John of Murro

JOHN OF MURRO. - Franciscan theologian and cardinal, b. of the Minio family (not Mincio) at Morrovalle (Macerata), d. at Avignon in 1312. In Paris he obtained the licentiate (1288) and the doctorate (1289) in theology. By Nicholas IV he was appointed master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace (1291). At Anagni in 1296 he was elected general of the Order, in the presence of Boniface VIII.

During his governance (1296-1304) he received into the Order St. Louis, bishop of Toulouse. By Boniface VIII in 1302 he was created cardinal and bishop of Porto and S. Rufina, as a reward for the happy outcome of a peace mission (1297-98) which he had carried out in Flanders. At the Council of Vienne he defended the legitimacy of the election of Boniface VIII, whom Philip the Fair wanted to strike from the list of legitimate popes. Of his literary activity there remain two collections of sermones, some theological opuscules, 12 quaestiones disputatae, a Quodlibet, drafted during his regency of the Franciscan studium of Paris (1289-90), and a disputed commentary on the Sentences. Of particular value is the encyclical letter Inter coelestium insignia (in Analecta Franciscana, 2 [1887], pp. 109-11) in defense of poverty, addressed to the Order from Genoa in 1302.