Their most frequent exercise was prayer, and that more mental than
vocal, because they had not as yet books for saying the Divine Office.
A wooden cross, of moderate size, which Francis had fixed in the middle
of the hut, round which they prayed, served them instead of a book.
They meditated on it unceasingly, and read in it with the eyes of
faith, instructed by the example of their saintly chief, who often
discoursed to them on the Passion and Cross of Jesus Christ.

However, they wished to learn from him what vocal prayers they ought
to recite; and he told them, as our blessed Saviour had told the
Apostles: This is the prayer that you will say: "Our Father, who are
in heaven, hallowed be Thy name," etc. To which he added the Act of
Adoration which he had before taught them: "Lord Jesus Christ, we adore
Thee in all the churches in the whole world, and we bless Thee for
having redeemed the world by Thy holy Cross." He likewise taught them
to praise God in all things, to make use of all creatures, to raise
up their minds to Him, to have great respect for priests, to be
inviolably attached to the true faith, which is believed and taught
by the Holy Roman Church, and to confess it plainly. His faithful
disciples put in practice all that he taught them, and conformed to
all his maxims, which they did in still greater perfection after the
marvel which we are about to relate.

Francis being one Saturday in Assisi, in order to preach on the Sunday
morning in the cathedral, as it was his custom to do, retired to a
small shed in a garden belonging to the canons of the church, to pass
the night in contemplation, which he usually did. About midnight, a
fiery car of great brilliancy, on which there was a globe as bright
as the sun, and which gave a light equal to that of noon, entered into
the hut in which the brethren were collected, and moved round it three