§ 70. ST. FRANCIS D'ASSISI. 405
to the Franciscans, announcing the fact that he had seen the stigmata on Francis' body. His letter contained these words: u Never has the world seen such a sign except on the Son of God. For a long time before his death, our brother had in his body five wounds which were truly the stigmata of Christ, for his hands and feet have marks as of nails, without and within, a kind of scars, while from his side, as if pierced by a lance, a little blood oozed." The Speculum Perfectionis, perhaps the first biography of Francis, refers to them incidentally, but distinctly, in the course of a description of the severe temp tations by which Francis was beset.1 Thomas a Celano, not later than 1230, describes them more at length, and declares that a few saw them while Francis was still alive. Gregory IX. in 1237 called upon the whole Church to accept them, and condemned the Dominicans for calling their reality in ques tion.2 The first portrait of Francis, dating from 1236, ex hibits the marks.
On the other hand, a very strong argument against their genuineness is the omission of all reference to them by Gregory IX. in his bull canonizing Francis, 1228. Francis' claim to saintship, we would think, could have had no better authentication, and the omission is inexplicable.3
1 p. 194. It is at first sight striking that the author does not give a detailed description of this wonderful event. From another standpoint the passing reference may be regarded as a stronger testimony to its reality. See Sabatier's observations, Speculum, pp. Ixvi. sqq. It will be remembered that Sabatier places this document in 1227, only seven months after Francis' death.
2 In three bulls, Potthast, 10307, 10308, 10309, vol. I. 875.
3 The evidence for the genuineness is accepted by Sabatier, S. Francois, 401 sqq. Among other testimonies he adduces a Benediction upon Leo ostensibly written by Francis' own hand, and found among the archives of Assisi. See Speculum, p. Ixvii. sq. On the margin of this document Leo has written his authentication. He vouches for the scene on the Verna and the stigmata. If this document be genuine, as Sabatier insists, it is the most weighty of all the testimonies. Hase stated, as strongly as it can be stated, the view that the whole tale was a fraud, invented by Elias, Francis of Assisi, 143-202, and Kirchengeschichte, II. 385 sqq. Elias was the only eye-witness, and it is contrary to all laws that he should have denied the people the privilege of looking at the marks, after the saint was dead, if they had really been there. On the contrary, he hurried the body to the grave.
406 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
Three explanations have been given of the stigmata on the supposition that Francis' body really bore the scars. 1. They were due to supernatural miracle. This is the Catholic view. In 1304 Benedict XI. established a festival of the stigmata. 2. They were the product of a highly wrought mental state proceeding from the contemplation of Christ on the cross. This is the view of Sabatier.1 3. The third explanation treats them as a pious fraud practised by Francis himself, who from a desire to feel all the pains Christ felt, picked the marks with his own fingers.2 Such a course seems incredible. In the absence of a sufficient moral reason for the impression of the stigmata, it is diffi cult for the critical mind to accept them. On the other hand, the historical attestation is such that an effort is re quired to deny them. So far as we know, Francis never used the stigmata to attest his mission.3
The study of the career of Francis d'Assisi, as told by his contemporaries, and as his spirit is revealed in his own last testament, makes the impression of purity of purpose and humility of spirit, — of genuine saintliness. He sought not positions of honor nor a place with the great. With simple mind, he sought to serve his fellow-men by republishing the precepts of the Gospel, and living them out in his own example. He sought once more to give the Gospel to the common people, and the common people heard him gladly.
Hase makes a strong case, but it must be remembered that he wrote without having before him the later evidence brought to light by Sabatier.
1 iS. Francois, 401 sqq. Sabatier does not regard them as miraculous but as unusual, as, for example, are the mathematical powers and musical genius of youthful prodigies. According to Hase, this was also Tholuck's explana tion. See art. Stigmatizatinn, in Herzog, XIV. 728-734, which takes the same view and compares the scars to the effects of parental states before childbirth.
2 So Hausrath. The first Franciscan chronicler, Salimbene, d. 1287, no doubt expressed the feeling of his age when he said, "Never man on earth but Francis has had the five wounds of Christ." The Dominicans claimed the stigmata for St. Catherine of Siena, but Sixtus IV., in 1475, prohibited her being represented with them.
3 Bonaventura's legendary Life makes Francis a witness to the stigmata, "but he evidently is seeking to establish the fact against doubts.