his first followers have inspired millions of people over the centuries. Since they were first committed to paper, they were told to inspire people to become better followers of Jesus (not St. Francis). For that reason, they have endured unlike any other early Franciscan literature.

This new paperback edition edition of The Little Flowers is unique in its physical beauty as well as its editorial arrangement. For the first time, the stories have been arranged in the most likely chronological ordering of when they happened--rather than following the traditional ordering of them handed down for centuries. As a result, today's reader is now able to read The Little Flowers as a biographical narrative of the life of St. Francis and the world-transforming movement that he founded.