Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life (review)

The life of Saint Francis of Assisi has been interpreted by a succession of biographers, beginning with Thomas of Celano's Vita prima, which was written to celebrate the canonization on July 16, 1228. Subsequent biographers have produced vitae which reflect their own understanding and evaluation; this has bedeviled much of Franciscan historiography. The same process has infected external debate about the saint and his message. Professor Cunningham corrects what he regards as defective portraits of the saint and his mission. He presents a stimulating account of one of the most attractive figures in the history of Christendom; there are fresh insights in each of the eight chapters. The first chapter dwells on the pivotal function of Francis's ecclesiology. While the saint's respectful disposition toward Guido II, bishop of Assisi, and Innocent III foxes some modern biographers, the two prelates were perceived as the custodians of the spiritual heritage and authority of the martyred bishops of Assisi and Rome, Saints Rufino and Peter. These convictions led Francis to regard these two bishops as the highest sources of ecclesiastical authority at local and international levels. While Francis's thought and conduct were innovative, his ecclesiology was conservative, and it was marked by a profound reverence for a sacred office. One expression of this lies behind his deep respect for priests, regardless of their personal failings. Cunningham firmly locates Francis within the movements of renewal in the Church during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The apex of the reforming measures implemented by Innocent III was the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. Francis's scattered writings reflect the policies pursued by this pope. The friars were to carry the conciliar decrees into virtually every diocese and parish of the western Church from the 1220's. One of the strengths of this attractive monograph is the clear ecclesiology invoked by Cunningham, who argues that the saint cannot be properly viewed outside this perspective. This study is one of the best and most perceptive portraits of the saint in recent years.