And yet he hardly knew
anything of the symbolic transmutation of bread and wine--he accepted
the miracle without a thought, like a child.
In the year 1219, St. Francis took part in a Crusade. While the battle
of Damietta was raging, he went into the camp of the Saracens and
preached before the Sultan, who received him with respect and sent him
back unharmed. According to the legend, he then went to Bethlehem and
Jerusalem, where the Sultan, touched by his personality, gave him access
to the sacred shrines. To Francis this pilgrimage to the Holy Land had a
profound meaning, for to him Christianity meant the imitation of Christ.
Although he lived on bread himself, and poverty was his chosen lady, he
regarded the asceticism of the early Middle Ages as futile and rejected
it. The fire of life burned in him so ardently that he gave no thought
to the morrow, and literally followed the admonition of the Gospels: "So
likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he
cannot be My disciple.
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