FRANCIS
213
FRANCIS
tunately, the text of this declaration has not been
handed down. We have, however, that of the prov-
ince of Paris, issued on the same occasion by four
masters of theology, Alexander of Hales, Jean de la
Rochelle, Robert of Bastia, and Richard of Cornwall.
The custos Godfried figures only as an official person.
This interesting exposition of the rule, and the most
ancient, for it was written in the spring of 1242, is
short and treats only some dubious points, in con-
formity with the Bull "Quo elongati" and two later
decisions of Gregory IX (1240, 1241). Their method
is casuistic. They propose doubts, resolve them, and
sometimes leave the questions to the superiors, or in-
voke a decision of tlie pope, although they speak twice
(c. ii, ix) of the possible danger for the pure observance
of the rule, if too many papal privileges are obtained.
The work of the Four Masters has had the same effect
on subsequent private expositions as the Bull "Quo
elongati" had on all following pontifical declarations.
The most prolific writer on the Rule of St. Francis was
St. Bonaventure, who was compelled to answer fierce
adversaries, such as Guillaume de Saint-Amour and
others. His treatises are found in the Quaracchi edi-
tion of his works, VIII, 1S9S (see Bonaventure,
S.mnt). The standpoint of St. Bonaventure is obser-
vance of the rule as explained by the papal declara-
tions and with wise accommodation to circumstances.
He himself exercised great influence on the decretal
"Exiit" of Nicholas III.
.\bout the same time as St. Bonaventure, Hugo of Digne (d. about 1 2S0) wrote several treatises on the rule. His exposition is found in the above-mentioned col- lections, for instance in the "Firmamentum" (Paris, 1512), IV, f. xxxiv, V. (Venice, 1513), III, f. xxxii, v. Jiihn of Wales (Guallensis) wrote before 1279 an ex- position, edited in "Firmamentum" (Venice, 1513), III, f. xxviii, V. In his treatise " De Perfectione evan- gelica ", John of Peckham has a special chapter (c. x) on the Franciscan rule, often quoted as an exposition, "Firmamentum", ed. 1512, IV, f. xciv, v; 1513, III, f. Ixxii, r. David of .\ugsburg's sober explanation, written before the Bull " Exiit ", is edited in great part by Lempp in " Zeitschrift fCir Kirchengeschichte", vol. XIX (Gotha, 1S98-99), 15-46, 340-360. Another ex- positor of the Franciscan rule towards the end of the thirteenth century, was Pierre Johannis Olivi, who, be- sides a methodical exposition (P'irmamentum, 1513, III, f. cvi, r.), wrote a great number of tracts relating especially to Franciscan poverty. These treatises, comprised under the name "De perfectione evan- gelica " are not yet printed in their entirety [see Ehrle, "Archiv tiir Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte", III, 497, and Oliger, " .\rchivum Franciscanum Histori- cum" (1908), I, 617]. The theories of poverty taught by Olivi exercised great fascination over the Spirituals, especially over .\ngelo Clareno (d. 1337), whose ex- position of the rule will shortly be published by the present WTiter. Of others who directly or indirectly exposed the rule, or particular points of it, we can only name the best known, according to the centuries in which they lived. Fourteenth century: Ubertino of f'asale, Gundisalvus of Vallebona, Petrus Aureoli, Bartholomew of Pisa, Bartholo di Sassoferrato (a lawyer). Fifteenth century: St. Bernardine of Siena, .St. 'John Capistran, Cristoforo di Varese (not pul> lished), Alessandro .4riosto (Serena Conscientia), Jean Perrin, Jean Philippi. Sixteenth century: Brendo- Unus, Gilbert Nicolai, .\ntonio de Cordova, Jerome of Politio (O. Cap.), Francis Gonzaga. Seventeenth century: Peter Marchant, Pedro of Navarre, Mat- theucci, De Gubernatis. Eighteenth century: Kerk- hove, Kazenberger (several times reedited in nine- teenth century), Castellucio, Viatora Coccaleo (O. Cap.), Gabriello .\ngelo a Vincentia. Nineteenth cen- tury: Benoffi, O. lil. Con. (Spirito della Regola de' Frati Minori, Rome, 1807; Fano, 1841) Alberto a Bulsano (Knoll, O. Cap.), Winkes, Maas, Hilarius
Parisiensis (O. Cap.), whose learned but extravagant
work has been put on the Index of forbidden books.
Finally, Bonaventure Dernoye (Medulla S. Evangehi
per Christum dictata S. Franci-sco in sua seraphica
Regula. Antwerp, 1657) and Ladislas de Boris (O.
t'ap.). Meditations sur la Regie des Freres Mineurs
(Paris, 1898) have written voluminous works on the
rule for purposes of preaching and pious meditation.
The Rule of St. Francis is observed to-day by the Friars Minor and the Capuchins without dispensations. Besides the rule, both have their own general constitu- tions. The Conventuals profess the rule " juxta Con- stitutiones Urbanas" (1628), in which all former papal declarations are declared not to be binding on the Con- ventuals, and in which their departure from the rule, especially with regard to poverty, is again sanctioned.
Texts: — The original of the Bull "Solet annuere" is pre- served as a relic in the sacristy of S. Francesco at Assisi. The text is also found in the registers of Honorius III. in the Vatican .Archives. Fac-similes of both and also of ' 'Exiit" and' 'Exivi" are published in ' 'Seraphicse Legislationis Textus Originales" (Rome, 1901). The texts alone: "Seraphicce Legislationis Textus Oriffinales" (Quaracchi, 1897). Critical editions of the rules, with introductions on their origin: Opuscuta S. P. Franmct (Quaracchi, 1904); Bohmer, Analekten zur Geschichte des Franciscus von Assisi CTiibingen, Leipzig, 1904). The papal decretals on the rule: Sbar-4lea, Bultarium Franciscanum, I-III (Rome, 1759-1765), V-VII (Rome. 1S98-1904). English translations of the second and third rule: Works of ... . SI. Francis of .Assisi (London. 1882), 25-63; critical edition: Paschal Robinson, The Writings of SI. Francis of Assisi (Phila- delphia, 1906), 25-74; de la Warb. The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi (London, 1907), 1-36.
Literature: — Carmichael, The Origin of the Rule of St. Francis in Dublin Review, CXXXIV, n. 269 (.\pril. 1904). 357- 385; Muller, Die Anfdnge des Minorilenordens und der Buss- bruderschaften (Freiburg im Br., IS85). A good corrective of Muller is Ehrle. Conlroversen iiber die Anfdnge des Minorilenor- dens in Zeitschrift fur kath. Theologie (1887), XI, 725-746; Idem, Die Spaltung des Franciscanerordens in die Communitdi und die Spiritualen in Archiv fiir Litteratur- und Kirchenge- schichte (Berlin, 1887), III, 554 sq.; Schnurer, Fram von Assisi (Munich. 1905), 81-109; Fischer, Der heilige Framiskus von Assisi wdhrend der Jahre 1219-1221 (Fribourg, 1907). Very little has been written on the old expositors of the rule. See however; Hilarius Parisiensis, Regula Fralrum Minorum juita Rom. Ponlificum decreta et documenta Ordinis explanata (Lyons, Paris, 1870), X-XXX. A list of all the ex- positors till the middle of the seventeenth century is given by Sbaralea, SupplementumaU Scriptores Ord. Min. (Rome, 1806), LXIX.
LiV.VRIUS OUGER.
Francis Bor^a (Span. Fr.vncisco de Borja y Ar.\gon), Saint, b. 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; d. 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Bor- gia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome on 14 June, 1497, by an unknown hand, which his family always believed to be that of Ca>sar Borgia. Rodrigo Borgia, elected pope in 1492 under the name of Alexander VI, had eight children. The eldest, Pedro Luis, had acquired in 14S5the hereditary Duchy of Gandia in the Kingdom of Valencia, which, at his death, passed to his brother Juan, who had married Maria Enriquez de Luna. Having been left a widow by the murder of her husband, Alaria Enriquez with- drew to her duchy and devoted herself piously to the education of her two children, Juan and Isabel, .\fter the marriage of her son in 1509, she followed the ex- ample of her daughter, who had entered the convent of Poor Clares in Gandia, and it was through these two women that sanctity entered the Borgia family, and in the House of Gandia was begun the work of reparation which Francis Borgia was to cro«Ti. Great-grandson of Alexander ^'I, on the paternal side, he was, on his mother's side, the great-grandson of the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon. This monarch had procured the appointment of his natural son, Alfonso, to the Archbishopric of Saragossa at the age of nine years. By Anna de Gurrea, Alfonso had two sons, who succeeded him in his archiepiscopal see, and two tlaughters, one of whom, Juana, married Duke Juan of Gandia and became the mother of our saint. By this marriage Juan had three sons and four daughters.
