Jesus Christ Promised Saint Francis that the Three Orders He Founded Will Endure Until the End of the World

[The three Orders are the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares, and the Third Order.]

Source: liberius.net, p. 353.

On the Three Great Promises Made by Our Lord to Our Seraphic Father Saint Francis

Shortly before receiving the Stigmata, Saint Francis was on Mount Alverna, where he spent his days and nights in sublime contemplation, in the company of his two dear disciples, fra Massco and fra Leone.

This fra Leone was so simple, so innocent, and so naively obedient that Saint Francis usually called him la pecorella di Dio: “the little lamb of GOD.”

On Alverna, fra Leone lived in a small cave dug into the side of the mountain, next to a deeper cave that Francis had chosen for himself; the two were connected by an opening which, at night, was covered with a few old boards. One night, as fra Leone had fallen asleep after praying for a long time, he was awakened by the sound of voices coming from Saint Francis’s grotto. Fra Leone, very surprised by this unusual noise, was even more astonished when, approaching the opening that served as a door, he saw a bright light that seemed to come from the upper part of the cave. Gently removing one of the boards, he beheld a marvelous sight.

Rapt in ecstasy and raised several cubits above the ground, Saint Francis was there with his eyes turned toward heaven and his arms outstretched; above him an immense flame, very ardent and yet very gentle, seemed to descend from the summit of the vault, run along the walls of the cave, and form something like a dome above the servant of GOD.

A voice came forth from the mysterious flame; but fra Leone could not understand what it was saying. He saw Saint Francis quickly place his right hand into his breast, draw something out, and offer it to the one who spoke to him from the midst of the flame. The voice spoke again, and once more Saint Francis took something from his tunic to offer it as he had the first time; this happened a third time. Then the voice spoke for some time longer. As the flame seemed to diminish and the seraphic patriarch gradually descended toward the ground, fra Leone, fearing he would be indiscreet if he remained any longer, put the board back in its place and spent the rest of the night in prayer.

The next morning Saint Francis called him.

“Fra Leone, fra Leone!” he said, “why did you look last night at what you ought not to have seen?”

“It is true, my Father,” replied the innocent Religious, “it is true. But in the name of Our Lord and of His love, tell me what that flame was, who it was that spoke to you, and what it was that you gave him three times.”

“Fra Leone,” the Saint then answered, “since GOD has permitted that you saw the mystery of that sacred night, I will tell you that this burning flame was the Holy Spirit Himself, who filled me with divine love. From the midst of that most gentle flame, it was my Lord JESUS CHRIST who deigned to speak to me, to me who am nothing but dust and ashes.

He said to me: ‘Francis, give me all that you possess.’

‘Ah! my Lord,’ I answered Him, ‘You know that for love of You I have left everything. I have nothing left but this poor robe that covers my limbs—do You want it?’

‘Put your hand into your bosom,’ the Lord said to me, ‘and give me what you find there.’

I obeyed at once, and to my great surprise I found a large gold coin. I gave it to my GOD.

‘What is this?’ I said to Him. ‘I have neither gold nor silver; where could this have come from?’

‘Francis,’ my Master said to me a second time, ‘put your hand again into your bosom and give me what you find there.’

I found a second gold coin there and offered it to Him as I had the first.

A third time the Savior made the same request of me; a third time I found a gold coin which I offered to Him like the others.

Then He said to me with extreme love:

‘Francis, these three gold coins that you have given me are the three religious families that you have instituted for the honor of my name. In return, I, your Creator and your Redeemer, promise you here three things: first, that the three Orders you have founded will endure until the end of the world; second, that I will bless and love all those who love them; third, that I will assist, with a very special providence at the moment of their death, all those who belong to them.’

Such was the account that the Blessed fra Leone heard from the very mouth of the seraphic Father Saint Francis, and which he has left to us for our great consolation.

Let us bless our good JESUS for such an excess of mercy and love; and let us strive to spread as much as possible this dear Third Order, which brings with it such great graces and which, by its spirit of poverty, simplicity, humility, penance, charity, and holy obedience, is the most direct antidote to the miseries that today ravage the Church.