Simplicity and Poverty: the Source and Basis of our Order

The Portiuncula Pond in Jerusalem, Ohio

Now for some time this purity and perfection are beginning to change for the worse, and the brothers excuse themselves by saying that numbers run counter to observance; many even believe that the people are more edified by this new way of life and that it is more fitting to conduct oneself in this way. They despise the way of simplicty and of poverty, which, neverhteless, was the source and basis of our Order.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of Perugia - 75

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