The evangelist Mark recounts the healing of a stuttering deaf man: Jesus calls him aside, puts his fingers in his ears and touches his tongue with saliva.

The witnesses of the Word of God, those who resemble Christ in life, are made capable of healing the sick of all kinds by Him. Francis had this charisma from God.

We read, in fact, in the Franciscan Sources:

In Città della Pieve there was a young beggar, deaf and mute from birth. His tongue was so short and thin that it seemed to be cut off at the root [...].

A certain Mark gave him hospitality for the love of God, and the young man, feeling that he loved him, made a habit of staying with him.

One evening during dinner, Mark said to his wife in the presence of the boy: 'If blessed Francis would restore this boy's hearing and speech, that would be a great miracle! Then he added: 'I vow to God that if Francis deigns to perform this miracle, I will keep this boy at my own expense all his life'.

A truly marvellous thing: at that very instant the boy's tongue swelled and he began to speak, saying: 'Glory to God and to St Francis, who have given me hearing and speech' (FS 1307).

The Lord does all things well!

He gives his prophets what they sensitively testify with their lives, turning them into splinters of Light for the path of multitudes of souls.

The Lord also makes use of his Friends for those who do not want to hear and obey the Word, bringing them back to listening and to works of humanisation.

In the Sources we find a significant episode, taken from the Second Life of Celano.

"Another friar did not want to obey the vicar of the Saint, but followed a confrere as his superior.

The Saint, who was present, admonished him by means of a third person, and he threw himself at the feet of the vicar and, leaving the master he had chosen, promised obedience to the one whom the Saint assigned to him as his superior.

Francis heaved a deep sigh, and turned to his companion, whom he had sent to warn him:

"I saw, brother," he said to him, "on the back of the disobedient friar a devil clasped around his neck.

Subdued and held in bridle by such a knight, after having shaken the bite of obedience, he let himself be led by his will and whim.

But when I prayed to the Lord for him, immediately the demon turned away in confusion'.

So penetrating was this man's gaze, that although he had weak eyes for material things, he had discerning ones for the spirit [...].

There is, I say, no other choice: either to carry a light burden, by which rather you yourself will be carried, or to be a slave to iniquity" (FS 620).

But Francis' charism exalted divine mercy by what he did in his unmistakable holiness.

In the Major Legend:

"In Maremma, in Latium, a woman who had been insane for five years had also become blind and deaf.

She tore her clothes with her teeth and threw herself into fire and water. At the height of all misfortunes, she also contracted the horrible malcaduco.

But God in his mercy disposed to come to his rescue.

One night, illuminated by God with the splendour of that saving light, she saw the blessed Francis, seated on a lofty throne.

She prostrated herself before him, humbly begging him to heal her; but he did not immediately comply with her prayers.

The woman then made a vow never to deny alms to anyone who asked her for love of God and the Saint as long as she had them.

Immediately the Saint accepted the pact: he, who had once made a similar one with the Lord and, blessing her with the sign of the cross, restored her perfect health. 

From the same infirmity Francis, the saint of God, freed through his goodness a young girl from Norcia, the son of a nobleman, and some others, as it appears from reliable sources" (FS 1310).