Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 38

If we are to believe a recently published doc.u.ment,[2] Brother Ma.s.seo, one of those who remained on the Verna, made a written account of the events of this day.

They set out early in the morning. Francis, after having given his directions to the Brothers, had had a look and a word for everything around; for the rocks, the flowers, the trees, for brother hawk, a privileged character which was authorized to enter his cell at all times, and which came every morning, with the first glimmer of dawn, to remind him of the hour of service.[3]

Then the little band set forth upon the path leading to Monte-Acuto.[4] Arrived at the gap from whence one gets the last sight of the Verna, Francis alighted from his horse, and kneeling upon the earth, his face turned toward the mountain, "Adieu," he said, "mountain of G.o.d, sacred mountain, _mons coagulatus, mons pinguis, mons in quo bene placitum est Deo habitare_; adieu Monte-Verna, may G.o.d bless thee, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; abide in peace; we shall never see one another more."

Has not this artless scene a delicious and poignant sweetness? He must surely have uttered these words, in which suddenly the Italian does not suffice and Francis is obliged to resort to the mystical language of the breviary to express his feelings.

A few minutes later the rock of the ecstacy had disappeared. The descent into the valley is rapid. The Brothers had decided to spend the night at Monte-Casale, the little hermitage above Borgo San-Sepolcro. All of them, even those who were to remain on the Verna, were still following their master. As for him, absorbed in thought he had become entirely oblivious to what was going on, and did not even perceive the noisy enthusiasm which his pa.s.sage aroused in the numerous villages along the Tiber.

At Borgo San-Sepolcro he received a real ovation without even then coming to himself; but when they had some time quitted the town, he seemed suddenly to awake, and asked his companion if they ought not soon to arrive there.[5]

The first evening at Monte Casale was marked by a miracle. Francis healed a friar who was possessed.[6] The next morning, having decided to pa.s.s several days in this hermitage, he sent the brothers back to the Verna, and with them Count Orlando's horse.

In one of the villages through which they had pa.s.sed the day before a woman had been lying several days between death and life unable to give birth to her child. Those about her had only learned of the pa.s.sage of the saint through their village when he was too far distant to be overtaken. We may judge of the joy of these poor people when the rumor was spread that he was about to return. They went to meet him, and were terribly disappointed on finding only the friars. Suddenly an idea occurred to them: taking the bridle of the horse consecrated by the touch of Francis's hands, they carried it to the sufferer, who, having laid it upon her body, gave birth to her child without the slightest pain.[7]

This miracle, established by narratives entirely authentic, shows the degree of enthusiasm felt by the people for the person of Francis. As for him, after a few days at Monte-Casale, he set out with Brother Leo for Citta di Castello. He there healed a woman suffering from frightful nervous disorders, and remained an entire month preaching in this city and its environs. When he once more set forth winter had almost closed in. A peasant lent him his a.s.s, but the roads were so bad that they were unable to reach any sort of shelter before nightfall. The unhappy travellers were obliged to pa.s.s the night under a rock; the shelter was more than rudimentary, the wind drifted the snow in upon them, and nearly froze the unlucky peasant, who with abominable oaths heaped curses on Francis; but the latter replied with such cheerfulness that he made him at last forget both the cold and his bad humor.

On the morrow the saint reached Portiuncula. He seems to have made only a brief halt there, and to have set forth again almost immediately to evangelize Southern Umbria.

It is impossible to follow him in this mission. Brother Elias accompanied him, but so feeble was he that Elias could not conceal his uneasiness as to his life.[8]

Ever since his return from Syria (August, 1220), he had been growing continually weaker, but his fervor had increased from day to day.

Nothing could check him, neither suffering nor the entreaties of the Brothers; seated on an a.s.s he would sometimes go over three or four villages in one day. Such excessive toil brought on an infirmity even more painful than any he had hitherto suffered from: he was threatened with loss of sight.[9]

Meanwhile a sedition had forced Honorius III. to leave Rome (end of April, 1225). After pa.s.sing a few weeks at Tivoli, he established himself at Rieti, where he remained until the end of 1226.[10]

The pope's arrival had drawn to this city, with the entire pontifical court, several physicians of renown; Cardinal Ugolini, who had come in the pope's train, hearing of Francis's malady, summoned him to Rieti for treatment. But notwithstanding Brother Elias's entreaties Francis hesitated a long time as to accepting the invitation.[11] It seemed to him that a sick man has but one thing to do; place himself purely and simply in the hands of the heavenly Father. What is pain to a soul that is fixed in G.o.d![12]

Elias, however, at last overcame his objections, and the journey was determined upon, but first Francis desired to go and take leave of Clara, and enjoy a little rest near her.

He remained at St. Damian much longer than he had proposed to do[13]

(end of July to beginning of September, 1225). His arrival at this beloved monastery was marked by a terrible aggravation of his malady.

For fifteen days he was so completely blind that he could not even distinguish light. The care lavished upon him produced no result, since every day he pa.s.sed long hours in weeping--tears of penitence, he said, but also of regret.[14] Ah, how different they were from those tears of his moments of inspiration and emotion, which had flowed over a countenance all illumined with joy! They had seen him, in such moments, take up two bits of wood, and, accompanying himself with this rustic violin, improvise French songs in which he would pour out the abundance of his heart.[15]

But the radiance of genius and hope had become dimmed. Rachel weeps for her children, and will not be comforted because they are not. There are in the tears of Francis this same _quia non sunt_ for his spiritual sons.

But if there are irremediable pains there are none which may not be at once elevated and softened, when we endure them at the side of those who love us.

In this respect his companions could not be of much help to him. Moral consolations are possible only from our peers, or when two hearts are united by a mystical pa.s.sion so great that they mingle and understand one another.

"Ah, if the Brothers knew what I suffer," St. Francis said a few days before the impression of the stigmata, "with what pity and compa.s.sion they would be moved!"

But they, seeing him who had laid cheerfulness upon them as a duty becoming more and more sad and keeping aloof from them, imagined that he was tortured with temptations of the devil.[16]

Clara divined that which could not be uttered. At St. Damian her friend was looking back over all the past: what memories lived again in a single glance! Here, the olive-tree to which, a brilliant cavalier, he had fastened his horse; there, the stone bench where his friend, the priest of the poor chapel, used to sit; yonder, the hiding-place in which he had taken refuge from the paternal wrath, and, above all, the sanctuary with the mysterious crucifix of the decisive hour.

In living over these pictures of the radiant past, Francis aggravated his pain; yet they spoke to him of other things than death and regret.

Clara was there, as steadfast, as ardent as ever. Long ago transformed by admiration, she was now transfigured by compa.s.sion. Seated at the feet of him whom she loved with more than earthly love she felt the soreness of his soul, and the failing of his heart. After that, what did it matter that Francis's tears became more abundant to the point of making him blind for a fortnight? Soothing would come; the sister of consolation would give him peace once more.

And first she kept him near her, and, herself taking part in the labor, she made him a large cell of reeds in the monastery garden, that he might be entirely at liberty as to his movements.

How could he refuse a hospitality so thoroughly Franciscan? It was indeed only too much so: legions of rats and mice infested this retired spot; at night they ran over Francis's bed with an infernal uproar, so that he could find no repose from his sufferings. But he soon forgot all that when near his sister-friend. Once again she gave back to him faith and courage. "A single sunbeam," he used to say, "is enough to drive away many shadows!"

Little by little the man of the former days began to show himself, and at times the Sisters would hear, mingling with the murmur of the olive trees and pines, the echo of unfamiliar songs, which seemed to come from the cell of reeds.

One day he had seated himself at the monastery table after a long conversation with Clara. The meal had hardly begun when suddenly he seemed to be rapt away in ecstasy.

"_Laudato sia lo Signore!_" he cried on coming to himself. He had just composed the Canticle of the Sun.[17]

TEXT[18]

INCIPIUNT LAUDES CREATURARUM QUAS FECIT BEATUS FRANCISCUS AD LAUDEM ET HONOREM DEI c.u.m ESSET INFIRMUS AD SANCTUM DAMIANUM.

ALTISSIMU, onnipotente, bon signore, tue so le laude la gloria e l'onore et onne benedictione.

Ad te sole, altissimo, se konfano et nullu h.o.m.o ene dignu te mentovare.

Laudato sie, mi signore, c.u.m tucte le tue creature spetialmente messor lo frate sole, lo quale jorna, et illumini per lui; Et ellu e bellu e radiante c.u.m grande splendore; de te, altissimo, porta significatione.

Laudato si, mi signore, per sora luna e le stelle, in celu l' ai formate clarite et pretiose et belle.

Laudato si, mi signore, per frate vento et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo, per le quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento.

Laudato si, mi signore, per sor acqua, la quale e multo utile et humele et pretiosa et casta.

Laudato si, mi signore, per frate focu, per lo quale ennallumini la nocte, ed ello e bello et jucundo et robustoso et forte.

Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra matre terra, la quale ne sustenta et governa et produce diversi fructi con colorite flori et herba.

Laudato si, mi signore, per quilli ke perdonano per lo tuo amore et sosteugo infirmitate et tribulatione, beati quilli ke sosterrano in pace, ka da te, altissimo, sirano incoronati.

Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale, de la quale nullu h.o.m.o vivente po skappare: guai a quilli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali; beati quilli ke se trovara ne le tue sanctissime voluntati, ka la morte secunda nol farra male.

Laudate et benedicete mi signore et rengratiate et serviteli c.u.m grande humilitate.

TRANSLATION.[19]

O most high, almighty, good Lord G.o.d, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing! {To thee alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to p.r.o.nounce thy Name.}

Praised be my Lord G.o.d with all his creatures, and specially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies to us thee!

Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, the which he has set clear and lovely in heaven.

Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather by the which thou upholdest life in all creatures.

Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean.

Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.

Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors, and gra.s.s.

Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love's sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown.

Praised be my Lord for our sister, the death of the body, from which no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal sin!

Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do them harm.