The first is the period of servile obedience; the second, that of filial obedience; the third, that of liberty.

In the first, men lived in fear; in the second, they rest in faith; in the third, they shall burn with love.

The first saw the shining of the stars; the second sees the whitening of the dawn; the third will behold the glory of the day.

The first produced nettles, the second gives roses, the third will be the age of lilies.
If now we consider that in the thought of Gioacchino the third period, the Age of the Spirit, was about to open, we shall understand with what enthusiasm men hailed the words which restored joy to hearts still disturbed with millenarian fears.
It is evident that St.Francis knew these radiant hopes.

Who knows even that it was not the Calabrian Seer who awoke his heart to its transports of love?
If this be so, Gioacchino was not merely his precursor; he was his true spiritual father.