St. Francis, who died in 1226, was born at Assisium, a town situated on the brow of a hill called Assisi, in Umbria, Italy. He was in youth abandoned to all sorts of amusements, but became serious by being made a prisoner and also by a long illness. One day, on riding out and seeing a beggar, he changed clothes with him, and then became conscious of the innate beauty of poverty and humility. He visited Rome to see the tombs of the Apostles. He gloried in tending the sick lepers and in all the hardships of poverty. He wandered over the Umbrian Mountains, praising God for all things--for the sun which shone above, for the day and for the night, for his mother the earth, and for his sister the moon, for the winds which blew in his face, for the pure precious water and for the jocund fire, for the flames under his feet and for the stars above his head, saluting and blessing all creatures, whether animate or inanimate, as his brethren and sisters in the Lord. He existed entirely on the alms begged from door to door. He espoused poverty. He was endowed with an extraordinary gift of tears; he wept continually for his own sins and those of others. He founded the order of Franciscans. He held his first chapter of the order when five thousand friars assembled in tents at the foot of the hill of Assisi, called the Chapter of Mats, because mats were spread over their booths for shelter. He created an enthusiasm for austerities and mortifications. The body of St. Francis stands upright in a subterranean vault under the altar of the rich chapel of St. Francis at Assisium. On his deathbed he particularly requested to be buried at the common place of execution among the bodies of malefactors. All the princes of Christendom sent offerings, and all the neighbouring towns sent their artists to decorate his church. HOW FRANCIS OF ASSISI TENDED THE LEPERS.