Fifth reflection

Of the fifth reflection on the most holy Stigmata

How Jerome touched and saw the most holy Stigmata of S. Francis, wherein at first he disbelieved

After the death of S. Francis not only did the aforesaid Lady Jacoba and her sons together with all her company see and kiss his glorious sacred Stigmata, but likewise many citizens of Assisi; among the which was a knight of great renown and a man of worth, named Jerome, the which doubted much thereof and was unbelieving, even as S. Thomas the Apostle doubted the wounds of Christ; and to certify himself and the others he boldly in the presence of the brothers and the lay-folk moved the nails in the hands and feet, and felt the wound in the side, for a clear testimony. For the which cause he bore witness of that truth constantly, swearing on the Book that so it was, and so had he seen and touched. Likewise S. Clare with her nuns, the which were present at his burial, saw and kissed the glorious sacred Stigmata of S. Francis.

Of the day and of the year of the death of S. Francis

The glorious confessor of Christ, S. Francis, passed away from this life in the year of our Lord 2o6 THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF one thousand two hundred and twenty-six, on the fourth day of October, being Saturday, and was buried on the Sunday. This year was the twentieth year of his conversion, to wit, when he began to do penance, and was the second year after the imprinting of the most holy Stigmata, and he was in the forty-fifth year of his age.

Of the canonisation of S. Francis

Thereafter was S. Francis canonised, in the year one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight, by Pope Gregory IX.; the which came in his proper person to Assisi for to canonise him. And this sufficeth for the fourth reflection.

Of the fifth and last reflection on the most holy Stigmata

The fifth and last reflection is touching certain apparitions and miracles that God wrought and showed forth after the death of S. Francis, for the confirmation of his most holy Stigmata, and for a testimony of the day and the hour whereon Christ gave them him. And as touching this, ye must needs know that in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and eighty-two, in the month of October, Brother Philip, minister of Tuscany, by order of Brother John Buonagrazia, the minister general, required of Brother Matthew of Castiglione in Arezzo, a man of great devotion and sanctity, that by holy obedience he should say what he knew of the day and of the hour wherein the most holy Stigmata were by Christ imprinted on the body of S. Francis; for it was known that he had received a revelation thereon. The which Brother Matthew, being constrained by holy obedience, answered him thus: " Being in the community of Alvernia last year in the month of May, I began one day to pray in the cell that is in the place where it is believed that the seraphic vision took place. And in my prayer I besought God very devoutly to be pleased to reveal unto some one the day and the hour and the place wherein the most holy Stigmata were imprinted on the body of S. Francis. And as I continued in prayer and in this petition beyond the first watch of the night, there appeared unto me S. Francis in an exceeding bright light, and said unto me: * Son, for what dost thou pray to God? ' And I said unto him: ' Father, I pray for such and such a thing.” And he said unto me: ' I am thy father Francis: dost thou know me well? ' ' Yea, Father,” quoth I. Then he showed to me the most holy Stigmata in his hands and his feet and his side, and said: ' The time is come when God wills for His glory to manifest that which the brothers have hitherto not cared to learn. Know that He that appeared unto me was not an angel, but was Jesu Christ in the form of a Seraph: who with His own hands imprinted these wounds upon my body, even as He received them in His body on the cross; and it was on this wise: on the day before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross there came to me an Angel, and bade me in the name of God make myself ready to be patient and to re- 2o8 THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF ceive whatsoever God might will to send me. And I replied that I was ready to receive and to endure all things according to God's good pleasure. Then on the morning following, on the festival of the Holy Cross, which that year fell on a Friday, at day-break I left my cell in exceeding great fervour of spirit and went to pray in the place where thou art now, in which place I used oftentimes to pray. And as I prayed, behold through the air there came down from heaven a young man crucified, in the form of a Seraph with six wings, and with great swiftness: at this wondrous sight I kneeled humbly down and began devoutly to contemplate the immeasurable love of Jesu Christ Crucified, and the immeasurable pain of His passion; and the sight of Him begat in me so great compassion that I seemed in mine own person to feel that very Passion in my body; and at His presence all this mountain shone like the sun; and thus descending He came close to me. And standing before me, He spake to me certain secret words, the which I have not yet revealed to any man; but the time is at hand when they shall be revealed. Then after a little space, Christ departed and returned into heaven; and I found myself thus marked with these wounds. Go then,” quoth S. Francis, ' and tell these things with confidence unto thy minister; for this is the working of God and not of man.” And said these words, S. Francis gave me his blessing, and went up again into heaven with a great company of youths in shining garments." All these things Brother Matthew said he had seen and heard not sleep- ing but awake. And so he swore that he had himself told unto the said minister in his cell at Florence, when he questioned him thereon by holy obedience.

How a holy brother reading the legend of S. Francis in the chapter on the most holy Stigmata and on the secret words, which the Seraph spake unto S. Francis when he appeared unto him, prayed to God so much that S. Francis revealed them unto him

Upon another time a devout brother and holy, reading the legend of S. Francis in the chapter on the most holy Stigmata, began with great perplexity of spirit to ponder what those words so secret could have been which S. Francis said he would reveal to no man, so long as he lived, the which the Seraph had spoken when he appeared to him. And this brother said within himself: ” Those words S. Francis would not tell to any man while he lived: but now after the death of his body he may perchance tell them, if devout prayer be made to him." And from thenceforth, the devout brother began to pray to God and to S. Francis that it might please them to reveal those words; and this brother persevering for eight years in this prayer, in the eighth year he merited to be heard after this wise. One day after the breaking of bread, when they had given thanks in the church, as he was at prayer in a certain part of the church, and was praying to God and to S. Francis more devoutly than he was wont, and 2 IO THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF with many tears, he was called by another of the brothers, and was bidden in the name of the guardian to go with him to the fields for the profit of the House. Wherefore he, nothing doubting that obedience is more meritorious than prayer, straightway when he heard the command of the superior, humbly left his prayers and went with the brother thatcalled him. And as it pleased God, by this act of ready obedience he merited that which by long hours of prayer he had not merited. For so soon as they were come without the door of the House, they met two brothers, strangers, the which seemed as though they had come from a far country, and one of them seemed to be young, and the other old and lean, and by reason of foul weather they were all wet and stained with mud. So that obedient brother, having great compassion on them, said to the companion that was with him: '* O my brother most dear, if the business that we are going upon, may be delayed a little, seeing that these stranger brothers have great need to be charitably received, I pray thee that thou suffer me first to go and wash their feet, and especially the feet of that aged brother who hath greater need thereof, and you will be able to wash those of the younger one; and then we will go about the business of the convent." Then this brother consenting unto the charity of his companion, they went back into the convent; and receiving those stranger brothers with much charity, they took them into the kitchen that they might warm and dry themselves by the fire; and eight other brothers of the House were warminor them- selves by the said fire. And when they had sat a while by the fire, they took them aside for to wash their feet, according as they had agreed together. And as that obedient and devout brother was washing the feet of the older brother, and was wiping off the mud, for they were very muddy, he looked and saw that his feet were marked with the most holy Stigmata; and straightway in joy and wonder embracing them in a close embrace, he began to cry out: " Either thou art Christ, or thou art S. Francis." At the sound of his voice and at these words, the brothers that were by the fire arose, and came near with great fear and reverence to behold those glorious Stigmata. Then at their prayers that aged brother suffered them clearly to see and touch and kiss them. And as they marvelled more and more for joy, he said unto them: ”Fear not and be not doubting, brothers most dear and sons; I am your father. Brother Francis, who by the will of God, founded three Orders. And sith I have been entreated, these eight years, by this brother that is washing my feet, and to-day more fervently than any other time, that I should reveal to him the secret words that the Seraph spake to me when he gave me the Stigmata, the which words I would never reveal in my life-time, this day by the command of God, because of his perseverance and his ready obedience, wherewith he left the sweetness of contemplation, I am sent by God to reveal before you all that which he asked." Then S. Francis turning towards that brother, said: "Know, brother most dear, that being on the mount of Alvernia, all rapt in the remembrance of the Passion of Christ in that seraphic apparition, I was of Christ thus marked on my body with the Stigmata, and then Christ spake unto me: ' Knowest thou that which I have done unto thee? I have given thee the signs of My Passion, to the end that thou mayest be My standard-bearer. And even as I on the day of My death descended into hell and brought out thence all the souls that I found therein and led them to Paradise, by virtue of My Stigmata; so do I grant to thee this hour, that thou shalt thus be conformed to Me in death, as thou hast been in life, that after thou hast passed away from this life, every year on the day of thy death thou shalt go to Purgatory, and in virtue of thy Stigmata that I have given thee, thou shalt bring out thence all the souls of thy three Orders, to wit. Minors, Sisters, and Continents, and likewise those thou mayest find there, that have had a devotion unto thee, and shalt lead them unto Paradise.” And these words I told to none, whiles I lived in the world.” And said these words, S. Francis and his companion vanished away incontinent. Afterwards many brothers heard of this from those eight brothers that were present at this vision and speech of S. Francis.

How S. Francis, being dead, appeared unto Brother John of Ah ernia, as he was at prayer

On the mount of Alvernia S. Francis on a time appeared unto Brother John of Alvernia, a man of great sanctity, as he was at prayer, and stood and spake with him for a very long space, and in the end desiring to depart, spake thus: ”Ask o{

S.?'KANCIS CAflcf the tempera panel by Filippino Lippi, mnc in the National Gallery, London) me whatsoe'er thou wilt." Quoth Brother John: " Father, I pray thee tell me what I have long time desired to know, to wit, what thou wast doing and where thou wast when the Seraph appeared to thee” Replied S. Francis: " I was praying in the place where now is the Chapel of the Count Simon da Battifolle, and I was asking two graces of my Lord Jesu Christ. The first was that He should grant me in my life-time to feel in my soul and my body, as far as might be, all the pain that He had felt in Himself at the time of His most bitter Passion. The second grace that I asked of Him was in like manner that I might feel in my heart that exceeding love, wherewith He was enkindled to endure so great sujfFering for us sinners. Then God put it into my heart that He would grant me to feel both the one and the other, as far as was possible to the mere creature: the which thing was indeed fulfilled in me by the imprinting of the Stigmata." Then Brother John asked him if the secret words that the Seraph had spoken to him had been even as told by the holy brother aforesaid: the which affirmed that he had heard them from S. Francis in the presence of eight brothers. S. Francis replied that the truth was even as that brother had said. Then Brother John, seeing that he so freely gave, took heart to ask, and said thus: '*0 Father, most earnestly I do beseech thee to suffer me to see and kiss thy most holy and glorious Stigmata, not that I doubt at all, but only for my consolation; sith always have I longed for this." And S. Francis freely showing them and presenting them unto him, Brother John saw them clearly and touched and kissed. And at the last he asked: " Father, what consolation must thy soul have felt, when thou sawest Christ the blessed One come to thee and give thee the marks of His most holy Passion! now would to God that I might feel a little of that sweetness! " Then replied S. Francis: " Seest thou these nails? " Quoth Brother John: ”Yea, Father” "Touch once again," said S. Francis, ” this nail that is in my hand." Then Brother John with great reverence and fear touched the nail, and straightway at the touch thereof there came forth as it were a little column of smoke, as of incense, and entering into the nostrils of Brother John, filled his soul and body with such sweetness that straightway he was rapt in God in ecstasy and became insensible; and thus rapt he continued from that hour, which was the hour of Tierce, even until Vespers. And this vision and familiar speech with S. Francis Brother John told unto no one save unto his confessor, until he came to die; but being at the point of death, he revealed it to several brothers.

Of a holy brother that saw a wondrous vision of one of his companions that was dead

In the province of Rome, a very devout brother and holy beheld this wondrous vision. One of the brothers, his companion that was most dear to him, having died on a night and in the morning been buried before the entrance to the Chapterhouse, on that same day this brother withdrew himself into a corner of the Chapter-house after the breaking of bread, for to pray devoutly to God and to S. Francis for the soul of the dead brother, his companion. And as he continued in prayer with supplications and with tears until noon, what time all the others had gone away to sleep, behold he was ware of a great noise in the cloister. Whereat straightway with great fear he turned his eyes towards the grave of his companion; and he saw standing in the entrance to the Chapterhouse S. Francis, and behind him a great company of brothers round about the grave. And as he still looked, he saw in the middle of the cloister a great flaming fire, and standing in the midst of the flames the soul of his dead companion. And looking round about the cloister, he saw Jesu Christ walking round the cloister with a great company of angels and of saints. And as with great amazement he gazed upon these things, he saw that when Christ passed in front of the Chapter-house, S. Francis with all those brothers kneeled down and bespake Him thus: " I pray Thee, my dearest Father and Lord, by the inestimable love which in Thine incarnation Thou hast shown to the children of men, that Thou have mercy on the soul of this my brother, who burneth in this fire;" and Christ answered him not a word, but passed on. And as He came back a second time and passed in front of the Chapterhouse, S. Francis kneeled him down again with his brothers as before, and besought Him in this wise: " I pray Thee, pitying Father and Lord, for the boundless love that Thou didst show to the chil- 2i6 THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF dren of men, when Thou didst die on the wood of the Cross, that Thou have pity of the soul of this my brother: " and Christ passed him by as before and heard him not. And going round the cloister, He returned the third time, and passed in front of the Chapter-house; and then S. Francis kneeling down as at first, showing Him his hands and feet and side, spake thus: " I pray Thee, pitying Father and Lord, by the great pains and the great consolation that I felt when Thou didst imprint these Stigmata upon my flesh, that Thou have mercy on the soul of this my brother, that is in the fire of Purgatory.” O wondrous thing! when S. Francis prayed to Christ this third time in the name of his Stigmata, straightway He stayed His steps and gazed upon the Stigmata; and He heard his prayer, and spake thus: " Unto thee, Francis, do I grant the soul of thy brother." And hereby, of a surety, He desired to honour and confirm the glorious Stigmata of S. Francis, and openly to show that the souls of his brothers that go to Purgatory, can in no way more easily be freed from their pains and brought to the glory of Paradise, than by virtue of his Stigmata, according to the words that Christ spake unto S. Francis, when He imprinted them. For as soon as these words were spoken, the fire in the cloister vanished away, and the dead brother came to S. Francis, and together with him and with Christ, all that company of the blessed with their glorious King went up into heaven. For the which cause this brother, his companion, that had prayed for him, beholdincr him freed from his pains and taken to Paradise had exceeding great joy; and thereafter he told all the vision in order unto the other brothers, and together with them offered praise and thanksgiving unto God.

How a noble knight, devoted to S. Francis, was certified of the death and the holy Stigmata of S. Francis

A noble knight of Massa di San Pietro, by name Landolfo, the which had a very great devotion to S. Francis, and at the last received at his hands the habit of the Third Order, was certified of the death of S. Francis, and of his most holy and glorious Stigmata, after this manner: what time S. Francis was nigh unto death, the devil entered into a woman of that place and cruelly tormented her, and therewithal made her to speak with such learned subtlety that she vanquished all the wise and learned men that came to dispute with her. Now it befell that the devil departing from her left her free for two days: and on the third day returning to her again, afflicted her yet more cruelly than before. Hearing of this matter, Landolfo went unto the woman and asked of the devil that dwelt in her, what was the reason that he had left her for two days and thereafter returning tormented her still more grievously than at the first. Replied the demon: " When I left her, it was because I and all my companions, that be in these parts, were gathered together and went in great force to the death of Francis, the beggar, for to dispute with him and take his soul: but sith it was surrounded and defended by a host of Angels in number more than we, and was carried by them straight up into heaven, and we gat us away in confusion, I have therefore returned to this wretched woman and am making up for what I left undone those two days." Then Landolfo conjured him in the name of God to tell him what was the truth touching the sanctity of S. Francis, whom he reported to be dead, and of S. Clare, that was alive. Replied the devil: " Whether I had rather or not, yet will I tell thee all the truth. God the Father was so wroth against the sins of the world, that it seemed that in a little while He would give the sentence of death upon men and women, and would sweep them off the face of the earth, if they amended not their ways. But Christ, His Son, praying for sinners, promised to renew His life and His passion in a man, to wit, in Francis, the poor little one, the beggar; by whose life and doctrine He would bring back many throughout all the world into the way of truth, and many also unto penitence. And now for to show to the world what He had wrought in S. Francis, He hath willed that the Stigmata of His passion, the which He had imprinted on his body while he lived, should now be seen of many and touched after his death. In like manner, the Mother of Christ promised to renew her virginal purity and her humility in a woman, to wit. Sister Clare, in such fashion that by her ensample she would deliver many thousands of women out of our hands. And the anger of God the Father being turned away by these promises, He delayed the sentence of death " Then Landolfo, desirincr to know o{ a h. KRAiNCIS AlM'KAkS IN A JjREAM TO POPK (iKKCiORV IX {Upper Chicrch oj S. /■'raiiccsco, Assisi) surety whether the devil, who is the armoury and father of lies, was in these matters speaking the truth, and chiefly touching the death of S. Francis, sent one of his faithful squires to Assisi, unto S. Mary of the Angels, for to learn if S. Francis were alive or dead: the which squire winning there, found of a sooth that it was so, and coming back again told to his lord that on the very day and hour that the devil had said, S. Francis had passed away from this life.

How Pope Gregory /X, doubting of the Stigmata of S. Francis, was certified thereof

Leaving now all the miracles of the most holy Stigmata of S. Francis, the which are to be read in his Legend, for the ending of this fifth reflection ye must know that Pope Gregory IX. doubting a little touching the wound in the side of S. Francis, as he afterwards related, one night S. Francis appeared unto him, and lifting up his right arm a little, uncovered the wound in his side, and asked him for a phial, and he let bring it; and S. Francis let put it under the wound in the side; and of very sooth it seemed to the Pope that it was filled up to the brim with blood mingled with water that issued from the wound; and from thenceforth all doubt departed from him. And afterwards, with the counsel of all the cardinals, he approved the most holy Stigmata of S. Francis, and on their account gave to the brothers a special privilege by a Bull, and this he did at Viterbo in the eleventh twelfth year he gave another more extensive still. Then Pope Nicholas III. and Pope Alexander granted high privileges, by the which whoso denied the sacred Stigmata of S. Francis might be dealt with as a heretic. And this is enough as touching the fifth reflection on the glorious and most holy Stigmata of our Father, S. Francis, whose life may God give us grace so to follow in this world, that by the virtue of his glorious Stigmata we may merit to be saved with him in Paradise. To the praise of Jesu Christ and of His poor little one, S. Francis. Amen.