not well kept, or carelessly thrown around in some place, let them gather them up, honoring in the words the Lord Who spoke them. Many things are made holy ^{1 Tm 4:5} by the words of God, and the sacrament of the altar is celebrated in the power of the words of Christ.

Although he did not write this in the Rule, particularly because it did not seem good to the brother ministers that the brothers should take this as a command, nevertheless, the holy father wanted to leave the brothers in his Testament and in his other writings his will about these things.

He also wanted to send other brothers throughout every region with good and beautiful wafer irons for making hosts.

When blessed Francis had chosen from those brothers the ones he wished to take with him, he said to them: "Go, in the name of the Lord, two by two along the way, decently, in the greatest silence from dawn until after terce, praying to the Lord in your hearts. And let no idle or useless words be mentioned among you. Although you are traveling, nevertheless, let your behavior be as decent as if you were staying in a hermitage or a cell because wherever we are or wherever we travel, we have a cell with us. Brother Body is our cell, and the soul is the hermit who remains inside the cell to pray to God and meditate. So if the soul does not remain in quiet and solitude in its cell, a cell made by hands does little good to a religious."

When they arrived at Arezzo, there was a great scandal and war night and day throughout almost the entire city, because of two factions who had hated each other for a long time. Blessed Francis heard all the noise and cries night and day; since he received hospitality in a hospice in a neighborhood outside the city, it seemed to him that the demons were overjoyed by this and were inciting the people to destroy their city with fire and other dangerous means.

Moved by piety over that city, he said to Brother Sylvester, the priest, a man of God, of great faith and admirable simplicity and purity, whom the holy Father venerated as a saint: "Go in front of the city gate and in a loud voice command all the devils that they all leave this city." Brother Sylvester got up, went in front of the city gate crying out in a loud voice: "Praised and blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ. On behalf of Almighty God and in virtue of holy obedience of our most holy father Francis, I command all the devils that they all leave this city!"

Through the mercy of God and the prayer of blessed Francis, it so happened that, without any preaching, shortly afterwards, they returned to peace and unity. Since blessed Francis was not able to preach to them at that time, when he once preached to them later, he said to them in the first words of his sermon: "I speak to you as to

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non bene reposita vel inhoneste in aliquo loco iacerent dispersa, recolligerent et reponerent, honorantes Dominum in sermonibus quos locutus est: ¹⁶multa enim sanctificantur per verba Dei, et in virtute verborum Christi altaris conficitur sacramentum.

¹⁷Et licet non scriberet ista in Regula, maxime quia fratribus ministris non videbatur bonum ut fratres hoc haberent in mandato, tamen sanctus pater in Testamento suo et aliis suis scriptis fratribus relinquere voluit de hiis voluntatem suam.

¹⁸Quosdam etiam alios fratres per universas provincias mittere voluit cum bonis et pulchris ferramentis hostiarum ad faciendum hostias.

¹⁹Cumque eligeret beatus Franciscus de illis fratribus quos secum volebat ducere, dixit ad illos: « In nomine Domini ite bini et bini e honeste per viam et maxime cum silentio, a mane usque post tertiam orantes in cordibus vestris. Dominum. ²⁰Et verba otiosa vel inutilia non nominentur in vobis. ²¹Licet enim ambuletis, tamen conversatio vestra sit sic honesta, quemadmodum in heremitorio aut in cella permanseritis; quoniam ubicumque sumus et ambulamus, habemus cellam nobiscum: ²²frater enim corpus est cella nostra et anima est heremita, que moratur intus in cella ad orandum Deum et meditandum. ²³Unde, si anima non manserit in quiete et solitudine in cella sua, parum prodest religioso cella manu facta.

²⁴Ut autem pervenerunt Arizium, scandalum maximum et bellum erat quasi per totam civitatem die noctuque occasione duarum partium, que se longo tempore ad invicem oderant. ²⁵Videns hoc beatus Franciscus et audiens tantum rumorem et clamorem per diem et noctem, cum esset hospitatus in quodam hospitali in burgo extra civitatem, visum fuit ei quod demones de hiis exultarent [et incitarent] omnes homines ad destruendum civitatem cum igne et aliis periculis.

²⁶Unde, motus ad pietatem super illam civitatem, ait fratri Silvestro sacerdoti, homini Dei, magne fidei, mire simplicitatis et puritatis, quem sanctus pater venerabatur ut sanctum: ²⁷« Vade ante portam civitatis et alta voce precipias omnibus demonibus, ut exeant omnes de ista civitate ». ²⁸Surrexit frater Silvester et ivit ante portam civitatis exclamans vocibus magnis : ²⁹« Laudatus et benedictus sit Dominus Iesus Christus. ³⁰Ex parte Dei omnipotentis et in virtute sancte obedientie sanctissimi patris nostri Francisci precipio omnibus demonibus, ut omnes exeant de ista civitate ».

³¹Et factum est divina miseratione et oratione beati Francisci, quod sine aliqua predicatione paulo post reversi sunt ad pacem et unitatem. ³²Et quia non potuit tunc illis predicare beatus Franciscus, postea quadam vice cum predicaret illis, dixit eis in primo sermone predicationis: ³³ « Ego loquor vobis sicut vinctis demoniorum,