St. Felix, St. Vincent, and St. Philip went together one year to the great pilgrimage at Assisi. When they returned to Rome, the Pope — one of the Innocents, though the storyteller couldn’t say which — sent for them, one at a time.
“Were there many people at the pilgrimage?” he asked St. Felix.
“An immense number,” said St. Felix. “More than I thought the whole world contained.”
“Then a great many sins were remitted that day?”
St. Felix sighed.
“Why do you sigh?”
St. Felix hesitated, and only answered when the Pope commanded him to. “There were very few, among all that crowd, who truly received the grace — because so few came with the sorrow the heart must have for it to take hold.”
“How many did truly receive it?”
Another hesitation. “Four.”
“Four! And who were they?”
St. Felix was reluctant to the last, but obeyed. “Father Philip, Father Vincent, one old man, and one other.”
The Pope then called in St. Vincent, and went through the same conversation. His list was: Father Philip, Father Felix, one old man, and one other.
Then St. Philip, who gave: Father Vincent, Father Felix, one old man, and one other.
The Pope saw that all three accounts agreed, and that each of them, out of humility, had left his own name out.
When the people of Rome heard the story, they demanded that all three be made saints.
