DANTE'S SUBLIME COMEDY: PARADISE: Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11: Of Francis

O daft deliriums of earth-bound men!

            With force or fraud you fight to gather wealth

            by trade or law, priest-craft or shedding blood,          3

then glut your appetites on luxuries,

corrupting sense by wasteful indolence,

driving your mental wings into foul mud.                  6

Freed from such emptiness by Beatrice    

            I stood a guest among the blest who danced

            around us like a splendid galaxy.                               9

Then pausing as before, that radiance

            who first had spoken spoke to me again,

            smiling and glowing brighter as he did.                    12

“Because all here share in the mind of God

            I see some words of mine engendered doubt:

there is good fattening unless we stray;                    15

           

as also these: none ever rose so high.

            To clarify I’ll speak at greater length.

            The Providence that rules the world of men             18

           

cannot be absolutely understood

            by human minds. To wed His human Church

            Christ married Her with cry of dreadful pain            21

and loss of life. To keep Her true to him,

            Providence sent the Church two princely men.

            One was for wisdom like the Cherubim                   24

           

and one whose ardour matched the Seraphim

            who I will speak of first, since praise of him

            applies to both. They toiled for the same end.          27

The Porta Sole of Perugia

faces the Apennine, whence winds blow down

            both hot and cold. Small rivers too descend,            30

surround a town where Mount Subasio

slopes to the plain. Assisi is its name.

A better name for it is Orient                                    33

  

for here dawned Francis, Italy’s new sun.

            While still a lad he reveled in the sins

            most folk forgive the child of a rich man,                 36

or even praise. He fought in petty war,

            caroused and whored, was very popular,

            then illness made him face the fact of death,            39

forced him to see he was not fit for it.

            He read what Jesus said to the rich youth

            who wanted Heaven, and knew these words were true,  42

then tried to give away the wealth he had,

            resulting in a quarrel with his dad

            because he chose a bride all wished to shun.           45

Her first spouse had been taken from her side

            over eleven hundred years before.

            Though known to famous men much earlier           48

                                                                                                           

(Diogenes was one who scorned a great

world conqueror) the proud rejected her.

            None took example from her constancy.                 51

Even Christ’s mother stayed below when she     

            climbed up the Cross to share Christ’s agony.

            In case you cannot guess of whom I speak             54

the bride who Francis wed was Poverty,

            in church renouncing his inheritance

            on earth to live on just what Heaven’s Dad            57

gives everyone who does not seek for gain.

            With such a wife he came to love her more

            and poor himself, worked hard to help the poor.    60

Though old companions flung mud at him,

            his happiness and harmony moved some

            of contemplative mind to emulate.                          63

His wealthy neighbour Bernard was the first                                          

to kick off shoes and follow him barefoot.

            Egidius, Sylvester followed suit.                            66

Eight other too, delighting in his bride,                                                     

wore rough wool robe tied with a simple chord

            and did not fear the sneers of vulgar wealth.          69

The scorn they all found very hard to bear

            came from those thinking them competitors        

            in holiness: the confirmed clergymen.                    72

Francis and his eleven followers

            walked forth to Rome and showed Pope Innocent

            the nature of Franciscan brotherhood.                    75

Thus it was tolerated by the Church,

            and when the flocks of Francis grew much more

            through missions to France, Spain and Germany   78

Pope Honorius made its status sure.

            Francis then sailed to Egypt and when there

            preached Christ until the Sultan promised him       81

far better treatment of the Christian slaves,

            and in Jerusalem Christ’s tomb would be

            placed firmly in Franciscan Brothers’ care,            84

after which he returned to Italy.

Twixt Arno and the Tiber is a crag

            where stands the cell where Francis found good proof  87

that Jesus loved him well: on hands, feet, side

            the bloody wounds of crucifixion came.

            For two more years he bore those stigmata            90

till Christ who destined him to so much good

            disclosed that his last day was drawing near.

            He then bequeathed the poverty he’d wed             93

to all his brothers, begging them always

            to love her faithfully. Then from the ground

            (he had rejected any other bier)                              96

his ardent soul rose up to Paradise.

            Consider now which colleague is most fit

            to help God keep Saint Peter’s boat afloat             99

           

on troubled seas under our stormy skies.

            Surely my own patriarch Dominic!

            His followers carry good merchandise                   102

although too many wander far away

            to fields remote from where he guided them,

            thus yielding to their fold much less sweet milk.    105

  

Some dutifully keep their shepherd’s path,

            so few their cowls require but little cloth.

            Now know my meaning when you heard me say                        

there is good fattening unless we stray.                              109