– Corrado Gnerre
In these times there is much talk of Saint Francis of Assisi, perhaps because the current Pope has chosen the name of the Saint of Assisi. And we often remember the meeting that the Saint had with the Muslim sultan. On this point, I would like to know the precise information from you. But how did things really go? And why did St Francis decide to have that meeting?
Dear …, I first make a premise. Unlike what is thought, Saint Francis never proposed a pacifist Christianity. He was undoubtedly for peace, but, as a saint, he could not be for pacifism. Being peaceful means believing that peace (primarily with God) is an important virtue; being pacifists means, on the other hand, to believe that peace is the greatest of virtues; and this is wrong because peace (like absence of war) must be subordinate to the virtue of justice.
After his conversion, the whole life of the Saint of Assisi was marked by the anxiety to save sinners and as far as non-Christians were concerned, he was not interested in “academic dialogue” but in conversion.
We come to the meeting with Sultan Melek-el-Kamel. In this regard, there are two important testimonies: that of Tommaso da Celano (the most famous biographer of Saint Francis) and that of Friar Illuminato, eyewitness of the meeting between Saint Francis and the sultan.
Let’s start with Tommaso da Celano. In Vita Prima he writes: “In the thirteenth year since his conversion, he left for Syria, and while bitter battles between Christians and pagans raged, took a companion with him, he did not hesitate to present himself in the presence of the Sultan (Melek-el-Kamel) . Who could describe the boldness and courage with which he stood before him and spoke to him, and the wisdom and eloquence with which he responded to those who insulted Christian law? Before reaching the Sultan, his assassins grabbed him, insulted him, lashed him, and he feared nothing: neither threats, nor torture, nor death; and although invested by the brutal hatred of many, here he is received by the Sultan with great honor!”
The other testimony is that of Friar Illuminato. It’s a very important testimony, because, as I said, he was present at the meeting between the Saint and the Sultan. He writes: “While Blessed Francis was at the court, the sultan wanted to test the faith and devotion he had for our crucified Lord. One day he had a splendid carpet laid out in the audience hall, decorated entirely with a geometric pattern in the shape of a cross, and then said to those present: ‘Now call that man who seems to be an authentic Christian; if in order to come to me he will trample these cross marks woven into the carpet with his feet, we will accuse him of doing injustice to his Lord; if instead he refuses to come, I will ask him why he commits this discourtesy of not coming up to me.’
Being called, the blessed Francis, who was full of God and from this fullness was well educated on what he had to do and what he had to say, went straight to the Sultan. Believing that he had sufficient reason to reprove the man of God for having insulted his Lord Jesus Christ, he said to him: ‘You Christians worship the cross, as a special sign of your God; so why weren’t you afraid to step on these signs of the cross drawn on the carpet?’ Blessed Francis replied: ‘You must know that two thieves were crucified together with our Lord. We possess the true cross of the Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, and we adore it and surround it with the deepest devotion. Now, while this holy and true cross of the Lord was delivered to us, the crosses of the two thieves have been left to you instead. That’s why I wasn’t afraid to walk on the signs of the thieves’ cross. Among you there is nothing of the holy cross.’
The Sultan also asked another question: ‘Your Lord teaches in the Gospels that you must not do evil for evil, and you must not refuse even the cloak to those who want to take off their robes. How much more should you Christians not invade our lands.’ Blessed Francis replied: ‘It seems to me that you have not read the whole Gospel. Elsewhere, in fact, it is said: if your eye is an occasion for scandal, dig it out and throw it away from you. And with this he wanted to teach us that if even a man were our friend or relative, or even were dear to us as the pupil of the eye, we should be willing to separate him, remove him, to banish him from us, if he tries to distance us from faith and from the love of our God. Precisely for this reason Christians act according to justice when they invade your lands and fight you, because you blaspheme the name of Christ and strive to remove as many men as possible from his religion. If, on the other hand, you wanted to know, confess and worship the Creator and Redeemer of the world, they would love you as themselves.
The Sultan said: ‘Let us gather our wise men together and discuss our faith and yours.’ Blessed Francis replied: ‘Our faith is superior to reason and reason is persuasive only for those who believe. Also, I couldn’t take arguments from Scripture because they don’t believe in Scripture. Rather, make a fire of burning wood: I will enter the fire together with your wise men; those who will be burned, a sign that their faith is false. But immediately the wise men of the Sultan withdrew, so much so that the sultan began to smile saying: ‘I don’t think I would find anyone willing to enter the fire with you.’”
Having read these testimonies, one wonders why St Francis decided to go unarmed to the sultan. The answer is very simple but important to understand: because St Francis really wanted to convert the sultan and knew very well that no conversion imposed with weapons was and will ever be possible. This shows that even the Poverello of Assisi was perfectly aware of the fact that the crusades (as evidenced by the most recent historiography) did not arise from the attempt to impose faith by force, but from the intention to restore the right of pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In short, dear …, there is – and how much – material to refute certain clichés, alas that are dominant.
***
On this topic also see: Guido Vignelli, Franciscan Catechism: Progressives’ Fake News on the Saint from Assisi (2019).
(From La buona battaglia. Apologetica cattolica in domande e risposte, 2019©Chorabooks. Translated by Aurelio Porfiri. Used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved)
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