Writings Concerning the Franciscan Order

Two Letters on the Friars' Relations with the Poor Clares (1263)

Two Letters on the Friars' Relations with the Poor Clares (1263) If readers were to judge the general chapter of Pisa in 1263 only by the meticulous liturgical legislation enacted there, they would gain a false impression of the mood of this assembly, for the truly burning issue on the delegates' minds was not reflected in its decrees, namely, the nature of the relationship of the Friars Minor w i t h their sisters in the Franciscan movement, the Poor Clares. On this subject, as in so many others, Francis himself had expressed a clear desire; as he told Clare and her sisters, "I resolve and promise for myself and for my brothers always to have the same loving care and special solicitude for you as [I have] for them."1 The close companions of Francis were always to maintain these deep spiritual bonds with the Poor Ladies of San Damiano, although juridically the two groups were totally independent of one another, the sisters being under the supervision of the Cardinal Protector of the Order.2 This relationship had become more formal in 1227, when t h e original Protector and friend of both Francis and Clare, Ugolino, newly-elected Pope as Gregory IX, made the Friars Minor responsible for the spiritual care of the Poor Ladies.3 Small communities of friars were attached to the monasteries of the sisters to provide for their needs, including assisting in begging alms for their support. But as more and more monasteries of Clare's 'Damianite' movement were founded, not only in Italy but in other parts o f Europe, it meant that ever greater numbers of friars were tied down 1RCl 6.2 (Armstrong-Brady, p. 218); cf. also 2Cel. 204-207 (Omnibus, pp. 525-28). 2Cardinal Ugolino di Segni, acting as Papal legate, had given a 'form of life' to the sisters of San Damiano and its associated communities in 1219, a year before he was requested by Francis to protect his Order. The friars are not mentioned in Ugolino's Rule (text in Armstrong, Clare of Assisi, pp. 87-96). 3Quoties cordis oculus, 14 Nov. 1227 (BF, 1: 36): "We entrust to you [John Parenti, the General Minister] and to your successors the care of the same nuns, strictly commanding you in virtue of obedience that you have the same care and solicitude for them as you do the sheep in your own charge." This was to provide the basis of the Clares' claim that the Friars Minor were under obligation to provide services for them. 190 / Dominic Monti, O.F.M. in ministering to them.4 The brothers grew increasingly restive under these demands; by the mid-1240's the General Minister, Crescentius of Iesi, was petitioning Innocent IV to release his Order from its obligations.5 The Pope, however, had other ideas: to h i s mind there should be an even closer link between the two groups. In 1247, he issued a new Rule for the Damianites, virtually aggregating them to the First Order: the sisters would no longer be subject to t h e Cardinal Protector, but to the ministers of the Friars Minor, w h o would designate visitors, supervise elections, and provide all spiritual services.6 For different reasons, this Rule aroused tremendous opposition among both sisters and friars, and by 1250 t h e Pope was forced to retreat; the Cardinal Protector, Rainaldo di Segni, once again assumed general oversight of the majority o f monasteries who wished to remain under their former Rule. Although sentiment by now among the friars favored relinquishing all responsibility for the Clares, they realistically had little h o p e for any change in the situation, as Rainaldo, who was very devoted to the sisters, was himself elected Pope as Alexander IV in 1254.7 On Alexander's death in 1261, Bonaventure specifically requested the new Pope, Urban IV, to appoint as Protector John Cajetan Orsini, a man totally committed to the interests of the 4By Clare's death in 1253, there were about 110 monasteries (Iriarte, p. 448). 5There is close parallel here with the Friars Preacher; Dominic had personally instituted his Order's care of religious women, but as their houses became more numerous, strong opposition to it arose among the friars; both Raymond of Peñafort and John Teutonicus, Generals between 1238 and 1252, led the Orders's efforts to divest itself of the pastoral care of religious women; Humbert of Romans, like Bonaventure...