§ 7. THE PONTIFICATE OF JOHN XXII, 1316-1334. 67
Sonne and Beziers, but also ordered the Inquisition to punish the Spirituals who refused submission.
In spite of the papal decree, the controversy was still being carried on within the order with great heat, when John XXTT. came to the throne. In the decretal Quorumdam exegit, and in the bull Sanctajromana et universalis ecclesia, Dec. 30^ 13J-7, John took a positive position against the^Spii'itimls. A few weeKs~later, he condemned a formal list of their errors and abolished all the convents under Spiritual management. From this time on dates the application of the name Fraticelli ^ to the Spirituals. They refused to submit, and took the position that even a pope had no right to modify the Rule of St. Francis. Michael of Cesena, the general of the order, defended them. Sixty-four of their number were summoned to Avignon. Twenty-five refused to yield, and passed into the hands of the Inquisition. Four were burnt as martyrs at Marseilles, May 7, 1318. Others fled to Sicily. ^
The chief interest of the controversy was now_shif ted^ to the strictly theological question whether Christ and his Apostles observed complete poverty. This dispute threatened to rend the wing of the Conventuals itself. Michael of Cesena, Ockam, and others, took the position that Christ and his Apostles not only held no property as individuals, but held none in common. John, opposing this view, gave as arguments the gifts of the Magi, that Christ possessed clothes and bought food, the purse of Judas, and Paul's labor for a living. Jn the bull Cum inter nonnullos, 1323, and other bulls, John declared itjieresy to liold that Christ and the Apostles held no possessions. Those who resisted this interpretation were pronounced, 1324, rebels and heretics. John went farther, and gave back to the order the right of possessing goods in fee simply, a right which Innocently, had denied, and he declared that in things which disappear in the using, such as eatables, no distinction can be made between their use and their possession. In 1326 John pronounced Olivi's commentary on the Apocalypse
1 Hefele, VI. 581. Ehrle : Die Spiritualen in Archiv, 1885, pp. 509-514.
2 Ehrle : Archiv, pp. 156-158. He adduces acts of Inquisition against the Spirituals in Umbria, in the vicinity of Assisi, as late as 1311.
68 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1617.
heretical. The three Spiritual leaders, Cesena, Ockam, and Bonagratia were seized and held in prison until 1328, when they escaped and fled to Lewis the Bavarian at Pisa. It was at this time that Ockam was said to have used to the emperor the famous words, " Do thou defend me with the sword and I will defend thee with the pen" — tu me defendes gladio, ego te defendam calamo. They were deposed from their offices and included in the ban fulminated against the anti-pope, Peter of Corbara. Later, Cesena submitted to the pope, as Ockam is also said to have done shortly before his death. Cesena died at Munich, 1342. He committed the seal of the order to Ockam. On his death-bed he is said to have cried out : " My God, what have I done ? I have appealed against him who is the highest on the earth. But look, O Father, at the spirit of truth that is in me which lias not erred through the lust of the flesh but from great zeal for the seraphic order and out of love for poverty." Bonagratia also died in Munich. ^ Later in the fourteenth century the Regular Observance grew again to considerable proportions, and in the beginning of the fifteenth century its fame was revived by the flaming preachers Bernardino of Siena and John of Capistrano. The peace of the Franciscan order continued to be the concern of pope after pope until, in 1517, Leo X. .pterin inated tliP. strup^^e of three centuries byformally recognizing two distinct societies witliin thel^'ranciscanbody. The moderate wing was placed under the Master-General of the Conventual Minorite Brothers, and was confirmed in the right to hold property. The strict or Observant wing was placed under a Minister-General of the Whole Order of St. Francis.^ The latter takes precedence in processions and at other great functions, and holds his office for six years.
1 See Riezler, p. 124.
2 Magister-generalis fratrum minonim conventualiiim and ininister-generalis totins ordinis S. Francesci. The Capuchins, who are Franciscans, were recognized as a distinct order by Paul V., 1619. Among the other schismatic Franciscan orders are the Recollect Fathers of France, who proceeded from the Recollect Convent of Nevers, and were recognized as a special body by Clement VIII., 1002. These monks were prominent iu mission work among the Indians in North America.