AUTHORSHIP. Luke Wadding, the Irish Franciscan historian of the sev enteenth century, believed that the author of the Fioretti was a certain Friar Ugolino da danta Maria in Monte, in the Marches of Ancona. He also claimed that the title of the original work in Latin was Floreturn. No certain evidence for this Latin-work has come to light; but in 1902 M. Paul Sabatier published another Latin work entitled Actus Beati Francisci et Sociorum eius, and tllis was followed by Dr. A. G. Little's text which now bears his name. This Latin document containing sto ries about St. Francis and his followers had seventy-six chapters, of which fifty-two or fifty-three reappear in an abbreviated guise in the Italian Fioretti. Today, therefore, the common opinion is-that the Fioretti are derived, with modifications from, the Actus Beati Francisci and not from some hitherto undiscovered Latin Floretum.
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The patron saint of animals and founder of the Franciscan Order, Francis of Assisi is venerated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Saint Francis earned the devotion of his thirteenth-century contem. poraries and later generations through his famous acts of humility, kindness, and piety. First printed in 1476, this collection of stories, or "little flowers," chronicles his journeys, activities, and miracles and those of his brethren.
The legends recount with charming simplicity Saint Francis" love of the poor, of animals, and of all nature. Told in the form of brief anecdotes, the stories include Saint Francis" sermon to the birds, his taming of the savage wolf of Gubbio, his conversion of the Sultan of Babylon, and his miraculous healing of a leper. Picturesque and poetic, The Little Flowers of Saint Francis transports readers to the Middle Ages for an inspiring portrait of the saint and his earliest disciples. One of the world"s most popular and widely read religious classics, its universal appeal extends to people of all faiths and to every intellectual level.
