A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume IIILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume III
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
In fact, the three vows, of poverty, obedience, and chastity, were all
equally impossible of absolute observance. The first was irreconcilable
with human necessities, the others with human passions. As for chastity,
the whole history of the Church shows the impracticability of its
enforcement. As for obedience, in the sense attached to it of absolute
renunciation of the will, its incompatibility with the conduct of human
affairs was shown at an early period, when Friar Haymo of Feversham
overthrew Gregory, the Provincial of Paris, and, not long afterwards,
withstood the general Elias, and procured his deposition. As for
poverty, we shall see to what inextricable complications it led, despite
the efforts of successive popes, until the imperious will and resolute
common-sense of John XXII. brought the Order from its seraphic heights
down to the every-day necessities of human life--at the cost, it must be
confessed, of a schism. The trouble was increased by the fact that St.
Francis, foreseeing the efforts which would be made to evade the spirit
of the Rule, had, in his Testament, strictly forbidden all alterations,
glosses, and explanations, and had commanded that these instructions
should be read in all chapters of the Order. With the growth of the
Franciscan legend, moreover, the Rule was held to be a special divine
revelation, equal in authority to the gospel, and St. Francis was
glorified until he became a being rather divine than human.[3]
Even before the death of the founder, in 1226, a Franciscan is found in
Paris openly teaching heresies--of what nature we are not told, but
probably the mystic reveries of an overwrought brain. As yet there was
no Inquisition, and, as he was not subject to episcopal jurisdiction, he
was brought before the papal legate, where he asserted many things
contrary to the orthodox faith, and was imprisoned for life. This
foreshadowed much that was to follow, though there is a long interval
before we hear again of similar examples.[4]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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