The words were in the Italian language, in which this song had flowed from the poet heart of the Saint of Assisi, so rich in love to God and all animate nature; for she had learned to speak Italian in the Convent of St. Clare, to which several Italians had been transferred from their own home and that of their order and its founder.

Lady Wendula and her daughter could also follow the song; for the mother had learned the beautiful language of the Saint of Assisi from the minnesingers in her youth, and in the early years of her marriage had accompanied the Emperor Frederick, with her husband, across the Alps.  So she had taught Maria.

As Lady Schorlin approached the door Eva, with her large eyes uplifted, was just beginning the second verse: 

“Praised by His creatures all
Praised be the Lord my God
By Messer Sun, my brother, above all,
Who by his rays lights us and lights the day. 
Radiant is he, with his great splendour stored,
Thy glory, Lord, confessing.

“By sister Moon and stars my Lord is praised,
Where clear and fair they in the heavens are raised.

“By brother Wind, my Lord, thy praise is said,
By air and clouds, and the blue sky o’erhead,
By which thy creatures all are kept and fed.

“By one most humble, useful, precious, chaste,
By sister Water, O my Lord, thou art praised.

“And praised is my Lord
By brother Fire-he who lights up the night;
Jocund, robust is he, and strong and bright.

“Praised art Thou, my Lord, by mother Earth,
Thou who sustainest her and governest,
And to her flowers, fruit, herbs, dost colour give and birth.

“And praised is my Lord
By those who, for Thy love, can pardon give
And bear the weakness and the wrongs of men.

“Blessed are those who suffer thus in peace,
By Thee, the Highest, to be crowned in heaven.

“Praised by our sister Death, my Lord, art Thou,
From whom no living man escapes. 
Who die in mortal sin have mortal woe,
But blessed are they who die doing Thy will;
The second death can strike at them no blow.

“Praises and thanks and blessing to my Master be! 
Serve ye Him all, with great humility.”

How God was loved by this saint, who beheld in everything the Most High had created kindred whom he loved and held intercourse with as with brother and sister!  Whatever the divine Father’s love had formed—­the sun, the moon and stars, the wood, water and fire, the earth and her fair children, the various flowers and plants—­he made proclaim, each for itself and all in common, like a mighty chorus, the praise of God.  Even death joins in the hymn, and all these sons and daughters of the same exalted Father call to the minds of men the omnipotent, beneficent rule of the Lord.  They help mortals to appreciate God’s majesty, fill their hearts with gratitude,