Life of St. Francis of Assisi   By: Paul Sabatier (1858-1928)

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

BY

PAUL SABATIER

Quivere monachus est nihil reputat esse suum nisi citharam

GIOACCHINO DI FIORE in Apoc. 182 a 2

TRANSLATED BY

LOUISE SEYMOUR HOUGHTON

LONDON HODDER & STOUGHTON

1919

Copyright, 1894, by Charles Scribner's Sons, for the United States of America.

Printed by the Scribner Press New York, U.S.A.

TO THE STRASBURGHERS

Friends!

At last here is this book which I told you about so long ago. The result is small indeed in relation to the endeavor, as I, alas! see better than anyone. The widow of the Gospel put only one mite into the alms box of the temple, but this mite, they tell us, won her Paradise. Accept the mite that I offer you to day as God accepted that of the poor woman, looking not at her offering, but at her love , Feci quod potui, omnia dedi.

Do not chide me too severely for this long delay, for you are somewhat its cause. Many times a day at Florence, at Assisi, at Rome, I have forgotten the document I had to study. Something in me seemed to have gone to flutter at your windows, and sometimes they opened.... One evening at St. Damian I forgot myself and remained long after sunset. An old monk came to warn me that the sanctuary was closed. "Per Bacco!" he gently murmured as he led me away, all ready to receive my confidence , "sognava d'amore o di tristitia?" Well, yes. I was dreaming of love and of sadness, for I was dreaming of Strasbourg.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE INTRODUCTION, xi

CHAPTER I. YOUTH, 1

CHAPTER II. STAGES OF CONVERSION, 15

CHAPTER III. THE CHURCH ABOUT 1209, 28

CHAPTER IV. STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS, 53

CHAPTER V. FIRST YEAR OF APOSTOLATE, 71

CHAPTER VI. ST. FRANCIS AND INNOCENT III., 88

CHAPTER VII. RIVO TORTO, 103

CHAPTER VIII. PORTIUNCULA, 120

CHAPTER IX. SANTA CLARA, 147

CHAPTER X. FIRST ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE INFIDELS, 168

CHAPTER XI. THE INNER MAN AND WONDER WORKING, 183

CHAPTER XII. THE CHAPTER GENERAL OF 1217, 198

CHAPTER XIII. ST. DOMINIC AND ST. FRANCIS, 217

CHAPTER XIV. THE CRISIS OF THE ORDER, 239

CHAPTER XV. THE RULE OF 1221, 252

CHAPTER XVI. THE BROTHERS MINOR AND LEARNING, 271

CHAPTER XVII. THE STIGMATA, 287

CHAPTER XVIII. THE CANTICLE OF THE SUN, 297

CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST YEAR, 308

CHAPTER XX. FRANCIS'S WILL AND DEATH, 333

CRITICAL STUDY OF THE SOURCES, 347

APPENDIX. CRITICAL STUDY OF THE STIGMATA AND OF THE INDULGENCE OF AUGUST 2, 433

INTRODUCTION