Francis of Assisi & the Mendicants

 MEDIEVAL 
 STUDIES

 compiled by William Harmless, S.J.

Creighton University 

   1. Francis of Assisi: Texts & Studies

   2. Bonaventure: Texts & Studies

   3. The Franciscan Order: Studies

   4. Dominic & the Dominicans: Texts & Studies

  1. FRANCIS OF ASSISI: TEXTS & STUDIES

Lawrence S. Cunningham, Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004) paperback, $14.  Few figures have captured the Christian imagination as powerfully as the early 13th-century charismatic reformer, Francis of Assisi.  His radical commitment to poverty transformed how Christians saw Jesus and offered a relentless challenge to the power and riches of the medieval church.  This study offers an excellent introduction to the life, times, and teaching of Francis of Assisi.  Cunningham writes for a broad audience and teaches readers how to approach things with a critical eye, how to cut through the sentimentality that often clouds the radicalism and challenge of Francis’ life and message.  He concludes the study with a valuable essay on recent studies on Francis and the Franciscans.

Regis J. Armstrong, J. Wayne Hellmann, & William J. Short, Francis of Assisi: Early Documents. (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1999-2001) paperback, $25-30 per volume.  This 4-volume series is a remarkable achievement, the complete translation of all the early lives of Francis and all the essential documents of the early Franciscan and movement.  Fine translations and valuable notes.  This replaces the older Omnibus edition (ed. Marion Habig, see below).

• Vol. 1: The Saint (1999). This contains the three works by Thomas of Celano as well as all the surviving writings of Francis himself.

• Vol. 2: The Founder (2000).  This contains two of the most crucial lives of Francis: Bonaventure’s Legenda and the Legend of the Three Companions.

• Vol. 3: The Prophet (2001).  This includes the popular Fioretti, or Little Flowers of St. Francis.

• Vol. 4: Index (2002). Oddly published as a separate volume.

Regis Armstrong & Ignatius C. Brady, eds., Francis & Clare: The Complete Works, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1982) paperback $18.

Regis Armstrong, William J. Short, and J.A. Wayne Hellman, Clare of Assisi: The Lady: Early Documents (Brooklyn, NY: New City Press, 2007) paperback, $30.  NEW.

Marco Bartoli, Clare of Assisi, trans. Frances Teresa (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 1993). 

Rosalind B. Brooke, The Image of St. Francis: Responses to Sainthood in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) hardcover, $130.  NEW.

Arnaldo Fortini, Francis of Assisi, trans. Helen Moak (New York: Crossroad, 1980).  Translation of 1959 work; Thorough, but rather hagiographic.  Fortini was the former mayor of Assisi and spent years combing the city archives.

Chiara Frugoni, Francis of Assisi (New York: Continuum, 1998) paperback.

Marion A. Habig, ed., St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies, English Omnibus of Sources for the Life of St. Francis (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1983) paperback.

Adrian House, Francis of Assisi (New York: Paulist Press, 2001) paperback, $20.

Jacques LeGoff, Saint Francis of Assisi, trans. Christine Rhone (New York: Routledge, 2003) paperback, $22.  Despite appearances, a collection of essays on Francis and the Franciscans.  LeGoff attunes readers to the social context and dynamics.

Raoul Manselli, Saint Francis of Assisi (Chicago: Franciscan Herald, 1988). 

Joan Mueller, The Privilege of Poverty: Clare of Assisi, Agnes of Prague, and The Struggle for a Franciscan Rule for Women (Pennsylvania State University, 2006) hardcover, $40. NEW.

Joan Mueller, Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003) paperback, $14.

Michael Robson, Saint Francis of Assisi: The Legend and the Life (New York: Continuum, 2000) paperback, $20.  A fine recent study.

Kenneth Baxter Wolf, The Poverty of Riches: St. Francis of Assisi Reconsidered, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) paperback, $19.

Bonaventure (d.1274) was superior general of the Franciscans, a superb scholastic theologian, and a mystical writer of the first order.  For a critical edition of Bonaventure’s Latin works, see Doctoris Seraphici S. Bonaventurae opera omnia, 10 vol. (Quaracchi: Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1882-1902).  Bonaventure’s mystical masterpiece is the Mind’s Journey into God (Itinerarium mentis in Deum).  For a recent translation, together with the Latin text on facing pages and excellent notes, see Philotheus Boehner and Zachary Hayes, eds., Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Vol. 2 of Works of St. Bonaventure, rev. ed. (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2002).  Bonaventure’s vast corpus of theological writings are slowly being translated (or re-translated); see George Marcil and Zachary Hayes, eds., Works of Saint Bonaventure (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1978-      ).  An older 5-volume translation by José de Vinck, The Works of Bonaventure (Patterson, NJ: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1960-1970), is still useful; it offers a complete translation of Bonaventure’s final work, the Collations on the Six Days (Collationes in Hexaemeron).

Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey into God, The Tree of Life, The Life of St. Francis, trans. Ewert Cousins, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1978) paperback, $23.  The theme of the ascent of the inner person to God is ancient—but Bonaventure brings the Franciscan depth and warmth of feeling to this age-old theme.  This volume also includes Bonaventure's classic Life of Francis.

Zachary Hayes, “Bonventure: Mystery of the Triune God,” in Kenan Osborne, ed., The History of Franciscan Theology (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1994), paperback, $25.  While there are several fine introductions to Bonaventure’s theology, this one carefully balances precision, lucidity, and brevity.  The volume as a whole offers an excellent overview of the Franciscan contribution to medieval theology and devotes other chapters to Alexander of Hales, Duns Scotus, and Ockham.

J.G. Bougerol, Introduction to the Works of Bonaventure, trans. José de Vinck (Patterson, NJ: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1964).

Charles Carpenter, Theology as the Road to Holiness in St. Bonaventure, Theological Inquiries (New York: Paulist Press, 1999).

Ewert H. Cousins, Bonaventure and the Coincidence of Opposites (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1978).

Ewert H. Cousins, “Bonaventure’s Mysticism of Language,” 236-258, in Steven T. Katz, Mysticism and Language (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Ewert H. Counsins, “Francis of Assisi: Christian Mysticism at the Crossroads,” 163-190, in Steven T. Katz, Mysticism and Religious Traditions (New York:  Oxford University Press, 1983).

Christopher M. Cullen, Bonaventure, Great Medieval Thinkers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) paperback, $20.  NEW.

Ilia Delio, Crucified Love: Bonaventure’s Mysticism of the Crucified Christ (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 1998).

Ilia Delio, Simply Bonaventure: An Introduction to His Life, Thought, and Writings (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2001).

Etienne Gilson, The Philosophy of St. Bonaventure, trans. Illtyd Trethowan and Frank J. Sheed (Patterson, NY: St. Anthony Guild Press, 1965).

Zachary Hayes, The Hidden Center: Spirituality and Speculative Christology in St. Bonaventure (Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1992).

Zachary Hays, Bonaventure: Mystical Writings, Spiritual Legacy series (New York: Crossroad, 1999) paperback, $15.

J.A. Hellmann, Divine and Created Order in Bonaventure's Theology, trans. Jay M. Hammond (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 2001).

Timothy Johnson, Iste Pauper Clamavit: Saint Bonaventure’s Mendicant Theology of Prayer, Europäische Hochschulschriften, Theology (Series XXIII), vol. 390 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1990).

Timothy Johnson, The Soul in Ascent: Bonaventure on Poverty, Prayer, and Union with God (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Press, 2001).

Bernard McGinn, The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism (New York: Crossroad, 1998), 87-116.

Joseph Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure, trans. Zachary Hayes (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1981).

George H. Tavard, Transciency and Permanence: The Nature of Theology According to Bonaventure (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institue, 1954).

John Moorman, History of the Franciscan Order: From its Origins to the Year 1517 (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1988; reprint of 1965 edition) hardcover, $25.  The first 100 pages of this offers a fine portrait of Francis of Assisi.  It also has a fine discussion of one of the most interesting episodes in Church history: the fight between the Papacy and the Franciscan Spirituals.

David Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003) paperback, $25.

David Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty: the Origins of the Usus Pauper Controversy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989).

D.L. D’Arvay, Preaching of the Friars: Sermons Diffused from Paris Before 1300 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985).

John W. Fleming, An Introduction to the Franciscan Literature of the Middle Ages (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977). 

Malcolm David Lambert, Franciscan Poverty: The Doctrine of Absolute Poverty of Christ and the Apostles in the Franciscan Order, 1210-1323.

C.H. Lawrence, The Friars: the Impact of the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society (New York: Longman, 1994) paperback, $23.  A good survey.

Gordon Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: the Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent, 1250-1450, 2 vol. (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967).  A key study of the Franciscan Spirituals.

Kevin Madigan, Olivi and the Interpretation of Matthew in the High Middle Ages (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003) paperback, $28.

Bernard McGinn, The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism, 1200-1350  (New York: Crossroad, 1998) paperback, $29.  This volume focuses especially on Francis, Bonaventure, and those influenced by Franciscan spirituality.

Arthur Stephen McGrade, ed., William of Ockham: A Letter to the Friars Minor and Other Writings, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995) paperback, $28.

William J. Short, Poverty and Joy: The Franciscan Tradition, Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999) paperback.

 4. DOMINIC & THE DOMINICANS: TEXTS & STUDIES

Simon Tugwell, ed., Early Dominicans: Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press, 1982) paperback, $28.  It has key documents from and about not only Dominic but his great co-worker and successor, Jordan of Saxony.  The bulk of the text is Humbert of Romans' great work, Treatise on the Formation of Preachers, which better than anything else defines Dominican spirituality.  The introductory essay by Tugwell is superb.

Kent Emery, Christ Among the Medieval Dominicans: Representations of Christ in Texts and Images of the Order of Preachers (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999) paperback, $45.

W.A. Hinnebusch, A History of the Dominican Order: Origins and Growth to 1550 (New York: 1966).

C.H. Lawrence, The Friars: the Impact of the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society (New York: Longman, 1994) paperback, $23.

Simon Tugwell, ed., Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas: Selected Writings, Classics of Western Spirituality 60,  (New York: Paulist Press, 1988) paperback, $28.