On the fear the poor Capuchins had because of the threats of His Holiness, Paul III, angered because of the departure of Ochino

406 The Apostles abandon their Master 407 The trepidations and anguish in which the Capuchins lived 408 Persons who sympathized with them 409 The departure of Ochino was instead a good thing for the Capuchin Reform 410 Vibrant praise of those early Fathers of the Congregation

(406) The Apostles’ fear was great when they saw their good Master taken from them by the synagogue and maltreated by them so shamefully. For he was that infinite light that illumined the whole world with the teaching that he, the Divine Wisdom, had brought from heaven from the divine source of the Most Holy Trinity. He enlightened everyone who wanted to believe with prophetic discourse, rising from the dead and countless other miracles. From all these things a great acclamation came from everyone saying, “He will raise up a great prophet for us.” Therefore because of this support the people called our Lord the Messiah, Prophet and Master. This resulted in great gladness and immense joy for the holy Apostles when they saw themselves favoured and respected by everyone and guided and instructed by Christ. Many times the Magdalene and other cherished friends of Christ fed them. On Mount Tabor he show them his glory. This pleased them so much that Peter cried in a loud voice, “Lord, it is a good thing that we are staying here on this mountain!” However when they saw themselves deprived of all these things, the simple Apostles did not yet understand the mystery that the Lord our God had not fully revealed to their minds as he did later by giving them the Holy Spirit. He enlightened and strengthened them by this light in such a way that, like a great sea of light, the orthodox Church was enlightened. It descended like streams from the great sea to particular saints, apostles, teachers, prophets and others. Deprived of all these things, a great confusion was born in them, as the Prophet says, “I will strike the Shepherd and all the sheep will be scattered.” This is just how it happened that all the all the holy Apostles were scattered, abandoning their Master. Their fear of dying was so great that Peter denied Christ and all the others, except John, fled. Some hid in the mountains and others in caves. Frightened, they expected to die from moment to moment, considering the terror that the hatred and threats of the High Priest, Scribes and Pharisees of the synagogue gave them. And all this happened because they were struck by human fear on abandoning that infinite goodness by their infidelity.

(407) This is just what happened to the poor Capuchins when they saw the Holy Pontiff justly angry towards them because of the apostasy of their General. And all the more so when they heard the threats that His Beatitude had let escape from his mouth in that furor to have the poor Congregation of Capuchins completely annihilated.

When our Fathers were assembled in Rome by command of His Holiness and before his tribunal had already heard words pregnant and full of terror, when they returned to the Friary they wrote and advised all the Provinces about the matter. They begged that everyone together must pray to God incessantly, that through his mercy he might not look upon our negligence but that he might free us from such ruin. From these letters and warnings of our Fathers there generated in the hearts of the Friars an immense sadness and fear of being completely removed from their opportunity for the observance of the Rule; or of being enemies of His Holiness. It was horrendous to think of it. Everywhere all the poor fellows were terrified. They lacked support from all quarters because, since it was a matter of heresy, none of our friends or the important persons who loved our Congregation dared to speak about it with His Holiness. Founded in profound humility, with prayers, sighs and tears they all addressed themselves to God who alone could help us and free us from such ruin into which the whole Congregation had fallen not because of its own doing – it was completely innocent- but because of the General. All our supporters drew back as soon as they saw us because even they received blamed from our adversaries, who said to them, “Look at your Capuchins and their hypocrisy. His Holiness wants them all to return to the Order otherwise they will remain excommunicated.” This gave them ample scope still to cling to our Lord since all the Court and Prelates of the Church were angry towards us. All the poor fellows remained completely astonished that they hardly spoke to one another. However when they met a kindly gaze they faced them and with tears said to them, “What will become of us, my dear brother? Many of them embraced one another and said with tears, “I will never believe that our Lord God may allows us to be separated from one another.” So great was the love that reigned between them that nothing gave them greater pain as much as did the fear that the Congregation would be completely shattered and that they would have to separate from one another.

(408) The venerable Father Francis of Iesi gave them great comfort with sermons and exhortations. He said, “Do not worry, my sons. Trust in the mercy of God because his Majesty never fails those who commend themselves to him with a pure heart.” He composed certain litanies of the mercy of God along with prayers and orations and he order that they be said each day.

Such was the communion between those servants of God and their fervour and perseverance in holy prayers that if they had ever commended themselves to God with all their hearts, this time surpassed all the other times.

Holy Religious, the Hermits of the Fratta of Camaldolo, also helped the poor Congregation. When they heard about this grave tribulation some of their older and more judicious Fathers proposed these words: “The Congregation of Capuchins was never exalted higher or more pleasing to God that today!” Prophetically they said these words, “Thanks to Bernardine of Siena this Reform has grown very much. If God had not helped it with this tribulation the Congregation would have become lax within a short time. However this will be a purging that will purify it of all those who have little good will.”

In Genoa there was a saintly woman called Madonna Pellotta whom I knew and with whom I have often spoken. I have been well informed by the Friars of that time that this holy woman loved the poor Congregation so tenderly. When she heard about the tribulation she did nothing else for months but weep and with great fervour beg our Lord God and his holy Mother for the preservation of the poor Capuchins.

It doesn’t seem to me that I say nothing about the venerable and holy Capuchin women from the Monastery in Naples and what they did. When they heard about the tribulation they persevered for many months and years in the most fervent prayers in common. In particular many of them afflicted themselves fasting on bread and water and other afflictions to placate the anger of the Lord God so that he might not look at our wretchedness, but that according to his mercy preserve this poor Congregation.

I will leave off speaking about the loving and devout city of Perugia that was completely dedicated in its devotion towards the Capuchins. Had they been able to they would have given all they possessed in the world in defence of the poor Congregation. When they met the poor Friars and seeing them so afflicted and pale in the face, they said with a loving voice, “Oh you poor fellows, I have heard tell that you have had it this time! Have patience and do not worry because God will help you.” In particular the venerable old Anton Berrettaio didn’t dare to leave his house for fear of hearing some new evil about his sons. He spent most of his time weeping for them. There was always someone who said to him, “Antonio, have you seen the flight of your Capuchins? Whom will we believe now? They seemed like saints to us. It seems as though the sun is hidden from us. There was no other light in the world and now this infernal enemy has taken this good from us. For the whole world rejoiced over the exemplary life of these servants of God. I cannot believe that God won’t help them. This is nothing else but envy and wickedness.” The affection that all the Perugians bore towards the Capuchins universally was such that they never believed any evil of the Congregation. Instead they had great compassion towards us and many devout individuals prayed God for us constantly.

Suffice it to say that I could speak of many throughout Italy who had great compassion for the poor Congregation. When the storm cloud passed and its innocence was revealed, the Congregation revived in the affection of everyone more than ever. His Holiness, all the Court and Prelates of Holy Church knew it was holy and good, and it was publicised and manifested as such. Our devotees arose again and opposed our adversaries with great constancy. The adversaries bit at the Congregation so atrociously and they went around sowing the idea that it was necessary for all the Capuchins to abandon the cowl and that we would all be disbanded and brought to nothing. When our friends came across these they said to them, “You poor fellows! You would do better to keep quiet!” From then on this resulted in the fact that no one believed anything they said any more. This was the greatest blow our adversaries could ever have in public because they lost almost all credibility. Also from this resulted that which the venerable Camaldolese Father said: that by the grace of God the Congregation was almost completely purged of lax Friars, all of whom returned to when they came.

(409) We spoke above about the joy the holy Apostles had from the honour given them by the people because of the great devotion the people bore towards Jesus Christ; and when he was taken from them there was great confusion and shame that they because of this. The same happened to the Capuchins. When Ochino was their General, because he was an outstanding man of such prospects because the whole world adored him as a saint. At preaching he was the best in all of Italy and perhaps in all Christendom. He preached with such acceptance that he often had twenty or twenty five thousand persons at his sermon. He enjoyed so much credibility with the Court and with all the Prelates of Holy Church that everyone held him to be an Apostle of Christ. I won’t spend too long on him because I have already spoken about him at length in another part. It is enough to say that our Congregation received great honour because of him and everyone held it in the palm of their hand. However when this wretch fell from such a high summit, all the glory of the Capuchins that they received because of him was changed into a bitter lament. This was something God guided. For although the entire Congregation lived in perfect observance of the Rule at the time, it lacked something in this regard that is more important: the holy Cross. Our Lord so loved and embraced the Cross when he came into the world that he embraced it in the crib indissolubly. He never abandoned it for the entire course of his life until, when on the Cross, he commended his immaculate spirit to the Eternal Father. His goodness seeks it so much in those who serve him that most of what he does for them in this world is to make them sharers in his cross and to adorn them with it life legitimate sons.

Therefore because of the great welcome of world and the glory of Ochino that the Capuchins received the cross of Christ weakened in them. For they not only praised us with words but were also very abundant in their alms. The strict poverty that everyone observed came to be tarnished. In this way they also received harm because many would not have come to the Congregation to receive the holy habit because they had little spirit. They came because of that worldly glory. Therefore it was the mercy of God that this plague was removed from the poor Congregation in order to restore us wholly into the pure observance of the Rule, into that first poverty of spirit and despising of the world. It was a great instruction for us never to entrust ourselves again to the lures of the world and to remain continuously in the fear of God, founding ourselves on true humility and considering Bernardine of Siena. He was a very learned man, old in the Franciscan Order, highly regarded by everyone. How miserably he fell. As one great servant of God said, “I do not think he fell for any other reason if not because we was so self assured and trusted so much in himself that he had abandoned holy prayer completely.” Therefore this holy man said, “It is not possible to be able to persevere very long in the Order without prayer.”

(410) Therefore it pleased the Lord God to turn everything to our God. For our Prelates learned from this that from then onwards they were very careful in receiving Friars. From this it followed that all the time that those holy old Friars governed the Congregation was maintained in the perfect observance of the Rule. Universally it was always very quiet. However, when the Congregation was deprived of the governance of those holy cold Friars by bodily death, it began to expand and the spirit began to cool. Those who went through that tribulation were so refined in holy contemplation and in the holy virtues that I who knew them would say that all those who died in the holy Order could be canonised without any other miracles. For attaching themselves to the feet of Christ they constituted a portrait of one continuous prayer. Because they were well suited and expert the majority of them fasted on bread and water most of the years. The conversed little with one another because, as the devout Bernard says, they felt they were never more alone than when they were accompanied by other men. For it seemed to them that in solitude they were accompanied by Jesus Christ and in the company of men they were deprived of him. When any secular, one of our devotees came to the friary this is what they did. Only the porter spoke with him or the Father Guardian. No other Friar appeared. They all fled instead. Some withdrew into the woods, some into their cells, others into the church. They spent almost all their time fruitfully. When they gathered together sometimes like beloved brothers they always spoke about God or the Rule. Such was the relish they felt in holy prayer that those servants of God were drawn to it like iron to a loadstone. To them it seemed like committing a great sin to spend time in fruitless things. Often I saw and experienced the bright, clear conscience of those servants of God. When it happened some times that one stopped to talk with his brother, no matter how short a time it was, as soon as he became aware of it he knelt down and admitted his fault, “Forgive me, my brother, because I have made you waste time.” Then with great sorrow he would have gone off to confess himself. Those servants of God could not tolerate any blemish on their conscience that was not immediately from them with tears. Their good conscience made it easy for them to guard themselves from every stain of sin and to habituate themselves in every kind of virtue. Like Angels of God that do not have bodies, every kind of suffering seemed easy to them for the love of God. Their submission and reverence for their superiors was such that the superiors only had to make known their intention and these carried it out immediately. Like perfect men they strove not only to be obedient the commands of their superiors but also to their simple intentions. They behaved this way in everything pertaining to the perfect observance of the Rule. This was for them like a hedge that never allowed anything come near them that the holy Rule proscribes us. With this holy caution those servants of God preserved themselves. So they not only observed the precepts of the Rule, but they perfectly observed all the counsels. They were so detached from every passion that with great delight and without difficulty they ran rapidly in the service of the Lord unto the vault of heaven. It seemed that the providence of the Lord would favour them in everything for because of the great devotion that the seculars had for them, it seemed reasonable that alms should abound, which are often the cause of making us offend holy poverty. Nonetheless it was a miracle of God when some alms were brought to them. They went whole months in which there was no meat in those friaries. This happened by the will of God in order to preserve those servants of his in perfect poverty, because a rumour went around in general that the Capuchins did not eat meat, nor did they want more of anything than for a day. When they ate, they gave all that was given them for the love of God. According to the custom of those early saints, those poor fellows contented themselves with greens and legumes. They ate little else in those houses. Most of the greens they ate raw. Thus hidden away from all earthly cares in those solitary little places they lived like Angels of God in perfect peace and communion. They rarely left those friaries and when it was necessary to go for alms, it seemed like a thousand years to return. The enjoy conversation with one another so much that when they were away from the friars they felt a great bitterness. It felt as though they were deprived of…