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| St Francis receives the Christ Child from Mary. by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1617). Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Public domain. |
I offer this annotated presentation of St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis firstly as a small gift to our gentle Queen and Mother in gratitude for her many graces and favours, at the same time praying she will continue to provide help and protection for the author and his family; and secondly, on this his feast day, to honour and thank St Francis whose name I received at my Confirmation in 1961when I was seven.
This presentation of St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis is based on E. Gurney Slater’s English translation published in 1904, to which I have added Scriptural excerpts and occasional comments in footnotes after each section.
Prologue
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1. The grace of God our Saviour hath in these latter days appeared in His servant Francis unto all such as be truly humble and lovers of holy Poverty who, adoring the overflowing mercy of God seen in him, are taught by his example to utterly deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live after the manner of Christ, thirsting with unwearied desire for the blessed hope[1].
2. For God Most High had respect to him as one that truly was poor and little, of a contrite spirit[2]; and this with so great condescension of His favour that not only did He raise him up in his need from the dust of his worldly way of life[3], but also made him a true professor, leader, and herald of Gospel perfection. Thus He gave him for a light unto believers[4], that by bearing witness of the light he might prepare for the Lord the way of light and peace in the hearts of the faithful[5].
3. For Francis, even as the morning star in the midst of a cloud[6], shining with the bright beams of his life and teaching, by his dazzling radiance led into the light them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death[7],
4. and, like unto the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds[8], set forth in himself the seal of the Lord’s covenant[9], He preached the gospel of peace and salvation unto men[10],
5. himself an Angel of the true peace[11], ordained of God to follow in the likeness of the Forerunner, that, preparing in the desert the way of sublimest Poverty[12], he might preach repentance by his example and words alike[13].
6. For, firstly, he was endowed with the gifts of heavenly grace; next, enriched by the merits of triumphant virtue; filled with the spirit of prophecy[14] and appointed unto angelic ministries; thereafter, wholly set on fire by the kindling of the Seraph, and, like the prophet, borne aloft in a fiery chariot[15]; wherefore it is reasonably proven, and clearly apparent from the witness of his whole life, that he came in the spirit and power of Elias[16].
7. In like wise, he is thought not unmeetly to be set forth in the true prophecy of that other friend of the Bridegroom[17], the Apostle and Evangelist John, under the similitude of the Angel ascending from the rising of the sun and bearing the seal of the Living God.
8. For at the opening of the sixth seal, I saw, saith John in the Apocalypse, another Angel ascending from the sunrising and bearing the seal of the Living God[18].
Footnotes
[1] Cf. “For the grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men; instructing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” Titus ii, 11-13.
[2] Cf. “My hand made all these things, and all these things were made, saith the Lord. But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words?” Is. lxvi, 2. Cf. “He giveth judgment to the poor” Job xxxvi, 6; and “He shall deliver the poor out of his distress”: ibid. 15.
[3] Cf. “He raiseth up the needy from the dust, and lifteth up the poor from the dunghill:” I Kings ii, 8.
[4] Cf. “Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.” Is. xlix, 6.
[5] Cf. “This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.” John i, 7; and “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways . . . To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:” Luke i, 76, 79.
[6] Cf. “He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud,” Sirach l, 6.
[7] Cf. Luke i, 79.
[8] Cf. “And as the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds,” Sirach l, 6.
[9] Cf. “I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me, and between the earth.” Gen. ix, 13.
[10] Cf. “And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!” Rom. x, 15.
[11] Cf. “Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly.” Is. xxxiii, 7.
[12] Cf. “A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Mark i, 3; “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Luke iii, 4.
[13] Cf. “The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.” Is. xl, 3; “And that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke xxiv, 47.
[14] Cf. “And Zachary his father was filled with the Holy Ghost; and he prophesied,” Luke i, 67.
[15] Cf. “ Behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” IV Kings ii, 11.
[16] Cf. “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias; that he may turn the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the incredulous to the wisdom of the just, to prepare unto the Lord a perfect people.” Luke i 17.
[17] Cf. “He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled.” John iii, 29.
[18] Cf. “And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God;” Apoc. vii, 4.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have lifeeverlasting. Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) xxiv. 30-31.30-31.
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