The Chapter Of Mats

Once the most faithful servant of Christ, St. Francis, held a General Chapter on the plain at St. Mary of the ngels, where more than five thousand friars gathered together.

In all that throng no one was heard telling stories or jokes, but wherever a group of friars gathered, either they prayed or recited the office, or they wept over their own sins or those of their benefactors, or they talked about the salvation of souls.

And in that camp each group had made tents covered on top and round about with Rushes and Mats; accordingly this Chapter was called the Chapter of Rushes or Mats. They slept on the bare ground or on some straws, and their pillows were stones or pieces of wood.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis, 18