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 FRATICELLI

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FRATICELLI

does not occur in the old records which concern the Fraticelli. Etymologically the name Friars Minor (Fratres Minores) is equivalent to the diminutive Fraticellus. The ideal of the founder of the Friars Minor, St. Francis, was that his disciples by evangeli- cal poverty, complete self-denial, and humility, should lead the world hack to t'lnist. The Italian people designated as Fraticelli all the members of religious, particularly mendicant, orders, and especially solitar- ies, whether these observed a definite rule or regulated their own lives.

In this article the name Fraticelli is confined to heretical sects which separated from the Franciscan Order on account of the disputes concerning poverty. The Apostolics (Pseutlo-.\postles or Apostolic Breth- ren) are excluded from the category, because admis- sion to the Order of St. Francis was expressly denied to their founder, Segarelli (see Apostolici). They had no connexion with the Minorites, in fact desired rather to exterminate them. It is therefore necessary to differentiate the various groups of Fraticelli, al- though the one term may be applied to all.

The origin of the Fraticelli and the cause of their growth within and without the Franciscan Order must be sought in the history of the Spirituals. It must suffice here to note that in consequence of St. Francis's severe requirements concerning the practice of pov- erty, his followers divided into two branches, the Zelanti, or Spirituals, and the Relaxati, known later as the Conventuals. The popes of the thirteenth century intervened to bring about harmony between the two factions, and Gregory IX, Innocent IV, and Nicholas III gave in their Bulls authoritative explanations of the points at issue. But the differences were not fully adjusted nor was unity ever completely restored Ije- tween the Spirituals and the main body of the order, the Community {Fratres de Commwiitale).

I. The group founded by Brother Angelo da Clareno (or da Cingoli) comes first in order of time. Angelo and several brethren from the March of Ancona had been condemned (c. 1278) to imprisonment for life, but were liberated by the general of the order, Rai- mondo Gaufredi (1289-95) and sent to Armenia (1290), where they did good work as missionaries. Exiled from Armenia towards the end of 1293, they returned to Italy, where in 1294 Celestine V, who was noted for his asceticism, but whose pontificate lasted scarcely si.x months, willingly permitted them to live as hermits in the strict observance of the Rule of St. Francis. After the abdication of Celestine V, his suc- cessor, Boniface VIII, revoked all Celestine's conces- sions, and they emigrated to Greece, where some of them attacked the legality of the papal action. As the pope, through the Patriarch of Constantinople, caused active measures to be taken against them, they fled to Italy, where their leader, Fra Liberatus, attempted a vindication of their rights, first with Boniface VIII (d. 11 October, 1303), and then with Benedict XI, who also died prematurely (7 July, 1304). On his journey to Clement V (1305-14) at Lyons, Liberatus died (1307), and Angelo da Clareno succeeded to the leatler- ship of the community. He remained in Central Italy until 1311, when he went to Avignon, where he was protected by his patrons Cardinals Giacomo Colonna and Napoleone Orsini. Early in 1317 John XXII, pursuant to a decree of Boniface VIII, declared .\ngelo excommunicated and placed him in custody. He de- fended him-self ably in his "Epistola Excusatoria", representing himself as a zealous Franciscan, but John XXII refused to admit his plea, Angelo being a Celes- tine hermit, and in the decree "Sancta Romana et universalis ecclesia" (30 December, 1317) refused to authorize the congregation of which Angelo was head. Angelo submitted temporarily, but in 1318 fled to Central Italy, where, acting as general, he assumed charge of the congregation dissolved by the pope, ap- pointed provincials, ministers, and custodians, estab-

lished new monasteries, arrogated all authority, issued pastoral letters, and recei\'ed novices; in a word, he founded an indc|irinliiit l-'i-inciscan Onler, the Frati- celli. His adiierciits pn.r(s-.id thcinselvcs the original Friars Minor. Tlicy dmiid that .iolin XXll was really pope, as he had abrogated the Rule of St. Francis, which, according to their doctrine, represented the Gospel pure and simple. They asserted that his de- crees were invalid, all other religious and prelates were damned, and that the commission of mortal sin de- prived priests of the sacerdotal dignity and powers. These views were brought out in the trials to which the imprisoned adherents of Fra Angelo were sul> jected by the inquisitors, especially in 1334. In the processes of these trials and in numerous papal Bulls they are called, as a rule, Fraticelli sen fratres de pau- pers vita. As appears from the papal Bulls, the fol- lowers of Angelo established themselves in Central Italy, i. e., in the province of Rome, Umbria, and the Marcli of Ancona, and also in Southern Italy (Cam- pagna, Basilicata, and Naples). Fra Angelo enjoyed the protection of the Abbot of Subiaco, in spite of the fact that John XXII (21 Feb., 1334) commanded the guardian of the cloister at Ara Cceli to imprison Angelo, " the demented heretic who styles himself general of the contlemned sect of the Fraticelli ". Equally unsuc- cessful had been a papal warrant issued for his arrest (22 November, 1331), when he fled to Southern Italy. He died 15 July, 1337, and the congregation, deprived of its leader and hard pressed by the Inquisition, split into a number of groups each holding its own doc- trines, though it is impossible to determine exactly their origin. It should further be noted that after the controversy regarding poverty broke out (1321-28), all the Fraticelli showed a stronger opposition to the papacy. It was only natural that men of their calibre and extreme tendencies should fall into excesses; but, schismatics and heretics as they were, the moral lapses of individuals are not to be imputed to the whole body, which after all was but loosely organized. Angelo da Clareno, despite the circumstances of his death, was venerated as a worker of miracles.

Keeping in view the earlier history of the sect, we shall have to seek traces of it in Central Italy, Umbria and the March of Ancona. Angelo was highly esteemed by the Augustinian Hermits, with whom he was on friendly terms, especially with Gentile da Foligno and Siraone da Cassia, an ascetic writer of great re- pute. He corresponded with both, and Simone bit- terly laments in the death of Angelo the loss of a friend and spiritual adviser. We may, therefore, safely assume that the Fraticelli whom Simone after- wards successfully defended against the Dominicans in the civil courts at Florence (c. 1355), where he was then preaching, were adherents of Clareno. The same is probably true, also, of the Fraticelli in Tuscany who about the same time were attacked in the sensational, though neither learned nor skilful, letters of the hermit, Fra Giovanni dalle Celle. The letters were answered by the Fraticelli. Giovanni went even so far as to use Fra Angelo as a pawn against his adversaries. These, indeed, "had separated themselves entirely from the Roman Church. They had attained such power in Florence that they invited the " theologians " to public debate. The " theologians", i. e. the official clergy, did not respond. On 13 October, 1378, the priors of Flor- ence enacted a statute against the Fraticelli; on 8 July, 1381, the city council of Florence connnanded them to leave the city in two days or face the tribunal of the Inquisition. They were respected so highly, however, that, when their expatriation was demanded by the city magistrates in the same year (14 Decem- ber, 1381), one of the coimcillors took a bold stand against the proposal.

Nevertheless, Fra Michele Berti, from Calci near Pisa, a member of the Ancona branch of Fraticelli, after preaching the Lenten course to his associates in