v. 72.  Bernard.] One of the first followers of the saint.

v. 76.  Egidius.] The third of his disciples, who died in 1262.  His work, entitled Verba Aurea, was published in 1534, at Antwerp See Lucas Waddingus, Annales Ordinis Minoris, p. 5.

v. 76.  Sylvester.] Another of his earliest associates.

v. 83.  Pietro Bernardone.] A man in an humble station of life at Assisi.

v. 86.  Innocent.] Pope Innocent iii.

v. 90.  Honorius.] His successor Honorius iii who granted certain privileges to the Franciscans.

v. 93.  On the hard rock.] The mountain Alverna in the Apennine.

v. 100.  The last signet.] Alluding to the stigmata, or marks resembling the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the saint’s body.

v. 106.  His dearest lady.] Poverty.

v. 113.  Our Patriarch ] Saint Dominic.

v. 316.  His flock ] The Dominicans.

v. 127.  The planet from whence they split.] “The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe.”

CANTO XII

v. 1.  The blessed flame.] Thomas Aquinas

v. 12.  That voice.] The nymph Echo, transformed into the repercussion of the voice.

v. 25.  One.] Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan order, in which he effected some reformation, and one of the most profound divines of his age.  “He refused the archbishopric of York, which was offered him by Clement iv, but afterwards was prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal’s hat.  He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D. 1221, and died in 1274.”  Dict.  Histor. par Chaudon et Delandine.  Ed. Lyon. 1804.

v. 28.  The love.] By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura, a Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic, as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St. Francis.

v. 42.  In that clime.] Spain.

v. 48.  Callaroga.] Between Osma and Aranda, in Old Castile, designated by the royal coat of arms.

v. 51.  The loving minion of the Christian faith.] Dominic was born April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221.  His birthplace, Callaroga; his father and mother’s names, Felix and Joanna, his mother’s dream; his name of Dominic, given him in consequence of a vision by a noble matron, who stood sponsor to him, are all told in an anonymous life of the saint, said to be written in the thirteenth century, and published by Quetif and Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum.  Par. 1719. fol. t 1. p. 25.  These writers deny his having been an inquisitor, and indeed the establishment of the inquisition itself before the fourth Lateran council.  Ibid. p. 88.

v. 55.  In the mother’s womb.] His mother, when pregnant with him, is said to have dreamt that she should bring forth a white and black dog, with a lighted torch in its mouth.