The great Patriarch of Assisi will soon appear a second time in the holy Liturgy, and we shall praise God for the marvels wrought in him by divine grace. The subject of today's Feast, while a personal glory to St. Francis, is of greater importance for its mystical signification.
The Man-God still lives in the Church by the continual reproduction of His mysteries in this His Bride, making Her a faithful copy of Himself. In the thirteenth century, while the charity of many had grown cold (Collect of the Feast), the divine fire burned with redoubled ardor in the hearts of a chosen few. It was the hour of the Church's passion; the beginning of that series of social defections, with their train of denials, treasons, and derisions, which have ended in the universal impiety we now witness. The Cross had been exalted before the eyes of the world: the Bride was now to be nailed thereto with Her Divine Spouse, after having stood with Him in the pretorium, exposed to the insults and blows of the multitude.
Like an artist selecting a precious marble, the Holy Ghost chose the flesh of St. Francis of Assisi as the medium for the expression of His divine thought. He thereby manifested to the world the special direction He intended to give to the sanctity of souls; He offered to Heaven a first and complete model of the new world He was meditating, viz.: the perfect union, upon the very Cross, of the Mystical Body with its Divine Head. St. Francis was the first to be chosen for this honor: but others were to follow; and henceforward, here and there throughout the world, the stigmata of Our Blessed Lord has been visible in the Church.
Let us read in this light the admirable history of the event, composed by the Seraphic Doctor, St. Bonaventure, in honor of his holy Father St. Francis of Assisi:
Two years before the faithful servant and minister of Christ, St. Francis, gave up his spirit to God, he retired alone into a high place, which is called Mount Alverna, and began a fast of forty days in honor of the Archangel St. Michael. The sweetness of heavenly contemplation was poured out on him more abundantly than usual, till, burning with the flame of celestial desires, he began to feel an increasing overflow of divine favors. While the seraphic ardor of his desires thus raised him up to God, and the tenderness of his love and compassion was transforming him into Christ the crucified Victim of excessive love, one morning about the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, as he was praying on the mountain-side, he saw what appeared to be a Seraph, with six shining and fiery wings, coming down from Heaven. The vision flew swiftly through the air and approached the man of God, who then perceived that it was not only winged, but also crucified; for the hands and feet were stretched out and fastened to a cross; while the wings were arranged in a wondrous manner—two being raised above the head, two outstretched in flight, and the remaining two crossed over and veiling the whole body. As he gazed, St. Francis was much astonished, and his soul was filled with mingled joy and sorrow. The gracious aspect of Him, Who appeared in so wonderful and loving a manner, rejoiced him exceedingly, while the sight of His cruel crucifixion pierced his heart with a sword of sorrowing compassion.
He Who appeared outwardly to St. Francis, taught him inwardly that, although weakness and suffering are incompatible with the immortal life of a seraph, yet this vision had been shown to him to the end that he, a friend of Christ, might learn how his whole being was to be transformed into a living image of Christ crucified, not by martyrdom of the flesh, but by the burning ardor of his soul. After a mysterious and familiar colloquy, the vision disappeared, leaving the Saint's mind burning with seraphic ardor, and his flesh impressed with an exact image of the Crucified, as though, after the melting power of that fire, it had next been stamped with a seal. For immediately the marks of nails began to appear in his hands and feet, their heads showing in the palms of his hands and the upper part of his feet, and their points visible on the other side. There was also a red scar on his right side, as if it had been wounded by a lance, and from which blood often flowed staining his tunic and underclothing.
St. Francis, now a new man, honored by this new and amazing miracle, and, by a privilege hitherto unheard of, adorned with the sacred stigmata, came down from the mountain bearing with him the image of the Crucified, not carved in wood or stone by the hand of an artist, but engraved upon his flesh by the finger of the living God. The seraphic man well knew that it is good to hide the secret of the King; wherefore, having been thus admitted into his King's confidence, he strove, as far as in him lay, to conceal the sacred marks. But it belongs to God to reveal the great things which He Himself has done; and hence, after impressing those signs upon St. Francis in secret, He publicly worked miracles by means of them, revealing the hidden and wondrous power of the stigmata by the signs wrought through them. Pope Benedict XI willed that this wonderful event, which is so well attested and in pontifical documents has been honored with the greatest praises and favors, should be celebrated by a yearly solemnity. Afterwards, Pope Paul V, wishing the hearts of the faithful to be enkindled with the love of Christ crucified, extended the Feast to the whole Church.
Standard-bearer of Christ and of His Church, we would gladly, with the Apostle and with thee, glory in nothing save the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We would gladly bear in our souls the sacred stigmata, which adorned thy holy body. To him whose whole ambition is to return love for love, every suffering is a gain, persecution has no terrors; for the effect of persecutions and sufferings is to assimilate him, together with his Mother the Church, to Christ persecuted, scourged, and crucified.
It is with our whole hearts that we pray, with the Church: "O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, when the world was growing cold, didst renew the sacred marks of Thy Passion in the flesh of the most blessed Francis, to inflame our hearts with the fire of Thy love; mercifully grant, that by his merits and prayers we may always carry the Cross, and bring forth worthy fruits of penance. Who livest and reignest with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, forever and ever. Amen" (Collect).
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