John of Parma

CONCERNING BLESSED JOHN OF PARMA, SEVENTH MINISTER GENERAL OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR, AT CAMERINO IN UMBRIA,

YEAR 1289, MARCH.

John of Parma, Seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, at Camerino in Umbria (Bl.)

[1] The Franciscan Order, immediately after the death of its holy Patriarch, was shaken in many ways through his vicar and then successor in the Generalate, Elias, on account of the relaxation of the Rule introduced by him, of Blessed John, in a most turbulent time, and the praiseworthy effort in the contrary direction of others zealous for its strict observance; nor was it able to be so quieted by the prudent zeal of Brother Haymo that it did not relapse into the same storms, six years after the last deposition of Elias, through the negligence, as they hold, of Brother Crescentius, who had succeeded the deceased Haymo. To bring some remedy to these evils, Pope Innocent IV decreed a General Chapter to be held before him at Avignon, in which Crescentius was absolved from office (whether willingly or unwillingly let others inquire), and John of Parma was created Master General, General of the Franciscans, the seventh in the Order, on account of John Parent and Albert of Pisa, who had been substituted for Elias on both occasions, to go against the perverse attempts of Elias and restore the collapsed discipline; as these things can be read more fully in the most lucid Annals of the Seraphic Order, composed by Luke Wadding, up to the year of Christ 1247, which was the fortieth from the heavenly calling of Saint Francis, from which they begin to count the years of the Religion.

[2] His Acts, faithfully inserted in the same Annals, according to the ancient accounts of near-contemporary authors or the authentic instruments of Pontifical documents, Acts collected from the Annals, we have extracted thence in a continuous thread of narrative, with a few words changed, so that the connection might be more suitable and the discourse less broken. Nor, however, have we thought it necessary to note laboriously from which place we have taken each part, since the Annals themselves are at hand, and what we narrate chiefly concerns three years -- namely, of the Generalate assumed and relinquished and of the blessed passing -- most of which either pertain to these or are referred to them by the author, or are drawn from the Pontifical Register, appended to each volume of the Annals according to the dates at which each Bull was issued. Rather, the reader should here be forewarned by what right, when no

saints' calendars received by the Church, nor even in the private catalogue of Ferrarius containing the Saints and Blessed of Italy, legitimate cult of the body, we should here report one not inscribed therein; especially since from the older writers of the Order no one is adduced who expressly named him Saint or Blessed, so that the present consensus of more recent authors regarding this title for him cannot have much weight, unless it be proved that they both used and could use this word, which formerly allowed itself to be taken more broadly, in the stricter signification of modern usage.

[3] This indeed, in the absence of ancient documents which we know to exist, containing the history and proof of miracles divinely performed and a body elevated by legitimate authority, cannot at this time be proved more certainly than from the state in which the Pontifical Visitors found the degree and manner of his veneration -- Visitors of whom mention has been made more than once in this work, and most recently in the Acts of Blessed Andrew de Gallerani. That they found matters thus we gather from the fact that they judged nothing should be abolished or antiquated; and their judgment was confirmed by the subsequent decree of Urban VIII, allowing all things to be considered legitimate which could be proved to have been customary before the memory of a hundred years, concerning the veneration of relics or of Blessed ones, even those not publicly canonized. Therefore, although we nowhere find it written how the body of John was treated in the old church until the beginning of the preceding century, at which time, by the command of Alexander VI, the Brothers migrated elsewhere -- because, however, it is established that when the Brothers moved to the new building, the body of Blessed Peter of Moliano, who had died only eleven years before this translation was made, proven from the translations: was solemnly transported in a processional display, in which his holiness was proved by a new miracle before all the people, the Clergy, and the leading citizens of Camerino, as Gonzaga relates in his description of the Convent of Camerino; and because we have learned that the body of the already-named Blessed one is now preserved within the same chest together with the body of Blessed John, from a special rescript of the people of Camerino to us; and that both are customarily shown together when the inhabitants of Moliano approach processionally and the chest is opened, not without the splendor of burning lights and other appurtenances customarily employed in the display of canonically approved relics -- we cannot consequently doubt that the aforesaid Visitors found those proofs by which they demonstrated that this could and should be continued.

[4] Indeed, we suspect that these very Visitors, whom we said were sent by Pius V to regulate Umbria, as mentioned on March 13 in the account of Blessed Eric, why was it joined to a much more recent Blessed one? or even later ones sent with similar authority by the successors of Pius, were the authors of this joining; since Gonzaga says that through the said translation the body of Peter was indeed honorably placed in the altar of the Immaculate Conception, while for John a stone sepulcher was placed beside the altar of the Crucifix, somewhat more prominently. For it is easy to think that they wished to strengthen the deficiency of antiquity in the veneration displayed to Peter, which was nevertheless proven by miracles and episcopal assent, by joining to him one of much more ancient prescription as a Blessed one, namely this John; and to honor both together more greatly by ordering the chest to be placed upon the altar. Or if this last transposition of both relics more closely preceded or followed the Urbanian constitution, then indeed we shall be compelled to believe that under the very eyes of the Roman See, which at that time was most attentively watching lest any new cult should anywhere be introduced by popular consent, nothing at all was done without the special indulgence of the See itself, consulted and petitioned thereupon.

[5] Nor should anyone be disturbed that Bartholomew of Pisa, in his Book of Conformities, approved by the General Chapter at Assisi on August 2, 1399, Book 1, fruit 8, part 2, listing the General Ministers of the Order, does not prefix the appellation of Blessed to the name of John; praises of authors concerning the same. for in that place he likewise abstains from such more sacred titles even when naming the founder of the Order, Francis, and the Seraphic Doctor, Bonaventure. Nevertheless, he composes such a eulogy for John that it gave occasion to William Eisengrein, who was writing his Witnesses of Catholic Truth a hundred years ago, to call him absolutely "Saint"; and to Gonzaga, Mark of Lisbon, Wadding, and other writers of the same Order in this last century and a half, to call him without hesitation "Blessed." For he wrote thus at the place cited: "John of Parma, a man preeminent in doctrine and holiness, with all the Fathers consenting and the Holy Spirit cooperating, was designated as General, and, renowned for miracles, returned his spirit to the Most High." So that Arthur a Monasterio deservedly gave him the first place in his Franciscan Martyrology (which we otherwise would not dare to trust without proof of legitimate cult) after Joseph, spouse of the Most Holy Virgin, with this encomium: "At Camerino, of Blessed John of Parma, Confessor, who, on account of his eminent learning and religion, was elected Minister General of the entire Franciscan Order; and then, sent by the Supreme Pontiff Innocent IV as Legate to the East for the reunion of the Greeks with the unity of the orthodox faith, when he had accomplished many illustrious things, he flew to eternal rewards, celebrated by the glory of miracles."

LIFE

From the Annals of Luke Wadding.

John of Parma, Seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, at Camerino in Umbria (Bl.)

FROM THE ANNALS OF WADDING.

CHAPTER I.

The Election of John and his Virtues in the Generalate.

[1] In the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand two hundred and forty-seven, a General Chapter by the orders of Innocent IV, Pope Innocent, the fourth of that name, serving likewise his fourth year of the Pontificate, professing that he was stirred and led, by the affection of that devotion which from the consideration of pious reflection he bore toward the Franciscan Order, to attend to the advancement of that same Order with the more earnest care, inasmuch as with more attentive desire he wished it to be expanded with the benefits of special favor and grace among other Orders; he judged that it would be manifoldly expedient for the whole body of the Brothers of the said Order that a General Chapter should be celebrated in these days in his presence, and he decreed it for the third of the Ides of July (at which date, having been created in the month of June, he would have already entered the fifth year of his Pontificate) at whatever place he might happen to be at that time; for the disturbance of affairs and times did not allow this to be determined so far in advance.

[2] Now it happened that the Curia had then moved to Avignon; held at Avignon, and when the remaining Fathers had gathered there, Brother Crescentius, the General, excused his age and insufficiency, alleging chiefly his lack of eloquence, for which reason he had also withdrawn from the Council recently held at Lyons; yet he sent to both the Council and the Chapter his Vicar, Brother Bonaventure of Jesi, a prudent and discreet man. When the insufficiency or, as others prefer, the proven demerits of Crescentius were established, he was absolved from office, or, as some say, received the sentence of deposition. Crescentius deposed. For there had been no lack of those who traduced the man and proved him useless to the common good, whether through the defect of age and negligence, or through his own example and not only his toleration of evils but even his introduction of them. After being absolved from office, he lived thenceforth in the first humility of his calling. He is said to have been elected Bishop of Assisi; but the election was annulled by Innocent, who substituted for him his own Confessor, Brother Nicolas the Breton, of the same institute.

[3] When Crescentius was deposed, Brother John of Parma, of the Province of Bologna, succeeded by common vote, the chapter elects John, a zealot for discipline: who was presiding over the Theological schools at Paris, a holy man and an ardent champion and follower of regular discipline; whose election restored peace to the Order, and so great was the exultation of all at it that they asserted the spirit of the Blessed Father Francis had revived, especially the then surviving companions of the Blessed Father. When Giles first greeted him, he said: "Welcome, Father; but you come late" -- implying that many things had crept in which had no remedy. Once in office, he first devoted himself to restoring peace and discipline; he paternally consoled by letters the exiled zealots of the Rule, holy men; he praised their zeal and devotion to observance; relaxing the sentence of his predecessor, he recalled each one to his own province.

[4] Immediately also from his election, John took care [who obtains that Prelates may not employ Brothers without the consent of the Provincials,] to look out for the safety of his Order by obtaining opportune privileges from his friend the Pontiff; hence there exists in the Register a Bull signed at Lyons on the Ides of August, by which the Pontiff established that no Legate, unless from the Side, or any Prelate, under the pretext of Pontifical letters, should be able to take any of the Brothers for managing his own or Church affairs or to remain with him, except those whom the General or Provincial Minister himself should see fit to assign to him as suitable and discreet; and he wished these also to remain subject to the discipline of the Order. Then another Brief, issued there on the fourteenth before the Calends of September, at the request of the same General, grants to the Provincial Ministers that each of them in their respective provinces may appoint suitable God-fearing men who, for the needs of each place, may freely request, sell, exchange, alienate, administer, spend, or barter by Pontifical authority whatever things are granted or to be granted in the future to the Order that convents be permitted to have Procurators for temporal affairs, (concerning which, since they pertain to the property of the Apostolic See, the Brothers neither can nor wish to dispose), and convert them to the use of the Brothers, according to the disposition of those Provincials, for the necessities or conveniences of the same, as shall seem expedient for the place and time; and they may also remove those so appointed, substituting others, as often as they see fit. And again, on the fifth of the Ides of October, likewise at Lyons, since it was said that he had granted to certain Brothers sent by him to foreign nations that those sent abroad may not admit others into the Order: that they might receive into the Order as Brothers those wishing to assume the habit of the Friars Minor religion, and establish new provinces, and appoint Ministers, he kindly revoked this concession, by which he had intended to procure the honor and advantage of the Order, having been instructed by John that it would, contrary to his intention, redound to the detriment of the same Order.

[5] Moreover, John visited the entire Order on foot during the first three years, content with one, or at most two, companions; he visits the Order in the most humble habit, and he went about in a single tunic so humble that in many convents he remained unknown for several days and securely explored, without suspicion, the life and conduct of the Brothers both within and without; he then revealed himself when the Brothers least expected the General to be present. But if he found anything worthy of correction or otherwise of reproof, he by no means concealed it; he recalled all the rest to the norm and their former state, sometimes removing Prelates who were less vigilant, sometimes removing Brothers who were causing offense; and he took care that the fame of his arrival or office should not run ahead before he himself had been present to experience the state of affairs. a contemner of comforts. The Canonical Hours, however often wearied by the journey, he recited standing and with bare head, imitating the Blessed Father. He admitted no choice of foods, but, as befits a true poor man, having no delicacy, whatever was first offered he accepted with thanksgiving for necessary sustenance.

[6] Nor should what the supplement of Marianus

writes: the ready aid of divine protection for those who with confidence implore His help in distress. Wandering at night with his companions in the forests. When the holy General was visiting the provinces beyond the mountains, it happened in the winter season that, by an error of the road, he had strayed all day long and endured the onset of night in a wilderness and in the midst of the forests. His companions warned him of the danger and hardship, or rather anxiously asked what was to be done. He replied calmly that they must have recourse to divine help; that they should trust confidently, since God had never failed those who hoped in Him; and that the Virgin and the Blessed Father Francis must be implored. He therefore first began the antiphon "Benedicta tu"; and with the companions responding, the Blessed Virgin having been invoked, he continued with the three psalms of the first Nocturn of the Office of the Blessed Virgin, and in place of the Versicle he added: "Hail Mary, full of grace," etc., then the Lord's Prayer, the Absolution, and the rest, except that in place of the Lessons he recited: "Holy Mary, Virgin of Virgins," etc., and then the "Te Deum laudamus," and "Hail, Queen of the Heavens." When these were finished, turning to the Blessed Father Francis, he intoned Psalm 76: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice," with the Antiphon "Hail, holy Father," and the customary versicle and prayer; and he added: "Let us bless the Lord: to Thee is due praise, to Thee is due hymn."

[7] When these things were said, they heard a bell being rung; stirred thereby the more to the divine praises, they proceeded toward the sound, in a monastery that appeared, he is well treated by monks, along a muddy and difficult road, until they arrived at a neighboring Abbey. When they knocked at the door, several monks were ready to meet them, as if by arrangement expecting them, and they promptly received their guests: they led them to the fire, washed their feet, dried their garments, set out supper, and prepared beds; they ministered all necessities, as it seemed, with great cheerfulness. After the first watch, the General rose for prayer, and hearing the bell by which the monks are called to the Divine Office at night, he joined them in the choir, leaving behind his companions, who were held by sleep and fatigue.

[8] The hebdomadary, about to begin the Office, used neither the customary ceremony, nor the order, nor the versicle "Domine, labia"; who at last declare they are demons, but abruptly and with disturbance began from that verse of Psalm 35: "There have they fallen who work iniquity." The Choir responded: "They have been cast out and could not stand." The same was repeated a third time, which aroused suspicion in Brother John. He therefore commanded, in the virtue of the Passion of Christ and of His most holy name, that they declare at once who they were. He who seemed to preside in the place of the Abbot replied that they were all angels of darkness, who by divine command had been sent against their will to minister to him and his companions: "By the prayers," compelled by God to serve him: he said, "of the Mother of God and of that Standard-Bearer, your Father." When these words were said, everything that was seen to be built there vanished, and the General found himself with his companions in a wooded cave on the bare ground. Having awakened his companions, they kept watch for the rest of the night until dawn, which was already approaching, and rising they continued their journey and arrived at a convent of the Order. The holy General then spread those same prayers through the whole Order under the name of the "Benedicta," whence the Office of the Benedicta originated, giving them this appellation from the antiphon, in honor of the Most Blessed Virgin; and he commanded that on ferial days after Compline the Brothers should recite them in choir, with the addition of Psalm 66, "God be merciful unto us." This Office has still retained the name of the "Benedicta" and is recited in many places by praiseworthy custom.

CHAPTER II

After arranging affairs in the Order for two years, John is sent to Greece to negotiate the Union.

[9] The Pontiff intent upon the reunion of the East. At this time Brother Lawrence was occupied in the East, sent by Pope Innocent, who was most zealous for the return of schismatics to the unity of the Church, as Legate through Greece, Iconium, and Turkey to all the Greeks, both in the kingdom of Cyprus and in the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem; and likewise to the Maronites, Nestorians, and Jacobites.^a While he was vigorously pressing on with the business he had begun, and signifying by letters the willingness of both the Emperor and the Patriarch for concord, it was brought about in the year 1249 that the Pontiff appointed the General Minister John himself as his Legate to Greece for the purpose of completing the union; he sends John to Greece; writing letters both to John III, Emperor of Trebizond, and to Manuel II the Patriarch, in which he commended John under the name of Angel of Peace. John, uncertain about his return and the success and length of the journey and the delay to be endured abroad, who, having celebrated a General Chapter at Metz, seems to have had just cause for convoking the Fathers earlier than is otherwise prescribed by the institute, which commands assemblies to be held only every three years. That these were held this year at Metz is attested by ^bRodulph, although Marianus defers them until after the General's return from Greece.

[10] Meanwhile, to Brother Thomas of Celano, who had previously, by the command of Crescentius, composed from the Life of the Blessed Father Francis that portion of the Legend he orders the miracles of Saint Francis to be written down, which manifests the manner of his conduct,^c he gave orders to complete the narrative he had begun; and so a second treatise was added, which contains the account of the miracles which God was performing everywhere through the intercession of His servant. Furthermore, because, as Brother Bernard of Bessa writes, there were some Brothers who, under a certain pretense of devotion, were pursuing the singular melodies and styles of seculars or of other Religious, and were thereby neglecting and, by varying and mutilating, disfiguring the Divine Office, John wrote sharp letters to all the Prelates of the Order in Tuscany, where this evil seemed to be spreading, which Marianus presents as follows:

[11] "To the most dear Brothers in Christ, the Minister, Custodes, and Guardians constituted in the Province of Tuscany, and having learned that some were changing something in the Office, Brother John of Parma, Minister General and servant of the Order of Friars Minor, health and peace.

"Because, as I have indubitably learned, certain of the Brothers presume to change the Divine Office, which by our Rule we ought to celebrate according to the order of the Holy Roman Church, sometimes in the text, but especially to vary it in the chant -- not sufficiently considering that they clearly place a stain upon their glory, when they abandon their own things, published by the Holy Fathers and venerably approved, and, thrusting doubtful foreign things among their own certain things, are notably convicted of begging for things foreign with shame -- therefore I have thought it right by these presents strictly to enjoin upon your discretion, which ought not to tolerate such things by dissembling, he forbids departing from the use of the Roman Breviary and Missal, that, beyond that alone which the Ordinary of the Missal and the Breviary, corrected by the pious study of Brother Haymo, my predecessor of holy memory, and confirmed by the Apostolic See, and moreover afterward approved by the General Chapter, is known to contain, nothing at all in chant or text, under the pretext of any feast or devotion, in hymns or antiphons, or proses or lessons, or any other things whatsoever (excepting only the antiphons of the Blessed Virgin, by adding anything, which are sung at different seasons after Compline, and the Office of Blessed ^fAnthony, until it is better arranged concerning him), should be allowed by you to be sung or read in choir (unless perhaps in some place the deficiency of our books may compel it) or to be written in the books of the Order, before they have been received by the General Chapter.

[12] or by changing. Furthermore, do not permit the chant or melody of our hymns to be varied in any way, or to be sung to any note other than according to our Breviary, or the custom approved by the General Chapter, to be altered henceforth; restraining your subjects more strictly from novelties of this kind. As for the special feast days of the Saints, which are to be celebrated in diverse ways in diverse regions according to the tradition of the Ordinary, on the occasion of particular feasts: cause them to be celebrated according to our custom and Breviary only with the Common of Saints, adding nothing from elsewhere; yet so that the solemnity and manner of such feasts among us should not exceed a semi-double Office, however solemn they may be judged by others. Provided that, with the Translation of any Saints whatsoever being utterly excluded (except that of Blessed Francis), no Office or solemnity should ever be introduced by anyone for any Saint whose feast is not commonly celebrated in the country or town where the Brothers reside, nor should it anywhere be celebrated by the Brothers.

[13] In the celebration of Masses also, teach that uniformity is to be observed by all the Brothers as far as possible, he prescribes the same concerning the rite of the Mass, namely, that they place the Host to the left of the Priest, and the chalice to the right, across the altar, according to the rite of the Holy Roman Church. Let them arrange the corporals and the pall (which must be placed upon the chalice separately by itself) and let them break and consume the Host as is contained in the rubrics of the Missal which we have from the Curia. Finally, command that after the conventual supper the psalm 'Praise the Lord, all nations' be sung by all the Brothers in the refectory, under grave threat, and that the present page be read without delay in the Chapter in each place, and copied, so that no one may find a place to hide himself in the darkness of ignorance, fulfilling my command in this matter entirely with diligence; so that I may be able to commend you for solicitude, without which the office of prelate limps shamefully; and that I may not be compelled again to reprove your Brotherhood with sharper words for sleeping, and to set straight with the staff of discipline those who decline from the foregoing. Farewell in the Lord, etc."

[14] When these and other things were established, the holy man, crossing into Greece, discharged the office entrusted to him with such satisfaction that, as Angelo Clareno testifies, he was held in such reverence his acting with great authority among the Greeks, by the Emperor, the Patriarch, the Clergy, and the people, and in such high estimation of holiness and wisdom, that they thought they were beholding one of the ancient Fathers and a true disciple of Christ. He had as companions holy and learned men, of whom one, Brother ^lGerard, was among other marks of holiness endowed with a prophetic spirit. For at the very hour in which, in the year 1250, the holy King Louis fell into the hands of the enemy, Brother Gerard, who was delivering a sermon to the people in the forum at Constantinople and was pursuing the Word of God in the fervor of the spirit, fell into an ecstasy of mind; his companion Gerard learns of the captivity of Saint Louis; but afterward, returning to himself with weeping and wailing, he said: "Just now, at this very hour, the eagle has been captured." When the people, astonished and suspended, did not perceive what he meant by the name of the eagle, he explained more clearly: "Now," he said, "the most Christian man of God, Louis, King of the Franks, has been captured by the Saracens with his army." Those present noted the day and the hour, especially the Lord Bishop

of ^mBondinicea (so the manuscript reads), who was then present, and who, as Fr. Clarenus himself testifies, related these very things to him on many occasions; and the truth of the revelation was confirmed by the careful observation of the event's outcome.

[15] It should also not be passed over that when the same Fr. Gerard, sent by commission of the General (who was still in Greece) as Visitor of the province of ⁿRomania, had boarded a ship,^o the sailors, holding their course with a favorable wind toward Italy, had forgotten their agreement and alleged danger and loss as reasons not to put in to shore and set down the man of God. He obtains a contrary wind for the sailors. But he, immediately taking refuge in prayer, obtained a contrary wind; wherefore, even compelled against their will, they kept their promise, and having lowered him into the skiff, brought him to port. Turning to the sailors, he said: "Hasten to the captain, urging him to continue the voyage; the wind was contrary by God's will so that I might be free to fulfill the obedience of my Superior; henceforth it will be favorable." And so it happened, just as those same sailors and Raphael Natalis related to us, says Clarenus, as though it were a miracle, while we were sailing together in that same place.

Meanwhile the holy General promoted the business of union to such a point Causes of the unsuccessful embassy. that the Greeks — both the Emperor and the Patriarch — on two different occasions sent a solemn embassy to Pope Innocent; but the envoys, stripped of their goods on the journey by the malice of the devil, were compelled to halt, and at last returned to their own people with the business unfinished, since the disturbed times did not permit access to the Pontiff. Moreover, the death, not long after, of both the Pontiff and the Emperor cut short the desired outcome of the matter and the expectation of completing the union.

p. Here "Italy" seems to mean what lies beyond Cisalpine Gaul (to which Romagna is reckoned) — taking the name of Italy in its stricter sense.

q. In the year 1254, December 13.

r. In the year 1255.

CHAPTER III

John, having returned, obtains various privileges for the Order.

[16] How much time was spent on this embassy no one records, Innocent IV provides for the immunity of the Order. nor in what year the General returned from Greece; yet it is inferred that he returned before the end of 1251 from a Bull dated the 6th of the Kalends of January of that same year, by which, at the request of the General himself, the Pontiff safeguards the liberties and immunities of the Order, granting that no prejudice should be caused to them by a constitution he had earlier published, by which he had decreed that exempt religious, however great the liberty they enjoyed, might nevertheless, by reason of an offense, contract, or matter in which proceedings were brought against them, be lawfully summoned before the local Ordinaries, who might exercise their jurisdiction over them in this regard. [He grants the Provincials the power to absolve their members from censures incurred before entry.] Then in the following year, the same Pontiff, wishing the Seraphic Order — which with a most honorable testimony he calls a mirror of upright life and an example of salutary conduct — to prosper from good to better, decreed that if it happened that Friars were elected or postulated as Bishops (as often happened), they should not dare to consent to an election or postulation made in their regard, nor should any Archbishop or whatever other Prelate, or even a Legate of the Holy See, presume to promote or ordain them to bishoprics or other dignities outside the Order without the permission and consent of the General or Provincial Ministers, or a special mandate of the Apostolic See — declaring null and void whatever might be done contrary to this prohibition — on account of scandals generated in the Order by similar occurrences, concerning which the General John had humbly petitioned the Apostolic See to provide. This he willingly did by a Brief dispatched from Perugia on the 10th of the Kalends of May.

[17] With the same promptness he renewed the Privilege which, during the General's absence in Greece, he had granted to the Order on the Nones of April in the year 1250: by which he granted to the Churches of the Franciscan Convents that they should be called and be Conventual — that is, that as regards the right to reserve the Eucharist, to bury deceased Friars, to have bells, and other similar matters, they should enjoy equal rights with Collegiate churches — just as Gregory IX had universally ordained in the year 1231 regarding the churches of monasteries, against the molestations and burdens which these same churches were suffering from Prelates who wished them to be treated like hermitages in this respect and to abstain from all the aforesaid. He forbids the Preachers from receiving Franciscans. Furthermore, perceiving in that same year that the heavenly love of the fatherland had so attracted to itself the minds of the holy General and the Provincial Ministers under him that almost this alone gave them delight — whatever was pleasing to the divine will and conducive to the salvation of souls — under this preface he caused a Brief to be dispatched on the 5th of the Kalends of December, by which he granted that those wishing to be aggregated to their community who were bound by sentences of suspension, interdict, or excommunication might be given the benefit of absolution according to the form of the Church and received as Friars; as well as those who, after assuming the habit, remembered that they had been bound by such sentences while in the world.

[18] After these things it happened that in the months of June and July of the year 1253, the aforesaid Pontiff was at Assisi, [He exempts the Order from the burden of paying the canonical portion from legacies made to it.] where he is recorded as having signed various letters, and especially one Brief for the benefit of the whole Order, under the date of the 12th of the Kalends of August: "Wishing to fortify your peace" (he writes to the General and all subject to him) "with the protection of Apostolic favor, since you are humble and assiduous professors of peace, having removed the disturbances of external agitation, we strictly forbid that the canonical portion be deducted by anyone from those things which are bequeathed to you or your houses by last will."

[19] Alexander IV likewise succeeded Innocent IV, having been created on the 21st of December in the year 1254; from whom, while he was residing at Naples in the first year of his Pontificate, Alexander IV confirms the privileges of the Order. John petitioned and obtained that the privileges granted to the Order by his predecessor Pontiffs be confirmed, concerning which there exists a Brief signed on the day before the Kalends of May. On the 11th of the Kalends of June, the same Pontiff, wishing to provide for the security of both this and the Dominican Order He forbids the Preachers from receiving Franciscans. against discords that might mutually undermine them if not met head-on, wrote to the Master General of the Order of Preachers (who was then Fr. Humbert), strictly forbidding that he or any of his should further presume, as they had often done before, to receive into their religious order the Friars Minor or those obligated to their Order, in any case whatsoever — declaring null and void whatever might be done to the contrary. Moreover, the Generals of both Orders, desiring that the bond of charity should be drawn even more tightly among their members, Both Generals exhort their members to concord. wrote a letter in their common name, to be read in all convents everywhere and also to be explained in the vernacular to the lay Brothers, by which

they commanded that the primitive charity of both Orders be preserved inviolate and that whatever was opposed to it be removed, explaining and recommending the necessity and observance of this union in the most effective words — a letter which is certainly worth reading in its entirety in the Annals.

[20] The Curia, together with the Pontiff, departed from Naples to Anagni shortly after; where the same Most Holy Lord, again petitioned by a new supplication of the General John on the Ides of July, He gives the Order the right to punish apostates. granted full power to seize, imprison, and otherwise subject to the rigor of discipline apostates from the Order, in whatever habit they might be found. On the 11th of the Kalends of August, he added that when the General himself and his religious happened to come to places under Interdict, and of celebrating during an Interdict they might, with the interdicted and excommunicated excluded, celebrate the divine Offices in a subdued voice and without ringing the bells. And four days later, that is, on the 7th of the Kalends of August, he forbade that any of the Prelates of Churches should presume to take any of the Friars, without the permission of the General or Provincial Minister, to dwell with him or to promote his own affairs — He forbids Prelates from taking Friars as companions at their pleasure, etc. a provision which we have seen Innocent had already ordained.

[21] At the same place, Anagni, the rest of the privileges which the same Pontiff granted to the Seraphic Order in the first year of his Pontificate were signed, at the request and petition of John, who looked after the welfare of his subjects in every way. He grants the Provincials power in reserved cases of the Friars. Thus, on the 7th of the Ides of October, considering that men devoted to contemplation should, in favor of their religious life, be restrained from traveling about, yet that some of them, due to the infirmity of the human condition, might happen to transgress in cases in which the sentence of excommunication and the mark of irregularity are incurred — for which they would be obliged to go to the presence of the Pontiff — he granted to the General and Provincial Ministers the power to absolve them and to dispense with those in need, according to the form delivered by the Apostolic See to Archbishops and Bishops. Likewise, three days later, that is, on the 4th of the Ides, learning from the holy General He forbids those expelled from or fleeing the Order from preaching, etc. that some were being expelled from the sacred communities of the Order as their faults demanded, while certain others, rashly casting off the burden of obedience, wished to lead their lives like wild ass's colts without a yoke; and that these same men, wandering outside the cloisters of the Order, presumed to exercise the offices of preaching, hearing confessions, and teaching, to the detriment of their own souls and the scandal of many — he wholly forbade this, unless by his own or the General's permission they had passed to another Order.

[22] Then, so that the sacred and illustrious Order, just as it excelled in the loftiness of its religious life, He forbids Prelates from compelling Friars to publish censures. might also shine with a special privilege through the grace of the Apostolic See, yielding to the supplications of the aforesaid General, he decreed there on the 17th of the Kalends of November that no Archbishop or Bishop or any other Ecclesiastical Prelate, or their Vicars or Officials, should have the power to compel the General himself or any of his Friars to carry letters or to execute or publish sentences against secular Princes, communities, peoples, or any benefactors of the Order. Likewise, that Friars to be ordained might be presented to whatever Catholic Bishops He grants that those to be ordained may be presented to any Bishop. the General himself or the Provincial Ministers preferred; and that those so presented should be promoted to Orders by those same Bishops without any examination to be conducted by them and without any promise or obligation on the part of those to be ordained. And five days later, that is, on the 12th of the Kalends of November, he granted to the entire Order that when it happened that Friars were transferred from their places to other locations, and that those migrating may take or sell everything with them. they might also transfer both the buildings or all building materials which they were leaving behind (churches alone excepted) and books, chalices, and vestments, and sell the same through procurators appointed for this purpose, and convert the proceeds to the building or other uses of the places to which they were transferring.

[22] [He commands those promoted to the Episcopate to leave all previously held property to the Order.] Finally, Pope Alexander, having returned to Rome, issued a decree on the Nones of December at the Lateran Palace, in which he prescribed that whoever among the Friars had been or would hereafter be promoted to bishoprics or other dignities should be bound to resign to the General or their Provincial Ministers all books and whatever else they happened to have had or to have at the time of their promotion, or would hereafter happen to have — inasmuch as these things neither belonged nor had belonged to those who were not permitted or had not been permitted to have property before their promotion. And these things, indeed, whose record is found in the Pontifical register, He defines that Generals have the care of souls. are found to have been granted and conceded at the procurement of John the General — among which by no means has escaped, but has been purposely reserved for this place, one obtained at Anagni on the 4th of the Nones of October in the first year of this Pontiff: by which it was not only established that future General Ministers, after they have been elected according to the Rule, should by that very fact fully have and freely exercise the care of souls of the entire Order, and should be able by their own authority to bind and loose them; and that they can be deposed by the General Chapter. but also that both John himself and his successors could be removed from office by the Provincial Ministers and Custodes assembled in a General Chapter.

[23] Since this point is expressly stated in the Rule, and had been carried out once and again in the case of Fr. Elias, according to the Rule. and not so long before in the case of John's predecessor Crescentius, it is easy to judge that some, led by zeal for preserving discipline, had begun to plot something to the contrary — since they clearly foresaw that by this way the most certain hope of retaining it would be taken away, which they had placed in John against the machinations of those seeking greater laxity. But he, being most humble and most devoted to peace, wished by this renewal of the aforesaid constitution to take precaution Why did John take care to have it confirmed on this point? lest the way of sometime departing from the burdens of office should be closed to him. How this was indeed granted to him not long after, we now proceed to narrate.

CHAPTER IV

John abdicates the Generalate.

[24] During all the time which John had spent in the Generalate after his return from Greece up to the year 1256, Out of zeal for restoring discipline he had cared for nothing more than to rekindle the tepid primitive fervor of the Order in many by the fan of frequent exhortation and to restore its former splendor by every means. For he saw that, during his time in the remote parts of the East, certain things had crept in that were not entirely consonant with regular observance; and when he wished to remove these, he applied every effort, pressing on now with words, now with deeds, sparing no one who was at fault, and adding the measure of stripes according to the measure of the fault. And indeed, to religious men who had the good of the Order at heart, his zeal for restoring observance was very pleasing; but to others who had adopted a more relaxed manner of life, it was hard to mortify their flesh, to give up soft comforts, and to follow more rigorous ways. He incurs the hatred of those seeking laxity. Among these were not a few of the more powerful and learned, who, abusing their authority, disregarded the counsels of the excellent Rector. He absolutely wished to exact obedience, to chastise the erring, to leave no evil unpunished, and so to ensure that the bad example of certain men would not become a snare and scandal to others. Hence secret murmuring, frequent secret meetings, then a determined conspiracy against the man, and having entered into a conspiracy which went so far that they accused the upright man of many things before the Pontiff.

[25] The heads of the accusation were noted by Bernard of Bessa, the companion of Bonaventure. He is accused of opposing those who interpret the Rule. First, he says, they charged that he was accustomed to speak against the interpreters of the Rule and to confound them by various harassments — those who praised the declarations already made either by Pontiffs or by Doctors, or who sought other declarations besides the one Testament of the Holy Father Francis — saying that besides this, for perceiving what is supremely intelligible, no other declaration was needed. Second, that he led the Friars to the observance of the Testament, asserting that the Testament and the Rule were one and the same thing, He wishes the Testament to be held as the Rule. and that therefore it should be held in the highest reverence — especially since St. Francis had dictated it when he was already adorned with the wounds of the Lord, and the Spirit of God had here inspired nothing contrary to the Rule. Third, that he seems to prophesy certain things as though the spirit of prophecy were in him, he predicted to the Friars that the Order would be divided into two kinds of men — pure Observers of the Rule and those who would procure privileges and declarations — but that a twofold battle of words would precede this division; and that afterwards there would arise a congregation of the poor, to be enriched by the dew of heaven and the blessing of God, which would perfectly tread the paths of regular observance.

[26] Fourth, which was more serious, they said that on certain matters he had not held quite right views concerning Christian doctrine, and that he favors the condemned doctrine of Abbot Joachim attributing too much to Abbot Joachim, whom he defended even in those things which he wrote against Peter Lombard. Fifth, they confirmed this unsound doctrinal position from the writings of his companions; the first of whom, Leonard, in one or two sermons written by himself, praised beyond measure and tastelessly both Joachim himself and his entire doctrine; while the second, Gerard, of whom we have spoken elsewhere, introduced in another sermon all the words of Joachim which served to commend St. Francis or his institute, and also all those which seemed to indicate the change, corruption, and restoration of the same society — criticizing in many respects the principal Rectors of the Order.

[27] Alexander, seeing that minds were stirred up and that the principal men of the Order had conspired against the man, and that they could neither be bent nor calmed, The Pontiff orders a General Chapter. wished all those to be summoned to a general assembly by whose votes matters should be transacted and a successor chosen. He also warned John that he should by no means allow himself to be confirmed in his position by the electors, even if they wished it. When the Friars were therefore assembled on the feast of the Purification of the Virgin in the year 1256 at the monastery of Ara Coeli, with the Pontiff himself present and preaching, and by his secret admonition John, alleging his incapacity, weariness, and age, abdicated his dignity, while many cried out that the resignation should not be admitted. He, however, insisted that he be released from the burden, asking them not to think of re-electing him. Nevertheless, since what the Pontiff had previously discussed with the man remained hidden, they hesitated for two full days about reassuming the same man, until the Pontiff decreed that they should proceed to the election of another. So narrates Peregrinus of Bologna, who was present at the assembly and was also a mediator, as he himself relates, between the Ministers and John, and received everything from his own mouth.

[28] But St. Antoninus gives a different account in these words: The same General John, with the most persistent importunity, alleging incapacity, John lays down his office entirely of his own will. obtained his release from the general Ministry, and, refusing to acquiesce either to the General Chapter's vehement insistence or to any persuasions of the Supreme Pontiff or Cardinals about resuming office — assigning not contempt but incapacity for executing the office as his reason — he most humbly yielded, though he was reverently admitted to the proceedings of the Chapter nonetheless. The same things are recorded by Angelus Clarenus,

Marcus of Lisbon and Peter Rodulphus.

When therefore a new Rector had to be chosen, and he elects Bonaventure as his successor the God-fearing men and principal electors unanimously asked that he be the first to cast his vote and say whom he judged to be the most suitable and worthy successor. He did not need to deliberate long, since he had thoroughly tested the virtues of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, and therefore he proposed this man alone before the assembly; and all easily agreeing upon the same person, they elected him who was then lecturing at Paris, in the thirty-fourth year of his age and the thirteenth of his religious life.

CHAPTER V

The proceedings conducted against John and his companions.

[29] When the assembly was dissolved, the Pontiff bestowed many favors upon the departing Fathers: he granted to those present and absent the customary remission of sins; The Pontiff grants various favors to the Minors: whatever defects of authority in the Sacrament of Penance administered by them, he supplied from the fullness of his power by granting a new authorization; he permitted that the feast of St. Clare, recently canonized by himself, ^a should be solemnly celebrated under the double rite; and, as Bernard of Bessa, an eyewitness, attests, he was instrumental by counsel and example in causing many Cardinals to show themselves benevolent and beneficent toward the Friars. Finally, on the twentieth day of February, at the urging of certain rivals of the man of Parma, who pretended that necessity and utility would come from it, he renews the Exposition of Innocent: he confirmed the Exposition of Innocent IV, inserted within his own letter, ^b which not only did the man of Parma take hard, but also all the pious zealots of the Order, who by no means accepted what was discordant with the purity of the Rule, nor did those who came after them ever approve it.

[30] Another concern of the adversaries of the man of Parma was that the old Legend of Thomas of Celano — which, concerning the words and intentions of St. Francis regarding the observance of the Rule, he had faithfully added, Bonaventure begins a new Legend of St. Francis: as an ear- and eye-witness, at the urging of Generals Crescentius and the man of Parma, to the first one he had published — should be superseded by a new history of the deeds of the same Holy Father; about which they afterwards dealt with the new General, and did not desist until he himself took this task upon himself. They also immediately warned Bonaventure, summoned from Paris, he permits the companions of John to be brought to trial that inquiry must be made into the man of Parma and his companions, whom they pressed as having held wrong views on the faith. The pious man was slower to admit or believe this, but at length they prevailed by importunate insistence that proceedings should be taken against the companions: whom they bound by oath, as Angelus Clarenus, an author of that time, reports, to answer faithfully and sincerely to whatever questions were put to them. Many articles were brought forward, collected from certain little treatises ^c of theirs; but when all had been prudently examined, they were found to have offended the faith in nothing.

[31] At length the matter came to the chief point of all the accusations, and they were asked what they thought about Abbot Joachim or his teaching. who, as if too much devoted to Abbot Joachim, Here they held firm more tenaciously, praising Joachim and maintaining that he had written nothing contrary to the decrees of the Holy Fathers or the Councils concerning the unity of the essence or the trinity of the Persons, about which he was especially accused; and that the Lateran Council had merely established what earlier Councils had already determined, and that no new definition was needed — this they defended. Harder in these matters was Gerard, and more ready to object against the adversaries or to refute what they proposed; for he was more learned, having professed Theology for some years. When the Fathers noticed him slipping away on this side and that and defending the doctrine of Joachim in everything from every angle, and asking them what they themselves believed or wished to be said in this question, they objected to him those words of the Council ^d: "We confess with Peter" (that is, Peter Lombard) "and we condemn the booklet of Joachim." But Gerard immediately replied: "And I confess with the Church and with Peter the Apostle all that the sacred Doctors and the holy Councils define concerning the aforesaid question and all others."

[32] When at last the judges saw them obstinate in defending Joachim and rather refuting Lombard — though in this they always revealed themselves somewhat obscurely — they are condemned to perpetual imprisonment they condemned them to perpetual imprisonment, as men of corrupted or damaged faith. They went rejoicing, and on the threshold of the prison Gerard said: "In a place of pasture, there He has placed me." In that prison he remained patiently for eighteen years without complaint, until Bonaventure freed him toward the end of his own governance. Leonard, however, died in that confinement. Thus three eyewitnesses, or at least contemporaries, relate these things: Bernard of Bessa, Bonaventure's companion; Peregrinus of Bologna; and Angelus Clarenus — so that it is astonishing whence Rodulphus received a different account, who less accurately relates that these two companions contended with each other and rose up against their master, the man of Parma.

[33] With the companions cast into chains, they went further to mortify this man who was indigent, a beggar, and contrite of heart; nor did they desist until the Minister General Bonaventure appointed judges A case is also instituted against John to examine the acts of the man of Parma. He designated as the place of judgment the monastery of Castrum Plebis ^e in the province of Tuscany, where he ordered prudent, discreet, and grave men to assemble to examine the whole matter. The Pontiff also assigned John Caetano Orsini, Cardinal Deacon of St. Nicholas in Carcere Tulliano, son of Matthew Rosso the Roman, who was afterwards created Protector of the Order and Supreme Pontiff Nicholas III. When the examination was made, no iniquity was found in him and though innocent except that he had leaned too much toward the doctrine and defense of Joachim; and this very thing he humbly retracted before the Cardinal and the Fathers, as write Bessanus, Bonaventure's companion, James of Tundo, ^f and St. Antoninus. Hugolinus of the March ^g adds that, when those who rebuked him and dealt harshly with the man, he answered with few and gentle words — which, as happens, further irritated minds already stirred.

[34] There was one who judged that he should be consigned to perpetual imprisonment as a heretic. yet he would have been treated more harshly The more painfully did he bear that anything heretical should be imputed to him: rising to his feet and lifting his face toward heaven, he began to say in a louder voice: "I believe in God the Father Almighty," and all that follows in the Apostolic Creed. This greatly displeased the assessors: therefore, after many interrogations and serious disputations, they were resolving, with the consent of the Cardinal president, to hand the man over to prolonged custody — and indeed they would have done so, had not letters arrived opportunely from Otto Bono of Genoa, nephew of Innocent IV through his brother, Cardinal of St. Adrian, later Adrian V, who was most favorably disposed toward the man of Parma, who was very close to him. He sent two letters, to the Cardinal and to the General, and in both he wrote, among other things, these words: "I have heard with sorrow of the proceedings against John of Parma, General of the Order, and that he is accusatorily charged with heresy. I have long since tested his faith together with his holiness, even before I was raised to the Cardinalate, unless the letters of Cardinal Otto Bono had intervened and I have not known any man more holy or more faithful. Therefore I would not hesitate to say that his faith is my faith. I would most affectionately ask that proceedings not be undertaken rashly or out of partisan zeal against a holy man. Whatever you decree to be done against him, you do against me: his injury will rebound upon me: his person is my person: in whatever you condemn him, you will also condemn me, and I wish to be with him." The letter moved the Cardinal, and so it was managed attesting to his sincere faith: that under placid and general terms they dismissed the accused from the assembly, and the General gave him the choice of dwelling wherever he wished.

[35] For my part I would judge that the zeal of factious minds greatly prevailed here, and that the companions of the man of Parma were not entirely free from all blame — at least in that they did not more openly explain themselves and more gently bring their judgment, while it was permitted, to the decision of the graver Fathers. to which the most weighty authors also bear witness; But concerning the man of Parma himself, because of the sinister reputation he suffered, ^h I have judged it necessary, beyond what we have said above about him, to subjoin the assessments of good authors. Angelus Clarenus calls him a man outstanding in knowledge and holiness: he reports that the companions of St. Francis — Giles, Masseo, Angelo, Leo, ⁱ and others then surviving — rejoiced at his assumption to the Generalate; and beyond those words of Giles already cited above, they said that St. Francis

had risen again in this man, and also to his extraordinary humility and that a man of light and virtue had been sent to them, to set them right and illumine them in the paths of God's commandments.

[36] He writes that he was content with a single tunic or habit of rough serge to the very end of his life: that he never used any kind of mount, piety and went about so despised and humble that he was not suspected by passersby, nor was he held in such esteem by the Friars in many monasteries as to be thought capable of being Minister General. "He recited the Canonical Hours," he says, "so devoutly that he would never sit, recline, lean against a wall, or cover his head while he performed his duty. He accepted the first dish set before him; the rest he either tasted and sent to others, or had them taken away altogether untouched. mortification He so bridled his tongue that in speaking he erred rather by deficiency than by excess, and on his deathbed he himself said that he feared more for the things he had kept silent about than for those he had spoken." How prudently he acted concerning the union of the Greek with the Latin Church, beyond what we have already said, the outcome proved at the Council of Lyons, ^k which by the most just right should also be attributed to him as the most effective agent of peace.

[37] So great was the reverence of both Orders, ecclesiastical and secular, toward him among the Greeks, prudence so great the esteem of his holiness and divine wisdom, that they did not think they saw merely some prudent and learned man, but one of the ancient Fathers or Doctors, or one of the disciples of Christ. St. Antoninus calls him a man illustrious in learning and religiousness, a supreme friend of poverty and humility. The testimony of the ancient author of the Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals is the same. Marianus uses almost the same words, and moreover calls him a virtuous preacher, of a most holy life and sublime contemplation. I omit naming the more recent writers — Bartholomew of Pisa, Marcus of Lisbon, Peter Rodulphus of Tossignano, William Eisengrein, Paul Lang, Antonio Possevino, Henry Willot — because through the weighty testimonies we have produced from so many and such ancient men, the pious deeds of this holy man have been made abundantly credible.

a August 12.

In clear words, I say, what is condemned here is not Joachim himself but the booklet or treatise presented to the Council, as Honorius III expressly declared when writing to the Archbishop of Cosenza and the Bishop of Bisignano. But it is not so clear whether Joachim actually wrote that booklet — or, if he wrote it (finding fault with something in Lombard, from which the essence seemed to be inferred as a thing distinct from the Persons), it is not altogether certain that the text presented to the Council and destroyed was genuine: for there are those who assert that it was maliciously corrupted. And indeed in the book entitled the Psalterium Decachordon, he speaks so clearly that, although in some places he offers examples of analogous unity, he nevertheless professes that he does this in a matter entirely dissimilar, and teaches the Catholic truth most distinctly and expressly. Moreover, those who defend this cause show that he predicted, as he did many other things, both the corruption of a certain book of his and the condemnation that would follow from it. Therefore, since the condemned booklet was nowhere extant, while other books of his, entirely orthodox, were extant, it is not surprising that judgments about Joachim's teaching were so contradictory: and accordingly, although Leonard and Gerard were guilty of excessive hostility, their judges were not entirely without blame either, bringing prejudiced minds to the case. One may consult Bivarius, section 6 of his Apologeticus for Lucius Dexter; Wadding for this year from number 7 to 13; and the defender of Joachim, Gregory Laurus.

CHAPTER VI

How all the foregoing things were divinely revealed when John was elected; the rest of his life and his holy death at Camerino.

[38] The trouble which he endured through his rivals, his resignation from office, and the appointment of Bonaventure as his successor — all this Blessed James of Massa ^a wonderfully saw by divine revelation at the very threshold of the Generalate. A most beautiful and shady tree was shown to him, whose root was golden, [To James of Massa there is shown in a vision the tree of the Order of Friars Minor] whose many branches and fruit were the Friars Minor. The number of the principal branches was distinguished according to the number of provinces, and each branch bore as many fruits as there were Friars in the designated province. So clearly and distinctly were these things set before him that he saw and recognized all the Friars of the entire Order, with their state, age, merits, and defects revealed to him. The man of Parma, then recently elected Minister General, he beheld at the summit of the uppermost branch rising from the trunk itself, to whose summit John was raised and at the tops of the surrounding branches, the Ministers of the individual provinces. Then, sent by Christ, who was seated on a high and shining throne, Francis, accompanied by two Angels, came to give his Friars to drink from a golden chalice of the spirit of life which he held in his hand. From this chalice, when the man of Parma and very many others drank abundantly, they shone like the rays of the sun; others, who did not drink, were blackened beyond charcoal; some drank part and poured out the rest, receiving an intensity of the spirit's brightness in proportion to the measure.

[39] The man of Parma, higher than all, as if from a lofty watchtower, saw from afar a great whirlwind about to rush upon the tree; foreseeing the coming storm, he descends to the lowest point and to guard against it, he descended humbly to the trunk, to sit in safety. Thereupon Friar Bonaventure was immediately transferred to the top from which John had descended, and he was given iron claws, like the edges of razors that scrape away hairs. He, moving from his place, wanted to rush upon Friar John. But when John cried out to the Lord, someone was sent to cut the claws from the one who would have torn John apart. and he is divinely protected Then the whirlwind shook the tree, and those who had neglected to drink the spirit of life fell from it, while the rest were translated to the region of eternal light. The truth of this vision is proved by the foregoing narrative. Moreover, that James remained in this vision for three days, deprived of sense and motion, so that the Friars thought him dead, Hugolinus cited above writes. The credibility of this narrative When Friar Matthew, then Minister of the March or Piceno, a pious, gentle, and prudent man, who through the force of obedience had obtained that the secret vision be explained, had received the entire account of the matter, he went to the seer himself, to be more fully informed about everything and about the future state of the community; and he says that the holy man, though importunately pressed, fully disclosed to him the wondrous visions made to him concerning the principal matters of Holy Church and the vicissitudes of the Christian world — to which visions credibility is also lent by the holy life of the man, his piety, and his spotless religion, commended by the best authors.

[40] As to why Bonaventure attacked the man of Parma, a man so pious and holy, What reasons compelled Bonaventure to act more harshly? and dealt more harshly with him — this the accusers demanded, together with the duty of office and the purity of faith, earnestly commended by Francis in his last testament through these words: ^b "If any Friars should be found who are not Catholic, all the Friars, wherever they may be, are bound by obedience that wherever they find any such one, they must present him to the nearest custodian of the place where they found him. And the custodian is bound by obedience to guard him firmly, as a man in chains, day and night, until they present him before the Lord ^c of Ostia, who is the Lord, Protector, and Corrector of this Fraternity." Nor is it so strange and unheard-of that men, however holy, should disagree and contend with one another: these are battles of the intellect, and each thinks himself to be championing God's cause.

[41] John, then, according to the permission given him, as we have said, to choose his dwelling, went away to the most devout place of Greccio, ^d and in that little hut he lay hidden for thirty-two years, embracing the secure retreat of solitude and the excellent refuge of humility, John in the hermitage of Greccio leading a life more angelic than human, wholly intent on divine meditations. There he also produced many salutary little works, through which, beyond the reputation of a holy life, he aroused in all a desire for him — namely: On the Benefits of the Creator, and On the City of Christ, which is kept in manuscript in the convent of Milan; likewise, two books On the Conversation of Religious, he composes pious treatises and a treatise entitled The Sacred Commerce of St. Francis with the Lady Poverty; and finally, the Office of the Passion of Christ, which begins "Christ the King Crucified" ^e — to say nothing of the four books on the Sentences which he wrote while lecturing on Theology at the University of Paris, whence he was raised to the Generalate.

[42] Amid these studies of letters and piety, while he was passing his life most holily, devoted to himself and to God, and had reached a great age, his apostolic spirit was once more kindled, and he sought from Cardinal Aquasparta ^f permission to return to the Greeks, so as to hold in the faith they had promised those who were falling away from the union decreed at the Council of Lyons, as an octogenarian he seeks again to be sent to Greece and to invite the schismatics to the same. The Cardinal therefore dealt with Pope Nicholas IV, to whom it was as pleasing that someone was thinking about the union of the Greeks — by now almost despaired of — as it was astonishing that a man now eighty years old, setting aside the quiet of the hermitage of Greccio which he had holily enjoyed for the course of thirty and more years, should wish to journey to them. Nevertheless, he acceded to the pious man's wish, knowing that the authority of one whose piety and learning the Greeks had already tested and approved would carry great weight among them.

[43] Already he had girded himself for the long and perilous journey by land and sea, and prepared for the journey and with his companions had visited all the sacred places of the city of Assisi and the shrines of the saints along the way, until he reached Camerino: where immediately upon entering the city he was divinely warned that the time for the laying down of his tabernacle was at hand. Turning to his companions at the very gate of the city, he said: "This is my rest; here I will dwell forever and ever." But what was wonderful was this: He dies at Camerino although he arrived very early in the morning on a stormy and harsh day, and no one had given any advance notice of his coming, the citizens of Camerino were at once roused by the voices of children saying: "The man of God has come! The holy man John of Parma has come!" — and in crowds they made their way to the dwelling of the Friars to see and venerate him. He himself began to be ill on that very day, and after a few more days had passed, he gave his holy soul back to God ^g on the 13th of the Kalends of April, in the year from the Nativity of Christ 1289.

[44] Immediately after he breathed his last, God willed that his funeral should be honored with many miracles and illustrious with miracles and his holy life commended: for very many dead were recalled to life through his merits; others were rescued from the peril of death; women were delivered from the imminent danger of childbirth; the blind, the mute, the deaf, the crippled, and the withered were fully cured; and many in various needs were wonderfully heard. Those who had unjustly detracted from him and attacked him without cause, convinced by so many miraculous signs, came as suppliants to his tomb, to beg pardon for their unjust calumny, according to that word of Isaiah 60: "They shall come to you who detracted from you, and they shall adore the steps of your feet." He was laid in an honorific tomb and then transferred to a new monastery outside the city walls, to which it was necessary for the Friars to migrate, he is honorably transferred since Alexander VI commanded that where their first dwelling had stood, a fortress for the city should be built. His stone mausoleum, on the left as one enters from the principal door of the church, near the altar dedicated to the Most Holy Crucifix, stands somewhat more prominently than the altar itself; the body is seen to be intact and is venerated with the greatest devotion.