Michael of Cesena

Michael of Cesena ( * 1270 in Cesena, † November 29, 1342 in Munich) was from 1316 to 1328 16th Superior General of the Franciscans.

Early life

Michael's exact birth date and the date of entry to the Franciscan Order are unknown. He studied in Paris and taught in 1315 and 1316 as a master of theology in Bologna. Among other things, he wrote commentaries on Scripture and the Sentences of Peter Lombard.

The poverty controversy

1316 Michael was elected at the general chapter of Naples to succeed the late General Minister Alexander of Alexandria and adopted in the same year new constitutions for the Order closely emulated the statutes of the Bonaventure from 1260. With the election of John XXII. to the Pope, the pressure on the radical ideal of poverty appended brothers of the Order began to grow again after 1316. Although he sympathized with these Spirituals, Michael moved into first position on the papal side, as he put the unity of the Order on his personal premises. With a power word, he pushed through the papal bull Quorundam exigit, former Regulations Nicholas III. and Clement V. clarified and made meetings of the Spirituals in the Franciscan convents of Narbonne and Beziers dissolve. Four brothers, the papal bull did not want to bend, were publicly burned in Marseille; the writings of the popular among the Spirituals Joachimiten Peter John Olivi Let Michael prohibit the General Chapter of the Year in 1319.

1321 began at the papal court in Avignon, finally, a fundamental debate, which had no less than the question of the poverty of Christ and the apostles to content. What began as a dispute between the Dominican inquisitor Jean de Beaune and the Franciscan lector Berengar Talon of Perpignan, soon attracted wide circles. 1322 appointed John XXII. a commission on the question of evangelical poverty and raised with his bull Quia nonnunquam the discussion prohibition concerning poverty question on which Nicholas III. had imposed with Exiit qui SEMINAT about the Franciscan order. Without the results of the Commission to be seen, then announced the general chapter of the Franciscans in Perugia in a circular letter, Christ and the apostles had no possessions had. The reaction of the Pope could not wait to be long: With the bull Ad conditorem canonum he lifted on December 8, 1322, the virtual property right of the curia at all possessions of the Franciscans and the brothers thus makes overnight de jure to a wealthy Order. 1323 followed Cum inter nonnullos which basically denied the poverty of Christ.

Captivity in Avignon

1327 John invited Michael to the Curia to Avignon, in order to discuss the general state of the Order. Were initially characterized by a friendly atmosphere, the conversations, the mood shifted to the Pope in January 1328, when he learned of the coronation of Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria by the patrician of Rome. Ludwig - since 1314 German king - stand in sharp opposition to the Pope and had respect on the part of the Franciscan position in the dispute over Ad conditorem canonum. 1324 the king had accused the Pope in the Sachsenhausen appellation of heresy and was then occupied by the excommunication. Michael now got to feel all the hatred of the known as irascible Pope: The Superior General was accused of heresy, and he was forbidden under pain of excommunication, to leave Avignon. Although he thus could not participate in the general chapter of his order at Bologna and the papal legate Bertrand of Poietto made ​​sentiment against Michael there, this was confirmed by an overwhelming majority of the delegates as Superior General.

Dismissal as General of the Order

Now increasingly concerned for his safety, Michael fled with his friars William of Ockham, Francis of Marchia and Bonagratia of Bergamo in May 1328 from Avignon to look at Ludwig of Bavaria in Pisa shelter, where appointed by the Emperor against Pope Nicholas V. had Quartier related. Ludwig and Nicholas announced here the dismissal of John XXII. whereupon the Pope Avignonese Michael relieved of his duties and excommunicated, although he had the anti-pope refused to recognize. While the Head of the Order with the Emperor crossed the Alps, the majority of the Franciscans condemned under the pressure of John's writings all Michaels and his followers and chose Geraldus Odonis his successor. In the bull Quia vir reprobus the Pope warned all true believers before the former Head of the Order. Michael replied with the Pisan Statement ( appellatio maior and minor) - a defense of poverty considers the Franciscans against papal rule interpretation.

Later years

Michael never left Louis Residence Munich until his death. In other appellations ( 1332, 1334 ) he threw John XXII. Heresy before (Visio beatifica ) and called for the clarification of disputed questions of faith by the pope parent council. 1331 excluded him from the chapter of Perpignan from the Order and sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment. To a reconciliation with the Curia it was not even after the death of the Pope in 1334. Rather, Michael continued his fight for the question of evangelical poverty and reached 1338 John 's successor, Benedict XII. because of its adherence to the view of his predecessor poverty sharply.

On November 29, 1342 Michael of Cesena finally died in Munich and was buried in the local Franciscan Church. His dwindling fan base - the Michaelisten or - in contrast to the inspired Olivi Spirituals or " Fraticelli de paupere vita " - even " Fraticelli de opinione " called, had been mainly represented in the March of Ancona, Umbria and the Kingdom of Naples. Already in 1359 he was officially rehabilitated.

Others

Michael of Cesena is one of the historical figures in Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose