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Rule of Saint Francis
Francis of Assisi founded three religious orders and gave each of them a special rule. Here, only the rule of the first order is discussed, i.e., that of the Order of Friars Minor.
Whether St. Francis wrote several rules or one rule only, with several versions, whether he received it directly from heaven through revelations, or whether it was the fruit of his long experiences, whether he gave it the last touch or whether its definite form is due to the influence of others, all these are questions which find different answers.
The first rule is that which Francis submitted to Pope Innocent III for approval in the year 1209. While its actual text is unknown, according to Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure, this primitive rule was little more than some passages of the Gospel heard in 1208 in the chapel of the Portiuncula. From which Gospel precisely these words were taken, is unknown. The following passages, Matthew 19:21; Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:3, occurring in the second rule (i and xiv), are considered as a part of the original one of 1209. They enjoin apostolical life with all its renouncements and privations. The three vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, essential to any religious order, and some practical rules of conduct were added. Thomas of Celano says in this regard, "Blessed Francis, seeing that the Lord God was daily increasing the number [of the brethren] for that very purpose, wrote down simply and in few words for himself and his brethren, both present and future, a pattern and rule of life, using chiefly the language of the holy Gospel after whose perfection alone he yearned". Bonaventure and the so-called "Legend of the Three Companions" (viii) repeat almost the same words. It was to this "form of life," which has become known as the First Rule, that Innocent III gave verbal approval on April 23, 1209.
In 1215, Canon 13 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran forbade the establishment of new religious orders and required those who wished to found a new house to choose an existing approved rule. Livarius Oliger sees in the fact that Francis and his followers were considered exempt from this prohibition, an implicit approval.
The text of the primitive rule seems to have been lost very early. This first rule marks the stage of the order governed by St. Francis's authority, and it is quite natural that this first attempt could not be developed as later rules were. Francis did not take as his model any monastic order, but simply the life of Christ and His Apostles, the Gospel itself.
Jacques de Vitry, in a letter written at Genoa, in 1216 says that the rule of 1209 was successively improved at the annual general chapter at Portiuncula by new statutes, the fruit of ever-growing experience. The traditional "Legend of the Three Companions" says (c. xiv): "At Whitsuntide [every year] all the brethren assembled unto St. Mary and consulted how best they might observe the Rule. Moreover St. Francis gave unto them admonition, rebukes, and precepts, according as seemed good unto him by the counsel of the Lord."
During the years 1219-1220 in the absence of the holy founder in the East, some events happened which determined Francis to recast his rule, in order to prevent similar troubles in the future. The only author who informs us well on this point is Jordanus of Giano in his Chronicle. The vicars left in charge of the brothers by Francis having made some innovations against the spirit of the rule, and Francis having heard of this, he immediately returned to Italy and with the help of Cardinal-Protector Ugolino repressed the disorders. One of these innovations was a prohibition against eating meat. This Francis overruled in keeping with Acts 10:15, "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane". Jordanus then goes on: "And thus the disturbers with the help of the Lord being kept down, he [St. Francis] reformed the Order according to its statutes. And the blessed Francis seeing that brother Caesarius [of Spires] was learned in holy letters, he charged him to embellish with texts of the Gospel the Rule which he himself had written with simple words."
In the early years, Francis had been able to lead the friars by his personal charisma. As their number grew, and there were scattered in distant countries many who had never or rarely met the founder. Angelo Clareno says that at some general chapter the ministers and custodes, asked Cardinal Ugolino to use his influence with Francis that he might introduce some organization into the order according to the Rules of Augustine, Benedict, and Bernard, and that they might receive some influence. Francis being questioned, answered that he was called to walk by the way of simplicity, and that he would always follow the folly of the Cross. The chapter at which this occurred was most, likely the one of 1220.
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Rule of Saint Francis
Francis of Assisi founded three religious orders and gave each of them a special rule. Here, only the rule of the first order is discussed, i.e., that of the Order of Friars Minor.
Whether St. Francis wrote several rules or one rule only, with several versions, whether he received it directly from heaven through revelations, or whether it was the fruit of his long experiences, whether he gave it the last touch or whether its definite form is due to the influence of others, all these are questions which find different answers.
The first rule is that which Francis submitted to Pope Innocent III for approval in the year 1209. While its actual text is unknown, according to Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure, this primitive rule was little more than some passages of the Gospel heard in 1208 in the chapel of the Portiuncula. From which Gospel precisely these words were taken, is unknown. The following passages, Matthew 19:21; Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:3, occurring in the second rule (i and xiv), are considered as a part of the original one of 1209. They enjoin apostolical life with all its renouncements and privations. The three vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, essential to any religious order, and some practical rules of conduct were added. Thomas of Celano says in this regard, "Blessed Francis, seeing that the Lord God was daily increasing the number [of the brethren] for that very purpose, wrote down simply and in few words for himself and his brethren, both present and future, a pattern and rule of life, using chiefly the language of the holy Gospel after whose perfection alone he yearned". Bonaventure and the so-called "Legend of the Three Companions" (viii) repeat almost the same words. It was to this "form of life," which has become known as the First Rule, that Innocent III gave verbal approval on April 23, 1209.
In 1215, Canon 13 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran forbade the establishment of new religious orders and required those who wished to found a new house to choose an existing approved rule. Livarius Oliger sees in the fact that Francis and his followers were considered exempt from this prohibition, an implicit approval.
The text of the primitive rule seems to have been lost very early. This first rule marks the stage of the order governed by St. Francis's authority, and it is quite natural that this first attempt could not be developed as later rules were. Francis did not take as his model any monastic order, but simply the life of Christ and His Apostles, the Gospel itself.
Jacques de Vitry, in a letter written at Genoa, in 1216 says that the rule of 1209 was successively improved at the annual general chapter at Portiuncula by new statutes, the fruit of ever-growing experience. The traditional "Legend of the Three Companions" says (c. xiv): "At Whitsuntide [every year] all the brethren assembled unto St. Mary and consulted how best they might observe the Rule. Moreover St. Francis gave unto them admonition, rebukes, and precepts, according as seemed good unto him by the counsel of the Lord."
During the years 1219-1220 in the absence of the holy founder in the East, some events happened which determined Francis to recast his rule, in order to prevent similar troubles in the future. The only author who informs us well on this point is Jordanus of Giano in his Chronicle. The vicars left in charge of the brothers by Francis having made some innovations against the spirit of the rule, and Francis having heard of this, he immediately returned to Italy and with the help of Cardinal-Protector Ugolino repressed the disorders. One of these innovations was a prohibition against eating meat. This Francis overruled in keeping with Acts 10:15, "What God has made clean, you are not to call profane". Jordanus then goes on: "And thus the disturbers with the help of the Lord being kept down, he [St. Francis] reformed the Order according to its statutes. And the blessed Francis seeing that brother Caesarius [of Spires] was learned in holy letters, he charged him to embellish with texts of the Gospel the Rule which he himself had written with simple words."
In the early years, Francis had been able to lead the friars by his personal charisma. As their number grew, and there were scattered in distant countries many who had never or rarely met the founder. Angelo Clareno says that at some general chapter the ministers and custodes, asked Cardinal Ugolino to use his influence with Francis that he might introduce some organization into the order according to the Rules of Augustine, Benedict, and Bernard, and that they might receive some influence. Francis being questioned, answered that he was called to walk by the way of simplicity, and that he would always follow the folly of the Cross. The chapter at which this occurred was most, likely the one of 1220.