Francis, the servant and friend of the Most High, was born in the city of Assisi, and having become a merchant, he wasted his time living vainly almost until the twentieth year of his age. The Lord chastised him with the scourge of sickness and suddenly transformed him into another man, so that he now began to be strong in the prophetic spirit. For once, when he together with many others had been captured by the men of Perugia and consigned to a grim prison, while the others grieved, he alone rejoiced; and when reproached for this by his fellow prisoners, he answered:
'You should know that I rejoice for this reason, that one day I shall be adored as a saint throughout the whole world.' Once, setting out to Rome for the sake of devotion, he laid aside his own garments and, putting on the clothes of a certain poor man, he sat among the poor before the church of St. Peter, and with them, as one of them, he eagerly begged; and he would have done the like more often, had not shame before his acquaintances hindered him. One day, while he heard the words which the Lord spoke to his disciples when sending them out to preach, he immediately rose up with all his strength to observe them all: he loosed the shoes from his feet, clothed himself in a single, cheap tunic, and exchanged his belt for a cord.
Many noble and lowly, clergy and laity, despising worldly pomp, clung to his footsteps; and the holy father taught them to fulfill evangelical perfection, to embrace poverty, and to walk by the way of holy simplicity. He moreover wrote an evangelical rule for himself and his brothers, present and future, which the lord Pope Innocent confirmed. From then on he began more fervently to scatter the seeds of the word of God, and to go about cities and strongholds with wondrous fervor. In a vision the servant of God beheld above himself a crucified Seraph, who impressed the marks of his crucifixion so evidently upon him that he himself seemed crucified.
His hands and feet and side were marked with the imprint of the cross; but with diligent care he hid those very stigmata from the eyes of all. Yet some saw them in his life, but very many beheld them at his death. That these stigmata were in all respects true was shown by many miracles. Blessed Francis, full of dove-like simplicity, exhorts all creatures to the love of the Creator; he preaches to the birds, he is heard by them, they are touched by him, and they do not withdraw except when given leave; the swallows, while they chattered as he was preaching, fell silent at once at his command. At the Portiuncula, near his cell, a cicada sitting in a fig tree often sang; the man of God, stretching out his hand, called to it, saying:
'My sister cicada, come to me.' It immediately obeyed and climbed upon his hand. He said to it: 'Sing, my sister cicada, and praise your Lord!' It at once sang and did not withdraw until given leave. He spares lamps, torches and candles, unwilling to mar their brightness with his hand. He walks reverently upon rocks, out of regard for Him who is called the Rock of the divine law; he lifts up little worms, lest they be trodden under the feet of passers-by; and he orders honey and the best wine to be set out for the bees, lest they perish of hunger in the winter ice; he called all animals by the name of brother. He was filled with wondrous and unspeakable joy on account of the love of the Creator, when he gazed upon the sun, the moon and the stars, and invited them to the love of the Creator.
He forbade a large tonsure to be made for him, saying: 'I wish that my brothers the fleas may have a share in my head.' When he was preaching at the fortress of Alviano, he could not be heard because of the chattering of the swallows that nested there. He said to them: 'My sisters the swallows, now it is time for me to speak, since you have said enough; keep silence until the word of the Lord is completed.' At once obeying him, they fell silent immediately. Once, as the man of God was passing through Apulia, he found on the road a large purse swollen with coins, which his companion, seeing, wished to take in order to distribute to the poor; but he by no means permitted it, saying:
'It is not lawful, son, to take what belongs to another.' But when the companion vehemently insisted, Francis, praying a little, ordered him to lift up the purse, which now contained a snake instead of money. Seeing this, the brother began to be afraid; but wishing to fulfill the command of obedience, he took the purse in his hands, and at once a great serpent leaped out from it. And Francis said: 'Money is to the servants of God nothing else but the devil and a venomous serpent.' But when he was now drawing near to his last days, worn out by a long illness, he had himself laid naked upon the bare ground, and had all the brothers present there called to him; and laying his hands on each, he blessed all who were present there, and after the manner of the Lord's Supper he divided a morsel of bread to each.
As was his custom, he invited all creatures to the praise of God; for he even exhorted death itself—terrible and hateful to all—to praise, and he met it joyfully and invited it to his lodging, saying: 'Welcome, my sister death.' Coming therefore to his last hour, he fell asleep in the Lord. A certain brother saw his soul in the likeness of a star, similar to the moon in size, to the sun in splendor.