utely forbid," he writes at the close, "all my brethren,
whether clerks or laymen, to put glosses on the Rule, or on this
writing, saying, 'thus it ought to be understood,' but as the Lord has
given me grace to dictate purely and simply, understand them simply
and without gloss, and put them in practice unto the end."

[Sidenote: _Light at Eventide._]

Wise Francis, his knowledge of human nature was only equalled to his
charity and long-suffering!

After this piece of work was accomplished he quietly resigned himself
to die, and holding up his hands to Heaven, cried--

"Now, Oh Christ, I have nothing to keep me back! I shall go freely to
Thee."

The end came rapidly. Each day found him weaker than the preceding
one, and it was with difficulty that he was able to speak to those
around him. Fifty of the brethren, who were then at the Portiuncula,
knelt round his bed.

"My father," said one of them, bending over him, "your sons will have
no father. In you we lose the light of life. And now forgive those
present and those absent for all the sins they have committed. Bless
them once more."

"My son," said Francis, "God is calling me! I forgive my brethren,
those present and those absent, all their sins and faults. I absolve
them as much as I can. Tell them so, and bless them in my name."

He then asked them to read him the history of the Passion in St.
John's Gospel, and then a part of the one hundred and forty-second
Psalm. As they were reading the seventh verse:

"Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Thy name," he closed
his eyes and slept peacefully in Jesus.

His glorious death took place just a few days before he entered his
forty-sixth year, twenty years since he received his call to repair
the Church, and eighteen since he founded the Order of Friars Minor.

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