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Chapter Five
THE AUSTERITY OF HIS LIFE
AND HOW CREATURES PROVIDED HIM COMFORT
1 When the man of God, Francis, saw
that many were being inspired
by his example
to carry the cross of Christ with fervent spirit,
he himself, like a good leader of Christ's army,
was encouraged to reach the palm of victory Rv 7:9
through the height of heroic virtue.a
He directed his attention to this text of the Apostle:
Those who belong to Christ
have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires. Gal 5:24b
To carry in his own body the armor of the cross,
he held in check his sensual appetites with such a rigid discipline
that he scarcely took what was necessary
for the sustenance of nature.
He used to say that it would be difficult to satisfy the necessity of the body without giving in to the earthbound inclinations of the
- Pages 81-90 of the Index to Bonaventure’s Commentarius in Quatuor Libros Sententiarum establish his well-articulated theology of virtue. The ordo amoris [the ordering of love], as he calls virtue in the first of the Disputed Question on Evangelical Perfection, demands a clear sense of direction since his view of creation sees a "twofold order of things, one within the universe, and another with regard to their end." Cf. Questiones Disputatae de Perfectione Evangelica, q. I, concl. (V 123); Commentarius in Libros Sententiarum I., dist. XLIV, a.1, q.3, ad 2 (I, 786). While the earlier legendae and lives of Saint Francis describe his virtues, especially 2C, they do so in a somewhat unclear fashion. To be true to his own theology of virtue, Bonaventure develops an approach that is well-defined and carefully delineated. Cf. Regis J. Armstrong, "Towards an Unfolding of the Structure of St. Bonaventure’s Legenda Major" The Cord 39 (1989): 3-17.
- Curiously austeritas [austerity] is seldom used in Bonaventure’s writings; aside from the chapter headings, it appears only three times in this work (LMj VI 2; IX 4; XIII 2). Francis is described only twice as austerus [austere] in this work (LMj V1, 7). The same may be said of the earlier descriptions of Francis: the word does not appear in any form in Thomas of Celano, and only once in AP 39 and twice in L3C 39, 61. His Commentary of Luke’s Gospel and his sermons reveal Bonaventure’s appreciation for the word. Austerity is seen as (a) the "beginning of human reparation" (IX, 208); (b) the means of freeing us "from the disturbances of sin" (IX, 466); (c) that which enables us to enter the gate of heaven (VII, 350); and (d) that which identifies us with Christ (VII, 16, 228). In commenting on this passage, Gal 5:24, Bonaventure writes: "Austerity is a sign of an interior holiness . . ." (V, 16).
Legenda Maior, Fontes Franciscani, p. 813
Caput V
- De austeritate vitae
et quomodo creaturae praebebant ei solatium.
1 1Cum igitur cerneret vir Dei Franciscus
suo exemplo
ad crucem Christi baiulandam ferventi spiritu
plurimos animari,
animabatur et ipse tamquam bonus dux exercitus Christi
ad palmam victoriae
per culmen invictae pervenire virtutis.
2Attendens enim illud Apostoli verbum:
Qui autem sunt Christi
carnem suam crucifixerunt
cum vitiis et concupiscentiis:
ut crucis armaturam suo ferret in corpore,
tanta disciplinae rigiditate sensuales appetitus arcebat,
ut vix necessaria sumeret
sustentafioni naturae.
3Difficile namque fore dicebat necessitati corporis satisfacere, et pronitati sensuum non parere.