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Christentum · Christliche Mystik · Katholizismus

Francis of Assisi

um 1182 – 1226Historisch belegte Person

Sohn eines reichen Tuchhändlers aus Assisi (um 1182–1226), kehrte er der Laufbahn seines Vaters den Rücken, um das Evangelium „buchstäblich“ unter Aussätzigen und Armen zu leben. Er gründete den Orden der Minderbrüder, inspirierte Klara von Assisi und den Dritten Orden, dichtete den Sonnengesang — eines der ersten Gedichte in italienischer Sprache — und hinterließ wenige echte Schriften: Regeln, Ermahnungen, Briefe, Lobpreisungen und ein Testament. Er wurde 1228 heiliggesprochen; seine historische Gestalt steht neben einer gewaltigen Hagiographie, die man Schicht um Schicht lesen sollte.

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Fresco de «Frater Franciscus» en el Sacro Speco de Subiaco

Fresco de «Frater Franciscus» en el Sacro Speco de Subiaco · Public domain

In eigenen Worten

«Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, yours are the praises, the glory and the honour and all blessing.»

Cántico de las criaturas, v. 1 (Asís, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, cód. 338)

Canticle of the Creatures (Canticle of Brother Sun) — Francis of Assisi

Der zentrale Gedanke

Living 'without anything of one's own': The formula 'sine proprio', which opens the 1223 Rule alongside obedience and chastity, is broader than material poverty.

Im Zusammenhang sehen

Biografie

5 Min. Lesezeit

Unterstützte Übersetzung aus dem spanischen Original, Durchsicht durch einen muttersprachlichen Übersetzer ausstehend.

Ein Kaufmann aus Assisi

Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone wurde um 1181 oder 1182 in Assisi geboren, einer umbrischen Stadt, die sich vom Feudaladel und vom Kaiser zu befreien suchte. Sein Vater Pietro war ein Tuchhändler, der auf den Messen der Champagne Geschäfte machte; seine Mutter hieß Pica. Der Überlieferung nach ersetzte der Vater nach seiner Rückkehr aus Frankreich den Taufnamen des Kindes durch Francesco, „der Franzose“. In der Pfarrschule von San Giorgio lernte er die Anfangsgründe des Lateins, etwas Französisch und das Handwerk des Verkaufens; seine Jugend war die eines Sohnes des aufstrebenden Bürgertums: Geld, Feste, ritterlicher Ehrgeiz.

1202 kämpfte er mit den Milizen Assisis bei Collestrada gegen Perugia und verbrachte fast ein Jahr in Gefangenschaft. Krank kehrte er heim. Um 1205 schloss er sich einem Kriegszug nach Apulien an, brach ihn aber bei Spoleto ab; spätere Biographien machen aus dieser Umkehr das erste Zeichen einer Berufung. Was die Quellen zu sagen erlauben, ist nüchterner: eine lange Krise ohne genaues Datum, in der sich der junge Kaufmann in dem Leben, das ihn erwartete, nicht mehr wiedererkannte.

Unter den Aussätzigen

Für die Bekehrung gibt es ein Zeugnis aus erster Hand, das des Franziskus selbst in seinem Testament von 1226: Als er „in Sünden“ war, sei es ihm überaus bitter gewesen, Aussätzige zu sehen; der Herr habe ihn unter sie geführt, er habe ihnen Barmherzigkeit erwiesen, und was ihm bitter war, habe sich ihm in Süße für Seele und Leib verwandelt. In diesem Bericht gibt es keine Stimmen vom Himmel, wohl aber eine soziale Verschiebung: Der Sohn des Kaufmanns stellt sich auf die Seite der Ausgestoßenen der Stadt. Alles Übrige — Visionen, Träume von Waffen — stammt von Biographen, die nach seinem Tod schrieben.

In diese Zeit fällt die Wiederherstellung des Kirchleins San Damiano, das die Dreigefährtenlegende und die zweite Lebensbeschreibung des Thomas von Celano mit einem Kruzifix verbinden, das zu ihm gesagt haben soll: „Franziskus, geh und baue mein Haus wieder auf.“ Um die Arbeiten zu bezahlen, verkaufte er Tuche seines Vaters, der ihn bei den Konsuln und dann beim Bischof Guido verklagte. Bei dieser Verhandlung, vermutlich 1206, gab Franziskus das Geld zurück, entledigte sich seiner Kleider und erklärte, er werde fortan nur noch sagen: „Vater unser, der du bist im Himmel.“ Die Szene, die alle frühen Quellen überliefern, bezeichnet seinen Austritt aus der Ordnung des Handels.

1208 oder 1209 hörte er in der Portiuncula die Stelle, an der Jesus die Jünger ohne Gold und ohne Tasche aussendet (Mt 10), und erkannte darin seine Lebensform. Bernhard von Quintavalle, Petrus Catanii und andere schlossen sich ihm an; um 1209 oder 1210 zogen sie nach Rom, und Innozenz III. bestätigte mündlich eine kurze Regel aus Evangelienzitaten. Das Testament sagt es selbst: Niemand habe ihm gezeigt, was er tun solle, sondern der Höchste habe ihm offenbart, dass er nach der Form des heiligen Evangeliums leben müsse.

Eine Bruderschaft, die zu schnell wächst

In der Nacht zum Palmsonntag 1212 floh Klara, die Tochter einer adligen Familie aus Assisi, aus ihrem Elternhaus und empfing von Franziskus das Ordenskleid; mit ihr entstanden die Armen Frauen von San Damiano. Die Bruderschaft der „Minderen“ — der Unteren im sozialen Vokabular der Kommunen — wuchs mit einer Geschwindigkeit, die niemand vorhergesehen hatte: Wanderpredigt, Handarbeit, Betteln, wo der Lohn fehlte, jährliche Kapitel in der Portiuncula und seit 1217 Missionen außerhalb Italiens.

1219 schiffte sich Franziskus mit den Kreuzfahrern nach Damiette in Ägypten ein, überschritt die Frontlinien und wurde von Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil empfangen. Das bezeugt ein zeitgenössischer Beobachter außerhalb des Ordens, Bischof Jakob von Vitry, in einem Brief von 1220: Der Sultan habe ihn mehrere Tage angehört und mit freiem Geleit entlassen. Das Angebot einer Feuerprobe taucht erst viel später bei Bonaventura auf und gehört zur Konstruktion des Heiligen, nicht zum Protokoll der Begegnung.

Als er 1220 zurückkehrte, fand er einen Orden von Tausenden Brüdern vor, zerrissen zwischen dem Ideal völliger Armut und den Erfordernissen einer Institution. Er legte die Leitung zugunsten von Petrus Catanii und nach dessen Tod von Elias von Cortona nieder. Er verfasste die Regel von 1221, die sogenannte „nicht bullierte“, lang und ermahnend, und 1223 eine juristischere Fassung, die Honorius III. mit der Bulle Solet annuere vom 29. November bestätigte. Zwischen beiden lässt sich ermessen, welchen Preis die Institutionalisierung forderte.

La Verna, der Sonnengesang und der Tod

An Weihnachten 1223 feierte er in Greccio eine Messe vor einer Krippe mit Ochs und Esel, eine Szene, die Celano als Ursprung einer Volksfrömmigkeit erzählt. Im September 1224, zurückgezogen auf dem Berg La Verna, empfing er nach dem Zeugnis seiner Gefährten die Wundmale Christi an Händen, Füßen und Seite. Belegt sind die eigenhändige „Chartula“, die er dort Bruder Leo übergab, mit dessen Vermerk über die Vision des Seraphs, der Brief des Elias, der nach dem Tod die Stigmata ankündigte — seine Echtheit ist umstritten —, und der Bericht Celanos. Chiara Frugoni hat gezeigt, wie Text und Bild das Ereignis nach und nach festschrieben; sein Wesen entzieht sich der Geschichte.

Fast blind und krank, einer Kauterisation an den Schläfen unterzogen, dichtete er 1225 in San Damiano den Sonnengesang in umbrischer Volkssprache: ein Lob des Höchsten „mit“ und „durch“ Sonne, Mond, Wind, Wasser, Feuer und Erde, dem er Verse über die Vergebung hinzufügte, um den Bischof mit dem Podestà zu versöhnen, und am Ende die Strophe von „Schwester leiblicher Tod“. Er ist einer der ersten dichterischen Texte der italienischen Literatur.

Er starb am Abend des 3. Oktober 1226 bei der Portiuncula, auf eigenen Wunsch auf dem nackten Boden liegend, nachdem er sein Testament diktiert hatte. Gregor IX., der frühere Kardinalprotektor Hugolin, sprach ihn am 16. Juli 1228 in Assisi heilig und ließ die Basilika errichten, in die sein Leichnam 1230 überführt wurde; das damals verborgene Grab wurde erst 1818 wiederentdeckt.

Die Schichten einer Legende

Fast alles, was man von Franziskus erzählt, stammt aus einer Hagiographie, die ein mit sich selbst zerstrittener Orden schrieb. Thomas von Celano verfasste die erste Lebensbeschreibung 1228–1229 und eine zweite 1246–1247 mit Erinnerungen der Gefährten; zu diesem Gedächtnis gehören die Dreigefährtenlegende und die Compilatio Assisiensis. 1260–1263 schrieb Bonaventura die Legenda maior, und das Generalkapitel von 1266 ordnete die Vernichtung der älteren Viten an. 2014 identifizierte Jacques Dalarun in einer Handschrift der Bibliothèque nationale de France eine bis dahin unbekannte gekürzte Vita Celanos.

Die Fioretti, die das volkstümliche Bild des Heiligen geprägt haben, sind die toskanische Fassung der Actus beati Francisci, die ein Jahrhundert nach seinem Tod zusammengestellt wurden: Dort erscheint zum ersten Mal der Wolf von Gubbio. Das berühmte Gebet „Herr, mach mich zu einem Werkzeug deines Friedens“ stammt nicht von ihm: Es erschien 1912 anonym in Paris und wird ihm seit dem Ende der zwanziger Jahre zugeschrieben. Den Menschen von seiner Legende zu trennen, macht ihn nicht kleiner; es erlaubt, ihn in seinen eigenen Worten zu lesen, und die sind wenige, herb und leuchtend.

Sein institutionelles Erbe — die Minderbrüder und ihre Zweige, die Klarissen, der Dritte Orden — und sein symbolisches Erbe haben die Grenzen der Kirche überschritten. Johannes Paul II. erklärte ihn 1979 zum Patron der Ökologie und ihrer Förderer; 2013 nahm erstmals ein Papst seinen Namen an, und die Enzyklika Laudato si’ (2015) beginnt mit dem ersten Vers seines Sonnengesangs.

Quellen: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12). · Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100). · Guerra, José Antonio (ed.). San Francisco de Asís: Escritos, biografías, documentos de la época. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC 399), 1978; reed. 2003 (ISBN 8479146273). · Vauchez, André. François d'Assise. Entre histoire et mémoire. París: Fayard, 2009. Trad. ingl.: Francis of Assisi. The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. · Thompson, Augustine, O.P. Francis of Assisi: A New Biography. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012.

Zeitleiste

Das Leben, Jahr für Jahr

Jeder Punkt ist ein belegtes Ereignis. Klicken Sie, um es mit Quelle und Grad der Gewissheit zu lesen.

  1. um 1182 · 0 Jahre

    Birth

    Giovanni is born to the cloth merchant Pietro di Bernardone and Pica. The sources waver between 1181 and 1182; his father is said to have given him the name Francesco.

    Belegt

  2. 1202 · 20 Jahre

    War and prison

    He fights for Assisi against Perugia at Collestrada; taken prisoner, he spends about a year in jail and comes out ill.

    Belegt

  3. um 1205 · 23 Jahre

    Return from Spoleto

    He abandons a military expedition to Apulia. Later biographies place here a dream or a voice that made him turn back.

    Überlieferung

  4. um 1206 · 24 Jahre

    Renunciation before the bishop

    Denounced by his father, he gives back money and clothes before Bishop Guido and leaves the merchant life. He repairs San Damiano and other small churches.

    Belegt

  5. um 1208 · 26 Jahre

    The Gospel of mission

    At the Portiuncula he hears Mt 10 and adopts the poor itinerant life; the first companions join him (1208–1209).

    Wahrscheinlich

  6. um 1209 · 27 Jahre

    Oral approval by Innocent III

    Innocent III orally approves the brothers' first form of life (1209 or 1210).

    Belegt

  7. März 1212 · 30 Jahre

    Clare of Assisi

    On the night of Palm Sunday Clare leaves home and receives the habit; the Poor Ladies of San Damiano are born.

    Belegt

  8. 1219 · 37 Jahre

    Before the sultan al-Kamil

    He accompanies the crusaders and is received by the sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, according to Jacques de Vitry's letter (1220).

    Belegt

  9. um 1220 · 38 Jahre

    Resignation from governing the order

    Back from the East, he hands the government to Peter Catanii and then to Elias of Cortona.

    Wahrscheinlich

  10. 1221 · 39 Jahre

    Earlier Rule (Regula non bullata)

    Drafting of the long rule presented at the Pentecost chapter of 1221, never approved by bull.

    Belegt

  11. 29. November 1223 · 41 Jahre

    Later Rule (Regula bullata)

    Honorius III approves the definitive rule of the Friars Minor with the bull Solet annuere.

    Belegt

  12. Dezember 1223 · 41 Jahre

    The crib at Greccio

    He celebrates Christmas with a manger, an ox and an ass; Celano narrates it in his first life (1C 84–87).

    Wahrscheinlich

  13. September 1224 · 42 Jahre

    The stigmata

    During a Lent on La Verna his companions attest the wounds; he writes for Brother Leo the Praises of God Most High and his blessing (autograph preserved).

    Umstritten

  14. 1225 · 43 Jahre

    The Canticle of Brother Sun

    Ill and almost blind, he composes the Canticle of the Creatures in the Umbrian vernacular; he later adds the stanzas on forgiveness and death.

    Belegt

  15. 1226 · 44 Jahre

    Testaments

    He dictates the brief Siena Testament and, shortly before dying, the Testament, a memoir of his conversion and an exhortation to fidelity to the rule.

    Belegt

  16. 3. Oktober 1226 · 44 Jahre

    Death

    He dies at nightfall, laid on the ground, beside the Portiuncula.

    Belegt

  17. 16. Juli 1228

    Canonisation

    Gregory IX canonises him in Assisi and lays the first stone of the basilica.

    Belegt

  18. 25. Mai 1230

    Translation to the basilica

    His body is moved to the new basilica and hidden; the tomb would not be rediscovered until 1818.

    Belegt

  19. um 1263

    Bonaventure's Major Legend

    Bonaventure composes the official biography (1260–1263); the chapter of 1266 orders the earlier legends destroyed.

    Belegt

  20. 29. November 1979

    Patron of ecology

    John Paul II proclaims him heavenly patron of those who promote ecology (bull Inter sanctos).

    Belegt

  21. 2014

    A lost life by Celano

    Jacques Dalarun identifies at the BnF Thomas of Celano's Vita brevior, published in 2015.

    Belegt

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Grundlegende Werke

Die Werke, ohne die sich das Vermächtnis nicht verstehen lässt.

Canticle of the Creatures (Canticle of Brother Sun) — Francis of Assisi

Schriftliches Werk · 1225

Canticle of the Creatures (Canticle of Brother Sun)

Laudes creaturarum (Cantico di frate Sole)

Thirty-odd lines of rhymed prose praising the Most High 'with all his creatures': Brother Sun, Sister Moon and the stars, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire and Sister Mother Earth; then those who forgive for his love and 'Sister bodily Death'. The preposition 'per' admits instrumental, causal or agentive readings, and critics still debate it. It is one of the first poems of Italian literature and the most read Franciscan text.

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5 Ausgaben · amazon.de

Admonitions — Francis of Assisi

Schriftliches Werk · um 1220

Admonitions

Admonitiones

Twenty-eight short exhortations, nearly all in the form of beatitudes ('Blessed is the servant who…'), that dismantle the appropriation of one's own will, learning, virtue or office. They contain some of Francis's most quoted formulas: a person is worth what he is worth before God, 'and no more'; where there is poverty with joy there is neither greed nor avarice. They are the core of his spiritual teaching.

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4 Ausgaben · amazon.com

Testament — Francis of Assisi

Schriftliches Werk · 1226

Testament

Testamentum

A memoir of his own conversion (the lepers, the churches, the first brothers, the revelation to live according to the Gospel, the greeting 'The Lord give you peace') and a final exhortation to keep the Rule 'simply and without gloss', forbidding requests for privileges from the curia. It is Francis's most personal text and the main autobiographical source on his life.

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5 Ausgaben · amazon.de

The Little Flowers of Saint Francis — Francis of Assisi

Traditionelle Zuschreibung · um 1380

The Little Flowers of Saint Francis

Fioretti di san Francesco (de los Actus beati Francisci et sociorum eius)

Fifty-three chapters of stories about Francis and his companions (the wolf of Gubbio, the sermon to the birds, perfect joy, Brother Juniper, Brother Masseo) written with a freshness that has made them a classic of fourteenth-century Italian prose. They are the source of the saint's popular image, but not a record of his life: they should be read as memory and as literature.

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6 Ausgaben · amazon.com

Das gesamte Werk (44)

Alle 44 Werke in der Bibliothek ansehen

Zitate

Zitate, die in einem bestimmten Werk nachgewiesen sind. Jedes trägt seine Herkunft und seinen Grad an Verlässlichkeit.

Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, yours are the praises, the glory and the honour and all blessing.

Altissimu onnipotente bon signore, tue so' le laude la gloria e l'honore et onne benedictione.

GeprüftCántico de las criaturas, v. 1 (Asís, Biblioteca del Sacro Convento, cód. 338)

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Apokryphe Zitate oder Zitate umstrittener Zuschreibung (3)

  • «Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon…»

    Published anonymously in Paris in December 1912 (La Clochette) and attributed to Francis from 1927. It appears in no manuscript or medieval source. See the work 'Peace Prayer'.

  • «Preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.»

    It does not appear in his writings or in the medieval biographies. The closest authentic text is Earlier Rule 17:3, 'All the brothers, however, should preach by their deeds', which does not disparage words (the same rule regulates preaching).

  • «Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.»

    A modern phrase circulating online; it is not found in the canon of writings established by Esser or in the Franciscan legends.

Letzte Worte

Traditionelle Zuschreibung

«I have done what was mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours.»

Ego quod meum est feci; quod vestrum est, Christus vos doceat.

There is no record of his last words, but hagiographic accounts composed from the companions' recollections. Thomas of Celano's second life (2C 214, 1246–1247) puts this sentence in Francis's mouth when, already dying, he asked to be laid naked on the ground; Bonaventure repeats it (Major Legend 14:3). Celano's first life (1C 109–110, 1229) says that in his last hours he intoned Psalm 141 ('Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi') and died on finishing it. Both traditions are compatible, but neither is direct testimony.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Fragen

Was das Werk beantwortet

Zwölf große Fragen der Menschheit und was sich aus den Texten darauf antworten lässt, mit Belegen. Wir legen niemandem Worte in den Mund.

  • Was ist das Absolute? Gibt es Gott?

    God is the Most High, the highest good, to be praised and thanked

    Ein persönlicher GottAusdrücklich gesagt

    Francis of Assisi does not argue for God's existence: he sings it. His authentic writings are, to a large extent, praises addressed to a Thou. The Praises of God Most High, an autograph preserved in Assisi, string together attributes in the second person: holy, strong, great, most high, three and one, love, humility, patience, all good. The Canticle of the Creatures opens with the «Most High, all-powerful, good Lord» and ascribes to him all praise, glory and honour. In chapter 23 of the Earlier Rule, the great thanksgiving is addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, creator and saviour. This God chooses, reveals and leads: in the Testament, Francis attributes every step of his conversion to the Lord's initiative. The Absolute is, for him, someone to whom one responds with gratitude.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Wer bin ich? Gibt es ein wahres Selbst?

    A person is what he is before God, and no more

    Eine geschaffene, unsterbliche SeeleAus der Lehre abgeleitet

    Francis of Assisi does not develop a theory of the self, but his Admonitions contain a precise anthropology. A person's identity lies not in what he owns, knows or appears to be, but in what he is before God: «what a person is before God, that he is, and no more». He places the root of evil in appropriation: Admonition 2 interprets Adam's sin as appropriating one's own will and exalting oneself over the good that God says and does in one. The true self is thus a creature that receives itself and returns every good to its owner; the Earlier Rule asks that one claim nothing as one's own except vices and sins. Like his tradition, he presupposes a created soul destined for eternal life.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Warum leiden wir?

    What is bitter turns sweet when embraced for love

    Die Trennung von GottAusdrücklich gesagt

    Francis of Assisi does not explain the origin of suffering; he shows how it changes sign. The Testament begins with that experience: while he was in sin it seemed very bitter to him to see lepers, but the Lord led him among them and what had been bitter was turned into sweetness of soul and body. The dictation on true and perfect joy places perfect joy not in the order's successes but in being turned away, at night and frozen, at the door of one's own house, without losing patience. The suffering that wounds is that of the soul turned away from God by self-appropriation; that which is embraced in union with Christ's cross purifies and unites.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Was geschieht nach dem Tod?

    Bodily death is a sister; only the second death harms

    Ewiges Leben und AuferstehungAusdrücklich gesagt

    The last stanza that Francis of Assisi added to the Canticle of the Creatures, in 1226, shortly before his death, praises God for sister bodily death, from whom no living man can escape. The same verse distinguishes two deaths: woe to those who die in mortal sin; blessed those whom death finds in God's most holy will, for the second death will do them no harm. The death of the body is no enemy, but part of the creation that gives praise; what is at stake is the person's eternal destiny. The Letter to All the Faithful describes starkly the death of one who lived clinging to his goods, to move readers to penance while there is time.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Wie erlangt man Befreiung oder Erlösung?

    The Lord gives the beginning; following the poor Christ is the answer

    Durch Gnade und LiebeAusdrücklich gesagt

    In the Testament, Francis of Assisi repeats a formula that says a great deal: «the Lord gave me». The Lord gave him to begin doing penance, gave him faith in churches and priests, gave him brothers, and the Most High himself revealed to him that he should live according to the form of the holy Gospel. Salvation thus begins with a gift. The response is to follow in the footsteps of the poor and humble Christ: the Later Rule sums it up as keeping the Gospel by living in obedience, without anything of one's own and in chastity. The Admonitions insist that every good belongs to God and that the blessed servant is the one who gives it back, without appropriating even his own virtues.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Braucht es einen Lehrer?

    No one showed him the way: the Most High revealed it, within the Church

    Gemeinschaft und TraditionAusdrücklich gesagt

    Francis of Assisi had no human teacher, and he says so: in the Testament he recalls that, when the Lord gave him brothers, no one showed him what he should do, but the Most High himself revealed to him that he should live according to the form of the holy Gospel. Yet that revelation did not set him apart from ecclesial mediation: in the same Testament he asks that priests and theologians be honoured, he had his form of life approved by the pope and entrusted the brothers to obedience to the minister general and the Roman Church. His school is the fraternity: ministers who serve, brothers who correct one another with mercy, and a common rule. What guides is the Gospel lived in community.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Ist die Welt wirklich?

    Creatures are siblings, and through them the Most High is praised

    Eine gute und wirkliche SchöpfungAusdrücklich gesagt

    The Canticle of the Creatures is Francis of Assisi's answer: the sun, moon, stars, wind, water, fire and earth are brothers and sisters, and through them —or with them, since the Umbrian preposition per admits both readings— the Lord is praised. The world is real, good and beautiful, and bears the meaning of the Most High: brother sun, the text says, is his likeness. But it is not divine: everything comes from God and belongs to him, and praise is due to him alone. The Exhortation to the Praise of God invites heaven, earth, rivers and creatures to bless the Lord, in the line of the Psalms and the canticle of Daniel.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Was ist Liebe?

    Love the brother who sins and do not demand he be better

    Liebe zu Gott und zum NächstenAusdrücklich gesagt

    For Francis of Assisi love is, before any feeling, a concrete way of treating the other. In the Letter to a Minister he asks a superior burdened by his brothers not to want them to be better Christians, to love them as they are, and that there be no brother in the world who, having sinned as much as he could sin, should leave his presence without having obtained mercy. The Admonitions call blessed the one who loves his brother as much when he is ill and can give nothing back as when he is well. Love of God and love of neighbour form a single charity, learned, according to the Testament, among the lepers.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Sind wir frei, oder ist alles vorherbestimmt?

    He does not discuss freedom: he denounces appropriating one's own will

    Nicht geäußert

    Francis of Assisi did not take up the problem of freedom versus providence or fate; he was no school theologian. What he does treat, insistently, is the use of the will. In Admonition 2 he interprets original sin as appropriating one's own will: to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good is to ascribe to oneself the good that God says and does in one. His whole rule rests on obedience, understood as the free surrender of that will, and Admonition 3 calls true and perfect obedience the giving up of oneself. He thus presupposes a will capable of appropriating or giving back, but does not theorise about its freedom or about predestination.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Wozu meditieren oder beten?

    To pray is to praise and make the heart a dwelling for the Lord

    Freundschaft mit GottAusdrücklich gesagt

    The writings of Francis of Assisi are full of prayer, and almost always of praise: the Praises of God Most High, the Praises to Be Said at All the Hours, the Office of the Passion composed from verses of the Psalms, the Salutation of the Virgin. His prayer is a relationship with a Thou who is blessed and thanked. The Earlier Rule asks that a home and dwelling place be made in the heart for the Lord, and the Later Rule that the brothers desire above all to have the spirit of the Lord and his holy operation and to pray always with a pure heart; work itself must not extinguish that spirit. The Rule for Hermitages organises retreats of prayer in small groups.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Kann die Vernunft das Letzte erkennen?

    He does not theorise about reason: he subordinates study to the spirit of prayer

    Nicht geäußert

    Francis of Assisi did not ask whether reason can know God; he asked what knowledge is for. His answer is practical and cautious. Admonition 7 distinguishes between those who study letters only to be thought wiser and to gain riches, whom the letter kills, and those who give back to God what they know by word and example. The Later Rule asks those who do not know letters not to be anxious to learn them. And the short Letter to Saint Anthony authorises him to teach theology to the brothers, provided that study does not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion. Reason is no enemy, but neither is it the way.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

  • Sich von der Welt zurückziehen oder sie verwandeln?

    From hermitage to the roads: preach by deeds

    Kontemplation im HandelnAusdrücklich gesagt

    Francis of Assisi left the world —in the Testament he says that, after serving the lepers, he left the world behind— but he did not shut himself away. His form of life was itinerant: the brothers go through the world with nothing of their own, work with their hands, serve and proclaim peace. The Earlier Rule asks that all preach by their deeds, and the Letter to the Rulers of the Peoples addresses governors to remind them of judgement and ask them to have God honoured. At the same time, the Rule for Hermitages organises retreats of prayer in which some brothers act as mothers, like Martha, and others as sons, like Mary, taking turns. Contemplation and mission alternate and nourish each other.

    Diese Frage mit anderen Meistern vergleichen

Affinitäten und Spannungen

Affinitäten und Spannungen

Frage für Frage aus den Positionen berechnet. Den Grund jeder Übereinstimmung und jedes Widerspruchs zeigt ein Klick.

Anekdoten und Erzählungen

Anekdoten und Erzählungen

Belegtc. 1205–1206

The leper

Of all the accounts of the conversion, only one is told by Francis in the first person. In the Testament, dictated in 1226, he recalls that while he lived 'in sins' he could not bear to see lepers, who in Assisi lived apart in the leper-houses of the plain. 'The Lord himself led me among them,' he writes, 'and I showed mercy to them; and when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body.' There is no miracle or apparition: there is a change of sensibility that reorders a life. Later biographers dramatised the scene: Celano, in his second life, says that Francis, on horseback, met a leper, dismounted, gave him alms and kissed his hand; the Legend of the Three Companions adds that when he looked back the leper had vanished. The core, deliberate contact with the excluded as the beginning of penance, is documented by the protagonist himself.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Testament 1–3 (authentic text, Esser). The kiss of the leper comes from 2C 9 (Celano, 1246–1247) and the Legend of the Three Companions 11; the leper's disappearance only from the latter.

Quelle: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).

Hagiographische Erzählungc. 1205–1206

'Francis, go and repair my house'

In the half-ruined chapel of San Damiano, outside Assisi, hung a painted crucifix in Umbro-Syrian style. According to Celano's second life and the Legend of the Three Companions, Francis went in to pray before it and heard the image tell him: 'Francis, do you not see that my house is falling down? Go, then, and repair it.' He took it literally: he took cloth from his father's shop, sold it in Foligno along with the horse and offered the money to the priest of San Damiano, who refused it. Then, with his own hands, he carried stones to restore the little church, and afterwards San Pietro and the Portiuncula. The biographers read the command as a prophecy about the whole Church, which Francis was to support; thus the Assisi cycle painted it in Innocent III's dream. Celano's first life, written two years after the death, mentions the repair of San Damiano but not the voice of the crucifix, which enters the story around 1246. The original crucifix is kept today in the basilica of Santa Chiara.

Herkunft der Erzählung: 2C 10–11 (Celano, 1246–1247) and Legend of the Three Companions 13; absent from 1C (1229), which narrates only the repair (1C 18). Bonaventure incorporates it into the Major Legend 2:1.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Zeugnis1206

Naked before the bishop

Pietro di Bernardone would not accept that his son sold off the family's cloth or hid in a cave to escape him. He locked him up at home, summoned him before the commune's consuls and, when Francis claimed that he was now a servant of God and not subject to civil jurisdiction, before Bishop Guido. In the square of the bishop's palace, probably in spring 1206, the bishop asked him to return the money. Francis not only returned it: he took off all his clothes, laid them at his father's feet and said, according to the Legend of the Three Companions, that until then he had called Pietro di Bernardone father, but from then on he would say only 'Our Father who art in heaven'. The bishop covered him with his mantle. The scene, recorded by all the early sources with variations of detail, is the public break with the mercantile economy and with inheritance, and Giotto made it one of the most famous images of the Assisi cycle.

Herkunft der Erzählung: 1C 14–15 (Celano, 1229); Legend of the Three Companions 19–20; Major Legend 2:4. The words about 'Our Father' come from the Legend of the Three Companions.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Belegt1219

Francis and the sultan

In the summer of 1219 Francis reached the crusader camp before Damietta, in the Nile delta, during the Fifth Crusade. According to Bishop Jacques de Vitry, who was there and wrote it in a letter of 1220, 'Brother Francis' crossed the lines unarmed and was taken before the sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, Saladin's nephew. The sultan listened attentively for several days as he preached the Christian faith to him and his men and, fearing that some of his people might convert, had him returned with honour and safe-conduct to the Christian camp, asking him to pray for him. Another independent witness, the chronicle attributed to Ernoul, confirms the meeting. Celano narrates it in 1229 with little detail; Bonaventure, in 1263, adds that Francis proposed to enter a fire together with the Muslim priests to prove the truth of his faith, a scene painted in the Assisi cycle. The episode has been reread in the twentieth century as an emblem of interreligious dialogue; the sources show, rather, a preacher seeking conversion or martyrdom and a sultan who treated him with courtesy.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Jacques de Vitry, letter VI (1220) and Historia occidentalis 32; the chronicle of Ernoul; 1C 57 (1229). The ordeal by fire appears in the Major Legend 9:8 (Bonaventure, 1263). Overall study: Tolan (2009).

Quelle: Jacques de Vitry. Lettres de Jacques de Vitry (1160/1170–1240), évêque de Saint-Jean-d'Acre. Ed. R. B. C. Huygens. Leiden: Brill, 1960 (carta VI, 1220); y Historia occidentalis, cap. 32.

ZeugnisNavidad de 1223

The crib at Greccio

Fifteen days before Christmas 1223, Francis asked a nobleman of Greccio, Giovanni Velita, to prepare in a woodland grotto a manger with hay, an ox and an ass, because he wanted 'to see with bodily eyes' the hardships of the Child of Bethlehem. On Christmas night the brothers and the people of the surrounding area came with torches; Mass was celebrated over the manger and Francis, who was a deacon, sang the Gospel and preached about the 'babe of Bethlehem', pronouncing the word so tenderly, says Celano, that it sounded like bleating. One witness claimed to have seen in the manger a sleeping child who woke when Francis approached. Celano tells it in his first life, barely five years later, and presents it as the origin of a devotion. The crib as a domestic tradition is much later, but Greccio fixed its founding image.

Herkunft der Erzählung: 1C 84–87 (Celano, 1229); Major Legend 10:7. The vision of the child is attributed to an anonymous witness.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Hagiographische Erzählungc. 1213–1220

The sermon to the birds

Near Bevagna, in the Spoleto valley, Francis saw a great flock of birds of various kinds (doves, crows, jackdaws) and left his companions on the road to approach them. The birds did not flee. He spoke to them, Celano says, as to sisters: they should praise their Creator, who had clothed them in feathers, given them wings to fly and the pure air, and governed them without their having to sow or reap. The birds stretched their necks, opened their wings and looked at him; he passed among them brushing them with his tunic and blessed them, and only then did they take flight. From that day on, the biographer adds, he reproached himself for not having preached to animals before. The story is already in the first life (1229) and Bonaventure made it one of the great frescoes of the Upper Basilica; the Little Flowers expand it with the sermon to the swallows of Alviano. It is an early hagiographic account, valuable above all as an expression of the kinship with creatures later sung in the Canticle.

Herkunft der Erzählung: 1C 58 (Celano, 1229); Major Legend 12:3; Little Flowers 16. The date is unknown.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Hagiographische Erzählungsin fecha (relato del siglo XIV)

The wolf of Gubbio

A huge wolf terrorised Gubbio: it devoured animals and people, and the townsfolk did not leave the city unarmed. Francis, who was there, went out to meet it, called it 'Brother Wolf' and, in the name of Christ, ordered it to do no more harm. The wolf came near, meek, and lay down at his feet. Francis proposed a pact: the citizens would feed it every day and it would never again attack anyone; as a sign of agreement the wolf placed its paw in the saint's hand, and repeated the gesture before the people gathered in the square. It lived two more years going from door to door, without even the dogs barking at it, and when it died the city mourned it. It is the most famous story about Francis and appears in no thirteenth-century source: it is first found in the Actus beati Francisci (c. 1327–1337) and in their Tuscan version, the Little Flowers, a hundred years after the saint's death. It should be read as a parable of social reconciliation, the pact between the city and whoever threatens it, rather than as a chronicle.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Actus beati Francisci 23 (c. 1327–1337) and Little Flowers 21. None of the thirteenth-century biographies (Celano, Julian of Speyer, Three Companions, Bonaventure) mentions it.

Quelle: Vauchez, André. François d'Assise. Entre histoire et mémoire. París: Fayard, 2009. Trad. ingl.: Francis of Assisi. The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.

Umstrittenseptiembre de 1224

The wounds of La Verna

In September 1224, during a Lent in honour of Saint Michael on Mount La Verna, near the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Francis had, according to his companions, the vision of a crucified six-winged seraph. After it, marks like nails appeared in his hands and feet and a wound in his side. What can be documented is little and precious: the autograph parchment Francis wrote then for Brother Leo (the Praises of God Most High and the blessing), on which Leo noted in his own hand that he had composed it after the vision of the seraph and the impression of the stigmata; the letter in which Elias of Cortona announced his death describing the wounds, whose authenticity is debated; and Celano's first life (1229). Francis hid the wounds during his life. Historians have debated their nature (miracle, psychosomatic phenomenon, self-inflicted, later construction); Chiara Frugoni has studied how text and image fixed the event. It is the first case of stigmata recorded in Christian history.

Herkunft der Erzählung: Autograph chartula with Brother Leo's rubric (Sacro Convento, Assisi); Elias's encyclical letter (authenticity debated); 1C 94–95; Major Legend 13. The Considerations on the Stigmata, added to the Little Flowers in the fourteenth century, amplify the account.

Quelle: Frugoni, Chiara. Francesco e l'invenzione delle stimmate. Una storia per parole e immagini fino a Bonaventura e Giotto. Turín: Einaudi, 1993.

Lehren

Lehren

Die Begriffe, die das Denken gliedern, in ihrem Zusammenhang erklärt.

Living 'without anything of one's own'sine-proprio
The formula 'sine proprio', which opens the 1223 Rule alongside obedience and chastity, is broader than material poverty. It forbids the brothers to own houses, land or money (not even to touch it), but in the Admonitions Francis extends it to the will, to learning, to virtues and to offices: whoever appropriates the good God does through him 'eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil' (Adm. 2). Poverty is therefore a dispossession of everything the self claims as its own, and its counterpart is restitution: giving back all goods to God through praise. Hence the insistence on manual work and on alms as a resource, not as income; hence too the immediate conflict, already in Francis's lifetime, over books, houses and churches. The bulls Quo elongati (1230) and Exiit qui seminat (1279) tried to reconcile the rule with the needs of an enormous order, and the dispute over the poverty of Christ set the Spirituals against the papacy in the fourteenth century.

Twelfth- and thirteenth-century evangelical and poverty movements (Waldensians, Humiliati) within the monetary economy of the Italian communes.

Quelle: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).

Minority (being 'lesser')minoridad
Francis called his fraternity 'lesser brothers' (fratres minores). In the vocabulary of the Italian communes, the 'minores' were the common people as against the 'maiores', the rich and powerful; choosing that name meant placing oneself socially below. The 1221 Rule asks that the brothers be 'lesser and subject to all', that they not accept positions of command in the houses where they work, and that they rejoice to live among despised people, the poor, the sick and lepers. In the Admonitions minority becomes an inner criterion: the servant of God does not consider himself better when praised than when despised, because 'what a person is before God, that he is and no more'. Governance too is conceived from there: superiors are called 'ministers' and 'servants', and must wash the brothers' feet. The tension between this vocation and the growing prestige of the order (bishops, university masters and inquisitors drawn from it) runs through its whole history.

Italian communal society and the spirituality of following the poor and humble Christ.

Quelle: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).

Kinship with creaturesfraternidad-de-las-criaturas
The Canticle calls the sun, the wind and fire 'brother', and the moon, water, earth ('our Sister Mother Earth') and death 'sister'. It is neither pantheism nor nature romanticism: the centre is the Most High, of whom no man is worthy to speak, and creatures are companions in praise who bear his 'likeness'. The preposition 'per' admits several readings (praised be you by means of them, because of them, or by them as subjects who praise) and probably gathers them all. The biographies illustrate this kinship with stories of birds, lambs, worms that Francis moved off the road, or the fire he asked to be courteous during his cauterisation. The bond is founded on common origin: all creatures come from the same Father. This reading explains why John Paul II proclaimed him patron of ecology (1979) and why the encyclical Laudato si' (2015) took its title from the Canticle.

Thirteenth-century vernacular religious poetry; the psalms and the canticle of Daniel (Dan 3) as models of cosmic praise.

Quelle: Branca, Vittore. Il Cantico di frate Sole. Studio delle fonti e testo critico. Florencia: Olschki, 1950; reimpr. 1994 (ISBN 8822215222).

Doing penancehacer-penitencia
Francis describes his conversion with a technical expression of his time: 'to begin doing penance'. In thirteenth-century Italy, 'penitents' were lay people who, without entering a monastery, adopted a recognised state of life: simple dress, prayer, fasting, works of mercy and the renunciation of certain activities. Francis and his first companions presented themselves as 'penitents of Assisi'. For him, penance is not primarily mortification but a change of direction of heart and life (metanoia) verified in works: loving God and neighbour, receiving the Eucharist, bearing fruits worthy of penance. The two redactions of the Letter to the Faithful describe the contrast between those who do penance, who are 'children of the heavenly Father', and those who do not, blind and slaves of the world. From this proposal to the laity was born the Order of Penance, later the Third Order, which allowed married men and women to live the Franciscan ideal.

The lay penitential movement of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).

Quelle: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).

Perfect joyperfecta-alegria
In a text dictated to Brother Leo, Francis lists what true joy is not: that all the masters of Paris should join the order, that prelates and the kings of France and England should join, that the brothers should convert the unbelievers, that he should have the gift of healing and working miracles. Perfect joy is to arrive at night at Saint Mary of the Angels, in winter, muddy and frozen, knock at the door and have the porter not recognise him and turn him away, and to bear it without being disturbed. The teaching does not exalt suffering for its own sake: it shows that joy depending on success, recognition or even spiritual fruit is still appropriation. All that remains is the patience in which the self no longer claims anything. Chapter 8 of the Little Flowers turned the text into a narrative dialogue with Brother Leo that is today the best-known version, but the drier Latin original is older and more reliable.

The spirituality of dispossession and patience in Francis's writings.

Quelle: Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).

Following in the footprints of Christseguir-las-huellas
The 1221 Rule begins by saying that the brothers' life is 'to follow the teaching and the footprints (vestigia) of our Lord Jesus Christ'. The expression, taken from 1 Peter 2:21, sums up Francis's Christocentrism: it is not about imitating abstract virtues but about walking the concrete path of the poor, humble and crucified Jesus, from the crib of Greccio to the cross. The Office of the Passion puts the psalms in Christ's mouth; the Letter to the Faithful insists on the humility of the Word who 'received the true flesh of our humanity and frailty' in Mary's womb. Later tradition read the stigmata of La Verna as the visible seal of that conformity, and Bonaventure organised the whole Major Legend as an itinerary towards it. For Francis's writings, however, following is verified in daily life: obedience, work, poverty, service to lepers and peace.

Medieval devotion to the humanity of Christ (Bernard of Clairvaux) and the spirituality of the 'vita apostolica'.

Quelle: Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).

Videos

Videos

Aufnahmen, Gespräche und Dokumentarfilme. Die Videos werden von YouTube wiedergegeben; sie werden nicht hier gespeichert.

  • "Francis of Assisi: Lost Between Myth and History," Augustine Thompson, O.P.

    Vortrag· EN· 2014· 63 min

    Lumen Christi InstituteOffizieller Kanal

  • Poverty in the Church & St. Francis of Assisi - Augustine Thompson, OP

    Vortrag· EN· 2015· 21 min

    Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology (DSPT)Offizieller Kanal

  • St. Francis of Assisi: In His Own Words, by Larry Cunningham

    Vortrag· EN· 2012· 60 min

    McGrath Institute for Church Life (University of Notre Dame)Offizieller Kanal

  • The Death of St. Francis in 1226: Looking Back after 800 Years

    Vortrag· EN· 2026· 39 min

    Franciscan School of TheologyOffizieller Kanal

  • Spirituality of Francis and Clare of Assisi

    Vortrag· EN· 2009· 77 min

    Villanova UniversityOffizieller Kanal

  • How Francis of Assisi rejected wealth and found purpose

    Dokumentarfilm· EN· 2026· 11 min

    DW History and CultureOffizieller Kanal

  • San Francisco de Asís: la búsqueda de la verdad

    Dokumentarfilm· ES· 2026· 11 min

    DW EspañolOffizieller Kanal

  • El año de San Francisco

    Dokumentarfilm· ES· 2026· 27 min

    EWTN EspañolOffizieller Kanal

  • Cántico de las Criaturas de San Francisco de Asís. Cantado por Fr. Ángel Ramón Serrano García

    Originalaufnahme· ES· 2020· 4 min

    Franciscanos Santo Espíritu del Monte HospederíaOffizieller Kanal

  • Franz von Assisi - Der Grenzgänger | Doku HD | ARTE

    Dokumentarfilm· DE· 2026· 87 min

    ARTEdeOffizieller Kanal

  • François d'Assise - L'exigence de la foi | Documentaire | ARTE

    Dokumentarfilm· FR· 2026· 87 min

    ARTEOffizieller Kanal

  • Francesco d'Assisi | Documentario integrale | ARTE.tv Documentari

    Dokumentarfilm· IT· 2026· 87 min

    ARTE.tv DocumentariOffizieller Kanal

  • Il realismo di San Francesco | Massimo Cacciari | Basilica superiore di Assisi

    Vortrag· IT· 2023· 70 min

    Massimo Cacciari YouTubeOffizieller Kanal

  • Alessandro Baricco: il Testamento di San Francesco - Francesco, il Santo di tutti 04/10/2026

    Analyse· IT· 2026· 7 min

    RaiOffizieller Kanal

Galerie

Galerie

Bilder mit geprüfter Lizenz. Jedes bewahrt seine Urheberschaft und seinen Herkunftsnachweis.

Handschriften

Handschriften

Handschriftliche Zeugen und alte Texte, mit ihrer verwahrenden Einrichtung und ihren Einsichtsbedingungen.

  • LA · Latina (minúscula gótica de mano no profesional) · Septiembre de 1224, La Verna

    Chartula fratri Leoni data (Laudes Dei altissimi; Benedictio fratri Leoni)

    Erhaltener Textzeuge
    Autógrafo en un pequeño pergamino
    Verwahrende Einrichtung
    Sacro Convento de San Francisco, Asís (capilla de las reliquias)

  • LA · Latina · c. 1220–1224

    Epistola ad fratrem Leonem

    Erhaltener Textzeuge
    Autógrafo
    Verwahrende Einrichtung
    Catedral de Santa María de la Asunción, Espoleto

  • LA · Latina (gótica) · Mediados del siglo XIII

    Codex Assisiensis 338

    Erhaltener Textzeuge
    Testimonio más antiguo del Cántico de las criaturas y de buena parte de los Opuscula
    Verwahrende Einrichtung
    Fondo antiguo de la Biblioteca del Sacro Convento (Biblioteca comunale), Asís · Assisi, cod. 338

  • LA · Latina (cancilleresca pontificia) · 29 de noviembre de 1223

    Regula bullata con la bula «Solet annuere»

    Erhaltener Textzeuge
    Original de la bula de aprobación
    Verwahrende Einrichtung
    Sacro Convento de San Francisco, Asís

  • LA · Latina · 1232–1239 (copia de c. 1230–1250)

    Thomas de Celano, Vita brevior

    Erhaltener Textzeuge
    Único testimonio conocido de la Vita brevior, identificado por Jacques Dalarun en 2014
    Verwahrende Einrichtung
    Bibliothèque nationale de France, París · nouv. acq. lat. 3245
Handschriften →

Beziehungen

Beziehungen

Einflüsse, Schülerschaften und Verwandtschaften. Die belegte Beziehung wird von der durch Analyse ermittelten Ähnlichkeit unterschieden.

  • Beeinflusst von

    Jesus of Nazareth

    The 1223 Rule defines the brothers' life as 'to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ', and the 1221 Rule as following Christ's 'teaching and footprints'. The Testament attributes to divine revelation the decision to live 'according to the form of the holy Gospel'.

    Belegte Beziehung

  • Beeinflusste

    Teresa of Ávila

    The unendowed poverty of Teresa's foundations was inspired by the Franciscan ideal through Peter of Alcántara, Franciscan reformer and Teresa's adviser. The relation is one of mediated reception, not contact.

    Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit

  • Verwandte Gedanken mit

    John of the Cross

    Francis's dispossession ('without anything of one's own', perfect joy) and John of the Cross's 'nada' share the intuition that the self must be emptied of every possession, even spiritual; John systematises it as the dark night.

    Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit

  • Verwandte Gedanken mit

    Meister Eckhart

    Eckhart's German Sermon 52 on the poor in spirit radicalises, in a speculative key, an inner poverty (to will nothing, know nothing, have nothing) that engages with the Franciscan poverty controversy of his time.

    Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit

  • Verwandte Gedanken mit

    Hildegard of Bingen

    Both celebrate creation as a place of God's presence (Hildegard's viriditas, the Canticle's kinship of creatures) from very different forms of religious life: the Benedictine abbey and mendicant itinerancy.

    Durch Analyse ermittelte Ähnlichkeit

Von anderen Einträgen aus verknüpft

Quellen

Quellen

Für diesen Eintrag herangezogene Bibliografie und Kataloge.

  1. Wikidata, Q676555 «Francis of Assisi» (P31=Q5; 139 enlaces entre wikis; P569 1182, P570 1226-10-03).
  2. Esser, Kajetan, O.F.M. Die Opuscula des hl. Franziskus von Assisi. Neue textkritische Edition. Grottaferrata: Collegium S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1976 (Spicilegium Bonaventurianum 13); editio minor: Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis, 1978 (Bibliotheca Franciscana Ascetica Medii Aevi 12).
  3. Armstrong, Regis J.; Hellmann, J. A. Wayne; Short, William J. (eds.). Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. 3 vols. e índice. Nueva York: New City Press, 1999–2002 (vol. 1, The Saint, ISBN 1565481100).
  4. Guerra, José Antonio (ed.). San Francisco de Asís: Escritos, biografías, documentos de la época. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (BAC 399), 1978; reed. 2003 (ISBN 8479146273).
  5. Vauchez, André. François d'Assise. Entre histoire et mémoire. París: Fayard, 2009. Trad. ingl.: Francis of Assisi. The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
  6. Thompson, Augustine, O.P. Francis of Assisi: A New Biography. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012.
  7. Frugoni, Chiara. Francesco e l'invenzione delle stimmate. Una storia per parole e immagini fino a Bonaventura e Giotto. Turín: Einaudi, 1993.
  8. Renoux, Christian. La prière pour la paix attribuée à saint François: une énigme à résoudre. París: Éditions franciscaines, 2001. Resumen del autor: «The Origin of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis», Franciscan Archive.
  9. Tolan, John. Saint Francis and the Sultan: The Curious History of a Christian-Muslim Encounter. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  10. Branca, Vittore. Il Cantico di frate Sole. Studio delle fonti e testo critico. Florencia: Olschki, 1950; reimpr. 1994 (ISBN 8822215222).
  11. Dalarun, Jacques. «Thome Celanensis Vita beati patris nostri Francisci (Vita brevior)». Analecta Bollandiana 133 (2015), 23–86; y La Vie retrouvée de François d'Assise. París: Éditions franciscaines, 2015.
  12. Opuscula sancti patris Francisci Assisiensis sec. codices mss. emendata et denuo edita a PP. Collegii S. Bonaventurae. Quaracchi: Ex typographia Collegii S. Bonaventurae, 1904.
  13. Juan Pablo II. Litterae apostolicae «Inter sanctos» (29 de noviembre de 1979): S. Franciscus Assisiensis caelestis Patronus oecologiae cultorum eligitur.
  14. Open Library, registros de edición de las obras de Francisco de Asís y de sus fuentes (consultados por ISBN y por obra).
  15. Jacques de Vitry. Lettres de Jacques de Vitry (1160/1170–1240), évêque de Saint-Jean-d'Acre. Ed. R. B. C. Huygens. Leiden: Brill, 1960 (carta VI, 1220); y Historia occidentalis, cap. 32.
  16. Manselli, Raoul. San Francesco d'Assisi. Roma: Bulzoni, 1980 (trad. esp.: San Francisco de Asís, Oñati: Arantzazu, 1997).
  17. Francisco (papa). Carta encíclica Laudato si' sobre el cuidado de la casa común, 24 de mayo de 2015, n. 1 y 10–12.
  18. Wikisource (la, it, es): Testamentum, Regula bullata y non bullata, Epistola toti Ordini missa (la); Cantico di Frate Sole y Fioretti di San Francesco, ed. Antonio Cesari (it); Cántico de las criaturas (es).
Rechteinhaber
Dominio público (escritos del siglo XIII). Las ediciones críticas (Esser, Paolazzi), traducciones y aparatos modernos están sujetos a los derechos de sus editores (BAC, New City Press, Paulist Press, Éditions du Cerf, Editrici Francescane, Butzon & Bercker…). Los autógrafos y el códice 338 los custodian el Sacro Convento de Asís y la catedral de Espoleto.
Offizielle Website
www.sanfrancescoassisi.org/

Bestätigung ausstehend

Was dieser Eintrag noch nicht klären konnte. Wir sagen es lieber, als es aufzufüllen.

  • Añadir con ISBN la edición crítica de Carlo Paolazzi (Francisci Assisiensis Scripta, Grottaferrata, 2009) y la edición española de Fonti/Escritos de Editorial Arantzazu: no se han localizado en Open Library.
  • Identificar al traductor de la versión española del Cántico en Wikisource (es) para poder retirar la marca de precaución.
  • Confirmar la fecha de muerte de A. G. Ferrers Howell (traductor de Celano, 1908) y el traductor de la edición Dent de 1904 de la Leyenda mayor (¿E. Gurney Salter?) para la sala de lectura.
  • Localizar digitalizaciones oficiales del códice 338 de Asís y del manuscrito de la Vita brevior (BnF, nouv. acq. lat. 3245): no se ha querido inventar una URL.
  • Las fechas de subida de los vídeos se han deducido de la fecha relativa que muestra YouTube; conviene fijarlas si se necesitan exactas.
  • Programas de afiliación: ninguno verificado para las editoriales listadas.

Recherchiert am 2026-10-25