The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi - + Saints' Works

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THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI prelates beyond the Alps, archbishops and bishops; likewise that the King of France and the King of England: write, "not true gladness." · Likewise, that my friars went among the infidels and converted them all to the Faith; likewise that I have from God this grace, that I heal the infirm and work many miracles: 510 I say to you that in all these things there is not true gladness. · But what is true gladness? · I return from Perugia and in the dead of night I come here and it is winter time, muddy and what is more, so frigid, that icicles have congealed at the edge of my tunic and they always pierce my shins, and blood comes forth from such wounds. · And entirely (covered) with mud and in the cold and ice, I come to the gate, and after I knock for a long time and call, there comes a friar and he asks: "Who is it? I respond: "Friar Francis." · And he says: "Go away; it is not a decent hour for traveling; you shall not enter." · And again he would respond to (me) insisting: "Go away; you are a simpleton and an idiot; you do not measure up to us; we are so many and such men, that we are not in need of you!" · And I stand again at the gate and I say: "For the love (amor) of God take me in this night." · And he would respond: "I will not! Go away to the place of Crosiers 511 and ask there." · I say to you that if I will have had patience and will not have been disturbed, that in this is true gladness and true virtue and soundness 512 of soul. 510 lit. miraculis, "miracles" in the proper sense; compare Adm V,7. 511 St. Francis is referring to the Hospital of Fontanelle, run by the Order of Crosiers. It was only a short distance from St. Mary's. Hospitals in the Middle Ages where the places for the infirm, the elderly, and travelers; cf. K. Esser, p. 602, n. 41. 512 lit. salus, see fn. 68 for the various meanings of this word. Page - 110
Fragments of other rules [Frag] THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI APPENDIX The student of the Rule of St. Francis will find it useful to compare these fragments with the text of the Regula non-Bullata. Mostly of scholarly interest, they serve to shed some light, however obscure, on the development of St. Francis' expression of what was essential to Franciscan life. One group of fragments have been salvaged from the Codex of Worcester (fol 158v-159v) and another from the writings of Hugo of Digne, in his Exposition of the Rule, written between 1245-1255 A.D., and still another from Bl. Thomas of Celano's Vita Secunda, written in the winter of 1226-7.A.D.. I. From the Codex of Worcester 513 1-5 [XXII,1-7] [Let us attend, all friars that the Lord says: Love (dilectio) your enemies and do good to those who hate you (cf. Mt 5:44 par.), because Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose footsteps we must follow (cf. 1 Pt 2:21), called His own betrayer friend and offered Himself willingly to His own crucifiers. · Therefore all those are our friends "who unjustly bring upon us" tribulations, difficulties,] embarrassments, 514 injuries and sorrows and torments, martyrdom and death; (these are the ones) whom we ought to love much, because from this, which they bring upon us, we have eternal life. · And let us castigate our body, crucifying it together with (its) vices and concupiscence and sins, because by living carnally it wants 515 to bear away from us the love (amor) of Jesus Christ and eternal life and to send its very self with the soul into Hell; · because we through our own fault were stinking, contrary to the good, prompt and willing to evil; · because as the Lord says: "From the heart proceed and come forth wicked thoughts" (Mk 7:21) etc.. 6-8 [XXII,9-12,17] ...but however, after we have dismissed the world, we have nothing else to do, except to be solicitous to follow His will and please Him; · let us beware much, lest we be as the rocky and thorny ground situated along the road, according to that which the Lord says in the Gospel: "The seed is the word of God" (Lk 8:11); "which fell along the road, and was trampled upon" (cf. Lk 8:5) and etc. through to: · "they bear fruit in patience" (Lk 8:15). 9-13 [XXII,18-24] And on that account, all friars, as the Lord says: "Let us dismiss the dead ... their (dead)" (cf. Mt 8:22); · and let us beware much of the wickedness and subtlety of Satan, who wants, that a man not have his virtue and his heart (turned) toward the Lord; · and going around, he desires to bear off the heart of a man under the appearance of some wage or help and to suffocate the word and precepts of the Lord from (his) memory and wanting to inhabit and blind the heart of a man through secular business and cares, · as the Lord says: 513 To facilitate reference, each paragraph is identified, in italics, with the corresponding versenumber of the Latin text (as it appears in K. Esser, pp. 361-6) and comparable verse location in the Regula non-Bullata [RegNB]. For other notes, refer to these corresponding sections in that Rule. This first section of the Fragments comprises part I. 514 lit. verecundias, things that make us ashamed. 515 St. Francis speaks metaphorically here, for the body, by the effects of original sin, is inclined to inordinate desires. Page - 111
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