The
doctrine
Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...
of the absolute poverty of Christ was a teaching associated with the
Franciscan order
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
of friars, particularly prominent between 1210 and 1323. The key tenet of the doctrine of absolute poverty was that Christ and the
apostles had no property, whether individually or shared. Debate about this came to a head in what is known as the theoretical poverty controversy in 1322–23.
Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII ( la, Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death in December 1334.
He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by ...
declared this doctrine
heretical
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
in November 1323 via the
papal bull ''Cum inter nonnullos'', but debate on the subject continued for some years after; indeed, John's own final statement on the subject came in 1329 in his ''Quia vir reprobus''. Key aspects of the debate included: the origins of property (or '
dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
') and whether use of material objects implied ownership; whether property existed before the
Fall of Man
The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience.
*
*
*
* ...
; whether Christ while on earth had dominion over temporal things; the detailed and technical status of Christ's well attested poverty; and the apostles' use of material goods.
Background
Early Franciscans were itinerant preachers, who, following their founder
Francis of Assisi
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
, took to heart the injunction in Luke 9:3 to “Take nothing for the journey,* neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic." The mendicant practice of begging for alms, itself, caused some hard feelings; both on the part of monastic orders sometimes dependent on the same donors, and the donors themselves when faced with repeated appeals from local friars in lieu of more distant potential benefactors.
Over time, as the order grew, it faced the demands of caring for sick or elderly friars, and providing for those sent to university for theological training.
Jones, John D., ''The Poverty of Christ and the Apostles'', PIMS, 1999, Intro p. 2
/ref> One method to deal with this was a legal construct whereby gifts would be placed in the name of a patron, held in trust for the friars' use. In this way, they need not be perennially destitute. The "Spirituals" felt that this abrogated the spirit of the founder, and believed a restricted use of property was more in keeping with the rule. A lengthy theological discussion then ensued as to what was intended and required by the Rule.
See also
* Apostolic poverty Apostolic poverty is a Christian doctrine professed in the thirteenth century by the newly formed religious orders, known as the mendicant orders, in direct response to calls for reform in the Roman Catholic Church. In this, these orders attempted ...
* Christian views on poverty and wealth
There have been a variety of Christian views on poverty and wealth. At one end of the spectrum is a view which casts wealth and materialism as an evil to be avoided and even combated. At the other end is a view which casts prosperity and well-be ...
* Imitation of Christ
In Christian theology, the imitation of Christ is the practice of following the example of Jesus.''A concise dictionary of theology'' by Gerald O'Collins, Edward G. Farrugia 2004 page 115''Imitating Jesus: an inclusive approach to New Testament ...
*
* The novel ''The Name of the Rose
''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, ...
'' features a debate about the topic.
Further reading
* Malcolm Lambert, ''Franciscan Poverty: The Doctrine of the Absolute Poverty of Christ and the Apostles in the Franciscan Order 1210–1323'', 2nd ed. (St. Bonaventure, 1998)
* Patrick Nold, ''Pope John XXII and his Franciscan Cardinal: Bertrand de la Tour and the Apostolic Poverty Controversy'' (Oxford, 2003)
* David Burr, ''The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis'' (University Park, PA, 2001)
* Jürgen Miethke, ‘Der “theoretische Armutsstreit” im 14. Jahrhundert. Papst und Franziskanerorden im Konflikt um die Armut,’ in ''Gelobte Armut. Armutskonzepte der franziskanischen Ordensfamilie vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart'', ed. Heinz-Dieter Heimann, Angelica Hilsebein, Bernd Schmies, and Christoph Stiegemann (Paderborn, 2012), pp. 243–283.
* Benedikt Koehler, ''The economics of property rights in early and medieval Christianity, '', Economic Affairs, 2017, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 112 - 123
References
{{Franciscans
Christian ethics
Poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
Poverty and religion
Wealth
Franciscan spirituality
13th-century Catholicism
14th-century Catholicism