COLLOQUY XVI
How the Convents of the Friars Minor should be Founded.
When the blessed Father was staying at Siena on account of the weakness of his eyes, a certain gentleman of the city, named Bonaventure, gave the Friars a piece of land on which to build a Monastery. Ha consulted St. Francis as to how he wished it built, saying : Father, what thinkest thou of this place ? What kind of a house or Monastery will it please thee to have built here in which thy Brethren may dwell, for I believe their prayers and good works will be of no small profit to my soul, if they will give me a share in them.’ The blessed Father replied : ‘ I give thee many thanks, most honourable brother, for this field, which I find very suitable for the site of a Monastery, and now, in a few words, I will explain to thee how it should be built. The Brethren must consider how many acres of this land they require, always remembering the claims of holy Poverty which they have vowed to God, and the good example they owe to their neighbour. When they have well weighed the matter, they must go to the Bishop of the diocese, and say to him : ” My Lord, a gentleman, for the love of God and the good of his soul, has given us land on which to build a Monastery ; but first of all we come to thee who art the Father and Lord of all the souls committed to thy care, and the patron and most kind protector of all the Brethren who now, or hereafter, shall dwell here, that, with God’s blessing and thine, we may construct here a poor little Convent.” For God has called us to help the Prelates and priests of His Church to spread the faith, and we are therefore bound, as much as possible, to love, honour and venerate them. For this reason we are called Friars Minor, because we are bound by our name, as well as by our works and example, to be the most lowly of all men. And because at the beginning of my conversion, the Lord, by means of the Bishop of Assisi, consoled and strengthened me wonderfully in my vocation, for this and many other most excellent things which I see in Superiors, I will love, and venerate, and honour as my masters, not only the Bishops, but even the poorest priests. Having then received the permission and benediction of the Bishop, let the Brethren go and mark the boundary of the land they have accepted with a piece of charcoal, and let them surround it with a good wooden fence instead of a wall, as a sign of poverty and humility. Let them then erect some poor little buildings of wood and clay, and a few cells in which the Brothers may pray and labour, in order to give edification, and to avoid idleness. Let them build small churches, and never under pretext of preaching, nor for any other reason, erect large or magnificent ones ; for they will show their humility and give a good example to the people more by preaching in other churches. And if Bishops or clerics, either secular or regular, come to this place, the poor cells and small house will preach to them, and profit their souls, more than the most eloquent words.’