k, distributed all his superfluity to
the poor, and kept nothing but his house with a small garden and one
ass.

From that time he was to be seen devoting himself to the cultivation of
this bit of ground, and making of his house a sort of hostelry whither
the poor and the sick came in swarms. He not only welcomed them, but he
sought them out, even to the malaria-infected Maremma, often returning
with a sick man astride on his back and preceded by his ass bearing a
similar burden. The resources of the garden were necessarily very
limited; when there was no other way, Lucchesio took a wallet and went
from door to door asking alms, but most of the time this was needless,
for his poor guests, seeing him so diligent and so good, were better
satisfied with a few poor vegetables from the garden shared with him
than with the most copious repast. In the presence of their benefactor,
so joyful in his destitution, they forgot their own poverty, and the
habitual murmurs of these wretches were transformed into outbursts of
admiration and gratitude.

Conversion had not killed in him all family ties; Bona Donna, his wife,
became his best co-laborer, and when in 1260 he saw her gradually fading
away his grief was too deep to be endured. "You know, dear companion,"
he said to her when she had received the last sacraments, "how much we
have loved one another while we could serve God together; why should we
not remain united until we depart to the ineffable joy? Wait for me. I
also will receive the sacraments, and go to heaven with you."

So he spoke, and called back the priest to administer them to him. Then
after holding the hands of his dying companion, comforting her with
gentle words, when he saw that her soul was gone he made over her the
sign of the cross, stretched himself beside her, and calling with love
upon Jesus, Mary, and St. Francis, he fell asleep for eternity.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Text in _Firmamentum_, 10; _Spec._, 189; _Spec._, Morin.
Tract., iii., 2b. M. Mueller (_Anfaenge_) has made a study of the
Rule of 1221 which is a masterpiece of _exegetical scent_.
Nevertheless if he had more carefully collated the different
texts he would have arrived at still more striking results,
thanks to the variants which he would have been able to
establish. I cite a single example.

Text _Firm_.--Wadding, adopted by Mr. M.

_Omnes fratres ubicunque sunt vel vadunt