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HERE BEGINS THE LIFE OF BLESSED FRANCIS
Chapter One
SAINT FRANCIS'S MANNER OF LIFE
IN THE ATTIRE OF THE WORLDa
1 There was a man Jb 1:1
in the city of Assisi,
named Francis
whose memory is held in benediction, Sir 45:1
because God graciously
preceded him with blessings of sweetness, Ps 21:4 [Vulgate, Ps 20:4]
mercifully snatching him from the dangers of the present life,
and richly filling him with gifts of heavenly grace.
For at a young age, he lived among foolish children of mortals Ps 62:9 [Vulgate, Ps 61:9] and was brought up in foolish ways. After acquiring a little knowledge of reading and writing, he was assigned to work in a lucrative merchant's business. Yet with God's protection, although he indulged himself in pleasures, even among wanton youths, he did not give himself over to the drives of the flesh; not even among greedy merchants did he place his hope in money or treasures, although he was intent on making a profit.
There was to be sure, growing with him from his infancy, Jb 31:18 a generous care for the poor divinely implanted in the heart of the young Francis.b It had so filled his heart with kindness that, even at that time, he resolved not to be a deaf hearer of the Gospelc but to give to everyone Lk 6:30 who begged, especially if he asked out of "divine love."
On one occasion, however, when he was caught up in the pressures of business, contrary to his usual manner of acting, he sent away
- The Latin title reads: De conversatione sancti Francisci in habitu saeculi [Saint Francis’s manner of living in the Attire of the World] referring to the earlier monastic concept of the life embraced by a religious upon entrance into the monastery, this is, after a conversion. In his Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Bonaventure describes conversatio as the life-style of a person who is unworldly and, therefore, concerned with a virtuous manner of living. In this context, this title reflects the changed understanding of Francis’s youth that had been generally accepted at Bonaventure’s time, and alludes to and anticipates the description of Francis’s "perfect conversion" in the following chapter. Cf. Philibert Schmitz, "Conversatio morum," Dictionnaire de la Spiritualité Ascetique et Mystique, Doctrine et Histoire III (Paris: Beauchesne, 1963), 2206.
- Bonaventure uses miseratio [care or pity], the word employed by Jerome in the Vulgate translation of Job, to describe this characteristic of Francis. It has the sense of an act of kindness towards those in need, miseratio, and is used five times in this work (I 1; II 2; IV 7; VIII 1–2x). This is also the first of six manifestations of the cross (I 3, 5; II 1; III 3-6; IV 9,10) during Francis’s life leading to the seventh, that of LaVerna where he received the stigmata (XIII).
- Cf. FA:ED I 202c.