Transcriber's Note:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Hyphenation has beenrationalised.
A list of other books from the same publisher, and a preface to them,have been moved to the end of the book.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
BY
G. K. CHESTERTON
HODDER AND STOUGHTON LTD.
LONDON
TORONTO
Contents
| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER I | |
| THE PROBLEM OF ST. FRANCIS | 7 |
| CHAPTER II | |
| THE WORLD ST. FRANCIS FOUND | 18 |
| CHAPTER III | |
| FRANCIS THE FIGHTER | 40 |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| FRANCIS THE BUILDER | 58 |
| CHAPTER V | |
| LE JONGLEUR DE DIEU | 74 |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| THE LITTLE POOR MAN | 94 |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| THE THREE ORDERS | 113 |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| THE MIRROR OF CHRIST | 133 |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| MIRACLES AND DEATH | 153 |
| CHAPTER X | |
| THE TESTAMENT OF ST. FRANCIS | 172 |
Chapter I
The Problem of St. Francis
A sketch of St. Francis of Assisi in modernEnglish may be written in one of three ways.Between these the writer must make his selection;and the third way, which is adopted here, isin some respects the most difficult of all. Atleast, it would be the most difficult if the othertwo were not impossible.
First, he may deal with this great and mostamazing man as a figure in secular history anda model of social virtues. He may describethis divine demagogue as being, as he probablywas, the world's one quite sincere democrat.He may say (what means very little) that St. Franciswas in advance of his age. He may say(what is quite true) that St. Francis anticipatedall that is most liberal and sympathetic in themodern mood; the love of nature; the love ofanimals; the sense of social compassion; thesense of the spiritual dangers of prosperity andeven of property. All those things that nobodyunderstood before Wordsworth were familiarto St. Francis. All