St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-14
CHURCH AT ASSIST.

De a sacred spot to the student of Shake
speare; orators will visit Arpinum be-
cause Cicero, their prince. was born
there; and poets will drop a silent tear
at Pallas, 1.-The lovellest village of the
plain" because it was here that the
thrlftless and large-hearted Goldsmith
first saw the light
ASSIST.
The little town of Assist, in Italy, Is
in itself as unimportant as any of these
mentioned. 1t is situated on the brow
of an Umbrian hill, and viewed from
afar it looks as though it grew straight
up from rock, and bathed its head by
deep plunge into glorious sea of Ital
ian sunlight. Since 1866, when Umbrla
ceased to be an ecclesiastical state,
Assist has had to depend mostly upon
its own meager resources. 1t has an
Enthusiastically diIapidated air and an
unquestionably consumptive look. From
the hill on which the town stands one
may get good view of the ancient city
of Perugia, where Leo XIII. was bishop
from 1916 TO 1878. The last-named city
is famous in military history from the
fact that Hannibal, the savage Old Car
thagenian general. was afraid to attack
it, even after his victory at Thrasymene.
The population of the Assist of today is
not much more than 5000. Not to the
elegiac poet, Pr0pertius, uor to the
opera writer, MetaStasio-both of whom
were born there-does Assist owe its
fame. Its reputation rests upon its
having been the birthplace of St.
Francis.
There are other attractions in this
Umbrian village. There is the Portuln-
cula, little church said to have been
built by holy hermits from Palestine in
the year 513. Like the Santa Casa
at Loretto, it is now enclosed
in a magnificent baSilica. Every
nation seems to give a local coloring to
Christianity. In France and Spain and
Italy these warm-blooded and poetic
peoples pursue the accidentals of Chris
tianity; in the United States the ten
dency is to make devotion more Christie
centric. Thousands Of pious pilgrims
plod their weary way annually to the
shrine OF the POrtuincula, the cradle of
the franciscan order. And if the Ital-
ian peasant lifts his hat as he passes by
picture of the Madonna, or plucks the
first flowers of smiling spring to deck a
statue of the Mother OF Divine Love,
why should any one find fault with the
aesthetic and reverential spirit which
prompts such civilizIng acts?
FRANCIS.
In early youth Francis was certainly
frivolous, but he Was not given to the
wild ways Of the illustrious st. August
inc before the latter's conversion. He
applied to himself these words: "Do
not carry gold or silver or a scrip for
your journey, or two coats, or a
staff" Here we find the genesis
Of the pronounced poverty which
he prescribed for his followers.
Whilst he eXhorted the members of his
community TO perform manual labor, he
would not allow them to receive money
for their work. They had to be content
with the things necessary for life. He
would not permit them the ownership
of any temporal goods whatever. He
himself refused to accept from his Bene-
dictine neighbors plot of land for a
cAurch, except by the tenure of giving
JN~-4S ~ NiAShl a. OdShCI OI llllIc ISL,
caught in the stream that flows hard by.
This yearly tribute of fshlcts Is still
made.
Francis worshiped the very spirit of
poverty. not for poverty's sake, but for
the sake OF the poor. He wanted to be
one Of themselves SO as to aid them ali
the more. Some might say that the
gospel counSels poverty or humility of
spirit rather than poverty of purse, and
that mans usefulness is increased by
his riches. No doubt this latter is
qualifiedly true; that is, it depends
upon the direction which a man
wishes to give his usefulness.
The people peltcd him in the streets.
and called him a mad man in their
homes. Reforpers are never worldly
philosophers, and the business men of
Assist iii the twelfth century were not
unlike their fellows of today. Business
men think it is respectable to be con-
servative, and by virtue of heredity or
of training are usually opposed to limo
walton, be The reform ever so excellent.
The genesis of the franciscan habit
may be traced from the text On poverty
already quoted. Francis would have
only one coat. an old coat at that, aud
this be tied round him with cord.
Thus we get to the cIigin of what has
long been famous as the cord of St.
Francis. The habit which he gave to
his followers was gown of coarse grey
cloth witha pointed hood and a cord
round the waist. 1t was like the dress
worn by tho Door SEepherds in That mort
of Italy.
ART AND POETRY,
In one CT the churches of Assist III.
student OF Dante may see allegoric;.
figures taken from the great Florentiut