The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi

Introduction 4 Part I. Admonitions, Rules, etc. 15 I. Words of Admonition of Our Holy Father St. Francis 15 II. Salutation of the Virtues 24 III. On Reverence For the Lord's Body and on the Cleanliness of the Altar 25 IV. Rules of the Friars Minor 27 Second Rule of the Friars Minor 47 V. Fragments From the Rule of the Sisters of St. Clare 52 VI. Testament of the Holy Father St. Francis 54 VII. Of Living Religiously in a Hermitage Part II. Six Letters of St. Francis 60 The Letters of St. Francis 60 I. Letter to All The Faithful 61 II. Letter To All the Friars 68 III. To a Certain Minister 72 IV. To the Rulers of the People 75 V. To All the Custodes 76 VI. To Brother Leo 77 Part III. Prayers of St. Francis 80 I. The Praises 80 II. Salutation of the Blessed Virgin 83 III. Prayer to Obtain Divine Love 84 IV. The Sheet Which St. Francis Gave Brother Leo 85 V. The Canticle of the Sun 87 VI. The Office of the Passion 90 Appendix 109 ADMONITIONS. 1. Of the Lord's Body The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the Father, but by Me. If you had known Me you would, without doubt, have known My Father also: and from henceforth you shall know Him, and you have seen Him. Philip saith to Him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you and have you not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me seeth My] Father also. How sayest thou, Shew us the Father?" The Father "inhabiteth light inaccessible," and "God is a spirit," and "no man hath seen God at any time." Because God is a spirit, therefore it is only by the spirit He can be seen, for "it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." For neither is the Son, inasmuch as He is equal to the Father, seen by any one other than by the Father, other than by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, all those who saw the Lord Jesus Christ according to humanity and did not see and believe according to the Spirit and the Divinity, that He was the Son of God, were condemned. In like manner, all those who behold the Sacrament of the Body of Christ which is sanctified by the word of the Lord upon the altar by the hands of the priest in the form of bread and wine, and who do not see and believe according to the Spirit and Divinity that It is really the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are condemned, He the Most High having declared it when He said, "This is My Body, and the Blood of the New Testament," and "he that eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood hath everlasting life." Wherefore he who has] the Spirit of the Lord which dwells in His faithful, he it is who receives the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord: all others who do not have this same Spirit and who presume to receive Him, eat and drink judgment to themselves. Wherefore, "O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart?" Why will you not know the truth and "believe in the Son of God?" Behold daily He humbles Himself as when from His "royal throne" He came into the womb of the Virgin; daily He Himself comes to us with like humility; daily He descends from the bosom of His Father upon the altar in the hands of the priest. And as He appeared in true flesh to the Holy Apostles, so now He shows Himself to us in the sacred Bread; and as they by means of their fleshly eyes saw only His flesh, yet contemplating Him with their spiritual eyes, believed Him to be God, so we, seeing bread and wine with bodily eyes, see and firmly believe it to be His most holy Body and true and living Blood. And in this way our Lord is ever with His faithful, as He Himself says: "Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." 2. The Evil of Self-will.