“Not until the eighth year of this century, and the twenty-sixth of his age. One feast of bright Saint Barnaby, he was at mass, and heard the words of the Gospel wherein is described how our Lord sent forth His apostles to preach two by two; without purse, without change of raiment, without staff or shoes {[19]}. Out he went, threw off his ordinary clothing, donned a gray robe, like this we wear, tied a rope round for a girdle, and went forth crying:
“‘Repent of your sins, and believe the Gospel!’
“I was travelling in Italy then, and once met him on his road. Methinks I see him now—his oval face, his full forehead, his clear, bright, limpid eyes, his flowing hair, his long hands and thin delicate fingers, and his commanding presence.
“‘Brother!’ he said. ‘Hast thou met with Him of Nazareth? He is seeking for thee.’
“You will hardly believe that I did not understand him at first, so unfamiliar in my giddy youth were the simplest facts of the Gospel. But the words sank as if by miraculous force into my heart, and from that hour I knew no rest till I found Him, or He found me.”
“Was Francis long alone?”
“No. Brother after brother joined him. First Bernard, then Peter, then Giles; they went singing sweet carols along the road, which Francis had composed out of his ready mind. They were the first hymns in the vernacular, and the people stopped to hear about God’s dear Son. Then, collecting a crowd, they preached in the marketplace. Such preaching! Francis’ first sermon in his native town set every one crying. They said the Passion of Jesus had never been so wept over in the memory of man.
“The brotherhood increased rapidly, and they went on pilgrimage to Rome, to gain the approbation of the Pope. They went on foot, carrying neither purses nor food, but He who careth for the ravens cared for them, and soon they reached the Holy City. The Pope, Innocent the Third, was walking in the Lateran, when up came a poor man in a gray shepherd’s smock, and addressed him. The Pope, indignant at being disturbed in his meditations by this intrusion, bade the intruder leave the palace, and turned away. But the same night he had two dreams: he thought a palm tree grew out of the ground by his side, and rose till it filled the sky.
“‘Lo,’ said a voice, ‘the poor man whom thou hast driven away.’
“Then he thought he saw the church falling, and a figure in a gray robe rushed forth and propped it up—