FRIAKS
284
FRIARS
to laxity joined the disaffected party, leaving but few
advocates of John's regulations. To the dissenting
party belonged Gerardus Odonis (1329-42), the
general, whose election at Paris in 1329 John had
secured in the place of his powerful opponent Michael
of Cesena. Odonis, however, was supported only by
the minority of the order in his efforts to effect the
abolition of the rule of poverty. The deposed general
and his followers, the Michaelites (of. Fraticelli),
were disavowed by the General Chapter of Paris, and
the order remained faithful to the Holy See. The
constitutions prescribed by Benedict XII, John's
successor, in his Bull of 28 November, 1336, and
imposed on the order by the Chapter of Cahors (hence
the name " Constitutiones Catarcenses" or "Bene-
dictinte"), contained not a single reference to the rule
of poverty. Benedict died in 1342, and on the pre-
ferment of Gerardus Odonis to the Patriarchate of
Anlioch, Fortanerio Vassalli was chosen general
(134.3^7).
Under Guillaume Farinier (1348-57) the Chapter of Marseilles resolved to revive the old statutes, a purpose which was realized in the general constitutions pro- mulgated by the General Chapter of Assisi in 1354 ("Constitutiones Farinerire" or "Guilelmi"). This code was based on the "Constitutiones Narbonenses" (1260), and the Bulls "Exiit" and "Exivi", but the edicts of John XXII, being promulgated by the pope over and above the chapter, still continued in force. The great majority of the friars accommodated themselves to these regulations and undertook the care and proprietorship of their goods, which they entrusted to fratres procuratores elected from among themselves. The protracted strife of the deposed general (Michael of Cesena) with the pope, in which the general was supported with conspicuous learning by some of the leading members of the order and encouraged by the German Emperor Louis IV (the Bavarian), for reasons of secular and ecclesiastical polity, gave great and irresistible impulse to laxity in the order, and prejudiced the founder's ideal. It was John XXII who had introduced Conventualism in the later sense of the word, that is, coramimity of goods, income and property as in other religious orders, in contradiction to Observantism or the strict obser- vance of the rule, a movement now strong within the order, according to which the members were to hold no property in commiini and renounce all vested in- comes and accumulation of goods. The Bull "Ad conditorem", so significant in the history of the order, was only withdrawn 1 November, 1428, by Martin V.
Meanwhile the development of Conventualism had been fostered in many ways. In 1348 the Black Death swept devastatingly over Europe, emptying town and cloister. The wealth of the order increased rai)idly, and thousands of new brothers were admitted without sufficiently close examination into their eligi- bility. The liberality of the faithful was also, if not a source of danger for the Minorites, at least a constant incitement to depart to some extent from the rule of poverty. This liberality showed itself mainly in gifts of real property, for example in endowments for prayers for the dead, which were then usually founded with real estate. In the fourteenth century also be- gan the land wars and feuds (e. g. the Hundred Years War in France), which relaxed every bond of disci- pline and good order. The current feelings of an- archic irresponsibility were also encouraged by the Great Western Schism, during which men quarrelled not only concerning obedience to the papacy, to which there were three claimants since the Council of Pisa, l)ut also concerning oliodioncc to the gciiorals of tlic onlcr, whose number tallied with the numlier of the po|)cs.
( Juillaume Farinier was named cardinal in 1356, but continued to govern the order until the election of Jean Bovichicr (de Buco) in 1357. John having died
in 1358, Mark of Viterbo was chosen to succeed him
(1359-66), it being deemed desirable to elect an Ital-
ian, the preceding four generals having been French.
Mark was raised to the cardinalate in 1366, and was
succeeded by Thomas of Farignano (1367-72), who
became Patriarch of Grado in 1372, and cardinal in
1378. Leonardo Rossi of Giffone (1373-78) succeeded
Thomas as general, and supported Clement VII dur-
ing the schism. This action gave umbrage to Urban
VI, who deposed him and named Ludovico Donato his
successor. Ludovico was also chosen in 1379 by the
General Chapter of Gran in Hungary, at which, how-
ever, only twelve provinces were represented, was
named cardinal in 1381, but was executed in 1385 with
some other cardinals for participating in a conspiracy
against Urban VI. His third successor, Enrico Al-
fieri (1387-1405), could only bewail the privileges
subversive of discipline, by means of which the claim-
ants to the papacy sought to bin<l their supporters
more closely to themselves. Alfieri's successor, An-
tonio de Pireto (1405-21), gave his allegiance to the
Council of Pisa and Alexander V (1409-10). Alex-
ander (Pietro Philargi of Crete) had been Archbishop
of Milan and a member of the Franciscan Order, and
was therefore supportetl by the majority of the order.
Indignant at this conduct, Gregory XII named An-
tonio da Cascia general (1410-15), a man of no great
importance. With the election of Martin V (1417-
31) by the Council of Constance, unity was restored
in the order, which was then in a state of the great-
est confusion.
The Observance {Regiilaris Obsei'vantia) had mean- while prepared the ground for a regeneration of the order. At first no uniform movement, but varying in different lands, it was given a definite character by St. Bernardino of Siena (q. v.) and St. John Capistran (q. v.). In Italy as early as 1334, Giovanni de Valle had begun at San Bartolomeo de Brugliano, near Fo- ligno, to live in exact accordance with the rule but without that exemption from the order, which was later forbidden by Clement VI in 1343. It is worthy of notice that Clement, in 1350, granted this exemp- tion to the lay brother Gentile da Spoleto, a compan- ion of Giovanni, but Gentile gathered together such a disorderly rabble, including some of the heretical Fraticelli, that the privilege was withdrawn (1354), he was expelled from the order (1355), and cast into prison. Amongst his faithful adherents was Paoluc- cio Vagnozzi of Trinci, who was allowed by the general to return to Brugliano in 1368. As a protection against the snakes so numerous in the districts, wooden slippers (calcpodia, zoccoli) were worn by the brothers, and, as their use continued in the order, the Observants were long known as the Zoccolnnti or ligni- pedcs. In 1373 Paoluccio's followers occupied ten small houses in LTmbria, to which was soon added San Damiano at Assisi. They were supported by Gregory XI, and also, after some hesitation, by the superiors of the order. In 1388, Enrico Alfieri, the general, ap- pointed Paoluccio commissary general of his followers, whom he allowed to be sent into all the districts of Italy as an incentive to the rest of the order. Paoluc- cio died on 17 September, 1390, and was succeeded by John of Stroncone (d. 1418). In 1414, this reform possessed thirty-four houses, to which the Porziuncola was added in 1514.
In the fourteenth century there were three Spanish provinces: that of Portugal (also called Santiago), that of Castile, and that of Aragon. Although houses of the reformers in which the rule was rigidly observed existed in each of these provinces abovit 1400, there docs not appear to have been any connexion lictween the reforms of each province — inucli less between these reforms and the Italian Oliservance — and consequently the part played liy Peter of Villacreces in Silos and Aguilera has been greatly exaggerated.
Independent also was the Reform or Observance in
