"It is true, dear Father, I cut off that pig's foot. Touching the reason why, I went out of charity to visit a sick Brother." He then narrated the facts, and added, "I tell thee, Father, that, considering the comfort given by the said foot to our Brother, if I had cut off the feet of a hundred pigs as I did of one, in very sooth methinks God would have said, 'Well done.'"
Whereat St. Francis said very severely, and with righteous zeal:
"Brother Juniper, why hast thou caused so great a scandal? Not without reason doth this man complain of us; he is perhaps already noising it in the city. Wherefore I command thee, by thy obedience, that thou run after him till thou come up with him, and throw thyself on the ground, and confess thy fault, promising to make such satisfaction that he may have no cause to complain of us, for of a truth this has been too grievous an offence."
Brother Juniper marvelled much at the words, being surprised that anyone should be angry at so charitable a deed. He answered:
"Doubt not, Father, that I will straightway pacify him; why should he be so disquieted, seeing that this pig was rather God's than his, and that great charity hath been done thereby?"
Francis was constantly journeying about, preaching in all the villages through which they passed, as well as in the castles which frowned down on them, founding new houses of the Order in and near the larger towns; he travelled great distances, and carried everywhere with him the element of joy, showing it forth in the lovely hymns which he and his Brothers carolled along the high-road to lighten the fatigue of their journeys.
Reading the Fioretti, one feels intimately acquainted with several of the Brothers Minor,—with gentle Fra Leone, "the little sheep of God"; with Fra Rufino, styled by Francis "one of the three most holy souls in the world"; with Fra Masseo, who seems, in one recorded instance, to have affected incredulity in regard to the saint's humility.
In those days the Portioncula and its village were surrounded by a wood, and St. Francis often said his prayers therein; one day as he came from them, he was met at the entrance of the wood by Fra Masseo of Marignano, a man of much sanctity, discretion, and grace, for the which cause St. Francis loved him much.
Said Masseo, "Why to thee? Why to thee? Why to thee?"
Quoth Francis, "What is thy meaning?"