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Authors: Lawrence Goldstone
Tags: Fiction
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commentators. It seemed that even Innocent's great personal power would not be enough to prevent the arts masters from teaching whatever they liked, and thereby undermining his plans for the future of the Church.
Then, suddenly, fate threw a wild card into the mix. Two new religious orders came into being. Each embraced as its primary goals poverty, charity, and a simple Christlike existence, yet each would nonetheless recruit among its members the best scientific minds of the time and turn them loose on the universities. One of these orders would come to be known for exalting Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, the other for suppressing Roger Bacon. Each order was referred to by the name of its founder—St. Dominic de Guzman and St. Francis of Assisi. The Dominicans and the Franciscans would entirely alter the balance of power both in the universities and in the Church at large and determine the course of science for the next four centuries.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI IS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN, best loved, and most influential figures in all of religious history. Born in Italy in 1182, the ne'er-do-well son of a wealthy businessman, as a child he dreamed of the romance of chivalry and knighthood. He was given a cursory education in Latin and set up in his father's business, to which he paid little attention, preferring to spend money rather than to earn it. His life was gay, generous, and entirely frivolous.
His conversion came swiftly and irresistibly. The emptiness of his existence struck him, and about 1206, when he was in his twenties, he began to act strangely. He for whom “the sight of lepers was so bitter in the days of vanity that he looked at their houses two miles off and held his nose,” astonished his friends by kissing one; soon after he stole money from his father in order to give it to an impoverished priest. For this act he was renounced by his family and, left entirely to his own devices, began to beg for lepers, the poor, and himself.
In 1209, while listening to the Gospel being read at church, he had an epiphany. As the priest read from Matthew, “As ye go preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . Possess neither gold nor silver nor money in your purses, no wallet for your journey, nor two coats nor shoe,” Francis cried out, “This is what I am seeking!” From that time on he devoted himself to poverty and preaching, seeking to emulate the simple life of Christ. The force of his faith, in combination with his appealing personality and gentleness, brought him a motley crew of twelve followers, including a nobleman, a peasant, and an idiot, and, being informed that he needed the pope's approval to start an order, Francis journeyed to Rome to see Innocent III.
At the time, heretical sects were on the rise; a German bishop estimated that there were 150 operating in Europe. This increase was a threat not simply to the faith; the sects were seizing Church property and controlling sections of Europe as if the Church did not exist. Of these, the one that represented by far the greatest threat was in the south of France. Known as Cathars or Albigensians, like Francis of Assisi they preached the simple life (although they did not believe in begging), a direct response to the excesses of a Church that allowed bishops and legates to live like kings. The Albigensians did not recognize the authority of the pope, and developed their own rituals.
Realizing that the Cathars drew their appeal from the revulsion of common people to the excesses of Church officials, Innocent had already sent a Spanish bishop, Diego de Acevedo, and his canon, Domingo de Guzmán, to Languedoc, the French province that was the Cathars' spiritual center. The two Spaniards, both with a reputation for simple piety, imitated the Cathar “perfects” (priests) and traveled about like apostles, on foot, going door to door, begging bread and preaching the Gospel. Soon the bishop died, and Domingo, or Dominic, as he was known
Then, suddenly, fate threw a wild card into the mix. Two new religious orders came into being. Each embraced as its primary goals poverty, charity, and a simple Christlike existence, yet each would nonetheless recruit among its members the best scientific minds of the time and turn them loose on the universities. One of these orders would come to be known for exalting Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas, the other for suppressing Roger Bacon. Each order was referred to by the name of its founder—St. Dominic de Guzman and St. Francis of Assisi. The Dominicans and the Franciscans would entirely alter the balance of power both in the universities and in the Church at large and determine the course of science for the next four centuries.
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI IS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN, best loved, and most influential figures in all of religious history. Born in Italy in 1182, the ne'er-do-well son of a wealthy businessman, as a child he dreamed of the romance of chivalry and knighthood. He was given a cursory education in Latin and set up in his father's business, to which he paid little attention, preferring to spend money rather than to earn it. His life was gay, generous, and entirely frivolous.
His conversion came swiftly and irresistibly. The emptiness of his existence struck him, and about 1206, when he was in his twenties, he began to act strangely. He for whom “the sight of lepers was so bitter in the days of vanity that he looked at their houses two miles off and held his nose,” astonished his friends by kissing one; soon after he stole money from his father in order to give it to an impoverished priest. For this act he was renounced by his family and, left entirely to his own devices, began to beg for lepers, the poor, and himself.
In 1209, while listening to the Gospel being read at church, he had an epiphany. As the priest read from Matthew, “As ye go preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . Possess neither gold nor silver nor money in your purses, no wallet for your journey, nor two coats nor shoe,” Francis cried out, “This is what I am seeking!” From that time on he devoted himself to poverty and preaching, seeking to emulate the simple life of Christ. The force of his faith, in combination with his appealing personality and gentleness, brought him a motley crew of twelve followers, including a nobleman, a peasant, and an idiot, and, being informed that he needed the pope's approval to start an order, Francis journeyed to Rome to see Innocent III.
At the time, heretical sects were on the rise; a German bishop estimated that there were 150 operating in Europe. This increase was a threat not simply to the faith; the sects were seizing Church property and controlling sections of Europe as if the Church did not exist. Of these, the one that represented by far the greatest threat was in the south of France. Known as Cathars or Albigensians, like Francis of Assisi they preached the simple life (although they did not believe in begging), a direct response to the excesses of a Church that allowed bishops and legates to live like kings. The Albigensians did not recognize the authority of the pope, and developed their own rituals.
Realizing that the Cathars drew their appeal from the revulsion of common people to the excesses of Church officials, Innocent had already sent a Spanish bishop, Diego de Acevedo, and his canon, Domingo de Guzmán, to Languedoc, the French province that was the Cathars' spiritual center. The two Spaniards, both with a reputation for simple piety, imitated the Cathar “perfects” (priests) and traveled about like apostles, on foot, going door to door, begging bread and preaching the Gospel. Soon the bishop died, and Domingo, or Dominic, as he was known
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