First Brothers
The first followers of St Francis (from ca. 1209) included Brothers Bernard of Quintavalle, Peter Catanii, Giles, Philip and Moricus. These men were almost certainly among the eleven (or perhaps twelve) brothers who travelled with St Francis to Rome in ca. 1209 to seek papal approval for their proposed way of life. The elderly Sylvestor, a canon of San Rufino, joined St Francis soon after, and was the first priest to do so.
Brother Masseo was with St Francis when he received the Portiuncula Indulgence from Pope Honorius III in 1216; Brothers Illuminato and Peter Catanii accompanied him on his mission to the Saracens at Damietta of 1219-20; and he appointed Brother Peter Catanii as his Vicar when he relinquished administrative control of the Order in 1220.
Brothers Leo, Rufino and Illuminato were with St Francis on Mount la Verna when he received the stigmata in 1224. He spent the following last two years of his life weighed down by infirmity, and was cared for by four brothers “who ... were very dear to him”. These seem to have been Brothers Leo, Rufino, Angelo and John de Laudibus.
When Peter Catanii died in 1221, St Francis chose Brother Elias as “mother to himself and ... father to the other brothers”. Brothers Rufino, John de Laudibus and Elias were privileged to see the wound in St Francis’ side before he died. Brother Elias received a special blessing from the dying S Francis before the brothers carried him from Palazzo Vescovile to the Portiuncula.
Many of these companions of St Francis survived him by a number of decades, and they became important sources for information about him. In particular, Brothers Leo, Rufino and Angelo wrote the the so-called “Legend of the Three Companions” (see below) in 1246.
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