danger we are in." Francis, full of faith, replied: "God can, if it
is His good pleasure, give us light to dissipate the darkness of the
night." These words were hardly spoken, when they found themselves
surrounded by a brilliant light, which not only made the way clear to
them, but enabled them to see many things on either side of the way,
although the darkness was very dense everywhere else. They pursued
their route, singing the glories of God; the celestial torch served
them as a guide till they reached the place where they were to be
lodged, which was then very far off. This miraculous light was a
notification to the Saint that it was God's pleasure that he should
have a dwelling in the place to which His goodness had led him, and
he told this to his companion. The inhabitants made no difficulty in
assigning him one, after having heard him preach, and he gave the
convent the name of The Holy Fire, as it is still called.

In Piedmont, where he was well received, his preaching, with the
reputation of his sanctity, confirmed by many miracles, converted a
considerable number of persons, and procured him several houses. From
thence he went into Spain, but the writers of his life have not recorded
by what route. Now, it is scarcely to be doubted that he went by land,
and through France; ancient documents show that he entered Spain through
Navarre, and that he arrived in the year 1213 at Logrono, a Town of
Old Castile, which had formerly belonged to Biscay.

On the road he came up with a poor and abandoned invalid, for whom he
felt so much pity that he directed Bernard de Quintavalle, one of his
companions, to stay with him and take care of him, which Bernard
willingly undertook to do. At Logrono he miraculously cured a young
gentleman who was on the point of death; then he went on to Burgos,
where Alphonso IX., (or VIII., according to some,) father of Blanche