ABSTRACT
Francis of Assisi, like all religious founders, had formed a very high opinion of human nature. He believed that the ideal of purity, asceticism and charity, embraced by his first followers would always continue to be the light of his Order and the consolation of Italy. For more than a century the mystical impulse survived in the institution of Assisi, at times it even went so high and so far that the Franciscans, who sincerely wished to remain faithful to the master’s revelation, lost sight of earth, civil society, and even of the Church. In reality, the theory of absolute poverty caused the Holy See far more affliction than the preaching of the Eternal Gospel. One of the most curious witnesses of the singular age, Fra Salimbene, sincerely expected the fatal year, that seemed to be confirmed by the death of the emperor Frederic.
