Fare Frate tradizionale!

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Regola Bollata, San Francesco, Vita religiosa

Nuova opportunità vocazionale francescana in Italia, per frati e vocazioni:

Se ha avuto il desiderio di seguire San Francesco come i suoi primi compagni facevano, adesso c’è una nuova opportunità di farlo, osservando la Regola Bollata di San Francesco secondo i decreti papali di un tempo:

L’osservanza antica della Regola Bollata di San Francesco d’Assisi è la forma di vita ispirata di Gesù Cristo, scritta dalle mani di San Francesco, approvata da Papa Onorio III il 26 Novembre 1223 e confermata da più che 20 papi.  Essa è la forma di vita originaria della vita Francescana che non si osserva in nessun altra comunità religiosa in tutto il mondo.

Questa vita è distinta dal non uso dei soldi, il non avere di proprietà sia personale sia in comune, il portare indosso del saio francescano sempre e ovunque ecc., della predica dei quattro nuovissimi: in somma, dalla osservanza di tutti i precetti della Regola Bollata di San Francesco senza mitigazioni. (leggi più qui  sull’invito di formare comunità).

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Torniamo a seguire le orme del nostro Serafico Padre

St Francis in the ancient habit of the Order, with the tonsure of a friar Deacon.

Sono passati ottocento anni da quando Dio Altissimo si è degnato di rivolgere il Suo sguardo al Suo servo Francesco per chiamarlo a una vita di semplicità evangelica. In un primo momento, tramite la visione miracolosa a San Damiano, durante i primi giorni dell’inverno del 1206; poi, durante la festa di San Mattia, il 24 febbraio 1209, quando San Francesco, che aveva l’abitudine di assistere ogni giorno al Santissimo Sacrificio della Messa nella chiesa della Vergine Regina degli Angeli alla Porziuncola, nella vallata sottostante al paese di Assisi, in Italia, udì con le sue orecchie il Vangelo dell’invio dei discepoli e rimase dopo la celebrazione per chiedere al sacerdote di spiegargliene il significato. Dopo aver compreso il significato di questo brano della Scrittura, il Serafico Padre esclamò con gioia: Questo è ciò che voglio, questo è ciò che anelo con tutto il mio cuore!

Che gran giorno fu quello, che giorno pieno di speranza fu per tutti i figli e le figlie del Poverello! Possiamo scorrere le innumerevoli pagine degli anni e tornare indietro a quel giorno meraviglioso e sorprendente in cui un uomo così umile, Francesco di Bernardone, che desiderava con tutta la sua anima e il suo corpo seguire il Signore Gesù, intraprese la vita evangelica in un modo straordinario e apostolico, mettendo in pratica le parole del Vangelo in modo letterale. Perché a partire da quel giorno San Francesco fece ciò che Nostro Signore comandò: non prese nulla con sé, né oro né argento, né una seconda tunica, né un bastone né una bisaccia, e cominciò una vita di completa, intera e perfetta dedizione al servizio di Gesù Cristo nella Sua Chiesa, predicando il pentimento ai peccatori e offrendo opere di carità ai lebbrosi e ai poveri.

Che giorni pieni di speranza sono quelli per tutti noi Francescani! Possiamo vedere che ciò che ha reso San Francesco così grande è qualcosa a cui non solo possiamo aspirare, ma che possiamo tutti ottenere, perché a San Francesco fu concesso dalla grazia di Dio, che Egli, nella Sua impenetrabile misericordia e generosità, si è degnato di concedere anche a noi, tramite la nostra vocazione, e verso cui e in cui possiamo camminare e progredire, se solo vogliamo seguire le orme del nostro Serafico Padre, San Francesco.

Umiliamoci, dunque, e camminiamo ancóra una volta con nostro Padre. Mostriamoci suoi figli ascoltando le sue parole e osservando la sua Regola. Imitiamo soprattutto la sua semplicità nella sua fede nel Vangelo, che era pari a quella di un bambino, come lo era il suo distacco da tutti gli interessi e le ambizioni mondani.

 

Continua a leggere

 

Fonte: https://exffi.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/torniamo-a-seguire-le-orme-del-nostro-serafico-padre/

« Laudato Sie, mi Signore… » — The Encyclical which needs to be written

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Apostle Saint John, Christ Jesus, Encyclical, Environmentalism, Jesus Christ, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, Saint Francis of Assisi

Editor’s note: Since some Catholics may consider it distasteful or inappropriate to publicly criticize Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment, I have chosen not to publish anything regarding it.

However, by the grace of God, there has come into view the text of a rough draft of an Encyclical from the future, the reading of which is an occasion to reinvigorate me in the Catholic Faith which has come to us from the lips of the Eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.  Having transcribed it, as best I can, I pass it on the text to the readers of this blog for their edification and consolation in the present hour of madness and confusion.

 

ON THE HONOR AND GLORY DUE TO THE DIVINE MAJESTY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

AGAINST THE ERRORS OF ENVIRONMENTALISM

(Draft Copy — Nota bene: Not under embargo)

Encyclical Letter From a Future Catholic Pope, to all the Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Religious and Laity in communion with this Apostolic See:

Peace and Apostolic Benediction!

INTRODUCTION

« Laudato sie, mi Signore cum tucte le Tue creature »:  with these words Saint Francis of Assisi — whom the Most High and Triune Lord, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost, raised up from a family of cloth merchants in a small Umbrian town, and sent to this Apostolic See for the restoration of the House  of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15, cf Eccles 4:17) — the poverello, sought to draw all Christians to the praise and glorification of the One True God, the Catholic God, apart from Whom there is no god in Heaven or Earth.

2. These words are drawn from his Canticle of Brother Sun, or Canticle of Creatures, and are in the native tongue of his home town, in the Umbrian dialect as it was spoken at the turn of the 13th century after the Birth of Christ, Jesus, Our Lord.

3. That Canticle begins with a praise of the One True God:

Altissimu, onnipotente bon Signore,
Tue so le laude, la gloria e l’honore et onne benedictione.

Ad Te solo, Altissimo, se konfano,
et nullu homo ène dignu te mentouare.

in which Saint Francis, after the likeness of a seraph of the empyrean Heaven, recalls to our minds the attributes which are peculiar and properly of God alone:  Most High, Omnipotent, Good Lord… words, which the Saint pronounces in the vocative case, to indicate, after the example of the Prophet Job, that when one speaks of Our Lord and Creator, it is most proper and right to do so, as one speaking to Him, not of Him.

4. For Our God is Most High, just as the Prophet Isaiah teaches:  O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who sittest upon the cherubim, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. (Isaiah 37:16).

5. Our God is Omnipotent, that is, Almighty, as He Himself declared to the Prophet Moses:  I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be perfect. (Genesis 17:1).

6. Our God is the Good Lord, as He Himself taught us, when He deflected the false praise offered to the human nature which He assumed in His Incarnation for our salvation, saying:  No one is good but God. (Mark 10:18).

7. God alone is good, because God alone in His very Being, which both is and exists from all eternity, is the sum and origin  of all perfection, and it is He Who is, and who was, and who is to come, just as He revealed to the Apostle Saint John:  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. (Apoc 1:18)

8. Because God is God, the only God, for this reason all men are bound to praise and glorify him, as the holy man of Assisi did in his Canticle of the Creatures after the manner of a Levite of old, as was written of King David, when he brought the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem for the first time:  And he appointed Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to remember His works, and to glorify, and praise the Lord God of Israel. (1 Parapilomenon 16:4).

9.  This did the great Seraphim and Archangel Raphael command men, when in the guise of Azarias the son of the great Ananias (Tobias 5:18) he said to Tobit:  For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God: bless ye him, and sing praises to him. (Tobias 12:18).

10. But all the more so, are Christians bound to praise Him, they who have been saved through the laver of regeneration (Titus 3:5) by the merits of the blood of Christ Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, and have been transferred from the kingdom of this darkness, to the Kingdom of His Everlasting Light (cf. Colossians 1:13), and this after the example of the Prophet Moses and the Jews of old, who upon their rescue in the sea, when they sung the Canticle of the Lord, exclaimed: The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2).

PART I

Our God and Savior is the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. At the very heart of the Christian religion, which originated and endures and shall ever purdure only in the Catholic Church, lies the confession of a most sublime truth:  that Our God and Savior is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, that is, that He who had created us and all things at the beginning of time, who is named by the Name, “Yahweh, Sabbaoth!” (2 Samuel 7:27), is the same God, who in His incarnation as man, offered Himself up as a living holocaust for the expiation of sin upon the Cross (cf. Hebrews 9:14), during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, in proconsulship of Pontius Pilate (cf. Luke 3:1), on the mount of Golgotha (cf. Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17).

2. This is what the people of God of old hoped and prayed for, as the Prophet Baruch witnesses:  For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come to you from our everlasting Savior. (Baruch 4:22)

3. For the Creator of All, Who at the beginning of time, having created all things, pronounced them, “good” (Genesis ), in the fullness of time sent His Son to save sinners, and commissioned men to preach the Gospel of salvation, as is written of His preferential or antecedent will for mankind:  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4).

OUR DIVINE AND APOSTOLIC CHARGE MOVE US

4. For this reason, on account of the sublime office which We have received from the Hands of the Living God, when in the person of Saint Peter, he received from Christ Jesus Our Lord, the duty and office of confirming His flock in the truth of His teaching (Matthew 16:18), We cannot be silent at the grave errors of Our own day which have overwhelmed the entire human race with monstrous falsehoods which denigrate and dishonor the Divine and Eternal Majesty of God Our Creator and threaten and do lessen the glory which He is due from every creature, on account of the Goodness and Wisdom with Which He worked in the creation and ordering of the entire universe of things.

THE DUTY OF THIS APOSTOLIC SEE TO AVOID THE PROFANATION AND SACRILEGE OF ITS SACRED MINISTRY

5. For Our Most High Lord entrusted the office of teaching to Saint Peter so that the one, sole and unique Church which He founded in Himself upon the profession of Saint Peter’s faith, might be the bulwark and pillar of the truth for all His own, and indeed for all mankind, until the end of time, when He comes is glory to judge the living and the dead, meeting out eternal and glorious rewards for those who have remained faithful to Him, and punishing the wicked and godless with eternal damnation in the fire pits of Gehenna.

6. For this reason, if We as a private person were to use our august office to teach anything which is merely naturally good, We would not be exempt from the demerit of some culpability for having profaned the sacred duty of Our office.  This sin would be all the greater in Us and sacriligeous, if We used the authority of Our office — which is not of man’s contrivance, but which originates immediately from the largess of the Creator and Savior of men — to promote error or to foster in souls a turning away of minds and hearts and actions from the goal of the salvation offered by the Redeemer of mankind:  life on high with Christ Jesus, just as St. Paul wrote:  But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself. (cf. Philippians 3:20).

7. For this reason, the Apostle of the Gentiles warned all who would follow him in the Apostolic ministry with these stern words:  Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who walk so as you have our model. For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things. (Philippians 3:17-19)

8. This sinful obsession with earthly things is, as the glorious Doctor of the Church, the Seraphic Saint Bonaventure frequently notes, the necessary consequent of a human spirit bent down to face earthly things by the weight of his own sins and vices and concupiscences.

9. It should, therefore, not be a matter of dispute among all who know their faith, that godless and carnal men have not the liberty of mind to be but the cause of error and darkness, since their minds are not intent on things above in that Heaven of heavens, in which the God who is Light Himself, dwells in inaccessible light.

10. For this reason, God in His Wisdom and Providence chose to warn us beforehand against those who would clothe themselves in the raiment of Angels and belch forth monstrous errors to deceive the faithful, after the manner of the False Prophet of which the beloved Apostle spoke in the Book of the Apocalypse:

And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain: And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their works. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE CONDEMNED  BEFORE AND AFTER THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF MY PREDECESSOR

11. The Apostle of St. John warned us of these things long ago, just as Divine Providence did in our own days, when according to the liturgical books for the liturgy in the vernacular, on the very day great scandal was to be given to the world, this reading from Saint Paul was proclaimed:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema. (Galatians 1:8-9)

12. And on the very day which followed, again, the passage of Our Lord’s admonition, which is aptly accommodated as a pastoral exhortation to the successors of Saint Peter:

Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also. (Matthew 6: 19-21)

13. For these reasons and motives, and after the example of the Seraphic Saint Francis, who grieved most of all from the many scandals which were given by corrupt clergy and religious, We consider it necessary to remove a grave scandal which has shaken the whole world: namely, that which emanated from the once unsullied throne of this Apostolic See. I speak of the encyclical letter, Laudato Si’ of my predecessor, Francis, of infelicitous memory, who added to the presumption of taking as his name, that of the Saint whom the Lord Jesus, in a vision given to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, declared was the one most conform to His Sacred Heart, by promoting in an official papal document, into which he mixed many half-truths, the falsehood of environmentalism unto the deception of the entire Catholic world.

My Predecessor did not intend to exercise the Papal Magisterium when he wrote

14. To remove all doubt and scruple of conscience, We shall begin with the historical fact, that as is written in the official text of the Encyclical, Laudato Si, our predecessor never intended, when he prepared and wrote, to exercise the office of the magisterium which Christ entrusted to this Apostolic See. This is evident both in the circumstances of its release, which was entrusted to non-Catholics, and the text of the document itself in paragraph n. 15, wherein the author expresses his intention to engage in a pastoral approach and the opening of dialogue.  Nor is the affirmation, therein, that the encyclical enters into the social teaching of the Church, in any way definitive or obliging, since, according to the norm of canon law, there is no obligation except regarding that which is imposed.  This is further evidenced if we examine the presuppositions and contents of the encyclical letter, which deviate so clearly from the 5 necessary conditions for infallible teaching, established by the infallible and ecumenical First Council of the Lateran.  Finally, it should be obvious to sane and rational men, that the expression of opinion or the relation of facts is not teaching; rather the formal exercise of any magisterium consists in the declarative pronouncement of truths which must be accepted as true by all men in all times.  While this will become more clear, in what We have yet to say, yet, for the sake of all consciences, We affirm and declare and define that the entire totality of the Encyclical and its every part are to be considered merely as the personal doctrine of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and not of this Apostolic See.

PART II

God alone is the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. First among the truths which must be professed against the errors of communism, socialism and environmentalism, is that the One True God is the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  This is no mere customary title ascribed to God.  Nay, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, the glorious Saint Paul of Tarsus preached in the Areopagus of Athens:  God, who made the world, and all things therein; He, being Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).

2. This lordship of God depends upon the twofold dignity of God:  He is the first and only Eternal one, and He is the creator of all which comes after Him.  This lordship is not just a title of dignity, however, but a name of power which signifies to men that He is Almighty over everything in Heaven and Earth to such an extent and degree that no one can compare to Him (cf. Ps. 86:8, 40:5) in the power which He can display over them, the Wisdom with which He made and arranged them, and the Providence and Goodness with which He has designed and fashioned and now doth regulate  and govern them.

3. From these most profound theological truths regarding God, our Creator and Lord, we must recognize and profess that it is not man who is the lord and master of creation, but God; that it is not man who is first and foremost responsible for the heavens and the Earth and all these contain, but God; that is is not man who must mind the order and regulation of the environment, but God.  For without God none of these things would be, and they are sustained in continual being and right order by His Most Eminent Power and His Most Intimate Presence and His most Universal Omnipotence, in this way manifesting the sublime Dignity of the Father, the humble service of the Son, and the continual governing movement of the Holy Ghost.

Fundamental Presuppositions of Environmentalism impugn the Majesty and Wisdom of God, our Creator

4. For this reason, it is theologically an effrontery to God to say or concede that the environment of this planet Earth depends upon mankind.  And since the same Lord and Creator of Heaven and Earth, is the One who created man, it is similarly a blasphemy and indignity to man’s Lord and God, to say or imply that the nature or existence or natural actions of man can or are in disharmony with the divine order of the cosmos or the natural proper functioning of the organic biosphere of the planet Earth.

5. God made all things for man, but man for Himself, so that even in his being and acting man glorifies His Creator, that is, manifests the wondrous wisdom and providence and knowledge which His Creator exercises in making him, in designing him, in empowering him with intellect and will and in giving him a body and planet which is fit for everything which is necessary for human life (Genesis 1:29-30).

6. Therefore, it is false and heretical to say that the dominion over all things, which God has created, does not belong ontologically and causally and by right to the Lord Creator of Heaven and Earth.  It is also false and heretical to say that God cannot or ought not concede a relative, subordinate dominion over creatures to man, nay it contradicts Sacred Scripture. (Genesis 1:28).

7. Finally, it is false and heretical to say or imply that man does not have the divine right to exercise this rule over all creatures, or that in doing so he violates the Divine, moral or natural laws which God established for and in the universe.

Environmentalism contradicts Science on many points

8. Therefore, it is sheer popular superstition to hold, therefore, that anything natural which man dispossesses from his ownership can be the cause of the pollution or harm to the environment.  This is so, because, since God made all things to serve mankind, it is impossible that He did not make and fashion a world in which natural things acting naturally naturally take care of both man and the things he uses and has used or discarded.

9. This is confirmed by the many findings of modern empirical sciences such as physics, chemistry and biology, which confirm, that for ever action there is a reaction, that all things left to themselves tend to entropy, and that there is a hierarchy of innumerable species of life, subordinated to man, which live and thrive and have their being with him on this planet, in such wise as to use what is taken and discarded by others to foster their own growth and development.

10.  For this reason, We by Our Apostolic Authority, following closely in the footsteps of Saint Peter, to whom it was revealed by an Angel from Heaven, that things are not to be disdained, which God the Son had cleansed by His Passion (Acts 10:9-16), so We recognize and declare, that since God at the beginning had both made all things and declared them together with man, “very good” (Genesis 1:30, and throughout), that it is a mortal sin of blasphemy to call them or their use evil, and thus, likewise, a grave error and sin, to say that their non-use or discarding, is of itself, or by itself, or according to its genus a sin.

Environmentalism detaches beauty from truth and goodness

11. Now just as the divine order of things, in which God has established the universe, manifest the Wisdom and Power of God, so does it manifest the Beauty and Providence of God.   For though the biological history of this Planet differs from age to age, yet nothing disturbs the wonderful, fruitful and abundant order in which God rules and commands the heavens at the service of the Earth, the Poverello of Assisi so truly sings:  May Thou be praised, my Lord, for brother wind, and for the air and the cloudy and the clear weather and every weather (Dan 3:64-65) through which to all Thy creatures Thou gives sustenance (cf. Ps. 103:13-14) [Cant 6].

12. For this reason, it is a grave perversion of right aestetics to say that anything in the environment which is caused by man or by natural forces is ugly, undue, or improper. This is God’s very own teaching, as it was revealed to the Prophet Isaiah himself:  For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:18)

13. To say or imply, therefore, that man’s activities in general make this world ugly or pollute it is false, erroneous and implicitly heretical, inasmuch it impugns the Divine Goodness, Providence and Wisdom of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

14. The falsehoods and lies of environmentalism are derived from several errors, chief of which is materialism.  For the error of material holds that there is nothing spiritual and hence denies the existence of God and spiritual causes.  Combined with the darkness of unbridled pride of humanism, which would exalt man to the level of God Himself, it leads to the error that what is not in harmony with human will to be ugly and unjust.  And inasmuch as the proud man is the avaricious man, it says that which violates the aesthetics of man in his domination of creation is immoral and must be corrected.

15. Another chief cause of environmentalism is the error of naturalism, which holds that man is disparate and inharmonious with the rest of creation, which it terms the “natural world”: a name for creation which is false, since it presupposes that man is not part of creation, or that his handiwork is unnatural or in conflict with the rest of creation and its purpose.

15.  These errors combine to form a noxious poison in the minds of men.  To use an example:  Environmentalists see a landscape in which remnants of things made of paper or plastic or metal are strewn about by the wind, and they see pollution which must be corrected by the removal of all these things.  Yet, what they do not see is the forces of creation doing what they were made to do, in the manner in which they do it, of returning these materials to their constituent parts and elements and compounds by a process so gradual that it often escapes the observation of flighty men.  To say that the manner in which created things treat of created thins is ugly, unnatural, or wrong is thus scientifically as false as theologically it is erroneous and heretical.

16. For this reason, it is clear that much of what is called “pollution” is so named out of a aesthetic which has long been divorced from a Christian notion of creation and a Catholic appreciation of the divine order of things in the cosmos; which error is in turn founded upon an exaggerated notion of a man-centered materialism.

 17.  This is especially and primarily true in regard to those things used and manufactured by man, which are composed of substances and compounds and elements which occur naturally in creation.  For just as God created, let us say, the metal iron, and just as in some parts of the world the concentration of iron in the soil or water, naturally occurring, is too high to allow that water or soil to be readily used by men, so it would be false and erroneous to say that man, in abandoning iron in any place of this Planet is of itself, by itself, harmful to nature or contrary to the divine order of creation.  For if that were true, then God would Himself appear to be guilty of polluting the land and water, which He made, when He ordered the arrangement and disposition of things upon the Earth.

PART III

It is the Duty of Every Man to Recognize and Acknowledge the Sovereign Majesty of the Lord of Heaven and Earth

1. It follows from what We have said and expounded, that each and every man, woman, and child, is gravely bound to recognize and acknowledge the Sovereignty and Majesty of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, His Creator and Savior.  This is not only a grave obligation founded upon the rights of God but also a grave obligation founded upon the dependence of man, individually and as a society, upon Him and the divine order according to which He has arranged the universe, which He has created and given mankind to guard and keep and use, for His honor and glory and his own salvation.

2. This duty of recognition is first and foremost, only and truly fulfilled in the acceptance and profession of the Catholic Faith, which is the One and Only True Religion revealed by the Eternal God to men, as the sole means of salvation for mankind.  Without such a profession of faith and expression of fidelity in faithful adherence, man, even as a creature, is distanced from His Lord and Creator.

3. This distancing of mankind and the consequent disorder which arises in himself and in his relation to the university of things has no other cause but the sin of our father Adam, who having been entrusted with the headship of the human race and the rule of all creation under God, rebelled against His Lord and Creator by eating of the fruit of the Tree which he had been forbidden by God to eat (Genesis 2).

4. On account of this mortal sin, Adam lost many and tremendous divine gifts, for himself and for all his descendants.  Chief of these was the grace of God, without which man cannot clearly, easily or with facility, know God and obey His precepts.

5.  For this reason, just as there is no right and sane care for things of lesser significance, without dutiful fulfillment of things of greater import; and just as those who are faithful in greater things, can easily be faithful in lesser ones:  so it is vain and absurd for mankind to take care, individually or as a society, to guard the divine order of things in the created universe, if he neglects his own proper subordination and zealous service of the Divine Majesty of His Creator.

6. Indeed, only when mankind comes universally and faithfully to profess the Faith of Christ, that is the Catholic Religion, is any collective and effective care of the created things entrusted to mankind, by man as a race possible.  For the divine order of things, having God as their origin and cause, cannot be understood, let alone rightly perceived without faith in the Living God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, as He Himself has revealed Himself in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

7. Therefore, let all mankind hasten to the Ark of Salvation, outside of which no man can be saved or have hope of salvation, and seek the cleansing waters of baptism in Christ Jesus, which have their full effect of grace and sanctification only in the Catholic Church, where there alone is a right profession of authentic faith, a firm and stable adherence to the hope which saves, and the working of the charity which both honors and glorifies God in the service of the needy.

Editor’s note: At this point, I cannot perceive clearly the text of the remaining pages, so I rush to publish what I have transcribed so far…if I succeed in discerning the contents of the rest of the draft copy, I will publish it in the coming days. — I only ask the reader to consider the contents, and not to shoot the transcriber!

St. Francis of Assisi’s Self-Consciousness of Mission

Vocation and Prophecy

“St. Francis…was called providentially to a work of reform for the salvation of his contemporaries and to assist in the work of the Church Universal.”[1]

In his Encyclical Letter of April 13, 1926 A. D., Rite Expiatis, Pope Pius XI, by situating the spiritual efficacy of St. Francis of Assisi in the grace of his vocation, recalled the close connection between mission and vocation, which has its roots in the Old Testament, particularly in reference to the prophets.

“Prophet” is the English cognate of the Latin, propheta and the Greek προφετε.[2] In the Septuagint of the Old Testament, the Greek term is the translation of several Hebrew terms. The most significant one of these, for comparison here, is the Hebrew word nābî’, which means “called”, “convoked”.[3] In the Pentateuch, so significant is this term, that only three persons are identified with it: Abraham, Aaron and Miriam, the sister of Moses..[4]

The prophet, in the Old Testament sense of the term, is one who is sent, par excellence. There is no prophet apart from a prophetic mission. Indeed, the essence of the prophetic vocation is the call to mission.[5]

Applying this vision to the life and person of St. Francis of Assisi (Giovanni di Bernadone, A. D. 1182 —1226), to consider his self-consciousness of mission, will obviously require that one prescind from a more detailed historical or critical examination of texts, the space required for which would exceed that of a short essay. I will therefore presume that the writings of the Saint, as contained in the critical edition[6] represent his own personal views, rather than that of any supposed secretary or ghost-writer, and that the historical record, based on the sources, faithfully records what the Saint did and said.[7]

Hence, it situating the significance of St. Francis’s mission in his vocation, Pope Pius XI is thereby indicating at once, both the prophetic nature of St. Francis’s vocation and mission, and the importance we must attach to the narrative of his vocation as an expression of the Saint’s own self-consciousness of mission.[8]

3 Fundamentals Steps in St. Franci’s Conversion reflect his Grasp of Mission

In the Autumn of 1205 A. D., Giovanni di Bernadone found himself one day drawn to pray in a decrepit little church on the outskirts of Assisi. The church is named San Damiano,[9] and it was dedicated to the two Arab saint doctors, Cosmas and Damian. There, the Byzantine icon Crucifix, came alive and spoke the momentous words, which lie at the heart of all that is Franciscan: “Francis, go, repair My house, which as you can see is falling completely to ruin”.[10]

That we know of this event, and its circumstances in such detail, is solely explicable on the basis of the fact that the Poverello, for all his humility, did not hesitate to recount it to his first disciples. In this, he imitated the prophets of the Old Testament, who when asked the reason for their peculiar behavior, gave the narrative of their own call as prophets, as the justification (cf. Amos 7:14-15). This means that for St. Francis, there is a strictly theological, charismatic identity of vocation and mission with a historical theophanic event.

One can speculate that given the cultural context of the Middle Ages, in which lords dominated the land and serfs were bound to service, that the context of St. Francis visiting the dwelling of His Lord (a church) and receiving an order to undertake a work on the domain the lord (the Church), would lead us to expect that he would have understood this charge as feudal duty of a mere servant. But all the sources tell of quite a contrary self-consciousness.

The second principal moment in Saint Francis’ vocation shows this clearly, when out of his zeal to repair churches, having ended up in a dispute with his father, he had recourse to the Bishop of Assisi, before whom he formally renounced his legal duty to his earthly father, saying: “From now on I will say ‘Our Father who art in Heaven,’ and not father Peter Bernardone”.[11] Here, St. Francis manifests that he understood his vocation, and hence his mission, as one squarely contextualized in his adopted sonship in Christ Jesus: a purely New Testament concept, not at all medieval. St. Francis’s self-consciousness, thus, prescinded from his own personal historical context, and rose to the level of the eternal Gospel itself.

The third moment in St. Francis’ vocation also manifests clearly this. After his renunciation of his father, one winter day he went forth in the countryside, singing out loud. When accosted by brigands along the roadside, who asked him, in his disheveled state, who he was, he responded, “I am the herald of the Great King!”.[12] In this self-confession, St. Francis emphasis’ his own realization that he was on a mission from the King of Heaven, which essentially required him to announce the Advent and decrees of the Lord Jesus — which are the two essential aspects of the vocation of an Apostle, according to the doctrine of St. Paul (cf. Romans 1:1,15; 1 Corinthians 1:1,10,17; Galatians 1:1,8-24).[13]

St. Francis’ self-consciousness of Mission as reflected in his writing

St. Franci’s Writings also reflect this self-consciousness of mission as depending personally on the initiative of Christ, as Lord, and sharing in the Gospel orientated apostolate. He confesses that divine revelation was the basis of his way of life (Test 14):

And after the Lord gave me some friars, no one showed me, what I ought to do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me, that I ought to live according to the form of the Holy Gospel.[14]

This self-consciousness of the divine initiative in his vocation, the Poverello expressed even in regard to the vocation of his disciples, inasmuch as he ascribed the inspiration to write the Regula Bullata to the Lord’s intervention (Test 39):

But as the Lord granted me simply and purely to dictate and write the Rule and these words, so you should understand them simply and without gloss and observe them with holy work until the end.[15]

St. Francis’ expresses his self-consciousness of the universality of his mission, in his numerous travels to the diverse provinces of Italy, to France, to Spain, and the Levant (Egypt and the Holy Land). He does this also by his address made in his Letter to the Rulers of the nations (EpRect): To all the magistrates and consuls, judges and rules of lands everywhere and to all others, to whom these letters will have come ….[16]

Like the Apostle St. Paul, he opens his salutation to the Friars of the whole order, with a remembrance of “Him who redeemed and washed us in His own Most Precious Blood” (EpOrd 3; cf. Apoc. 1:5),[17] thus situating the motivation for his writing within the context of his self-consciousness of a duty to proclaim the Gospel of universal redemption wrought in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. And therein he manifests to his friars that his is a vocation they themselves share which is essentially a mission, divinely given (EpOrd 8-10) to announced the Gospel to all nations:

Confess Him since (He is) good (Ps. 135:1), and exalt Him in your works (Tobias 13:6), since for this reason He sent you (cf. Tobias 13:4) into the whole world, to give testimony to His voice by words and work and make all know, that there is no Omnipotent One besides Him (cf. Tobias 13:4).[18]

St. Francis’ Conception of Mission as incorporated into the Rules of 1223 and 1221

Finally, no treatment, even a brief one, of the Saint’s writings, regarding his self-consciousness of mission, would be complete without a reference to the Regula Bullata and to the Rule of 1221.

In the Regula Bullata, which was written in 1223 A. D., St. Francis shows that he conceives the ministry of preaching as one which is essentially a proclamation of the Kingdom and the urgent necessity of a personal response, a vision of homiletics which is essentially missionary in the full sense of the New Testament doctrine. Writing in Chapter IX of the Regula Bullata, the Saint says:

I also warn and exhort these same friars, that in the preaching, that they do, their expressions be considered and chaste (cf. Ps. 11:7; 17:31), for the utility and edification of the people, by announcing to them vices and virtues, punishment and glory… .[19]

However, the core of the particularly missionary character of the Order of the Minors, is expounded by the Saint in chapter XII, On those going among the Saracens and other infidels: Let whoever of the friars who, by divine inspiration, wants to go among the Saracens and other infidels, seek permission for that reason from their Ministers provincial.[20] Here, the Saint significantly expresses the essential concept of mission which he hands down to his sons within the boundaries of a personally received divine inspiration and a personally received canonical permission, that is between a Divine Initiative and a Ecclesiological Initiative, essential confines for every missionary endeavor which can be fruitful.

Frank M. Rega, SFO, in his book, St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, brings to the fore the importance, too, of the Rule of 1221, in understanding the praxis advocated by St. Francis in missionary activity. Rega writes:

“The importance of chapter XVI of the Regula non Bullata, regarding relations with Islam, should not be underestimated. It is the first documented instance of a Catholic religious order specifically calling for a missionary outlook to unbelievers. …

“The chapter then proposes two possible ways that Franciscans may conduct themselves in Muslim lands in order to fulfill their mission. The first manner of conduct in regard to the Muslims in simply to lead a life of Christian witness, without openly preaching Christ, . . . The second manner of conducting themselves is a decidedly more positive and active proclamation of the Gospel.”[21]

Even though the Rule of 1221 was composed with the assistance of Friar Caesar of Speyer, the same fundamental characteristics of St. Francis’ self-consciousness of mission shine through: (1) Mission begins with the divine initiative (The Lord says, “Behold I send you as sheep . . .” [RegNB 16:1]), (2) an ecclesiological initiative (Whence let whatever friar . . . go in accord with the permission of his minister [RegNB 16:2]), (3) is characterized by a witness of Christian Life [RegNB 16:6] and (4) proclamation of the Gospel as an eschatologically and universally significant announcement (when it pleases God, let them announce the word of God, so that they may believe in God the Omnipotent, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the Creator of all things, (and) in the Redeemer and Savior, the Son, and that they may be baptized and become Christians, because he who has not been reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, cannot enter the Kingdom of God [RegNB 16:7]).[22]

St. Francis’ Mission to the Sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil, as the pre-eminent manifestation of his sense of Mission.

Having very briefly considered the textual evidence for the thought of the Saint regarding his self-conscious awareness of mission, let us take a look at one event in his life, which exemplifies this self-consciousness in an extraordinary and heroic manner: his missionary appeal to the Egyptian Sultan Al-Malik al-Kamil,[23] during the Fifth Crusade, which mission according to Rega took place sometime after the declaration of truce in September of 1219, following the defeat of the Crusaders at Damietta by the army of the same Sultan.

St. Francis, according to the sources, having understood the defeat by the Crusaders to be a work divinely revealed, took the opportunity to seek permission of the Church to undertake the mission of converting the Sultan. He did this by approaching the Papal Legate Cardinal Pelagius of Albano, who after a first refusal, saw in St. Francis’ zealous insistence, a sign from God that it was a mission with a divinely inspired initiative. According to St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, the Saint took Friar Illuminato as his companion.[24] Jacques de Vitry, the Bishop of Acre, was personally present at Damietta, and witnessed St. Francis’ departure: thus giving a solid testimony to the veracity of the incident and the extraordinary courage of the Saint, seeing that the Sultan was rumored to have ordered the death of all Christians who crossed the lines:

We saw Brother Francis, the founder of the Order of the Friars Minor, as simple and unlearned man, though very admirable and beloved by God and man, who was respected universally. He came to the Christian army, which was lying before Damietta, and an excess of fervor had such an effect upon him, that, protected solely by the shied of faith, he had the daring to go to the Sultan’s camp to preach to him and to his subjects the faith of Jesus Christ.[25]

While this is not the place to recount all the details of this missionary journey which would make St. Francis’s name resound throughout all of Christendom and the Islamic world of that day, certain brief comments can be made regarding its fundamental aspects, each of which reflect the Poverello’s personal consciousness of mission.

First, Saint Francis sees the providence of encountering sheep in the no-man’s land which separated the two armies, as a divine reminder of Matthew 10:16: Behold, I send you as sheep amidst wolves.[26] Second, Saint Francis patiently endures suffering in conformity to Christ, even to showing himself fearless of dying for the Name. Third, he openly proclaimed Christ as the necessary means of personal salvation of the Sultan. Fourth, having begun by divine inspiration, he succeeded with divine grace of moving the heart of the Sultan, showing him the true zeal of a Catholic missionary, since they told him that they had come to save his soul. This intention so moved the Sultan, that he refused the request by his imams to have the two friars put to death, in accordance with Islamic law.[27]

These and the remaining details of his stay among the Sultan’s court show that the Poverello was utterly convinced of his divine mission, of the protection of Divine Providence which would see him through it; showed himself imbued with the highest ideals of the Gospel, of the imitation of Christ, of love of God and neighbor, and so unlike the icon of irenicism and religious indifference which is so often promoted as the true St. Francis.

Conclusion

Having very briefly surveyed the steps of St. Francis’ conversion, his writings and Rules, and the circumstances of his mission to the Sultan of Egypt, we can characterize and understand that St. Francis’ personal self-consciousness of mission was authentically evangelical in every aspect, a product of his deep faith and abundant spirit of evangelical grace, not of the worldly values and goals of a medieval man.

His sense of mission contained 5 major aspects: (1) he understood that his way of life and unique apostolate was entrusted to him by Divine intervention as a mission, from Christ Crucified Himself; (2) presupposed the necessity of the Church’s affirmation or convalidation; that (3) it required conformity of Christ by means of living the evangelical values as a daily way of life; that (4) it urged and required him and his friars to go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel of salvation to everyone; announcing (5) the Gospel not as a salvation from socio-economic problems, but as a personal call to conversion and redemption; situating the message of salvation in squarely eschatological terms, even at the risk of self and life.

A mission which began in prayer and aimed for martyrdom, which knew all forms of charity for God and neighbor, which was as much patient in suffering as bold in initiative: a timeless example for all his sons, and the entire Church universal.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

José Maria Abrego de Lacy, I Libri Prophetici, from the series, “Introduzione allo studio della Bibblia”, Paidei Editrice, Brescia 1996, pp. 254.

St. Francis of Assisi: A Testament to Peace: the Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, trans. by Br. Alexis Bugnolo, The Franciscan Archive, Mansfield, MA, USA, 2008, pp. 182.

Grande Enciclopedia Illustrata della Bibbia, Gian Luigi Prato, editor. Piemme, Casale Monferrato (AL), 1997.

Pope Pius XI, Rite Expiatis, April 13, 1926, n. 30; Official English Translation by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, as published at the Vatican Website.

Frank M. Rega, SFO, St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, Tan Books, Rockford, Illinois, USA, 2007, pp. 150.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] Pope Pius XI, Rite Expiatis, April 13, 1926, n. 30; Official English Translation by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, as published at the Vatican Website.

[2] José Maria Abrego de Lacy, I Libri Prophetici, from the series, “Introduzione allo studio della Bibblia”, Paidei Editrice, Brescia 1996, p. 25.

[3] Abrego de Lacy, ibid., p. 25.

[4] Ibid., p. 26.

[5] Ibid., p. 36, where de Abrego de Lacy writes of the importance of the Prophet’s retelling of his moment of vocation: « I raconti di vocazione vengono solitamente datati in un preciso momento della vita del profeta, prima dell’inizio della sua missione, appunto perché ne sono la giustificazione ».

[6] Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis, Caietanus Esser, OFM, as part of the Biblioteca Francescana Ascentica Medii Aevi, tom. XII, Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae Ad Claras Aquas, Grottaferrata (Roma), 1978. All citations, however, will be from my own English translation of the Saints Writings from Cajetan Esser’s Latin, as the former appear in A Testament to Peace: The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, The Franciscan Archive, 2008.

[7] For brevity sake, I will cite the historical record from Franck M. Rega SFO, St. Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims, Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford, Illinois, USA, 2007.

[8] For brevity sake, I will take up a consideration of only the most central points of the narrative.

[9] Rega, ibid., p. 10.

[10] Ibid..

[11] Ibid., p. 13.

[12] Rega, loc. cit, p. 15.

[13] Cf. “Apostolo”, Grande Enciclopedia Illustrata della Bibbia, Pieme, 1997, p. 105.

[14] English translation, cited from A Testament to Peace, (see footnote 6 above), p. 158-9.

[15] Ibid., p. 162.

[16] Ibid. p. 64.

[17] Ibid., p. 54.

[18] Ibid., p. 55, with Esser’s scriptural references.

[19] RegB 9:3-4; English translation, loc. cit., p. 112.

[20] RegB 12:1; English translation, ibid., p. 115.

[21] Rega, op. cit, pp. 80-81, and 82.

[22] English translations from A Testament to Peace, p. 135.

[23] Here I follow the exposition of Rega, who has given the most recent synthetic reconstruction of the event, loc. cit., pp. 56-78.

[24] Rega, ibid, p. 56-57.

[25] Rega, ibid., p. 58, citing Vitry’s, History of the Orient, ch. 32, quoted in Fr. Candidde Chalippe OFM, The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi, P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1918.

[26] Rega., ibid., p. 58-59, for this and what follows.

[27] Rega., ibid, p. 61.