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The Testament
(1247-1253)
In the name of the Lord!
2Among the other gifts that we have received and continue to receive from our magnanimous Father of mercies and for which we must express the deepest thanks to our glorious God, 3there is our vocation, which the more perfect and greater it is, the more are we indebted to Him. 4Therefore the Apostle [writes]: Recognize your vocation. 5The Son of God has become for us the Way that our blessed father Francis, His true lover and imitator, has shown and taught us by word and example.
6Therefore, beloved sisters, we must consider the immense gifts that God has bestowed on us, 7but among others, those that He has seen fit to work in us through His beloved servant, our blessed father Francis, 8not only after our conversion but also while we were still in the unhappy vanity of the world. 9In fact, almost immediately after his conversion, when the holy man did not as yet have brothers or companions, 10while building the church of San Damiano, where he was totally visited by divine consolation and impelled to abandon the world, completely 11through great joy and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, the holy man made a prophecy about us that the Lord later fulfilled.a
12Climbing the wall of that church, he shouted in French to some poor people who were standing nearby: 13“Come and help me in the work on the monastery of San Damiano,b 14because there
- San Damiano is an important site in the early years of Francis’s conversion. It is the place where, in the first place, he heard the voice from the Crucifix and, secondly, while he was repairing the little church, he made this prophecy concerning the Poor Ladies. In his Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul 13, Thomas of Celano writes in a similar vein: “He fervently encouraged everyone to help repair that church, and in front of everyone he prophesied in French that some day that place would be a monastery of Christ’s holy virgins.” Cf. Thomas of Celano, The Remembrance of the Desire of a Soul 13. The Founder. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. Edited by Regis J. Armstrong, J.A. Wayne Hellmann, and William J. Short (New York, London, Manila: New City Press, 2000), 252. Hereafter, The Founder.
- There is considerable confusion as to the precise nature of Francis’s invitation. This document speaks of helping “in opera monasterii sancti Damiani …[in the work of the monastery of Saint Damian].” The Legend of the Three Companions 24 speaks in the same manner“...in opera ecclesiae sancti Damiani quae future est monasterium dominarum...[in the work of the church of St. Damian which will be in the future a monastery of ladies],” while the Sarnano version of the same text is more specific: “in opera sancti Damiani quae future est monasterium dominarum [in the work of St. Damian which will be in the future a monastery of ladies].” Further information on the significance of this change can be found in Marino Bigaroni, “San Damiano-Assisi. La Chiesa prima di San Francesco,” Atti Accademia Properziana del Subasio VI 7 (1983): 49-87.
Epistola Ad Sanctam Agnetem De Praga III, Fontes Franciscani, p. 2311
Testamentum
1In nomine Domini, Amen.
2Inter alia beneficia quae a largitore nostro Patre misericordiarum recepimus et cotidie recipimus, et unde ipsi glorioso Patri gratiar um actiones magis agere debemus, est de vocatione nostra, 3quae quanto perfectior et maior est tanto magis illi plus debemus. 4Unde Apostolus: Agnosce vocationem tuam! 5Factus est nobis Filius Dei via, quam verbo et exemplo ostendit et docuit nos beatissimus pater noster Franciscus, verus amator et imitator ipsius.
6Igitur considerare debemus, sorores dilectae, immensa beneficia Dei in nobis collata. 7Sed inter cetera quae per servum suum dilectum patrem nostrum beatum Franciscum in nobis Deus dignatus est operari, 8non solum post conversionem nostram, sed etiam dum essemus in saeculi misera vanitate. 9Nam cum ipse Sanctus adhuc non habens fratres nee socios, statim quasi post conversionem suam, 10cum ecclesiam Sancti Damiani aedificaret et consolatione divina totaliter visitatus, compulsus est saeculum ex toto relinquere: 11prae magna laetitia et filustratione Spiritus Saneti de nobis prophetavit, quod Dominus postea adimplevit.
12Ascendens enim tunc temporis super murum dictae ecclesiae, quibusdam pauperibus ibi iuxta morantibus, alta voce lingua francigena loquebatur: 13Venite et adiuvate me in opere monasterii Sancti Damiani, 14quoniam adhuc erunt domiriae ibi, quarum famosa vita et conversatione sancta glorificabitur Pater noster caelestis in universa Ecclesia sua sancta.