avy load, and we are trees bearing poisoned
fruit. He was afraid to act, for is not all effort painful and useless?
He was afraid to think, for thought is evil.

He was very humble, knowing how men have nothing of their own that they
should boast of, and that pride hardens the heart. He knew, moreover,
that they who possess for all wealth only the riches of the spirit, if
they make boast of their treasure, so far lower themselves to the level
of the great ones of the earth.

And Fra Giovanni outdid in humility all the Monks of the House of
Viterbo. The Superior of the Monastery, the holy Brother Silvester, was
less righteous than he, forasmuch as the master is less righteous than
the servant, the mother less innocent than the babe.

Observing that Fra Giovanni had a way of stripping himself of his gown
to clothe the suffering members of Jesus Christ, the Superior forbade
him, in the name of holy obedience, to give away his garments to the
poor. Now the same day this command was laid on him, Giovanni went, as
his wont was, to pray in the woods that cover the slopes of Monte
Cunino. It was Winter time; snow was falling, and the wolves coming down
into the villages.

Fra Giovanni kneeling down at the foot of an oak, spoke to God, as
might one friend to another, and besought Him to take pity on all
orphans, prisoners and captives, to take pity on the master of the
fields sorely harried by the Lombard usurers, to take pity on the stags
and hinds of the forest chased by the hunters, and on all trapped
creatures, whether of fur or feathers. And lo! he was rapt away in an
ecstasy, and saw a hand pointing in the sky.

When presently the sun had slipped behind the mountains, the man of God
arose from his knees and took the path to the Monastery. On the white,
silent road thither, he met a beggar, who asked him an alms for the love
of God.

"Alas!" he told him, "I have nothing but my gown, and the Superior has
forbidden me to cut it in two so as to give away the half. Therefore I
cannot divide it with you. But if you love me, my son, you will take it
off me whole and undivided."

On hearing these words, the beggar promptly stripped the Friar of his
gown.

So Fra Giovanni went on his way naked under the falling snow, and
entered the city. As he was crossing the Piazza with nothing on but a
linen cloth about his loins, the children who were running at play in
the Great Square made mock at him. In derision, they shook their