Gospel Living: St. Francis of Assisi Yesterday and Today

Chapter 6. Apostolic Activities

The Franciscan Spirit Through the Ages / 201 CHAPTER 6 APOSTOLIC ACTIVITIES Franciscanism has left its mark on the holiness, spiritual writings, arts and popular religion of the late Middle Ages and of modern times. We shall meet the same phenomenon again when we consider the intellectual and social life of the period. But from where do popular religion and forms of holiness come, if not from the continual work of evangelization? The friars who traveled from parish to parish across Europe wove the fabric of Christianity, mended the rifts of separation and reinforced the faith against the onslaughts of skepticism. Is this Franciscan apostolate anything other than a necessary, obligatory and indispensable form of Franciscan spirituality? St. Francis wanted his friars to observe the Gospel, and in the Gospel Jesus tells his apostles: "Go forth into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to every creature" (Mt. 16:15). Francis himself, in obedience to this command, became a herald of Jesus Christ, proclaiming penance and pardon for the Kingdom; and he sent his friars as bearers of the same message. Even today, they strive to integrate fully this primary apostolate of preaching in its myriad forms with their personal spiritual life, the source of their missionary zeal and light. Preaching a. A Spiritual Exercise Learned or simple, preaching has been an essential mark of the Franciscan Order from its very beginning. The Friar Minor, coming himself from any stratum of society, is a man for all people. He can speak to any person in appropriate language. Whether in Umbrian, Provençal or Low German, he speaks to the country dweller the language of the countryside and to the city dweller that of the city. Thus St. Anthony of Padua (d. 1231) understood the role of culture as a vehicle for addressing God's Word to city dwellers, whether in France or in Italy. Agnellus of Pisa (d. 1236) did same way at the University of Oxford and David of Augsburg (d. 1272) in Germany. 202 / Willibrord C. VanDijk, O.F.M. Cap. As is evident from the legends of Francis themselves and the thirteenth century Chronicles, the Franciscan preachers—renowned, popular and distinguished as they were—would humbly resume their place, once the sermon was over, among the least important of their brothers or even among the people to whom they had just preached. Preaching may indeed be an "oratorical art" with its rules and its expertise, but for the brother of St. Francis it is primarily a spiritual exercise, less important perhaps than a humble and poor lifestyle and Gospel witness, but more accessible to many of the faithful than the lofty theological speculations possible only for the scholarly few. This is the style of preaching exemplified in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by Servasanto of Faenza (d. 1300), Hugh of Digne (d. 1255), Odo Rigaud (d. 1275), the learned Gilbert of Tournai (d. 1284) and Haymo of Faversham (d. 1240). These and others left to posterity not only the memory of their apostolate, but also a reputation for holiness and for sublime theological knowledge. This approach to preaching may explain why the intramural struggles between the Community and the Spirituals failed to undermine their earnest dedication to preaching and why we therefore find fervent and zealous apostles on both sides. b. The Role of Preaching Very early, but especially in the fifteenth century before printing came into its own, public speaking played an increasingly important political, social and religious role. The Friars Minor were among the most numerous, the most prominent and the most widely noticed and imitated preachers. They made available to priests and other religious various collections of homiletic themes, examples for use in preaching and even complete sermons. John of La Rochelle (d. 1285), Landulph Caracciolo of Naples (d. 1351), John of Wales (d. 1285) and Francis Eiximenis (d. 1409) all engaged in such work. The renowned Dormire secure of John of Werden (d. 1437?) went through eighty-nine editions in less than a century! Every country had its penitential preachers during the last period of the Middle Ages. It was a difficult time. Famine, pestilence and war ravaged Europe, and people turned to Christ crucified and Our Lady of Sorrows as they underwent a penitential The Franciscan Spirit Through the Ages / 203 conversion. The Franciscans who preached this penance were both highly cultured and holy—true "spirituals." Among them were Mark...