Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
HIS AFFECTIONATE PIETY
AND
HOW IRRATIONAL CREATURES
WERE AFFECTIONATE TOWARD HIM
1. Truz piety,
which according to the Apostle is helpful for all things , had so filled Francis's heart and penetrated its depths that it seemed to have appropriated the man of God completely into its dominion.
This is what drew him up to God through devotion, transformed him into Christ through compassion, attracted him to his neighbor through condescension and symbolically showed a return to the state of original innocence through universal reconciliation with each and every thing.
Through this virtue he was attracted to all things in spiritual love, especially to souls redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
1. The Latin term is pietas , which has a broader scope than the English "piety"; in the context of this chapter it includes love, devotion, affection, reverence, kindness, fidelity and compassion. The Pauline reference is to I Tim. 4:8.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
When he saw them being stained by the filth of sin, he grieved with such tender pity that he seemed like a mother who was daily in labor pains bringing them to birth in Christ.
This was his principal reason for reverencing the ministers of the word of God, because with their devoted concern for the conversion of sinners
they raise up seed for their dead brother , namely Christ, crucified for us, and guide them with their concerned devotion.
'He firmly held that such work of mercy was more acceptable to the Father of mercies 3 than any sacrifice, especially if this eagerness arose out of perfect charity more by example than by word, more by tear-filled prayer than by long-winded sermons. 4
2. He used to say that we should feel sorry for a preacher, as for a man without real piety, who in his preaching does not seek the salvation of souls but his own praise or who destroys with the evil of his life what he builds up with the truth of his teaching. He said that a simple tongue-tied friar should be preferred to such a preacher because he called others to good
Deut.
25:5, 7; Matt. 22:24.
2 Cor.
1:3.
4. Minor source:
II C 172.
ST. BONAVENTURE
by his good example. And so he explained the text So that the barren has borne many (1 Kings 2:5) as follows:
"The barren woman," he said, "is that poor little friar who does not have the duty of bringing forth children in the Church. He will bring forth many at the judgment because those he is now converting to Christ by his private prayers, the Judge will ascribe to his glory. The continuation of the text, she that has many children will be weakened (1 Kings 2:5), means that a vain and loquacious preacher who now rejoices over the many as if he had brought them forth by his own power will then realize that he had nothing of his own involved with them." 5
3. He longed with heartfelt piety and burned with ardent zeal for the salvation of souls. He used to say that he was filled with the sweetest fragrance (Exod. 29:18) and anointed with precious ointment (John 12:3) when he heard that many were being converted to the way of truth by the fragrant reputation of the holy friars in the distant regions of the world. When he heard of such things, he rejoiced in spirit, and heaped his most desirable blessings upon those friars who by word or deed led sinners to the love of Christ. Thus also the ones who dishonored the religious life by their evil deeds incurred his severest curse:
"May you, most holy Lord, and the whole celestial court, and I too, your little one, curse them who disrupt and destroy by their bad example what you have built up and do not cease to build up through the holy friars of this Order" He was often so deeply saddened by scandal given to the weak that he felt he would be overcome unless he had been supported by God's merciful consolation. Once when he was disturbed by certain instances of bad example and anxiously prayed to the merciful
Father for his sons, he received this response from the Lord:
"What's all this worry, you poor bit of a man? Did I so make you the shepherd of my Order that you can forget that it is I who am its principal protector?
I chose you for this because 5.
Major source:
II C 164.
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you are a simple man and what I would do in you would be ascribed to divine grace and not to human effort.
I have called the friars, I will preserve and feed them; and if some fall away, I will call others— indeed, even if they are yet unborn,
I will have them born. No matter how severely this poor little Order is shaken, it will always remain safe by my grace." 6
4. He abhorred like a snakebite the vice of detraction, as a foe to the source of piety and grace; and he firmly held it to be a devastating plague and an abomination to God's mercy because the detractor feeds on the blood of the souls which he kills with the sword of his tongue (Ps.
56:5). Once when he heard a friar blacken the reputation of another, he turned to his vicar and said: "Arise, arise, examine diligently and if you find that the friar accused is innocent, make an example of the accuser by correcting him severely." Sometimes he decreed that a friar who had stripped another friar of his good name should be stripped of his habit and that he should not be allowed to raise his eyes to God until he first did his best to restore what he had taken away. He used to say that the impiety of detractors is a much greater sin than that of robbers; for the law of Christ, which is fulfilled in the observance of piety, obliges us to desire the well-being of the soul more than the body. 7
5. He responded with a remarkably tender compassion to those suffering from any bodily affliction.
If he saw signs of poverty in anyone or signs of deprivation, he referred them to Christ in the sweetness of his pious heart. He had an inborn kindness 8 which was doubled by the kindness of Christ infused in him from above. Therefore his soul melted at the sight of the poor and infirm, and to those to whom he could not extend a helping hand he extended his affection. Once it happened that one of the friars responded gruffly to a beggar who had asked for an alms at an inconvenient time. When the devoted lover of 6.
Major source:
II C 155, 156, 157, 158.
Major source:
II C 182; cf. Regula /, 11; Admonitiones , 25;
II C 183.
Cf.
I, 1, p.
186.
ST. BONAVENTURE
the poor heard this, he ordered the friar to strip himself, cast himself at the beggar's feet, confess his guilt and beg for his prayers and forgiveness. When he had done this humbly, the father added sweetly: "When you see a poor man, my brother, an image of the Lord and his poor mother is being placed before you. Likewise in the case of the sick, consider the physical weakness which the Lord took upon himself." That most
Christian pauper saw Christ's image in all the poor; and when he met them, he not only generously gave them even the necessities of life that had been given to him, but he believed that these should be given them as if theirs by right.
It happened once that a poor man met him on his return from Siena, when because of an illness he was wearing a short mantle over his habit. When his kind eye observed the man's misery, he said to his companion: "We should return this mantle to this poor man because it is his. For we got it on loan until we should find someone poorer than ourselves." But his companion, considering the need of his devoted father, obstinately refused, lest Francis provide for another by neglecting himself. But Francis said: "I believe that the great Almsgiver will charge me with theft if I do not give what I have to one who needs it more."
Therefore concerning all that was given him to relieve the needs of his body, he was accustomed to ask the permission of the donors to give it away if he should meet someone in greater need.
Fie spared nothing at all, neither mantles, tunics nor books; not even decorations from the altar— all these he gave to the poor when he could, in order to fulfill his obligation of piety. When he met the poor along the road carrying heavy burdens, he often took the load on his own weak shoulders. 9
6. When he considered the primordial source of all things, he was filled with even more abundant piety, calling creatures, no matter how small, by the name of brother or sister, because
Major sources: II C 83; I C 76; II C 85, 87; I C 76; minor sources: II C 8, 77. Cf. II C
86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 196; I C 79; also VII, 1, pp. 239-240.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
S «, he knew they had the same source as himself. 10 However, he embraced more affectionately and sweetly those creatures which present a natural reflection of Christ's merciful gentleness and represent him in Scriptural symbolism. He often paid to ransom lambs that were being led to their death, remembering that most gentle Lamb who willed to be led to slaughter (Isa.
53:7) to pay the ransom of sinners.
One time when God's servant was lodging at the monastery of San Verecondo in the diocese of Gubbio, a sheep gave birth to a little lamb during the night. There was a ferocious sow there, which did not spare the life of the innocent lamb, but killed it with her ravenous bite. When he heard of this, the devoted father was moved by wonderful compassion and, remembering the Lamb without stain, grieved in the presence of all over the death of the little lamb, saying: "Alas, brother lamb, innocent animal, you represent Christ to men. A curse on that impious beast that killed you; may no man or beast ever eat of her." Remarkably, the evil sow immediately became ill and after paying for her deed with three days of bodily punishment she finally suffered avenging death. She was thrown into the monastery ditch and lay there for a long time dried up like a board, and did not serve as food for any hungry animal.
Let the impiety of men, therefore, be warned how great a punishment will be inflicted on it at the end of time, if the cruelty of an animal was punished with so horrible a death.
Let also the devotion of the faithful consider that the marvelous power and abundant sweetness
10. This is an application of Bonaventure's exemplarism, whereby creatures reflect God, a theme developed throughout The Soul's Journey into God.
ST. BONAVENTURE
of the piety of God's servant was so great that it was acknowledged in their own way even by animals. 11
7. When Francis was traveling near the city of Siena, he came upon a large flock of sheep in a pasture. When he greeted them kindly, as he was accustomed to do, they all stopped grazing and ran to him, lifting their heads and fixing their eyes on him. They gave him such a welcome that the shepherds and the friars were amazed to see the lambs and even the rams frisking about him in such an extraordinary way.
Another time at St. Mary of the Portiuncula the man of God was offered a sheep, which he gratefully accepted in his love of that innocence and simplicity which the sheep by its nature reflects. The pious man admonished the little sheep to praise God attentively and to avoid giving any offense to the friars. The sheep carefully observed his instructions, as if it recognized the piety of the man of God. For when it heard the friars chanting in choir, it would enter the church, genuflect without instructions from anyone, and bleat before the altar of the Virgin, the mother of the Lamb, as if it wished to greet her.
Besides, when the most sacred body of Christ was elevated at mass, it would bow down on bended knees as if this reverent animal were reproaching those who were not devout and inviting the devout to reverence the sacrament.
Once in Rome he had with him a little lamb out of reverence for the most gentle Lamb of God. At his departure he left it in the care of the noble matron, the Lady Jacoba of Settesoli. 12 Now the lamb went with the lady to church, standing reverently by her side as her inseparable companion, as if it had
1 1 .
Major sources:
I C 80-81, 77, 79; II C 111. Cf.
I C 77, 80-81; II C 165, and IX, 1, pp.
262-263.
12. A noble Roman lady, widow of Graziano Frangipani, Lord of the Septizonium; she was a close friend of Francis, (who called her "Brother Jacoba"), and was summoned to his deathbed. Cf.
Ill C 37-38-39.
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been trained in spiritual matters by the saint.
If the lady was late in rising in the morning, the lamb rose and nudged her with its horns and woke her with its bleating, urging her with its nods and gestures to hurry to the church. On account of this, the lamb, which was Francis's disciple and had now become a master of devotion, was held by the lady as an object of wonder and love. 13
Another time at Greccio a live hare was offered to the man of God, which he placed on the ground and let it free to go where it wished. But when the kind father called, it ran and jumped into his arms. He fondled it with warm affection and seemed to pity it like a mother. After warning it gently not to let itself be caught again, he let it go free. But as often as he placed it on the ground to run away, it always came back to the father's arms, as if in some secret way it perceived the kind feeling he had for it.
Finally, at the father's command, the friars carried it away to a safer place far from the haunts of men.
In the same way on an island in the lake of Perugia 14 a rabbit was caught and offered to the man of God. Although it fled from everyone else, it entrusted itself to his hands and his heart as if to the security of its home. When he was hurrying across the Lake of Rieti to the hermitage of Greccio, out of devotion a fisherman offered him a waterfowl. He took it gladly and opened his hands to let it go, but it did not want to.
He prayed for a long time with his eyes turned to heaven. After more than an hour, he came back to himself as if from another realm and gently told the bird again to go away and praise God. Having received his permission with a blessing, the bird expressed its joy in the movements of its body, and flew away.
On the same lake in a similar way he was offered a large live fish which he addressed as brother in his usual way and put it back into the water by the boat. The fish played about in the 13.
Major source: III C 31. The two incidents of a lamb are not found in Celano or Julian.
14.
Lago Trasimeno.
ST. BONAVENTURE
water in front of the man of God; and as if it were attracted by his love, it would not go away from the ship until it received from him his permission with a blessing. 15
9. Another time when he was walking with a friar through the marshes of Venice, he came upon a large flock of birds singing among the reeds. When he saw them, he said to his companion:
"Our sisters the birds are praising their Creator; so we should go in among them and chant the Lord's praises and the canonical hours." When they had entered among them, the birds did not move from the place; and on account of the noise the birds were making, they could not hear each other saying the hours. The saint turned to the birds and said: "Sister birds, stop singing until we have done our duty of praising God!" At once they were silent and remained in silence as long as it took the friars to say the hours at length and to finish their praises. Then the holy man of God gave them permission to sing again. When the man of God gave them permission, they immediately resumed singing in their usual way. 16
A cricket used to perch on a figtree beside the cell of the man of God at St. Mary of the Portiuncula and sing, arousing with its songs the Lord's servant to sing more frequently the divine praises, for he had learned to marvel at the Creator's magnificence even in insignificant creatures. He called it one day, and it flew upon his hand as if it had been taught by God.
He said to it: "Sing, my sister cricket, praise the Lord Creator with your joyful song!" It obeyed without delay and began to sing; nor did it stop until at his command it flew back to its usual place. There it remained for eight days, coming each day, singing and returning, all at his command.
Finally the man of God said to his companions: "Let us give our sister cricket permission to go away now, for she has cheered us enough with her singing and has aroused us to praise God over 15.
Major sources: III C 29; I C 60; III C 30, 23-24; minor source: Jul. 40.
16.
This incident is not found in Celano or Julian.
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the space of eight days." With his permission, it departed and never appeared there again, as if it did not dare to disobey his command in the slightest way. 17
10. When he was ill at Siena, a nobleman sent him a live pheasant he had recently caught. The moment it saw and heard the holy man, it was drawn to him with such affection that it would in no way allow itself to be separated from him. Many times it was placed outside the friars' place in the vineyard so that it could go away if it wanted. But every time it ran right back to the father as if it had always been reared by him. Then it was given to a man who used to visit God's servant out of devotion but it absolutely refused to eat, as if it were upset at being out of the sight of the devoted father.
It was finally brought back to God's servant, and as soon as it saw him, showed signs of joy and ate heartily. 18
When he went to the hermitage of La Verna to observe a forty-day fast in honor of the Archangel Michael, 19 birds of different kinds flew around his cell, with melodious singing and joyful movements, as if rejoicing at his arrival, and seemed to be inviting and enticing the devoted father to stay. When he saw this, he said to his companion: "I see, brother, that it is God's will that we stay here for some time, for our sisters the birds seem so delighted at our presence." 20 When he extended his stay there, a falcon that had built its nest there became deeply attached to him as a friend. For at the hour of the night when the holy man used to rise for the divine office, the falcon always came to wake him by making noise and singing. This pleased God's servant very much because the falcon was so solicitous toward him that it shook out of him all sluggish laziness.
But when Christ's servant was more than usually weighed down with illness, the falcon had pity and did not 17.
Major source:
III C 27; minor source III C 20.
18.
Major source:
III C 26.
19.
Cf. IX, 3 and XIII, 1, pp. 264-265, 303-304.
20.
This incident is not found in Celano or Julian.
ST. BONAVENTURE
impose such early vigils on him. As if instructed by God, about dawn it would ring the bell of its voice with a light touch. 21
There certainly seems to have been a divine prophecy both in the joy of the different kinds of birds and in the song of the falcon— a prophecy of the time when this praiser and worshiper of God would be lifted up on the wings of contemplation and there would be exalted with a Seraphic vision. 22
1 1. Once when he was staying in the hermitage at Greccio, the local inhabitants were being troubled by many evils.
For a pack of ravenous wolves were devouring not only animals but even men, and every year hail storms were devastating the fields and vineyards. When the herald of the holy Gospel preached to these people who were thus afflicted, he said to them: "For the honor and praise of Almighty God
I promise you that all this pestilence will depart and the Lord will look kindly upon you and give you an increase of temporal goods if you believe me and show mercy to yourselves by making a good confession and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matt.
3:8). Again I announce to you that if you are ungrateful for his gifts and return to your vomit (Prov.
26:11), the plague will be renewed, punishment will be doubled and even greater wrath will rage against you" (Jos.
22:18). The people did penance at his exhortation, and from that hour, the damage ceased, the dangers passed and neither the wolves nor the hail caused any further trouble. Furthermore, what is even greater, if hail came
21.
Major source: III C 25.
22.
Cf. XIII, 1-3, pp. 303-306.
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over the fields of their neighbors and approached their borders, it either stopped there or was diverted to another area . 23
The hail kept the pact of God's servant and so too did the wolves; nor did they try to rage anymore contrary to the law of piety against men who had been converted to piety, as long as, according to their agreement, the people did not act impiously against God's most pious laws.
Therefore, we should respond piously to the piety of this blessed man, which had such remarkable sweetness and power that it subdued ferocious beasts, tamed the wild, trained the tame and bent to his obedience the brute beasts that had rebelled against fallen mankind.
Truly this is the virtue that unites all creatures in brotherhood and is helpful for all things since it has the promise of the present life , and of the life to come . 24
23.
Major source:
II C 35-36.
24.
1 Tim. 4:8.