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Francis’s Vernacular Prayers: The Prayer before the Crucifix (1205/06) The Canticle of Exhortation for the Ladies of San Damiano (1225) The Canticle of the Creatures (1225/26)
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FraNCIS’S VErNaCular PrayErS ThE PrayEr bEFOrE ThE CruCIFIx (1205/06) ThE CaNTIClE OF ExhOrTaTION FOr ThE ladIES OF SaN damIaNO (1225) ThE CaNTIClE OF ThE CrEaTurES (1225/26) Jay m. hammONd Three of Francis’s prayers are written in his own Umbrian dialect. Interestingly these vernacular prayers occur at the beginning of Francis’s conversion and toward the end of his life. In effect, they act as bookends that encapsulate the entire process of his religious conversion that began before the Crucifix of San Damiano and continued through his convalescence at that same place twenty years later. This essay will examine the three writings in chronological order. AlthoughtheAssisiCompilationclaimsthattheCanticleoftheCreatures and the Canticle of Exhortation were written at about the same time, with the Exhortation being written second,1 I present them in inverted order because Francis added the last two stanzas of the Canticle of the Creatures shortly before his death on October 3, 1226.2 Thus, the Canticle of the Creatures was completed after the Exhortation. 1 AC 85 specifically comments that they were written in the “same days and in the same place” and it adds that The Canticle of Exhortation was written after The Canticle of the Creatures. 2 AC 7. In contrast, Edoardo Fumagalli, “Saint Francis, The Canticle, The Our Father,” Greyfriars Review 19 (2005): 16-20, argues that The Canticle of the Creatures was written at one time as a single unit without successive additions. Interestingly, even though I support three-phases of composition, my analysis of the Canticle, espe- The Writings of Francis of Assisi 210 ThE PrayEr bEFOrE ThE CruCIFIx (1205/06) Within a context of existential unease and restlessness,3 the Prayer before the Crucifix stands out as a simple prayer for conversion. But on a deeper level it points toward the dynamics of Francis’s conversion as he encounters the presence of the “Most High” in the humility of the cross. Thus, the prayer encapsulates Francis’s desire to discern God’s will. I. ESTablIShINg ThE TExT The Bodleian Library in Oxford preserves the oldest known manuscript (c. 1285/86), which reports that the prayer was immediately translated into Latin so it could be read by all.4 Two later manuscripts (1405and1406)oftheLegendoftheThreeCompanionscontainidentical reproductions of the Latin version.5 Although the manuscript tradition is relatively early and uniform, the prayer may not convey Francis ’s exact words because: (1) Francis probably recited variations of the prayer prior to his encounter with the San Damiano Crucifix; (2) Francis likely dictated the prayer to a scribe who “polished” the grammar as he translated it into Latin; and (3) Francis’s companions may have embellished the prayer as it became more popular.6 Nevertheless, even though the prayer surely had an “editorial history,” its fundamental content remained the same: a synopsis of Francis’s yearnings during his conversion.7 cially with its use of the Our Father, is in substantial agreement with Fumagalli. I do not see why Francis could not have edited the text into its current structural unity. 3 See footnote 10 and related text. 4 The manuscript’s shelf mark is MS. Canon. Misc. 525, folio 76v, which is dated c. 1285/86. The codex contains both the Latin and Italian versions of the prayer. 5 Biblioteca Central in Barcelona, MS. 665 with the date 1405 and Biblioteque des Cordeliers in Fribourg, MS. 23J60 with the date 1406. 6 Kajetan Esser, Studien zu den Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi (GrottaferrataRome : Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Aquas Claras, 1973), 89; Die Opuscula des Hl. Franziskus von Assisi (Grottaferrata-Rome: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Aquas Claras, 1976), 354-62; and Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis (Grottaferrata -Rome: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Aquas Claras, 1978), 223-24. 7 Leonhard Lehmann, Francesco: Maestro di Preghiera (Rome: Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini, 1993), 48. Also see Regis Armstrong, St. Francis of Assisi: Writings for a Gospel Life (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1994), 34. [18.206.13.112] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:26 GMT) The Writings of Francis of Assisi 211 The critical edition was published by Kajetan Esser in 1976 and the Fontes Franciscani of 1995 bases its edition on Esser’s work.8 The best English translation is found in volume one of Francis of Assisi: Early Documents.9 II. aPPrOaChINg ThE TExT Although the prayer’s exact context remains hidden in the shadows of history, its context is not completely lost. Disillusioned by his imprisonment in Perugia and lengthy...