Little Union - 03 |
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The spirit and insight of what had started as a lay movement addressing pastoral needs was now being formulated in a way that brought it under the official direction of the Pope.
Earlier in the thirteenth century, Francis of Assisi had travelled to Rome on his own initiative to seek such an official approval of his movement, and now the hermits of Tuscany were doing likewise.
This initiative of the Tuscan hermits, after 1244 their officially becoming the Fratres Heremitarium in Tuscia Ordinis Sancti Augustini ("The Brothers Hermits in Tuscany of the Order of St Augustine"), when progressively examined through the papal documents involved, is called the "Little Union" (or Minor Union, or Petite Union) of 1244.
This amalgamation of Tuscan hermits was subsequently termed "Little" in comparison to the more extensive Grand Union of 1256 i.e., the establishment of the Order of Saint Augustine, of which these Tuscan hermits of 1244 were in 1256 to become a part.
Photo: Former Augustinian hermitage at Rosia, Tuscany, Italy.
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Before detailing events further, it is important to maintain a proper perspective about this Little Union.
It is not intended to suggest, for example, that, because of the Little Union, these Tuscan hermits were a more significant component in the Grand Union than were the other three religious groups that it also involved. Each of these other groups had prior amalgamations (i.e., "Little Unions") of their own.
As will be stated in more detail in later pages, the Little Union of the Tuscan hermits has gained more attention from historians possibly because it had the involvement of Cardinal Richard Annibaldi as its papal-appointed director, just as did the Grand Union of 1256 that established the Order of Saint Augustine.
Because of this common factor, it has sometimes been too tempting for historians to resist regarding the Little Union of the Tuscan hermits as being a "Little Union" of the actual Order of Saint Augustine, thus pushing back from 1256 to 1244 the formal beginnings of the Order of Saint Augustine of today - which claim the extant papal documents do not support. (For a scholarly article in this web site on this matter, click here.)
Whereas Francis of Assisi in 1217-1218 had travelled to Rome to meet the Pope, these Tuscan hermit leaders in 1243 needed to go to Lyon in France for the papal audience.
Pope Innocent IV had recently fled there, and was to remain there for six years. In the year 1243, therefore, four hermit leaders - all of them priests - had requested this union of their hermit groupings.
They were Stefano di Cataste, Ugo di Corbaria, Guido di Rosia and Pietro di Lupocavo. They sought from the Pope the union for all the hermits of Tuscany under a common Rule and a single Prior General.
They knew that this was the way that previous popes had already instigated the Franciscan and Dominican Orders, under a policy of reform that had been begun by Pope Innocent III in 1215.
(Continued on the next page.)
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