Let the brothers take great care not to accept churches, dwellings, or any buildings erected for them, except as all is in accordance with the holy poverty which we have vowed in the Rule; and let them not live in them except as strangers and pilgrims. I absolutely forbid all the brothers, in whatsoever place they may be found, to ask any bull from the court of No further privileges to be sought from the Pope Rome, whether directly or indirectly, in the interest of church or convent, or under pretext of preaching, or even for the protection of their bodies. If they are not received anywhere, let them go of themselves elsewhere, thus doing penance with the benediction of God....
And let the brothers not say, "This is a new Rule"; for this is only a reminder, a warning, an exhortation. It is my last will and testament, that I, little Brother Francis, make for you, my blessed brothers, in order that we may observe in a more Catholic way the Rule which we promised the Lord to keep.
Let the ministers-general, all the other ministers, and the custodians be held by obedience to add nothing to and take No additions to be made to the Rule or the Will nothing away from these words. Let them always keep this writing near them beside the Rule; and in all the assemblies which shall be held, when the Rule is read, let these words be read also.
I absolutely forbid all the brothers, clerics and laymen, to introduce comments in the Rule, or in this Will, under pretext of explaining it. But since the Lord has given me to speak and to write the Rule and these words in a clear and simple manner, so do you understand them in the same way without commentary, and put them in practice until the end.
And whoever shall have observed these things, may he be crowned in heaven with the blessings of the heavenly Father, and on earth with those of his well-beloved Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Consoler, with the assistance of all the heavenly virtues and all the saints.
And I, little Brother Francis, your servant, confirm to you, so far as I am able, this most holy benediction. Amen.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PAPACY AND THE TEMPORAL POWERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
66. The Interdict Laid on France by Innocent III. (1200)
Two of the most effective weapons at the service of the mediæval Church were excommunication and the interdict. By the ban of excommunication the proper ecclesiastical authorities could exclude a heretic or otherwise objectionable person from all religious privileges, thereby cutting him off from association with the faithful and consigning him irrevocably (unless he repented) to Satan. The interdict differed from excommunication in being less sweeping in its condemnatory character, and also in being applied to towns, provinces, or countries rather than to individuals. As a rule the interdict undertook to deprive the inhabitants of a specified region of the use of certain of the sacraments, of participation in the usual religious services, and of the right of Christian burial. It did not expel men from church membership, as did excommunication, but it suspended most of the privileges and rights flowing from such membership. The interdict was first employed by the clergy of north France in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the twelfth it was adopted by the papacy on account of its obvious value as a means of disciplining the monarchs of western Europe. Because of its effectiveness in stirring up popular indignation against sovereigns who incurred the papal displeasure, by the time of Innocent III. (1198-1216) it had come to be employed for political as well as for purely religious purposes, though generally the two considerations were closely intertwined. A famous and typical instance of its use was that of the year 1200, described below.