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

II. From the writings of Hugo of Digne 523
THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
II,175 [II,5] Whence the Saint used to say regarding this kind of thing in the Rule before it was
approved: Let the friars and the ministers of the friars beware of themselves, that they in no
manner enter into his affairs.
II,193 [II,15] Before the Rule was approved the Saint used to add: And though they be called
hypocrites, let them not cease to do good.
III,201-2 [III,12] Whence before the Bull 524 the Rule used to have it thus: However at other
times they are not bound to fast according to this life except on Fridays.
X,297 [IV,6] ...as the Saint said previously in the Rule: Let the ministers—he said—remember
that the care of the souls of the friars has been committed to them, of which, if any would be lost
on account of their fault or bad example, it shall be proper that they render an account before the
Lord Jesus Christ.
VII,285-6 [V,7-8] The Saint used to say it thus, in the original Rule: Let all the friars beware, the
ministers as much as the others, that on account of the sin or bad example of anyone they are not
disturbed or grow angry, because the devil wants to corrupt the many on account of the sin of
one, but let them spiritually, as they are able, help him, who has sinned, because a doctor is not
needed for the healthy, but for those who have a malady (cf. Mk 2:17 par.).
X,296 [V,10] ...in accord with that word of the Lord, which even blessed Francis used to speak to
the friars: The princes of the nations dominate their own, and those who are greater exercise
power among them; not so shall it be among you (Mt 20:25-26a).
X,302-3 [V,14b-5] ...thus the Saint used to exhort them in the Rule before it was approved:
Through charity of spirit let them voluntarily serve and obey one another (cf. Gal 5:13). This is,
he said, the true and safe obedience of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
X,305 [VI,1-2] Whence, previously it used to be said thus in the Rule: Let the friars, in whatever
places they are, who cannot spiritually observe our life, indicate the same to their minister. Let
the minister indeed strive to provide in such a wise, just as he would want to be done to himself.
523 Each excerpt is identified in italics (Hugo's chapter #, Sisto's p. #) according to its position in
Hugo of Digne's Expositio super regulam Fratrum Minorum, as its appears in A. Sisto's, Figure
del primo Francescanismo in Provenza: Ugo e Douceline di Digne, Florence, 1971, pp. 159-324.
The cross references, in square [ ] brackets, to the Regula non-Bullata [RegNB] are from K.
Esser, pp. 373-77, and refer to the latter's chapter and senate enumeration. These fragments taken
from Hugo of Digne are arranged by K. Esser into verses according to the number of their
paragraphs: each paragraph reckoned as one verse. This entire selection comprises part II of the
Fragments. For other notes, see the corresponding sections of the Regula non-Bullata [RegNB].
524 i.e. the bull of Pope Honorius III, Solet annuere, which approved the final version of the Rule;
for a text of this Bull see the opening and closing paragraphs of the Regula Bullata [RegB].
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