He was of those who struggle, and, to use one of the noblest expressions of the Bible, of those who _by their perseverance conquer their souls_.
Thus we shall see him continually retouching the Rule of his institute, unceasingly revising it down to the last moment, according as the growth of the Order and experience of the human heart suggested to him modifications of it.[2] The first Rule which he submitted to Rome has not come down to us; we only know that it was extremely simple, and composed especially of passages from the Gospels.

It was doubtless only the repetition of those verses which Francis had read to his first companions, with a few precepts about manual labor and the occupations of the new brethren.[3] It will be well to pause here and consider the brethren who are about to set out for Rome.

The biographies are in agreement as to their number; they were twelve, including Francis; but the moment they undertake to give a name to each one of them difficulties begin to arise, and it is only by some exegetical sleight of hand that they can claim to have reconciled the various documents.

The table given below[4] briefly shows these difficulties.

The question took on some importance when in the fourteenth century men undertook to show an exact conformity between the life of St.Francis and that of Jesus.