Chapter Eleven
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HIS UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE
AND
HIS SPIRIT OF PROPHECY
His unwearied application to prayer along with his continual exercise of virtue had led the man of God to such serenity of mind that although he had no skill in Sacred Scripture acquired through study,
his intellect, illumined by the brilliance of eternal light, probed the depths 2 of Scripture with remarkable acumen.
Free from all stain, his genius penetrated the hidden depths of the mysteries, and where the scholarship of the teacher stands outside, the affection of the lover entered within.
At times he would read the sacred books, and what he had once put in his mind he imprinted firmly on his memory. It was not in vain that this attentive mind grasped something he heard, for he would meditate on it with love and continued devotion.
Once the friars asked him whether he was pleased that the learned men who had by that time been received into the Order should devote themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture. He
Cf.
I, 1 , p.
185.
2. Job 28:11.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
replied: "I am indeed pleased, as long as they do not neglect application to prayer, after the example of Christ, of whom we read that he prayed more than he read, 3 and as long as they study not only in order to know what they should say but in order to practice what they have heard and when they have put it into practice themselves to propose it to others likewise.
I want my friars," he said, "to be disciples of the Gospel and to progress in knowledge of the truth in such a way as to increase in pure simplicity without separating the simplicity of the dove from the wisdom of the serpent which our eminent Teacher joined together in a statement from his own blessed lips." 4
Francis was once consulted at Siena by a religious who was a doctor of theology about certain questions that were difficult to understand. 5 He brought to light the secrets of divine wisdom with such clarity in teaching that the learned man was absolutely dumbfounded and responded with admiration: "Truly the theology of this holy father, borne aloft, as it were, on the wings of purity and contemplation, is a soaring eagle; but our learning crawls on its belly on the ground."
Although he was unskilled in speaking (2 Cor.
1 1:6), he was filled with knowledge and explained doubtful questions and brought hidden things to light (Job 28:11). Nor should it sound odd that the holy man should have received from God an understanding of the Scriptures, since through his perfect imitation of Christ he carried into practice the truth described in them and, through the abundant anointing of the Holy Spirit, had their
Teacher within himself in his heart (cf.
1 John 2:20). 6
3. The spirit of prophecy, too, so shone forth in him that he foresaw the future and had knowledge of the secrets of the heart. He was aware of things absent as if they were present, and he miraculously appeared present to those who were ab3. On Christ's prayer, cf.
Matt.
14:23, 19:13; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16, 6:12. On his reading, cf. Luke 4:16, 2:46.
Matt.
10:16. Major sources: II C 102, 195. Cf. II C 102, 163, 189, 194;
I C 57; II C
91, 195, 102 , Regula II, 5.
5. The source indicates that this theologian was a Dominican.
Major sources: II C 103, 102.
ST. BONAVENTURE
sent. At the time when the Christian army was besieging Damietta, the man of God was there, armed with faith and not weapons. 7 When on the day of the battle he heard that the Christians were preparing to fight, Christ's servant sighed heavily and said to his companion: "The Lord has shown me that if the battle takes place, it will not go well for the Christians. But if I tell them this, I will be considered a fool.
If I remain silent, I will not escape my conscience. What therefore seems best to you?" His companion replied: "Brother, consider it unimportant to be judged by men, for this won't be the first time you pass for a fool. Unburden your conscience, and fear
God rather than men." When he heard this, the herald of Christ jumped to his feet and went to the Christians with his salutary warnings, forbidding the battle and announcing their defeat. They took his truth for a fairy tale, hardened their hearts and refused to turn back. They advanced and engaged the enemy in battle, with the result that the whole Christian army was turned to flight, bearing away disgrace rather than triumph. The Christian forces suffered such heavy losses that there were about six thousand dead or captured. From this it was abundantly clear that the wisdom of this poor man was not to be scorned, since sometimes the soul of a just man will declare truths more clearly than seven sentinels searching the horizon from a height (Ecclus.
37: 18).
Another time, after his return from overseas, he went to Celano to preach; and a certain knight invited him to dinner with humble devotion and with great insistence. So he came to the knight's home and the whole family rejoiced at the coming of the poor guests. Before they took any food, the saint offered prayers and praise to God as was his custom, standing with his eyes raised to heaven. When he finished his prayer, he called his kind host aside and confidentially told him: "Look, brother
Cf. IX, 7, p. 268.
Major sources:
II C 27, 30.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
host, conquered by your prayers, I have entered your house to eat. Now heed my warnings quickly because you will not dine here but elsewhere. Confess your sins right now, contrite with the sorrow of true repentance; and let nothing remain in you that you do not reveal in a true confession. The Lord will reward you today because you have received his poor with such devotion." The man heeded the saint's words at once; and laying bare all of his sins in confession to Francis's companion, he put his house in order (Isa.
38:1) and did everything in his power to prepare for death. At length they went to the table; and while the others began to eat, suddenly their host breathed forth his spirit, carried away by sudden death as the man of God had foretold. So it happened that in recompense for the kindness of his hospitality he received a prophet's reward because he had received a prophet , according to the word of Truth (Matt.
10:41). Through the holy man's prophecy, that devout knight prepared himself for a sudden death so that, protected by the armor of repentance, he escaped perpetual damnation and entered into the eternal dwellings (Luke
16:9). 9
5. At the time when the holy man was lying ill at Rieti, a canon by the name of Gedeon, a dissolute and worldly man, became seriously ill and took to his bed. He had himself carried to Francis and, together with those present, he tearfully begged to be blessed with the sign of the cross.
Francis answered:
"Since you lived in the past according to the desires of the flesh, not fearing God's judgments, how will I make the sign of the cross over you? However, because of the devout requests of those pleading for you, I will make the sign of the cross over you in the name of the Lord. Nevertheless, realize that you will suffer more seriously if, after being delivered, you return to your vomit (Prov.
: 1 1 ). 10 Because of the sin of ingratitude worse things than before (Matt. 12:45) are inflicted." The moment
Major source: III C 41; minor source:
II C 31.
10.
Cf. VIII, 11, p. 260.
ST. BONAVENTURE
he made the sign of the cross over him, the man who had lain there crippled arose healthy and broke out in praise of God, saying: "I am freed." But the bones of his loins made a noise which many heard as if dry sticks were being broken with the hand. After a short time had elapsed, forgetful of God, he gave his body again to impurity. One evening when he had dined at the home of another canon and was sleeping there that night, suddenly the roof of the house fell down on them all. The others escaped death and only that wretched man was trapped and killed. Therefore by the just judgment of God, the last state of that man became worse than the first (Matt.
12:45) on account of his vice of ingratitude and his contempt for God, when he should have been grateful for the forgiveness he had received.
A crime that is repeated is doubly offensive. 11
6. Another time, a noble woman, devoted to God, came to the saint to explain her trouble to him and ask for help. She had a very cruel husband who opposed her serving Christ. So she begged the saint to pray for him so that God in his goodness would soften his heart. When he heard this, he said to her:
"Go in peace, and without any doubt be assured that your husband will soon be a comfort to you." And he added: "Tell him on God's part and my own, that now is the time of mercy, and afterwards of justice."
After receiving a blessing, the woman went home, found her husband and delivered the message. The Holy Spirit came upon him (Acts 10:44) making him a new man and inducing him to answer with gentleness: "My lady, let us serve the Lord and save our souls." At the suggestion of his holy wife, they lived a celibate life for many years and both passed away to the Lord on the same day.
The power of the prophetic spirit in the man of God was certainly extraordinary, 11. Major source:
II C 41.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
which restored vigor to dried-up limbs and impressed piety on hardened hearts.
The lucidity of his spirit was no less an object of wonder; for he could foresee future events and even probe the secrets of conscience, as if he were another Elisha, who had acquired the two-fold spirit of Elijah. 12
7. On one occasion he told a friend at Siena what would happen to him at the end of his life. Now when the learned man mentioned above, 13 who consulted him at one time about the Scriptures, heard of this, he asked the holy father in doubt whether he had really said what the man had claimed. Francis not only confirmed that he had said this but besides foretold to this learned man who was so eager to know another's future the circumstances of his own end. To impress this with greater certainty on his heart, Francis miraculously revealed to him a certain secret scruple of conscience which the man had and which he had never disclosed to any living person; and he relieved him of it by his sound advice. The truth of all this was confirmed by the fact that this religious eventually died just as Christ's servant had foretold. 14
8. When he was returning from overseas with Brother Leonard of Assisi as his companion, it happened that he was riding for a while on a donkey because he was fatigued and weary. But his companion, following along behind, was not a little weary himself and giving in to human weakness began to say within himself: "His parents and mine never played together as equals. And look— he is riding and I am on foot leading his donkey." While he was thinking this, the holy man all at once got down from the donkey and said: "Brother, it is 12.
Cf. 4 Kings 2:9ff. Major source:
II C 38.
13.
Cf. XI, 2, p. 281.
14.
This incident is not found in Celano or Julian.
ST. BONAVENTURE
not right that I should ride and you should go on foot, for in the world you were more noble and more powerful than I." The friar was dumbfounded at this and blushed, realizing he had been caught. He fell at Francis's feet and, bathed in tears, exposed his thought naked to the saint and begged his forgiveness. 15
9. A certain friar, devoted to God and to Christ's servant, frequently turned over in his heart the idea that whoever was held in the holy man's intimate affection would be worthy of God's grace and whomever he excluded from his intimacy would not be regarded among the elect by God. He was obsessed by the repeated pressure of this thought and intensely longed for the intimate friendship of the man of God, but never revealed the secret of his heart to anyone. The devoted father called him and spoke sweetly to him as follows:
"Let no thought trouble you, my son, because among those who are especially dear to me I hold you most dear, and I gladly lavish upon you my friendship and love." The friar was amazed at this and became even more devoted to Francis. He not only grew in his love for the holy man, but also through the grace of the Holy Spirit he was filled with still greater gifts.
While Francis was staying on Mount La Verna, secluded in his cell, one of his companions 16 greatly desired to have some of the Lord's words briefly noted down and written in the saint's own hand. By this means he believed he would escape from a serious temptation that was vexing him, not of the flesh but of the spirit, or at very least that he would bear it more easily. Languishing with this desire, he was in a state of internal anxiety because, overcome with embarrassment, he did not dare to disclose the matter to the venerable father. But what man did not tell Francis the Holy Spirit revealed to him. He ordered this previously mentioned friar to bring him some ink
15.
Major source: II C 31.
16.
Brother Leo.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
and paper; and he wrote down the Praises of the Lord in his own hand as the friar desired and, finally, a blessing for him, saying: "Take this slip of paper and guard it carefully until the day of your death." 17 The friar took the gift he so much desired and immediately his temptation was put to flight. The writing was preserved and, since it later worked miracles, it became a witness to the power of Francis. 18
10. There was a certain friar, eminent in holiness and outstanding in his manner of life, as far as it seemed outwardly, but who did everything very much in his own way. He spent all his time in prayer and observed silence with such strictness that he used to confess not with words but with signs.
It happened that the holy father came to that place, saw the friar and spoke to the other friars about him. When they all commended and praised him highly, the man of God replied: "Brothers, let him alone and do not praise to me what the devil has wrought in him. Know in truth that it is a temptation of the devil and a fraudulent deception." The friars took this harshly, judging that it was impossible that contrivances of fraud could paint themselves over with so many signs of perfection.
But not many days later this friar left the Order, and the brilliance of the interior insight with which the man of God perceived the secrets of his heart became abundantly clear.
In this way Francis foretold with unchanging truth the fall of many who seemed to stand firm and the conversion to Christ of many who were perverse.
17. On one side of this slip of paper Francis wrote the Praises of God , and on the other the Aaronic blessing (Num. 6:24-26) now commonly known as the Blessing of St. Francis , with the added line May the Lord bless you, Brother Leo , and the Tau as signature.
18. The original sheet in the handwriting of St. Francis (with a few lines of authentication in that of Brother Leo) is still preserved today in a reliquiary in the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi. Major sources:
I C 49-50;
II C 49.
ST. BONAVENTURE
He seemed to have approached in contemplation
the mirror of the eternal light , in whose marvelous splendor the gaze of his mind saw things that happened at a physical distance as if they were present. 20
11. Once while his vicar21 was holding a chapter, Francis was praying in his cell, as xhz go-between and mediator (Deut. 5:5) between the friars and God. One of them, hiding behind the mantle of some excuse, would not submit himself to the discipline of obedience. Seeing this in spirit, the holy man called one of the friars and said to him: "Brother,
I saw the devil on the back of that disobedient friar, holding him tightly by the neck. Driven by such a rider, he had spurned the bridle of obedience and was giving rein to his own inclination. But when
I prayed to God for the friar, the devil suddenly went away in confusion. Go and tell the friar to submit his neck to the yoke of holy obedience without delay!" Admonished by this intermediary, the friar immediately was converted to God and cast himself humbly at the feet of the vicar. 22
12. Another time it happened that two friars came from a distance to the hermitage of Greccio to see the man of God and to receive his blessing which they had desired for a long time.
When they came and did not find him, because he had already withdrawn and gone to his cell, they went away quite desolate.
And behold, as they were leaving, although he could not have known anything of their arrival or departure through any human perception, he came out of his cell contrary to his custom, shouted after them and blessed them in Christ's name 19.
Wisd. 7:26.
20.
Major sources:
II C 28; I C 48. Cf.
II C 27, 54.
21.
Elias.
22.
Major source:
II C 34.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
with the sign of the cross, just as they had desired. 23
13. Two friars once came from the Terra di Lavoro, the elder of whom had given much scandal to the younger. When they reached the father, he asked the younger friar how his companion had behaved toward him on the way. The friar replied: "Quite well"; but Francis said: "Be careful, brother, not to tell a lie under the pretext of humility. For I know, I know; but wait a little and you will see." The friar was amazed at how he could have known in spirit what had happened at a distance. Now not many days after, the one who had given scandal to his brother left the Order in contempt and went out into the world. He did not ask the father's forgiveness nor accept the discipline of correction as he should. In that single fall, two things shone forth clearly: the equity of the divine judgment and the penetrating power of the spirit of prophecy. 24
14. How he appeared as present to those who were absent, through God's power, becomes evidently clear from what was said above, if we recall to mind how he appeared to the friars, although absent, transfigured in a fiery chariot, 25 and how he presented himself at the Chapter of Arles in the image of a cross. 26
We ought to believe that this was done by divine providence so that from his miraculous appearance in bodily presence
23.
Major source:
II C 45.
24.
Major source:
II C 39.
25.
Cf. IV, 4, p. 209-210.
26.
Cf. IV, 10, p. 215.
ST. BONAVENTURE
it might clearly shine forth how present and open his spirit was to the light of eternal wisdom , which is mobile beyond all motion , reaching everywhere because of its purity
And spreading through the nations into holy souls it makes them prophets and friends of God . 27
The exalted Teacher is accustomed to open his mysteries to the simple and the little ones 28 as was first seen in the case of David, the most distinguished of the prophets, and afterwards in Peter, the prince of the apostles, and finally in Francis, the little poor man of Christ.
Although these were simple men 29 unskilled in learning, they were made illustrious by the teaching of the Holy Spirit . 30
One was a shepherd who pastured the Synagogue , the flock 31 God had led out of Egypt ;
the other was a fisherman who filled the net of the Church 33 with many kinds of believers.
The last was a merchant who bought the pearl of the Gospel life, selling and giving away all he had for the sake of Christ . 34
27.
Wisd.
7:24, 27.
28.
Prov.
3:32; Matt.
11:25.
29.
Cf. Acts 4:13.
30.
Cf. John 16:13; Acts 13:9.
31.
Cf. John 21:15;
Pet.
5:2.
32.
Cf.
1 Kings 16:11-12; 2 Kings 5:2.
33.
Cf. Matt.
13:47-48.
34.
Cf. Matt.
13:44-46. Cf. also I C 25.