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Elias of Cortona

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Minister General of theFriars Minor, b., it is said, at Bevilia nearAssisi, c. 1180; d. atCortona, 22 April, 1253. In the writings of Elias that have come down to us he styles himself "Brother Elias, Sinner", and his contemporaries without exception call him simply "Brother Elias". The name of a town was first added to his name in the fourteenth century; inFranciscan compilations like the "Chronica XXIV generalium" and the "Liber Conformitatum" Elias is described as Helias de Assisi, whereas the name ofCortona does not appear in connexion with his before the seventeenth century. It is clear in any event that Elias did not belong to the noblefamily of Coppi as some have asserted. FromSalimbene, whoknew Elias well, we learn that his family name was Bonusbaro or Bonibarone, that hisfather was from the neighbourhood of Bologna, and his mother an Assisian; that before becoming a friar Elias worked at hisfather's trade of mattress-making and also taught the children ofAssisi to read thePsalter. Later on, according toEccleston, Elias was ascriptor, or notary, at Bologna, where nodoubt he applied himself to study. But he was not acleric and never became apriest. Elias appears to have been one of the earliest companions ofSt. Francis of Assisi. The time and place of his joining thesaint are uncertain; it may have been atCortona in 1211, asWadding says. Certain it is, however, that he held a place of prominence among thefriars from the first. After a short sojourn, as it seems, inTuscany, Elias was sent in 1217 as head of a band of missionaries to Palestine, and two years later he became the firstprovincial of the then extensive province ofSyria. It was in this capacity that he received Cæsar ofSpeyer into the order. Although we areignorant of the nature or extent of Elias's work in the East, it would seem that the three years he spent there made a deep impression upon him. In 1220-21 Elias returned toItaly with St. Francis, who showed further confidence in him by naming him to succeed Peter of Cataneo (d. 10 March, 1221) asvicar-general of the order. Elias had held this office for five years when Francis died (3 Oct., 1226), and he then became charged with the responsibilities of the moment and the provisional government of theFriars Minor. After announcing the death of Francis and the fact of theStigmata to the order in a beautiful letter, and superintending the temporary burial of thesaint at San Giorgio, Elias at once began to lay plans for the erection of a great basilica atAssisi, to enshrine the remains of the Poverello. To this end he obtained a donation, with the authority of thepope, of the so-called Collis Inferni at the western extremity of the town, 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 St. Francis upon the question of poverty, so that at the chapter held in May, 1227, Elias was rejected in spite of his prominence, and Giovanni Parenti,provincial ofSpain, was elected second general of the order.

Thenceforth Elias devoted all his energies to raising the basilica inhonour of St. Francis. The first stone was laid 17 July, 1228, the day following thesaint'scanonization, and the work advanced with such incredible speed that thelower church was finished within twenty-two months. It wasconsecrated 25 May, 1230, the hurried, secret, and still unexplained translation of St. Francis's body thither from San Giorgio planned by Elias having taken place a few days previously, before the general and otherfriars assembled for the purpose were present. Soon after this, though there is some difference of opinion as to the exactdate, Elias attempted, as it seems by a kind ofcoup de main, to depose Parenti and seize the government of the order byforce, but the attempt failed. He thereupon retired to a distant hermitage, where we are told he allowed hisbeard and hair to grow, wore the vilest habit, and to all appearances led a most penitential life. However this may be, Elias was elected to succeed Parenti as general at the chapter in 1232,magis tumultuose quam canonice, as a contemporary chronicler expresses it; and he continued to govern theFriars Minor for nearly seven years. During that period the order was passing through one of the crises of its earlier development. It is well known (seeCONVENTUALS) that even during the lifetime of St. Francis a division had shown itself in the ranks of thefriars, some being for relaxing the rigour of the rule, especially as regards the observance of poverty, and others for adhering to its literal strictness. The conduct of Elias after his election as general helped to widen this breach and fan the flame of discord in the order. In arbitrary fashion he refused to convene a chapter or to visit any of the provinces, but sent in his place "visitors", who acted rather as tax collectors—for Elias's chief need was money to complete the church andconvent of S. Francesco—thus not only violating the rule himself, but causing others to do so also. In many other respects Elias abused his authority, receiving unworthy subjects into the order and confiding the most important offices toignorantlay brothers, and when several of the early and mostvenerated companions of Francis withstood his high-handed methods, they were dealt with as mutineers, some being scourged, others exiled orimprisoned. Elias's manner of life made his despotism more intolerable. It seems to have been that of a powerful baron rather than of amendicant friar. We are told that he gathered about him a household of great splendour, including secular lackies, dressed in the gayest liveries, that he kept "a most excellent cook" for his exclusive use, that he fared sumptuously, wore splendid garments, and made his journeys to different courts on fine palfreys with rich trappings. Because of these excesses, which threatened the complete destruction of the rule, the opposition to Elias became widespread. It was organized by Aymon of Faversham, who, in conjunction with otherprovincials from the North, determined to have him removed, and appealed toGregory IX. Eliasexcommunicated the appellants and sought to prevent their reception by thepope. ButGregory received them and, in spite of Elias, summoned a chapter atRome. Elias resisted to the utmost, and strove to browbeat his accusers, butGregory called on him to resign. He refused to do so, and was thereupon deposed by thepope, the English provincial, Albert ofPisa, being elected general in his stead. This was in 1239.

After his deposition, Elias, who still kept the titles of Custos of the Assisian Basilica and Master of the Works, seems to have busied himself anew for a time at the task of completing the church andconvent of S. Francesco, but subsequently retired to Cortona. Refusing to obey either the general or thepope, Elias now openly transferred his allegiance toFrederick II, and we read of him in 1240 with the emperor's army, riding on a magnificent charger at the siege ofFaenza and at that ofRavenna. Some two years before this Elias had been sent byGregory IX as an ambassador to Frederick. He now became the supporter of theexcommunicated emperor in his strife withRome and was himselfexcommunicated byGregory. It is said that Elias afterwards wrote a letter to thepope explaining his conduct and asking pardon, and that this letter was found in the tunic of Albert ofPisa after the latter's death. Aymon of Faversham, who had been the principal opponent of Elias, and who was elected general in succession to Albert, having died in 1244, a chapter was thereupon convened atGenoa. Elias was summoned byInnocent IV to attend it, but he failed to appear. Some say that thepapal mandate never reached him. Be this as it may, Elias wasexcommunicated anew and expelled from the order. The news of his disgrace spread quickly "to the great scandal of the Church", and the very children might be heard singing in the streets:

"Hor attorna fratt’ Helya
Ke pres’ ha la mala via",

a couplet which met thefriars at every turn, so that the very name of Elias becamehateful to them. It was about this time that Elias was sent byFrederick II on an important diplomatic mission to Constantinople andCyprus. When not employed by the emperor, Elias resided atCortona with a fewfriars who had remained faithful to him. He dwelt for a time in a private house there, still known as thecasa di frate Elia, but in January, 1245, the people ofCortona, for whom he had obtained sundry privileges in the past, presented him with a piece of ground called theBagno della Regina, and helped him to erect thereon the splendid church andconvent dedicated to St. Francis.

Soon after Blessed Giovanni da Parma became general in 1247, he sent Fra Gerardo da Modena to Cortona to beg Elias to submit, promising that he would be treated with the utmost clemency. But Elias, who seems on the one hand to have fearedimprisonment by thepope and on the other to have been unwilling to renounce the favour ofFrederick II, declined. During Passiontide, 1253, the lonely old man—for Elias had lost his protector by Frederick's death in 1250—fell seriously ill. We learn from the sworn testimony of several witnesses that Bencius, Archpriest ofCortona, recognizing at once the gravity of Elias's condition and the reality of his repentance, absolved him onHoly Saturday, 19 April; that two days later Elias receivedHoly Communion at the hands of Fra Diotefece, but that he could not be anointed, since Cortona being then underinterdict, no holy oil was to be found. OnEaster Tuesday Elias died, reconciled indeed with theChurch but outside the order. He wasburied atCortona in the church he had built, which two years later—his followers having returned to obedience—passed into the hands of the order. But Elias's bones were not suffered to rest at S. Francesco, for a later guardian dug them up and flung them out.

Elias is perhaps the most difficult character to estimate in allFranciscan history. In the first place it is wellnigh impossible, with the documents at our disposal, to obtain even a clearidea of his chequered career. There is no contemporary life of Elias, and, with the exception of Celano's "Vita Prima", which is said to have been written under the influence of Elias, none of the early biographies of St. Francis make any allusion to him. In the second place, considerable bias has to be reckoned with in what is recorded of Elias in later works, especially in the writings of the Zelanti, which are often influenced less by historical considerations than by party spirit. Many stories have gathered around the life of Elias which are largely inventions. Yet these fictions have been indiscriminately reproduced by subsequent writers, with the result that Elias has come to be depicted by too many modern biographers of St. Francis as a traitor to his master's interests, as a mere tool of theCuria in transforming the order and destroying the manner of life intended by the Poverello. But if some have branded Elias as anotherJudas, others, going to the opposite extreme, have not hesitated to call him theSt. Paul of St. Francis. Laying undue stress on some words ofSt. Antoninus, they have sought to exculpate Elias altogether, to justify his conduct at all hazards, even where it is wholly unjustifiable; they would fain make him appear as a second founder of the order, to whose ability its great success was mainly due. It is just because so few have written calmly about Elias that it becomes additionally difficult to form a just estimate of the real motives which guided him. He has been too much abused and too much lauded. Between the two extremes it seemsnecessary, if we would judge with fairness, to distinguish two periods in the life of Elias, namely, before the death of St. Francis and after it. In spite of the account of Elias's earlypride and forwardness given by the "Fioretti"—which may be set aside as a picturesqueslander introduced for artistic effect—there is nothing to show that Elias was other than a good religious during the lifetime of St. Francis, else it is hard to understand how the latter could have entrusted him with so much responsibility, and how he could have merited the special death-bed blessing of the Poverello. On the other hand that Elias reallyloved St. Francis there can be nodoubt, and so far as we have means of ascertaining there never was any breach between them. At the same time it would be difficult to imagine two characters more widely different than Elias and St. Francis. Theirreligious ideals were as far apart as the poles. The heroic ideal of poverty and detachment which the Poverello conceived for hisfriars Elias regarded as exaggerated and unpractical. Hence, while St. Francis did not desire largeloci for hisfriars, Elias multiplied spaciousconvents. Again, Elias's views with regard to learning among thefriars were very far removed from those of St. Francis. "Hoc solum habuit bonum frater Helias", writesSalimbene, "quia Ordinem fratrum Minorum ad studium theologiæ promovit." But Elias did more than this. In particular the extension of theFranciscan missions among the infidels owes more to his work than is commonly admitted. For the rest, Elias was no doubt guided throughout by what he thought to be the glory of the order. On the other hand it would be idle to deny that Elias was utterly lacking in thetrue spirit of his master. Ambition was Elias's chief fault. So long as he remained under the influence of Francis hisambition was curbed, but when he came to govern, forgetting his own past life, the example of St. Francis, and theobligations of his office, Elias so far allowedambition to dominate him that when it was thwarted he had not thehumility to submit, but, reckless of consequences, plunged to his ruin.

It is nodoubt owing to his fall and disgrace that in an order so prolific in early biographies Elias remained so long without a biographer. It would be difficult, however, to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the history of theFranciscan Order. Even his opponents conceded that Elias possessed a remarkable mind, and nonedoubted his exceptional talents. "Who in the whole of Christendom", asksEccleston, "was more gracious or more famous than Elias?" Matthew ofParis dwells on the eloquence of his preaching, and Bernard of Bresse calls him one of the most erudite men inItaly. Weknow that good as well as great men sought the friendship of Elias, and, strange as it may seem, he appears to have retained the confidence ofSt. Clare and her companions.

Nothing that can really be called a portrait of Elias remains, Giunta Pisano's picture of him "taken from life" in 1236 having disappeared in 1624; but a seventeenth-century replica in the Municipio atAssisi is believed to have been more or less copied from it. In the latter, Elias is represented as a small, spare, dark-haired man, with a melancholy face and trimbeard, and wearing anArmenian cap. With the exception of his letter to the order announcing the death of Francis, no writing of Elias has come down to us; several works dealing withalchemy, formerly circulated under his name, are undoubtedly supposititious. Whether or not Elias was himself the architect of S. Francesco, the fact remains that if thetomb of the Poverello has become the "cradle of the Renaissance", the "first flower and the fairest of Italian Gothic", and the glory ofAssisi, it is to Elias we own this, and it constitutes his best monument.

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