Chapter I - THE CALL TO POVERTY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
Summary
“Ille homo, beatus Franciscus, nunquam deberet nominari, quin homo prae gaudio lamberet labia sua: tantum modo sibi defuit unum, scilicet corporis fortitude; si enim habuisset tale corpus, quale ego habeo, scilicet ita robustum, proculdubio totus mundus eum sequi minime potuisset.”
–Ægidius.“Tell the Perugians that the bells shall never ring for my canonisation, nor for any great miracles wrought by me.” And yet, after the lapse of more than six centuries, it appears probable that these, the last recorded words of the humble Giles of Assisi, may be disproved, and he may be the first of the original disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi to receive the full honours of canonisation. From among the little group of simple-minded, single-hearted men who at the dawn of the thirteenth century were the first to receive the message of evangelical perfection and to cluster around St. Francis, it is almost invidious to point to any one as the most fascinating and attractive of those Knights of his Round Table, as the Saint himself called them. The “Little Flowers of St. Francis,” now fortunately so well known to modern readers, has endeared them one and all to us: and each of them, Leo, Bernard, Juniper, Giles, has his own place in our affections.
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- Blessed Giles of Assisi , pp. 1 - 6Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1918