Ella con Cristo salse[35] in su la croce.”
The naïve sublimity of the concluding petition of the prayer “et alienis rebus semper cum usus penuria, dum vivit caro misera, sustentari,” is most characteristic of the Saint, not only in its sentiment but in its Franciscan directness. It strikes strangely upon modern ears to hear a Divine petition that certain men may ever be known as men who lived upon others. But it is logical, as Francis always was. There can be no evangelical poverty with possessions, and yet man must keep body and soul together; hence mendicancy is the only resource of the real lovers of my Lady Poverty. This sentiment recalls the famous saying of St Francis in the Fifth of his “Collationes Monasticæ”: “There is a compact between the World and my Brothers. They owe it a good example, and the World in return must provide them with all necessities. But if the Brothers, breaking faith, cease to give their good example, the World will, with justice, withdraw its helping hand.”
Very interesting, and of considerable importance, is the fact that this Prayer speaks of Christ being crucified with three nails only. Whether St Francis wrote the prayer or not, we may take this to have been his opinion, for it seems to have been the common opinion of the thirteenth century. And bearing in mind this opinion of his, it becomes impossible to attribute the phenomena of his Stigmata to subjective causes, or to that which is loosely called hysteria. The Stigmata of St Francis were not merely open wounds, but showed nails of a black fleshy substance, one in each hand and one in each foot. If these Stigmata had been the result of intense meditation on the Passion, then, seeing what his opinion was, the singular phenomena which were developed in him, would have shown one nail only for the feet, and not a nail in either foot. The point is of capital importance to investigators of a remarkable occurrence which, while proved beyond a doubt as a matter of fact, has hitherto found no scientific explanation.
APPENDIX II.
PARADISE—CANTO XI.
LINES 28-123
Dean Plumptre’s Translation
It is probable that Dante knew the “Sacrum Commercium”; it is certain that he knew the Prayer to obtain Poverty. Therefore it may be convenient to give in extenso that part of the Divine Canto which sings of the Mystic loves of Francis and the Lady Poverty.
The Providence,—which all things doth dispose 28