Poverty and Prosperity:: Franciscans and the Use of Money

Chapter 3: Sharing the Wealth of Poverty: Franciscan Friars at the End of the Middle Ages

sharing The WealTh of PoverTy: franCisCan friars aT The enD of The MiDDle ages sTeven MCMiChael, o.f.M. Conv. inTroDUCTion Every religious community has a “golden age,” a period of time in which the community has its initial experience of inspiration , new life, and the essential unity based on its values and practices. The “golden age” for Franciscans is the early life of Francis and his first companions in the environment of Assisi. Subsequent followers of Francis will, time and time again, turn back to this initial moment for inspiration and use it as a litmus test for judging their own community life. The main characteristics of this period include: • the presence of the charismatic founder Francis; • the initial enthusiasm and spirit of the first community members as they shared all things in common and lived in simplicity and poverty; • a great devotion to the poor and humble Jesus and its impact on the embrace of the apostolic life; • small numbers so that community bonds were tight; • a mutually supportive prayer life and ministry; • service to the poor, lepers, outcasts, etc. 40 STEVEN MCMICHAEL The friars of subsequent generations throughout the Middle Ages who sought reform will judge themselves by how they live up to the standards of this “golden age model.” Most of what happened in the Franciscan Movement after the death of Francis stemmed primarily from the friars’ perception of Francis himself. His charismatic person and way of life served as a model for the friars till the end of the Middle Ages. They needed to determine what his wishes and desires were for the friars, especially in regard to the issue of poverty . Was living according to the Franciscan Rule sufficient or did Francis’s Testament more reliably represent his intentions for the friars? How one thinks of Francis has a powerful effect on what life style one chooses and how strictly one leads a life of poverty. However, as Grado Merlo states, the model of Francis was “the fruit of a diachronic polygenesis.”1 By this he means that Francis “was a holy figure who from time to time responded or bent to the demands of the times, to ecclesiastical affirmation, to social factors, to strong idealism , to plans of leaders, to institutional consolidations, to eschatological and apocalyptic waiting, to visions of the history of salvation.”2 This is important to keep in mind when we look at the ways in which Francis was interpreted in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It tells us much more about how the friars understood Francis than it does about Francis himself. There are a number of other factors to consider when discussing the issue of poverty in the late medieval reform movements. First, while the Franciscan Movement began with the personality and vision of Francis, these later reform movements were shaped by the personalities and visions of individual friars. One cannot underestimate the influence of such persons as Bernardino da Siena (1380-1444) and Gio1 Grado Giovanni Merlo, In the Name of Saint Francis: History of the Friars Minor and Franciscanism until the Early Sixteenth Century, ed. Robert J. Karris and Jean François Godet-Calogeras; trans. Raphael Bonnano (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 2009), 349. 2 Merlo, 349. 41 SHARING THE WEALTH OF POVERTY vanni da Capistrano (1386-1456) on the friars that aligned themselves with these charismatic leaders. Secondly, how particular popes understood Franciscanism determined very much the shape of both reformed and unreformed groups. Since Chapter One of the Franciscan Rule directs that the friars are to obey the Supreme Pontiff, the popes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, for better or worse, shaped the Franciscan Movement. Did they really understand Francis’s vision for the community and its mission in the world? Thirdly, what Grado Merlo calls “regionalization” also had an effect on the overall Franciscan Movement. One cannot understand the Franciscanism of the later Middle Ages without taking into consideration regional differences (for example, the difference between the Ultramontane and Cismontane communities). There were even differences between various reform groups within the regions. Fourthly, the relationship between the friars and the Italian city-states (the commune) was a controversial topic from the moment Francis stripped himself before the bishop of Assisi and withdrew from the city of his birth. Where should the friars live in relationship to the city? Should they be concerned about the people of the cities...