It was there that this holy abbess was enclosed during a period of
forty-two years in the practice of the most eminent perfection, and
which we shall have an opportunity of referring to, when we come to
speak of her rule.

After Francis had regulated the spiritual exercises of these nuns,
provided for the enclosure, and placed the house in good order, he
turned in his mind things personal to himself, as to what should be
his future way of life. In order to come to a decision, he consulted
those of his brethren with whom he was in the habit of having familiar
intercourse, and proposed to them his difficulties as follows:

"My brethren, what do you advise me? Which of the two do you think
best: that I shall give myself to prayer, or that I shall go forth to
preach? To me it seems that prayer is what is most advantageous to me,
for I am a simple person, who am not a good speaker, and I have received
the gift of prayer, rather than that of speech: moreover, we gain much
by prayer; it is the source of graces; but, in preaching, we only
distribute to others what God has communicated. Prayer purifies the
heart and the affections; it unites us to the sole true and sovereign
good, and strengthens us in virtue. Preaching renders the feet of the
spiritual man dusty; it is an employment which dissipates and distracts,
and which causes regular discipline to be relaxed. In fine, in prayer
we speak to God, and we listen to Him; we converse with the angels,
as if we lived an Evangelic life. In preaching we must have much
condescension towards men, and, living with them, we must hear and
see, speak and think, in some measure as they do, in a human way. But
there is one thing which seems to prevail over all this before God,
which is, that the Only Son, who is in the bosom of His Father, and