The Little Bedesman of Christ 175

to be the daily gift of His giving. So that
when he heard the words of the sacred
Gospel read in the little church of St. Mary
of the Angels — “ Provide neither gold nor
silver nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for
your journey, neither two coats, neither
shoes, nor yet staves’”’—he went out and
girt his coarse brown dress with a piece of
cord, and cast away his shoes and went bare-
foot thenceforth.

Even to this day the brethren of the great
Order of religious men which he founded
are thus clothed, and girt with a cord,
and shod with nakedness. And this Order
is the Order of the Lesser Brethren, the
Fratres Minores; and often they are called
Franciscans, or the Friars of St. Francis.

But as to the thought he bestowed on his
eating and drinking: once when he and
Brother Masseo sat down on a broad stone
near a fresh fountain to eat the bread which
they had begged in the town, St. Francis
rejoiced in their prosperity, saying, “Not
only are we filled with plenty, but our treas-
ure is of God’s own providing; for consider
this bread which has come to us like manna,
and this noble table of stone fit for the feast-