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 SERAPH OF ASSISIUM 
 
 BT 
 
 REV. TITUS JOSLIN 
 
 SUPERIORUX PERMiaaU, 
 
 "Si quid apte et bene compositum invenitur tibi Maria omnium 
 datrici referatur :— si quid vero sylvestre rude ac rusticum reperiatuf 
 mihi oumium miniiiiae creaturse adscribatur."— Sylvkika. 
 
 PUBLiaHED BY P O^BHKA, 
 
 27 BAUCLAY STIiEET, 
 
 1867- 
 
:g |0i:trait si St. jniutis, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 LEGEND COMPOSED BY ORDER OF 
 POPE GREGORY IX. 
 
 '* Our Blessed Father was agreeable to all. 
 Joy, setenlty, kindness, and modesty were 
 perceptible in his. countenance. He was 
 naturally mild and affable, compassionate, 
 liberal, prudent, discreet, gave sound advice, 
 was faitiifal to liis word, and full of courage. 
 He was easy in his manners, accommodating 
 himself to all sorts of tempers, he was all to^- 
 all, he was a saint among the saintly, and 
 among sinners as if he was one of them ; 
 his conversation was graceful, and his man- 
 ner insinuating ; close in his reasoning, ener- 
 getic and compliant in matters of business ; 
 and finally, simple in his actions and words. 
 He was of middle size, neither short nor tall, 
 but well shaped. His face was oval, his fore- 
 head smooth, his eyes black and modest, his 
 mouth pretty, his hair of chestnut colour; 
 his beard black, but scanty, his body very 
 thin, his skin delicate, his speech pleasing 
 and animated, his voice strong and piercing, 
 but altogether mild and sonorous." 
 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S56, 
 
 By p. O'Shea, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States tor the 
 Southern District of New York, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 **The example of the Saints," says St. 
 Bernard, *' rouses the courage ot sinners, and 
 fortifies the courage of the just." 
 
 Could the reader of the following pages 
 have stood in the porch of a certain church of 
 the city of Eome in the early part of the 13th 
 century, he would one day have remarked, 
 leaning against one of the pillars, a figure of 
 middle size, clothed in a habit of ash gray 
 color, with knotted cord reaching from his 
 waist to the ground. Beneath his hood might 
 be discovered a face worn with suffering, 
 black eyes, delicate skin, hair of a rhest- 
 nut color. His speech is pleasing and ani- 
 
4 FEEFACE. 
 
 mated, his voice strong yet mild and sonorous. 
 It is St. Francis, the ^^poor beggar of Christ," 
 the Seraph of Assisium. 
 
 Poverty of spirit lies hid beneath that out- 
 ward destitution, and within the slender frame 
 beats a heart whose desires are those of one 
 who delights in the Lord. So subdued him- 
 self, he has a strange power of subduing, with 
 a breath, everything wild and unruly that comes 
 in his way. The outline of his life, dear reader, 
 is before you ; and if you, at the conclusion of 
 its perusal, wish that you too might taste the 
 sweetness of God, call to mind St. Bernard's 
 definition of the reward promised to purified 
 hearts : 
 
 ** Peace is the tranquility of order." 
 
THE 
 
 SERAPH OF ASSISIUM, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BORN IN A STABLE. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 1182 a little 
 child is born at Assisi a town of Urn- 
 bria in Italy, under circumstances not 
 unlike those which attended the birth 
 of our Saviour in Bethlehem ; his birth- 
 place a stable, his cradle a bundle of 
 straw. He is the child of Roman Catho- 
 lic parents, that same little model of 
 1* 
 
 a. 
 
6 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 our infant Lord. They take him to be 
 christened. A stranger presents him- 
 self as godfather and is accepted. Who 
 the stranger is no one knows. After 
 he has gone, they examine the marble 
 steps near the baptismal font, where 
 he knelt in thanksgiving, and find upon 
 them the impress of his knees. When 
 they get home, another man is waiting 
 who seems to have been sent by God. 
 He begs that he may be allowed to 
 see the child and hold it. He takes 
 it in his arms, caresses it, warns the 
 nurse to have more than common care 
 of it, for fear of the devil's rage, and 
 disappears. That little child will one 
 day be a saint, honored on Catholic 
 altars, loved and reverenced by future 
 generations. But God does nothing in 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 7 
 
 a hurry. The stone on which a new 
 edifice is to be built is rough and im- 
 perfect. By repeated strokes of the 
 hammer it must be prepared for its 
 pLace in the walls of the heavenly city. 
 That little child has yet to learn the 
 art of dying to himself, that he may 
 live to God. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 EARLY CHILDHOOD. 
 
 Years roll on. The child grows up 
 to be a boy, and ripens into manhood. 
 Though attached to the w^orld, fond of 
 company to excess, extravagant in his 
 dress — still he fears God, and holds im- 
 purity in abomination. His father scolds 
 
8 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Lim for his extravagance, but scold- 
 ing does not change him. His patient 
 and gentle mother told the neighbors 
 they would see a difference when the 
 boy came to maturer years. She knew 
 he had faults, but she knew too that 
 his temper was exquisitely mild and 
 condescending, that he was generous to 
 an extreme, that he had great good 
 sense, and one thing above all, she had 
 remarked from infancy, viz., that God had 
 implanted deep in his heart great feel- 
 ings of compassion for the poor. The 
 expectations of that pati3nt mother were 
 not disappointed. The mild and gen- 
 tle lady Pica never regretted that she 
 had been patient with the boy's imper- 
 fections. AVe will suffer another space 
 of years to pass on, and transport our- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 9 
 
 selves to the churcli of St. Damian in 
 his native town. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHURCH OF ST. DAMIAN. 
 
 A PALE and emaciated figure kneels 
 before the altar at the hour of noon. 
 His dress is coarse, and a leathern gir« 
 die keeps it about him. His hands 
 uplifted in prayer are rough and un- 
 seemly and show marks of wear. He has 
 been engaged in repairing the church, 
 and bringing the stones, and putting 
 them up, and superintending the ma- 
 sons himself: God told him one day 
 to do it. A voice spoke from the cru- 
 cifix : — " Go and repair my church which 
 
10 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 thou seest is falling." He gave the 
 parish priest money to keep a lamp 
 burning before that crucifix, and him- 
 self went through the streets begging 
 stones for the love of God, and begging 
 too his own slender sustenance. If you 
 watch him attentively you will notice 
 that he is thinly clad ; as he prays he 
 shivers with cold. His brother Angelo 
 makes sport of his distress ; and whis- 
 pers to one beside him, " Go and ask 
 that man to sell you a little of his 
 sweat." The messenorer does his er- 
 rand. " I do not choose to sell my 
 sweat to men, I can sell it at a better 
 price to God." That is the answer. Do 
 you ask me who that toil worn la- 
 borer is, who has made up his mind 
 to work for God, who knows how to 
 
THE SEKAPH OF ASSISIUM. 11 
 
 give good pay ? He is the same who 
 but a few years before worked so hard 
 and fruitlessly for the admiration of 
 a selfish and ungenerous world ; in the 
 love of which he was entangled. What, 
 you ask, has made such a difference. 
 "With God's help I will try to tell you. 
 
 CHAPTER jy. 
 
 THE THOUGHT OF ETERNITY. 
 
 A WORK which God only could ac- 
 complish, was to detach the heart of 
 Francis from everything vain. The 
 towns of Assisi and Perugia were at 
 war. Himself made prisoner, got hard 
 usage, and no sooner once more at 
 liberty than he was prostrated by a 
 
12 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 severe sickness. Yet weak, but conval- 
 escent, to oblige a company of friends 
 he entertains them by a party of plea- 
 sure. It is the la^t. 
 
 What new sensation has come over 
 him, just returned home from the 
 feast? He feels like a man awakened 
 from a dream, penetrated with a con- 
 viction of the vanity of the world and 
 the grandeur of heaven, by a com- 
 munication so forcible as to deprive 
 him of feeling, yet mild and penetra- 
 tinof. As he said himself afterwards, 
 had he been torn in pieces at that mo- 
 ment he would not have known it: he 
 felt only at the bottom of his soul. 
 The work is done. " How the earth 
 becomes vile when I look upon heavenP 
 
 What a magnificent favor. From hence- 
 
 I 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 13 
 
 fortli heaven is the mark: guard me, O 
 God, for I am a saint ^'' Sanctus propositoP 
 A saint since heaven and the God of 
 heaven is my aim. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 CORRESPONDING WITH GRACE. 
 
 With all his faults, serious ones too, 
 that might have brought him to ruin, 
 the life-giving Spirit had breathed upon 
 the germs of future sanctity which lay 
 hid in the soul of Francis. His com- 
 passion for the poor had drawn down 
 on himself the compassion of God, and 
 the love of the Immaculate Virgin. 
 
 "Never," said he, ''when it is in my 
 2 
 
14 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 power to give, will I refuse an alms, 
 asked for the love of God." Devoted 
 to works of charity and to prayer, al- 
 ready our saint had hegun to receive 
 lessons from the Spirit of God, who 
 made him feel that the most difl&cnlt 
 and important thing that remained was 
 to make the attempt to gain one good 
 victory over himself Opportunities pre- 
 sently offered. 
 
 There was a man whose lips and face 
 had been eaten away by a dreadful 
 cancer. Francis, walking the street, saw 
 him approaching. Shall he turn away 
 from the loathsome object? It is the 
 first impulse. But no, he will not, but 
 runs up to him, embraces him, and 
 kisses the cancerous face, which is im- 
 mediately healed. "I know not," says 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 15 
 
 St, Bonaventure, '' whicli most to ad- 
 mire, sucli a kiss or such a cure." 
 
 Riding one day across the plains of 
 Assisi, lie perceived in the distance a 
 loathsome object making up to him. It 
 was a leper. At first sight he felt 
 horror-stricken. Gladly would he have 
 turned his horse's head to get out of 
 that sick man's way. No, he will not 
 do it. See lr*m dismount, and kiss 
 him, and give him some money. Need 
 we wonder that after that he prayed 
 with fervor, on fire with the love of 
 God, whose heart he had won? Lis- 
 ten to the words which he heard one 
 day as he knelt before his crucifix : 
 " Francis, if you desire to know my will, 
 you must despise and hate all that you 
 have loved and wished for till now. 
 
16 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Let not this new path alarm thee, for 
 if the things which now please thee 
 must become bitter and distasteful, those 
 which now displease thee will become 
 sweet and agreeable." Thenceforth, as 
 for the lepers, he was their devoted 
 servant, washed them and tended them, 
 and a little before his death declared 
 that w^hat had seemed to him most 
 bitter in such occupation, had been 
 changed into what was pleasing both 
 for soul and body. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 HE LOVES HIS CRUCIFIX, 
 
 The love of God had become so 
 strong in the heart of St. Francis, that 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 17 
 
 it gave him sensible sweetness to pro- 
 nounce His lioly name, or tliat of His 
 blessed Mother, so delicious the taste. 
 The sight of Jesus Christ fastened to 
 the cross, made him feel the misery of 
 the poor so intensely, that he would 
 strip himself to clothe them, and go 
 without bread to save them food. His 
 eyes became red with weeping, his sobs 
 and groans could be heard outside the 
 church. " I weep," said he, '^ because 
 others do not at what my Lord suffer- 
 ed." There was a rock on Mount Al- 
 verno, in which was a huge fissure, said 
 to have been split by the earthquake 
 which happened at the crucifixion. 
 Thither he retired to reflect in the bit- 
 terness of his soul on the time that he 
 
 loved God too little. In a word^ St. 
 2* 
 
18 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Francis of Assisium had been favored 
 witli a taste of heaven, an appreciation 
 of its magnificence which he never for- 
 got. He had ceased to love the world 
 and tho' things that wcfc in the world, 
 save after the manner that God had 
 loved them. His eye had caught a 
 glimpse of the city of the saints, and 
 whatever he did he never took his 
 gaze ofi^ that fair vision, save to turn 
 it in love either on the Crucified Him- 
 self, or the miseries of His sufi^ering 
 members. "What were the fruits? 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 19 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A PURIFIKP HEART. 
 
 " Give me," said St. Philip Neri, '' ten 
 men truly detached from the world, 
 and I have the heart to say that I 
 will convert the world with them.'' 
 The remainder of this sketch will be 
 devoted to showing how St. Francis, 
 by the grace of God, detached from 
 this world, did more than his tenth 
 part of that work, and the means by 
 which he accomplished it. God's love, 
 like a burning fire, seeks fuel that it 
 may consume. The world was the fuel, 
 the heart of Francis contained the 
 spark out of God's own furnace, which 
 would become a blazing fii'ebrand. 
 
20 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 rhen, as now, the world was full of 
 men whose faith was dull, whose hope 
 was faint, whose charity was little. 
 Because their iniquity had abounded 
 their charity had grown cold. The 
 work which then only a saint sent by 
 God could have the heart to set his 
 shoulder to, was equalled only by the 
 magnitude of the evil which had to be 
 surmounted. Faith must be woke up. 
 Men must be made to realize that the 
 rewards waiting for the good were great- 
 er than could be conceived, the torments 
 reserved for the wicked awful beyond 
 the power of human description. 
 
 Hope must be revived. Men must 
 some way be made to feel that the 
 three hours' agony of Jesus Christ was 
 a fact, which at three o'clock on Good 
 
 di 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 21 
 
 Friday afternoori opened forever the 
 gates of heaven to as many as would 
 take the trouble to enter in. 
 
 Charity, dear precious charity, the 
 apple of God's eye, the love of God 
 and our neighbor, must be distilled 
 once more into souls from whence it 
 had departed. Frozen hearts must be 
 warmed and melted. Here was what 
 was to be done upon the earth we in- 
 habit, in the yeai* of our Lord 1208, 
 and to do all this God then found one 
 man who was fit. His chosen servant Fran- 
 cis, the Seraph of Assisium. How, then, 
 did he go about it ? 
 
22 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 CHAPTER Till. 
 
 THE MILD POWER IS GREAT. 
 
 There is an expression which has, if 
 memory serves me, been adopted as a 
 motto by certain German medical wri- 
 ters, which at the present juncture I 
 am going to press into the service, and 
 make do homage to the honor of St. 
 Francis. Short, but full of meaning — 
 it is this : Tli6 mild power is great. 
 It will serve us better, and remain as 
 true, if I reverse it : The great power 
 works mildly. Men, the world over, 
 have an instinctive respect for power, 
 force, anything that will do something, 
 that will seem of itself to act, and act 
 to the purpose. Action may be silent 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 23 
 
 or noisy. In either case, according as 
 it attains its legitimate end, it is es- 
 teemed, be that end a physical result, 
 or the change of a human heart. Or- 
 dinarily, a little force applied in the 
 risrht direction does the work. Now 
 
 o 
 
 for an application of our principle. The 
 great power works mildly. There is 
 no greater or more efficient power than 
 the Spiiit of God. His works are mag- 
 nificent. He breathed, and man became 
 a living soul. He brooded over the 
 waters, at the creation, and forthwith 
 they were alive with animation, full of 
 fishes. A Spirit all powerful, while it 
 reaches from end to end mightily, at 
 the same time it disposes all things 
 sweetly. For how many of ourselves, 
 within our own weak recollection, has 
 
24 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 that loving Spirit disposed things most 
 powerfully, and yet with surpassing 
 sweetness attained results we never 
 could have anticipated. 
 
 That greatest of all powers. Omnip- 
 otence itself, is by nature a mild and 
 gentle spirit, though so mighty. Mighty 
 and penetrating, mighty and discerning, 
 mighty, yet so mighty that it can afford 
 to work slowly, and unobserved, and 
 gently, so long as it gains its end, the 
 reconciliation of a sinner. 
 
 As in creation, so also in regenera- 
 tion, God's Spirit never loses its gentle 
 character. 
 
 Whether we regard it present with 
 the Heart of God in heaven, or the 
 Heart of Jesus on earth, it performs its 
 most beautiful conversions of sinners to 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 25 
 
 God, by touching the most hidden and 
 delicate strings in the hearts of individ- 
 ual men. Brute force of itself never 
 does anything, though God knows how- 
 to turn it sometimes to account as an 
 occasion of good. 
 
 The thundering eloquence of the most 
 fiery saints would never have accom- 
 plished anything, did not their words 
 carry wrapped up in outward severity 
 the touchino: vibrations which revealed 
 the presence of God's gentle Spirit, and 
 did God's work, and found a response 
 in the heart of the hearer, a somethinof 
 which whispered while the speaker thun- 
 dered, and said, " My soul, believe me, 
 that is God's voice, — listen to him — be- 
 lieve him — he speaks the truth." The 
 3 
 
26 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 mild power is great. Peace to men of 
 good will. 
 
 Animated from above with the gen- 
 tle spirit of peace, the Seraph set out 
 on his mission, not only to proclaim it, 
 but also to communicate it. He was 
 full of it himself His body mortified 
 and subdued, his soul having tasted the 
 sweetness of God, and ready to give 
 every body who came within hearing 
 distance of him a relish for heaven. 
 Wherever he went men must feel that 
 the peace of God meant something more 
 than an empty name. 
 
 Clothing himself in a hermit's tunic, 
 coarse, rough, and of an ash-gray color, 
 with a hood which covered sufficiently 
 the head and face, in the year 1208 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 27 
 
 Francis went fortli to preacli, to exhort 
 sinners to repentance, and to cause our 
 Lord's counsels no less than his commands 
 to be loved in the world. Men found 
 him a very plain-spoken man and unpre- 
 tending, but a fire glowed in his face 
 which was not to be mistaken ; and 
 every sentence that went forth from 
 his blessed lips was solid and animated 
 with the Spirit of Grod, and so effectu- 
 ally penetrated the hearts of his hear- 
 ers that every one was surprised at it. 
 "May the Lord grant you His peace,'' 
 words which he declared had been re- 
 vealed to him, were always the first 
 rounds that fell on the ears of his audi- 
 tors. And God did grant his peace to 
 thousands to whom that salutation came, 
 so that men looked upon him as an an- 
 
28 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 gel sent from heaven to draw down npon 
 them every blessing. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SCHOOL OF ST. FRANCIS. 
 
 't was soon noised abroad that a man 
 was in the world whose life and actions 
 bore a close resemblance to those of Je- 
 sus Christ, with whose love he burned, 
 whose passion he mourned. Men heard 
 him preach. The spark fell and caught, 
 and others wished that they might live 
 with him, and go about with him, and 
 learn his secret of attracting hearts, as 
 the disciples did of our blessed Lord. 
 The first whom he accepted was Bernard 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 29 
 
 de Quintavalle, and tlie v/ay it happened 
 was this. He invited the saint to supper, 
 pressed him to stay all night, and had a 
 bed prepared for him in his room. Ber- 
 nard made believe to sleep. The lamp 
 still burned. Francis arose, fell on his 
 knees, melted into tears, and with eyes 
 raised to heaven, and arms crossed, pro- 
 nounced slowly these words^ " Deus mens 
 et omnia — My God and my all," which he 
 repeated during the whole night. This 
 and other proofs of his sanctity were 
 enough for Bernard, who resolved to give 
 all his riches to the poor, and follow him 
 forthwith. This he did in the square of 
 St. George, at Assisi, divesting himself 
 of his money to receive in return the gold 
 of God's charity, and the love of St. 
 
 Francis, who then gave him a dress like 
 3* 
 
80 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 his own, called him his eldest son, and 
 was always tenderly attached to him. It 
 was not long before six companions in 
 all, after the heart of St. Francis, strove 
 with him to conform men to the heart of 
 God. '^ Go," said he to them one day, 
 " and exhort men to do penance for the 
 remission of their sins and for peace. 
 Some will be mild and good and listen to 
 you, others will despise you. Be patient 
 in tribulation, fervent in prayer, fearless 
 in labor, unassuming in speech, grave in 
 your manner, grateful for the favors and 
 benefits you may receive. The kingdom 
 of heaven, which is eternal, will be your 
 reward." 
 
 He then divided the routes they were 
 to take, by forming a cross which pointed 
 to the four quarters of the globe. Tak- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 81 
 
 ing one for himself and a companion, he 
 sent the other six, two and two, to the 
 other sides. 
 
 Whenever they came to a church they 
 prostrated themselves with these words, 
 taught them from God : — '' We adore 
 Thee, O most holy Lord Jesus Christy 
 here and in all Thy churches which are 
 in the whole world, and we bless Thee 
 for having redeemed the world by Thy 
 holy cross." They had a great venera- 
 tion for all chapels, crosses, and every 
 thing that had any relation to the wor- 
 ship of God. As soon as any one ad- 
 dressed them, they wished him peace, 
 and taught him how to gain it. If any 
 one seemed to them to be going wrong, 
 and in danger of losing his soul, they 
 strove to bring him back in a mild aad 
 
82 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 humble manner. In their sermons, what- 
 ever the Holy Ghost insph^ed them, over 
 and above their own due preparation, 
 that they spoke ; pointed out the true 
 way to heaven, showed what were the 
 duties of charity, and endeavored to 
 bring all to love and fear God and keep 
 His commandments. 
 
 When they were asked from what 
 country they came, and to what profes- 
 sion they belonged, they answered, " We 
 are penitents from Assisi." 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A NEW ORDER 
 
 Fkai^cis having returned to the hut 
 at Rivo Torto whence they parted, and 
 
» 
 
 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 83 
 
 where in the meantime he had obtained 
 'four new disciples, full of tenderness 
 for his children on the mission, began 
 to feel as though he would like to see 
 them all together again, and prayed 
 God to brim? them back. The six re- 
 tm-ned to Assisi from various j)laces 
 as though they had acted in concert, 
 and related with joy to the new com- 
 munity the outrages and blows they 
 had been found w^orthy to sufi'er in 
 the service of Jesus Christ. It was at 
 this time that Francis foreseeing in his 
 little community a future order in the 
 Catholic Church, told them it was time 
 to give an account of themselves to 
 the holy Roman Pontiff and secure his 
 approbation. '' Let us go" said he, " and 
 find our mother the holy Roman Church. 
 
84 THE SEKAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Let us make known to our holy father 
 the Pope, what God has deigned to 
 begin through our ministry, in order 
 that we may pursue our course accord- 
 ing to his will, and under his orders." 
 St. Paul, returned from the third heaven, 
 would undertake no new labor till he 
 had consulted the then reigning Pon- 
 tiff St. Peter, and made a journey to 
 Jerusalem for the j)urpose. Neither 
 would Francis undertake auo-ht without 
 the approbation of Peter's successor, 
 saint thouijh he was. The little com- 
 pany set out for Rome, praying and 
 talking of God and holy things as they 
 went. 
 
 Ijs'jn^ocejS't III., at the time Fran- 
 cis obtained an audience with him, was 
 engaged in talking of some important 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 35 
 
 affairs of the Cliiirch, and dismissed 
 him abruptly. The saint, as he retired, 
 restored sight to a blind man in the 
 street. The same night the Pontiif had 
 a vision. A palm at his feet grew up 
 to be a great tree, and God made him 
 understand that the tree was Francis 
 and his new order. In the morning 
 search is made for the poor petitioner, 
 and at last he is found in the hospital 
 of lepers, and conducted back to the 
 palace. Again the Pope has a vision. 
 A poor man is seen to support on his 
 shoulders the Latei'an Basilica, which 
 is falling to ruins. God puts it in the 
 Pontifs heart to grant the approba- 
 tion, and the little party return home 
 in joy, the new order of St. Francis, 
 another gem in the diadem of Christ's 
 
36 
 
 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM 
 
 Kpouse, another joy to the heart of 
 Mary. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A PRESENT FROM THE HOLY VIRGIN. 
 
 Pope Inistoce^^t III., was not mis- 
 taken when he said of Francis, "truly 
 it is that man who will support the 
 Church of Jesus Christ by his works 
 and by his teaching." A deacon by 
 the imposition of the holy Father's 
 own hands, the Seraph leads back his 
 little flock of disciples, often stopping 
 by the way to deliberate on the best 
 means of making themselves examples 
 of holy lives for others. On more than 
 one occasion heaven smiled on them, 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 87 
 
 and by miraculous providence supplied 
 their wants. Absorbed in God and tlie 
 discussion of his interests, they forgot 
 one day their usual repast till the fa- 
 tigue of travel reminded them that 
 there was no food to be had. A man 
 they had never seen, brought them a 
 loaf and disappeared — bread that left 
 their souls replenished with consolation 
 and the love of poverty, and their bodies 
 with unwonted strength. Returned to 
 the valley of Spoleto, their increasing 
 numbers, no less than a revelation re- 
 ceived by Francis, made them feel the 
 want of some suitable and more commo- 
 dious residence than they had yet pos- 
 sessed, and here our Blessed Lady gave 
 them a visible proof of her love, and 
 made them a present. How did our 
 
■38 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Lady do this ? she had a church which 
 was very dear to her, and she put it 
 into the heart of the Benedictine Ab- 
 bot of Mount Soubrazo to give it to 
 them. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ST. MARY OF THE ANGELS. 
 
 In the year 352, four hermits came 
 from Palestine to Italy, and obtained 
 from Pope Liberius, permission to settle 
 in the valley of Spoleto. There they 
 built a church, and put in it a piece 
 of the Blessed Virgin's sepulchre, and 
 called it St. Mary of Josaphat. At 
 a later day, the Benedictines called it 
 St. Mary of the Angels. The neigh- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 39 
 
 boring peasantry testified that more 
 than once light blazed from the win- 
 dows at midnight, and melodious can- 
 ticles as of angels, resounded beneath 
 its holy roof. 
 
 Enter now with me the church of 
 Portiuncula, our Lady of the Angels. 
 It has just been presented to ''the 
 poor beggar of Christ" for his own, and 
 the Blessed Virgin has given him to 
 understand, that among all temples con- 
 secrated under her name, this is the 
 one for which she has the greatest at- 
 tachment. It is nig:ht, and Francis is 
 on his knees to recommend his family 
 to her protection. A splendid light 
 reveals to him, our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, His holy Mother, and a multi- 
 tude of angels, who cast upon him 
 
40 THE SEKAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 looks of great benignity. '' O most 
 holy Lord/' lie exclaims in adoration, 
 " King of heaven, lledeemer of the 
 world, sweet love ; and thou, O Queen 
 of Angels, by what excess of goodness 
 do you come dow^n from heaven into 
 this small and poor chapel?" Hear the 
 reply : '^ I am come w^ith my Mother 
 to settle you and yours in this place, 
 which is very dear to us." In this 
 holy sanctuary of the Queen of Angels, 
 the Order of St. Francis grew^ into 
 maturity with our Lady's blessing. 
 Here St. Francis trained up men ac- 
 cording to his own heart, which was 
 according to the heart of God ; — ^men 
 meek and humble of heart like our 
 Blessed Lord, but strong in the Spirit 
 of God; men mortified in body, but 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 41 
 
 superior to bodily corruption, — men who 
 would go fortli and convince tlie world 
 by the peace they brought along with 
 them, that indeed the mild power is 
 great, and God is wonderful in the 
 variety of graces that attend His saints. 
 The force of that gentleness in the holy 
 tribunal of penance has worked miracles 
 of grace, which none but God could 
 count for number, as none save God 
 could observe. From this holy sanc- 
 tuary of Portiuncula, they went forth 
 every day to beg their daily bread, 
 which he called the bread of angels, 
 " because," said he, " the good angels 
 inspire the faithful to bestow it for the 
 love of God. We eat the bread of 
 angels when we live on that." Happy 
 
 community ! Thrice happy ! Happy 
 4* 
 
42 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 master ! Kind and benignant Lady. 
 Francis was always tenderly attached 
 to St. Mary of the Angels, and in his 
 last will commanded his successors al- 
 ways to venerate it, and keep around 
 it ; — if driven away on one side, to re- 
 turn on the other. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 OUR LORD IN THE MIDST. 
 
 As yet he had not heard them 
 preach. One by one they stood up at 
 his bidding, and let him have a sample 
 of what they could do, and he listened 
 in admiration as each in his tuin, with 
 the &e and energy of a new apostle, 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 43 
 
 discoursed so beautifully on tlie sub- 
 ject allotted to him. At the conclusion, 
 Jesus Christ appeared in the midst of 
 them, in the form of a very beautiful 
 young man, and gave His blessing to 
 each in succession with wonderful be- 
 nignity. As soon as our Lord was 
 gone, Francis, in a transport of love, 
 spoke himself to the assembled com- 
 munity, and the next morning, divid- 
 ing Italy among them, sent them forth 
 once more to convince men, that God's 
 goodness had made him compassionate 
 to a world loaded with crimes. 
 
 He reserved for himself Tuscany as be- 
 ing nearest to St. Mary of the Angels, 
 and took care to leave there enousrh to 
 sing the praises of their Lady and Mis- 
 tress, and instruct the novices whom God 
 
44 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 would send to join them. Going, they 
 went from that most holy sanctuary, re- 
 turning thither, they returned. St. Mary 
 of the Angels was ever open to welcome 
 her returning children. From time to 
 time the Seraph himself animated them 
 with new zeal in her service, with the 
 following or similar discourses : " We have 
 promised great things," my brethren, 
 "and we have been promised greater. 
 Let us keep the first, and let us sigh after 
 the others : pleasure is of short duration, 
 the penalty is eternal. Sufferings are 
 light, glory is infinite. Many are called, 
 but few are chosen. Each one will re- 
 ceive according to his deserts." Full of 
 his spirit they travelled the world over, 
 and each time came home and departed 
 leading thousands captive to the love of 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 45 
 
 God. The devil was afraid of those early 
 Franciscans. 
 
 One Easter Francis had occasion to go 
 to Arezzo, a town from which the spirit 
 of peace had long since departed, by 
 reason of frequent and repeated quarrels 
 and dissensions. Lodged in the suburbs, 
 the servant of God suspected what was 
 the matter. He could discern, by the 
 penetration God gave him, devils in great 
 variety, who excited the citizens to mas- 
 sacre each other, transported with joy at 
 their own diabolical success. Sylvester, 
 a priest, at his command, standing afar 
 oflF, addressed them, ^' All you devils who 
 are here, begone ; go far from hence. It 
 is in the name of God, and of His servant 
 Francis, that I call upon you to go." 
 Peace in that same instant returned to 
 
46 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 the town ; the devils of discord departed ; 
 inveterate enemies, they knew not how 
 nor why, found themselves on a good 
 understanding, and Francis, in spite of 
 himself, recognised as the instrument of 
 reconciliation, was brought into town in 
 triumph, where, in the great public 
 square, he preached on the love of peace 
 and the means of preserving it ; teaching 
 that quarrels come from and are pro- 
 moted by the evil spirit. They brought 
 him a child, deformed from its birth. 
 He took it into his arms, and forthwith it 
 became straight. 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 47 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ANOTHER JOURNEY TO ROME. 
 
 Iis" the year 1216, Francis undertook 
 again to visit the holy city ; and having 
 blessed his assembled disciples, set out 
 with this parting exhortation: "In the 
 name of the Lord, go forth modestly. 
 Let no idle or useless words be heard 
 amongst you. Behave in such manner 
 that whosoever may see or hear you may 
 be moved to devotion. Proclaim peace 
 to all men, but have it in your hearts 
 as well as in your mouths. Give no one 
 cause for anger ; on the contrary, by 
 your own mildness, induce every one to 
 feel benignly. We are called to heal 
 the wounded, console the afflicted, and to 
 
48 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 bring back those who err. Many may 
 seem to you to be members of the devil, 
 who will one day be disciples of Jesus 
 Christ.*" He then set out to recommend 
 his labors to tbe Holy Apostles. As 
 lie prayed in the cliurch of St. Peter, 
 that the Holy Apostles would instruct 
 him in poverty and the apostolic life, 
 they appeared to him amid a profusion 
 of ligbt, embraced him, assured him that 
 our Lord had favorably beard bis pray- 
 ers and tears, and left him full of interior 
 joy. It was on this journey that he 
 made the acquaintance and friendship of 
 the holy Patriarch St. Dominic. While 
 Francis was at Rome, Pope Innocent III. 
 died ; and on the 18th of July, Honorius 
 III. was elected to succeed him, who eon- 
 firmed the new institute, as Innocent had 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUX 49 
 
 before approved it. Returning to St. 
 Mary of the Angels, the saint stopped 
 awhile in the valley of Rieth, to convert 
 the dissolute inhabitants. The wolves, 
 as a farmer told him, made dreadful ha- 
 voc among them ; and the hail destroyed 
 their crops. After convincing them that 
 these scourges were the effects of God'a 
 justice, he promised their deliverance if 
 they did penance for their sins, and the 
 condition was accepted. Nothing more 
 was heard of wolves, and when it hailed 
 in the vicinity, the clouds went off in 
 another direction. He got back to St. 
 Mary of the Angels in January, 1218,. 
 where God, to guard him against any 
 emotion of pride, permitted a severe 
 temptation. For several days he was 
 dreadfully depressed ; nor did he get any 
 
50 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 relief till one day during tlie fervor of 
 his prayer our Lord tLus spoke : '' Francis, 
 if thou hadst the faith of a grain of mus- 
 tard seed, and wert to say to this moun- 
 tain, Go hence, it would go." " What 
 mountain?" he inquired. ''The moun- 
 tain," said our Lord, " is the temptation." 
 Weeping and trembling himself, the saint 
 replied, " Thy will be done," and imme- 
 diately was relieved. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FRANCIS AND THE SULTAN. 
 
 TniRSTii^a, in the excess of charity, to 
 shed his blood for the love of Christ, in 
 the following year, 1219, the new apos- 
 tle of the love of God bent his steps 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 51 
 
 eastward. The army of Crusaders lay 
 siege to Damietta, the stronghold of 
 Egypt. The Sultan of Damascus, with a 
 much more numerous army lay behind 
 the entrenchments, and with his brother, 
 the Sultan of Egypt, gained a signal 
 victory over the Christians. At this 
 period, Francis arrived, or rather, just on 
 the eve of the battle, and told the com- 
 manders openly, that if they joined iight 
 they would be beaten. But minds were 
 then too much excited to desist. On the 
 29th of August the day went against 
 them, and the saint proved a prophet. 
 Burning for the conversion of the Sara- 
 cens, Francis betook himself to prayer, 
 and set out for the camp of the infidels 
 with one companion. The Saracens met 
 them strolling, rushed upon them as 
 
52 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 wolves on sheep, insulted, beat, and 
 bound them. " I am a Christian," said 
 Francis, ^4ead me to your master," and 
 so they did. Meledin asked who sent 
 them, and w^hy they came. " God sends 
 me," said the saint, "to teach you and 
 your people the way of salvation." Fran- 
 cis then unfolded the principal points of 
 Catholic faith, and Meledin became so 
 mild and tractable, that the infidels were 
 astonished. The saint even offered to 
 pass through a great fire unburnt, in 
 confirmation of the truth, would his own 
 infidel priests undertake as much, which 
 they refused. Instead of doing any 
 harm, Meledin dismissed him most affec- 
 tionately, and sent him home with every 
 mark of honor. Some think that a few 
 years after^ on his deathbed, the Sultan 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 53 
 
 called for a priest and was baptized. One 
 thing is certain, a century after tlie death 
 of St. Francis, the Sultan of Egypt gave 
 the Holy Sepulchre in care of the Fran- 
 ciscan friars, and to this day they watch 
 it day and night. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THIRD JOURNEY TO ROME. 
 
 In 1222, Francis set out again for the 
 
 threshold of the Apostles, and as he went 
 
 God worked many splendid miracles by 
 
 his hand. In the town of Toscanella, he 
 
 was entertained by a knight, whose only 
 
 ^on was lame in both legs, in his whole 
 
 body a picture of suffej'ing. The father 
 5* 
 
54 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUAL 
 
 asked liim to procure the cure of liis son 
 from God. Pressed by repeated entreat- • 
 ies, thougli esteeming himself unworthy 
 to be heard for others, the saint placed 
 his hands upon him, and made the sign of 
 the cross over the boy, who, at the same 
 moment stood upright and firm on his 
 legs, and was entirely cured. 
 
 At Home he made the acquaintance of 
 a certain nobleman w^ho invited him to 
 dine. The host being less punctual than 
 the saint, Francis joined a group of poor, 
 to whom they were giving a meal, and 
 commenced to eat with them. When the 
 nobleman got home, he declared he would 
 not take dinner, if Francis did not come ; 
 when, turning round to look out of the 
 window, he spied him in the yard, with^ 
 a group of beggars. Descending forth- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 55 
 
 with, he placed himself on the ground, 
 level with him, with these words, " Bro- 
 ther Franc is, since you won't dine with 
 me, I am come to dine with you." 
 
 There was a little child, called John, 
 whom he requested Francis to bless, who 
 took him in his arms, and foretold that 
 he would one day be Sovereign Pontiff, 
 which afterwards really happened. In 
 the year 1277, he was chosen Pope, and 
 took the name of Nicholas III. Francis 
 predicted, at the same time, the benefits 
 which his own order would receive from 
 that child. "I see them already," said 
 he, " in his little hands." 
 
 From Rome he turned aside to visit 
 the grotto of St. Benedict, where still ex- 
 isted the thornbusli into which that pa- 
 triarch threw himself to overcome a temp- 
 
56 THE SERAPH OF ASSTSIUM. 
 
 tation of the flesh. In admiration at such 
 fervor, Francis kissed it, and made over 
 it the sign of the cross, when God changed 
 it into a beautiful rose bush, whose flowei^s 
 have served on more than one occasion 
 since to cure the sick. 
 
 On the same journey he went to ven- 
 erate the relics of St. Nicholas at Bari, 
 and visited the grotto on Mt. Gargano, 
 consecrated by the apparition of the 
 Archangel Michael. Stopping at the 
 door of the sanctuary he w^ould not enter, 
 but only exclaimed, " I dare not go fur- 
 ther ; this place is awful, it is the dwel- 
 ling of angels, w^hom men should resj)ect 
 in all w^ays." Let Christians remember 
 these words as often as they approach 
 that tabernacle where the Lord of An- 
 gels reposes under the veil of His sacra- 
 
I 
 
 THE SEPwAPH OF ASSISIUIW:. 57 
 
 ment ; — the Son of God, and the son of 
 tlieir lovely Queen. 
 
 Fatigued with travel and labor, the 
 Seraph returned at length, once more, to 
 his dear St. Mary of the Angels, to la- 
 bor again for his own sanctification, as 
 for a whole year he had for that of others 
 — our Lord having determined to renew 
 His passion in a pure man like Francis, 
 in order to imprint it again in hearts 
 from whence it was obliterated. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE SACRED STIGMATA. 
 
 To attempt to recount all the miracles 
 of St. Francis would exceed the narrow 
 limits of this restricted outline. At 
 
58 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 the end of tlie work the most important 
 of them will be found classed under 
 appropriate heads. 
 
 I hasten to recount the circumstances 
 of that great and magnificeiit prodigy 
 by which our Lord renewed in the body 
 of His servant the memory of His own 
 sacred passion, a miracle celebrated every 
 year throughout the entire Roman Ca- 
 tholic Church by a proper mass and 
 office, on the 17th day of September. 
 You have seen the infant Francis cry- 
 ins; in a mangier. You shall now re- 
 gard him in the other extreme of life, 
 pierced with the five sacred wounds 
 which now, as so many brilliant jewels, 
 adorn the glorified body that once hung 
 on the cross in bitter agony. The way 
 it happened was this. Every year ho 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 59 
 
 was accustomed to prepare himself for 
 the Feast of St. Michael the archangel, 
 by retiring for forty days previous, to 
 Mount Alverno, and remaining during 
 the whole time in prayer and solitude. 
 Two years before his death, while he 
 was thus occupied about the Feast of 
 the Exaltation of the Cross (September 
 14th), an angel appeared and gave him 
 notice to prepare for all that God would 
 do for him. He replied : '* I am pre- 
 pared for everythmg, and I shall not 
 in any way oppose His holy will, pro- 
 vided He condescends to assist me with 
 His grace. Although I am a useless 
 man, and unworthy that God should 
 cast a thought on me, nevertheless, as 
 I am His servant, I beg He may act 
 by me according to His good pleasure." 
 
60 THE SEKAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 With a body weakened by austeri- 
 ties, he had now been on retreat since 
 the Feast of the Assumption. 
 
 A day or two after, continuing still 
 on the side of the mount, one morn- 
 ing, as he -raised his eyes, his soul full 
 of Jesus Christ crucified, he saw as it 
 were a seraph, having six brilliant wings, 
 and all on fire, descending towards him 
 from the height of heaven. This seraph 
 came with a most rapid flight to a spot 
 in the air near to where the saint was, 
 and then was seen between His wings, 
 the figure of a crucified man, who had 
 his hands and feet extended and fas- 
 tened to a cross. Joy, mingled with 
 grief and sorrow, spread over the soul 
 of Francis. The presence of Jesus 
 Christ caused him an excess of pleas- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 61 
 
 ure, the sj)ectacle of His crucifixion re- 
 newed witliin his own seeing distance, 
 filled him with compassion, and made 
 his soul feel as though a sword of sor- 
 row had gone through it. At the 
 same time, Jesus Christ, evr^r mild and 
 gentle in the operation of His most 
 stupendous works, spoke to his inmost 
 soul as one friend to another, giving 
 him to understand, that henceforth by 
 the vehemence of God's love, which 
 would inflame his soul, himself would 
 be transformed into a j)erfect resem- 
 blance of the living crucified. Listen 
 now to what followed, as it is related 
 by St. Bonaventure : '' The vision van- 
 ished, leaving his soul on fire with the 
 ardor of a seraph, and imprinting on 
 his body a figure similar to that of 
 
62 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 a crucifix, as if his flesh, like softened 
 wax, had received the impression of 
 the letters of a seaL The marks of 
 the nails began to show themselves on 
 his hands and feet, as he had seen them 
 on the fig^i?.: of the crucified man. His 
 feet and hands were seen to be perfo- 
 rated by nails in their middle; the 
 heads of the nails, round and black, 
 were on the inside of the hands, and 
 on the upper parts of the feet ; the 
 points, which were rather long, and 
 which came out on the opposite sides 
 were turned and raised above the flesh 
 from which they came out. There was 
 likewise, on his right side, a red wound 
 as if it had been pierced with a lance 
 and from this wound there often oozed 
 a sacred blood, which soaked his tunic, 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 63 
 
 and anything he wore round his waist." 
 Thenceforth his heart and his flesh 
 exulted. Thenceforth he might if he 
 chose, exclaim with St. Paul : '• Let no 
 man be troublesome to me, for I bear 
 the marks of the Lord Jesus in my 
 body." Often and often had he thirsted 
 for martyrdom; — to shed his blood for 
 God, who had f)oured out His. Full 
 of the desire, he had gone among the 
 Saracens, and won them completely by 
 his miraculous gentleness. The Sultan 
 of Egypt, Meledin, could with difficulty 
 restrain himself from being a Christian. 
 Francis offered to pass over burning 
 coals for him without detriment. In- 
 stead of putting him to death, Meledin 
 8ent him away loaded with honors, but 
 thirsting as much as ever for a cruel 
 
64 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM 
 
 1 
 
 and bloody deatli, would he ever grant 
 him so to testify his burning devotion 
 to the passion of our Lord. Xot so 
 would Grod fulfil his wishes, but in a 
 manner strano;e and unusual would he 
 ornament him with His own blessed 
 wounds. 
 
 Why O Seraph of Assisium did God, 
 so visibly clothe you with Jesus Christ ? 
 Why did he fix his eyes on you to 
 print you with those wounds at once 
 the price of our redemption, the source 
 of life, the pledge of salvation ? Be- 
 cause you were himself within. Long 
 since your soul unseen to men had 
 been conformed to His own, you had 
 taken lessons of the Sacred Heart ; the 
 mildness and modesty of Jesus Christ 
 had possession of your demeanor. Blessed 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 65 
 
 purity of heart which came to see 
 God ! Inimitable meekness, which pos- 
 sessed and overpowered the earth of 
 human corruption, and drew from on 
 high the impress of the Lamb that 
 was slain. The photograph of a friend 
 is valuable but it may be lost: an im- 
 press such as that, imperishable for 
 time and eternity, a pledge of love 
 that can never grow cold, a device 
 such as God only could conceive. Ni- 
 mis honorati sunt amici tui Deus, nimis 
 confortatus est principatus eorum. 
 
 Francis did his best to conceal the 
 favor he had received. He kept his 
 hands covered so that the nails should 
 not be seen, and St. Clare made him 
 a pair of slippers which covered those 
 
 of his feet. And here I must not omit 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 THE SERA7H OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 to tell 
 
 St. Clar 
 
 From 
 
 you wno K^t. uiare was. 
 cliildliood her own compassion for the 
 poor, and interior conformity to Jesus 
 Christ had been that of St. Francis. 
 As soon as she heard about him she 
 wished to follow his rule of life. Be- 
 fore her birth her mother had a vision — 
 a wonderful light seemed to break 
 forth — and w^as made to understand 
 that her future daughter would en- 
 lighten the world by the splendor of 
 her holiness. The daughter of a noble 
 lady, God brought her to speak with 
 him, and under his guidance she with 
 her sister St. Agnes had chosen God 
 for their spouse, and heaven for their 
 inheritance. At the time of the sacred 
 Stigmata, the abbess of a community 
 of consecrated virgins, she rejoiced her- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 67 
 
 self, and glorified God for the joy of 
 the father to whom he had entrusted 
 her. To make him a pair of sli|)pers, 
 and help him keep his secret, was a 
 satisfaction that gave her much delight. 
 This slipper which is still preserved 
 was so neatly contrived that the nj)per 
 part covered the heads of the nails, 
 and the underneath being somewhat 
 raised, the points did not' prevent his 
 walking, for though these nails gave 
 him pain, they did not take from him 
 the use of either hands or feet. 
 
 But concealment was impossible. The 
 author of the prodigy had himself dis- 
 closed the secret, and filled the hearts 
 of the people with expectation. All 
 had heard of it. The morning it oc- 
 curred at break of day, they had seen 
 
68 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 the mountain illuminated witli a md? 
 brilliant light, and as lie came down 
 among them again on Michaelmas day, 
 they ran in crowds to kiss his hands. 
 As these were tied round with ban- 
 dages he offered them the tips of his 
 fingers. In a village near Arezzo they 
 brought him a child of about eight 
 years of age, who had been dropsical 
 for years, whom he cured instantane- 
 ously by touching him. No wonder 
 that hands so like our Lord's, should 
 touch and heal as did His own. 
 
 As for himself the miracle left his 
 body so weakened that it was evident 
 he could not long survive, though his 
 soul thirsted more than ever for the 
 salvation of souls and to serve the le- 
 pers. 
 
THE Sj^xtAfH OF ASSISIUM. 69 
 
 Carried about from place, to place 
 the crowd got around him, touched him, 
 pressed upon him, brought the sick 
 that he might but lay his hands upon 
 them. Himself was sick and needed 
 care. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "PRETIOSA IN -CONSPECTU DOMINI MORS SANCTORUM 
 
 EJUS." 
 
 Ik order that he might be nearer to 
 Clare, who loved to take care of him, 
 they brought him to a small and poor 
 cell, near the convent of St. Damian. 
 It was his desire to render up his soul 
 to God there where he had received 
 the spirit of grace, the church of St. 
 Mary of the Angels. As he prayed 
 
70 THE SEEAPH OF ASSISIUM. flH 
 
 for patience to bear his pain, Jesus 
 Christ thus addressed him : " Rejoice, 
 it is through the way in which yon 
 are, that heaven is reached." Seeing 
 his last hour draw near, he sent for 
 Clare, as well as for a noble Roman 
 lady who had befriended him, request- 
 ing her at the same time to bring along 
 wax lights for his funeral. 
 
 Surrounded by these and a few chosen 
 disciples, he exhorted them to perse- 
 vere in the faith of the Church of 
 Rome, and in their veneration for the 
 church of St, Mary of the Ang-els, be- 
 fore whose altar lamps must be always 
 kept burning. His own devotion to 
 the Most Blessed Sacrament, and to its 
 chosen guardians, he declared in the fol- 
 lowing remarkable words, w^hich were 
 committed to writing on the spot: 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 71 
 
 '^ Oar Lord gave me, and He still 
 gives me, so much, faith in priests, who 
 live according to the forms of the holy 
 Roman Church, because of their cha- 
 racter, that if they were to persecute 
 me, it would be still to them that I 
 should have recourse. I mean to fear 
 them, to love them, to honor them. 
 What induces me to do this is, that I 
 see nothing in this world so discerning 
 of this same Son of God, the Most 
 High, as His very sacred bocy, and 
 His most holy blood, which they re- 
 ceive, and which they alone administer 
 to others." 
 
 After delivering at length his last 
 testament, of which the above is a part, 
 he sent for his confessor, and ordered 
 brother Angelo to sing in his presence 
 
72 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 a canticle giving praise to God for all 
 His creatures, as well as for death. At 
 the conclusion of that canticle, we our- 
 selves will take our stand around the 
 deathbed of a saint, and watch his mo- 
 tions in the parting moments of disso- 
 lution. 
 
 Placing his arms one over the other 
 in form of a cross, present and absent 
 receive his last blessing, in the name 
 and by virtue of Jesus crucified : " I 
 leave you in the fear of the Lord. I 
 go to God with great eagerness, and 
 recommend you all to His favor." Call- 
 ing then for the book of the Gospels, 
 he made them read the passion from 
 St. John, and that being ended, began 
 himself to recite "Voce mea ad Dom- 
 inum clamavi,'' until the last verse, 
 
. THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 73 
 
 " Bring my soul out of prison tliat I 
 may praise Thy name: the just wait 
 for me till Thou reward me.*" In the 
 very same instant Francis went to re- 
 pose ; — Saturday evening, the 4th day 
 of October, in the year 1226, in the 
 forty-fifth year of his age, and the be- 
 ginning of the third since he received 
 the Stigmata, 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HIS SOUL ENTERS HEAVEN. 
 
 On the same night that Francis died 
 Brother Austin of Assisi, a just and 
 saintly man, who was in the last stage 
 of a severe illness, and had ceased to 
 speak, suddenly exclaimed: "Wait for 
 
74 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 me, my father, wait for me ; I will go 
 with you." The brethren, astonished, 
 asked him who he was speaking to ? 
 " What," said he, " don't you see our 
 father Francis, going up to heaven ?" 
 At that very moment his own soul 
 separated itself from his body, and fol- 
 lowed after. 
 
 Francis appeared also on the same 
 night to the Bishop of Assisi, at the 
 time on his way to the Church of St. 
 Michael on Mount Gargano, and said: 
 " I leave the world and am going np 
 to heaven." The bishop found on his 
 return that the apparition had appeared 
 to him at the very time of the saint's 
 death. Add to this that one of his 
 own disciples, on the testimony of St. 
 Bonaventure saw his blessed soul under 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 75 
 
 the figure of a brilliant star, rise upon 
 a white cloud, above all the others, 
 and go straight to heaven; giving us 
 to understand at once the splendor of 
 his sanctity, and the plenitude of grace 
 and wisdom, which had rendered him 
 worthy of entering into the regions of 
 light and peace, where with Jesus Christ 
 he enjoys a repose which will be eter- 
 nal. He had found whom his soul loved, 
 whom he would hold fast nor let Him 
 go, w^ho had brought his beautiful and 
 gentle spirit in which His own was re- 
 flected, out of prison. Nor did He who 
 had given that beautiful soul wings to 
 fly and be at rest, forget to honor in 
 the eyes of men, the prison He had 
 brought it out of. The body disfigured 
 by disease became all at once beauti- 
 
76 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. jg^ 
 
 ful beyond description ; white as snow, 
 with a crimson wound in the side, and 
 black hard nails like iron protruding 
 through the hands and feet. Clare en- 
 deavored to remove one of them, but 
 could not ; she had to content herself 
 with dipping a piece of linen in the 
 blood which exuded. 
 
 Miracles were multiplied, and in the 
 year 1228 he was proposed to the v^en- 
 oration of the catholic faithful. 
 
 By the gentleness and love of St. 
 Francis may God grant us a share of 
 his spirit, his esteem for the eternal 
 truths, his devotion to the Queen of 
 Angels, such a taste of the sweetness 
 of heaven as will make bitter in com- 
 parison every pleasure short of it. St. 
 Stephen was full of grace and fortitude 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 77 
 
 wlieH he saw the heavens opened above 
 him ; a glimpse of the same made Fran- 
 cis a saint. A thin veil, which faith 
 easily penetrates, hides eternity from oui 
 own view. Yet penetrate it or not, 
 there stands the awfal reality behind 
 the scenes. Heaven or Hell is my des- 
 tination, A moment will determine. In 
 that moment my God do not forget 
 me, nor you O Virgin Queen of Mercy ! 
 Jesus Maeia. 
 
78 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM, 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 EMBRACING MIRACLES AND PARTICULARS CONNECTED 
 WITH THE LIFE, NOT PREVIOUSLY ALLUDED TO IN 
 THE WORE. 
 
 **" Mirabilis Dens in Sanctis siiis." 
 "^ God is wonderful in His saints^** 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE PRAYER OF FRANCIS, 
 
 MoRiQUEy a religious of the Order of 
 Cross-bearers, being sick and given over 
 by his physicians, got himself recom- 
 mended to the prayers of St. Francis, 
 who willingly prayed for him, and 
 mixed a little crumb of bread with the 
 oil of the lamp which burned before 
 the altar of St. Mary of the Angels, 
 which he sent him with this message : 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 79 
 
 "The power of Jesus Christ will not 
 only restore you to perfect health, but 
 will cause you to become a generous 
 soldier, to enter our militia and perse- 
 vere in it." The sick man had hardly 
 swallowed it, but he was quite cured, 
 joined the saint, did great penance, and 
 during a long life enjoyed perfect health. 
 
 As Francis prayed one day on a rock 
 in the valley of Rieti, in the bitterness 
 of his soul deploring his early life, he 
 was assured by an inspiration of the 
 Holy Ghost, that his sins and all the 
 temporal punishment due to them had 
 been remitted. This revelation almost 
 overpowered him with joy. 
 
 One day the abbot of the monastery 
 of St. Justin, in the diocese of Perugia, 
 met Francis, and alighted from his horse 
 
80 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 1 
 
 to speak to him. As he recommended 
 himself humbly to his prayers, Francis 
 replied : "I will pray with all my 
 heart," and they parted. At a little 
 distance, the saint said to his companion : 
 " Wait a little, brother, I will here per- 
 form my promise." He knelt to pray; 
 and while he prayed, the abbot, who 
 was riding on, felt his mind inflamed 
 with such sweetness of devotion as 
 threw him in an ecstasy. When he 
 returned to himself, he became aware 
 that it was entirely owing to the prayer 
 of St. Francis. 
 
 Add to this, that St. Francis obtain- 
 ed from God, by his fervent prayer, a 
 vision which induced Pope Innocent III. 
 to approve his Order in spite of every 
 remonstrance of its enemies to the con- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 81 
 
 trary. In short, the prayer of St. 
 Francis was efficacious for every good, 
 since it was prompted by the Spirit of 
 God. The very desires of his heart 
 were attended to by God, who fulfils 
 the wishes of those who fear Him. 
 One day, fatigued with excessive travel, 
 weak, languid and exhausted, he felt 
 a disgust for every kind of food. One 
 thing only he felt as though he could 
 eat if he had. it ; — some wild fowl. 
 Forthwith, as he was speaking of it to 
 his companion, a stranger brought him 
 one ready dressed, which he handed to 
 him with these words: "Servant of 
 God, take what the Lord sends thee," 
 after which he disappeared. Francis 
 ate willingly of what the goodness of 
 God had provided for him, and was so 
 
82 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 strengthened that he continued the jour- 
 ney, as one who scarcely feels the earth 
 upon which he treads. His prayer was 
 sometimes so fervent that fire seemed to 
 issue from his countenance, and all who 
 beheld him when he prayed, were in- 
 spired with devotion, so much as some- 
 times to be raised off the ground. 
 When at Rome, w^hile praying in one 
 of the chapels of the church of St, 
 Peter, the holy Apostle, in company 
 with St. Paul, appeared to him sur- 
 rounded by lights, embraced him, in- 
 structed him and left the Saint full of 
 consolation. A great indulgence con- 
 nected with the church of Portiuncula 
 should be noticed here, as one of the 
 effects of the prayer of St. Francis. 
 The more he prayed, the more God 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 83 
 
 gave him light to apprehend the 
 wretched state of sinners. Moved to 
 compassion at the sight of so much 
 bhndness, one night as he solicited 
 their conversion on bended knees, an 
 angel appeared and told him that Jesus 
 Christ and His Blessed Mother were 
 waitins: for him in the church, accom- 
 panied by a host of celestial spirits. 
 Greatly rejoiced to find it true, he cast 
 himself at the feet of the Son of God, 
 who thus addressed him, ''Francis, the 
 zeal which you and your followers have 
 for the salvation of souls is such, that it 
 entitles you to solicit something in their 
 favour, for the glory of My name." '' Our 
 most holy Father," he replied, ''I entreat 
 Thee, although I am but a miserable sin- 
 ner, to have the goodness to grant to men, 
 
84 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 1 
 
 tliat 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 hu- 
 man kind, to intercede that I may obtain 
 this request.'' The blessed Virgin did 
 intercede, and our Lord again spoke. 
 " Francis, what thou askest is great ; but 
 thou wilt receive still greater favors; I 
 grant thee this one ; I desire thee, never- 
 theless, to go to my Vicar, to whom I 
 have given the power to bind and to 
 loose, and to solicit him for the same in- 
 dulgence. The companions of the Saint 
 overheard everything from their cells, 
 and saw the light which filled the church, 
 and the angels. Fear made them keep 
 their distance. In the morning Francis 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 85 
 
 assembled them, imposed silence and set 
 out for Rome, where he no sooner re- 
 counted the object of his visit, than the 
 Pope answered, " It is my desire that it 
 be granted to you." But he restricted it 
 to one day in the year, which was after- 
 wards fixed, as we shall presently de- 
 scribe. 
 
 "He who in prayer," says St. Teresa, 
 "carries a large vessel of confidence to 
 the fountain of divine mercy, comes away 
 with it well filled." St. Francis expe- 
 rienced this, asking of God for more than 
 many before him had ever dared. Might 
 not our Lord at the present day reproach 
 some Catholics, '' Hitherto you have not 
 asked anything in my name. Ask and 
 receive, that your joy may be full." 
 " When one is sorrowful and uneasy," 
 
86 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 said St. Francis, '' he should have imme- 
 diate recourse to prayer, and so remain 
 before God until such time as the joy of 
 salvation is restored to him/' 
 
 FRANCIS DOES WONDERS BY THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. 
 
 The virtue of the cross goes with its 
 sign, and from the hands of St. Francis 
 lost none of its efficacy. 
 
 In the city of Narni was a man who 
 had lost the use of his limbs for five 
 months from palsy. Francis cured him, 
 employing no other remedy than a sign 
 of the cross, which he made over his 
 whole body, and by virtue of the same 
 sign he restored sight to a blind woman. 
 At Castello he cured a child, who had an 
 ulcer, by making the sign of the cross 
 on the dressing which covered it. At 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 87 
 
 Terni by tlie sign of the cross lie ren- 
 dered some sour wine perfectly good, 
 and that before persons who had tasted 
 it in its acid state. In the same place 
 a young lad had just been crushed by 
 the fall of a wall. Having had him 
 brought to him he applied himself to 
 prayer, and extending himself on the 
 corpse, he restored him to life. 
 
 Finding himself very faint in a cer- 
 tain place near the borough of St. Ur- 
 ban, he asked for some wine. As there 
 was none to be had there, he had some 
 water brought to him, which he bles- 
 sed by making the sign of the cross 
 over it, and it was instantly changed 
 into most excellent wine. The little 
 that he took, refreshed him so quickly 
 that it was estimated a double mira- 
 
88 THE SERAPH OlT ASSISIU^I. 
 
 cle. At FoliVno the sio^n of the cross 
 which he made on the house of his 
 host, protected it from various accidents, 
 and particularly from fire. Being several 
 times in danger by the contiguity of 
 burning houses adjoining, the flames 
 were seen to take an opposite direction. 
 
 THE HUMILITY OF FPwANCIS. 
 
 Of all the virtues, this, the founda- 
 tion of them all, shone most eminently 
 in the Seraph-saint. One instance would 
 be sufficient were others wanting. He 
 constantly refused to be ordained a 
 priest. We will cite here but one other 
 example ; a conversation which he made 
 one night with one of his religious by 
 way of useful recreation. " My dear 
 brother," he said to Leo, '' we must not 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 89 
 
 let this time pass without praising God's 
 lioly name and confessing our own 
 misery. This is the verse which I will 
 say : ' O brother Francis ! you have 
 committed so many sins in this world, 
 that you have deserved to be plunged 
 into hell.' And you, brother Leo, your 
 response will be, ' it i^ true you de- 
 serve to be in the bottom of hell.' " Leo 
 promised to obey, though unwillhigly; 
 but instead of that, he said, "Brother 
 Francis, God will do so much good 
 through your means, that you will be 
 called into Paradise." Francis reproved 
 him for his disobedience, and tried again, 
 but with no better success. And so 
 they went on until Leo was obliged to 
 confess that the Spirit of God put the 
 
 contrary words into his mouth in spite 
 8* 
 
90 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 of himself. He was constantly saying, 
 "Man is nothing but what he is before 
 God, and no more." 
 
 To those who called him a saint, he 
 used to say, ''Don't praise me, I may 
 still sin; I have no assurance that I shall 
 not; a person must never be praised 
 whose end cannot be known." And he 
 addressed the following words to him- 
 self: "Francis, if the Most High had 
 bestowed so many favors on a thief 
 as He has on you, he would be much 
 more grateful than you are." This is 
 the spirit of Catholic Saints. Lost in 
 the thought of their own nothingness, 
 w^hen they opened their mouths it was 
 to praise and glorify God and His saints ; 
 to think little and say less about them- 
 selves. An absence of personal senti- 
 
I 
 
 TI-IE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 91 
 
 ment, and a fulness of praise, marked 
 their speech and their compositions. 
 
 HIS PATIENCE AND MORTIFICATION. 
 
 Charity increases in proportion as con- 
 cupiscence is deadened. Hence heroic 
 charity ordinarily presupposes heroic 
 mortification. St. Francis knew this. He 
 called his body brother ass who required 
 to be frequently beaten, despised, and 
 kept well at work. Red hot irons ap- 
 plied to his neck during sickness pro- 
 duced no outward symptom of pain. 
 He often protested that no kind of 
 suffering, whether tribulation, distress, 
 famine, nakedness, or persecution should 
 ever separate him from the love of 
 Jesus Christ. He sometimes proposed 
 to himself and companions, imaginary 
 
92 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 distresses such as bad treatment, insults, 
 cold, hunger, etc., which might happen ; 
 in order to make them feel prepared 
 with God's grace to meet with resigna- 
 tion every occurrence His providence 
 might permit to befal them. 
 
 HIS COMPASSIOlSr FOR THE POOR. 
 
 From infancy, the sight of distress 
 moved him to self-sacrifice and exer- 
 tion. Often was he seen to take the 
 burdens from the poor he met on the 
 road, and bear them on his own weak 
 shoulders. A cloak that had been given 
 him, he gave in charity to a poor wo- 
 man, who had two little children who 
 were almost naked. One day, when he 
 was about to preach, he was entreated 
 by a poor and infirm man to recom- 
 
THE SERxVPH OF ASSISIUM. 93 
 
 mend him to his hearers. Tiirnino; to 
 his companion, he declared, with tears 
 in his eyes, that he felt the man's ills 
 as if they were his own. He served 
 the sick in the hospitals, and in their 
 own houses, with his own hands, per- 
 forming for the most ill-favored and un- 
 grateful of them offices of charity, the 
 sight of which melted their hearts, and 
 inflamed them with the love of God. 
 
 On one occasion he cured a leper by 
 washing him, and what was better yet, 
 obtained for him by his prayers contri- 
 tion for his sins, which had been the 
 occasion of his disease. At St. Mary 
 of the Angels, he gave the book of the 
 Gospels to a poor old woman who came 
 to beg, at the same time observing, that 
 it would be more a^jreeable to God to 
 
94 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUK. 
 
 use it so in relieving extreme necessity, 
 than to read out of it. At another 
 time, as lie gave his cloak to a poor 
 shivering beggar, he said to his com- 
 panion, that, did he not do it, he would 
 be afraid lest Almighty God should ac- 
 cuse him of theft for keeping it. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 HOW FRANCIS RAISED HIS SOUL TO GOD BY THE HELP 
 OF HIS CREATURES, AND THE CONTROL HE HAD 
 OVER THEM. 
 
 To Francis, all creatures were so 
 many mirrors, in which he saw reflect- 
 ed the sovereign beauty, and by means 
 of w^hich he raised himself up to it, and 
 excited himself to the love of God. 
 Considering in them a common princi- 
 ple of existence with himself, he w^as 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 95 
 
 used to call them his brothers and sisters, 
 and to regard them with a certain affec- 
 tion, as so many streams emanating 
 from the goodness of God. 
 
 Among animals, those he preferred 
 were such as reminded him of the mild- 
 ness of Jesus Christ, or were the sym- 
 bol of some particular virtue. For this 
 reason, lambs were peculiarly agreeable 
 to him. 
 
 " Why," said he, to a butcher, " do 
 you hang and torture my brethren the 
 lambs ?" 
 
 Seeing some birds caught in a net, he 
 addressed them : '' Ye doves, my dear 
 little sisters, simple, innocent, and pure, 
 why did you allow yourselves to be 
 caught thus." 
 
 A lad went to Sienna, to sell some 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 turtle doves -vvliicli he had taken alive.i 
 Francis met him on the way and said: 
 '^ These are innocent birds, which are 
 compared in Scripture to chaste and 
 faithful souls. I beg you earnestly not 
 to put them into the hands of persons 
 who would kill them, but to confide 
 them to me." They were given to him, 
 and he put them immediately into his 
 bosom ; he spoke to them as if they 
 were capable of reasoning ; promising 
 to prepare a nest for them, where they 
 mi2[ht fulfil the intentions of their 
 Creator. Having: taken them to 'his 
 convent, near the walls of Sienna, he 
 forced his stick into the ground before 
 the gate, and the stick became by the 
 following day a large evergreen oak. 
 He let the turtle doves fly into it, de- 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 97 
 
 siring them to make their nests there, 
 which they did for many succeeding 
 years, and they were so familiar with 
 the monks, that they came to feed from 
 their hands. Francis promised the 
 young man who gave them, that he 
 would become a member of the Order, 
 and acquire eternal glory. Thus Francis 
 loved God through the affection he 
 showed His creatures. The carol of 
 birds seemed to him to invite mankind 
 to publish the glory of their Creator. 
 He liked to remark the gray and ash 
 color of larks, the color he had chosen 
 for his Order, that they might often 
 think on death. He liked to see them 
 fly up into the air and sing, after get- 
 ting crumbs of bread, as if to thank 
 
 God. In return for his own perfect 
 9 
 
98 THE SEPvAPH OF ASSISIUM. ^Hl 
 
 subjection to the law of God, God gave 
 him the control of animals, as He did 
 to Adam before he fell from innocence. 
 The first time that St. Francis went 
 to Mount Alverno, he was surrounded 
 by a multitude of birds, who lit upon 
 his head, shoulders, breast and hands 
 to evince their pleasure at his arrival; 
 and at the hour of the night when he 
 arose to pray, a hawk came to make a 
 noise at the door of his cell: God who 
 made the ravens serve Elias, caused 
 His owm feathered songsters to testify 
 to the sanctity of His servant Francis. 
 A sheep which had been presented to 
 him at St. Mary of the Angels, bent 
 its fore feet at the altar of the Blessed 
 Virgin so often as the religious went 
 to sing the office. Such instances prove, 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUJVI. 99 
 
 says St. Bonaventure, that the Saints 
 are tender hearted. It was noticed that 
 animals showed a sort of aflfection for 
 Francis and apphmded what he did in 
 their way. 
 
 Having left Assisi one day to go to 
 preach near the town of Bevagna, he 
 saw, on a particular spot, a number of 
 birds collected, of various kinds, and he 
 went up to them and said : " My breth- 
 ren, listen to the word of God ; you 
 have great reason to praise your Crea- 
 tor ; He has covered you with feathers; 
 He has given you wings wherewith to 
 fly ; He has placed you in the air where 
 the breathing is so pure, and He pro- 
 vides you with every thing which is 
 necessary, without giving you any 
 trouble." 
 
100 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 While lie spoke, the birds remained 
 motionless, those which were perched 
 on the branches of trees, bending their 
 heads, as if to listen. Spreading their 
 wings, opening their beaks, they ex- 
 hibited every symptom of joy, nor took 
 to flight till he had given them leave, 
 and made over them the sign of the cross 
 to bless them. 
 
 At Gubio he tamed a wolf, and took 
 it into the public square with him when 
 he preached, and made an agreement 
 with it, that it should do no injury, so 
 long as the inhabitants would provide it 
 with food, which was faithfully attended 
 to on both sides. Wolves are sometimes 
 sent, said he, to warn sinners to return 
 to their duty. During two years, the 
 animal came to the town to feed, and did 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 101 
 
 no injury to anyone. At Carinola, the 
 holy man tamed in a similar manner a 
 fox that stole all the poultry of a poor 
 old woman. 
 
 THE LOVE THE BLESSED VIRGIN HAD FOR FRANCIS, 
 AND THE WAY THE DAY OF THE INDULGENCE OF 
 PORTIUNCULA CAME TO BE FIXED. 
 
 The gentle and most amiable Queen 
 
 of heaven was thus pleased one day to 
 
 brinsr together two of her faithful chil- 
 
 dren. St. Dominic being in Rome, had 
 
 a miraculous vision, as he prayed in the 
 
 Church of St. Peter. He saw the Son 
 
 of God seated on the right hand of His 
 
 Father, who rose up greatly irritated 
 
 against sinners; holding in His hand 
 
 three darts for the extirpation of the 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 proud, the avaricious, and the voluptu- 
 ous. His holy Mother threw herself at 
 His feet, and prayed, for merey, saying 
 that she had persons who would remedy 
 the evil ; and she at the same time in- 
 troduced to Him Dominic and Francis, 
 as being proper persons for reforming 
 the world, and re-establishing piety; 
 this pacified Jesus Christ. Dominic, who 
 had never seen Francis, recognized him 
 .next day, and ran to embrace him: 
 " You are my companion ; we will work 
 together ; let us be strictly united, and 
 no one will be able to master us." 
 
 One night as Francis jorayed in his 
 cell, about the beginning of the year 
 1223, the devil tempted him to think that 
 he fatigued himself with too much 
 Drayer, being an old man. Aware of 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 103 
 
 the malice, Francis retired to the woods, 
 and threw himself naked into a bush 
 of briars and thorns, till he was covered 
 with blood. A brilliant lisfht which 
 surrounded him, discovered to him a 
 great number of red and white roses, 
 although it was the month of January, 
 and the winter severe. Angels appeared 
 and said to him : " Francis, hasten to re- 
 turn to the Church; Jesus Christ is 
 there, together with His Blessed Mother." 
 Miraculously clothed in a new white 
 habit, he gathered twelve roses of each 
 color, and went to the Church. After a 
 profound adoration, thus he prayed: 
 " Most holy Father, Lord of heaven and 
 earth, Saviour of man ; deign, through 
 Thy great m<^rcy, to fix the day of the 
 indulgence which Thou hast been pleased 
 
104 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 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, and told 
 him to take to the Pope some white and 
 red roses as testimonials of the truth of 
 this fact. Francis took three of each 
 color. The next day Francis, by the 
 Pope's desire, pronounced the following 
 words in the presence of the cardinals: 
 ^' The will of God is, that whosoever 
 shall, with a contrite and humble heart, 
 after having confessed his sins, and re- 
 ceived absolution from a priest, enter the 
 Church of St. Mary of the Angels, in the 
 diocese of Assisi, between the first ves- 
 pers of the first day of August and the 
 
» 
 
 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 105 
 
 vespers of the second day, shall obtain 
 an entire remission of all the sins he may 
 have committed from his baptism until 
 that moment." This great indulgence of 
 Portiuncula now extends to all Fran- 
 ciscan churches throughout the world. 
 
 HIS PENETRATION OF HEARTS AND GIFT OF PROPHECY. 
 
 St. Francis not only penetrated the 
 inmost recesses of consciences, and beheld 
 their secrets as in a clear mirror, but 
 spoke of things which were going on in 
 his absence, and foretold things to come. 
 Urged by a strong desire to see him, and 
 get his blessing, two brethren of the 
 Order came to Grecio. Thev were much 
 disappointed to find, on their arrival, that 
 he had just retired to his cell. As they 
 
106 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 n 
 
 started to return, contrary to his custom, 
 lie came out, called them back, blessed 
 them in the name of Jesus Christ, and 
 made the sign of the cross upon their 
 foreheads as they had wished. Their 
 arrival, and the- desire of their heart 
 could not have been known to him in 
 any ordinary way. 
 
 Near the convent of Mount Colombo 
 there was a nest of crested larks, the 
 mother of which came every day to feed 
 out of his hand, and took sufficient for 
 herself and her brood. When they be- 
 gan to be strong, she brought the little 
 ones to him. He perceived that the 
 strongest of the brood pecked the others, 
 to keep them fr^m taking up the grains. 
 Displeased, he addressed the little bird 
 as if it could understand him : " Cruel 
 
I 
 
 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 107 
 
 and insatiable little animal, you will die 
 miserably, and the greediest animals will 
 not be willing to eat your flesh." Some 
 days after it was drowned in a basin, and 
 neither cats nor dogs would go near it 
 when offered them. 
 
 The letter which he wrote, or rather 
 dictated, to Dame Jacqueline, a noble 
 Roman lady who had befriended him, 
 shows us that he foresaw the precise day 
 of his death. This letter was dated Sun- 
 day, the 28th of September, and thus 
 commences : 
 
 " To the Lady Jacqueline, the servant 
 of the most High, Brother Francis, the 
 poor little servant of Jesus Christ, sends 
 greeting, and communication with the 
 Holy Ghost, in Jesus Christ. 
 
 " Know, my very dear lady, that Jgs!:^;' 
 
108 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Christ, blessed forever, has done me the 
 favor to reveal to me the end of my life : 
 it is very near. For which reason, if you 
 wish to see me alive, set out as soon as 
 you shall have received this letter, and 
 hasten to St. Mary of the Angels, for if 
 you arrive later than Saturday, you will 
 find me dead," etc. etc. 
 
 One more example may suffice. At 
 Calano, a common soldier pressed him so 
 hard to come and dine with him that he 
 could not refuse. Taking a priest along, 
 the poor family received him joyfully, 
 and the Saint, as he was used, began to 
 pray. He then said to the soldier pri- 
 vately : ^' My brother and my host, you 
 see I have acceded to your request in 
 coming to dine with you. Now, follow 
 tiiy advice and make haste ; for it is not 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 109 
 
 here, but elsewhere that you will dine. 
 Confess your sins with as much exactness 
 and sorrow as you can ; the Lord will re- 
 ward you for having received His poor 
 ones with such good religious intentions." 
 The soldier made his confession to tlie 
 companion of Francis, and prepared him- 
 self as well as he could for death. He 
 then sat down with the others to table, 
 and a minute afterwards expired. He 
 entertained a prophet and received the 
 reward of one. 
 
 At Fabriano, as Francis stood preach- 
 ing in the market place, some workmen 
 employed at a palace, made such a ham- 
 mering, that his voice was drow^ned. 
 Disregarding his entreaties that they 
 would be still for a little, he said to the 
 
 bystanders : '' The work of those who are 
 10 
 
110 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 building that house will be of no use^ 
 because the Lord did not build it." He 
 added that it would soon fall, but that 
 neither man nor beast would be injured 
 by it, and a few days afterwards all came 
 true. How the saint foretold of Mcholas 
 the third, yet a child, that he would one 
 day be Pope, has been already alluded 
 to. 
 
 ST. FRANCIS RAISES THE DEAD TO LIFE. 
 
 At Terni, a young lad had been crush- 
 ed by the fall of a wall. Having had 
 him brought to him, he applied himself to 
 prayer, and extending himself on the 
 corpse, as the prophet Eliseus had done 
 on the child of the Sunamite, he restored 
 him to life. 
 
 In the county of Narni, he was lodged 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. Ill 
 
 in the house of a worthy man who was 
 in great affliction for the death of his 
 brother, who had been drowned, and 
 whose body could not be found, so that 
 it might be buried. After having pri- 
 vately prayed for some time, he marked 
 a spot in the river where he said that 
 the body certainly was at the bottom, 
 where it had been stopped by the en- 
 tanglement of the clothes. They dived 
 there, and the body was found, which he 
 restored to life in the presence of the 
 whole family. 
 
 The inhabitants of Gaeta admiring the 
 power which God gave to His servant, en- 
 treated him to stay some time in their 
 town, and to permit them to buiki there 
 a convent for his Order. He assented to 
 this, and the work was commenced forth- 
 
112 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 with. While the work was in progress, a 
 carpenter was crushed by the falling of a 
 beam. As the other workmen were car- 
 rying hiru home, Francis, who was re- 
 turning 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 bv the hand, 
 called him by his name, and commanded 
 him to arise. The dead man rose im- 
 mediately, 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 perform- 
 ed, in order to perpetuate the memory 
 thereof. 
 
 In a certain town whither Francis had 
 turned his steps, all the inhabitants kad 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 113 
 
 gone to the great square to hear him 
 preach. A servant maid who had been 
 left in one of the houses to tend a child, 
 wishing to hear the sermon, abandoned 
 her charge. Coming back, she found it 
 dead, and half boiled in a copper of hot 
 water into which it had fallen. She took 
 it out, and the better to hide the disaster 
 from the father and mother, shut it up 
 in a trunk. The parents, however, learnt 
 their misfortune. It Avas their only child. 
 Francis had been invited to dine. Du- 
 ring time of dinner, they tried hard to 'i 
 suppress their tears; he did his best to ^ 
 inspire them with a holy joy. At the 
 end of dinner, he asked for some apples. 
 They had none. Pointing to the trunk 1 
 w^hich had the child in it, he said : " Look 
 in that, and you will find some." It was 
 
 10* \ 
 
114 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 § 
 
 of no use to assure him there were none 
 there. He insisted on having the trunk 
 opened, and now appeared the consola- 
 tion that God, to whom nothincr is hard 
 or impossible, had in store for them. 
 There was the child alive and well, and 
 laughing, too, holding an apple in each 
 hand. Transported with joy, the father 
 reposed him in the arms of his saintly 
 benefactor. 
 
 In a word, Francis was a man who 
 cast out devils, raised the dead to life, 
 cured the sick, made animals obey him, 
 was listened to as an angel when he 
 spoke. 
 
 The cord which he wore about his 
 waist fell into the hands of a man who 
 went from house to house where there 
 were any sick, soaked it in water, and 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 115 
 
 gave it them to drink, a draught which 
 was invariably followed by a cure.^^ 
 
 * A word on the cord of St. Francis will not be out of 
 place here. After the saint had begun to preach, the crowd 
 who presently strove to abandon their houses and posses- 
 sions for the love of God, was so great, that there seemed to 
 be danger lest family ties made sacred by God himself, 
 should be broken up. To meet this difficulty, the Seraph 
 instituted a third Order for persons living in the retirement 
 of their own families. Wearing a knotted cord similar to 
 his own, and properly blessed, such should become affiliated 
 to the Order, and by complying with certain easy conditions, 
 enjoy a participation in its good works and indulgences. 
 St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, to whom St. Francis made a 
 present of his mantle, because she shared his spirit, be- 
 longed to this third Order, as did also St. Louis, of France, 
 and a host of others. Sweet bond and chain of the love of 
 God, by .which Francis, raised above the earth, draws 
 heavenward those, who, having their loitis girt about, and 
 tlie lamp of charity burning in their hands, cherish his 
 spirit. Arrived at the end of my work, one word in con- 
 elusion. To a certain extent, like every other matter of 
 fact narrative, it is a compilation. To those whose labors 
 have served me, or rather through me done service to God, 
 **Jucitndus homo qui miseretur et commodat.^* To you, dear 
 reader, for the love of God, commend me in life and death, 
 to the protection of St. Francis. 
 
116 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 St. Clare. 
 
 The lady Hortulana of Assisi who, _ 
 with the consent of lier husband, made 
 a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, had 
 three daughters, Clare, Agnes, and Bea- 
 trix. About to be confined of the first, 
 and praying to God before a crucifix in 
 the church, she heard a voice, " Woman, 
 fear not, thou wilt bring forth with- 
 out danger a light which will illumi- 
 nate a vast space." 
 
 The child Clare was the very model 
 of a good girl, who loved to pray, and 
 whose virtue drew down upon her the 
 admiration of all the town. 
 
 St. Francis heard about her as she 
 had of him, and conceived a great de- 
 sire to present her to Jesus Christ. 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 117 
 
 They saw eacli other several times, and 
 God did His own work in her soul. 
 An interior view of eternal happiness, 
 filled her heart with intense love of 
 God J and loathing of extravagant dress. 
 She came to assist at the distribution 
 of palms in the church on Palm Sun- 
 day, and on the following night left 
 Assisi for St. Mary of the Angels, where 
 Francis, and attendants in waiting, cut 
 off her hair and consecrated her to 
 God, under the protection of the Queen 
 of Virgins. All bore lighted tapers in 
 their hands, and the religious sang can- 
 ticles of joy. The cruel persecution 
 which Clare suffered from her parents 
 and relations in consequence of this 
 sacrifice, made her sister Agnes join her 
 company in the Benedictine convent of 
 
118 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. ||«^ 
 
 St. Paul whither Francis had conduc- 
 ted the new bride of our Lord. Francis 
 cut off her hair too, ^and the sisters in 
 future labored together, and attracted,! 
 by their virtues, a multitude of pure 
 and innocent souls. Clare afterwards 
 became abbess of St. Damian. During 
 life and after death her prayers were 
 most efficacious. She wished one day 
 the consolation to converse wdth Fran- 
 cis, unwilling to come, though invited 
 to a repast. Yet at the supplication of 
 Clare, God brought him in spite of him- 
 self and kept him there in an ecstacy 
 during several hours. On a certain oc- 
 casion three loaves of bread sent by 
 Clare, fed thirty missionaries, and left 
 enough to spare. To one of the sisters 
 in her monastery she restored lost speech, 
 
THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 119 
 
 to anotlier deaf one hearing. Fevers, 
 dropsy, insanity itself, fled at lier toucli. 
 The Saracens had besieged her monas- 
 tery. Sick in bed she had herself car- 
 ried to the gate and with her the pyx 
 which contained the Blessed Sacrament — 
 before which she thus prayed : '' Do not 
 deliver to the beasts, O Lord, those who 
 confess to thee, and guard your servants 
 whom you have redeemed with your 
 precious blood." Then a voice was 
 heard, " I will always guard you." A 
 part of the Saracens fled; others, struck 
 with blindness, fell off the walls they 
 were scaling. As herself was dying, the 
 Blessed Virgin stood before her bed in 
 the midst of a crowd of white robed 
 virgins. 
 
 " Upon the feast of St, Clare," says St. 
 
120 THE SERAPH OF ASSISIUM. 
 
 Teresa, *' as I was about to communicate, 
 she appeared to me in great "beauty, l| 
 and told me to be of good courage, 
 and to go on witli the work I had com- 
 menced, and that she would assist me. 
 Her words proved true : a house of her 
 Order, near to this house, helps to sup- 
 port us." 
 
 Laus Deo et Mari^. 
 
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