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The Constitutions of Narbonne (1260) There is no doubt that this edition of the general constitutions o f the Friars Minor, along with his Life of St. Francis, was Bonaventure's greatest contribution as General Minister to the on-going development of the Franciscan Order. Together, these two documents would shape the ideals and life of the brotherhood for generations to come. Early on in his administration, Bonaventure discovered that h i s inaugural policy of recalling the friars to their foundational values was being frustrated by the lack of a systematic collection of t h e Order's existing legislation. The problem was not a lack of laws; many decrees had been passed, especially over the past twenty years, but they were difficult to remember and consult, and so were too often ignored by the majority of friars and perhaps even by provincial ministers. The new general soon set to work to bring some logic to t h e existing hodgepodge. Like the great general of the Dominicans, Raymond of Peñafort, Bonaventure worked to codify the statutes governing his brotherhood, which he presented for approval to the first general chapter at which he presided,1 held at the city o f Narbonne in Southern France at Pentecost of 1260.2 In their earliest years, the Friars Minor had not needed a set o f constitutions.3 Unlike their mendicant counterparts, the Preaching Friars, who professed a 'canonized' rule, that of St. Augustine, and thus had to quickly generate a set of particular statutes to adopt t h a t Rule to the specific genius of their own Order,4 the Franciscans' situation was much more fluid. The Gospel way of life they had professed was not fixed; their Rule itself evolved to meet unforeseen circumstances and changing conditions. However, this could no longer 1Raymond of Peñafort, elected third master general of the Order of Preachers in 1238, presented a sweeping revision of the primitive Dominican constitutions to the general chapter the next year. William Hinnebusch, The History of the Dominican Order, 2 vols. (New York: Alba House, 1965-73), 1: 172. 2As the Chronicle of the XXIV Generals summarizes, "In the year 1260 this same General Minister celebrated a general chapter at Narbonne, in which he gave form and order to the constitutions of the Order" (AF 3: 328); cf. AM, 4: 127-29. 3For an overview of the following, cf. Elmar Wagner, Historia Constitutionum Generalium Ordinis Fratrum Minorum (Rome, 1954), pp. 4-46. 4 See the classic study of G. R. Galbraith, The Constitution of the Dominican Order (Manchester: The University Press, 1925), pp. 8-36. 72 / Dominic Monti, O.F.M. continue after the definitive Papal approval of the Rule in 1223: t h e Franciscans' foundational document too was now fixed; new laws would henceforth be necessary. However, the Order was slow to move in this direction; for some years it seems that its leaders were content to rely on the 'common law' of tradition and the Papal intervention of Quo elongati of 1230 to guide the brotherhood, as only a very few new decrees were promulgated under Francis himself, John Parenti, and Elias.5 The first major spate of legislative activity in the Order's history occurred only after the removal of Elias, in the chapter of 1239, and its successors of 1240 and 1242, under the leadership of Haymo o f Faversham.6 Exactly what these earlier constitutions looked liked, however, was a matter of conjecture, as no copy of them was known to have survived. This fact made it very difficult to assess the real significance of Bonaventure's codification promulgated at Narbonne. Various reconstructions of the evolution of this constitutional development were attempted by historians, the most impressive o f which was that of Rosalind Brooke.7 Her analysis relied heavily on the testimony of Salimbene: "at that chapter [1239] a large number o f constitutions were written, although they were not organized until later under the Minister Generalate of Brother Bonaventure, at which time they were codified by Bonaventure, although he added very f e w of his own, save that indeed he changed the penalties in certain cases."8 Thus, in Brooke's opinion, "Bonaventure probably inserted little that was new [in the Constitutions of Narbonne]. . . It is 5As Thomas of Eccleston recalls these early years in the English province: "The brothers of that time, having the first fruits of the Spirit, served the Lord not by means...

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