Diario La Nación
- A Brief Account of the Saint's Life
- CANTICLE OF BROTHER SUN
- How Christ Appeared to Saint Francis
On 4 October 1926, the feast of Saint Francis, La Nación of Santiago filled a page with Franciscan material for the seventh centenary of the saint's death. A short biography follows the young Francis as he repairs chapels near Assisi, hears the Gospel command to carry neither gold nor staff, gathers his first brothers at Rivo Torto, and sums up his life in a rule of obedience, chastity, poverty, work, fasting and begging. Beside it runs a Spanish version of the Canticle of Brother Sun, credited to Francis himself, praising God through sun, moon, wind, water, fire, earth and finally 'Sister Bodily Death.' A third column retells a Fioretti-style miracle: crowds strip a priest's vineyard near Rieti while visiting Francis, yet the few surviving bunches yield the twenty loads of wine he had promised.
Translation
A Brief Account of the Saint's Life
[?] HIS FIRST LABORS But he is not content with acts of humility. He also begins his great labors. He repairs San Damiano, [?], the Porziuncola. Finally, one morning in April 1207, his mission is revealed to him in the Gospel of the day: "Take neither gold, nor silver, nor coin, nor purse, nor tunics, nor shoes, nor staff, for the workman earns his food... When you enter the house, greet it, saying: peace be to this house." It is the pure ideal [?] of evangelical poverty. Francis is twenty-five years old. He exchanged the hermit's habit for that of a lesser brother. Sint minores! "Let them be humble," he says to his [?] in the [?] Rivo Torto, where they have taken refuge, near Assisi, founding [?] the Order that was to spread throughout the Universe. And from the [?] Rule, that of 1209, he formulates the essence of his life thus: "To live in obedience, in chastity; to follow the doctrine and the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The brothers must first give to the poor all that they possess, then work diligently, being mindful of arousing vanity, then fast, do penance, beg for alms, and wear nothing but a tunic with a cord and sandals." [?]
CANTICLE OF BROTHER SUN
By FRANCIS of ASSISI.
[?], almighty and good Lord, yours are the praises, the glory, the honor and every blessing. To you alone are they due, Most High, and no man is worthy to make mention of you. Praised be you, Lord, with all your creatures, especially with Brother Sun, who gives us the day, and by whom you give us light, and he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; of you, Most High, he bears the signification. Praised be you, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars; you have formed them in the sky, clear, precious and beautiful. Praised be you, Lord, for Brother Wind, and for the air and the clouds and the calm and every weather, by which you give sustenance to your creatures. Praised be you, Lord, for our Sister Water, who is useful, humble and precious and chaste. Praised be you, Lord, for Brother Fire; with him you light up the night, and he is merry and robust and strong and beautiful. Praised be you, Lord, for Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and produces various fruits, colored flowers and grass. Praise and bless my Lord, give him thanks, and serve him with great humility. Praised be you, Lord, for those who forgive for your love and bear sickness and tribulation; blessed are those who suffer them in peace, for by you, Most High, they shall be crowned. Praised be you, Lord, for our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no living man can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are those who fulfill your holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm. [?]
How Christ Appeared to Saint Francis
[?] first Saint Clare with holy words, and taking leave of her humbly, he took the road to Rieti. [?] And when he was near, such a multitude of people came out to meet him that for this reason he would not enter the city, but went to a church about two miles from the city. And as soon as the townspeople learned that he was in the said church, they ran in torrents to see him, while the church's vineyard was ruined and all the grapes were stolen; wherefore the priest grieved within himself, regretting that he had received Saint Francis into his church. The priest's thought having been revealed by God to Saint Francis, he had him called and said to him: "Most beloved father, how many loads of wine does this vineyard give you in a year when it yields best?" He answered: twelve loads. Saint Francis said: "I beg you, father, to bear with my staying here some days, because I find much rest in it. And let everyone pick of the grapes of among the people who went there, of and of me, poor little one; and I promise you on behalf of my lord Jesus Christ that he will give you twenty loads this year." And Saint Francis did this of remaining there for the great fruit of souls that he gathered among the people who went there, of whom many went away drunk with divine love and abanuvas abounded in - wine, so the Trusting in Saint Francis's promise, the priest freely left the vineyard to those who came to him. A marvelous thing! The vineyard was devastated and lost so completely that barely a few bunches remained. The time of the grape harvest comes; the priest gathers those few bunches, puts them in the vat, and, according to Saint Francis's promise, collects twenty loads of excellent wine. A miracle by which it was manifestly given to understand that, just as by the merit of Saint Francis the vineyard stripped of grapes abounded in vine, so the Christian people, by the merits and doctrine of Saint Francis, frequently abounds in good fruits and true penance. In praise of Christ. Amen. not to the sun and falls silent with placidity and beatitude before Sister Water, before Sister Earth, Sister Grass and Sister Ash. All the little beasts -
Context
Why a Chilean daily devoted its 4 October 1926 page to Francis
The date is the key. Francis died on the evening of 3 October 1226, and his feast falls on 4 October, so this issue appeared on the first feast day after the exact seven-hundredth anniversary of his death. The celebration was not a local initiative alone. In 1926 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Rite Expiatis. It spoke of 'the Seventh Centenary of the blessed passage of St. Francis of Assisi' as a commemoration that Catholics everywhere were preparing to celebrate, and it asked for the festivals, conferences and sermons of that year to show true devotion. The encyclical insisted on a particular image of the saint, centred on evangelical poverty joined to humility and obedience. It explained that Francis had his followers called 'Minors' to teach them humility. La Nación's biography strikes the same notes. Its 'Sint minores! Let them be humble' and its claim that the Gospel reading revealed 'the pure ideal of evangelical poverty' fit closely with the devotional programme Rome had set for that year. The page itself does not say whether its editors were following the encyclical, but the timing and emphasis match it.
How the paper's dates for Francis's call and first Rule compare with the historical record
The biography says Francis heard his vocation in the Gospel of the day 'one morning in April 1207,' at twenty-five, and then quotes a 'Rule of 1209.' Standard modern accounts date that turning point to a morning Mass in February 1208 at the chapel of St Mary of the Angels (the Porziuncola). The reading that day was Christ's commissioning of the Twelve from Matthew. That is the passage the paper paraphrases: take no gold, silver or staff, and greet each house with peace. The paper's other markers hold up better. The first brothers did live at Rivo Torto near Assisi. In 1209 Francis wrote a short 'Primitive Rule' drawn from Bible verses before seeking Innocent III's approval. Modern accounts summarize that rule as 'to follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps,' which the newspaper's 'follow the doctrine and the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ' echoes closely. But the quotation's opening words, 'to live in obedience, in chastity,' resemble the later Rule of the Friars Minor as Pius XI quoted it: 'living in obedience, without possessing any property, and in all chastity.' The newspaper's 'Rule of 1209' thus appears to blend phrases from different Franciscan rules rather than quote a single text word for word.
Where the Canticle of Brother Sun came from, and what the printed version rearranges
The poem printed under Francis's name is his best-known composition, known as the Canticle of the Sun or Canticle of the Creatures. Tradition holds that he wrote most of it in late 1224 while ill at San Damiano. The stanza on 'Sister Bodily Death' was said to have been added only just before he died, so a centenary of his death was a fitting occasion to reprint it. He composed it in an Umbrian dialect of Italian, and it is often counted as the first Italian literary work by a named author. Readers in Santiago therefore met it through a Spanish rendering, and the page does not name the translator. Compared with the Umbrian text, La Nación's version is close in content but differs in order. In the original, the command 'Laudate et benedicete mi Signore' ('Praise and bless my Lord') comes last, after the stanzas on forgiveness and death. In the newspaper it comes directly after the stanza on Mother Earth, so the song ends on the blessing of those spared 'the second death.'
Original
Breve noticia sobre la vida del Santo
[?] SUS PRIMEROS TRABAJOS Pero no se conforma con actos de humildad. Comienza también sus grandes trabajos. Repara San Damián, [?], la Porciuncula. Por último, una mañana de Abril de 1207, su misión se le revela en el Evangelio del día: " No toméis ni oro, ni plata, ni moneda, ni bolsa, ni túnicas, ni calzado, ni bastón, ya que el obrero se gana su alimento... Al entrar en la casa, salúdadla, diciendo: paz en esta casa ". Es el ideal puro [?] la pobreza evangélica. Francisco tiene veinticinco años. Cambió el hábito de ermitaño por el de hermano menor. ¡ Sint minores! " Que sean humildes " dice a sus [?] en la [?] Rivo-Torto, donde se han refugiado, cerca de Asís, fundando e * la Orden que debía extenderse por todo el Universo. Y desde la [?] Regla, la de 1209, formula así la esencia de su vida: " Vivir en obediencia, en castidad; seguir la doctrina y las huellas de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Los hermanos deben, primero, dar a los pobres todo lo que poseen, en seguida trabajar afanosamente teniendo en cuenta de excitar la vanidad, después ayunar, hacer penitencia, pedir limosna, no llevar sino una túnica con una cuerda y sandalias ". [?]
CANTO DEL HERMANO SOL
[?], omnipotente y buen Señor, tuyas son las alabanzas, la gloria. el honor y toda bendición. A ti sólo se deben, Altísimo y ningún hombre es digno de hacer de ti mención. Alabado seas, Señor, con todas tus criaturas, en especial con el hermano Sol, quien nos da el día, y con el cual nos alumbras a nos, y es bello y radiante con gran esplendor; de ti, Altísimo, trae significación. Alabado seas, señor, por sor Luna y las estrellas; las has formado en el cielo. claras, preciosas y bellas. Alabado seas, Señor, por el hermano viento, y por el aire y las nubes y la calma y todo tiempo, por el cual a tus criaturas das sustento. Alabado seas, Señor, por nuestra hermana el agua, la cual es útil, humilde y preciosa y casta. Alabado seas, Señor, por el hermano fuego; con él alumbras la noche, y es alegre y robusto y fuerte y bello. Alabado seas, señor, por la hermana madre tierra, la cual nos sustenta y gobierna. y produce varios frutos, flores pintadas y hierba. Alabad y bendecid a mi Señor, gracias le dad, y servidle con gran humildad. Alabado seas, Señor, por los que perdonan por tu amor y soportan enfermedad y tribulación; bienaventurados los que las sufran en paz, pues por ti, Altísimo, coronados serán. Alabado seas, señor, por nuestra hermana la muerte corporal, a la cual no hay hombre viviente que pueda escapar. ¡ Ay de los que mueren en pecado mortal! Bienaventurados los que cumplan tu santa voluntad pues la muerte segunda no les hará mal. [?]
De cómo Cristo aparecióse a San Francisco
[?] primeramente a Santa Clara con santas palabras, y despidiéndose de ella humildemente, tomó el camino de Rieti. [?] Y cuando estuvo cerca, salióle al encuentro tanta multitud de gentes, que por eso no quiso entrar en la ciudad, sino que fuése a una iglesia que estaba a cerca de dos millas de la ciudad. Y como supieran luego los ciudadanos que estaba en la dicha iglesia, a torrentes corrían a verle, mientras la viña de la iglesia se perdía y todas las uvas eran robadas; por lo cual el cura dolíase para sí, arrepintiéndose de haber recibido a San Francisco en su iglesia. Habiendo sido revelado por Dios a San Francisco el pensamiento del cura, hízolo llamar a sí y le dijo: - Padre amadísimo, ¿ cuántas cargas de vino te da esta. viña al año cuando mejor se da? Respondió que doce cargas. Dijo San Francisco: - Te ruego, padre, que sufras mi permanencia aquí algunos días, porque encuentro en ello mucho descanso. Y deja coger a todo el mundo de las uvas de tre las gentes que allí iban, de y de mí, pobrecillo; y yo te prometo de parte de mi señor Jesucristo que te dará este año veinte cargas. Y esto de permanecer allí hacíalo San Francisco por el gran fruto de almas que recogía entre las gentes que allí iban, de las cuales muchos marchaban embriagados de amor divino y abanuvas abundaba en - vino, así el Confiado el cura en la promesa de San Francisco, dejó libremente la viña a quienes a él venían. ¡ Cosa maravillosa! La viña fué devastada y perdida por completo de tal manera, que apenas quedaron algunos racimos. Llega el tiempo de la vendimia; el cura coge aquellos pocos racimos, los mete en la tina, y, según la promesa de San Francisco, recoge veinte cargas de óptimo vino. Milagro en el cual dióse a entender manifiestamente que, como por mérito de San Francisco, la viña despojada de uvas abundaba en viña, así el pueblo cristiano, por los méritos y doctrina de San Francisco frecuentes veces abunda en buenos frutos y veraz penitencia. En alabanza de Cristo. Amén. no al sol y enmudece de placidez y de beatitud ante la hermana agua, ante la hermana tierra, la hermana hierba y la hermana ceniza. Todas las bestezue -
Source: Source: Internet Archive