Edward Cuthbert Butler,
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 3…
(1911)
“ BERNARDIN OF SIENA, ST (1380–1444) , Franciscan friar and preacher, was born of a noble family in 1380. His parents died in his childhood, and on the completion of his education he spent some years in the service of the sick in the hospitals, and thus caught the plague, of which he nearly died. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan order in the strict branch called Observant, of which he became one of the chief promoters (see Franciscans) . ”
