sort for the future, he relished the bread of the heart. For the weight
of human actions is a heavy load, and we are trees bearing poisoned
fruit. He was afraid to act, for is not all effort painful and useless?
He was afraid to think, for thought is evil.

He was very humble, knowing how men have nothing of their own that they
should boast of, and that pride hardens the heart. He knew, moreover,
that they who possess for all wealth only the riches of the spirit, if
they make boast of their treasure, so far lower themselves to the level
of the great ones of the earth.

And Fra Giovanni outdid in humility all the Monks of the House of
Viterbo. The Superior of the Monastery, the holy Brother Silvester, was
less righteous than he, forasmuch as the master is less righteous than
the servant, the mother less innocent than the babe.

Observing that Fra Giovanni had a way of stripping himself of his gown
to clothe the suffering members of Jesus Christ, the Superior forbade
him, in the name of holy obedience, to give away his garments to the
poor. Now the same day this command was laid on him, Giovanni went, as
his wont was, to pray in the woods that cover the slopes of Monte
Cunino. It was Winter time; snow was falling, and the wolves coming down
into the villages.

Fra Giovanni kneeling down at the foot of an oak, spoke to God, as
might one friend to another, and besought Him to take pity on all
orphans, prisoners and captives, to take pity on the master of the
fields sorely harried by the Lombard usurers, to take pity on the stags
and hinds of the forest chased by the hunters, and on all trapped
creatures, whether of fur or feathers. And lo! he was rapt away in an