Chapter VIII. Of the bashfulness which he conquered; and of his prophecy of the Poor Virgins

13. And so he strove to reverse his former delicate way of life and to bring his body from luxurious indulgence back to natural goodness.

One day the man of God was going through Assisi to beg for oil that he might trim the lamps in S. Damian's church which he was then repairing; and when he saw a crowd of men at play before the house he wanted to go into he was filled with shame and drew back. But then, directing that noble spirit of his to heaven, he reproved his own cowardice and passed judgment on himself. Straightway he went back to the house, set forth aloud before all the cause of his shame, and in a kind of spiritual intoxication asked in French for oil and received it. Most fervently did he stir up all to the work of that church; and in the hearing of all he prophesied, speaking in clear tones in French, that there would be a monastery of holy virgins of Christ in that place. For whenever he was filled with the ardour of the Holy Spirit he would utter ardent words in French; foreknowing that among that people he would receive peculiar honour and be revered with special regard.