6 THE SPIRITUAL FRANCISCANS. provinces to complete the great structure at Assisi. Those who resisted him were relegated to distant places. Even while yet only vicar he had caused St. Anthony of Padua, who had come to As- sisi to worship at the tomb of Francis, to be scourged to the blood, when Anthony only expostulated with, " May the blessed God for- give you, brethren !" "Worse was the fate of Caesarius of Speier, who had been appointed Provincial of Germany in 1221 by St. Francis himself, and had built up the Order to the north of the Alps. He was the leader of the puritan malcontents, who were known as Caesarians, and he felt the full wrath of Elias. Thrown into prison, he lay there in chains for two years. At length the fetters were removed, and, early in 1239, his jailer having left the door of his cell open, he ventured forth to stretch his cramped limbs in the wintry sun. The jailer returned and thought that he was attempting to escape. Fearing the pitiless anger of Elias, he rushed after the prisoner and dealt him a mortal blow with a cudgel. Caesarius was the first, but by no means the last, martyr who shed his blood for the strict observance of a Eule breathing nothing but love and charity.* The cup at last was full to overflowing. In 1237 Elias had sent visitors to the different provinces whose conduct caused general exasperation. The brethren of Saxony appealed to him from their visitor, and, finding this fruitless, they carried their com- plaint to Gregory. The pope at length was roused to intervene. A general chapter was convened in 1239, when, after a stormy scene in presence of Gregory and nine cardinals, the pope finally announced to Elias that his resignation would be received. Pos- sibly in this there may have been political as well as ascetic mo- tives. Elias was a skilful negotiator, and was looked upon with a friendly eye by Frederic II., who forthwith declared that the dis-
- Gregor. PP. IX. Bull. Quo ehngati (Pet. Rodulphii Hist. Seraph. Relig. Lib. n.
fol. 164-5).— Rodulphii op. cit. Lib. n. fol. 177.— Chron. Glassberger, ann. 1230, 1231 (Analecta II. 50, 56).— Frat. Jordan! Chron. c. 18, 19, 61 (Analecta I. 7, 8,' 19).— Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt.- u. Kirchengeschichte, 1886, p. 123).— Wad- ding, ann. 1239, No. 5. The ingenious casuistry with which the Conventuals satisfied themselves that the device of Gregory IX. enabled them to grow rich without transgressing the Rule is seen in their defence before Clement VI, in 1311, as printed by Franz Ehrle (Archiv fur Litt.- u. Kirchengeschichte, 1887, pp. 107-8).
