Stigmata of Francis
Description
For an overview of the early life of Saint Francis of Assisi, see Death of Francis.
Many of the stories of Saint Francis for which he continues to be remembered and venerated, including the Preaching to the Birds and, to a lesser extent, the Receiving of the Stigmata, can be at least partially attributed to the Fioretti di San Francesco, or the Little Flowers of Saint Francis, which is an anonymous collection of legends surrounding the saint, believed to be written by a Tuscan follower of Saint Francis decades after his death. As such, the oldest surviving artistic portrayal of Saint Francis, located in the Benedictine Abbey of Subiaco, painted in 1228 or 1229, does not depict the saint with his signature stigmata.
Once the narrative of Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata had become solidified, however, medieval artistic works portraying the legend seldom deviated from a fixed depiction. According to tradition, Saint Francis, accompanied by Brother Leo, had been praying on the mountain of Verna around September 13th, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, when suddenly he began to see a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross, which gave him the five wounds of Christ. This narrative was supposedly accounted by Brother Leo himself, providing a clear description of the event, from which all subsequent artistic depictions of Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata derive, including that of Barnard 1.
The Barnard 1 illumination depicts Saint Francis on the mountain of Verna receiving his stigmata from a six-winged seraph, as Brother Leo watches. Surroudning the receiving of the stigmata is the relatively detailed natural scenery, two church buildings, a small bridge which does not appear in all artistic renditions of the scene, and a small animal in the corner, which seldom appears in other depictions. This illumination is also the most damaged in the Barnard 1 manuscript, with the figure of Saint Francis and, to a lesser extent, the animal, noticably smeared from all directions, clear signs of devotional touching and seemingly the most revered image within the manuscript.
Liturgy
This page featuring Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, just as the Death of Saint Francis, appears during the Feast of the Translation of Saint Francis, or the moving of Saint Francis's relics, and is part of the longest feast within the Barnard 1 manuscript. The Feast of Saint Francis is celebrated on October 4th, commemorating his death in 1226, which had occured near midnight on October 3rd. Francis is said to have received the stigmata in 1224 and was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on July 16th, 1228, less than two years after his death.
Transcription:
FRANciscus ut In publicum Cessat negotiari in agrum mox dominicum secedit meditari | Inventum evangelicum [thesaurum vult mercari].
Translation:
As Francis ceases to do business in the world, he soon withdraws to the field of the Lord to meditate | He wishes to trade in the gospel [treasure that he has found].
Comparison
