Chapter III. Of the manner of life which Friar Giles led when he went to the Holy Sepulchre

The Little Flowers of St. Francis, tr. by W. Heywood, [1906], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER III

Of the manner of life which Friar Giles led when he went to the Holy Sepulchre

BY leave of St. Francis, Friar Giles went to visit the Holy Sepulchre of Christ, and came to the port of Brindisi, and there he abode many days, because no ship was ready. And Friar Giles, wishing to live by the labour of his hands, begged a water-pot and filled it with water, and went crying through the city: "Who wants water?" And by his labour he gat him bread and the things necessary for the bodily life, both for himself and for his companion; and thereafter, he crossed the sea and visited the Holy Sepulchre of Christ and the other holy places with great devotion. And, as he returned, he abode in the city of Ancona for many days, and, because he was wont to live by the labour of his hands, he made baskets of rushes and sold them, not for money but for bread for himself and his companion, and he carried the dead to their burying for

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the same wage. And, when this failed him, he returned to the table of Jesus Christ, asking alms from door to door. And on this wise, with much labour and poverty he returned to Santa Maria degli Angeli.