The First Book
THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE DESIRE OF A SOULa
THE DEEDS AND WORDS
OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER
His Conversion
Chapter I
HOW HE WAS AT FIRST CALLED JOHN,
AND LATER FRANCIS;
WHAT HIS MOTHER PROPHESIED ABOUT HIM,
WHAT HE HIMSELF PREDICTED WOULD HAPPEN TO HIM,
AND HIS PATIENCE WHILE IN CHAINS.
3 “Francis”
was the name of this servant and friend of the Most High.
Divine Providence gave him this name,
unique and unusual,
that the fame of his ministry should spread even more rapidly
throughout the whole world.
He was named John by his own mother
when, being, born again through water and the Holy Spirit Jn 3:5 b
he was changed from a child of wrath
into a child of grace.c
- This title, Memoriale in Desiderio Animae [The Remembrance of The Desire of a Soul], is inspired by the Vulgate version of Is 26:8: nomen tuum et memoriale tuum in desiderio animae [your name and your memory are the desire of the soul]. This is how the editors have chosen to entitle this whole work in order to capture its nature as a work of remembrance of Francis rather than as a life of Francis. This passage serves as a means of approaching the text since Book One (2C 1-25) begins by concentrating on the name, Francis, as a means of indicating the saint’s vocation; while Book Two (2C 26-224) does so by reflecting on the importance of remembrance as a tool of honor and of love (2C 26).
- This is the first reference to Francis’s baptism. Since there is no record of it, scholars conjecture that it took place in the church of Santa Maria del Vescovado. Since the Duomo of San Rufino was being repaired, Santa Maria del Vescovado became the pro-cathedral. The baptismal font was later transferred back to San Rufino where it remains to this day. Cf. Omer Englebert, Saint Francis of Assisi: A Biography, trans. Eve Marie Cooper, 2nd Edition revised and augmented by Ignatius Brady and Raphael Brown (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1965), 405-406.
- In contrast with 1C, Thomas now accents baptismal grace as operating within Francis from the very beginning. His baptismal name of John is actually more significant because it identifies this grace as prophetic.
Vita Secunda Sancti Francisci, Fontes Franciscani, p. 445
PRIMUM OPUS.
Incipit « memoriale in desiderio animae » de gestis et verbis sanctissimi patris nostri Francisci.
De conversione eius
Caput I
Qualiter vocatus est prius Ioannes,
postea Franciscus; quod mater prophetavit de ipso,
et quod etiam de se ipso futura praedixit,
et de patientia in vinculis.
3 1Franciscus,
servus et amicus Altissimi,
cui divina providentia hoc vocabulum indidit,
ut ex singulari et insueto nomine opinio ministerii eius
toti citius innotesceret orbi,
a matre propria Ioannes vocatus fuit,
cum de filio irae,
ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto renascens,
gratiae filius est effectus.
