Francis of Assisi Heritage and Heirs: Eight Centuries Later

I. References to Franciscan Identity Throughout Eighth Centuries

THe Heirs i. referenCes To franCisCan idenTiTy THrougHouT eigHT CenTuries For eight centuries a group of men and women bearing the name “Franciscan” have existed in the Church. One can recognize, therein, a certain number of common traits, ways of seeing and acting, a sort of collective identity. The adjective “Franciscan” which designates this grouping sends us back to a person and an historical name – Francis whose life and message were situated in a given period. To profess and to be called Franciscan refer necessarily to this original starting point, as, at a totally unique level, being a Christian refers us to Christ. It is, moreover, not certain that Francis would have liked the word “Franciscan” as it is tied too much to his person. To the movement of fidelity to the Gospel which he inspired, he gave a name and description that was deeply evangelical: friars minor (to be little) – “poor sisters” in the feminine version of his life plan. The fact remains that Franciscan identity is built around a reference to a man named Francis and the “forma sancti evangelii,” the life according to the Gospel which he proposed. This life plan that he wanted to live with his brothers and sisters was recognized by the Church and still challenges all Christians today. As a matter of fact, throughout the eight centuries of its existence, with its highs and lows, the “heirs” of the Franciscan adventure have never ceased from probing their original emergence in order to be inspired by it, renew themselves, and to be refounded. In order to do this it was necessary to Thaddée MaTura 44 reconnect with the past, which one can only access by means of narratives and written documents. Now as to what concerns the Franciscan event, the heirs possess two types of witnesses. On the one hand there is a very thin collection, considered, nonetheless, as authentic, of Francis’s writings which basically traces a program for an evangelical life. On the other hand, there is a fairly large collection of hagiographical narratives centered, with very different viewpoints, on the life, the virtues, and the miracles of Francis, their hero. This recourse to the origins has taken place, not just once or twice, but constantly throughout the many centuries – each time emerging in different situations and historical contexts and, as we know, changing ones. It is this ongoing reference to the original inspiration, at once a quest and a confirmation of Franciscan identity that I propose to examine in this reflection. It is a difficult undertaking, especially if one wanted to treat it with rigorous scientific method. If I dare risk it, it is not out of pretense or for provocation, but to “give rise to thought,” to help readers reproduce the identical quest that lies behind the founder’s quest. This refounding insight serves as the basis for choices and practice and indicates the great variety of possible responses. My thesis, if I can speak in this way, is the following. In the course of its history, the Franciscan movement, in its main expression – the Order of Friars Minor – made use of two major references to establish and affirm its identity: a written document, the Rule (and in certain cases the Testament ) as a legal and canonical basis; the image of Francis, transmitted by the biographers, understood and interpreted according to the spirit of each epoch, as inspiration and spiritual model – “the ideological basis.” THe rule: THe offiCial CanoniCal basis As a matter of fact, in order to be recognized as a church movement, the approbation of a propositum, a life plan was HEIRS 45 necessary. For Francis and his companions it consisted in the choice of a life according to the Gospel sketched by a very brief text – a protoregula – and orally approved by Innocent III in 1209. This embryonic text would take on, at the end of about fifteen years, the form of the definitive Rule which would be confirmed by a Bull of Honorius III in 1223. This Rule constituted the legal canonical basis for the existence of the Order of Friars Minor and granted it a place in the Church. One became a friar minor – a “Franciscan” – by committing oneself, according to the formula for profession, “to observing for one’s entire life this Rule and this way of life.” The Regula non bullata was quite lengthy and served as a spiritual document...