Chapter VIII. What he did and said at the time of his happy decease

109. The space of twenty years since his conversion was now accomplished, according to that which had been made known to him by the Divine will: for at a certain time when the blessed father and brother Elias were dwelling at Foligno, one night when they were asleep a certain priest clothed in white, of very great age and venerable appearance, stood by brother Elias and said: "Arise, brother, and tell brother Francis that eighteen years are fulfilled since he renounced the world and clave to Christ, that he shall remain in this life for two years only from this time and then the Lord will call him to Himself and he shall enter on the way of all flesh". And so it came to pass that the word of the Lord long foretold was fulfilled at the appointed time.

So after he had rested for a few days in the place he had so greatly longed for, and knew that the time of death was imminent, he called to him two brethren, and his specially loved sons and bade them in exultation of spirit sing with a loud voice praises to the Lord concerning death which was near, or rather life which was so close at hand; while himself, as he was able, broke into that Psalm of David, "I cried unto the Lord with my voice, with my voice unto the Lord I made supplication". But a certain brother among the company whom the Saint loved with very great affection and who was in great anxiety on behalf of all the brethren said to him when he saw these things and knew that his end was approaching, "Ah, kind father! thy children remain fatherless now, and are being bereft of the true light of their eyes! Remember then the orphans thou art leaving, forgive them all their faults and rejoice them all both present and absent with thy holy blessing!" "See, my son," answered the Saint, u God is calling me, I remit all the offences and faults of my brethren as well absent as present, and so far as I may, I absolve them: do thou proclaim this to them and bless them all for me." no. Finally he ordered the codex of the Gospels to be brought and asked to have the passage from the Gospel according to John read to him beginning at the words "Six days (sic) before the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world unto the Father". Now the attendant had purposed to read this Gospel to him before he was bidden to do so, and furthermore the book opened first at that place, though the volume¹ out of which that Gospel had to be read was filled throughout with writing.

Then, for that he was about to become dust and ashes, he bade that he should be laid on sack-cloth and sprinkled with ashes. All the brethren (whose father and leader he was) came together, and, as they stood reverently by and awaited his blessed departure and happy consummation, his most holy soul was released from the flesh and absorbed into the abyss of light, and his body fell asleep in the Lord. But one of his brethren and disciples, a man of no small fame, whose name I think it right to suppress now because while he lives in the flesh he chooses not to glory in such an announcement, saw the soul of the most holy father ascending over many waters in a straight course to heaven: and his soul was as it were a star having in some sort the bigness of the moon and possessing somewhat of the brightness of the sun, and borne up by a little white cloud, (i 1 1) Wherefore it pleases me to cry out thus concerning him: "O how glorious is this Saint whose soul a disciple saw ascending into heaven: ' fair as the moon, precious as the sun,' 1 most gloriously did he glow as he ascended on a white cloud! O thou true lamp of the world, shining in Christ's Church more brightly than the sun, lo! now thou hast withdrawn the beams of thy light, and, departing to that shining country, hast exchanged the company of us miserable beings for that of angels and saints! O glorious nursing- father of singular renown, put not off from thee the care of thy children though thou have now put off flesh like unto theirs! Thou knowest, yea thou knowest, in what great straits thou hast left those

1 Canticles vi. 9.

THE GRIEF AND JOY OF THE BRETHREN in whose countless toils and frequent distresses thy happy presence alone did at all times tenderly relieve! O most holy father, truly merciful, who wast ever ready in kindness to have mercy on thy sinful children and to forgive them! Thee therefore we bless, worthy father whom the Most High did bless Who is for ever God blessed above all. Amen."

Footnotes

1. Bibliotheca, i.e., the volume of the Holy Scripture; ↩