Michael of Cesena

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

Life

Early years

Michael's exact date of birth and the time of his entry into the Franciscan order are unknown. He studied in Paris and taught theology in Bologna in 1315 and 1316 as a master's degree . Among other things, he wrote commentaries on the Holy Scriptures and the sentences of Peter Lombardus .

The poverty struggle

In 1316 Michael was elected to succeed the late General Minister Alexander of Alexandria at the General Chapter of Naples and in the same year he issued new Constitutions, which were closely based on the statutes of Bonaventura from 1260. With the election of John XXII. After 1316, to become Pope, the pressure on the brothers of the order, who adhered to the radical ideal of poverty, began to grow again. Although he sympathized with these spirituals , Michael initially took a position on the papal side, since he placed the unity of the order above his personal premises. With one word of power he enforced the papal bull Quorundam exigit , the earlier ordinances of Nicholas III. and Clement V clarified and had meetings of the spiritual in the Franciscan convents of Narbonne and Béziers dissolved. Four brothers who refused to bow to the papal bull were publicly burned in Marseille; Michael had the writings of the Joachimite Petrus Johannes Olivi , popular among spirituals, forbidden at the General Chapter of 1319.

In 1321 a fundamental discussion finally began at the papal curia in Avignon, which had as its content nothing less than the question of the poverty of Christ and the apostles. What began as a dispute between the Dominicans - Inquisitor had begun Jean de Beaune and the Franciscan lector Berengar Talon of Perpignan, soon attracted wide circles. 1322 called John XXII. a commission on the question of evangelical poverty and raised with his bull Quia nonnunquam the debate ban in terms of poverty question on which Nicholas III. had imposed on the Franciscan order with Exiit qui seminat . Without waiting for the results of the commission, the general chapter of the Franciscans in Perugia announced in a circular letter that Christ and the apostles had no property. The Pope's reaction was not long in coming: on December 8, 1322, with the Bull Ad conditorem canonum , he abolished the curia's virtual property rights to all Franciscan possessions, thus turning the brothers into a wealthy de jure order overnight. In 1323 Cum inter nonnullos followed , which fundamentally denied the poverty of Christ.

Captive in Avignon

In 1327 Johannes invited Michael to the Curia in Avignon to discuss the general state of the order. The conversations were initially characterized by a friendly atmosphere, but the pope's mood changed in January 1328 when he heard about the imperial coronation of Ludwig of Bavaria by the patricians of the city of Rome. Ludwig - German king since 1314 - was in sharp opposition to the Pope and had already taken a position on the part of the Franciscans in the dispute over Ad conditorem canonum . In 1324, the king accused the pope of heresy in the Sachsenhausen appellation and was subsequently banned from church. Michael now felt the whole hatred of the pope, known as irascible: the order general was accused of heresy and was forbidden to leave Avignon under threat of excommunication . Although he was unable to take part in the general chapter of his order in Bologna and the papal envoy Bertrand von Poietto raised the mood against Michael there, the delegates confirmed him as general general with an overwhelming majority.

Deposition as general of the order

Now increasingly concerned about his safety, Michael fled with his friars Wilhelm von Ockham , Franz von Marchia and Bonagratia von Bergamo from Avignon in May 1328 to seek refuge with Ludwig the Bavarian in Pisa, where the antipope Nicholas V. Had moved into quarters. Ludwig and Nikolaus announced the deposition of Johannes XXII here. whereupon the Avignon Pope also relieved Michael of his office and excommunicated, although he had refused to recognize the antipope. While the head of the order marched across the Alps with the emperor, the majority of the Franciscans condemned all the writings of Michael and his followers under the pressure of Johannes and elected Geraldus Odonis as his successor. In the bull Quia vir reprobus , the Pope warned all orthodox about the former head of the order. Michael responded with the Pisan Declaration (Appellatio maior and minor) - a defense of the Franciscans' perception of poverty against the papal interpretation of rules.

Late years

Michael was not to leave Ludwig's residence in Munich until his death. In further appellations (1332, 1334) he threw Johannes XXII. Heresy before ( Visio beatifica ) and demanded the clarification of disputed questions of faith by a council overriding the Pope. In 1331 the chapter of Perpignan excluded him from the order and sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment. Even after the Pope's death in 1334, there was no reconciliation with the Curia. Michael rather continued his fight for the question of evangelical poverty and in 1338 attacked John's successor Benedict XII. because of his adherence to his predecessor's concept of poverty.

Michael von Cesena finally died on November 29, 1342 in Munich and was buried in the barefoot church there. Its dwindling following - the Michaelists or - in contrast to the Olivi-inspired spirituals or "fraticelli de paupere vita" - also called "fraticelli de opinione", were mainly represented in the Ancona region, Umbria and the Kingdom of Naples. He was officially rehabilitated as early as 1359.

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