J3reCace» xi 



Saint Francis travelling even into 

 Syria. 



After enduring every privation and 

 forrow for many years, as well as 

 many namelefs raptures in his fpirit- 

 ual intercourfe with God, he faw, as 

 he prayed upon a lonely mountain, a 

 vifion of Chrifl crucified ; and as he 

 gazed, his body became ftamped with 

 the Stigmata, or marks of the Paffion 

 of our Lord, which he thenceforth 

 bore until his death, fome two years 

 after, Oct. 4, 1226, in the forty-fifth 

 year of his age. 



Thechief quality of Saint Francis — 

 the central and character ifi:ic charm 

 which has made him perhaps the befl 

 beloved of all the illuflrious members 

 of the calendar — is the depth and 

 tendernefs of his heart. His gentle 

 and generous affe6lion was confi:antly 

 overflowing on all around him, in 

 fympathetic attention, poetic expref- 

 fions, and a6ls of endearment. The 

 objefts of his intenfe and exuberant 

 love were not only God, angels, and 



