A Brother Is Rebuked By Francis

St. Francis giving his cloak to a begger

Once it happened that a certain brother uttered a word of invective against a certain poor man who had asked for an alms, saying to him: "See, perhaps you are rich and pretending to be poor." Hearing this, the father of the poor, St. Francis, was greatly saddened, and he severely rebuked the brother who had said such a thing and commanded him to strip himself before the poor man and, kissing his feet, beg pardon of him. For, he was accustomed to say: "Who curses the poor man does an injury to Christ, whose noble image he wears, the image of him who made himself poor for us in this world."

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life
CHAPTER XXVIII

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