The Versified Life of Saint Francis : FA:ED, vol. 1, p. 473

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FA:ED, vol. 1, 473The Versified Life of Saint Francis

The Versified Life of Saint Francis - 473

Here the Patarene error had led many astray^a
But Francis leads back the sheep of Christ to the fold.^{Acts 10:16}^b
While he instructs the unschooled, the Lord's word^{Acts 6:7} sits nobly
Upon his lips: like jasper on gold, like the dew

¹⁵⁰On the fields, a flower^c in thickets, a glowing fire in some
Palace hall.^d With divine faith he adorns souls like a jasper,
Like dew he moistens them, delights them like a flower,
And capturing human feelings, soothes them with sweet savor,
And reaches into the heart's deepest core.^e

¹⁵⁵And now those whose souls he pierced the more, prevail on him
Who learned from God such honored skill,
To let them join him as brethren; let them share
The onus he carries, share, too, the honors that are his.
These he enrolls under his banner;^f the Order

¹⁶⁰Grows greatly in numbers.^g Yet up to now it lacks a name.^h
Therefore its craftsman must give itⁱ a definite name,
And decides to call it the Order of Minors.
How right! For who was minor or lesser than he,
Meager in victuals and drinking, uncluttered with mantle or toga,

¹⁶⁵Not puffed up with grandeur or sway; that reckoned
All above himself and self to none preferred; that valued
What the world calls cheap and the costly learnt to scorn;
That lest he lose what was Christ, let himself go in want?
And so, Francis was right in calling them Minor—

Thomas of Celano makes no mention of Cathars in the Spoleto Valley. In 1C 62 Thomas of Celano speaks of the "confusion" of "heretics" in the Marches of Ancona, though not of their conversion. Henri may have known from his own experience and from contemporary reports of Cathars in the Spoleto region, but possibly exaggerates their following.
Henri contributed this from his own poetic source; no such thing is found in Thomas of Celano. Henri transferred this mention from there (and omitted it from its place, below, IX, 70) for the sake of meter, substituting Paterinorum [Cathars] for haereticorum [heretics]. Not even Gerard Gilberti, whom Innocent III excommunicated, and whom the people of Assisi elected their podesta, was a Cathar or a heretic. Cf. the Bull of Innocent, June 6, 1204, in his Regesta, VII, 83 (PL 216, 365-6). There was a small number of Cathars in the valley of Spoleto in about 1230, but they were no threat. Cf. below, VII, 159.
Cf. 1C 37.
That is, gleaming and glowing, but not out of control.
In these few words Henri freely compressed what is said in 1C 36 and 37.
Cf. 1C 37: "the threefold army of the saved." Henri usually delights in metonymy—here he passed it over.
Cf. Ovid, Fasti V, 537.
Cf. Vergil, Aeneid II, 558; IX, 343.
In 1C 38: "he wills;" in 1C 37 "the originator."

Legenda Sancti Francisci VersificataFontes,

Legenda Sancti Francisci Versificata, Fontes Franciscani, p.

Hic Patarinorum multos seduxerat error,
Sed Christi Franciscus oves ad ovile reducit.
Erudiensque rudes sedet excellenter in ore
Ipsius verbum Domini, quasi iaspis in auro,

¹⁴⁵Ros in agris, flos in virgultis, ignis in aula:
Divinaque fide mentes ut iaspis adornat,
Ut ros humectat, ut fios delectat, ut ignis.
Illustrat, captosque sua dulcedine sensus
Mulcet, et humani penetrat penetralia cordis,

¹⁵⁰Inde probabilius compuncti fortius instant,
Ut qui tam celebrem didicit divinitus artem,
In fratres admittat eos, partemque ferendi
Concedens oneris, partem concedat honoris.
Ille suis insignit eos insignibus; Ordo

¹⁵⁵Crescit in immensum, sed adhuc sine nomine res est.
Vult ergo suus huic opifex imponere certum
Nomen, et instituit dicatur ut Ordo Minorum.
Et merito: quis enim minor illo, quem neque potus
Aut cibus impinguat, nec diplois aut, toga densat,

¹⁶⁰Nec decus aut ditio sublimat, qui sibi cunctos
Se nulli praeferre studet, qui vilia mundi
Appretians, pretiosa sibi vilescere cogit,
Qui ne deficiat in Christo, deficit in se?
Tales Franciscus recte vocat ergo Minores:

468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 Contents

Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, vol. 1, p. 473

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