The Life of Blessed Francis - 645 

Chapter Fifteen

HIS CANONIZATION
AND
THE TRANSFERAL OF HIS BODY

1Francis,
the servant and friend of the Most High,
the founder and leader of the Order of the Lesser Brothers,
the practitioner of poverty, the model of penance,
the herald of truth,
the mirror of holiness,
and the exemplar of all Gospel perfection,
foreordained by grace from heaven,
in an ordered progression
from the lowest level arrived at the very heights.

The Lord made incomparably more brilliant in death
this marvelous man,
whom He had made marvelously bright in life:
rich in poverty, exalted in humility,
vigorous in mortification,
prudent in simplicity,
distinguished in the integrity of his life.
For after this blessed man left the world,
that sacred spirit,
entering a home of eternity,
and made glorious by a full draught from the fountain of life,
left certain signs of future glory imprinted on his body;
so that,
his most holy flesh,
which crucified along with its vices,
had already passed into a new creature,
Gal 5:24
bore the likeness of Christ's passion
by a singular privilege
and would offer by the newness of a miracle
a glimpse of the resurrection.

2In his blessed hands and feet could be seen the nails that had been marvelously fashioned by divine power out of his flesh, and

 Previous

Next 

 

Legenda Maior, Fontes Franciscani, p. 905-906


Caput XV

De canonizatione
et
translatione ipsius.

1 1Franciscus
igitur, servus et amicus Altissimi,
Ordinis Minorum Fratrum institutor et dux,
paupertatis professor, poenitentiae forma,
veritatis praeco,
sanctitatis speculum
et totius evangelicae perfectionis exemplar,
superna praeventus gratia,
ordinato progressu
ab infimis pervenit ad summa.

2Hunc virum mirabilem,
utpote paupertate praedivitem, humilitate sublimem,
mortificatione vividum,
siniplicitate prudentem
omnique morum honestate conspicuum,
quem in vita Dominus mirabiliter effecerat clarum,
in morte fecit incomparabiliter clariorem.
3Beato namque viro migrante a saeculo,
spiritus ille sacer
domum aeternitatis ingrediens
fontisque vitae a haustu plenario gloriosus effectus,
expressa quaedam in corpore futurae gloriae signa reliquit,
4ut
caro illa sanctissima,
quae crucifixa cum vitiis
in novam iam creaturam transierat,
et passionis Christi effigiem
privilegii singularitate
praeferret et novitate miraculi
resurrectionis speciem praemonstraret.

2 1Cernebantur quidem in membris illis felicibus clavi ex eius carne virtute divina mirifice fabrefacti sicque carni eidem innati,

Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 2, p. 645