BOOK II

He receives many novices--Instructs and models them--Sends them to different provinces of Italy--What he says on this occasion--He departs for Tuscany, and passes by Perugia, where he makes a prediction which is accomplished--Many young men enter his Order--They build a house for him near Cortona--His miraculous fast during Lent--He commands the devils, and they obey him--He cures many miraculously--He preaches at Florence--Makes a prediction--Preaches in various places in Tuscany--What his friars are doing in other places--He preaches the Lent at Assisi, with great fruit--He consecrates, to Jesus Christ, Clare, and, Agnes, her sister--Establishes Clare and Agnes in the Church of S. Damian--He erects a monastery there, the first one of his second Order, which he then instituted--He is troubled by a serious doubt, on which he consults his brethren--His doubt is cleared up by an oracle from heaven--He goes out to preach--Restores a blind girl to sight, and converts many worldly people--He sighs for martyrdom--Asks permission of the Pope to preach to the infidels--Makes conversions at Rome, and establishes his Order there--Returns to Assisi and leaves for the Levant--Embarks, but is obliged to put into a harbor in Sclavonia--Goes by sea to Ancona--A miracle which God performs in his favor--He converts a celebrated poet--Returns to Tuscany, and to S. Mary of the Angels--He falls sick--Wonderfully humbles himself--Tries a vocation--Falls sick again and writes to all Christians--Departs for Spain and Africa, in search of martyrdom--His miracles and other particulars of his journey--His profound humility--He raises the dead--Count Orlando gives him Mount Alverna--God miraculously protects him--He preaches in Piedmont and passes into Spain--Works a miraculous cure there--The king, Alphonso IX, permits him to establish his Order there--He receives houses there--A violent sickness prevents him going to Morocco--His actions whilst he is delayed in Spain--He returns to Italy--His route thither--He arrives at S. Mary of the Angels, and disapproves a building there--He goes to Mount Alverna--Is beaten by devils--Mortifies his sense, and taste--Makes water spring from a rock--Visits the mountain--Converts there a celebrated brigand--Leaves for Rome--Discovers some relics by revelation--Makes predictions, and performs miracles and conversions--Arrives at Rome whilst the Council of Lateran is sitting--The Pope declares to the Council that he has approved the Rule--He appoints a general chapter at S. Mary of the Angels, whither he returns--He holds the chapter and sends his friars to various countries--He thinks of going to Paris--Reunites an illustrious family that had been divided--Rejoices in his poverty and asks of God a greater love of holy poverty--SS. Peter and Paul appear to him at Rome--His alliance with S. Dominic--He goes to Florence, where Cardinal Hugolin dissuades him from going to Paris--He returns to the Valley of Spoleto, and sends three of his disciples to France--A celestial vision induces him to ask of the Pope a cardinal protector for his Order--What he says on this subject--He preaches before the Pope--What happened to him in the pulpit--The Pope gives him Cardinal Hugolin, as protector of the Order--He preaches in the Valley of Rieti--Delivers the country from two plagues, and makes some conversions there--The houses he builds there--He appoints a general chapter at S. Mary of the Angels, for the year 1219--What he did during the year 1218--Efficacy of his prayers--He wishes to pull down a new house which he found at S. Mary of the Angels