The Sixteenth General: Brother Alexander of Alexandria

93 His brief Generalate 94 The Friars at Narbonne

(93) The sixteenth General was the venerable Father Alexander of Alexandria from the Province of Genoa. He was elected in the Chapter assembled in Barcelona in the year of the Lord 1313 during the eighth year of the Pontificate of Clement V. ON the 19th of April the next year, Clement passed away to the better life and the See was vacant for at least two years. After having governed the Order for a year and half this General passed to the better life and was buried in the friary of Araceli. After his death the Order had no General for seventeen months.

(94) Since the Church was without a Shepherd and the Order of Minors was with out a General, some Friars zealous about the observance of the Rule separated themselves from the common life with great zeal and fervour. They saw the total ruin of the Order though corruptions introduced by lax Friars and the declaration of Clement V was not being observed. Making use of the secular arm they took the friaries of Narbonne and Betulia by force, evicting the lax Friars. By their bad example they had deprived the world of good life and scandalised it by restoring copious granaries and cellars of wine. They received perpetual inheritances and certain annuities. They had horses and many other things forbidden to Friars Minor. When the zealous Friars had obtained these friaries they made new Guardians and new Custodes. They removed the habits that the lax wore and gave them away like something profane. They made short, narrow and coarse habits, approaching the poverty of Saint Francis and the Constitutions of the early Fathers.

They did all this against the will of the Superiors of the Order. Because of this innovation the whole Order was stirred and in almost all the Provinces there were zealous Friars who drew near them in 1315 and 1316. From this many came many scandals and great intrigues against the Superiors of the Community. However, since this is discussed in the Chronicles I am not about to repeat the issue here.