XIII.

By this edict, the pontif renewed that part of the C ENT. rule, that prohibited all kinds of property among pARTI the Franciscans, every thing that bore the least resemblance of a legal possession, or a fixed domain; but he granted to them, at the same time, the use of things necessary, such as houses, books, and other conveniences of that nature, the property of which, in comformity with the appointment of INNOCENT IV. was to reside in the church of Rome. Nor did the provident pontif stop here; but prohibited, under the severest penalties, all private explications of this new law lest they should excite disputes and furnish new matter of contention; and reserved the power of interpreting it to himself alone, and to his successors in the pontificate [u].

bles and

tual.

XXXVI. However disposed NICOLAS was to Excites satisfy the Spiritual, and austere part of the Fran- new trouciscan order, which was now become numerous exasperates both in Italy and France, and particularly in the the Spiriprovince of Narbonne, the constitution above mentioned was far from producing that effect. The monks of that gloomy faction that resided in Italy, received the papal edict with a sullen and discontented silence. Their brethren in France, and more especially in the southern parts of that kingdom, where the inhabitants are of a warm and sanguine complexion, testified, in an open and tumultuous manner, their disapprobation of this new constitution, and having at their head a famous Franciscan, whose name was JEAN PILRRE D'OLIVE, they excited new dissensions and troubles in the order [6]. This PIERRE D'OLIVE was a native

[a] This constitution is yet extant in the Jus Canon. Lib. vi. Decretal. Tit. xii. c. iii. p. 1028, edit. Bolmeriance, and is vulgarly called the Constitution EXIT, from its beginning thus: Exit, &c.

[6] In some ancient records, this ring-leader is called Petrus Betterrensis, i. e. Peter of Breziers, because he resided for a long

P 4

time

CENT.a native of Serignam in Languedoc, who had acPARTII.quired a shining reputation by his writings, and

I whose eminent sanctity and learning drew after him a great number of followers; nor is it to be denied, that there were many important truths and wise maxims in the instructions he delivered. One of the great objects, which he never lost sight of in his writings, was the corruption of the church of Rome, which he censured with a peculiar freedom and severity, in a work entitled, Postilla, or A Commentary on the Revelations, affirming boldly, that that church was represented by the whore of Babylon, the mother of harlots, whom StJOHN beheld sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads, and ten horns [c]. It is, however, to be observed, that this severe censor of a corrupt church was, himself, a most superstitious fanatic in several respects, having imbibed the greatest part of those monstrous opinions, which the Spiritual pretended to have received from the abbot JOACHIM; to which he added an impious and extravagant veneration for St FRANCIS, whom he considered as wholly and entirely transformed into the person of Christ [d]. In the debate concerning the sense of the rule of this famous chief, he seemed to adhere to neither of the contending parties; for he allowed his followers the bare use of the necessaries of life; and being called upon, at different times, by the authority of his superiors, to declare his sentiments upon this head, he professed

his

time in the convent of Beziers, where he performed the functions of a public teacher. By others, he is named PETRUS de Serignano, from the place of his nativity. This remark is so much the more necessary, as certain authors have taken these three -denominations for three distinct persons.

[c] Revelations xvii. 3, 4, 5.

[d] Totum CHRISTO configuratum. See the Litera Magistrorum de Postilla Fratris P. Joh. Olivi, in BALUZII Miscellan. tom. i. p. 213.-WADDINGI Annales Minor. tom. v. p. 51.

XIII

his assent to the interpretation that had been CENT, given of the rule in question by NICOLAS Ill. PARTIL He leaned, nevertheless, to the side of those austere and Spiritual Franciscans, who not only opposed the introduction of property among the individuals of the order, but also maintained that the whole community, considered collectively, was likewise to be excluded from possessions of every kind. His zeal for these gloomy Franciscans was great, and he defended their cause with warmth [e]; hence he is looked upon as the chief of that faction, which disputed so often, and so vehemently, with the Roman pontifs, in favour of the renunciation of property, in consequence of the institution of St FRANCIS [ƒ].

bates.

XXXVII. The credit and authority of PIERRE Continua D'OLIVE, whom the multitude considered not tion of only as a man of unblemished sanctity, but also these deas a prophet sent from above, added new force and vigour to the Spiritual, and encouraged them to renew the combat with redoubled fury. But the prudence of the heads of the order prevented, for some time, the pernicious effects of these violent efforts, and so over-ruled the impetuous

motions

[e] The real sentiments of PIERRE D'OLIVE will be best discovered in the last discourse he pronounced, which is yet extant in BOULAY's Histor. Acad. Paris. tom. iii. p. 535, and in WADDING'S Annal. Minor. tom. v. p. 378.

[f] For an account of this famous friar, see not only the common monastic historians, such as RAYNALDUS, AlexanDER, and OUDINUS, but also the following: BALUZII Miscell. tom. i. p. 213. and in Vitis Pontif. Avenion. tom. ii. p. 752.---CAR. PLESSIS D'AGENTRE, Collectio Judiciorum de novis Ecclesia Erroribus, tom. i. p. 226.--WADDING. Annal. Minor. tom. v. p. 52. 108. 121. 140. 236. and more especially p. 378. where he makes an unsuccessful attempt to justify this enthusiast.-BOULAY, Hist. Acad. Paris. tom. iii. p. 535.-SCHELHORNII Amanitates Literaria, tom. ix. p. 678. Histoire Generale de Languedoc, par les Moines Benedictins, tom. iv. p. 91. 179. 182. The bones of PIERRE D'OLIVE were raised by the order of the Roman pontif John XXII. and burnt publicly with his writings, in the year 1325. See RAYNALD. ad in.

325. sect. 20.

PART II.

CEN T.motions of this enthusiastic faction, that a sort XIII. of equality was preserved between the contending parties. But the promotion of MATTHEW of Aqua Sparta, who was elected general of the order in the year 1287, put an end to these prudential measures, and changed entirely the face of affairs. This new chief suffered the ancient discipline of the Franciscans to dwindle away to nothing, indulged his monks in abandoning even the very appearance of poverty, and thus drew upon him, not only the indignation and rage of the austerer part of the Spiritual Franciscans, but also the disapprobation of the more moderate members of that party. Hence arose various tumults and seditions, first in the marquisate of Ancona, and afterwards in France, which the new general endeavoured to suppress by imprisonment, exile, and corporal punishments; but, finding all these means ineffectual, resigned his place in the year 1289 [g]. His successor RAYMOND GOFFREDI employed his utmost efforts to appease these troubles. For this purpose he recalled the banished friars, set at liberty those that had been cast into prison, and put out of the way several of the austerer Franciscans, who had been the principal fomentors of these unhappy divisions, by sending them into Armenia in the character of missionaries. But the disorder was too far gone to admit of a remedy. The more moderate Franciscans, who had a relish for the sweets of property and opulence, accused the new general of a partial attachment to the Spiritual, whom he treated with peculiar affection and respect, and therefore employed their whole credit to get him removed from his office, which, with much difficulty, they, at length, effected under the pontificate of BONIFACE VIII. On the other hand, the more rigid

[g] WADDINGI Annales Min. tom. v. p. 210, 211. 235.

XIII.

rigid part of the Spiritual faction renounced all cENT. fellowship, even with such of their own party as PART H. discovered a pacific and reconciling spirit; and, forming themselves into a separate body, protested publicly against the interpretation which NICOLAS III. had given of the rule of St FRANCIS. Thus, from the year 1290, the affairs of the Franciscans carried a dismal aspect, and portended nothing else than seditions and schisms in an order, that had been so famous for its pretended disinterestedness and humility [b].

XXXVIII. In the year 1294, a certain number of Italian Franciscans, of the Spiritual party, addressed themselves to CELESTIN V. for a permission to form a separate order, in which they might not only profess, but also observe, in the strictest manner, that austere rule of absolute poverty, which St FRANCIS had prescribed to his followers. The good pontif, who, before his elevation to the head of the church, had led a solitary and austere life [i], and was fond of every thing that looked like mortification and self-denial, granted with the utmost facility, the request of these friars, and placed at the head of the new order, a monk, whose name was LIBERATus, and who was one of the greatest self-tormen

tors

[b] Id. Ibid. tom. v. p. 108. 121. 140. and more especially P. 235, 236.

[i]This pope, whose name was PETER MEURON, had retired very young to a solitary mountain, in order to devote himself entirely to prayer and mortification. The fame of his piety brought may to see him from a principle of curiosity, scveral of whom renounced the world, and became the companions of his solitude. With these he formed a kind of community, in the year 1254, which was approved by URBAN IV. in 1264, and erected into a distinct order, called The Hermits of St Damien. Upon MEURON's elevation to the pontificate, and his assuming the name of CELESTIN V. his order, which must not be confounded with the new Franciscan Celestia Hermits, took the title of Celestins.