The Legend of St Francis: Index of all postsThe Legend: Prologue

Ad Laudem et Gloriam Dei, Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
It is an honour to preserve the record of our spiritual forefathers and to note down their deeds; to pass these on to their spiritual descendants is a work of love. Our forefathers, eyewitnesses and bodily companions, were privileged in what they saw, and we, who have seen not, are provoked by their records to better things, brought back in memory to a bygone time. There we see our littleness. Next to the abundance of our fathers’ merits, how very poor we are, approaching God with empty hands!

There was a man such as this, a man who lived in Assisi, a city on the edges of the vale of Spoleto. His name was Francis. He was a most holy mirror of charity, of fervour, the holiness of God, an image of God’s perfection. Though his parents nurtured him insolently from his earliest years in the world’s vanity, and indeed he long imitated this wretched life and its ways, yet later all his words and works became redolent of the divinity, and if we let ourselves follow him by way of his deeds, to become his little disciples, his life will expand us, and make us wholly teachable through his heavenly philosophy. We need not despair, no matter our lot, for Francis had indeed become more vain than the rest, more vain and more insolent.

This was because of a wicked custom that prevailed at that time even among those folk that counted themselves Christians. A doctrine had become so common that it was as if sanctioned by law, and this law was that all folk were to bring up their children from first babble to love the luxury of the world, to live indolently and carelessly. Even in words and gestures the youngest children were taught to be lascivious both in words and deeds, and few there were who would care not to follow along, for they were gripped by anxiety and fear of what their fellow friends would think. Thus each felt pressure to not tend toward holiness, and, rather, to dissimulate and hide their more honourable inclinations. As Seneca wrote:

Quia inter exercitationes parentum crevimus,
ideo a pueritia nos omnia mala sequuntur.

That is:

Since we grew midst exercises our parents gave,
all sorts of evils therefore follow us from our childhood.

Seneca’s is a true testimony! For the desires the parents discipline into their children are more their children’s enemies than no discipline at all! Given a bad beginning, when they come to make some decisions on their own, they tend to fall into more deleterious deeds, since a tree flawed at the stem grows poorly. And at the threshold of adolescence, what sort of people do you suppose they tend to become? Won’t they become eager for outrageous conduct? Such as these, when they realize they are too innocent, pretend things they have never done so that those they deem less innocent may not look down on them. Then shall they find they are slaves – but voluntary – of sin, and what of the Christian religion can remain for them after long? They are Christian in name only, displaying rather the armour of iniquity than putting on the full armour of God.

But all should take heart, for such was the beginning of the Man of God, Francis. His rudiments, his ABCs, were these deluded and dangerous ways. Yet we venerate him as a saint! And truly Saint he is, although from boyhood until his twenty-fifth year, he passed and wasted his time in this miserable manner, surpassing in some ways the others his age, more addicted to vanities, a more abundant imitator of foolishness — or even wickedness! — than the rest.

This man was the admiration of all! He basked in the vain glory of it all. In joking, in interesting tidbits, in gossip and vain words; in soft clothing, in extravagance he was richer than the rest, though not so much avaricious as magnanimous, not so much a hoarder as a carefree spender.

Yet, he was a good businessman — good at gaining, not at keeping! This is why he seemed so affable, likeable, human. Many there were that followed him in these ungodly ways.

Yet the hand of the Lord was upon him, and His right hand wrought a change. Now He gives to sinners through this man confidence to breath again in grace. Saint Francis has been made an example of conversion for all.

So you may know the grace and gift of God, I offer you this little life in which all I do is compile what the eyewitnesses recorded, keeping, if not exactly, at least close to their words. And if I have added sometimes a sentence here and there that is my own, I pray the grace of the Lord that the spirit of the eyewitnesses breathe through such little liberties, and that they not be superfluous. Yet know this, reader, that this text adds nothing to scholarship. It is simple and in simple words. Nor truly can it be called a proper biography. Yet I pray it may be seen by the Saint as an act intended for his honour. Perchance hearing anew what has already been said may awaken the fervour of our sleepy hearts; or, at any rate, perhaps a word or a sentiment of praise or love may be given to the Lord who loved Francis and chose him in the Church in Christ Jesus both for his age and for ages the were to be. To the Lord be glory forever. Amen.

Sources: 1 Celano, 1-2; 2 Celano, 26

Meditation: A World that Sounds Much Like Ours

This first entry of the vita we are we are gradually posting on Vultus Christi is a paraphrase of Thomas of Celano. In it, Thomas of Celano speaks of the world of Assisi at the time when St. Francis was born, and his terms seem strikingly contemporary:

A doctrine had become so common that it was as if sanctioned by law, and this law was that all folk were to bring up their children, from first babble, to love the luxury of the world, to live indolently and carelessly. Even in words and gestures, the youngest children were taught to be lascivious both in words and deeds, and few there were who would care not to follow along, for they were gripped by anxiety and fear of what their fellow friends would think. Thus each felt pressure not to tend toward holiness, but to dissimulate and hide his more honourable inclinations.

For Dramatic Effect?

Reading this, we may be tempted to wonder if perhaps the description does not better fit our day than Francis’. Were there not many monasteries and many priests in Francis’ day? Were there not quite a number of hermits? Was it really so uncommon for people to be quite religious? We might think that Celano is writing more for dramatic effect than for truth. We have to be careful about pushing this too far, however.

History Repeats Itself

In the collect for St. Francis, the Church puts upon our lips this beautiful prayer.

Domine Jesu Christe, qui, frigiscente mundo, ad inflammandum corda nostra tui amoris igne, in carne beatissimi Francisci passionis tuae sacra Stigmata renovasti: concede propitius; ut ejus meritis et precibus crucem jugiter feramus, et dignos fructus poenitentiae faciamus:

O Lord, Jesus Christ, Who, as the world grew frigid, didst renew the Sacred Stigmata of Thy Passion in the flesh of Blessed Francis, that that our hearts may be set aflame by the fire of love: graciously grant that by his merits and prayers we may carry ever the cross and produce worthy fruits of penance.

By this prayer, the Church would have us know that the world had, indeed, grown cold, and she would also draw to our attention the primary aspect under which she would have us view St. Francis: the flame of his fervour. This will come up again and again as we examine his life.