How Padre Fra Giovanni da Fano obtained a Brief against the poor Capuchins

183 The doubt aroused among the Capuchins because of the frequency of tribulations 184 Other effects these had 185 The Pope opposes the revocation of the Brief given to Ludovico 186 However he forbids the Observants to join the Capuchins

(183) Cain never hated Abel, nor Esau ever persecute his brother as much the Venerable Padre Fra Giovanni da Fano persecuted and hated the poor Capuchins. At that time he was Minister of the Province of the Marches. That such a good man – learned, mature, judicious and with a very good conscience – should fall into such a great error caused dismay to everyone. However many servants of God at the time considered that he was not inspired by malice but with zeal for his Order. He believed he was doing the right thing and something pleasing to God. And so it appeared that he did what he did out of great hatred. He said the very same thing when he later joined the Capuchins. However since he was an energetic and clever man he acted resolutely in everything. And he was very efficient in his actions. However, those who fished in deeper waters believed that God permitted this so as to give those venerable first Capuchin Fathers a greater test and so give them a greater crown.

Since this was one of the greatest persecutions which our Reform suffered in the beginning and they all worried about whether they were excommunicated, as this was commonly claimed. If it were just a persecution that they only had to suffer physically, those servants of God were so fervent that they would have laid down their lives willingly for the observance of the Rule. They suffered every hardship with great joy. However when they heard and realised that there was an excommunication many of them became dispirited. They could not help themselves because most of them were simple. Nor could they appear in public for fear of being apprehended. This was very similar to the Holy Apostles. When they saw their Master have such an appalling death they wondered if having followed Our Lord had been a waste of time. This is what the two disciples said after the death of the Lord. They had left Jerusalem and were on their way to Emmaus. Jesus appeared to them in the form of a pilgrim and asked them why they were so melancholy. They answered, “We were hoping that this Jesus of Nazareth must rise again after three days. Today is the third day and he has not risen.”

That is what happened to those poor fellows. When they found themselves amid so many tribulations and saw themselves so impugned by their adversaries they began to doubt whether the Reform was from God. For this reason many of them became afraid and returned to whence they came. Many returned under duress because they were captured by guards and forcefully brought back and incarcerated. The Good Master however did not fail to gather together his rustled sheep. For when matters were clarified they all came back again and with greater fervour. There is a saying that the more a hammer strikes an anvil the more the hammer wears out. Therefore this is what happened to that hard hammer Padre Fra Giovanni when he saw how God so favoured the Congregation of Capuchins and the more he saw the constancy of those servants of God. For however much he tried to keep the Friars from going to the Capuchins, more of them left. The more he persecuted them and threatened them with the terrors of excommunication the stronger was their conviction to recognise the Congregation conformed to all the things of God that usually suffer difficulties.

(184) Therefore the Venerable Padre Fra Giovanni began to rethink his situation and say to himself, “Look. Fra Giovanni. You are offending God by wanting to stop this Reform!” As he said later, his conscience was so pricked by this that he began to fear that he could no longer say the slightest word in against the Capuchins. He became convinced that if he did not restore their reputation by becoming a Capuchin he could not see how he could save himself. And so, where before he thought of how to stop others going to the Capuchins, now he had been seized by God like the Apostle Paul. During Paul’s great fervour against the Church of Christ that infinite light appeared to him along the road and penetrated his heart. The Saviour of the world said to him, “Saul, it is difficult to kick against the goad.” So Fra Giovanni could not withstand the constinuous, stinging lash of his conscience. Nonetheless before God gazed upon him and touched him with His power, he did not fail to do everything he could against the poor Congregation, using all his cleverness and learning to do this harm. For this reason he wrote so persuasively to a Court Procurator at that time that he poisoned both the Procurator and His Holiness against the poor Congregation. But since no power can resist the power of God, who orders all things in His infinite goodness for the benefit of His chosen ones, all these persecutions were as so many pearls and precious stones to adorn the Capuchin Reform. He gave them a grand foundation. Just as the Church of God was adorned with so many glorious saints in heaven and on earth because of many persecutions, so it was with our Congregation. Since those first Fathers were so purified they laid such a beautiful foundation for the Reform that her sons are still aware of it. And it is impossible for the seculars who knew them to forget that divine light which those servants of God spread everywhere. So even today they still give us bread and we benefit from their holy teachings. We all benefit still from the sweet fragrance which they bequeathed and from all their struggles.

(185) Therefore Father John did not fail to do everything he could to have Brother Padre Ludovico’s Bull revoked or restrict it somehow because the Brief was a great comfort to the Congregation. For the Brief was also a great opportunity for all those Friars from the Order who wanted to come over to the Capuchins. When he heard about the Brief, and being a judicious man, he knew his Province would be stripped of all the good Friars within a short time. Because of this he made an ultimate effort, and if God had not helped it, the poor Congregation would have been overturned and annihilated, so well did he set himself to his task. As we said above, he wrote to the Procurator who spared no effort because he was just as angry towards the poor Capuchins. However Our Lord did not allow much harm be done. Rather, God struck both of them and everything came out completely the opposite to what they thought.

He used friends who did not let him down. Therefore a Brief was obtained with all the favours possible. He brought forward many witnesses who proved to His Holiness that the Capuchins were weak friars. They persuaded him that that the Capuchins had no justification. They said to him, “We understand them and know all to well well just who they are. They are uneducated and act without justification.” They said His Holiness was ruining the Order, which was in total upheaval. Because this sect the whole Order was divided. Under the pretext of observing the Rule these four madmen, have adopted an austere life which could not possibly last. They will be stuck in limbo, deprived of the Order and their Reform. For all of them will get sick and they will need to return reluctantly to a more comfortable, easier life. The world will be scandalised at this disturbance the Order and this improper innovation in the Church. If Your Holiness assent and revoke and annul the first Brief we promise him that we will give these simple fellows who desire to observe the Rule every opportunity to do so. As Your Holiness knows quite well, our Fathers already obtained a Bull of Reform, which Your Holiness kindly granted us because at all costs we want do the Reform more calmly and without dividing the Order. And if they return to us they will be received kindly without imposing any penance upon them. We are not seeking anything else than to lead them back under holy obedience because they are wandering around like lost sheep.”

It was amazing. No orator’s tongue would be enough to describe how much astuteness and how many ploys were used by those Fathers, who were the most prudent and learned, to persuade His Holiness that he should revoke the Brief. Nonetheless the Lord God displayed a miracle greater than he ever displayed either before or since in favour of the poor Congregation. For on the surface those reasons were so true that His Holiness had to believe them completely, considering the weakness of the four Capuchin Friars, and that Order promised to give them every opportunity (to observe the Rule). But at this point there is a demonstration that the Holy Spirit governs the See of Peter. Nor can the See be deceived by false arguments. It was with good reason that the Seraphic Francis founded his Order on this very stable base whose judgement until today has always remained impartial and unshakeable.

(186) Therefore His Holiness would hear nothing of this. He wanted the Brief to stay firmly in place since he had been the one to grant it to them. When the adversaries saw that along that line they could not accomplish their plan to put away all those poor fellows, they took another road. With dogged insistence they implored His Holiness to grant them a Brief that would prohibit any more friars from leaving. They could persuade those who had left to return again. However with all the authority that the Brief granted them Fra Padre Ludovico, Fra Matteo and Fra Raphael remained firm. Holiness conceded to this as a crown for the poor fellows. He granted a Brief so that no more of Padre Giovanni’s Friars would be able to come to the Capuchin Congregation. He could encourage the return of those who had already joined them, on the condition that he gave them every opportunity to observe their Rule. He did not excommunicate those who did not want to return. However he had His Holiness include in the Brief the possibility of using the secular arm.

The Brief already granted to Fra Ludovico remained in force. He could not constrain Fra Ludovico nor Fra Matteo nor Fra Raphael to return to them. Rather, they could continue to do their Reform and receive every kind of person except those of Fra Giovanni and his Order. That Brief was sent to Padre Fra Giovanni, Minister of the (Province of the) Marches.