Part 16 (1/2)

[8] 3 Soc., 55.

[9] All this yet remains in its primitive state. The road which went from a.s.sisi to the now ruined Abbey of Mount Subasio (almost on the summit of the mountain) pa.s.sed the Carceri, where there was a little chapel built by the Benedictines.

[10] _Illi qui religiose volunt stare in eremis sint tres aut quatuor ad plus. Duo ex ipsis sint matres, et habeant duos filios, vel unum ad minus. Illi duo teneant vitam Marthae et alii duo vitam Mariae Magdalenae._ a.s.sisi MS., 338, 43a-b; text given also in _Conf._, 143a, 1, from which Wadding borrows it for his edition of the _Opuscules_ of St. Francis. Cf. 2 Cel., 3, 113.

It is possible that we have here a fragment of the Rule, which must have been composed toward 1217.

[11] 1 Cel., 42 and 43; 3 Soc., 55; Bon., 41.

[12] 1 Cel., 42-44.

[13] 2 Cel., 1, 15; Bon., 65. These two authors do not say where the event took place; but there appears to be no reason for suspecting the indication of Rivo-Torto given by the _Speculum_, fo. 21a.

[14] 2 Cel., 3, 110. Cf. _Spec._, 22a.

[15] 1 Cel., 47; Bon., 43.

[16] There are few events of the thirteenth century that offer more doc.u.ments or are more obscure than this one. The chroniclers of the most different countries speak of it at length. Here is one of the shortest but most exact of the notices, given by an eye-witness (Annals of Genoa of the years 1197-1219, _apud Mon. Germ. hist. Script_., t. 18): 1212 _in mense Augusti, die Sabbati, octava Kalendarum Septembris, intravit civitatem Janue quidam puer Teutonicus nomine Nicholaus peregrinationis causa, et c.u.m eo mult.i.tudo maxima pelegrinorum defferentes cruces et bordonos atque sca.r.s.ellas ultra septem millia arbitratu boni viri inter homines et feminas et puellos et puellas. Et die dominica sequenti de civitate exierunt_.--Cf.

Giacomo di Viraggio: Muratori, t. ix., col. 46: _Dicebant quod mare debebat apud Januam siccari et sic ipsi debebant in Hierusalem proficisci. Multi autem inter eos erant filii n.o.bilium, quos ipsi etiam c.u.m meretricibus destinarunt (!_) The most tragic account is that of Alberic, who relates the fate of the company that embarked at Ma.r.s.eilles. _Mon. Ger. hist.

Script_., t. 23, p. 894.

[17] The Benedictine chronicler, Albert von Stade (_Mon. Ger.

hist. Script_., t. 16, pp. 271-379), thus closes his notice of the children's crusade: _Adhuc quo devenerint ignorantur sed plurimi redierunt, a quibus c.u.m quaereretur causa cursus dixerunt se nescire. Nudae etiam mulieres circa idem tempus nihil loquentes per villas et civitates cucurrerunt._ _Loc. cit._, p. 355.

[18] _Chron. Veronese, ann. 1238_ (Muratori, _Scriptores Rer.

Ital._, t. viii., p. 626). Cf. Barbarano de' Mironi: _Hist.

Eccles. di Vicenza_, t. ii., pp. 79-84.

[19] The Brothers were at first called _Viri paenitentiales de civitate a.s.sisii_ (3 Soc., 37); it appears that they had a momentary thought of calling themselves _Pauperes de a.s.sisio_, but they were doubtless dissuaded from this at Rome, as too closely resembling that of the _Pauperes de Lugduno_. Vide _Burchardi chronicon._, p. 376; vide Introd., cap. 5.

[20] Vide Rule of 1221, _cap._ 7. Cf. 1 Cel., 38, and Bon., 78.

[21] 1 Cel., 36.

[22] _Storia d'a.s.sisi_, t. i., pp. 123-129.

CHAPTER VIII

PORTIUNCULA

1211

It was doubtless toward the spring of 1211 that the Brothers quitted Rivo-Torto. They were engaged in prayer one day, when a peasant appeared with an a.s.s, which he noisily drove before him into the poor shelter.

”Go in, go in!” he cried to his beast; ”we shall be most comfortable here.” It appeared that he was afraid that if the Brothers remained there much longer they would begin to think this deserted place was their own.[1] Such rudeness was very displeasing to Francis, who immediately arose and departed, followed by his companions.

Now that they were so numerous the Brothers could no longer continue their wandering life in all respects as in the past; they had need of a permanent shelter and above all of a little chapel. They addressed themselves in vain first to the bishop and then to the canons of San Rufino for the loan of what they needed, but were more fortunate with the abbot of the Benedictines of Mount Subasio, who ceded to them in perpetuity the use of a chapel already very dear to their hearts, Santa Maria degli Angeli or the Portiuncula.[2]