The Chapter Of Mats

Once the faithful servant of Christ, St. Francis, held a General Chapter on the plain of St. Mary of the Angels, where more than five thousand friars gathered together.

And in that camp each group had made tents covered on top and round about with rushes and mats; accordingly this Chapter was called the Chapter of Mats. They slept on the bare ground or on some straw, and their pillows were stones or pieces of wood.

As a result, everyone who saw or heard them had such devotion for them, and the fame of their holiness was so great, that many people came to see them from the Pope's Court, which was then nearby Perugia, and from other parts of the Valley of Spoleto. Many counts and barons and knights and other noblemen and many plain people, and cardinals and bishops and abbots with other members of the clergy, flocked to see this very holy and large and humble gathering of so saintly men, such as the world had never seen.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Little Flowers of St. Francis - 18