Perus._; A.SS., p.

584.
[15] Later on, naturally, it was desired that Francis should have had no better supporter than Guido; some have even made him out to be his spiritual director (St.Francois, Plon, p.

24)! We have an indirect but unexceptionable proof of the reserve with which these pious traditions must be accepted; Francis did not even tell his bishop (_pater et dominus animarum_, 3 Soc., 29) of his design of having his Rule approved by the pope.

This is the more striking because the bishop would have been his natural advocate at the court of Rome, and because in the absence of any other reason the most elementary politeness required that he should have been informed.

Add to this that bishops in Italy are not, as elsewhere, _functionaries_ approached with difficulty by the common run of mortals.