Chapter LXXV. Of the conversion of that same brother Sylvester, and of a vision that he saw

109. I think it not unfitting that the conversion of the aforesaid Sylvester, and how the Spirit moved him to enter the Order, should be joined to my present subject. Sylvester, then, was a secular priest of the city of Assisi, from whom in former days the man of God had bought stones for the repair of a church:! and when in those days Sylvester saw brother Bernard (who after the Saint of God was the first plant of the Order of Friars Minor 2) perfectly renouncing his property and giving it to the poor, he was inflamed by devouring greed, and complained to the man of God that the price of the stones previously sold him had not been paid in full. Francis smiled, perceiving that the priest's spirit was tainted with the poison of avarice; but wishing to give some sort of refreshment to that accursed burning^ he filled the priest's hands with uncounted money. The priest Sylvester rejoiced at the gift, but wondered still more at the giver's liberality. He went home, and often thought over this thing; he murmured (a happy murmur!) that he, now growing old, was still loving the world; and wondered that that young man was thus setting all things at naught. To him, therefore, now-filled with fair fragrance, Christ opened the bosom of His mercy, showing him by a vision the worth of Francis' deeds, their pre-eminent brightness in His sight, their glorious spreading over the whole world. For in his sleep he beheld a golden cross issuing from Francis' mouth, whose top touched the heavens, and whose outstretched arms encircled either part of the world in their embrace. The priest, remorseful at the sight, shook off harmful delay, forsook the world, and became a perfect imitator of the man of God. He began his¹² life in the Order perfectly and by the grace of Christ finished it most perfectly.

But what wonder is it if Francis appeared crucified, all whose concern was ever with the Cross? What great thing is it if, the wondrous Cross having been thus rooted within him, it sprang up out of a good ground and brought forth notable flowers, leaves, and fruits? Nothing of other kind could arise in that soil when from the first that wondrous Cross had thus claimed it all for its own.

But I must now return to my subject.