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From the very beginning of his conversion our seraphic Father Francis used to meditate on the crucified Christ with the utmost love and devotion, and never ceased until the day of his death to preach Christ to all by word and example. In the year 1224, while he was rapt in contemplation on La Verna, Christ our Lord worked a most wonderful prodigy: he reproduced in Francis' body the marks of his own Passion: This well known happening was attested by trustworthy witnesses, and Benedict XI allowed the Friars Minor to recall it each year by celebrating the anniversary on this day。
