Introduction to the Second Part

26. The preservation of the noble deeds of forefathers in the memory of their children is a token of the honour of the former and of the love of the latter. Verily those who have not seen in the body their forefathers are provoked to that which is good and advanced to that which is better by the mere hearing of their exploits when the evidences of their memorable deeds bring them before the children from whom they are separated by the lapse of time. And in the first place we gain from this no little profit — I mean the knowledge of our own littleness, when we see how great was the abundance of their merits, and how great is the lack of ours.

Now I deem blessed Francis to have been a most holy mirror of the holiness of the Lord, and an image of His perfection. All this man's words, I say, and all his deeds have a certain Divine savour, and if they be looked into by a diligent and humble disciple they will soon imbue him with wholesome discipline and make him acceptable to that supreme philosophy.

Therefore though I have already written some things concerning him — in humble style indeed and as it were in passing — I think it not superfluous to add some few things out of many whereby both the Saint may be commended and our slumbering affection aroused.