some of his bones were broken. As soon as Saint Francis made a sign of blessing over him, he began to uncoil. He straightened up fully and was completely cured.

¹⁷⁹A neighbor from that same city had a tumor the size of a large loaf of bread between his shoulders. When he was blessed by Saint Francis he was instantly so fully cured that not a trace of his tumor remained.

¹⁸⁰There was a young man whom everyone knew in the hospital at Città di Castello. He had been crippled for seven years and dragged himself along the ground like an animal. His mother implored Saint Francis for him many times, asking him to restore her snake-like son to a normal walk. When the saint heard the mother's mournful plea and accepted her vow, he immediately loosed the horrible bonds and restored her son to his natural freedom.

¹⁸¹Prassede was among the best known religious women in the City and in Roman circles. From her tender infancy she had, for love of her eternal Spouse, withdrawn for nearly forty years to a narrow cell. She earned the favor of a special friendship with Saint Francis. He did for her what he did for no other woman: he received her to obedience,^a and with pious devotion gave her the habit of the Religion, that is, the tunic and cord.

One day in the course of her tasks, under some imaginary impulse, she went up to the attic of her cell, and by a cruel accident fell to the ground. Her foot and leg were both broken and her shoulder was totally separated from its joint. This virgin of Christ had for many years been withdrawn from the view of everyone, and she firmly intended to remain so. But she now lay on the ground like a tree trunk without anyone to help her, and she did not know where to turn. She had been advised by religious persons and ordered by a cardinal to break her confinement and to accept the assistance of some religious women, and thus to guard against the danger of death that could occur from negligence or neglect. She steadfastly refused to do this, and resisted every way she could to avoid breaking her vow even slightly. She thus cast herself with urgency at the feet of divine mercy, and as evening drew on she poured out her pious complaints to the blessed father Francis. "My holy father, you so kindly respond anywhere to the needs of so many whom you did not know while you were in the flesh, why do you not help me in my misery since I merited your sweet favor while you were alive? As you can see, blessed father, I must either change my promised way of life or submit to a death sentence." While she repeated these expressions with

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