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from door to door. 23The Lord revealed a greeting to me that we should say: "May the Lord give you peace." 2 Thes 3:16
24Let the brothers be careful not to receive in any way churches or poor dwellings or anything else built for them unless they are according to the holy poverty we have promised in the Rule.a As pilgrims and strangers, 1 Pt 2:11 let them always be guests there.
25I strictly command all the brothers through obedience, wherever they may be, not to dare to ask any letter from the Roman Curia, either personally or through an intermediary, whether for a church or another place or under the pretext of preaching or the persecution of their bodies.b 26But, wherever they have not been received, let them flee into another country to do penance with the blessing of God. Mt 10:23
27And I firmly wish to obey the general minister of this fraternity and the other guardian whom it pleases him to give me. 28And I so wish to be a captive in his hands that I cannot go anywhere or do anything beyond obedience and his will, for he is my master.
29And although I may be simple and infirm, I nevertheless want to have a cleric always with me who will celebrate the Office for me as it is prescribed in the Rule.
30And let all the brothers be bound to obey their guardians and to recite the Office according to the Rule. 31And if some might have been found who are not reciting the Office according to the Rule and want to change it in some way, or who are not Catholics, let all the brothers, wherever they may have found one of them, be bound through obedience to bring him before the custodian of that place nearest to where they found him.c 32And let the custodian be strictly bound through obedience to keep him securely day and night as a man in chains, so that he cannot be taken from his hands until he can personally deliver him into the hands of his minister.
- The Testament takes a decidedly different direction at this point as Francis ceases to reminisce about the early days of his life and those of his brothers and begins a series of exhortations and commands. This change has led some to conclude that the document was written at different times and, perhaps, with the assistance of different brothers who took his dictation. In this instance, while recognizing the gradual development of accepting churches and residences, a step away from his original view of poverty introduced by the papal document Cum secondum consilium (1220) which established the year of probation, Francis encourages the brothers to keep the ideal of poverty before them. Cf. infra pp. 560-561.
- The encouragement of the previous section becomes a strong command prohibiting the active search for churches or residences regardless of the reason. The papal document, In eo quod audivimus, sent to the Archbishop of Pisa and the Abbot of Saint Paul’s on October 4, 1225, provides some insight into the persecution encountered by religious and the protection promised by the Holy See. Three papal documents written during the last years of Francis’s life, Vineae Domini custodes (October 7, 1225), Urgenti officii nostri (February 20, 1226) and Ex parte vestra (March 17, 1226) promise the itinerant brothers the same type of protection and threaten sanctions on those who persecute them. Cf. infra. Related Documents, p. 563.
- This passage parallels Francis’s Letter to the Entire Order 44-46 (hereafter LtOrd) and accentuates his insistence that the Liturgy of the Hours forms a strong link binding the brothers to one another and to the Church.
Testamentum, Fontes Franciscani, p. 229-230
22Et quando non daretur nobis pretium laboris, recurramus ad mensam Domini, petendo eleemosynam ostiatim. 23Salutationem mihi Dominus revelavit, ut diceremus: Dominus det tibi Pacem.
24Caveant sibi fratres, ut ecclesias, habitacula paupercula et omnia, quae pro ipsis construuntur, penitus non recipiant, nisi essent, sicut decet sanctam paupertatem, quam in regula promisimus, semper ibi hospitantes si- cut advenae et peregrini.
25Praecipio firmiter per obedientiam fratribus universis, quod ubicumque sunt, non audeant petere aliquam litteram in curia Romana, per se neque per interpositam personam, neque pro ecclesia neque pro alio loco neque sub specie praedicationis neque pro persecutione suorum corporum; 26sed ubicumque non fuerint recepti, fugiant in aliam terram ad faciendam poenitentiam cum benedictione Dei.
27Et firmiter volo obedire ministro generali huius fraternitatis et alio guardiano, quem sibi placuerit mihi dare. 28Et ita volo esse captus in manibus suis, ut non possim ire vel facere ultra obedientiam et voluntatem suam, quia dominus meus est.
29Et quamvis sim simplex et infirmus, tamen semper volo habere clericum, qui mihi faciat officium, sicut in regula continetur.
30Et omnes alii fratres teneantur ita obedire guardianis suis et facere officium secundum regulam. 31Et qui inventi essent, quod non facerent officium secundum regulam, et vellent alio modo variare, aut non essent catholici, omnes fratres, ubicumque sunt, per obedientiam teneantur, quod ubicumque invenerint aliquem ipsorum, proximiori custodi illius loci, ubi ipsum invenerint, debeant repraesentare. 32Et custos firmiter teneatur per obedientiam ipsum fortiter custodire, sicuti hominem in vinculis die noctuque, ita quod non possit eripi de manibus suis, donec propria sua persona ipsum repraesentet in manibus sui ministri.