Chapter I
THE CONVERSION OF SAINT FRANCIS, AND HIS FIRST DISCIPLES

¹Blessed Francis, like the rising sun, brightened the world by his life, his teaching and his miracles. He had a father intent on worldly affairs, but a very upright mother. Like another Elizabeth, at the sacred font she called him John, and, in spirit,^a she predicted that, by the grace of his merits, he would become a son of God. The boy grew and conducted himself in a worldly way by his outward manner of life until he was twenty-five years old. Then he left all things and followed the footsteps of Christ. He renewed the old life of the Apostles by reliving their deeds, and he founded the house of his religion not on the sands of temporal things, but on a rock, Christ, and on the perfection of evangelical poverty.^b

⁵The first stone of this building, after him, was that very ardent man in the Lord, Brother Bernard of Quintavalle,^c who gave away the abundance that he possessed not to his relatives but to the poor. He was resplendent in a life that was sacred and in a death that was glorious in miracles. The second was Brother Peter^d who completely renounced the world, and likewise dispersed his possessions and gave them to the poor. ^{Ps 112:9 [Vulgate, Ps 111:9]} The third was Brother Giles, a man of admirable holiness who, through a gift said to be given by the Lord, when called upon offers whatever pertains to the good of the soul.^e That devout general minister and cardinal mentioned above, a zealous investigator of such revelations, taught this to us. Brother Philip^f w^fas added to

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Caput I
De conversatione sancti Francisci et primis eius discipulis.

1 ¹Quasi sol oriens mundo beatus Franciscus vita, doctrina et miraculis claruit. ²Hic patrem quidem terrenis intentum, sed matrem honestissimam habuit, quae quasi altera Elisabeth eum Iohannem in sacro fonte vocavit et quod meritorum gratia filius Dei esset futurus, spiritu praedixit. ³Crevit puer et pene usque ad XXV. aetatis annum in exteriori conversatione saeculo morem gessit. ⁴Relictis denique omnibus, Christi vestigia devote secutus veterem Apostolorum vitam redivivis actibus 1251innovavit suaeque Religionis domum non super arenam temporalium, sed super petram, Christum, in paupertatis evangelicae perfectione fundavit.

⁵Primus post eum huius aedificii lapis fuit bene ardens in Domino frater Bernardus de Quintavalle, qui ampla quae habuit bona non parentibus, sed pauperibus erogavit vitaque sacra et morte miraculis clara refulsit; ⁶secundus frater Petrus, qui mundo perfecte renuntians sua similiter dispersit et dedit pauperibus; ⁷tertius frater Aegidius, vir admirabilis sanctitatis, cui pro gratia dicitur esse concessum a Domino, ut in his quae ad bonum animae pertinent, efficaciter adiuvet invocatus. ⁸Hoc enim devotus Generalis et Cardinalis praedictus, revelationum huiusmodi sedulus indagator, nos docuit. ⁹Tribus sequentibus aliis frater Philippus apponitur,