"My People! Go And Repair My House Which Is Falling Into Ruin!"

Francis left the town one day to meditate out-of-doors and as he was passing by the church of San Damiano which was threatened to collapse with age, he felt urged to go in and pray. There as he knelt in prayer before a painted image of Crucified, he felt greatly comforted in spirit and his eyes were full of tears as he gazed at the cross. Then, all of a sudden, he heard a voice coming from the cross and telling him three times, "Francis, go and repair my house. You see it is falling down." Francis was alone in the church and he was terrified at the sound of the voice, but the power of its message penetrated his heart and he went into ecstasy. Eventually, he came back to himself and prepared to obey the command he had received. He was quite willing to devote himself entirely to repairing the ruined church of San Damiano, although the message really referred to the universal Church which Christ "won for himself at the price of his own blood" (Acts 20,28), as the Holy Spirit afterwards made him realize and he himself explained to the friars.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Bonaventure, Major Life

CHAPTER II:1