CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER TWO
HIS PERFECT CONVERSION
TO GOD
AND HIS RESTORATION
OF THREE CHURCHES
Francis, the servant of the Most High, had no other teacher in these matters except Christ, whose kindness was shown once more by visiting him with the sweetness of grace.
One day when Francis went out to meditate in thefields (Gen.
24:63), he walked beside the church of San Damiano which was threatening to collapse because of extreme age. Inspired by the Spirit, he went inside to pray. Prostrate before an image of the Crucified, he was filled with no little consolation as he prayed. While his tear-filled eyes were gazing at the Lord's cross, 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 falling completely into ruin."
Trembling with fear, Francis was amazed at the sound of this astonishing voice, since he was alone in the church; and as he received in his heart the power of the divine words, he fell into a state of ecstasy. Returning finally to his senses, he prepared to obey, gathering himself together to carry out the command of repairing the church materially, although the principal intention of the words referred to that Church which Christ purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28), as the Holy
ST. BONAVENTURE
Spirit taught him and as he himself later disclosed to the fri-
He rose then, made the sign of the cross, and taking some ars. cloth to sell, hurried off to the town called Foligno. There he sold all he had brought with him, and, lucky merchant that he was, even sold the horse he was riding. Returning to Assisi, he reverently entered the church which he had been commanded to repair. When he found the poor priest there, he greeted him with fitting reverence, offered him money for the repairs on the church and for the poor, and humbly requested that the priest allow him to stay with him for a time. The priest agreed to his staying there but would not accept the money out of fear of his parents. True despiser of money that he was, Francis threw it on a window sill, valuing it no more than if it were dust. 2
2. When his father learned that the servant of God was staying with this priest, he was greatly disturbed and ran to the place. But Francis, upon hearing about the threats of those who were pursuing him and having a premonition that they were approaching, wished to give place to wrath (Rom.
12:19), and hid himself— being still untrained as an athlete of Christ in a secret pit. There he remained in hiding for some days, imploring the Lord incessantly with a flood of tears to deliver him from the hands of those who were persecuting his soul (Ps. 30:16;
108:31; 141:7) and in his kindness to bring to realization the pious desires he had inspired. He was then filled with excessive joy and began to accuse himself of cowardice. He cast aside his fear, left the pit and took the road to the town of Assisi. When the townspeople saw his unkempt face and his changed mentality, they thought that he had gone out of his senses. They threw filth from the streets and stones at him, shouting insults at him, as if he were insane and out of his mind. But the Lord's servant passed through it as if he were deaf to it all, unbroken and unchanged by any of these insults. When his father heard
Major source:
II C 10; minor sources:
I C 8;
II C 9; III C 2;
II C 11.
Major source:
I C 8-9; minor source: Jul.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
the shouting, he ran to him at once, not to save him but to destroy him.
Casting aside all compassion, he dragged him home, tormenting him first with words, then with blows and chains. But this made Francis all the more eager and stronger to carry out what he had begun, as he recalled the words of the ' sake Gospel: Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice
, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt.
5: 10). 3
After a little while, when his father went out of the country, his mother, who did not approve what her husband had done and had no hope of being able to soften her son's inflexible constancy, released him from his chains and permitted him to go away. He gave thanks to Almighty God and went back to the place where he had been before. Returning and not finding him at home, his father violently reproached his wife and in rage ran to that place. If he could not bring Francis back home, he would at least drive him out of the district. But strengthened by God, Francis went out on his own accord to meet his furious father, calling out in a clear voice that he cared nothing for his chains and blows.
Besides, he stated that he would gladly undergo any evil for the name of Christ. When his father, therefore, saw that he could not bring him around, he turned his attention to getting his money back. When he finally found it thrown on the window sill, his rage was mitigated a little, and the thirst of his avarice was somewhat alleviated by the draught of money. 4
4. Thereupon his carnally minded father led this child of grace, now stripped of his money, before the bishop of the town. He wanted to have Francis renounce into his hands his family possessions and return everything he had. A true lover of poverty, Francis showed himself eager to comply; he went before the bishop without delaying or hesitating. He did not wait for any words nor did he speak any, but immediately took off his clothes and gave them back to his father. Then it was 3.
Major source:
I C 10-12; minor source: Jul.
Major source:
I C 13-14; minor source: Jul.
ST. BONAVENTURE
discovered that the man of God had a hairshirt next to his skin under his fine clothes.
Moreover, drunk with remarkable fervor, he even took off his underwear, stripping himself completely naked before all. He said to his father: "Until now I have called you father here on earth, but now I can say without reservation, Our Father who art in heaven (Matt.
6:9), since I have placed all my treasure and all my hope in him." When the bishop saw this, he was amazed at such intense fervor in the man of God. He immediately stood up and in tears drew Francis into his arms, covering him with the mantle he was wearing, like the pious and good man that he was. He bade his servants give Francis something to cover his body. They brought him a poor, cheap cloak of a farmer who worked for the bishop.
Francis accepted it gratefully and with his own hand marked a cross on it with a piece of chalk, thus designating it as the covering of a crucified man and a half-naked beggar.
Thus the servant of the Most High King was left naked so that he might follow his naked crucified Lord, whom he loved.
Thus the cross strengthened him to entrust his soul to the wood of salvation that would save him from the shipwreck of the world. 5
Released now from the chains of all earthly desires, this despiser of the world left the town and in a carefree mood sought out a hidden place of solitude where alone and in silence he could hear the secrets God would convey to him. While
Francis, the man of God, was making his way through a certain forest, merrily singing praises to the Lord in the French lan5.
Cf. Wisd.
14:1-7. Major sources:
I C 15; II C 12; minor sources:
I C 13; II C 3;Jul.
10. Cf.
II C 214; on the theme of nakedness, cf. XIV, 3-4, pp.
317-318.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
guage, robbers suddenly rushed upon him from an ambush.
When they asked in a brutal way who he was, the man of God, filled with confidence, replied with these prophetic words: "I am the herald of the great King." But they struck him and hurled him into a ditch filled with snow, saying: "Lie there, you hick herald of God!" When they went away, he jumped out of the ditch, and brimming over with joy, in a loud voice began to make the forest resound with the praises of the Creator of all. 6
6. Coming to a certain neighboring monastery, he asked for alms like a beggar and received it— unrecognized and subjected to contempt. Setting out from there, he came to Gubbio, where he was recognized and welcomed by a former friend and given a poor little tunic, like one of Christ's little poor. From there the lover of complete humility went to the lepers and lived with them, serving them all most diligently for God's sake. He washed their feet, bandaged their ulcers, drew the pus from their wounds and washed out the diseased matter; he even kissed their ulcerous wounds out of his remarkable devotion, he who was soon to be a physician of the Gospel. 7 As a result, he received such power from the Lord that he had miraculous effectiveness in healing spiritual and physical illnesses.
I will cite one case among many, which occurred after the fame of the man of God became more widely known.
There was a man in the vicinity of Spoleto whose mouth and cheek were being eaten away by a certain horrible disease. He could not be helped by any medical treatment and went on a pilgrimage to implore the intercession of the holy apostles. On his way back from visiting their shrines, he happened to meet
God's servant. When out of devotion he wanted to kiss Francis's footprints, that humble man, refusing to allow it, kissed the mouth of the one who wished to kiss his feet. In his remarkable compassion Francis, the servant of lepers, touched
Major source:
I C 16; minor source:
I C 91.
Cf. Luke 10:30-37. Major source:
I C 16-17.
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that horrible sore with his holy mouth, and suddenly every sign of the disease vanished and the sick man recovered the health he longed for.
I do not know which of these we should admire more: the depth of his humility in such a compassionate kiss or his extraordinary power in such an amazing miracle. 8
7. Grounded now in the humility of Christ, Francis recalled to mind the command enjoined upon him from the cross, to repair the church of San Damiano. As a truly obedient man, he returned to Assisi to obey the divine command at least by begging aid.
Putting aside all embarrassment out of love of Christ poor and crucified, he begged from those among whom he used to show his wealth, and he loaded stones upon his body that was weakened by fasting. With God's help and the devoted assistance of the citizens, he completed repairs on the church. After this work, to prevent his body from becoming sluggish with laziness, he set himself to repair a certain church of St. Peter some distance from the town, because of the special devotion which, in his pure and sincere faith, he bore to the prince of the apostles. 9
8. When he finally completed this church, he came to a place called the Portiuncula where there was a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, built in ancient times but now deserted and cared for by no one. When the man of God saw how it was abandoned, he began to live there in order to repair it, moved by the fervent devotion he had toward the Lady of the world. According to the name of the church, which since ancient times was called St. Mary of the Angels, he felt that angels often visited there. So he took up residence there out of his reverence for the angels and his special love for the mother of Christ. The holy man loved this spot more than any other in the world. For here he began humbly, here he progressed steadily, here he ended happily. At his death he commended it to the friars as a place most dear to the Virgin.
8. This incident is not found in Celano or Julian.
Major sources:
II C 13-14;
I C 21.
THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS
Before his conversion, a certain friar, devoted to God, had a vision about this church which is worth relating. He saw a large group of men who had been struck blind, kneeling in a circle about this church, their faces turned to heaven. With uplifted hands and tearful voices, they were crying out to God, begging that he have pity on them and grant them sight. And behold, a splendrous light came down from heaven and spread over them all, giving to each his sight and the health they had longed for.
This is the place where the Order of Friars Minor was begun by Saint Francis under the inspiration of divine revelation.
For at the bidding of divine providence which guided Christ's servant in everything, he physically repaired three churches before he began the Order and preached the Gospel.
This he did not only to ascend in an orderly progression from the sensible realm to the intelligible, from the lesser to the greater, but also to symbolize prophetically in external actions perceived by the senses what he would do in the future.
For like the three buildings he repaired, so Christ's Church— with its threefold victorious army of those who are to be saved— 10 was to be renewed under his leadership in three ways:
10.
This is an allusion to the three orders which Francis founded: the first order of Friars
Minor; the second of Poor Clares; and the Third Order of those living in the world.
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by the structure, rule and teaching which he would provide.
And now we see that this prophecy has been fulfilled .
source:
I C 21; II C
18-20; I C 37; minor source: Jul.
14.