FRANCIS
224
FRANCIS
received from Count Orlando of Chiusi the mountain
of La Verna, an isolated peak among the Tuscan
Apennines, rising some 4000 feet above the valley of
the Casentino, as a retreat, "especially favourable for
contemplation", to which he might retire from time
to time for prayer and rest. For Francis never alto-
gether separated the contemplative from the active
life, as the several little hermitages associated with
his memory, and the quaint regulations he wrote for
those living in them bear witness. At one time, in-
deed, a strong desire to give himself wholly to a life
of contemplation seems to have possessed the saint.
During the next year (1214) Francis set out for Mo-
rocco, in another attempt to reach the infidels and, if
needs be, to .shed his blood for the (iospel, but while
yet in Spain was overtaken by so severe an illness that
he was compelled to turn back to Italy once more.
Authentic details are imfortunately lacking of Francis's journey to Spain and sojourn there. It probably took place in the winter of 1214-1215. After his return to Umbria he received several noble and learned men into the order, including his future biographer, Thomas of Celano. The next eighteen months comprise, perhaps, the most obscure period of the saint's life. "That he took part in the Lateran Council of 1215 may well be, but it is not certain; we know from Eccleston, however, that Francis was pre.s- ent at the death of Innocent III, which took place at Perugia, in July, 1216. Shortly afterwards, i. e. very early in the pontificate of Honorius III, is placed the concession of the famous Porziuncola Indulgence. It is related that once, while Francis was praying at the Porziuncola, Christ appeared to him and offered him whatever favour he might desire. The salvation, of souls was ever the burden of Francis's prayers, and wishing, moreover, to make his beloved Porziun- . cola a sanctuary where many might be saved, he begged a plenary Indulgence for all who, having con- fessed their sins, should visit the little chapel. Our Lord acceded to this request on condition that the pope should ratify the Indulgence. Francis there- upon set out for Perugia, with Brother Masseo, to find Honorius III. The latter, notwithstanding some opposition from the Curia at such an unheard-of favour, granted the Indulgence, restricting it, how- ever, to one day yearly. He subsequently fixed 2 August in perpetuity, as the day for gaining this Porziuncola Indulgence, commonly known in Italy as il perdono d' Assisi. Such is the traditional account. The fact that there is no record of this Indulgence in either the papal or diocesan archives and no allusion to it in the earliest biographies of Francis or other con- temporary documents has led some writers to reject the whole story. This aryumentum ex silentio has, however, been met by M. Paul Sabatier, who in his critical edition of the "Tractatus de Indulgentia" of Fra Bartholi (.see Bartholi, Francesco della Ross.A.) has adduced all the really credible evidence in its favour. But even those who regard the granting of this Indulgence as traditionally believed to be an established fact of history, admit that its early history is uncertain. (See Portiuncula.)
The first general chapter of the Friars Minor was held in May, 1217, at Porziuncola, the order being divided into provinces, and an apportionment made of the Christian world into so many Franciscan missions. Tu.scany, Lombardy, Provence, Spain, and Germany were assigned to five of Francis's principal followers; for himself the saint reserved France, and he actually set out for that kingdom, but on arriving at Florence, was dissuaded from going further by Cardinal Ugolino, who had been made protector of the order in 1216. He therefore sent in his stead Brother Pacificus, who in the world had been renowned as a poet, together with Brother Agnollus, who later on established the Friars Minor in England. Although success came in- deed to Francis and his friars, with it came also oppo-
sition, and it was with a view to allaying any prejudices
the Curia might have imbibed against their methods
that Francis, at the instance of Cardinal LTgolino, went
to Rome and preached before the pope and cardinals
in the Lateran. This visit to the Eternal City, which
took place 1217-18, was apparently the occasion of
Francis's memorable meeting with St. Dominic. The
year 1218 Francis devoted to missionary tours in Italy,
which were a continual triumph for him. He usually
preached out of doors, in the market-places, from
church steps, from the walls of castle court-yards.
Allured by the magic spell of his presence, admiring
crowds, unused for the rest to anything like popular
preaching in the vernacular, followed Francis from
place to place hanging on his lips; church bells rang
at his approach; processions of clergy and people
advanced to meet him with music and singing; they
brought the sick to him to bless and heal, and kissed
the very ground on which he trod, and even sought to
cut away pieces of his tunic. The extraordinary
enthusiasm with which the saint was everywhere wel-
comed was equalled only by the immediate and
visible result of his preaching. His exhortations
of the people, for sermons they can hardly be called,
short, homely, affectionate, and pathetic, touched
even the hardest and most frivolous, a nd Frnncis he-
camp in mntli ;i vpry cnnqiiprnr nf sniils ThuS it hap-
pened, on one occasion, while the saint was preaching
at Camara, a small village near Assisi, that the whole
congregation were so moved by his " words of spirit
and life " that they presented themselves to him in a
body and begged to be admitted into his order. It was
to accede, so far as might he, to like requests that
Francis devised his Third O rdpr, as it ig nnw pnllpH, nf
t he Brothe rs and Sisters of Penance, which he in-
tended as a sort o f a middle state lietween the wQrkl
and the cloister for those who coukl not leave their
home or desert their wonted avocations in order to
enter either the First Order of Friars Minor or the
Second Ortler of Poor Ladies. That Francis pre-
scribed particular duties for these tertiaries is beyond
question. They were not to carry arms, or take oaths,
or engage in lawsuits, etc. It is also said that he drew
up a formal rule for them, but it is clear that the
rule, confirmed by Nicholas IV in 1289, does not, at
least in the form in which it has come down to us,
represent the original rule of the Brothers and Sisters
of Penance. In any event, it is customary to assign
1221 as the year of the foundation of this third order,
but the date is not certain.
At the second general chapter (May, 1219) Francis, bent on realizing his project of evangelizing the infi- dels, assigned a separate mission to each of his fore- most disciples, himself selecting the seat of war between the crusaders and the Saracens. With eleven companions, including Brother Illuminato and Peter of Cattaneo, Francis set sail from Ancona on 21 June, for Saint-Jean d'Acre, and he was present at the siege and taking of Damietta. After preaching there to the assembled Christian forces, Francis fearlessly passed over to the infidel camp, where he was taken prisoner and led before the sultan. According to the testimony of Jacques de Vitry, who was with the crusaders at Damietta, the sultan received Francis with courtesy, but beyond obtaining a promise from this ruler of more indulgent treatment for the Christian captives, the saint's preaching seems to have effected little. Before returning to Europe, the saint is believed to have visited Palestine and there obtained for the friars the foothold they still retain as guardians of the holy places. What is certain is that Francis was compelled to hasten back to Italy because of various troubles that had arisen there during his absence. News had reached him in the East that Matthew of Nami and Gregory of Naples, the two vicars -general whom he had left in charge of the order, had summoned a chap- ter which, among other innovations, sought to impose
