considerable sum, which he had carried to the Square of St. George,
and distributed it entirely among the poor whom he could collect.
Francis then gave him a habit similar to his own; he called him his
eldest son, and was always tenderly attached to him: he was indeed a
most holy man.

Peter of Catania, Canon of the Church of St. Ruffinus, the Cathedral
of Assisi, edified by the self-denial and charity of Bernard, was
disposed to become a disciple of the same master, and received the
penitential habit on the same day, which was the 16th of April. All
three retired to a hut which had been deserted, near to a rivulet
called _Rivo Torto_, on account of its winding so very much.

Seven days after that, a very pious man called Giles, who was greatly
looked up to in Assisi, on his return from the country learnt what his
two fellow-citizens had done, which had excited the admiration of the
whole town, and felt an ardent wish to imitate them, and thus carry
out an intention he had entertained of devoting himself to the service
of God. He passed the following night in prayer, when he was inspired
to offer himself to Francis, for whom he had already great esteem, on
account of the extreme contempt of the world and of himself, which was
remarked in the whole of his conduct. In the morning he went to the
Church of St. George, whose festival it was, there to implore the
saint's intercession, that he might find him whom he was seeking, of
whose abode he was ignorant. Seeing out of the town three roads, without
knowing which to take, he addressed the following prayer to God: "O
Lord, most holy Father, I entreat Thee by Thy mercy, if I am to
persevere in this holy vocation, so to guide my steps that I may arrive
at the place where Thy servant lives whom I am seeking." He took one
of the three roads as God inspired him; and as he walked full of his