FREE SPIRIT (SPIRIT OF FREEDOM). -
Under these names various groups of
heretical sects are designated which from the middle of the thirteenth century until the
whole of the fifteenth century are found in various parts of the Germanic countries, in the Low Countries, in northern France;
and at the beginning of the fourteenth century also in Italy, that is, in Umbria. The origin of the movement is obscure. The sect appeared in the middle of the thirteenth century, especially in the countries
of the upper Rhine and generally in the south of
the German-speaking territory, then spread further north
into the Low Countries, where beguines and begards (v.) were also involved, though not all of them, so that
the sect is sometimes designated under these
names, as indeed happened at the Council of Vienne
in 1312. As early as 1274 the Franciscan Simone of
Tournai had signaled this danger (cf. Arch.
franc. hist., 24 [1931], p. 61 ff.).
The condemnation pronounced by that Council (c. 3
Ad nostrum [V, 3] in Clem.) lists eight errors professed
by the sect: 1. Man can acquire such a degree of
perfection that he cannot sin; 2. Whoever has reached
this degree has no need to fast, pray, and can grant the body everything that pleases it; 3. Those
who are in that degree and in the spirit of liberty are not
subject to any human obedience and are not bound
by the ecclesiastical precepts; 4. Man can have the final
beatitude in this life, as he will have it in the next; 5. Every
intellectual nature is in itself blessed and has no need of the
light of glory to raise it to the vision and enjoyment of
God; 6. To exercise oneself in virtue belongs to the imperfect man,
while the perfect soul dismisses the virtues; 7. The kiss of
a woman is a mortal sin when nature is not
inclined to it, whereas the carnal act is not a sin when
nature is inclined to it; 8. One must not show reverence to the
Body of Christ, nor must one think of the Passion of Our
Lord. From this the perverse quietism clearly appears and in
a certain way also the pantheism, which in some groups was
even more evident.
Immoral quietism is also the principal characteristic
of the sect of the "spirit of liberty" of Umbria.
Its founder was Bentivenga da Gubbio, a friar minor
called the "apostle"; undoubtedly because he came
from the suppressed sect of the "apostles" of Gerardo Begarelli. Under the cloak of a feigned holiness and apostolic
zeal he secretly spread his errors which permitted
following the passions without remorse, since the
adepts reached impeccability. A manual of inquisition of the time lists ten errors or heresies of the
sect which for the most part agree with the eight articles
condemned by the Council of Vienne. The sect, creeping
secretly in the early years of the fourteenth century, was discovered
when Bentivenga around 1306-1307 attempted to win
to his errors St. Clare of Montefalco. The Saint de-nounced him to Card. Napoleone Orsini, legate in Tuscia,
whose chaplain, Ubertino da Casale, proved juridically
the guilt of Bentivenga, who was condemned
to perpetual imprisonment. According to Arnaldo da Villanova
his adherents numbered among men and women more than 240,
of whom 7 were friars minor. In 1311 Clement V sent
as inquisitor Rainerio, bishop of Cremona, with the precise
task of extirpating the error in the valley of Spoleto. He
tried Francesco di Borgo S. Sepolcro, called the
"prophet," already condemned for "spirit of liberty," but he was
virtually acquitted in the new trial. Individual cases
of "spirit of liberty" are found also later in Italy and
St. Bernardino of Siena still fought against it.
Bibliography11 works
Livario Oliger