s for the holy mountain. Then
Orlando built a little cell there, and that done, 'as it was drawing
near to evening and it was time for them to depart, St. Francis preached
unto them a little before they took leave of him.' Ah, what would we not
give just for a moment to hear his voice in that place to-day? There, in
this very spot, angels visited him, which said, when he, thinking upon
his death, wondered what would become of 'Thy poor little family' after
his death, 'I tell thee, in the name of God, that the profession of the
Order will never fail until the Day of Judgment, and there will be no
sinner so great as not to find mercy with God if, with his whole heart,
he love thine Order.'

"Thereafter, as the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady drew near, St.
Francis sought how he might find a place more solitary and secret,
wherein he might the more solitary keep the forty days' fast of St.
Michael the Archangel, which beginneth with the said Feast of the
Assumption.... And as they searched, they found, on the side of the
mountain that looks towards the south, a lonely place, and very proper
for his purpose; but they could not win there because in front there was
a horrid and fearful cleft in a huge rock; wherefore with great pains
they laid a piece of wood over it as a bridge, and got across to the
other side. Then St. Francis sent for the other brothers and told them
how he was minded to keep the forty days' fast of St. Michael in that
lonely place; and therefore he besought them to make him a little cell
there, so that no cry of his could be heard of them. And when the cell
was made, St. Francis said to them: 'Go ye to your own place and leave
me here alone, for, with the help of God, I am minded to keep the fast
here without disturbance or distraction, and therefore let none of you
come unto me, nor suffer any lay folk to come to me. But Brother Leo,
thou alone shalt come to me once a day with a little bread and water,
and at night once again at the hour of Matins; and then shalt thou come
to me in silence, and when thou art at the bridgehead thou shalt say:
"Domine, labia mea operies," and if I answer thee, cross over and come
to the cell, and we will say Matins together; and if I answer thee not,
then depart straightway.' And so it was. But there came a morning when
St. Francis made him no answer, and, contrary to St. Francis's desire,
but with the very best of intentions, dear little brother Leo crossed
the bridg