Communications
530 THE COMMONWEAL October 6, 1926 A FRANCISCAN...
...This is Padre Niccolo Cavanna, an Umbrian by birth, cele- He refers in glowing terms to the essay in the current issue brated for his publications on the life and work of the of Thought by Marie Regina Madden on the Mexican constiPoverello of Assisi...
...Oh, then which but four copies exist-and one of them, the most an- they will discover that "religious liberty is not recognized by cient and the best preserved, is of a date about fifty years prior the Mexican Constitution" and moreover, they will learn that to that of the Fioretti, and is kept in the Communal Library "the Mexican Constitution was falsely conceived and is unof Perugia...
...ciscan order, and of other disciples of the Saint, the reformers Two wrongs never make one right...
...William F. Sands is still taking to -near which he died-there lives in the convent which now task anent our relations with Mexico (The Commonweal, shelters a small number of minor friars, one of the most learned September 22) may I ask just what the worthy gentleman students of Franciscan lore...
...tions of these hymns there are but 105...
...Sands any practical suggestions to offer...
...Does Mr...
...All of them, no doubt, can find work which will give as one of the most important features of this seven hundredth them, at least, the "notoriously low" wages they now enjoy...
...It has an important historical value, thetical case, An Economic Challenge, The Commonweal, equal if not superior to that of the Fioretti, while it forms September 22) is faced with the problem of either reducing one of the most solid bases for a detailed study, not only of wages which are at an admittedly low ebb or facing financial the life of Saint Francis, but also of the lives of the principal difficulties himself...
...In another important Speak up, Mr...
...many that this remarkable work was written by Frate Giacomo The employer should either give a "living wage" (i.e...
...530 THE COMMONWEAL October 6, 1926 A FRANCISCAN DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS By K. R. STEEGE THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTION A T Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is celebrated in all Los Altos, Calif...
...if business is suspended, their lot will not be any discussion...
...Du Brul's hypo• interest among scholars...
...Why should a heavier of the religious society of their time...
...figures of his followers...
...This work, the Franceschina, which will constitute one of the most important publications of the Franciscan year, is AN ECONOMIC CHALLENGE written in the Umbrian vulgar tongue and is a veritable jewel Brooklyn, N. Y. of style and language...
...anniversary of the death of Saint Francis...
...It is not the employer's fault that trade in his industry has These charmingly illuminated pages speak with sobriety, sim- decreased, but it will be decidedly his fault if he recoups his plicity and an evangelical ingenuousness of Frate Masseo, of losses at the expense of his employees...
...make a study of them...
...ELIZABETH CHURCH...
...as 241...
...He says that the Franceschina will excite, If the wages are reduced, the employees will be "in dire not only much interest, but will undoubtedly lead to much poverty...
...F. A. CASEY...
...The employees, no Saint Bernardino of Siena, of the Blessed Alberto da Sartiano, doubt, have been facing "serious financial difficulty," due to of the Blessed Bernardo of Assisi, the first-born of the Fran- their "notoriously low" wages, for some time...
...ter ? Are we to permit this festering sore of Bolshevism to The work in question is known as the Franceschina, or eat its way into the vitals of a Catholic people, and do nothing Specchio dell 'Ordine minore...
...He has lately made a discovery of a precious manuscript of And when the study has been made-what then...
...Sands believe that the Knights of Columbus or Padre Cavanna, who has passed years of study and medita- other Catholic groups have been in the dark regarding these tion over this book, has found that, contrary to previous opin- deficiencies of the Mexican Constitution...
...tion always given to the Fioretti, it has been believed that But what are we American Catholics to do about the matthis place was near Poggibonsi...
...Its reproduction is sure to arouse great TO the Editor:-The employer (in Mr...
...W. F. Sands cesco and to Frate Masseo the way in which they should go, to find out that the present regime in Mexico is trying to is "about three miles from the city of Perugia, going toward enforce a constitutional program which contradicts many of the lake...
...the world from the fact that there Saint Francis spent T O the Editor:-As a member of one of the "Catholic long hours of prayer in the little church of the Portiuncula groups" which Mr...
...One does not have ion, the locality in which Our Lord pointed out to San Fran- to go either to Miss Marie Madden or to Mr...
...Padre Cavanna is of the pense of his pocketbook, or else suspend operations former opinion...
...Angeli at Norcia...
...Sands, we shall be glad to hear from you manuscript, however, that of Spithover, there are as many again on this subject...
...But according to the interpreta- conceived" and absolutely "unworkable...
...In this are also contained made by himself and "some" other Americans that Mexico's 124 of the laudi (hymns of praise) while in the principal edi- Constitution is a stench in the nostrils of God-fearing men...
...means by his latest contribution to the discussion...
...Does this Franciscan manuscript is the source of all the legends he wish us to remain satisfied with the discovery long ago which were common in the seicento...
...load be placed upon the shoulders of those already weighed Up to the end of the nineteenth century, it was supposed by down, to ease the burden of the one who distributed the load...
...His cell is so filled with books and manu- tutions, and suggests that the Knights of Columbus and "other scripts, and photographic apparatus which he uses to reproduce Catholic groups" in the United States abandon their present pages of interesting writings, that there is hardly left a place policy of condemning said constitutions and begin rather to to sit...
...Padre Cavanna believes that Has Mr...
...enough Oddi of Perugia, though others were inclined to attribute it to provide proper clothing, shelter, and fuel) even at the exto Frate Egidio, also of Perugia...
...which would be precisely at the parting of the the inalienable rights of human beings, and hence is "falsely three roads of Montebono...
...He hopes that its reproduction will be considered worse...
...The other copies, which until a few years ago workable"-a fact which "has long been plain to Mexicans and were at Monteluce, are in the convent of Santa Maria degli to some Americans who have had occasion to study the matter...
Vol. 4 • October 1926 • No. 22
