Committed to Him whose care of His own is forever.
Wherefore God's kindly providence catered not only for him,
But in fact minded those rendering his servant services.
For when he was ailing, a certain devoted physician
Treated him oftentimes, when he was close to Rieti
And abode in a hermitage where, dwelling with but a few,
He would more freely attend to godly meditations.
Having nothing, however, with which to repay the doctor,
He was so poor, divine goodness took care to repay him.
The doctor, out of all his earnings, had built himself a house,
Which when finished, from the upper part to the lowest
Split, and was threatening to collapse at any moment.
By handiwork unable to prevent its destruction,
Trusting fully in the holy man's merits, from companions
Of his he obtained of his hair that once been cut off
A few ribs, which one evening when he had inserted
In the fissure of the wall, on the following morning so
Joined did he discover it, so perfectly compacted,
That unable was he to retrieve what he therein had left,
Nor did there remain any signs of the break that was there.
Thus to the healer of the holy man's broken-down body
Payment was made by the buttressing of his broken-down home,
And God rewarded all that he had done for his servant.

One time, when crowds were sent off, returning to a hermitage,
Carried on the little ass of a poor man, went Francis,
Extremely weak that he was, already worn in body.
But as the man that led the ass ascended the mountain,
Overcome by the boiling heat and extreme exertion,
Began to feel the stress of an intensely burning thirst.
And now faltering, he cried, insistent, to the holy man:
"Look," said he, "I'm going to die, unless I soon get a drink."
The holy man at once alighting and upon the Lord
Calling with insistence, ceased not till water in abundance
Gushed out from a rock, delivering the thirsty man his drink.
Neither before nor after was a flow of water seen there,
Where, in that hour, God gave it at the prayers of the holy man,
For He was not letting suffer the one that did him service.
As to the way, however, the Lord provided for him,
Multiplying foods and, by marvels, granting things to enjoy,
The plain facts partially find utterance in their proper place.
Behold another Moses, at whose efficacious prayer
A rock gave forth fresh water; here, too, another Elisha,

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