Commentary: A Documented History of the Franciscan Order. 1182-1517

COMMENTARY1 A Documented History of the Franciscan Order. 1182-1517 2 Dread lest his brothers succumb to the lures of learning was if we may trust tradition a reiterated worry to the Poverello. He advised concerning his successor, "Let him not be a heaper of books nor overmuch given to reading." Recalling many such admonitions, one handles with ironic and awe-struck amusement, Father Huber's noble volume of 1028 pages, - a "Documented History" indeed. As we admire the patient scholarship which has gone to make this record, we may feel a mischievous wish that the Little Poor Man were looking over our shoulder. Father Huber is well aware of St. Francis' attitude; the saint, says he, "wanted no private libraries no matter how small, whereas those intended for the community at large were to be in conformity with the vow of poverty." But he has to chronicle an astonishing reaction to the movement started by Francis. "So much has been written in recent years about St. Francis in book form, tracts, essays, studies, magazines, Quarterlies, and newspapers , ... that it would require a book alone to list these articles and works. I have endeavored to quote only the most important works, that they may serve as an inspiration to the enquiring student for further study and research ." And indeed every such student even if he apologize to St. Francis must render humble thanks to the compiler of this truly monumental book. It is not merely a history, though it is that; it is a precious compilation of bibliographical material; we Americans may rejoice especially in the witness it offers to the contribution made in our own country to Franciscan studies. "Verily tribulation shall come such that books useful for naught shall be cast aside into lockers and dark corners." So spoke the saint. Ours are assuredly days of tribulation; but we shall say to him that this book is not "useful for naught"; on the contrary, the exhaustive survey it offers of literature inspired by one of the greatest and most significant movements in Christian history, is a true gift to Christendom. No wonder that the book as the author tells us has behind it the research of thirty years. It covers the same ground as Sessevalle's Histoire Générale de l'Ordre de Saint François ; Tome I "but it is far more richly documented." Parts I and II present the story of the Order to the year 1517, when what is known as the (first) Leonine Union put an end to long conflicts 1.Editor's note:— The "Commentary" section of Franciscan Studies, reserved to publications deserving extended comment, is pleased to recall Miss Vida Scudder to that Franciscan literature which she loves so well. Miss Scudder, who is so richly acquainted with the history of Franciscanism, has requested the extending of her review to article form. The following article, then, bearing upon the work reviewed is representative of her interpretation of the spirit and history of the Franciscan Order. 2.A Documented History of the Franciscan Order. 1182-1517. By Raphael M. Huber, O.F.M. Conv., S.T.D., S.T.M. (Milwaukee and Washington, D.C., The Nowiny Publishing Apostolate, 1944. Pp. xxxiv-f-1028, $7.50.) 93 94COMMENTARY and tensions, as it gathered into the fold of the Observants sundry lesser groups of what we may call Left Wing tendencies among the sons of Francis, and joined the Observants thus consolidated into a dual organization with the Conventuals, thus ensuring comparative peace. Father Huber proposes to carry the story on in a second volume, to the point when all three bodies of Friars Minor, retaining their independence, were so united by Leo XIII in 1897 that they can function in permanent harmony. The general reader while he waits may solace himself with Father Cuthbert's two volume History of the Capuchins, published in 1929. Meanwhile, there is special value to this careful record of normal and constitutional development; for preceding writers, like the Capuchin Fathers René de Nantes and Gratien, have perhaps thrown into undue prominence the dramatic minor groups seeking through generations of stormy unrest literally to follow the Rule of...