Thomas of Celano, St. Francis’ earliest biographer, bears witness to the authenticity of this exquisite Salutation in his Second Life, written about 1247. 1 It is found in the codices of Assisi, Berlin, Florence (Ognissanti MS.), Foligno, Liegnitz, Naples, Paris (Mazarin MSS. and MS. of Prot. theol. fac.), and Rome (Vatican MSS.), above mentioned, 2 as well as at Düsseldorf (Royal arch. cod. B. 132), and is given by Bartholomew of Pisa in his Liber Conformitatum 3 (fruct. XII, P. 11, Cap. 38). This Salutation was also published in the Speculum Vitae B. Francisci et Sociorum Ejus (fol. 126 v) 4 and by Wadding, 5 who followed the Assisian codex. This codex, which is the oldest one containing the Salutation, has been used for the Quaracchi edition, which I have here followed, as well as the Ognissanti MS. and the version given in the Conformities.
Now follows the
Hail, 7 queen wisdom! May the Lord save thee with thy sister holy pure simplicity! O
20:1 "Wherefore," he writes of St. Francis, "in the praises of the virtues which he composed he says 'Hail! queen wisdom, God save Thee with Thy sister pure, holy simplicity.'" See 2 Cel. 3, 119, for this Incipit. 20:3 In the text of the Conformities (which for the most part agrees with that of the Ognissanti MS.) the Salutation is preceded by No. 27 of the Admonitions and begins with the words "There is absolutely no man," etc. 20:4 Ed. of Venice, 1504, and of Metz, 1509. 20:5 Opuscula, Antwerp, 1623. 20:6 In the Assisi codex (as in that of Liegnitz) the title reads: (Notes 6 and 7 carried forward to next page.) "Of the virtues with which the Blessed Virgin Mary was adorned and with which a holy soul ought also to be adorned," whereas in the Ognissanti codex and others of the same class, the title is: "Salutation of the Virtues and of their efficacy in confounding Vice." (See Introduction.) 20:7 Cod. As. omits "Hail."
