Part 45 (1/2)
Now when on a certain day he was praying fervently unto the Lord, answer was made unto him: ”Francis, all those things that thou hast loved after the flesh, and hast desired to have, thou must needs despise and hate, if thou wouldst do My will, and after thou shalt have begun to do this the things that aforetime seemed sweet unto thee and delightful shall be unbearable unto thee and bitter, and from those that aforetime thou didst loathe thou shalt drink great sweetness and delight unmeasured.” Rejoicing at these words, and consoled in the Lord, when he had ridden nigh unto a.s.sisi, he met one that was a leper. And because he had been accustomed greatly to loathe lepers, he did violence to himself, and dismounted from his horse, gave him money, and kissed his hand. And receiving from him the kiss of peace, he remounted his horse and continued his journey. Thenceforth he began more and more to despise himself, until by the grace of G.o.d he had attained perfect mastery over himself.
A few days later, he took much money and went to the quarter of the lepers, and, gathering all together, gave to each an alms, kissing his hand. As he departed, in very truth that which had aforetime been bitter to him, that is, the sight and touch of lepers, was changed into sweetness. For, as he confessed, the sight of lepers had been so grievous to him that he had been accustomed to avoid not only seeing them, but even going near their dwellings. And if at any time he happened to pa.s.s their abodes, or to see them, although he was moved by compa.s.sion to give them an alms through another person, yet always would he turn aside his face, stopping his nostrils with his hand. But, through the grace of G.o.d, he became so intimate a friend of the lepers that, even as he recorded in his Will,[519] he lived with them and did humbly serve them.
[Sidenote: How St. Francis would not dwell in an adorned cell]
[Sidenote: Or in a cell called his own]
(b)
A very spiritual friar, who was familiar with Blessed Francis, erected at the hermitage where he lived a little cell in a solitary spot, where Blessed Francis could retire and pray when he came thither. When he arrived at this place the friar took him to the cell, and Blessed Francis said, ”This cell is too splendid”--it was, indeed, built only of wood, and smoothed with a hatchet--”if you wish me to remain here, make it within and without of branches of trees and clay.” For the poorer the house or cell, the more was he pleased to live therein. When the friar had done this, Blessed Francis remained there several days. One day he was out of the cell when a friar came to see him, who, coming thereafter to the place where Blessed Francis was, was asked, ”Whence came you, Brother?”
He answered, ”I come from your cell.” Then said Blessed Francis: ”Since you have called it mine, let another dwell there and not I.”
And, in truth, we who were with him often heard him say: ”The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.” And again he would say: ”When the Lord remained in the desert, and fasted forty days and forty nights, He did not make for Himself a cell or a house, but found shelter amongst the rocks of the mountain.” For this reason, and to follow His example, he would not have it said that a cell or house was his, nor would he allow such to be constructed.... When he was nigh unto death he caused it to be written in his Testament[520] that all the cells and houses of the friars should be of wood and clay, the better to safeguard poverty and humility.
[Sidenote: A lazy friar]
At the beginning of the Order, when the friars were at Rivo-Torto,[521] near a.s.sisi, there was among them one friar who would not pray, work, nor ask for alms, but only eat. Considering this, Blessed Francis knew by the Holy Spirit that he was a carnal man, and said to him, ”Brother Fly, go your way, since you consume the labor of the brethren, and are slothful in the work of the Lord, like the idle and barren drone who earns nothing and does not work, but consumes the labor and earnings of the working bee.” He, therefore, went his way, and as he was a carnally-minded man he neither sought for mercy nor obtained it.
[Sidenote: Public humiliation inflicted upon himself]
Having at a time suffered greatly from one of his serious attacks of illness, when he felt a little better he began to think that during his sickness he had exceeded his usual allowance of food, whereas he had really eaten very little. Though not quite recovered from the ague, he caused the people of a.s.sisi to be called together in the public square to listen to a sermon. When he had finished preaching, he told the people to remain where they were until he came back to them, and entered the cathedral of St. Rufinus with many friars and Brother Peter of Catana, who had been a canon of that church, and was now the first Minister-General[522] appointed by Blessed Francis. To Brother Peter Francis spoke, enjoining him under obedience not to contradict what he was about to say. Brother Peter replied: ”Brother, neither is it possible, as between you and me, nor do I wish to do anything save what is pleasing to you.”
Then, taking off his tunic, Blessed Francis bade him place a rope around his neck and drag him thus before the people to the place where he had preached. At the same time he ordered another friar to carry a bowlful of ashes to the place, and when he got there to throw the ashes into his face. But this order was not obeyed by the friar out of the pity and compa.s.sion he felt for him.
Brother Peter, taking the rope, did as he had been told; but he and all the other friars shed tears of compa.s.sion and bitterness. When he [Francis] stood thus bared before the people in the place where he had preached, he cried: ”You, and all those who by my example have been induced to abandon the world and enter Religion to lead the lives of friars, I confess before G.o.d and you that in my illness I have eaten meat and broths made of meat.” And all the people could not refrain from weeping, especially as at that time it was very cold and he had scarcely recovered from the fever.
Beating their b.r.e.a.s.t.s where they stood, they exclaimed, ”If this saint, for just and manifest necessity, with shame of body thus accuses himself, whose life we know to be holy, and who has imposed on himself such great abstinence and austerity since his first conversion to Christ (whom we here, as it were, see in the flesh), what will become of us sinners who all our lifetime seek to follow our carnal appet.i.tes?”
[Sidenote: St. Francis and the larks]
Blessed Francis, wholly wrapped up in the love of G.o.d, discerned perfectly the goodness of G.o.d not only in his own soul, now adorned with the perfection of virtue, but in every creature. On account of which he had a singular and intimate love of creatures, especially of those in which was figured anything pertaining to G.o.d or the Order. Wherefore above all other birds he loved a certain little bird which is called the lark, or by the people, the cowled lark.
And he used to say of it: ”Sister Lark hath a cowl like a Religious; and she is a humble bird, because she goes willingly by the road to find there any food. And if she comes upon it in foulness, she draws it out and eats it. But, flying, she praises G.o.d very sweetly, like a good Religious, despising earthly things, whose conversation is always in the heavens, and whose intent is always to the praise of G.o.d. Her clothes (that is, her feathers), are like to the earth and she gives an example to Religious that they should not have delicate and colored garments, but common in price and color, as earth is commoner than the other elements.” And because he perceived this in them, he looked on them most willingly. Therefore it pleased the Lord, that these most holy little birds should show some sign of affection towards him in the hour of his death. For late in the Sabbath day after vespers, before the night in which he pa.s.sed away to the Lord, a great mult.i.tude of that kind of birds called larks came on the roof of the house where he was lying, and, flying about, made a wheel like a circle around the roof, and, sweetly singing, seemed likewise to praise the Lord.
[Sidenote: His desire that birds and animals be fed on Christmas day]
We who were with Blessed Francis and write these things, testify that many times we heard him say: ”If I could speak with the Emperor,[523] I would supplicate and persuade him that, for the love of G.o.d and me, he would make a special law that no man should snare or kill our sisters, the larks, nor do them any harm. Also, that all chief magistrates of cities and lords of castles and villages should, every year, on the day of the Lord's Nativity, compel men to scatter wheat and other grain on the roads outside cities and castles, that our Sister Larks and all other birds might have to eat on that most solemn day; and that, out of reverence for the Son of G.o.d, who on that night was laid by the most Blessed Virgin Mary in a manger between an ox and an a.s.s, all who have oxen and a.s.ses should be obliged on that night to provide them with abundant and good fodder; and also that on that day the poor should be most bountifully fed by the rich.”
For Blessed Francis held in higher reverence than any other the Feast of the Lord's Nativity, saying, ”After the Lord was born, our salvation became a necessity.” Therefore he desired that on this day all Christians should rejoice in the Lord, and, for the love of Him who gave Himself for us, should generously provide not only for the poor, but also for the beasts and birds.
[Sidenote: His regard for trees, stones, and all created things]
Next to fire he most loved water, which is the symbol of holy penance and tribulation, whereby the stains are washed from the soul, and by which the first cleansing of the soul takes place in holy baptism. Hence, when he washed his hands, he would select a place where he would not tread the water underfoot. When he walked over stones he would tread on them with fear and reverence, for the love of Him who is called the Rock, and when reciting the words of the Psalm, _Thou hast exalted me on a rock_, would add with great reverence and devotion, ”beneath the foot of the rock hast thou exalted me.”
In the same way he would tell the friars who cut and prepared the wood not to cut down the whole tree, but only such branches as would leave the tree standing, for love of Him who died for us on the wood of the Cross. So, also, he would tell the friar who was the gardener not to cultivate all the ground for vegetables and herbs for food, but to set aside some part to produce green plants which should in their time bear flowers for the friars, for love of Him who was called ”The Flower of the Field,” and ”The Lily of the Valley.” Indeed he would say the Brother Gardener should always make a beautiful little garden in some part of the land, and plant it with sweet-scented herbs bearing lovely flowers, which in the time of their blossoming invited men to praise Him who made all herbs and flowers. For every creature cries aloud: ”G.o.d has made me for thee, O man!”