that you are near death due to your serious and incurable sickness, upon hearing praises of this sort being sung, they can think and say to themselves: 'How can he show such joy when he is so near death? He should be thinking about death.' "

"Do you remember," blessed Francis said to him, "when you saw the vision at Foligno and told me that it told you that I would live for only two years? Before you saw that vision, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, who suggests every good in the heart, and places it on the lips of his faithful, I often considered day and night my end. But from the time you saw that vision, each day I have been even more zealous reflecting on the day of my death.

He continued with great intensity of spirit: "Allow me to rejoice in the Lord, Brother, and to sing His praises in my infirmities, because, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, I am so closely united and joined with my Lord, that, through His mercy, I can well rejoice in the Most High Himself."

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Another time during those days, a doctor from Arezzo, named Good John, who was known and familiar to blessed Francis, came to visit him in the bishop's palace. Blessed Francis asked about his sickness saying: "How does my illness of dropsy seem to you, Brother John?"

For blessed Francis did not want to address anyone called "Good" by their name, out of reverence for the Lord, who said: No one is good but God alone. ^{Lk 18:19} Likewise, he did not want to call anyone "father" or "master," nor write them in letters, out of reverence for the Lord, who said: Call no one on earth your father nor be called masters, etc.

The doctor said to him: "Brother, by the grace of the Lord, it will be well with you." For he did not want to tell him that he would die in a little while.

Again blessed Francis said to him: "Tell me the truth. How does it look to you? Do not be afraid, for, by the grace of God, I am not a coward who fears death. With the Lord's help, by His mercy and grace, I am so united and joined with my Lord that I am equally as happy to die as I am to live."

The doctor then told him frankly: "According to our assessment, your illness is incurable and you will die either at the end of this month or on the fourth day before the Nones of October.^a Blessed Francis, while he was lying on his bed sick, with the greatest

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quia tamen credunt firmiter propter tuam magnam et incurabilem infirmitatem te in proximo moriturum, audientes huiusmodi laudes cantari, possent cogitare aut dicere inter se: ⁶"Quomodo tantam letitiam hic ostendit, qui est prope mortem? Deberet enim de morte cogitare" ».

⁷Dixit ad eum beatus Franciscus: « Recordare, cum apud Fulgineum visionem vidisti et dixisti michi, quod quidam dixit tibi, quod non deberem vivere nisi duobus annis. ⁸Antequam illam visionem videres per gratiam Sancti Spiritus, qui omne bonum suggerit in corde et in ore ponit fidelium suorum, sepe de die et de nocte considerabam finem meum; ⁹sed ab illa hora, qua vidisti visionem, cotidie fui magis sollicitus considerare diem mortis ».

¹⁰Et ait cum magno fervore spiritus: « Dimitte me, frater, gaudere in Domino et laudibus eius et infirmitatibus meis, ¹¹quoniam, gratia Spiritus Sancti cooperante, ita sum unitus et coniunctus cum Domino meo, quod per misericordiam suam bene possum in ipso iocundari Altissimo ».

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¹Alia vice in illis diebus quidam medicus nomine Boniohanne de Aretio, qui notus et familiaris erat beato Francisco, in eodem palatio visitavit eum, ²quem beatus Franciscus interrogavit de sua infirmitate dicens: « Quid tibi videtur, frater Iohani, de hac infirmitate mea idropisi? ».

³Nam beatus Franciscus nolebat aliquem nominare, qui nomine vocaretur bonus, propter reverentiam Domini, qui dixit: « Nemo bonus, nisi solus Deus ». ⁴Similiter nec patrem nec magistrum volebat aliquem nominare, nec in litteris suis scribere propter reverentiam Domini, qui dixit: « Nolite et patrem vocare vobis super terram, nec vocemini magistri » etc.

⁵Dixit ad eum medicus: « Frater, bene tibi erit per gratiam Domini Dei »; ⁶nolebat enim dicere, quod in brevi deberet mori. ⁷Iterum dixit ei beatus Franciscus: « Dic mihi veritatem; quid tibi videtur? ⁸Noli timere, quoniam per Dei gratiam non sum corculus ut mortem timeam, quoniam cooperante [Domino] per gratiam et misericordiam suam, ita sum coniunctus et unitus cum Domino meo, quod eque sum contentus de morte et de vita, et converso ».

⁹Dixit ergo ad eum medicus manifeste: « Pater, infirmitas tua est incurabilis secundum nostram phisicam; aut in fine huius mensis aut .IV. nonas octobris morieris ». ¹⁰Beatus Franciscus cum iaceret in lecto infirmus, cum maxima reverentia et devotione ad Dominum,