INTRODUCTION In his previous Rule, Francis encouraged the friars to preach with actions rather than with words (All friars, however, should preach with deeds). For Francis, gestures and symbols were as important as the words themselves. In Franciscan sources, Francis depended as much on dramatic gestures and images as on the words he said (or did not say) to preach his message. The meal at Greccio provides an excellent example of how Francis used both of these elements, as well as words, to make the “sermon” manifest. This article will examine this meal of Greccio through the lens of two sources, the earlier Compilazione di Assisi and the later work, The Memory of the Desire of a Soul by Tommaso da Celano. Greccio's meal will be compared and contrasted in these two sources, especially regarding the meaning of Francis' unspoken actions within these writings. For Francis, actions spoke louder than words. Source Texts The earliest account in which the story of the Greccio meal can be found is in a collection of early Franciscan documents known as The Assisi Compilation. This collection of ancient sources took place soon after the election of Crescentius of Iesi as minister general of the Order of Friars Minor in 1244. After his election, Crescentius ordered all the friars to send him written accounts of everything they could remember about the life of Francis. Since many of the friars who had known Francis personally were near the end of their lives, Crescenzio attempted to preserve the oral memory of "those who knew him". It was this directive from Crescentius that gave rise to the collection of accounts that later came to be called the Assisi Compilation. This compilation......half of the paper......dating back to the Assisi Compilation, was effective (Some of them began to cry loudly, considering how he was sitting on the ground, wanting to correct them in such a holy and simple way ). The Greccio meal recorded in both The Memory of a Soul's Desire and the Assisi Compilation are both interesting sources for looking at the more dramatic side of Francis' ministry and the methods he used to preach his message. While it may be difficult to analyze the account of the meal from a historical and hagiographic perspective, the essential elements, primarily Francis' use of performative preaching, are accurate. From the perspective of homiletics, Francis' use of silent gestures and drama may have been looked down upon. But Francis' use of these things was effective in convincing his intended audience, and that is not the goal of all preaching?