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Mira Circa Nos
On the Canonization of St. Francis of Assisi
Pope Gregory IX
Bishop Servant of the Servants of God
for an everlasting memorial
July 16, 1228 A.D.
How wondrously considerate of us is God's
pity! How priceless a love of charity which would sacrifice a Son to
redeem a slave! God neither neglected the gifts of His mercy nor
failed to protect uninterruptedly the vineyard planted by His hand.
He sent laborers into it at the eleventh hour to cultivate it, and
with their hoes and plowshares to uproot the thorns and thistles, as
did Samgar when he killed 600 Philistines (Judges 3: 31). After the
copious branches were pruned and the sucker roots with the briars
were pulled out, this vineyard will produce a luscious, appetizing
fruit, one capable of storage in the wine cellar of eternity, once
purified in the
wine- press of patience. Wickedness had
indeed blazed like fire, and the human heart had grown cold, so as
to destroy the wall surrounding this vineyard, just as the attacking
Philistines were destroyed by the poison of worldly pleasures.
2. Behold how the Lord, when He destroyed
the earth by water, saved the just man with a contemptible piece of
wood (Wis. 10:4), did not allow the scepter of the ungodly to fall
upon the lot of the just (Ps 124:3). Now, at the eleventh hour, he
has called forth his servant, Blessed Francis, a man after His own
heart (I Sam 13: 14). This man was a light, despised by the rich,
nonetheless prepared for the appointed moment. Him the Lord sent
into his vineyard to uproot the thorns and thistles. God cast down
this lamp before the attacking Philistines, thus illumining his own
land and with earnest exhortation warning it to be reconciled with
God.
3. On hearing within his soul his Friend's
voice of invitation Francis without hesitation arose, and as another
Samson strengthened by God's grace, shattered the fetters of a
flattering world. Filled with the zeal of the Spirit and seizing the
jawbone of an ass, he conquered not only a thousand, but many
thousands of Philistines (Judges 15: 15-16) by his simple preaching,
unadorned with the persuasive words of human wisdom (I Cor 1:17),
and made forceful by the power of God, who chooses the weak of this
world to confound the strong (I Cor 1:17). With the help of God he
accomplished this:
God who touches mountains and they smoke (Ps
103:32), so bringing to spiritual service those who were once slaves
to the allurements of the flesh. For those who died to sin and live
only for God and not for themselves (namely, whose worse part has
died), there flowed from this jawbone an abundant stream of water:
refreshing, cleansing, rendering fruitful the fallen, downtrodden
and thirsty. This river of water reaching unto eternal life (Jn 7:
38), could be purchased without silver and without cost (Is 55:1),
and like branches far and wide its rivulets watered the vineyard,
whose branches extended unto the sea and its boughs unto the river
(Ps 79:12).
4. After the example of our father Abraham,
this man forgot not only his country and acquaintances, but also his
father's house, to go to a land which the Lord had shown him by
divine inspiration (Gen 12). Pushing aside any obstacle he pressed
on to win the prize of his heavenly call (Phil.
3:14). Conforming himself to Him (Rom 8:29)
who, though rich, for our sake became poor (II Cor 8:9), he
unburdened himself of a heavy load of material possessions so as to
pass easily through the narrow gate (Mt 7:13). He distributed his
wealth to the poor, so that his justice might endure forever (Ps
111:9).
Nearing the land of vision he offered his
own body as a holocaust to the Lord upon one of the mountains
indicated to him (Gen 22:2), the mountain which is the excellence of
faith. His flesh, which now and then had tricked him, he sacrificed
Jephthah his only daughter (Judges 11:34), lighting under it the
fire of love, punishing it with hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness and
with many fasts and vigils. When it had been crucified with its
vices and concupiscences (Gal 5:24), he could say with the Apostle:
"I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). For he
really did not live for himself any longer, but rather for Christ,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification (Rom 4:25),
that we might no longer be slaves to sin (Rom 6:6).
Uprooting his vices and like Jacob arising
at the Lord's command (Gen 35:1-
11) he renounced wife and farm and oxen and
all which might distract those invited to the great feast (Lk
14:15-20), and took up the battle with the world, the flesh and the
spiritual forces of wickedness on high. And as he had received the
sevenfold grace of the Spirit and the help of the eight beatitudes
of the Gospel, he journeyed to Bethel, the house of God, on a path
which he had traced in the fifteen steps of the virtues mystically
represented in the Psalter (gradual psalms). After he had made of
his heart an altar for the Lord, he offered upon it the incense of
devout prayers to be taken up to the Lord at the hands of angels
whose company he would soon join.
5. But that he might not be the only one to
enjoy the blessings of the mountain, clinging exclusively to the
embraces of Rachel, as it were to a life of contemplation lovely but
sterile, he descended to the forbidden house of Leah to lead into
the desert the flock fertile with twins (Cant
4:2) and seeking pastures of life (Gen 29).
There, where the manna of heavenly sweetness restores all who have
been separated from the noisy world, he would be seated with the
princes of his people and crowned with the crown of justice. Sowing
his seed in tears, he would come back rejoicing carrying his sheaves
to the storehouse of eternity (Ps 125:5-6).
Surely he sought not his own interests (Phil
2:21), but those of Christ, serving Him zealously like the
proverbial bee. As the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as
the moon at the full (Eccles. 50,6), he took in his hands a lamp
with which to draw the humble by the example of his glorious deeds,
and a trumpet wherewith to recall the shameless with stern and
fearsome warnings from their wicked abandon.
Thus strengthened by charity he courageously
took possession of the Midianite camp (Judges 7:16-22), that is, the
camp of those who contemptuously disregard the teaching of the
Church, with the support of Him who encompassed the whole world by
His authority, even while still cloistered in the Virgin's womb. He
captured the weapons on which the well-armed man trusted while
guarding his house and parceling out his spoils (Lk 11:21-22), and
he led captivity captive in submission to Jesus Christ (Eph 4:8).
6. After defeating the threefold earthly
enemy, he did violence to the Kingdom of Heaven and seized it by
force (Mt 11:12). After many glorious battles in this life he
triumphed over the world, and he who was knowingly unlettered and
wisely foolish, happily returned to the Lord to take the first place
before many others more learned.
7. Plainly a life such as his, so holy, so
passionate, so brilliant, was enough to win him a place in the
Church Triumphant. Yet, because the Church Militant, which can only
observe the outer appearances, does not presume to judge on its own
authority those not sharing its actual state, it proposes for
veneration as Saints only those whose lives on earth merited such,
especially because an angel of Satan sometimes transforms himself
into an angel of light (II Cor 11:14). In his generosity the
omnipotent and merciful God has provided that the aforementioned
Servant of Christ did come and serve Him worthily and commendably.
Not permitting so great a light to remain hidden under a bushel, but
wishing to put it on a lampstand to console those dwelling in the
house of light (Mt 5:15), God declared through many brilliant
miracles that his life has been acceptable to God and his memory
should be honored by the Church Militant.
8. Therefore, since the wondrous events of
his glorious life are quite well known to Us because of the great
familiarity he had with Us while we still occupied a lower rank, and
since We are fully convinced by reliable witnesses of the many
brilliant miracles, We and the flock entrusted to Us, by the mercy
of God, are confident of being assisted at his intercession and of
having in Heaven a patron whose friendship We enjoyed on earth. With
the consultation and approval of our Brothers (i.e. the cardinals),
We have decreed that he be enrolled in the catalogue of saints
worthy of veneration.
9. We decree that his birth be celebrated
worthily and solemnly by the universal Church on the fourth of
October, the day on which he entered the Kingdom of heaven, freed
from the prison of the flesh.
10. Hence, in the Lord We beg, admonish and
exhort all of you, We command you by this apostolic letter, that on
this day reserved to honor his memory, you dedicate yourselves more
intensely to the divine praises, and humbly to implore his
patronage, so that through his intercession and merits you might be
found worthy of joining his company with the help of Him who is
blessed forever. Amen.
Given at Perugia, on the fourteenth
Calends
of August,
in the second year of Our pontificate.
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