Stoics and Saints - College of Stoic Philosophers

232 ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI.
to give him during his illness in Rome. She came ;
some
say she was already on her way. The cakes were eaten,
but there was no abatement of his malady. His disciples
Elia and Bernard de Quintavalle were kneeling by his bed.
To each he gave a piece of the cake, and crossing his arms
to reach Bernard with his right hand, he laid a hand on
both and blessed them, bequeathing to Bernard the govern
ment of the whole Franciscan Society. He then dictated
his last will, and solemnly commended his followers to the
Most High. His last work done, he was laid on the bare
ground. The evening
it was Oct. 4, 1226 was soft and
calm. The western sun was glowing in the balmy autumnal
air. The requiem for the dying ceased, and the faltering
voice of the saint was heard. With my
voice have I cried
unto the Lord, "bring my soul out of prison, that I may give
thanks unto thy name. A moment, and Francis was free.
Y Whatever judgment we may
form of the life of St. Francis
as the founder of a powerful Order, none who have read the
tales which loving biographers have delighted to treasure up
and hand down to us, can question that Francis was one
of the gentlest and tenderest of men. His love for dumb
creatures was a beautiful and winning trait in a rude and
blood-stained age like that. They evidently felt some mag
netic power in the earnest and holy preacher;
the tales of
the trust and ministry of these dumb creatures to their
friend cannot all be false, nor need we question the truth
of them merely because they seern so marvellous to our own
prosaic minds. The bees are said to have settled harmlessly
on his lips. The birds flew round him in flocks, and when
the twittering of the swallows disturbed him as he was
preaching, Hush, my sisters, won instant silence, that he
might
declare his Lord s will. One of the earliest Italian
poems is a simple outpouring
of his heart to his brother the
sun, his sisters the moon and the stars, his brother the wind,