34 THE SPIRITUAL FRANCISCANS. The prisoners seem to have lain in jail until after the election to the generalate of Raymond Gaufridi, at Easter, 1289. Visit- ing the Hark of Ancona, where they were incarcerated, he inves- tigated the case, blamed severely the perpetrators of the injustice, and set the martyrs free in 1290. The Order had been growing more lax in its observance than ever, in spite of the bull Exiit qui seminat. Matteo d'Acquasparta, who was general from 1287 to 1289, was easy and kindly, well-intentioned but given to self -in- dulgence, and by no means inclined to the effort requisite to en- force the Rule. Respect for it, indeed, was daily diminishing. Coffers were placed in the churches to receive offerings ; bargains were made as to the price of masses and for the absolution of sin- ners ; boys were stationed at the church-doors to sell wax tapers in honor of saints ; the Friars habitually begged money in the streets, accompanied by boys to receive and carry it ; the sepulture of the rich was eagerly sought for, leading to disgraceful quarrels with the heirs and with the secular clergy. Everywhere there was self-seeking and desire for the enjoyment of an idle and luxu- rious life. It is true that lapses of the flesh were still rigidly pun- ished, but these cases were sufficiently frequent to show that ample cause for scandal arose from the forbidden familiarity with women which the brethren permitted themselves. So utter was the gen- eral demoralization that Xicholas, the Provincial of France, even dared to write a tract calling in question the bull Exiit qui semi- nat and its exposition of the Rule. As this was in direct contra- vention of the bull itself, Acquasparta felt compelled to condemn the work and to punish : ts author and his supporters, but the evil continued to work. In the Mark of Ancona and in some other places the reaction against asceticism was so strong that the Testa- ment of the revered Francis was officially ordered to be burned. It was the main bulwark of the Spirituals against relaxation of the Rule, and in one instance it was actually burned on the head of a friar, X. de Recanate, who presumably had made himself ob- noxious by insisting on its authority.* printed the most important documents relating to this schism in the Order, elu- cidated with all the resources of exact research. My numerous references to his papers show the extent of my indebtedness to his labors.
- Histor. Tribulat. (loc. cit. 1886, p. 305). — Ubertioi Responsio (Ibid. 1887,
pp. 69, 7?).— Articuli Transgressionurn (Ibid. 1887, pp. 105-7).— Wadding, ann.
