Franciscan Herald Press

PREFACE The origin of this book may well have been a certain passage in a book which the present author read many years ago. The book was The Franciscan Message to the World by that eminent scientist and author, Father Agostino Gemelli O.F.M. The passage runs as follows: "Now, properly to grasp...

PROLOGUE Our Untainted Boast We of the human race feel it In our bones, and in our soul, that a belittlement has overtaken us. Our mind clings to the ideal, as to a lost right, that every man or woman should walk the earth a paragon. We cannot get rid of the notion. We instinctively crave that...

FOREWORDTo commemorate the seventh centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, Popé Pius XI issued the encyclical Rite Expiatis on April 30, 1926. In it the Supreme Pontiff wrote: "While it is presumptuous to make comparisons between the heroes of sanctity who have been called to their...