The Writings of Francis of Assisi: Letters and Prayers. The Writings of Francis of Assisi: Rules. Testament and Admonitions. The Writings of Clare of Assisi: Letters, Form of Life, Testament and Blessing ed. by Michael W. Blastic, O.F.M.; Jay M. Hammond; and J. A. Wayne Hellmann, O.F.M (review)

This review covers three volumes that contain studies on “Early Franciscan Sources.” The first two address “The Writings of Francis of Assisi,” the third “The Writings of Clare of Assisi.” The studies follow on the publication of the volumes (Francis of Assisi: Early Documents I–III, 1999–2001) that have put these writings, as well as historical material of interest to the study of these writings, into English. The three volumes under review aspire to help the readers of the writings of Ss. Francis and Clare understand them historically.

These studies are marked by Paul Sabatier’s life of Francis of Assisi (La Vie de Saint François d’Assise, Paris, 1894). Sabatier used the narrative literature on Francis. His selection of stories touched off a search for further stories and a discussion about which individuals could be believed (the so-called Franciscan Question). Since then, the focus has remained on Francis. Historically Francis belonged to a brotherhood. He is part of a story. A biography might work if the subject has not given rise to an organization that engages with its age, as did Francis and his companions. The studies under review, in general, have not shaken off the interpretive cast given Franciscan history by Sabatier. The whole project, the translated sources and these studies, deals with Francis as saint, prophet, and founder and not with the movement to which he belonged. Francis was, first of all, a brother.

The editors have seen to it that each piece of writing by Francis and by Clare received careful attention. Ten contributors examined the manuscript evidence for a piece and its context, then interpreted the text and did its bibliography. Understandably, a piece’s treatment varied in length, for some texts are brief and simple; others long and much involved in the history of the brothers and sisters. In the first of the three volumes, Letters and Prayers, Michael Cusato goes over “The Letters to the Faithful” at great length (149–207) and deservedly so, given the length of the text and its historical importance. In the second volume, Rules, Testament and Admonitions, William Short probes carefully the many details of the rules and, in particular, those of the Early Rule and the Later Rule (17–222). They are, along with the Testament, the pieces most important for the history of the brotherhood. At the same time, in much fewer pages (Letters and Prayers, 209–44), Jay M. Hammond sees to it that the “Vernacular Prayers” of Francis are far from neglected. The slender volume on Clare’s writings, not as often visited by historians, is especially helpful as survey and introduction. The authors take care of the differences of opinion that might arise around their texts by offering readers good bibliographies. And so the writings of Francis and Clare are open for study.

The texts still have to be lifted into a study of the early Franciscan years marked by chapter VI of the Rule. The chapter does not praise the times in which the brothers and sisters of the Franciscan association lived.