Note 262 — Chapter V · POLITICAL HERESY UTILIZED BY THE STATE.
Reading edition
Matt. Paris. ann. 1228, 1243 (Ed. 1644, p. 240, 420).—Mansuet le Jeune, Hist. des Templiers, Paris, 1789, I. 340-1.—Prutz, op. cit. pp. 60-1.—Mag. Chron. Belgic. ann. 1274.—Faucon, Registres de Boniface VIII. No. 1691-2, 1697.—Marin. Sunuti Secret. Fidel. Lib. III. P. ix. c. 1, 2 (Bongars, II. 188-9).
The Hospital was open to the same reproaches as the Temple. In 1238 Gregory IX. vigorously assailed the Knights of St. John for their abuse of the privileges bestowed on them—their unchastity and the betrayal of the cause of God in Palestine. He even asserts that there are not a few heretics among them.—Raynald. ann. 1238, No. 31-2.
A sirvente by a Templar, evidently written soon after the fall of Acre, alludes bitterly to the sacrifice made of the Holy Land in favor of the ambition and cupidity of the Holy See—
“Lo papa fa de perdon gran largueza Contr’ Alamans ab Arles e Frances; E sai mest nos mostram gran cobeeza, Quar nostras crotz van per crotz de tornes; E qui vol camjar Romania Per la guerra de Lombardia? Nostres legatz, don yeu vos dic per ver Qu’els vendon Dieu el perdon per aver.”— Meyer, Recueil d’anciens Textes, p. 96.
It is also to be borne in mind that indulgences were vulgarized in many other ways. When St. Francis announced to Honorius III. that Christ had sent him to obtain plenary pardons for those who should visit the Church of S. Maria di Porziuncola, the cardinals at once objected that this would nullify the indulgences for the Holy Land, and Honorius thereupon limited the Portiuncula indulgence to the twenty-four hours commencing with the vespers of August 1.—Amoni, Legenda S. Francisci, Append, c. xxxiii.