PIERRE JEAN OLIVI. 43 poverty is the source of all the virtues and of a saintly life ; that the Rule prohibited all proprietorship, whether individual or in com- mon, and that the vow bound the members to the most sparing use of all necessaries, the meanest garments, the absence of shoes, etc., while the pope had no power to dispense or absolve, and much less to order anything contrary to the Rule. The convent of Beziers, to which he belonged, became the centre of the Spiritual sect, and the devotion which he excited was shared by the population at large, as well as by his brethren. The temper of the man was shown when he underwent his first rebuke. In 1278 some writings of his in praise of the Virgin were considered to trench too close- ly on Mariolatry. The Order had not yet committed itself to this, and complaint was made to the general, Geronimo d'Ascoli, afterwards Nicholas IV., who read the tracts and condemned him to burn them with his own hands. Olivi at once obeyed without any sign of perturbation, and when his wondering brethren asked how he could endure such mortification so tranquilly, he replied that he had performed the sacrifice with a thoroughly placid mind ; he had not felt more pleasure in writing the tracts than in burn- ing them at the command of his superior, and the loss was noth- ing, for if necessary he could easily write them again in better shape. A man so self-centred and imperturbable could not fail to impress his convictions on those who surrounded him.* What his convictions really were is a problem not easily solved at the present day. The fierce antagonisms which he excited by his fiery onslaughts on individuals as well as on the general laxity of the Order at large, caused his later years to be passed in a series of investigations for heresy. At the general chapter of Strass- burg, in 1282, his writings were ordered to be examined. In 1283 Bonagrazia di S. Giovanni, the general, came to France, collected and placed them all in the hands of seven of the leading members of the Order, who found in them propositions which they variously
- Wadding, aim. 1278, No. 27-8.— Franz Ehrle, Archiv f. L. u. K. 1887, pp.
505-11, 528-9. When Geronimo d'Ascoli attained the papacy he was urged to prosecute Olivi, but refused, expressing the highest consideration for his talents and piety, and declaring that his rebuke had been merely intended as a warning (Hist. Trib. loc. cit. 1886, p. 289).
