Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (Giovanni Fidanza, 1221-1274) was one of the most important theologians and philosophers of Scholasticism, as well as the long-serving Minister General of the Franciscan Order, credited with strengthening its internal structure. In the dispute over the vow of poverty, he acted as a mediator between the moderate and radical Franciscans. In 1263, he wrote a biography of St Francis of Assisi, and his mystical works, such as Journey of the Soul into God (Itinerarium mentis in Deum), are considered masterpieces of medieval devotional literature. Pope Gregory X appointed him Cardinal Bishop of Albano in 1273 and entrusted him with preparing the Second Council of Lyon, which aimed to reconcile with the Greek Orthodox Church. Bonaventure died in 1274 during the council itself. He was canonized in 1482 and in 1588 was declared a Doctor of the Church (Doctor Seraphicus).

Saint Francis of Assisi preached that the world was created by God as good and beautiful, but was corrupted by human sin. In his Canticle of the Creatures or Canticle of the Sun (Cantico di frate Sole), he expressed gratitude to God for the Sun, Moon, Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth, seeing in them brothers and sisters who praise the Creator. Francis was known for his profound love of nature and animals, which is reflected in the legends popularized in the collection Little Flowers of St Francis (Fioretti di san Francesco). Included are famous stories, already found in Bonaventure’s writings, about how Francis preached to the birds or how, in Gubbio, he tamed a dangerous wolf, making peace between the animal and the townspeople. Pope John Paul II declared Francis the patron saint of ecology in 1979, highlighting his example of responsible stewardship of nature. Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical Laudato si’, inspired by Francis’s hymn, gave rise to a movement of the same name that promotes integral ecology.

We will read an excerpt from the Legenda maior Sancti Francisci (Book II, Chapter 8), one of the episodes focusing on Francis’s communication with animals – here some unspecified birds and a cicada.

I have classified the difficulty level as moderate because the author uses various non-finite verb structures with participles, but in fact, the style is very easy and flowing in an almost conversational manner, and participles always refer to the main protagonists (Francis, birds, or the cicada) instead of forming chains of references.

As always, it is advisable to first read the excerpt as a whole and try to catch the words and phrases you immediately recognize. Clearly, there are lots of birds in it 𓅰 𓅬 𓅭 𓅮 𓅯 and the atmosphere is very devout, but also rather playful due to Francis addressing the birds and the cicada directly, in vocative, as “sisters”.

I hope you will enjoy this week’s reading and gladly drop by for more!

TEXT:

Alio tempore ambulans cum quodam fratre per paludes Venetiarum, invenit maximam avium multitudinem residentium et cantantium in virgultis. Quibus visis, dixit ad socium: ”Sorores aves laudant Creatorem suum; nos itaque in medium ipsarum euntes, laudes et horas canonicas Domino decantemus”. Cumque in medium earum intrassent, non sunt aves motae de foco; et quia propter garritum ipsarum in dicendis horis se mutuo audire non poterant, conversus vir sanctus dixit ad aves: ”Sorores aves, a cantu cessate, donec laudes Deo debitas persolvamus!”. At illae continuo tacuerunt, tamdiu in silentio persistentes, quamdiu, dictis horis spatiose et laudibus persolutis, a sancto Dei cantandi licentiam receperunt. Dante autem eis viro Dei licentiam, statim cantum suum more solito resumpserunt.

Apud Sanctam Mariam de Portiuncula iuxta cellam viri Dei super ficum cicada residens et decantans, cum servum Domini, qui etiam in parvis rebus magnificentiam Creatoris admirari didicerat, ad divinas laudes cantu suo frequentius excitaret, ab eodem quadam die vocata, velut edocta caelitus, super manum volavit ipsius. Cui cum dixisset: “Canta, soror mea cicada, et Dominum Creatorem tuo jubilo lauda!”, sine mora obediens canere coepit nec destitit, donec iussu patris ad locum proprium revolavit. Mansit autem per octo dies ibidem, quolibet die veniendo, cantando et recedendo eius iussa perficiens. Tandem vir Dei ait ad socios: “Demus iam sorori nostrae cicadae licentiam; satis enim nos suo cantu laetificans, ad laudes Dei octo dierum spatio excitavit”. Et statim ab eo licentiata recessit nec ultra ibidem apparuit, ac si mandatum ipsius non auderet aliquatenus praeterire.

ANALYSIS:

Alio tempore ambulans cum quodam fratre per paludes Venetiarum…

alio tempore – ablative of time, “at another (time)” – introducing a new episode

ambulans – present participle active in nominative singular, masculine as it refers to the subject that is not expressed, but we know it from the previous episode (Saint Francis)

cum – preposition + ablative, “with”

quodam – indefinite adjective quidam in ablative, “a certain”

fratre – ablative of frater, “brother”

per – preposition + accusative, “through”

paludes – accusative plural of palus, “marshes”

Venetiarum – genitive of possession, proper noun Venetiae, “of Venice”

… invenit maximam avium multitudinem residentium et cantantium in virgultis.

invenit – perfect indicative active of invenio in 3rd person singular as the subject is Saint Francis, “he found” (requires accusative, multitudinem)

maximam – accusative singular, feminine as it refers to multitudo, of maximus, absolute superlative of magnus, “very great”, “huge”

avium – genitive plural of avis, “of birds” 𓅰 𓅬 𓅭 𓅮 𓅯

multitudinem – accusative singular of multitudo, “multitude”

residentium – present participle active of resideo, “sitting, perching,” in genitive plural, feminine as it refers to the birds

et cantantium – present participle active of canto, “and singing”, coupled with residentium

in virgultis – ablative plural of virgultum, “bushes, thickets”

Quibus visis, dixit ad socium: “Sorores aves laudant Creatorem suum;

quibus visis – ablative absolute consisting of quibus (plural of the relative pronoun, “which” and visis (perfect participle passive of video), “with these seen” or “when he saw them”

dixit – perfect indicative active of dico, “he said”

ad – preposition with accusative, “to”

socium – accusative singular of socius, “companion”

sorores – nominative plural of soror, “sisters”

aves – nominative plural of avis, “birds”

laudant – present indicative active of laudo, “praise”, requires accusative

Creatorem – accusative singular of Creator, “Creator”

suum – suus, possessive-reflexive pronoun in accusative singular masculine as it refers to Creatorem, “their own” or simply “their”

… nos itaque in medium ipsarum euntes, laudes et horas canonicas Domino decantemus.”

nos – personal pronoun, “we”

itaque – adverb, “therefore”

in medium – preposition with accusative, “into” and medium, accusative singular, “midst”

ipsarum – genitive plural of ipse, feminine as it refers to the birds, “of them”

euntes – present participle active of eo, in nominative plural as it refers to the subject nos, “going”

laudes – accusative plural of laus, “praises”

et horas canonicas – accusative of horae canonicae, “and canonical hours”

Domino – dative singular of Dominus, “to the Lord”

decantemus – present subjunctive active of decant with exhortative meaning, as it refers to nos, “should sing (aloud),” “let us sing (aloud)”

Cumque in medium earum intrassent, non sunt aves motae de foco;

cumque – temporal conjunction cum + -que, “and when”

in medium – “into the midst” as above

earum – personal pronoun, genitive plural, feminine as it refers to the birds, “of them”

intrassent – pluperfect subjunctive active of intro, “had entered” (subjunctive is due to the conjunction cum)

non sunt…. motae – perfect indicative passive of moveo, “they did not move” (the participle is in the feminine form as it refers to the birds)

aves – and here they are again 𓅰 𓅬 𓅭 𓅮 𓅯

de foco – preposition with ablative of focus, here “from the spot”

Note: In classical Latin, focus meant only “hearth, fireplace,” but in medieval Latin it extended the meaning to include an abstract “focal point”; this meaning is what prevails today, but the original meaning associated with fire is still found in Romanic languages (It. fuoco, Sp. fuego, Fr. feu, etc.

… et quia propter garritum ipsarum in dicendis horis se mutuo audire non poterant,

et quia – conjunctions, “and because”

propter – preposition with accusative, “on account of”

garritum – accusative of garritus, “chattering, twittering”

ipsarum – demonstrative pronoun in genitive plural (possessive), feminine because it refers to the birds, “of those,” “of them”, “their”

in dicendis horis – ablative of hora with the accompanying gerundive of dico, “in the hours to be said” (referring to the canonical hours as above)

se mutuo – reflexive pronoun, here in the mutual sense of “each other,” as seen by mutuo, adverb, “mutually”

audire – present infinitive active, “(to) hear”

non poterant – imperfect indicative active of possum, “were not able”

conversus vir sanctus dixit ad aves: “Sorores aves, a cantu cessate, donec laudes Deo debitas persolvamus!”

conversus – perfect participle passive of converto, “having turned”

vir sanctus – nominative because subject, “the holy man”

dixit – perfect indicative active of dico, “said”

ad – preposition plus accusative as above, “to”

aves – to whom? Of course – to the birds 𓅰 𓅬 𓅭 𓅮 𓅯

sorores aves – vocative as he is addressing them directly, “O, you bird-sisters”

a cantu – preposition plus ablative of cantus, “from/of the song/singing”

cessate – direct imperative in 2nd person plural, “stop”, not with a direct object (“stop that!), but rather as one would use “refrain” in English: “refrain from singing”

donec – conjunction, “until”

laudes – accusative plural of laus, as above

Deo – dative of Deus, “to God”

debitas – perfect participle passive of debeo, “owe”, in accusative plural, feminine as it agrees with laudes, “due praises,” “praises owed to God”

persolvamus – present subjunctive active of persolvo, in 1st person plural as it refers to nos (subjunctive because of the temporal conjunction donec, “until we (should) have performed/absolved/rendered”

At illae continuo tacuerunt, tamdiu in silentio persistentes, quamdiu, dictis horis spatiose et laudibus persolutis, a sancto Dei cantandi licentiam receperunt.

at – conjunction of addition (emphasized “and”)

illae – demonstrative pronoun “those” (here instead of the personal pronoun “they”)

continuo – adverb, “immediately,” “at once”

Note: In classical Latin, this adverb still had the meaning “without a break,” which we would also link to modern English usage, “continuously”; however, already in Late Antiquity, there arose the adverbial nuance: “without a break” could now also be understood as “without delay,” cf. Augustine in Sermo 335/D (“On the Amulets”): Ille fecit et continuo sanatus est. = “He did it and was healed at once.”

tacuerunt – perfect indicative active of taceo, “fell silent”

tamdiu… quamdiu – adverb, “for as long as”

in silentio – ablative of silentium, “in silence”

persistentes – present participle active of persisto, nominative plural as it refers to the birds, “persisting”

dictis horis… et laudibus persolutis – ablatives absolutes consisting of nouns in plural (horis, laudibus) and perfect participles (dictis from dico, persolutis from persolvo), “when the hours were said and the praises were rendered”

Note: Here we cannot use the more practical past gerund in English (“having said the hours”, “having rendered the praises”) as it would mean that the birds did it. This is a characteristic feature of Latin passive participles: they agree with the noun upon which the action is done, the object of the non-finite clause, so to say, and say nothing about its subject, which remains free to interpretations; therefore, it is often far better (and safer) to create an actual finite clause where the subject will be expressed: “When the brethren said the hours…”

spatiose – adverb, “leisurely, at length” (a temporal kind of spaciousness)

a sancto Dei – ablative of agent “by/from the holy God”

cantandi – gerund (verbal noun) of canto, “for the singing”

licentiam – accusative of licentia, “permission” (licentiam cantandi, “licence to sing” 𓅰)

receperunt – perfect indicative active of recipio, “received” (goes with accusative, therefore licentiam)

Apud Sanctam Mariam de Portiuncula iuxta cellam viri Dei super ficum cicada residens et decantans,

apud – preposition with accusative, “at”

Sanctam Mariam – accusative of Sancta Maria, “Saint Mary”

de – preposition with ablative, “of, from”

Portiuncula – ablative of Portiuncula, name of a famous Franciscan chapel

iuxta – preposition with accusative, “next to”

cellam – accusative of cella, “cell” (here: monastic cell),

viri Dei – possessive genitive, “of the man of God”

super – preposition with accusative, “on”

ficum – accusative of ficus, “fig tree”

cicada – nominative singular of cicada, “cicada”, “tree-cricket” 

residens – present participle active of resideo, “sitting”

et decantans – present participle active of decanto, “singing incessantly”

… cum servum Domini, qui etiam in parvis rebus magnificentiam Creatoris admirari didicerat, ad divinas laudes cantu suo frequentius excitaret,

cum – temporal conjunction “when”

servum – accusative of servus, “servant”

Domini – possessive genitive of Dominus, “of the Lord”

qui – relative pronoun, “who”

etiam – adverb, “also”, “even”

in parvis rebus – preposition with ablative, ablative of parvus, and ablative of res,”in small things”

magnificentiam – accusative of magnificentia, “magnificence”

Creatoris – possessive genitive of Creator, “of the Creator”

admirari – present infinitive of admiror, passive in form because of the deponent verb, “to admire”

didicerat – pluperfect indicative active of disco, “had learned”

ad divinas laudes – preposition with accusative, accsatives of divinus (in feminine form) and laus, “to divine praises” or “to praise God”

cantu suo – ablative of cantus, as above, with possessive pronoun in ablative

frequentius – comparative adverb, “more frequently”, here in the absolute sense, “rather frequently”

excitaret – imperfect subjunctive active of excito, “stir” (in subjunctive because of the temporal cum)

… ab eodem quadam die vocata, velut edocta caelitus, super manum volavit ipsius.

ab – preposition with the ablative of agent, “by, from”

eodem – ablative of idem, “the same”, here: “himself”

quadam die – ablative of time, “one day”

vocata – perfect participle passive of voco, “called” or “having been called”, feminine as it refers to the cicada

velut – adverb, “as if”

edocta – perfect participle passive of edoceo, “taught” coupled with vocata

caelitus – adverb, “from heaven”, “divinely”

super – preposition with accusative, “upon”

manum – accusative of manus, “hand”

volavit – perfect indicative active of volo, “flew”

ipsius – genitive of the demonstrative pronoun ipse, “of this one”, i.e. “of him”

Cui cum dixisset: “Canta, soror mea cicada, et Dominum Creatorem tuo jubilo lauda!”, 

cui – dative of the relative pronoun qui, “to whom”

cum – temporal conjunction “when”

dixisset – pluperfect subjunctive active of dico, “had said” (subjunctive because of the conjunction cum)

Note: Instead of saying Et cum Fransicus illae dixisset, medieval Latin regularly uses unexpressed subject and a relative instead of the personal pronoun in dative, literally “Whom as he said” = “And as he said to it.”

canta – direct imperative of canto in 2nd person singular, “sing!”

soror mea cicada – vocative, “o, my sister cicada”

et Dominum Creatorem – accusative of Dominus Creator

tuo jubilo – ablative of means or instrument, “by your joyful song/jubilation”

lauda – direct imperative, coupled with canta, “praise!”

… sine mora obediens canere coepit nec destitit, donec iussu patris ad locum proprium revolavit.

sine mora – preposition with ablative, “without delay”

obediens – present participle active of obedio, “being obedient”, “heeding to his words”

canere – present infinitive active of cano, “to sing”

coepit – perfect indicative active of coepio, “began”

nec – conjunction, “nor,” “and not”

destitit – perfect indicative active of desisto, “ceased”, with nec = “did not cease”

donec – conjunction, “until”

iussu – ablative of iussum, “by command”

patris – possessive genitive, “of the father” (here: Francis)

ad locum proprium – preposition with accusatives of locus proprius, “to its own place”, “to the proper place”

revolavit – perfect indicative active of revolo, “flew back” (re-volo)

Mansit autem per octo dies ibidem, quolibet die veniendo, cantando et recedendo eius iussa perficiens.

mansit – perfect indicative active of maneo, “stayed,” “remained”

autem – conjunction “but,” “however,” here merely dynamizing the story 

per octo dies – preposition with accusative, here temporal: “for eight days”

ibidem – “in that same place”

quolibet die – ablative of quilibet dies, “each day”

veniendo, cantando et recedendo – gerunds of venio, canto, and recedo: “coming, singing, and leaving”

eius – possessive genitive, “his”

iussa – accusative plural of iussum, “orders”

perficiens – present participle active of perficio, “performing,” “fulfilling”, referring to the cicada

Tandem vir Dei ait ad socios: “Demus iam sorori nostrae cicadae licentiam;

tandem – adverb, “at last”, “finally”

vir Dei – subject, “man of God”

ait – present indicative active of aio, mostly used in 3rd person, “says” (in the context rather “said”)

ad socios – preposition with accusative of socius, “to (his) companions”

demus – present subjunctive active of do, exhortative: “let us give”

iam – adverb, “already” (for something that is overdue)

sorori nostrae cicadae – dative of soror nostra cicada, “to our sister cicada”

licentiam – accusative of licentia, as above

… satis enim nos suo cantu laetificans, ad laudes Dei octo dierum spatio excitavit”.

satis – adverb, “enough”

enim – conjunction, “indeed” (usually stands after the first word in a clause and corroborates it)

nos – accusative, “us”

suo cantu – ablative of means or instrument, “by its singing”, as above

laetificans – present participle active of laetifico, “delighting”, “bringing joy”

ad laudes – preposition with accusative, “to praises”

Dei – genitive of Deus, “of God” (here not possessive, but meaning “to praise God”)

octo – cardinal number, “eight”

dierum – genitive plural of dies, “of days”

spatio – temporal ablative of spatium, “for a span,” “for a period”

excitavit – perfect indicative active of excito, as above

Et statim ab eo licentiata recessit nec ultra ibidem apparuit, 

et statim – conjunction and adverb, “and immediately”

ab eo – preposition with ablative, ablative of the personal pronoun, “by him”

licentiata – perfect participle passive of licentio, “having been given permission”, “having been dismissed”

recessit – perfect indicative active of recedo, “departed”

nec – conjunction, “nor”

ultra – adverb, “further”, with negation “anymore”

ibidem – adverb, “there”, “at that (same) place”

apparuit – perfect indicative active of appareo, “appeared”

ac si mandatum ipsius non auderet aliquatenus praeterire.

ac si – conjunctions, “as if”

mandatum – accusative of mandatum, “command”

ipsius – possessive genitive of ipse, “of him”

non auderet – adverb “not” and imperfect subjunctive active of audeo, “would not dare” (subjunctive because of the hypothetical “as if”)

aliquatenus – adverb, “in any way”

praeterire – present infinitive active praetereo, “to transgress”

The most famous of numerous paintings depicting Saint Francis with birds is certainly that by Giotto di Bondone, but what about the cicada? As a matter of fact, there is a beautiful modern bronze statue by Fiorenzo Bacci at the Friary of Santa Maria degli Angeli at Assisi, popularly known as „Saint Francis Petting a Cicada“. 

As the images of the sculpture are rare and copyrighted, I advise you to Google it – to my mind, the most beautiful photos are those made by Carlo Raso from Naples, to be viewed on his Flickr account.

Text source: Legendae duae de Vita s. Francisci (Quaracchi: Collegium s. Bonaventurae, 1898), pp. 88-99.