The Seventeenth General: Brother Michael of Cesena

95 The election of Michael of Cesena and the canonisation of Saint Louis, Bishop 96 More on the Friars of Narbonne 97 The shape of the habit is changed

(95) The seventeenth General was Brother Michael of Cesena, master of theology, from the Province of Bologna. He was elected in the General Chapter assembled in the city of Naples in the year of the Lord 1316. On the 9th August the same year Pope John XXII was created Pope.

In the year of the Lord 1306 (sic) on the 6th April Pope John enscribed the glorious Saint Louis, Bishop of Tolosa, into the catalogue of Saints with great solemnity. Later, on the 8th November the same year, the Saint’s body was translated with great solemnity from the middle of the choir where it had been buried and was placed under the high Altar in a silver chest. His Holiness appointed four Cardinals for this and while Rupert the King of Sicily was spiritually present.

(96) In the same year, as the multitude of zealous Friars prevailed – they were called ‘devout Friars’ – this sect attracted many in the Community and others were contaminated by them. By the will of His Holiness the General Michael of Cesena sent there the Minister of Aquitaine as Commissary. However he did nothing because the sect appealed to His Holiness and His Holiness referred the matter to Brother Michael the Monk form the Order of Preachers, the Inquisitor for evil heresy. When he considered that appealed he recognised that their reasons were frivolous. With the consent of the General they were punished severely. However, since I have spoken about this matter at length in the beginning of the Chronicle I will not say any more so as not to repeat myself.

(97) In the following year 1318, in order to put an end to the dispute that had arisen among the Friars, Pope John declared two main points on the Rule, namely the shape and quality of the habit and stores of grain and wine. Despite all this the sect of Friars in Narbonne did not cease. They confused the whole Order. Although the Lord God would not have permitted it, the Order was nearly completely destroyed. This was the beginning of the sect of heretical Fraticelli who later were expelled from the Church. This was the main reason that His Holiness, when he became angry at the Order since the issue had been about the shape of the habit, deprived the whole Order of the pointed cowl. He commanded the whole Order to wear the habit like the one the Reformed Discalced Friars of Spain now wear, though with a rounded cowl.

Therefore until this point the whole Order wore the pointed cowl and coarse habits of poor material just as Father Saint Francis wore with all those early Fathers, thus observing in dress the shape Father Saint Francis gave as one sees in the Conformities. And the ancient Chronicles testify that Michael Cesena wore the point cowl the whole time he was General. Because I promised not to write about Generals except those who wore that habit, I will not go on except about the Generals of our Congregation.

XVIII (98) Some martyrs of the Franciscan Order 99. The Reform of Gentile of Spoleto 100. Other Franciscan Martyrs (98) At this time, that is in the year of the Lord 1322, on the fifth day after Passion Sunday Brother Thomas of Tolentino, Brother James of Padua and Brother Metrio (a Lay Friar) and Brother Peter of Siena were martyred cruelly while preaching the holy faith in the Saracen city of Tana. Glorious, they flew off to heaven.

In the year 1313 Brother James Bernardi, Inquisitor of heretical wickedness, sent Brother Catalano and Brother Peter Pascal to Valencia, that is, to a diocese of that city. Making them his Vicars they were to take up procedures against the heretics. When they got there they carried out their office against those heretics with great fervour. The heretics martyred them cruelly. When Pope John began their canonisation, because of the unrest among the Order of Minors, His Holiness withheld from canonising them.

In the year 1327 on the 27th September, the glorious Confessor of Christ Elzear, Count of Arianno died. With his consort the very holy woman, Delphina, they had lived together in holy virginity for twenty seven years, always using the same bed. He passed away gloriously to the Lord in the hands of the holy man Brother Francis Mairon in Paris.

In the year of the Lord 1334 on the 12th April in the Saracen city of Sarai, the servant of God Brother Stephen of Hungary was cruelly martyred after preaching the Christian faith and having done many miracles. With the palm of glorious martyrdom he flew away to heaven. In the same year in Salmastro, a Saracen village, Brother William of England was martyred very cruelly and with the crown of holy martyrdom he flew off to heaven. In the year of the Lord 1341 in the Saracen city of Amalech the were very fervent and true observers of the Rule, namely Brother Francis of Alexandria, Brother Richard of Borgogna, Brother Raymond Ruffi, and the Provincial Brother Paschal of Spain. These were all Priests. The Lay Friars were Brother Lawrence of Alexandria and Brother Peter Marcelli from the Province of Provence. When they were preaching the holy faith of Jesus Christ with great fervour in that city, they infidels martyred them very cruelly. They flew away gloriously to heaven. In the same year Brother Oderic of Aldeconio and Brother Martin of Had were in the duchy of Livonia in the Province of Bohemia. The idolaters in Castel Vulna cruelly martyred them.

(99) In the year of the Lord 1352 Brother Gentile of Spoleto, along with many other perfect zealots for the perfect observance of the Rule and holy men from the Province of Saint Francis decided that they wanted to reform when the saw the universal transgression of the Rule in the Order. They had recourse to His Holiness Clement VI. Helped by some personages they asked His Holiness for some poor little friaries in the Province where they could observe their Rule to the letter and affirmed to His Holiness that universally in the common life of the Order that the Rule was not observed according to the intention of Father Saint Francis. With this they moved His Holiness who granted them four friaries in the Province of Saint Francis, that is, the friary of the Carcere in Assisi, the friary at Jano, the friary of the Hermitage in Cesi and the Friary of Monte Luce in Spoleto. He allowed them to have twelve Friars in each place who could receive Friars of the Order or seculars in fact, as they liked. Nor could anyone stop them.

Immediately they took up those places and made narrow, lowly and poor habits for themselves according to the intention of Father Saint Francis. These were totally different to those worn in the Order at that time. They lived in a very holy way. However not long after this innovation came to the notice of the whole Order and to the joy of the zealous Friars. In almost all the Provinces some of them began to take hold of it, sheltering in that reform.

When this became known, the General and the lax Friars brought it down with great astuteness, accusing them of heresy.

(100) On Mount Sion in the year of the Lord 1366 the Saracens captured twelve Friars Minor and many other Christians and martyred them cruelly. The reason for this was that the King of Cyprus had taken Alexandria and the Saracens were angered.

In the year of the Lord 1369 in the city of Biondina in Hungary five Friars Minor were preaching the holy faith. This is who they were. There was Brother Anthony of Saxony who had an immense fervour in his preaching and was often rapt in prayer. Brother Gregory of Traguria in the Province of Dalmatia, was a man of very profound humility and very zealous about the holy faith. Brother Nicholas of Hungary for sixteen never ate more than once a day after Vespers, and always only bread and water. On his bare skin he wore iron rings and chain mail. They were all Priests. Brother Thomas of Foligno and Brother Ladis, Lay Friars, were very devout men and very austere. When they were preaching the holy faith the infidels cruelly martyred them and they flew gloriously to heaven.

In the year of the Lord 1343 the General of the Order, Brother Fortaniero received the holy and noble lady Sancia of Majorca, Queen of Sicily and Jerusalem. In her great fervour to observe holy poverty she gave away all her wealth and kept nothing for herself. In the Monastery of Holy Cross in Naples until the day she died she always wanted to observe the first Rule of Saint Clare.

In the year of 1345, while preaching the holy faith in the Babylonian Quarter the Friar Minor Brother Livinio of France was cruelly martyred. In about the middle of April in the same year Brother John of Montepulciano was martyred in the same castle in that Quarter while preaching the faith of Jesus Christ.

In the winter of the year of the Lord 1358, Brother Nicholas of Monte Cervino and Brother Francis from the Province of Terra di Lavoro, were martyred while preaching the Catholic faith. They flew to heaven in glory.

In the of 1359 the great Prince Peter of Aragon, the son of the King of Aragon was received into the Order of Minors. Then, by a revelation from God, the sister of the Bishop Saint Louis was received. In a holy manner they ….

PART THREE: On the Vicars General and Cardinal Protectors of the Order of Friars minor Capuchin Here begins a brief recollection of all the generals of the congregation of Capuchins that there have been since 1525 until 1585