Page:The Lady Poverty - a XIII. century allegory (IA ladypovertyxiiic00giovrich).pdf/37

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to look upon the "Speculum Perfectionis" as the oldest biography of St Francis. The date was probably 1318, and it will be seen how easily a slip might be made between MCCXXVIII and MCCCXVIII.[1] But in favour of the date of 1227 for the "Sacrum Commercium" we have not only the fact that the date is written in words and not in figures, but that the "explicit" distinctly

  1. Cf. the "Miscellanea Francescana," vol. vii. p. 182.