after having long discussed with him pure
obedience:

"I ask you one favor," he said to him, "it is that if the
Brothers ever come to live no longer according to the Rule you
will permit me to separate myself from them, alone or with a few
others, to observe it in its completeness." At these words
Francis felt a great joy. "Know," said he, "that Christ as well
as I authorize what you have just been asking;" and laying hands
upon him, "Thou art a priest forever," he added, "after the
order of Melchisedec."[9]

We have a yet more touching proof of his solicitude to safeguard the
spiritual independence of his disciples: it is a note to Brother
Leo.[10] The latter, much alarmed by the new spirit which was gaining
power in the Order, opened his mind thereupon to his master, and
doubtless asked of him pretty much the same permission as the friar from
Germany. After an interview in which he replied _viva voce_, Francis,
not to leave any sort of doubt or hesitation in the mind of him whom he
surnamed his little sheep of God, _pecorella di Dio_, wrote to him
again:

Brother Leo, thy brother Francis wishes thee peace and health.

I reply _yes_, my son, as a mother to her child. This word sums
up all we said while walking, as well as all my counsels. If
thou hast need to come to me for counsel, it is my wish that
thou shouldst do it. Whatever may be the manner in which thou
thinkest thou canst please the Lord God, follow it, and live in
poverty. Do this (faites le[11]), God will bless thee and I
authorize it. And if it were necessary for thy soul, or for thy
consolation that thou shouldst come to see me, or if thou
desirest it, my Leo, come.

Thine in Christ.

Surely we are far enough here from the corpse of a few pages back.

It would be superfluous to pause over the other admonitions. For the
most part they are reflections inspired by circumstances. Counsels as to
humility recur with a frequency which explains both the personal
anxieties of the author, and the necessity of reminding the brothers of
the very essence of their profession.

The sojourn of St. Francis at Rome, whither he went in the early months
of 1221, to lay his plan before Ugolini, was marked by a new effort of
the latter to bring him and St. Dominic together.[12]

The cardinal was at this time at the apogee of his success. Everything
had gone well with him. His voice was all