Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Roma (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday 17 June the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to Assisi on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the conversion of Saint Francis. Fides gives below an ample contribution by Fr. Pietro Messa, OFM, rector of the School for Medieval and Franciscan Studies of the Pontifical Antonianum College in Rome.
“It is clear to all: although he refers in some aspects John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI is not walking in the footsteps of his predecessor and this has been seen since the beginning of his Pontificate. Just to mention a few examples, Beatifications are no longer presided by the Pope they are celebrated by his representative, usually the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the Beatification takes place in the diocese which promoted the cause or in another suitable place; the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious has in a sense incorporated the Pontifical Council for Culture; audiences for individual groups are much less frequent and so are personal messages signed by the Pope. Shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, an attentive Vatican expert Luigi Accattoli, speaking of the differences compared with John Paul II wrote that it is good for every star to turn in its own orbit, instead of trying to imitate styles which are not its own.
In this change not even Assisi is immune, and not so much because on the occasion of the appointment of Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino as Bishop of the city he issued a Motu proprio subjecting the patriarch Basilicas - now papal since the Pontiff renounced the title of Patriarch of the West - to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the city, but for Pope Benedict XVI's interventions with regard to the figure of Saint Francis. He has intervened more than once with regard to the Saint of Assisi, warning against «"abusing" of the figure of Francis» - and consequent «betrayal of his message» -, and indicating the encounter with Jesus Christ the centre of Francis' story.
At a meeting with the clergy of Albano, on 31st August 2006, the Pope said about Francis «He was not only an environmentalist or a pacifist. He was above all a convert. I read with great pleasure that Bishop Sorrentino of Assisi, precisely to obviate this "abuse" of the figure of St Francis, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of his conversion wished to establish a "Year of Conversion" to see what the true "challenge" is. Perhaps we can all animate youth a little to make the meaning of conversion understood by also finding a link with the figure of St Francis and seeking a route that broadens life. Francis was first a kind of "playboy". He then felt that this was not enough. He heard the Lord's voice: "Rebuild my House". Little by little, he came to understand what "building the House of the Lord" means"».
The Pope was referring to the letter by Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi in which the latter wrote: «"Francis, go repair my house which as you see is in ruins". These words from the Crucified Lord drove Francis immediately to dedicate himself to the material repairing of the little church of Saint Damian and other churches. But could those words be limited to this significance? Biographers will read in them the mission of the Poverello for the spiritual renewal of Christendom. Undoubtedly this was included. However I think nevertheless that, in the spiritual travail which the young Francis was experiencing those words of vocation and mission were heard first of all as a call to complete the conversion he had begun, making Christ's concern and designs for his Church, his own».
On 2 September 2006, in the message to Bishop Domenico Sorrentino of Assisi, on occasion of the 20th anniversary of the interreligious meeting of prayer for peace, Benedict XVI wrote: «For his daring and prophetic initiative John Paul II desired to choose the evocative setting of this town of Assisi, known across the world on account of St Francis. In fact, the "Poverello" embodied in an exemplary way the Beatitude proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Mt 5: 9). The witness Francis bore in his time makes him a natural reference point today for people who are fostering the ideal of peace, respect for nature and dialogue between people, religions and cultures. It is important, however, to recall, if one does not want to betray his message, that it was Christ's radical decision that provided him with a key to understanding the brotherhood to which all people are called, and in which inanimate creatures - from "brother sun" to "sister moon" - also in a certain way participate. I would therefore like to recall that the eighth centenary of the conversion of St Francis coincides with this 20th anniversary of John Paul II's Prayer Meeting for Peace. The two commemorations shed light upon each other. In the words addressed to him by the Crucifix of St Damian: "Francis, go, repair my house"; in his choice of radical poverty, in the kiss of the leper that expresses his new capacity to see and love Christ in his suffering brethren, began that human and Christian adventure which continues to fascinate so many people in our day and to make this town the destination of countless pilgrims. ».
Above all in his address before the recitation of the midday Angelus prayer on Sunday 22 October 2006 Benedict XVI offers a reading - or to use an appropriate term dear to the Pope, a “hermeneutic” - of the event of the Saint of Assisi del Santo di Assisi. After recalling that it was the 80th World Mission Sunday, «instituted by Pope Pius XI, who gave new impulse to mission ad gentes», he said: «The mission arises from the heart: when one stops to pray before a Crucifix with his glance fixed on that pierced side, he cannot but experience within himself the joy of knowing that he is loved and the desire to love and to make himself an instrument of mercy and reconciliation. This is what happened about 800 years ago to the young Francis of Assisi in the little church of San Damiano, which was then dilapidated. From the height of the Cross, now preserved in the Basilica of St Clare, Francis heard Jesus tell him: "Go, repair my house which, as you see, is all in ruins". That "house" was first of all his own life, which needed repair through authentic conversion; it was the Church, not the one made of stones but living persons, always needing purification; it was all of humanity, in whom God loves to dwell. The mission always initiates from a heart transformed by the love of God, as the countless stories of saints and martyrs witness, who in different ways have spent their life at the service of the Gospel. ». Saint Francis, a converted man, is presented as an example of « the mission of Jesus, which can be summarised this: carry to every person the good news that "God is Love" and this is why as wants to save the world».
This warning not to empty the experience of Francis making him simply a pacifist or an environmentalist would seem to recall what Pius XI said and before him Benedict XV. In fact Benedict XV in his encyclical “Sacra propediem” (1921), on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the foundation of the Franciscan Tertiary Order wrote: «That which matters now is to replace before all eyes the true moral physiognomy of St. Francis. The St. Francis of Assisi whom certain moderns present to us, and who springs from the imagination of the Modernists, this man, guarded in his obedience to the Apostolic See, a specimen of a vague and vain religiosity, is assuredly neither Francis of Assisi nor a saint.».
The transcendental dimension of the story of Francis of Assisi, correcting the secular counterfeits, was also retrieved by Pius XI in 1924, on the occasion of the 7th centenary of the Holy Stigmata, with an encyclical letter which reaffirmed the supernatural nature of the event. However the most authoritative intervention by Pius XI with regard to the Saint of Assisi was the encyclical “Rite expiatis” of 1926, on the occasion of the 7th centenary of the death of Saint Francis in which, addressing the faithful he said:
“While doing this, they must reject that purely imaginary figure of the Saint conjured up by the defenders of modern error or by the followers of luxury and worldly comforts, and seek to bring Christians to the faithful imitation of the ideal of sanctity which he exemplified in himself and which he learned from the purity and simplicity of the doctrines of the Gospels. It is Our desire that the religious and civic festivals to be held during this Centenary, as well as the conferences and sermons to be given, should aim at celebrating this anniversary with expressions of true devotion, without making the Seraphic Patriarch either totally different from other men or unlike the historical figure he actually was, but showing him a man gifted by nature and grace which admirably assisted him in reaching himself and in rendering easy for his neighbours the highest possible perfection. [...].
Notwithstanding the long time that has elapsed since the death of the Seraphic Father, the admiration for him, not only of Catholics but even of non-Catholics, continues amazingly to increase for the reason that his greatness appears to the minds of men with no less splendour today than it did long ago. We, too, most ardently pray for the strength of his virtues which have been so powerful, even at the present hour, in remedying the ills of society. In fact, his work of reform has permeated so deeply Christian peoples that besides re-establishing purity of faith and of morals it has resulted in this, that even the laws of justice and of evangelical charity now more profoundly inspire and guide social life itself.”
After listing the virtues of St Francis, Pope Pius XI writes: “ It is Our pleasure, Venerable Brothers, to detain you somewhat more at length in a study of these his sublime virtues, for the reason that, in our times, many infected by the false spirit of secularism, habitually attempt to strip our saintly heroes of the true light and glory of their sanctity. These writers view the saint merely as models of human excellence or as professors of an empty spirit of religion, praising and magnifying them exclusively because of what they have done for the progress of arts and sciences, or because of certain works of mercy which they have accomplished and which have proven helpful to the fatherland and to mankind. We do not cease to wonder how an admiration of this kind for St. Francis, so false and even contradictory in itself, can in any way help his modern admirers who devote their lives to the search for riches and pleasure or who decked out in finery frequent public places, dances and theatres, or who roll in the very mud of voluptuousness, who ignore and cast aside the laws of Christ and His Church. [...] St. Francis, trained in the manly virtues We have written about, was called providentially to a work of reform for the salvation of his contemporaries and to assist in the work of the Church Universal. In the Church of St. Damian where he was accustomed to pray, he heard three times a voice from Heaven saying: "Go Francis, rebuild my house which is falling down." (St. Bonaventure, Legenda Maior, Chap. II) But Francis, because of that deep humility which made him think himself incapable of accomplishing any great work whatsoever, did not understand the meaning of these mysterious words. Innocent III, however, discovered their import through the miraculous vision in which Francis was shown in the act of supporting on his shoulders the Church of the Lateran which was falling to the ground.
Especially in our days franciscana have been studied more profoundly by the learned and a great number of works printed in various languages have seen the light of day. The talents, too, of artists who have made works of great artistic value have succeeded in arousing an almost limitless admiration for St. Francis among our contemporaries despite the fact that sometimes this admiration is not based on a true understanding of the Saint. Some admired in him the character of the poet by which he so wonderfully expressed the sentiments of his soul, and his famous Canticle became the delight of learned men who recognised in it one of the first great poems of the early Italian language. Others were taken by his love of nature, for he not only seemed fascinated by the majesty of inanimate nature, by the splendour of the stars, by the beauty of his Umbrian mountains and valleys, but, like Adam before his fall in the Garden of Eden, Francis even spoke to the animals themselves. He appears to have been joined to them in a kind of brotherhood and they were obedient to his every wish. Others praised his love of country because in him Our Italy, which boasts the great honour of having given him birth, found a more fruitful source of blessings than any other country. Others, finally, honour him for that truly singular and catholic love with which he embraced all men. All of this is quite admirable but it is the least that is to be praised in our Saint, and it all must be understood in a correct sense. If we stop at these aspects of his life and look upon them as the most important, or change their import so as to justify either our own morbid ideas or excuse our false opinions, or to uphold thereby some of our prejudices, it is certain that we would not possess a genuine picture of the real Francis. As a matter of fact, by his practice of all the virtues in a heroic manner, by the austerity of his life and his preaching of penance, by his manifold and restless activity for the reformation of society, the figure of Francis stands forth in all its completeness, proposed to us not so much for the admiration as for the imitation of Christian peoples. As the Herald of the Great King, his purposes were directed to persuading men to conform their lives to the dictates of evangelical sanctity and to the love of the Cross, not that they should become mere friends or lovers of flowers, birds, lambs, fishes or hares
He seemed filled with a great and tender affection for animals [...]This love of animals was due to no other cause than his own love of God, which moved him to love these creatures because he knew that they had the same origin as he [...]Why then forbid Italians to glory in him who was an Italian, who even in the sacred liturgy is called the "light of the Fatherland"? (Breviary of Friars Minor) Why prevent the defenders of the rights of the people preaching the love of Francis toward all men and especially toward the poor? The former admirers of St. Francis, impelled by an excessive love of their own nation, should take care not to boast of him as a mere sign and banner of their newborn love of country, thus lessening his glorious title of "Catholic Champion." The latter should take care not to hold him up as a precursor and defender of errors, which of course he was very far from being. May it please Heaven that they who, through devotion to the Saint either find pleasure in these lesser praises of the man of Assisi or labour with zeal to promote the success of this Centenary, all worthy of Our praise, may, by the happy recurrence of his feast, draw from his life strong motives to examine more profoundly the true picture of this great imitator of Christ and thus themselves aspire to higher ideals.”.
This concern to reaffirm the Christian specificity of the vicissitude Francis is almost absent in successive pontificates, concerned with other matters: Pius XII will praise Francis together with Saint Catherine as patrons saints of Italy; John XXIII will go to Assisi to pray for a fruitful Vatican II; Paul VI will call on Franciscans not to forget the radical nature of their rule in conciliar renewal; John Paul II in the early years will indicate the Saint of Assisi as a model of obedience to the Church, while on 27 October 1986 - the day of the historical inter-religious Day of Prayer for Peace - he will connect Assisi and Francis with the issue of peace.
Now Benedict XVI seems to return to the concerns of Pius XI for a proper hermeneutic to avoid watering down the Franciscan message which has had such importance on the history of the Church. It should be considered that for some time we have been hearing voices warning of the danger of an emptying of significance of the figure of Francis of Assisi. Some months ago a columnist, with a slightly scathing tone, said some «venerate and unlawfully diffuse a romantic little saint of protestant origin, in other words Saint Francis if the myth, the village idiot of talks with wolves and birds, slaps everyone on the back. A false vulgate, which devalues his message». His lapidary judgement in journalistic tones appeared excessive, but it must be admitted that it is confirmed by scientific studies - such as the study by Sandra Migliore - which have sought to study the ways in which Saint Francis was represented in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among these studies there emerges the decisive role played by Paul Sabatier in Franciscan studies, but also the heavy accentuation of a reading in a sense romantic and protestant of the vicissitude of the Saint of Assisi.
Nevertheless we must realise that between Pius XI and Benedict XVI there was the Second Vatican Council, which even read in a hermeneutic of continuity not breaking, led to event previously unthinkable such as the interreligious meetings convoked by John Paul II in the land of St Francis and which unleashed the "spirit of Assisi", in other words a modality of interreligious intercultural meeting based dialogue. We must immediately add that those meetings also had various readings: from those who interpreted them in a hermeneutic of break - exalting then seeing a path to peace based on syncretism, demonising them as apostasy of the faith - to those who have them an interpretation in keeping with Church tradition, as in the case of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger himself. Unfortunately it must be said that often the former equivocal reading was the one diffused by the media.
Now Pope Benedict XVI goes to Assisi, not for an interreligious meeting, as John Paul II did, from 1986 for no less than three times, but on the occasion of the eighth centenary of Saint Francis' conversion to Jesus. This difference compared to his Predecessor is no minor one, and yet in Assisi there is an encounter precisely between conversion and dialogue, membership of the Roman Catholic Church and ecumenism, Christian identity and interreligious dialogue.
This does certainly not escape the Pope, an expert on Franciscanism having prepared his teaching doctorate thesis - in February 1957, exactly fifty years ago - on the theology of the story of Bonaventura of Bagnoregio one of the principal biographers of Saint Francis, it also convinced - as Yves Congar highlighted - that to understand the Petrine ministry it is necessary to return to Saint Francis.
“Precisely this dialectic between missionary announcement and dialogue, whose solution is so determinant for the present ecclesial and historical moment and whose consequences will in a sense be decisive for the future, renders Benedict's journey to Assisi most important for understanding not only his magisterium but also what the Spirit is saying today to the Church.” Fr. Pietro Messa, OFM, rector of the School for Medieval and Franciscan Studies of the Pontifical Antonianum College in Rome. (Agenzia Fides 15/6/2007; righe 208, parole 3.063)
