AUSPICATO
CONCESSUM
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
To
all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and
Bishops of the Catholic World in the Grace and
Communion of the Apostolic See.
Venerable
Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.
A
happy circumstance enables the Christian world to celebrate, at a not
far distant interval, the memory of two men who, having been called to
receive in heaven the eternal reward of their holiness, have left on earth
a crowd of disciples, the ever-increasing off spring from their virtues.
For, after the centenary solemnities in honour of St. Benedict, the father
and law-giver of the monks of the West, the opportunity of paying public
honours to St. Francis of Assisi will likewise be furnished by the seventh
centenary of his birth. It is not without reason that We see therein a
merciful intention of Divine Providence. For, by calling on men to celebrate
the birthdays of these illustrious Fathers, God would seem to wish that
they should be induced to keep in mind their signal merits, and at the
same time to understand that the Religious Orders they founded ought on
no account to have been the objects of such unbefitting acts of violence,
least of all in those States where the seeds of civilization and of fame
were cast by their labour, their genius and their zeal.
2.
We are confident that these solemn feasts will not prove fruitless to
the Christian world, which has always, and rightly, deemed the Religious
Orders its friends; and thus, having honoured as it has with love and
gratitude the name of St. Benedict, it will strive with equal ardour,
by public festivities and by numerous acts of piety, to revive the memory
of St. Francis. Nor is the field whereon this noble rivalry in devotion
will be displayed bounded by the limits of the region where this great
saint first saw the light, nor by those of the neighbouring territories
enlightened by his presence, but it extends to every part of the earth,
wherever the name of Francis has become known and his institutions flourish.
3.
Certainly We, of all others, approve of this zeal for so excellent an
object, especially because We have been accustomed from Our youth to admire
Francis of Assisi and to pay him a particular veneration; because We glory
in being on the roll of the Franciscan family; and because, more than
once, We have, out of devotion, climbed with eagerness and joy the sacred
heights of Alvernia; there the image of that great man presented itself
to Us wherever We trod,
and that solitude teeming with memories held Our spirit rapt in silent
contemplation.
4.
But, however praiseworthy this zeal may be, it is not enough; it must
be understood that the honours in preparation for St. Francis will be
especially pleasing to him who is honoured, if they who pay them derive
profit therefrom. Now their solid and lasting fruit is in the attaining
some likeness to him whose eminent virtue is an object of admiration,
and in endeavouring to improve by imitating him. If, with the help of
God, this practice is zealously followed, an opportune and extremely efficacious
remedy will have been found for the evils of the present time.
5.
And therefore it is that We wish, venerable brethren, not only that these
Letters should convey to you the public testimony of Our devotion to St.
Francis, but that they should, moreover, excite your charity to labour
with Us for the salvation of men by means of the remedy We have just pointed
out.
6.
Jesus Christ, the Liberator of mankind, is the everlasting and ever flowing
source of all the good things that come to us from the infinite bounty
of God; so that He who has once saved the world is he who will save it
throughout all ages; "for there is no other name under heaven given
to men whereby We must be saved."(1) If then the human race fall
into sin, either through its natural propensities or through the faults
of men, it is absolutely indispensable to have recourse to Jesus Christ
and to recognize in Him the most powerful and the most sure means of salvation.
For so great and so efficacious is its divine virtue that it is at once
a refuge from all dangers and a remedy for all evils. And the cure is
certain, if mankind returns to the profession of Christian doctrine and
to the rules of life laid down by the Gospel.
7.
When the evils We have spoken of arise, as soon as the providentially
appointed hour of help has struck, God raises up a man, not one of the
common herd, but eminent and unique, to whom he assigns the salvation
of all. Such is what came to pass at the end of the twelfth century and
in the few subsequent years; St. Francis was the agent in this great work.
8.
That period is sufficiently well known, and its character of mingled virtues
and vices. The Catholic faith was deeply rooted in men's souls, and it
was a glorious sight to see multitudes in flamed
by piety set forth for Palestine, resolved to conquer or to die. But licentiousness
had greatly impaired popular morality, and nothing was more needed by
men than a return to Christian sentiments. Now the perfection of Christian
virtue lies in that disposition of soul which dares all that is arduous
or difficult; its symbol is the Cross, which those who would follow Jesus
Christ must carry on their shoulder. The effects of this disposition are
a heart detached from mortal things, complete self-control, and a gentle
and resigned endurance of adversity. In fine, the love of God and of one's
neighbour is the mistress and sovereign of all other virtues: such is
its power that it wipes away all the hardships that accompany the fulfilment
of duty, and renders the hardest labours not only bearable, but agreeable.
There was a dearth of such virtue in the twelfth century; for too many
among men, enslaved by the things of this world, either coveted madly
honours and wealth, or lived a life of luxury and self-gratification.
All power was centred in a few, and had almost become an instrument of
oppression to the wretched and despised masses; and those even who ought
by their profession to have been an example to others, had not avoided
defiling themselves with the prevalent vices. The extinction of charity
in divers places was followed by scourges manifold and daily; envy, jealousy,
hatred, were rife; and minds were so divided and hostile that on the slightest
pretext neighbouring cities waged war amongst themselves, and individuals
armed themselves against one another.
9.
In this century appeared St. Francis. Yet with wondrous resolution and
simplicity he undertook to place before the eyes of the aging world, in
his words and deeds, the complete model of Christian perfection.
10.
And even as at that period the blessed Father Dominic Guzman was occupied
in defending the integrity of heavensent doctrine and in dissipating the
perverse errors of heretics by the light of Christian wisdom, so was the
grace granted to St. Francis, whom God was guiding to the execution of
great works, of inciting Christians to virtue, and of bringing back to
the imitation of Christ those men who had strayed both long and far. It
was certainly no mere chance that brought to the ears of the youth these
counsels of the gospel: "Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor money
in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes,
nor a staff."(2) And again,
"If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the
poor . . . and come, follow Me."(3) Considering these words as directed
personally to himself, he at once deprives himself of all, changes his
clothing, adopts poverty as his associate and companion during the remainder
of his life, and resolves to make those great maxims of virtue, which
he had embraced in a lofty and sublime frame of mind, the fundamental
rules of his Order.
11.
Thenceforth, amidst the effeminacy and over-fastidiousness of the time,
he is seen to go about careless and roughly clad, begging his food from
door to door, not only enduring what is generally deemed most hard to
bear, the senseless ridicule of the crowd, but even to welcome it with
a wondrous readiness and pleasure. And this because he had embraced the
folly of the cross of Jesus Christ, and because he deemed it the highest
wisdom. Having penetrated and understood its awful mysteries, he plainly
saw that nowhere else could his glory be better placed.
12.
With the love of the cross, an ardent charity penetrated the heart of
St. Francis, and urged him to propagate zealously the Christian faith,
and to devote himself to that work, though at the risk of this life and
with a certainty of peril. This charity he extended to all men; but the
poorest and most repulsive were the special objects of his predilection;
so that those seemed to afford him the greatest pleasure whom others are
wont to avoid or over-proudly to despise.
13.
Therefore has he deserved well of that brotherhood established and perfected
by Jesus Christ, which has made of all mankind one only family, under
the authority of God, the common Father of all.
14.
By his numerous virtues, then, and above all by his austerity of life,
this irreproachable man endeavoured to reproduce in himself the image
of Christ Jesus. But the finger of Providence was again visible in granting
to him a likeness to the Divine Redeemer, even in externals.
15.
Thus, like Jesus Christ, it so happened that St. Francis was born in a
stable; a little child as he was, his couch was of straw on the ground.
And it is also related that, at that moment, the presence of angelic choirs,
and melodies wafted through the air, completed this resemblance. Again,
like Christ and His Apostles, Francis united with himself some chosen
disciples, whom he sent to traverse the earth as messengers of
Christian peace and
eternal salvation. Bereft of all, mocked, cast off by his own, he had
again this great point in common with Jesus Christ,-he would not have
a corner wherein he might lay his head. As a last mark of resemblance,
he received on his Calvary, Mt. Alvernus (by a miracle till then unheard
of the sacred stigmata), and was thus, so to speak, crucified.
16.
We here recall a fact no less striking as a miracle than considered famous
by the voice of hundreds of years. One day St. Francis was absorbed in
ardent contemplation of the wounds of Jesus crucified, and was seeking
to take to himself and drink in their exceeding bitterness, when an angel
from heaven appeared before him, from whom some mysterious virtue emanated:
at once St. Francis feels his hands and feet transfixed, as it were, with
nails, and his side pierced by a sharp spear. Thenceforth was begotten
an immense charity in his soul; on his body he bore the living tokens
of the wounds of Jesus Christ.
17.
Such miracles, worthy rather of the songs of angels than of the lips of
men, show us sufficiently how great was this man, and how worthy that
God should choose him to bring back his contemporaries to Christian ways.
It was undoubtedly a super-human voice that bade St. Francis, when near
the church of St. Damian, "Go thou and uphold my tottering house."
Nor is the heavenly vision which presented itself to the gaze of Innocent
III. less worthy of admiration, wherein it seemed to him that St. Francis
was supporting on his shoulders the falling walls of the Lateran Basilica.
The object and meaning of such manifestations are evident; they signified
that St. Francis was to be in those times a steadfast protector and pillar
of Christendom. Nor, in truth, did he delay about his task.
18.
Those twelve disciples who had been the first to place themselves under
his government were like a small seed, which by the grace of God, and
under the fostering care of the Sovereign Pontiff, quickly became an abundant
harvest. After having holily instructed them in the school of Christ,
he allotted to them for the preaching of the Gospel the various parts
of Italy and of Europe; and some he sent even as far as Africa. There
was no delay; poor, ignorant, unrefined, they mingled with the people:
in the highways and in the public squares, with no preparation of place
or pomp of rhetoric, they set themselves to exhort men to despise earthly
things and to think of
the time to come. It is marvellous to see the fruits produced by the enterprise
of such workers, apparently so inadequate. Crowds gathered round them,
eager to hear them: faults were bitterly bewept, injuries were forgotten,
and sentiments of peace were reintroduced by the appeasing of discords.
19.
It is impossible to express the enthusiasm with which the multitude flocked
to St. Francis. Wherever he went he was followed by an immense concourse;
and in the largest cities as in the smallest towns, it was a common occurrence
for men of every state of life to come and beg of him to be admitted to
his rule.
20.
Such were the reasons for which the Saint determined to institute the
brotherhood of the Third Order, which was to admit all ranks, all ages,
both sexes, and yet in no way necessitate the rupture of family or social
ties. For its rules consist only in obedience to God and His Church, to
avoid factions and quarrels, and in no way to defraud our neighbour; to
take up arms only for the defence of religion and of one's country; to
be moderate in food and in clothing, to shun luxury, and to abstain from
the dangerous seductions of dances and plays.
21.
It is easy to understand what immense advantages must have flowed from
an institution of this kind, as salutary in itself as it was admirably
adapted to the times. That it was opportune is sufficiently established
by the foundation of so many similar associations which issued from the
family of St. Dominic and from the other Religious Orders, and by the
facts themselves of history. In fact, from the lowest ranks to the highest,
there prevailed an enthusiasm and a generous and eager ardour to be affiliated
to this Franciscan Order. Amongst others, King Louis IX., of France, and
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, sought this honour; and, in the course of centuries,
several Sovereign Pontiffs, Cardinals, Bishops, Kings, and Princes have
not deemed the Franciscan badges derogatory to their dignity. The associates
of the Third Order displayed always as much courage as piety in the defence
of the Catholic religion; and if their virtues were objects of hatred
to the wicked, they never lacked the approbation of the good and wise,
which is the greatest and only desirable honour. More than this, Our Predecessor,
Gregory IX., publicly praised their faith and courage; nor did he
hesitate to shelter
them with his authority, and to call them, as a mark of honour, "Soldiers
of Christ, new Maccabees;" and deservedly so. For the public welfare
found a powerful safeguard in that body of men who, guided by the virtues
and rules of their founder, applied themselves to revive Christian morality
as far as lay in their pourer and to restore it to its ancient place of
honour in the State. Certain it is, that to them and their example it
was often due that the rivalries of parties were quenched or softened,
arms were torn from the furious hands that grasped them, the causes of
litigation and dispute were suppressed, consolation was brought to the
poor and the abandoned; and luxury, that gulf of fortunes and instrument
of corruption, was subdued. And thus domestic peace, incorrupt morality,
gentleness of behaviour, the legitimate use and preservation of private
wealth, civilization and social stability, spring as from a root from
the Franciscan Third Order; and it is in great measure to St. Francis
that Europe owes their preservation.
22.
Italy, however, owes more to Francis than any other nation whatever; which,
as it was the principal theatre of his virtues, so also most received
his benefits; and, indeed, at a time when many were bent on multiplying
the sufferings of mankind, he was always offering the right hand of help
to the afflicted and the cast down; he, rich in the greatest poverty,
never desisted from relieving others' wants, neglectful of his own. In
his mouth his native tongue, new-born, sweetly uttered its infant cries;
he expressed the power of charity and of poetry with it in his canticles
composed for the common people, and which have proved not unworthy of
the admiration of a learned posterity. We owe to the mind of Francis that
a certain breath and inspiration nobler than human has stirred up the
minds of our countrymen so that, in reproducing his deeds in painting,
poetry and sculpture, emulation has stirred the industry of the greatest
artists. Dante even found in Francis matter for his grand and most sweet
verse; Cimabue and Giotto drew from his history subjects which they immortalised
with the pencil of a Parrhasius; celebrated architects found in him the
motive for their magnificent structures, whether at the tomb of the Poor
Man himself, or at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, the witness of
so many and so great miracles. And to these temples men from all parts
are wont to come in
throngs in veneration for the father of Assisi of the poor, to whom, as
he had utterly despoiled himself of all human things, so the gifts of
the divine bounty largely and copiously flowed. Hence it is clear that
from this one man a host of benefits has flowed into the Christian and
civil republic. But since that spirit of his, thoroughly and surpassingly
Christian, is wonderfully fitted for all times and places, no one can
doubt that the Franciscan institutions would be specially beneficial in
this our age. And especially for this reason, that the tone and temper
of our times seem for many reasons to be similar to those; for as in the
12th century divine charity had grown cold, so also is it now; nor is
the neglect of Christian duties small, whether from ignorance or negligence;
and, with the same bent and like desires, many consume their days in hunting
for the conveniences of life, and greedily following after pleasures.
Overflowing with luxury, they waste their own, and covet the substance
of others; extolling indeed the name of human fraternity, they nevertheless
speak more fraternally than they act; for they are carried away by self
love, and the genuine charity towards the poorer and the helpless is daily
diminished. In the time We are speaking of, the manifold errors of the
Albigenses, by stirring up the masses against the power of the Church,
had disturbed society and paved the way to a certain kind of Socialism.
And in Our day, likewise, the favourers and propagators of Materialism
have increased, who obstinately deny that submission to the Church is
due, and hence proceeding gradually beyond all bounds, do not even spare
the civil power; they approve of violence and sedition among the people,
they attempt agrarian outbreaks, they flatter the desires of the proletariat,
and they weaken the foundations of domestic and public order.
23.
In these many and so great miseries, you well know, venerable brethren,
that no small alleviation is to be found in the institutes of St. Francis,
if only they are brought back to their pristine state; for if they only
were in a flourishing condition, faith and piety, and every Christian
virtue would easily flourish; the lawless desire for perishing things
would be broken; nor would men refuse to have their desires ruled by virtue,
though that seems to many to be a most hateful burthen. Men bound together
by the bonds of true
fraternal concord would mutually love each other, and would give that
reverence which is becoming to the poor and distressed, as bearing the
image of Christ. Besides, those who are thoroughly imbued with the Christian
religion feel a conviction that those who are in legitimate authority
are to be obeyed for conscience' sake, and that in nothing is anyone to
be injured.
24.
Than this disposition of mind nothing is more efficacious to extinguish
utterly every vice of this kind, whether violence, injuries, desire for
revolution, hatred among the different ranks of society, in all which
vices the beginnings and the weapons of socialism are found. Lastly, the
question that politicians so labouriously aim at solving, viz., the relations
which exist between the rich and poor, would be thoroughly solved if they
held this as a fixed principle, viz., that poverty is not wanting in dignity;
that the rich should be merciful and munificent, and the poor content
with their lot and labour; and since neither was born for these changeable
goods, the one is to attain heaven by patience the other by liberality.
25.
For these reasons it has been long and specially Our desire that everyone
should, to the utmost of his power, aim at imitating St. Francis of Assisi;
therefore, as hitherto We have always bestowed special care upon the Third
Order of St. Francis, so now, being called by the supreme mercy of God
to the office of Sovereign Pontiff since thereby We can most opportunely
do the same, We exhort Christian men not to refuse to enroll themselves
in this sacred army of Jesus Christ. Many are those who everywhere of
both sexes have already begun to walk in the footsteps of the Seraphic
Father with courage and alacrity, whose zeal We praise and specially commend,
so that, Venerable Brethren, We desire that by your endeavours especially
it may be increased and extended to many. And the special point which
We commend is that those who have adopted the insignia of Penance shall
look to the image of its most holy founder, and strive to imitate him,
without which the good that they would expect would be futile. Therefore
take pains that the people may become acquainted with the Third Order
and truly esteem it; provide that those who have the cure of souls sedulously
teach what it is, how easily anyone may enter it, with how great privileges
tending to salvation it abounds, what advantages, public and private,
it promises; and in
so doing all the more pains are to be taken because the Franciscans of
the First and Second Order, having been struck recently with a heavy blow,
are in a most piteous condition. God grant that they, defended by the
patronage of their Father, may emerge, youthful and flourishing, from
so many disasters; may he also grant that Christian people may rend towards
the discipline of the Third Order with the same alacrity and the same
numbers as formerly from all parts they threw themselves into the arms
of St. Francis himself with a holy emulation.
26.
We ask it above all and with yet more reason of the Italians, from whom
community of country and the particular abundance of benefits received
demand a greater devotion to St. Francis, and also a greater gratitude.
Thus, at the end of seven centuries, Italy and the entire Christian world
would be brought to see itself led back from disorder to peace, from destruction
to safety, by the favour of the Saint of Assisi. Let us especially in
these days beg this grace, in united prayer to Francis himself; let Us
implore it of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, who always rewarded the
piety and the faith of her client by heavenly protection and by particular
gifts.
27.
And now, as a pledge of celestial favours and in proof of Our special
good will, We impart most lovingly in the Lord to you, Venerable Brethren,
and to all the clergy and the flock committed to each of you, the Apostolic
Benediction.
Given
at Rome, at St. Peter's the 17th day of September, 1882, and in the fifth
year of Our Pontificate.
REFERENCES:
1. Acts iv., 12.
2. Matt. x.,
9-10.
3. Matt. xix.,
21.
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