It is doubtful
whether the Church would have come out of a Franciscan crusade as
victoriously as she came out of her struggle with Provence.
St. Francis regarded science with indifference. "Every demon," he said,
"has more scientific knowledge than all men on earth put together. But
there is something a demon is incapable of, and in it lies the glory of
man. A man can be faithful to God." With those words he had inwardly
overcome tradition and theology, and direct knowledge of the divine had
dawned in his soul. He even forbade his brethren to own copies of the
Scriptures. God in the heart--that was the core of his doctrine. With
all his wonderful intuition he was absolutely innocent of the pride of
ignorance; he really felt himself smaller than the smallest of
men--unlike the bishops and popes who called themselves the servants of
the servants of God, without attaching the least meaning to it. How
characteristic of his simple mind was his passionate insistence on the
respectful handling of the vessels used at holy Mass, because they were
destined to receive the body of the Lord.
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