Brother Ugolino Boniscambi was born around 1260 and died around 1345. The primary compiler of The Little Flowers, he spent his novitiate in Roccabruna in the far northwest corner of Italy and was a friend of the angelic Pope Celestine V, who briefly ruled and then controversially quit, in 1294. Jon M. Sweeney is an editor and popular spiritual writer who has published widely on Franciscan history. He is the author of The St. Francis Prayer Book and the editor of The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis, by Paul Sabatier (both Paraclete Press).