St. Francis and the Franciscan Admonitions
Francis of Assisi was born in 1181, and was taught to read and write in Latin as a young boy. In 1205 Francis had a vision; this vision was interpreted to be a message from God to repair the church. After renouncing all of his belongings and receiving blessings from the pope, Francis set out to preach with his new order of monks, known as the Franciscans. To preserve the religious vocations of his brothers, Francis created the Admonitions. They were written during the foundational period of the Franciscan order. The Admonitions are instructions created to emphasize important virtues such as obedience, poverty, and humility.
In “Perfect and Imperfect Obedience” Francis speaks of the Lord’s Gospel “Every one of you who does not renounce all that he posses cannot be my disciple… He who would save his life will lose it” . In doing so, Francis is explaining that true obedience is not to one’s self, but, to God as well as one’s neighbor. True obedience is also shown through the sacrifice of themselves for their beliefs. Rather than renouncing one’s beliefs, the religious would suffer persecution for their brethren. In addition, Francis also emphasizes that with obedience comes understanding. As the Lord tells us to serve, it is important to know that we are the givers. Francis reminds us that those who have obtained high authority are no more important than those who wash their feet.
In another of Francis’ chapters “No One Should Be Scandalized at Another’s Fall”, we are told that sin is the only thing that should upset a religious; if any religious finds themselves “upset or angry for any other reason except charity, he is only drawing blame upon himself” . Religious’ live good lives by r...
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...s of the Lord” Francis speaks of the one thing all can boast about, humiliations and picking up the cross of Jesus .
The Admonitions served as short exhortations to Francis of Assisi’s Franciscan brothers in order to persevere their vocations. By creating Admonitions, Francis revived the significant virtues of obedience, humility, and poverty; while each one is scripturally based, they also address the aspects of living a Christian life. Although the Admonitions contain only minor points, the cumulative effect on the Franciscans is substantial. In the world we live in today moral values and kindness to one’s neighbor are hard to come by. Franciscan or not, there can still be much to learn from the Admonitions.
Bibliography
Francis of Assisi, Admonitions, in Mark A. Kirshlansky, ed. Sources of the west, Vol. 1, 7th edition (New York: Pearson Longman,2008) 182-186
Aquinas, St. Thomas. COMMENTARY on SAINT PAUL'S EPISTLE to the GALATIANS. Trans. F. R. Larcher. Albany: Magi Books, 1996.
Carleton- Munro, Dana. The Speech of Pope Urban II. At Clermont, 1095. The American Historical Review. 11. no. 2 (1906): 231.
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This passage reflects what Christianity care teachings “taught by Jesus” are to good by everyone, which can be observed i...
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