The Apostolic Brethren (sometimes referred to as Apostolici, Apostoli, Apostles)
were a Christian sect founded in northern Italy in the latter half of the 13th
century by Gerard Segarelli, a native of Alzano in the territory of Parma. He was of
low birth and without education, applied for membership in the Franciscan order
at Parma, and was rejected. Ultimately he resolved to devote himself to the
restoration of what he conceived to be the apostolic manner of life. The movement
later degenerated in the infamous Dulcinian movement. The Apostolic Bretheren
are often portrayed as a cult in the media.
History
About 1260 he assumed a costume patterned after representations which he had
seen of the apostles, sold his house, scattered the price in the market-place, and
went out to preach repentance as a mendicant brother. He found disciples, and
the new order of penitents spread throughout Lombardy and beyond it. At first
the Franciscans and other churchmen only scoffed at Segarelli's eccentric ways;
but about 1280 the Bishop of Parma threw him into prison, then kept him awhile
in his palace as a source of amusement, and in 1286 banished him from the
diocese. All new mendicant orders without papal sanction having been prohibited
by the Council of Lyon in 1274, Pope Honorius IV issued a severe reprobation of
the Apostolic Brethren in 1286, and Nicholas IV renewed it in 1290.
A time of persecution followed. At Parma in 1294 four members of the sect were
burned, and Segarelli was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Six years later
he was made to confess a relapse into heresies which he had abjured, and was
burned in Parma on July 18, 1300. A man of much greater gifts now took the lead
of the sect. This was Dolcino, the son of a priest in the diocese of Novara, and a
member of the order since 1291, an eloquent, enthusiastic utterer of apocalyptic
prophecies.
At the head of a fanatical horde, who were in daily expectation of seeing the
judgment of God on the Church, he maintained in the mountainous districts of
Novara and Vercelli a guerilla warfare campaign against the crusaders who had
been summoned to put him down. Cold and hunger were still more dangerous
enemies; and finally the remnant of his forces were captured by the bishop of
Vercelli: about 150 persons in all, including Dolcino himself and his "spiritual
sister," Margareta, both of whom, refusing to recant, were burned at the stake on
June 1, 1307.
This was really the end of the sect's history. Later, in the middle of the century,
traces of their activity are found, especially in northern Italy, Spain, and France,
but these were only isolated survivals.
Ideals
The ideal which the Apostolic Brethren strove to realize was a life of supposed
perfect sanctity, in complete poverty, with no fixed domicil, no care for the morrow,
and no vows. It was a protest against the invasion of the Church by the spirit of
worldliness, as well as against the manner in which the other orders kept their
vows, particularly that of poverty. In itself the project might have seemed harmless
enough, not differing greatly from the way in which other founders had begun.
When the order was prohibited, however, the refusal to submit to ecclesiastical
authority stamped its members as heretics.
Persecution embittered their opposition; the Church, in their eyes, had fallen
completely away from apostolic holiness, and become Babylon the Great, the
persecutor of the saints. Their apocalyptic utterances and expectations are a link
with the Joachimites; in fact, parallels to their teaching, mostly founded on literal
interpretations of Scripture texts, may be found in many heretical bodies. They
forbade the taking of oaths, apparently permitting perjury in case of need, and
rejected capital punishment; their close intercourse with their "apostolic sisters"
gave rise to serious accusations against their morals, though they themselves
boasted of their purity, and considered the conquest of temptation so close at
hand as especially meritorious.
Theories
The Apostolics did not have a fully developed theory, Segalelli being uneducated.
They based their belief on the Acts of the Apostles (2,44-45):
All who believed were together, and had all things in common. They sold their
possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
They lived a simple life of fasting and prayer; often they worked to earn enough to
eat, otherwise living off charity, preaching, and always invoking penitence.
were a Christian sect founded in northern Italy in the latter half of the 13th
century by Gerard Segarelli, a native of Alzano in the territory of Parma. He was of
low birth and without education, applied for membership in the Franciscan order
at Parma, and was rejected. Ultimately he resolved to devote himself to the
restoration of what he conceived to be the apostolic manner of life. The movement
later degenerated in the infamous Dulcinian movement. The Apostolic Bretheren
are often portrayed as a cult in the media.
History
About 1260 he assumed a costume patterned after representations which he had
seen of the apostles, sold his house, scattered the price in the market-place, and
went out to preach repentance as a mendicant brother. He found disciples, and
the new order of penitents spread throughout Lombardy and beyond it. At first
the Franciscans and other churchmen only scoffed at Segarelli's eccentric ways;
but about 1280 the Bishop of Parma threw him into prison, then kept him awhile
in his palace as a source of amusement, and in 1286 banished him from the
diocese. All new mendicant orders without papal sanction having been prohibited
by the Council of Lyon in 1274, Pope Honorius IV issued a severe reprobation of
the Apostolic Brethren in 1286, and Nicholas IV renewed it in 1290.
A time of persecution followed. At Parma in 1294 four members of the sect were
burned, and Segarelli was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Six years later
he was made to confess a relapse into heresies which he had abjured, and was
burned in Parma on July 18, 1300. A man of much greater gifts now took the lead
of the sect. This was Dolcino, the son of a priest in the diocese of Novara, and a
member of the order since 1291, an eloquent, enthusiastic utterer of apocalyptic
prophecies.
At the head of a fanatical horde, who were in daily expectation of seeing the
judgment of God on the Church, he maintained in the mountainous districts of
Novara and Vercelli a guerilla warfare campaign against the crusaders who had
been summoned to put him down. Cold and hunger were still more dangerous
enemies; and finally the remnant of his forces were captured by the bishop of
Vercelli: about 150 persons in all, including Dolcino himself and his "spiritual
sister," Margareta, both of whom, refusing to recant, were burned at the stake on
June 1, 1307.
This was really the end of the sect's history. Later, in the middle of the century,
traces of their activity are found, especially in northern Italy, Spain, and France,
but these were only isolated survivals.
Ideals
The ideal which the Apostolic Brethren strove to realize was a life of supposed
perfect sanctity, in complete poverty, with no fixed domicil, no care for the morrow,
and no vows. It was a protest against the invasion of the Church by the spirit of
worldliness, as well as against the manner in which the other orders kept their
vows, particularly that of poverty. In itself the project might have seemed harmless
enough, not differing greatly from the way in which other founders had begun.
When the order was prohibited, however, the refusal to submit to ecclesiastical
authority stamped its members as heretics.
Persecution embittered their opposition; the Church, in their eyes, had fallen
completely away from apostolic holiness, and become Babylon the Great, the
persecutor of the saints. Their apocalyptic utterances and expectations are a link
with the Joachimites; in fact, parallels to their teaching, mostly founded on literal
interpretations of Scripture texts, may be found in many heretical bodies. They
forbade the taking of oaths, apparently permitting perjury in case of need, and
rejected capital punishment; their close intercourse with their "apostolic sisters"
gave rise to serious accusations against their morals, though they themselves
boasted of their purity, and considered the conquest of temptation so close at
hand as especially meritorious.
Theories
The Apostolics did not have a fully developed theory, Segalelli being uneducated.
They based their belief on the Acts of the Apostles (2,44-45):
All who believed were together, and had all things in common. They sold their
possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
They lived a simple life of fasting and prayer; often they worked to earn enough to
eat, otherwise living off charity, preaching, and always invoking penitence.
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