The Death of Saint Francis

Saint Bonaventure

In all things
he wished without hesitation
to be conformed to Christ crucified,
who hung on the cross poor, suffering, and naked.

Naked he lingered before the bishop
at the beginning of his conversion;
and, for this reason,
at the end of his life,
he wanted to leave this world naked.

And so he charged the brothers assisting him,
under the obedience of love,
that when they saw he was dead,
they should allow him to lie naked on the ground
for as long as it takes to walk a leisurely mile.

O truly the most Christian of men,
who strove by perfect imitation to be conformed
while living to Christ living,
dying to Christ dying,
and dead to Christ dead,
and deserved to be adorned
with an expressed likeness!

When the hour of his passing was approaching, he had all the brothers staying in the place called to him and, comforting them about his death with words of consolation, he exhorted them to divine love with fatherly affection. He spoke at length about preserving poverty and patience and the faith of the holy Roman Church, placing the holy Gospel ahead of other observances. As all the brothers sat around him, he stretched his hand over them, crossing his arms in the form of a cross, for he always loved this sign. And he blessed all the brothers, both present and absent, in the name and power of the Crucified.

Then he added: "Good bye, all my sons, in the fear of the Lord! Remain in Him always! Because a trial and tribulation is coming in the future, happy are they who will persevere in those things they have begun. I am hurrying to God, to whose grace I entrust all of you." When he finished this gentle admonition, the man most beloved of God ordered the Book of the Gospels brought to him and asked that the Gospel according to John be read to him from the place that begins: Before the feast of Passover. He, as best he could, broke out in this psalm: With my voice I cried to the Lord; With my voice I beseeched the Lord; and he finished it to the end. The just, he said, will await me until you have rewarded me.

At last,
when all of the mysteries were fulfilled in him

and that most holy soul was released from the flesh
and absorbed into the abyss of the divine light,
the blessed man fell asleep in the Lord.
One of his brothers and followers saw that blessed soul
under the appearance of a radiant star
carried up on a shining cloud
to be borne aloft straight to heaven over many waters,
as if shining with the brightness of sublime sanctity,
and filled with the abundance of heavenly wisdom and grace,
by which the holy man merited to enter
the place of light and peace where he rests with Christ forever.