officer. Though the saint did not know him, had never met
him, yet he accosted him at once, stirred to do so by an im-
pulse of heaven. Angelo," was his speech, "you have
long enough carried baldrick, sword, and spurs; hence-
forward for baldrick, take a coarse cord; for sword, Christ's
cross; for spurs, exchange the dust and mud of the highways.
Follow me, and I will make you a soldier of Christ."
once he left all to follow the standard of poverty. His con-
version, so strikingly like that of St. Matthew, won Francis
his twelfth companion.

At

In a little, the saint, accompanied by his disciples, turned his face towards Rome, to lay at the feet of the Vicar of Christ the rule which he had composed for his new-born Order.

Innocent III. sat in the chair of Peter when the children of Francis reached Rome. That illustrious Pope approved of the Rule, appointed St. Francis Superior-General of the Order, and made him a deacon. The humble founder would never consent to take up the burden of the priesthood.

The saint gathered his children about him near the modest chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, which had been gifted to him by the Benedictines. He had a special affection for this oratory on many accounts. It was there our Lord and His Blessed Mother had appeared so often to him, and often had he heard there the songs of heaven. Here, too, our Lord granted him the well-known indulgence of the Portiuncula or Pardon. The Seraphic Father was anxious. that this place, the cradle of the Order, should also be its chief sanctuary for all time. And so it was under the protection of the Virgin Mother that the Order of the Franciscans, or Friars Minor, had its beginning, and in the shadow of her sanctuary it spread and flourished. To this holy and miraculous retreat the first disciples of St. Francis came to ease their labours, and hear with love and respect the exhortations of their Father.

One day, after prolonged prayer, the holy Patriarch called his children together and spoke to them after this fashion:-"Take courage, and rejoice in the Lord, let not your small numbers afflict you, nor your simplicity and mine alarm you. God has shown me that with His blessing He will spread throughout the world this family of ours, whereof He is the Father. I would willingly have kept silence over this, but the love I bear you all would not permit me. I. have seen a great multitude coming to us to take this habit and live this life. I have seen all the roads dark with those who press on to be at our side. The echo of their footsteps. still rings in my ears. Consider, my brethren, what is your calling. It is not for our salvation alone that God in His mercy hath chosen us, but for the salvation of many besides. It is that we may go through the world exhorting and preaching, more by example than word, the doing of penance, and the observance of God's commandments. We shall seem contemptible and foolish; but have no fear. Our Saviour, who hath overcome the world, will speak in you to great avail. Above all, be careful not to lose the kingdom above for any earthly consideration. If you meet with money, put no more store on it than if it were dust. Judge not the rich nor despise them who live at ease and luxuriously. God is their master as He is ours; It is His to call them and to judge them. Go, then, preaching penance for the forgiveness of sins, penance and peace. You will find many to receive well you and your words, many faithful and charitable, and many, too, proud and stiff-necked and faithless, who will blame and condemn you. Let your mind be to bear all things with humble patience, and have no fear, for shortly there will come many of the learned and noble to help you to preach to kings, princes and peoples. Be therefore patient under trial, fervent in prayer, diligent in labour, and the eternal kingdom of God shall be your reward."

The prophetic words were soon fulfilled. Men came in

crowds from every rank and position in society to follow the footsteps of the Patriarch of the Poor. The needy came and found a greater but more comforting poverty; the rich and the great came, taken with the charms of this lovely virtue, to ask for possessions less fragile than their own were like to be. Bishops put off their mitres, doctors left their chairs to don the coarse habit and live the hard life of the poor Friar.

This strange spectacle moved all who witnessed it. A healthy reaction towards penance and sanctity set in. These men, who had left all for Christ's sake, who had become the brethren and friends of the very poor, were blessed with the rare power of teaching the poor resignation, and the rich to be generous and unselfish.

St. Francis had the satisfaction of seeing his Order multiply with wonderful rapidity. In a short space of time it had spread over Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, England, Ireland, Germany. Many of the brethren had even thus early plucked the palm of martyrdom in Africa. Ten years after the foundation of the Order the Saint held the second general chapter at Saint Mary of the Angels. To it there came from all parts of the world more than five thousand friars. Cardinal Hugolini, the intimate friend of the Patriarch and Protector of his great family presided. The little convent of St. Mary's was quite unable to accommodate such an immense number, and there were set up on the plain round about huts of plaited straw and rushes. Here this Christian army encamped about its leader. The Cardinal pontificated on Pentecost day, and in the evening passed through the ranks of that great array, where in all the different groups there was talk only of God and heavenly matters. Touched to the heart by the beautiful sight, the Cardinal said again and again: "In truth it is God's army and encampment!" All the neighbouring people flocked to the spot to look on the holy men, and in the crowd were many young men who beholding such sacrifice, joy and union, cried : "See how plainly this

proves that the way to heaven is narrow, and that it is very hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. We fancy we can work out salvation while enjoying the world and all the satisfactions of life, while these good religious after sacrificing everything are yet not assured. We wish to die like them, but not live like them; and yet one dies as he has lived!" So saying, to the number of five hundred, they came to the feet of St. Francis to ask that they also might be admitted to the ranks of poverty.

Having blessed his children and given them directions, St. Francis sent them from him to publish in every place penance and peace. The fervent missioners travelled the world over, striving by word and example to bring it the peace which they themselves enjoyed.

St. Francis meanwhile divided his time between prayer and preaching. His heart, which was world wide, desired to subject the whole earth to the domination of Christ.

After visiting the cities and towns of Italy, he traversed the south of France, visited Spain, the savage Nile, and the sacred shores of Jordan. Though in his habit, poor, and in appearance ill-cared, he preached with an all-conquering faith and love. Wherever his voice was heard the people were moved to the very depth of their consciences. The most inveterate sinners repented and returned with their whole hearts to their duty. The more contemptible this true disciple of the cross was in his own belief, the more did it please God to prove his sanctity by the most amazing wonders. Affection and veneration for the Saint were so general and deep that crowds followed him wherever he went, and that one was thought happy who touched the hem of his garment.

(To be continued.)

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[Advt.]

CONFERENCE.

CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.

"And when he had entered into the boat his disciples followed him and behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep." Matth. viii., 23 and 24.

WE are liable to make one reflection upon this passage. It is this was it not very thoughtless of the disciples not to consider who was with them in the boat. They would not have given way to fear or uneasiness if they remembered that the Lord of storm and calm was there.

Nothing happens on this earth except by the command or permission of God. Danger and trouble, misfortune and shame, every change and reverse, are all marshalled and ordained by Providence. "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create evil: I, the Lord, that do all these things." So is it declared by the prophet Isaias (45, 7). Not indeed that any wrong could ever be worked by God. Evil exists merely on sufferance, and because in the depth of His wisdom God can bring good out of it. Not only all things were done for good because they occur by God's order and rule, but what is more, they are done for our benefit. "All things because of the elect" (2 Tim. ii. 10). The mother who watches over her new-born child would eagerly clear from its life every shadow of unhappiness, would safeguard it from every temptation, would lead it by the gentlest and most winning ways in the path of the Lord, if she had but the power. God has her love for us, has even greater love "with an eternal love have I loved thee "-and He has the power, which no mother has, of being present with us at all times, of influencing our minds for good from the first glimpse of reason to their last thought in the body.