l the
countries, he set out for Rome, to get the Pope's approval of his work.
At first the Pope would not listen to this poor, unknown beggar-man,
full of eager new ideas, but in the end he received him kindly and,
after hearing all he had to tell, said: "My son, go and pray to Jesus
Christ that He may show us His will; and when we know His will more
certainly, we shall the more safely sanction your pious purpose."

So the brethren all prayed hard.

When St. Francis went again, the Pope was even more kind, for he
recognized St. Francis as the man he had seen in a dream. In his dream
he saw a church nearly falling and being held up by a small man in a
poor habit, and he knew it meant the Church of Christ was in trouble,
and that this man was going to make it strong again through all the
earth.

So the Pope gave the Friars his blessing, saying: "Go forth in the Lord,
brothers." And he gave them leave to preach penance, and told them to
come back to him later and he would do even more for them.

So the Friars went back to Assisi full of joy. For a time they lived in
a kind of wayside shelter called Rivo Torto; but later on the monks on
whose land was the Portiuncola gave the little chapel and the bit of
land to St. Francis (or rather rented it to him, the payment being one
basket of fish per year, caught in the river--for St. Francis did not
wish the Friars to _own_ anything).

Some more men joined the brothers, and now they lived as a very happy
family in their little huts, built of branches, around their beloved
chapel. St. Francis was like the loving Father of this family, always
kind, patient, cheery, ready to comfort the sad or nurse the sick, or
explain things to those who felt worried and did not understand how to
get rid of their faults and serve Christ in perfect purity of heart. You
Cubs would have loved St. Francis, for he was just like a boy himself. I
wish I had time to tell you all the lovely little stories about him and
the Friars at this time while his family was still small, but we must
keep them for another time, and go on now to the time when the Order had
grown so large that the Friars could no longer all live at the
Portiuncola, and began to have their poor, simple houses all over the
place, while hundreds of brothers set forth, tramping the world over,
preaching the Gospel of Christ, not only to the poor, but to the heathen
in barbarous countries. Some of the brothers were cruelly martyred, and