of the Order; it supposes earlier relations between
Honorius, Francis, and Ugolini. We are therefore led to seek a
date at which these three personages may have met in Rome, and
we arrive thus at the period between December, 1217, and April,
1218.

[35] A word of Brother Giordano's opens the door to certain
conjectures. "My lord," said Francis to Honorius III., in 1220,
"you have given me many fathers (popes) give me a single one to
whom I may turn with the affairs of my Order." (Giord., 14,
_Multos mihi papas dedisti da unum_, ... etc.)

Does not this suggest the idea that the pontiff had perhaps
named a commission of cardinals to oversee the Brothers Minor?
Its deliberations and the events to be related in the following
chapter might have impelled him to issue the bull _Cum dilecti_
of June 11, 1219, which was not an approbation properly so
called, but a safe-conduct in favor of the Franciscans.

[36] He took possession of St. Sabine on February 28, 1218.

[37] 2 Cel., 3, 87. The literal meaning of the phrase is
somewhat ambiguous. The text is: _Vellem, frater Francisce, unam
fieri religionem tuam et meam et in Ecclesia pari forma nos
vivere_. _Spec._ 27b. The echo of this attempt is found in
Thierry d'Apolda, _Vie de S. Dominique_ (A. SS., Augusti, t. i.,
p. 572 d): _S. Dominicus in oscula sancta ruens et sinceros
amplexus, dixit: Tu es socius meus, tu curres pariter mecum,
stemus simul, nullus adversarius praevalebit_. Bernard of Besse
says: _B. Dominicus tanta B. Francisco devotione cohesit ut
optatam ab eo cordam sub inferiori tunica devotissimi cingeret,
cujus et suam Religionem unam velle fieri diceret, ipsumque pro
sanctitate caeteris sequendem religiosis assereret._ Turin MS.,
102b.

[38] At the chapter held at Bologna at Whitsunday, 1220. The
bull _Religiosam vitam_ (Privilege of Notre Dame de Prouille) of
March 30, 1218, enumerates the possessions of the Dominicans.
Ripolli, _Bull. Praed._, t. i., p. 6. Horoy, _Honorii opera_, t.
ii., col. 684.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII

ST. DOMINIC AND ST. FRANCIS

The Egyptian Mission. Summer 1218-Autumn 1220

Art and poetry have done well in inseparably associating St. Dominic and
St. Francis; the glory of