. BROTHER LEO KNEELING BEFORE ST. FRANCIS. From Uie Lilllt Flowers ol Si. Francis (T. W. Arnold), by kind permission of aiessrs. Chatto and Windus. scourge them, like the magistrates of this world," but 1 retired more and more from the management of affairs ; i he tried to fulfil his ideal in his own life, and be an example, or " Mirror of Perfection," to the brethren, " and at the end his spirit did herein find rest and ; One among the many services rendered to Franciscan history by Sabatier is his rediscover^' and rehabiU- I tation of the Speculum Perjedionis
. BROTHER LEO KNEELING BEFORE ST. FRANCIS. From Uie Lilllt Flowers ol Si. Francis (T. W. Arnold), by kind permission of aiessrs. Chatto and Windus. scourge them, like the magistrates of this world," but 1 retired more and more from the management of affairs ; i he tried to fulfil his ideal in his own life, and be an example, or " Mirror of Perfection," to the brethren, " and at the end his spirit did herein find rest and ; One among the many services rendered to Franciscan history by Sabatier is his rediscover^' and rehabiU- I tation of the Speculum Perjedionis, or " Mirror of Perfection," ' but few will now admit his contention that the original version of it was written by Leo, the secretary of St. Francis, in 1227, and was consequently the earliest Life of the saint. The view which is now held by most Franciscan scholars is that the Mirror of Perfection dates in its present form from about 1318,. but that it contains, in a more or less revised shape, many chapters and narratives written by Brother Leo, and perhaps by other companions of St. Francis. The aim is to distinguish between genuine and spurious, or garbled, versions of the narratives, and if possible to recover the originals. St. Francis died on October 3, 1226, and the earlieab Life of him is that written by Thomas of Celano •' in 1228-9. Celano was selected for the office ot biographer because he was a stylist; his work has many merits, but suffers from two defects : the writer had very little personal acquaintance with Francis ; andi he knew too much about the lives and legends of other saints. There is thus a certain tendency—conscious or unconscious—to assimilate Francis to the traditional and conventional saint. WTien, in 1244, it was decided to revise and supple- ment the first Life, the task was again given to Celano, but with him were associated the friars who had been the companions of St. Francis in his last years (es- pecially Brother Leo), and
Size: 1652px × 3025px
Photo credit: © The Bookworm Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookleafnumber227, booksponsoruniversityofto, booksubjectscience
