Read Online On the Road with Francis of Assisi by Linda Bird Francke - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Linda Bird Francke
Ads: Link
owed obedience to the civil authorities.”
The stalemate must have been a relief to the city fathers, who wanted nothing to do with the domestic dispute, but it did nothing to appease Pietro. Instead he went to the bishop of Assisi and “repeated his accusation.” In turn, Bishop Guido, who is described in the
Legend of the Three Companions
as “a wise and prudent man,” summoned Francis to answer his father’s indictment. Francis agreed to “willingly appear before the Lord Bishop who is the father and lord of souls.” And the stage was set for the final and most dramatic confrontation between father and son—and Assisi’s most famous scandal.
5
Showdown in Assisi
A SSISI,
where Francis repudiates his father and is reborn ·
T HE S AN V ERECONDO MONASTERY,
where he nearly dies ·
G UBBIO,
where he is saved ·
A SSISI,
where he returns to rebuilding San Damiano
A ssisi’s small, tree-lined Piazza del Vescovado is a study of serenity on a fall afternoon. The leaves dapple the sunlight onto the central fountain and the quiet cobblestones in front of Santa Maria Maggiore, Assisi’s first cathedral; next to it is the bishop’s age-old and renovated residence. Surprisingly, neither the simple old Romanesque church, with its recessed brick vault and fragments of frescoes, nor the bishop’s unassuming walled residence merits much of a mention in the guidebooks to Assisi, though both are central to the legend of Francis. Perhaps it is because there are no tourist trattorias in the piazza and most of it is given up to parking spaces. The only other people we see are young French backpackers looking for an inexpensive room in a lovely old Franciscan residence run by nuns across from Santa Maria Maggiore. It is full.
Vescovado was hardly a study of serenity in the spring of 1206, when Francis and Pietro Bernadone finally squared off there—for good. Some historians set the father-son confrontation in the Piazza del Comune, others in the piazza fronting San Rufino, but the majority point to little Vescovado. The showdown took place in and around the bishop’s residence, which was in the same location in 1206 as is the current residence today. So this is where we have come to reenact in our imaginations the drama of epic proportions.
Picture Pietro, the father and accuser, glowering with accumulated rage at the loss of his money and fury at his stubborn, undeserving son. Imagine Francis, the crazy son and thief, arriving at the bishop’s residence smiling and laughing, joyfully obeying the bishop’s commands while ignoring those of his father. Imagine the crowd of gossipy Assisians gathered to witness the living soap opera of the Bernadone family. Some say that even young Clare was among the crowd that spring day, which, though a tantalizing possibility, seems doubtful, given her youth and her family’s high position.
The hearing before Bishop Guido started uneventfully enough. There was no disputing the fact that Francis had taken and sold his father’s cloth and his horse without permission, that he had tried to give the money to the priest at San Damiano as a restoration fund, that his father wanted his son to give the money back. And that was just what Bishop Guido told Francis to do. “Your father is highly incensed and greatly scandalized by your conduct,” the bishop admonished Francis according to the
Legend of the Three Companions.
“If therefore you wish to serve God, you must first of all return him his money, which may indeed have been dishonestly acquired.”
Francis was quick to obey—and to add a flourish of his own. “My Lord Bishop, not only will I gladly give back the money which is my father’s, but also my clothes,” he said. And with that, Francis briefly repaired into the bishop’s residence, took off all his clothes, laid the sack of money on top of them, and reappeared in the piazza in front of the bishop, his father, and the good folk of Assisi, stark naked.
Standing there
The stalemate must have been a relief to the city fathers, who wanted nothing to do with the domestic dispute, but it did nothing to appease Pietro. Instead he went to the bishop of Assisi and “repeated his accusation.” In turn, Bishop Guido, who is described in the
Legend of the Three Companions
as “a wise and prudent man,” summoned Francis to answer his father’s indictment. Francis agreed to “willingly appear before the Lord Bishop who is the father and lord of souls.” And the stage was set for the final and most dramatic confrontation between father and son—and Assisi’s most famous scandal.
5
Showdown in Assisi
A SSISI,
where Francis repudiates his father and is reborn ·
T HE S AN V ERECONDO MONASTERY,
where he nearly dies ·
G UBBIO,
where he is saved ·
A SSISI,
where he returns to rebuilding San Damiano
A ssisi’s small, tree-lined Piazza del Vescovado is a study of serenity on a fall afternoon. The leaves dapple the sunlight onto the central fountain and the quiet cobblestones in front of Santa Maria Maggiore, Assisi’s first cathedral; next to it is the bishop’s age-old and renovated residence. Surprisingly, neither the simple old Romanesque church, with its recessed brick vault and fragments of frescoes, nor the bishop’s unassuming walled residence merits much of a mention in the guidebooks to Assisi, though both are central to the legend of Francis. Perhaps it is because there are no tourist trattorias in the piazza and most of it is given up to parking spaces. The only other people we see are young French backpackers looking for an inexpensive room in a lovely old Franciscan residence run by nuns across from Santa Maria Maggiore. It is full.
Vescovado was hardly a study of serenity in the spring of 1206, when Francis and Pietro Bernadone finally squared off there—for good. Some historians set the father-son confrontation in the Piazza del Comune, others in the piazza fronting San Rufino, but the majority point to little Vescovado. The showdown took place in and around the bishop’s residence, which was in the same location in 1206 as is the current residence today. So this is where we have come to reenact in our imaginations the drama of epic proportions.
Picture Pietro, the father and accuser, glowering with accumulated rage at the loss of his money and fury at his stubborn, undeserving son. Imagine Francis, the crazy son and thief, arriving at the bishop’s residence smiling and laughing, joyfully obeying the bishop’s commands while ignoring those of his father. Imagine the crowd of gossipy Assisians gathered to witness the living soap opera of the Bernadone family. Some say that even young Clare was among the crowd that spring day, which, though a tantalizing possibility, seems doubtful, given her youth and her family’s high position.
The hearing before Bishop Guido started uneventfully enough. There was no disputing the fact that Francis had taken and sold his father’s cloth and his horse without permission, that he had tried to give the money to the priest at San Damiano as a restoration fund, that his father wanted his son to give the money back. And that was just what Bishop Guido told Francis to do. “Your father is highly incensed and greatly scandalized by your conduct,” the bishop admonished Francis according to the
Legend of the Three Companions.
“If therefore you wish to serve God, you must first of all return him his money, which may indeed have been dishonestly acquired.”
Francis was quick to obey—and to add a flourish of his own. “My Lord Bishop, not only will I gladly give back the money which is my father’s, but also my clothes,” he said. And with that, Francis briefly repaired into the bishop’s residence, took off all his clothes, laid the sack of money on top of them, and reappeared in the piazza in front of the bishop, his father, and the good folk of Assisi, stark naked.
Standing there
Similar Books
