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And Brother Marcian, who was a man of great sternness both of life and doctrine, cried:

“Hear him! he talks like a hypocrite; that honeyed voice of his issues from a whited sepulchre.”

And Fra Giovanni said again:

“Brother Marcian, I am indeed capable of every infamy–but for God’s good help.”

Meantime the General was pondering over the strange behaviour of Fra Giovanni, and he besought the Holy Spirit to inspire the judgment he was to give. And lo! as he prayed, his anger was changed into admiration. He had known St. Francis in the days when that Angel of Heaven, born of a woman, was a sojourner in this world, and the ensample of the favourite follower of Christ had taught him the love of spiritual perfection.

So his soul was enlightened, and he recognized in the works of Fra Giovanni a divine innocency and beauty.

“My brethren,” he said at length, “far from blaming our Brother, let us admire the grace he receives so abundantly from God. In very truth he is a better man than we. What he has done, he has done in imitation of Jesus Christ, who ‘suffered the little children to come unto Him,’ and let the Roman soldiers strip Him of His garments.”

Then he thus addressed the kneeling Fra Giovanni:

“This, Brother, is the penance I lay upon you. In the name of that holy obedience you owe St. Francis, I command you go forth into the country, and the first beggar you meet, beg him to strip you of your tunic. Then, when he has left you naked, you must come back into the city, and play in the Public Square With the little children.”

Having so said, the General of the Order came down from his chair of state, and, raising Fra Giovanni from the ground, fell on his own knees before him and kissed his feet. Then, turning to the assembled Monks, he said to them:

“In very truth, my Brethren, this man is the good God’s plaything.”

II

THE LAMP

In those days the truth was revealed to Fra Giovanni that the riches of this world come from God and should be the heritage of the poor, who are the favourite children of Jesus Christ.

Christian folk were busy celebrating the Saviour’s birth; and Fra Giovanni had come to the town of Assisi, which is set upon a mountain-top, and from this mountain first rose the Sun of Charity.

Now the day before Christmas eve, Fra Giovanni was kneeling in prayer before the Altar under which St. Francis sleeps in a stone coffin. And he was meditating, dreaming how St. Francis was born in a stable, like Jesus. And while he was pondering, the Sacristan came up to him and asked him of his goodness to look after the Church while he ate his supper. Church and Altar were both loaded with precious ornaments; gold and silver were there in abundance, for the sons of St. Francis had long fallen from their early poverty, and had received gifts from the Queens of the Earth.

Fra Giovanni assured the Sacristan:

“Go, Brother, and enjoy your meal. I will guard the Church, as Our Lord would have it guarded.”

And so saying, he went on with his meditations. And as he knelt there alone in prayer, a poor woman entered the Church and asked an alms of him for the love of God.

“I have nothing,” the holy man replied; “but the Altar is loaded with ornaments, and I will go see if I cannot find something to give you.” A golden lamp hung above the Altar, decked about with silver bells. Examining the lamp, he said to himself:

“Those little bells are but idle vanities. The true ornament of yonder Altar is the body of St. Francis, which reposes naked under the flags with a black stone for a pillow.”

And drawing his knife from his pocket, he detached the little silver bells, one after the other, and gave them to the poor woman.