Title XII: On the Signification of Words

Here Innocent declares what the words of a privilege, “We have received you as the proper sons of the Roman Church,” signify, and what place is said to be deserted. This states the point. Johannes Andreae.

Innocent IV.

Coming. (And below:) We declare that by those words of the privilege, “We have received you as the special and proper sons of the Roman Church,” the said brothers are not to be understood to be exempt, or thereby to have been received as the proper sons of the same Church in such a way that they cannot be interdicted or excommunicated by anyone other than the Roman Pontiff or a legate sent from his side. In the foregoing matters we understand as deserted that place which has been neither inhabited at all nor cultivated, or which beyond the memory of human beings has been held under the power of the Saracens, according to the indulgence of Lucius. We decree that churches constructed or to be constructed by the brothers themselves in deserted places of this kind enjoy full liberty in this respect: that, according to the indulgence of Lucius, nothing can be exacted from them by bishops in the name of diocesan law; that, according to the privilege of Alexander, they cannot be placed under interdict or excommunication; and that the said brothers have power, after permission has been sought from the Apostolic See, to construct them in places of this kind and to govern them with their parish communities through their own suitable clerics. These clerics are to be presented to the bishops to be examined on account of their parish communities, so that they may receive the cure of souls from them, since the parish communities are subject to the bishops.

Moreover, the said brothers are to pay in full the tithes from their labors and newly cultivated lands, which they cultivate by their own hands or at their own expense, or from other goods granted to them by God, to the convents of clerics of their order, from which no fourth or third part is to be exacted at all, saving the moderation of the general council, while in their other possessions the common law or any other right is reserved to the parochial churches and the diocesan bishop. But by a declaration of this kind we do not will to derogate from the other defenses or rights of the parties.

He declares that “manifest” and “evident” are synonyms and signify the same thing with respect to the case of the decretal “If perhaps,” On Election. Johannes Andreae. — § 1. He declares to be conspirators and sworn confederates those who swore and established that they would not receive anyone as a canon at the Pope’s command so long as they could resist. Johannes Andreae. — § 2. A statute concerning not receiving anyone at the Pope’s command is detestable and unlawful for many reasons. This states the point.

Nicholas III.

The constitution of our predecessor Pope Gregory of happy memory, issued in the Council of Lyons, provides that if perhaps, among the other matters alleged against a person elected or postulated, or otherwise to be promoted to some dignity, an evident defect in knowledge or another personal defect happens to be alleged, cognizance is first to be taken of that defect; and if the person making the allegation is found to lack truth, he is to be wholly excluded from the prosecution of that cause and otherwise punished as if he had failed in proving all the matters alleged. We declare that this constitution has place in the case of one who alleges against the person elected a manifest defect in sight, hearing, and the other bodily senses, as well as in memory and also in intellect; and we declare that, with respect to the intention of that constitution, “manifest” and “evident” denote the same thing.

§ 1. Moreover, the canons of any church who made a statute and solemnly confirmed it by oath, providing that they would defend their church and themselves against all persons impetrating a canonry of that church, as far as they were able, until a right or sentence, a judgment of the lord Pope, or his special mandate; that the same defense would be made at common expense and with a procuratorial instrument sealed with the seal of the chapter; and that, so long as any one of the canons of the same church wished to undertake a defense and opposition of this kind in the aforesaid manner, the other canons could not and ought not receive the impetrant as a canon or hold him as a canon within or outside the chapter—we declare to be conspirators and sworn confederates against the holy Roman Church and its liberty, obedience, and authority, and we decree that they are to be punished as conspirators and sworn confederates according to the canonical sanctions.

§ 2. We also deem the statute itself utterly detestable and unlawful, since it plainly contains a conspiracy and sworn confederacy against the liberty and authority of the Apostolic See: it clearly forbids the aforesaid chapter and each of its persons the liberty of rendering the obedience owed to the same Roman Church, at least until a sentence, a judgment of the Roman Pontiffs, or a special mandate; it brings upon them the ready peril of future burdens and expenses contrary to legitimate sanctions; it forbids a praiseworthy vow to abhor lawsuits; it compels the bringing of an unjust suit; by yielding to an iniquitous controversy or suit, it prohibits acknowledging good faith or conscience; and it drives them to sin.

A most extensive constitution, declaring nearly all the doubts that can arise concerning the Rule of Saint Francis; especially whether the Friars Minor, whom they call Cord-bearers, as professors of that Rule, are bound to all the counsels of the Gospel. And whether they can have anything of their own, receive money, and acknowledge legacies left to them, together with many other ambiguities most lucidly resolved here.

The same.

The sower went out to sow his seed: the Son of God, Jesus Christ, went from the bosom of the Father into the world, clothed, namely, with the garment of humanity, to sow the evangelical word in every kind of person—the upright and the reprobate, the foolish and the ignorant, the diligent and the idle—and, according to the Prophet, to become a husbandman in the land. He scattered his seed, the evangelical doctrine, without distinction among all, he who, being about to draw all things to himself, had come to save all, and who at last sacrificed himself to God the Father for the salvation of all as the price of human redemption.

Although this seed, scattered among every kind of person by the communicative charity of God, fell in part beside the way, namely upon hearts open to the suggestions of demons; in part upon the rock, namely hearts penetrated by no ploughshare of faith; and in part among thorns, namely hearts of persons torn by the cares of riches—and thus one part was trampled down by wicked affections, another was dry because it lacked the moisture of grace, while the remainder is read to have been choked by disordered cares—nevertheless the good earth received another part, a meek and teachable heart. Such also is the meek and teachable religious order of the Friars Minor, rooted in poverty and humility through Francis, the gracious confessor of Christ. Sprouting from that true seed, he spread that shoot through the Rule among the sons whom, by his ministry, he begot for himself and for God in the observance of the Gospel.

These are the sons who, as James teaches, received in meekness the Word, the eternal Son of God, engrafted upon human nature in the garden of the virginal womb, who is able to save souls. These are the professors of that holy Rule which is founded upon the evangelical word, strengthened by the example of the life of Christ, the founder of the Church militant, and confirmed by the words and deeds of his Apostles. This is religion pure and undefiled before God and the Father; descending from the Father of lights, it was delivered through his Son to the Apostles by example and word, and afterward inspired by the Holy Spirit in blessed Francis and those following him, so that it contains in itself, as it were, the testimony of the whole Trinity. This is the religion concerning which, as the Apostle Paul bears witness, no one ought henceforth to be troublesome; Christ confirmed it with the stigmata of his Passion, willing notably to distinguish its founder with the signs of his own Passion.

Yet not even thus did the craftiness of the ancient enemy cease against the Friars Minor themselves and their Rule. Rather, striving to sow weeds among them, it sometimes stirred up rivals agitated by envy, anger, and undiscerning ignorance, who assailed the friars and tore their Rule with dog-like barking as though it were unlawful, unobservable, and dangerous. They failed to attend to the fact that, as aforesaid, this holy Rule was instituted with salutary precepts and admonitions, strengthened by apostolic observances, approved by several Roman Pontiffs, and also confirmed by the Apostolic See; and that it was fortified by so many divine testimonies, which have been made exceedingly credible in so many holy men who lived and ended their days in the observance of this Rule, some of whom that same See, on account of their lives and miracles, caused to be enrolled in the catalogue of the saints. Most recently, as though in these very days, it was declared in the general Council of Lyons to have been approved by our predecessor Pope Gregory IX of pious memory, on account of the evident benefit that the universal Church obtains from it.

Nor do we attend to this any less; rather, we consider it more profoundly, just as the other professors of the Catholic faith ought to weigh it more subtly. For God himself, looking upon the aforesaid Order and its observers, so preserved them by salutary aid from the hostile passions rising against them that the tempestuous waves neither struck them down nor laid low the spirits of those dwelling in the Order. Instead, they increase in the vigor of the Rule and are enlarged in the observance of its commands.

Nevertheless, so that the aforesaid Order, every winding obstruction having been cut away, may flourish in distinct and pure clarity, and in accordance with what the brothers of that Order, recently assembled in a general chapter, had provided—our beloved sons the minister general and certain other provincial ministers of the same Order who had convened in that chapter being established in our presence, since their intention is known to burn with vigor of spirit for the full observance of that Rule—it has seemed good to us to close the ways of biting to those who bite in this fashion; to declare certain things that could appear doubtful in the Rule itself; to discuss with fuller clarity some things also declared by our predecessors; and, in certain matters touching the Rule itself, to provide for the purity of their consciences.

Moreover, from our tender years we raised our affections toward this Order and, as those years succeeded one another, with some companions of that same confessor, to whom his life and conduct were known, we treated in frequent conference concerning the Rule itself and the holy intention of blessed Francis. Finally, having become a cardinal and afterward, by the aforesaid See, governor, protector, and corrector of the same Order, we learned by direct experience the conditions of the aforesaid Order through the care incumbent upon us. In the office of the apostolate, informed by the foregoing and also by long experience, both concerning the pious intention of the aforesaid confessor and concerning the matters that touch the Rule itself and its observance, we turned our thoughts toward the aforesaid Order. With full maturity we examined both those things known to have been approved and declared by those same predecessors and the Rule itself and the matters touching it. In the present document we establish certain matters, declare them, approve them more certainly, confirm those already approved, issue and grant them, and arrange many matters more seriously and clearly, which are more fully expressed in the articles written below.

First, as we understand that some persons doubt whether the brothers of the same Order are bound both to the counsels and to the precepts of the Gospel, because at the beginning of the aforesaid Rule it is provided: “The Rule and life of the Friars Minor is this: namely, to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without property, and in chastity”; and because the same Rule contains this: “When the year of probation has ended, they are to be received into obedience, promising always to observe this life and the Rule”; and also because at the end of that Rule these words are contained: “Let us observe poverty and humility, and the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we have firmly promised”—although our predecessor Pope Gregory IX of happy memory declared this article and certain other articles of the same Rule, nevertheless his declaration, because of the disorderly or biting attacks of some who rise against the friars and the Rule, and because the outcomes of many cases arising afterward must be considered, appears obscure in some things, only half complete in others, and insufficient in many matters contained in the Rule itself.

Willing, therefore, to remove the obscurity and insufficiency of the aforesaid interpretation by a declaration, and by the certainty of a fuller exposition to cut away from the minds of all persons every scruple of ambiguity in these matters, we say that, since at the beginning of the Rule it is set down not absolutely but with a certain modification or specification—“The Rule and life of the Friars Minor is this: namely, to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without property, and in chastity”—and since the same Rule treats these three matters very strictly and nevertheless joins to them certain other matters by commanding, prohibiting, counseling, admonishing, exhorting, and by other words reducible to one of the aforesaid modes, the intention of the Rule can be made more clearly evident. Thus, that which appears to be joined almost absolutely in the profession—“promising always to observe this life and the Rule”—and that which is added at the end—“and let us observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, which we have firmly promised”—are all to be referred to the modified, determined, or specified beginning of the Rule itself, namely to the observance of the Gospel, modified, determined, or specified by the Rule itself in those three matters, as aforesaid.

For it is not likely that the holy phrase itself, once pronounced by Francis with a certain modification, determination, or specification, although afterward repeated as though in summary, was intended by him, in its repetition, to lack without a definite cause the modification or specification that he had given it. Arguments from both laws teach us that matters at the beginning are often referred to the middle and the end; those in the middle to the end and the beginning; and those at the end to both of these or to either one.

And granted that it were said absolutely, “I promise wholly to observe the holy Gospel,” if a person making such a profession intended to bind himself to the observance of all the counsels—which he could scarcely or never observe according to the letter, on account of which such a promise would appear to ensnare the soul of the person professing—it clearly appears that a promise of this kind ought not, without the promisor’s intention, to be confined to another understanding, but is to be understood so that the Gospel is observed just as it is found to have been delivered by Christ: namely, that precepts are observed as precepts and counsels as counsels by those making the promise.

Blessed Francis himself manifestly shows, in the course of his treatment in the Rule, that he had this understanding in those same words, since he designates certain evangelical counsels as counsels under words of admonition, exhortation, and counsel, but others under prohibition and a word of precept. From this it is evident that the speaker’s intention was not that, by profession of a Rule of this kind, the brothers should be bound to all the counsels as though to evangelical precepts, but only to those counsels expressed in the same Rule preceptively, prohibitively, or under equivalent words. Therefore, to render entirely serene the consciences of the brothers of that Order, we declare that, by profession of the same Rule, the brothers themselves are bound to observe only those evangelical counsels that are expressed in the Rule itself preceptively, prohibitively, or under equivalent words.

With respect to certain other counsels given through the Gospel, however, according to the demand of their state they are bound more than other Christians, in proportion as, through the state of perfection assumed by a profession of this kind, they have offered themselves to the Lord as a holocaust filled with marrow through contempt for all worldly things. As for everything contained in the Rule itself—precepts, counsels, and other matters—they are bound by the vow of this profession in no other way than the manner in which those matters are delivered in the Rule itself: namely, they are bound to observe those things that are imposed upon them in that Rule under obligatory words. As for the observance of the other things contained under admonitory, exhortatory, informative, instructive, or any other words, it is the more fitting, in goodness and equity, that they pursue it, in proportion as, having become imitators of so great a father, they have chosen the paths of Christ.

Furthermore, since the Rule itself expressly contains that the brothers are to appropriate nothing to themselves, neither house, nor place, nor any thing, and since it was declared by our predecessor Gregory IX and certain others that they must observe this both individually and also in common, while the senseless cunning of some has condemned so strict an abdication with poisonous detractions, we say—lest the brightness of the perfection of those brothers be torn by the unskilled discourses of such persons—that an abdication of ownership of this kind in all things, not only individually but also in common, for God’s sake, is meritorious and holy. Christ, showing the way of perfection, taught it by word and confirmed it by example; and the first founders of the Church militant, desiring to live perfectly according as they had drawn from that fountain, transmitted it to their successors by examples of doctrine and life.

Nor should anyone think that the statement sometimes made that Christ had a purse stands in the way of these conclusions. For Jesus Christ, whose works are perfect, so practiced the way of perfection in his actions that, sometimes condescending to the imperfections of the weak, he both exalted the way of perfection and did not condemn the weak paths of the imperfect. Thus Christ assumed the person of the weak in the matter of the purse; and thus in certain other matters, assuming the weaknesses of human flesh, as evangelical history bears witness, he condescended to the weak not only in flesh but also in mind. For he so assumed human nature that, while remaining perfect in his own works, made humble in ours, he remained exalted in his own. Thus, by the graciousness of supreme charity, he was also led to certain actions conforming to our imperfection without being bent away from the rectitude of supreme perfection.

For Christ performed and taught works of perfection; he also performed weak things, as is sometimes evident in his flight and in the purse. Yet, remaining perfectly perfect, he did both so that he who had come to save both the perfect and the imperfect might show himself as the way of salvation to both, and at last he willed to die for both.

Nor should any erroneous assertion arise from these matters that those who thus abdicate ownership of all things for God’s sake, as though murderers of themselves or tempters of God, commit themselves to danger in living. For they commit themselves to divine providence in living in such a way that they do not despise the way of human provision. Rather, they are supported from those things freely offered, or those things humbly begged, or those things acquired through labor; this threefold manner of living is expressly provided in the Rule. Certainly, if according to the Savior’s promise the faith of the Church will never fail, consequently works of mercy will not be withdrawn, by which every ground for any distrust appears to have been removed from the poor of Christ.

And indeed, if—which is in no way to be presumed—all these things should fail, the way granted to all persons held by extreme necessity for providing for the sustenance of nature at the point of extreme necessity is not closed by heavenly law to the brothers themselves, just as it is not closed to others, since extreme necessity is exempt from every law. Nor should so complete an abdication of ownership appear to anyone to induce a renunciation of the use of things. For since the principal matters to be considered in temporal things are ownership, possession, usufruct, a right of using, and simple use of fact, and mortal life needs the last of these as necessary although it can lack the first ones, there can be no profession at all which excludes from itself the use of necessary sustenance. But it was fitting for that profession which voluntarily vowed to follow the poor Christ in such poverty to abdicate ownership of all things and to be content with the necessary use of the things granted to it.

Nor, because it appears to have abdicated ownership of use and dominion over every thing, is it proved to have renounced the simple use of every thing. This use, I say, bears the name not of right but only of fact; because it is only of fact, it furnishes those using a thing no right in the act of using it. Indeed, a moderate use of necessary things, both for the sustenance of life and for the execution of the offices of their state—excepting what is joined below concerning money—has been granted to the brothers according to their Rule and the complete truth, so that the brothers may lawfully use those things while the grantor’s permission endures and in accordance with what is contained in the present document.

Nor is the humanely framed provision of civil law in human affairs known to stand in the way of this: namely, that use or usufruct cannot be perpetually separated from dominion. Looking only to temporal utility in establishing this rule, civil law decreed it lest dominion be rendered useless to owners when use always departed from it. For the retention of dominion over such things, when their use is granted to poor persons, is not fruitless to the owner, since it is meritorious for eternal things and opportune for the profession of poor persons; and it is deemed the more useful to him insofar as it exchanges temporal things for eternal ones.

Certainly, the intention of the confessor of Christ who instituted the Rule was not otherwise; rather, he wrote the contrary in that Rule and observed the contrary in his life, since he himself used temporal things out of necessity, and in many places in the Rule he shows that such use is lawful for the brothers. For he says in the Rule that the clerics are to perform the divine office, for which purpose they can have breviaries, manifestly indicating by this that his brothers would have the use of a breviary and of books suitable for the divine office. In another chapter it is also said that the ministers and custodians, through spiritual friends, are to exercise solicitous care for the needs of the sick and for clothing the other brothers, according to places, times, and cold regions, as they see to be expedient for their need. Elsewhere, exhorting the brothers to avoid idleness through a suitable exercise of labor, he says that from the reward of their labor they are to receive the necessities of the body for themselves and their brothers. Another chapter also contains that the brothers are to go confidently for alms.

It is also provided in the same Rule that, in the preaching which the brothers perform, their words are to be considered and chaste for the benefit and edification of the people, by announcing to them vices and virtues, punishment and glory. But it is certain that these things presuppose knowledge; knowledge requires study; and the practice of study cannot fittingly be maintained without the use of books. From all these matters it is sufficiently clear that the necessary use of things for food, clothing, divine worship, and the study of wisdom is granted to the brothers by the Rule. It is therefore evident to those who understand soundly from the foregoing that the Rule, with respect to an abdication of this kind, is not only observable, possible, and lawful, but meritorious and perfect; and all the more meritorious insofar as through it its professors are more removed from temporal things for God’s sake, as aforesaid.

Moreover, since the brothers themselves can acquire nothing for themselves individually, or even for their Order in common, and since, when something is offered, granted, or given to them for God’s sake, the intention of the person offering, granting, or giving it—unless he expresses otherwise—is probably believed to be that he grants the thing so offered, granted, or given completely, until he takes it away; that he abdicates it from himself and desires to transfer it to others for God’s sake; and since there is no person to whom, in God’s place, the dominion of such a thing may more suitably be transferred than the aforesaid See or the person of the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ, who is the father of all and nevertheless the special father of the Friars Minor, lest the dominion of such things appear to be uncertain—for a son in his manner acquires for his father, a servant for his lord, and a monk for his monastery the things offered, granted, or given to him—we decree by this present constitution, to remain valid forever, that the ownership and dominion of all utensils and books, and of their present and future movable goods whose usufruct it is lawful for the orders or the brothers themselves to have, belongs fully and freely to us and the Roman Church. Our predecessor Pope Innocent IV of happy memory is known also to have done this.

Furthermore, by the same authority we similarly receive into our right, dominion, and ownership and that of the aforesaid Church places purchased from various alms and offered or granted to the brothers under any form of words by different persons who possess them in indivision or have definite shares in those places, where those possessing in indivision or having definite shares reserved nothing to themselves in an offering or grant of this kind—although the brothers ought to take care not to use words of this kind that are inconsistent with their state.

But if places or houses for the brothers’ habitation, to be granted or offered in their entirety by an individual person or a college to the brothers themselves, happen to be inhabited by the brothers at the grantor’s will, they are to inhabit them only so long as the grantor’s will perseveres. When the grantor’s will has changed and been made known to the brothers, they are freely to leave those places, excepting the church, the oratories destined for the church, and the cemetery, which, both present and future, we receive in a similar manner and by similar authority into our right and ownership and that of the aforesaid Roman Church. In the dominion or ownership of those places we retain absolutely nothing for ourselves or the aforesaid Roman Church unless they are specially received with our assent or that of the Roman Church itself. And if, in making the grant, the grantor reserved dominion in those same places for himself, apart from the brothers’ habitation no special dominion is to pass into the right of the aforesaid Church; rather, it is to remain fully free to the grantor.

Moreover, they are to receive neither utensils nor other things beyond their use for necessity and for executing the offices of their state—for, as has been said, they ought not to have the use of all things—with a view to any superfluity, riches or abundance derogating from poverty, the accumulation of treasure, or with the intention that they transfer or sell them, whether under color of provision for the future or on another occasion. Rather, in all things complete abdication with respect to dominion and necessity in use are to appear in them. According to the requirements of persons and places, the ministers and custodians, jointly and separately in their administrations and custodies, are to arrange these matters with discretion, since in such matters the quality of persons, diversity of times, condition of places, and certain other circumstances sometimes require provision to be made in a greater, lesser, or different manner. Yet they are to do these things in such a way that holy poverty, as it is found to have been enjoined upon them by their Rule, always shines forth in them and in their acts.

Moreover, since in the same Rule it is prohibited under the rigor of a precept that the brothers receive coins or money in any manner, by themselves or through others, and since the brothers desire to observe this forever and necessarily to fulfill it as something enjoined upon them, lest their purity in observing a precept of this kind be stained in any respect and lest their consciences be pricked by any goads, we take up this article more deeply than our predecessors did because of the bites of their detractors, and pursue it with clearer determinations.

First, we say that the brothers themselves are to abstain from contracting loans, since, their state being considered, it is not lawful for them to contract a loan. Nevertheless, to make satisfaction for needs that arise from time to time, when alms from which satisfaction could conveniently be made at that time are lacking, they can say, without any bond of obligation, that they intend faithfully to labor through alms and other friends of the brothers to make a payment of this kind. In this case the brothers are to arrange for the person who will give the alms to make that satisfaction, in whole or in part as the Lord inspires him, by himself or through another person. If it can be done, that other person is not to be named by the brothers, but rather selected by the giver according to his good pleasure.

If, however, the giver is unwilling or unable to do this, whether because his departure is imminent, because he does not know faithful persons to whom he wishes to entrust it, or for any other occasion or cause, we declare and say that the purity of the Rule is infringed in no respect and its observance stained in no manner if the brothers take care to inform him of one or more persons, or to name or even present one or more persons to whom, if it pleases the person making the alms, the execution of the aforesaid matters can be committed; and if his assent is obtained concerning the substitutions written below. This is nevertheless to be done in such a way that, while dominion, ownership, and possession of the money itself, together with free power always to recall the money to himself until its conversion to the thing designated, remain fully, freely, and integrally with the giver himself, the brothers have absolutely no right in the money, nor its administration or dispensation, and bring against the person named or not named by them, of whatever condition that person may be, neither an action or proceeding in court or outside it nor any other right, however that person conducts himself in a commission of this kind.

Nevertheless, it is lawful for the brothers to indicate, specify, or explain their needs to the aforesaid person and to ask him to pay. They can also exhort and induce that same person to conduct himself faithfully in the matter committed to him and to provide for the salvation of his soul in executing the commission, yet in such a way that the brothers abstain in every manner from all administration or dispensation of that money and from any action or proceeding against the aforesaid person, as has been stated.

But if it happens that a person of this kind, named or not named by the brothers, is impeded from personally executing the foregoing by absence, sickness, unwillingness, the distance of places to which he is unwilling to travel and in which payment or satisfaction is to be made, or another occasion, it is lawful for the brothers, with purity of conscience, to act with this person in naming another person to be substituted for the foregoing matters and in other things—if they cannot or do not wish to have recourse to the first giver—just as we declared immediately above that they may act with the first person. For the ministry of two persons by way of substitution, as has been stated, appears more commonly and generally capable of sufficing for execution of the foregoing, since the aforesaid satisfaction is presumed capable of being dispatched quickly.

If, however, as has sometimes been stated, a case arises in which the ministry of several substituted persons appears useful because of the distance of the places in which satisfaction is to be made and because of other conditions or circumstances, it is lawful for the brothers in this case, according to the quality of the business and observing the aforesaid manner, to select, name, or present several persons to execute that ministry.

Because it is necessary and expedient to provide beneficially, with the aforesaid moderation, for the brothers’ needs—not only those for which payment or satisfaction must already be made, as was stated immediately above, but also impending needs, whether they are impending needs that can be dispatched in a short time, or needs, comparatively few although they may be, whose provision by its nature necessarily requires a period of time, as in the writing of books, the construction of churches or buildings for their habitation, the purchase of books and cloth in remote places, and other similar things if any occur—we make a clear distinction in these needs and declare that in them the brothers can proceed safely and with a sound conscience.

Namely, with respect to an urgent or impending need that can be dispatched in a short time, or sometimes, because of certain circumstances, not so quickly, as was stated in the immediately preceding case, the procedure is to be in all things and through all things, both with respect to the giver of alms and with respect to the person named or substituted, as we declared immediately above in the article concerning payment to be made for past needs.

But in a need, however presently urgent, that nevertheless by its nature has a period of time attached to it, as aforesaid, it is likely that cases would frequently occur in which the money assigned for such a need would have to pass through different hands and persons in order to dispatch the need, both because of the distance of the places which the dispatch of that need would by its nature require and because the circumstances of the need itself had been weighed. It would be almost impossible for the principal owner assigning the money for that need, or his substitute, or even a third person afterward substituted by that substitute if such a case occurred, to know all those persons.

Therefore, in addition to the two aforesaid modes to be observed for past and urgent needs that can be dispatched quickly, or sometimes not quickly, as expressed above, and in order to observe the complete purity of the Rule itself and of those professing it, we declare and say with respect to this article that, if the giver of such alms or his messenger, who is able and willing to do this, is present, the brothers are expressly to tell him that it should please him that, through whosoever’s hands the money or alms is handled, whether through persons named by him or by the brothers, the whole matter is to proceed with his consent, will, and authority. Dominion of such money, together with free power to recall it to himself, is always to remain freely with him until its conversion to the designated thing, as has been stated above in the other two cases. When he has given his assent to the foregoing, the brothers can safely use the thing bought or acquired from that money through any person according to the manner noted above.

For the greater clarity of all the foregoing, by this provision to remain valid forever we declare that, when the aforesaid modes concerning money for supporting their past and urgent needs have been observed, as aforesaid, the brothers are not understood or able to be said to receive money by themselves or through an interposed person contrary to the Rule or the purity of the profession of their Order. For it is manifestly evident from the foregoing that the brothers themselves are wholly alien not only from receiving, owning, having dominion over, or using the money itself, but also from any handling of it whatsoever and from the money itself.

In the case where the person granting the money happens to die before the money itself has been converted into a lawful transaction for a thing to be had or used, if the grantor, in making the grant, said or expressed that the designated person was to expend the money itself for the necessary use of the brothers whatever might happen to the grantor himself in life or death, then, whether or not such a grantor has left an heir, the brothers can have recourse to the designated person for expenditure of that money, notwithstanding the grantor’s death or the heir’s opposition, just as they could have had recourse to the lord who made the grant.

Because we zealously cherish the purity of that Order with the intimate affection of our heart, when in the aforesaid cases it happens that money is granted by someone for a determinate need, as aforesaid, the grantor of the money can be asked by the brothers that, if anything from the money remains after the determinate need has been met, the grantor himself consent that the residue of the aforesaid money be converted into other things for the other aforesaid needs of those brothers. If he does not consent to the foregoing, the residue, if any, is to be returned to him. Nevertheless, the brothers are carefully to adapt themselves so that they do not knowingly consent to the granting of more than can probably be estimated as the value of the necessary thing for which the money itself is granted.

And because error can easily be made by the giver or recipient in a detailed exposition of the foregoing, so that provision may more clearly and securely be made on both sides for the benefit of givers, the purity of the Order, the simplicity of certain simple persons, and the salvation of souls, by the present constitution, to remain valid eternally, we clarify the understanding that is sufficiently perceived in this case by one who understands soundly, willing it to be brought to common knowledge. Namely, whenever money is sent or offered to the brothers themselves—unless something else is expressly stated by the sender or offeror—it is to be understood to be bound and sent entirely in the aforesaid manners. For it is not probable that anyone, without express words, would fix for his alms that mode by which either the giver is defrauded of merit, or those for whose needs he intends provision to be made by such a gift are defrauded of the effect of the gift, or he is defrauded of the purity of his conscience.

Moreover, because certain things are sometimes bequeathed to the brothers themselves in last wills under different modes, and neither the Rule nor the declarations of our predecessors expressly contain what is to be done concerning them, we declare, ordain, and say—providing for those who make bequests and taking precautions for the brothers’ consciences, lest doubt concerning them happen in the future—that, if a testator in making a bequest expresses a mode according to which it would not be lawful for the brothers to receive, their condition being considered, as if he were to bequeath to the brothers a vineyard or field to cultivate, a house to lease, or were to employ similar words in similar matters or observe similar modes in leaving property, the brothers are to abstain in every way from such a legacy and its reception.

But if in making the bequest the testator expresses a mode lawful for the brothers, as if he were to say, “I bequeath money to be expended for the brothers’ needs, or a house, field, vineyard, and similar things, so that they may be sold by a certain suitable person or persons and the money received from those things converted into buildings or other necessities of the brothers,” or if he uses similar modes or words in making the bequest, in this case, after consideration of their aforesaid needs and moderations, we decree that with respect to the brothers the same thing is to be observed in all things and through all things as was declared by us above concerning granted pecuniary alms.

Both the heirs of testators and their executors are to show themselves liberal in paying such legacies; and prelates and secular persons to whom provision of this kind belongs by law or custom are also, when it is expedient, to show themselves ready by virtue of their office to fulfill the pious wills of the deceased. For we also intend to provide, through lawful modes consonant with the brothers’ Rule, that the greed of heirs be struck by lawful blows, lest the pious intention of the deceased be frustrated and the poor brothers themselves be defrauded of useful assistance.

But if something is bequeathed generally to the brothers themselves without expression of a mode, in this legacy so indeterminately left we will that the same thing be understood and observed in all things and through all things, and by the present constitution forever command the observance of what we willed and expressed above concerning money or alms indeterminately offered or sent to the brothers: namely, that it be understood to have been left to the brothers under a lawful mode, so that neither the person making the bequest be defrauded of merit nor the brothers themselves of the effect of the thing left.

Because it sometimes happens or is expedient for books and other movable things used by the Order and the brothers, whose dominion is known specially to belong to the aforesaid Church when they are not owned by others, to be sold or even exchanged, we, willing to provide for the brothers’ advantages and consciences, grant by the same authority that the exchange of such things for those things whose use it is lawful for the brothers to have may proceed by the authority of the ministers general and provincial, jointly or separately in their administrations. We also grant them authority to ordain concerning the disposition of the use of such things.

But if it happens that a thing of this kind is sold at an appraised price, since it is not lawful for the brothers themselves to receive money by themselves or through another, the Rule prohibiting it, we ordain and will that such money or price be received and expended upon a lawful thing whose use it is lawful for the brothers to have, through a procurator to be appointed by the aforesaid See or by the cardinal who, through that See, conducts the governance of the same Order, according to the mode ordained above for past and urgent needs. But from this present grant of ours it is lawful for the brothers, from a consideration of piety or devotion or for another honorable and reasonable cause, first having obtained the permission of their superiors in this matter, to bestow upon others within and outside the Order movable things that are cheap or of little value, in accordance with what has been ordained among the brothers in general or provincial chapters both concerning those cheap things or things of little value and their value and concerning the aforesaid permission, namely from whom and in what manner it is to be obtained.

Although it is contained in the Rule that the brothers are to have one tunic with a hood and another without a hood, and it could appear to have been the intention of the founder that, when necessity ceases, they are not to use more, we declare that with the permission of the ministers and custodians, jointly or separately in the administrations committed to them, the brothers can, when it appears proper to them, use more tunics, after the needs and other circumstances which appear to require consideration according to God and the Rule have been weighed. Nor are they on this account to appear to deviate from the Rule, since it is also expressly said in the Rule that the ministers and custodians are to exercise solicitous care for the needs of the sick and for clothing the brothers according to places, times, and cold regions.

And although the aforesaid Rule contains that only the ministers and custodians are to exercise solicitous care concerning the clothing of the brothers and the needs of the sick, and that word “only” appears so to restrict the ministers and custodians in this care that at first sight it excludes the others from it, nevertheless it is fitting for us carefully to consider both the time when the Rule was instituted, when these brothers were few in number in comparison with the present and perhaps the ministers and custodians then appeared capable of sufficing to procure these things, and, nonetheless, the multiplication of the brothers and the condition of modern times. Since it is not probable that blessed Francis, the founder of the Rule, wished either to impose a yoke of impossibility upon those ministers and custodians or, as a consequence of that impossibility, to will the brothers themselves to lack their necessities, we grant that the ministers and custodians themselves may exercise the solicitude of this care through others. The other brothers must also diligently exercise this care, which by this Rule rests principally upon the aforesaid ministers and custodians, when it has been committed to them by those ministers and custodians.

It is also contained in the Rule that the brothers to whom the Lord has given the grace of working are to work faithfully and devoutly, in such a way that, idleness, the enemy of the soul, having been excluded, they do not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion. But because from this phrase some have previously attempted wickedly to mark the brothers themselves with idleness of life and transgression of the Rule, repressing such wicked bites we declare that, after consideration of the aforesaid words and the form or manner of speech under which the brothers are led to an exercise of this kind, it does not appear to have been the founder’s intention to subject to manual labor or work, or to constrain to it, those who are occupied with study or with the performance of divine offices and ministries. For, by the example of Christ and many holy Fathers, this spiritual labor outweighs the other as greatly as things of the soul are preferred to bodily things.

But we declare that the aforesaid words extend to others who do not exercise themselves in the aforesaid spiritual works, unless such persons are occupied with lawful services for other brothers, so that they do not live idly, or unless such persons are of such excellent and notable contemplation and prayer that for this reason they ought not deservedly to be withdrawn from so great a good for an exercise of this kind. For any brothers not occupied with study or divine ministries, but adhering only to the services of other brothers occupied with study or other divine offices and ministries, deserve on account of those services to be supported together with those whom they serve. This is supported by that equitable law by which that vigorous warrior David justly decreed that the portion of those descending into battle and of those remaining with the baggage was to be equal.

But because it is expressly contained in the Rule that the brothers are not to preach in the diocese of any bishop when he has opposed them, we, both deferring to the Rule in this and nevertheless preserving the authority of apostolic plenitude, say that the aforesaid phrase is to be observed according to the letter, just as the Rule itself pronounced it, unless something else has been granted or ordained by the Apostolic See in this matter for the benefit of the Christian people, or is granted or even ordained in the future.

And because in the same chapter of the Rule it is immediately added that no brother at all is to dare to preach to the people unless he has been examined and also approved by the minister general and the office of preaching has been granted to him by that minister, we, considering, as is fitting, both the past state of the Order in the fewness of its members, its modern state in the enlarged number of brothers, and the advantage of souls, grant that not only may the minister general examine and approve brothers who will preach among the people and grant them permission to preach, insofar as that permission concerns the suitability of the person and the office of preaching, as is contained in the Rule, but the provincial ministers may also do this in provincial chapters with the definitors. This is also said to be observed today and to be contained in the brothers’ privileges. The aforesaid ministers may revoke, suspend, and restrict that permission as and when it appears expedient to them.

But because this is borne in our desires, that to the glory of God the salvation of souls may advance and the merit and number of the said Order may increase, through which the affection of the Christian religion is continually kindled toward divine love, we grant and confirm by the present statute that it is lawful not only for the minister general but also for the provincial ministers to receive into the brotherhood persons fleeing from the world. The permission of the provincial ministers can be restricted by the minister general himself as he sees to be expedient. But the vicars of the provincial ministers are to know that, by virtue of the office of vicar, this permission is forbidden to them unless it is specially committed to those vicars by the ministers themselves, to whom we decree it lawful to be able to commit this to vicars and others.

Nevertheless, the provincial ministers themselves are to take care that they commit this not indiscriminately or generally, but so considerately that they support with faithful counsels those to whom it happens to be committed, so that all things proceed discreetly. Nor are all persons indiscriminately to be admitted to the Order, but only those who, with learning, suitability, or other circumstances supporting them, can be useful to the Order, can profit themselves through the merit of life, and can profit others through example.

Moreover, since the brothers of the aforesaid Order doubt whether, because it is said in the Rule that, when the minister general dies, the election of his successor is to be made by the provincial ministers and custodians in the chapter of Pentecost, the whole multitude of custodians must convene at the general chapter, or whether, so that all matters may be treated with greater tranquility, it can suffice for certain persons from the individual provinces, who have the voice of the others, to be present, we answer in this manner: the custodians of the individual provinces are to appoint one of themselves, whom they are to send with their provincial minister to the chapter on their behalf, committing their votes or representatives to him. We have deemed it proper to approve a statute of this kind, which they also established by themselves, and which our predecessor Gregory IX is said to have answered in a case of this kind.

Finally, because it is contained in the aforesaid Rule that the brothers are not to enter monasteries of nuns except those brothers to whom special permission has been granted by the aforesaid See, although the brothers believed that this was more particularly to be understood of the monasteries of poor enclosed nuns, since the aforesaid See has special care of them, and although an understanding of this kind is believed to have been declared by the provincial ministers in a general chapter through a certain constitution given at the time of the Rule, while blessed Francis was still living, those same brothers nevertheless petitioned to be made certain whether this is to be understood generally of all monasteries, since the Rule excepts none, or only of the monasteries of the aforesaid nuns.

We answer that this is indeed prohibited generally with respect to convents of nuns of every kind, and we will that by the name of “monastery” the cloister, houses, and inner offices are to be understood. For the brothers to whom this has been granted by their superiors on account of their maturity or suitability can enter other places where secular persons convene for the purpose of preaching or seeking alms, always excepting the monasteries of the aforesaid enclosed nuns, to which no one is given power of access without the special permission of that same See. Our same predecessor Gregory IX is also said to have answered this in that case.

Moreover, Francis, the confessor of Christ of holy memory, is said near the end of his life to have commanded—his command is called his Testament—that the words of his Rule not be glossed and, to use his own words, that it not be said that they ought to be understood “thus or thus.” He added that the brothers should in no manner petition the Apostolic See for any letters, and inserted certain other matters that could not be observed without great difficulty. Consequently, the brothers, doubting whether they were bound to observe the aforesaid Testament, petitioned that a doubt of this kind be removed from their consciences by our same predecessor Gregory IX. As is asserted, considering the danger to souls and the difficulties that they could incur on account of this, he removed the doubt from their consciences and said that the brothers themselves were not bound to observe that command, because Francis could not bind them without the consent of the brothers, and especially of the ministers, whom it touched universally; nor did he in any way bind his successor, since an equal has no power over an equal. We have deemed that nothing is to be changed concerning the present article.

In addition, we understand that various letters have emanated from certain of our predecessors, the Roman Pontiffs, concerning the declaration of that Rule and matters touching the Rule itself. But not even through this did the attack of the aforesaid biting persons against the Rule itself and the brothers cease; nor did those letters provide in many matters for the brothers’ state, in which the experience of many cases later arising indicated that new or different provision was necessarily to be made.

Therefore, lest the diversity of such letters and of the present constitution, or an opposition in their understanding, disturb the spirits of the brothers in observing the foregoing, and so that fuller, clearer, and more certain provision may be made for their state and for the observance of the aforesaid Rule, we decree that in all and each of the articles that this constitution contains—even though they or some of them are contained in the other aforesaid apostolic letters—this constitution, declaration, or ordinance of ours alone is to be observed precisely and inviolably by the brothers themselves in perpetuity.

Since, therefore, from the foregoing and other matters discussed by us with great maturity, the Rule itself clearly appears lawful, holy, perfect, observable, and exposed to no danger, by the plenitude of apostolic power we approve and confirm it and all the matters written above that were established, ordained, granted, disposed, decreed, declared, and also supplied by us, and we will them to possess perpetual firmness. By virtue of obedience we strictly command that this constitution be read in the schools just like the other constitutions or decretal letters.

And because, under color of what is lawful, certain persons could pour out against the brothers themselves and the Rule in reading, expounding, and glossing it the dreadful poison of their iniquity, and, by bringing the understanding of the constitution itself into diverse and opposed opinions, could corrupt it by their inventions; and because diversity of opinions and distortion of understanding could entangle the pious minds of many and withdraw the hearts of many from entering the religious life, the perversity of such detractors, which must be avoided, compels us to close their way to the foregoing and to prescribe a definite mode of proceeding for those reading this constitution.

Therefore, under penalty of excommunication and deprivation of office and benefice, we strictly command that, when the present constitution happens to be read, it is to be expounded faithfully according to the letter just as it was promulgated. Concordances, contradictions, or diverse or opposed opinions are by no means to be introduced by readers or expositors. No glosses are to be made upon the constitution itself, except perhaps those by which a word, the sense of a word, or a construction, or the construction itself, is explained as though grammatically according to the letter or more intelligibly. Nor is its understanding to be corrupted in any respect by the reader or distorted to something other than what the letter itself declares.

And lest it be necessary for the aforesaid See to labor further against detractors of this kind, we strictly command all and each person, of whatever preeminence, condition, or status, not to dogmatize, write, determine, preach, or speak wickedly, publicly or secretly, against the aforesaid Rule and the state of the aforesaid brothers, or against the foregoing matters established, ordained, granted, disposed, decreed, declared, supplied, approved, and also confirmed by us. But if any ambiguity concerning these matters arises for anyone, it is to be brought to the summit of the aforesaid Apostolic See so that, by its apostolic authority, its intention in this matter may be manifested; to it alone has it been granted in these matters to grant statutes and declare those issued.

Those who gloss the constitution itself in writing otherwise than in the manner we have stated, and moreover teachers and readers who, while teaching publicly, knowingly and deliberately corrupt the understanding of such a constitution, as well as those who make a commentary, writings, or booklets and knowingly and deliberately determine in the schools or preach against the foregoing matters or any or one of them, are to know that they lie under the sentence of excommunication which we now render against them, from which they cannot be absolved by anyone except the Roman Pontiff. This is notwithstanding any privileges, indulgences, or apostolic letters granted generally or individually, under any form or expression of words, to any dignities, persons, orders, or religious or secular places, which we will to avail no one in any manner in the foregoing matters.

Moreover, we will that both those against whom the sentence of excommunication has been rendered by us and any others who come against the foregoing matters or any of them be brought to the notice of the aforesaid See, so that the rigor of apostolic vengeance may restrain from forbidden acts those whom the well-considered measure of equity does not restrain.

Therefore, let it be lawful for no person whatsoever to infringe this page of our declaration, ordinance, grant, disposition, approval, confirmation, and constitution, or to oppose it with rash daring. But if anyone presumes to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Soriano on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of September, in the second year of our pontificate.

When the cells of a certain monastery are exempt, he shows here what the designation “cell” signifies. Johannes Andreae.

Boniface VIII.

The privilege granted to your monastery, providing that monks or brothers dwelling in cells belonging to that monastery cannot be excommunicated or suspended by anyone other than the Pope or his legate, or that those cells cannot be placed under interdict, protects not brothers dwelling in priories, churches, or chapels of the same monastery, nor those priories, churches, or chapels in any respect from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries, but only those residing in cells and the cells themselves—that is, secret and solitary places, separated from human society and specially designated for contemplation and devotion to God.

When someone is privileged so that he can confer the benefices of his clerics, he shows what the designation “his clerics” denotes. Johannes Andreae.

The same.

As you took care to signify to us, we graciously granted to you that you can confer the benefices of your clerics who resign or die, and that those same clerics may receive the fruits of their prebends as if they resided personally in their churches. But because you doubt who ought to be contained under the designation “your clerics,” we answer by a brief oracle that in these and similar cases we will those persons to be understood as your clerics who, not having been sought out or received by you for that reason, are without any fraud or pretense truly your familiar clerics, and are continuously members of your household and table at your expense, even if it happens that some of them are at times absent for conducting your affairs.