October 2 — Saint Francis

a large assortment of arms and weapons. c For whom are all these?' he inquired; and on hearing the answer: 1 For thee and thy soldiers/ he hastened to join Gauthier de Brienue, who was at war with the Germans in the south of Italy. But God arrested him: in a series of manifestations, to whioh the young man corresponded with all the generous ardour of his pure heart, our Lord revealed to him the objeot of his life's labour, the standard he was to carry through the world, and the lady in whose servioe he was to win his spurs.

The Church, ever under attaok, yet hitherto ever victorious, seemed about to succumb, so undermined were her walls by heresy, so broken by the batteringram of the secular power ; while, within the oitadel, the anoient faith was sinking under prolonged scandals, leaving the field open to the enterprises of traitors, and multiplying defections in a society already beginning to feel the torpor of death. Nevertheless, it is written that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. 'Francis, seest thou not that My house is falling to deoay P Go, then, and repair it for Me.' 1

There was need of a sudden surprise to disconcert the enemy ; and of an energetio appeal, to rouse the sleepy garrison, and rally them around the too for- fotten ensign of Christians, the cross of Christ. Vanois was to be, in his very flesh, the standard of the Cruoified. The sacred wounds already pierced his soul, and made his eyes two ceaseless fountains of tears: 'I weep for the Passion of Jesus Christ my Master ; nor shall I blush to go^ weeping all over the world.'

Avarice was the crying sin of the age ; the hearts of men, too preoccupied with earthly affairs to have

1 VUa B* Francisci ; Thorn. Celau. i. 3 j Tres Socii. i; Bonavent. ii. time after psntbcost a desire of heaven, must be delivered from a slavery which crushed out all noble thoughts, all love, all devotedness. Holy poverty, the mother of that true liberty which disarms hell and laughs at tyrants, could alone achieve such a deliveranoe. Francis was taken with the beauty of poverty, in spite of the

{'eers and insults of the vulgar, and of his rejection >y his own family; but his sublime folly was the salvation of his people, and he was blest by our heavenly Father, as a true brother of His eternal Son.

As by nature the oonsubstantial Word receives His unbeginning Being from Him who begets Him eternally ; so within the holy Trinity, He has nothing appropriated to Himself but the title of Son, to the glory of the Father, in the holy Spirit who is their love. Such is God's destitution of all things, whereof nothing created could give an idea, but which is refleoted in the Incarnate Word's sublime disappropriation in presence of that Father from whom He derived His all Would it, then, be far wrong to oonsider the poverty chosen by St. Francis as no other than eternal Wisdom, offering herself, even under the old Law, to the human raoe, as bride, 1 and as sister? 2 Onoe espoused in Mary's womb at the Incarnation, how great has been her fidelity! But whoever loves her, must become in Jesus like unto her.

• Lord Jesus,' said Francis, 4 show me the paths of Thy well-beloved poverty. 'Tis she that accompanied Thee from Thy Mother's womb to the crib in the stable, and, on the waysides of the world, took care Thou shouldst not have where to lay Thy head. In the combat which concluded the war of our Redemption, poverty, adorned with all the privations

1 Wisd. yiii. 2. * Prov. vii. 4.

SAINT FRANCIS which form her hridal attire, mounted with Thee upon the cross, whioh even Mary could not ascend. She followed Thee to Thy borrowed tomb ; and, as Thou didst yield up Thy soul in her embraoe, so in her arms Thou didst take it again in the glorious nakedness of the Resurrection; and together with her didst enter heaven, leaving to the earth all that was earthly. Oh ! who would not love this queen of the world which she tramples under her feet, my lady and my love? Most poor Jesus, my sweet Master, have pity on me ; without her I oan taste no peace, and I die of desire.' 1

God cannot turn a deaf ear to such entreaties. If He contends, it is in order to add fresh wounds of love, until, the 'old man' being destroyed, the new rises from the ruins, in all things oonformed to the image of the heavenly Adam. Eighteen years later, after the prodigy on Mount Alvernia, Franois* impressed with the divine seal of Christ's wounds, sang in heavenly language the sublime combat whioh had made up Ins life:

• Love has cast me into a furnace, love has oast me into a furnace, I am cast into a furnace of love.

My new Bridegroom, the loving Lamb, gave me the nuptial ring ; then having cast me into prison, He cleft my heart, and my body fell to the ground.

Those arrows, propelled by love, struck me and set me on fire. From peace He made war, and I am dying of sweetness.

The darts rained so thick and fast, that I was all in an agony. Then J took a buckler, but the shafts were so swift that it shielded me no more; they mangled my whole body, so strong was the arm that shot them.

He shot them so powerfully, that I despaired of

3 Frano. Opuae. t. i. Oratio B. Patris pro obtinenda pauper tale. parrying them ; and to escape death, I cried with all my might: "Thou transgressest the laws of the camp." But He only set up a new instrument of war, which overwhelmed me with fresh blows.

So true was His aim, that He never missed. I was lying on the ground, unable to move my limbs. My whole body was broken, and I had no more sense than a man deceased ;

Deoeased, not by a true death, but through excess of joy. Then regaining possession of my body, I felt so strong, that I oould follow the guides who led me to the court of heaven.

Returning to myself, I took up arms, and I made war upon Christ; I rode into His territory, and meeting Him, I engaged Him at once, and took my revenge on Him.

Having had my revenge, I made a treaty with Him ; for from the beginning Christ had loved me with a true love. And now my heart has become capable of the consolations of Christ.' 1

Around the standard-bearer of Christ were already gathered those whom he called his knights of the Round Table. 2 However captivating he may have been when his fellow-citizens proclaimed him the flower of their youth, and he presided at their feasts and games ; Francis was much more attractive now in his life of self-renunciation. Scarcely ten years after his espousals with holy poverty, he had so well avenged her for having been so long despised, that she held full court in the midst of five thousand Friars Minor encamped under the walls of Assisi; 3 while Clare and her companions formed for her such a suite of honour as no empress could ever boast of. l Infoeo Vamor mi mise. Francisci, Opusc. t. iii. cant. ii. * Franoisci, Opusc. t. iii. Collatio xyi. 3 Chapter of Mats 4

May 26, 1219.

SAlttT FRANCIS

The enthusiasm soon became so general, that Francis, in order to satisfy it without depopulating the State and the Church, gave to the world his Third Order ; into which, led by Louis IX of Prance and Elizabeth of Hungary, entered oountless multitudes of every nation, and tribe, and tongue. Thanks to the three seraphic Orders, as well as to the triple militia founded at the same time by Dominio de Guzman, devotedness to the Roman Church, and the spirit of penance and prayer, everywhere triumphed for a time over the anticipated rationalism, the luxury, and all the other evils, which had been threatening the speedy ruin of the world.

The influenoe of the saints springs from their sanotity, as rays from the focus. No rich man ever possessed the earth to such a degree as this poor man, who, seeking God and depending absolutely upon His Providence, had regained the condition of Adam in Eden. Thus, as he passed aloug, the flooks would welcome him ; the fishes would follow his boat in the water ; the birds would gather round him, and joyfully obey him. And why P Francis drew all things to himself because all things drew him to God.

With him there was no such thing as analyzing love, and making distinctions among those things which come from God and lead to God. To raise himself up to God, to compassionate with Christ, to be of service to his neighbour, to be in harmony with the whole universe like Adam when innocent, was for the seraphio father, says St. Bonaventure, one and the same impulse of that true piety whioh ruled his whole being. 1 The divine fire within him found fuel in everything. No touch of the holy Spirit, whenoesoever it came, did Franois let pass ; so much he feared to frustrate the effect of a single graoe.

Bonayent. Legenda S. Francisci, viii. liMB AFTER PBHTfcCOS*

He did not despise the stream for not being the ooean; and it was with an 'unheard-of tenderness of devotion says his son and historian Bonaventure, that Franois relished God's goodness in oreation, contemplated His supreme beauty in every created beauty, and heard the echo of heaven's harmonies in the concert of beings sprung like man himself from the only souroe of existenoe. 1 Henoe it was by the sweet name of brothers and sisters that he invited all creatures to praise with him that well-beloved Lord, whose every traoe on earth was the dear object of his love and contemplation.

Neither the progress nor the consummation of his holiness altered, in this respeot, what would now be called his method of prayer. On hearing that his death was approaching, and again a few minutes before he passed away, 2 he sang, and would have others sing to him, his favourite canticle: 'Praised be God, my Lord, for all creatures, and especially for our brother the sun, which gives us light, and is an image of Thee, my God ! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon ; and for all the stars which He has oreated bright and beautiful in the heavens ! Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind ; and for the air, and the clouds, and the fine weather, and all the seasons ; for our sister the water, whioh is very useful, humble, preoious, and pure ; for our brother the fire, which is bright and strong ; for our mother the earth, which bears us, and produoes the fruits and the flowers. Be Thou praised, 0 my God, for those who pardon and who suffer for love of Thee ! Be Thou praised for our sister the death of the body, which no living man can escape ; unhappy is he who dies in mortal sin ; but happy is he whom death finds

1 fconavent. Legenda 8. Francisci, viii ? ix , x.

2 Wadding, ad am. 1226. xxii, xxxvii.

SAINT FRANCIS conformed to Thy holy will ! Praise and hless my Lord, give Him thanks, and serve Him in great humility.' 1

After having reoeived the stigmata, Francis's life was an unspeakable martyrdom ; in spite of whioh, he oontinued to travel through towns and villages, riding, like Jesus of whom he was so touching an image, upon a poor little ass; and everywhere he preaohed the cross, working miraoles and wonders of grace. Assisi cherishes the memory of the blessing oequeathed to it by its glorious son, when, gazing upon it for the last time from the beautiful plain that stretches at its feet, he exclaimed with tears: ' Be thou blessed of the Lord, 0 oity faithful to God, for in thee and by thee shall many souls be saved ! '*

The humble Portiunoula, the cradle of the Order, where Clare too had exchanged the vain ornaments of the world for the poverty of the oross: St. Mary of the angels, which awakens in the pilgrim a feeling of the nearness of heaven, and where the Great Pardon of August 2 proves the pleasure our Lord still takes in it: this was the appointed plaoe of Francis's death. He passed away on Ootober 3, towards eight o'clock in the evening ; and although darkness had already set in, a flight of larks descended, singing the rising in heaven of the new sun, which was mounting towards the Seraphim. 8

Francis had chosen to be buried in the place of public execution, called the Co lie d' Inferno, near the west wall of his native city. But within two years, Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints, and ohanged the name of the hill into Colle del Paradm. James the German built over the bare rock, where lies the Poor Man of Assisi, a two-storied church,

1 Francisci, Opuse. t. iii. Canticum fratrtm solia.

? Wadding, ad ann. 1226. xxv. 3 {bid. xxxi* t

1IME AFTER PKNTSC08I whioh the genius of Giotto has made to outshine in glory all the princely palaoes on earth.

The Church's narrative, though short, will complete these somewhat lengthy pages.

Franciscus, Assisii in Urnbria natus, patris exemplum secutus, a prima aetate mercaturam fecit. Qui quodam die pauperem, pro Christi amore flagi tan tern pecuniam, cum prater consuetudinem repulisset, repente eo facto commotus, large ei misericordiam impertivit: et ex eo die Deo promisit se nemini unquam poscenti eleemosynam negaturum. Cum verum post in gravem morbum incidisset, ex eo aliquando confirmatus, coepit ardentius colere officia caritatis. Qua in exercitatione tantum profecit, ut evangelicse perfections cupidus, quidquid haberet pauperibus largiretur. Quod ferens iniquius pater, eum ad Assisinatem episcopum duxit, ut coram illo bonis cederet paternis: qui rejectis etiam vestibus, patri concessit omnia, illud subjungens, sibi in posterum majorem facultatem fore dicendi: Pater noster, qui es in ccelis.

Cum autem illud ex Evangelio audisset: Nolite possijlere aurum, neque argen-

Francis was born at Assisi in Umbria, and, after his father's example, followed from his youth a mercantile career. One day, contrary to his custom, he repulsed a poor man who begged an alms of him for Christ's sake ; but, immediately repenting of what he had done, he bestowed a large bounty upon the beggar, and at the same time made a promise to God, never to refuse an alms to any one that asked him. After this he fell into a serious illness ; and on his recovery, devoted himself more eagerly than ever to works of charity, making such rapid progress in this virtue, that, desirous of attaining evangelical perfection, he gave all he had to the poor. His father, angered at his proceedings, brought Francis before the bishop of Assisi, that, in his presence, he might formally renounce all claim to his patrimony. The saint gave up all to his father, even stripping off his garments, that he might, he said, for the future, have more right to say: Our Father who art in heaven.

After hearing one day this passage of the Gospel: Do not possess gold nor silver, nor

SAINT FRANCIS turn, neque pecuniam in zoni vestris, non peram in via, neque duas tunicas, neque calceamenta: sibi earn regulam servandam proposuit. Itaque detractis calceis, et una contentus tunica, cum duodecim socios adhibuisset, Ordinem Minorum instituit. Quare Romam venit, anno salutis millesimo ducentesimo nono, ut sui Ordinis regula ab Apostolica Sede confirmaretur. Quern cum accedentem ad se Summus Pontif ex Innocentius Tertius rejecisset; quod in somnis postea sibi ille, quern repulerat, collabentem Lateranensem basilicam suis humeris sustinere visus easet, conquisitum accersiri jussit : benigneque accipiens, omnem ejus institutorum rationem confirmavit. Franciscus igitur, dimissis in omnes orbis terra partes fratri bus ad praedicandum Christi Evangelium, ipse cupiens sibi aliquam dari martyrii occasionem, navigavit in Syriam: ubi a rege Soldano liberalissime tractatus, cum nihil proficeret, rediit in Italiam.

Multis igitur exstructis suae f amilise domiciliis, se in solitudinem montis Alverni contulit : ubi quadraginta dierum, propter honorem sancti Michaelis archangeli, jejunio inchoato, festo die Exaltationis sanctaB Crucis money in your purses; nor scrip for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, he took it for his rule of life, laid aside his shoes and kept but one tunic. He gathered together twelve disciples aad founded the Order of the Minors. In the year of our salvation 1209 he went to Rome, to obtain the confirmation of his rule and Order from the apostolic See. Pope Innocent III at first refused to see him; but having in sleep beheld the man he had repulsed supporting with his shoulders the Lateran basilica which was threatening to fall, he had him sought out and brought to him ; and receiving him kindly confirmed the whole system of his institute. Francis then sent his brethren into every part of the world to preach the Gospel. He himself, desirous of an opportunity of martyrdom, sailed into Syria; but the Soldan treated him most kindly; so that, unable to gain his end, he returned into Italy.

He built many convents of his Order; and then retired into solitude on Mount Alvernia; where he fasted forty days in honour of the Archangel St. Michael. On the feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, he had a vision of

TIME AFTER PENTBC08T ei Seraphim crucifixi effigiem inter alas continens apparent: qui ejus et manibus, et pedibus, etlateri vestigia clavorum impressit: quae sanctus Bonaventura, cum Alexandri quarti summi pontificis praedicationi interesset, narrasse Pontificem a se visa esse, litteris commendavit. His insignibns summi in earn Christi amoris, maximam habebat omnium admirationem. Ac biennio post graviter aegrotans, def erri voluit in eeclesiam sanctae Marian angelorum, ut ubi gratiae apiritum a Deo acceperat, ibi gpiritum vitae redderet. Eo in loco fratres ad paupertatem ac patientiam, et sanctse Romanaa Ecclesiae fidem servandam cohortatus, psalmum illud pronuntians, Yoce mea ad Dominum clamavi ; in eo versiculo, Me exspectant justi, donee retribuas mihi: efflavit animam quarto nonas Octobris. Quern miraculis clarum Gregorius nonus Pontifex maximus in sanctorum numerum adscripsit. a seraph bearing between his wings the figure of the Crucified, who impressed the sacred stigmata on his hands and feet and side. St. Bonaventure says he heard Pope Alexander IV, while preaching, relate how he had himself seen these wounds. These signs of Christ's exceeding love for his servant excited universal wonder and admiration. Two years later, Francis grew very ill, and was carried, at his own request, into the church of St. Mary of the angels; that he might give up his mortal life to God, in the very place where he had commenced his life of grace. There, after exhorting the brethren to poverty and patience, and the preservation of the faith of the holy Roman Church, he said the psalm : I cried to the Lord with my voice. When he reached the verse: The just wait for me, until thou reward me, he breathed forth his soul, on the fourth of the Nones of October. He was renowned for miracles; and Pope Gregory IX enrolled him among the saints.

Mayst thou be blessed by every living soul, 0 thou whom our Saviour associated so closely with Himself in the work of Redemption. The world, created by God for Himself, subsists through the saints ; for it is in them He finds His glory. At the time of thy birth the saints were few; the enemy of God and man was daily extending his darksome reign ; and society has entirely lost faith $ncl charity

BAINT FBANCI8 light and heat, the human race must perish. Thou didst come to bring warmth to the wintry world, till the thirteenth century became like a spring time, rich in beautiful flowers ; but alas ! no summer was to follow in its wake. By thee the oross was forced upon men's notice ; not indeed, as heretofore, to be exalted in a permanent triumph, but to rally the eleot in the face of the enemy, who would too soon afterwards regain the advantage. The Churoh lays aside the robe of glory, which beseemed her in the days of our Lord's undisputed royalty ; together with thee, she treads barefoot the path of trials, whioh liken her to her divine Spouse suffering and dying for His Father's honour. Do thou thyself, and by thy sons, ever hold aloft before her the sacred ensign.

It is by identifying ourselves with Christ on the oross, that we shall find Him again in the splendours of His glory ; for man, and God in man, cannot be separated; and both, thou didst say, must be contemplated by every soul. Yet no otherwise than by effective compassion with our suffering Head oan we find the way of divine union and the sweet fruits of love. If the soul suffers herself to be led by the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost, this Master of masters will conduct her by no other way, than that set forth by our Lord in the books of His humility, patience, and suffering. 1

0 Francis, cause the lessons of thy amiable and heroio simplicity to fructify in us. May thy children, to the great profit of the Church, increase in number and still more in sanctity; and never spare themselves in teaching both by word and example, knowing, however, that the latter is of greater avail than the former. 2 Raise them up again, with their former popularity, in that country of France whioh

1 francisci, Opusc. t. iii. Collatiq xxiv. 8 {bid. Coll. xyii.

TIME AFTER PENTECOST thou didst love on aooount of its generous aspirations, now stifled by the sordid vulgarity of money-makers. The whole religious state looks upon thee as one of its most illustrious fathers ; oome to its assistanoe in the trials of the present time. Friend of Dominio, and his oompanion under our Lady's mantle, keep up between your two families the fraternal love which delights the angels. May the Benediotine Order never lose the affection whioh causes it to rejoice always on this day ; and by thy benefits to it, strengthen the bonds knit once for all by the gift of the Portiuncula ! 1

The protomartyr of the Benedictine Order stands before us to-day in his strength and in his beauty. The empire had fallen, and the yoke of the Arian Goths lay heavy upon Italy. Rome was no longer in the hands of the glorious races whioh had made her greatness; these, nevertheless, kept up their honourable traditions. They offered a great lesson, for future times of revolution, to other descendants of not less noble families: in lieu of the ensign of civic honour once committed to their fathers, the survivors of the old patrioian ranks made it their duty to raise still higher the standard of true heroism, of those virtues which alone are everlasting.

1 A property of the Benedictines on Monte Soubazo, ceded by them, to Francis, to be the cradle of the Order he was about to found,