PERSISTENCE OF THE JOACHITES. 25 Then John himself was tried by a special court, to preside over which Alexander appointed Cardinal Caietano, afterwards Nicho- las III. The accused readily retracted his advocacy of Joachim, but his bearing irritated the judges, and, with Bonaventura's con- sent, he would have shared the fate of his associates but for the strenuous intercession of Ottoboni, Cardinal of S. Adrian, after- wards Adrian V. Bonaventura gave him the option of selecting a place of retreat, and he chose a little convent near Rieti. There he is said to have lived for thirty-two years the life of an angel, without abandoning his Joachitic beliefs. John XXI., who greatly loved him, thought of making him a cardinal in 1277, but was prevented by death. Nicholas III., who had presided at his trial, a few years later offered him the cardinalate, so as to be able to enjoy his advice, but he quietly answered, " I could give whole- some counsel if there were any one to listen to me, but in the Roman court there is little discussed but wars and triumphs, and not the salvation of souls." In 1289, however, notwithstanding his extreme age, he accepted from Nicholas IV. a mission to the Greek Church, but he died at Camerino soon after setting out. Buried there, he speedily shone in miracles ; he became the object of a lasting cult, and in 1777 he was formally beatified, in spite of the opposition arising from his alleged authorship of the Intro- duction to the Everlasting Gospel.* The faith of the Joachites was by no means broken by these reverses. William of Saint Amour thought it necessary to return to the charge with another bitter tract directed against them. He shares their belief in the impending change, but declares that in place of being the reign of love under the Holy Ghost, it will be the reign of Antichrist, whom he identifies with the Friars. Per- secution, he says, had put an end to the open defence of the pes- tiferous doctrine of the Everlasting Gospel, but it still had many believers in secret. The south of France was the headquarters of the sect. Florent, Bishop of Acre, had been the official prosecutor before the Commission of Anagni in 1255. He was rewarded with the archbishopric of Aries in 1262, and in 1265 he held a provin-
- Wadding, ann. 1256, No. 6 ; arm. 1289, No. 26.— Hist. Tribulat. (loc. cit.
p. 285).— Salimbene Chron. pp. 131-33, 317.— Tocco, pp. 476-77.— P. Rodulphii Hist. Seraph. Relig. Lib. I. fol. 117.— Affo, Lib. m. c. x.
