[Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Paul Sabatier]@TWC D-Link bookLife of St. Francis of Assisi CHAPTER XVII 9/13
After the sermon they would sing the Hymn of the Sun; and they were to close by saying to the crowd gathered around them in the public places, "We are God's jugglers.
We desire to be paid for our sermon and our song.
Our payment shall be that you persevere in penitence."[21] "Is it not in fact true," he would add, "that the servants of God are really like jugglers, intended to revive the hearts of men and lead them into spiritual joy ?" The Francis of the old raptures had come back, the layman, the poet, the artist. The Canticle of the Creatures is very noble: it lacks, however, one strophe; if it was not upon Francis's lips, it was surely in his heart: Be praised, Lord, for Sister Clara; thou hast made her silent, active, and sagacious, and by her thy light shines in our hearts. FOOTNOTES: [1] Thirty-sixth and last strophe of the song _Amor de caritade Perche m' hai si ferito ?_ found in the collection of St.Francis's works. [2] By the Abbe Amoni, at the close of his edition of the Fioretti, Rome, 1 vol., 12mo, 1889, pp.
390-392.
We can but once more regret the silence of the editor as to the manuscript whence he has drawn these charming pages.
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