ITALIAN FRATICELLI FAVORED. 159 upon she had two visions in which the Virgin sent him her com- mands to say to all who believed that the pope was no pope, and that priests do not truly consecrate the host in the mass, that they were heretics filled with diabolical iniquity. All this points to a strong secret sympathy with the Fraticelli which extended not only among the people, but among the friars and occasionally even among the prelates, explaining the ability of the sectaries to maintain their existence from generation to generation in spite of almost unremitting persecution by the Inquisition.* In 1335, one of the earliest cares of Benedict XII. after his accession was the repression of these Fratres de paupere Vita, as they styled themselves. They still in many places publicly dis- played their contumacy by wearing the short and narrow gowns of the Spirituals. They still held Michele to be their general, in- sulted the memory of John XXII., and were earnestly and success- fully engaged in proselytism. Moreover, they were openly protect- ed by men of rank and power. All the inquisitors, from Treviso and Lombardy to Sicily, were commanded to free the Church from these impious hypocrites by vigorous action, and directions were sent to the prelates to lend efficient assistance. There were some, at least, of the latter who did not respond, for in 1336 Francesco, Bishop of Camerino, and Giacopo, Bishop of Firmo, were sum- moned to answer for favoring the sectaries and permitting them to live in their dioceses. The whole Order, in fact, was still in- fected with these dangerous doctrines, and could not be brought to view the dissidents with proper abhorrence. Benedict com- plained that in the kingdom of Naples many Franciscan convents gave shelter to these perverse brethren, and in a bull regulating the Order issued this same year he alludes to those among them who wear peculiar vestments and, under a pretended exterior of sanctity, maintain heresies condemned by the Church of Home; all such, together with those who protect them, are to be impris- oned until they submit. It was not always easy to enforce obedi- ence to these mandates. The Bishop of Camerino was stubborn, and the next year, 1337, Fra Giovanni di Borgo, the inquisitor of
- Wadding, ann. 1330, No. 14-15.— Alvar. Pelag. de Planet. Eccles. Lib. 11.
art. 51 (fol. 169 a).— Lib. Conformitatum Lib. 1. Fruct. ix. p. ii.— Revel. S. Brigit- t£e Lib. vii. c. 8.
