BOOK IV

After the chapter, Francis, notwithstanding the bad state of his health,

actuated by his zeal, undertook to preach repentance in the towns

adjacent to Assisi, where he dilated, in forcible language, on vice

and virtue, and the sufferings and happiness of a future life. The

inhabitants of Canaria were so moved by his preaching, that they

followed him in crowds, forsaking their usual occupations. Many also,

from the neighboring villages, joined them, and all together solicited

him to teach them how to profit by his instructions.

Many married men were desirous of separating themselves from their

wives, in order to embrace the religious state, and many married women

were anxious to shut themselves up in cloisters; but the holy Patriarch,

not wishing to break up well-assorted marriages, nor to depopulate the

country, advised them to serve God in their own houses, and promised

to give them a rule by which they might progress in virtue and live

as religious, without practising the austerities of that state of life.

He was under the necessity of repeating the same injunctions in several

towns in Tuscany, particularly in Florence, where similar views

prevailed, and where they had already commenced building a monastery

for females, who were desirous of renouncing the world. While he was

yet ruminating on the mode of life he should prescribe for them, he

assembled them all, and formed them into two congregations: the one

of men, and the other of women; and having given each of them a

president, they gave themselves separately up to exercises of piety

and practices of mercy, with so much fervor, that a contemporary author

compares them to the Christians whom Tertullian so eloquently eulogizes.

With the alms which the two congregations collected, they built a

hospital for the sick and aged, on the outskirts of the town where all

the virtues of charity were assiduously exercised; an establishment

which is extant to this day. St. Antoninus, when Archbishop of Florence,

removed these pious assemblies to a locality near the Church of St.

Martin, for the convenience of the poor. The vicinity of the church

and their good works procured for them the name of the "Good Men of

St. Martin;" and they were afterwards called the "Penitents of St.

Francis," because they followed the rule of the Third Order of Penance,

which the Saint instituted.

One day St. Francis having gone from Florence to Gagiano, near

Poggibonzi, in Tuscany, met a shop-keeper of his acquaintance, whose

name was Lucchesio, who had been very avaricious, and an enthusiastic

partisan of the faction of the Guelphs, but who, having been converted

a few months before, now lived a very Christian-like life, gave away

great sums in alms, attended the sick in hospitals, received strangers

hospitably into his house, and endeavored to instil similar sentiments

into Bonadonna, his wife. They had already asked Francis to put them

in a way of sanctifying their lives, which should be suitable to their

position; and the holy man had given them this answer: "I have been

thinking of late of instituting a Third Order, in which married persons

might serve God perfectly; and I think you could not do better than

to enter it." After having given the subject serious consideration,

Lucchesio and his wife entreated him to admit them into this new Order.

He made them assume a modest and simple dress, of a grey color, also

a cord with several knots in it for a girdle, and he prescribed verbally

certain pious exercises, which they were to follow until such time as

he should have composed the rule.

This was the beginning of the Third Order of St. Francis, which many

persons in the environs of Poggibonzi embraced, and which was soon

established in Florence by the congregation of men and women of which

we have just spoken. The following year, at latest, the Founder composed

a rule for this Order, which he called the Order of the Brethren of

Penance, in which the sisters were comprised, which was also called

the Third Order, or the Order of Tertiaries, as relative to the two

older Orders: the Order of Friars Minors, which is the first, and that

of the Poor Clares, which is the second. This rule was subsequently

confirmed by Pope Nicholas IV, and Leo XIII, with some changes, which

they considered advisable as well in regard to the times as to the

Order itself.

The holy Patriarch manifests therein not only the zeal which animated

him in all that concerned the purity of the faith, but also the prudence

which guided all his actions. He requires that all those who apply for

admission into the Order shall be carefully examined in the Catholic

faith, and their submission to the authority of the Church, and he

directs that they shall only be received after having made profession

of all the orthodox truths; and that great care shall be taken not to

admit any heretic, nor any one suspected of heresy; and should any

such be detected after having been admitted, he insists on their being

immediately informed against. He, likewise, directs that their previous

conduct may be inquired into, to ascertain whether any notorious crimes

are imputed to them, or whether their morals are irreproachable, and

he desires that they be warned to restore what they have which belongs

to any other person; he also forbids receiving any married female into

the Order without the consent of her husband.

The profession consists in a promise to keep all God's commandments,

and to perform such penances as the visitor shall enjoin for faults

committed in breach of the practices required by the rule. The habit

is similar to what was given to Lucchesio and his wife; but so, that

this may be dispensed with, according to the state of life of the

persons, and the customs of the country in which they may be. The

spiritual exercises laid down in the rule, have nothing in them which

can interfere with the different stations of persons living in the

world. Days of fasting and abstinence are prescribed, but modified

prudently for the infirm, for pregnant women, for travellers, and for

laboring people; and it is clearly explained that these observances

are not obligatory under pain of sin, and that they only bind the

transgressor to perform the penance imposed on him, unless the

transgression has at the same time contravened any law of God, or

commandment of the Church.

St. Francis, moreover, strenuously recommends to the brethren and

sisters, to avoid all words tending to swearing or imprecation, the

theatre, dancing, and all profane meetings; to undertake no law-suits,

and to live in fraternal union; to take great care of the sick of the

Order, to bury the dead, and to pray for them.

He adds to this, an article which is deserving of peculiar notice; it

is, that all persons who enter the Order and have property over which

they have the disposal, shall make their wills within a few months

after their profession, lest they should die intestate. We see that

his intention was to make them think on death, and to have their minds

free for meditating on the important affair of their salvation, and

to prevent those dissentions which frequently occur after the death

of such as have not regulated their temporal affairs, before being

called away. Wills which are made during a last illness are frequently

exposed to deceit and fraud. They are never better made than when

executed while the testator is in good health, in possession of all

his faculties.

By the institution of the Third Order, Francis proposes to himself to

reanimate the fervor of the faithful, to induce all the world, those

in orders, laics, married persons of either sex, and such as were

living in a state of celibacy, to a stricter observance of God's

commandments, to live a more Christian and Catholic life, and to add

the practice of virtues to the duties of civil life. His views met

with astonishing success; the Order was established, and spread with

the greatest rapidity through all conditions of life. Cardinals,

bishops, emperors, empresses, kings, queens, considered themselves

honored in being admitted into it, and it has given to the Church an

infinite number of saints and blessed of either sex, who are publicly

revered with her sanction. Wading says, that in his day, (that is in

1623,) there were at the court of Madrid more than sixty lords who

belonged to the Third Order; and Cardinal Trejo, who had joined it,

wrote to him in these terms on the subject of the works of St. Francis,

which that author was about to give to the public with learned notes.

"You praise me with some surprise, that wearing the purple of a

cardinal, I should have taken the habit and made solemn profession to

adhere to the rules of the Third Order of St. Francis. Could I do less

than devote myself wholly to his Order, I, who owe to him all that I

have, and all that I am? Does not the cord of St. Francis deserve to

gird even royal purple? St. Louis, King of France, St. Elizabeth, Queen

of Hungary, wore it, as well as many other sovereigns and princesses.

In our own day, Philip III, King of Spain, died in the habit of the

blessed Father; Queen Elizabeth, wife of Philip IV, the reigning monarch

of Spain, and the Princess Mary, his sister, have made their profession

in the Third Order. Why, then, should it be a subject of astonishment

to you, that a cardinal should cover his purple with a garment of ash

color, and gird himself with a cord? If this dress seems vulgar and

vile, I require it the more, because, finding myself raised to a high

degree of honor, I must humble myself the more in order to avoid pride.

But is not the garb of St. Francis, which is of ash color, a real

purple, which may adorn the dignity of kings and cardinals? Yes, it

is a true purple, dyed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and in the blood

which issued from the stigmates of His servant. It gives, therefore,

a royal dignity to those who wear it. What have I done, therefore, in

clothing myself with this garment? I have added purple to purple, the

purple of royalty, to the purple of the cardinalate; thus, far from

being humiliated by it, I have reason to fear that I have done myself

too much honor, and that I derive from it too much glory."

These sentiments of this learned and pious cardinal, are well calculated

to silence the proud and irreligious spirits who turn into ridicule

practices which the Church approves, and which her most illustrious

children embrace with fervor. We have seen Queen Ann of Austria receive,

at Paris, the holy habit of a penitent, and make profession of the

rule of the Third Order of St. Francis; Queen Maria Theresa of Austria,

wife of the renowned king, Louis XIV, follow this example, and even

permit herself to be chosen superior of the sisters of the congregation,

established in the church of the great convent of the Observance, under

the protection of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and assist at the various

pious exercises with great edification.

The Holy See has loaded the brethren and sisters of the Third Order

with many spiritual favors; and has granted them many privileges and

indulgences. It has given to them a participation in all the merits

which are gained in the other two Orders. What is singular is, that

shortly after its institution, congregations of Tertiaries were formed,

in which they lived in community of property, making the three vows

of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and practising the works of mercy.

God and the Sovereign Pontiff raised them to a religious body. Thus,

besides the secular Third Order, there is now a religious one, of both

sexes, which Pope Leo X confirmed and extended by his bull, dated 28th

of January, 1521, in which he abridged the rule and adapted it to the

observances of the religious state. St. Elizabeth of Hungary, being

a widow, joined the three vows of religion to the profession of the

Third Order of St. Francis, three years after the death of the blessed

Patriarch, which makes her to be justly considered as the mother of

the religious of both sexes of the Third Order, since she was the first

Tertiary who took these solemn vows.

Lucchesio and his wife, who were the first Tertiaries whom St. Francis

received, acquired by the exercise of prayer and good works, a holiness

which God honored by many miracles during their life and after their

death; but the wife was sanctified by the husband. Although she had

embraced, after his example, the state of piety, she continued to

disapprove the great donations of alms which he made, and to prevent

them as much as was in her power, in consequence of that spirit of

avarice and self-interest, which constantly induces such tempers to

fear that they shall come to want.

One day, Lucchesio having given all the bread that was in his house

to the poor, he begged his wife to give something to others who

followed. She flew into a passion, like the wife of Tobias; and having

reproached him with the care he took of strangers to the prejudice of

those of his own household, she said that it was quite plain that his

fasts and watchings had disordered his brain. The husband, as patient

as he was charitable, was not irritated by these reproaches, but quietly

requested his wife to look into the place where the bread was kept,

thinking of Him, who by His power had satiated several thousand persons

with a few loaves and fishes. She did so, and found a large quantity

of fresh bread, sufficient to supply the wants of all the poor. This

miracle had such an effect upon her, that from that time forward, he

had no occasion to exhort her to the performance of works of mercy;

both husband and wife gave themselves up to them with emulation, and

devoted themselves to them until their deaths. The husband's charity

shows us that almsgiving does not impoverish; but that, on the contrary,

God increases, even sometimes by miracles, the property of such as

give liberally; and the conversion of Lucchesio's wife shows that the

spirit of interest and avarice, covered by pretence of economy, renders

piety false and deceitful.

After having established his Third Order, Francis preached in several

parts of Tuscany, and received an establishment at Columbario, in a

very solitary situation, which was the more agreeable to him from the

great attraction he had for contemplation. He had it erected under the

title of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, in honor of her Divine

maternity; he then returned to St. Mary of the Angels.

An abbess was requested from the Monastery of St. Damian for that of

Moncel, of the same institute, which was forming at Florence; he

consulted thereon the cardinal protector, and by his advice he selected

Agnes, the sister of Clare. Agnes, out of obedience, set out willingly;

she found a very fervent, very united, and very submissive community,

and the Sovereign Pontiff granted all that she required for their

spiritual wants. But Agnes was seriously grieved to have to part from

Clare, and to satisfy her heart, she wrote to her a most affectionate

letter, full of the most tender sentiments, in which we see that the

feelings of nature are elevated and sanctified by virtue, instead of

being weakened.

At that time, about the month of October, Francis obtained the famous

indulgence of St. Mary of the Angels, or of Portiuncula, of which we

shall here relate the circumstances.

The great lights and inspirations which this holy man received in

prayer, discovered to him the wretched state of sinners; he deplored

their blindness, and was moved to compassion, and he often prayed for

them. One night, when he was soliciting their conversion from God with

great fervor, he was directed by an angel to go to the church, where

he would find Jesus Christ and his Blessed Mother, accompanied by a

host of celestial spirits. Greatly rejoiced, he went and prostrated

himself to render due homage to the Majesty of the Son of God. Our

Saviour said to him: "Francis, the zeal which thou and thy followers

have for the salvation of souls is such, that it entitles thee to

solicit something in their favor, for the glory of my name." In the

midst of the marvels which enraptured him, he made the following prayer:

"O Jesus, my Saviour, I entreat Thee, although I am but a miserable

sinner, to have the goodness to grant to men, that all those who shall

visit this church may receive a plenary indulgence of all their sins,

after having confessed them to a priest; and I beg the Blessed Virgin,

Thy Mother, the general advocate of humankind, to intercede that I may

obtain this my request." The Blessed Virgin did intercede, and Jesus

Christ spoke the following words: "Francis, what thou askest is great,

but thou wilt receive still greater favors; I grant thee this one; I

desire thee, nevertheless, to go to my vicar, to whom I have given

power to bind and to loose, and to solicit him for the same indulgence."

The companions of the Saint who were in their respective cells, heard

all these things; they saw a great light which filled the church, and

the multitude of angels; but a respectful fear prevented them from

approaching nearer.

In the early morning, Francis assembled them, and forbade their speaking

of this miraculous event, and then set out with Masse of Marignan for

Perugia, where Pope Honorius then was.

When he came into his presence, he said to him: "Most Holy Father,

some years ago I repaired a small church in your dominions; I beg you

to grant to it a free indulgence, without any obligation of making an

offering." The Pope replied, that the request could not reasonably be

granted, because it was but just that he who wished to gain an

indulgence should render himself deserving of it by some means,

particularly by some work of charity. "But," added he, "for how many

years do you ask me for this indulgence?" "Most Holy Father," replied

Francis, "may it please your Holiness, not to give me so many years

but so many souls." "And in what way do you desire to have souls?"

rejoined the Pope. "I wish," added Francis, "that it may be the good

pleasure of Your Holiness, that those persons who enter the Church of

St. Mary of the Angels, are contrite, shall have confessed their sins,

and have properly received absolution, may receive an entire remission

of their sins, as well in this world as in the next, from their baptism,

to the time of their so entering the church." The Pope then said to

him, "Francis, what you solicit is a thing of great importance. The

Roman court has not been accustomed to grant any similar indulgence."

"Most Holy Father," returned Francis, "I ask not this for myself, it

is Jesus Christ who sent me; I come from Him." Upon which, the Pope

said publicly three times: "It is my desire that it be granted to you."

The cardinals who were present, represented to him, that in granting

so important an indulgence, he was subverting the throne of the holy

law, and that of the sepulchre of the holy Apostles. "The concession

is made," replied the Pope, "nor is it right it should be revoked; but

let us modify it." And recalling Francis, he said to him: "We grant

you this indulgence which you have solicited. It is for all years in

perpetuity; but only during one natural day; from one evening including

the night, to the evening of the following day." At these words Francis

humbly bowed down his head. As he went away, the Pope asked him:

"Whither art thou going, simple man? What certitude hast thou of what

thou hast just been granted?" "Holy Father," he replied, "your word

is sufficient for me. If this indulgence is the work of God, He will

make it manifest. Let Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother, and the

angels, be the notary, on this occasion, the paper, and the witnesses.

I require no other authenticated document." This was the effect of the

great confidence he had in God.

He left Perugia to return to St. Mary of the Angels, and midway he

stopped at a village named Colle, at a leper hospital, where he rested

awhile. On awaking, he had recourse to prayer; then he called Masse,

and said to him with great exultation: "I can assure you that the

indulgence which has been granted to me by the Sovereign Pontiff is

confirmed in Heaven." The day had not been fixed, however, until the

beginning of the year 1223.

Clare wished to see once more the Church of St. Mary of the Angels in

which she had renounced the world, and to take another meal with

Francis, her spiritual Father. He refused her his leave for some time;

but his companions having represented to him that he treated a virgin

whom he himself had consecrated to Jesus Christ, with too much

harshness, he consented to what she wished. An appropriate day was

fixed on, and she came to the convent of Portiuncula, accompanied by

some of her nuns, and some Friars Minor who went on purpose to the

convent of St. Damian.

After having prayed fervently in the church, and visited the convent,

the Friars and the nuns seated themselves round the reflection which

St. Francis had laid out on the ground, in pursuance of his usual

practice of humility, which was his daily observance, whenever it was

in his power. The first nourishment they took was for the soul. The

holy Patriarch spoke of God, but in so moving a manner, and with so

much unction and animation, that all who heard him were thrown into

ecstasy, as he was himself. At the same time, the convent, the church,

and the woods seemed to the inhabitants of Assisi and environs, to be

on fire. Many ran thither to afford their aid; but finding everything

in good order, they entered the convent, where they saw, with still

greater surprise, the whole assembly in a state of ecstasy. By that

they were made aware that what had seemed to them to be a fire, was

the type of the fire which inflamed these holy bosoms, and they returned

greatly edified.

By this marvel the Lord clearly showed that He approved the request,

which Clare had made, to be allowed to come to the Portiuncula; as by

another marvel He approved of the prayer which St. Scholastica made

to detain her brother, St. Benedict, whom she wished to hear speak of

the happiness of the future life, in the place in which they had just

dined together. Such, was the condescension of His goodness for the

consolation of these two saints, and it is thus that, according to the

words of the Prophet, "He fulfils the wishes of those who fear Him."

The repast finished without any one having chosen to eat anything, so

much were they filled with celestial aliment; and Clare returned to

the Monastery of St. Damian, where her sisterhood received her with

so much the more satisfaction, as they had been fearful that they would

have given her the direction of some new establishment, as they had,

a short time before, sent her sister Agnes to Florence as abbess. They

knew that Francis had said to her on other occasions: "Be prepared to

go wherever it may be necessary;" and that she had obediently answered,

"My Father I am ready to go whithersoever you may send me." Her having

gone out seemed to them a preparation for some longer journey and their

grief for having lost Agnes, their dear companion increased the fears

they had, lest they should lose Clare, also, who was in their regard

a most excellent mistress of spiritual life. But they had not,

thereafter, any similar alarms; this was the only time in forty-two

years that their holy mother left the enclosure.

Elias, the vicar general, gave Francis great uneasiness, by his

erroneous views. Many of the Friars Minor came to see their Patriarch,

who received them with every mark of kindness. The vicar made great

distinction between them. He was very particular in honoring those

whom science and dignities rendered considerable in the Order; he never

failed giving them the first places, and he took care to satisfy all

they needed; while he left the others in the lowest places, and often

without attending to their necessary wants. In his station he did what

the Apostle St. James forbids all Christians to do.

Their common Father, who could not endure that so great a difference

should be made, particularly amongst persons of the same Institute,

affected, one day, at table, after grace had been said, to call two

of the most simple of the brethren, and to place one on each side of

him, without showing any attention to the merits of others.

He did this, not because he disapproved of peculiar consideration being

shown to those to whom it is due, according to the maxim of St. Paul,

in consequence of their character, their dignity, or their personal

qualifications, but because he did not choose that these considerations

should be to the disadvantage of those who had not similar circumstances

to recommend them, and to whom, according to the same apostle, besides

the feelings of charity to which they and all others are entitled, a

certain degree of honor should be shown.

The vicar general, who was not impressed with a similar way of thinking,

was highly indignant at this act of the Saint, and murmuring to himself,

he said: "Ah! Brother Francis, it is quite certain that your extreme

simplicity will be the ruin of the Order. You place alongside of you,

men who have neither learning nor talents, and you affront those who

are the support of the Order by their science." Francis, who by a

supernatural revelation, was made aware of what his vicar had passing

in his mind, replied immediately to his thought: "And you, Brother

Elias, you do much greater injury to the Order by your vanity, and by

the prudence of the flesh, with which you are filled. The judgments

of God are impenetrable; He knows you as you are, and nevertheless,

He chose that you should be Superior of the Order; and it is His desire

that I leave it in your hands. Alas! I fear that the people, and he

who governs them, resemble each other, and that God has only given a

pastor, such as He foresees the flock will be." The holy Patriarch

well knew that the whole of the flock would not be corrupted by Brother

Elias, and that the majority of the members would resist him, as it

came to pass. And thus the fear which he experienced in general terms,

was a warning to keep them all to their duty. But what he added was

a true prophecy: "Unhappy man, as you are, you will not die in this

Order; God has so decreed. You have been weighed in the balances, and

have been found wanting, because you are puffed up with the science

of the world."

The following is the way in which this matter is related in the ancient

legend which is followed by St. Antoninus. Francis, knowing by a

revelation that Brother Elias would die out of the Order, and would

be damned, avoided conversing with him, and even seeing him. Elias

noticed this, and did not rest till he discovered the reason. Terrified

and dismayed at such a prophecy, he threw himself at the feet of his

kind master, and entreated him to intercede with God to prevent one

of the flock committed to his care, from perishing eternally: "Let not

the sentence which has been revealed to you, discourage you; for the

Lord may change His decree, if the sinner corrects his sin. I have

such confidence in your prayers, my very dear Father, that I should

think they would mitigate my sufferings even if I were in hell, as you

have been told I shall be. Pray for me, my Father; pray, and I have

no doubt but that God will modify His decree, and that I shall be

converted." Francis prayed, and obtained from God that Brother Elias

should not be damned, but he could not obtain the reversal of the

decree which said that he should not die in the Order. It was, in fact,

out of the Order that he died; but, previous to his death, he gave

great signs of contrition.

Wading makes on this a judicious remark, worthy of a sound theologian.

He says that Brother Elias, who was universally admitted to be a learned

man, was not ignorant that the decrees of God which are absolute, are

immutable, because He Himself is incapable of change; but he also knew

that the Lord sometimes expressed Himself in absolute words against

sinners, which decrees are merely threats, which may be changed by

their repentance, without His changing, according to what He has said

by the Prophet Jeremy: "I will suddenly speak against a nation, and

against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.

If that nation against which I have spoken shall repent of their evil,

I also will repent of the evil that I thought to do them." Jonas sent

from God, had positively announced that in forty days Nineveh should

be destroyed, and nevertheless the penitence of the Ninevites hindered

the destruction of their city. St. Gregory says, that in this sense

God changed His decrees, but did not change His design; and St. Thomas

says, that God proposes the change of certain things, but that in His

will no change takes place. Sinners, however, must not abuse this

doctrine, and imagine that God only threatens them, and that He will

not damn them, for He has an absolute will to damn eternally those who

die in mortal sin, as well as to crown with immortal glory such as die

in a state of grace. In truth, it is His wish that sinners should be

converted, and He places the means in their power by His mercy: "But,"

says St. Augustine, "He has not promised a to-morrow to your delay;"

and as the Apostle has it: "According to thy hardness and impenitent

heart thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath,

and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every

man according to his works."

The example of the holy Patriarch, who had sought three times, the

crown of martyrdom, and the triumph of the five brethren martyred at

Morocco, had inspired many with an ardent desire to die for Jesus

Christ. Shortly after Elias had been restored as vicar general, Daniel,

Minister in the Province of Calabria, asked leave to go and preach the

faith to the Moors, with six other brethren, whose names were Samuel,

Donule or Daniel, Leo, Hugolin, Nicholas, and Angelus. Having received

the permission of the vicar general, and the blessing of Francis, they

embarked in a port of Tuscany, from whence they sailed to Tarragona.

Their first intention was to have gone to Morocco, to mingle their

blood with that of their martyred brethren, but some reasons, probably

favorable to their intention, induced them to go to Ceuta.

Daniel arrived first with three of his companions, the master of the

vessel not having thought proper to take on board more. They lived out

of the town, in a village inhabited by traders from Pisa, Genoa, and

Marseilles, because Christians might not enter the town without a

particular permission. Their occupation here was to preach to these

traders, until they should be joined by their companions, who arrived

there on the 29th of September.

The following Friday, which was the first of October, they consulted

together as to their future plans, and the aids they should require

in the formidable combat they were about to sustain. On the Saturday,

they confessed and received the Holy Communion, without which, when

it is possible to receive it, St. Cyprian would not suffer confessors

to be exposed to martyrdom for the faith, because it is the Body and

the Blood of Jesus Christ which gives the strength to endure it. St.

Chrysostom and St. Bernard, also, say that it is the firmest defence

which can be opposed to the temptations of the devil, and to the

allurements of sin, which are powerful motives for having recourse to

frequent Communion.

The seven brothers went forth from the holy table, according to the

expression of St. Chrysostom, "as roaring lions, breathing fire and

flames," and they could not restrain the zeal which animated them. On

the evening of the same day, they washed each other's feet, in order

to follow the example of the Son of God, who washed His disciples'

feet before His Passion; and very early on the Sunday morning, before

there were any persons in the streets, they entered the town, having

their heads strewed with ashes, and commenced crying out with a loud

voice, "There is no salvation but through Jesus Christ."

The Moors soon collected, abused and beat them, and led them to the

king. The missionaries then repeated, in presence of the learned in

the law, what they had previously said to the people, "That it is

requisite to believe in Jesus Christ; that there is no salvation in

any other name than His," which they proved by the most forcible

arguments. The king, who fully understood that in thus upholding the

name of Jesus Christ they rejected that of Mahomet, looked upon them

as idiots, and thought that their shaven heads, with a crown of hair

round them, was a proof of their folly. However, to prove their

constancy, he had them confined in a loathsome jail, where he kept

them eight days in irons, and where they were cruelly treated.

Their confinement did not prevent their finding means to write to the

Christians who were in the vicinity of Ceuta. Their letter was addressed

to Hugh, Cure of the Genoese, and to two religious, one of their own

Order, and the other of the Order of Friars Preachers, who had just

returned from the farthest part of Mauritania. They blessed, in the

first instance, the Father of Mercies, who consoled them in their

tribulation; and, after having quoted several passages from the

Scriptures to justify their mission and to animate themselves to

suffering, they assured their brethren that they had borne witness,

and strongly argued in presence of the king, "that there is no salvation

but in the name of Jesus Christ;" and they concluded by referring to

God the glory of all that they had done.

The judge, whose name was Arbold, wishing to see what they did in

prison, saw that they were no longer chained, that their faces shone

with a splendid light, and that they sang the praises of God with

extraordinary joy. The king, having been apprised of this, caused them

to be brought before him on Sunday, the tenth of October, and offered

them great wealth if they would become Mussulmen. They boldly replied,

that they utterly despised all the things of this world and of the

present life, in consequence of the happiness of the future life. They

were then separated, and each was separately tempted, by promises and

threats, but they were all found steadfast in their resolution. Daniel,

speaking with great energy, one of the Moors cut him across the head

with his scimitar, from which he did not even wince, and another

exhorted him to embrace the law of Mahomet, to save his life with

honor. "Wretch!" exclaimed Daniel, "your Mahomet and all his followers

are but ministers of Satan, and your Koran is but a series of lies;

be no longer misled, but embrace the Christian faith."

As soon as the seven brothers were collected together, six of them

threw themselves at Daniel's feet, who had procured this mission for

them, and who was their leader, and said to him with tears of joy: "We

give thanks to God and to you, our father, for having procured for us

the crown of martyrdom; our souls will follow yours; bless us and die;

the struggle will be soon over, and we shall enjoy eternal peace."

Daniel tenderly embraced them, gave them his blessing, and encouraged

them by these words: "Let us rejoice in the Lord; this is for us a

festival day; angels surround us, the heavens are opened to receive

us; this day we shall receive the crown of martyrdom, which will last

forever."

In fact, the king, seeing that they were resolute, and not to be shaken,

condemned them to be beheaded. They were stripped, had their hands

tied behind them, and were taken to the place of execution, whither

they went as to a banquet, preceded by a herald, who proclaimed the

cause of their death, and where, after having recommended their souls

to God, they were decapitated, on the tenth of October, in the year

1221.

Infidel children and adults broke their skulls to pieces, and mutilated

the remains of the holy martyrs; but these precious relics were gathered

up by the Christians, and removed into the storehouse of the

Marseillese, and were afterwards buried in their dwellings beyond the

walls of Ceuta. It is asserted that some years afterwards they were

transferred to the Church of St. Mary, near Morocco, and that God

manifested them by miracles, and particularly by a splendid light,

which even the Moors saw during the night; and that some time afterwards

an Infant of Portugal, having obtained them from a King of Morocco,

had them removed into Spain, where fresh miracles rendered them

celebrated. Whatever truth there may be in the account of these

translations, it is not known now where the relics of these seven

martyrs are. This is certain--that the faithful had their memory in

great veneration, and that in 1516, the Friars Minor solicited leave

from Pope Leo X, to recite an office in their honor, which leave he

most willingly granted to them, placing them in the number of martyrs

recognized by the Church, as they are commemorated in the Roman

Martyrology on the 13th of October.

We may imagine the satisfaction their triumph gave to Francis, from

the ardent desire he always evinced for the crown of martyrdom, and

the tender love he bore for his children. He had, moreover, in this

year another great consolation on this subject. Pope Honorius sent to

almost all the bishops of Europe, desiring them to send him four men

from each province, or at least two, noted for their science and the

integrity of their lives, whom it was his intention to commission to

preach to the idolaters, and to the Saracens, for whose conversion he

was most anxious, and amongst the number thus selected there were many

Friars Minors, and Friars Preachers who generously exposed themselves

to every sort of peril for the salvation of souls.

The intimate union which the love of God had formed between St. Dominic

and St. Francis, induces us to note here, that the blessed Patriarch

of the Dominicans died this year, on the sixth day of August at the

age of fifty-one years. The eminent sanctity of his life, the great

miracles he performed; the ardor and splendor of his zeal for the

destruction of heresy; his inviolable attachment to the holy See; his

tender piety to the Blessed Virgin, whom he causes to be generally and

daily honored in the devotion of the Rosary; and the establishment of

his Order, so useful by its science, by its piety, and by the great

service it still renders to the Church, cause him to be illustrious

through the entire Church. Among the Friars Minor, there is not one

who, if animated by the spirit of St. Francis, must not have a special

devotion for Him, and a respectful affection for those of his order.

Charity, which inflamed the breast of Francis, soon drew him from his

retreat. He set out at the beginning of the year 1222, for the Terra

di Lavoro, Apulia and Calabria, and, in the course of this journey,

God worked many splendid miracles by his hand.

Passing, first, through the Town of Toscanella, on the road to Rome,

he received hospitality from a knight, whose only son was lame in both

legs, and was in a state of suffering through his whole body. The

afflicted father asked him to procure the cure of his son from God;

he abstained from doing this for some time out of humility, esteeming

himself unworthy of being loved by others, but being prevailed upon

by reiterated entreaties, he placed his hands upon him, and made the

sign of the cross upon the boy, who, at the same moment, stood upright

and firm on his legs, and was entirely cured, to the great astonishment

of his whole family.

At Rome, he made acquaintance, and became intimate with a nobleman,

named Mathew de Rubeis, of the illustrious family of the Orsini. One

day, on which he had been invited to dinner there, and having got there

at the appointed hour, not finding his host yet returned from town,

he joined, unperceived, the poor to whom they were giving a meal, and

he received the alms with them. The nobleman arrived shortly after,

and inquired where Brother Francis was, and as they did not find him,

he declared he would not eat his dinner, if he did not come. While

they were looking for him, he saw him seated in the yard with a group

of poor. He went to him, and said: "Brother Francis, since you won't

dine with me, I am come to dine with you;" which he did, placing himself

on the ground near him, and in the group, where he found himself very

comfortable in that company. When he heard that the holy man had

established a Third Order for secular persons of all ranks, he prayed

for admission into it, and had himself instructed in the practices to

be observed. The consideration which his rank in life gave him in the

world, threw great splendor on the new institution, and drew many

persons to it.

There was a little child called John whom he requested Francis to

bless; the servant of God gave him his blessing; he took him in his

arms and foretold to all there that he would bring great glory to his

house, and that he would be Sovereign Pontiff. Then, fixing his eyes

upon the child, he spoke to him as if he had had the use of reason;

he entreated him seriously, and in most affectionate terms, to be

favorable to his Order; after which the prophet continued as follows:

"He will not be a religious of our Order, but he will be its protector;

he will not be reckoned among its children, but he will be acknowledged

as its father; and our brethren will be delighted at seeing themselves

under his shadow. I consider the immense benefits we shall receive

from this child, I see them already in his little hands." Such a

prediction caused as much pleasure as surprise to the lord of the

family of the Orsini, but he never spoke of it till he saw its

fulfilment, which happened fifty-five years afterwards. His son,

cardinal, under the title of St. Nicholas, was chosen Pope in the year

1277, and took the name of Nicholas III. His singular benevolence for

the Order of the Friars Minor showed that its holy Founder had not

spoken in vain to him in his infancy.

From Rome Francis went to visit the Grotto of St. Benedict. He

considered with great attention the bush covered with thorns, into

which the great Patriarch of the monastic life had the courage to throw

himself, in order to overcome a temptation of the flesh. In admiration

of such extraordinary fervor, he touched this bush as a sacred relic;

he kissed it, and made on it the sign of the cross. God, in order to

honor his two servants, changed it immediately into a beautiful

rose-tree, the flowers of which have served in many cases for the cure

of the sick; the place has since been held in greater respect. In a

chapel which is near it, and which was consecrated by Gregory IX, we

see that Pope, with Francis on his left hand, who holds a scroll of

paper, on which these words, taken from the Gospel of St. Luke, are

written, "Peace be to this house," words which he constantly used as

a salutation.

The remainder of his journey was remarkable for many other wonders

which were worked through his means, in announcing the word of God.

While preaching at Gaeta, on the border of the sea, seeing that a crowd

of people were anxious, from a devotional feeling, to touch him, he

threw himself into a boat to avoid these demonstrations of respect,

which were disagreeable to him. The boat, which had no sailors in it,

floated to a certain distance out to sea, and then became stationary;

from thence he gave instruction to those who were on the shore, and

the crowd dispersing after having received his blessing, the boat

returned of itself to its former place. St. Bonaventure thereupon

says:--"Who, after this, will have a heart so hardened and so

irreligious as to despise the preaching of Francis, to which inanimate

things lent their aid, as if they had reasoning faculties?"

The inhabitants of Gaeta, admiring the power which God gave to His

servant, entreated him to stay some time in their town, and to permit

them to build there a convent for his Order. He assented to this, and

the work was commenced forthwith. While the church was in progress,

a carpenter was crushed by the falling of a beam. As the other workmen

were carrying him home, Francis, who was returning from the country,

met them, and directed them to lay the dead man on the ground; he then

made the sign of the cross on him, took him by the hand, called him

by his name, and commanded him to arise. The dead man rose immediately

and went back to his work. This is well-known in the country by

successive tradition, and a small chapel has been erected, under due

authority, on the spot where the miracle was performed, in order to

perpetuate the memory thereof.

The earliest authors of the life of our Saint record a very singular

miracle which he performed on his route, in the house of a gentleman.

All the inhabitants of the place were gone to the great square to hear

him preach. A female servant who had been left in a house to take care

of a child, wishing to hear the sermon, left the child alone. On her

return, she found the child dead, and half-boiled in a copper of hot

water, into which it had fallen. She took it out, and in order to hide

the disaster from the father and mother, she shut it up in a trunk;

the parents, however, learnt their misfortune, which was the more

afflicting as this was their only child. The husband entreated his

wife not to let her distress appear, out of respect for the servant

of God, who was to dine with them. During dinner, Francis endeavored

to inspire them with a holy joy, knowing what the Almighty had in store

for their consolation, and at the end of the dinner he feigned a wish

to eat some apples. They expressed their regret that they had none to

offer him; but pointing to the trunk in which the child was shut up,

he said: "Let them look there, and some will be found." It was in vain

that they assured him that there were none there; he insisted on having

the trunk opened. The gentleman, to oblige him, and with a view of

hiding the object of their grief, opened the trunk, when, judge of his

astonishment on finding his child alive and well, and, with a smiling

countenance, holding an apple in each hand. Transported with joy, he

carried the child and placed it in the arms of the holy man.

The people of Capua were so moved by his preaching, and by the miracles

he performed, particularly on his having saved from the waters a woman

whom the river Volturnus had carried off, that the town made him the

offer of a convent. St. Anastasius, Bishop of Civita di Penna, gave

him another, with great marks of regard, after having gone out to meet

him, on an inspiration he had in his sleep that Francis would come the

next day to his town, a circumstance which is recorded by a painting

in the church, and is explained in two Latin verses.

The servant of God having preached during the entire day at Montella,

went to pass the night in a wood in the vicinity of that town, where

he seated himself with his companion under an evergreen oak. Some

persons who passed by, in the morning, perceived that there was no

snow where the two religious sat, although there had been a heavy fall

in the night, and they related the circumstance to the Lord of Montella,

who sent for Francis, and entreated him to remain in that country, or

to leave some of his companions amongst them, for the instruction of

the people. He left two, for whom they built a house on the very spot

where heaven had been so favorable to him.

The force which God gave to his discourses, and the miracles of which

He made him the instrument, converted sinners, and animated the piety

of the good. Both the one and the other were anxious to retain him

amongst them, or, at least, to have some of his religious. In this

journey alone, he founded more than twenty houses, among which was one

at Amalfi, whither his devotion had led him to honor the relics of the

Apostle St. Andrew. The inhabitants of Acropoli, who at first had been

deaf to his instruction, were penetrated with contrition, and gave him

a convent, after having been reproached with the hardness of their

hearts by a multitude of fish, that God caused to collect round a rock

from which Francis preached those truths which this people had refused

to listen to.

The Emperor Frederic II was, at that time, with his court at Bari. The

servant of God went there, no doubt, to venerate the relics of the

great bishop St. Nicholas; he preached in the town, and as his

discourses were always made suitable to the wants of his auditors, he

spoke energetically on the dangers of the court, and particularly

against impurity.

On leaving Bari, he found on the road a purse, which appeared to be

full of money. His companion, who was aware of his great charity, said

that he ought to take it for the poor. Francis refused to do so, saying

that it was only a snare of the devil, and that, if it was really money

which had been lost, it would not be right to take what belonged to

others to give away in alms; so they continued their route. His

companion was not satisfied; he thought that an opportunity was lost

of doing a good action, and he tired Francis with his remonstrances.

The holy man, who was very mild and very obliging, returned to the

spot where the purse was, not intending to do what his companion wished,

but to expose to him the artifice of the evil spirit. A young man was

passing at the time, in whose presence he told his companion to take

up the purse; he, trembling from a secret misgiving of what was about

to happen, would have been glad not to have anything to do with it;

but, obliged to obey, he put his hand to it, which he had no sooner

done than he saw a large snake slide out, which disappeared with the

purse. On which, Francis said to his companions: "Brother, money is,

as regards the servants of God, but as a venomous serpent, and even

the devil himself." We may here add, that it is the same thing for

those who are too fond of it, and who avariciously keep it, or make

it serve for the gratification of their passions. A chapel, which has

been built in that place, is a memorial of the teaching of the Patriarch

to the poor of Jesus Christ.

His devotion induced him also to visit the grotto consecrated by the

apparition of the Archangel Michael, on Mount Gargano. They wished,

out of respect, to take him to the very spot where the blessed spirit

was manifested, and where mass is offered up, a privilege which is not

allowed to all. But through humility he stopped at the door, and, as

he was urged to enter, he said: "I dare not go farther; this place is

awful; it is the dwelling of angels, whom men should respect in all

ways." The place where he stopped to pray is shown to this day. These

sentiments of humility should abash those Christians who crowd round

our altars in unbecoming postures, and particularly those worldly women

who, in immodest postures and in an air of vanity, approach

contemptuously the sanctuary in which the Sacred Body of Jesus reposes.

Francis placed some of his religious near Mount Gargano and in some

other parts, after which he came to Gubbio, where he cured a woman,

the sinews of whose hands were contracted.

Near Gubbio, a soldier called Benvenuto, asked to be admitted into the

Order; he was admitted as a lay-brother, with directions to wait upon

the lepers. Profound humility, implicit obedience, an ardent charity,

the love of poverty and of silence, assiduity in prayer, perfect

patience in sickness, and a tender devotion to the Blessed Sacrament,

rendered this soldier an excellent religious. God honored him with so

many miracles during his lifetime and after his death, which happened

in the year 1232, that Pope Gregory IX had information taken on the

subject, in 1236, through the Bishops of Malfi, Molfetta, and Venosa,

and permitted these three dioceses to allot to him an office, which

is now said by the whole Order of Friars Minor.

There lived, between Gubbio and Massa, an old advocate of the Roman

court, called Bartholomew Baro, who had retired thither to avoid the

tumults and dangers of the world, and lived in great reputation of

sanctity. Francis, delighted at what he had heard of him, wished to

see him. They discoursed on spiritual things, and Bartholomew, hearing

that there was a Third Order, willingly entered it. The holy Founder

who saw that great prudence was associated with his consummate piety,

placed confidence in him regarding the affairs of his Order, and left

some of his religious with him.

St. Antoninus relates, that Bartholomew had in his hermitage a man

possessed by the devil, who was incessantly talking, but who did not

speak a word during the three days that Francis was there. After his

departure he recommenced talking, and Bartholomew having asked him

why, during the stay of Francis, he had kept silence: "It was," he

said, "because God had so tied his tongue that it was out of his power

to speak a single word." "How is it, then," replied Bartholomew: "is

Francis so great a man, that his presence has such an effect?" "Truly,"

rejoined the demoniac, "his virtue is so great, that all the world

will see in him most wonderful things. It is not long since our prince

called us all together, and told us that God, who in all times had

sent men for the conversion of sinners, has similar designs in regard

to this man, and that Jesus Christ proposes to renew His passion in

Francis, in order to imprint it in the hearts of men from whence it

is obliterated."

As this was said two years before Francis received the stigmata, it

would seem that the prince of darkness had some knowledge of the favors

which Jesus Christ intended to confer on Francis. St. Augustine says,

that the Son of God made Himself known to the demons on earth, making

certain signs to them of His presence; but that it was only as far as

He thought proper; that He made use of it, when necessary to inspire

them with terror; and that, at other times, He left them in doubt as

to His divinity. According to this doctrine, it might be said that

God, to confound the demons, had made known to their chief His intention

to renew the Passion of Jesus Christ in the person of Francis, without

informing him in what manner this was to happen, for it is certain

that this spirit of darkness, neither by his natural lights, nor by

conjectures, had the means of discovering a favor which solely depended

on the Divine will.

At length, having labored for the salvation of souls with great fatigue,

nearly the whole year, the holy Patriarch returned to his dear home,

St. Mary of the Angels, to attend more immediately to his own

sanctification. He there received Brother Casar of Spire, who had

returned from Germany, and the subject of whose mission we must now

resume, having lost sight of it since the year 1221.

This zealous missionary left Italy with twenty-seven companions, divided

into small parties, and before the Feast of St. Michael, they arrived

successfully at Trent, where they remained fifteen days, during which

the bishop provided liberally for all their wants. On the day of the

festival, Casar preached to the clergy, and Barnabas to the people.

An inhabitant of the town, named Pellegrino, was so moved by Barnabas's

discourse, that he had all the brethren newly clothed, and shortly

afterwards he sold all his property, gave it to the poor, and took the

same habit himself.

Casar left some of the brethren at Trent, exhorting them to the practice

of patience and humility, and then set out with the remainder. On their

way they attended with greater interest to spiritual than temporal

wants, although they had commissioned some of their companions to

provide what was necessary for them. The Bishop of Trent, whom they

found at Posen, detained them for some days, and gave them leave to

preach in the whole of his diocese. From thence they went to Brixen,

where the bishop received them very charitably; but from thence they

had much to suffer in the mountains, where they could procure nothing

to eat, after long and fatiguing marches, and were reduced to feed

upon wild fruits, and even then they had a scruple of tasting these

on Friday morning, because it was, by their rule, a fast, although

they had slept in the open air, and had had scarcely anything to eat

the preceding day. But God supported them, and they reached Augsburg,

where the bishop embraced them all, and gave them special marks of his

benevolence.

In 1221, near the Feast of St. Gall, which is on the sixteenth of

October, Casar assembled the first chapter of the Order which had been

held in Germany; there were about thirty of his brethren, whom he

distributed in several provinces of this vast country. Some were sent

to Wurtzburg, Mentz, Worms, Spire, and Cologne, where they exerted

themselves with much success for the salvation of souls, and built

convents. Giordano was sent with two companions to Saltzburg, and the

archbishop of that city received them with great benevolence. Three

others went to Ratisboa, where they founded an excellent establishment.

The provincial followed them, animating them by word and example. While

at Wurtzburg, he gave the habit of the Friars Minor to a young man of

good family, named Hartmod, who had enjoyed a good education. He called

him Andrew, because the day of his reception was that of the holy

Apostle. Andrew, having taken holy orders some time after, became a

celebrated preacher, and was the first warden in Saxony. Rodinger was

also admitted into the Order, who was afterwards warden of the convent

of Halberstad, and director of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, before Dr.

Conrad of Marburg.

In 1222, Casar, having received a great number of novices, some of

whom were made priests, assembled a chapter at Worms, and finding that

the Order was taking firm root in Germany, he instituted as

vice-provincial, Thomas de Celano, and returned into Italy with Simon

de Collazon, who had preferred the humble state of Friar Minor to the

nobility of his birth. The reason of Casar's return was the anxious

desire he had to see once more his holy Patriarch, and his companions

in the Valley of Spoleto, with whom he was intimately united through

virtue. He was a man greatly attached to contemplation, very zealous

for holy poverty, and highly esteemed by his brethren, who, after their

holy Father, looked up to him above any other.

The religious whom he had left in Germany pursued their mission with

great success. Even in this year, or shortly after, they penetrated,

with the Friars Preachers, into the Kingdom of Sweden, and into some

other countries of the North, according to the testimony of John the

Great. Archbishop of Upsal, and Legate of the Holy See, who notices

this circumstance in the history of his church.

This prelate remarks that one of the first who entered the Institute

of the Friars Minor, was Laurence Octavius, an illustrious man, whose

conversion made such a sensation, that it drew into the Order many

persons of high rank. The poor habit which he wore, and which he honored

by his splendid virtues, and particularly by love of suffering, did

not render it less venerable than his sciences.

Octavius could not avoid giving his consent, in the year 1244 or 1245,

to the election which was unanimously made of his person, by the clergy

and people, for the Archbishopric of Upsal, which was confirmed by

Innocent IV. In this dignity, he continued to live the life of a true

Friar Minor, and did so much for the salvation of his flock, as well

as for the benefit of the whole kingdom, that, if heresy had not

destroyed in Sweden all sentiments of piety with the light of faith,

his memory would still be honored there as one of their greatest as

well as holiest persons. He died a saintly death, in the year 1267,

and chose to be buried among the Friars Minor, with whom he would have

gladly spent his life.

While the Institute of St. Francis thus flourished in Germany and in

the North, a treasure was discovered in Italy, which had been up to

this time overlooked. It was the great St. Anthony of Padua, who was

leading a hidden life in the Hermitage of St. Paul near Bologna.

His superior sent him, with some others, to Forli, in Romagna, to take

orders. Some Friars Preachers were also present. Being assembled

together at the hour of conference, the superior of the place requested

the Friars Preachers to give them an exhortation. As they excused

themselves because they were not prepared, he turned to Anthony, and

without being aware of the depth of his learning, he ordered him to

say whatever the Holy Spirit should suggest to him. Anthony replied

with great humility that he was ill fitted for such a task, and that

he was much more qualified for cleaning the plates than for preaching.

However, yielding to the superior's reiterated order, he began to

discourse with simplicity and timidity; but God, proposing to place

conspicuously the lamp which was hidden under the bushel, he continued

his discourse with so much eloquence, and showed himself to possess

so profoundly learned a doctrine, that the audience was most agreeably

surprised, and admitted that they had never heard anything to equal

it; and they did not know which most to admire, his learning or his

humility.

It was, indeed, requisite to be possessed of rare and extraordinary

humility, to hide with so much care such sublime learning, and talents

so varied; for Anthony had earnestly requested the guardian of the

convent in which he was, to employ him in cleaning the plates and

dishes, and in sweeping the house. This man, who, according to the

saying of the Apostle, was "A vessel of honor, sanctified and profitable

to the Lord, prepared unto every good work," treated himself, and

wished to be considered by his companions, as one of the vilest amongst

men. He was deserving of the highest place, and took the very lowest.

He was so deeply versed in the Holy Scriptures, that his memory served

him as a book; and he penetrated so well into the most obscure passages

that he was the admiration of the most profound theologians; but he

was more anxious to be confounded with the unlearned, and to be unknown,

than to let his learning be discovered, and to appear capable of

instructing others.

We may here notice a reflection of St. Bernard on a somewhat similar

case: "Let this passage be remarked by those who undertake to teach

what they have not learnt themselves; seeking for scholars, without

having had masters, they are the blind leading the blind. But justice

is done them; although it is admitted that they have some talent, it

is soon found that they have nothing solid, and they are treated with

contempt."

The fortunate discovery that was thus made of the talents of Anthony,

soon reached the ears of Francis, who ordered him to apply himself to

the pulpit. He desired, however, that the preacher, in order to exercise

his ministry with the greatest effect, should study theology at

Vercelli, under the Abbot of St. Andrew, who gave lessons with great

reputation, and who is supposed to have been the celebrated Doctor

Thomas, a canon regular of the Abbey of St. Victor of Paris. He was

sent to be the first abbot at the Abbey of St. Andrew of Vercelli,

which was founded about the year 1220. Anthony had as a fellow-student

another Friar Minor, named Adam de Marisco, an Englishman, who was

afterwards a doctor of the University of Oxford, the holiness of his

life, his learning, and his writings rendered him famous throughout

the whole realm of England. He was subsequently elected Bishop of Ely.

The application which Anthony gave to the study of theology did not

prevent his preaching during all Lent at Milan, and at other times in

some parts of the duchy. But his preaching was no hindrance to his

studies, because the lights he had previously acquired, and those he

received from above, together with his splendid talents, gave him an

insight into the most sublime truths. His progress was so quick and

so great, that his master often declared, that he learnt many things

from his scholar. Speaking of the book of the celestial hierarchy which

he was explaining, he said that his scholar ran over the several orders

of blessed spirits with so much precision, and a penetration so

surprising, that it might have been thought that the whole heavenly

host passed before him. This exalted wisdom, joined to his eminent

virtues, induced his illustrious preceptor to give him the name of

Saint, and to apply our Blessed Lord's eulogy of St. John the Baptist

to him: "He was a burning and a shining light." Anthony was requested

by his fellow-students to communicate to them the learning in which

he abounded, and to give lessons in the convent, but he would not take

upon himself to exercise the functions of master, without having first

consulted the holy Founder of the Order. He wrote to him on the subject,

and received the following answer:

"To my dear Brother Anthony, Brother Francis sends greeting in Jesus

Christ.

"I entirely approve of your teaching the brethren sacred theology; in

such a manner, however, that the spirit of prayer be not extinguished

in you or in them, according to the rule which we profess. Adieu."

This is a proof that Francis was not hostile to study, but that he

only wished it to be conducted in a religious manner, without prejudice

to piety. Anthony, having obtained leave, taught first at Montpellier,

and then at Bologna, where studies were again set on foot, to which

disobedience had put a stop, as has been said; then he taught at Padua,

at Toulouse, and in other places where he was stationed: always joining

to this holy exercise, that of preaching with wonderful success.

At the time when he began taking lessons from the Abbot of Vercelli,

the most celebrated doctor of the University of Paris took the habit

of the Friars Minor. This was Alexander d'Hales or d'Hels, or Hales,

thus named from the place of his birth in the County of Gloucester,

where, from the year 1246, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, had founded a

convent of the Order of Citeaux. Having gone through his course of

humanities in England, he came to Paris, where he studied philosophy

and theology, took a doctor's degree, taught, and was universally

admired.

St. Antoninus believes that what led to his vocation was this: having

made a vow to grant, if he possibly could, whatever should be asked

of him for the love of the Blessed Virgin, for whom he had a singular

devotion, a person who was questing for the Friars Minor, came and

said to him: "It is now long enough that you have been laboring for

the world, and you have acquired celebrity in it. I entreat you, for

the love of God, and of the Blessed Virgin, to enter into our Order,

which you will honor, and you will sanctify yourself." The doctor was

surprised at this request, but God touched his heart, and he replied

to the brother: "I shall follow you very soon; and shall do as you

wish," and shortly after, he took the habit of a Friar Minor. Others,

however, are of opinion, that he was induced to quit the world by the

example of his fellow-countryman, John of St. Gilles, an illustrious

doctor, who, preaching one day to the clergy, with great energy, on

voluntary poverty, in the convent of the Friars Preachers, descended

from the pulpit in the middle of his sermon, and in order to give force

to his words by his example, he took the habit of St. Dominic, and

returned to the pulpit to finish his discourse.

However this may be, the holy life and happy death of Alexander Hales

in the Order of St. Francis, bore testimony to his having been called

by God. It is said that, at first, the practices were difficult to

him, and that some interior suffering made him think of leaving the

Order, but that, in this agitation, he saw in spirit Francis bearing

a heavy wooden cross, and endeavoring to carry it up a very steep hill;

that he offered to assist him, but that the holy Patriarch spurned his

aid indignantly, saying: "Begone, you feeble man; you have not the

courage to bear your own light cross, and you would attempt to bear

this heavy one!" This vision having enlightened the doctor who was a

novice, he was delivered entirely from the temptation under which he

labored.

He continued to teach with the same repute; and the faculty of theology,

to do honor to his merits, gave him the privilege of presenting one

of his brethren and disciples for a doctor's degree; which he did the

first time by an interior revelation, in favor of Brother John de la

Rochelle, who afterwards became very celebrated. Alexander had many

other disciples distinguished both for their learning and their piety,

but there are none who have done more honor to his instructions than

St. Bonaventure, and, according to the opinion of many authors, St.

Thomas Aquinas. Among his writings, which are very numerous, and on

all sorts of subjects, his Summa is much esteemed, in which, by order

of Pope Innocent IV, he arranged methodically the theological subjects.

This is the first Summa which was compiled, and it has served as a

model for all others. Pope Alexander IV spoke in the highest terms,

both of the author and of his work.

Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, in speaking of

Alexander's doctrine, expresses himself as follows: "It is not to be

told how many excellent things it contains. I declare to have read in

a treatise, that some one having asked St. Thomas what was the best

mode of studying theology, he replied, 'To study the works of a single

theologian;' and being asked what theologian it was desirable to fix

on, he named Alexander Hales. Thus," continues Gerson, "the writings

of St. Thomas, and principally the Seconda Seconda, show how familiar

the works and doctrine of Alexander were to him."

So then learned men entered the Order of Friars Minor, as St. Francis

had foretold; and this is the reason why he recommended that prayer

should be joined to study, lest learning should obliterate piety.

The indulgence granted to St. Mary of the Angels, or the Portiuncula,

two years previous to this time, had not yet had the day fixed on which

the faithful could gain it. Francis waited till Jesus Christ, who first

conceded so precious a boon, should Himself mark the day, nor was he

disappointed. It occurred as follows:

One night, when he was praying in his cell, at St. Mary of the Angels,

in the beginning of the year 1223, the tempter suggested to him not

to watch and pray so much, but rather to adopt other modes of penance,

because, from his age, more sleep and rest was absolutely necessary

for him, and these watchings would be his death. Being aware of the

malice of his infernal enemy, he retired to the woods, and threw himself

down into a bush of briars and thorns, till he was covered with blood.

"For," said he to himself, "it is much better that I should suffer

these pains with Jesus Christ, than that I should follow the advice

of an enemy who flatters me."

A brilliant light which surrounded him, disclosed to him a great number

of white and red roses, although it was the month of January, and the

winter was very severe. This was an effect of the power of God, who

had changed the briars into rose-trees, which have ever since been

evergreen and without thorns.

Angels, who appeared in great numbers, said to him: "Francis, hasten

to return to the Church, Jesus Christ is there, together with His

Blessed Mother." At the same time, he perceived himself miraculously

clothed with a new habit of pure white; he gathered twelve roses of

each color, and went to the church. After a profound adoration he

addressed the following prayer to Jesus Christ, under the protection

of the most Blessed Virgin: "Most holy Father, Lord of heaven and

earth, Saviour of man, deign, through Thy great mercy, to fix the day

of the indulgence which Thou hast been pleased to grant to this sacred

place."

Our Lord answered him, that it was His desire that it should be from

the evening of the vigil of the day when St. Peter the Apostle was

delivered from his chains, to the evening of the following day. Francis,

again asking in what manner this should be publicly made known, and

whether his own assertion would be given credit to, he was directed

to present himself before the vicar of Jesus Christ, to take with him

some white and red roses as testimonials of the truth of the fact,

also a number of his own brethren, who would testify to what they had

heard; for, from the cells which were near the church, they had, indeed,

heard all that had been said. Then the angels sang the hymn "Te Deum

laudamus." Francis took three roses of each color in honor of the Most

Blessed Trinity, and the vision disappeared.

Francis, accompanied by Brothers Bernard de Quintavalle, Peter of

Catania, and Angelus of Rieti, set out for Rome, where he related to

the Pope all that had happened at St. Mary of the Angels, in proof

whereof, he presented to him the roses he had brought, and his

companions testified to what they had heard. The Pope, astonished to

see such beautiful and sweet-smelling roses in the depth of winter,

said: "As to myself, I believe the truth of what you tell me, but it

is a matter which must be submitted to the cardinals for their

opinions." In the meantime, he directed his attendants to see that

they should not want for anything.

The next day, they came before the consistory, where Francis, by the

Pope's desire, said, in presence of the cardinals: "It is the will of

God that whoever shall, with a contrite and humble heart, after having

confessed his sins, and received absolution by a priest, enter the

Church of St. Mary of the Angels, in the Diocese of Assisi, between

the first vespers of the first day of August and the vespers of the

second day, shall obtain an entire remission of all the sins he may

have committed from his Baptism until that moment." The Sovereign

Pontiff, seeing that the words of Francis were not thought to have any

deceit in them, having conferred with the cardinals thereon for some

time, confirmed the indulgence. And he subsequently ordered the Bishops

of Assisi, Perugia, Todi, Spoleto, Foligno, Nocera, and Gubbio, to

meet at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, on the first of August

of that year, and there solemnly to publish this indulgence.

All these prelates met on the day specified, and having mounted a large

platform, which had been prepared outside of the church, they made

Francis mount there also, to explain to the assembly, which was very

numerous and gathered from all parts of the country, the cause of their

meeting. He spoke with so much fervor that it seemed to be rather an

angel who addressed the meeting than a man, and he ended his discourse

by announcing the plenary and perpetual indulgence which God and the

Sovereign Pontiff granted to this church every year on that day. The

bishops were not satisfied with his publishing it to be in perpetuity.

"Brother Francis," they said, "although the Pope desires us to do on

this occasion whatever you wish, it is not, however, his intention

that we should do things which are not suitable; therefore you must

give notice that the indulgence is only to last for ten years." The

Bishop of Assisi was the first to restrict it to this time, but he

could not help saying, as St. Francis had, "in perpetuity." The other

bishops endeavored successively to announce this restriction, but God

permitted that, without intending it, they should all say, "in

perpetuity." By this, they were made sensible of the will of God, and

willingly proclaimed the indulgence to be perpetual.

Many of those who were at the sermon preached by Francis, have left

testimony in writing to the effect, that he had in his hand a small

scroll on which was written these words: "I wish you all to go to

Paradise. I announce to you a plenary indulgence which I have obtained

from the goodness of our Heavenly Father, and from the mouth of the

Sovereign Pontiff. All you who are assembled here to-day, and with a

contrite and humble heart have confessed with sincerity, and have

received absolution from a priest, will have remission of all your

sins; and in like manner, those who come every year with similar

dispositions, will obtain the same."

Such is the way in which the famous indulgence of St. Mary of the

Angels, or of Portiuncula, was published on the second day of August;

an indulgence which the Sovereign Pontiffs have since extended to all

the churches of the Order of St. Francis.

The seven prelates consecrated the Church of St. Mary of the Angels,

and performed a similar ceremony for the Church of St. Damian, at the

request of Francis and Clare. The remembrance of this is commemorated

yearly at Assisi, on the ninth of August.

The benevolent feeling which Honorius III expressed to the holy

Patriarch, when he was at Rome, for the indulgence of the Portiuncula,

induced him to wish that this Pontiff would authorize solemnly the

Rule of the Order, which Innocent III had only verbally approved. He

had in the night the following revelation, which is thus recorded by

St. Bonaventure:

It seemed to him that he had taken up from the ground some very small

crumbs of bread, in order to distribute them to the half-starved

brethren who surrounded him, and how, fearful lest such small crumbs

should fall out of his hands, a heavenly voice said to him: "Francis,

collect all these crumbs and make a host of them, and give of it to

such as wish to eat of it." He did so, and all those who did not partake

of it devoutly, or treated it contemptuously, after having received

it, seemed to be infected with leprosy. In the morning, he related all

this to his companions, and was distressed at not comprehending the

mystery. The following day, while he was at prayer, a voice from heaven

said to him: "Francis, the crumbs of last night are the words of the

Gospel, the host is the Rule, and the leprosy is iniquity."

The term of Host, to designate the Rule, is worthy of particular

consideration. Its import is that, as bread without leaven, which is

called the Host, is made of the finest flour, so the Rule is composed

of what is most perfect in the Gospel; and as this bread, by the words

of consecration, is changed into the Body of Jesus Christ, the true

Host immolated on the altar, so those who make profession of the Rule,

must be transformed into hosts, or victims, and immolate themselves

to God. It is thus that St. Paul warns Christians, "To become as a new

paste without leaven," and to pass the whole time of their lives as

a continual festival, "presenting their bodies a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing unto God." St. Peter also says to them, that they

are a "Spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual

sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

The oracle of Heaven communicated to Francis that the Rule which he

sought to have approved, and which was composed of sentences from the

Gospel, required abridgment, and putting into order with greater

precision. In order to effect this, he was inspired, after the

publication of the indulgence, to go to Mount Columbo, near Rieti,

where he retired into an opening in the rock, with Brothers Leo and

Bonzio, fasting on bread and water; and this fast, according to the

statement of Marianus, lasted forty days. There he wrote the Rule,

according to the dictation of the Holy Spirit manifested to him, in

prayer. On his return to St. Mary of the Angels, he put it into the

hands of his vicar, Brother Elias, to read it, and keep it. Elias

thought it too severe, and some days afterwards, in order to suppress

it, he feigned to have lost it by negligence. The holy men returned

to the same place, and wrote it out a second time, as if God had

dictated it to him with His own mouth.

The vicar-general communicated to some of the provincial ministers

what had happened, and told them that the Founder was desirous of

imposing upon them a stricter mode of life than that to which they had

hitherto adhered. They concerted together what they should do to avert

this, and it was agreed that Elias, as vicar-general, should go and

represent to him the inconvenience of such increased austerity, and

the objections of his brethren. Elias, who was aware of the firmness

of Francis in these matters, and had been severely rebuked by him on

other occasions, acknowledged that he did not dare execute this

commission alone, but he offered to accompany them for the common

cause, and they consented to this arrangement.

While they were drawing near to the mountain, Francis had a revelation

of what was passing. When they had reached the top, he left the opening

of the rock quickly, and demanded of Elias what he and all these

ministers who were with him wanted. Elias, with downcast eyes, and

trembling, said, in a low tone of voice: "These ministers, having

learnt that you were about to give them a new Rule above the strength

of man to endure, have engaged me to come here, in my capacity of

vicar-general, to entreat you to modify it, because they will not

receive it, if it is too austere."

At these words, the Saint, in great emotion and shuddering, raised his

eyes to heaven and exclaimed: "Lord, did I not say that these people

would not believe me? As to myself, I will keep this Rule to the day

of my death, with those of my companions who love poverty; but I shall

not have it in my power to compel those who do not choose it, and who

make so much resistance."

Jesus Christ appeared in a luminous cloud above Francis, and said, so

that all heard him: "Little man, why are you discontented, as if this

is your work?--It is I who have dictated the Rule; no part of it is

yours. I insist on its being literally observed to the very letter--to

the very letter, without gloss or comment. I know what frail man can

endure, and what support I can and will give him. Let those who will

not keep the Rule leave the Order; I will raise up others in their

place; and if it be requisite, I will bring them forth from these

stones."

Then Francis, from the top of the rock on which he had knelt down,

addressed these words to the vicar-general and to the others, who were

greatly alarmed: "You now know that your conspiracy has been solely

an opposition to the will of God, and that instead of taking into

consideration what He can do for us, you have only consulted the feeble

light of your human prudence. Have you heard, have you, yourself, heard

the voice which came forth from the cloud, and which spoke so audibly?

If it did not resound in your ears, I will take steps to cause you to

hear it once more." Upon this, Elias and his companions, astounded and

beside themselves, retired without saying a single word.

The holy Patriarch having returned to join his faithful children in

the small fissure of the rock, in which they lay prostrate at the voice

of the Lord, said to them: "Rise up now, and fear nothing, but as true

soldiers of Jesus Christ put on the armor of God, in order to be on

your guard against the snares which the devil will not fail to throw

in the way of your following Him." He left the mountain and went to

the nearest convent to show the Rule to his brethren, intending to

communicate it afterwards to the others, in order to know what each

one thought of it. His countenance, animated and shining, was a

manifestation that God himself had dictated to him the rule of life

which he proposed to them. It was a striking representation of Moses

coming down from Mount Sinai, his face shining brightly. The resemblance

cannot be too much admired in its several relations. Moses, after a

fast of forty days, received, on a mountain, the Law which God gave

him. Jesus Christ having fasted forty days, was on a mountain when He

taught that doctrine which embraces, as St. Augustine observes, all

the perfection of the Christian life. And it was on a mountain that

it was His pleasure to give His servant Francis, who fasted rigorously,

a Rule in which the perfection of the evangelical life is contained.

Some having read the Rule, said to Francis, that it was necessary that

his Order should have something in common, as the other religious

orders had; seeing that the number of the brethren was already very

great, and that, according to all appearance, the Order would be so

extended; that it would not be possible to exist in so restricted a

state of poverty. The Saint returned to the place he had left, and

having had recourse to prayer, he consulted Jesus Christ, the true

Legislator, who gave the following reply: "It is I who am their portion

and their inheritance, I do not choose that they should be encumbered

with the things of this world. Provided they adhere strictly to the

Rule, and that they place their confidence in me, I will take care of

them; I will not suffer them to stand in need of anything necessary

to life; the more their numbers increase, the more will I manifest my

providence to them."

We must here render to that adorable and loving Providence the justice

due to it. It has never been wanting to the Order of St. Francis, and

they have never had greater proofs of His care than when they have

chosen to live most poorly. We see verified to the letter, in these

poor evangelical brethren, the imitators of Jesus Christ crucified,

what is said in the twenty-first psalm, in which the Son of God has

clearly foretold His Passion: "The poor shall eat and shall be filled,

and they shall praise the Lord that seek Him, their hearts shall live

forever and ever." Were He now to ask the Religious of St. Francis,

as He asked the Apostles: "When I sent you without purse, or scrip,

and shoes, did you want for anything?" There is not one who would not

answer as they did: "No, we have not wanted for anything." For a poor

evangelical brother is bound to consider himself as not wanting anything

while he lives, and to look upon having nothing but what is necessary

as the treasure of his state of life.

A religious order which, without any revenue, maintains many thousand

men, was a subject of admiration for an infidel prince, and the Founder

was considered by him as a very great man. He was not aware of the

cause of this wonderful effect, but religion teaches us that it is God

himself who provides for the wants of His servants, by the charity

with which He inspires the faithful.

Francis communicated to the ministers what our Lord had said to him.

They submitted to everything, and returned with him to St. Mary of the

Angels, where the Rule was approved by the brethren who were there,

and was then sent into the provinces to be examined before it was

submitted for confirmation.

Speaking of the Rule, he said to his children: "I have not put anything

into it of my own; I caused it all to be written as God revealed it

to me;" and he adduced this motive to incite them the better to keep

it. He confirmed the revelation in his will, in the following terms:

"When the Lord confided to me the guidance of the brethren, no one

communicated to me how I was to behave towards them, but the Almighty

Himself revealed to me that I ought to live according to the form

prescribed by the Gospel; I caused it to be written out in few and

simple words," etc.

This is the eulogium he passed on it: "My brethren and my dear children,

a very great favor was done to us in giving us this Rule; for it is

the book of life, the hope of salvation, the pledge of glory, the

marrow of the Gospel, the way of the cross, a state of perfection, the

key of Paradise, and the bond of our eternal alliance. None of you is

ignorant how greatly advantageous to us holy religion is. As the enemy

who fights against us is extremely clever in inventing and executing

everything which is malicious, and strews in our way all sorts of

snares to effect our perdition, there are many whose salvation he would

have brought into great peril, if religion had not been their shield.

Study, therefore, your Rule, all of you, not only for alleviating your

pains, but in order that it may remind you of the oath you have taken

to keep it. It is necessary that you should employ yourselves in

meditating on it, that it may sink into your hearts, and be always

before your eyes, so that you may observe it with exactness, and hold

it fast at your deaths."

St. Bridget being in prayer at Jerusalem; where she was interceding

for a Friar Minor who had some conscientious scruples on the subject

of the Rule, our Saviour caused her to hear the following words: "The

Rule of St. Francis was not the composition of the human mind; it is

I who made it; it does not contain a single word which was not inspired

by my spirit; and thus Francis gave it to the others."

Pope Nicholas III says, that it bears on the face of it, the evidence

of the Trinity; that it is descended from the Father of Light, that

it was taught to the apostles by the example, and by the doctrine of

His Son, and that the Holy Ghost inspired it to the blessed Francis

and to those who had followed him. He also declares, as Gregory IX had

done before, that it is established on the word of the Gospel,

authorized by the life of Jesus Christ, and supported by the actions

and words of the Apostles, who founded the Church Militant. It consists,

according to the remark of St. Bonaventure, in observing the Holy

Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because all its substance is taken

from the pure source of the Gospel. It is, therefore, no new rule; it

is only a renewed rule; literally the same as what the Son of God laid

down for the Apostles, when He sent them forth to preach; and that

ought always give great spiritual consolation to those who keep it.

This holy doctor considers the impressions of the wounds of Jesus

Christ, which Francis received from the hand of the living God, some

time after the revelation of the Rule, as a bull of Jesus Christ, by

which that High Pontiff confirmed it; and Pope Nicholas III was of the

same opinion, in his decrial.

Finally, the Rule of the Friars Minor, given by St. Francis, is wholly

Evangelical, and wholly Apostolical; there never was one which was so

universally and so promptly followed. Men illustrious by their birth,

by their knowledge, by their talents, by their virtue, embraced it and

have followed it, during a number of centuries, in all parts of the

Christian world; it has given to the Church a new family, in numbers

most extensive, whose fecundity does not become exhausted, and it has

produced a great galaxy of saints.

The children of the Patriarch, having most willingly received it, he

left them in the month of October, in order to solicit the approval

of the Sovereign Pontiff. When at Rome, he was invited to dine with

Cardinal Ugolino, the Protector of the Order, who had a sincere

affection for him; but he did not come to the invitation, until he had

begged some pieces of bread, as he was accustomed to do, when he was

to dine with persons of rank. Being at table, he drew this bread from

his sleeve and began to eat of it, and he gave some to the other guests,

who partook of it from devotion. After dinner, the cardinal embraced

him, and said, smiling: "My good man, why, as you were to dine with

me, did you put the affront on me, to go and beg bread first and bring

it to my table?" "My Lord," replied Francis, "far from doing anything

to affront you, I did you honor, in honoring, at your board, a much

greater Lord than you are, to whom poverty is very agreeable, especially

that which goes as far as voluntary mendicancy, for the love of Jesus

Christ. I have resolved not to give up in favor of false and passing

riches, this virtue which is of royal dignity, since our Lord Jesus

Christ became poor for us, in order that, by His poverty, we might

become rich and heirs to the kingdom of heaven."

An admirable reply, which is quite in unison with what was said by St.

Gregory Nazianzen. "If I am reproached for my poverty, I am sure that

it is my treasure;" and with these words of St. Ambrose, on the birth

of Christ: "His poverty is my patrimony; He chose to want for

everything, in order that all others might be in abundance."

The cardinal presented Francis to the Pope, that he might solicit the

confirmation of his Rule. The Holy Father read it, and, finding it too

severe, he desired some changes might be made in it; but, the man of

God protesting by everything that was most sacred, that he had not put

a single word into it, and that Jesus Christ had dictated it, as it

there stood, the Pontiff, after discussing it with the cardinals,

confirmed it. His bull commences thus:

"Honorius, bishop, the servant of the servants of God. To our dearly

beloved sons, Brother Francis, and other brethren of the Order of

Friars Minor, health and apostolical benediction. The Apostolic See

is accustomed to assent to pious intentions and to favor the laudable

wishes of those who solicit her favors. For which reason, our dear

children in Jesus Christ, we confirm by apostolical authority, and we

strengthen by this present writing, the Rule of your Order, which was

approved by Pope Innocent, of glorious memory, our predecessor,

expressed in these terms, etc."

After having gone through it all, he concludes as follows: "Let no

person, therefore, have the temerity to violate the contents of our

present confirmation, or to contravene it. Should any one dare to do

so, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God,

and that of His blessed Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. Given in the

Lateran palace, the twenty-ninth day of November, 1223, the eighth of

our pontificate."

The original of this bull, with its leaden seal, is preserved as Assisi,

in the Convent of St. Francis, where Wading saw it, in 1619, with a

copy of the Rule written by St. Francis' own hand.

While Francis was still at Rome, he proposed to himself to celebrate

the Festival of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ at Grecio, with

all the solemnity possible, in order to awaken the devotion of all in

that vicinity. He wrote a letter on the subject to his friend, John

Velita, begging him to prepare all things; and in order that there

should be no room for censuring what he was about to do, he spoke to

the Pope about it, who approved highly of this pious ceremony, and

granted indulgences to those who should assist at it.

St. Bonaventure informs us that, before his departure from Rome, he

went to pay his respects to Cardinal Leo Brancaleone, titular of Santa

Croce, with whom his friendship began in 1210, when he first came to

have his Rule approved. This cardinal invited him to stay some days

in his palace, because the severity of the weather and the floods might

impede his journey; it was the month of December. He retained, to

remain with him, with Francis' leave, Brother Angelo Tancredi, whose

miraculous conversion we have related; at that time, there were but

few of the cardinals who did not wish to have some of the Friars Minor

in their company; such was the veneration they had for their virtue

at the Roman court. Francis, however, found excuses for not spending

more than two or three days in the palace of Brancaleone, saying that

it was not fitting for the poor to dwell in the palaces of princes.

The cardinal told him that he would receive him as a pauper, and give

him a bed, not in his palace, but in an adjacent tower near the city

walls quite out of the way of any noise, where he might repose from

his fatigue for some time. Tancredi entreated him not to refuse this

satisfaction to a prince of the Church, who was a person of great

piety, and a generous benefactor to the Order; therefore, out of

respect, and from gratitude, he consented to stay, and with his

companion took up his abode in the tower.

The following night, when he was about to take some repose, the devils

came and beat him so long, and so violently, that they left him half-

dead. He called his companion, and told him what had happened, and he

added: "Brother, I believe that the devils, who can do nothing without

the leave of the Almighty, have ill-used me to this degree, because

of my having remained with great people, here; if so, it augurs no

good. My brethren who dwell in very poor houses, knowing that I am the

guest of cardinals, might suspect that I enter willingly into the

concerns of the world, that I glory in honors, and that I am living

daintily. I therefore think that a man who is to be an example to

others, should leave the court, and dwell humbly with the humble, in

places adapted to the profession of humility, in order that he may

inspire those with fortitude, who suffer the inconveniences of a life

of poverty, by suffering with them." In the morning, he took leave of

the cardinal, and set out for Grecio.