FRANCIS
230
FRANCIS
number of early papal Bulls and some other diplo-
matic documents, as they are called, bearing upon his
life and work. Then come the biographies properly so
called. These include the lives written 1229-1247 by
Thomas of Celano, one of I'Vancis's followers; a joint
narrative of his life compiled by Leo, Rufinus, and
Angelus, intimate companions of the saint, in 1246;
and the celelirated legend of St. Bonaventure, which
appeared about 1263; besides a somewhat more po-
lemic legend called the "Speculum Perfectionis ", at-
tributed to Brother Leo, the date of which is a matter
of controversy. There are also several important
thirteenth-century chronicles of the order, like those
of Jordan, Eccleston, and Bernard of Besse, and not a
few later works, such as the " Chronica XXIV. tien-
eralium " and the " Liber de Conformitate ", which are
in some sort a continuation of them. It is upon these
works that all the later biographies of Francis's life are
based.
Recent years have witnessed a truly remarkable upgrowth of interest in the life and work of St. Fran- cis, more especially among non-Catholics, and Assisi has become in consequence the goal of a new race of pilgrims. This interest, for the most part literary and academic, is centred mainly in the study of the primi- tive documents relating to the saint's history and the beginnings of the Franciscan Order. Although inau- gurated some years earlier, this movement received its greatest impulse from the publication in 1894 of Paul Sabatier's "Vie de S. FranQois", a work which was almost simultaneously crowned by the French Acad- emy and placed upon the Index. In spite of the author's entire lack of sympathy with the saint's re- ligious standpoint, his biography of Francis bespeaks vast erudition, deep research, and rare critical insight, and it has opened up a new era in the study of Fran- ciscan sources. To further this study an International Society of Franciscan Studies was founded at Assisi in 1902, the aim of which is to collect a complete library of works on Franciscan history and to compile a cata- logue of scattered Franciscan manuscripts; several periodicals, devoted to Franciscan documents and dis- cussions exclusively, have moreover been established in different countries. Although a large literature has grown up around the figure of the Poverello within a short time, nothing new of essential value has been added to what was already known of the saint. The energetic research work of recent years has resulted in the recovery of several important early texts, and has called forth many really fine critical studies dealing with the sources, but the most welcome feature of the modern interest in Franciscan origins has been the careful re-editing and translating of Francis's own writ- ings and of nearly all the contemporary manuscript authorities bearing on his life. Not a few of the con- troverted questions connected therewith are of con- siderable import, even to those not especially students of the Franciscan legend, but they could not be made intelligible within the limits of the present article. It must suffice, moreover, to indicate only some of the chief works on the life of St. Francis.
The writings of St. Francis have been published m "Opuscula S. P. Francisci Assisiensis" (Quaracchi, 1904) ; Bohmer, " Analekten zur Geschichte des Fran- ciscus von Assisi" (Tubingen, 1904); U. d'Alengon, "Les Opuscules de S. Frangois d' Assise" (Pans, 190.5); Robinson, "The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi" (Philadelphia, 1906). The text of the diSerent nilp-^ i- lifmv* Textufs originales (Qu;ir:irrl,i The Origin of the Kvle of St. / (1904), 357-85. The early r.u!. canum, ed. Sbahalea, I (Kuiiii . 1. 'J . lia^.^iin. I'cir llii- rarly legends or lives of St. Francis; 6'. Fraiicinci Asxts^ vila n mira- euta, etc., auctm-e Ft. Thoma dr. Celano, ed. E. n ALENfoN (Rome, 19061; tr. Kerrehs-Howell, The Lives of t,l. I'ranris by Thos. of Celano (London, 1908); Trium SociorumS.Fran- cMci Lenenda. ed. Faloci (Foligno, 1898); Salter, The Legend of St. Francii hi, the Three Companinns (T^ondnn, 1902); St. BoNAVENTCBE, Legendx Duw de Vitd S. Francisci (Quaracchi,
.-pn in Seraphicw Legisla-
te . .,.,. :,1so('aHMI( ITAEI,.
- . '., /,■,,!. ir.CXXXIV
,,i,, I I,, lSt,ll„r. Franrix-
1898): tr. Salter. The Life of St. Francis by St. Bonavenlun
(London, 1904); Speculum Perfectionis, ed. Sabatier (Paris,
1898); tr. Evans, The Mirror of Perfection (London, 1898) and
De La Warr (London, 1902). For the contemporary chroni-
cles see: Chronica fr. jordani, ed. Bohmer (Paris, 1908); Ec-
cleston, De Adventu Fralrum Minorum in Angliam in Anal-
ecta Franciscana, I (Quaracchi, 1885), 217-57; tr. Cuthbert,
The Friars and Haw They Came to England (London, 1903);
Besse, Liber de Laudibus, ed. Felder (Rome and Quaracchi,
1897); Actus B. Francisci el Sociorum ejus, ed. Sab.\tier (Paris,
1902); see also Chron. XXIV. Generalium in Analect. Francis.,
Ill (Quaracchi, 1897). 1-574; Bakth. Pisanus. De Conformi-
tate vita: B. P. Francisci ad vitam D. N. Jesu Christi in Anal.
Francis, IV (Quaracchi, 1906); Wadding, Annales Minorum,
I-II (Rome, 1731-1732), passim; Idem, Scriptorcs Ord. Minor.,
ed. Nardecchia (Rome, 1906), 77-78; Suyskens in Acta SS.,
II, Oct., Comm. Praev., 545 sqq.
Modern biographies. (1) By Catholics: Chalippe, Vie de S. Francois (Paris. 1728); tr. Oratorians (New York. 1899); Papini, Storia di S. Francesco (Foligno, 1825-27); Chavin, Hist. deS. Frar\fois (Paris, 1841); Panfilo, Storia Compendiosa di S. Francesco (Rome, 1874-76); Eng. adaptation by Coback, St. Francis and the Franciscans (New York, 1867); Le Mon- NiER, Hisloire de S. Franfois (Paris, 1889); tr. by a Tertiary (London, 1894); Christen. Leben des heiligen Franciscus (Inns- bruck, 1899); DE Cherance, S. Francois (7th ed., Paris, 1900); tr. O'Connor (3rd ed., London, 1901); Bazan, S. Francisco de Asis (new ed., Madrid, 1903). Tarducci, Vila di S. Fran- cesco (Mantua, 1904); Schnurer, From von Assisi (Munich, 1903); Jorgensen, Den hellige Frons a/ .Assist (Copenhagen, 1907). By Non-Catholics: Vogt, Der hi. Franz von Assist (Tubingen, 1840); Hase, Franz von Assisi (Leipzig, 1858; new ed., 1892); Oliphant, Francis of Assisi (London, 1871); Saba- tier, Vic de S. Franfois (Paris, 1894); tr. Houghton (New York, 1894); Knox-Little, St. Francis of Assisi (London, 1897; new ed., 1904); Stoddart, Francis of Assisi (London, 1903). What may be called the temperament of the early Franciscan movement is reflected in the Sacrum Commercium B. Francisci cum Domini Paupertate, ed. E. d'Alencon (Rome. 1900); tr. Carmichael, The Lady Poverty (London, 1901); and in the Fioretti di S. Francesco. The best Italian version of the latter is that of Cesare (Verona, 1822), which has been often re- printed; Latin text ed. Sabatier. Floretum S. Francisci (Paris, 1902); there are several English translations of the Fioretti, e. g. The Little Flower of S. Francis, ed. Arnold (London, 1908). For the influence of St. Francis on early Italian poetry: OzANAM, Les PoHes Franciscains en /to/tc (6thed., Paris, 1882), though some of the statements it contains may now need revis- ion. Thode's, Franz von Assisi und die Anfange der Kunsl der Renaissance in Italien (new ed., Berlin, 1905) may be regarded, in spite of its defects from a theological standpoint, as an au- thority as to Francis's artistic influence. See also Salter, Franciscan Legends in Italian Art (London, 1905), and West- lake, On the Authentic Portraiture of St. Francis (London. 1897). On the topography of S. Francis's life: Goff, Assisi of St. Fra7ieis (London, 1908); Cavanna, L'Umbria Serafica illus- trata parallele alia vita di S. Francesco (Assisi, 1909). See also Duff Gordon. The Story of Assisi (London, 1900), c. ii and passim; de Selincourt, Homc.i of the First Franciscans (Lon- don, 1905); JoRGF,\-F.-.. r-:!<!-im Walks in Franciscan Italy (London, 1908). Tl^ . 1 r , ! -v of St. Francis's life is dealt with by Patrem. .1 "?/a Cronologia delta vita di S.
Francesco in Misfil I ."" "":" iFoligno, 1902). I, fasc. Ill; Fisher, Der heilige Fnuizusknn wahrend der Jahre 1219-1221 (Fribourg, 1907); Robinson, Chronological Difficulties in the Life of S. Francis in Archivum Francis. Hislor. (Quaracchi, 1908), fasc. I, 23 sqq. For social aspect of Francis's life: Du- bois, St. Francis of Assisi Social Reformer (New York, 1905); also Cuthbert, St. Francis and Modern Society in Calh. World (June, 1908), 299-314. ,„„.,,
On the sources of the history of St. Francis, the recent re- so'irch movement, and its results: Little, The Sources of the Hislor,! of S. Francis in Eng. Hist. Rev. (Oct., 1902), 643-677; Franci.^rnji Literature in Edinburgh Rev. (.Ian., 1904), 150 sqq.; De Kerv^l, Les Sources de I'Histoire de S. Franfois in Bullet- tino Crilico (Florence, 1905), three articles; Fierens, La gnes- tione Franeiscaine in Rev. d'Hist. Eccles. (15 Jan.. 1907), sqq. For an admirable up-to-date biographical sketch of Francis see Gratien, S. Franfois d' Assise in Etudes Franciseaines (Pans, Oct 1907.359-482. A synopsis of the principal books dealing with the life and work of Francis is given by Robinson, A Short Introduction to Franciscan Literature (New York, 190'7). Further bibliographical references of St. Francis are to be found in Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques du Moyen Age (ncwed., Paris, 1905), I, 1.560-1571; Hurter, Nomenelator, II, 353; and under articles, Francis, Rule of Saint; Fran- ciscans; Assist; Portiuncula; Stigmata; etc.
Paschal Robinson.
Francis of Fabriano, Blessed, priest of the Order of Fri:irs Minor; h. 2 Sept., 1251; d. 22 April, 1.322. His Mrtli :uid iliililhood were remarkable for evident signs of f ut urc saiict ity. lie w.as also gifted with rare talents. Ihivint; suocessfullv completed the study of hum:uiities :in(l of pliilosoiihy, lie asked for admission at a neighliouring Fninciscan convent, in 1207. Under the guidance of able masters he made rapid progress in religious perfection. Subsequently he applied him-
