Editing Fraticelli (section)

===Angelo da Clareno and the ''Clareni''===
{{Main|Angelo da Clareno}}

The first Fraticelli group was begun by Brother [[Angelo da Clareno]] (also “da Cingoli”). Angelo and several brethren from the [[March of Ancona]] had been sentenced in c. 1278 to [[life imprisonment]], but were liberated by the general of the order, [[Raimondo Gaufredi]] (1289–1295) and sent to [[Armenia]], where the king [[Hethum II]] welcomed them. The local clergy, however, were less enthusiastic, and following popular agitations against them the group were expelled from Armenia towards the end of 1293.<ref>Michael Robson,''The Franciscans in the Middle Ages''.Boydell Press, 2006 {{ISBN|1-84383-221-6}}.{{page needed|date=June 2016}}</ref> They returned to Italy, where in 1294 [[Celestine V]], noted for his [[asceticism]] but whose pontificate lasted scarcely six months, permitted them to live as hermits in the strict observance of the [[Rule of St. Francis|Rule of Saint Francis]]. Celestine absolved them of their vows of obedience to their Franciscan superiors, and constituted them as a separate group of “Poor Hermits” who could live at the monasteries of the [[Celestines]]. He also named Cardinal Napoleone Orsini as [[Cardinal protector|cardinal-protector]].

After the [[Papal renunciation|abdication]] of Celestine V, his successor, [[Boniface VIII]], revoked all of Celestine’s concessions, and the Clareni emigrated to Greece, where some of them attacked the legality of the pope’s action. The Conventuals persuaded Boniface that the Clareni still held for Celestine and did not recognize Boniface as pope. He then persuaded the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]], [[John XIII of Constantinople|John XII]], to take measures against them, and they moved to [[Thessaly]]. Seeking to defend themselves against this calumny, they returned to Italy where their leader, Fra Liberatus, attempted a vindication of their rights, first with Boniface VIII (d. 11 October 1303), and then with [[Benedict XI]], who also died prematurely (7 July 1304). On his journey to [[Clement V]] (1305–1314) at [[Lyon]] in 1307, Liberatus died, and Angelo da Clareno succeeded him as leader of the community.

Angelo remained in Central Italy until 1311, when he went to [[Avignon]], where he was protected by his patrons Cardinals [[Giacomo Colonna (cardinal)|Giacomo Colonna]] and [[Napoleone Orsini Frangipani]]. There, he successfully defended himself against a charge of [[Heresy in the Catholic Church|heresy]] that had been brought against him. He was finally acquitted after a tedious and searching examination.<ref name=Donovan>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01484b.htm Donovan, Stephen. "Angelo Clareno da Cingoli." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.{{PD-notice}}</ref>

Early in 1317 [[John XXII]], pursuant to a decree of the late Boniface VIII, declared Angelo [[excommunication|excommunicated]] and placed him in custody. He ably defended himself in his ''Epistola Excusatoria'', but John XXII refused to approve the "Clareni" as a religious congregation, and compelled Angelo to adopt the habit of a Celestine hermit. Angelo remained at the papal court in Avignon until the death of his friend Cardinal Colonna in 1318, and then returned to Italy. The procurator of the Celestines refused to allow him to stay at Celestine monasteries: he was instead welcomed by the [[Benedictines|Benedictine]] abbot Bartolomeo at the [[Abbey of Saint Scholastica, Subiaco|Sacro Speco di Subiaco]]. In 1334, John XXII ordered the guardian of the [[Convent of Aracoeli]] in Rome to take possession of the person of Angelo, but Abbot Bartolomeo refused to hand him over.

It appears from the papal bulls that the followers of Angelo established themselves in Central Italy, i.e., in the province of [[Rome]], [[Umbria]], and the [[March of Ancona]], and also in Southern Italy ([[Campagna]], [[Basilicata]], and [[Naples]]). From [[Subiaco, Lazio|Subiaco]], Angelo sent circular letters to his friars who live in hermitages or were o we scattered in convents.<ref name=Treccani>[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/angelo-clareno_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ "Angelo Clareno", Treccani (Dizionario-Biografico)]</ref> He assumed charge of the congregation dissolved by the pope, appointing provincials, ministers and custodians, and establishing new [[friaries]]. John XXII and his immediate successors issued numerous decrees against the Fraticelli in the [[March of Ancona]], where the bishops and minor feudal barons defended them stubbornly and successfully in spite of papal threats. As he grew increasingly infirm, Angelo less able to visit friars scattered around Rome, Ancona, Naples, and Umbria, and communicated with them by letter. The lack of his personal presence contributed to a decline in discipline.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zXm7AAAAIAAJ&dq=Fraticelli&pg=PA212 Douie, Decima Langworthy. ''The Nature and the Effect of the Heresy of the Fraticelli'', Chapter III "Angelo da Clareno", Manchester University Press, 1932]</ref>

His adherents considered their rule as representing the [[Gospel]], and they reasoned as the Pope cannot dispense from the Gospel, so he also cannot dispense from the rule nor or even explain it in any way other than its literal sense.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14230a.htm Oliger, Livarius. "Spirituals." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 31 December 2019 {{PD-notice}}</ref> After the controversy regarding poverty broke out (1321–1328), all the Fraticelli showed stronger opposition to the papacy.

With the election of [[Benedict XII]], the Fraticelli hoped for reconciliation with the Avignon papacy.{{sfn|Mollat|1965|p=31}} At a [[Papal consistory|consistory]] on 23 December 1334, Benedict XII scorned the Fraticelli, criticising their conduct, heretical tendencies, lax discipline, and outright contempt for the official Church.{{sfn|Mollat|1965|p=31}}

Angelo was able to move from Subiaco, heading towards the [[Kingdom of Naples]], where the presence of [[Philip of Majorca|Philip of Majorca and Provençal]] and Catalan Spirituals at the court of [[Sancha of Castile, Queen of Aragon|Queen Sancha]] guaranteed continuous assistance.<ref name=Treccani/> Angelo died 15 July 1337, and the leaderless congregation, loosely organized to begin with and hard-pressed by the Inquisition, splintered into a number of groups.

Angelo was highly esteemed by the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] Hermits, with whom he was on friendly terms, especially with [[Gentile da Foligno]] and Simone da Cassia, an ascetic writer of great repute. He corresponded with both, and after the death of Angelo, Simone bitterly lamented the loss of a friend and spiritual adviser. It is likely that the Fraticelli whom Simone afterwards successfully defended against the [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]] in the civil courts at [[Florence]] (c. 1355), where he was then preaching, were adherents of Clareno.

In April 1389, Fra Michele Berti, from [[Calci]] near [[Pisa]], a member of the Ancona branch of Fraticelli, after preaching the [[Lent]]en course to his associates in [[Florence]], was arrested as he was about to leave the city, and condemned by the Franciscan [[Archbishop]] of Florence, Bartolomeo Oleari, to be [[Burned at the stake|burnt at the stake]]. Berti was executed 30 April 1389, chanting the ''[[Te Deum]]'' as he died while his followers, unmolested by the authorities, exhorted him to remain steadfast. To the end, he maintained that John XXII had become a heretic by his four [[decretal]]s, that he and his successors had forfeited the papacy, and that no priest supporting them could validly [[absolve]] sins.

The "Poor Hermits" of Monte della Majella, near [[Sulmona]], were adherents of Angelo da Clareno,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brackney |first1=William H. |title=Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity |date=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7179-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP6fv8LqJ4MC&dq=Fraticelli+de+paupere+vita&pg=PA130 |language=en}}</ref> and at one time afforded protection to the famous tribune of the people, [[Cola di Rienzi]] (1349). Fanatical as they were on the subject of poverty, they were, in accordance with ancient custom, sheltered by Celestine monks in the nearby abbey of [[Abbey of the Holy Spirit at Monte Morrone, Sulmona|Santo Spirito]]. The origin of the Clareni, approved as true Franciscans by [[Sixtus IV]] in 1474, is unknown, nor is it clear whether they were “moderate” followers of Angelo who managed to remain within the bounds of orthodoxy, or schismatics who recanted after breaking [[Full communion|communion]] with the papacy.