to put on the new.

In the City of Narni, he cured a man who had lost the use of his limbs
for five months from palsy, employing no other remedy than a sign of
the cross, which he made over his whole body; this he did at the request
of the bishop of the place, and by virtue of the same sign he restored
the sight of a blind girl. Being at Orti, he straightened a child, who
was so deformed that its head touched its feet. At San Gemini, he
prayed, with three of his companions, for the wife of his host, whom
the devil had possessed for a long while, and the evil spirit left
her. Such evident miracles, publicly performed, and in great numbers,
gave a wonderful splendor to his sanctity. In the archives of the Town
of Poggibonsi, in Tuscany, the act of donation of a house given to him
is preserved, which commences thus:--"We cede to a man named Francis,
whom all the world considers as a saint," etc.

The discourses of so holy a man, of one so gifted with the power of
miracles, had the greatest effect upon the hearts of his hearers, and
made the people very anxious to have houses of his Order established
among them. He settled some of his religious at Foligno, at Trevi, at
San Gemini, at Sienna, and in several other places.

Fresh disciples joined him from all quarters, but he did not receive
any until he had strictly examined their vocation. A young gentleman,
having heard him preach at Monte Casale, a town in the Appennines,
came to acquaint him with the design he had long formed of entering
his Order. "You must think seriously of it," replied Francis; "for the
kind of life we lead must appear very hard to those who have been
tenderly brought up." The young man answered courageously: "My Father,
are not you and yours of the same nature as I am, and formed of the