“The Lord gave me, brother Francis, thus to begin doing penance in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers. And the Lord Himself led me among them and I worked mercy with them. And when I left them, what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body. And afterwards I stayed for a little while and then I went forth from the world.”
(St. Francis, Testament)