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once a night at the hour of Matins, and thou shalt come in silence; and when thou art upon the bridge, thou shalt say, Domine labia mea aperies; and if I answer thee, thou shalt come to the cell, and we will say Matins together; and if I do not answer thee, thou shalt depart forthwith.’ And this St.

Francis said because he was sometimes so absorbed in God that he heard nothing, nor felt any thing by his bodily senses. And having thus spoken, he gave them his blessing, and they returned to their place. Thus, on the Feast of the Assumption, St.

Francis began the holy Lent, with great abstinence and austerity, macerating his body, and invigorating his soul by fer¬ vent prayers, vigils, and disciplines; and thus increasing more and more, and going from virtue to virtue, he prepared his soul to receive divine mysteries and illuminations, and his body to sustain the cruel conflicts [ IIS] THE LITTLE FLOWERS OF ST FRANCIS with the demons, who often attacked him sensibly.

And among other times it befell one day in this Lent that St. Francis, going forth from his cell in great fervour of spirit, went to pray in a cave hollowed out of a rock at the top of a steep and frightful precipice, when the devil suddenly appeared before him in a terrible form, and sought to hurl him to the bottom.

Francis, being unable to fly or to endure the horrible aspect of the devil, turned his face, hands, and whole body towards the rock, and recommended himself to God, groping with his hands, yet finding nothing to which he might cling.

But, as it pleased God, who never suffers His ser¬ vants to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear, the rock suddenly opened and received his body within it; and, as if he had placed his hands and face in liquid wax, the form of the hands and face of St.

Francis remained impressed upon the stone; and thus, by the help of God, he escaped out of the hands of the devil. Francis, then, passing this Lent, as has been said, in the midst of these conflicts with the devil, received many consolations from God, not only by angelic visitations, but through the ministry of the wild mountain-birds.

For, through all that Lent, a falcon, whose nest was hard by his cell, awakened him every night a little before the hour of Matins by her cry and the flapping of her wings, and would not leave him till he had risen to say Matins; and if at any time St.

Francis was more sick than usual, or weak, or weary, this falcon, like a discreet and charitable Christian, would call him somewhat later than was her wont. Francis took great delight in this clock of his, because the great carefulness of the falcon drove away all sloth [ ”6 ] THE STIGMATA OF ST FRANCIS and summoned him to prayer; and moreover during the daytime she would often abide familiarly with him.

To conclude this second consideration, St. Francis, being much weakened in body both by his great abstinence and by his conflicts with the devil, and desiring to strengthen his body by the spiritual food of the soul, began to meditate upon the unbounded joy and glory of the blessed in heaven; and he besought of God to grant him some little foretaste of their bliss.