Francis of Assisi

“ Love your enemies, and pray for those that persecute you and speak evil against you; Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven; He that is steadfast unto the end shall be saved. ”

“ This is another Rule; for this is a remembrance, a warning, and an exhortation and my Testament which I, little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed brothers, in order that we may observe in a more Catholic way the Rule which we have promised to the Lord. And let the minister general and all the other ministers and custodes be bound by obedience not to add to these words or to take from them. And let them always have this writing with them beside the Rule. ”

“ I warn and exhort, moreover, in Christ Jesus the Lord, that the brothers be on their guard against all pride, vainglory, envy, avarice, care and anxiety for this world, detraction and murmuring. And they shall not take trouble to teach those ignorant of letters, but shall pay heed to this that they desire to have the spirit of God and its holy workings; that they pray always to God with a pure heart; that they have humility, patience, in persecution and infirmity; and that they love those who persecute, revile and attack us. ”

“ I strictly enjoin by obedience [26] on all the brothers that, wherever they may be, they should not dare, either themselves or by means of some interposed person, [27] to ask any letter in the Roman curia either for a church [28] or for any other place, nor under pretext of preaching, nor on account of their bodily persecution; but, wherever they are not received let them flee to another land to do penance, with the blessing of God. ”

“ For according to the holy Gospel, no one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. And those who have now promised obedience shall have one gown with a cowl, and another, if they wish it, without a cowl. And those who are compelled by necessity, may wear shoes. And all the brothers shall wear humble garments, and may repair them with sack cloth and other remnants, with the benediction of God. And I warn and exhort them lest they despise or judge men whom they shall see clad in soft garments and in colours, using delicate food and drink ”

“ Francis caused Brother Benedict of Prato to write down a blessing and some words of advice "in token of memory and benediction and testament." But surely from this narration we may not deduce the general proposition that St. Francis wrote "several testaments." The early Legends are silent except as to the one Testament here given, and all the passages which different writers quote "from the Testament" may be found in this one,—if we except two passages in M. Sabatier's edition of the Speculum Perfectionis. But it is not difficult to see that in both these places the Speculum is in error. ”

“ The brothers who are the ministers and servants of the other brothers shall visit and admonish their brothers and humbly and lovingly correct them; not teaching them anything which is against their soul and against our Rule. But the brothers who are subjected to them shall remember that, before God, they have discarded their own wills. Wherefore I firmly command them that they obey their ministers in all things which they have promised God to observe, and which are not contrary to their souls and to our Rule. ”

“ Let those who know not [how to work] learn, not through desire to receive the price of labor but for the sake of example and to repel idleness. And when the price of labor is not given to us, let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging alms from door to door. ”

“ As a reward, moreover, for their labour, they may receive for themselves and their brothers the necessaries of life, but not coin or money; and this humbly, as becomes the servants of God and the followers of most holy poverty. ”

“ Francis composed, the only one that has come down to us, as far as is known, is the "Praises of the Creatures," or, as it is now more commonly called, "The Canticle of the Sun." Celano, who alludes to this laud, says of St. Francis that he was of the race of Ananias, Azarias and Misael, inviting all creatures with him to glorify Him who made them. [1] It is this side of St. Francis' thoughts which finds expression in the Canticle ”

“ But for the needs of the sick and for clothing the other brothers, the ministers alone and the guardians shall provide through spiritual friends, as it may seem to them that necessity demands, according to time, place and cold temperature. This one thing being always regarded, that, as has been said, they receive neither coin nor money.
5. Those brothers to whom God has given the ability to labour, shall labour faithfully and devoutly; in such way that idleness, the enemy of the soul, being excluded, they may not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion ”

“ From the which no living man can flee.
Woe to them who die in mortal sin;
Blessed those who shall find themselves in Thy most holy will,
For the second death shall do them no ill.
Praise ye and bless ye my Lord, and give Him thanks,
And be subject unto Him with great humility.
↑ See 2 Cel. 3, 138–139, and 1 Cel. 80. ↑ See Cherancé, Life of St. Francis, p. 260. ↑ See on this head Ozanam, Les Poètes Franciscains, p. 82, and Arnold, Essays on Criticism, pp. 243–248. Mr. Arnold's translation of the Canticle is well known. ”

“ The text of the Canticle here translated is that of the Assisi MS. 338 (fol. 33) , from which the version given in the Conformities (pars. 2, fol. ii) [10] differs only by some unimportant variants. The following is an attempt to render literally into English the naïf rhythm of the original Italian, which necessarily disappears in any formal rhymed translation:
HERE BEGIN THE PRAISES OF THE CREATURES WHICH THE BLESSED FRANCIS MADE TO THE PRAISE AND HONOR OF GOD WHILE HE WAS ILL AT ST. DAMIAN'S:
Most high, omnipotent, good Lord,
Praise, glory and honor and benediction all, are Thine. ”

“ Panfilo da Magliano, O.F.M., in his Storia Compendiosa, also by M. Sabatier in his Vie de S. François and later in his Speculum, pp. 334–35. ↑ Professor Boehmer published the text of the Maz. MS, 1350 in his Sonnengesang v. Fr. ”

“ III Soc. 29, for reference to this passage. ↑ Cod. O. reads: eramus "we were content." ↑ Cod. As. omits qui volebant, "by those who wished." ↑ Firm. and Wadd. add: "poor and neglected churches." ↑ See Bonav. Leg. Maj., III, 2. ↑ Cod. As. omits "other things," and O. omits "all other things." ↑ See Documenta antiqua Franciscana, P. I, page 98, n. 15, where this passage is cited among the Verba quae scripsit Frater Leo. ”