The Robbers

How Saint Francis Converted Three Murderous Robbers and They Became Brothers

 The Little Flowers of St Francis, Chapter 26

One time when Saint Francis was going through the area of Borgo San Sepolcro, he passed through a village named Monte Casale, and a young man came to him. He was noble and refined, and said to him: "Father, I would very much like to be one of your brothers." Saint Francis responded: "My son, you are young, refined and noble: perhaps you couldn't bear our poverty and hardship." But he said: "Father, aren't all of you human, like me? If you can endure it, so can I, with the grace of Christ." This answer pleased Saint Francis very much and so, blessing him, he immediately received him into the Order, and gave him the name Brother Angelo. And this young man behaved so graciously that shortly afterward Saint Francis made him Guardian in that place of Monte Casale.

At that time three famous robbers frequented that area, and they committed many evil deeds in the area. One day they came to that place of the brothers and asked Brother Angelo, the Guardian, to give them something to eat. But the Guardian answered them in this way, rebuking them sharply: "You! Robbers and cruel murderers! You aren't ashamed to steal the hard work of others and now you're bold and shameless enough to try to devour the alms sent to the servants of God! You aren't worth the ground to hold you up! You have no respect for people or the God who created you. Go! Mind your own business, and never show yourselves here again!" At this they left, disturbed and deeply offended.

Then Saint Francis returned from outside with a sack of bread and a small jug of wine that he and his companion had obtained. When the Guardian related how he had driven away those men, Saint Francis rebuked him severely, saying that he had acted cruelly: "They would be brought back to God more easily by sweetness than by cruel rebukes. Therefore our teacher Jesus Christ whose Gospel we have promised to observe, says that it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick, and that He did not come to call the just but to call sinners to repentance, and for that reason He often ate with them. Therefore, since you have acted against charity and against the holy Gospel of Christ, I command you under holy obedience: immediately take this sack of bread and jug of wine that I obtained and go after them diligently through mountains and valleys until you find them. Then on my behalf present all this bread and wine to them. Then kneel down before them and humbly tell them your fault of being cruel. Then ask them on my behalf not to do evil anymore, but to fear God and not to offend their neighbors. And if they do this, I promise to provide for them in their need and constantly give them food and drink. And when you have told them these things, return here humbly." And while that Guardian went to carry out the command, Saint Francis placed himself in prayer and asked God to soften the hearts of those robbers and convert them to penance.

The obedient Guardian reached them and presented the bread and wine to them, and did and said what Saint Francis had commanded him. And, as it pleased God, as those robbers were eating the alms of Saint Francis, they began to say together: "Woe to us, miserable wretches! We can expect the hard pains of hell, and we go on not only robbing our neighbors and beating and wounding them, but we even kill them. Yet we have no remorse of conscience nor fear of God over so many evil deeds and such horrible things as we do. And here comes this holy brother to us, who has very humbly told us his fault for saying a few words which he said to us rightly because of our wickedness, and moreover, he has brought us bread and wine and the generous promise of the holy father. These really are holy brothers of God who deserve the paradise of God, and we are sons of eternal perdition, who deserve the pains of hell; and daily we increase our perdition, and we don't know if we'll be able to return to the mercy of God from the sins we have done up to now." As one of them was saying these and similar words the other two said: "What you're saying is really true, but what do we have to do?" The first one said: "Let's go to Saint Francis and if he gives us hope that we can turn from our sins to the mercy of God, we'll do what he commands us, and we can free our souls from the pains of hell."

This suggestion pleased the others, and so all three agreed and went quickly to Saint Francis and said to him: "Father, because of the many horrible sins we have done, we do not believe we can return to the mercy of God. But if you have any hope that God will receive us into His mercy, we're prepared to do what you tell us and to do penance with you." Then Saint Francis, receiving them charitably and kindly, encouraging them with many examples and assuring them of the mercy of God, promised them as certain that he would obtain this from God for them, showing them that the mercy of God is infinite: "And if we had infinite sins, the divine mercy is still greater than our sins, according to the Gospel; and the Apostle Saint Paul said, 'The blessed Christ came into this world to redeem sinners.'" 1 Tm 1:15 Through these words and similar teachings, those three robbers renounced the demon and his works and Saint Francis received them into the Order, and they began to do great penance.

Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., Wayne Hellman, O.F.M. Conv., and William Short, O.F.M., eds., Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Vol. III, The Prophet (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2001), pp. 609-14.

Links:

Art Trav: Finding St Francis at Montecasale

I luoghi del silenzio

Il sentierodifrancesco.it:

“Immersed in the green of the woods, near waterways and natural caves, the hermitage of Montecasale was founded in 1213 by Francesco who received it as a gift from the bishop of Città di Castello. The building, dating back to the 11th century, probably acquires its present appearance in 1500. The most ancient work of art is the very valuable sculpture of the Madonna and child that is wanted brought by the Poverello from the ruins of the nearby castle. But the whole hermitage is rich in Franciscan memories: the oratory with the stone that served as a bed for Francis; a crucifix carried by the Saint; three small urns containing some relics and two skulls of the three thieves whose conversion the biographer tells of.”