I
Oscar Wilde declares that, since Christ went to the cross, the world has
produced only one genuine Christian, and his name is Francis d'Assisi.
Certainly he is the one saint whom all the churches have agreed to
canonize; the most vividly Christlike man who has ever submitted his
character to the scrutiny of public criticism. His life, as Green says
in his _Short History of the English People_, his life falls like a
stream of light athwart the darkness of the mediæval ages. Matthew
Arnold speaks of him as a figure of most magical potency and sweetness
and charm. Francis called men back to Christ and brought Christ back to
men. 'All Europe woke with a start,' Sabatier affirms, 'and whatever was
best in humanity leaped to follow his footsteps.'