A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume ILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
Curiously enough, poverty formed no part of the original design. The
impulse to found the order was given by Cella's donation of his property
and the share of the tithes offered by Bishop Foulques; and, as soon as
it was organized, Dominic had no scruple in accepting three churches
from Foulques--one in Toulouse, one in Pamiers, and one in Puylaurens.
The historians of the Order endeavor to explain this by saying that its
founders desired to make poverty a feature of the Rule, but were
deterred for fear that so novel an idea would prevent the papal
confirmation. As Innocent had already approved of poverty in Durán de
Huesca's scheme, the futility of this excuse is apparent, and we may
well doubt the legends about Dominic's rigidity in requiring his
brethren to dispense absolutely with the use of money. Certain it is
that as early as 1217 we find the friars quarrelling with the agents of
Bishop Foulques over the grant of tithes, and demanding that churches
with only half a dozen communicants should be reckoned as parish
churches and subject to their claim on the tithes. It was not until the
success of the Franciscans had shown the attractive power of poverty
that it was adopted by the Dominicans in the General Chapter of 1220. It
was finally embodied in the constitution adopted by the Chapter of 1228,
which prohibited that lands or revenues should be acquired, ordered
preachers not to solicit money, and classed among the graver offences
the retention by a brother of any of the things forbidden to be
received. The Order speedily outgrew these restrictions, but Dominic
himself set an example of the utmost rigidity in this respect, and when
he died in Bologna, in 1221, it was in the bed of Friar Moneta, as he
had none of his own, and in Moneta's gown, for his own was worn out and
he had not another to replace it; and when the Rule was adopted in 1220
such property as was not essential for the needs of the Order was made
over to the Convent of Prouille.[224]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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