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The Beginning of A Mirror of Perfection
of the Statusa of a Lesser Brotherb
(The Sabatier Edition)
[Introduction]c
1After the second rule which blessed Francis wrote had been lost, he went up a mountain with Brother Leo of Assisi and Brother Bonizo of Bologna to make another rule,d which he had written at Christ's instruction.
A group of many ministers came to Brother Elias, who was the vicar of the blessed Francis. "We heard that Brother Francis is making a new rule," they told him, "and we fear that he will make it so harsh that we will not be able to observe it. We want you to go to him and tell him that we refuse to be bound to that rule. Let him make it for himself and not for us."
Brother Elias replied to them that he did not want to go because he feared the rebuke of blessed Francis. When they insisted that he go, he said that he refused to go without them; so they all went together.
- The Latin word here is status, a word that appears fourteen times in this text but with different meanings (2MP 1, 43, 64, 68–2x, 64, 71, 76, 80, 85, 105, 112, 124). Cf. supra, 145, note 8.
- This translation is based on the edition originally prepared by Paul Sabatier: Speculum (lLe) Perfectionis ou Mémoires de frère Léon sur la seconde partue de la vie de Saint François d'Assise, ed. Paul Sabatier, Andrew George Little, I, (Mancester: British Society of Franciscan Studies 13, 1928), 1-350; and reprinted in Fontes Franciscani, ed. Enrico Menestò, Stefano Brufani, Giuseppe Cremascoli, Emore Paoli, Luigi Pellegrini, Stanislao da Campagnola (S. Maria degli Angeli-Assisi: Edizioni Porziuncola, 1995), 1849-2053. Since the basis of this text is AC, only those words or phrases added by its anonymous editor are bolded.
- Unlike the Sabatier and Fontes editions, this first number is simply called the introduction, in order to avoid giving the remaining twelve chapters a confusing double set of numbers. In this way, it is also clear that this opening pericope describing the controversial loss and rewriting of the Regula bullata [Later Rule] serves as an introduction to the following twelve chapters that focus on its ideals and the controversies surrounding it.
In this instance, the editors of this translation have chosen to follow that precedent. Cross references to the earlier passages of AC, FA:ED II 118-230, will be indicated in the inner margins as AC. Since Thomas of Celano used the material sent by the Three Companions, i.e., "we who were with him," in 2C, it is useful to recognize the repetition of many of the same pericopes throughout these later texts. To indicate these parallel texts, as well as similar passages in the Lemmens edition, supra 214-52, the authors have chosen to indicate their presence as //2C. - Information about Bonizzo of Bologna can be found in FA:ED II 131b. Parallel descriptions of the composition of LR can be found in LMj IV 11, FA:ED II 557-8.
Speculum Perfectionis, Fontes Franciscani, p. 1849
Incipit Speculum Perfectionis status fratris Minoris.
[CAPITULUM] I.
1Postquam secunda regula quam fecerat beatus Franciscus perdita fuit, ascendit in quemdam montem cum fratre Leone de Assisio et fratre Bonizo de Bononia, ut faceret aliam regulam quam Christo docente scribi fecit.
2Congregati autem simul plures ministri ad fratrem Heliam, qui erat vicarius beati Francisci, dixerunt sibi: « Audivimus quod iste frater Franciscus facit unam novam regulam, timemus ne faciat eam ita asperam quod non possimus eam servare. 3Volumus ergo quod vadas ad eum et dicas ei quod nolumus esse obligati ad illam regulam. Faciat eam pro se et non pro nobis ».
4Quibus frater Helias respondit quod nolebat ire, timens reprehensionem beati Francisci. Tunc illis instantibus quod iret, dixit se nolle ire sine ipsis. Et tunc omnes simul iverunt.