It happened one day, when Francis was praying in the thick green wood at Saint Mary Porziuncula, that a fair youth dressed as a traveller came to the door of the Convent of the Friars Minor hard by, and he knocked with such haste and noise, and for so long a time, that the Brothers within were greatly astonished.
It was good Brother Masseo who went to the door, and when he saw the youth he said very gently:
"Whence do you come, my little son? For never before have you visited us, I think, since you have not knocked according to our use."
"How then must I knock, good brother?" asked the youth.
And Brother Masseo replied: "You should give three knocks, one after the other, with a pause between each. Then you should wait till the Brother Porter has said Our Father, and if by that time he does not come, then knock again."
Then said the youth: "I am hastening upon a journey and on my way I wish to speak to Brother Francis, and, therefore, I knocked so loud. But he is now wrapt in prayer in yonder wood, and I do not wish to disturb him. Go, therefore, and tell Brother Elias that I wish to put a question to him, for I hear he is a very learned man."
So Brother Masseo went and told Brother Elias what the fair boy had said; but Elias was annoyed at such a summons and would not go to the door.
Then was Brother Masseo much perturbed, for if he had said that Brother Elias could not come it would have been a lie; and if he had said he would not come because of his pride, he feared to give a bad example to the boy visitor.
Meantime the boy was knocking again, and louder still, so that Brother Masseo, going to the door, said unto him:
"You have not yet profited by my lesson in knocking."
To which the youth replied:
"Brother Elias will not come to me because of pride, but go, tell Brother Francis that I came to speak with him, and that as I do not wish to hinder him from prayer, I bid him send Brother Elias to me."
So Masseo went and found Brother Francis praying in the wood with his face turned towards Heaven. And he told him all. Then Francis perceived that the youth was an angel of God in the form of a man, and, without turning his face from Heaven, he said:
"Bid Brother Elias go immediately, under obedience, to this young man."
So Elias went to the door and banged it open with great noise and discourtesy, saying: "What in the world do you want?" To which the youth replied: "Have a care, Brother, for anger troubles the soul and blinds the eyes."
"Tell me what you want, I say," cried Brother Elias, getting still more angry. So the youth put these two questions to him:
"Is it lawful for a follower of the Gospel of Christ to eat that which is set before him? Is it lawful for any man to destroy the liberty that the Gospel teaches?"
Then was Brother Elias very wroth, for he knew what he meant, and he answered very haughtily: "I know well, but I will not answer you; go about your business."
"Perhaps I could answer those questions better than you can," said the youth, but Brother Elias shut the door in his face, and in great anger went away.
But when he began to think he realised that he could not answer those questions at all, seeing that he, being in authority in the Order, had made a rule that was not in the Gospel, to the effect that no brother should eat meat at any time. And being very uneasy, he remembered that the youth had said, albeit very modestly, that he could best answer those questions; so he returned to the door and opened it again, meaning to have further speech about the matter.
But the fair youth had disappeared; for the pride of Brother Elias made him unworthy to speak with an angel.
Now after this, when Brother Elias was walking in the Wood, came Francis to him and rebuked him, saying:
"How ill done to drive away the angel who came hither to teach us! See what cometh of wicked pride of heart! I fear me greatly that thy pride will make thee end thy days outside this Order."
(And so in after days it surely came to pass, for Brother Elias died outside the Order of the Friars Minor.)
At that same hour when the Angel departed from the house, came Brother Bernard from a long pilgrimage to the bank of a deep river which he knew not how to cross.
And there came to his side one like unto a comely youth, who saluted him saying:
"God give thee peace, good Brother!"
And the holy Brother Bernard, seeing his fair and joyful countenance, asked him whence he came. And the youth replied:
"I come from the place where abides the good Francis, and would have spoken with him but could not, for he was wrapt in prayer. In that place abide also Brother Masseo and Brother Elias. Brother Masseo taught me how to knock at the door like a Friar Minor, but Brother Elias was too proud to come to me, and when he was obliged to come, he would not answer my questions, and therefore were his eyes blinded so that he could not see me when he would."
Then looking kindly upon Brother Bernard, he said:
"Why do you not cross over?"
"Because," said Bernard, "I am greatly in fear of being drowned."
"Fear not. Let us cross together," said the youth. Forthwith he took the hand of the brother and in a moment, without appearing to move, they stood upon the further bank.
Then Brother Bernard knew that he was in the presence of an angel and cried in a loud voice:
"O thou blessed one of God. Tell me, what is thy name?"
And the Angel replied:
"My name is Wonderful."
And having said this, he vanished from his sight.
- text taken from A Little Book of Saint Francis and His Brethren, by Ethel Mary Wilmot-Buxton