rtues he practised, the miracles he worked:
all are graphically and sympathetically described. The following
episode gives us an insight into the fervour of soul with which this
task was undertaken. On one occasion, as our Saint was engaged on his
work, his intimate friend St. Thomas Aquinas came to visit him. Gently
opening the door of his cell, the saintly Dominican saw Bonaventure
seated at his table, pen in hand, and so engrossed in contemplation
that he was lost to exterior things. Deeply moved, St. Thomas withdrew
whispering to his companion "Come! let us leave a Saint to write the
life of a Saint".

[Illustration:
ST. BONAVENTURE IN ECSTASY WHILE WRITING THE
LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS IS VISITED BY ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
_From a fresco by Giacomelli in the Franciscan Church at Cimiez_.]

{63}

In his undertaking Bonaventure had before him an ideal. He wished to
present Francis as the chosen servant of God, raised up to be the
founder and head of a great Religious Order. Accordingly, his
attention is fixed on the supernatural rather than on the natural
element in Francis, and he deals more with those aspects of his life
and character that bring him within practical reach of his spiritual
children than with those that lift him up into a sphere so high that
the ordinary soul dares not aspire to it. He distinguishes judiciously
between what Francis recommended and practised himself and that which
he strictly enjoined upon his Brethren. Here the conciliatory aim of
the book is apparent. But he is never betrayed into anything unworthy
of an upright biographer. All his facts are unassailable--nothing of
importance is suppressed or distorted. In consequence, such a picture
of Francis as his spiritual children required is the result. This was
the end Bonaventure had in view, and having accomplished it, it
matters little if his work forfeits the approval of those modern
critics who, in the life of Francis, wish to find a record of the
natural rather than the supernatural.

From this "Greater Legend"--as it is called--Bonaventure made an
abstract of the salient events, and arranged them under seven
headings, each of which contained nine lessons or readings. This was
called the "Smaller Legend" and was intended {64} for the use of the
Religious in the Divine Office during the Octave of St. Francis. To
this smaller work attaches the same historical accuracy that
distinguishes the Greater Legend. In many instances events are
descr