Saint Francis studying Holy Scripture : no, it must be confessed, few people ever picture him bent over a book or, with pen in hand, busy over his writing, pausing awhile to pray and ponder, and then taking up his work once more. I should like to see an artist produce a picture of Francis writing, for it would serve to remind us that, though his writings may be all gathered together into the compass of a single slender volume, they contain, nevertheless, passages of unsurpassed beauty. And this was the result not merely of prayer, but of study. Intrinsic evidence makes this plain, even if we had no further proof; but, as a matter of fact, we have the express testimony of Saint Bonaventure, who tells us that, though, prior to the foundation of the Order, he had never devoted much time to study—his early education was slightly above the average, since he knew French, and was well read in romance literature— afterwards he made considerable progress in learning, not merely by prayer, but by study, non solum orando sed etiam legendo.

Now, in these writings of Saint Francis, there is a certain subject to which is given an unmistakable prominence. It is not poverty, not the abstract love of God, not preaching, but devotion to the Person of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and as a consequence great reverence for priests and churches. It is the purpose of this paper to illustrate this point and, as a preliminary, it is well to bear in mind that this attitude of Francis was a conscious protest against a widespread neglect of and irreverence towards the Blessed Sacrament,