: The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi by Chalippe Candide Duerk Hilarion Editor - Francis of Assisi Saint 1182-1226; Miracles Early works to 1800

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BOOK I

BOOK II

He goes to Perugia, to consult the cardinal protector--His opinion on the promotion of his friars to ecclesiastical dignities--He returns to S. Mary of the Angels--His thoughts on these dignities--More than five thousand Friars Minors are present at the chapter he had appointed--He addresses the assembly, and forbids them troubling themselves about their food--Assistance comes to him from all sides--He receives more than five hundred novices during this chapter--He forbids indiscreet mortifications--The devils are incensed against him and his Order--He cautions his friars, and upon that gives them some instruction--He humbles them to preserve them from vainglory--He confounds those who wish the Rule mitigated--He wishes not for privileges which can engender disputes--He gives his friars instructions about their conduct to ecclesiastics--He obtains from the Pope letters apostolical confirming the approval of the Order--What he decrees in the chapter--He sends his friars through the whole world--The travels of his Friars in various parts of the world--In Greece--In Africa--In Spain and Portugal--In France--In the Low Countries--He himself prepares to go to the Levant--On the government of the monastery of S. Damian, and other houses of the same order--He sends six of his friars to Morocco--What he says to them--He starts on his voyage to Syria, with twelve companions--He rejects a postulant too much attached to his parents--A house at Ancona is given to him--He appoints, by means of a child inspired by God, those who are to accompany him to Syria--He embarks at Ancona and anchors at the isle of Cyprus--Arrives at Acre--Distributes his companions in different parts of Syria, and comes to the army before Damietta--He arrives at the camp before Damietta, and predicts the ill-success of the battle the Crusaders are about to give--His prediction is accomplished--He finds out the sultan of Egypt--Announces to him the truths of the faith, and offers to throw himself into the fire to prove them--He refuses the sultan's presents--Is esteemed and respected--The good dispositions with which he inspires the sultan--He obtains permission to preach in his States--He receives some disciples from the army of the Crusaders--Visits the holy places--Some whole monasteries of religious embrace his Institute--He returns to Italy--Establishes his Order in various places--Preaches at Bologna with great success--What he says and does on seeing a house of his Order too much ornamented--He makes a retreat at Camaldoli--Returns to S. Mary of the Angels--Reads the thoughts of his companion--Confounds the vanity of Brother Elias--Abolishes the novelties introduced into the Order by Brother Elias--In a vision the fortunes of his Order are made known to him--He holds the chapter in which he deposes Brother Elias, and in his place substitutes Peter of Catania--He renounces the generalship--Will not receive anything from novices entering his Order--He learns the news of the martyrdom of the friars he had sent to Morocco--What he says on the subject of their martyrdom--The martyrdom of these friars is the cause of the vocation of S. Antony of Padua--His friars pass into England--He visits some convents--Receives the Vicar General's resignation, and re-appoints, by the command of God, Brother Elias to his place--He holds a chapter, and sends missionaries to Germany

BOOK IV

BOOK V

The violence of his illness does not prevent him from exhorting his brethren--He is touched at the fatigue which his illness caused them-- Thanks God for the pains he suffered--Dictates a letter to Clare and her daughters--Rejoices and thanks God for his approaching death--Blesses his children--Has himself carried to S. Mary of the Angels--Blesses the town of Assisi--Informs a pious widow of his approaching death--Blesses his brethren a second time, and makes them eat a bit of bread, blessed by his hand--Gives a special blessing to Bernard, the eldest of his children--What we may presume were his dispositions in receiving the last sacraments--He stretches himself naked on the bare ground--Desires to be buried in the place of execution--Exhorts his brethren--He has the praises of God sung when at the point of death--He speaks to his children, and blesses them for the last time--Has the passion of Jesus Christ read to him--He recites the 141st psalm, and dies after the last verse--Miraculous proofs of his beatitude--State of his body after death--The Stigmata are seen and touched publicly--His obsequies--Clare and her daughters see and kiss the Stigmata--He is buried at Assisi, in the church of S. George--The circular written after his death--His canonization--The Church of S. Francis at Assisi--He is buried there--Researches are made to find the sacred body--The mission of St. Francis--The fruits of his labor.

Devotion of S. Francis towards Jesus Christ crucified--To what a degree he loved poverty--How great was the austerity of his life--His humility--His obedience--His gift of prayer and contemplation--His love of God--His sentiments of filial love on the mystery of the Incarnation--On the fast of Jesus Christ in the desert--On the mystery of the Eucharist--S. Francis, in his humility, would not be made priest--His devotion towards the Mother of God--Towards the angels and saints--His charity towards his neighbor--His zeal for the salvation of souls--His affection for the poor--The affection of his heart for all creatures--The pains he took to lead his brethren to perfection--His tender charity towards his brethren--His discretion and wisdom in the government of the Order--His supernatural and acquired knowledge--The efficacy of his words--His supernatural and miraculous gifts--He drives away devils--Brings the dead to life--Heals the sick--Has the gift of prophecy and discernment of spirits--He commands animals, and is obeyed--He performs many other miraculous actions--The great honors which were paid to him--His character and appearance--In what sense he was simple

THE LIFE AND LEGENDS OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

BOOK I

We here offer, to the pious reflections of the faithful, the life of a man who proposed to himself to practise literally the precepts of the Gospel, to conform himself entirely to Jesus Christ crucified, and to inspire the whole world with God's love.

Such a purpose must seem great to all those who can appreciate true grandeur by the light of religion. In its contempt of the goods of the world, it manifests an elevation of mind far above the ostentation of the ancient philosophers; in its deep humiliations, an heroical courage; in its extreme simplicity, the most exalted sentiments; in its weakness, and in the apparent foolishness of the cross, the strength and wisdom of God. The infidels themselves admired all this, and it will be not less meet to revive the fervor of Christians, and to increase the veneration they have always entertained for St. Francis.

God, who has often condescended to usher in His saints by portents, was pleased, at the birth of Francis, to give signs of what he would be during his life. For some days Pica had suffered great pains, without being able to give birth to her child, when a man, dressed as a pilgrim, came to tell her that she would only be delivered of her infant in a stable; he would be born on straw. Although this communication appeared most strange, relatives, nevertheless, acted upon it. The patient was removed to the nearest stable, where she was successfully delivered; an event which may well be looked upon, as in the intention of Providence, thereby to mark the conformity of the holy man to Jesus Christ, poor and humble; as much, at least, as the creature can be in conformity with the Creator, and the servant with the Master of the universe.

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