What sort of society was Francis Bernardone born into? Western Europe was a changing world. The main signs of this development were economically and demographically. Demographically, the population was increasing rapidly leading to built up areas and new villages. Economically, land was being cleared, grazing was introduced and towns became places of exchanging money.
What were his personality traits? –charming – irresponsible – selfish – wealthy – powerful - violent. Most of these traits changed once he converted to Christianity.
What caused Francis to Convert to Christianity? Francis joined the crusades and was captured by the Perugians. He was imprisoned for a year until he became too sick. This led him so seek religious consolation. One day, he entered the Church of St Damian. He felt a spiritual connection and heard the crucifix speak to him. He obeyed what the crucifix had said and decided to spend his life serving Jesus.
-- Leah
Franciscans and Francis and the natural world
Supporting Francis’s idea of a divine, equal presence in all creatures and the rejection of the economic and social values of the time were the Franciscans. Alongside Francis’s charismatic and passionate personality, drawing followers in, was his appreciation and love for the natural world. Handling all animals and humans with compassion and humility, Francis had an incredible way of controlling undomesticated animals, healing and uniting with them. Francis went on to write “Canticle of the sun,” a piece of poetry that actualized his love for all creatures and nature around him. Here is a link to the full poem, http://conservation.catholic.org/prayers.htm, below a single verse to share:
“All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather's moods,
By which you cherish all that you have made.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly, precious, and pure.”
– Canticle of the sun, Francis of Assisi
Through his contagious inspiring fervour that he passed onto his audience within every sermon, people were quick to join the order and share Francis dream of spreading the word of god through travel and living the ideal apostolic life.
The Franciscans were a mendicant order, that is, owning no property and acquired what they needed by working or accepting alms. Their main goals were to live a life of “holy poverty”, preaching the word of god wherever they go as well as to carry out the earthly imitation of Christ as portrayed in the Bible. This order was mainly directed at the laity, stressing to all that it was possible to live an evangelical life within an established church. The Franciscans were devoted to all aspects of the church, proving to be an aid to the Pope in reeling heretics back into the faith. After Francis gained followers, he wrote up a rule which provided a framework and structure for the Franciscans. Also known as friars, they were forbidden to have any money, allowed no personal possessions, only a single robe, and rather residing within the countryside, isolated form the world, to live amongst the people to be able to spread the message of god, penance and attending to the sick and poor.
Francis originally created the movement with no systematic organization; however, it eventually proved to be inefficient. In 1223, he wrote a second version of his rule, with this becoming the official and formal constitution of the Franciscans. The second version provided continuity and reaffirmation to living an apostolic life as well as the establishment of administration within the order. Francis died in 1226, and in 1245 the Pope became the owner of all buildings belonging to the order. Initially, the Franciscans didn’t believe in attaining an education, as it was a form of wealth in contrary to their belief in a life of poverty. However, from 1220 onwards, some friars changed their outlook on the matter, attending universities and receiving an education. Although some friars accepted the matter, many displayed disapproval stating the wrong in disregarding the original perspective authorized by Francis.
-- Cody
The Dominicans and Le Goff arguement about the impact of urban life upon Francis' religious life:
A. The Dominicans:
The Dominicans also known as "The Order of preachers" were one of two new religious orders and comprised of monks/friars who were mendicants which was founded by the Spanish priest, Saint Dominic (1170 – 1221). The Order emphasized education and learning, which closely mirrored traditional monastic establishments, however, the Dominicans were dedicated to the undertakings of pastoral mission. They denoted a lifestyle of owning no property, study and preaching. Their evangelical lifestyle demonstrated to the society that this lifestyle and acquisition to salvation in life was possible within the restraint of the Church. This idea, although similar to the Franciscan Order, is thought to have been an independent application of the idea of apostolic life. The Dominicans were involved in fortifying the Church as an Order to regain heretics and overwhelm heresy. Together with the Franciscan Order, the Dominicans served to increase the Christian spirit, particularly through personal example, as well as teaching and preaching. This new theology of secular life, greatly appealed to a majority in the late medieval society. Saint Dominic sought papal authorization in 1215, and was granted this approval in 1216 from Pope Honorius; however the Order was an official branch of the Augustinian canons. The Dominicans were capable of determining their own leaders, through the abolition of an established hierarchy. Did Saint Dominican purposely target a part of society that required organization, which ultimately led to his and the Dominican's Order's success?
B. Le Goff on the impact of urbanization on Francis' religious life:
Jacques Le Goff suggests that Francis of Assisi (1181/1182-1226) was a part of a new society which comprised of the development of feudalism to monarchianism and the imposition of courtly values on the ruling culture resulting from the influence of dominant lay classes, the knights and aristocracy. Le Goff contends that Francis personally experienced the influence of the new culture of chivalry, through his devotion to poverty and courteous ramifications. In the new society, based largely on economic development, Francis clearly had the aspiration to take on poverty and reject both social and economic values present within the aristocratic society. From his experience of life in Assisi, Francis was determined to enlighten the town to accept poverty, rather than focus on wealth and money. Francis worked in the towns for his daily sustenance, and also proceeded to hermit's retreat, moving between an apostolate to the entire of humanity and regeneration through and in confinement. Ultimately, Francis demonstrated a unique path and pilgrimage to the new society based on urbanization and money. Did the rate of urbanization fundamentally aid Francis in establishing his Franciscan Order?
-- Laura
Saint Clare and the Life of Francisican Women
Clare de Offreduccio de Favarone was Saint Francis’ first female convert (later known as Saint Clare). She was a problem for the brothers at first, as a woman could hardly trample around the countryside living day by day in strict poverty with a group of men; it was indecent by social standards. Thus she, with the aid of Saint Francis, founded the convent San Damiano in Assisi. And for those of you who are curious as to what the place looked like, I have added a link to a short video displaying the architecture of the place.
-- Melanie
The foundation of the
Dominican order
The Dominican order was founded by Spanish priest entitled
Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221). This new order placed heavy emphasis on education and learning. Slocum suggests that the purpose of this order was an
attempt to control and organise Cathar heresy. Dominic contained a strong bond
with Diego of Osma who was his Bishop. Through this friendship enabled them to
join forces with the Cistercians to combat heresy with the approach by
encouraging practitioners to emulate apostolic life. Slocum disagrees with other scholars who
suggest that Dominic borrowed his ideas concerning absolute poverty from the
Franciscans. Slocum points out that Dominic and Diego undertook the apostolic
life before they would have received knowledge of Francis and followers.
Dominic continued his works during the years of the
Albigensian Crusade. At this time he established in Toulouse which became the
centre of his preaching duties.
1215 – Dominic travelled to Rome to ask the Pope for
authorization for his new order.
1216 – Permission was granted by Pope Honorius III, which
recognized the existence of Dominic’s order, as well as confirming his
headquarters in Toulouse
1217 – Instructions were given by Dominic to his associates
to leave their headquarters in Toulouse and travel throughout Europe. Places
preachers were sent to include Paris, Spain and Bologna. A major priority of
these missions, thought by Slocum was to infiltrate the finest intellectual
enters present in Europe at the time. These were primarily universities, which
helped the order to obtain top recruits
1228 – An assembly was held, the first of its kind, which
was to discuss and make decisions on internal affairs. This was to become an
annual meeting entitled a “General
Chapter”. A major accomplishment of this assembly was to usher in a new
constitution, based on the monastic tradition. A unique aspect of Dominic’s
rule was this constitution, which ensured that every official in every level of
the hierarchy system was elected, and were made responsible under their
subordinates for the actions of their offices. Under this system contained different units. A
Priory of convent was a basic unit with a prior at its head. The prior was
elected by other members of the establishment. The provincial chapter is another unit, which
was large in size and was assigned to discuss the actions of business. Its
members were derived from the different province’s in which the order was present.
The major unit was called the General chapter, which met annually. The General
chapter comprised of an elected master general and one representative elected
by the chapter of each province.
--Louise
8 comments:
I find it interesting how even though his behavior was quite peculiar and strange, St Francis and his lifestyle became appealing to many people. He seemed to take everything literally though, like building the church, giving up all and any personal goods and self-mortification. All of this just to renounce sin and seek an apostolic lifestyle. His rule stood out from others as it basically stated that survival should be maintained by manual labour and begging. Why is it that many people followed his rule? Since it is a fairly taxing form of living, as compared to other forms of Christianity.
The readings for this week on the rise of the Franciscans and Dominicans show a church with a new lease on life to match the growth spurt that had doubled Europe’s population and created towns and cities that outgrew feudalism. The two new religious orders (the most prominent, but not the only ones) also burst out of the traditional structures of the church. Instead of going through the proper channels of diocese and bishop, both Francis and Dominic went straight to the top, to the pope, and sought freedom to go and preach where they wished. This comes out clearly in Celano’s account of Francis’ life. His local bishop (of Assissi) is shocked to see Francis in Rome seeking to deal directly with the pope. And another bishop in the pope’s court tries to persuade Francis to become a monk. For all of us enchanted by the story of Francis’ preaching to the birds it is interesting to read that Chiara Frugoni (see Google), foremost Italian authority on Francis, writes: “In the first biography by Thomas of Celano, which Bonaventure destroyed, this miracle bears metaphorical meaning because of the various species of birds --- doves, crows and bullfinches --- carefully listed by the author can be read, with references to medieval treatises in which animals represent different types of humans, as the peasantry, the poor and the indigent . . . in addressing his feathered audience, Francis had in mind poor laborers and the poor, and his own friars as well, for they too were poor laborers, and, like the birds, free to move anywhere.”
Great find Rod. I think that really helps us understand. What book/article did that interesting quote come from?
I, like Michael commented, have found it so hard to understand the sacrifice and way of life that people assumed in order to follow leaders and for their faith. The begging and the lack of possessions or 'holy poverty' they aimed to live by rally shows how some dedicated their entire lives to god.
I think it was Cody who mentioned in her section of the blog of the power of St Francis' sermons. That many people took up this hard way of life i think in part speaks of the power of being a successful orator and of course the strength of religion at this time.
PS: Great blog guys!
As the readings indicate, the new society had an unfilled area, where these religious orders could ultimately flourish. Particularly in Francis's life, he had the weight of saying he was a holy man through his message from God and he sought to model his lifestyle on this message and Jesus. To the town he must have seemed like a modern day Jesus figure, which may have contributed to Francis and the orders success.
Irrespective of the admirable account of the life of Saint Francis, his religious piousness combined with his yearning for martyrdom and adamant abstinence from materialism in an effort to reside in ‘holy poverty’, seemed akin to the notion of fanaticism. With this being said, although Saint Francis’ ideals were somewhat extreme, they seemed to provide a sense of meaning to those who followed, which had been lost amid societal change.
In consequence of this change and increasing urbanization, the Franciscan and Dominican religious orders formed as almost a patronage to religious tradition, insisting upon this ‘holy poverty’ as a means of demonstrating divine piety. It’s interesting how while both of these orders abstained from material possessions, adopting a 'Christ-like' way of life, the Church, in contrast did not.
The reference to Francis/birds/metaphor comes from a book entitled “Le storie di San Francesco” by Chiara Frugoni. The book accompanies a 61-minute DVD on Giotto’s frescoes in the upper Basilica at Assissi. Brilliant, with detail of expression etc. that can’t possibly be seen from the floor of the church, The DVD and the book are in Italian and English. The Italian commentary is by Luca Criscenti. Published by Einaudi. According to Frugoni, the frescoes were a huge PR exercise designed to present a Francis acceptable to then ruling figures of the Franciscans.
I found it really interesting how the Church was willing to accept mendicant orders, such as the Franciscans and the Dominicans, and yet reject, even persecute, others, such as the Waldensians or Cathars. It really poses the question: why? And, how did they come to choose? From the reading, I can really only guess that the Church initially feared the threat that heretics’ opposition constituted and so tried to oppress this through measures, such as the Inquisition, but later, when faced with the alternative of greater opposition appealing to the urban demographics, decided to adopt them as a measure to combat this threat through ‘preaching and teaching’. Was there anything else?
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