Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/19

 THE QUESTION OF POVERTY. 3 sense attached to it of absolute renunciation of the will, its in- compatibility with the conduct of human affairs was shown at an early period, when Friar Haymo of Feversham overthrew Gregory, the Provincial of Paris, and, not long afterwards, withstood the general Elias, and procured his deposition. As for poverty, we shall see to what inextricable complications it led, despite the efforts of successive popes, until the imperious will and resolute common-sense of John XXII. brought the Order from its seraphic heights down to the every-day necessities of human life — at the cost, it must be confessed, of a schism. The trouble was increased by the fact that St. Francis, foreseeing the efforts which would be made to evade the spirit of the Rule, had, in his Testament, strictly forbidden all alterations, glosses, and explanations, and had com- manded that these instructions should be read in all chapters of the Order. With the growth of the Franciscan legend, moreover, the Rule was held to be a special divine revelation, equal in authority to the gospel, and St. Francis was glorified until he became a being rather divine than human.* Even before the death of the founder, in 1226, a Franciscan is found in Paris openly teaching heresies — of what nature we are not told, but probably the mystic reveries of an overwrought brain. As yet there was no Inquisition, and, as he was not sub- ject to episcopal jurisdiction, he was brought before the papal legate, where he asserted many things contrary to the orthodox faith, and was imprisoned for life. This foreshadowed much that was to follow, though there is a long interval before we hear again of similar examples, f The more serious trouble concerning poverty was not long in developing itself. Next to St. Francis himself in the Order stood Elias. Before Francis went on his mission to convert the Soldan he had sent Elias as provincial beyond the sea, and on his return from the adventure he brought Elias home with him. At the first general chapter, held in 1221, Francis being too much en- (Opp. 1849, p. 48). — Nicolai. PP. III. Bull. Exiitqui seminat (Lib. v. Sexto xii. 3). —Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolos. pp. 301, 303. tChron. Turonens. ann. 1326 (D. Bouquet, XVIII. 319). — Alberic. Trium Font. Chron. ann. 1228.
 * Thom. de Eccleston de Adventu Minorum Coll. v. — S. Francis. Testament.