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

THE WRITINGS OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
And let that be more to you than a hermitage. 144 · And in this I want to know, if you love the Lord
and myself, His servant and yours, if you have done this, namely, that there be no friar in the
world, 145 who has sinned, as much as one could sin, that, after he has seen your eyes, never
leaves without your mercy, if he seeks mercy. · And if he would not seek mercy, you are to ask
him, if he wants mercy. · And if afterwards he would have sinned a thousand times before your
eyes, love him more than me for this, so that you draw him to the Lord; and you are to always
pity such ones. · And you are to announce this to the guardians, 146 when you will be able, that as
far as you are concerned you are resolved to act thus.
Moreover from all the chapters, which are in the Rule, which speak of mortal sins, with
the Lord assisting (us) in the Chapter at Pentecost, 147 with the counsel of the friars, we shall make
a chapter such as this: 148
If one of the friars at the instigation of the enemy has sinned mortally, he is bound
by obedience to have recourse to his own guardian. · And let all the friars, who
know he has sinned, not shame him nor utter detraction, but let them have great
mercy upon him and keep very private the sin of their brother; "because a doctor
is not needed" by the healthy, "but by those who have a malady." (Mt 9:12) ·
Similarly they are bound by obedience to send him to their custos 149 with a
companion. · And let the custos himself mercifully provide for him, just as he
himself would want to be provided for, if he was in an exactly similar situation. ·
And if he has fallen into any venial sin, let him entrust the friar to his priest. 150 ·
And if there is not a priest there, let him entrust him to his brother (companion),
until he will find a priest, to absolve him canonically, just as has been said. · And
those 151 (friars) are to have entirely no power of enjoining any penance except
144 A reference to the desire to take refuge in a hermitage for the sake of the contemplative life;
which in some persons is mixed with a desire to flee a cross which entails the practice of charity
towards one's neighbor(s).
145 Here, in contrast, St. Francis uses mundum, the Latin term for "world" in the spatial sense; it
is equivalent to the Greek word "cosmos," which means "the world or universe."
146 see the introduction to "The First Letter to the Custodes" [EpCust I] for an explanation of the
office of Guardian.
147 The General Chapter of the Friars Minor is held at Pentecost; cf. RegB VIII,2 and 5.
148 K. Esser does not indent the paragraph which follows; this has been done by the English
translator for clarity. The reader will want to compare this proposed chapter to RegNB XX and
RegB VII. Indeed the affinity of this proposal to the cited chapter of the Regula Bullata, inclines
to the conclusion that either this letter was written after 1221 A.D., or, if it was written before
1221, as K. Esser holds, that despite this proposal's lack of approval by the Pentecost Chapter of
that year, St. Francis chose to refer to it when he composed the Regula Bullata in 1223 A.D..
149 see the introduction to "The First Letter to the Custodes" [EpCust I] for an explanation of the
office of Custos.
150 i.e. his chaplain.
151 The Latin word iste, translated here as "those," refers to the general subject (s) of the
paragraph or to the antagonist: in this case: the guardian, the friars, and the custos. Unlike the
Latin term hic, it does not necessarily refer to the protagonist, which in this case is "the friar who
sinned," or to the specific subject of the immediately prior phrase or clause, which in this case is
"the priest." Hence St. Francis is suggesting that neither the superiors nor the community impose
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