for it; the thought of having saddened one of
_God's patients_ was unendurable; he not only begged his pardon, but he
caused food to be served, and sitting down beside him he shared his
repast, eating from the same porringer.[40] We see with what
perseverance he pursued by every means the realization of his ideal.

The details just given show the Umbrian movement, as it appears to me,
to be one of the most humble and at the same time the most sincere and
practical attempts to realize the kingdom of God on earth. How far
removed we are here from the superstitious vulgarity of the mechanical
devotion, the deceitful miracle-working of certain Catholics; how far
also from the commonplace, complacent, quibbling, theorizing
Christianity of certain Protestants!

Francis is of the race of mystics, for no intermediary comes between God
and his soul; but his mysticism is that of Jesus leading his disciples
to the Tabor of contemplation; but when, overflooded with joy, they long
to build tabernacles that they may remain on the heights and satiate
themselves with the raptures of ecstasy, "Fools," he says to them, "ye
know not what ye ask," and directing their gaze to the crowds wandering
like sheep having no shepherd, he leads them back to the plain, to the
midst of those who moan, who suffer, who blaspheme.

The higher the moral stature of Francis the more he was exposed to the
danger of being understood only by the very few, and disappointed by
those who were nearest to him. Reading the Franciscan authors, one feels
every moment how the radiant beauty of the model is marred by the
awkwardness of the disciple. It could not have been otherwise, and this
difference between this master and the companions is evident from the
very beginnings of the Order. The greater number of the biographers have
drawn the veil of oblivion over the difficulties created by certain
Brothers as well as those which came from the ecclesiastical hierarchy,
but we must not allow ourselves to be deceived by this almost universal
silence.

Here and there we find indications all the more precious for being, so
to say, involuntary. Brother Rufino, for example, the same who was
destined to become one of the intimates of Francis's later days, assumed
an attitude of revolt shortly after his entrance into the Order. He
thought it foolish in Francis when, instead of leaving the friars to
give themselves unceasingly to prayer, he sent them out in all
directions t