by Noel Muscat, ofm
The 800 years of the Canticle of Brother Sun, or Canticle of Creatures, is the occasion to present this poem of St. Francis within its historical and theological perspective and significance, and apply its message to our contemporary culture. The paper intends to be an introduction to a deepening of the theology of creation in the Franciscan tradition.
The last issue of S+L for 2024 features one paper entitled “Authority and Service in Franciscan Life.” The 150th issue of the Franciscan on-line Review, which was founded way back in 1986, will usher a new way of presenting Franciscan themes. From now onwards the Review will feature just one paper on a specific theme. The aim is that of strengthening its capability of providing an instrument for ongoing formation in Franciscan life. Given the changed circumstances of a reduced number of brothers in the Maltese OFM entity, we think it is the best solution in order to continue being of service to the Franciscan family in our limited circumstances. Authority and service in Franciscan life are one of the themes which were dear to the heart of St. Francis, since it was he who wanted his brothers to be called “ministers” and not “priors”, and who wanted the Order to be known as an Order of friars minor. The paper concludes with some practical indications of various styles of ministry in the Franciscan family of brothers, particularly regarding the role of the Guardian.
The issue is dedicated specifically to the 800 years anniversary of the receiving of the stigmata by St. Francis of Assisi on Mount La Verna in September 2024. The reflection on the event is centred upon the mystical theology of the Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, who wrote the mystical treatise “Itinerarium mentis in Deum” after a retreat on Mount La Verna. This year we also commemorate 750 years since the death of St. Bonaventure in 1274. Another paper features the Cathedral Church of San Rufino in Assisi and its significance in the life of St. Francis. A concluding reference is made to the new saints of the Custody of the Holy Land who will be canonised by Pope Francis on 20 October, namely the Martyrs of Damascus (1860), as well as to the 800 years since the arrival of the first friars Minor in England (10 September 1224).
During the 800 years’ anniversary of the stigmatisation of St. Francis on La Verna, this Franciscan Review continues to feature two papers on the theme. The first paper is a conference delivered by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton OFM, during his visit to Malta on 8 – 11 May 2024, and is a reflection on the relationship between Calvary and La Verna and the relevance of Francis’ stigmata to us today. The second paper deals with the historical truth of the stigmatisation of St. Francis as it is presented in the Treatise on the Miracles of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano.
This year the Franciscan Family is celebrating the 800 years of the event of the stigmatisation of St. Francis on Mount La Verna in September 1224. This issue features a paper on the Stigmata of St. Francis and La Verna by Br. David Gagrčić OFM, Vicar of the Friary of La Verna, who was invited to deliver a conference to the Friars Minor of the Franciscan OFM Province of Malta on 14 February 2024 during an ongoing formation seminar. Another paper features La Verna as the inspiration for the mystical treatise Itinerarium mentis in Deum by St. Bonaventure, which is a meditation on the event of the stigmatisation as a paschal journey with Christ Crucified in six steps leading to ecstatic peace of the seventh day, symbolised by the Crucified Seraph that appeared to St. Francis. Another contribution is a short article on the document of authentication of a relic of the blood of St. Francis, venerated in the Franciscan OFM Church in Rabat, Malta. The last paper regards the religious establishment of Sant’Angelo di Panzo, outside Assisi, where St. Clare spent a short period at the beginning of her vocation, before transferring definitely to San Damiano.
On 25 December 2023 we shall be celebrating the 800 years since Saint Francis of Assisi commemorated the Nativity of Jesus in the remote fortified village of Greccio, by re-enacting the Nativity scene in a cave. The celebration of the liturgy of Christmas, with the singing of Matins and the Mass of the Nativity, had as a backdrop a simple environment in which a manger with hay was placed under the altar and an ox and ass introduced close by.
The whole scene can still be contemplated on the walls of the cave-church of Greccio, in the fresco of the Giotto school. On one side the Virgin Mary with Child, and Saint Joseph meditating quietly the mystery of the Virgin birth. On the other side, Saint Francis vested as deacon during the Mass and bending over the Infant Jesus in the manger.
This year the celebration of Christmas assumes this special characteristic of poverty and humility which is evident in the link between the Nativity Grotto of Bethlehem and the tiny cave-church of Greccio.Our issue of Spirit+Life is dedicated to this great mystery of our salvation, which Francis lived in a tangible form during the Christmas celebration in Greccio, where the town of Bethlehem (the house of bread), was rendered visible in the Bread of Life, the Word made flesh, in the manger.Francis contemplated the Nativity of Christ and lived the experience of poverty and humility of the Incarnation. Greccio became a new Bethlehem.
Franciscan life is not just about spirituality or theology. It is, above all, a way of life that touches the core of human existence and relations. Francis of Assisi envisaged a fraternity of brothers who live in constant inter-communication among themselves and with other persons. This kind of commercium is based upon the concept of sharing and stewardship in the poor and simple use of the necessities of life. Thus we can speak about a Franciscan economy. Francis was a son of his times, when the merchant class was emerging as a new way of life in the Italian communes, bringing new wealth but also a richness of new information and intermingling of people and cultures. This issue of our review will deal about the phenomenon of the Franciscan style of economy that forms part and parcel of our Gospel calling and which needs to be re-addressed in the face of today’s challenges, including the issue of creation and demographic unbalance. A second paper will feature the first part of a study on the event of the Nativity scene of Greccio, on the occasion of the 800 years since Francis celebrated Christmas in this tiny hermitage that has gained world fame as a new Bethlehem.
This is the doctoral dissertation I presented at the Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum way back in 1988. The publication studies the theology of the Crucified Word in the writings of St. Bonaventure as applied to the life of Saint Francis of Assisi in the “Legenda Maior” composed by the Seraphic Doctor in 1260-1263.
On 22 February 2023 the Maltese OFM Province celebrated a half-day seminar on the occasion of the 800 years of the confirmation of the Regula bullata in 1223. For the occasion Br. Cesare Vaiani ofm, General Definitor and Franciscan scholar, was invited to give a talk to the brothers on the historical aspects of the Rule and its relevance in the life of us, Friars Minor, today. In this issue of our cultural review we are offering an English translation of the paper presented by Br. Cesare. The theme of the Rule is also continued in the paper regarding Saint Francis and the Cardinal Ugo di Ostia, who was cardinal protector of the Order and who helped the saint in the drafting of the text of the same Rule. The year 1223 also marks the moment in which Saint Anthony of Padua became the first lector of theology of the Order in the studium of the friars in Bologna. Two short papers will deal with Anthony of Padua. The first one is dedicated to a rather obscure shrine on Capo Milazzo in Sicily, where Anthony was shipwrecked in 1221, when on his return from Morocco to Spain his ship was blown off course. This event marked the beginning of his journey to Assisi for the general chapter of 1221 and then on to Monte Paolo, from where he eventually moved to go to Bologna to teach theology. The second paper is dedicated to this ministry of lector and its approval by Saint Francis through a short note that forms part of the Writings of Francis, the Letter to brother Anthony.
The Sources for the Lives of Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare of Assisi, and Saint Anthony of Padua were translated and edited into Maltese and published in four volumes in the years 2005-2008 by Edizzjoni TAU, the publishing house of the Maltese OFM Province. These publications were the fruit of long years of hard work on the part of a group of Franciscan brothers and a Poor Clare Sister, namely Fr. Raymond Camilleri OFM, the Editor-in-chief, Fr. Marjanu Vella OFM, Fr. Joseph Benedict Xuereb OFM, Fr. Noel Muscat OFM, and Sister Maria Immacolata Bellizzi OSC. Except for Fr. Noel Muscat these Franciscans are all dead, but the monumental work they left as a legacy lives on. The Maltese Franciscans are proud that, although being such a small Province, they have published all the Franciscan Sources in translation from the original Latin, and with introductions, notes, bibliography and indexes. Together with these Sources, Fr. Noel Muscat also published the Life of Saint Francis discovered by Jacques Dalarun, and known as the Vita Brevior, which we also include as another volume among the Sources. These volumes are now available online on this website as another effort to offer a service to Franciscan formation and to the knowledge of the Franciscan life and mission to all those who would like to read them.
The complete list of these four volumes plus one, which can be downloaded from this website in the Franciscan Texts section, is the following:
• Fonti għall-ħajja ta’ San Franġisk t’Assisi. Vol. I – Il-Kitbiet ta’ San Franġisk. Fonti Medjevali tal-ħajja ta’ San Franġisk. Traduzzjoni mill-Edizzjoni Kritika Latina: Noel Muscat, Marjanu Vella, Ġużepp Beneditt Xuereb. Introduzzjonijiet u apparat kritiku: Noel Muscat, Edizzjoni TAU, Provinċja Franġiskana Maltija tal-Patrijiet Minuri, Malta 2005, pp. xxii+663.
• Fonti għall-ħajja ta’ San Franġisk t’Assisi. Vol. II – Fonti Medjevali tal-ħajja ta’ San Franġisk. Traduzzjoni mill-Edizzjoni Kritika Latina: Noel Muscat, Marjanu Vella, Ġużepp Beneditt Xuereb. Introduzzjonijiet u apparat kritiku: Noel Muscat, Edizzjoni TAU, Provinċja Franġiskana Maltija tal-Patrijiet Minuri, Malta 2005, pp. vi+599.
• Fonti għall-ħajja ta’ Santa Klara. Il-Kitbiet ta’ Santa Klara. Fonti Medjevali tal-ħajja ta’ Santa Klara. Traduzzjoni mill-Edizzjoni Kritika Latina: Marija Immakulata Bellizzi, Noel Muscat, Ġużepp Beneditt Xuereb. Introduzzjonijiet u apparat kritiku: Noel Muscat, Sorijiet Klarissi, Monasteru Santa Klara, Malta – Edizzjoni TAU, Patrijiet Franġiskani, Malta 2006, pp. 460.
• Fonti għall-ħajja ta’ Sant’Antnin ta’ Padova. Traduzzjoni mill-Edizzjoni Kritika Latina: Noel Muscat, Ġużepp Beneditt Xuereb. Introduzzjonijiet u apparat kritiku: Noel Muscat, Edizzjoni TAU, Patrijiet Franġiskani, Malta 2008, pp. 549.
• San Franġisk t’Assisi. Ħabib ta’ Alla, Ħabib ta’ Kristu, Ħabib tal-Kurċifiss. Il-Ħajja tal-Imqaddes Missier Tagħna Franġisku (Vita Brevior) ta’ fra Tommaso da Celano. Introduzzjoni u Traduzzjoni ta’ Noel Muscat, Patrijiet Franġiskani, Malta 2016, pp. 77.
Franciscan Studies 