Had St. Francis foreseen how his humility would be rewarded? This we
know, that he in part had realised how his order would slip away from
his ideal, and there is a deep note of sadness in many pages of his
life, showing us how fully he realised the pitfalls his disciples were
likely to fall into when he was no longer there to watch over them
with tender care. Often while he was absent for only a little time the
brethren forgot his simple rule, building cells and houses too
spacious and pretentious for the home of the Lady Poverty. This had
been one of the signs to him that his earnest prayers to God, his
example and admonitions to his followers, which come to us through his
letters and the pages of Brother Leo like the cry of one who bravely
fought against the inevitable, were all to be in vain. It is a tragic
story, and rendered still more so by the fact that the Saint's last
years should have been saddened by this knowledge of coming events.
Only a little while and the teaching of poverty and obscurity which he
had so deeply implanted in the hearts of his followers was to be
completely swept away; upon the ruins of that first franciscan order,
guarded jealously for a time by a faithful few, arose the new
franciscan spirit which Elias Buonbarone, inspired by the will of
Gregory IX, brought into being almost before the echo of his master's
words had died away. It is not for us in this small space to trace
the many changes that crept into the young community, but we simply
note as a fact, what to some may appear exaggerated, that the order
St. Francis founded, and prayed would continue as he left it, ceased
at his death, while the order that grew up afterwards bore the
unmistakable stamp of Elias and the Vatican.
* * * * *
The extraordinary humility of St. Francis gave rise to the myth that
when he lay dying at the Portiuncula he expressed a strong desire to
be buried in the most despised spot near Assisi, which, because
criminals were said to have been executed there, bore the name of
Colle del Inferno. It seems unlike him to have been concerned with
what might become of "brother body" after death, and it was probably
not until Gregory IX conceived the idea of building a church in honour
of his friend, that a suitable burial-place was searched for near the
walls of the town, if not actually within them, where the citizens
could safely guard the precious relics. Everything favoured the
designs of Gregory, for not only was he fortunate in finding a man
like Elias, capable, prompt and energetic, but the one place suited
for the erection of a great church, happened to be in the possession
of a generous citizen of Assisi. No sooner were the wishes of the
Pontiff made known than Simon Puzzarelli offered his land on the
Collis Inferni, which from this time forward Gregory ordered to be
called Collis Paradisi, the Hill of Paradise.[60]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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