REVIVAL OF JOACHITISM. 79 more ungainly gowns which their tradition attributed to St. Fran- cis, no matter what might be commanded by pope or general, and so large was the importance attributed to the question that in the popular belief the four martyrs of Marseilles were burned because they wore the mean and tightly-fitting garments which distin- guished the Spirituals.* Technically they were right, for, as we have seen above, it had hitherto been generally admitted that the pope could not dispense for vows ; and when Olivi developed this to the further position that he could not order anything contrary to an evangeli- cal vow, it was not reckoned among his errors condemned by the Council of Yienne. While all this, however, had been admitted as a theoretical postulate, when it came to be set up against the commands of such a pope as John XXII. it was rebellious heresy, to be crushed with the sternest measures. At the same time it was impossible that the sufferers could recognize the authority which was condemning them to the stake. Men who willingly offered themselves to be burned because they asserted that the pope had no power to dispense from the observance of vows ; who de- clared that if there were but one woman in the world, and if she had taken a vow of chastity, the pope could give her no valid dis- pensation, even if it were to prevent the human race from coming to an end ; who asserted that John XXII. had sinned against the gospel of Christ when he had attempted to permit the Francis- cans to have granaries and cellars ; who held that although the pope might have power over other Orders he had none over that of St. Francis, because his Rule was divine revelation, and not a word in it could be altered or erased — such men could only defend themselves against the pope by denying the source of his author- ity. All the latent Joachitic notions which had been dormant were vivified and became the leading principles of the sect. John XXII. , when he issued the bull Quorumdam, became the mystical Antichrist, the forerunner of the true Antichrist. The Roman Church was the carnal Church ; the Spirituals would form the new Church, which would fight with Antichrist, and, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, would usher in the new age when man would
- Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp. 320, 325.— Wadding, ann. 1317, No. 23.—
Coll. Doat, XXVII. 7 sqq.
