Brother Ubertino of Casale Defends Regular Observance at the Council of Vienne (1309–1312)

Source: Callaey 1911, pp. 148–153.

He begins with poverty. One will notice the subtlety with which he distinguishes its different defining traits.

Poverty, he says, must be expropriative, for it deprives the brothers of all direct or indirect ownership. Now, thanks to privileges granted by pontiffs who were unaware that these contradicted the Rule, the brothers supply themselves with whatever they please through intermediaries known as procurators. They solicit abundant alms, build splendid churches, monopolize funeral services for the wealthy and the execution of wills, and do not hesitate to become involved in financial lawsuits. They detest destitution, wear, whenever they can, garments of fine and precious cloth, dine well, and treat as narrow-minded sectarians those religious who wear patched robes. They ride horses, disregarding the precept that forbids it.

Poverty entails begging; but to avoid this necessity, certain convents have cellars and granaries where they stock abundant provisions. Others have secured perpetual legacies or shamelessly draw income from properties for their use. The brothers excuse themselves by saying that their goods are in the hands of papal procurators. But this is merely a pretext to cover their transgressions. Far from advising novices to distribute their goods to the poor upon entering the order, they persuade them to retain a personal reserve, which designated trustees will return to them after their profession. In Umbria especially, in the province of Saint Francis, the only concern is acquiring money. Brothers travel through cities and countryside, asking for alms in hard cash, which is carried by a layman accompanying them. Those who refuse to conduct collections in this manner are severely punished, as shown by the persecution of the zealots in Tuscany. All these abuses scandalize clergy and faithful alike and reveal that the order has lost its trust in divine providence. The truly needy suffer most, since the more the brothers take, the less remains for others.

Franciscan poverty must be voluntary, Ubertino continues. Yet it is borne only with reluctance. Instead of using simple sacred vessels and ornaments, as prescribed by St. Francis and several ordinances, the religious take pride in owning luxurious ones.

He cites two examples: a chalice that cost 500 florins, collected by noblewomen, and a holy water vessel made of silver, with a sprinkler handle of the same metal.

No doubt there are convents where such excesses do not occur, but only because they lack the means, he notes with sadness. Many friars minor, especially prelates, lecturers, and preachers, have funds deposited with obliging friends who spend it at their command. Ask the tavern keepers how! And see how much harm they do to observant religious. When those observants are traveling, they find nothing to eat anywhere, because people assume they can pay like the others.

The lax religious claim that the pope has direct ownership of their goods, while they only use them. But does that make them poor? If the Holy See were to take those goods away, they would be no less affected than those who have made no vow of poverty, indeed, much more so, because they would feel they deserved the loss even less.

We have embraced a state that obliges us to the most innocent simplicity. We should therefore flee profane studies, curious and false words, and subtle debates on frivolous opinions. But the superiors have commented on and softened the Rule so much that the order has fallen into a deplorable state, where one sees only bad examples, and hears only trivial disputes and mockery of the Gospel and of St. Francis. Those who persecute the spirituals most zealously are promoted to the highest offices. Some acquire rare books that they often don’t know how to use, then resell them to fellow friars at a higher price than they paid.

The offices of prelate and lecturer are pursued with fierce ambition. It is now the lecturers trained in Paris who govern the order. They exempt themselves from choral duties with ease and live entirely as they please. As for the preachers, they degrade the Word of Truth to such an extent that the people see us as doing nothing more than crafting bizarre sermons.

The mortification of the flesh has fallen into disuse along with poverty. Sensual friars linger in the streets, frequently visit devout women, dine with them, and engage in shameful familiarities. We seek only to please the world: for that reason, we settle in city centers rather than in remote places that favor solitude and reflection.

Laziness, gluttony, and promiscuity are so widespread that Ubertin is more surprised by the brothers who remain upright than by those who fall. He nevertheless admits that those unfortunate enough to be guilty of sins of the flesh are punished severely.

But very often, the affection of superiors spares them, while innocent men who have been slandered are persecuted.

The dissipated friars, lacking love for work or prayer, scorn those who lead an interior spiritual life and accuse them of being the playthings of phantoms stirred up by the devil. God has turned away from us and has taken up residence in the hearts of unlearned people, some even married.

Fraternal charity exists only in name. In cases of illness, zealous brothers barely receive the necessities, while prelates and lecturers are surrounded by countless little attentions. The friars can no longer bear one another.

Alter alterutrum suaviter manducabit (“Each will sweetly devour the other”).

Everyone tries to secure a place in their preferred convent and to endow it with bequests in order to live there in comfort. Many friars spend their lives cultivating family ties.

We should be setting a good example for the faithful, but all we do is scandalize them. Our decline is all the more disastrous because we are spread so widely. We don’t even have the courage to confess our failings; anyone who dares to rebuke us is branded a destroyer of the Gospel and of the Church. Superiors openly claim that poor usage, adapted to circumstances, is not part of apostolic poverty or the Franciscan rule. Some have even argued that insisting we are bound by our vow to this poor usage is superstitious and subversive. Brothers who refused to deny this doctrine were imprisoned and suffered cruel deaths.

Now, friars are taught that poverty consists in renouncing ownership while freely using all goods in abundance.

To this outrageous opinion, Ubertin opposes the decretal Exiit qui seminat of Pope Nicholas III, showing that the friars are, whether they like it or not, owners of superfluous goods, since the Holy See only assumes ownership of what they truly need.

Yet superfluity abounds among us. Look at the luxurious buildings we live in, the large gardens whose fruits are sold, the ornaments and sacred vessels, more splendid than those of the grandest cathedrals and richest abbeys. Some superiors accept grain given by benefactors, only to sell it later: that is an act of ownership, for the pope only claims ownership of what we actually use. The same applies to those who accept fine fabrics, horses, and weapons from dead knights at their funerals. All these abuses turn friars into insatiable beggars, greedy merchants, and often deceivers.

Certainly, many friars live loosely because they were raised in that environment from youth, others because they fear disturbing the peace within the order. For those who oppose such conduct pay a heavy price. But some openly claim that this laxity is necessary for the honor of God, the salvation of souls, and the prestige of the order. They scorn the original Franciscan traditions and persecute those who refuse to join them in their disorder. They would gladly erase all memory and writings of the first Minor Brothers, which might still open their eyes, or those of others.

The Franciscans of the first two categories are partly excusable. As for those of the last, Ubertin believes they will be tolerated patiently by God’s great mercy, until the Most High sees fit to declare, through the pope’s mouth, that their excesses are ruining our order and the promised rule.

In conclusion, the spiritual-minded Ubertin proposes the following:

No one should be prevented from observing the rule, nor forced to break it. Only exemplary superiors should be appointed. It is in the decretal Exiit (which is much obscured by Latin legalese) that the laxists seek their justification.

The use of money has caused all the harm.

If there are friars who say they cannot or do not wish to follow the rule, let them be granted a broader modus vivendi, so that their conduct aligns with their professed life. As for the statutes instituted by the Blessed Francis, let them be left to those who wish to observe them without gloss or interpretation.

“I dare affirm with complete confidence,” he says, “that there will be no peace in the order until the vicar of God entrusts those statutes to the letter, to those who wish to observe them.”

He concludes by apologizing for the imperfections and length of his reply, and insists that he does not intend to slander or attack anyone, but only to correct with sincere affection the holy order to which he belongs.