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The Legend of Three Companions
[Rubric]a
These are certain writings of three companions of blessed Francis about his life and manner of living while he was in the attire of the world, about his marvelous and perfect conversion, and about the perfection of the origin and foundation of the Order in him and in the first brothers.
[Letter]b
1To the Reverend Father in Christ, Brother Crescentius, by the grace of God General Minister,c Brother Leo,d Brother Rufino,e and
- This translation is based on the critical edition of Théophile Desbonnets, "Legenda Trium Sociorum: Edition Critique," AFH 67 (1974): 38-144. This title or rubric, missing in some of the manuscripts, is a synthesis of L3C. It suggests that the document ends with Chapter Sixteen. The last two chapters, which treat of the stigmata and the death of Francis, clearly break with the preceding chapters, and seem to have been added at a later date.
- Rosalind B. Brooke argues that this letter belongs more appropriately at the beginning of the "flowers" sent by Leo, Angelo, and Rufino and, therefore, places it at the beginning of her edition of that information, Scripta Leonis, Rufini et Angeli Sociorum S. Francisci: The Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo, Companions of St. Francis, translated and edited by Rosalind B. Brooke, (Oxford: Oxford at The Clarendon Press, 1970), 69-70. Persuasive as her arguments may be, the letter is found only in the manuscripts of the Legend of the Three Companions, cf. Desbonnets, Edition Critique, 86-89. Since the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century, this letter has been traditionally attached to the beginning of L3C. The letter was meant to accompany material sent in response to the request of the General Chapter of Genoa articulated by Crescentius of Iesi for more information about Francis. According to this letter, the companions intended not to write a life but to make contributions, previously unpublished, that "gather some of the more beautiful flowers . . . from a pleasant meadow." However, it is clearly at odds with a document that follows a strict chronological order. Scholars are not in agreement about where the material that accompanied this letter is actually found, cf. AC, Introduction, infra 114.
- Crescentius of Iesi (1244-47), formerly provincial minister of the Marches of Ancona, was elected general minister after the death of Haymo of Faversham. He was elected at the Chapter of Genoa in 1244, held the position until 1247, and died in 1262.
- Leo appears throughout Franciscan literature as the confessor, secretary, and constant companion of Francis. Arnaldo Fortini notes that AC and the Mirror of Perfection (hereafter 1 or 2 MP) identify Leo as coming from Assisi but observes: "the only Leo in Assisi records is a Domino Leone—a title sometimes used for priests—who is mentioned in one of the documents dealing with the liberation of serfs" (Archivum Cathedrale, fasc. 8, no. 3). "This," Fortini concludes, "is perhaps our Brother Leo." Cf. Arnaldo Fortini, Francis, 324. Leo spent his last years in Assisi where Salimbene, James of Massa, and Angelo of Clareno visited him. He died in Assisi in 1278 and is buried near the tomb of Saint Francis.
- Brother Rufino was a cousin of Clare of Assisi. Although there is no record of the date of his entrance into the Order, Thomas of Eccleston maintains he was at La Verna in 1224, cf. ChrTE 13. Rufino spent most of his years in the Carceri where he died in 1270. He is buried near the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi.
Legenda Trium Sociorum, Fontes Franciscani, p. 1373
LEGENDA TRIUM SOCIORUM
[Rubrica]
Haec sunt quaedam scripta per tres socios beati Francisci, de vita et conversatione eius in habitu saeculari, de mirabili et perfecta conversione ipsius, etde perfectione originis et fundamenti ordinis in ipso et in primis fratribus.
[Epistola]
1 1Reverendo in Christo patri, fratri Crescentio, Dei gatia generali ministro, frater Leo, frater Rufinus et frater Angelus, olim socii licet indigni beatissimi patris Francisci, reverentiam in Domino debitam et devotam.