e Francis had no glimpse of what he was some time
to become; but these hours are perhaps the most important in the
evolution of his thought; it is to them that his life owes that air of
liberty, that perfume of the fields which make it as different from the
piety of the sacristy as from that of the drawing-room.

About this time he made a pilgrimage to Rome, whether to ask counsel of
his friends, whether as a penance imposed by his confessor, or from a
mere impulse, no one knows. Perhaps he thought that in a visit to the
_Holy Apostles_, as people said then, he should find the answers to all
the questions which he was asking himself.

At any rate he went. It is hardly probable that he received from the
visit any religious influence, for his biographers relate the pained
surprise which he experienced when he saw in Saint Peter's how meagre
were the offerings of pilgrims. He wanted to give everything to the
prince of the apostles, and emptying his purse he threw its entire
contents upon the tomb.

This journey was marked by a more important incident. Many a time when
succoring the poor he had asked himself if he himself was able to endure
poverty; no one knows the weight of a burden until he has carried it, at
least for a moment, upon his own shoulders. He desired to know what it
is like to have nothing, and to depend for bread upon the charity or the
caprice of the passer by.[13]

There were swarms of beggars crowding the Piazza before the great
basilica. He borrowed the rags of one of them, lending him his garment
in exchange, and a whole day he stood there, fasting, with outstretched
hand. The act was a great victory, the triumph of compassion over
natural pride. Returning to Assisi, he doubled his kindnesses to those
of whom he had truly the right to call himself the brother. With such
sentiments he could not long escape the influence of the Church.

On all the roadsides in the environs of the city there were then, as
now, numerous chapels. Very often he must have heard mass in these
rustic sanctuaries, alone with the celebrant. Recognizing the tendency
of simple natures to bring home to themselves everything that they hear,
it is easy to understand his emotion and agitation when the priest,
turning toward him, would read the gospel for the day. The Christian
ideal was revealed to him, bringing an answer to his secret anxieties.
And when, a few moments later, he would plunge into the forest, all his
thoughts woul