Chapter XXVIII. Of his happy passing from this world and his burial in the… CHAPTER XXVIII Of his happy passing from this world and his burial in the Church
(1) ESUS, out ot his abundant kindness, doth stablish and redeem the faithful, and hath most surely promised them Eternal life and a full recompense, saying: "Everyone that hathI forsaken father or mother or other earthly ties for my Name's Sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting." He therefore saw fit as a reward to the holy Florentius
His faithful servant—who was adorned with many virtues and had been proved by divers burdens and infirmities—to deliver him out of the prison house of this flesh, and to remove him to His own Kingdom in Heaven, whereat the Angels did rejoice.
(2) So when Florentius by his counsel and aid had founded as many devout Communities and Monasteries as he could and had instructed the lowly flock of his own house in the ordinances of peace and brotherly love according to Christ's good pleasure, and had carefully guarded them therein, he began inwardly to sigh and ardently to long to see the citizens of the heavenly country and the glory of Christ, toward Whom he had confidence in all things, and Whom he loved above all else.
Wherefore with true devotion he asked that the Body of the Lord should be administered to him, and gazing thereupon with faith unwavering, and adoring the same with the reverence that is due, he said: "Oh! my Beloved Lord God, pardon me that I have so often touched and received Thee so unworthily." At these words many were pricked to the heart and wept, and one of the Canons who heard his words groaned deeply, saying: "Then what should I say, miserable sinner that I am, if a man so good doth feel and say such things about himself!" 145
But Florentius, having received the Very Body of God, and being fortified with the grace of Christ, gave himself up wholly to the good pleasure of God, and so long as he could speak he poured forth words of most wholesome comfort to his beloved Sons and Brothers.
(3) Amongst other things worthy to be remembered, he commended the unity of Brotherly Love, saying: "All who dwell in one house should be one in thought, should hold one purpose in the Lord, and should ever aim at conforming to one standard, without varying, in simple obedience to their superior. Wheresoever the Brothers do strive in fervency of spirit to be of one mind and to conform themselves in all things by the pattern of Christ's humility, there is peace, there is spiritual progress, there is a house well ordered. Abide in your lowly simplicity and Christ shall abide with you."
After this holy exhortation he set one of his priests over the whole Community, lest they, the Lord's flock, should remain without a director, and being set amid the waves of the world, should be as a ship that hath not a proper helm; therefore he set over them
Amilius, a devout man, wise and learned, and one that was not backward in zeal for God