The archives of Sacro Convento of Assisi[5] possess a manuscript whose importance is not to be overestimated. It has already been many times studied,[6] and bears the number 338.
It appears, however, that a very important detail of form has been overlooked. It is this: that No. 338 is not one manuscript, but a collection of manuscripts of very different periods, which were put together because they were of very nearly the same size, and have been foliated in a peculiar manner.
This artificial character of the collection shows that each of the pieces which compose it needs to be examined by itself, and that it is impossible to say of it as a whole that it is of the thirteenth or the fourteenth century.
The part that interests us is perfectly homogeneous, is formed of three parchment books (fol. 12a-44b) and contains a part of Francis's works.
1. The Rule, definitively approved by Honorius III., November 20, 1223[7] (fol. 12a-16a).
2. St. Francis's Will[8] (fol. 16a-18a).
3. The Admonitions[9] (fol. 18a-23b).
4. The Letter to all Christians[10] (fol. 23b-28a).
5. The letter to all the members of the Order assembled in Chapter-general[11] (fol. 28a-31a).
6. Counsel to all clerics on the respect to be paid to the Eucharist[12] (fol., 31b-32b).