CAPUCHIN
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CAPUCHIN
over, forbidden to follow funerals or celebrate dirges,
except in case of necessity. Finally, they were to go
barefoot, shod only in simple sandals; and to recite
the Divine Office at midnight even on the three last
days of Holy Week; and on no account were extra
Offices to be added to the canonical Office, so that
the friars might have more time for private prayer.
Such were the "Constitutions of Albacina". Their intention is evident to any one conversant with the early Franciscan legends: they sought to re-establish the Franciscan life in the spirit and letter of the ear- liest Franciscan tradition. One point needs explana- tion here. In the earliest pontifical documents con- cerning the new reform, it is stated that the friars are to be free to observe the rule strictly in the eremitical life. The meaning of this, however, was not that they should be hermits in the sense of living always a retired and solitary life. Matteo di Bassi had asked of Clement VII liberty to observe the Rule of St. Francis in hermitages, to preach the Word of God in the world, and to bring sinners to repentance. The preaching of the Word of God was an essential feature of the Capuchin Reform. We have already seen how the constitutions of the order bade the preachers be frequently employed in their work for souls at all times of the year. Matteo di Bassi himself had no sooner received the sanction of Clement VII than he returned to the Marches and began to preach and to nurse the sick during the pestilence which swept through the Marches in 1525. The explanation, how- ever, is simple enough to those who know the Fran- ciscan legends. Amongst the Franciscans the her- mitage stood in opposition to the large convent. The first houses of the order were built outside the city walls in some quiet spot where the friars, when not engaged in active ministry for others, could live un- disturbedly in the cultivation of the spirit. These houses were small, and only a few friars dwelt in the same place. Besides the small communities, there were also hermitages, technically so called, at some distance from the community, whither the friars might retire for a still more secluded life. The orig- inal Franciscan life was thus a commingling of the active life with the eremitical. As the order increased in numbers, large convents were built in which the simplicity and seclusion of the original Franciscan community were in great measure lost; in these large houses it became impossible to observe the primitive standard of poverty, and the tendency was to con- form to the more complex life and ceremonial of the monastic orders, properly so called. Hence every reform of the order turned again towards the ideal of the small community and the more secluded situa- tion, where the original simplicity and poverty could more easily be maintained.
Matteo di Bassi remained vicar-general of the re- form only for two months; then he resigned his juris- diction into the hands of Louis of Fossombrone, as commissary general, in order that he might be free to give himself to the work of the apostolate. From this time he can hardly be said to belong to the fam- ily of the reform; though he seems to have still availed himself of the privileges granted him in 1525 by Clement VII. He died in 1552 and was buried in the church of the Observants in Venice, where his body was for a long time accorded the honours given to the relics of a saint, until a recent decree of the Congregation of Sacred Rites restricted such honours to those formally beatified. But though not formally
beatified, Mat! li Bassi is styled "Blessed" in the
martyrologies of the order. During the government of Louis oi Fossombrone the reform began to spread quickly and widely. Shortly after the Chanter of Albacina the friars were invited to Rome and given a house, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, near the Flaminian Gate, from which they removed in the following year to the convent of Santa Kuphemia near Santa Maria
Maggiore. Meanwhile a movement for reform was
taking place amongst the Observants of Ca/abria,
which was to have a marked influence upon the de-
velopment of the reform in the Marches. Two friars,
Louis of Reggio and Bernardine of Reggio, surnamed
lo Giorgio, had, about the same time that Matteo di
Bassi had visited Rome, also arrived in the Eternal
City, and with the sanction of Clement VII had at-
tempted a reform movement amongst the Observants
of Santi Apostoli. Their efforts proving futile, they
obtained leave, in 1526, to return to Calabria and
choose three convents for their purpose. They as-
sumed the name of Recollects — a name very generally
given to the reforming friars, for the reason stated
above. Here, as in the Marches, the superiors of the
Observants regarded the reform with disfavour and
treated the reformers as rebellious subjects; hence,
at a chapter held by the Minister General of the Ob-
servants, at Messina, in 1532, the Calabrian Recol-
lects petitioned to be allowed to pass to the Capuchin
jurisdiction. Their petition, however, only drew up-
on them further rebuke. As they continued to per-
sist in their demand, the minister general obtained
from the pope a Brief of excommunication against
them; but this was shortly withdrawn through the
intervention of the Duke of Nocera and the Duchess
of Camerino, and the Calabrian Recollects passed into
the Capuchin family, forming the first province of the
order outside the Marches.
Following the example of the Calabrians, the most zealous Observants began to pass over to the Capu- chins in such numbers that Paul III, at the instance of the Minister General of the Observants, issued two Briefs, the first dated 18 December, 1534, and the second 12 January, 1535, forbidding any more Obser- vants to be received by the Capuchins until the next general chapter of the Observant family. The second of these Briefs is noteworthy by reason of the fact that in it the friars of the new reform are for the first time called Capucini — Capuchins. Hitherto, in the pontif- ical documents they had been styled Fratres Ord. S. Francisci Capucciati. But in the Brief of 12 January, 1535, the pope adopted the name already conferred upon the new reform by the populace, who, seeing the long hoods, at once called the friars Cappuccini. Henceforth the friars are officially styled "Friars Minor of the Order of St. Francis, Capuchin".
At the chapter of the order held at Rome in Novem- ber, 1535, Bernardine of Asti was elected vicar-gen- eral. He was a remarkable man — the genius and saviour of the new reform. He combined great pru- dence and power of organization with a rare humility and sweetness of character. He had held high office amongst the Observants before he joined the Capu- chins in 1534. He died in 1554. and is styled Blessed in the martyrology of the Franciscan Order. His election was providential, for the Capuchin family had now to pass through a time of storm and stress, which the wisdom and fame of Bernardine of Asti, in great measure, enabled it to survive. Hardly had Bernardine of Asti taken up the reins of govemmc t than Louis of Fossombrone created a disturbance amongst the friars, alleging that the election was in- valid. He himself had aspired to the headship of the order. A new chapter was thereupon convoked, in April, 1536, and Bernardine of Asti was again elected, whereupon Louis of Fossombrone threw off the habit and apostatized. His apostasy perhaps influenced Paul III when, on 3 January, 1537, he forbade the Capuchins to establish any houses of their reform outside Italy. But a greater blow fell in 1542 when Bernardine of Siena — the famous Occhino, not to be confounded with Saint Bernardine. who d. in 1444 — the successor of Bernardine of Asti as vicar-general, apostatized and joined the Protestant Reformers. The scandal caused by his defection gave new vigour to the efforts of those who were opposed to the Capu-
