The monk Joachim of Fiore, who in his writings predicted the advent of a new ordo of spiritual monks who would help renew the Church and the world. It was precisely inspired by these prophecies that the rigorist Franciscans chose for themselves the name "Spirituals".
The term Spiritual Franciscanism can refer to two phenomena, distinct but connected, in the history of the first two centuries of the Franciscan movement: a broad and diverse Spiritual Franciscanism already identifiable even during the lifetime of Francis of Assisi, or the Franciscan Spirituals as a specific movement that arose in the mid-1270s and lasted for about fifty years.[1]
Early Spiritual Franciscanism refers to the set of ideas and ways of life that Francis of Assisi and his companions followed before the Order became larger and more organized. At that time, poverty was experienced in a very direct and simple way, without complicated rules or formal structures, and everything relied primarily on Francis' own charisma.[2] The small fraternity had no material security or plans for the future, and this worked only because there were few members who were closely united.[3] With the arrival of new members, often more educated and experienced within the official Church, this way of life began to become harder to maintain.[4]
Franciscan spirituals
After Francis' death, internal conflicts became more evident, particularly concerning the way the Rule should be followed. The Testament, written by Francis in his final days, demanded literal fidelity, but it was soon declared non-binding, opening the way to modifications and adaptations that for some were necessary and for others a betrayal.[5] To defend the original ideal, the group of Spirituals emerged, insisting on absolute poverty and refusing to accept practical solutions introduced in subsequent years.[6]
The Franciscan Spirituals were not merely a continuation of the early period, but a movement within an Order that had grown much larger and hierarchical. They interpreted the Rule very strictly, saw any concession as a loss of identity, and opposed those seeking compromises to make the Order function in the real world.[7] Over time, some developed more complex theological ideas, influenced by prophetic and apocalyptic currents that viewed the history of the Order as part of a larger divine plan.[8]
The main difference between the two periods is that in the early Franciscan movement, poverty was a shared and immediate daily life, whereas for the Spirituals it became a principle to defend forcefully amid tensions, disputes, and even open conflicts with the authority of the Order and the Church. In the fourteenth century, this also led to condemnations and persecutions, showing how rigid the situation had become compared to the simplicity of the beginnings.[9] <--
Franciscan dissent before the Spirituals
From the early years of the Franciscan Order, tensions arose between those who wished to follow strictly the ideals of absolute poverty, as indicated by Francis of Assisi, and those who sought to consolidate the order through more stable and institutional structures, aligning with the norms of the Church and university life. Even during the saint’s lifetime, some friars criticized the trend of building large convents, acquiring communal property, and integrating members into academic or inquisitorial positions, seeing this as a departure from the original communitas of the Franciscans.[10] After Francis’s death in 1226, these divergences intensified. Under the generalate of Elia da Cortona, the order began to structure itself as a traditional ecclesiastical institution, pursuing the collection of alms, the construction of churches, and a presence in medieval universities, which often contradicted the practice of evangelical poverty.[10] Early attempts to resist this evolution were sporadic and isolated, but they laid the groundwork for the formation of an internal movement aimed at preserving the original radicalism, giving rise to the future Franciscan Spirituals.[11]
Birth of the Spirituals movement
The Spirituals movement developed fully in the second half of the 13th century as a response to the increasing “conventualization” of the order. These friars aimed to observe the Franciscan Rule and Testament of Saint Francis in their strictest interpretation, renouncing not only individual property but also any communal possessions, supporting themselves solely through alms or manual labor, in total imitation of the apostles.[12] Their vision was combined with an eschatological reading of history, influenced by the prophecies of Joachim of Fiore, according to which the Franciscan Order would play a central role in the spiritual renewal of the Church and the preparation for its final purification.[10] The Spirituals spread in three main areas: in the Marche and Umbria, led by Liberato da Macerata and Angelo Clareno; in Tuscany, with Ubertino da Casale; and in Southern France, around Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, considered the most important interpreter of the movement.[13] While united by the ideal of poverty, the Spirituals were not a homogeneous group, being divided according to charismatic leaders and interpretations of the Rule. They openly criticized the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the conventual order, asserting that the Church had lost the right to interpret or mitigate the Franciscan Rule.[13]
Peak of the Movement and its Subsequent Repression: The Fraticelli
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Fraticelli
The Fraticelli were a religious movement that arose in the 14th century within Franciscanism, developing as a particularly radical version of the current of the Spiritual Franciscans.[14] After the death of the saint, the conflict between those who advocated absolute poverty and the more moderate line of the Order eventually led to the formation of separate groups, among them the one led by Brother Liberato and Angelo Clareno, who established communities in Rome, in the March of Ancona, and in the Kingdom of Naples.[15] Their rather austere way of life, combined with the protection granted by various nobles and even by some bishops, made their repression by the Inquisition particularly difficult[16]. After the death of Angelo, the movement lost its charismatic leader, but its legacy was taken up by other figures, such as Philip of Majorca, and spread to various parts of Italy[17]. These groups split into two main currents: the Fraticelli de paupere vita, who insisted on concrete poverty and on the example of Christ's poverty, and the Fraticelli de opinione or "Michaelists", who also adopted the theological theses of Michael of Cesena, maintaining that Christ and the apostles owned nothing, either individually or in common[18].
During the 14th century the Fraticelli expanded mainly in central Italy, especially in Perugia and around Assisi. Despite the measures taken against them by Pope John XXII in 1334, they continued to exert influence and even came to possess monasteries such as that of Monte Salvi[19]. In the same period they also developed a polemical doctrine against the official clergy, accused of simony and of having lost spiritual authority. Although they judged them unworthy, the Fraticelli nevertheless admitted the validity of the sacraments administered by them[20].
Persecutions became harsher in the 15th century: in Rome and Umbria many Fraticelli were tried and burned as heretics, but some continued to profess obstinately their faith in apostolic poverty, preferring martyrdom to renunciation[21]. In this period, the rise of the Observant Franciscans, approved by the papacy, deprived the Fraticelli of the ideal and popular ground that had long supported them[22].
By the end of the 15th century the movement had disappeared as an organized force, surviving only in a few isolated groups in the Umbrian countryside[23]. Later attempts to revive their ideal of poverty, such as that of the Spanish Franciscan Philip Berbegall, were decisively suppressed by Pope Eugene IV[24].
Etymology
The term "Fraticelli" appears in the sources between the 13th and 14th centuries, used mostly as a somewhat popular or even disparaging name to refer to religious figures who lived in poverty and eremitic conditions, somewhat on the margins of the official Church.[25] The first time the term appears regularly in a papal document is in the bull Sancta Romana, issued by Pope John XXII on 30 December 1317, which condemned "nonnulli viri prophane multitudinis qui vulgariter Fraticelli seu fratres de paupere vita...".[26] From that moment onward, the word entered the juridical language of the Curia, but the bull also mentions other names – Bizzochi, Beghini – and refers to various regions, from Italy to Provence, showing that the term did not yet designate a clearly defined group.[27]
In Franciscan sources of the period, "fraticelli" was not a name chosen by those concerned, but one imposed from outside.[28] The best-known case is that of Michele da Calci, who, according to the passio of his martyrdom, became irritated when reading the sentence that defined him as an "heretic of the fraticelli of the poor life," replying:
I do not know what fraticelli are: [we are] Friars Minor of Saint Francis who observe the Rule[29]
This refusal highlights the tension between the "ascribed identity" imposed by inquisitors and the "chosen identity" of religious figures who considered themselves faithful to the charism of Saint Francis.[30]Angelo Clareno, a central figure of the spiritual movement in the Marche, carefully avoided using the word "fraticelli".[31] In his correspondence it never appears: Clareno prefers expressions such as fratres pauperes or pauperes humiles.[32] Only in the Historia septem tribulationum ordinis minorum does the term appear, but always placed in the mouths of opponents, such as Bonagrazia da Bergamo.[33] For Clareno, therefore, "fraticelli" was a polemical label, used to mark those who upheld radical poverty and relegate them to heresy.[34] Its absence from his letters reveals a clear strategy: to distance himself from a compromised term laden with inquisitorial meanings.[35]
A somewhat different attitude emerges in the vernacular letters of the Augustinian Gentile da Foligno, close to the Clarenian group.[36] In a letter to a certain Matteuccio da Gubbio, Gentile defends the "life of the fraticelli" as an authentic way of following the Gospel and argues that the excommunication of John XXII was not directed against them.[37] He claims that the decretal struck only those who had created new orders and wore religious habits without papal license, whereas the true fraticelli had renounced "prelacy, habit, and name" and therefore could not be condemned.[38] For Gentile, "fraticelli" did not denote a heretical group, but poor and humble Christians who «follow, according to the limits of human frailty, the holy Gospel of Christ with humility of heart».[39] The term thus acquired a moral and positive value, no longer merely a juridical one.[40]
With the strengthening of papal repression, "fraticelli" became a true inquisitorial category.'[41] Letters of John XXII and Pope Benedict XII in the 1330s refer to fraticelli de paupere vita present in the March of Ancona, in Camerino, Fermo, Matelica, and San Ginesio.[42] In these documents the term had by then become technical and identified the followers of Clareno, who is described as "caput seu magister eorum".[43] In local documentation, however, the word continued to be used more broadly, sometimes referring simply to hermits or penitents devoted to evangelical poverty.[44] This indicates that juridical codification did not eliminate its semantic plurality.[45]
According to Lambertini, the history of the term "fraticelli" displays a constant ambiguity.[46] After the Sancta Romana, the word proves to be "too narrow" if applied only to groups condemned as heretical, but also "too broad" because in common usage it continued to denote very different religious experiences.[47] For contemporary historiography, the term does not indicate an order or a compact sect, but rather a constellation of groups and individuals united by the desire to live the Gospel in the most radical poverty.[48] In the March of Ancona, as in other contexts, it thus became a contested name: a tool for stigmatizing opponents, but also a possible sign of evangelical fidelity for those who reinterpreted it from within.[49]
Fraticelli de paupere vita
The faction of the Fraticelli de paupere vita, that is, the "Fraticelli of the poor life", is usually described as the group that remained most closely attached to the tradition of the Franciscan Spirituals and most firmly devoted to the ideal of absolute poverty taught by Saint Francis of Assisi[50].
The group arose as the direct successor of the one led by Fra Liberato and by Angelo Clareno, who, after separating from the official Order, established autonomous communities in Rome, in the March of Ancona, and in the Kingdom of Naples[51]. These friars distinguished themselves by a simple life regarded as holy, attracting popular esteem and the support of nobles and even bishops, a circumstance that made repressive action by the Inquisition difficult[52]. Their spirituality was based on a rigorous imitation of evangelical life: they maintained that Christ and the apostles possessed nothing, neither in common nor individually, and that the Christian ought to renounce all property. The ideal of poverty was not seen merely as a material issue, but as a mystical path toward God, in which detachment from temporal goods was considered a very high form of spiritual perfection[53]. The group was sometimes also called "fratres evangelici", "fratres veritatis", or "fratres fratris Philippi de Maioricis", depending on the local figures who led it[54]. Some of these leaders, such as Filippo di Maiorca or Tommaso da Boiano, adopted more radical interpretations: they went so far as to consider Pope John XXII a heretic and to deny the validity of the sacraments administered by priests who remained loyal to him. However, not all of the Fraticelli de paupere vita followed such extreme positions[55]. On the doctrinal level they differed from the Fraticelli de opinione (or Michaelists), who were more closely tied to the theological debates arising from the dispute between Michael of Cesena and John XXII. The de paupere vita, by contrast, placed the emphasis on poverty as practiced in everyday life, on the imitation of the poor Christ, and on concrete evangelical experience, rather than on subtle doctrinal questions[56].
Angelo Clareno, the best-known figure of the group, wrote that poverty was the "bride of Christ and companion of the angels", and that it served as a means of transforming man into God through perfect love. He also taught that, although the sacraments and the external forms of the Church had their usefulness, the sincere believer could reach God even without them, provided that he was animated by true penitence and charity[57]. Over time, after Angelo's death, the lack of a clear point of reference led to a certain dispersion and to a decline in original discipline[58]. In the fifteenth century, with the rise of the Observant Franciscans—approved by the papacy—the ideal of Franciscan poverty found a new, officially recognized channel, leading to the decline of the Fraticelli de paupere vita[59]. As an organized group they disappeared by the end of the fifteenth century, but their memory survived in small eremitical nuclei of central Italy, and the people continued to call them "fraticelli della povera vita"[60].
Clareni
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The Fraticelli "de opinione" (or "Michaelists")
The Fraticelli de opinione, also known as the Michelists, were one of the two main currents of the Fraticelli movement and derived from the thought of Michael of Cesena and his companions, Bonagrazia of Bergamo and William of Ockham, who were known for their conflict with Pope John XXII over the question of the poverty of Christ and the apostles[61].
After the death of these masters, their doctrine remained in Italy, where their followers—mostly of modest education—continued the controversy with a theology that was fairly lively but not particularly profound. They were called Fraticelli de opinione because their heresy arose from theological "opinions" rather than from a separate way of life, as was the case with the Fraticelli de paupere vita[62]. The Michelists held that Christ and the apostles possessed no property, either in common or individually, but made use of goods only as a matter of fact (usus facti), without any right of ownership (ius proprietatis) or civil dominion[63]. They regarded John XXII as a heretic for denying this idea and consequently judged that subsequent popes and clerics had also lost spiritual authority. However, although they considered the ministry of such priests invalid, they nonetheless accepted that the sacraments celebrated by them retained their efficacy, albeit "to their own damnation"[64]. Unlike the Fraticelli de paupere vita, who mostly lived as hermits or mendicants, the Michelists were organized on the model of the official Church, with their own bishops, priests, and even a "patriarch," convinced that they represented the true Church of Saint Francis[65]. Their main base was the March of Ancona, from where they sent missionaries disguised as merchants or soldiers to administer the sacraments in secret[66]. Their presence also spread to Florence, where in 1382 the anti-heretical laws of Frederick II were reinstated, and in 1389 the preacher Michael of Calci was burned alive as a martyr of evangelical poverty[67].
On the doctrinal level, the Fraticelli de opinione produced various texts. Among them, a Letter to all the faithful (1375–1389) defended the validity of their sacraments and reaffirmed the poverty of Christ and the apostles, offering submission to the Church only if refuted with solid arguments[68]. The best-known work was the Appellatio monacensis (c. 1378), often mistakenly attributed to William of Ockham, which listed the "errors" of John XXII and renewed criticism of the wealth and corruption of the clergy[69].
In the 15th century the Michelists survived in small clandestine groups. An important inquisitorial trial in 1466, during the indulgence of the Porziuncola, showed that they had an internal hierarchy, with a bishop ("Nicola di Massaro") and monasteries even in Greece, where they had founded autonomous communities[70]. With the consolidation of the Observant Franciscans and increasing papal pressure, the movement went into decline and disappeared by the end of the fifteenth century. Their defense of absolute poverty and their critique of the hierarchical Church nonetheless left a significant mark on late medieval spirituality and religious thought[71].
Nel 1321, during the pontificate of Pope John XXII, a major controversy emerged between the Holy See and the Order of Friars Minor over the question of the poverty of Christ and the Apostles. The dispute, which arose from a trial against certain "zealous" Spiritual Franciscans, revolved around whether Christ and his disciples had owned earthly goods or not[72].
The Minister General Michael of Cesena defended the doctrine of absolute poverty as a central tenet of the Franciscan Rule, maintaining that Christ and the Apostles had possessed neither property nor a true right of use over material goods[73]. John XXII, although at first he showed some favor toward the Order, decided to approach the matter from a more juridical and theological perspective, temporarily suspending the decretal Exiit qui seminat (1279) of Pope Nicholas III with the bull Quia nonnunquam of 1322, in order to allow a new examination of the problem[74]. In November 1323 the pope issued the bull Cum inter nonnullos, in which he declared heretical the thesis denying material ownership and the right of use of goods by Christ and the Apostles[75]. This act was perceived as a direct attack on the Franciscan ideal and provoked an immediate response from the Franciscans gathered at the General Chapter of Perugia, who forcefully reaffirmed the "absolute poverty" of the Redeemer as a dogma of faith and the foundation of their Rule[76]. Meanwhile, the ruler Louis the Bavarian, in opposition to the papal stance, took up the defense of the Order and in 1323 made public the Declaration of Sachsenhausen, accusing John XXII of having offended the evangelical poverty of Christ and of Mary[77]. He argued that the Rule of Saint Francis, already confirmed by previous popes, conformed to the example of the Savior, and that any attempt to alter it amounted to betraying a truth established by Christ himself through the power of the keys granted to Saint Peter[78].
The conflict, which by then involved the whole of Christendom, led to a deep division within the Order of Friars Minor, split between those who adhered to papal obedience and those who remained faithful to Francis's original ideal. The controversy continued in the following years with further doctrinal interventions and excommunications, marking one of the most delicate moments in the relations between the Papacy and the Franciscans[79].
Key figures
Joachim of Fiore
The Calabrian abbot Joachim of Fiore is usually remembered as one of the most distinctive figures of medieval religious thought. His theological ideas, based on a rather complex allegorical reading of Scripture, ultimately divided the history of the world into three ages associated with the Persons of the Trinity: that of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit[80]. This historical vision, which also envisaged a future age of spiritual perfection and divine knowledge, exerted a certain influence in the thirteenth century, even though his positions on the Trinity were later condemned at the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215[81]. Joachimite theories were enthusiastically received by the Franciscans, who saw in them the prefiguration of a community of spiritual poor destined to renew the Church[82]. In particular, the Spiritual Franciscans identified their Order with that of the "Contemplatives" announced by Joachim[83]. More moderate currents interpreted this prophecy as a call for internal reform and the restoration of evangelical poverty, whereas more radical groups—under the influence of authors such as Gerardo of Borgo San Donnino—read it in apocalyptic terms, imagining the coming of the Antichrist and the advent of a new age of love and peace[84]. Franciscan Joachimism fostered a rich literary production, ranging from the works of Angelo Clareno and Ubertino of Casale to pseudo-Joachimite treatises such as the Liber de Flore and the Vaticinia Anselmi, which blended history and prophecy within a framework of spiritual renewal[85]. In these texts, the papacy is often described as corrupt and opposed to the original Franciscan ideal, and the regeneration of the Church is entrusted to a future "Angelic Pope"[86].
Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Joachimite thought survived among the Fraticelli and Provençal Beguines, where it continued to inspire expectations of a universal renewal founded on poverty and love[87]. In later spiritual literature, his legacy re-emerged in the Historia septem tribulationum and especially in Ubertino of Casale's Arbor Vitae Crucifixae, a work that helped to shape Joachim's image within Dante's Paradiso[88].
Angelo Clareno
Angelo Clareno was a Franciscan friar, writer, and translator, regarded as one of the principal representatives of the movement of the Spirituals between the 13th and 14th centuries. After entering the Order of Friars Minor, he embraced an ideal of extremely strict poverty and fidelity to the Rule of Saint Francis, opposing the growing institutionalization of the Order. Internal tensions led him, together with Pietro da Macerata (later known as Brother Liberato), to request from Pope Celestine V recognition of a new fraternity of hermits, known as the Poor Hermits or the Clareni, formally separated from the Conventual Franciscans[89].
Initially protected by Cardinal Napoleone Orsini, Angelo assumed leadership of the group after the death of Liberato and founded several communities in Lazio, the Marche, and the Kingdom of Naples, organizing them into provinces governed by custodians and guardians, following what he considered the more original model of the Franciscan Order[90]. According to Douie, Angelo's letters and the inquisitorial documents of 1334 show that, despite a life marked by severe poverty and constant devotion, some members eventually fell into a certain degree of verbal fanaticism against the secular clergy and against Pope John XXII[91].
Angelo spent his final years at the monastery of Subiaco, where he devoted himself to writing and to translating Greek ascetical texts, such as the Rule of Saint Basil and the Scala Paradisi by Saint John Climacus, which helped introduce the spirituality of the Eastern Fathers into the Western world[92]. He also distinguished himself through his Expositio Regulae Fratrum Minorum, in which he interpreted the Franciscan Rule with a very absolute evangelical rigor, avoiding scholastic speculation and the theological mediations of authors such as Saint Bonaventure[93]. As recounted in the Liber chronicarum sive tribulationum ordinis Minorum, his principal historical work, Angelo presented a rather dramatic vision of the crisis of the Order, in contrast with the ideal of the "Poor Man of Assisi". This chronicle, probably written in the early years of his stay at Subiaco, remains an important source for understanding the Franciscan spiritual movement and its conflicts with ecclesiastical authorities[94].
At his death, which occurred around 1337, Angelo's reputation for holiness spread quite rapidly. His friend Simone da Cassia collected his letters and sayings, while the Celestine prior Tommaso l'Inglese prepared an Office in his honor. Popular veneration regarded him as "Blessed", and the Bollandists included him in the Acta Sanctorum on 15 June, albeit without official recognition by the Church[95]. The work and thought of Angelo da Clareno display a synthesis between the evangelical rigor of the early Franciscans and certain mystical influences from the Eastern tradition, making him a point of reference for the Observants and for the later spiritual reform of the Order[96].
Pietro di Giovanni Olivi
Pietro di Giovanni Olivi was a Franciscan theologian from Provence, remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Spiritual movement. He was born in Sérignan, near Béziers, in an area where Joachimite heritage had left a strong mark, which greatly influenced his religious thought and also gave it a somewhat apocalyptic tone[97]. He entered the Order of Friars Minor at a young age and later became a lector in Florence and elsewhere, gaining a reputation for doctrinal rigor and for a fairly balanced way of combining spirituality with moral realism[98]. His reflection focused above all on evangelical poverty and on the usus pauper, which he regarded as intrinsically bound to the vow of poverty. For Olivi, an overly free use of material goods would have reduced the renunciation of ownership to a kind of fiction. For this reason, he argued that the true path of Christian perfection had to follow the example of Christ and the apostles, through the total renunciation of temporal goods[99]. However, he was not a fanatic of austerity: he explained that, in applying the rules, one had to take circumstances into account, as well as the personal discretion of the friars, avoiding excessively harsh judgments[100].
Olivi firmly opposed the abuses circulating within the Order—such as the procuratorial system or the privilege of burial within Franciscan churches—while maintaining a fundamentally moderate stance and loyalty to the Church[101]. He also maintained that not even the pope could grant a dispensation from the vow of poverty, because papal authority was meant to build up spiritual life and not to dismantle the evangelical ideal[102]. From a philosophical point of view, Olivi is seen as a transitional figure between Bonaventure and the new scholasticism of Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. Although he is not counted among the major medieval philosophers, he displayed a fairly autonomous and reasonably balanced line of thought from a rational perspective[103]. His most important works include the Quodlibeta[104], the commentaries on the Libri Sententiarum[105], and the Commentarium in Apocalypsim, which was later condemned in 1319 for certain ideas considered excessively prophetic and somewhat apocalyptic[106]. In this work, influenced by the thought of Joachim of Fiore, Olivi envisioned a spiritual renewal of the Church and a kind of triumph of the Age of the Spirit[107]. His influence was considerable: on the one hand, he had a lasting impact on the Spiritual Franciscans and the Provençal Beguines; on the other, his theses aroused suspicion and hostility among ecclesiastical authorities, who saw in them the risk of future heresies[108].
Ubertino da Casale
Ubertino da Casale was a Franciscan friar, theologian, and writer associated with the Spiritual Franciscans, within which he became one of the most charismatic and also most controversial figures. A disciple of Peter of John Olivi, he became known for his very strict support of the literal observance of the Rule and Testament of Saint Francis of Assisi, placing himself at the head of the most intransigent current within the Order in defense of the ideal of paupertas absoluta[109].
Ubertino took an active part in the theological and institutional disputes that troubled the Franciscans at the beginning of the 14th century; he supported the Spirituals during the inquiry ordered by Pope Clement V and played a leading role at the Council of Vienne (1311–1312), where he strongly pressed for evangelical poverty against the views of the Conventuals[110]. After his demands failed to find acceptance at the Curia, he withdrew to La Verna, where he wrote his most famous work, the Arbor vitae crucifixae Jesu Christi, a vast mystical–theological treatise combining meditation on the Passion, biblical exegesis, and visions with a Joachimite tone[111]. As stated in its prologue, the Arbor Vitae was intended for "all the true faithful of Christ and the friends of holy Poverty," and it is often regarded as one of the peaks of Franciscan mysticism[112]. Douie describes it as "a prose poem of the life and Passion of Christ," capable of uniting religious fervor, theological reflection, and a certain personal introspection[113]. The work also includes very harsh invectives against clerical corruption and the opulence of the Order, together with powerful and lyrical pages devoted to Poverty and to Saint Francis[114]. In his later years Ubertino drew close to the imperial party of Louis the Bavarian, openly opposing Pope John XXII and preaching against him at Como in 1329[115]. A letter of Pope Benedict XII (1341) refers to him as "quondam Ubertinus de Elia de Casale," indicating that he was already dead, perhaps even in violent circumstances according to later tradition[116].
Ubertino's thought, marked by apocalyptic and Joachimite motifs, exerted a strong influence on medieval spirituality and also on Italian literature: Dante Alighieri recalls him in the Paradiso (Canto XII, 124–126), placing him alongside Matthew of Acquasparta as symbols of two opposing paths that diverge from Franciscan purity[117]. According to Douie, Dante reused some images from the Arbor Vitae, reweaving them into the cantos devoted to Francis and Dominic[118]. Ubertino's work, despite certain polemical excesses and a strongly apocalyptic view of history, remains one of the most important testimonies to the mystical and reforming tension that ran through Franciscanism between the 13th and 14th centuries[119].
Michele da Cesena
Michael of Cesena was an Italian Franciscan religious and theologian, minister general of the Order of Friars Minor from 1316 to 1328. He was known for his strong opposition to Pope John XXII during the dispute over apostolic poverty and for the influence of his followers, later called the Michaelists. He was born toward the end of the 13th century in the small settlement of Ficchio, in the Cesena plain along the Savio River. According to tradition, he belonged to the Foschi family. He entered the Order and was probably educated at the Studium of Cesena, attached to the convent of San Francesco, in the area now occupied by the Biblioteca Malatestiana.[120]
In 1316, while teaching theology in Paris, he was elected minister general of the Order at the general chapter of Naples, receiving 28 favorable votes and the support of King Robert of Anjou and Queen Sancia of Majorca.[120] During his generalate, Michele attempted to promote various reforms and to strengthen evangelical missions, but he also found himself amid tensions between the more spiritual and the more communitarian currents within the Order. He was rather cautious toward extreme factions, while maintaining a rigorous interpretation of Franciscan poverty.[120] At the general chapter of Perugia in 1322, the Order affirmed that Christ and the apostles owned nothing, neither individually nor in common, but used goods only "in fact". Michele, together with Bonagratia of Bergamo and William of Ockham, supported this position, in contrast with the Bonaventurian line.[120] Pope John XXII reacted harshly and issued the bulls Ad conditorem canonum, Quia quorundam, and Cum inter nonnullos, declaring the doctrine of usus facti heretical and insisting that Christian perfection is based on charity, not on poverty. Michele responded by appealing to the decretal Exiit qui seminat of Pope Nicholas III.[120] In 1327–1328 he was summoned to Avignon to clarify his views. On 13 April 1328 a secret appeal against the pope circulated. On 26 May Michele secretly left Avignon with Bonagratia of Bergamo and other friars, including William of Ockham, taking refuge first in Pisa and then with Emperor Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.[120]
The followers of Michele, known as Michaelists, formed a radical current within Franciscanism, often in critical dialogue with the Fraticelli. Like the latter, they emphasized the ideal of absolute poverty and the condemnation of ecclesiastical wealth; however, the Michaelists also developed ideas concerning the limits and legitimacy of papal power.[120] They argued that a pope who had fallen into heresy immediately lost his authority and could be judged by the faithful, anticipating ecclesiological and political reflections that were uncommon for the time.[120] Despite excommunication and official condemnation, Michele and the Michaelists maintained a certain following, especially in central-northern Italy. The group also produced several polemical appeals (1328–1338) against John XXII, published in Munich, which introduced innovative ecclesiological and political positions.[120]
After 1329, Michele remained at the court of Emperor Louis IV in Munich, where he continued his polemical theological and political activity. The last document attributed to him is an appeal dated 23 August 1338.[120] There is no certain information about him after 1342. A testament attributed to Michele, in which he supposedly declared repentance and a desire for reconciliation with the Church, has been shown to be a 17th-century forgery, probably inserted into manuscripts of the Biblioteca Malatestiana of Cesena.[120]
Douie, Decima L. (1978). The Nature and Effect of the Heresy of the Fraticelli. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-404-16121-7.
References
↑On the distinction between a "spiritual tradition" within Franciscanism (modern terminology), which exalted radical poverty, and the friars who were actually called "the Spirituals," as well as on the connections between these two phenomena, see: Grado Giovanni Merlo (2003). Editrici Francescane (ed.). Nel nome di san Francesco: Storia dei frati Minori e del francescanesimo sino agli inizi del XVI secolo. Padova, Italy. pp.232–251.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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