CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII.
Election of St. Bonaventure to be SuperiorGeneral of his Order.
'* Non parva dignitas est preeesse tot fratribus, quot sunt in religiorum minorum, tam longe lateque, diffusa per orbem.""—AcT oF CANONISATION.
DurRING the time of these University disputes, an event of great importance for the family of St. Francis had taken place.
Bonaventure, at the age of thirty-five years, had been chosen by his brothers to the dignity of Superior-General of the Order.
Never, at any period of the history of the Church, had the religious life presented itself to the world in a state of more strange destitution than in the penitent of Assisi, but never had any family seen its members multiply with so marvellous rapidity.
The odour of the virtues of the holy Patriarch, which resembled the fragrance of a field strewn with flowers, and
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filled with the benediction of Heaven, exercised an ineffable influence over the hearts of men, and the astonished world found itself drawn after him.
No man ever humiliated himself like St. Francis, and no man was ever so highly exalted during his life as was he.
The Princes of the Church considered his friendship an honour, the great people of the world admired his virtues, and rich and poor renounced the hopes and the treasures of the world to join his standard.
Only a few years had passed since the first days of his penitence, when he had passed through the streets of Assisi amidst the jeers and derision of an angry people, and now already he could count an innumerable multitude of zealous imitators of his poverty, of his privations, and of his contempt for terrestrial things.
In the year 1219 five thousand Minor Friars met at St. Mary of the Angels to discuss with the Blessed Founder the needs of the Order, and to receive his advice.
They came from all the countries of the Catholic world to represent a still greater number of religious, and the spectacle of their devotion induced five hundred men to come in a few days to
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throw themselves at the feet of St. Francis, and to entreat him to receive them among his children.
But among this multitude there were some, of course, whose abnegation was imperfect, and whose first fervour cooled and became alarmed at the austerities which strewed the path of a child of St. Francis ; these judged the Rule of the humble Saint, by the light of mere human wisdom, and they thought to temper its severity.
Among these the first to be noticed is Elias of Cortona, who was the immediate successor of St.
Francis in the government of the Order.
He had been admitted into the Community by the Saint himself, who loved him with the tender affection of a father toason.
His cleverness and energy might have made him a pillar of support to the pious family, but humility had not taken a sufficiently deep root in his soul, and hence his wisdom had a worldly tone, and his actions produced bitter fruit for him and for his brothers.
St. Francis knew that Elias had the propensity to introduce innovations, and he had severely reproved him for it, and one day the Saint addressed him in these prophetic words: " Alas!
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unhappy man, thy fate is already decided ; thou wilt not die in religion.
Thou hast been weighed in the balance, and thou art found to be too light with thy pride and worldly knowledge."
After the death of St. Francis, the brothers, who were deceived in their estimate of the virtue of Elias, chose him to be Superior-General, and for some little time they had no cause to regret their choice.
He was very active in providing for the needs of the Order, and he took a prominent part in procuring the canonisation of their muchloved Father.
But this state of things did not last long.
He first began by altering the Rule as to the poverty which Francis of Assisi had bequeathed to his children as their most precious inheritance; and even in the presence of the Founder's tomb he did not fear to lay a profane hand on the trust which had been confided to him, and began to verify the sad prediction which had been made about him.
Great complaints soon arose against the proposed alterations of the Rule.
St. Anthony of Padua was at the head of the opposition.
The complainants appealed to the Pope, and Gregory IX. thought their complaints sufficiently well-
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founded to induce him to depose Elias from the government of his Order, and John Parent was elected in his stead.
He was a religious whose life was above all reproach, and he had grieved over the introduction of any laxity among the children of St.
Francis, whose poverty he imitated with sincere devotion.
As soon as he was elected he hastened to abolish the innovations which his predecessor had introduced, and to restore things to their former state.
But the evil was greater than he had imagined, and there were many malcontents among his brethren, who regarded the reforms of the new
Superior with an evil eye.
Though the Pope had deposed Elias he recognised in him a man of a superior mind, and he was touched with his humility, for he had begged to be allowed to pass the remainder of his days in solitude, but his heart, so impatient of control, could not rest, and he rekindled the discontent of his party.
Anthony of Padua was no longer there to exercise his powerful influence over the disaffected, and, at a Chapter held in the year 1236, they demanded the restoration of Elias, and the
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Pope consented to their desire.
As soon as he was re-appointed he began again his system of innovation; the elder members of the Community, beside themselves with grief, remonstrated with the General, but he made use of his prestige with Gregory IX. to obtain from him powers to act against the religious who differed with him as rebels and law-breakers.
Then all the most venerable men in the Order, being condemned to silence, were exiled and dispersed to other monasteries, their only resource being to pray to the Lord in their humiliation, that He would preserve from destruction the great work of St.
Francis.
The chief among them, Czesar of Spires, who was eminent among his brethren, was thrown into prison, and one day his gaoler, thinking he was about to escape, struck him so violent a blow that he expired at once.
When Gregory IX. heard of this sad event, he was overwhelmed with grief, and it became apparent to him that his old age had been taken advantage of, to serve the ambitious purposes of Elias.
The Pope at once assembled a Chapter of the Order, when the General was again deposed, and Albert of Pisa was elected in his
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stead.
This was a fortunate choice, for Albert was a man, whose heart was devoted to the religious life, and whose gentleness might have healed all the distressing wounds; but death did not allow him to fulfil the hopes that had been entertained of him, and he was obliged to bequeath to another the burden which he had borne as a faithful son of St. Francis.
Haymon succeeded him in 1241; he edified his Order by the holiness of his life, and arrested for a time the tendency to relaxation of the Rule; but, like
Albert, he did not live to carry out all his salutary intentions, as he died in the year 1244, only three years after his election.
The partisans of Elias now made another attempt to procure his re-election, but in vain, and Crescentius was chosen to the vacant post.
Bad days followed for the unfortunate Elias: he was accused of taking part with an excommunicated prince, and the Pope, Innocent IV.,
_in consequence, deprived and excommunicated him.
After this he left his Order, and by his actions confirmed the truth of the charges made against him.
However, when sickness came to him, repentance touched his soul, and before he
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died, he was reconciled to the Pontiff and to his brethren in the Order.
Crescentius was an aged man whose life had been spent in exemplary observance of the Rule, but he had no longer sufficient energy to control the Order in its present disturbed state, and another Superior was chosen in his place.
John of Parma, who was chosen to succeed him, had all the fervour of the early days of the Order.
One of the brethren, saluting the new Superior, said to him with intense sadness:
"Bene venisti Pater, sed tarde,"—You are welcome, Father, but you come very late.
However, his courage was indomitable, and in three years he had visited all the houses of his
Order, pitilessly putting down every abuse.
Two religious only accompanied him on his journeys ; he travelled on foot clothed in a poor habit, and giving no sign that he was the first personage in his Order.
Those who were zealous in the Community seconded his holy efforts, but the brothers who had become lax, and had incurred his reproofs, only waited for an opportunity to rebel against their brave Superior. They appealed to the Pope,
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8r and his Holiness, after vainly endeavouring to calm the malcontents, advised the General to yield to the storm and to resign.
The good Superior did not hesitate for a moment, and, in spite of the strenuous opposition of his friends, he resigned his office at once.
The Chapter, to show their esteem for him, asked him to appoint his successor, and he considered that no one would be more capable of carrying out the work of reform, and at the same time winning all hearts, than Bonaventure.
He therefore proposed him to his brethren as the man who would be most likely to revive among them the fervour of their early years, and his choice was unanimously confirmed.
The reputation of St. Bonaventure had reached many countries, and all the religious of his Order had heard of the innocence of his life, his extraordinary progress in sacred science, the sublimity of his teaching, and the success of his preaching.
Therefore all hailed with joy his appointment to the Generalship.
But for Bonaventure himself, this news came like a thunderbolt, and he was filled with dismay at the thought of the burden which was to be laid upon him.
But he was obliged to sub-
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mit, and to accept it, for the Pope had confirmed the choice of the Chapter.
He therefore prostrated himself humbly on the ground, and with many tears, he besought the God of St. Francis of Assisi to give him the wisdom, intelligence, and strength, which he needed to enable him to govern the great Order which had been confided to his inexperience.
St. Bonaventure started for Rome without 'delay, in order to take into his hands the direction of the affairs which had been committed to him, and to endeavour to bring back the hearts of his brethren to peace, obedience, and humility.
He began at first by looking to himself.
'' A Superior," he said, "ought to be a model of good life for the others, and to demonstrate by his actions that which he teaches by his words."
He resolved to unite himself more closely than ever with God.
"A Superior," he said, 'is a mediator between God and his brethren, for he treats with them about the things of God by instructing them, correcting them, and making them advance in virtue.
He ought also to try to advance their cause
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with God by endeavouring to appease His anger with them, and to obtain His grace for them, to preserve them from sin."
Therefore, besides the exercises which were practised by all the religious, he planned some special ones, setting apart more time for meditation on the love of God, and when the pressure of business prevented him from doing all that was suggested by the intensity of his devotion, he kept his thoughts fixed on his Lord, he worked always under His Eye, and kept his heart ever open to the effusions of His grace.
After God, he looked to his brethren.
Their virtues and their defects, their spiritual infirmities, and their bodily needs were his care.
His inexhaustible charity embraced all and made him consider himself, as the rule expressed it,
"the servant of all the Order".
The Order was his cherished family ; he had seen it sorrowfully fall away from the teaching of its holy
Founder; it was his desire now to reconcile the hearts of the children with their father, and to prepare a perfect people for his Lord.
In order more surely to attain this end, he made a resolve never to let justice flinch in presence of
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disorder, never to forget mercy towards the repentant, to be always faithful in encouraging the weak, in confirming the strong, in being gentle towards the timid, in associating himselt with the sorrows and troubles of his brothers, and in considering them all to have a right to his utmost care and tenderest love.
During the eighteen years that he was General, Bonaventure showed himself to be worthy of St. Francis, and when, before his death, he resigned his sacred trust into other hands, peace prevailed in the Order, the virtues flourished there, and his successors had only to walk in his steps, in order to maintain the great Community in fervour and holiness of life.
The Pope gave him powerful aid; in his anxiety to consolidate peace in an Order which he took under his special protection, he tried to smooth the way for the new Superior.
In a Bull issued with this intention the Pontiff revoked all permission to alter, in ever so small a degree, the Rule; he conferred on the Saint the most ample powers, and in order to strengthen him for the accomplishment of his heavy duties, he expressed to him, in language
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truly paternal, the confidence with which his virtues inspired him, saying that he believed him to be specially endued with grace from Heaven, to govern this holy people and to guide them in the paths of a perfect life.
When the Father expresses himself in such language, the devoted child is filled with joy and gratitude—the sun seems brighter to him, the air more serene, the storm less terrible, the labour less intense.
He goes to his work singing a song of confidence and love, and with ~ his eyes fixed on the end of his toil, he goes forward without fear of any obstacle, bearing about with him, graven on his heart, those
_ beautiful words: "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
(Rom. viii. 31.)
CuHaPTer VIII.
" TD Evangile Eternel"—John of Parma.
''Eruis sustinentes te Domine, et liberas eos,"— Ecctes. li, THE dispute between the Mendicant Orders and the University of Paris was at its full height when St. Bonaventure was raised to the dignity of Superior-General of the Order of St. Francis.
There was at this time in the world a very deplorable book called Zhe ternal Gospel.
The author of this book, embued with the teaching of Abbé Joachim, maintained that there were three epochs in religion, the Old Testament, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and after that a more perfect law, which was destined to replace the law of Christ, and to endure for ever, and this new law formed the subject of L' Evangile Eternel.
The doctrines taught by this pernicious book had already been condemned, but some
Franciscans had allowed
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themselves to be seen with it, and soon the report spread, that the introduction of the work had been written by John of Parma, and that the book itself proceeded from his Order.
His enemies eagerly seized this opportunity to make inquiries on behalf of the University, but they were rendered unnecessary by the condemnation of the book by Alexander IV., and by a second condemnation by the Council of Arles some years after.
The Church rejected and anathematised its errors, and continued to lower the pride of the Doctors of Paris.
Two religious among the Franciscans had publicly declared themselves in favour of Abbé
Joachim, whose names were Leonard and Gerard.
When St. Bonaventure arrived at Rome, he inquired into their opinions, and was soon convinced that they had wandered from the way of truth.
However, he proceeded with great charity to press them earnestly to conform to the decision of the General Lateran Council, and to say: "We agree with Peter Lombard, and we condemn the book of Joachim".
But he had to deal with men whose obstinacy was incurable.
Gerard replied: 'I confess with the
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Church and with the Apostle St. Peter, all that the doctors and the councils may have defined on this question and on all others".
And he obstinately adhered to this ambiguous answer, in which he could appear to reject the error without condemning it. His companion imitated him, and the examiners proceeded against them as heretics.
They were condemned to be imprisoned for life.
Leonard died in prison some years after, and Gerard, after spending eighteen years of his life in the captivity which his pride had brought on him, was released through the advocacy of St. Bonaventure, who found him to be much changed by the sufferings and humiliations which he had undergone.
The affair of John of Parma arose out of this one, and needed much more delicate treatment.
John was one of the most. distinguished personages in the Order ; he had renounced the world while still very young, and after attaining great distinction in his studies, he was made a Doctor of the University of Paris.
After he was made Superior-General, he was sent into the East as a Legate of the Holy See, to work for the extinction of schism, and was held in great veneration by
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the Greeks.
We have seen that while he held the office of General, he showed himself to be an earnest disciple of St. Francis ; but now the accusation of heresy was brought against him ; men called him a partisan of Joachim, and demanded that he should be judged accordingly.
St. Bonaventure could not decide alone in such an affair; the interests of the Order required his presence elsewhere, and it was besides intensely repugnant to his noble heart, to have to pass sentence on a man who had chosen him, in spite of his comparative youth, to the -eminent post which he had now occupied; as therefore he distrusted his own wisdom in a cause which so nearly touched the faith, he thought it better to leave it in the hands of the judges, but in order to secure justice and moderation in the conduct of the trial, he named a commission of several of the brothers, of which he chose Cardinal Cajetan, who was afterwards
Pope Nicholas III., to be the president.
John showed himself before his judges as great and dignified in his humiliation as he had done in the midst of honour and applause ; and by the intervention of Cardinal Cajetan was acquitted.