or anyone else should wish to take possession of them, they were to be given up without the least resistance; but on drawing near to Bologna he learned that a house was being built, which was already called _The house of the Brothers_.

He commanded its immediate evacuation, not even excepting the sick who happened to be there. The Brothers then resorted to Ugolini, who was then in that very city for the consecration of Santa Maria di Rheno.[5] He explained to Francis at length that this house did not belong to the Order; he had declared himself its proprietor by public acts; and he succeeded in convincing him.[6]

Bolognese piety prepared for Francis an enthusiastic reception, the echo of which has come down even to our times:

"I was studying at Bologna, I, Thomas of Spalato, archdeacon in the cathedral church of that city, when in the year 1220, the day of the a.s.sumption, I saw St. Francis preaching on the piazza of the Lesser Palace, before almost every man in the city. The theme of his discourse was the following: Angels, men, the demons. He spoke on all these subjects with so much wisdom and eloquence that many learned men who were there were filled with admiration at the words of so plain a man. Yet he had not the manner of a preacher, his ways were rather those of conversation; the substance of his discourse bore especially upon the abolition of enmities and the necessity of making peaceful alliances. His apparel was poor, his person in no respect imposing, his face not at all handsome; but G.o.d gave such great efficacy to his words that he brought back to peace and harmony many n.o.bles whose savage fury had not even stopped short before the shedding of blood. So great a devotion was felt for him that men and women flocked after him, and he esteemed himself happy who succeeded in touching the hem of his garment."

Was it at this time that the celebrated Accurso the Glossarist,[7]

chief of that famous dynasty of jurisconsults who during the whole thirteenth century shed l.u.s.tre upon the University of Bologna, welcomed the Brothers Minor to his villa at Ricardina, near the city?[8] We do not know.

It appears that another professor, Nicolas dei Pepoli, also entered the Order.[9] Naturally the pupils did not lag behind, and a certain number asked to receive the habit. Yet all this const.i.tuted a danger; this city, which in Italy was as an altar consecrated to the science of law, was destined to exercise upon the evolution of the Order the same influence as Paris; the Brothers Minor could no more hold aloof from it than they could keep aloof from the ambient air.

This time Francis remained here but a very short time. An ancient tradition, of which his biographers have not preserved any trace, but which nevertheless appears to be entirely probable, says that Ugolini took him to pa.s.s a month in the Camaldoli, in the retreat formerly inhabited by St. Romuald in the midst of the Casentino forest, one of the n.o.blest in Europe, within a few hours' walk of the Verna, whose summit rises up gigantic, overlooking the whole country.

We know how much Francis needed repose. There is no doubt that he also longed for a period of meditation in order to decide carefully in advance upon his line of conduct, in the midst of the dark conjectures which had called him home. The desire to give him the much-needed rest was only a subordinate purpose with Ugolini. The moment for vigorous action appeared to him to have come. We can easily picture his responses to Francis's complaints. Had he not been seriously advised to profit by the counsels of the past, by the experience of those founders of Orders who have been not only saints but skilful leaders of men? Was not Ugolini himself his best friend, his born defender, and yet had not Francis forced him to lay aside the influence to which his love for the friars, his position in the Church, and his great age gave him such just t.i.tle? Yes, he had been forced to leave Francis to needlessly expose his disciples to all sorts of danger, to send them on missions as perilous as they had proved to be ineffectual, and all for what? For the most trivial point of honor, because the Brothers Minor were determined not to enjoy the smallest privileges. They were not heretics, but they disturbed the Church as much as the heretics did. How many times had he not been reminded that a great a.s.sociation, in order to exist, must have precise and detailed regulations? It had all been labor lost! Of course Francis's humility was doubted by no one, but why not manifest it, not only in costume and manner of living, but in all his acts? He thought himself obeying G.o.d in defending his own inspiration, but does not the Church speak in the name of G.o.d? Are not the words of her representatives the words of Jesus forever perpetuated on earth? He desired to be a man of the Gospel, an apostolic man, but was not the best way of becoming such to obey the Roman pontiff, the successor of Peter? With an excess of condescension they had let him go on in his own way, and the result was the saddest of lessons. But the situation was not desperate, there was still time to find a remedy; to do that he had only to throw himself at the feet of the pope, imploring his blessing, his light, and his counsel.

Reproaches such as these, mingled with professions of love and admiration on the part of the prelate, could not but profoundly disturb a sensitive heart like that of Francis. His conscience bore him good witness, but with the modesty of n.o.ble minds he was ready enough to think that he might have made many mistakes.

Perhaps this is the place to ask what was the secret of the friendship of these two men, so little known to one another on certain sides. How could it last without a shadow down to the very death of Francis, when we always find Ugolini the very soul of the group who are compromising the Franciscan ideal? No answer to this question is possible. The same problem presents itself with regard to Brother Elias, and we are no better able to find a satisfactory answer. Men of loving hearts seldom have a perfectly clear intelligence. They often become fascinated by men the most different from themselves, in whose b.r.e.a.s.t.s they feel none of those feminine weaknesses, those strange dreams, that almost sickly pity for creatures and things, that mysterious thirst for pain which is at once their own happiness and their torment.

The sojourn at Camaldoli was prolonged until the middle of September, and it ended to the cardinal's satisfaction. Francis had decided to go directly to the pope, then at Orvieto, with the request that Ugolini should be given him as official protector intrusted with the direction of the Order.

A dream which he had once had recurred to his memory; he had seen a little black hen which, in spite of her efforts, was not able to spread her wings over her whole brood. The poor hen was himself, the chickens were the friars. This dream was a providential indication commanding him to seek for them a mother under whose wings they could all find a place, and who could defend them against the birds of prey. At least so he thought.[10]

He repaired to Orvieto without taking a.s.sisi in his way, since if he went there he would be obliged to take some measures against the fomentors of disturbance; he now proposed to refer everything directly to the pope.

Does his profound humility, with the feeling of culpability which Ugolini had awakened in him, suffice to explain his att.i.tude with regard to the pope, or must we suppose that he had a vague thought of abdicating? Who knows whether conscience was not already murmuring a reproach, and showing him how trivial were all the sophisms which had been woven around him?