The Story of the Passing of Saint Francis

Now it presently came to pass that the bodily sickness of blessed Francis increased very greatly, so that he learnt by the mouth of one of his Brothers that he had not long to live.

And at that news the heart of Francis was filled with gladness, and he bade the Brethren come to his bedside and sing to him once more his "Canticle of Brother Sun."

And when they had so done, he added in his fervour of joy, yet one more verse. This is the order of it:

Praise be to Thee, O Lord, for Sister Death
From whom no living man can flee;
Blessed are they whose will is one with Thine -
To them shall Sister Death be truest friend.

Then there came to him Brother Elias, stern of face and heart, and rebuked him for his singing, saying that the men of the city were asking "How is it that he thus openly rejoices, he who is about to die?"

But Francis answered: "Leave me, Brother, to rejoice in the Lord and in the sickness that He sends me; for by His grace I am so united and wedded to my Lord that I can well be merry in the Most High."

It was late in the summer that they carried Francis down for the last time to his beloved Little Portion (Porziuncula), where he had made his earliest home after his conversion. Over the road he had so often tramped they carried him, blind and helpless, upon his bed; and from the bend of the hill he turned his sightless eyes for the last time upon Assisi, the city of his love.

Then, when the hour of his departing drew very nigh, the Brothers once more gathered round him and sang to him the Canticle of Brother Sun; and he blessed them all, and broke bread and gave a portion to each as a remembrance of the love which existed between them. And they wept that he should leave them; but Francis, with a loud voice, cried out:

"Welcome, Sister Death! Thou art to me the gate of life!"

Then he bade them lay him on the ground on sackcloth and ashes, that he might keep his vow of poverty to the very end; and just after the sun had set, he died.

Outside the cell a great company of larks sang Vespers overhead, as a bright ray of light, borne by a little cloud, passed upward to the sky.

- text taken from A Little Book of Saint Francis and His Brethren, by Ethel Mary Wilmot-Buxton