Paperback and about the author: Much has been written about St Francis since his death over 700 years ago and there is a wealth of information available about the man himself and about the Franciscan Order. Nevertheless, to understand exactly who he was and why his movement had such a profound and lasting effect on the Church, it is essential to see him through the eyes of those who knew him and thus to place the man within the context of his life and times.
Consequently, the works of Brother Thomas of Celano represent an invaluable source not only for scholars of Franciscanism but also for the lay person.
The task that was given to Thomas of Celano was to make Francis' life and works known to a vast audience, not only during his own lifetime but, as himself points out in his introductory remarks, for generations to come.
Indeed, in his Preface to Part Two of the Second Life, Thomas states, "Handing down the excellent works of the fathers to the memory of their children is a sign of honour to the former and of love to the latter. Truly, those who have not had the fortune of knowing their forefathers in person will be led towards goodness at least through the account of their lives and will be induced to do their best..."
In this, Thomas has more than succeeded in the task he set out to accomplish, for the Franciscan message, as he wrote it, is as fresh today as it was seven centuries ago when he first set pen to paper.
But who exactly was Brother Thomas?
First biographer of St Francis in Assisi, was born in Celano, in Abruzzo, probably of a noble family. He entered the Order in 1215. In 1221, he went with the Friars on the first mission to Germany, where, in 1223, he was made the Superior of the Rhine Custody. We do not have precise data for the duration of his stay in Germany. It is certain that he was in Assisi in the years 1228, 1230 and probably also between 1244 and 1250. He died in the proximities of Tagliacozzo probably (Abruzzo), where, in the local church of St Francis his body still rests.
He wrote, in the years 1228-29, the first biography of St Francis, the so-called First Life at the bequest of Pope Gregory IX.
Subsequently he wrote a second biography of the saint, called Second Life, commissioned by the Minister General, Crescenzio from Iesi, between 1244 and 1247. In this biography, he used some testimony of the closest companions of Francis.
About 1250, he began a third writing about Francis, The Treatise on the Miracles, at the bequest of the Minister General Giovanni from Parma, which contain the miracles after the death of the Saint.
Also attributed to him is a work about Saint Clare of Assisi, as well as two Sequences in honour of St Francis: Sanctitatis nova signa and Fregit victor virtualis.
The Life of St Francis of Assisi And The Treatise of Miracles (timeless/dateless) is translated from the Italian by Catherine Bolton.
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