The Franciscan world is abuzz with the word that another
biography of St. Francis of Assisi,
written by Thomas of Celano has been found.
A posting, dated January 27, 2015, on the English Speaking Conference ofthe Order Friars Minor (OFM) reported the details of how it was
discovered. Scholars believe that Thomas
of Celano wrote it shortly after writing the First Life of St. Francis and way
before he wrote the Second Life. It is being
reported that it contains information about Francis, which is missing from the
other biographies; or had been changed in later issues.
It is know that multiple biographies were written about the
Saint, one only has to look at the three volume collection: “Francis of Assisi,
The Early Documents,” compiled and translated by Regis Armstrong, OFM CAP, J.A.
Wayne Hellmann, OFM CONV, and William Short, OFM. That fact that we even have early versions
for Francis’ biographies can be considered somewhat of a miracle. When St.
Bonaventure wrote his “Life of Saint Francis (Legenda Maior)” and presented it
to a General Chapter of the Friars, the Chapter accepted it as the official biography,
and for reasons that still remain unclear, ordered all copies of earlier
biographies destroyed. Again, I consider
it a miracle that, according to Ewert Cousins, translator and editor of a
collection of Bonaventure’s’ works; twenty copies of Celano’s first Life have
survived, and only two copies of the second Life still exist. Now another work by Celano has come to
surface! What new insights and
revelations will come to light? The
Franciscan world waits in anticipation!
