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Papal Documents
A) Cum dilecti of Honorius III (1219)
This brief letter is the first known official document of the Papal court concerning Francis’s brotherhood.a It is essentially a “letter of introduction” assuring bishops and pastors that members of this highly untraditional group did in fact belong to an approved religious community. Such letters were especially necessary in light of the fact that the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) had taken strong measures against unauthorized wandering preachers.b
Honorius, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, to our venerable brothers, the archbishops and bishops; and to our beloved sons, the abbots, deans, archdeacons, and other prelates of churches: health and apostolic benediction.
Our beloved sons, Brother Francis and his companions of the life and religion of the Lesser Brothers have rejected the vanities of this world and have chosen a way of life deservedly approved by the Roman Church;c after the example of the Apostles they go throughout different regions sowing the seed of the word of God.
We therefore beseech and exhort all of you in the Lord, and by these apostolic letters command you, when members of the aforesaid brotherhood present themselves to you bearing these letters, to receive them as [true] Catholic faithful, showing yourselves favorable and kind to them out of reverence for God and us.
Given at Rieti, the eleventh of June, in the third year of our pontificate (1219).d
- BFr, 1, p. 2. n. 2.
- Especially canon 3: "There are some who holding to the form of religion but denying its power, as the Apostle says, (1 Tm 3:5) claim for themselves the authority to preach, whereas the same Apostle says, How shall they preach unless they are sent? (Rom 10:15) Let therefore all those who have been forbidden or not sent to preach, and yet dare publicly or privately to usurp the office of preaching without having received the authorization of the Apostolic See or the Catholic bishop of the place, be bound with the bond of excommunication and, unless they repent very quickly, be punished by another suitable penalty." Cf. also canon 62. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, 1: 234-35, 263 (hereafter DEC).
- We have literally translated the word religio used by Honorius here, as it was the usual term for a religious order. He here is apparently recognizing the oral approval of the primitive Rule by Innocent III and the subsequent on-going approbation of the Roman court as giving full legal foundation to the Lesser Brothers.
- Both the town and, more importantly, the date of issuance of this bull differ in the manuscripts. Sbaralea (Bfr 1, p. 2) gives 1219, from Rieti. In 1919, Delorme was persuaded to assign the letter to 1218, and from the Lateran; his opinion was followed in a number of studies. We have followed the argument of Williel R. Thomson ("Checklist of Papal Letters Relating to the Three Orders of Saint Francis: Innocent III—Alexander IV," AFH [1971]: 379), who views the 1219 date as preferable.
Cum dilecti, Bullarium Franciscanum, p. 2
Cum dilecti of Honorius III (1219)1
Honorius &. Venerabilibus Fratribus, Archiepiscopis, & Episcopis, ac Dilectis Filiis, Abbatibus, Decanis, Archidiaconis, & aliss Ecclesiarum Praelatis Salutem, & Apostolicam Benedictionem.
Cum dilecti filii Frater Franciscus, & socii ejus de vita, & religione Minorum Fratrum, abjectis vanitatibus hujus Mundi, elegerint vitae viam a Romana Ecclesia meritò approbatam; ac ferenda semina Verbi Dei Apostolica exemplo diversas circumeant mansiones;
Universitatem vestram rogamus, & hortamur in Domino, per Apostolica Vobis scripta mandantes, quatenùs latores praesentium de praedictorum Fratrum Collegio existentes, cum ad vos duxerint declinandum, ipsos recipiatis, sicut Catholicos, & Fideles; aliàs eis ob reverentiam divinam, & nostram exhibentes vos favorabiles, & benignos.
Datum III. Judus Junii; Pontificatus Nostri Anno Tertio.