before the sultan, who received him courteously but remained a Mohammedan. On his return, he
found that the Franciscans had built themselves a house; he was deeply pained, but the Pope
induced or compelled him to give way. After his death, Gregory canonized him but softened his
rule in the article of poverty.
In the matter of saintliness, Francis has had equals; what makes him unique among saints is his
spontaneous happiness, his universal love, and his gifts as a poet. His goodness appears always
devoid of effort, as though it had no dross to overcome. He loved all living things, not only as a
Christian or a benevolent man, but as a poet. His hymn to the sun, written shortly before his death,
might almost have been written by Akhnaton the sun-worshipper, but not quite-Christianity
informs it, though not very obviously. He felt a duty to lepers, for their sake, not for his; unlike
most Christian saints, he was more interested in the happiness of others than in his own salvation.
He never showed any feeling of superiority, even to the humblest or most wicked. Thomas of
Celano said of him that he was more than a saint among saints; among sinners he was one of
themselves.
If Satan existed, the future of the order founded by Saint Francis would afford him the most
exquisite gratification. The saint's immediate successor as head of the order, Brother Elias,
wallowed in luxury, and allowed a complete abandonment of poverty. The chief work of the
Franciscans in the years immediately following the death of their founder was as recruiting
sergeants in the bitter and bloody wars of Guelfs and Ghibellines. The Inquisition, founded seven
years after his death, was, in several countries, chiefly conducted by Franciscans. A small
minority, called the Spirituals, remained true to his teaching; many of these were burnt by the
Inquisition for heresy. These men held that Christ and the Apostles owned no property, not even
the clothes they wore; this opinion was condemned as heretical in 1323 by John XXII. The net
result of Saint Francis's life was to create yet one more wealthy and corrupt order, to strengthen
the hierarchy, and to facilitate the persecution of all who excelled in moral earnestness or freedom
of thought. In view of his own aims and character, it is impossible to imagine any more bitterly
ironical outcome.
Saint Dominic ( 1170-1221) is much less interesting than Saint Francis. He was a Castilian, and
had, like Loyola, a fanatical devotion to orthodoxy. His main purpose was to combat heresy, and
he adopted