Studio: international art (89.1925)

FRANCIS WAS BORN IN 1182. IN THE
YEAR 1202 HE WAS CAPTURED DU-
RING A WAR WITH THE PERUGI—
|ans. and remained in prison untit 1205.
iA grave illness interrupted his usual
Jjcarcless life as one of the rich youths
I of Assisi, and led to the awakening of
the serious side of his nature. Stories
bare told of hove 1-ie gave the rich
llaccoutremcnts prepared for his own
' adventures to a poor knight, hove also he befriended
lepers by personal service. But it was in the year
1X>6 that his vision before the crucifix in S.Damiano
fully awakened his spirit and gave him the sense of
mystical union with Divine Light, which never after-
wards failed him. Tlie cliange brought differences be-
tween father and son to a head. There was no halting;
between two opinions, "henceforth I onlv say our Fa-
ther in heaven. In the Spring of 1209 while hearing
Clftass at the Porriucola the words in CPatthew X. came
as a direct message: "Go ye, preach, saving. The Kingdom
of heaven is at hand.....provide neither gold nor sil-
ver-----nor scrip tor your journey" Nfcxt year

Francis with twelve disciples presented their rule to
Pope Innocent III.: the rule has not been preserved,
but CD. Sabatier describes it as a spontaneous and in-
Spired appeal to die heart, short inform and written
in tlie language of the Gospel. Tlie brethren became
preachers in all parts of the world, and in 121S-1220
Francis was in Egypt in hope of converting the
Sultan.

ri£ return was followed by one of the crises in
his lite. The success of the Brethren brought
.with it an ever-increasing pressure from the
world and a sorrowful burden to the spirit of
Francis. The sadness of his heart did not impair the
clearness of his mind: he knew tlvit the policy of a
oreat organisation had nothing in common with
the life of the mystic, and as in the early days he

* 1

LETTERING AND ILLUMIN-
ATION. BY W. E. FORD.

225