labor for the salvation of souls, since in after times it has been
found that some of their adversaries have contested it. Secondly, the
doubt of the servant of God was useful in preserving his humility and
rendering it still greater. In the capacity of a Friar Minor, he was
not ashamed of seeking the advice of the least of his brethren, he who
had been taught such elevated things from the Sovereign Master. It was
likewise one of his maxims throughout his whole life, and of the
principles of the sacred philosophy, of which he made profession, to
address himself to the simple as well as to the learned, to the
imperfect as well as to the perfect, to the young as to the old, with
the ardent desire to find from intercourse with them in what way and
by what means he could best serve God according to His good pleasure,
and raise himself to the greatest perfection.

Finally, we must not be surprised that he entreated God to grant him
additional proofs of his vocation, after having received such convincing
ones by revelations, by miracles, and from the mouth of the Vicar of
Jesus Christ; when we see in the Sacred Scriptures, that Gideon, having
been chosen by God to fight the enemies of His people, and this choice
having been manifested by the apparition of an angel, by a miracle and
by a revelation, he nevertheless begged the Lord to give other
miraculous signs, in order to be still further assured of it, and his
prayer was granted. Would to God, that, without asking for miracles
and without expecting them, all vocations, particularly those for the
holy ministries, and other affairs of conscience, were examined on
such sound principles, and weighed by means as likely to deserve the
light of Heaven.

In order to know how finally to decide, Francis sent two of his
religious, Philip and Masse, to Brother Sylvester the priest, who was