Francis is soon joined by a prominent fellow townsman, Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributes all that he has to the work, and by other companions, who are said to have reached the number of eleven within a year.
The brothers live in the deserted lazar-house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spend much of their time traveling through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations.
Their life is extremely ascetic, though such practices are apparently not prescribed by the first rule which Francis has given them (probably as early as 1209), which seems to have been nothing more than a collection of Scriptural passages emphasizing the duty of poverty.
Soon attracting followers, Francis preaches the necessity of a poor, simple lifestyle based on the ideals of the Gospels.
In spite of some similarities between this principle and some of the fundamental ideas of the Waldensians, the brotherhood of Assisi succeeds in gaining the approval of Pope Innocent III.
What seems to have impressed first the Bishop of Assisi, Guido, then Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo and finally Innocent himself, is their utter loyalty to the Church and the clergy.
In approval, Pope Innocent III grants Francis and his disciples permission to preach on moral topics, and has Francis ordained a deacon, allowing him to read Gospels in the church.
The followers, who are tonsured, increase, called by Francis friars minor—the lesser brethren.
Innocent probably sees in them a possible answer to his desire for an orthodox preaching force to counter heresy.
Many legends have clustered around the decisive audience of Francis with the Pope.
The realistic account in Matthew Paris, according to which the Pope originally sent the shabby saint off to keep swine, and only recognized his real worth by his ready obedience, has, in spite of its improbability, a certain historical interest, since it shows the natural antipathy of the older Benedictine monasticism to the plebeian mendicant orders.
