Brother Peter so venerated and feared blessed Francis and was so obedient to him, that he would not presume to change his obedience, although then, and many other times, it hurt him inside and out.

Blessed Francis said: "Let this be my penance: I will eat together with my Christian brother from the same dish."^a

While blessed Francis was sitting at the table with the leper and other brothers, a bowl was placed between the two of them. The leper was completely covered with sores and ulcerated, and especially the fingers with which he was eating were deformed and bloody, so that whenever he put them in the bowl, blood dripped into it.

Brother Peter and the other brothers saw this, grew very sad, but did not dare say anything out of fear of the holy father.

The one who wrote this, saw it and bore witness to it.

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[THE VISION OF BROTHER PACIFICO IN A CHURCH AT BOVARA]

At one time blessed Francis was going through the valley of Spoleto together with Brother Pacifico, from the Marches of Ancona, who in the world had been known as "King of Verses," a nobleman and courtly master of singers.^b They stayed in the lepers' hospital at Trevi.

Blessed Francis said to Brother Pacifico: "Let's go to the church of Saint Peter in Bovara, because I wish to stay there tonight."

That church was not too far from the hospital, and no one was staying there, because at that time the town of Trevi had been destroyed, so that no one lived in the town or the village.

On the way there, blessed Francis said to Brother Pacifico: "Go back to the hospital because I would like to remain here alone tonight. Come back to me at dawn tomorrow."

So blessed Francis remained there by himself. After he said compline and other prayers, he wanted to rest and sleep, but could not do so, and his soul grew afraid and he began to feel diabolical suggestions. He immediately got up, went outside the house, signed himself, and said: "On behalf of Almighty God, I tell you, demons, do whatever the Lord Jesus Christ has permitted you, to harm my body. I am prepared to endure anything, because the greatest enemy I have

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¹³Nam frater Petrus tantum venerabatur et timebat beatum Franciscum et tantum erat ei obediens, quod non presumebat mutare obedientiam eius, licet tunc et multotiens interius et exterius inde affligeretur.

¹⁴Dixit beatus Franciscus: « Hec sit penitentia mea, scilicet ut comedam simul in una paropside cum fratre christiano ».

¹⁵Et factum est, dum sederet beatus Franiciscus ad mensam cum leproso et aliis fratribus, apposita est scutella inter ambos. ¹⁶Nam leprosus erat totus vulneratus et ulceratus, et maxime digitos, cum quibus comedebat, habebat contractos et sanguinolentos, ita ut semper, cum mitteret ipsos in scutellam, deflueret in eam sanguis.

¹⁷Videns autem hoc frater Petrus et alii fratres contristati sunt valde, sed nichil audebant dicere propter timorem sancti patris.

¹⁸Qui scri[p]sit hoc, vidit et testimonium perhibuit.

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¹Quodam tempore beatus Franciscus ibat per vallem Spoletanam et ibat cum eo frater Pacificus, qui fuit de Marchia Anconitana et in seculo vocabatur « rex versuum », nobilis et curialis doctor cantorum. ²Et hospitati sunt in hospitali leprosorum de Trevio.

³Et dixit beatus Franciscus fratri Pacifico: « Eamus ad ecclesiam Sancti Petri de Bovario, quia volo manere ibi in hac nocte ».

⁴Erat enim illa ecclesia non multum longe ab hospitali et nullus ibi manebat, maxime quia illis temporibus erat destructum castrum Trevii ita, quod in eodem castro vel in villa [nullus] manebat.

⁵Et factum est, dum iret illuc beatus Franciscus dixit fratri Pacifico: « Revertere ad hospitale quoniam volo hic manere in hac nocte solus, et cras summo mane ad me revertere ».

⁶Cum autem remansisset solus ibi beatus Franciscus et dixisset completorium et alias orationes, voluit quiescere et dormire et non potuit, et spiritus eius cepit timere et sentire diabolicas suggestiones. ⁷Et statim surrexit et exivit foras de domo et signavit se dicens: « Ex parte Dei omnipotentis dico vobis, demones, ut quicquid datum fuerit vobis a Domino nostro Iesu Christo ad nocendum corpori meo exerceatis, ⁸quoniam sum paratus ad omnia substinenda, quia maior inimicus, quem ego habeo,