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

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THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI and friends and these bore off and divided his substance, 107 and said afterwards: "Cursed be his soul, since he could have given us more and acquired what he did not acquire." · Worms eat the body, and thus perished body and soul in this short age and they shall go into Hell, where they will be tortured without end. All those to whom these letters will have come, we beg in the Charity which God is (cf. 1 Jn 4:16), that they receive kindly those abovesaid sweet-smelling words of Our Lord Jesus Christ with divine love. · And let those who do not know how to read, have them read often; · and let them keep (these letters) with them with holy work even until the end, 108 because they are "spirit and life" (Jn 6:64). · And he who will not have done this, will be bound to render "an account on the Day of Judgement" (cf. Mt 12:36) 109 "before the tribunal of" Our Lord Jesus "Christ" (cf. Rm 14:10). A Letter to the faithful [EpFid II] Later recension Although very similar to the previous version, the incipits of the medieval manuscripts, as well as the text itself, identify this recension as an exhortation sent by St. Francis to all the Christian faithful. 110 This Letter was written sometime between 1216 and 1226 A.D.. 111 In the Name of the Lord, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. To all 112 Christians, religious, clerics and laymen, men and women, to all who dwell in the entire world, Friar Francis, their servant and subject, (offers) submission with reverence, true peace from Heaven and sincere charity in the Lord. Since I am the servant of all, I am bound to serve all and administer the sweet-smelling words of my Lord. · Whence considering in mind, that since personally on account of the infirmity and debility of my body I cannot visit each of you, I have proposed by these present letters and announcements to repeat to you the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word of the Father, and the words of the Holy Spirit, which "are spirit and life" (Jn 6:64). This Word of the Father—so worthy, so holy and glorious—the Most High Father of Heaven has announced through Saint Gabriel, His angel, into the womb of the holy and glorious 107 i.e. his property and possessions. 108 see fn. 84. 109 cf. RegNB IV,6. 110 K. Esser sees this recension as another version of the letter to the brothers and sisters of penance [EpFid I]; cf. K. Esser, p. 260. In either case, this work is important in the history and development of the Third Order. 111 cf. K. Esser, pp. 259-60. Note that the phrase "In the Name of the Lord . . ." is not enumerated among the verses of the Letter; verse one begins "To all Christians . . .". 112 lit. universis, "to each and every" considered as one group. Page - 40
THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI Virgin Mary, of whose womb He 113 received the true flesh of humanity and of our fragility. · Who, "although He was rich" (2 Cor 8:9) above all things, He willed in the world with the Most Blessed Virgin, His Mother, to chose poverty. · And near His passion He celebrated the Passover with His disciples and taking bread gave thanks and blest it and broke it saying: "Take and eat, this is My Body." (Mt 26:26) · "And taking the chalice" He said: "This is My Blood of the New Testament, which" on your behalf 114 and "on behalf of the many will be poured out in remission of sins." (Mt 26:27) · Then He prayed to the Father saying: "Father, if it can be done, let this chalice pass from Me." 115 · "And His sweat became as drops of blood flowing down upon the earth" (Lk 22:44). · Nevertheless, He placed His own will in the Will of the Father, saying: "Father, Thy Will be done" (Mt 26:42); "not as I will, but as Thou" (Mt 26:39). · Of whose Father such was the Will, that His Son, blest and glorious, whom He gave to us and who had been born on our behalf, offer His very self through His very own Blood as a Sacrifice and Victim upon the altar of the Cross, · not for His own sake, through whom all things were made (cf. Jn 1:3), but on behalf of our sins, · leaving us an example, so that we may follow His footsteps (cf. 1 Pet 2:21). · And He wants 116 all to be saved through Him and that we receive Him with a pure heart and our own chaste body. · But there are few, who want to receive Him and be saved through Him, though His "yoke is sweet" and His "burden light" (cf. Mt 11:30). Those who do not want to taste how "sweet the Lord" is (cf. Ps 33:9) and (who) love (dilectio) "shadows more than the Light" (Jn 3:19) not wanting to fulfill the mandates of God, have been cursed; · of whom it is said through the prophet: "Cursed are they who turn away from Thy mandates." (Ps 118:21). · But, oh how blessed and blest are those who love God and do as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: "Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart" and "with thy whole mind" and "thy neighbor as thy very self" (Mt 22:37,39). Let us therefore love God and adore Him with a pure heart and a pure mind, since He Himself, seeking (such) above all, has said: "True adorers will adore the Father in spirit and in truth." (Jn 4:23) · For "it is proper" that all, "who adore Him, adore" Him "in the spirit" of truth (cf. Jn 4:24). · And let us offer 117 Him praises and prayers "day and night" (Ps 31:4) by saying: "Our Father who art in Heaven" (Mt 6:9), since "it is proper that" we "always pray and not fail to do what we might" (Lk 18:1). Since we ought to confess all our sins to a priest; let us also receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ from him. · He who does not eat His Flesh and does not drink His Blood (cf. Jn 6:55.57), "cannot enter into the Kingdom of God" (Jn 3:5). · Nevertheless let him eat and drink worthily, because he who receives "unworthily eats and drinks judgement for himself, not dejudicating the Body of the Lord" (1 Cor 11:29), that is, he does not discern it. · In addition let us produce "fruits worthy of penance" (Lk 3:8). · And let us love (our) neighbors as our very selves (cf. Mt 22:39). · And if one does not want to love (amor) them as his very self, at least he does not bring evils upon them, but does good (to them). 113 i.e. the Son of God. The Latin here is ex cuius utero . . . recepit . . .: God assumed the true flesh of humanity by taking a share of the Virgin's humanity, which She offered to Him from Her womb. This phrase recalls that of the Nicene Creed, "who was conceived by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary...". For scriptural parallels, cf. Ps 21:10; 70:6; Is 44:24; 49:5; Lk 1:15. 114 This recalls the Roman Canon: qui pro vobis et pro multis. 115 cf. Breviarum Romanum (1961): Responsorum I ad Matut. Feriae V hebdomadae sanctae. 116 St. Francis refers to what God wants of man, in creating man with a free will; however, man is thus free to accept this will of God or reject it, by sin. 117 lit. "speak to." Page - 41
Page 1 and 2: The Writings of St. Francis of Assi
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Chapter XV That the friars are not
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Fragments of other rules [Frag] THE
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II. From the writings of Hugo of Di
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