Utterly in love with Jesus Christ & living in poverty Francis of Assisi touched history. Christians followers of other religions & even those who declare they have no faith find they have something in common with him that stirs their sympathy. In 1209 as a young man from the Umbrian region he went to see the pope. He sought permission to live exactly as Jesus Christ had done: poor obedient celibate. From a distance the pope saw Francis & his eleven companions. But he had Francis sent away banishing from his presence the very man sent by providence who could have turned his hopes for the Church into reality. Later the pope recalled a dream he'd had. He had seen the Lateran basilica leaning dangerously to one side when suddenly a little monk looking like a beggar supported it with his shoulder & stopped it from collapsing. ' Of course ' the pope understood 'that monk was Francis of Assisi!' How could he not listen to him? We today can listen to him through his writings the stories & biographies that speak of him. It would be like a new dawn reversing the decline all around us into a new future. The texts in this book can all be found in the Early Documents series of the Franciscan movement published by New City in three volumes plus a fourth volume containing the index for these Early Documents.