Chapter XX: Francis's Will and Death (4)

The fourth includes the favorite maxims of Brother Egidio; they have no other importance than to show the tendencies of the primitive Franciscan teaching. They are short, precise, practical counsels, saturated with mysticism, and yet in them good sense never loses its rights. The collection, just as it is in the Fioretti, is no doubt posterior to Egidio, for in 1385 Bartolommeo of Pisa furnished a much longer one.[35]

VI. CHRONICLE OF THE XXIV. GENERALS[36]

We find here at the end of the life of Francis that of most of his companions, and the events that occurred under the first twenty-four generals.

It is a very ordinary work of compilation. The authors have sought to include in it all the pieces which they had succeeded in collecting, and the result presents a very disproportioned whole. A thorough study of it might be interesting and useful, but it would be possible only after its publication. This cannot be long delayed: twice (at intervals of fifteen months) when I have desired to study the Assisi manuscript it was found to be with the Franciscans of Quaracchi, who were preparing to print it.

It is difficult not to bring the epoch in which this collection was closed near to that when Bartolommeo of Pisa wrote his famous work. Perhaps the two are quite closely related.

This chronicle was one of Glassberger's favorite sources.

VII. THE CONFORMITIES OF BARTOLOMMEO OF PISA[37]

The Book of the Conformities, to which Brother Bartolommeo of Pisa devoted more than fifteen years of his life,[38] appears to have been read very inattentively by most of the authors who have spoken of it.[39] In justice to them we must add that it would be hard to find a work more difficult to read; the same facts reappear from ten to fifteen times, and end by wearying the least delicate nerves.

It is to this no doubt that we must attribute the neglect to which it has been left. I do not hesitate, however, to see in it the most important work which has been made on the life of St. Francis. Of course the author does not undertake historical criticism as we understand it to-day, but if we must not expect to find him a historian, we can boldly place him in the front rank of compilers.[40]

If the Bollandists had more thoroughly studied him they would have seen more clearly into the difficult question of the sources, and the authors who have come after them would have been spared numberless errors and interminable researches.

Starting with the thought that Francis's life had been a perfect imitation of that of Jesus, Bartolommeo attempted to collect, without losing a single one, all the instances of the life of the Poverello scattered through the diverse legends still known at that time.

He regretted that Bonaventura, while borrowing the narratives of his predecessors, had often abridged them,[41] and himself desired to preserve them in their original bloom. Better situated than any one for such a work, since he had at his disposal the archives of the Sacro Convento of Assisi, it may be said that he has omitted nothing of importance and that he has brought into his work considerable pieces from nearly all the legends which appeared in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; they are there only in fragments, it is true, but with perfect accuracy.[42]

When his researches were unsuccessful he avows it simply, without attempting to fill out the written testimonies with his own conjectures.[43] He goes farther, and submits the documents he has before him to a real testing, laying aside those he considers uncertain.[44] Finally he takes pains to point out the passages in which his only authority is oral testimony.[45]

As he is almost continually citing the legends of Celano, the Three Companions, and Bonaventura, and as the citations prove on verification to be literally accurate, as well as those of the Will, the divers Rules, or the pontifical bulls, it seems natural to conclude that he was equally accurate with the citations which we cannot verify, and in which we find long extracts from works that have disappeared.[46]

The citations which he makes from Celano present no difficulty; they are all accurate, corresponding sometimes with the First sometimes with the Second Legend.[47]

Those from the Legend of the Three Companions are accurate, but it appears that Bartolommeo drew them from a text somewhat different from that which we have.[48]

With the citations from the _Legenda Antiqua_ the question is complicated and becomes a nice one. Was there a work of this name? Certain authors, and among them the Bollandist Suysken, seem to incline toward the negative, and believe that to cite the _Legenda Antiqua_ is about the same as to refer vaguely to tradition. Others among contemporaries have thought that after the approbation and definitive adoption of Bonaventura's _Legenda Major_ by the Order the Legends anterior to that, and especially that of Celano, were called _Legenda Antiqua_. The Conformities permit us to look a little closer into the question. We find, in fact, passages from the _Legenda Antiqua_ which reproduce Celano's First Life.[49] Others present points of contact with the Second, sometimes a literary exactitude,[50] but often these are the same stories told in too different a way for us to consider them borrowed.[51]

Finally there are many of these extracts from the _Legenda Antiqua_ of which we find no source in any of the documents already discussed.[52] This would suffice to show that the two are not to be confounded. It has absorbed them and brought about certain changes while completing them with others.[53]

The study of the fragments which Bartolommeo has preserved to us shows immediately that this collection belonged to the party of the Zealots of Poverty; we might be tempted to see in it the work of Brother Leo.

Most fortunately there is a passage where Bartolommeo di Pisa cites as being by Conrad di Offida a fragment which he had already cited before as borrowed from the _Legenda Antiqua_.[54] I would not exaggerate the value of an isolated instance, but it seems an altogether plausible hypothesis to make Conrad di Offida the author of this compilation. All that we know of him, of his tendencies, his struggle for the strict observance, accords with what the known fragments of the _Legenda Antiqua_ permit us to infer as to its author.[55]

However this may be, it appears that in this collection the stories have been given us (the principal source being the Legend of Brother Leo or the Three Companions before its mutilation) in a much less abridged form than in the Second Life of Celano. This work is hardly more than a second edition of that of Brother Leo, here and there completed with a few new incidents, and especially with exhortations to perseverance addressed to the persecuted Zealots.[56]

VIII. CHRONICLE OF GLASSBERGER[57]

Evidently this work, written about 1508, cannot be classed among the sources properly so called; but it presents in a convenient form the general history of the Order, and thanks to its citations permits us to verify certain passages in the primitive legends of which Glassberger had the MS. before his eyes. It is thus in particular with the chronicle of Brother Giordano di Giano, which he has inserted almost bodily in his own work.

IX. CHRONICLE OF MARK OF LISBON[58]

This work is of the same character as that of Glassberger; it can only be used by way of addition. There is, however, a series of facts in which it has a special value; it is when the Franciscan missions in Spain or Morocco are in question. The author had documents on this subject which did not reach the friars in distant countries.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Chronica fratris Jordani a Giano._ The text was published
for the first time in 1870 by Dr. G. Voigt under the title:
"_Die Denkwürdigkeiten des Minoriten Jordanus von Giano_ in the
_Abhandlungen der philolog. histor. Cl. der Königl. sächsischen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_," pp. 421-545, Leipsic, by
Hirzel, 1870. Only one manuscript is known; it is in the royal
library at Berlin (Manuscript. theolog. lat., 4to, n. 196, sæc.
xiv., foliorum 141). It has served as the base of the second
edition: _Analecta franciscana sive Chronica aliaque documenta
ad historiam minorum spectantia. Ad Claras Aquas (Quaracchi) ex
typographia collegii S. Bonaventuræ_, 1885, t. i., pp. 1-19.
Except where otherwise noted, I cite entirely this edition, in
which is preserved the division into sixty-three paragraphs
introduced by Dr. Voigt.

[2] Giord., 81.

[3] He names more than twenty four persons.

[4] It does not seem to me that we can look upon the account of
the interview between Gregory IX. and Brother Giordano as
rigorously accurate. Giord., 63.

[5] _Liber de adventu Minorum in Angliam_, published under the
title of _Monumenta Franciscana_ (in the series of _Rerum
Britannicarum medii Ævi scriptores_, _Roll series_) in two
volumes, 8vo; the first through the care of J. S. Brewer (1858),
the second through that of R. Howlett (1882). This text is
reproduced without the scientific dress of the _Analecta
franciscana_, t. i., pp. 217-257. Cf. English Historical Review,
v. (1890), 754. He has published an excellent critical edition
of it, but unfortunately partial, in vol. xxviii., _Scriptorum_,
of the _Monumenta Germaniæ Historica_ by Mr. Liebermann,
Hanover, 1888, folio, pp. 560-569.

[6] Eccl., 11; 13; 14; 15. Cf. Eccl., 14, where the author takes
pains to say that Alberto of Pisa died at Rome, surrounded by
English Brothers "_inter Anglicos_."

[7] Eccl., 4; 12.

[8] Eccl., 4; 5; 6; 7; 10; 12; 13; 14; 15.

[9] It was published, but with many suppressions, in 1857, at
Parma. The Franciscans of Quaracchi prepared a new edition of
it, which appeared in the _Analecta Franciscana_. This work is
in manuscript in the Vatican under no. 7260. Vide Ehrle.
_Zeitschrift für kath. Theol._ (1883), t. vii., pp. 767 and 768.
The work of Mr. Clédat will be read with interest: _De fratre
Salembene et de ejus chronicæ auctoritate_, Paris, 4to, 1877,
with fac simile.

[10] Father Ehrle has published it, but unfortunately not
entire, in the _Archiv._, t. ii., pp. 125-155, text of the close
of the fifth and of the sixth tribulation; pp. 256-327 text of
the third, of the fourth, and of the commencement of the fifth.
He has added to it introductions and critical notes. For the
parts not published I will cite the text of the Laurentian
manuscript (Plut. 20, cod. 7), completed where possible with the
Italian version in the National Library at Florence
(Magliabecchina, xxxvii.-28). See also an article of Professor
Tocco in the _Archivio storico italiano_, t. xvii. (1886), pp.
12-36 and 243-61, and one of Mr. Richard's: Library of the École
des chartes, 1884, 5th livr. p. 525. Cf. Tocco, the _Eresia nel
medio Evo_, p. 419 ff. As to the text published by Döllinger in
his _Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters_, Münich,
1890, 2 vols., 8vo, II. _Theil Dokumente_, pp. 417-427, it is of
no use. It can only beget errors, as it abounds with gross
mistakes. Whole pages are wanting.

[11] _Archiv._, t. iii., pp. 406-409.

[12] Vide _Archiv._, i., p. 557 ... "_Et hoc totum ex rapacitate
et malignitate luporum pastorum qui voluerunt esse pastores, sed
operibus negaverunt deum_," et seq. Cf., p. 562: "_Avaritia et
symoniaca heresis absque pallio regnat et fere totum invasit
ecclesie corpus_."

[13] "_Qui excommunicat et hereticat altissimam evangelii
paupertatem, excommunicatus est a Deo et hereticus coram
Christo, qui est eterna et in commutabilis veritas._" _Arch._,
i., p. 509. "_Non est potestas contra christum Dominum et contra
evangelium._" Ib. p. 560. He closes one of his letters with a
sentence of a mysticism full of serenity, and which lets us see
to the bottom of the hearts of the Spiritual Brothers. "_Totum
igitur studium esse debet quod unum inseparabiliter simus per
Franciscum in Christo._" Ib., p. 564.

[14] For example in the list of the first six generals of the
Order.

[15] The first (1219-1226) extends from the departure of St.
Francis for Egypt up to his death; the second includes the
generalate of Brother Elias (1232-1239); the third that of
Crescentius (1244-1248); the fourth, that of Bonaventura
(1257-1274); the fifth commences with the epoch of the council
of Lyon (1274) and extends up to the death of the inquisitor,
Thomas d'Aversa (1204). And the sixth goes from 1308 to 1323.

[16] "_Supererant adhuc multi de sociis b. Francisci ... et alii
non pauci de quibus ego vidi et ab ipsis audivi quæ narro._"
Laur. Ms., cod. 7, pl. xx., f^o 24a: "_Qui passi sunt eam
(tribulationem tertiam) socii fundatoris fratres Aegdius et
Angelus, qui supererant me audiente referibant_." Laur. Ms., f^o
27b. Cf., Italian Ms., xxxvii., 28, Magliab., f^o 138b.

[17] The date of his death is unknown; on August 11, 1253, he
was present at the death-bed of St. Clara.

[18] Died April 23, 1261.

[19] "_Quem (fratrem Jacobum de Massa) dirigente me fratre
Johanne socio fratris prefati Egidii videre laboravi. Hic enim
frater Johannes ... dixit mihi_...." _Arch._, ii., p. 279.

[20] " ... _Tribulationes preteritas memoravi, ut audivi ab
illis qui sustinuerunt eas et aliqua commemoravi de hiis que
didici in quatuor legendis quas vidi et legi._" _Arch._, ii., p.
135.--"_Vitam pauperis et humilis viri Dei Francisci trium
ordinum fundatoris quatuor solemnes personæ scripserunt, fratres
videlicet scientia et sanctitate præclari, Johannes et Thomas de
Celano, frater Bonaventura unus post Beatum Franciscum Generalis
Minister et vir miræ simplicitatis et sanctitatis frater Leo,
ejusdem sancti Francisci socius. Has quatuor descriptiones seu
historias qui legerit_...." Laurent. MS., pl. xx., c. 7, f^o 1a.
Did the Italian translator think there was an error in this
quotation? I do not know, but he suppressed it. At f^o 12a of
manuscript xxxvii., 28, of the Magliabecchina, we read:
"_Incominciano alcune croniche del ordine franciscano, come la
vita del povero e humile servo di Dio Francesco fondatore del
minorico ordine fu scripta da San Bonaventura e da quatro altri
frati. Queste poche scripture ovveramente hystorie quello il
quale diligentemente le leggiera, expeditamente potra cognoscere
... la vocatione la santita di San Francisco._"

[21] Laur. MS., f^o 4b ff. On the other hand we read in a letter
of Clareno: "_Ad hanc (paupertatem) perfecte servandam Christus
Franciscum vocavit et elegit in hac hora novissima et precepit
ei evangelicam assumere regulam, et a papa Innocentio fuit
omnibus annuntiatum in concilio generali, quod de sua
auctoritate et obedientia sanctus Franciscus evangelicam vitam
et regulam assumpserat et Christo inspirante servare promiserat,
sicut sanctus vir fr. Leo scribit et fr. Johannes de Celano._"
_Archiv._, i., p. 559.

[22] "_Audiens enim semel quorundam fratrum enormes excessus, ut
fr. Thomas de Celano scribit, et malum exemplum per eos
secularibus datum._" Laur. MS., f^o 13b. The passage which
follows evidently refers to 2 Cel., 3, 93 and 112.

[23] "_Et fecerunt de regula prima ministri removeri capitulum
istud de prohibitionibus sancti evangelii, sicut frater Leo
scribit._" Laur. Ms. f^o 12b. Cf. _Spec._, 9a, see p. 248. "_Nam
cum rediisset de partibus ultramarinis, minister quidam
loquebatur cum eo, ut frater Leo refert, de capitulo
paupertatis_," f^o 13a, cf. _Spec._, 9a, "_S. Franciscus, teste
fr. Leone, frequenter et cum multo studio recitabat fabulam ...
quod oportebat finaliter ordinem humiliari et ad sue humilitatis
principia confitenda et tenenda reduci_." _Archiv._, ii., p.
129.

There is only one point of contact between the Legend of the
Three Companions, such as it is to-day, and these passages; but
we find on the contrary revised accounts in the _Speculum_ and
in the other collections, where they are cited as coming from
Brother Leo.

[24] Clareno, for example, holds that the Cardinal Ugolini had
sustained St. Francis without approving of the first Rule, in
concert with Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo. This is possible,
since Ugolini was created cardinal in 1198 (Vide Cardella:
_Memorie storiche de' Cardinali_, 9 vols., 8vo, Rome, 1792-1793,
t. i., pt. 2, p. 190). Besides this would better explain the
zeal with which he protected the divers Orders founded by St.
Francis, from 1217. The chapter where Clareno tells how St.
Francis wrote the Rule shows the working over of the legend, but
it is very possible that he has borrowed it in its present form
from Brother Leo. It is to be noted that we do not find in this
document a single allusion to the Indulgences of Portiuncula.

[25] The manuscripts and editions are well-nigh innumerable. M.
Luigi Manzoni has studied them with a carefulness that makes it
much to be desired that he continue this difficult work. _Studi
sui Fioretti_: Miscelenea, 1888, pp. 116-119, 150-152, 162-168;
1889, 9-15, 78-84, 132-135. When shall we find some one who can
and will undertake to make a scientific edition of them? Those
which have appeared during our time in the various cities of
Italy are insignificant from a critical point of view. See
Mazzoni Guido, _Capitoli inediti dei Fioretti di S. Francesco_,
in the _Propugnatore_, Bologna, 1888, vol. xxi., pp. 396-411.

[26] Vide A. SS., p. 865: "_Floretum non legi, nec curandum
putavi._" Cf. 553f: "_Floretum ad manum non habeo._"

[27] Bartolommeo di Pisa compiled it in 1385; then certain
manuscripts of the Fioretti are earlier. Besides, in the stories
that the Conformities borrow from the Fioretti, we perceive
Bartolommeo's work of abbreviation.

[28] I am speaking here only of the fifty-three chapters which
form the true collection of the Fioretti.

[29] The province of the March of Ancona counted seven
custodias: 1, Ascoli; 2, Camerino; 3, Ancona; 4, Jesi; 5, Fermo;
6, Fano; 7, Felestro. The Fioretti mention at least six of the
monasteries of the custodia of Fermo: Moliano, 51, 53;
Fallerone, 32, 51; Bruforte and Soffiano, 46, 47; Massa, 51;
Penna, 45; Fermo, 41, 49, 51.

[30] At each page we are reminded of those groves which were
originally the indispensable appendage of the Franciscan
monasteries: _La selva ch' era allora allato a S. M. degli
Angeli_, 3, 10, 15, 16, etc. _La selva d' un luogo deserto del
val di Spoleto_ (Carceri?), 4; _selva di Forano_, 42. _di
Massa_, 51, etc.

[31] The _Speculum_, 46b, 58b, 158a, gives us three states. Cf.
_Fior._, 26 and 21; _Conform._, 119b, 2.

[32] This desire was so natural that the manuscript of the
Angelica Library includes many additional chapters, concerning
the gift of Portiuncula, the indulgence of August 2d, the birth
of St. Francis, etc. (Vide Amoni, Fioretti, Roma, 1889, pp. 266,
378-386.) It would be an interesting study to seek the origin of
these documents and to establish their relationship with the
Speculum and the Conformities. Vide _Conform._, 231a, 1; 121b;
_Spec._, 92-96.

[33] Ginepro was received into the Order by St. Francis. In 1253
he was present at St. Clara's death. A. SS., _Aug._, t. ii., p.
764d. The Conformities speak of him in detail, f^o 62b.

[34] The first seven chapters form a whole. The three which
follow are doubtless a first attempt at completing them.

[35] Conformities, f^o 55b, 1-60a, 1.

[36] See _Archiv._, t. i., p. 145, an article of Father Denifle:
_Zur Quellenkunde der Franziskaner Geschichte_, where he
mentions at least eight manuscripts of this work. Cf. Ehrle:
_Zeitschrift_, 1883, p. 324, note 3. I have studied only the two
manuscripts of Florence: Riccardi, 279, paper, 243 fos. of two
cols. recently numbered. The Codex of the Laurentian Gaddian.
rel., 53, is less careful. It is also on paper, 20 x 27, and
counts 254 fos. of 1 column. F^o 1 was formerly numbered 88. The
order of the chapters is not the same as in the preceding.

[37] The citations are always made from the edition of Milan,
1510, 4to of 256 folios of two columns. The best known of the
subsequent editions are those of Milan, 1513, and Bologna, 1590.

[38] He began it in 1385 (f^o 1), and it was authorized by the
chapter general August 2, 1399 (f^o 256a, 1). Besides, on f^o
150a, 1, he set down the date when he was writing. It was in
1390.

[39] I am not here concerned with the foolish attacks of certain
Protestant authors upon this life. That is a quarrel of the
theologians which in no way concerns history. Nowhere does
Bartolommeo of Pisa make St. Francis the equal of Jesus, and he
was able even to forestall criticism in this respect. The
Bollandists are equally severe: "_Cum Pisanus fuerit scriptor
magis pius et credulus quam crisi severa usus_...." A. SS., p.
551e.

[40] He has avoided the mistakes so unfortunately committed by
Wadding in his list of ministers general. Vide 66a. 2, 104a, 1,
118b, 2. He was lecturer on theology at Bologna, Padua, Pisa,
Sienna, and Florence. He preached for many years and with great
success in the principal villages of the Peninsula and could
thus take advantage of his travels by collecting useful notes.
Mark of Lisbon has preserved for us a notice of his life. Vide
_Croniche dei fratri Minori_, t. iii., p. 6 ff. of the Diola
edition. He died December 10, 1401. For further details see
Wadding, ann. 1399, vii., viii., and above all Sbaralea,
_Supplementum_, p. 109. He is the author of an exposition of the
Rule little known which can be found in the Speculum Morin,
Rouen, 1509, f^o 66b-83a, of part three.

[41] This opinion is expressed in a guarded manner. For example,
f^o 207a, 1, Bartolommeo relates the miracle of the Chapter of
the Mats, first following St. Bonaventura, then adding: "_Et
quia non aliter tangit dicta pars (legendæ majoris) hoc insigne
miraculum: antiqua legenda hoc refertur in hunc modum_." Cf.
225a, 2m. "_Et quia fr. Bonaventura succincte multa tangit et in
brevi: pro evidentia prefatorum notandum est ... ut dicit
antiqua legenda._"

[42] However, it is necessary to note that not only are there
considerable differences between the editions published, but
also that the first (that of Milan, 1510) has been completed and
revised by its editor. The judgments passed upon Raymond
Ganfridi, 104a, 1, and Boniface VIII., 103b, 1, show traces of
later corrections. (Cf. 125a, 1. At f^o 72a, 2m, is indicated
the date of the death of St. Bernardin, which was in 1444, etc.)
Besides, we are surprised to find beside the pages where the
sources are indicated with clearness others where stories follow
one another coming one knows not from whence.

[43] F^o 70a, 1: "_Cujus nomen non reperi._" 1a, 2: "_Multaque
non ex industria sed quia ea noscere non valui omittendo._"

[44] F^o 78a, 1: _Informationes quas non scribo quia imperfectas
reperi._ Cf. 229b, 2: "_De aliis multis apparitionibus non
reperi scripturam, quare hic non pono._"

[45] F^o 69a, 1: "_Hec ut audivi posui quia ejus legendam non
vidi._" Cf. 68b, 2m: _Fr. Henricus generalis minister mihi
magistro Bartholomeo dixit ipse oretenus._

[46] The citations from Bonaventura are decidedly more frequent.
We should not be surprised, since this story is the official
biography of St. Francis; the chapter from which Bartolommeo
takes his quotations is almost always indicated, and, naturally,
follows the old division in five parts. Opening the book at
hazard at folio 136a I find no less than six references to the
_Legenda Major_ in the first column. To give an idea of the
style of Bartolommeo of Pisa I shall give in substance the
contents of a page of his book. See, for example, f^o 111a (lib.
i., conform. x., pars. ii., Franciscus predicator). In the third
line he cites Bonaventura: "_Fr. Bonaventura in quarta parte
majoris legende dicit quod b. Franciscus videbatur intuentibus
homo alterius seculi._" Textual citation of Bonaventure, 45.
Three lines further on: "_Verum qualis esset b. F. quoad
personam sic habetur in legenda antiqua ... homo facundissimus,
facie hilaris_, etc." The literal citation of the sketch of
Francis follows as 1 Celano, 83, gives it as far as: "_inter
peccatores quasi unus ex illis_," and to mark the end of the
quotation Bartolommeo adds: "_Hec legenda antiqua_." In the next
column paragraph 4 commences with the words: _B. Francisci
predicationem reddebat mirabilem et gloriosam ipsius sancti
loquutio: etenim legenda trium Sociorum dicit et Legenda major
parte tertia: B. Francisei eloquia erant non inania, neo risu
digna_, etc., which corresponds literally with 3 Soc., 25, and
Bon., 28. Then come two chapters of Bonaventura almost entire,
beginning with: _In duodecima parte legende majoris dicit Fr.
Bonaventura: Erat enim verbum ejus_, etc. Textual quotation of
Bon., 178 and 179. The page ends with another quotation from
Bonaventura: _Sic dicebat prout recitat Bonaventura in octava
parte Legende majoris: Hac officium patri misericordiarum_. Vide
Bonav., 102 end and 103 entire. This suffices without doubt to
show with what precision the authorities have been quoted in
this work, with what attention and confidence ought to be
examined those portions of documents lost or mislaid which he
has here preserved for us.

[47] F^o 31b, 2: _ut dicit fr. Thomas in sua legenda_, cf. 2
Cel., 3, 60.--140a, 2: _Fr. in leg. fr. Thome_, cf. 2 Cel., 3,
60.--140a 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3 16.--142b, 1: _Fr. in leg. Thome
capitulo de charitate_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 115.--144b, 1: _Fr. in
leg. fr. Thome capitulo de oratione_, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 40.--144b,
1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 65.--144b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 78.--176b, 2, cf.
2 Cel., 3, 79.--182b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 2, 1.--241b, 1, cf. 2 Cel.,
3, 141.--181a, 2, cf. 1 Cel., 27. It is needless to say that
these lists of quotations do not pretend to be complete.

[48] F^o 36b, 2. _Ut enim habetur in leg._ 3 Soc., cf. 3 Soc.,
10.--46b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 25-28.--38b 2, cf. 3 Soc. 3.--111a, 2,
cf. 3 Soc., 25.--134a, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 4.--142b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 57
and 58.--167b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 3 and 8.--168a, 1, cf. 3 Soc.,
10.--170b, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 39, 4.--175b, 2, cf. 3 Soc.,
59.--180b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 4.--181a, 1, cf. 3 Soc., 5, 7, 24, 33,
and 67.--181a. 2, cf. 3 Soc., 36.--229b, 2, cf. 3 Soc., 14. etc.
The reading of 3 Soc. which Bartolommeo had before his eyes was
pretty much the same we have to day, for he says, 181a, 2.
referring to 3 Soc., 67: "_Ut habetur quasi in fine leg_. 3
_Soc._"

[49] F^o 111a, 1, _Sic habetur in leg. ant._, corresponds
literally with 1 Cel., 83.--144a, 2. _Franciscus in leg. ant.
cap. v. de zelo ad religionem_, to 1 Cel. 106.

[50] F^o 111b, 1. _De predicantibus loqueus sic dicebat in ant.
leg._ Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 99 and 106. 140b, 1. Cf. 2 Cel., 3,
84.--144b, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 45--144a, 1, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 95 and
15.--225b, 2, cf. 2 Cel., 3, 116.

[51] F^o 31a, 1. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 83.--143a, 2. Vide 2 Cel., 3,
65 and 116.--144a, 1. Vide 2 Cel., 3, 94.--170b. 1. Vide 2 Cel.,
3, 11.

[52] F^o 14a, 2.--32a. 1.--101a, 2.--169b, 1.--144b, 2.--142a,
2.--143b, 2.--168b, 1.--144b, 1.

[53] Chapters 18 (chapter of the mats) and 25 (lepers cured) of
the _Fioretti_ are found in Latin in the Conf. as borrowed from
the Leg. Ant. Vide 174b, 1, and 207a. 1.

Finally, according to f^o 168b, 2, it is also from the Leg. Ant.
that the description of the coat, such as we find at the end of
the _Chronique des Tribulations_, was borrowed. See _Archiv._,
t. ii., p. 153.

[54] F^o 182a, 2; cf. 51b, 1; 144a, 1.

[55] He died December 12, 1306, at Bastia, near Assisi. See upon
him _Chron. Tribul. Archiv._, ii.; 311 and 312; _Conform._, 60,
119, and 153.

[56] Although the history of the Indulgence of Portiuncula was
of all subjects the one most largely treated in the
Conformities, 151b, 2--157a, 2, not once does Bartolommeo of
Pisa refer to it in the _Legenda Antiqua_. It seems, then, that
this collection also was silent as to this celebrated pardon.

[57] Published with extreme care by the Franciscan Fathers of
the Observance in t. ii. of the _Analecta Franciscana, ad Claræ
Aquas_ (Quaracchi, near Florence), 1888, 1 vol., crown 8vo, of
xxxvi.-612 pp. This edition, as much from the critical point of
view of the text, its correctness, its various readings and
notes, as from the material point of view, is perfect and makes
the more desirable a publication of the chronicles of the xxiv.
generals and of Salimbeni by the same editors. The beginning up
to the year 1262 has been published already by Dr. Karl Evers
under the title _Analecta ad Fratrum Minorum historiam_,
Leipsic, 1882, 4to of 89 pp.

[58] I have been able only to procure the Italian edition
published by Horatio Diola under the title _Croniche degli
Ordini instituti dal P. S. Francesco_, 3 vols., 8vo, Venice,
1606.

* * * * *

V

CHRONICLES OUTSIDE OF THE ORDER

I. JACQUES DE VITRY

The following documents, which we can only briefly indicate, are of inestimable value; they emanate from men particularly well situated to give us the impression which the Umbrian prophet produced on his generation.

Jacques de Vitry[1] has left extended writings on St. Francis. Like a prudent man who has already seen many religious madmen, he is at first reserved; but soon this sentiment disappears, and we find in him only a humble and active admiration for the _Apostolic Man_.

He speaks of him in a letter which he wrote immediately after the taking of Damietta (November, 1219), to his friends in Lorraine, to describe it to them.[2] A few lines suffice to describe St. Francis and point out his irresistible influence. There is not a single passage in the Franciscan biographers which gives a more living idea of the apostolate of the Poverello.

He returns to him more at length in his _Historia Occidentalis_, devoting to him the thirty-second chapter of this curious work.[3] These pages, vibrating with enthusiasm, were written during Francis's lifetime,[4] at the time when the most enlightened members of the Church, who had believed themselves to be living in the evening of the world, _in vespere mundi tendentis ad occasum_, suddenly saw in the direction of Umbria the light of a new day.

II. THOMAS OF SPALATO

An archdeacon of the Cathedral of Spalato, who in 1220 was studying at Bologna, has left us a very living portrait of St. Francis and the memory of the impression which his preachings produced in that learned town.[5]

Something of his enthusiasm has passed into his story; we feel that that day, August 15, 1220, when he met the Poverello of Assisi, was one of the best of his life.[6]

III. DIVERS CHRONICLES

The continuation of William of Tyre[7] brings us a new account of Francis's attempt to conquer the Soudan. This narrative, the longest of all three we have on this subject, contains no feature essentially new, but it gives one more witness to the historic value of the Franciscan legends.

Finally, there are two chronicles written during Francis's life, which, without giving anything new, speak with accuracy of his foundation, and prove how rapidly that religious renovation which started in Umbria was being propagated to the very ends of Europe. The anonymous chronicler of Monte Sereno[8] in fact wrote about 1225, and tells us, not without regret, of the brilliant conquests of the Franciscans.

Burchard,[9] Abbot Prémontré d'Ursberg (died in 1226), who was in Rome in 1211, leaves us a very curious criticism of the Order.

The Brothers Minor appeared to him a little like an orthodox branch of the Poor Men of Lyons. He even desires that the pope, while approving the Franciscans, should do so with a view to satisfy, in the measure of the possible, the aspirations manifested by that heresy and that of the Humiliati.

It is impossible to attribute any value whatever to the long pages given to St. Francis by Matthew Paris.[10] His information is correct wherever the activities of the friars are concerned, and he could examine the work around him.[11] They are absolutely fantastic when he comes to the life of St. Francis, and we can only feel surprised to find M. Hase[12] adopting the English monk's account of the stigmata.

The notice which he gives of Francis contains as many errors as sentences; he makes him born of a family illustrious by its nobility, makes him study theology from his infancy (_hoc didicerat in litteris et theologicis disciplinis quibus ab ætate tenera incubuerat, usque ad notitiam perfectam_), etc.[13]

It would be useless to enlarge this list and mention those chroniclers who simply noticed the foundation of the Order, its approbation, and the death of St. Francis,[14] or those which spoke of him at length, but simply by copying a Franciscan legend.[15]

It suffices to point out by way of memory the long chapter consecrated to St. Francis in the Golden Legend. Giachimo di Voraggio ([Cross] 1298) there sums up with accuracy but without order the essential features of the first legends and in particular the Second Life by Celano.[16]

As for the inscription of Santa Maria del Vescovado at Assisi it is too unformed to be anything but a simple object of curiosity.[17]

* * * * *

I have given up preparing a complete bibliography of works concerning St. Francis, that task having been very well done by the Abbé Ulysse Chevalier in his _Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen age_, Bio-Bibliographie, cols. 765-767 and 2588-2590, Paris, 1 vol., 4to, 1876-1888. To it I refer my readers.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] He was born at Vitry sur Seine, became Curé of Argenteuil,
near Paris; Canon of Oignies, in the diocese of Namur, preached
the crusade against the Albigenses, and accompanied the
Crusaders to Palestine; having been made Bishop of Acre, he was
present in 1219 at the siege and at the capture of Damietta and
returned to Europe in 1225; created Cardinal-bishop of Frascati
in 1229, he died in 1244, leaving a number of writings. For his
life, see the preface of his _Historiæ_, edition of Douai, 1597.

[2] This letter may be found in (Bongars) _Gesta Dei per
Francio_, pp. 1146-1149.

[3] _Jacobi de Vitriaco Libri duo quorum prior Orientalis, alter
Occidentalis Historiæ nomine inscribitur studio Fr. Moschi Duaci
ex officina Balthazaris Belleri_, 1597, 16mo, 480 pp. Chapter
xxxii. fills pages 349-353, and is entitled _De ordine et
prædicatione fratrum Minorum_. See above, p. 229.

[4] This appears from the passage: _Videmus primus ordinis
fundatorem magestrum cui tanquam summo Priori suo omnes alii
obediunt._ _Loc. cit._, p. 352.

[5] It is inserted in the treatise of Sigonius on the bishops of
Bologna: _Caroli Sigonii de episcopis Bononiensibus libri
quinque cum notis L. C. Rabbii_, a work which occupies cols.
353-590 of t. iii. of his _Opera omnia_, Milan, 1732-1737, 6
vols., f^o. We find our fragment in col. 432.

[6] This passage will be found above, p. 241.

[7] _Guillelmi Tyrensis arch. Continuala belli sacri historia_
in Martène: _Amplissima Collectio_, t. v. pp. 584-572. The piece
concerning Francis is cols. 689-690.

[8] _Chronicon Montis Sereni_ (at present Petersberg, near
Halle), edited by Ehrenfeuchter in the _Mon. Germ. hist.
Script._, t. 23, pp. 130-226, 229.

[9] _Burchardi et Cuonradi Urspergensium chronicon_ ed., A. Otto
Abel and L. Weiland, _apud Mon. Germ, hist._, t. 23, pp.
333-383. The monastery of Ursperg was half-way between Ulm and
Augsburg. Vide p. 376.

[10] _Matthæi Parisiensis monachie Albanensis, Historia major_,
edition Watts, London, 1640. The Brothers Minor are first
mentioned in the year 1207, p. 222, then 1227, pp. 339-342.

[11] See the article, _Minores_, in the table of contents of the
_Mon. Germ. hist. Script._, t. xxviii.

[12] _Franz von Assisi_, p. 168 ff.

[13] See above, p. 97, his story of the audience with Innocent
III.

[14] For example, _Chronica Albrici trium fontium_ in Pertz:
_Script._, t. 23, _ad ann. 1207_, 1226, 1228. Vide Fragment of
the chron. of Philippe Mousket ([Cross] before 1245). _Recueil des
historiens_, t. xxii., p. 71, lines 30347-30360. The number of
annalists in this century is appalling, and there is not one in
ten who has omitted to note the foundation of the Minor
Brothers.

[15] For example, Vincent de Beauvais ([Cross] 1264) gives in his
_Speculum historiale_, lib. 29, cap. 97-99, lib. 30, cap.
99-111, nearly every story given by the Bollandists under the
title of _Secunda legenda_ in their _Commentarium prævium_.

[16] _Legenda aurea_, Graesse, Breslau, 1890, pp. 662-674.

[17] A good reproduction of it will be found in the _Miscellanea
francescana_, t. ii., pp. 33-37, accompanied by a learned
dissertation by M. Faloci Pulignani.

* * * * *