Editing Franciscans (section)

===14th century===
====1274–1300====
The successor to Bonaventure, Jerome of Ascoli or Girolamo Masci (1274–1279), (the future [[Pope Nicholas&nbsp;IV]]), and his successor, [[Bonagratia of Bologna]] (1279–1285), also followed a middle course. Severe measures were taken against certain extreme [[Fraticelli|Spirituals]] who, on the strength of the rumor that [[Pope Gregory&nbsp;X]] was intending at the [[Second Council of Lyon|Council of Lyon]] (1274–1275) to force the mendicant orders to tolerate the possession of property, threatened both pope and council with the renunciation of allegiance. Attempts were made, however, to satisfy the reasonable demands of the Spiritual party, as in the bull ''Exiit qui seminat''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.papalencyclicals.net/nichol03/exiit-e.htm|title=Exiit qui seminat|date=August 14, 1279|access-date=January 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703073106/https://www.papalencyclicals.net/nichol03/exiit-e.htm|archive-date=July 3, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> of [[Pope Nicholas&nbsp;III]] (1279), which pronounced the principle of complete poverty to be meritorious and holy, but interpreted it in the way of a somewhat sophistical distinction between possession and usufruct. The bull was received respectfully by Bonagratia and the next two generals, [[Arlotto of Prato]] (1285–1287) and [[Matthew of Aqua Sparta]] (1287–1289); but the Spiritual party under the leadership of the Bonaventuran pupil and apocalyptic [[Peter Olivi|Pierre Jean Olivi]] regarded its provisions for the dependence of the friars upon the pope and the division between brothers occupied in manual labor and those employed on spiritual missions as a corruption of the fundamental principles of the Order. They were not won over by the conciliatory attitude of the next general, [[Raymond Gaufredi]] (1289–1296), and of the Franciscan Pope Nicholas&nbsp;IV (1288–1292). The attempt made by the next pope, [[Pope Celestine&nbsp;V|Celestine V]], an old friend of the order, to end the strife by uniting the Observantist party with his own order of hermits (see [[Celestines]]) was scarcely more successful. Only a part of the Spirituals joined the new order, and the secession scarcely lasted beyond the reign of the hermit-pope. [[Pope Boniface&nbsp;VIII]] annulled Celestine's bull of foundation with his other acts, deposed the general [[Raymond de Gaufredi|Raymond Gaufredi]], and appointed a man of laxer tendency, [[John de Murro]], in his place. The Benedictine section of the Celestines was separated from the Franciscan section, and the latter was formally suppressed by Pope Boniface&nbsp;VIII in 1302. The leader of the Observantists, Olivi, who spent his last years in the Franciscan house at Tarnius and died there in 1298, had pronounced against the extremer "Spiritual" attitude, and given an exposition of the theory of poverty which was approved by the more moderate Observantists, and for a long time constituted their principle.

====Persecution====
Under [[Pope Clement V]] (1305–1314) this party succeeded in exercising some influence on papal decisions. In 1309, Clement had a commission sit at [[Avignon]] for the purpose of reconciling the conflicting parties. [[Ubertino of Casale]], the leader, after Olivi's death, of the stricter party, who was a member of the commission, induced the [[Council of Vienne]] to arrive at a decision in the main favoring his views. The 1313 papal constitution {{lang|la|Exivi de paradiso}} was on the whole conceived in the same sense. 

Clement's successor, [[Pope John XXII]] (1316–1334), favored the laxer or conventual party. By the bull {{lang|la|Quorundam exigit}} he modified several provisions of the constitution {{lang|la|Exivi}}, and required the formal submission of the Spirituals. Some of them, encouraged by the strongly Observantist general [[Michael of Cesena]], ventured to dispute the pope's right so to deal with the provisions of his predecessor. Sixty-four of them were summoned to Avignon and the most obstinate delivered over to the Inquisition, four of them being burned in 1318. Shortly before this, all the separate houses of the Observantists had been suppressed.

====Renewed controversy on the question of poverty====
[[File:Panewniki Hedwig.jpg|thumb|Franciscan friary in [[Katowice]], Poland]]
A few years later a new controversy, this time theoretical, broke out on the question of [[Apostolic poverty|poverty]]. In his 14 August 1279 bull {{lang|la|Exiit qui seminat}},<ref>{{cite web|author=Pope Nicholas III |url=http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/exiit-e.html |title=English translation 2 |access-date=2013-06-16}}</ref> [[Pope Nicholas III]] had confirmed the arrangement already established by [[Pope Innocent IV]], by which all property given to the Franciscans was vested in the [[Holy See]], which granted the friars the mere use of it. The bull declared that renunciation of ownership of all things "both individually but also in common, for God's sake, is meritorious and holy; Christ, also, showing the way of perfection, taught it by word and confirmed it by example, and the first founders of the church militant, as they had drawn it from the fountainhead itself, distributed it through the channels of their teaching and life to those wishing to live perfectly."<ref>[http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/wexiit.html English translation 1]; {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111101081949/http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/wexiit.html |date=2011-11-01 }} cf. [http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/exiit-e.html English translation 2]  and another translation in Rosalind B. Brooke, ''The Image of St Francis''. Cambridge University Press, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-521-78291-3}}, p. 98.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dn4eAAAAIAAJ&q=Brian+Tierney+%22consisted+in+the+exercise%22&pg=PA70|title=Origins of papal infallibility, 1150–1350: a study on the concepts of infallibility, sovereignty and tradition in the Middle Ages|publisher=Brill Archive|date= 1972|access-date=2013-06-16}}</ref><ref name="Schatz">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeH4OKYflbkC&dq=Klaus+Schatz+%22Olivi+by+no%22&pg=PA118 |title=Klaus Schatz, ''Papal Primacy'' |date=1996 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0814655221 |location=Collegeville, Minnesota |pages=117–118 |access-date=2024-08-29}}</ref>

Although ''Exiit qui seminat'' banned disputing about its contents, the decades that followed saw increasingly bitter disputes about the form of poverty to be observed by Franciscans, with the Spirituals (so called because associated with the Age of the Spirit that [[Joachim of Fiore]] had said would begin in 1260)<ref name=History>{{cite web |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/fra/FRAht03.html |title=History of the Franciscan Movement (3) |publisher=Christusrex.org |date=2001-12-30 |access-date=2013-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522162037/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/fra/FRAht03.html |archive-date=2013-05-22 |url-status=dead }}</ref> pitched against the [[Conventual Franciscans]].<ref>Brooke, ''The Image of St Francis'', p. 100</ref> [[Pope Clement V]]'s bull {{lang|la|Exivi de Paradiso}} of 20 November 1312<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/exivi-e.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112210247/http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/wexivi.html|url-status=dead|title=Exivi de Paradiso – Pope Clement V|archive-date=January 12, 2012|website=franciscan-archive.org}}</ref> failed to effect a compromise between the two factions.<ref name=History/> Clement V's successor, [[Pope John XXII]] was determined to suppress what he considered to be the excesses of the Spirituals, who contended eagerly for the view that Christ and his apostles had possessed absolutely nothing, either separately or jointly, and who were citing {{lang|la|Exiit qui seminat}} in support of their view.<ref name=Kleinhenz/> 

In 1317, John XXII formally condemned the group of them known as the Fraticelli.<ref name=History/> On 26 March 1322, with {{lang|la|Quia nonnunquam}}, he removed the ban on discussion of Nicholas III's bull<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/quia_nonnunquam/|title=John XXII, Quia nonnunquam|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606232917/http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/quia_nonnunquam/|archive-date=2014-06-06}}</ref><ref>Brooke, p. 100</ref> and commissioned experts to examine the idea of poverty based on belief that Christ and the apostles owned nothing. The experts disagreed among themselves, but the majority condemned the idea on the grounds that it would condemn the church's right to have possessions.<ref name=History/> The Franciscan chapter held in [[Perugia]] in May 1322 declared on the contrary: "To say or assert that Christ, in showing the way of perfection, and the Apostles, in following that way and setting an example to others who wished to lead the perfect life, possessed nothing either severally or in common, either by right of ownership and {{lang|la|dominium}} or by personal right, we corporately and unanimously declare to be not heretical, but true and catholic."<ref name=History/> 

By the bull {{lang|la|Ad conditorem canonum}} of 8 December 1322,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/john_xxii_ad_conditorem_canonum/|title=John XXII, Ad conditorem canonum|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606234314/http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/john_xxii_ad_conditorem_canonum/|archive-date=2014-06-06}}</ref> John XXII, declaring it ridiculous to pretend that every scrap of food given to the friars and eaten by them belonged to the pope, refused to accept ownership over the goods of the Franciscans in the future and granted them exemption from the rule that absolutely forbade ownership of anything even in common, thus forcing them to accept ownership.<ref>Brooke, pp. 100–101</ref> And, on 12 November 1323, he issued the short bull {{lang|la|Quum inter nonnullos}}<ref>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/QINN-E.HTM English translation 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606071618/http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/QINN-E.HTM |date=2013-06-06 }}; [http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/qinn-e.html English translation 2]</ref> which declared "erroneous and heretical" the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatever.<ref name=Schatz/><ref name="Kleinhenz">{{cite book |author=Christopher Kleinhenz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNs3BQAAQBAJ&dq=Kleinhenz+conflicting+acts&pg=PT874 |title=Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |isbn=978-0415939300 |volume=1 |page=373 |access-date=2024-08-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1pxjEAAAQBAJ&dq=Brian+Tierney+%22judged+heretical%22&pg=PA181 |title=Tierney, p. 181 |date=7 March 2022 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-47696-7 |access-date=2024-08-29}}</ref> John XXII's actions thus demolished the fictitious structure that gave the appearance of absolute poverty to the life of the Franciscan friars.<ref>Brooke, p. 101</ref>

Influential members of the order protested, such as the minister general [[Michael of Cesena]], the English provincial [[William of Ockham]], and [[Bonagratia of Bergamo]]. In 1324, [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis the Bavarian]] sided with the Spirituals and accused the pope of heresy. In reply to the argument of his opponents that Nicholas III's bull {{lang|la|Exiit qui seminat}} was fixed and irrevocable, John XXII issued the bull {{lang|la|Quia quorundam}} on 10 November 1324<ref>[http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/wqq.html English translation 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112204455/http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/wqq.html |date=2012-01-12 }}; [http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/qquor-e.html English translation 2]</ref> in which he declared that it cannot be inferred from the words of the 1279 bull that Christ and the apostles had nothing, adding: "Indeed, it can be inferred rather that the Gospel life lived by Christ and the Apostles did not exclude some possessions in common, since living 'without property' does not require that those living thus should have nothing in common." In 1328, Michael of Cesena was summoned to Avignon to explain the Order's intransigence in refusing the pope's orders and its complicity with Louis of Bavaria. Michael was imprisoned in Avignon, together with Francesco d'Ascoli, Bonagratia, and William of Ockham. In January of that year Louis of Bavaria entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor. Three months later he declared John XXII deposed and installed the Spiritual Franciscan [[Antipope Nicholas V|Pietro Rainalducci]] as [[antipope]]. The Franciscan chapter that opened in [[Bologna]] on 28 May reelected Michael of Cesena, who two days before had escaped with his companions from Avignon. But in August Louis the Bavarian and his pope had to flee Rome before an attack by [[Robert, King of Naples]]. Only a small part of the Franciscan Order joined the opponents of John XXII, and at a general chapter held in [[Paris]] in 1329 the majority of all the houses declared their submission to the Pope. With the bull {{lang|la|Quia vir reprobus}} of 16 November 1329,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/john_xxii_quia_vir_reprobus/|title=John XXII, Quia vir reprobus|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603055534/http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/mhpir/politics_and_international_relations/staff/john_kilcullen/john_xxii_quia_vir_reprobus/|archive-date=2013-06-03}}</ref> John XXII replied to Michael of Cesena's attacks on {{lang|la|Ad conditorem canonum}}, {{lang|la|Quum inter nonnullos}}, and {{lang|la|Quia quorundam}}. In 1330, Antipope Nicholas V submitted, followed later by the ex-general Michael, and finally, just before his death, by Ockham.<ref name=History/>