The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi | Page 9

the Church,
which approves of them, has founded that approval on evidence
irreproachable.
The marvels which are found in the Life of St. Francis are perfectly
well attested. That Life was first written by Thomas de Celano, one of
his companions, who was directed by Pope Gregory IX. to compile it,
and who afterwards added a second part on additional memoirs. John or
Thomas de Ceperano, Apostolic Notary, who was a staunch friend of
the Saint, published at the same time what he knew of his actions.
Crescentius de Jesi, General of the Order of the Friars Minors, gave
directions, by circular letters, to collect and transmit to him whatever
had been seen or learnt, relative to the sanctity and miracles of the
blessed Father. He addressed himself particularly to three of his twelve
first companions: Leo, his secretary and his confessor; Angelus and
Rufinus: all three joined in compiling what is called "The Legend of the
Three Companions." The others noted separately what they had
themselves seen, and the things which they had learnt from others.
Saint Bonaventure, being at the head of the Order, was urgently
entreated, by the general chapter, to write the life of their holy Patriarch.
With the intention of learning, with certainty, the truth of the facts, he
went expressly to Assisi, "There," he says, in the preface to his work, "I
had frequent and serious conferences with those who had been in the
confidence of the great man, and who were still living; and principally
with those who were most intimately consociated with him, and who
have become the most faithful imitators of his holy life, to whose
testimony we must undoubtedly give credit, because their
acknowledged sanctity assures us that they have spoken truth." Now,
what can the most exact and severe criticism wish more, in order to
give warranty to the marvels in the Life of St. Francis, than
contemporaries, ocular witnesses, holy persons, his own companions,
who lived with him and enjoyed his confidence?
The legend of Saint Bonaventure was spread everywhere, as soon as it
appeared, and was everywhere highly approved: there are many
manuscripts of it. Lipoman, Bishop of Verona, caused it to be printed

in 1556. No one ever attempted to call its accuracy in question.
Octavian quoted it, in his petition to Pope Sixtus IV. for the
canonization of the holy doctor, in 1482.
The first legends have been preserved in manuscript; the celebrated
annalist of the Order of Friars Minors, Luke Wading, saw them and
made use of them. He was one of the most learned men of his time, and
all other learned men have been loud in his praise, not only on account
of his profound erudition, but because he was so ardent a lover of truth,
which he sought for with great care, and having developed it, nothing
could hinder him from publishing it and committing it to writing.
The uprightness of his heart was conspicuous on a certain occasion,
which is too honorable to him for us to pass it over in silence. He had
been one of the examiners nominated by Pope Innocent X. to inquire
into the writings of Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres, and he had convinced
himself that the five propositions which appeared to be censurable in
those writings might be tolerably explained in a certain theological
sense. Those who are themselves upright are not easily brought to think
ill of others, particularly in difficult affairs, and they sometimes
endeavor to justify them, through charitable feelings, which are
praiseworthy in principle, but which may have evil consequences, when
a doctrine is in question which has been widely spread, and which is
supported by a cabal. Wading, seeing that the five propositions were
censured by various constitutions of the Pope, made a report on the
whole affair, with the following beautiful declaration, worthy of a truly
Catholic Doctor: "If, before this decision, any one shall have been of a
different opinion (as to the five propositions) on whatever reasonings,
or whatsoever authority of doctrine, he is now obliged to bend his mind
to the yoke of faith, according to the advice of the apostle. I declare it
to be what I do with all my heart, condemning and anathematizing all
the aforesaid propositions, in all and every sense in which His Holiness
has proposed to condemn them, although, before this decision, I
thought they might have been maintained in a certain sense, in the
manner I have explained in the suffrage which has been just seen."
We may feel assured that a man of this upright character, such a lover
of truth, and, moreover, one of such eminent talents, would not have
made use of the two Legends of Thomas de Celano and that of the
Three Companions, without having