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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Following their foundation in the thirteenth century, the mendicant Orders came to occupy an increasingly important role in the religious life of the medieval city. The mendicant spiritual mission and way of life was arduous, and the prayer and preaching which filled (or ought to have filled) a friar’s working and waking hours demanded both strength and stamina. As a result of these demands, the leaders of the Orders had to ensure that those men whom they admitted as their brothers were physically capable of undertaking their intended duties. This paper accordingly considers the idea of the ‘use and abuse of time’ by approaching some of the questions concerning health and fitness as requirements for the friars of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders.
1 Michael Bihl, ‘Statuta provincialia provinciae Aquitainiae et Franciae’, Archivum Franciscanum Historicum [hereafter AFH], 7 (1914), p. 485.
2 Humbert of Romans, ‘De eruditione praedicatorum’, in his Opera de vita regularis, ed. J. J. Berthier, 2 vols (Rome, 1888–9; reprinted Turin, 1956), 2: 373–484.
3 Ibid., 2: 431.
4 Little, A. G., ‘Statura provincialia provinciae Franciae et Marche Tervesinae’, AFH, 7 (1914), p. 453 Google Scholar, also cited in Little, A. G., The constitution of provincial chapters in the Minorite order’, in A G. Little and F. M. Powicke, eds, Essays in Mediaeval History presented to Thomas Frederick out (Manchester, 1925), p. 252 Google Scholar. This rule had been dropped by 1337.
5 ‘Et cum ad dimidium miliare processissent, ceperunt oculi deficere, crura thabascere et genua infirmari a ieunio et toto debilitare corpore’: Chronica Fratris Jordani [OFM], ed. Boehmer, H. (Paris, 1908), p. 26 Google Scholar. See also Thomas of Eccleston, De adventu fratrum minorum in Anglia, ed. Brewer, J. S. in Monumenta Franciscana, 2 vols, RS (London, 1858), 1: 82.Google Scholar
6 Humbert of Romans, Opera, 2: 85; Salimbene de Adam, Cronica, ed. Scalia, G., 2 vols, CChr.CM, 125, 125A (Turnhout, 1998–9), 43 (1: 45).Google Scholar
7 Richard of Devon, OFM, who suffered from frequent quartan fevers; Richard Rufus of Cornwall, OFM, who was commanded to go to Paris as a lector in 1250 but obtained leave to continue his studies at Oxford owing to his weak health: Brewer, Monumenta, 1: 6, 330. In 1250 Stephen of Auvergne, OP, prior provincial of Provence, had to resign after being seriously hurt whilst travelling: Acta capitulorum provincialium ordinis fratrum praedicatorum: Première province de Provence, Province Romaine, Province d’Espagne, ed. C. Douais (Toulouse, 1894), p. 5, n.2.
8 ‘Ubi tamen infirmitas vel debilitas aut labor itineris seu administrationis aliud suas erit faciendum possint se a communi vita conventus, infirmi quidem et débiles quamdiu infirmitas et debilitas duraverit alio vero itineris seu administrationis laboribus fatigati diebus aliquibus separare et in aliquo congruo et honesto loco refici moderate a superfluius et excessivis expensis penitus praecavendo’: Michael Bihl, ‘Ordinationes Benedicti XII pro fratribus minoribus promulgatae per buliam 28 Novembris 1336, Redemptor nostri”, AFH, 30 (1937). p. 339.
9 ‘If a friars falls ill, no matter where he is, the others may not leave him, unless someone had been appointed to look after him as they would like to be looked after themselves’: Rule of 1221, in St. Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies, ed. Marion A. Habig (Chicago, 1972), p. 60.
10 Little, A. G., The Franciscan School at Oxford’, AFH, 19 (1926), p. 835 Google Scholar.
11 ‘recuperata sanitate possit in aliquo utilis esse communitati, quod non possit esse durante infirmi tate’: Humbert of Romans, Opera, 1: 389. ‘Notandum est au tern quod studium non est finis ordinis, sed summe necessarium est ad fines praedictos, scilicet ad predicationes et animaram salutem operandam quia sine studio neutrum possemus…. Studium est ordinatum ad praedicatio ad animaram salutis quia est ultima finis’: ‘Expositiones super constitutiones’, ibid., 2: 28.
12 The Constitution of the Dominican Order, 1216 to 1360, ed. Galbraith, G. R. (Manchester, 1925), pp. 214–15.Google Scholar
13 Deut. 23.1.
14 D 55 CC.7-10: CIC, 1, cols 216–17.
15 D 55 C.6: CIC, 1, col. 216.
16 X 1.20.1: CIC, 2, col. 144.
17 D 55 C.13: CIC, 1, cols 218–19.
18 X 1.20.2: CIC, 2, cols 144–5.
19 ‘Non debet habere aliquam, nee multa notabilem, et apparentem deformitatem corporalem; sicut enim huiusmodo corpore vitiati. removento a ministerio Domini ut pater Lev. 21; 17’: Humbert of Romans, Opera, 2: 406.
20 ‘Volo vos admonere religionis exemplis; nostis qui divinis mysteriis interesse consuestis, quomodo, cum suscipitis corpus Domini cum omne cautela et veneratione servatis. ne ex eo parum quid décidât ne consecrate muneris aliquid dilbatur’: Origene, Homélies sur l’Exode, ed. Marcel Borret, SC, 321 (Paris, 1985), XIII.iii (p.386).
21 Thomas monachus sancti Amantii de Brixia proposuit coram nobis, quod, quum in annis puerilibus esset constitutus, quaedem barra ferrea super dextrae suae pollicem fortuito casu cadens, ungulam avulsit ab eo …. si ad frangendum eucharistiam sit in pollice ipso potens …. propter deformitatem huiusmodi non dimittas’: X 1.20.7: CIC, 2, col. 146.
22 Bartholomew of Pisa, ‘Liber de conformitate’, in Analecta Franciscana, 12 vols (Quaracchi, 1885–1983), 4: 290.
23 ‘infirmitae vesicae gravatus et tumefactus’: ‘Chronica aliaque varia documenta’, in Analecta Franciscana, 4: 253.
24 ‘Fratres leprosi infra scepta sui conventus seorsum ab aliis procurentur. Quod si altitudo illius loci vel alia causa legitima non permiserit per priorem provincialem ad conventum alium nostri ordinis transferentur’: Galbraith, Constitution, p. 211. The interpretation of fratres leprosi is problematical and may refer to the sick in general rather than the leprous.
25 Bihl, ‘Statuta Aquitaniae et Franciae’, p. 500.
26 Bonaventure, ‘Major Life of St. Francis’, in Habig, St. Francis of Assisi, p. 776.
27 ‘frater Jacobus de Yseo, qui in locis inguinaribus et membris genitalibus totaliter erat confractus’: Salimbene, Cronica, 96 (1: 99).
28 Ibid.
29 Jordan of Saxony, Libellus de principiis ordinis praedkatorum, ed. H. C. Scheeben, Monumenta ordinis fratrum praedicatorum histórica, 20 (Rome, 1941), no. 56.
30 ‘Chronica XXIV generalium ordinis minorum’, in Analecta Franciscana, 3: 241.
31 ‘Chronica XXIV generalium ordinis minorum’, in Analecta Franciscana, 3: 242.
32 Account books from the convents of S. Domenico and S. Francesco at Bologna record payments made to physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries for medicines and treatment for their friars during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; Bologna, Archivio di Stato, S. Domenico, Demaniale 294/7574; Bologna, Biblioteca Comunale, MS B. 490–2.
33 ‘Ad patientam in infirmitate pertinet paucis obsequiis pauciisque remedie contentum esse, iuxta exigentium paupertatis’: Bonaventure, S., ‘Expositio super regulam fratrum minorum’ in Doctoris seraphici S. Bonaventurae, S.R.E Episcopi Cardinalis, opera omnia: ad plurimum codices mss. emendate, anecdotis aucta prolegomenis scholiis notisque illustrata, edita, studio et cura PP. Collegii a S. Bonaventura, 11 vols in io (Quaracchi, 1882–1902), 8: 34.Google Scholar
34 Regula bullala of 1223, in Habig, St. Francis of Assisi, p. 58.
35 ‘si infirmitate aliquem habeat vel praevam corporis qualitatem propter quam foret postea onerosus si membrum aliquod mutilatum habeat vel inefficax quoquomodo’: Cesare Cenci, ‘De fratrum minorum constitutionibus praenarbonensibus’, AFH, 83 (1990), p. 76.
36 ‘Praedicationes et Minores infra annum probationis quemquam ad sui ordinis professionem recipere non possum’: VI 3.14.2 (CIC, 2, col. 1051).
37 ‘Raimundus Attanulfi …. fuit miles in século et fuit in Ordine fratrum Minorum, sed in novitiatu fuit licenriatus et emissus de ordine quia infirmus erat’: Salimbene, Cronica, 368 (1: 387–8).
38 ‘si aliquem fratrem post receptam obedientiam contigerit infírmari reputetur de loco ad quem erat Iturns’: Ferdinandus M Delormé, ‘Documenta saeculi XIV provinciae S. Francisci Umbriae’, AFH, 5 (1912), p. 534.
39 Humbert of Romans, Opera, 2: 214–16.
40 Ibid., 1: 196.
41 ‘Et super omnia cavere debet ne res corruptae vel putridae, quae sunt in periculum sanitatis, fratribus unquam dentur’: ibid., 2: 283.
42 See above, n. 8.
43 ‘Petrus de Moreto …. propter debilitatis varias et infirmitates propriis, quibus frequentius molestaris’: Bullarium Franciscanum Romanorum pontificium: constitutiones, epistolae, ac diplomata continens tribus ordinibus, ed. Sbaraglea, J. H. and Eubel, C., 7 vols (Rome, 1759-1904), 6, no. 532.Google Scholar
44 ‘Laurence Ientri de Prato …. tam propter infirmitatem horribilem’: Registrant litterarum fir Raymundi de Vineis Capuani, magistri ordinis 1380–1390., ed. Kaeppeli, T., Monumenta ordinis fratrum praedicatorum historia, 19 (Rome, 1937), no. 234 Google Scholar.
45 ‘Iohannes Haussy …. qui austeritatem ordinis fratrum minoram in quo se voto professionis obstrinxerat propter corporis et complexionis debilitatem sustinere non valens’: Sbaraglea and Eubel, Bullarium Franciscanum, 6, no. 532.
46 ‘Corporis sui, quod non solum est suo, sed communitatis servitio deputatum’: Humbert of Romans, Opera, 1: 391.
47 Cited in Ballester, L. Garcia-, ‘Changes in the Regimina Sanitatis’, in Sheila Campbell, Bert Hall, and David Klausner, eds, Health, Disease and Healing in Mediaeval Culture (Basingstoke, 1992), p. 120.Google Scholar