The Writings of Francis of Assisi: Letters and Prayers

Saying on True Joy

SayINg ON TruE JOy mIChaEl W. blaSTIC I. ESTablIShINg ThE TExT Luke Wadding first published an edition of this story that was a construction of “various medieval sources” which, as a whole, were very close to the version of the story found in the Deeds of Blessed Francis and Companions, Chapter Seven.1 The version of the story found in the Deeds of Blessed Francis,2 was the source for the Italian translation in the Little Flowers,3 Chapter Eight, which popularized the story. Benvenute Bughetti discovered a version of the story in a manuscript that contained other writings of Francis, including the Admonitions.4 Kajetan Esser published this edition of the story within the confusing 1 Kajetan Esser, ed., Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi (Grottaferrata: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976), 459. 2 The Actus beati Francisci et sociorum eius, is dated between 1331 and 1337; see, Actus Beati Francisci et soriorum eius, Nuova edizione postuma di Jacques Cambell con testo dei Fioretti a fronte, ed. Marino Bigaroni and Giovanni Boccali (Assisi: Edizioni Portiuncola, 1988), 36-37. 3 The Fioretti appeared toward the end of the fourteenth century, not earlier than 1390. Consult, I Fioretti di san Francesco, introduction by Felice Accrocca (Casale Monferrato : Edizioni Piemme, 1997), 10-14. 4 Benvenute Bughetti, “Analecta de s. Francisco Assisiensi saeculo XIV ante medium collecta,” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 20 (1927): 79-108. The text that Esser published in the Opuscula is found on 107. The manuscript, Florence, Central National Library, Conv. soppr. C.9.2878, is dated between 1330 and 1340, and could have been the source for the version in the Actus. The manuscript is described in Kajetan Essser and Remy Oliger, La tradition manuscrite des opuscules de saint François d’Assise (Rome: Institut Historique O.F.M. Cap., 1972), 41-42. The Writings of Francis of Assisi 330 category of “Dictated Writings of Francis,” confusing because all of the other Writings, with the exception of the Autographs, were the result of hands other than Francis’s.5 Esser described this category of “Dictated Writing” as a saying given to a companion by Francis, and whose content is presented in a believable manner even though it does not reach us in its original written form. In this way, he argued, it could be included among the authentic writings of Francis.6 Giovanni Miccoli commented that the Saying on True Joy is profoundly consistent“in its concepts and in its narrative development with the other Writings that any doubt with regard to its authenticity would be the resultant fruit of a forced and inconsistent criticism.”7 II. aPPrOaChINg ThE TExT Brother Leonard is the source of the saying (v. 1); in the manuscript edited by Bughetti there are three accounts attributed to brother Leonard, each of which is characterized by the same simplicity of language and content.8 As can be seen in the Saying, Leonard’s account demonstrates familiarity with local details, including the existence of a hospital of the Crosiers (v. 14) near the Portiuncola.9 Given the fact that Brother Leonard was Francis’s companion during and after his return from the Middle East, it can be inferred that the historical context of the story relates to the state of the order in the early 1220s. The issues that faced Francis upon his return from the 5 Francesco d’Assisi: Scritti, ed. Aristide Cabassi (Padua: Editrice Francescane, 2002), 501-61, in the section titled “Parobola, ‘Logia,’ Detti,” includes the saying on True Joy, among other texts attributed to Francis from a variety of sources, including the hagiographical tradition. Giovanni Miccoli argues here that there is a need to take another look at these texts, and, studied with the proper methodology, perhaps include some among the authentic texts attributed to Francis. Not all scholars agree with his proposal, e.g., David Flood, “Read it at Chapter: Francis of Assisi and the Scritti,” Franciscan Studies 60 (2002): 350-53. 6 Esser, Die Opuscula, 451. 7 Francesco d’Assisi: Scritti, 540. 8 Consult Bughetti, “Analecta de s. Francisco,” 106-08. This explains why the name of Brother Leonard is interpolated into the saying in the first verse, as it follows the initial identification of the speaker in the first of the three pericopes included. 9 Brother Leonard traveled with Francis from the Middle East back to Italy in 1220, and was close to him in the next few years; see 2C 31 and the pericope’s source...