Life of St. Francis of Assisi Part 4

[2] As in the majority of Tuscan cities the dimensions of the houses were formerly fixed by law.

[3] The biographies say that he died (October 3, 1226) in his forty-fifth year. But the terms are not precise enough to make the date 1181 improbable. For that matter the question is of small importance. A Franciscan of Erfurt, about the middle of the thirteenth century, fixes the date at 1182. Pertz, vol.

xxiv., p. 193.

[4] A number of different genealogies have been fabricated for Francis; they prove only one thing, the wreck of the Franciscan idea. How little they understood their hero, who thought to magnify and glorify him by making him spring from a n.o.ble family! "_Quae rero_," says Father Suysken, S. J., "_de ejus gentilitio insigni disserit Waddingus, non lubet mihi attingere.

Factis et virtutibus eluxit S. Franciscus non proavorum insignibus aut t.i.tulis, quos nec desideravit_." (A. SS. p.

557a.) It could not be better said.

In the fourteenth century a whole cycle of legends had gathered about his birth. It could not have been otherwise. They all grow out of the story that tells of an old man who comes knocking at the parents' door, begging them to let him take the infant in his arms, when he announces that it will do great things. Under this form the episode certainly presents nothing impossible, but very soon marvellous incidents begin to gather around this nucleus until it becomes unrecognizable. Bartholomew of Pisa has preserved it in almost its primitive form. _Conform_., 28a 2.

Francis certainly had several brothers [3 Soc., 9. _Mater_ ...

_quae c.u.m prae ceteris filiis diligebat_], but they have left no trace in history except the incident related farther on. Vide p.

44. Christofani publishes several official pieces concerning _Angelo_, St. Francis's brother, and his descendants: _Storie d'a.s.sisi_, vol. i., p. 78 ff. In these doc.u.ments Angelo is called _Angelus Pice_, and his son _Johannectus olim Angeli domine Pice_, appellations which might be cited in favor of the n.o.ble origin of Pica.

[5] Doc.u.mentary History of Languedoc, iii., p. 607.

[6] The Cathedral of a.s.sisi. To this day all the children of the town are baptized there; the other churches are without fonts.

[7] 3 Soc., 1; 2 Cel., 1, 1. Vide also 3 Soc., edition of Pesaro, 1831.

[8] The _langue d'ol_ was at this epoch the international language of Europe; in Italy it was the language of games and tourneys, and was spoken in the petty princely courts of Northern Italy. Vide Dante, _De vulgari eloquio_, lib. I., cap.

x. Brunetto Latini wrote in French because "the speech of France is more delectable and more common to all people." At the other end of Europe the Abbot of Stade, in Westphalia, spoke of the _n.o.bility of the Gallic dialect_. _Ann._ 1224 _apud_ Pertz, Script. xvi. We shall find St. Francis often making allusions to the tales of the Round Table and the _Chanson de Roland_.

[9] We must not be led astray by certain remarks upon his ignorance, from which one might at first conclude that he knew absolutely nothing; for example, 2 Cel., 3, 45: _Quamvis h.o.m.o iste beatus nullis fuerit scientiae studiis innutritus_. This evidently refers to science such as the Franciscans soon came to apprehend it, and to theology in particular.

The close of the pa.s.sage in Celano is itself an evident proof of this.

[10] Bon., 219; Cf. A. SS., p. 560a. 1 Cel., 23.

[11] Ozanam, _Doc.u.ments inedits pour servir a l'histoire litteraire d'Italie du VIIIe au XIIIe siecle_. Paris, 1851, 8vo, pp. 65, 68, 71, 73. Fauriel, _Dante et les origines de la litterature italienne_. Paris, 1854, 2 vols., 8vo, ii., p. 332, 379, 429.

[12] V. 3 Soc., 51 and 67; 2 Cel., 3, 110; Bon., 55; 2 Cel., 3, 99; Eccl., 6. Bernard de Besse, Turin MS., fo. 96a, calls Brother Leo the secretary of St. Francis.

[13] See page 357, n. 8. Bon., 51 and 308.

[14] 1 Cel., 16; 3 Soc., 10; 23; 24; 33; 2 Cel., 1, 8; 3, 67.

See also the Testament of St. Clara and the Speculum, 119a.

[15] _Primum namque c.u.m fari vel balbutire incipiunt, turpia quaedam et execrabilia valde signis et vocibus edocentur pueri ii nondum nati: et c.u.m tempus ablactationis advenerit quaedam luxu et lascivia plena non solum fari sed et operari coguntur.... Sed et c.u.m paulo plusculum aetate profecerint, se ipsis impellentibus, semper ad deteriora opera dilabuntur._ 1 Cel., 1.

[16] 2 Cel., 1. Cf. _Conform._, 14a, 1. There is nothing impossible in her having been of Provencal origin, but there is nothing to indicate it in any doc.u.ment worthy of credence. She was no doubt of n.o.ble stock, for official doc.u.ments always give her the t.i.tle _Domina_. Cristofani I., p. 78 ff. Cf. _Matrem honestissimam habuit_. 3 Soc., Edition of Pesaro, 1831, p. 17.

[17] The reading given by the _Conform_., 14a, 1, _Meritorum gratia dei filium ipsum noveritis affuturum_, seems better than that of 2 Cel., 1, 1, _Multorum gratia Dei filiorum patrem ipsum noveritis affuturum_. Cf. 3 Soc., 2.

[18] Bernardo of Besse, Turin MS., 102 b.: _An integer carne desiderans ... quod non extorsisset a Sancto ... meruit obtinere a Deo quod virgo esset_. Cf. _Conform_., 211a, 1, and A. SS., p.

560f.

[19] "_In illa antiphona quae incipit: Hic vir in vanitatibus nutritus insolenter, fiat talis mutatis: Divinis karismatibus preventus est clementer." Archiv._, vi., p. 35.

[20] Vide p. 395, the decision of the chapter of 1263 ordaining the destruction of legends earlier than that of Bonaventura.

[21] 1 Cel., 1 and 2; 89; 3 Soc., 2. Cf. A. SS., 560c. Vincent of Beauvais, _Spec. hist. lib._, 29, cap. 97.

[22] Pierre Vidal was at the court of Boniface, Marquis of Montferrat, about 1195, and liked his surroundings so well that he desired to establish himself there. K. Bartsch, _Piere Vidal's Lieder_, Berlin, 1857, n. 41. Ern. Monaci, _Testi antichi provenzali_, Rome, 1889, col. 67. One should read this piece to have an idea of the fervor with which this poet shared the hopes of Italy and desired its independence. This political note is found again in a _tenzon_ of Manfred II. Lancia, addressed to Pierre Vidal. (V. Monaci, _loc. cit._, col.

68.)--Gaucelme Faidit was also at this court as well as Raimbaud of Vacqueyras (1180-1207).--Folquet de Romans pa.s.sed nearly all his life in Italy. Bernard of Ventadour (1145-1195), Peirol of Auvergne (1180-1220), and many others abode there a longer or shorter time. Very soon the Italians began to sing in Provencal, among others this Manfred Lancia, and Albert Marquis of Malaspina (1162-1210), Pietro della Caravana, who in 1196 stirred up the Lombard towns against Henry VI., Pietro della Mula, who about 1200 was at the court of Cortemiglia. Fragments from these poets may be found in Monaci, _op. cit._, col. 69 ff.

[23] Soc., 3; 2 Cel., 1, 1.

[24] _c.u.m esset gloriosus animo et nollet aliquem se praecellere_, Giord. 20.

[25] 1 Cel., 17; 3 Soc., 3; Bon., 7. Cf. A. SS., p. 562.

[26] 1 Cel., 2; Bon., 6; _Vit. sec. apud_, A. SS., p. 560.

[27] 3 Soc., 9.

[28] In 1174 a.s.sisi was taken by the chancellor of the empire, Christian, Archbishop of Mayence. A. Cristofani, i., p. 69.

[29] All these events are related in the _Gesta Innocentii III.

ab auctore coaetaneo_, edited by Baluze: Migne, _Inn. op._, vol.

i., col. xxiv. See especially the letter of Innocent, _Rectoribus Tusciae: Mirari cogimur_, of April 16, 1198. Migne, vol. i., col. 75-77. Potthast, No. 82.

[30] See Luigi Bonazzi, _Storia di Perugia_, 2 vols., 8vo.

Perugia, 1875-1879 vol. i., cap. v., pp. 257-322.

[31] 3 Soc., 4; 2 Cel., 1, 1. Cristofani, _op. cit._, i., p. 88 ff.; Bonazzi, _op. cit._, p. 257.

[32] 3 Soc., 4.

[33] 3 Soc., 4; 2 Cel., 1, 1.

[34] See this arbitration in Cristofani, _op. cit._, p. 93 ff.

[35] Cristofani, _loc. cit._, p. 70.

CHAPTER II

STAGES OF CONVERSION

Spring 1204-Spring 1206

On his return to a.s.sisi Francis at once resumed his former mode of life; perhaps he even tried in some degree to make up for lost time. Fetes, games, festivals, and dissipations began again. He did his part in them so well that he soon fell gravely ill.[1] For long weeks he looked death so closely in the face that the physical crisis brought about a moral one. Thomas of Celano has preserved for us an incident of Francis's convalescence. He was regaining strength little by little and had begun to go about the house, when one day he felt a desire to walk abroad, to contemplate nature quietly, and so take hold again of life.

Leaning on a stick he bent his steps toward the city gate.