We who were with Blessed Francis and write these things, testify that many times we heard him say: "If I could speak with the Emperor,[523] I would supplicate and persuade him that, for the love of God and me, he would make a special law that no man should snare or kill our sisters, the larks, nor do them any harm. Also, that all chief magistrates of cities and lords of castles and villages should, every year, on the day of the Lord's His desire that birds and animals be fed on Christmas day Nativity, compel men to scatter wheat and other grain on the roads outside cities and castles, that our Sister Larks and all other birds might have to eat on that most solemn day; and that, out of reverence for the Son of God, who on that night was laid by the most Blessed Virgin Mary in a manger between an ox and an ass, all who have oxen and asses should be obliged on that night to provide them with abundant and good fodder; and also that on that day the poor should be most bountifully fed by the rich."
For Blessed Francis held in higher reverence than any other the Feast of the Lord's Nativity, saying, "After the Lord was born, our salvation became a necessity." Therefore he desired that on this day all Christians should rejoice in the Lord, and, for the love of Him who gave Himself for us, should generously provide not only for the poor, but also for the beasts and birds.
Next to fire he most loved water, which is the symbol of holy penance and tribulation, whereby the stains are washed from the soul, and by which the first cleansing of the soul takes place in holy baptism. Hence, when he washed his hands, he would select a place where he would not tread the water underfoot. His regard for trees, stones, and all created things When he walked over stones he would tread on them with fear and reverence, for the love of Him who is called the Rock, and when reciting the words of the Psalm, Thou hast exalted me on a rock, would add with great reverence and devotion, "beneath the foot of the rock hast thou exalted me."
In the same way he would tell the friars who cut and prepared the wood not to cut down the whole tree, but only such branches as would leave the tree standing, for love of Him who died for us on the wood of the Cross. So, also, he would tell the friar who was the gardener not to cultivate all the ground for vegetables and herbs for food, but to set aside some part to produce green plants which should in their time bear flowers for the friars, for love of Him who was called "The Flower of the Field," and "The Lily of the Valley." Indeed he would say the Brother Gardener should always make a beautiful little garden in some part of the land, and plant it with sweet-scented herbs bearing lovely flowers, which in the time of their blossoming invited men to praise Him who made all herbs and flowers. For every creature cries aloud: "God has made me for thee, O man!"
64. The Rule of St. Francis
There is every reason for believing that St. Francis set out upon his mission with no idea whatever of founding a new religious order. His fundamental purpose was to revive what he conceived to be the purer Christianity of the apostolic age, and so far as this involved the announcement of any definite principles or rules he was quite content to draw them solely from the Scriptures. We have record, for example, of how when (in 1209) St. Francis had yet but two followers, he led them to the steps of the church of St. Nicholas at Assisi and there read to them three times the words of Jesus sending forth his disciples,[524] adding, "This, brethren, is our life and our rule, and that of all who may join us. Go, then, and do as you have heard." As his field of labor expanded, however, and the number of the friars increased, St. Francis decided to write out a definite Rule for the brotherhood and go to Rome to procure its approval by the Pope. The Rule as thus formulated, in 1210, has not come down to us. We know only that it was extremely simple and that it was composed almost wholly of passages from the Bible (doubtless those read to the companions at Assisi), with a few precepts about the occupations and manner of living of the brethren. This first Rule indeed proved too simple and brief to satisfy the demands of the growing order. A general injunction, such as "be poor," was harder to apply and to live up to than a more specific set of instructions explaining just what was to be considered poverty and what was not. The brethren, moreover, were soon preaching and laboring in all the countries of western Europe and questions were continually coming up regarding their relations with the temporal powers in those countries, with the local clergy, with the papal government, and also among themselves.
Reluctantly, and with a heart-felt warning against the insidious influences of ambition and organization, the founder finally brought himself to the task of drawing up a constitution for the order which had surprised him, and in a certain sense grieved him, by the very elaborateness of its development. During the winter of 1220-21, when physical infirmities were foreshadowing the end, Francis worked out the document generally known as the Rule of 1221, which became the basis for the Rule of 1223, quoted in part below. Before the Rule took its final form, the influence of the Church was brought to bear through the papacy, with the result that most of the freshness and vigor that St. Francis put into the earlier effort was crushed out in the interest of ecclesiastical regularity. Only a small portion of the document can be reproduced here, but enough, perhaps, to show something as to what the manner of life of the Franciscan friar was expected to be. The extract may profitably be compared with the Benedictine Rule governing the monks [see [p. 83]].
Source—Bullarium Romanum ["Collection of Papal Bulls">[, editio Taurinensis, Vol. III., p. 394. Adapted from translation in Ernest F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages (London, 1896), pp. 344-349 passim.
1. This is the rule and way of living of the Minorite brothers, namely, to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without personal possessions, and in chastity. Brother Francis promises obedience and reverence to our lord Pope Honorius,[525] and to his successors who canonically enter upon their office, and to the Roman Church. And the other brothers shall be bound to obey Brother Francis and his successors.
4. I firmly command all the brothers by no means to receive coin or money, of themselves or through an intervening person. Money in no case to be received by the brothers But for the needs of the sick and for clothing the other brothers, the ministers alone and the guardians shall provide through spiritual friends, as it may seem to them that necessity demands, according to time, place and the coldness of the temperature. This one thing being always borne in mind, that, as has been said, they receive neither coin nor money.