We have arrived at the most unique and interesting period in the history of the Franciscans.

These first months are for their institution what the first days of spring are for nature, days when the almond-tree blossoms, bearing witness to the mysterious labor going on in the womb of the earth, and heralding the flowers that will suddenly enamel the fields.

At the sight of these men--bare footed, scantily clothed, without money, and yet so happy--men's minds were much divided.
Some held them to be mad, others admired them, finding them widely different from the vagrant monks,[12] that plague of Christendom.
Sometimes, however, the friars found success not responding to their efforts, the conversion of souls not taking form with enough rapidity and vigor.

To encourage them, Francis would then confide to them his visions and his hopes.

"I saw a multitude of men coming toward us, asking that they might receive the habit of our holy religion, and lo, the sound of their footsteps still echoes in my ears.