Elias Bonusbaro | |
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| Born | c. 1180 Bevilia near Assisi, Italy |
| Died | April 22, 1253 (aged 72–73) |
| Other names |
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Elias of Cortona[a] (born ca. 1180 at Bevilia near Assisi, it is said - died on 22 April 1253 at Cortona) was a friend of St. Francis of Assisi and among the first to join his newly founder Order of Friars Minor. He was a lay friar and became vicar general and minister general of the Order. Saint Francis himself appointed Elias vicar general in 1221.
According to Salimbene di Adam, who knew Elias well, his family name was Bonusbaro or Bonibarone, his father was from the neighborhood of Bologna, and his mother from Assisi. Before becoming a friar, Elias worked at his father's business, a confection and trading of mattress. He also taught the children of Assisi to read the Psalter. According to Thomas of Eccleston, Elias became later a scriptor, or notary, at Bologna, where he probably applied himself to study.
Elias appears to have been one of the earliest companions of Francis of Assisi. The time and place of his joining the saint are uncertain, however it may have been at Cortona in 1211, as Luke Wadding states. It is certain that he held a place of prominence among the friars from the first.
After a short sojourn in Tuscany, Elias was sent in 1217 as head of a group of missionaries to the Near East, and two years later he became the first provincial of the then extensive province of Syria. It was in this capacity that he received Cæsar of Speyer into the order. Although it is unclear what was the nature or extent of Elias's work in the East, it seems that the three years he spent there made a deep impression upon him.[1]
He was not a cleric and never became a priest, but was a lay brother with significant organizational skills.[2]
On his return from Acre in 1220, Francis brought Elias back with him. Francis had appointed Peter of Cataneo as vicar general, to handle the day-to-day administration of the order. When Peter died on 10 March 1221, Francis demonstrated his confidence in Elias by naming him to succeed Peter as vicar-general. Elias was in this office for five years when Francis died on 3 October 1226. He then oversaw the temporary burial of the saint at the Church of San Giorgio, in Assisi (an ancient church later incorporated into and replaced by the Basilica di Santa Chiara).
Brother Elias was entrusted with the task to build a splendid church to house the body of the little poor man by the newly elected Pope Gregory IX, who was a great patron of the Franciscans and their official Protector as Cardinal Ugolino before being elected. Elias at once began to lay plans for the construction of a great basilica at Assisi, to enshrine the remains of the poverello.[1]
In order to build the basilica, he obtained a donation of the so-called Collis Inferni at the western extremity of the town with the authority of the pope, and proceeded to collect money in various ways to meet the expenses of the building. Elias thus alienated the zealots in the order, who felt entirely with Francis upon the question of poverty.
Another matter of content was the fact that Elias was a lay friar and encouraged other laymen to enter the order. This brought opposition from many ordained friars and ministers provincial, who also opposed increased centralization of the order.
This opposition within the Order led to Elias' rejection at the election to the position of Minister General held at the Chapter of May 1227— despite his prominence, Elias lost to Giovanni Parenti, Minister Provincial of Spain, who was elected Minister General of the order.[1]
Though Elias had tried to be elected for the office of Minister General at the General Chapter of 1230, it was only at the Chapter of 1232 that he was elected. Thus he became, after the founder, the second Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor.
Almost immediately, his succession was a point of controversy and created a split within the order. Some of his fiercest critics were the first companions of Saint Francis, such as the simple Brother Giles, brother Masseus, and Brother Leo, St. Francis' secretary and companion. All of these earlier followers opposed what they saw as an abandonment of St. Francis' beloved commitment to corporate poverty under Elias' initiative. An example of this was the magnificence of the new Basilica of St. Francis and Sacro Convento which Elias was designing as the holy founder's resting place. Still, Elias attempted to uphold the rule of poverty for Francis's early followers, including St. Clare of Assisi, the first female follower of St. Francis, together with whom he had founded the female branch of the Franciscan Order.
During his administration, Elias worked strenuously to promote the growth of the order. He dispatched friars to new lands; he authorized the building of large monastic-style residences in the cities, which were to serve as centers of study. This was a departure from the wandering tradition of the order, with its small and scattered residences or hermitages. This development was to have two consequences. Firstly, it introduced large groups of the growing number of clergy in the order. This became a source of friction with the local clergy of the cities, as the faithful sought the spiritual services of the friars in preference to their own parish churches. Secondly, the growing distinction between the friars who lived in established communities (convents, thus termed the Conventuals) as opposed to the "Spirituals" who strove to follow Francis' original lifestyle.[3]
About 1238, Pope Gregory sent Elias as an ambassador to the excommunicated Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II; apparently, as a result, Elias became a supporter of the Emperor.[needs copy edit]
A General Chapter of the order was held in Rome in 1239 and Elias was deposed from the office of Minister General. From Friar Thomas of Eccleston's account of this Chapter, it appears that one of the chief spokesmen against Elias was Friar Haymo of Faversham.
After the deposition of Elias, Albert of Pisa, Minister Provincial of England, was elected as Minister General. Elias went to Cortona, where he visited a house of Poor Clares without permission. Albert was prepared to absolve him, but Elias went instead to the Ghibelline city of Arezzo, and Gregory excommunicated him.[4]
Albert died during the first year of his Generalate, and Haymo was then elected to that office in 1240.
In 1240, Elias definitively embraced the Emperor in his strife with Rome and joined the Emperor's army, riding on a magnificent charger at the siege of Faenza and at that of Ravenna. As a consequence of his behavior, Elias himself received excommunication from Pope Gregory and was expelled from the order.[2]
Attribution to him of some alchemistic manuscripts[b] is often questioned.[citation needed][relevant?]
Shortly before his death, Elias was reconciled with both the Holy See and, through the mediation of St. Clare, with the Franciscan Order.[2]
In April 2016, Ave Maria Press published the first-ever popular history about the life of Elias of Cortona, The Enthusiast: How the Best Friend of Francis of Assisi Almost Destroyed What He Started.[5]
Elias remains a controversial figure among the Franciscan community. The title of the 2016 book above reflects his present unpopularity. However within the Conventual movement within the Franciscans, his reputation was reappraised during the 18th century, and in the early years of the 20th century, Cardinal Pietro Gasparri in 1923 commends efforts 'to clarify more and more the historical truth surrounding the celebrated companion of St. Francis by vindicating his merits and not dissimulating his defects.[6]
