Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order

A Letter to the Abbess and Sisters of the Monastery of St. Clare in Assisi (1259)

A Letter to the Abbess and Sisters of the Monastery of St. Clare in Assisi (1259) This is the first of several letters Bonaventure wrote concerning t h e Poor Clares, and indicates his appreciation of the distinctive woman's expression of Franciscan religious life initiated by her.1 Although i t would seem highly unlikely that Bonaventure ever met Clare herself, he certainly knew of her holy life, if only through the official legendae of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano that were read to t h e friars. Furthermore, while in Paris he came into personal contact w i t h the Poor Ladies at the monastery of Longchamp. This community was founded by Princess Isabella of France, the sister of Louis IX, who h a d determined to dedicate her life to God according to Franciscan ideals. According to her disciple, Agnes of Harcourt, Bonaventure served on a committee of Paris friars who assisted Isabella in composing a special Rule for her community, who were called Enclosed Sisters Minor or Minoresses; this Rule was given initial Papal approval in February o f 1259. We do know that, as a sign of his devotion, he composed for these sisters the treatise On the Perfection of Life about the same time.2 The present letter was written during Bonaventure's sojourn on Mount La Verna in the fall of 1259, some six years after Clare's death. Although he had been General Minister for over two years, up to this point he had been able to make only one brief trip to Italy. This lengthier stay in the Franciscan heartland was basically a retreat for Bonaventure, enabling the embattled head of the Lesser Brothers to drink deeply at the sources of the Order's vision. His famous Journey of the Soul into God, inspired during this visit, speaks of his longing for inner peace and direction. This was also the occasion he first came to know the surviving companions of Francis, among them Leo and Giles. The mention of Leo's name may well indicate that the old friar reminded Bonaventure of his responsibility as the successor of Francis in caring for the Poor Ladies of Assisi to whom the saint was so 1Cf. S. Clasen, "Franziskanische Gebrautschaft: Die Stellung des hl. Bonaventura zum orden der hl. Klara," Franz. Stud. 35 (1953): 296-317. 2See Gratien, pp. 609-611. On the Rule of the Minoresses, see A Fifteenth Century Courtesy Book and Two Franciscan Rules, ed. R. W. Chambers and Walter Seton, Early English Text Society 148 (London: Kegan 71 (text, pp. 81-124). 68 / Dominic Monti, O.F.M. devoted.3 He would personally visit their community the next year, on the occasion of the translation of the body of St. Clare to the new church built in her honor.4 One might speculate if Bonaventure had access to any of Clare's writings as he composed this letter. Its lush Biblical allusions are reminiscent of her Fourth Letter to Agnes of Prague, written shortly before Clare's death in 1253.5 In any event, the image of a banquet as a metaphor for contemplative union is common among medieval mystical authors, and is developed more extensively by Bonaventure himself in The Perfection of Life.6 The text is from the Quaracchi edition (VIII, 473-74). 7 Brother Bonaventure, General Minister and servant of the Order of Friars Minor, to his dearly beloved daughters in Christ Jesus, the Abbess of the Poor Ladies of Assisi in the monastery of St. Clare, and to all her sisters: greetings! With those other blessed virgins prepared [for his wedding feast], may you follow the Lamb wherever he goes .8 My dear daughters in the Lord, when recently I learned from our dearest brother Leo, one time companion of our holy Father, how intent you are on serving the poor crucified Christ in all purity, as spouses of the eternal King, I rejoiced greatly in the Lord because of it. I now wish through this letter to offer every encouragement to this devotion of yours, so that you might follow earnestly the virtuous footprints of your holy Mother, who was instructed by the Holy Spirit through that little poor man, St. Francis. "May you never wish to have anything else under heaven"9 except what your Mother taught, namely Jesus 3Suggested by Regis Armstrong (ed.), Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, (New York: Paulist Press, 1988), p. 272. 4October 3, 1260 (Bougerol, "Chronologia...