Excerpt from The Disciple of a Saint: Being the Imaginary Biography of Raniero Di Landoccio Dei Pagliaresi Leggenda Minore, the greater number are addressed to Neri. We gain from them the impression that after her death, as before, he was the centre of the little group. We have charming touches concerning his pursuits, as when Giunta di Grazia writes him from Naples concerning a borrowed volume of Dante, or Stefano thanks him for a copy of original verses, and tells how he has had them choicely illumined and given them away. For Neri was a poet of some excellence - author of graceful lauds in praise of Catherine, and of a rhymed Saint-legend. He also probably translated into Italian, at least in part, the Latin Leggenda of his blessed mother, written by F ra Raimondo of Capua. It is evident that in his hermit's cell he was not wholly with drawn from the world and its interests; his friends consulted him continually on all sorts of matters. Indeed, to many medieval hermits, the cell seems to have implied no extreme degree Of ascetic seclusion, but the simple life, disentangled from worldly cares, pursued under strict religious rule, yet not inconsistent with normal human relations, tempered interest in public affairs, and scholarly pursuits. In a hermitage immediately outside a gate of Siena severe separa tion from the world could hardly have been expected or desired. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.