Of his love of poverty

CHAPTER VII.

OF HIS LOVE OF POVERTY, AND THE WONDERFUL PROVISION MADE FOR ALL HIS WANTS BY GOD.

AMIDST the other graces which Francis received from the bountiful giver of all good gifts, he merited by a special prerogative to increase continually in the treasure of simplicity by the love of most deep poverty. For the holy man considering this poverty to have been ever the familiar and beloved companion of the Son of God, and seeing that it was now cast out by all the world, so bound himself to it in perpetual espousals, that he forsook for it not only his father and mother, but also distributed all things whatsoever which he had in his power to give. No man was ever so covetous of gold as he of poverty, nor did any man ever so carefully guard a treasure as he this pearl of the Gospel. Nothing gave him so much offense as to see anything in the brethren not wholly in accordance with poverty. Certain it is, that from his entrance into religion, even unto his death, he contended himself with a single tunic and cord. He frequently called to mind, with many tears, the poverty of Jesus Christ and His Mother; and affirmed that to be the queen of virtues, which shone so gloriously in the King of kings, and in the Queen His Mother. Therefore when his brethren once asked him in conclave, by which virtue we become dearest to Christ, he, as if opening to them the secret of his heart, replied : ” Know, my brethren, that poverty is the special way to salvation; for it is the food of humility, and the root of perfection, whose fruits, although hidden, are manifold. This is the treasure of which we read in Gospel, which was hidden in the field; to buy which a man should sell all that he hath, and in comparison with which all that can be given for its purchase is to be accounted as nothing. And he would would attain to this height of perfection must lay aside not only worldly prudence, but even all knowledge of letters, that thus stripped of all things he may come to see what is the power of the Lord, and cast himself naked into the arms of the Crucified. Neither does he perfectly renounce the world who keeps a place for the indulgence of his own senses in the secret of his heart.” And many times when he spoke to his brethren of poverty he would quote these words of the Gospel: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head.” Therefore, he taught the brethren that, after the manner of the poor, they should build for themselves poor little huts, and that they should not look upon even these as their own, but dwell in them as pilgrims in the houses of others. For he said that it was the manner of pilgrims to dwell under the roof of other men, longing for the day when they should peacefully return to their own country. He would sometimes command that houses already built should be pulled down, or that the friars should remove from them, if he saw anything therein which savored of proprietorship, or that seemed too sumptuous to befit evangelical poverty; for this he said was the foundation of the Order, which, if it were first laid, the whole religious structure would rest upon it, being strengthened by its strength; whereas, if the foundation fail, the whole edifice comes to ruin.”

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LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

by St. Bonaventure

published by Martino Fine Books 2019 pg 64-65

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