Blessed Giles of Assisi
Seton, Walter W. (Walter Warren), 1882-1927
«aii pppi mfellWSP* k&jp InlETi rl kK&'j smMb: gi-SrS?#®® ,vWi •;(■;» L*t* t. ■gMCT >Tc^;*ir|(?3:)t: '$,&y >; ? gfapSPH qcgbffife'fcEl i iiitJ lyfrffijpc* MR&U£tfy(K*; MK InimS SSWgns^r > SSSgp. k&wPte :C--vf c,s.;->~. ftfe; >h* * V"'T ■ rri ' 'SitflSKjPft ■ y/ji'itfr-jip; .; I ■ ./«3 Hffifp i®EKtE I '* i v v£-4 r s ri t > ii^MBiiPPwWa aWBlHBHliWm ®>*124<l?Wwsr»»«wriwSft?-f .‘ r4 hrti$Sy i : if- • WlS TCl£tril/t'iTtt»tttt£)t£itl,B®»H«aRirrff;.rt!-- ‘ntrKW; nrt?S»?kFB ►:«'•-.* ipp Zjfi& msi fipgj smp iife Hfs BX 3601 . B7 4 v.8 Seton, Walter W. 1882-1927. Blessed Giles of Assisi / British Society of Franciscan Studies. PUBLICATIONS. Vol. I. Liber exemplorum ad usum praedicantium saeculo xiii compositus a quodam Fratre Minore Anglico de Provmcia Hiberniae, secundum codicem Dunelmensem editus per A. G. Little, 1908. Vol. II. Fratris Johannis Pecham, quondam Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, Tractatus tres de Paupertate, cum Biblio- graphia, ediderunt C. L. Kingsford, A. G. Little, F. Tocco, 1910. Vol. III. Fratris Rogeri Bacon Compendium Studii Theo- logiae, edidit H. Rashdall, una cum Appendice de Operibus Rogeri Bacon, edita per A. G. Little, 1911. Vol. IV. Part of the Opus Tertium of Roger Bacon, includ¬ ing a fragment now printed for the first time. Edited by A. G. Little, 1912. Vol. V. Collectanea Franciscana I. Ediderunt A. G. Little, M. R. James, H. M. Bannister, 1914. Vol. VI. The Grey Friars of London : Their History, with the Register of their Convent and an Appendix of Documents. By Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, 1915. Vol. VII. Some new sources for the Life of Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. By Walter W. Seton, 1915. Extra Series. Vol. I. Franciscan Essays, by Paul Sabatier and others. (Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., Father Paschal Robinson, O.S.F., Edmund G. Gardner, A. G. Little, Evelyn Underhill, E. Gurney Salter), 1912. In preparation. Collectanea Hiberno-Minoritica. Notes and Documents re¬ lating to the history of the Franciscans in Ireland. By the late Rev. Father Fitzmaurice, O.S.F., and A. G. Little. Roger Bacon’s Medical Works, edited by E. T. Withington, and A. G. Little. Volumes are supplied to members only. Subscription iot. 6d. a year. Secretary and Treasurer: — PAUL DESCOURS, 65 Deauville Road, Clapham Park, London, S.W. BRITISH SOCIETY OF FRANCISCAN STUDIES VOL. VIII. 2Ust of Officers of tbe Society, 1918, Hon. President : — Paul Sabatier. Committee : — A. G. Little, Chairman. Professor T. W. Arnold. P. Descours. Rev. W. H. Frere. T. E. Harvey, M.P. C. L. Kingsford. Professor W. P. Ker. E. Moon. Very Rev. H. Rashdall. Rev. H. G. Rosedale. Professor M. E. Sadler. Miss E. Gurney Salter. Walter W. Seton. Professor T. F. Tout. Hon. Secretary and Treasurer: — Mr, Paul Descours, 65 Deauville Road, Clapham Park, London, S.W. / \ N BLESSED fa iO't / GILES OF ASSISI WALTER W. SETON Qui nescit orare non cognoscit Deum. —ASgidius MANCHESTER : THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1918 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from The Arcadia Fund https://archive.org/details/blessedgilesofasOOseto_O CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Call to Poverty. How Giles first heard the call — His meeting with St. Francis — His admission to the band of Friars Minor — His clothing by St. Francis ........ page I Chapter II. The Missionary Journeys. The tour with St. Francis in the March of Ancona — The pilgrimage to St. James’ at Compostella — With. St Francis and his disciples in Rome for the confirmation of the Rule — The pilgrimage to the Holy Land — In the hermitage of Fabriano — The call of the Mohammedan world and the journey to Tunis — Giles’ stay in Rome . . page 7 Chapter III. The Life of Contemplation. At the death¬ bed of St. Francis — The Lent of St. Martin at Cetona and his vision of Our Lord — Giles’ zeal for Poverty — The death of Bernard of Quintavalle — The life and character of Giles — His preaching before St. Clare at San Damiano — Giles and his meeting with St. Louis of France page 14 Chapter IV. The Last Days near Perugia. In the convent of Monteripido — His ecstasy in the presence of Pope Gregory IX. — His death at Monteripido page 21 Chapter V. Sources for the Life of Blessed Giles. References to Giles in PYanciscan MSS. and sources — The MSS. containing the Life of Giles — The Short Life and the Long Life — Canonici Misc. 528 — Which life is the nearer to the work of Brother Leo ? — Arguments in favour of the Short Life — I he inter¬ relation of the various MSS. .... page 24 Text of Canonici Misc. 528 and Translation page 52 Appendix. Bibliography . page 91 Index . page 93 vii ***— - ' — - - -- — - BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI. CHAPTER I. THE CALL TO POVERTY. “ Ille homo , beatus Franciscus , nunquam deberet nominari, quin homo prae gauiio lamberet labia sua ; tantum modo sibi defuit unurn , scilicet corporis fortitudo ; si enim habuisset tale corpus , quale ego habeo, scilicet ita robustum, proculdubio totus mundus eum sequi minime potuissetd’ — ^Egidius. “ Tell the Perugians that the bells shall never ring for my canonisation, nor for any great miracles wrought by me.” And yet, after the lapse of more than six centuries, it appears probable that these, the last recorded words of the humble Giles of Assisi, may be disproved, and he may be the first of the original disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi to receive the full honours of canonisation. From among the little group of simple-minded, single-hearted men who at the dawn of the thirteenth century were the first to receive the message of evangelical perfection and to cluster around St. Francis, it is almost invidious to point to any one as the most fascinating and attractive of those Knights of his Round Table, as the Saint himself called them. The “ Little Flowers of St. Francis,” now fortunately so well known to modern readers, has endeared them one and all to us : and each of them, Leo, Bernard, Juniper, Giles, has his own place in our affections. But Blessed Giles of Assisi might, if he had not been the humblest and most retiring of men, have claimed a place second to none among the apostolic founders of the movement, which stirred the dry bones of Western Christendom in the thirteenth century. VOL. VIII I 2 BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI Blessed Giles of Assisi has hitherto been known in this country in two ways : by the chapters included in most editions of the “ Little Flowers,” which give episodes in his life which are very beautiful, but not perhaps all of unquestion¬ able authenticity ; and by his “ Golden Sayings,” which have been admirably translated into English and edited by Father Paschal Robinson, O.F.M. This work is a completely satis¬ factory edition of the “ Golden Sayings,” and those who are primarily interested in Blessed Giles on account of his ascetic philosophy and of the contribution which he made to the religious philosophy and to the literature of the Middle Ages may not need to go further afield. But others, to whom the human document is of even greater fascination, will want to know Blessed Giles himself. As far as the present writer is aware, there is as yet no critical version of the Life of Blessed Giles published in this country, nor any translation of his life into English. To combine as far as is practicable the critical and the popular — never an easy task — is the object of this work. The impulse to study and then to write about Blessed Giles came from the chance consultation of the catalogue of the Canonici Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the finding of a hitherto unknown copy of the life in Cod. Misc. 528, and the investigation of that MS., which has formed the basis of this edition. It is impossible to make a careful study of the manuscript sources of the Life of Blessed Giles without be¬ coming immersed in the many complex problems which are interwoven with one another in early Franciscan literature. To a number of these it will be necessary to allude : but it would be going far beyond the scope of this work to attempt to solve some of these problems, for the complete settlement of which we still are and perhaps always shall be without suf¬ ficient material. The primary aim will be to get at the most primitive version of the Life, to discuss the position of Brother Leo as its author, and to make the personality of Giles real and living to British readers. Giles first appears in the Franciscan story about two years after St. Francis himself had THE CALL TO POVERTY 3 made the great surrender, and, deliberately choosing a life of poverty, had embarked upon that venture of faith which was to earn for him first the ridicule and contempt of his relatives and friends in Assisi, then the affectionate regard and esteem of the dwellers in the towns and villages of the Umbrian plain, and now the devotion of the Faithful throughout the world. “The day will come,” said the young Francis when in prison bonds in Perugia in 1202, “when the world will fall down and pray to me.” 1 The words have come true, but nothing seemed more unlikely at the time when Giles, hearing from his friends and kinsmen of the eccentric and fanatical son of the merchant Peter Bernardone, and of his two disciples, Bernard of Quinta- valle and Peter Cathanius, resolved to throw in his lot with them. The chronicles are silent concerning the earlier life of Giles : we do not know whether he was younger than Francis or older, but we get some impression of him from Thomas of Celano’s description : 2 “ a simple, upright, God¬ fearing man, who for a long time, perfect in obedience, lived a holy and devout life, by the labour of his hands, giving us an example of solitary life and of holy contemplation On 23rd April, the day of England’s Patron Saint, St. George, Giles took his resolve to leave the world and seek out St. Francis and his two disciples. It is not easy to determine the year in which his conversion and that of Ber¬ nard and Peter took place. It is equally difficult to deter¬ mine the year of his death : and the two events must be calculated, the one in relation to the other. Some MSS. of the life contain no dates : others contain dates which cannot be taken without reserve. The version which we believe to be the most primitive at present known, contains no date either of his conversion or of his death : the longer version gives in most MSS. the date 1209 for his conversion and 1262 for his death. This, however, is clear from the early narratives of the foundation of the Order, that the call of the first disciples 1,4 Adhuc sanctus adorabor per seculum totum,” II Cel. i. 4. 2 I Cel. x. 25. 4 BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI was about a year before the journey of St. Francis and his followers to Rome for the approval of their primitive Rule by the Pope. There has been much controversy as to the year to which the approval of the First Rule should be as¬ signed. It was either 1209 or 1210 : and if that is so, the conversion of Giles took place either in 1208 or 1209. A strong argument for the later date, 1209, is reached in a some¬ what indirect way. All the versions agree in recording that Giles died on the Vigil of the Feast of St. George, at the hour of the early morning office : in other words, early on 23rd April. Now his death occurred either in 1261 or 1262. The MSS. which contain a date say 1262. The year 1261 is extremely improbable, because in 1261 Easter Sunday fell on 24th April : that being so, the 23rd April, being Easter Eve, would certainly not have been observed that year as the Feast of St. George, and if Giles had died on 23rd April, 1261, it seems certain that reference would have been made to that date as Easter Eve. On this basis, admittedly not very con¬ clusive, it appears best to accept the statement of the best MSS. of the Chronicle of XXIV Generals — that Giles died on St. George’s Day, 23rd April, 1262. The same MSS. say that he died in the fifty-second year from his conversion, while the MSS. of the Short Life1 (including the one here edited) speak of his death as occurring “ when fifty-two years had been completed ”. 2 It would thus appear that the con¬ version of Giles could not have taken place earlier than in 1209. A confirmation of this date is found in the fact that all the MSS. agree in referring to the death of St. Francis (4th Oct., 1226) as having taken place in the eighteenth year of Giles’ conversion, that is seventeen years before April, 1226 : which again brings us to 1209. 3 Rising early on the morning of St. George’s Day, Giles 1 For explanation of the terms Short Life and Long Life, see p. 28. 2 It is not very apparent on what authority Father Paschal Robinson states that Giles lived fifty-three years in the Order. “ Golden Sayings,” p. xl. * In the narrative which follows the conclusions reached on certain critical questions discussed in detail in later chapters are assumed. THE CALL TO POVERTY 5 betook himself first of all to the Church of St. George, now part of Santa Chiara ; and, having heard Mass, he set out to find St. Francis. Leaving Assisi by the East Gate, now known as the Porta Nuova, he made his way past San Damiano to the leper settlement of Rivo Torto, which stood on the main road run¬ ning from Perugia through Spello to Foligno. It was at the cross-roads, where the track from San Damiano joined the main road, that Giles prayed for guidance in his search for the Portiuncula and for St. Francis. The Portiuncula, or as it was then called Sancta Maria, lay surrounded by woods a little off the highway in the direction of Perugia. Giles soon found his prayer answered, for at that very moment Francis himself, making his way to the wood for prayer, came to meet him. Giles fell down at his feet and begged to be allowed to join his company. The answer of PYancis to his appeal shows his burning conviction of the dignity of the life to which he had himself been called and to which he was to call others. “ A great gift it is, dearest brother, which the Lord hath given thee. If the Emperor were to come to Assisi and choose one from the city to be his knight or his chamberlain, many would there be who would fain be chosen. How much greater a gift oughtest thou to count it, that God hath chosen thee and called thee to His court ! ” And with these words he raised Giles and took him to the little church hidden in the woods, and, calling Brother Bernard, said, “ The Lord hath sent us a good brother”. Thus did Giles cast in his lot with the little poor man of Assisi and join himself to a movement which was destined to purge, even to save, the Church. There was no delay in giving Giles the outward and visible sign of his new vocation, the plain habit of coarse brown cloth which has persisted for seven centuries as the distinctive garb of those of the Order who have most closely followed their Founder. Leaving their humble dwelling in the woods at Sancta Maria, Francis and Giles set out for Assisi, doubtless following the long dusty road which still leads from the Portiuncula up to the gate now known as 6 BLESSED GILES OE ASSISI Porta San Pietro, though it is likely that at that time the lower part of the road was nothing but a track in the woods. That afternoon walk was to be the first test of the new dis¬ ciple’s resolve. A poor woman accosted Francis and begged an alms for the love of Christ, an appeal which Francis never could resist. Giles, who was of course still in his worldly attire, rose to the occasion. Scarcely had his master bidden him divide his mantle and give the poor woman a share, than he hastily removed his garment and gave her not half but the whole. Immediately Giles was filled with the keenest joy : by this outward act of renunciation he had won his spurs as a Knight of the Round Table. CHAPTER II. THE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. “ Quis magis meretur vadens ad sanctum jfacobum vel ad sanctum Jacobum ostendens viam ? ” — ^Egidius. The first year of Giles’ life as a Friar was spent in close association with St. Francis. It is difficult to know whether to accept the account given by the compiler of the Long Life and based upon the “ Legend of the Three Companions,” how immediately after the reception of Giles, Francis and his new follower set off on a tour in the March of Ancona. The critical aspects of the matter are discussed later. It seems probable that there were tours during the time following the reception of Giles and while the number of Friars was still but four ; not exactly for public preaching, but for private hand-to-hand work with individuals.1 One of these may well have been the occasion when Francis and Giles went on foot to the March of Ancona. But wherever the incident is placed in that first year, it is one of the most beautiful and char¬ acteristic episodes of early Franciscan days. Francis, who, as the “ Mirror of Perfection ” tells us, used the French tongue when carried away with the exuberance of his feelings, went along singing aloud in French and praising God. Turning to his wondering companion he said : “ Our Order will be like a fisherman, who casts his nets into the waters, catching a great multitude of fishes : the big ones he choses out, but the small he leaves in the water.” Such optimism was a test of the new disciple, seeing that at that time the Order numbered 1 Anal. Franc., Tom. iii. p. 76. “ Licet autem Sanctus adhuc populo non plene praedicaret." (7) BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI but four : but, recognising instinctively the spiritual genius of the man whom he was following, he wondered but believed and exhorted others to do the same. And so they returned to the Portiuncula and rejoined Bernard and Peter. Months passed, during which the band of followers was raised first to six by the reception of Sabbatino, Morico, and John of Capella, and a little later to seven when Philip the Long joined them. It was then that the first regular preaching mission of the whole band was undertaken. St. Francis called them together and exhorted them to go out two and two into the great world which lay outside Umbria, bidding them lead men to repentance by their lives rather than by precept. His unconquerable spiritual optimism and his never- failing confidence in his mission were infectious and irresistible. And thus they went out, as he bade them ; and whenever they came to a Church or to a wayside Calvary, they bowed themselves, devoutly saying : “ We adore Thee, O Christ, and bless Thy Name for all the churches which are in all the world, because by Thy holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world”. This time Bernard of Quintavalle was the companion of Giles, and their goal was the shrine of St. James at Compo- stella, a renowned place of pilgrimage. Probably it was the late autumn when they set out on their journey and the year was that of Giles’ conversion, either 1208 or 1209. We learn very little as to this journey in either of the lives of B. Giles : except that it was a time of intense hardship, when they suffered hunger, cold, thirst, and persecution. But love of his fellow-men carried Giles through these experiences : meeting a poor man he wanted to give him his garment, but as he had only his one tunic, he could merely take off the hood and give it to him : and this he did, going himself for twenty-one days without a hood. The “ Legend of the Three Companions ” helps to fill in the details of this pilgrimage. For though the name of Giles is not mentioned in those paragraphs, it is clear that the account relates to Bernard’s tour with Giles. At any rate they reached THE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS 9 Florence and could find no one to give them shelter. One night they spent in the porch of a house, for the lady of the house mistrusting them and their errand, would not allow them to come inside. Next morning, after a night spent in the intense cold of a Northern Italian winter, Bernard and Giles betook themselves to Church to hear Mass : and the mistress of the house went to the same Church. While at Church the brothers were offered an alms by one Guido, but Bernard refused to receive it, explaining that they had given up all for the love of God. The lady, wondering at their refusal of the proferred alms and discovering how she had misjudged them, took Bernard and Giles into her house and entertained them hospitably for some days. One other inci¬ dent is recorded concerning this pilgrimage. At Ficarollo, a small place on the Po between Mantua and Ferrara in the plain of Lombardy, a man called to Giles, who went to him expecting to receive an alms from him : but the man mocked him instead, by placing dice in his hand and inviting him to play. “ The Lord forgive thee ” was the reply of the humble, self-restraining Giles. The records do not make it clear whether it was at the end of an agreed period or as a result of a divine interposition that the eight returned to Sancta Maria at the same time, but it would seem to have been early in 1210 : the pilgrimage had occupied the winter of 1209- 12 10. Fr. Paschal Robinson and the Editors of the “Chronicle of XXIV. Generals” assign this visit to St. James at Compostella to the year 1212, i.e. after the journey to Rome for the approbation of the Rule : but this is difficult to maintain against the evidence of Thomas of Celano and of “ The Three Companions ” : especially the latter, which in dealing with the conditions of that time defi¬ nitely states that “ their band was not yet called an Order”. 1 Both versions of the Life of B. Giles are silent as to the next great event in his career — the visit along with brancis and the ten other disciples to Rome : but there can be no doubt that he was then with them. The consensus of critical opinion 1 “ Three Comp.” x. : “ nondum enim Ordo eorum dicebatur Religio ”. 10 BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI assigns the visit to Rome to the summer of 1210. It is scarcely necessary to describe it in detail, both because Giles himself is not even mentioned in the whole story and because the visit to Rome is one of the episodes most familiar to all who care for the narrative of the early days of the Franciscan Order. It was the occasion of the meeting of two of the greatest but most widely different personalities of the thirteenth century — Innocent III and Francis. Suffice it to say that the earnest¬ ness, piety, simplicity, and utter conviction of his calling shown by Francis overcame the caution and statesmanship of one of the greatest men who has ever occupied the Papal throne and who, beneath his exalted rank as a spiritual and temporal potentate, was a lover of true religion and ardently anxious for the reform of the Church. Innocent and Francis under¬ stood each other: and Francis left Rome with the Papal ap¬ probation of his Primitive Rule and with the Papal authority to preach repentance. Before they left on their homeward journey, Giles, along with St. P"rancis and the other ten, received the small tonsure as authority to preach the word. Leaving Rome, St. Francis with his little band, including Giles, made his way back by slow stages to Assisi, where he appears to have taken up his abode at or close to the leper settlement of Rivo Torto. Some obscurity rests over the events of the next few years in the life of B. Giles. It is difficult to fix the order in which he undertook some more distant journeyings. The records agree in telling us that he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and also that he visited the well-known shrines of St. Michael the Archangel at Gargano and St. Nicholas at Bari. On the whole it seems likely that it was either on his way to the Holy Land or on his return journey that he visited the two shrines in Apulia. The Short Life, which for reasons to be discussed later may be regarded as the more primitive and authoritative, speaks of his visit to the two shrines first and of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem second ; the order is reversed in the Long Life. There can, however, be no doubt that Giles did visit the Holy Land and make his way to the Holy THE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS n Sepulchre and other spots of special veneration : and he ap¬ pears to have taken a companion with him. So far as the records of the Order go, Giles and his companion were the first followers of St. Francis to carry the Gospel of Poverty to the Holy Land. They were delayed at Brindisi waiting for a ship to carry them over seas : and Giles with his usual humility did not hesitate to earn his daily bread by carrying water. So too on his way back he was delayed at a place which is not quite certain from the narrative, either “ Achon ” to be identified with S. Jean d’Acre in Syria, or Ancona : here also Giles was not ashamed to support himself by the sweat of his brow in most menial ways, making baskets of rushes or bearing the dead to the place of burial or carrying water for the towns¬ folk. During his pilgrimage to Monte Gargano and Bari, he carried his message of penitence to all whom he mety both men and women. These events occupied some part of the years from 1210 to 1214; but it is unsafe to be more precise than to assign them generally to that period. Francis, asking him whether there were anything so terrible that it could not be borne while one said a single Paternoster : to which St. Francis answered that so terrible was the Devil, that one could not bear his assaults even for so long as it took to say half a Paternoster. It may have been at some time during these years that he was in the Church of Saint Apolli- naris at Spoleto, when one night as he prayed he felt the malig¬ nant Presence threatening him and was freed only by dragging himself to the stoup of holy water and making the sign of the Cross. A characteristic story is told of Giles during his sojourn at Fabriano. Burdened with the conviction of his own sinful¬ ness, he went into a wood, and having called a boy brother to him he stripped himself naked and bade the boy drag him by a rope round his neck to the abode of the Brothers. “ Have pity on me, my Brothers, on me sinful as I am!” he exclaimed to the astonished Brothers : and as they implored him to reclothe himself, he continued: “I am not worthy to be a Brother Minor : but if ye desire to give me back my tunic out of compassion and as an alms, I receive it though unworthy ”. Yet once again the call of the Mohammedan world was to stir Giles out of his life of contemplation and send him forth to preach. According to Wadding it was in 1219 at the second General Chapter that St. Francis resolved to send out Friars to the Saracens and other infidels. To the lot of Giles it fell to go to Tunis in North Africa. His mission does not appear to have been a very successful one : he and his companions were met with fierce opposition on the part of the fanatical Moors ; and the Christian inhabitants, who evidently feared that they were being endangered by the EViars, who insisted on preaching to the Moors from the ship, compelled them to abandon their mission and return to Italy. It is difficult to know at what period in B. Giles’ life to place his stay in Rome described by the compiler of the THE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS IS “ Chronicle of the XXIV Generals”. It is noteworthy that the narrative does not find confirmation either in the Short Life or in any early sources : but there is no special reason for questioning its authenticity. The most likely period to which to assign this second visit to Rome is between 1210 and 1214. We are told that he lived while in Rome in the mon¬ astery of the “Sanctorum Quatuor Coronatorum,” of which nothing is known : but if the Friars had then been established, as they were in 1 21 2, in the budding in Trastevere, it might be supposed that Giles would have lived there. On this assumption — a rather slender one — it might even be argued that his visit to Rome was between 1210 and 1212. Of his life in the great city we know little, except that he lived en¬ tirely by the labour of his hands. At one time he would support himself by carrying logs of wood : at another he would lend a hand with getting in the harvest or gathering the vintage or shaking down the nuts from the trees. For all these varied services he would not receive payment in money, but only in kind, just sufficient to meet his bodily needs. A beautiful story is told, illustrating his sincerity and love of his fellow-men, which endeared him to all. He was fetching water for the monastery from the fountain, and on his way back with his water-pot well filled, was accosted by a stranger who asked for a drink. Giles refused, saying : “ How can I give thee a drink and carry back what is left over for the monks ? ” The stranger, much annoyed, assailed him with abuse : but the long-suffering Giles took his water- pot to the monastery, fetched another water-pot full of water from the fountain, and took it to the house of the man, bidding him drink. The return of Giles from his missionary journey to Tunis in 1219 or possibly 1220 closes a chapter in his career: his active ministry was at an end : for the rest of his long life we find him first in one place and then in another, but never very far from Assisi, the original home of the Order. CHAPTER III. THE LIFE OF CONTEMPLATION. “ Contemplatio est ignis , vnctio, ecstasis , gushes, requics, gloria .” — .TCgidius. For ten years Giles had lived the active life of the mis¬ sionary, with periods of retreat at Fabriano and doubtless elsewhere. Before him lay forty-two years to be spent mainly living the Religious life, generally in seclusion but often too in close and inspiring contact with the early leaders of the Order. Those years were not eventful so far as Giles was concerned : the actual incidents recorded about them are comparatively few. When B. Giles first turned his back upon the world and found a spiritual leader in St. Francis, Bernard of Ouintavalle was the first brother whom he met. Throughout the whole of St. Francis’ career, these two — Bernard and Giles — were closely linked together by the bond of a complete mutual under¬ standing and of a community of experience. It is quite what might be expected to find them meeting once again beside the death-bed of the master. The “ Speculum Perfectionis ” gives a touching account of this meeting. The dying Francis bethinks him of his first follower Bernard, who had had the courage to believe in him and to join him when he was alone, and he sends for him. Seating himself beside the couch on which the Saint lay, Bernard appealed to him for a blessing : “ My father, I pray thee to bless me and show thy love for me, since if thou dost show thy fatherly love for me, I believe that God Himself and all the brothers will love me the more”. Blessed Francis could not see him, for many days before the light had faded from his eyes : but stretching out his right (14) THE LIFE OF CONTEMPLATION 15 hand, he laid it on the head of Brother Giles, thinking to place it on the head of Brother Bernard who was sitting next to him. Immediately the inspiration of the Holy Ghost re¬ vealed to him his mistake and Brother Bernard came nearer and received the much coveted blessing. Thus did B. Giles watch by the death-bed of the man who had called him from the world and directed his life into new channels. Broken-hearted, we may well believe, by the be¬ reavement which he had suffered, he left the Portiuncula with one companion, Gratian, and betook himself to the wild district of Cetona in Tuscany, not far from Chiusi, to the Con¬ vent of Cibbotola, to spend the Lent of St. Martin. It was during his stay at Cetona that in his sleep he had a vision of Blessed Francis himself. This experience, followed by days of prayer and fasting, was to lead up to an even greater crisis in his spiritual life ; for three days before Christmas he had a vision of Jesus Christ manifest before his eyes. Just as St. Francis himself at the end of his observance of the Lent of St. Michael on Mount Alverna reached the climax of his spiritual career in the vision of the crucified Seraph and the receiving of the Sacred Wounds, so B. Giles found in his ex¬ periences at Cetona an objective revelation of his Lord which remained with him throughout the remainder of his life. From that time the contemplative bent which had already shown itself at Fabriano or even earlier, became the dominant characteristic of his life and character. In no way was Giles a more loyal follower of St. Francis than in his zeal for the Lady Poverty : it was for him and for St. Clare and others of the earliest followers to hand on the torch lighted by the Saint, and to resist by word and deed the influences which Elias of Cortona and his followers were ever seeking to introduce. The story of Brother Leo and the building of the great Church of San Francesco is well known, and from its evident connection with Leo himself, is one of the stories about Giles most clearly marked with authen¬ ticity. Elias, who undoubtedly possessed a very genuine loyalty to the person of St. Francis, coupled with much ambi- BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI 1 6 tion and much disagreement with the Saint’s ideals, set to work almost immediately after his canonisation in 1228 to collect funds for the erection of the great Church on the Colle d’Inferno and set up a marble urn to receive the alms of the Faithful. Leo went and told Giles of this wanton departure from the life of Poverty, and Giles weeping replied : “ If the building were as long as from here to Assisi, one small corner were enough for me to sojourn in,” and turning to Leo he said : “ If thou art a dead man, go and break that marble vase, which has been set up contrary to Holy Poverty to re¬ ceive gifts of money : but if thou art alive, desist, for thou canst ill bare the tribulations of that Elias ! ” Whereupon Leo and a few other brothers as simple-hearted and courageous as himself went and smashed the porphyry urn and were chastised by the Minister-General, Elias. Later on Giles out of devotion to St. Francis went to revisit Assisi and was taken to see the great Convent which had been built up adjoining San Francesco. Turning to the Friars who lived there, he said with his caustic wit : “ I tell you, my brothers, there is but one thing ye lack here, wives ! ” and added, “ Ye know well, that having thus discarded poverty, ye can easily discard chastity Nearly twenty years had passed since Giles and Bernard had met beside the death-bed of their much-loved master. Once again they met at a death-bed, but this time it was Bernard who was dying. Entering the sick man’s chamber, Giles greeted his old friend and brother-in-arms with cheerful words, “ Sursum corda, Brother Bernard, sursum corda ! ” And Bernard, whose thoughts doubtless travelled back to that spring day in 1209 when St. Francis had brought to him the new brother whom the Lord had sent, full of joy bade the brothers prepare a place in which Giles could devote himself according to his wont to contemplation. After par¬ taking of a meal along with the brothers who stood around his couch, after exhorting them to love one another, and after telling them all that not for a thousand worlds would he have lost the privilege of serving Christ, this first disciple of the Order passed to his rest. THE LIFE OF CONTEMPLATION 1 7 Giles will ever live in the affection of those who care for the beginnings of the Franciscan Order rather by his life and character than by any actual deeds. Many stories are told of him, mostly relating to the years of contemplative life. Most of them help to show the essential simplicity of his character and his deep religious nature : his profound humility and invariable submission to authority : but many of them also show how intensely human Giles was and remained in spite of his spiritual experiences. One of the best-known stories relates to his preaching before St. Clare. It was at San Damiano, and an English Friar, a Master of Sacred Theology, was preaching before the Sisters. Before he had got very far with' his sermon, B. Giles interrupted him, saying : “ Hold thy peace, Master, for I desire to preach The Master in all humility ceased preaching and Giles preached instead. When Giles had finished he allowed the Master to complete his interrupted sermon. St. Clare was greatly edified by the humility of the Master of Theology, because he had thus allowed himself to be interrupted by a lay brother. B. Giles was never destitute of a sense of humour, even in the most sacred things. A brother came jubilant to him to tell him that he had had a vision of Hell and had seen not a single Friar Minor there. “ I believe thee, my son,5’ answered Giles. The brother, evidently feeling some doubt, said : “ How is it, thinkest thou, my Father, that there is no Friar Minor in Hell; or how is it that I saw them not?” “ Thou sawest none, my son,” replied Giles, “ because thou didst not descend deep enough, to that place where the wretches are tormented who have worn the habit of Friars Minor but have not done the works of such or observed the Rule ! ” One of the most beautiful stories, illustrating the simpli¬ city and directness of Giles’ faith, is the one telling how he removed from the mind of a Brother Preacher doubt con¬ cerning the virginity of Our Lady. It is true that the story is one which is sometimes regarded as an interpolation in the VOL. VIII 2 i8 BLESSED GILES OF ASSISI narrative, but its beauty justifies the quoting of it and the question whether it can be historically defended seems scarcely relevant. A noted Brother Preacher had doubt as to the virgin¬ ity of Our Lady and came for spiritual guidance to Giles. Before he had made known his doubt, Giles perceived it and going to meet him, struck on the ground with the stick which he carried, saying, “ O Brother Preacher, a Virgin before birth ! ” and where he struck the ground, a most beautiful lily sprang up. And striking the ground again, he said, “ O Brother Preacher, a Virgin in birth ! ” and a second lily sprang up. And striking yet a third time he said: “O Brother Preacher, a Virgin after birth ! ” and a third lily sprang up. And Giles then ran away, but the Brother Preacher was freed from his doubts. No incident recorded concerning B. Giles has been more criticised on historical grounds than the one found in the “ Chronicle of the XXIV Generals,” and in the “ Little Flowers,” describing the visit of St. Louis, King of France, to B. Giles at Perugia. It is told how the holy monarch went as an unknown pilgrim with but few companions to the place where Giles abode. Giles immediately knew by divine inspiration who his visitor was, and the two met and embraced each other and remained for some time thus : at last St. Louis departed, without either having addressed a single word to the other. The brothers remonstrated with Giles for having allowed St. 