10

“He took with him as his companion a friar named Illuminato, a virtuous and enlightened man. When he had begun his journey. he came upon two lambs. Overjoyed to see them, the holy man said to his companion: "Trust in the Lord, brother, for the Gospel text is being fulfilled in us: "Behold, I am sending you forth like sheep in the midst of wolves'" (Matt. 10:16). When they proceeded farther, the Saracen sentries fell upon them like wolves swiftly overtaking sheep, savagely seized the servants of God and cruelly and contemptuously dragged them away, insulting them, beating them and putting them in chains. Finally, after they had been maltreated in many ways and were exhausted, by divine providence they were led to the Soldan, just as the man of God wished. When that ruler inquired by whom, why and how they had been sent and how they got there, Francis, Christ's servant, answered with an intrepid heart that he had been sent not by man but by the Most High God in order to point out to him and his people the way of salvation and to announce the Gospel of truth. He preached to the Soldan the Triune God and the one Savior of all, Jesus Christ, with such constancy of mind, such courage of soul and such fervor of spirit that the words of the Gospel were clearly and truly fulfilled in him: "I will give you utterance and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to resist or answer back" (Luke 21:15).