COLLOQUY X.
It is a great Advantage to the Church that various Religious Orders should Flourish therein.
The Seraphic Father when in Rome, met there the blessed Father St. Dominic, the glorious Patriarch and Founder of the Order of Friars Preachers. When they were consulting together about the salvation of souls, and how they could best procure the welfare of the Catholic Church, that great glory of the Preachers said to his friend and Brother, Francis : ‘Beloved Brother, on account of the great spiritual friendship I feel for thee, and the heartfelt love I have for thy children, as also for the consolidation of the fraternal peace and charity which exist between my Brethren and thine, I should rejoice to have them formed into one Order, that those whom the strong love of the Fathers has thus united, may not be separated by the difference of Rule and manner of life.’ But Francis with exceeding humility replied : ‘ It is the will of God, my most dear Brother, that we should each found a different religious Order, that by the variety and diversity of precepts, by the greater severity of some, and the greater mildness of others, human weakness may be assisted ; for what pleases some would displease others, what would seem hard to some will appear easy to others, and thus souls who might be lost to God in the rigour of one Order, may make great profit in the other.