St Bonaventure’s Life of St Francis : Prologue : 2

St Francis receives the Christ Child from Mary.
 by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1617). 
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. Public domain.

    The following posts present The Life of St Francis (1181-1226) written by St Bonaventure (1221-1274) who joined the Franciscan Order in 1243. Confirmed as seventh Minister General of the Franciscans in 1257, he later wrote this life of St Francis (Legenda Major Sancti Francisci, c1260-63).

    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 1961 when 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

- 2 -

St Francis receiving the stigmata.
Giotto (1295-1300). Louvre Museum.
Public domain.

1. Now we may with full assurance conclude that this Angel[1] was indeed that messenger of God, beloved of Christ, our example and the world’s wonder – Francis, the servant of God – when we consider the heights of lofty saintliness whereunto he attained and how, living among men, he was an imitator of the purity of the Angels and was also set as an example unto them that do perfectly follow after Christ. 

2. That this belief should be faithfully and devoutly held we are convinced by the vocation that he shewed to call to weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth[2], and to marking Thau[3] upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry, by the sign of his penitent’s Cross and habit fashioned like unto a Cross[4]. 

3. Moreover, it is further confirmed, with unanswerable witness unto its truth, by the seal of the likeness[5] of the Living God, to wit, of Christ Crucified[6], 

4. the which was imprinted on his body, not by the power of nature or the skill of art, but rather by the marvellous might of the Spirit of the Living God[7].

Footnotes

[1] Referring to Section 1. Cf. “And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God;” Apoc. vii, 4.

[2] Cf. “And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth”:Is. xxii, 12.

[3] Thau: The Thau or Tau is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In ancient times it took the form of a cross  (+, x or T). Cf. Job xxxi, 36. It was with an analogous sign that that the dwellings of the Hebrews in Egypt were marked before the passage of the “destroyer” Cf. Ex. xii, 7, 13. The holy Fathers, notably Origen, Tertullian, St Cyprian and St Jerome, did not omit to acknowledge this fact. Long before the time of Christ’s passion and death, the cross served as a sign of salvation, a coincidence that is indeed remarkable. 

[4] Cf. “And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst thereof.” Ezech. ix, 4.

[5] Cf. “Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” Ezech. xxviii, 12.

[6] Cf. “For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified”: 1 Cor. ii, 2.

[7] Cf. “Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart”: 2 Cor. iii, 3.

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The Virgin of Tenderness. >12th century.

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. 

 

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.