§ 2.

  For having been born at Bagnoregio in Tuscany, so that he might satisfy the pious vow of his mother, he entered as an adolescent into the Religion of St. Francis, by means of whose still recent footsteps the new soldier of Christ progressing humbly and constantly, drank the most healthful observance of regular norms with such ardor of spirit and avidity of heart, that there appeard in him the highest sanctity, and with innocence and chastity of life, holy humility, patience, meekness, disdain of earthly things, desire for those heavenly, he was an example to and the admiration of all. Inflammed in such great sweetness and fervor of divine love, his spirit was so rapt in God, that already as one introduced into the wine cellar of the Spouse and drunk with the best wine of charity, he seemed to gaze everywhere upon Jesus Christ Crucified and Suffering, and to dwell in His wounds. Truly to this exceptional holiness of life did this man of God join the great praise of outstanding doctrine, with God so disposing, so that for His glory and the utility of the Church, he would not only make very great progress in example, but in word and erudition. And so when in the study of the Sacred Letters, the reading of the holy Fathers and in the very necessary disicipline of scholastic theology, having been employed most diligently by Alexander of Hales, the distinguished theologian of that era, for a brief space of time, with the goodness of surpassing genius, by assiduous labor, and what is chief of all, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who molded him on all sides as a golden vessel for a chosen honor, he made such progress and arrived at such perfection of doctrine, that decorated in solemn custom with the distinctions of a Master in Theology in the frequented lecture hall of Paris, he taught sacred theology publicly in the same place.