New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-07-15

ton at Rome, but willingly accepted) fra'res
MInores. Apostolicae Sedi In omnibus ooedieh'eS'
In the trials and anxietes OF later years ne may
have felt the difficulty Of obedience. bu' he
never showed any stubbornness except On III"
one point Of poverty. AS long as the huiio4 "
,,s fo,,owers was limited to the few who could
sympathize with his views and endure '"e p''
t,ons and the beggary which he priced. all went
well But when the frars began to be nulpereu
nv hundreds AMI thousands. then the weakness
Of average humanity became obvious. BEFORE ne
d,.d he had the misery Of seeing changes IN the
order that were fatal to his hopes. FROM 'he
outset he had been warned that such would De
the case by the far-sightsd men OF the worid WHO
were supreme In the Church. They told him that
human nature could not carry out the rule "fi'ch
he formulated. Perhaps they were right But
.ho,, rssd all the arts they we're masters OF TO
make their predictions come true In almost
everv controversy among the brethren In which
the Church could interfere, its Influence was
,hr,u., IN favor Of relaxation OF discipline The
time even came long after Francis had passed
ayav when those who maintained the strict
views of the founder were condemned as heretics.
Flaws were found In the arguments by wnich
they sustained their precept OF poverty ana they
Iapsed also into errors OF doctrine from when
Francis escaped by his simplicity and by MS IN
difference as TO matters of belief. NJ Sabatier
shows that the stories of Franciss skill In theolo-
CIV were untrue His manner In speaking was not
that OF a preacher. One would imagine that he
was something like a modern evangelist lie
aimed to touch the hearts of his hearers well
knowing that they were already convinced. lie
knew also the power Of example. To one who IN
qured whether wicked men should always be re-
buked ne replied in the affirmative. but intinated
that the reproof should be by act rather than
word. Many of the miraculous legends tha'
gathered about his name illustrated this phase
Of his character.
The whole story Of his life Is that Of an Infinite
success in what must have seemed to himself
failure. He left the order which he had founded
a prey to dissensions. But in his person ne pre-
scented for all time the ideal Of self-a bnegation
It sounds strangely, but 1t Is the fact that his
death was hailed with acclamations by the loyal
Assisans, who now had the body of saint 10
bury in their city. Such precautions were taken
to prevent the theft OF his bones-a common IN
cident In the posthumous history OF saints I
to this day no man knows the exact location OF
his sepulchre. Innumerable tales Of miracles per-
formed by him both living and dead were current
among the people. To modern readers these sig
Nifty little for the light they throw on his
character or that OF the people who believed
how shortly before his death he received on his
body all the marks OF the Cruched, is now rem
dered credible by the record OF experiments In
hypnotism. NJ Sabatier devotes special paper
10 the subject Of the so-called stgmata. and
shows that incident in the life Of 81. Francis
is better supported by contemporary evidence
than the narrative OF the way these strange
marks were caused. But he corrects the ordi-
nary belief that they were wounds. Only the
mark in the side where Christ was pierced with
the spear said by the friends OF 81. Francis
resemble n irCisiOn The Ike the
ends OF the nails with when the Savours hands
and feet were fixed TO the cross. The explanation
from the time Of Bonaventura onward appears 10
have been very like the one that would be given
by modern science-that the miracle was the
product OF vehement Imagination" II vas
less remarkable that A man who laborei intense
ly TO realize in his he as far possible all that
was related Of the Saviour. especially His power
ty should have left material for remarkable
comparison between his own career and that II
his exemplar In general VI. Sabatier has said
little Of the Franciscan miracles. II the
biography. not the legend Of ST. Francis which
he aimed 10 tell.