Michael of Cesena

Michael of Cesena (Michele di Cesena or Michele Fuschi) (c. 1270 – 29 November 1342) was an Italian Franciscan, general of that Order, and theologian.

Of his early life little is known. He was born at Cesena. Having entered the Franciscan Order, he studied at Paris and took the doctor's degree in theology. He taught theology at Bologna and wrote several commentaries on Holy Scripture and the Sentences of Peter Lombard.

His advocacy of Evangelical poverty brought him into conflict with Pope John XXII.

At the general chapter of Naples (31 May 1316) he was elected minister general and went at once to Assisi, where he convoked a chapter to consider the revision of the Constitutions of the order. Returning to Bologna, he issued the document, Gravi qua premor (21 August 1316), which, together with several other ordinances regarding the matter of poverty, induced John XXII to publish the Bull, Quorumdam exigit (7 October 1317) whose purpose was to explain the decretals of Nicholas III, Exiit qui seminat (13 August 1279), and of Clement V, Exivi de paradiso (6 May 1312). As it concerned the principal chapter of the Franciscan Rule, this action caused no little disturbance within the order.

The Bull was opposed by Cesena and his supporters, who claimed that in adopting the strict poverty upon which Cesena had insisted in his letters, they were following the example and teaching of Christ and the Apostles. Thus the controversy finally shifted to a speculative theological question: whether or not it was consonant with Catholic Faith to hold that Christ and the Apostles had no property individually or in common, and while in the famous dispute at Narbonne in 1321 the inquisitor John of Belna claimed that it was heretical, Berengarius of Perpignan declared it a Catholic dogma in perfect accordance with the decretals of Nicholas III and Clement V.

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