The Admonitions of St. Francis: Sources and Meanings

Chapter Three: Admonitions 17-28

183 Chapter Three ADMONITION 17 (ABOUT THE HUMBLE SERVANT OF GOD) 1. Blessed is that servant (Matthew 24:46/Luke 12:43), who does not exalt himself more over the good that the Lord says or does through him than what the Lord says or does through another person. 2. The person sins who would rather receive from his neighbor, but does not want to give of himself to the Lord God. 1 Parallels to Admonition 17 Vorreux, Esser, and Desbonnets et alii suggest no parallels to Admonition 17. But Miguel Angel Lavilla Martín, in a recent monograph, has drawn attention to the image of the servant in Francis’s thought and provided parallels to the religious use of “servant” in the Middle Ages. Before citing what to me is the most arresting parallel to all of Francis’s “servant” admonitions, allow me to summarize Lavilla’s main points. First, like his contemporaries Francis did not envision liberation of the slaves or serfs of his time. The medieval atmosphere of loyalty and obedience to one’s lord permeates Francis’s “servant” admonitions. Second, although most often “servant of God” (“servus Dei”) refers to professed religious monks or nuns or friars, this term could also include ordinary Christians. Third, the term “religious” (“religiosus”) is not necessarily restricted to professed religious, but could also refer to ordinary Christians who took their baptismal commitments with utmost seriousness. Fourth, there are ten characteristics of the “servant” in Francis’s admonitions. Servants acknowledge that they are God’s creatures. They follow Jesus Christ the Servant. They are penitent, humble themselves as minors, are subject to obedience, live without anything of their own, unconditionally love both their brothers and their enemies, are faithful to the Church, are peaceful, patient, humble, and finally are faithful and blessed. Fifth, in his admonitions Francis accentuates the positive pole of the traditional dichotomy of “servant of God”/“servant of sin.” 2 In my research I have found the most compelling and moving example of the aforementioned traditional dichotomy between “servant of God” and 184 The Admonitions of St. Francis “servant of sin” in the “Prayer to St. Nicholas,” a prayer of 360 lines from the pen of St. Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109). Anselm prays as “servant of God” in this way: “Your servant, created and re-created by your goodness” (line 54). “Do not lose your servant whom you have sought and found” (line 316). “If he is Judge to pass sentence on his accused, he is also Lord, to protect his servant” (lines 336-337). Anselm also prays as a “servant of sin”: “Truly at that hour I will be the bond slave of my sins” (line 178). “My sins, whatever torments you reserve for me are an abyss, for they are infinite and incomprehensible. Alas, prisons and chains, darkness and the weight of sin, terrify me, but I am made a slave to an evil to which no other is comparable and so I am drowned in an abyss, and with this sorrowful servitude I am buried in one abyss after another” (lines 243250 ). 3 Lavilla and I presuppose that Francis knew of the traditional dichotomy between “servant of God” and “servant of sin” and decided to play his “servant” admonitions primarily in the key of “servant of God.” And in doing this, he emphasized in his admonitions what he did in his “Canticle of Brother Sun,” namely, that we are God’s creatures, made to praise God’s goodness and beauty. Commentary on Admonition 17 While the image of “servant of God” occurs several times in Admonitions 1-16, it dominates Admonitions 17-28. The following data about the twenty-three occurrences in Francis’s Admonitions of “servant of God” and its parallels may be illuminating. “Servant of God” (“servus Dei”) occurs six times: Admonition 6.3; 11.1,2,3; 12.1, and 13.1. “Blessed is that servant” (“beatus ille servus”) occurs thrice: Admonition 10.3; 17.1; 19.4. “Blessed servant” (“beatus servus”) occurs thirteen times: Admonition 18.2; 19.1; 21.1; 22.1,2,3; 23.1,2; 24; 25; 26.1; 28.1,3. The statement “He is the faithful and prudent servant” (“fidelis et prudens servus est”) is found once: Admonition 23.3. To complete our picture, I add Francis’s four uses of “religious.” The phrase “blessed is that religious” (“beatus ille religiosus”) occurs in Admonition 20.1. And “woe to the religious” (“vae illi religioso”) is...