Elias of Cortona

ELIAS OF CORTONA).

On Francis's death in 1226 the government of the order rested in the hands of Elias until the chapter of 1227. At this chapter Elias was not elected minister-general; the building of the great basilica and monastery at Assisi was so manifest a violation of St. Francis's ideas and precepts that it produced a reaction, and John Parenti became St. Francis's first successor. He held fast to St.

Francis's ideas, but was not a strong man. At the chapter of I230 a discussion arose concerning the binding force of St. Francis's Testament, and the interpretation of certain portions of the Rule, especially concerning poverty, and it was determined to submit the questions to Pope Gregory IX. (formerly the cardinal Hugo lino mentioned above). He issued a bull, Quo elongati, which de clared that as the Testament had not received the sanction of the general chapter it was not binding on the order, and also allowed trustees to hold and administer money for the order.

Wealth.

John Parenti and those who wished to maintain St. Francis's institute intact were greatly disturbed by these relaxa tions; but a majority of the chapter of 1232, by a sort of coup d'etat, proclaimed Elias minister-general, and John retired, though in those days the office was for life. Under Elias the order entered on a period of extraordinary extension and prosperity : the num ber of friars in all parts of the world increased wonderfully, new provinces were formed, new missions to the heathen organized, the Franciscans entered the universities and vied with the Domini cans as teachers of theology and canon law, and as a body they became influential in church and state. With all this side of Elias's policy the great bulk of the order sympathized ; but his rule was despotic and tyrannical and his private life was lax—at least according to any Franciscan standard, for no charge of grave irregularity was ever brought against him. And so a widespread movement against his government arose, the backbone of which was the university element at Paris and Oxford, and at a dramatic scene in a chapter held in the presence of Gregory IX. Elias was deposed At this time the Franciscans were divided into three parties : there were the Zealots, or Spirituals, who called for a literal observance of St. Francis's Rule and Testament. They deplored all the developments since 1219, and protested against turning the institute into an order, the frequentation of the universities and the pursuit of learning; in a word, they wished to restore the life to what it had been during the first few years—the hermitages and the huts of twigs, and the care of the lepers and the nomadic preaching. The Zealots were few in number but of great consequence from the fact that to them belonged most of the first disciples and the most intimate companions of St. Francis. At the other extreme was a party of relaxation, that abandoned any serious effort to practise Franciscan poverty and simplicity of life. Between these two stood the great middle party of Moderates, who desired indeed that the Franciscans should be really poor and simple in their manner of life, and really pious, but on the other hand approved of the development of the order on the lines of other orders, of the acquisition of influence, of the cultivation of theology and other sciences, and of the frequenting of the universities.

Moderates and Spirituals.

The Moderate party was by far the largest, and embraced nearly all the friars of France, England and Germany. It was the Moderates and not the Zealots that brought about Elias's deposition, and the next general ministers belonged to this party. Further relaxations of the law of poverty, however, caused a reaction, and John of Parma, one of the Zealots, became minister-general, 1247-1257. Under him the more extreme of the Zealots took up and exaggerated the theories of the Eternal Gospel of the Calabrian Cistercian abbot Joachim of Floris (q.v.); some of their writings were condemned as heretical, and John of Parma, who was implicated in these apocalyptic tendencies, bad to resign. He was succeeded by St. Bonaventura (12S7-1274), one of the best type of the middle party. He was a man of high character, a theologian, a mystic, a holy man and a strong ruler. He set himself with determina tion to effect a working compromise, and proceeded with firmness against the extremists on both sides. But controversy and re crimination and persecution had stiffened the more ardent among the Zealots into obstinate fanatics—some of them threw them selves into a- movement that may best be briefly described as a recrudescence of Montanism (see Emile Gebhart's Italie mys tique, 1899, cc. v. and vi.), and developed into a number of sects, some on the fringe of Catholic Christianity and others beyond its pale (see FRATICELLI). But the majority of the Zealot party, or Spirituals, did not go so far, and adopted as the principle of Franciscan poverty the formula "a poor and scanty use" (uses pauper et tenuis) of earthly goods, as opposed to the "moderate use" advocated by the less strict party.

The question thus posed came before the Council of Vienne, 1312, and was determined, on the whole, decidedly in favour of the stricter view. Some of the French Zealots were not satisfied and formed a semi-schismatical body in Provence; twenty-five of them were tried bef ore the Inquisition, and f our were burned alive at Marseilles as obstinate heretics, 1318. Af ter this the schism in the Order subsided. But the disintegrating forces produced by the papal schism and other disorders of the 14th century caused among the Franciscans the same relaxations and corruptions, and also the same reactions and reform movements, as among the other orders.

The chief of these reforms was that of the Observants, which began at Foligno about 137o. The Observant reform was on the basis of the "poor and scanty use" of worldly goods, but it was organized as an order and its members freely pursued theological studies ; thus it did not represent the position of the original Zealot party, nor was it the continuation of it. The Observant reform spread widely throughout Italy and into France, Spain and Germany. The great promoters of the movement were St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran. The council of Constance, 1415, allowed the French Observant friars to be ruled by a vicar of their own, under the minister-general, and the same privilege was soon accorded to other countries. By the end of the middle ages the Observants had some 1,400 houses divided into 5o provinces. This movement produced a "half reform" among the Conventuals or friars of the mitigated ob servance ; it also called forth a number of lesser imitations or congregations of strict observance.

Division.—Af ter many attempts had been made to bring about a working union among the many observances, in 1517 Leo X. divided the Franciscan order into two distinct and independent bodies, each with its own minister-general, its own provinces and provincials and its own general • chapter : The Conventuals, who were authorized to use the various papal dispensations in regard to the observance of poverty, and were allowed to possess property and fixed income, corporately, like the monastic orders: (2) The Observants, who were bound to as close an observance of St. Francis's Rule in regard to poverty and all else as was practically possible.

At this time a great number of the Conventuals went over to the Observants, who have ever since been by far the more numerous and influential branch of the order. Among the Observants in the course of the sixteenth century arose various reforms, each striving to approach more and more nearly to St. Francis's ideal; the chief of these reforms were the Alcantarines in Spain (St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Teresa's friend, d. 1562), the Riformati in Italy and the Recollects in France: all of these were semi-independent congregations. The Capuchins (q.v.), established c. 1525, who claim to be the reform which approaches nearest in its conception to the original type, became a distinct order of Franciscans in 1619. Finally Leo XIII. grouped the Franciscans into three bodies or orders—the Conventuals ; the Observants, embracing all branches of the strict observance, except the Capuchins ; and the Capuchins—which together con stitute the "First Order." For the "Second Order," or the nuns, see CLARA, ST., and GLARES, POOR ; and for the "Third Order" see TERTIARIES. Many of the Tertiaries live a fully monastic life in community under the usual vows, and are formed into Con gregations of Regular Tertiaries, both men and women. They have been and are still very numerous, and give themselves up to education, to the care of the sick and of orphans and to good works of all kinds.

No order has had so stormy an internal history as the Francis cans ; yet in spite of all the troubles and dissensions and striv ings that have marred Franciscan history, the Friars Minor of every kind have in each age faithfully and zealously carried on St. Francis's great work of ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor. Always recruited in large measure from among the poor, they have ever been the order of the poor, and in their preaching and missions and ministrations they have ever laid themselves out to meet the needs of the poor. Another great work of the Franciscans throughout the whole course of their history has been their missions to the Mohammedans, both in western Asia and in North Africa, and to the heathens in China, Japan and India, and North and South America ; a great number of the friars were martyred. The news of the martyrdom of five of his friars in Morocco was one of the joys of St. Francis's closing years. Many of these missions exist to this day. In the universities, too, the Franciscans made themselves felt alongside of the Dominicans, and created a rival school of theology, wherein, as contrasted with Dominican Aristotelianism, the Platonism of the early Christian doctors has been perpetuated.

The Franciscans came to England in 1224 and immediately made foundations in Canterbury, London and Oxford (for lists see Gasquet, English Monastic Life) . Though nearly all the English houses belonged to what has been called the "middle party," as a matter of fact they practised great poverty, and the commissioners of Henry VIII. of ten remark that the Franciscan Friary was the poorest of the religious houses of a town. The English province was one of the most remarkable in the order, especially in intellectual achievement; it produced Friar Roger Bacon, and, with the single exception of St. Bonaventure, all the greatest doctors of the Franciscan theological school—Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus and Occam.

The Franciscans have always been the most numerous by far of the religious orders; it is estimated that about the period of the Reformation the Friars Minor must have numbered nearly 100,000. At the present day the statistics are roughly (includ ing lay-brothers) : Observants, 17,00o, Conventuals, 2,400; to these should be added 1 6,00o Capuchins, making the total number of Franciscan friars about 35,000. There are various houses of Observants and Capuchins in England and Ireland ; and the old Irish Conventuals survived the penal times and still exist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The great source for Franciscan history is WadBibliography.-The great source for Franciscan history is Wad- ding's Annales; it has been many times continued, and now extends in 25 vols. fol. to the year 1622. The story is also told by Helyot, Hist. des ordres religieux (1714), vol. vii. Abridgments, with references to recent literature, will be found in Max Heimbucher, Orden and Kongregationen (1896) , i. §§ 37-51 ; in Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen lexicon (2nd ed.), articles "Armut (III.)," "Franciscaner orden" (this article contains the best account of the inner history and the polity of the order up to 1886) ; in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopddie (3rd ed.), articles "Franz von Assisi" (fullest references to literature up to 1899), "Fraticellen"; articles "Francis, Saint" and kindred topics in the Catholic Encyclopaedia. Of modern critical studies on Franciscan origins, K. Miiller's Anfdnge des Minoritenordens and der Buss bruderschaften (1885) , and various articles by F. Ehrle in Archie fur Litteratur- and Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters and Zeitschrift fur Katholische Theologie, deserve special mention. Eccleston's charming chronicle of "The Coming of the Friars Minor into England" has been translated into English by the Capuchin Fr. Cuthbert, who has prefixed an Introductory Essay giving by far the best account in English of "the Spirit and Genius of the Franciscan Friars" (The Friars and how they came to England, 1903). A complete account of Franciscan history was produced in 1909 in German and Latin by H. Holzapfel, a Friar Minor. Fuller information on the English Franciscans will be found in A. G. Little's Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxford Hist. Soc., 1892) ; N. Davis, The Old Missions of California (1926) ; F. Palou, Historical Memoirs of New California (1926) ; T. P. O'Rourke, The Franciscan Missions in Texas (1927); and Henry Thode, Franz von Assisi and die Anfiinge der Kunst der Renaissance in Italien (2 vols., 1904)• (E. C. B.)