The Medieval Church at its Height 487 After the death of St. Francis (1226) many of the order, change in which now numbered several thousand members, wished to of^the Fran-^ maintain the simple rule of absolute poverty; others, including ^J^^Jp^^^, the new head of the order, believed that much good might be death done with the wealth which people were anxious to give them. 1^ Lit- „^;'J Fig. 176. Church of St. Francis at Assisi Assisi is situated on a high hill, and the monastery of the Franciscans is built out on a promontory. The monastery has tzvo churches, one above the other. The lower church, in which are the remains of St. Francis, was begun in 1228 and contains pictures of the life and mira- cles of the saint. To reach the upper church (completed 1253) one can go up by the stairs, seen to the right of the entrance to the lower church, to the higher level upon which the upper church faces They argued that the individual friars might still remain abso- lutely possessionless, even if the order had beautiful churches and comfortable monasteries. So a stately church was imme- diately constructed at Assisi (Fig. 176) to receive the remains of their humble founder, who in his lifetime had chosen a deserted
