Matthew Of Acquasparta
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Matthew of Aquasparta ( it, Matteo di Aquasparta; 1240 – 29 October 1302) was an Italian Friar Minor and scholastic philosopher. He was elected
Minister General Minister General is the term used for the leader or Superior General of the different branches of the Order of Friars Minor. It is a term exclusive to them, and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi. He chose this word over "Super ...
of the Order.


Life

Born in Acquasparta, Umbria, he was a member of the Bentivenghi family, to which belonged his fellow Franciscan, Cardinal Bentivenga de' Bentivenghi, bishop of Albano (died 1290). Matthew entered the Franciscan Order at Todi, took the degree of Master of Theology at Paris, and taught also for a time at Bologna. Friar John Peckham having become
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
in 1279, Matteo was in 1280 made Peckham's successor as ''Lector sacri Palatii apostolici'', i.e. he was appointed reader (teacher) of theology to the papal Curia. In 1287 the General Chapter of the Order held at
Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
elected him Minister General in succession to Arlotto of Prato. When Girolamo Masci of Ascoli, who had previously been Minister General of the Franciscan Order, became pope as Nicholas IV, 15 February 1288, he created Matthew cardinal with the ''
titulus Titulus, the Latin word for "title", "label" or "inscription" (plural ''tituli'', normally italicized), may or may not be italicized as a foreign word, and may refer to: * ''Titulus'', or Titular church, one of a group of Early Christian churches ...
'' of San Lorenzo in Damaso that May. After this Matteo was made Cardinal Bishop of Porto, and '' penitentiarius major'' (Grand Penitentiary). He still, however, retained the direction of the Order until the chapter of 1289. Matthew had summoned this chapter to meet at
Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...
, but Nicholas IV caused it to be held in his presence at
Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...
; here Raymond Gaufredi, a native of Provence, was elected Minister General. As Minister General of the Order, Matthew maintained a moderate, middle course; among other things he reorganized the studies pursued in the order. In the quarrel between
Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of b ...
and the Colonna family, from 1297 onwards, he strongly supported the pope, both in official memorials and in public sermons. Pope Boniface appointed him, both in 1297 and 1300, to important embassies to Lombardy, the Romagna, and to Guelph Florence, where the Neri and Bianchi Guelph factions were violently at issue with each other. In 1301 Matthew returned to Florence, following Charles of Valois, but neither peace nor reconciliation was brought about. The Blacks finally obtained the upper hand, and the chief Whites were obliged to go into exile; among these was the poet Dante. In a famous passage of the ''Divina Commedia'' (Paradiso, XII, 124-26), Dante certainly speaks as a partisan of the Bianchi against Matthew of Aquasparta, calling Cardinal Matthew a sodomite. Matthew, however, had died before this, on 28 October, 1302. He was buried in Rome, in the Franciscan church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, where his monument is still to be seen.Lorenzo Cardella, ''Memorie de' Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa'' (Rome 1793), p. 30.


Works

Matteo was a learned philosopher and theologian and a personal pupil of St. Bonaventure, whose teaching, in general, he followed, or rather developed. In this respect he was one of what is known as the older Franciscan school, who preferred
Augustinianism Augustinianism is the philosophical and theological system of Augustine of Hippo and its subsequent development by other thinkers, notably Boethius, Anselm of Canterbury and Bonaventure. Among Augustine's most important works are ''The City of Go ...
to the more pronounced
Aristoteleanism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the socia ...
of Thomas Aquinas. His principal work is the acute ''Quæstiones disputatæ'', which treats of various subjects. Of this one book appeared at Quaracchi in 1903, namely: "Quæstiones disputatæ selectæ", in "Bibliotheca Franciscana scholastica medii ævi", I; the "Quæstiones" are preceded by a "Tractatus de excellentia S. Scripturæ" (pp. 1–22), also by a "Sermo de studio S. Scripturæ" (pp. 22–36); it is followed by "De processione Spiritus Sancti" (pp. 429–53). Five "Quæstiones de Cognitione" had already been edited in the collection called "De humanæ cognitionis ratione anecdota quædam" (Quaracchi, 1883), 87-182. The rest of his works, still unedited, are to be found at Assisi and Todi. Among them are: "Commentarius in 4 libros Sententiarum" ( autograph); "Concordantiæ super 4 ll. Sententiarum"; "Postilla super librum Job"; "Postilla super Psalterium" (autograph); "In 12 Prophetas Minores"; "In Danielem"; "In Ev. Matthæi"; "In Apocalypsim" (autograph); "In Epist. ad Romanos"; "Sermones dominicales et feriales" (autograph).


References


Bibliography

*The editions referred to the ''Quæstiones disputatæ'' (1903), pp. v-xvi, and De Hum. Cognit., pp. xiv-xv *Chronica XXIV Ministr. General O. Min. in Analecta Franciscana, III (Quaracchi, 1897), 406-19, 699, 703 *
Luke Wadding Luke Wadding, O.F.M. (16 October 158818 November 1657), was an Irish Franciscan friar and historian. Life Early life Wadding was born on 16 October 1588 in Waterford to Walter Wadding of Waterford, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Anastasia ...
, Scriptores Ord. Min. (Rome, 1650), 252, (1806), 172, (1906), 269-70 * Sbaralea, Suppl. ad Script. O. M. (Rome, 1806), 525 *Denifle-Chatelain, Chartular. Univ. Paris., II (Paris, 1891), 59 * Ehrle in Zeitschrift für kathol. Theologie, VII (Innsbruck, 1883), 46 *Grabmann, Die philosophische und theologische Erkenntnislehre des Kardinals Matthäus von Aquasparta (Vienna, 1906) *Theologische Studien der Leo Gesellschaft, Pt. XIV. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthew Of Aquasparta 1302 deaths People from the Province of Terni Italian Friars Minor Ministers General of the Order of Friars Minor Franciscan bishops Franciscan cardinals Franciscan theologians 13th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Porto Scholastic philosophers 13th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians 1240 births 14th-century Italian cardinals 13th-century Italian philosophers