"Carry
nothing with you for your journey!" was the inexorable answer. "Not a
Breviary? not even the Psalms of David?" "Get them into your heart of
hearts, and provide yourself with a treasure in the heavens. Who ever
heard of Christ reading books save when He opened the book in the
synagogue, and then _closed_ it and went forth to teach the
world for ever?"
In 1215 the new Order held its first Chapter at the Church of the
Portiuncula. The numbers of the Brotherhood and the area over which
their labours extended had increased so vastly that it was already
found necessary to nominate Provincial Ministers in France, Germany,
and Spain.
* * * * * * *
While these things were going on in Italy, another notable reformer
was vexing his righteous soul in Spain. St. Dominic was a very
different man from the gentle and romantic young Italian. Of high
birth, which among the haughty Castillians has always counted for a
great deal, he had passed his boyhood among ecclesiastics and
academics. He was twelve years older than St. Francis. He studied
theology for ten years at the University of Palencia, and before the
twelfth century closed he was an Augustinian Canon. In 1203, while
St. Francis was still poring over his father's ledgers, Dominic was
associated with the Bishop of Osma in negotiating a marriage for
Alphonso the Eighth, king of Castille.
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