the Creatures, which I learnt by heart.

Oftentimes since have I wondered and sought to determine whether it was the
piety of those lauds that charmed me spiritually, or an appeal to my senses
made by the beauty of the lines and the imagery which the Assisian used in
his writings.

Similarly I am at a loss to determine whether the pleasure I took in
reading of the joyous, perfumed life of that other stigmatized saint, the
blessed Catherine of Siena, was not a sensuous pleasure rather than the
soul-ecstasy I supposed it at the time.

And as I wept over the early sins of St. Francis, so too did I weep over
the rhapsodical Confessions of St. Augustine, that mighty theologian after
whom I had been named, and whose works--after those concerning St.
Francis--exerted a great influence upon me in those early days.

Thus did I grow in grace until Fra Gervasio, who watched me narrowly and
anxiously, seemed more at ease, setting aside the doubts that earlier had
tormented him lest I should be forced upon a life for which I had no
vocation. He grew more tender and loving towards me, as if something of
pity lurked within the strong affection in which he held me.

And, meanwhile, as I grew in grace of spirit, so too did I grow in grace of
body, waxing tall and very strong, which would have been nowise surprising
but that those nurtured as was I are seldom lusty. The mind feeding
overmuch upon the growing body is apt to sap its strength and vigour,
besides which there was the circumstance that I continued throughout those
years a life almost of confinement, deprived of all the exercises by which
youth is brought to its fine flower of strength.