ELIAS GENERAL MINISTER 5 When the edifice was sufficiently advanced, a general chapter was held in 1230 to solemnize the translation of the saintly corpse. Elias sought to utilize the occasion for his own election to the generalate by summoning to it only those brethren on whose support he could reckon, but Giovanni got wind of this and made the summons general. Elias then caused the translation to be ef- fected before the brethren had assembled ; his faction endeavored to forestall the action of the chapter by carrying him from his cell, breaking open the doors, and placing him in the general's seat. Giovanni appeared, and after tumultuous proceedings his friends obtained the upper hand ; the disturbers were scattered among the provinces, and Elias retreated to a hermitage, where he allowed his hair and beard to grow, and through this show of sanctity obtained reconciliation to the Order. Finally, in the chapter of 1232, his ambition was rewarded. Giovanni was de- posed and he was elected general.* These turbulent intrigues were not the only evidence of the rapid degeneracy of the Order. Before Francis's Testament was five years old his commands against evasions of the Rule by cun- ning interpretations had been disregarded. The chapter of 1231 had applied to Gregory IX. to know whether the Testament was binding upon them in this respect, and he replied in the negative, for Francis could not bind his successors. They also asked about the prohibition to hold money and property, and Gregory ingen- iously suggested that this could be effected through third par- ties, who could hold money and pay debts for them, arguing that such persons should not be regarded as their agents, but as the agents of those who gave the money or of those to whom it was to be paid. These elusory glosses of the Rule were not accepted without an energetic opposition which threatened a schism, and it is easy to imagine the bitterness with which the sincere members of the Order watched its rapid degeneracy ; nor was this bitterness diminished by the use which Elias made of his position. His car- nality and cruelty, we are told, convulsed the whole Order. His rule was arbitrary, and for seven years, in defiance of the regula- tions, he held no general chapter. He levied exactions on all the
- Thomae de Eccleston Collat. xn.— Jordani Chron. c. 01 (Analecta Franc. L
19).— Cbron. Anon. (lb. I. 289).
