COLLOQUY XXIII
That we should gratefully Remember the Benefits of God.
In the holy Convent of Mount Alvernia, in the Cardinal’s Chapel, (so called because there repose the ashes of the most illustrious Cardinal Galleotti de Ubertini, Count of Aretini,) there is still seen a square stone, covered with an iron grating, on which the blessed Father often took his meals, and on which he was wont to pray with great earnestness. On this account it is greatly honoured and venerated with religious care, and, lest it should be destroyed by the devout visitors, both ecclesiastic and secular, who desired to carry away some fragments of it as relics and who could not be restrained by the Religious, it was protected by this grate. Once, when Brother Leo was going to cover this stone with a cloth as he usually did at the hour of dinner, the holy Father forbade him, saying : ‘ Dearest Brother, do not cover this stone, but carefully wash it, first with water, then with wine, then with oil, and lastly with balm, for Christ Himself has been sitting on this stone, and from it has deigned to reveal to me what I am now going to tell thee. Thou must wash and bless this table four times, because from it Our Lord has promised me these four graces for the Order :
1. That this Order shall last unto the end of the world ;
2. That those who love the Order and its members, even if they are sinners, shall obtain the grace of contrition and mercy from God, either during their life or at the hour of their death ;
3. That enemies and persecutors of this Order, unless they repent, shall not live long ;
4. That none of its members shall remain in it if they live wickedly, or, forgetting their profession, persevere obstinately in mortal sin ; for either they shall confess their sin and become penitent, or their wickedness being discovered they shall be expelled.
The Lord also added other things which I will reserve for thee until the hour of my death.’ Having said this, he rose, and pouring oil on the stone, he exclaimed : ‘This is the Altar of God.’
Besides the irrefragable testimony of the first Fathers of the Order and many writings, the stone itself bears witness of this circumstance, having on it a memorial of the reverence due to it, and that it is truly the altar of God. For soon after the death of St. Francis, the Brethren of the Convent of Alvernia removed the stone from the side of the mountain where it was, and where the Lord manifested His wonders, and placed it with great reverence near the high Altar, and by the care of the afore-mentioned Brother Leo, these words were indelibly engraved on it : ‘This is the table of Blessed Francis, on which he had marvellous apparitions, and which he sanctified by pouring oil thereon and saying : ” This is the Altar of God.” ‘ O true Jacob, worthy of so many favours and never forgetful of any ! His humility procured them for him, and he was grateful for all.