Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/296

 POOR

250

POOR

the oath of allegiance, as this was contrarj' to the teacliings of the Waldenses, and finally placed them under the protectorate of St. Peter, but all in vain. They did not show any positive results and, for this reason, the pope abandoned them in 1212 and gave his attention to the Preaching Friars of St. Dominic and the Friars Minor of St. Francis, whose labours promised better results. In 1237 Gregory IX re- quested the proWncial of the Preaching Friars to visit the provinces of Xarbonne and Taragon and compel the Poor Cathohcs to adopt one of the approved rules, which, if we consider the similarity of purpose, jus- tifies the supposition that the Poor Catholics in these provinces were affiliated with the friars. In iMilan we find them till 12.56 when, by a Decree of Innocent IV, they were united with the Augustinian Hermits.

The principal causes of their failure were the or- ganization adopted from the Waldenses, and the ob- ject of their foundation. The whole enterprise was looked upon as an innovation contrary to all estab- lished rights and privileges of the clergy, and naturally called forth a severe opposition by these. Their chief occupation remained, as it was before their reconcilia- tion, the preaching of the word of God directed against the heretics. To be successful in reahzing his plan Innocent III placed himself as sole director at the head of the organization, thus replacing the majoralis, leader of the Waldenses. He gave them the name of " Pauperes Catholic! ", to show that they prac- tised poverty in common with the "Pauperes Lug- dunenses" but were separated from them in enjoying the benefits and sympathy of the Church. The divi- sion into "perfecti" and "credentes" remained the same, only the names were changed into "fratres" and "amici". In their activity the Waldenses were di\-ided into three classes: the "sandaliati", who had received sacred orders and the especial office to con- fute the heresiarchs; the "doctores", who had charge of the instructing and training of the missionaries; and the "novellani", whose chief work consisted in preaching to the common people. The work of the Poor Catholics had the same di'i'ision; however, the names "sandahati", "doctores", and "novellani" were changed into "doctiores", "honestiores", and "idonei". The habit, a light gray, remained un- changed, except the buckles on the sandals, by which the Waldenses were known as heretics. Manual labour was forbidden as before. The only means of support were the daily offerings of the faithful. It was thought that, by gi\'ing the Poor Catholics this organization, the Waldenses could be won back easily to the Church. However, the danger existed that, with their former customs and habits, they would also retain their heretical tendencies. This proved only too true and gave rise to frequent complaints by the bishops. The fact, however, that simple lajTiien, although they had received the tonsure and were re- garded as clerics, publicly preached the doctrine of the Church, and this under the protection of the supreme pontiff himself, was unheard of and looked upon as a usurpation of episcopal powers and rights and, naturally, occasioned severe opposition on the part of the higher clergy. The latter even went so far it seems as to curtail the offerings of the faithful, the only sup- port of the Poor Catholics. Under these conditions it was impossible for them to prosper. Still, the great work of reformation was begun and, although they were sacrificed by introducing it, it was continued and succe.ssfully carried out by the Preaching Friars and the Friars Minor.

Reconciled Lombard.'!. — An article on Poor Catholics would be incomplete without some ac(-oimt of the Reconciled lyOinbards. Peter Waldes had not confined his teaching to Lyons alone, where he set the Waldensian movement on foot. When he was expelled from that city, he decided to go to Rome and make a personal plea for his cause to the

pope. Going through Lombardy, he propagated his ideas. The lay people readily accepted his views on rehgion and formed an economic, rehgious body kno^-n by the name of Humiliates (htimiliati). Some of them appeared in Rome with him the fol- lowing year, 1179, and asked Alexander III to sanc- tion their rule or form of hfe, which consisted in leading a religious life in their separate homes, ab- staining from the oath, and defending the CathoUc doctrine by pubUc preaching. The pope granted them permission to lead a religious life in their homes, but forbade them to preach. LTnmindfulof the pon- tiff's answer and continuing their former life, they were excommunicated by Lucius III about the j'ear 1184. In this state they remained until 1201, when, upon presentation of their constitution. Innocent III reconciled them ■nith the Church, and reorganized them in conformity ^\•ith their economic and reli- gious customs, also approving of the name "Humi- liati". This brought most of them back to the Church; but a number persevered in the heresy and continued their former life under the direction of the Poor of Lyons, mth whom they were naturally affihated. Economic and religious difficulties, how- ever, aggravated long-felt dissensions between the two groups and, in 1205, these non-reconciled Humi- hates separated from the Lyonese and formed a distinct group, adopting the name of Poor Lombards, "Pauperes Lombardi".

In order to bring the Poor Lombards back to the Church, Innocent III founded and organized in 1210 the order of the Reconciled Lombards, under the immediate supervision of the supreme pontiff. The recruits were taken from the ranks of the Poor Lombards. Their first superior was Bernard Primus, a former Lombard leader, who, ivith a few followers, had given the impetus for the foundation of the order by presenting a rule of life to the pope. Innocent III did not entrust the reconciliation of the Poor Lombards to the Poor Cathohcs on account of their divergent views on the subject of labour. The latter had abohshed all manual labour for the mis- sionaries. The Lombards and the Humiliates, on the contrarj', gave manual labour the first place. Even,' member, irrespective of position or talent, had to learn a trade in order to make his Uving. This predominance of manual labour we also find a deciding factor in the reorganization of the Reconciled Lombards. Two j-ears later, however. Innocent III gave them a new constitution, in which he re- tained manual labour for all the members of the order, but declared it only of secondary value for the missionaries or friars to whom he assigned the stud}' of Holy Scripture and preaching as main occupation. He also makes a more definite division of the members into three classes, or orders, com- prising respectively the missionaries or friars, the women who took the vows, and the married people. The object of this second constitution was to bring order into the chaos of social and religious agita- tion among the different classes of members and, at the same time, to bring the better elements to the front to train them for missionarv' work against the Cathari. The Reconciled Lombards, like the Poor Catholics, did not meet ■n'ith the expectations of the Roman Curia; both failed for the same reasons. They succumbed in preparing and initiating the great work of reform so successfully carried out by the Dominicans and Franciscans.

C*STRO. BMinleni espafiola. II (Madrid, 17S61: Dkvic and Vais.h{:tk, H,.<i. gen. lie iMuguedoc, VI (Toulouse. lS7fl) ; GmHAPD, Questions d'hisl. el ifarcheol. chr/l. (Paris. 189!)); HcRTER, Ge.vh. Papsl Inn. III. II (Hamburg. IS34); H^ltot, A'/o.v/.r-u. Riller- orden. III (I^'ipzig. 17.54); Lea. .4 Hislory of the Inquisition, I (New York, s. d.); IVIandonnet. Les origines de VOrdo de pani- lentia (Fribourg. 1898); LucHAiRE, Innocent III (Paris. 1905); MttLLER. Die WaUenser u. ihre eim. Grup. (Gotha, 1886); PlERRON. Die kalh. Armen (Fribourg. 1911).

Sources:— Innoc. HI in P.L.,CCXV.CCXVI; Tokelu. SecoK