Devotion and Liturgy of St. Francis` Early Followers

The main purpose of this paper consists in determining and analyzing the Franciscan conception of liturgy and devotion in early period. Current study traces the historical development of the manner of Franciscan liturgy and devotion in thirteenth-century Franciscan texts in order to understand how the medieval Franciscans structured a fraternal identity around the figure of Saint Francis. Scholars underline the close relationship between the evolution of Franciscan liturgical rite and the process of creation the image of the saint. Moreover, in recent years a number of scholars have commented on the crucial role of the Roman Curia in the process of making and propagation of common memory among the brothers, what was the result of active papal turn to the clericalization of initially small flock of Francis’ devoted disciples. Important strand of research, therefore, assesses the influence of the liturgical legenda texts and offices on the formation of the fraternal remembrance of Saint Francis. To achieve the main goal I analyze a range of liturgical texts, written both by Saint Francis himself and his friars. «Officium passionis Domini», composed by Francis of the Books of Psalms in a very intricate way, reflects founder’s extraordinary experience of Divine piety. The anonymous «Legend for Use in the Choir», or Legenda ad usum chori, consists of nine lectiones describing some pivotal moments of Francis’ life and spiritual ideals. The Legenda was never widely used among the friars being superseded by Julian of Speyer’s more sophisticated «Officium rhytmicum». I also use a number of early hagiographical sources and Franciscan chronicles, as well as some related papal bulls, in order to present a richer context for the analysis of the Franciscan liturgical practices.