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The Deeds of Blessed Francis and His Companions
HERE BEGIN SOME DEEDS OF SAINT FRANCIS AND HIS COMPANIONSa
To the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our most holy Father Francis. Here are written down some notable things about blessed Francis and his companions, and some of their admirable deeds which have been passed over in his legends and which are very devout and useful.
I
THE PERFECT EXPROPRIATION OF HOLY BROTHER BERNARD AT THE PREACHING OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
1 One must first of all know that our blessed Father Francis was conformed to Christ in all his deeds.b For just as the blessed Christ in the beginning of his preaching took to Himself twelve apostles who left all things, Mt 19:27 so also did Francis have twelve chosen companions who chose highest poverty. And just as one of the twelve apostles hanged himself with a rope, so did one of the twelve companions, John de Capella, hang himself with a rope.c And just as those holy apostles were admirable to the whole world and were filled with the Holy Spirit, so too these most holy companions of Saint Francis were men of such holiness that the world had not had such men since the time of the apostles. For one of them had been caught up to the third heaven: 2 Cor 12:2 this was Brother Giles. An angel touched the lips of one with a burning coal as Isaiah had been: this was Brother Philip the Tall. One spoke with God as friend with friend as that most pure man, Brother
- This translation is based on Actus Beati Francisci et Sociorum Eius: Nuova Edizione Postuma di Jacques Cambell, Marino Bigaroni and Giovanni Boccali (Santa Maria degli Angeli-Assisi: Tipografia Porziuncola, 1988). The number of each paragraph follows that of the Cambell, Bigaroni, Boccali edition.
- The author uses the Latin word conformare [to conform] to summarize Francis's life, a word used sporadically in earlier Franciscan literature (1C 76, 83, 99; 2C 99, 128, 190; 3C 13, 14; LJS 9; L3C 6, 73; AC 61; LMj V 1; X 4; XIII 1; 2MP 57). While in some of these references, the word indicates conformity to Francis, in most instances it refers to conformity to Christ.
- Cf. FA:ED II 41 b, 88 a. The first reference to John de Capella as a tragic Judas figure is in BPr, cf. supra FA:ED III. It is repeated in ChrXXIVG, p. 4 in which John is identified as one of Francis's first companions, "who was the first in the Order to devise some kind of hat or biretta to be worn over the cowl;" and "who as another Judas, became leprous in the Order. Inflamed with madness, he left the Order. And so, abandoned by God into the hands of demons, he hung himself."