Lord. His most holy soul, released from the flesh, was absorbed into the abyss of eternal light. At that very hour one of his brothers and disciples, a man certainly famous for his sanctity, saw that happy soul in the likeness of a brilliant star, borne aloft by a little cloud over many waters straight to heaven. This soul, glittering with the clear luster of his conscience and glistening with the sure sign of his merits, was being raised on high so effectually by an abundance of graces and divine virtues that nothing would be able to detain it at all from its vision of heavenly light and glory.

Sixth Lesson

The minister of the brothers at that time in Terra di Lavoro was Augustine, a man who was certainly dear to God, and in his last hour. For a long time he had been without the power of speech, but now he called out to those listening who were standing about and said: "Wait for me, father, wait! Look, I am coming with you!" The amazed brothers asked him to whom he was speaking, he asserted that he saw blessed Francis going to heaven. As soon as he said this, he also happily went to his rest. At the same time the Bishop of Assisi had gone to the shrine of Saint Michael at Monte Gargano. Blessed Francis, filled with delight, appeared to him in the hour of his transitus, and said that he was leaving the world and passing exultantly into heaven. Arising in the morning, the bishop told his companions what he had seen. Then, after returning to Assisi, he carefully inquired and found out for certain that the blessed father had departed from this life at the very hour when he appeared to him in this vision.

Seventh Lesson

The immensity of celestial goodness deigned to show, by many outstanding examples of miracles after his death, just how remarkable this man was for outstanding sanctity. Because of his merits and at his intercession, the power of almighty God restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, walking to the lame, and feeling and movement to the paralyzed; he gave robust health, moreover, to those who were withered, shriveled, or ruptured, and effectively snatched away those who were in prison; he brought the shipwrecked to the safety of port, granted an easy delivery to those in danger during childbirth, and put demons to flight from those possessed. Finally, he restored those hemorrhaging and lepers to wholesome cleanliness, those mortally wounded to a perfectly sound condition, and what is greater than all these, he restored the dead to life.

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et anima illa sanctissima, carne soluta in aeternae claritatis abyssum absorpta est. ³Ipsa tunc hora unus ex fratribus et discipulis eius, vir utique sanctitate famosus, animam illam felicem conspexit sub specie stellae praefulgidae, a candida subvectam nubecula, super aquas multas in caelum tramite recto conscendere, ⁴utpote quae conscientiae candore nitescens et meritorum praerogativa refulgens, tam efficaciter sursum ferebatur affluentia gratiarum et deiformitate virtutum, ut a visione caelestis lucis et gloriae nec modicum retardari valeret.

Lectio sexta.

6 ¹Minister quoque fratrum tunc temporis in Terra Laboris, Augustinus nomine, vir utique Deo carus, in hora ultima positus, cum iam diu perdidisset loquelam, audientibus qui adstabant, subito clamavit et dixit: ²« Exspecta me, Pater, exspecta! ecce, iam venio tecum! ». ³Quaerentibus autem fratribus et mirantibus, cui sic loqueretur, beatum Franciscum euntem in caelum se videre asseruit, statimque, hoc dicto et ipse feliciter requievit. ⁴Eisdem quoque temporibus episcopus Assisinas ad oratorium Sancti Michaelis in Monte Gargano perrexerat, cui beatus Franciscus transitus sui hora iucundus apparens, mundum se dixit relinquere et ad caelum cum exsultatione transire. ⁵Mane surgens episcopus sociis narravit quae vidit, et Assisium rediens, cum perquisisset sollicite, certitudinaliter comperit, quod ea hora, qua sibi per visionem innotuit, beatus Pater ex hac vita migravit.

Lectio septima.

7 ¹Quam vero vir iste praeclarus eximiae sanctitatis exstiterit, post ipsius etiam transitum multis miraculorum prodigiis supernae bonitatis immensitas dignanter ostendit. ²Nam ad eius invocationem et merita omnipotens Dei virtus caecis visum, surdis auditum, mutis verbum, claudis gressum ac paralyticis sensum restauravit et motum, ³aridis insuper, contractis et ruptis salutem integram reddidit, inclusos carceribus potenter eripuit, naufragantibus portum salutis indulsit, periclitantibus in partu facilitatem pariendi concessit et ab obsessis corporibus daemones effugavit; ⁴tandem sanguifluos et leprosos ad salutarem munditiam, letaliter vulneratos ad incolumitatem perfectam, et quod maius est omnibus, mortuos revocavit ad vitam.