The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of AssisiChalippe, Candide
Religion
The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi
Chalippe, Candide
Francis, of Assisi, Saint, 1182-1226; Miracles -- Early works to 1800
May the Parisians ever entertain and transmit to their posterity this
fervent devotion of their ancestors, which Pope Urban IV., who was a
native of France, stirred up in the hearts of the faithful forty-six
years afterwards, by the institution of the Feast of the Most Holy
Sacrament, which is celebrated throughout the Church, with so much
solemnity. The bull which he issued on this occasion, enters into the
strongest and most moving arguments calculated to inspire veneration,
love, and the zeal which the precious memorial of the goodness of the
Son of God calls for, and to invite to a frequent and worthy
participation in the divine mystery, which the Council of Trent has
since expressed its anxiety to see reestablished.
Before his departure, Francis undertook to reconcile the members of
the illustrious family of the Baselennesi, a long time disunited by
unhappy family dissensions, and he succeeded to the satisfaction of
all parties. Out of gratitude they had built for him, on one of their
estates on a spot near the Tiber, surrounded with very beautiful trees,
a convent called St. Angel of Pantanellis.
He chose to go once more to Rome to recommend to the holy Apostles his
journey to France. On the road, having seated himself close to a spring
to take his meal, he put some pieces of bread, which had been given
to him on his quest, and which were very hard and mouldy, on a stone
near him; he expressed much satisfaction, and he pressed his companion
Masse to give thanks to God for so great a treasure; and he repeated
several times the same thing, elevating his voice more and more. "But
of what treasure are you talking" said Masse, "at a time when we are
in want of many things?" "The great treasure is," replied Francis,
"that, being in want of so much, God has had the goodness to furnish
us by His providence with that bread and this spring, and to find us
this stone to serve as a table."
He went shortly after into a church, where he prayed to God to give
him and his children the love of holy poverty; and his prayer was so
fervent that fire seemed to issue from his countenance. Full of this
celestial ardor, he went towards Masse with open arms, calling him by
name with a loud voice; Masse, in great astonishment, going to throw
himself into the arms of his Father, was raised into the air several
cubits high, and felt such sweetness in his soul, that he frequently
afterwards declared that he had never experienced anything like it.
After this ecstasy, Francis spoke to him on the subject of poverty in
an admirable strain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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