Notes and
Reflections for a talk on Franciscan Mysticism by Maury Smith
2 Fran Myst Longpre.doc; fintro.htm
A General Introduction to
[I make my comments in green so the reader may distinguish
the notes from others. Friar Maury Smith]
Ewert Cousins
places Francis in the context of mystical history.
These notes are from: Cousins, Ewert. “Francis of Assist: Christian Mysticism at the Crossroads”
in Mysticism And
Religious Traditions. ed Steven T. Katz,
In the history of
Christianity, Francis of Assisi played the role of a radical innovator. Against
the background of Benedictine monasticism, he launched, along with his
contemporary Dominic, a new religious lifestyle: that of the mendicant, or
wandering beggar and preacher.
.
As an alternative to this
monastic establishment Francis proposed his new mendicant lifestyle, with its
radical poverty.
,
Francis presented his form of
mendicancy as a return to the Gospel ideal, to an imitation of Christ in utter
simplicity and humility. His friars were not to own anything, not even as
communities. They were not to build large convents nor amass books.
Innovation in Mysticism
In the sphere of mysticism,
Francis was also an innovator;
his religious experience
dramatically shaped the future of western Christianity.
He was the recipient of the
most celebrated mystical experience of the Middle Ages: the ecstatic vision on
Mount La Verna in 1224 of the Six-winged Seraph in the form of the Crucified,
during which he received the stigmata.
Yet this vision and his other
mystical experiences were not characteristic of the mainstream Christian
mystical tradition that preceded him both in the Greek East and the Latin West.
For centuries the patristic
and medieval periods were dominated by the speculative mysticism of the
Necolatonists, which had been given a Christian form by the Alexandrians in the
East and Augustine in the West.
The writings of the
pseudo-Dionysius became
the handbook for this speculative
mysticism, which reached its climax in the via negativa, negating all images in
order to plunge into the divine darkness.
Even in its via affirmativa,
it did not cultivate visionary mysticism, but rather a metaphysical ascent of
the Neoplatonic ladder of creatures.
.
Yet Francis's symbolic mysticism represents a different current;
for his form of visionary
mysticism is prophetic in character,
drawing much of its content
as well as its prophetic role in society
from the tradition of the Hebrew
prophets.
In Francis the prophetic
visionary mysticism reaches a peak in the Middle Ages.
It is not surprising, then,
that many of his followers saw him as the culmination of the apocalyptic
visions of the twelfth-century prophet Joachim of Fiore.
While Francis brings to fruition a resurgence of prophetic visionary mysticism in the:
Middle Ages, what is most innovative is
the content of his visionary material. Francis's vision at La Verna of the Six-winged
Seraph was; derived from Isaiah's vision in the temple, when the latter
received his mission as prophet (Isa. 6.1-13); but it contained also the figure
of Christ crucified.
This figure [of Christ
crucified] ushered in a major trend in the history, of Western Christianity:
devotion to the humanity of Christ, especially in his suffering and death.
The very stigmata imprinted
on Francis's flesh-the first recorded case in history - graphically displays his innovative Christ mysticism.
In contrast to earlier
mysticism which saw Christ as the eternal Logos and resurrected Lord, Francis
focused on the incarnate Christ: on his birth at
For Augustine, Christ was
primarily the Logos as interior Teacher of wisdom;
for Bernard of Clairvaux he
was the interior Lover, the Bridegroom of the soul;
for Francis he was his
crucified Redeemer. Francis represents a
watershed in the history of Western Christianity.
After him Western religious
experience flows in two currents:
speculative Neoplatonic
mysticism gains vigour, reaching a culmination in the
But the devotional current
flowing from Francis - with its focus on the humanity and passion of Christ -
spreads throughout the people at large and becomes the characteristic form of
Western religious sensibility for centuries to come.
166
Mysticism of the Historical
Event
This devotion to the humanity
of Christ issues in a form of mysticism which I will call 'the mysticism of the
historical event'.
In this type of
consciousness, one recalls a significant event in the past,
enters into its drama and
draws from it spiritual energy,
eventually moving beyond the
event towards union with God.
Bernard McGinn. p. 147. See “Was St. Francis a Mystic?” in Doors of
Understanding: Conversations on Global Spirituality in Honor of Ewett
Cousins. ed. Steven Chase (Quincy, IL,
Franciscan Press, 1997) pp145-74.
Of course, for Christians the
significant events were those of the life of the historical Jesus, especially
his birth at
Under the impetus of Francis,
it developed a specific form of meditation which became the characteristic form
of Christian meditative prayer for centuries.
In this form of prayer, one
imagines the physical setting of the event - the place, the persons, the
circumstances, for example the birth of Jesus in the stable at
However one does not remain a
detached spectator,
but enters into the event as an actor in the drama, singing with the angels and
worshipping the infant with the shepherds.
This immersion in the
event opens its spiritual meaning –
for example its message of
poverty and humility –
draws us into its deeper
archetypal significance and
leads ultimately to union with God.
Cultivated in the Franciscan
milieu, this form of prayer reached its culmination in The Spiritual
Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, where it was developed into one of the most
systematic techniques of prayer in the history of Christian spirituality.
It is important to recognize
'the mysticism of the historical event' as a distinctive form of mystical
consciousness.
Without it a typology of
Christian mysticism would be incomplete, and
yet it has not been adequately isolated or
identified.
If this is lacking in one's
typology, it would be impossible to study accurately the history of Christian
mysticism from the thirteenth century to the present, especially its
development from Francis to Ignatius of Loyola.
Furthermore, its inclusion in
one's typology throws light upon the wide variety and inner tensions in the
forms of Christian mysticism –
from the a-historical,
world-transcending forms of speculative Neoplatonic mysticism to the focus on
the concrete, human, dimensions of the mysticism of the historical event.
Once these poles are isolated
and identified, then it is possible to study the attempts and techniques
employed throughout history to integrate them, whether successfully or not.
The hagiographical materials are primarily expressions of
the developing image of Francis and are closely tied to disputes inside and
outside the order over the meaning of the saint for his followers.
Bernard McGinn. p. 147. See “Was St. Francis a Mystic?” in Doors of
Understanding: Conversations on Global Spirituality in Honor of Ewett
Cousins. ed. Steven Chase (Quincy, IL,
Franciscan Press, 1997) pp145-74.
McGinn’s Conclusion
(McGinn Flowering pp. 151-152)
At the conclusion of these
two chapters devoted to Franciscans of the first century after Francis it may
be worthwhile to raise the question of the character of Franciscan mysticism in general.
We should be careful to
distinguish between
some abstract description of
Franciscan mysticism and
the mysticism practiced and
written about by actual Franciscans.
As we have noted, some
followers of Francis, like David of
Augsburg, really do not manifest the complex of themes typically associated
with most Franciscan mystics,
such as devotion to Francis the stigmatic,
a special role for poverty, and
concentration on concrete imitation of the passion.
Perhaps any attempt to describe
a uniform system of spirituality and mysticism characteristic of most
Franciscans is illusory, but if we follow the history of the men and women who
have been considered in these chapters, we can, I believe,
discern a set of variations on some common themes.
While these themes were by no
means restricted to the Franciscan order in the later Middle Ages—Francis
himself soon became a figure of veneration for all Christians—
it is this rich play of
variations that constitutes the real contribution of the Franciscan family
to the new mysticism of the
later Middle Ages.
I would suggest that the
survey given here discloses
two tendencies
that developed and interacted among Franciscans in the first century of the
movement.
The first of these may be described as a new theology of mysticism
which attempted to reinterpret traditional Western mystagogical teaching in the
light of Francis as the ultimate manifestation of the crucified Jesus and the
most secure mode of access to God.
This new model, which involved
a strong emphasis on meditation on the mysteries of Christ's life and the imitatio Christi, one in which affectus or fiery love also took on a special role,
was created by Bonaventure.
It was made possible, at
least in part, by the writings of Thomas Gallus.
The immense reputation of the
Seraphic Doctor gave this view of the mystical journey considerable importance
for
152 Men and Women in the
Franciscan Mystical Tradition
centuries, both inside and
outside the Franciscan movement.
The second trajectory among the Franciscan mystics of the century
following the saint's death was that of the excessive states of rapture that were also common to many
non-Franciscan mystics, especially women.
Francis himself had said nothing about ecstasy in his
own writings, but "the new and
unheard of miracle" of his stigmata, as well as the reports of his
companions and hagiographers about his visions, made Francis into the ecstatic
par excellence.
Later Franciscans, men like
Giles of Assisi, John of Alverna, and Roger of Provence, and women such as
Douceline, Margaret, and especially Angela
of Foligno, achieved fame for manifesting the new forms of ecstasy that
distinguish later medieval mysticism
from the monastic conceptions
of the brevity and rarity of excessus mentis.
(McGinn Conclusion Flowering pp. 151-152)
I [Friar Maury
Smith] choose as a guide to begin the exploration of the mysticism of Francis
of Assisi, Fr. Ephrem Longpre, a Franciscan. I do this because he is known to
be a mystic himself. So the guide himself is a mystic reflecting on the life of
another mystic, in this case, Francis of Assisi. I will do the same later on when I choose
the mystic
Although as Longpre
says there were many lesser experiences the
five most
important experiences of Christ for Francis were:
1. at the time of
his taking leave of his
2.. an encounter
with the crucified Christ in the cave near
3. the San Damiano
crucifix speaking to him,
4. the stigmata
and
5. the writing of
the Canticle of Creatures as a mature expression of his mysticism.
6. and I would
like to add the Testament of Francis since it is the most autobiographical text
that we have.
On the Inside Jacket of A POOR
MAN'S PEACE,
The Spirit of Francis of
Assisi Ephrem Longpre O.F.M. is found a description
of Ephrem.
Inside Jacket of A POOR MAN'S PEACE, The Spirit of Francis of Assisihrem
Longpre O.F.M. translated by Paul Barrett O.F.M.Cap. $4.95
”Before his death in 1965,
Father Ephrem Longpre, one of the greatest Franciscan scholars of our times,
wrote this amazing book.
It is the fruit of a
lifetime. …
.
Drawing on all the authentic
sources and buttressed by the great commentators on the life and spirit of St.
Francis, Father Longpre has truly given us a syllabus
for a sound study of a saint
who has had such a tremendous influence on Christians for more than 750 years.
EPHREM LONCPRE, a Franciscan
mystic of our limes, his diary and spiritual letters, has just been published
[1969?]…
in French and edited by Edouard Parent O.F.M. Father Ephrem Longpre was born in the
To the public he was a great
scholar, specializing in medieval studies and
the theology of the Franciscan school. During World War II he was active in the French underground with a price on his head by the Nazis. His publications are numerous. After his death his diary and letters were fortunately found and also a new insight into his towering spirit: a man of God, a religious and priest. Father Longpre's "Spiritual Journal" gives us an understanding of his intense spiritual life. He was a man with a great heart who knew both physical and moral I suffering. A conscientious religious, a fervent priest, a mystic of our times — of such stock is Fr. Ephrem Longpre O.F.M.” [End of inside jacket]
ftnt 20 M. A. Fortini, Nova vita
di San Francesco,
In chapter seven
Longpre traces Francis’ Mystical Journey by stating:
Chapter Seven MYSTICAL
JOURNEY
“St. Francis' life of prayer and adoration, as well as
the virtues which he practiced to a heroic degree, prepared him immediately for
the highest states of mystical union.” Neither his biographers of the 13th
century nor modern historians trace the saint's mystical journey or tell us the
precise moment at which he first felt the "touch of the Holy Spirit."
Thomas of Celano, for example, invokes his own inexperience to excuse him from
dealing with the subject. Indeed, in the various accounts of Francis' life, his
ascetical exercises, his passive experiences, and mystical phenomena of every
kind are all mixed together and usually described in general terms, everything
being traced back to his extraordinary vocation. As Blessed Angela of Foligno
says: "Because God had confided a special vocation to him (Francis), He
gave him unusual gifts for himself and for others. He was full and overflowing
with the Holy Spirit, who guided him in all truth, making him pure both within
and without, and uniting him to God in a continual ineffable union."1 97
98 A Poor Man's Peace
Longpre begins by
describing a mystical experience as
”…an increasingly
overpowering action of the Holy Spirit on the soul, …
a passivity to interior
inspirations, and …
a feeling of the presence of
God and of Christ, …
which is ordinarily
accompanied by an experience of God's sweetness, …”
If mystical experience
properly so called implies
an increasingly overpowering
action of the Holy Spirit on the soul and
hence a passivity to interior
inspirations, and
if it results in a feeling of the presence of
God and of Christ,
which is ordinarily
accompanied by an experience of God's sweetness,
Longpre then
notes: Neither his biographers of the
13th century nor modern historians trace the saint's mystical journey or tell
us the precise moment at which he first felt the "touch of the Holy Spirit
…” This was no doubt true in the middle 1960ties when
Longpre wrote his book. Happily in
recent years Schumucki, Cousins, McGinn and Hammond have addressed the subject
which will be noted shortly.
Longpre
immediately traces in a few paragraphs what he considers to be the important
events in Francis’ mystical journey.
I. “… Francis apparently
entered upon the mystical life when he took his first steps toward Christ, that
is, on the evening of his farewell celebration with his friends.”
"Francis' companions were leading the way; and he
... followed them at a little distance. Instead of singing, he was listening
very attentively.
All of a sudden the Lord touched his heart,
filling it with such surpassing sweetness that he
could neither speak nor move.
He could only feel and hear this overwhelming
sweetness which detached him so completely from all other physical sensations
that, as he said later, had he been cut to pieces on the spot he could
not have moved."
[ L3C 7, FAED II p. 71-72; 2C 7, FAED II p. 246-7.]
That is how The Legend
of the Three Companions, in agreement with Thomas of Celano, describes the
incident.2
In the Remembrance of Celano the key line
reads:
“So much divine sweetness
poured over him—as he later recounted—that he was struck dumb and could
not move. A burst of spiritual energy rushed through him, snatching him into
the seen .a It was so powerful it made him consider
earthly things unimportant and utterly worthless. [2C 7, FAED II p. 246-7.]
a. The
editors of the FAED note: “The Latin text sed ipsum ad invisiilia raptans is an allusion to the Preface of
Christmas: ‘In him we see one God made visible and so are caught up in the love
of the God we cannot see.’” [2C 7, FAED II p. 247.]
Longpre explains
the importance of this experience as a mystical one.
“In this extraordinary
spiritual implosion ...
he understood fully the
nothingness of created things.
This first contact …
the interior words that
explained it,
bears the marks of a mystical
experience —
suddenness,
suspension of the faculties,
a sweet perception of the
Lord, etc.
Sabatier did not hesitate to
compare this incident with
3. On the dream at Spoleto see above chapter 1: Bonav. I. c. 1, n. 3:
Sabatier, Etudes inédites, p. 143.
[LMj I,
3 FAED II p. 532. Check note b. on Bonaventure’s rich
theology of misericordia.]
Note that the
title of Chapter III of the Legend of the Three Companions is How the Lord
Visited Francis Heart For The First Time Filling It With Marvelous
Tenderness That Gave Him Strength To Begin To Progress Spiritually In Looking
Down On Himself And All Vanities, In Prayer, Almsgiving, and Poverty.
So apparently the
Three Comanions also recognized this experience as a special mystical
experience for Francis. L3C chap. III, FAED II p. 73.
There is an
important detail here for understanding the Franciscan sources and the stories
that are used in the biographies. when Celano in the Remembrance written 1245-1247 records “as he [Francis} later recounted” which Bonaventure in his Major Life written in 1255-1267
possibly simply repeats as “as he
[Francis] said later.” From the history we know this is an example of some of the
stories sent in to Crecentius of Iesi by the early Friars, some of whom were
companions of Francis. It may be imagined that these friars would ask Francis
about his life when he visited them and that he shared something of himself
with them.
see FAED I pp. 15-16, 172; FAED II pp. 15-16,
1C 6 FAED I p. 187,
LJS 4-5, FAED I, p. 372-373.
L3C 11-13 San Damiano FAED
II pp. 74-77.
II. The second mystical episode Longpre notes is when “Christ Jesus appeared to
him as fastened to a cross. (LMj 5, FAED p. 534.)
No less truly mystical in
character was
the infused impression which
Francis experienced
at his first encounter with
the crucified Christ in the cave at
which so imbued' him with
love of his Lord on the cross
"that from then on
"he saw him almost
continually before the eyes of his heart and
could not restrain his tears
at the memory of the Passion; and
this lasted until the end of his life."
[LMj I, 5-6 FAED II p. 534 the FAED has a note a in which is list eight other ecstatic
experiences of Francis noting: “It is clear
that, for Bonaventure, Francis was a model of the Christian caught in
ecstasy..” Longpre notes; “Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure
record, with notable differences, seven such manifestations in Francis' life”
I, 5 above
II,1 San Damiano, “he heard with his bodily ears
a voice coming from the cross, telling him three times: “Francis, go and repair
my house which, as you see, is all being destroyed.” p. 536
III,6 p 545
VIII,10, p 594 birds
seraphic vision
IX,2 p. 597
leisure, check not c
X,1-4 p. 605-608
prayer p. 608 changed almost into
a different man
visitation of the Lord
2C 94 Intensity of prayer. , visitation of the Lord
p. 310 not so much praying as
becoming totally prayer.
XI,13 p. 619-620 ???
XII,1 prayer or preaching discernment
=============
Longpre’s commentary
on the event at San Damiano when the crucifix actually spoke to Francis as
attested to both by Celano’s Remembrance and Bonaventure Major life; In chapter one in a section called “Toward A
Meeting With Chris. Longpre notes that St. Bonaventure is the only one to state
that Christ appeared to Francis in the cave first and then at San Damiano. All the other biographers, including
Chapter One: Toward A Meeting With Christ [page 9]
repugnance, determined his vocation. "After
that," he tells us himself, "I did not wait long before leaving the
world.""' In his great joy, he began to sing the praises of God, thus
com-posing his first canticle. His resolve to advance in the spiritual life
soon received an answer, for Christ crucified appeared to him for the first
time in the cave. St. Bonaventure states this explicitly while on the contrary,
“Thomas of
Celano, the Legend of Three Companions and, following them, the
majority of modern historians,
including Paul Sabatier, regard the incident of the crucifix in San Damiano as
Francis' first meeting with the crucified Christ and hold that his voyage to
But the Seraphic Doctor reverses the order of events.
According to him, the first manifestation of Christ
crucified to St. Francis took place, not at San Damiano, but several months
earlier, in the lonely cave in Assisi. (Thomas of Celano and St. Bonaventure record,
with notable differences, seven such manifestations in Francis' life.)
Thus the interior call preceded the public, ecclesiastical
vocation, a fact which
St. Bonaventure stresses in his two Lives and upon which he
comments with great insight.31 [LMj 13, 10
Longpre explains
the meaning of this event for Francis’ whole life;
“This vision of Christ on the cross
immediately
brought about an inner transformation in Francis,
making him the
incomparable mystic of
From that time
forward, he understood perfectly the Gospel law of complete renunciation.
"From then
on," as St. Bonaventure remarks,
he devoted
himself to the exercise of the three basic virtues of the seraphic spirit —
poverty, humility and overflowing love of God.
He placed himself
at the continual service of the lepers in the
he was always
ready to give the clothes off his back to anyone who needed them; and he gave
gifts to poor churches.
Again note the
title of Chapter V of the Three Companions; How The Crucifix Spoke To
Him For The First Time And How He Henceforth Carried The Passion of
Christ In His Heart Until Death. Since
the Three Companions write this is the “first time;”
does this imply
there were other times we do not have recorded?
Even if the titles were added later, the author who did so is expressing
an opinion through this addition.
III. Longpre
gives as the fourth third event, an experience at Montepulciano.
After the episode at San
Damiano about 1213, at the time of his first journey to
cf. 1C 17, 52; 2C 9
St. Bonaventure
used the event that happen in Montepulciano in a sermon on Francis.
“… they went into the church where
Saint. Francis was filled with great joy. He stood there for a whole hour and
this tired the other friar. Afterwards, he asked the Saint Francis what he had
experienced. He told him that he had never felt such sweetness from the time of
his conversion. How pleasing to God is poverty combined with self-denial,
purity, simplicity, humility, and kindness”.
The Morning Sermon on Saint Francis Preached at
St. Francis of
In section called Excerpt From Other Sources by St. Bonaventure, p.
838.
The fourth major
meeting of Christ according to Longpre is from what seems to be a fragment of a
manuscript reported by Fr. Bughetti
[cf. Longpre note 5, p. 153]
Also in the first days of the Order, before Francis had had
Longpre chap 7 p 99
much to do with St. Clare, there took place at San Damiano an
extraordinary episode of which Fr. Bughetti has discovered —-the authentic
account. One day "the saint had scarcely sat at the table when he turned
his face toward heaven and cried: 'Praised be the Lord!’' Then throwing himself
on the ground, he entered into a deep ecstasy. His companion, Friar Angelo
Tancredi, waited until he came to himself, a space of time sufficient to go to
and from the Portiuncula. When he saw that Francis was himself again, he said
to him by way of reproach and in order to learn his secret: 'Brother, you wish
me to reprove and correct you when you do something you ought not to do? I will
say to you: you should choose another time and another occasion to act like
this. There are many other times besides the one when you are eating with the
brothers.' 'I was not able to do anything else,' Francis replied to him. But when
Angelo Tancredi insisted on knowing what had happened,
The core of
Francis’ “deep ecstasy” experience is given when he is prevailed
upon to tell what happen that he had thrown himself on the ground:
'I
command you by obedience that you shall not tell about it as long as I live.
While I was on the ground, the Lord spoke to me and said:
"Francis, I promise you eternal life and
I assure you-that you shall not lose it and that you shall not be able to lose
it." I felt such joy that I was not able to control myself.' And he
remained like this for eight hours, without being able to say the canonical
hours because of the vehemence of his rapture and repeating continually the
prayer: 'Praised be the Lord!'
Longpre then
covers other "visits of the
Lord," that were “ less spectacular but “left in Francis' heart impressions so lasting
that they would never be erased from his memory or his heart.
At this point
Francis “longed only to be completely
transformed into Christ by love and to feel the presence of God.
Longpre lists the
results of these mystical experiences of Francis:
attentiveness to the"
lord's visits,
withdrawing to quiet places,
continual prayer,
When the Holy Spirit seized
him, he used to abandon himself completely to His operation and even stopped
saying the canonical hours, "because," he used to say to those who
criticized him, "I cannot have this visit whenever I wish, but I can begin
saying the hours again whenever I like. I prefer to leave them aside to be said
later rather than lose the visit of the Holy Spirit."8 In his humility,
and also in order to keep his secret, he tried to disguising his ecstasies by
means of various artifices, and he strove to appear like everyone around him as
soon as the "mystical suspensions" stopped.
According to
Longpre Francis soon “attained habitual
passive union with God.
This union was of a very high
order, even before the miracle of the Stigmata on
Ordinarily
he lived as if he had Christ in his Passion before his eyes. Once his
companions "saw him praying with his arms crossed on his chest, raised up
above the ground and suspended in the air for a long time, surrounded by a
bright cloud." This event took place at San Pietro di Bevara,
near
Trevi, when the saint was on his way to Mount Alvernia, where he was to receive
the Stigmata.18[p 101-102] Little Flowers p. 176; LM 10, 4; 2Cel 88
LMj 10, 4, FAED II, p. 607; TL 50, FAED III, p. 181.
Besides their mystical experiences, most of the saints had in their
lives phenomena of a charismatic type which "regularly belong to the state
of the perfect" without formally constituting it.19 Such phenomena
appeared in St. Francis' life from the time of his conversion.
Longpre End of chap 7
On the Stigmata check out FAED I p 177
At Rivo Torto
he had the celebrated vision about the future of his Order.20
1C n 26, 27; LM 3,6
Among so many miracles and wonders,
such as levitation and bilocation, we cannot but recall that Francis, while
still alive, often appeared surrounded by rays of light, at times like Elias in
his fiery chariot, at another time in heavenly glory on Lucifer's throne, or
marked by luminous crosses that extended to the horizons or simply with the
sign of than on his forehead, or, finally, radiating light at night along the
marshy paths of the Po valley.21
His contemporaries, like
Thomas of Celano, were particularly struck by the fact that he enjoyed infused
knowledge of the Scriptures, discernment of consciences and the gift of «
prophecy to such a degree that he seemed to be" habitually endowed with a
supernatural illumination from the Holy Spirit. In addition, his control over
the elements of the world and over creatures was so exceptional that historians
and theologians are in general agreement that he had regained the privilege of
man in the state of innocence^ It was in this atmosphere of awe-inspiring
phenomena that St. Francis lived his mystical life, a life that rightfully
earned the admiration of St. Bonaventure.23^
APPENDIX
First Revelation of Christ Crucified
From that moment on, he began
to love to go aside, the more easily to give himself up to contrition and
"unutterable groanings" (Rom. 8, 26), with such effect that his long,
urgent prayers were heard by the Lord. For one day as he was thus praying in
solitude and, carried away by his fervor, was completely absorbed in God,
Christ on the cross appeared to him. At this sight, his soul melted within him
(cf. Cant. 5,8), and the memory of the Passion of Christ pierced him so deeply
that, from then on, he could scarcely refrain from weeping and sighing when he
thought about the Crucified, as he himself confessed one day shortly before his
death. And that is how the man of God understood that the words of the Gospel
were addressed to him: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mt. 16, 24).
Bonav. I, c. 1, n. 5
Revelation that All His Sins
Were forgiven
One day, when he was
wondering over the mercy of the Lord with regard to the gifts bestowed upon
him, he wished
103
p 122 A Poor Man's Peace
Fortini.14 At the end,
Francis was so exhausted that the knights sent by the town as an escort had to
take it in turns to carry him in their arms as they rode along. When they
finally reached the bishop's palace, the saint was a mere skeleton.
Although he could no longer
move, he bore all his pains with profound joy, foreseeing the recompense he
would receive. He never ceased to call his infirmities his "sisters,"
for this and "brothers" were the names he gave to everything that
came from on high. It was thus that Francis of Assisi succeeded in becoming
like Christ crucified. Well can we cry out with Thomas of Celano, "O
martyr, martyr!'” 15
The Canticle of the Sun
In the midst of these trials
and because of them Francis set about singing a new canticle, the Canticle of
the Sun. the last strophe of which he did not compose until the hour of his
death.16
For a long time he had felt
that profound jubilation which all the great contemplatives enjoy, as St.
Teresa of Avila observed.17 He had heard "in all the variety of creatures
and in all the works of God . . . the musical silence . . . , the incomparable
harmony that surpasses all the concerts and melodies of this world .18 One
night in his hut of matting at San Damiano, while he was all huddled up,
overwhelmed with pain, he received from the Lord the assurance that, because of
his sufferings, he was in possession of the eternal reward, as if he were
already in heaven. At this interior revelation, he was filled with joy.
When morning came, in the
dimness of his retreat, he told his companions about the favor he had received
and said to them: "Therefore to praise God, for my own consolation and for
the edification of my neighbor, I wish to compose a Praise of God for his
creatures which we use every day, without which we could not live and by which
the human race offends the Creator greatly. Every day we are ungrateful
Longpre
p123 on Canticle
Francis had found "the eternal song, the song
toward which his soul had tended from his first years."20 He began the age of the great mystical poets
— John of the Cross. Teresa of
p123 The Canticle of the Sun
because we do not praise, as
we should, our Creator and him who gives us so many good things." Having
said this "he sat down and, after meditating for a while, he began to sing
the Canticle of the Sun which begins like this: 'Most high, all-powerful, all
good, Lord! All praise is yours, all glory, all honor and all blessing. To you,
alone, Most High, do they belong. No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your
name.' "1!>
St. Francis composed the hymn
and the melody all at one time, apart from verses 10-13, which were inserted
later. Immediately, "he taught his companions to sing it. His heart was so
filled with sweetness and consolation that he wished to summon to him Brother
Pacificus, who was a skilled singer of courtly songs and who, while in the
world, had been proclaimed "the king of verse," so that he might give
him pious, spiritual friars to go throughout the world preaching and singing
the praises of God."
Francis had found "the eternal song, the song
toward which his soul had tended from his first years."20 He began the age
of the great mystical poets — John of the Cross. Teresa of
A short time after the
composition of the Canticle, a grave misunderstanding arose between Bishop
Guido of
Chapter Seven
MYSTICAL JOURNEY
St. Francis' life of prayer
and adoration, as well as the virtues which he practiced to a heroic degree,
prepared him immediately for the highest states of mystical union. Neither his
biographers of the 13th century nor modern historians trace the saint's
mystical journey or tell us the precise moment at which he first felt the
"touch of the Holy Spirit." Thomas of Celano, for example, invokes
his own inexperience to excuse him from dealing with the subject. Indeed, in
the various accounts of Francis' life, his ascetical exercises, his passive
experiences, and mystical phenomena of every kind are all mixed together and
usually described in general terms, everything being traced back to his
extraordinary vocation. As Blessed Angela of Foligno says: "Because God
had confided a special vocation to him (Francis), He gave him unusual gifts for
himself and for others. He was full and overflowing with the Holy Spirit, who
guided him in all truth, making him pure both within and without, and uniting
him to God in a continual ineffable union."1 97Longpre p 98
============================
The Life of Saint Francis by
Thomas of Celano n 43 and 73
p 220
Chapter XVI
CONCERNING THEIR STAY IN RIVO
TORTO
AND ABOUT SAFEGUARDING POVERTY
42 Blessed
Francis gathered with the others in a place called Rivo Torto near the city of
Yet there was no complaining about this,
no grumbling;
but with peaceful heart,
the soul filled with joy
preserved the virtue of patience.0
ftnt p 220:
a. Rivo Torto, a crooked,
snake-like stream below the road from
b. A similar saying is
attributed to "a certain hermit" by Peter Cantor (+1197):
"Melius et tutius prosilitur in caelum tie turgurio quajn depalatio [It is
better and safer to proceed into heaven from a simple hut than from a
palace]" Cf. Peter Cantor, Verbum abbreviatum 86.
c. These words are taken from
the hymn from the Common of Several Martyrs, Sanctorum Meritis:
on murmur resonat, non
querimonia, Sed cordt tacito, mens bene conscia, Conservatpatientiam [No
grumbling resounds, no complaint/But with silent heart, the mind well
attuned/Preserves patience].
p 221
Saint Francis used to engage
carefully in a daily, or rather, constant examination of himself and his
followers. Allowing nothing dangerous to remain in them, he drove from their
hearts any negligence. Unbending in his discipline, he was watchful of his
guard at every hour. For if, as happens, any temptation of the flesh struck
him, he would immerse himself in a ditch filled in winter with ice, remaining
in it until every seduction of the flesh went away. The others avidly followed
his example of mortifying the flesh. a
43 He taught
them to mortify not only vices and to check the promptings of the flesh, but
also to check the external senses, through which death enters the soul. At that
time the emperor Otto passed through that area, traveling in great pomp and
circumstance to receive the crown of an earthly empire. The most holy father
and his followers were staying in that small hut next to the very parade route.
He did not go outside to look and did not allow the others to do so, except for
one who, without wavering, proclaimed to the emperor that his glory would be
short-lived.b The glorious holy one, living within himself and walking in the
breadth of his heart, prepared in himself a worthy dwelling place of God.c That
is why the uproar outside did not seize his ears, nor could any cry intrude,
interrupting the great enterprise he had in hand. Apostolic authority resided
in him; so he altogether refused to flatter kings and princes.
44He always strove for holy
simplicity, refusing to allow the narrow place to restrict the breadth of his
heart. For this reason, he would write the names of the brothers on the beams
of that little house so that each would know his place when he wished to pray or
rest, and the confines of the place would not disturb the silence of the
spirit.
One day while they were
staying there, a man came leading an ass to the little shelter where the man of
God and his companions were staying. To avoid being sent away, the man urged
the ass to enter by saying,
ftnt p221
a. The mortification of the
flesh is a prominent theme throughout medieval hagiography and Thomas's
descriptions of these practices of Francis are not unlike those described by
Vita prima s. Bernardi HI or recommended by Bernard himself, On Consideration
IV 6, 21.
b. The emperor Otto IV
(1198-1218) passed through the duchy of Spoleto at the end of September 1209,
but the event related here probably took place in 1210 during another of Otto's
passages. In Roman triumphal processions, a slave would whisper into a
general's ear admonishing him that the glory of his triumph would be brief.
Francis's refusal to flatter the emperor is reminiscent of Saint Martin of
Tours: "It is almost a miracle that a bishop should not have succumbed to
the temptation of flattering an emperor." Cf. Sulpicius Severus, The Life
of Martin 20.
c. Gregory writes of Benedict
in similar terms: solus habilavit secvm [alone he lived with himself], thus accentuating
the strong place of solitude in the monastic tradition. Cf. Gregory, Dialogue
II 3. The same is written of Bernard: libere secum habitant et deambulans in
latitudine cordis sui [living freely with himself and walking in the broad
expanse of his heart] Cf. Vita prima s. Bernardi III 1,2.
243
The Life of Saint Francis by
Celano, The First Book
1C FAED I p. 242
When the prayer was finished,
blessed Francis, in the power of the Spirit, approached the woman, who was
twisting miserably and screaming horribly. "In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, " he said, "/ command you, demon, under obedience, to come
out from her and not trouble her any more." He had scarcely uttered the
words when the demon went out. It did so with such swiftness and with such a
furious roar, that on account of the sudden cure of the woman and the immediate
obedience of the demon, the holy father thought he was deceived. So he left
that place right away, ashamed. Divine
That is why when blessed
Francis passed through that same place on another occasion and brother Elias
was with him, that woman, hearing of his arrival, got up immediately, ran down
the street, and cried out after him, asking him to speak to her. But he refused
to do so, knowing that she was the woman from whom he had once, by divine
power, driven out a demon. She kissed his very footprints, giving thanks to God
and his holy servant Francis, who had freed her from the hand of death. At
last, brother Elias forced him by his pleas; and blessed Francis spoke to her
after being reassured by many about the affliction that was mentioned and her
deliverance.
Chapter XXVI HOW HE ALSO DROVE OUT A DEMON AT ClTTA DI
CASTELLO 70
'°At Citta di Castello also
there was a woman who was possessed by a demon.3 When the most blessed father
Francis was in that city, the woman was led to the house where he was staying.
But the woman stood outside and began to gnash her teeth and howl in a horrible
voice with a twisted face, which is usual with unclean spirits. Many people
from the city, both women and men, came to plead with Saint Francis on the
woman's behalf. That evil spirit had troubled her for a long time by twisting
her body and disturbed the people themselves with its howling. The holy father
sent out to her the brother who was with him, since he wished to check whether
it was a demon or the woman's deception. When that woman saw the brother, she
began to mock him, since she knew that he was hardly the holy man, Francis.
Meanwhile, Francis had
1C FAED p. 243
been praying and once his
prayer was finished he came outside. The woman started to shake and roll on the
ground, since she could not bear his power. Saint Francis called her to
himself, saying: "In virtue of obedience, 1 command you, evil spirit: come
out of her." The evil spirit released her immediately without harm, and
departed, furious.
Thanks be to almighty God who
works all things in everyone. But we have not chosen to describe miracles —
they do not make holiness but show it — but rather to describe the excellence
of his life and the honest form of his manner of living. Passing over the
miracles, because they are so numerous, let us return to narrating the works of
eternal salvation^
See Chapter XXVII
THE PURITY AND STEADFASTNESS OF HIS MIND,
HIS PREACHING IN FRONT OF THE LORD POPE HONORIUS;
AND HOW HE COMMITTED BOTH HIS BROTHERS AND HIMSELF
TO THE PROTECTION OF THE LORD HUGO, BISHOP OF
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