Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 58

[30] At each page we are reminded of those groves which were originally the indispensable appendage of the Franciscan monasteries: _La selva ch' era allora allato a S. M. degli Angeli_, 3, 10, 15, 16, etc. _La selva d' un luogo deserto del val di Spoleto_ (Carceri?), 4; _selva di Forano_, 42. _di Ma.s.sa_, 51, etc.

[31] The _Speculum_, 46b, 58b, 158a, gives us three states. Cf.

_Fior._, 26 and 21; _Conform._, 119b, 2.

[32] This desire was so natural that the ma.n.u.script of the Angelica Library includes many additional chapters, concerning the gift of Portiuncula, the indulgence of August 2d, the birth of St. Francis, etc. (Vide Amoni, Fioretti, Roma, 1889, pp. 266, 378-386.) It would be an interesting study to seek the origin of these doc.u.ments and to establish their relationship with the Speculum and the Conformities. Vide _Conform._, 231a, 1; 121b; _Spec._, 92-96.

[33] Ginepro was received into the Order by St. Francis. In 1253 he was present at St. Clara's death. A. SS., _Aug._, t. ii., p.

764d. The Conformities speak of him in detail, f^o 62b.

[34] The first seven chapters form a whole. The three which follow are doubtless a first attempt at completing them.

[35] Conformities, f^o 55b, 1-60a, 1.

[36] See _Archiv._, t. i., p. 145, an article of Father Denifle: _Zur Quellenkunde der Franziskaner Geschichte_, where he mentions at least eight ma.n.u.scripts of this work. Cf. Ehrle: _Zeitschrift_, 1883, p. 324, note 3. I have studied only the two ma.n.u.scripts of Florence: Riccardi, 279, paper, 243 fos. of two cols. recently numbered. The Codex of the Laurentian Gaddian.

rel., 53, is less careful. It is also on paper, 20 x 27, and counts 254 fos. of 1 column. F^o 1 was formerly numbered 88. The order of the chapters is not the same as in the preceding.

[37] The citations are always made from the edition of Milan, 1510, 4to of 256 folios of two columns. The best known of the subsequent editions are those of Milan, 1513, and Bologna, 1590.

[38] He began it in 1385 (f^o 1), and it was authorized by the chapter general August 2, 1399 (f^o 256a, 1). Besides, on f^o 150a, 1, he set down the date when he was writing. It was in 1390.

[39] I am not here concerned with the foolish attacks of certain Protestant authors upon this life. That is a quarrel of the theologians which in no way concerns history. Nowhere does Bartolommeo of Pisa make St. Francis the equal of Jesus, and he was able even to forestall criticism in this respect. The Bollandists are equally severe: "_c.u.m Pisa.n.u.s fuerit scriptor magis pius et credulus quam crisi severa usus_...." A. SS., p.

551e.

[40] He has avoided the mistakes so unfortunately committed by Wadding in his list of ministers general. Vide 66a. 2, 104a, 1, 118b, 2. He was lecturer on theology at Bologna, Padua, Pisa, Sienna, and Florence. He preached for many years and with great success in the princ.i.p.al villages of the Peninsula and could thus take advantage of his travels by collecting useful notes.

Mark of Lisbon has preserved for us a notice of his life. Vide _Croniche dei fratri Minori_, t. iii., p. 6 ff. of the Diola edition. He died December 10, 1401. For further details see Wadding, ann. 1399, vii., viii., and above all Sbaralea, _Supplementum_, p. 109. He is the author of an exposition of the Rule little known which can be found in the Speculum Morin, Rouen, 1509, f^o 66b-83a, of part three.

[41] This opinion is expressed in a guarded manner. For example, f^o 207a, 1, Bartolommeo relates the miracle of the Chapter of the Mats, first following St. Bonaventura, then adding: "_Et quia non aliter tangit dicta pars (legendae majoris) hoc insigne miraculum: antiqua legenda hoc refertur in hunc modum_." Cf.

225a, 2m. "_Et quia fr. Bonaventura succincte multa tangit et in brevi: pro evidentia prefatorum notandum est ... ut dicit antiqua legenda._"

[42] However, it is necessary to note that not only are there considerable differences between the editions published, but also that the first (that of Milan, 1510) has been completed and revised by its editor. The judgments pa.s.sed upon Raymond Ganfridi, 104a, 1, and Boniface VIII., 103b, 1, show traces of later corrections. (Cf. 125a, 1. At f^o 72a, 2m, is indicated the date of the death of St. Bernardin, which was in 1444, etc.) Besides, we are surprised to find beside the pages where the sources are indicated with clearness others where stories follow one another coming one knows not from whence.

[43] F^o 70a, 1: "_Cujus nomen non reperi._" 1a, 2: "_Multaque non ex industria sed quia ea noscere non valui omittendo._"

[44] F^o 78a, 1: _Informationes quas non scribo quia imperfectas reperi._ Cf. 229b, 2: "_De aliis multis apparitionibus non reperi scripturam, quare hic non pono._"

[45] F^o 69a, 1: "_Hec ut audivi posui quia ejus legendam non vidi._" Cf. 68b, 2m: _Fr. Henricus generalis minister mihi magistro Bartholomeo dixit ipse oretenus._

[46] The citations from Bonaventura are decidedly more frequent.

We should not be surprised, since this story is the official biography of St. Francis; the chapter from which Bartolommeo takes his quotations is almost always indicated, and, naturally, follows the old division in five parts. Opening the book at hazard at folio 136a I find no less than six references to the _Legenda Major_ in the first column. To give an idea of the style of Bartolommeo of Pisa I shall give in substance the contents of a page of his book. See, for example, f^o 111a (lib.

i., conform. x., pars. ii., Franciscus predicator). In the third line he cites Bonaventura: "_Fr. Bonaventura in quarta parte majoris legende dicit quod b. Franciscus videbatur intuentibus h.o.m.o alterius seculi._" Textual citation of Bonaventure, 45.

Three lines further on: "_Verum qualis esset b. F. quoad personam sic habetur in legenda antiqua ... h.o.m.o facundissimus, facie hilaris_, etc." The literal citation of the sketch of Francis follows as 1 Celano, 83, gives it as far as: "_inter peccatores quasi unus ex illis_," and to mark the end of the quotation Bartolommeo adds: "_Hec legenda antiqua_." In the next column paragraph 4 commences with the words: _B. Francisci predicationem reddebat mirabilem et gloriosam ipsius sancti loquutio: etenim legenda trium Sociorum dicit et Legenda major parte tertia: B. Francisei eloquia erant non inania, neo risu digna_, etc., which corresponds literally with 3 Soc., 25, and Bon., 28. Then come two chapters of Bonaventura almost entire, beginning with: _In duodecima parte legende majoris dicit Fr.

Bonaventura: Erat enim verb.u.m ejus_, etc. Textual quotation of Bon., 178 and 179. The page ends with another quotation from Bonaventura: _Sic dicebat prout recitat Bonaventura in octava parte Legende majoris: Hac officium patri misericordiarum_. Vide Bonav., 102 end and 103 entire. This suffices without doubt to show with what precision the authorities have been quoted in this work, with what attention and confidence ought to be examined those portions of doc.u.ments lost or mislaid which he has here preserved for us.

[47] F^o 31b, 2: _ut dicit fr. Thomas in sua legenda_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 60.--140a, 2: _Fr. in leg. fr. Thome_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 60.--140a 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3 16.--142b, 1: _Fr. in leg. Thome capitulo de charitate_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.--144b, 1: _Fr. in leg. fr. Thome capitulo de oratione_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 40.--144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 65.--144b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 78.--176b, 2, cf.

2 Cel., 3, 79.--182b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 2, 1.--241b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 141.--181a, 2, cf. 1 Cel., 27. It is needless to say that these lists of quotations do not pretend to be complete.

[48] F^o 36b, 2. _Ut enim habetur in leg._ 3 Soc., cf. 3 Soc., 10.--46b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 25-28.--38b 2, cf. 3 Soc. 3.--111a, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 25.--134a, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 4.--142b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 57 and 58.--167b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 3 and 8.--168a, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 10.--170b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 39, 4.--175b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 59.--180b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 4.--181a, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 5, 7, 24, 33, and 67.--181a. 2, cf. 3 Soc., 36.--229b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 14. etc.

The reading of 3 Soc. which Bartolommeo had before his eyes was pretty much the same we have to day, for he says, 181a, 2.

referring to 3 Soc., 67: "_Ut habetur quasi in fine leg_. 3 _Soc._"

[49] F^o 111a, 1, _Sic habetur in leg. ant._, corresponds literally with 1 Cel., 83.--144a, 2. _Franciscus in leg. ant.

cap. v. de zelo ad religionem_, to 1 Cel. 106.

[50] F^o 111b, 1. _De predicantibus loqueus sic dicebat in ant.

leg._ Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 99 and 106. 140b, 1. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 84.--144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 45--144a, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 95 and 15.--225b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 116.

[51] F^o 31a, 1. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 83.--143a, 2. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 65 and 116.--144a, 1. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 94.--170b. 1. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 11.

[52] F^o 14a, 2.--32a. 1.--101a, 2.--169b, 1.--144b, 2.--142a, 2.--143b, 2.--168b, 1.--144b, 1.

[53] Chapters 18 (chapter of the mats) and 25 (lepers cured) of the _Fioretti_ are found in Latin in the Conf. as borrowed from the Leg. Ant. Vide 174b, 1, and 207a. 1.

Finally, according to f^o 168b, 2, it is also from the Leg. Ant.

that the description of the coat, such as we find at the end of the _Chronique des Tribulations_, was borrowed. See _Archiv._, t. ii., p. 153.

[54] F^o 182a, 2; cf. 51b, 1; 144a, 1.

[55] He died December 12, 1306, at Bastia, near a.s.sisi. See upon him _Chron. Tribul. Archiv._, ii.; 311 and 312; _Conform._, 60, 119, and 153.

[56] Although the history of the Indulgence of Portiuncula was of all subjects the one most largely treated in the Conformities, 151b, 2--157a, 2, not once does Bartolommeo of Pisa refer to it in the _Legenda Antiqua_. It seems, then, that this collection also was silent as to this celebrated pardon.

[57] Published with extreme care by the Franciscan Fathers of the Observance in t. ii. of the _a.n.a.lecta Franciscana, ad Clarae Aquas_ (Quaracchi, near Florence), 1888, 1 vol., crown 8vo, of x.x.xvi.-612 pp. This edition, as much from the critical point of view of the text, its correctness, its various readings and notes, as from the material point of view, is perfect and makes the more desirable a publication of the chronicles of the xxiv.

generals and of Salimbeni by the same editors. The beginning up to the year 1262 has been published already by Dr. Karl Evers under the t.i.tle _a.n.a.lecta ad Fratrum Minorum historiam_, Leipsic, 1882, 4to of 89 pp.

[58] I have been able only to procure the Italian edition published by Horatio Diola under the t.i.tle _Croniche degli Ordini inst.i.tuti dal P. S. Francesco_, 3 vols., 8vo, Venice, 1606.

V

CHRONICLES OUTSIDE OF THE ORDER

I. JACQUES DE VITRY

The following doc.u.ments, which we can only briefly indicate, are of inestimable value; they emanate from men particularly well situated to give us the impression which the Umbrian prophet produced on his generation.

Jacques de Vitry[1] has left extended writings on St. Francis. Like a prudent man who has already seen many religious madmen, he is at first reserved; but soon this sentiment disappears, and we find in him only a humble and active admiration for the _Apostolic Man_.

He speaks of him in a letter which he wrote immediately after the taking of Damietta (November, 1219), to his friends in Lorraine, to describe it to them.[2] A few lines suffice to describe St. Francis and point out his irresistible influence. There is not a single pa.s.sage in the Franciscan biographers which gives a more living idea of the apostolate of the Poverello.

He returns to him more at length in his _Historia Occidentalis_, devoting to him the thirty-second chapter of this curious work.[3]

These pages, vibrating with enthusiasm, were written during Francis's lifetime,[4] at the time when the most enlightened members of the Church, who had believed themselves to be living in the evening of the world, _in vespere mundi tendentis ad occasum_, suddenly saw in the direction of Umbria the light of a new day.