(Translated from the original text in French)
Born in Biddeford, Maine (USA), on December 15, 1929, he was the son of James Flood and Florence Gallagher. Coming from a family of four children, he had a brother, James Anthony, and two sisters, Florrie and Ruth. He completed his secondary education at St. Francis Mission House High School in Island Creek, Massachusetts, and St. Francis College in Biddeford, Maine. He pursued philosophical studies at St. Anthony’s Seminary in Quebec City, QC (1951-1954); theological studies at the Franciscan Seminary of Theology on Rosemont Boulevard in Montreal (1954-1958); and advanced studies in church history at the University of Cologne, Germany (1961-1965), where he obtained a Ph.D. in history for his critical edition work on the early Rule of Saint Francis (1971-1972).
He entered the Franciscan novitiate in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1950, where he began his Franciscan formation. A year later, in 1951, he made his simple vows. He then moved to Montreal, where he made his solemn profession in 1954 at the Rosemont convent. He became a priest in 1958 in Portland, Maine, his native country, the United States.
Brother David made significant contributions to Franciscan studies and life. His bibliography includes over fifty works, with numerous critical editions of texts, each recognized as an exemplary work in medieval text editing. Besides his editions of the Early Rule and Olivi’s Rule Commentary, David also published editions of the commentaries of Hugh of Digne (1980), David of Augsburg (1993), and John of Wales (2002). In addition to the exegetical texts and Olivi’s rule commentary, David edited Olivi’s “Quaestio de Mendicitate” and, with David Burr, published an edition of Olivi’s sixteenth question on evangelical perfection, addressing poverty and income. Alongside these text editions, he published monographs on various aspects of Franciscan thought in Olivi, focusing on theology and the understanding of history, particularly issues of poverty and economics.
A second part of his publications deals with the early Franciscan movement, its texts, and their interpretation. In addition to providing a critical edition of the Primitive Rule text, David’s doctoral thesis included a detailed analysis of the Rule’s text with its different editorial layers, highlighting the process by which the brothers articulated their way of life (forma vitae) in light of the Gospel, the social conditions of their time, and their shared experience of life. The results of this study were made available to a broader audience with the publication of “La naissance d’un charisme” (Paris: Éditions Franciscaines, 1973) with Thaddée Matura and Willibrord-Christian van Dijk, published in English as “The Birth of a Movement” (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1975).
A serious bibliographic study on the Franciscan movement in the thirteenth century invariably leads to several of his publications. Anyone studying early Franciscan history and sources cannot ignore David Flood’s work and contribution.
Brother David’s scholarship has helped Franciscans reclaim their shared memory. He convincingly argued that the ways of the Spirit, the gift of grace, need a social incarnation in the real world in which they operate.
In addition to these scholarly publications, he also used his archival skills and critical historical method to contribute to the history of women’s communities in the United States. He published the history of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1993. Along with Rose Margaret Delaney, he published the history of St. Anthony Community Hospital, Warwick, New York, and the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 2004.
After several years in the United States and Europe, David permanently returned to Canada in 2015. He returned to the Rosemont fraternity in Montreal, Quebec, where he lived until February 2022, when he was admitted to the infirmary of the Brothers of the Christian Schools on the banks of the Rivière des Prairies in Laval, Quebec.
He passed away in Montreal on January 11, 2024, at the age of 94, after 74 years of religious life and 66 years of priesthood.
This short biography is inspired by the tribute given by Brother Michael W. Blastic at St. Bonaventure, New York, in 2005, during the awarding of the Franciscan Institute Medal to David E. Flood, the 17th recipient of this honor.