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lBv Lucv Gononn Library: The Placeto Book Into" waspublished as an "Of Books,Art, and People"essay in ITV ast July, thanksto the generosityof Visit February2006. Britain in New York City, Rail Europe, The purposeof my returnvisit wasto studyin L and the tourist boardfor Ensland'sNorth greaterdepth the MoormanCollection, the Country,as well as the hospitalityof the warden, largestcollection of memorabilia(2,000 books) the Rev. PeterFrancis, I had the opportunityto concerningSt. Francisof Assisi and early Fran- return to St. Deiniol's Library at Hawardenin ciscanhistory ever to be in privatehands, as well North Wales. asthe life of JohnMoorman, donor to St. Dein- For nearlya decadeI had written extensively iol's Libraryas a bequestin 1989. for a worldwideaudience about this "intellectual "Moormanchose St. Deiniol'sbecause he hospice,"founded at his homeby William Ewart knewour formerwarden, Rev. Peter Jagger, well; Gladstone(1809-1889), four timesprime minis- becausehe wantedhis materialsto be available ter of England,"for the promotionof Divine open-accessto scholarsat a library alreadywell- learning."One of my articles,"St. Deiniol's knownfor its theologicalcontent; and because he

INSIDE THE VATICAN February 2007 wantedhis collectionto stayin Britain, but not in a big library wasthe copy; A NewFioretti (1946, a collectionof earlystories with bureaucraticaccess restrictions," Patsy Williams, head of St.Francis previously untranslated); and a biography(1950), librarian.told me. where he describesSt. Francisas "the one perfectChristian" After I sawthe habit worn by St. Franciswhen he received and insiststhat his calling was "not to escapefrom the world, the stigmata(on display in the exhibition "Petros Eni") and but to give oneselfto the world, askingnothing for oneselfand after I heard from ArchpriestAngelo Comastri(who is in readyto sufferand die for the soulsof men." chargeof St. Peter'sBasilica) that St. Franciswas his favorite Moorman'slater works include his A History of the Fran- saintbecause "I relateto him; I find myselfin him, my dreams, ciscanOrder From lts Origins to the Yearl517 (1968),Richest my aspirations,my sensibilities,my ideals,"I thoughtit was of Poor Men (1977),which owesits title to Thomasof Celano time to tell Insidethe Vaticanreaders more aboutMoorman, a who in his Vira Prima calls Francis"ditissimus pauper," and remarkableAnglican cleric, and his life-long devotionto St. MedievalFranciscan Houses (1983), a list of some4,500 Fran- Francisof Assisi(1182-1226) - the patronsaint of animals, ciscanestablishments for andPoor Clares, from China in ecology,Italy, and tapestrymakers. the Eastto Cubain the West,up to the year 1517,when the _ FranciscanOrder beganto divide Moonu.lx's Dnvorron E into threemajor groups, which all "I sawSt. Francis,"exclaimed S observethe samerule of life, but JohnMoorman (1905-89) in a $ differ in their interpretation,each 1979interview. "I havespent a 3 branchadopting a different color lot of time duringthe last 50 habitwhich would distineuish yearsreading and thinking about one from the other. St. Francis,and spent some hours in the crypt of Assisi looking at Moonmen rHn Collrcron the stonecoffin in which his In an article abouthis Biblio- body was saidto lie, so it was thecaFranciscana, Moorman very moving to be presentlast mentionsthe PontificalAthen- year when the saint'sbody was aeum'Antonianum,"(Via Meru- exhumedand re-encasedbefore lana124,00185 Rome, tel. 06- being replacedin the sarcopha- 7037357l, librarian:Padre Man- gus.I neverthought that one day cio Portillo OFM, e-mail: por- I would actuallysee and touch [email protected])and the his bones." QuaracchiLibrary in Grottaferra- Moorman'sstudy of St. Fran- ta as the mostextensive sources cis andof the early history of the for Franciscanscholars. FranciscanOrder was inspired by Moormanpoints out that his threeincidents of his youth. personallibrary is concernedonly As a teenager,his mother with the medieval friars. It gavehim a copy of The Little includesthe writings of St. Fran- Flowersof St.Francis. cis; biographiesof St. Francis; Then, as an undergraduateat biographiesof otherearly Fran- Cambridgeafter reading the lives ciscans;the earlyhistory of the of the saintby Paul Sabatier(his Order;the historyof the Poor father's copy and the volume Claresand tertiaries;and the Moormannumbered no. I of his worksof leadingFranciscan writ- collection),by Chesterton,by ers before l5l7: Jacoponeof FatherCuthbert and by St. Bonaventwe(1221-1274), Moor- , St. ,Alexander of Hales,Duns Scotus, and manspent three weeks in Assisi.He stayedwith the PoorClares Doctor Mirabilis RogerBacon (who wasmentioned in my arti- at SanQuirico and immersedhimself in the atmosphereof the cle, "Eyeglasses:Made to Magnify 'sWord," April 2006). Franciscanholy places. The collectionalso containsperiodicals dealing exclusively Third, he met a BrotherDouglas SSF, whose ministry with Franciscanhistory. Moorman concedes that his collection, amongvagrants made a deepimpression upon him as a modern although"primarily the working library of a scholar,and not exampleof St. Francis'simplicity. the prideand glory of a bibliophile,"does include "a numberof old, uncommonand curious books." Moonunn rHE ScHoLAR The oldestbooks in the collectionare a handful of manu- Moorman'sfirst writings aboutSt. Franciswerc Sources for scripts.In my earlierarticle about St. Deiniol's I mentionedthe the Life of St.Francis ( 1940),in which he arguedthat theLeg- lSth-centuryItalian Missale Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, of par- enda Trium Sociorumor Legendof the ThreeCompanions (a ticular interestbecause it was"regularly used in a medievalfri- letter written from Greccio by three friars, Leo, Rufino, and ary" as well as the tiny Breviary "easyfor an itinerantfriar to Angelo,on Augustll, 1246,to Crescentiusof Iesi) represent- carry in his pocket."The othersare a collectionof works by St. ed the earliertradition and that Thomasof Celano'sVita Primn Bonaventure:a"Forma investiendifratres tertii ordinisS. Fran-

February2007 INSIDE THE VATICAN cisci" writtenfor theThird Orderin Antwerpand containing the saint;De Conformitate oathin German;and a little book of inter alia ("amongother vitae beati Francisciad things"),a tracton casesof conscienceby FriarClarus de Flo- vitamdomini lesu Christi rentia,of whosework very few exampleshave survived. redemtorisnostri ("On the Contemporarywith the manuscriptsis a small group of Conformity of the Life of incunabula(printed works from prior to 1500),most of which BlessedFrancis to theLife are works by St. Bonaventure,by St. Bernardineof Siena of Our Lord Redeemer (1380-1444),and by scholastictheologian Alexander of Hales JesusChrist"), material (n.d.-1245). compiledin 1399by a The rarest,however, is a copy in excellentcondition of called Bartholomewof Arbor Vtae Crucifixaeby Ubertinoda Casale,printed in Veniceby Andrea Bonettisde Papiain 1485.Ubertino, who joined the in 12'73,was one of the leadersof the Zelanti,or Spirituals."This is a very importantbook," comments Moorman, "for anyonestudying the historyof the Order;but, curiouslyenough, it has neverbeen reprinted since the first edi- tionof 1485." Other raritiesin the collection includea secondedition of Speculum Vitae, accolnts of incidentsof St. Francis'life documentedby Brother Leo in 1246,printed at Metz in 1509 and discoveredby Paul Sabatier,the great lgth-centurybiographer of the

ereda pioneerin ltaliantheater. Althoughhis biography,espe- A LEGENDARY ciallybefore his vows,has few FRANCISCAN reliablehistorical sources, it is generallyagreed that, like his f')p"n until May2, 2007,in the mentorSt. Francis,Jacopone, vbeautiful Umbrianhill town of whosegiven name was Jacopo Todi,is a splendidexhibition about its Benedictior Benedetti,was born mostfamous native son, Jacopone da intoa wealthyfamily. Todi,to celebratethe 700thanniver- Hestudied law at ,the saryof his deathon Christmasnight oldestuniversity in the Western r 306. world(1088) and the most distin- Jacoponeda Todi(Todi 1235-Col- guishedin ttalyat thattime, and lazzone1306), an earlyFranciscan becamea successfullawyer. friar,is certainlynot a household Probablytn 1267he marrieda name.Nor is he amongltaly's best- verypious noblewoman called knownwriters. But he is famousfor Vanna,daughter of Bernardino, his100 mystical loudiin the Umbrian countof Collemedio. dialect(songs in praiseof the Lord). A decadelater tragedy struck. Healso wrote two shortprose works Partof the floorof Jacopone's in Latin,Dicto and Troctotusutilis- housecollapsed during a party, simus;and the lyricsStobot moter killinghis young wife. dolorosoare attributed to him.Proba- Althoughtacopone is oftencalled'blessed' Duringhis attemptto revive blybeing the first scholar who drama- or'saint" hehas never been beafified her,he discoveredthat beneath tizedGospel subjects for the stage, or canonizdby the Church, in partbecause of her splendidrobes she had Jacopone,greatly admired by hiscon- theHtires he wrote against secretlybeen wearing a hairshirt temporaryDante Alighieri, is consid- frequendy-malignedPope Boniface ltll I to mortifyher flesh.

INSIDE THE VATICAN February 2007 Pisa,comparing the life of St. Franciswith the life of YsERAPHICVM Christ and printed in Milan by GotardoPontico rn - PR()VINc,I./8, 15l0 (overthe next 200 yearsthis book wasdeclared blasphemousand usedby Protestants,including A.NGLIfi, Martin Luther,as evidencein an attemptto discred_ PRO SANCTA DE,I. it the Roman Catholic Church); and Certarns2 Seraphicum,published in Douai in 1649,an account ECCLESTA. of the sufferingsof the English Franciscansat *1g I ln qno brcvitcr declarritrr, quomodo Fratrcs Mi. time of the Reformation,written by an Irish friar norcs Angli celamo & fangtrinc pro Fidc who calledhimself 'Angelo a S. Francisco." '1 .iui "1 ch;ilti San&aguc Eccllfie Overthe centuries, many t ccrrarunt, andlaymen { wrote biographiesof St. Francis(more than tbO of I Stdh nancntts in Ordrne a"lvafts Slfanlr 'l fuo which,in English,French, German, Italian, Spanish. pngnlvcrunt,Irrd. i. and Swedish,are in the MoormanCollection), [u1 Opcrc& laborcR.P.F. AN Gr Ll a S. FrANG t3co PaulSabatier's Ve de SaintFrangois (1894) includ_ Cottvctrtus Rcc()llcdt()runrArrflorunr Du:ci (lurt.lilni' Ptorttrcir (ire-(.rrltorlurn t'irll,',hr, rc S. Thco. ed informationfrom newly-discoveredmaterial, and logre Lcttorrs Itrrrrrrrr'1(:ott!tltnrt$tn becamejustly famous.The collectionincludes an early edition of Sabatier'sbook inscribedby the Fser,t author,as well as 30 other of Sabatier'sworks and DVA manyautograph letters. .l' BAl A S Alt ls l\t: I l.I'R I, Sub Besidesbooks, often annotatedin the marginsby ( rtr tlto tttrcu, Atttr.r l<' lr' Moorman,Gladstone-style, other items of interestin the collection are a Bull of Indulgencegranted bv French-bornGregory XI, one of theAvignon Popes, (1336-1378,reigned from 1370-78)on July 23, 1373,to six Franciscanfriars of Scarzolein the dio- ceseof Orvieto, to take effect one year after its receipt;a silver pennydating to the reign of Edward

Thisfact and the deathof his bringabout a drasticchange of atti- belovedshocked Jacopone so tudewithin the Church,too long deeplythat he gave up hislaw prac- marredby secularismand corrupl tice. tion. Muchto the horrorof hisfriends Buton Celestine'sdeath in 1297, andrelatives, wearing the habitof a the newly-"elected"Pope Boniface Franciscantertiary, Il on puofu$r Fm d; c Lq1o r. he spentthe 9r fionfunil c6nc cco elTuo Vlll opposedhis predecesso/sand nextl0 yearsroaming the Umbdan Jurcro muochn

February 2007 INSIDE THE VATICAN Oa _X).r(S, AtO- .{ ND c,[),EOg{-F III (1312-1377),"which mustat one time havebelonged to a ventions,the Anglican Centrein Rome (PiazzaCollegio friar living in the Franciscanhouse in Cambridge";and a card Romano7, which today still housesthe largestlibrary outside index compiledby Moorman, "containingbiographical notes the United Kingdom on Anglican theology) was set up, and on about7,000 of a total of 10,000Franciscans who lived in fuchbishopRamsey made an historic visit to PopePaul VI, a Englandbetween 1224 and 1538." personalfriend of Moorman.A joint declaration,prepared dur- 'Along with his bequestof books,"said PatsyWilliams, ing this visit, called for "seriousdialogue" betweenthe two "Moorman left funds for a scholarshipfor in sltu study of St. Churches,so a joint preparatorycommission was set up of l0 Francis.The Societyof St. Francis,an Anglican Anglicans(with Moormanas their chairman)and group with a devotionto St. Francis,supports l0 RomanCatholics from differentparts of the our purchaseof new books, including almost world. This commissionwas succeededin 1970 everythingpublished in English,which com- by the more permanentAnglican-Roman plementMoorman's original bequestand Catholiclnternational Commission, whose final keepthe collectionup-to-date. They also aim was "the attainmentof full, organicunion adviseus on what newpublications are avail- betweenour two communions,"and issuedan able." 'Agreed Statementon EucharisticDoctrine." In additionto his scholarshipon St. Fran- cis, Moormanwas also a respectedhistorian of MoonulN's Ecultmntsu Twomodern biographies ol St.Francis Whenin 1962fuchbishop of Canterbury the Church of England.He publishedChurch MichaelRamsey had to choosethree Anglican observers for the Life in Englandin the ThirteenthCentury (1945) and three edi- SecondVatican Council, his choiceof Right ReverendMoor- tions of A History of the Churchof England.fust publishedin man,the bishopof Ripon since 1959,as the chief, wasuniver- 1953.A srong supporterof ecumenismand inter-Churchrela- sally approved.Moorman's obituary in the London Timeson tions, for Moorman good churchmanshipof whateverreligion January17, 1989,reports: "Moorman did credit to the Church could only be basedon soundtheology. Thus what an appro- of Englandin his encountersin Rome;he hada necessityof the priate homagethat on his deathbedin a Durhamhospital, his historicepiscopate, and his zealfor the FranciscanOrder com- parishpriest read to him - in Italianwhich he, like Gladstone, mendedhim to his hosts." spokefluently - the Canticleof the Sun.O His personalaccount of the Council,Vatican Observed, was publishedin 1967.A year earlier,thanks to his personalinter- Lucy Gordanis theculture and ans editoroflnside the Vatican.

Churchand of royalty, phy becausesigned by stronglybelieving that they him,it proclaimedCeles- were only interestedin tineV's abdication as Pope their personalpower and (the only Popeto do so), wealthand not in thewel- and thereforeBoniface fareof the people. Vlll'selection, invalid and Hisfrequent requests calledfor a newconclave. to Bonifacefor absolution Therehad long been weredenied and he was hard feelingsbetween not releaseduntil October Jacoponeand Boniface I l, 1303,a monthafter (bornin 1255),who spent Boniface Vlll's death, hisyouth in Todi,where his thanksto PopeBenedict unclePietro was the bish- xt. op from 1252to1276. Jacoponeseems to Otheritems of special havespent his last years as interestare the Benedetti a reclusein the hospiceof familytree; Boniface's the FriarsMinor near the PapalBull againstthe PoorClare monastery of Colonnas;several early SanLorenzo, about 20 biographiesof Jacopone; kilometersfrom Todi. manuscriptsand early Since1433 his bones printededitions of hiswrit- havebeen buried in the ings;and miniatures of him cryptof Todi'sChurch of SanFortunato. in manuscriptsand paintingsof him,including a frescoby Thefirst item on displayin thefirst section of theexhibition PaoloUccello on loanfrom a museumin Prato. is the manuscriptof theMonffesto di Lunghezzo. Thesecond section includes several paintings of St.Francis, Consideredthe mostreliable source of the poefsbiogra- someflanked by scenesof hismiracles. I

FebruarY 20O7 54 INSIDE THE VATICAN