Paul of Molfetta

The Minorit Paulus was bishop of Molfetta from 1294 to 1304 . Nothing is known about his origin and the place and time of his entry into the order.

A cardinal commission appointed by Pope Celestine V had elected and confirmed him in 1294, the Bishop of Civitate had ordained him, because the death of the last bishop, Angelus, had already occurred in 1289 and an Elect Jacobus died shortly after the election in 1293. Temporary Archbishop Roger of Santa Severina was administrator before two canons of Molfetta were given the secular administration of the diocese in 1290. Boniface VIII revoked the measures taken by his predecessor, which included the appointment of Paul. A collective indulgence document, which he and eleven other bishops, mainly from the Kingdom of Sicily , issued for the Bleidenstadt monastery in 1295 in Anagni , where the Pope stayed from June to October of that year, shows that Paul was staying at the Curia . However, Paul was not yet able to clarify his situation in Anagni. The certificate of appointment was not issued until December 9, 1295, after he had initially resigned his office, which gave the Pope the right to reserve Molfetta, but who confirmed the previous incumbent. Another consecration was not necessary and Paul took up residence in his episcopal city, where he is mentioned in three documents in 1297. Before 1304 Paul must have had a falling out with the Franciscan convent of Molfetta: it was about the sepulture right , which the Popes had repeatedly vested in the order. The narrative of the mandate that Benedict XI. Addressed the Bishop of Gravina on May 31st to remedy the Guardian's complaint , reported that the Bishop had a body stolen by his followers when the Franciscans were carrying it to the funeral, and that Paul's people had forcibly entered the convent and attacked the brothers in the church, in addition, the bishop had forbidden attending church services under threat of excommunication, since the provincial minister was excommunicated and therefore dealing with his religious brothers was forbidden. We know nothing about the validity of the allegations and the outcome of the proceedings. Paul no longer appears in the sources either, a bishop of Molfetta does not appear again until around 1321.

literature

• Konrad Eubel : The Bishops, Cardinals and Popes from the Minorite Order . In: Roman quarterly for Christian antiquity and church history, vol. 4 (1890), p. 243 no.119
• Horst Enzensberger : Minorites on the bishopric of Apulia (13th - 15th century) . In: Laurentianum 31, 1990, pp. 441-484, here 442-443

Remarks

1. ↑ He was also the first, as the highest ranking, exhibitor of the collective indulgence for Bleidenstadt
2. ↑ Konrad Eubel: Hierarchia Catholica medii aevi I: from anno 1198 usque ad annum 1431 perducta . Editio altera. Münster 1913, p. 335 Melficten. Note 3
3. ↑ P. 24101: June 13.
4. ↑ P. 24200: October 2nd, in Rome Boniface can be traced from October 19th: P. 24101
5. ^ Wilhelm Sauer , Codex diplomaticus Nassoicus 1.1.2, Wiesbaden 1885, pp. 710–712 No. 1203
6. ↑ P. 24 233; ed.Sbaralea IV, p. 375 No. 44.
7. ↑ Konrad Eubel : Hierarchia Catholica medii aevi I: from anno 1198 usque ad annum 1431 perducta . Editio altera. Münster 1913, p. 335