“The followers of most holy Poverty, having nothing, loved nothing, and therefore had no fear of losing anything.  They were content with a tunic only, patched sometimes within and without; no elegance was seen in it, but great abjectness and vileness, to the end they might wholly appear therein as crucified to the world.  They were girt with a cord, and wore drawers of common stuff, and they were piously intent upon remaining in that state, and to have nothing more.  Everywhere, therefore, they were secure, nor kept in suspense by any fear, distracted by no care, they awaited the morrow without solicitude, nor, though oftentimes in great straits in their journeys, were they ever in anxiety about a night’s lodging.  For when, as often happened, they lacked a lodging in the coldest weather, an oven sheltered them, or, at least, they lay hid by night humbly in underground places or in caves.  And by day those who knew how to, worked with their hands, and they stayed in lepers’ houses, or in other decent places, serving all with humility and devotion.

                                              –The Life of Saint Francis, Thomas of Celano, Chapter XV