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The Catholic Historical Review 88.1 (2002) 119-120



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Book Review

Francis of Assisi:
Early Documents


Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume III: The Prophet. Edited by Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M.Cap., J. A. Wayne Hellman, O.F.M.Conv., and William J. Short, O.F.M. (New York: New City Press. 2001. Pp. 906, 11 maps. $54.00 clothbound; $34.95 paperback.)

This third volume of the series Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, while continuing the chronological and inter-textual methodology of the editors, breaks new ground. Most of the later thirteenth-century and fourteenth-century texts assembled here appear for the first time in English translation. The reader encounters some familiar authors, such as Ubertino Da Casale and Angelo Clareno, as well as those known only to specialists, including Bernard of Besse and Arnald of Sarrant. The overall impact of this collection on the study of religious history in the later Middle Ages will be considerable.

In their General Introduction the editors invoke the apocalyptic tenor of the times, "a period of history buzzing with talk of prophets, prophecy, and signs" [End Page 119] (p. 11). Since religion was not impervious to the political and social crises of the later Middle Ages, the history of the Franciscan movement both coincides with and contributes to this climate. While the texts in this volume underscore the tensions and struggles of the age, they likewise point up the creativity and resilience that make the distant mirror of the fourteenth century truly remarkable.

The texts bear the weight of the editors' argument that the sources of this period "add little to our knowledge of Francis" but reveal the often controversial unfolding of his legacy among the members of the primitive fraternity (p. 18). Ubertino Da Casale thunders that Francis "had more devotion to souls in his toenails" than those followers who have failed to live the Rule (p. 178). Arnald of Sarrant, whose The Kinship of Saint Francis both concludes one period in Franciscan hagiography and inaugurates another, poetically depicts the conformities between the lives of Francis and Christ. He extols the Saint who was "like the sun warming that world nearly covered by a winter of cold, darkness and sterility," certainly hinting at his own fourteenth-century milieu (p. 678). These and a host of other authors paint their differing portraits of Francis and the fraternity with undoubted awareness of the issues of the age, from the leadership of the Avignon Papacy to the depredations of famine, disease, and warfare.

Translations, introductions to texts, and apparatus, as well as a concluding gazetteer with maps, maintain the high standard of the series. The absence of a number of extensive works whets the reader's appetite for more. The editors have indicated plans to publish more texts in translation, with mention of publication of Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Lesser Brothers as pending (p. 677, n. 8). Works of fourteenth-century authors, such as Alvarus Pelagius treating the reform of the Order and Bartholomew of Pisa further probing the founder's conformity to Christ, would merit consideration as well.

The present volume enters new territory in the realm of Franciscan studies. Ecclesiastical historians, the Franciscan family, and the general reader will find in these sources many keys to unlocking the riches of the later Middle Ages. The extent of this project has led the authors to create a separate fourth volume containing an extended and analytical index to the complete series, available early in 2002.

 



Kenneth M. Capalbo, O.F.M.
Office of the Provincial, St. Louis, Missouri

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