"The minister general [St. Bonaventure] said to us: Here are some anecdotes that Brother Illuminato who accompanied St. Francis on his visit to the sultan of Egypt told us:
...The same sultan submitted this problem to him: "Your Lord taught in his gospels that evil must not be repaid with evil, that you should not refuse your cloak to anyone who wants to take your tunic, etc. (Mt 5,40): in that case, Christians should not invade our land?" - "It seems," Blessed Francis answered, "That you have not read the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ completely. In another place we read: if your eye causes you sin, tear it out and throw it away (Mt 5 , 29). Here he wanted to teach us that every man, however dear and close he is to us, and even if he is precious to us as the apple of our eye, must be repulsed, pulled out, expelled if he seeks to turn us aside from the faith and love of our God. That is why it is just that Christians invade the land you inhabit, for you blaspheme the name of Christ and alienate everyone you can from his worship. But if you were to recognize, confess, and adore the Creator and Redeemer, Christians would love you as themselves."
St. Francis of Assisi
Omnibus of Sources
Thirteenth-Century Sources
Verba fr. Illuminati (Ms Vat. Ottub. lat. 522)
Golubovich, Biblioteca, vol. I, pp. 36-37
Saturday, October 14, 2006
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Dear Brother I found this post interesting because I have a different version of the story related on Jim Forrest's website.
ReplyDelete"Among the well-attested stories in Francis’s life is his meeting in 1219 with one of Christianity’s chief opponents, Sultan Malik-al-Kamil. It was the time of the Fifth Crusade, shortly after a Crusader victory at the port city of Damietta — modern Dumyat — on the Nile Delta. Francis, who opposed all killing no matter what the cause, sought the blessing of the Cardinal who was chaplain to the Crusader forces to go and preach the Gospel to the sultan. The cardinal told him that the Muslims understood only weapons and that the one useful thing a Christian could do was to kill them. At last the cardinal stood aside, certain that Francis and Illuminato, the brother traveling with him, were being led to die as martyrs. The two left the Crusader encampment singing the psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Soldiers of the sultan’s army captured the pair, beat them, and then brought them before Malik-al-Kamil, who asked if they wished to become Muslims. Francis replied that they came to seek his conversion; if they failed in their effort, then let them be beheaded. According to legend, Francis offered to enter a furnace to demonstrate the truth of Christ’s Gospel; whether or not he made such a proposal, going unarmed into the enemy’s stronghold was analogous to leaping into a fire.
For a month Francis and the sultan met daily. Though neither converted the other, the sultan had such warmth for his guests that not only did he spare their lives but gave them a passport allowing them to visit Christian holy places under Muslim control and presented Francis with a beautifully carved ivory horn which is now among the relics of the saint kept in the Basilica of Assisi. It is recorded that “the two [Francis and Malik-al-Kamil] parted as brothers.”
What a different history we would look back upon if Muslims had encountered Christians who did not slaughter their enemies. When the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, no inhabitant of the city was spared — men, women and children were hacked to pieces until, the chronicle says, the Crusaders’ horses waded in blood. While Christians in the first three centuries would have taken a nonviolent example for granted, by the thirteenth century Francis was a voice crying in the wilderness: Christianity was preaching the holiness of war."
Is this the same story or a different version of the same story? Peace.
I was as shocked as everyone else when I read this account. Had it not been directly from "The Omnibus of the Sources for the Life of St. Francis of Assisi" Franciscan Press Quincy University, I would not have believed it either:
ReplyDeletePlease see: http://www.amazon.com/St-Francis-Assisi-Writings-Biographies/dp/0819908622
It actually follows more closely the research of my dear friends Thomas Woods and Robert Spencer than the distorted view the MSM would have us believe.
It shows me that whenever I think I have St. Francis neatly enclosed in a tiny little box that feels all warm and fuzzy, he somehow manages to reappear outside that box to challenge my way of thinking...indeed my entire core of beliefs...forever pointing the way to, of, in, for and through Jesus...
Thank you everyone here for speaking with honesty and concern, and for allowing corrections to be made and things to be discussed with, and in, love. What a blessed change from so many spots in the blogosphere. Bless you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, gabrielle, I couldn't agree with you more. As Christians, we can disagree without being disagreeable. How unfortunate that so many times we, as Christians, take our bibles and using them as "two edged swords" whack away at each other, shouting, "take this dogma!" WHACK! "Take this doctrine!" Whack! When all the while we should use that two edged sword to circumcise our own selfish hearts, cutting off the excess flesh of our own hearts, minds and souls...
ReplyDeleteGod bless you!