to look after the Brothers, died in 1216, and Ugolini was not slow to offer his protection to Francis, who accepted it with gratitude.

This extraordinary offer is recounted at length by the Three Companions.[5] It must certainly be fixed in the summer of 1216[6] immediately after the death of Giovanni di San Paolo.
It is very possible that the first chapter held in the presence of this cardinal took place on May 29, 1216.

By an error very common in history, most of the Franciscan writers have referred to a single date all the scattered incidents concerning the first solemn assizes of the Order, and have called this typical assembly the _Chapter of the Mats_.

In reality for long years all the gatherings of the Brothers Minor deserved this name.[7] Coming together at the season of the greatest heat, they slept in the open air or sheltered themselves under booths of reeds.

We need not pity them.