Commentary Par XI 109-117

Francis's death receives more poetic space than any other element in Thomas's biography.  His soul flies back to its Maker (this is one of the few specific notices we have that some of the saved bypass purgation in order to proceed directly to Heaven; see C.Par.X.121-129).

The merchant in him, now totally redefined, does what all merchants are sure to do: make a will in favor of their surviving family or friends.  Thus does Francis leave his 'treasure' to his 'family,' commending them to love his 'wife,' Poverty, and commending his body to the dust, whence we all came.  In good Franciscan fashion, he does not even want a plain coffin, only the earth itself.

Thomas's narrative has moved first along a vertical axis, beginning in the mountains bove Assisi ([Par XI 43-45]), and descending from there; then along a horizontal axis, as Francis moves around Italy and the Near East; and finally ending, once more on a mountain (Alvernia, [Par XI 106]), with his soul moving up still higher, to Heaven, while his body's latent movement is down, back into nothingness, without a containing bier (bara, the last word in Thomas's narrative), in the earth.  He was canonized within two years of his death (1228).