[57] This illustration is from a print to be seen in the somewhat rare
edition of the _Collis Paradisi Amoenitas, seu Sacri Conventus
Assisiensis Historiæ_, published in 1704 at Montefalco by Padre
Angeli, and it may even have been taken from an earlier drawing. In it
there is the true feeling of a franciscan convent, such as the saint
hoped would continue for all time, and though there are some points
which are incorrect (the Church of Sta. Chiara, though curiously
enough not the convent, is represented, which was built several years
later than San Francesco), we get a clear idea of both Assisi and its
immediate neighbourhood. All the ancient gates of the town can be made
out, the Roman road from Porta Mojano to San Rufino d'Arce, a faint
indication of the path to the Carceri, and also the old road from
Assisi to the plain out of the gate of S. Giacomo, passing not very
far from the Ponte S. Vittorino. The wall round the Portiuncula and
the huts did not exist in the time of St. Francis, which, together
with the wooden gate, may have been added by Brother Elias. The
largest hut a little to the right of the chapel was the infirmary
where St. Francis died (now called the Chapel of St. Francis), and the
one behind it was his cell (now known as the Chapel of the Roses, see
chapter xi. for its story), whence he could easily pass out through
the woods to San Rufino d'Arce hard by.
[58] For fuller account see _The Mirror of Perfection_, translated by
Sebastian Evans, caps. 107, 108, 112, and _The Little Flowers of St.
Francis_, translated by J. W. Arnold (Temple Classics), chap. vi.
CHAPTER IV
_The building of the Basilica and Convent of San Francesco. The Story
of Brother Elias_
"O brother mine, O beautiful brother, O brother of love, build me
a castle which shall have neither stone nor iron. O beautiful
brother, build me a city which shall have neither wood nor
stone."--BEATO EGIDIO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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