Francis of Assisi: The Message in His Writings

FOREWORD

xi FOREWORD I have always felt drawn more to Francis’s own writings than to the various biographies of the Saint that have appeared over the centuries , perhaps because the medieval lives are written in the bombastic , turgid style of the thirteenth century, while the modern ones tend to be repetitive and overly dramatic. The purpose of both these types of biography is to depict Francis as a heroic figure; that is, they are principally concerned with the “cult of personality.” The Saint’s writings , however, have been so eclipsed by highly colored accounts of what he said and did that they are generally regarded as poor relations , barely acknowledged as his. Yet, strangely enough, it was these writings that most attracted me, even though, at the time, they were little known and less read. From the beginning of my life as a Franciscan, I was fascinated by the lyrical nature of the writings, their quasi-liturgical style, and their aura of mysticism. I remember copying out the simple yet majestic Latin text of the passages that struck me, such as the Praises of God and the imposing chapter twenty-three of the Earlier Rule. Later, during my biblical studies, I found that Francis’s arrangement of the Psalms showed an insight into Scripture and its use in the liturgy that was closer to the patristic period than to the Middle Ages, in which he lived. For some thirty years now, I have been reading the writings closely and applying to them the principles of biblical interpretation , both out of personal interest as well as for use in my work in the formation of youth. During that time, I have been able to examine and place in context each of the writings, analyzing the structure and contents of the various texts and attempting to form a synthesis of particular themes. I have used the results of these studies as material for lectures, courses, and articles of various publications. I have gradually become convinced that the message conveyed in Francis’s writings and the one which all the biographical literature attributes to him, not only do not overlap, but positively diverge, if only because the focus of each is different. This present study aims at being more than just a detailed introduction to each of the writings and more than a mere detailing of the particular themes that run through them. I realize that, in recent years, this work has already been done from various perspectives. But we xii have not yet had a systematic analysis of the global vision that inspired Francis to write. We still cannot answer the question: what view of God or humanity or human conduct is to be found on or just below the surface of these texts? That is the problem I am trying to solve here. I am aware of the difficulties and limitations of this enterprise. As an exegete, an interpreter of Scripture, accustomed to analyzing texts carefully, I know that making a synthesis is dangerous and full of pitfalls . On the one hand, such a venture demands simplification, abbreviation , summarizing and consequently the loss of much of the richness and many of the nuances of the text. And on the other hand, a synthesis presupposes a unifying center to give it coherence and balance , a center that must be derived from the texts themselves and not imposed from outside. Moreover, in any body of writings which were occasioned by particular circumstances, such a center is not immediately apparent. In addition, we must ask ourselves if this study should be highly technical and therefore of interest only to some specialists, or should it be, instead, so popular and so accessible to everyone that it runs the risk of being regarded as superficial. We have tried to keep a foot in both camps by using two approaches, sometimes employing meticulous , even perhaps tedious, analysis, and at other times expressing opinions that may seem completely subjective and groundless. We shall often have occasion to deal with the same texts and themes more than once but from different angles, and this may seem repetitive. However , if readers are bored or put off by this, we beg them to be patient and wait until they reach the end of the book before making a final judgment. They should also be aware that our synthesis is not meant to be the last word but only a rough sketch and an invitation to investigate further. As we have already...