poor, the more willingly he was to stay there. When the brothers had done this, blessed Francis stayed there for a few days.

One day, when he had come out of that cell, a certain brother went to see it, and afterwards came to the place where blessed Francis was. Upon seeing him blessed Francis said to him "Where are you coming from, brother?" He told him: "I am coming from your cell." "Because you said this is mine," blessed Francis said, "someone else will stay there from now on: I will not."

We who were with him often heard him repeat the passage: Foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

And again he said: "When the Lord stayed in the desert where he prayed and fasted for forty days and forty nights, He did not have a cell or a house built there, but He sought shelter under the rocks of the mountain."

And so, after his example, he did not want to have a house or cell called his own, nor did he ever have one built. Moreover, if it ever happened that he would accidentally say to the brothers: "Go, prepare that cell," he would refuse afterwards to stay in it, because of that passage of the holy Gospel: Do not be anxious.

Shortly before his death, he had it written in his Testament that all the cells and houses of the brothers ought to be only of mud and wood, the better to safeguard poverty and humility.^a

10
THE MANNER OF SELECTING SITES IN THE CITY
AND BUILDING THERE ACCORDING TO THE INTENTION OF BLESSED FRANCIS

Once when he was in Siena for the treatment of the disease of his eyes, the Lord Bonaventure, who had donated to the brothers the land on which the brothers' place had been built, said to him: "Father, what do you think about this place?" Blessed Francis answered him: "Do you want me to tell you how the places of the brothers should be built?" "I wish you would, Father," he answered.

And blessed Francis told him: "When the brothers go to any city, where they do not have a place, let them find someone there who wants to give them enough land to build a place, have a garden, and whatever is necessary for them. They must, first of all, consider how

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⁴Nam quanto domus et cellae erant magis pauperculae tanto libentius morabatur ibidem. Quod cum fecisset frater ille, mansit ibi beatus Franciscus per aliquot dies.

⁵Quadam vero die, egresso ipso de cella illa, quidam frater ivit ad videndum eam, et postea venit ad locum ubi erat beatus Franciscus. ⁶Quem videns beatus Franciscus, dixit illi: « Unde venis, frater? ». - At ille ait: « Venio de cella tua ». - Et dixit ei beatus Franciscus: « Ex quo dixisti ipsam esse meam, alius stabit deinceps ibi, et non ego ».

⁷Nos vero qui cum ipso fuimus saepe audivimus eum dicentem illud verbum: Vulpesfoveas habent et volucres caeli nidos, Filius autem hominis non habet ubi caput suum reclinet.

⁸Et iterum dicebat: « Dominus quando stetit in carcere, ubi oravit et jejunavit quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus, non fecit ibi fieri cellam nec domum, sed sub saxo montis permansit ».

⁹Et ideo, exemplo ejus, nec domum, nec cellam voluit habere quae diceretur sua, nec fecit fieri unquam. ¹⁰Immo, si aliquando contigisset quod ipse a casu dixisset fratribus: « Ite et aptate illam cellam », nolebat postea manere in ea propter illud verbum sancti evangelii: Nolite solliciti esse, etc.

¹¹Nam et circa mortem suam in testamento suo scribi voluit quod omnes cellae et domus fratrum essent de lignis et luto tantum, ad conservandum melius paupertatem et humilitatem.

De modo capiendi loca in civitatibus
et aedificandi in eis, secundum intentionem beati Francisci.
Caput 10.

¹Quodam tempore cum esset apud Senas pro infirmitate oculorum, dixit ei dominus Bonaventura, qui dederat terram fratribus in qua locus fuit aedificatus: « Quid tibi videtur de loco isto, pater? ». - ²Et ait illi beatus Franciscus: « Vis ut dicam tibi quomodo loca fratrum deberent aedificari? ». - Respondit: « Volo, pater ».

³Et dixit beatus Franciscus: « Cum fratres vadunt ad aliquam civitatem, ubi locum non habent, et inveniunt ibi aliquem qui velit eis dare tantam terram quod possint locum aedificare et habere hortum et omnia necessaria, ⁴primo debent considerare quanta terra sufficiat eis,