[3] The biographies say that he died (October 3, 1226) in his forty-fifth year. But the terms are not precise enough to make the date 1181 improbable. For that matter the question is of small importance. A Franciscan of Erfurt, about the middle of the thirteenth century, fixes the date at 1182. Pertz, vol. xxiv., p. 193. [4] A number of different genealogies have been fabricated for Francis; they prove only one thing, the wreck of the Franciscan idea. How little they understood their hero, who thought to magnify and glorify him by making him spring from a noble family! "_Quae rero_," says Father Suysken, S. J., "_de ejus gentilitio insigni disserit Waddingus, non lubet mihi attingere. Factis et virtutibus eluxit S. Franciscus non proavorum insignibus aut titulis, quos nec desideravit_." (A. SS. p. 557a.) It could not be better said. In the fourteenth century a whole cycle of legends had gathered about his birth. It could not have been otherwise. They all grow out of the story that tells of an old man who comes knocking at the parents' door, begging them to let him take the infant in his arms, when he announces that it will do great things. Under this form the episode certainly presents nothing impossible, but very soon marvellous incidents begin to gather around this nucleus until it becomes unrecognizable. Bartholomew of Pisa has preserved it in almost its primitive form. _Conform_., 28a 2. Francis certainly had several brothers [3 Soc., 9. _Mater_ ... _quae cum prae ceteris filiis diligebat_], but they have left no trace in history except the incident related farther on. Vide p. 44. Christofani publishes several official pieces concerning _Angelo_, St. Francis's brother, and his descendants: _Storie d'Assisi_, vol. i., p. 78 ff. In these documents Angelo is called _Angelus Pice_, and his son _Johannectus olim Angeli domine Pice_, appellations which might be cited in favor of the noble origin of Pica. [5] Documentary History of Languedoc, iii., p. 607. [6] The Cathedral of Assisi. To this day all the children of the town are baptized there; the other churches are without fonts. [7] 3 Soc., 1; 2 Cel., 1, 1. Vide also 3 Soc., edition of Pesaro, 1831.