The Rediscovered Life of St. Francis of Assisi [1 ed.] 9781576595398

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JACQUES DALARUN

THE REDISCOVERED LIFE OF

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI THOMAS OF CELANO

TRANSLATED BY TIMOTHY J. JOHNSON

FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS 2016

Published in the United States by Franciscan Institute Publications St. Bonaventure University, 2016 © Jacques Dalarun ISBN 13:978-1-57659-403-2 eISBN 13:978-1-57659-404-9 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover design by Jill M. Smith

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Thomas, of Celano, active 1257, author. Title: The life of our blessed Father Francis / Thomas of Celano ; translated by Timothy J. Johnson. Other titles: Vie de notre bienheureux p?ere Fran?cois. English Description: St. Bonaventure : Franciscan Institute Publications, 2016. ,GHQWLÀHUV/&&1SULQW _/&&1HERRN _,6%1 SENDONSDSHU _,6%1HERRN 6XEMHFWV/&6+)UDQFLVRI $VVLVL6DLQW_&KULVWLDQ saints--Italy--Biography. &ODVVLÀFDWLRQ/&&%;)7SULQW _/&&%;)HERRN _ DDC 271/.302--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016009476

Printed and bound in the United States of America. Franciscan Institute Publications makes every effort to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials in the publishing of its books. This book is printed on acid free, recycled paper that is )6&)RUHVW6WHZDUGVKLS&RXQFLO FHUWLÀHG It is printed with soy-based ink.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Translator Notes Introduction

vii ix

THE LIFE OF OUR BLESSED FATHER FRANCIS

1

Here begins the life of our blessed Father Francis. How he was converted to God, How he sold his possessions, and How his father persecuted him and his mother released him.

1

How after being thrown into the snow, he took care of lepers, 4 How he repaired three churches and after having changed his habit for the second time, advancing toward evangelical perfection, he received companions and recognized in them the perfect spirit of God. How he sent the brothers two by two through the world, How Pope Innocent, having granted to him the authority to preach, FRQÀUPHGWKHUXOHDQG How refreshed in solitude, he decided to adhere to poverty and assist those nearby.

7

Concerning the three orders that blessed Francis instituted, and 9 Concerning the strict discipline in which he held himself and others, and How, after having left a place, he moved to the Portiuncula, and How he taught the brothers to pray. +RZKHDSSHDUHGWUDQVÀJXUHG    How he miraculously showed his presence to those absent and knew the secrets of the hearts of others.



Concerning the observance of poverty and the abstinence of his 13 life and Concerning the things he did so he might show that he was the vilest of all, and Concerning the devotion that the people held for him, and How he taught that priests and doctors of divine law should be honored. iii

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Thomas of Celano

How he preached to birds, How brute animals found refuge with him and obeyed him, and How water was turned into wine for him.

15

Concerning miracles he worked when alive.

17

How, after having multiplied the provisions, he liberated the sailors 20 from the peril of the sea, and How, going to Spain with the desire for PDUW\UGRPKHÀQDOO\DSSURDFKHGWKHVXOWDQRI %DE\ORQ How, praying in a deserted place, he fought with the devil, and Concerning his constancy and the manner of his preaching, and Concerning his humility and compassion toward the poor.

21

Concerning his affection toward creatures because of the Creator and reverence for the name of the Lord, and Concerning the the crib on the solemnity and his vision.

23

Concerning the opening of the book, Concerning the appearance of the seraph, and Concerning the stigmata of Christ appearing in him.

26

&RQFHUQLQJWKHLQÀUPLW\RI KLVERG\







+RZEURWKHU(OLDVOHGKLPLQÀUPIURP6LHQDWR$VVLVL Concerning the benediction that he gave him, Concerning the praise that he instantly began to chant, and Concerning how he saw his soul ascending to heaven.



Concerning the time of his passing, Concerning his canonization, and Concerning his translation.

33

Here ends the legend of Saint Francis. Here begin the miracles.

35

Concerning the blind, the mute, and the deaf.

38

Concerning lepers and demoniacs.

41

Concerning the four dead who were resuscitated and many

42

Table of Contents

v

others called back from death. Concerning those suffering from dropsy, paralysis, and hernias.

45

&RQFHUQLQJWZRZRPHQIUHHGIURPWKHÁRZRI EORRGDQGRWKHU LQÀUPLWLHV 



Concerning the man he liberated from chains and two other miracles.

49

Concordance

53

Bibliography

61

Index

63

TRANSLATOR NOTES

Jacques Dalarun’s exciting discovery and meticulous editing of the previously unknown Life of Our Blessed Father Francis (or Rediscovered Life) by Thomas of Celano marks a historic milestone in medieval hagiographical studies. I am deeply honored to play a part in this on-going project by bringing this marvelous Latin text to an English audience. The path of translating takes many twists and turns, and the risks of betrayal are well known to those who have set out on the journey. Numerous people assisted my efforts to remain faithful to the integrity of this Rediscovered Life as I walked the line between crippling literalism and exaggerated embellishment. Sean L. Field and Solanus Benefatti critiqued my Latin-English translation with painstaking diligence and devotion. Michael Blastic and Katherine Wrisley-Shelby proofread the draft to assure that this English rendition of the Latin was not an obstacle to contemporary readers. Katherine also kindly edited my French-English translation of Jacques’s introduction to the French edition. Angelina DeVincenzo carefully compiled the index. The evergracious Jacques reviewed both the translation of the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis and his introduction line by line. David Couturier and Jill Smith of Franciscan Institute Publications were instrumental in moving this project forward to completion. The Craig and Audrey Thorn Distinguished Professor Endowment at Flagler College generously funded my efforts during the summer of 2015. I remain in the debt of all these individuals, living and deceased. I am most grateful, however, for Agnieszka, who is my favorite Franciscan; when I was faltering, she urged me to take up the challenge and assured this wayfarer of the time, space, and sustenance necessary to finish. It is right and just for translators and the like to assert they are ultimately at fault should their work err. If I wandered off the path at any point, I am, of course, alone to blame. I confess, nevertheless, that I relished the journey. In the midst of this project, my family marked its own historic milestone. On December 5th of 2015, my father, Burton F. Johnson, vii

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celebrated his 90th birthday. More than any other person, he taught me, with love and patience, the beauty and value of quiet, unassuming work. I dedicate my efforts here to him. Timothy J. Johnson Craig and Audrey Thorn Distinguished Professor of Religion Flagler College

INTRODUCTION Francis of Assisi died during the night between October 3 and 4, 1226. He was solemnly canonized by Pope Gregory IX, who ordered Thomas, a Minorite brother from the city of Celano in the Italian region of the Abruzzi, to write a biography of the new saint. The Life of Blessed Francis was confirmed on February 25, 1229, by the sovereign pontiff. In 1244 the general chapter of the Minorite brothers and their minister general, Crescentius of Jesi, enjoined the brothers to collect memories of their founder and Thomas to edit them. He did this between 1246 and 1247 in The Memorial of the Desire of the Soul, completed with an abundant collection of miracles around 1250. Since the thirteenth century, it is customary to say that Thomas of Celano was the author of the first plus a second legend of Saint Francis, The First Life and The Second Life, which are two of the most important biographies among the dozens that were consecrated to the Poverello in the medieval époque. In 2007, while gathering various manuscript fragments, I reconstructed a legend that contained the section on Francis from his stigmatization on La Verna in 1224 to the translation of his body to the basilica in Assisi, and then continues on with a collection of posthumous miracles. I called it, for lack of a better name, the Umbrian Legend. On the basis of essential stylistic elements, I attributed its paternity to Thomas of Celano, and after testing various scenarios, I arrived at the idea that it had been composed at the request of Brother Elias during his mandate as minister general from 1232 to 1239. In the course of this same research, I discovered a strange breviary in the Vatican library, where the readings RI WKHRIÀFHKDGEHHQSDUWLDOO\VFUDSHGVRDVWRUHQGHUWKHPLOOHJLEOH, QHYHUWKHOHVVLGHQWLÀHGWKHLUFRQWHQWVVLQFHWKH\UHVHPEOHGWKHUHDGLQJV of another breviary in the same library that only covered the beginning of Francis’s conversion. I proposed to attribute this legend to Thomas of Celano as well. All together my hypotheses were rather well received. Seven years passed.

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On September 15, 2014, I received a message from my friend Sean L. )LHOGZKRQRWLÀHGPHWKDWDPDQXVFULSWZDVIRUVDOHRQWKHZHEVLWHLes Enluminures, which contained a Life of Saint Francis including, at times, the readings of the breviaries of the Vatican library and the Umbrian Legend. In her excellent online description, Laura Light underlined the importance of this text. She carefully concluded by asking if an unknown author using the two sources I treated in 2007 had compiled it or if it concerned a previously unknown Life of Thomas of Celano. ,TXLFNO\FRQVXOWHGWKHUHSURGXFWLRQRI WKHÀUVWSDJHRI WKH/LIHDQG deciphered – not without pain – a letter of dedication that begins with WKHVHZRUGVQ  To the venerable and reverend father, brother Elias, minister general of the minor brothers. The life of our most glorious father Francis, which Pope Gregory commanded, but you, father, thoroughly informed, I already composed some time ago in a longer work that some criticized, perhaps with good reason, because of its length. As you prescribed, I have now drawn together in a shorter work an expedient summary, and, while there are many omissions, I have striven to write with succinct and competent words. From that point on, there was no doubt that we were in the presence RI  D SURIRXQG UHZRUNLQJ RI  WKH ÀUVW Life of Blessed Francis, abridged by the author himself, Thomas of Celano, at the request of the then minister general, brother Elias. My hypothesis of 2007 suddenly found DQ XQH[SHFWHG FRQÀUPDWLRQ , VLJQDOHG WKLV GLVFRYHU\ WR ,VDEHOOH /H Masne de Chermont, directress of the Department of Manuscripts at the National Library of France, and, with the agreement of its president, Bruno Racine, the National Library of France decided to acquire the manuscript. 7KLVYROXPHRI YHU\VPDOOGLPHQVLRQV[PP ERXQGEXW without a cover, composed of one hundred twenty-two parchment folios of poor quality, was certainly copied in the 1230s in the vicinity of Assisi, for the use of a minor brother or of a small group of friars. Crumpled, stiff, weather beaten, and stained, it does not have a beautiful appearance, but that is a good thing inasmuch as it is the image of Franciscan simplicity and poverty. Moreover, it holds a treasure of unknown texts. Thus in the years to come it will be the object of joint research by the Department

Introduction

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of Manuscripts of the National Library of France and the Institute of Research and the History of Texts of the CNRS as per the agreement between the respective directors, Isabelle Le Masne de Chermont and François Bougard. For the time being, let us concentrate on the unedited Franciscan legend. I made the announcement of this discovery on January 16, 2015, before the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres in the presence of Bruno Racine and Isabelle Le Masne de Chermont. The new ÀQG SURYRNHG D FHUWDLQ VHQVDWLRQ ZHOO EH\RQG WKLV FLUFOH RI  VFKRODUV The headlines of the Osservatore romano announced, “Saint Francis Rediscovered.” One should say that such a godsend is hardly frequent. The last date goes back to 1922 when The Assisi Compilation, which holds the essential memories of Brother Leo, came to light. The generally accepted idea – to my great displeasure – is that the canon of Franciscan OHJHQGVLVFORVHGDQGWKHWLPHRI QHZÀQGLQJVLVSDVVHG1RZWKHGHQLDO is without appeal. To begin, let us look at the input of the new text with regard to quantity. My earlier reconstruction provided no more than 40% of the now rediscovered Life. Therefore, in its entirety, the new Life of Our Blessed Father FranciV²WKDWLVWKHWLWOHLQWKHPDQXVFULSW²LVÀOOHGZLWK 60% of unpublished material. An abbreviation of the Life of Blessed FrancisFirst LifeRI 7KRPDVRI &HODQR LWLVQHFHVVDULO\VKRUWHUWKDQLWV PRGHOEXWLWVWLOOUHSUHVHQWVPRUHWKDQKDOI RI LWFirst Life ,WLVORQJHU than many other Franciscan legends, such as the Life of Saint Francis of Julian of Speyer, the Legend of the Three Companions, or the Minor Legend of Bonaventure. Given the details it offers and by its very existence, the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis shines a light on the disputed genealogy of the legends, an object of great debate opened more than a century ago called the “Franciscan question.” Up to now the effort has been to reconstruct a puzzle that was missing at least one decisive piece. In the dedication OHWWHU RQH OHDUQV WKDW HYHQ WKRXJK WKH ÀUVW Life of Blessed Francis was composed by Thomas of Celano at the command of Pope Gregory ,;LWZDVQHYHUWKHOHVVEURWKHU(OLDVDOWKRXJKKHZDVQRWWKHKHDGRI  the Order, who had given the hagiographical information and delivered that “which Pope Gregory commanded, but you, father, thoroughly LQIRUPHGµdomino papa Gregorio iubente, sed te, pater, edocente, n. 1) as the Latin says in a very expressive manner.

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7KLV RIÀFLDO FRPSRVLWLRQ RI  ZKLFK 7KRPDV KDG HYHU\ UHDVRQ WR be proud, nevertheless had attracted criticism: too long, it needed to be reduced. The prescription this time comes from the minister general, and no longer from the sovereign pontiff. The affair is internal to the Order RI WKH)ULDUVPLQRUEHFDXVHWKHFULWLFLVPVKDGFHUWDLQO\ÁDUHGZLWKLQWKH same order. The Life of our Blessed Father Francis: a title as such expresses, without embarrassment, the destination of the new legend, addressed to the spiritual sons of the father in question, the minor brothers; yet, of what use can “a shorter work” have within a religious order? The UHVSRQVHLVHYLGHQWWRSURYLGHQLQHUHDGLQJVIRUWKHOLWXUJLFDORIÀFHRI  the founder in an époque when the feast was not yet accompanied by an octave. As clue, in the recovered manuscript nine lectiones are divided IURPWKHEHJLQQLQJRI WKH/LIHRI )UDQFLVQXPEHUHGDQGLGHQWLÀHGDV such. %XW ZKHQ UHUHDGLQJ WKH SURORJXH OHWWHU Q   LW LV DSSDUHQW HYHU\ZKHUHWKDW7KRPDVRI &HODQRUHOXFWDQWO\IXOÀOOHGWKLVQHZPLVVLRQ He reduced his preceding redaction because he had to do so; at the end of the ninth reading the narration barely arrives at the recruitment of the ÀUVWFRPSDQLRQV2QHRI WKHEUHYLDULHVLQWKH9DWLFDQOLEUDU\DWWHPSWV to respond to the same practice with a slightly different division of the readings; it does not succeed in restoring the entirety of the holy life – far from it. 7KLVFDVWVOLJKWRQWKHEULHI SURORJXHRI WKHÀUVWOLWXUJLFDOOHJHQG actually known and diffused as such in the order of minor brothers: the Legend for Use in the Choir: You asked me frater Benedicte to extract certain parts from the Legend of our most blessed father Francis and to order them in a series of nine readings, so that these should be placed in breviaries. In that by reason of their brevity, everyone will be able to have them. The legend from which this frater benedictus´EURWKHU%HQHGLFWµRU ´EOHVVHG EURWKHUµ"  DVNHG DQ DQRQ\PRXV DEEUHYLDWRU WR H[WUDFW QLQH readings for liturgical usage is not the First Life of Thomas of Celano as always believed, but his own attempt to abridge what continues to VLQGXHWRYHUERVLW\7KHRediscovered LifeZDVVWLOOWRRORQJ 7KHSURRI  is the scrupulous parallels among three legends: the Legend for Use in the Choir has no need to refer to the much longer First Life; it is exclusively

Introduction

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WKH DEULGJHPHQW RI  DQ DEULGJPHQW WKH Rediscovered Life, which is the abridgment of the First Life 7KHLife of Saint Francis by Julian of Speyer, which knew notable success in France, appears to me now to draw alternately from the two drafts of Thomas of Celano, the long and the EULHI  First Life and the Rediscovered Life  WKH ORQJ EHFDXVH LW KDV PRUH details, and the brief, since it is more recent, offers new information regarding, for example, the translation of 1230, which is missing from its model. The Life of Our Blessed Father Francis, the Legend for Use in the Choir, and the Life of Saint Francis by Julian of Speyer: these three texts, intimately linked, were all composed between 1232 and 1239 during the generalate RI EURWKHU(OLDV²DQG,ZRXOGEHWHPSWHGQRZWREHOLHYHLQWKHÀUVW years of his mandate. But the Rediscovered Life takes on greater value when RQHDIÀUPVDV,EHOLHYH,DPDEOHWRGRWKDWLWLVDEVROXWHO\WKHVHFRQG OHJHQGHYHUZULWWHQDERXW)UDQFLVRI $VVLVLDQGWKHÀUVWHYHUZULWWHQIRU WKHVSHFLÀFXVHRI WKHPLQRUEURWKHUV The brutal deposition in 1239 of Elias, who was confronted by the LQWHUQDO RSSRVLWLRQ RI  WKH XQLYHUVLW\ IULDUV DQG ÀQDOO\ GHSULYHG RI  WKH DVVLVWDQFHRI 3RSH*UHJRU\,;OHGWKHLife of Our Blessed Father Francis into the damnatio memoriae of its sponsor. There was a burst of interest in the text in 1244 when the liturgical reform of the minor brothers required the celebration of the octave in the week following the feast of Saint Francis on October 4: no longer was it necessary to produce nine readings, but sixty-three. The length itself of the text, not abridged enough by Thomas, gave it an ephemeral value. The fragments that I stitched together under the title of the Umbrian Legend, almost all from breviaries, certainly come from this period. The few circulating copies of the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis almost completely disappeared in 1266, when the general chapter of Paris, presided by the minister general Bonaventure, called for the elimination of the liturgical legends preceding the one composed by the minister himself to put an end to discord within the order: the Minor Legend. The breviary in the Vatican Library with scrapped readings was a victim of this decision: the brothers did not want to destroy such a precious volume, but obedient to the command, however, they rendered illegible extracts from a Life now out of fashion. All in all, the survival of the manuscript of the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis, buried in a private collection right up to when it was placed on sale and returned to the surface today, is a miracle – and to escape this impression, one would

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have to attempt to reconstruct its history from the 1230s to the 2010s, even if the indices for this appear weak. In the meantime, the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis had a direct LQÁXHQFHRQWKHLegend of the Three Companions and most of all on the Memorial that Thomas of Celano composed from 1246 to around 1250. With this last compilation, improperly called the Second Life, the hagiographer in fact made his third redaction of the Life of Saint Francis The last words he dedicates to his hero at the close of the miracle collection, with which he himself ends the Memorial, have been interpreted for a long time as a reticence on his part to produce the miracle stories. The idea is absurd and totally anachronistic; a hagiographer who balks at writing the miracles is like a pianist who refuses to play Chopin, or a baker who hates to bake bread. Let’s read this conclusion again from the perspective of the complete hagiographical labor of Thomas, unveiled today thanks to the discovery of the new intermediary Life: We are not able to forge new things everyday, or change squares into circles, or apply what we received in one to the multiple diversities of every time and wish. We did not force ourselves at all to write these things due to the vice of vanity, nor have we plunged into such a diversity of words due to the inspiration of our own will, but the restlessness of the brothers’ requests extorted and the authority of our prelates ordered it to be finished. Now that one knows the prologue letter of the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis LV LW QRW WKH VDPH GLVDSSRLQWPHQW WKDW RQH ÀQGV KHUH EXW²VRPHÀIWHHQ\HDUVODWHU²LQFUHDVHGDQGDUULYHGDWWKHKHLJKWRI  ELWWHUQHVV"  :K\ GLG \RX FULWLFL]H P\ ÀUVW /LIH ZKHUH , DOUHDG\ KDG applied all of my skill, all of my heart, and all of my soul? Thomas seems to shoot back. “Granted, some might have wished that perhaps something different be said instead of what is said,” he lashed back at WKH RSHQLQJ RI  WKH VHFRQG YHUVLRQ Q   7KH EUXLVHG IUHWIXO DXWKRU denounces the troublemakers. But we must thank them to have forced him to take up the quill again, since, with each of his revisions, despite what he says, he delivers something new. Without doubt the question most often posed – and quite legitimately – to me after the announcement of the discovery of the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis has been: what does it add to our knowledge of Francis of Assisi? Does it bring out anything new about the Poverello,

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one of the most documented individuals of the Middle Ages, beyond WKH FRXQWOHVV H[LVWLQJ ELRJUDSKLHV" 7KH FKDOOHQJH LV QRW LQVLJQLÀFDQW I’m afraid I will disappoint those who love sensationalism and support conspiracy theories: Francis of Assisi was neither a crypto-heretic nor a rebel against the Roman church; brother Elias did not pierce holes in the feet and hands of his cadaver to simulate a posteriori the stigmata. However, I would like to try to respond to reasonable people in the most just manner without overvaluing or undervaluing the impact of the discovery. What is intended by “new”, or more exactly, new in relationship to what? Is it the novelty that the uncovered text now conveys something more beyond my tentative reconstruction, edited under the title of the Umbrian Legend? Is what is new only in relation to the single preceding Franciscan biography, the Life of Our Blessed Francis from the same Thomas of Celano? Is it the unpublished information regarding all that we already know about Francis from the complete body of his biographies? Take for example the posthumous miracles. I have already collected thirtynine in the Umbrian Legend. The Rediscovered Life counts seventy-one, so there are thirty-two more, so to speak. But when Thomas published his new collection, in fact he added thirty-three miracles ignored in the First Life. There is a gain of one. Alas, since all the new miracles of the 1230s were reprised in the grand collection of the Memorial around 1250, the absolute gain is reduced to nothing. A simple problem of logic: given that the second Franciscan legend is, to this day, the latest rediscovered, one must expect that the major part of his contributions were tarnished by the later versions that are, among others, drawn from itself. One should not be indifferent to learn that the information believed WR UHWXUQ WR PHPRU\ DURXQG  ZDV LQ IDFW UHFRUGHG VRPH ÀIWHHQ years earlier, and, if the Life of Our Blessed Father FrancisGHOLYHUVWKHÀUVW version of an episode, there is every chance that its formulation is more exact, its details closer to the past reality before, in the reworking of the reworking, the narrative is deformed and sweetened. The Rediscovered Life is not only an abbreviation, but also an update of the First Life, its model. Thus the translation of the holy body from the Church of Saint George to the new basilica of Saint Francis, which happened on May 25, 1230 and is duly reported in the Life of Our Blessed Father FrancisQ FRXOGQRWEHUHFRUGHGLQWKHLife of Blessed Father Francis, which was completed at the beginning of the preceding year; nor could cardinal Rainaldo, the future Pope Alexander IV, be designated

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DVWKHELVKRSRI 2VWLDDWLWOHKHGLGQRWUHFHLYHXQWLOQ QRU could an allusion have been made to the canonization of Anthony of 3DGXDZKLFKZDVSURFODLPHG0D\Q QRUFRXOGDHXORJ\ be pronounced for John Parenti, who was minister general from 1227 to Q  The principal uniqueness of the Rediscovered Life is its thirty-three new posthumous miracles. A miracle produced after the death of a saint, nonetheless by his intercession, is good proof of the relevance of his sanctity, of the resiliency of his fama in the passage of time, and of his SUHVHQWDQGHYHUHIÀFDFLRXVSRZHUDFWLYHDQGFXUUHQW,NQRZWKDWLWLV GLIÀFXOWWRKHDUWKHVHWKLQJVLQRXUGD\0LUDFOHVDUHKDUGO\RI LQWHUHVW people want the experience, not the wonderful. Worse, they make people uneasy. Believers fear to be suspect of naivety if they have any interest in them at all; others do not know what to make of the supernatural, which is attested to by the medieval sources with as many formal guaranties as a tax table or a settlement after a battle. Deep down, miracles bother everyone. Let’s take the time to read through these short stories, which reveal LQWKHÁDVKRI DPRPHQWVXFKGLPLQXWLYHDQGSRLJQDQWOLYHV6HHWKHSDLQ RI WKHSDUHQWVZKREHOLHYHWKHLUVRQGURZQHGLQWKH9ROWXUQRQ  FUXVKHGE\WKHFROODSVHRI DKRXVHDW6HVVD$XUXQFDQ RUJURXQGE\ DZLQHSUHVVLQ6LFLO\Q DQGWKHLUMR\ZKHQWKHFKLOGUHJDLQVOLIH6HH the man suspected of heresy in Rome, entrusted to the custody of the bishop of Tivoli, who, held by chains, still managed to get away while the ELVKRSIDLQWHGIURPIHDUQ ²DQHSLVRGHWKDWFDQEHGDWHGSUHFLVHO\ to 1231 thanks to a coinciding overlap with external documentation. See this Roman recluse, who had known Francis well when he was alive, who called on him because she was unable to get up after a terrible fall in her enclosure and, without help, risked dying. No special effects in these exciting episodes, but extreme tension between life and death, fear and hope, doubt and faith; and Francis comes suddenly in a dream to DIÀUPWKDWWKHZRUVHLVQRWDOZD\VFHUWDLQDQGWRWHDFKDVLQWKHHSLVRGH of the brother with the pelisse, that the conversion of the soul and the heart is much more important than the healing of the body, which it only LQGLFDWHVQ  Return back to the living. A series of unedited episodes from the rediscovered legend deals with poverty. One of them, which was never picked up later and thus constitutes an absolute novelty, describes the

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clothing of Francis who aimed to conform himself “in all things to the poor”: He would frequently share with them a tunic with which he had dressed himself, wearing it according to the custom of the poor, and he would often mend it not with threads, but with the bark of trees and plants. (n. 60) Another anecdote that will then be inserted in the Assisi Compilation and the Memorial places Francis in a hermitage: deploring the care given by the brothers for the table that, “was not for the poor, but for the rich”, KHWRRNUHIXJHHLQWKHFRUQHUDQGFURXFKLQJGHPDQGHGDOPVQ  Another admirable episode, used again only in the Memorial by the same Thomas of Celano, tells of the encounter of Francis with a peasant who, after he was assured of his name, addressed him: “Strive, brother, to be precisely as others say you are, because many trust in you. I admonish that nothing ever come other than that which is hoped.” Francis dropped from his donkey and, overwhelmed with gratitude, prostrated himself at WKHIHHWRI WKHUXVWLFQ  Without a doubt the most eloquent of the novelties on this theme is the episode of Saint Peter’s Basilica, known from the Legend of the Three Companions, but conveyed here in a version that is older, more authentic, more enriching, and more profound. Francis went to Rome “a merchant among merchants” – and not as a pilgrim as the Legend of the Three Companions would have one believe – so as to suggest the idea of a germinating conversion, a trajectory progressing toward sanctity. The reality is much starker: Francis is on a business trip, and still completely stuck in the world. The shock is that much the harsher. He sees the poor who are begging in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and then, “he wanted to experience their miseries and see if he would be able to tolerate these things for a while.” He exchanges his clothes with theirs and shares ZLWKWKHPWKHLUEHJJDUV·PHDODIÀUPLQJ´KHKDGQHYHUHDWHQDQ\WKLQJ PRUHGHOHFWDEOHµQ 7KH/DWLQLVLOOXPLQDWLQJDVWKHIRUPXODWLRQ appears almost to be modern: volens miserias experiri, he does not want to take compassion or even bring relief, but to share a real condition and physically experience it. I am quite convinced that these previously unknown episodes did not arise by chance in the writing of Thomas of Celano after 1232. While the order is increasingly invested by clerical and university brothers, the

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Jacques Dalarun

hagiographer, certainly in accord with the sponsoring general minister, brother Elias, and the closest companions of the original fraternity, wants to remember that Franciscan poverty is not a spiritual posture RUDV\PEROLFÀJXUHWKDWRI WKRVHLQWHOOHFWXDOVOLYLQJLQWKHLQFUHDVLQJO\ comfortable convents, relieved of any kind of material task by the lay brothers who serve them, surrounded by books which, it’s true, do not belong to them but still cost a small fortune and would be inaccessible to truly poor people. There are political intents in raising this memory. I am nonetheless convinced that these episodes are historically grounded, Francis actually experienced them, and the companions conveniently remembered them and reported them to Thomas of Celano since the evolution of the order seemed to be a betrayal of the message received from the master in words, and even more, in deeds. However, when the hagiographer fails to report the stripping of the son of Peter Bernardone in front of the bishop of Assisi in the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis, which he had made a highlight of bravado in his Vita prima, it is not because he suddenly has doubts about the veracity of the incident; it is simply that he does not desire to revive the memory. It has nothing to do with a burst of modesty regarding D\RXQJPDQZKRXQGUHVVHVLQSXEOLF,WLVWKHVWDJHWKDWLPPHGLDWHO\ follows that Thomas wants to hide, the moment when the bishop covers Francis, “with the mantle which he wore.” This gesture is not dictated by a prudent move or a burst of compassion, it is a juridical act: the penitent escapes from communal jurisdiction and is taken over by the ecclesiastical forum into the dependence of the prelate who receives KLP1HLWKHU(OLDVQRU*UHJRU\,;ZLVKHGWRJLYHWKHELVKRSVDUJXPHQWV to support the idea that the Lesser brothers, like the founder in the beginning, should be submissive to the ordinary prelates in the dioceses where they were located. The minister and the pope held together in DIÀUPLQJWKHH[HPSWLRQRI WKH2UGHULWVGLUHFWDGKHUHQFHWRWKH5RPDQ See without any intermediary, just as the basilica of blessed Francis it must be harmonized at the conclusion of the Rediscovered LifeQ DQG it was better to forget what could go against this shared strategy. One last point: the Rediscovered Life does not bring any new facts, EXW PDUNV D VOLJKW HPSKDVLV DQG ÁDVKHV ZLWK D VPDOO VXSSOHPHQWDU\ glimmer. When he wrote his Vita prima, Thomas, who had not lived in close familiarity with Francis like brother Elias or brother Leo, did have before him the Canticle of Brother SunWKDWPDJQLÀFHQWSRHPLQ8PEULDQ which celebrates the fraternity of creatures in praise of the Most High

Introduction

xix

and inaugurates, in fact, Italian literature. Based on this single text, Thomas imagines Francis contemplating, “in creatures the wisdom of the Creator, his power and his goodness”, and feeling “an extraordinary and ineffable joy” when he considered the sun, the moon, the stars, the KHDYHQV HDUWKZRUPV EHHV ÁRZHUV FURSV YLQHV URFNV IRUHVWV ZDWHU IRXQWDLQVJDUGHQSODQWVWKHHDUWKDQGÀUHDLUDQGZLQG2EYLRXVO\WKH hagiographer does not miss noting that the saint “called all creatures by DIUDWHUQDOQDPHµQRI &  What Thomas did not know, was what Leo recorded sometime between 1244 and 1246 and can be traced only in the Assisi Compilation: Francis was not able to go into physical ecstasy at the sight of this spectacle. And the reason: at the moment of the composition of the Canticle of Brother Sun, he was bedridden at San Damiano, persecuted by rats, blind, and racked by pain. When he took up the quill after 1232 to condense the Life of Blessed Francis into the Life of Our Blessed Father Francis, Thomas has no supplementary, factual evidence. But the text of WKH &DQWLFOH ZRUNHG RQ KLP OLNH OHDYHQ LQ GRXJK DV KH UHÁHFWHG ,Q the previous redaction, he painted an enraptured Francis and attempted to lead, by his picturesque brilliance, the reader into the rapture. Now the hagiographer gradually comprehends that there was, in the love of the Poverello for all creatures, a more profound spring of theological implications that had, in part, escaped him. In his abridged version, Thomas could have skipped some of the episodes relating to animals, which are many and even appear repetitive.