Walter M Gallichan

Old Continental Towns - Original Edition Walter M Gallichan

Putting on the rags of a beggar, St Francis went to Rome, where he sat among the mendicants before St Peter's. Then began the miraculous cures of lepers whose hands he kissed, and his many works of charity and healing. He extolled "holy poverty," and called poverty his "lady." When he saw a worm lying on the path, the compassionate saint removed it, so that it should not be trodden on by passers-by. The birds he called his brothers and sisters; he fed them, bade them sing or keep silence, and they obeyed him. All birds and beasts loved him; and he taught the birds to sing praises to their creator. St Francis was perhaps the first eminent Christian who showed pity and love for the lower animals. In the morass of Venice, he came upon a great company of singing-birds, and entering among them, caused them to sing lauds to the Almighty.