The Franciscan Rule: St. Francis of Assisi
Francis preached to townspeople, even though as a layperson he was
without license to do so he soon attracted followers. In 1209 he composed for
his mendicant disciples or friars, a simple rule drawn from passages in
the Bible: “To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his
footsteps.” He then led the group of 12 disciples to Rome to seek the approval
of Pope Innocent III, an important step that demonstrated Francis’s recognition
of papal authority and saved his order from the fate of the Waldensians, who
had been declared heretics in the late 12th century.
At first Innocent was hesitant, but, following a dream in which he saw
Francis holding up the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, he gave oral approbation to the Franciscan rule of life.
This event, which according to tradition, occurred on April 16, 1210, marked
the official founding of the Franciscan order. They preached and worked
first in Umbria and then, as their numbers grew rapidly, in the rest of Italy. Probably no one in
history has set out as seriously as did Francis to imitate the life of Christ
and to carry out so literally Christ’s work in Christ’s own way. This is the
key to the character and spirit of St. Francis and helps explain his veneration
for the Eucharist (the body and blood of Christ) and respect for the
priests who handled the elements of the communion sacrament.
He called all creatures his
“brothers” and “sisters,” and, in the most endearing stories about him,
preached to the birds and persuaded a wolf to stop attacking the people of the
town of Gubbio and their livestock if the townspeople agreed to feed the
wolf. In his “Canticle of the Creatures” (less properly called by such names as
the “Praises of Creatures” or the “Canticle of the Sun”), he referred to
“Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon,” the wind and water, and even “Sister Death.”
He nicknamed his long and painful illnesses his “sisters,” and he begged pardon
of “Brother Ass the body” for having unduly burdened him with his penances.
Above all, his deep sense of brotherhood under God embraced his fellow men, for
“he considered himself no friend of Christ if he did not cherish those for whom
Christ died.”
In 1212 Francis organized a
second order, one for women, that became known as the Poor Clares. He gave a
religious habit, or dress, similar to his own to the noblewoman later known
as St. Clare (Clara) of Assisi and then lodged her and a few
companions in the church of San Damiano, where they were joined by women of
Assisi. For those who could not leave their families and homes, he eventually (c. 1221) formed the Third
Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance, a lay fraternity that, without
withdrawing from the world or taking religious vows, would carry out the
principles of Franciscan life. As the friars became more numerous, the order
extended outside Italy.
Determined to bring the Gospel to all God’s creatures, Francis, on
several occasions, sought to take his message out of Italy. In the late spring
of 1212, he set out for the Holy Land to preach to the Muslims but
was shipwrecked on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and had to return.
A year or two later, sickness
forced him to abandon a journey to the Muslims in Spain. In 1217 he
proposed to go to France, but the future Pope Gregory IX, Cardinal Ugolino
of Segni, an early and important supporter of the order, advised Francis that
he was needed more in Italy. In 1219 he did go to Egypt, where
the crusaders were besieging Damietta. He went into the Muslim
camp and preached to the sultan al- kāmil, who was impressed by him and gave him
permission (it is said) to visit the sacred places in the Holy Land. News of disturbances among the friars in Italy forced Francis to return.
Although the Order of the Friars Minor had grown at a faster rate than any
previous religious order, it had not experienced similar organizational growth
and had little more than Francis’s example and his brief rule of life to guide
its increasing numbers. To correct this situation, Francis prepared a new and
more detailed rule (Regula prima,
“First Rule,” or Regula non bullata,
“Rule Without a Bull”), which reasserted devotion to poverty and the apostolic
life and introduced greater institutional structure but was never officially
sanctioned by the pope.
He also appointed Peter Catanii
as his vicar to handle the order’s practical affairs; after Peter’s early
death in 1221, Francis replaced him with Brother Elias of Cortona. Two years
later, Francis submitted a further revision of the rule known as the Regula secunda (“Second
Rule”), or Regula bullata (“Rule with
a Bull”) to Pope Honorius III, who approved it in the bull Solet annuere (“Accustomed
to Grant”) on November 29, 1223. As the official rule of the order, Regula bullata enjoined the
friars “to observe the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in
obedience without anything of our own and in chastity.” It also outlined regulations
for discipline, preaching, and entry into the order.
After his rule received papal sanction, Francis withdrew increasingly from
external affairs.
To be continued....
To be continued....
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