Thome Celanensis Vita beati patris nostri Francisci (Vita brevior). Présentation et édition critique

The National Library of France has just acquired a manuscript which has been registered as NAL 3245. Copied in the 1230’s, probably in a friary of the OFM near Assisi for one of the brothers, this very small volume is one of the earliest manuscripts of Franciscan origin. Together with many other texts it contains a Vita beati patris nostri Francisci compiled by Thomas of Celano on the instructions of the Minister General Brother Elias (1232-1239). It is an abridged and updated version of the Vita prima by the same author and this Vita brevior must be the second Vita ever written about il Poverello. Until now only some excerpts edited in 2007 under the title Légende ombrienne were known. This is the first critical edition of the Vita brevior. It has been almost a century since such a discovery in the field of Franciscan studies has been made.