[34] Fioretti, cap. xiii.
[35] To franciscan influence must surely be traced the rise of the Flagellants at Perugia in 1265.
[36] See Histoire de Sainte Elizabeth, Comte de Montalembert, pp. 71, 72.
[37] It is related that when in 1216 some Franciscans went on a mission to Germany the only word they knew was "Ja," which they used upon every occasion. In one town they were asked if they were heretics preaching a rival faith to catholicism, and as they continued to say "Ja, Ja," the citizens threw them into prison, and after beating them cruelly drove them ignominiously from the country. The account they gave of their experience to the other friars at Assisi created such a panic that they were often heard in their prayers to implore God to deliver them from the barbarity of the Teutons.
[38] Celano. Vita I. cap. xxi.
[39] Paul Sabatier. Vie de S. Francis d'Assise, p. 205.
[40] Vita di S. Francesco, p. 76. Edizione Amoni (1888. Roma).
[41] Celano, a learned nobleman from Celano in the Abruzzi, joined the Order in 1215, and gives by far the most charming and vivid account of St Francis, for besides knowing him well he had the gift of writing in no ordinary degree.
[42] Vita I. cap. xxvii.
[43] Vita di S. Francesco, da S. Bonaventura, p. 148, Edizione Amoni.