Michael F. Cusato

Francis and the Franciscan movement (1181/2–1226)

HISTORIOGRAPHY AND HERMENEUTICS Francis of Assisi is one of the most popular and attractive saints of Christian history. And yet therein lies the challenge for those attempting to authentically understand him and the movement which gathered around him. In popular and scholarly treatments Francis and his spiritual achievement are often understood in isolation from the historical conditions and realities which gave rise to the man and the movement he inspired. Such works concentrate instead either on his heroic and saintly virtues of simplicity, humility and poverty or on his fate as an isolated victim of manipulative clerics intent on using his movement to advance their own ecclesial agenda. In either case concentration is fixed upon the man to the exclusion of the multi-faceted movement. The reason for this is not simply our genuine fascination with il poverello . It is also closely tied to the fact that our understanding of him has either been drawn largely from the hagiographical sources of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, which viewed him through the lens of his canonisation as a saint in 1228; or, alternatively, from the personal reminiscences of his companions which reflected the polemical struggles raging within the order over its identity and its fidelity to the intentions of the founder.

An Unexplored Influence on the Epistola ad fideles of Francis of Assisi: The Epistola universis Christi fidelibus of Joachim of Fiore

During the summer of 1220, shaken by news from Italy of a variety of troubles brewing within the Order of Friars Minor, Francis of Assisi left the Holy Land – where he had gone to oppose the Fifth Crusade the previous year – in order to return home to Italy. He was accompanied on this journey by most, if not all, of the friars who had been with him in the East: among them, Elias of Cortona, Peter of Catanio, Stephen of Narni, Illuminato and Caesar of Speyer.

Ordo et Sanctitas: The Franciscan Spiritual Journey in Theology and Hagiography

Ordo et Sanctitas: The Franciscan Spiritual Journey in Theology and Hagiography offers articles on Franciscan hagiographical texts; medieval theology and the Bonaventurian theological tradition; and the retrieval of the Franciscan tradition in a contemporary context.

Highest Poverty or Lowest Poverty?: The Paradox of the Minorite Charism

The controversy over the meaning and parameters of Franciscan poverty is one of the most widely discussed issues in medieval historiography, both within the Franciscan order as well as outside of it, both during the Middle Ages as well as among contemporary scholars even today. Contemporary scholars—be they professed Franciscans or professional Franciscanists—have generally shown an interest in reconstructing the evolution of the friars’ practice of their poverty and the debates about this subject that were raging within the order among the friars themselves as well as between the order and their critics outside of it. These scholarly efforts have followed the trajectory of a more classically historical approach. They have been particularly intent on reconstructing and telling the story in all of its complexity and contentiousness. The emblematic scholarly work of this kind of historical approach still remains the masterly volume of Malcolm Lambert, titled Franciscan Poverty, written in 1961 and then slightly revised and expanded in 1998.2

Francis Of Assisi, Deacon? An Examination Of The Claims Of The Earliest Franciscan Sources 1229-1235

This chapter addresses the more narrow question of whether Francis of Assisi was - or was not - a deacon, a member of the clerical hierarchy, as the early hagiographical sources would seem to claim he was. There are three primary testimonies that Francis was a deacon. The first and most important source is the famous narrative found in the Vita prima of Thomas of Celano. If one would wish to read this account differently and thereby put into doubt this traditional if seemingly enigmatic assertion, two items from the Celanese account would need further exploration: (1) Celanos choice and use of the Latin term levita ; and (2) the connection between the assertion that Francis was a Levite and his proclamation of the Gospel. The chapter examines the first issue. The second issue may well be the strongest argument for the claims in favor of the diaconate of Francis. Keywords: early hagiographical sources; Francis of Assisi; Gospel; levita ; Thomas of Celano

The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (review)

Students of great art, literature or music rejoice when the insights and achievements of a particular artist that have appeared in earlier works in partial or fragmentary form are seen to come to fruition in later works demonstrating full mastery of the craft, maturity of expression and depth of reflection and analysis. Such is the impression one has in reading the present volume by David Burr, professor emeritus of history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, on the phenomenon of the spiritual Franciscans, representing as it does the culmination of a lifetime of research and writing on the subject. And a stunning achievement it is! Indeed, it could be argued without fear of exaggeration that this work stands as one of the most accomplished treatments of an important topic in medieval Franciscan history in recent years – not because it presents that history by way of a strikingly new and original thesis but rather because of its powerful synthesis of complex realities by way of a masterful control of a wide array of sources. Burr certainly comes to his task extraordinarily well-prepared. Author of numerous articles and several important monographs on aspects of the controversies described in this book (most notably on the pivotal figure of Peter of John Olivi), Burr is well known to medievalists and franciscanists alike not only through his various publications but also thanks to his frequent participation as a presenter at the annual medieval congresses in Kalamazoo, often in sessions sponsored by The Franciscan Institute, on the very topics covered in this volume. In brief, he has been building his case on the subject for many years and now we have his summary statement on the matter.