He was born at Assisi, a town of Umbria, in Italy, in the year 1182,
under the Pontificate of Lucius III. Peter Bernardo, his father, was
a rich merchant, whose principal commercial transactions were with
France. His mother, whose name was Pica, had only two sons, Francis
and Angelo. The latter married at Assisi, and some of his descendants
were still at Assisi in 1534.

God, who has often condescended to usher in His saints by portents,
was pleased, at the birth of Francis, to give signs of what he would
be during his life. For some days Pica had suffered great pains, without
being able to give birth to her child, when a man, dressed as a pilgrim,
came to tell her that she would only be delivered of her infant in a
stable; he would be born on straw. Although this communication appeared
most strange, relatives, nevertheless, acted upon it. The patient was
removed to the nearest stable, where she was successfully delivered;
an event which may well be looked upon, as in the intention of
Providence, thereby to mark the conformity of the holy man to Jesus
Christ, poor and humble; as much, at least, as the creature can be in
conformity with the Creator, and the servant with the Master of the
universe.

This stable has been turned into a chapel, called in Italian, "_San
Francesco il piccolo_"--"St. Francis the Little." Over the door the
following words, in very old writing, are inscribed:

"This chapel was the stable of the Ox and the Ass,
Where Francis was born, the mirror of the world."

His mother had the name of John given to him at his baptism, his father