Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/300

 FRATICELLI

24S

FRATICELLI

(against whom proceedings were instituted in 1329-30), of Cortona (1329), and of Pisa (1330), where, however, they appeared openly as late as 1354, and at Albigano, and Savona (1329-32).

On 21 Dec, 1328, John XXII graciously pardoned Fra Minus, the Provincial of Tuscany, while on 2 Dec, he had ordered the trial of Fra Humihs, Custo- dian of Umbria. Papal decrees reveal the presence of Michaehtes in England (1329), Germany (1322), Car- cassone, Portugal (1330), Spain (1329), Sicily and Lombardy (1329, 1334), Sardinia, Armenia, and other places. John XXII and his immediate_ successors also issued numerous decrees against the Fraticelli in the March of Ancona, where the bishops and minor feudal barons defended them stubbornly and success- fully in spite of papal threats; also in Naples and Calaljria, where King Robert and Queen Sanzia ex- hibited special veneration for St. Francis and his humble followers. In the royal castle, where the chaplaincies were held by Franciscans, there resided Fra Philip of Majorca, a brother of the queen. This Philip had (132S) petitioned John XXII for permis- sion for himself and other Franciscans to observe hterally the Rule of St. Francis, independently of the superiors of the order; the pope of course refused. In a letter dated 10 August, 1331, the pope was obliged to settle some doubts of the queen relating to the ol> servance of "holy poverty", and the king had even composed a treatise favouring the views of the Chapter of Perugia (1322). The papal condemnations of the Fraticelli, therefore, had produced but slight results in the Kingdom of Naples. On 8 July, 1331, the pope admonished King Robert to withhold no longer the papal decrees against Michael of Cesena nor prevent their publication in his kingdom. Philip of Majorca, however, preached openly against the pope. It was due to the influence of the royal family that Fra Andrea of Galiano, a court chaplain at Naples, was acquitted in the process instituted against him at Avignon in 133S, as he still continued his intercourse with Michael of Cesena and with the fifty Michaelites who resided for some time under the king's protection in the castle of Lettere near Castellamare, but who later (1235) humbly submitted to their lawful supe- riors. In 1336 " short-robed " Fraticelli still occupied the monastery of Santa Chiara at Naples, founded by Queen Sanzia, and were established in other parts of the kingdom; their expulsion was demanded (24 June, 1336) by Benedict XII (1334-42). In 1344 Clement VI (1342-52) found it necessary to reiterate the ear- lier decrees. Between 1363-1370 it at last became possible for Franciscans to take possession of several monasteries in Calabria and Sicily from which the Fraticelli had been expelled; but Gregory XI com- plains (12 Sept., 1372) that the "ashes and bones of Fraticelli were venerated as relics of saints in Sicily, and churches were even erected in their honour".

From the records of a process (1334) conducted in irregular form against the Fraticelli of the Franciscan monastery at Tauris, who had been reported by Dominicans, we learn that they inveighed openly against John XXII and upheld the views of Michael of Cesena, although in their apocalyptic manner they declared that the order of the Friars Minor was di- vided in three parts, and that only those would be saved who would journey to the East, i. e. themselves. It is uncertain whether these were identical with the Fraticelli in .Armenia, Persia, and other oriental local- ities, where all bishops were commanded by Clement VI to prosecute them (29 May, 1344).

For a long time the sect prospered exceedingly in the Duchy of Spoleto on aecmmt of the oonlinual political turmoil. In a process instituted against a particular Uinbrian group of I'"raticelli in 1300, we are informed that Fra Francesco Niccolo of Perugia was their founder. They protended to observe the Rule of St. Augustine, but were fanatical on the question of

poverty and regarded all prelates as guilty of simony. Salvation was to be found only in their, supposedly perfect, order. They imitated the Sicilian Fraticelli in their doctrines and methods of instruction. An interesting letter is still extant which the Fraticelli of the Campagna (1353-55) wrote to the magistrates of Xarni when they heard that one of their number (Fra Stefano) had been cruelly imprisoned Ijy the Inquisi- tion of that city twelve or fifteen years before. In this letter they petitioned the magistrates to liberate him according to the example of the cities of " Todi, Perugia, Assisi, and Pisa".

The Fraticelli enjoyed complete liberty in Perugia. They lived where it best suited them, principally in the country-houses of the rich. They became so bold as to publicly insult the Minorites (Conventuals) in the monastery of San Francesco al Prato. It appears that these Fraticelli had elected their own popes, bishops and generals, and that they w-ere split into various factions. The Conventuals, as their one means of defence, called in Fra Paoluccio of Trinci, the founder of the Observants, and ceded to him the small monastery on Monte Ripido near the city (1374). Fra Paoluccio was successful in his disputations w-ith the Fraticelli, and when they had been clearly ex- posed as heretics, the people drove them from the city. It should be noted that these Fraticelli, and probably all the others of that period, were designated Fraiicelli dcUa opinionc, perhaps on account of their opinion that the Roman papacy had ceased to exist with John XXII (1323) or Celestin V, and that they alone con- stituted the true Church. About this time Fra Vitale ili Francia and Fra Pietro da Firenze exercised a sort of generalship over the Fraticelli. They received protection and hospitality from rich and influential families in Apulia, around Rome, and in the March. One of their protectors was the knight Andreuccio de Palumbario, who sheltered them in his castle near Rieti, for which he was sharply called to account by Urban XI (4 May, 1388). On the same day the Bene- dictine Abbot of Farfa was reprimanded for a similar fault. On 14 November, 1394, Boniface IX em- powered the Minorites of Terra di Lavoro to take possession of the monasteries deserted by the Frati- celli. Martin V conceded the same rights to the Franciscans of the Roman Province (14 November, 1418) and, on 7 April, 1426, transferred to them as a special grant the monastery of Palestrina, which had been a stronghold of the Fraticelli. In the same year Martin V nominated St. John Capistran (27 May) and St. James of the March (11 October) as inquisitors general to take action against the Fraticelli. These promoters of order among the Franciscans fulfilled the duties of their office strictly and energetically and succeeded in striking at the very vitals of the sect. In 1415 the city of Florence had formally banished the "Fraticelli of the poor life, the followers of Michelino of Cesena of infamous memory", and in Lucca five Fraticelli, on trial, had solemnly abjured their error (1411). Martin V also ordered the Bishops of Porto and Alba to take steps against all Fraticelli "in the Roman province, the March of Ancona, the Duchy of Spoleto and other localities" (7 June, 1427). On 27 January of the same year, Martin V had permitted the Observants of .Vncona to occupy the monastery of the Fraticelli at Castro I'Eremita as a first step in the campaign against the Fraticelli of that neighbourhood. On 1 June, 142S. he commanded the Bishop of Ancona to enforce his rulings strictly in Miiiolati, to put all suspects to the rack, destroy their village, separate the chililren from hcri'tical parents, and disperse the eliler p(i])ulatioii. A circular letter, which the Fratici'lli .■iildressed to all Christemloiii, proved inelTectual and their doom was scaled. John of Capistniii and James of the March burned thirty-six of tlicirestalilishnients, or dispersed the niembers, and a n\imber were burned at the stake at Florence and Fabriano, at the latter