170 



DISCOVERY 



Bishop and the chief magistrate of Assisi : the Bishop 

 excommunicated the magistrate and the magistrate 

 boycotted the Bishop. Francis, liearing of it, added 

 another verse to his " Praises of the Creatures " or 

 " Song of Brother Sun " : " Praised be Thou, O my 

 Lord, of them that forgive for love of Thee," and told 

 his companions to get the two enemies together and 

 sing it to them ; whereupon Bishop and magistrate 

 both confessed themselves in the wrong, asked for- 

 giveness, and fell into each other's arms. Francis 

 made no attempt to go into the merits of the case ; 

 he simply substituted an atmosphere of love and 

 mutual trust for one of hatred and suspicion. He 

 attached much importance to the power of music and 

 singing, and wished that his brethren after preaching 

 should sing the praises of the Lord, and that when the 

 song was ended the preachers should say to the people : 

 " We are the minstrels of the Lord, and the pay that 

 we ask of 3'ou is that you should be in a state of true 

 repentance." For he would say: "What are the 

 servants of the Lord but His minstrels, who lift up the 

 hearts of men and move them to spiritual gladness ? " 

 If we ask what was the secret of his power, there is 

 no adequate answer ; but it may be found partly in 

 three qualities which he possessed in a pre-eminent 

 degree— sincerity, sympathy, and selflessness. 



If he was ever actuated by " mixed motives," he at 

 once made public confession, " that he might not 

 appear outwardly other than he was inwardly." 

 " Once, when he was walking through Assisi, he met 

 an old woman who asked him to give her something. 

 Having nothing but a cloak, with ready bounty he 

 gave her that. But perceiving an impulse of self- 

 complacency stealing over him, he immediately 

 confessed before all the bystanders that he had been 

 moved by vainglory." 



Many instances are recorded of his power of divining 

 the unspoken thoughts and feelings of others, which 

 to his biographers appeared miraculous. " Saintlier 

 than saints," says his earliest biographer, " among 

 sinners he was as one of themselves." He never felt 

 himself superior to anybody, and one product of his 

 humility and sjTnpathy was a natural courtesy to all 

 sorts and conditions. " Courtesy," he said, " is an 

 attribute of God Himself, who makes His sun to shine 

 and His rain to fall equally upon the just and upon the 

 unjust : and courtesj' is the sister of charity, and 

 quenches hates and keeps love alive." 



His sympathy extended to all nature. He regarded 

 the sun and fire as brothers, the birds and flowers as 

 sisters : 



Communing in this sort through earth and heaven 

 With every form of creature, as it looked 

 Towards the Uncreated with a countenance 

 Of adoration, with an eye of love. 



Francis craved nothing for himself and his followers 

 except the right to possess nothing — the " privilege 

 of poverty'." The friars differed from the monks in 

 this among other things, that their vow of poverty 

 involved the renunciation not onl\' of private but also 

 of corporate property. But renunciation of property 

 is a poor way of expressing St. Francis's enthusiastic 

 devotion to Holy Poverty — " that celestial virtue by 

 which all impediments are lifted away from the soul, 

 so that she can freely unite herself to the eternal God." 

 We are accustomed to think of a poor man as one who 

 lacks the advantages of riches : St. Francis thought 

 of a rich man as one who lacked the inestimable boon 

 of poverty. He served the " Lady Poverty " as a 

 knight in the romances of chivalry ser\'ed his ideal 

 lady. Such service must be free. Francis had no 

 desire to deprive other people of their property ; he 

 set an example, which others might follow, but the 

 sacrifice must be \villLng. 



His attitude is hard for us to understand ; it was 

 also hard for his contemporaries, and in defending 

 his ideas to the magnates of the Church he used less 

 exalted and more comprehensible arguments. " If 

 we should have possessions, we should need arms to 

 protect ourselves. For thence arise disputes and 

 lawsuits, and for this cause the love of God and our 

 neighbour is wont often to be hindered, wherefore we 

 are minded to possess naught of worldly goods in this 

 world." 



The early friars lived by the labour of their hands 

 and by alms. " I worked with my hands," said 

 St. Francis in his last Testament, " £md I wish to work, 

 and I wish firmly that aU the other brothers should 

 work at some labour which is compatible with honesty. 

 . . . And when the price of labour is not given to us, 

 let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging 

 alms from door to door." In course of time, as the 

 friars' work became more and more that of preachers 

 and teachers, manual labour w-as confined to the work 

 of house and garden (there is a story that, when the 

 Pope's envoys brought the Cardinal's hat to Bona- 

 vcntura, he was washing up the dishes, and asked them 

 to hang it up outside), and the friaries depended, like 

 many churches, schools, and hospitals to-day, on 

 voluntary contributions. 



The rapid increase and spread of the Order necessi- 

 tated a more elaborate organisation and rules for the 

 enforcement of discipHne. The reign of love had to 

 yield to the coarser reign of law. Francis was not an 

 organiser, and was more alive to the e\Tls than to 

 the advantages of organisation. The exercise of au- 

 thority by one man over others was repugnant to his 

 nature. Those in authority should be ministers and 

 servants ; and erring friars, when they go to them, 

 " may speak and act with them as masters with their 



