Assisi, mentioned to them, and of which he offered
them a copy (A. SS., _Oct._, t. ii., p. 546f). Father Suysken
was thus thrown into inextricable difficulties, and exposed
to a failure to understand the lists of biographies of St.
Francis arranged by the annalists of the Order; he was at the
same time deprived of one of the most fruitful sources of
information upon the acts and works of the Saint. Professor
Mueller (_Die Anfaenge_, pp. 175-184) was the first to make a
critical study of this legend. His conclusions appear to me
narrow and extreme. Cf. _Analecta_ fr., t. ii., pp. xvii.-xx.
Father Ehrle mentions two manuscripts, one in the British
Museum, Harl., 47; the other at Oxford, Christ College, cod.
202. _Zeitschrift_, 1883, p. 390.

[55] The Three Companions foresee the possibility of their
legend being incorporated with other documents: _quibus
(legendis) haec pauca quae scribimus poleritis facere inseri, si
vestra discretio viderit esse justum._ 3 Soc., Prol.

[56] One phrase of the Prologue (2 Cel.) shows that the author
received an entirely special commission: _Placuit ... robis ...
parvitati nostrae injungere_, while on the contrary the 3 Soc.
shows that the decision of the chapter only remotely considered
them: _Cum de mandato proeteriti capituli fratres teneantur
... visum est nobis ... pauca de multis ... sanctitati vestrae
intimare._ 3 Soc., Prol.

[57] Compare the Prologue of 2 Cel. with that of 1 Cel.

[58] _Longum esset de singulis persequi, qualiter bravium
supernae vocationis attigerit_. 2 Cel., 1, 10.

[59] This first part corresponds exactly to that portion of the
legend of the 3 Soc., which Crescentius had authorized.

[60] Observe that the Assisi MS. 686 divides the Second Life
into two parts only by joining the last two.

[61] Salimbeni, ann. 1248.

[62] Glassberger, ann. 1253. _An. fr._ t. ii., p. 73. _Frater
Johannes de Parma minister generalis, multiplicatis litteris
praecipit fr. Thomae de Celano (cod. Ceperano), ut vitam beati
Francisci quae antiqua Legenda dicitur perficeret, quia solum de
ejus conversatione et verbis in primo tractatu, de mandato, Fr.
Crescentii olim generalis compilato, ommissis miraculis fecerat
mentionem, et sic secundum tractatum de mi