He knew, indeed, both the ecstasy and the liberty of mysticism, but we must not forget those features of character which separate him from it, particularly his apostolic fervor.

Besides this his piety had certain peculiar qualities which it is necessary to point out.
And first, liberty with respect of observances: Francis felt all the emptiness and pride of most religious observance.

He saw the snare that lies hidden there, for the man who carefully observes all the minutiae of a religious code risks forgetting the supreme law of love.

More than this, the friar who lays upon himself a certain number of supererogatory facts gains the admiration of the ignorant, but the pleasure which he finds in this admiration actually transforms his pious act into sin.
Thus, strangely enough, contrary to other founders of orders, he was continually easing the strictness of the various rules which he laid down.[15] We may not take this to be a mere accident, for it was only after a struggle with his disciples that he made his will prevail; and it was precisely those who were most disposed to relax their vow of poverty who were the most anxious to display certain bigoted observances before the public eye.
"The sinner can fast," Francis would say at such times; "he can pray, weep, macerate himself, but one thing he cannot do, he cannot be faithful to God." Noble words, not unworthy to fall from the lips of him who came to preach a worship in spirit and in truth, without temple or priest; or rather that every fireside shall be a temple and every believer a priest.
Religious formalism, in whatever form of worship, always takes on a forced and morose manner.

Pharisees of every age disfigure their faces that no one may be unaware of their godliness.