nts throw a sombre light on Guido's character. In a
chapter of the decretals of Honorius III. (_Quinta compil._,
lib. ii., tit. iii., cap. i.) is given a complaint against this
bishop, brought before the curia by the Crucigeri of the
hospital _San Salvatore delle Pareti_ (suburbs of Assisi), of
having maltreated two of their number, and having stolen a part
of the wine belonging to the convent: _pro eo quod Aegidium
presbyterum, et fratrem eorem conversum violentas manus
injecerat ... adjiciens quod idem hospitale quadam vini
quantitate fuerat per eumdem episcopum spoliatum._ _Honorii
opera_, Horoy's edition, t. i., col. 200 ff. Cf. Potthast, 7746.
The mention of the hospital _de Pariete_ proves beyond question
that the Bishop of Assisi is here concerned and not the Bishop
of Osimo, as some critics have suggested.

Another document shows him at strife with the Benedictines of
Mount Subasio (the very ones who afterward gave Portiuncula to
Francis), and Honorius III. found the bishop in the wrong: Bull
_Conquerente oeconomo monasterii ap_. Richter, _Corpus juris
canonici_. Leipzig, 1839, 4to, Horoy, _loc. cit._, t. i., col.
163; Potthast, 7728.

[16] 3 Soc., 36 and 37. Cf. _Anon. Perus. ap._, A. SS., p. 585;
_Test. B. Francisci_.

[17] 3 Soc., 38-41.

* * * * *

CHAPTER VI

ST. FRANCIS AND INNOCENT III

Summer 1210[1]

Seeing the number of his friars daily increasing, Francis decided to
write the Rule of the Order and go to Rome to procure its approval by
the Pope.

This resolution was not lightly taken. It would be a mistake in fact to
take Francis for one of those inspired ones who rush into action upon
the strength of unexpected revelations, and, thanks to their faith in
their own infallibility, overawe the multitude. On the contrary, he was
filled with a real humility, and if he believed that God reveals himself
in prayer, he never for that absolved himself from the duty of
reflection nor even from reconsidering his decisions. St. Bonaventura
does him great wrong in picturing the greater number of his important
resolutions as taken in consequence of dreams; this is to rob his life
of its profound originality, his sanctity of its choicest blossom. He
was of those who struggle, and, to use one of the noblest expressions of
the