Alvarus Pelagius (; c. 1280 – 25 January 1352) was a celebrated Galician

canonist Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

Life

Alvarus was born at Salnés, Galicia. He studied

Canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, but in 1304 resigned his

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

s, and entered the

Franciscan Order The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

. He is said to have been a pupil of

Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...

and to have been tutor to the children of

Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos Pedro Afonso, Count of Barcelos (before 1289 – 1354), was an illegitimate son of King Denis of Portugal and Grácia Froes. He was made the 3rd Count of Barcelos on 1 May 1314. Biography Much like the other illegitimate children of King Denis, ...

. Certain it is that he became

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

, that he enjoyed much favour with this pontiff, and was employed by him to refute the claims of the

antipope An antipope () is a person who claims to be Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church in opposition to the officially elected pope. Between the 3rd and mid-15th centuries, antipopes were supported by factions within the Church its ...

Pietro Rainalducci of Corbario. In 1333 Alvarus became titular Bishop of Coron in

Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...

, and two years later was appointed to the See of Silves in Portugal. He also served as

Apostolic nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

in Portugal, but was not created

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, as some writers have asserted. He died in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, where he was buried in the Monastery of St. Clare.

Works

Alvarus is chiefly remarkable for his work ''De planctu ecclesiae libri duo''. This work, begun at Avignon in 1330, completed in 1332, corrected in 1335 and again in 1340 at Compostela, is notable not only for its extreme defence of ecclesiastical rights but still more, perhaps, for the freedom and force with which the author assails and rebukes the ecclesiastical abuses of his time. Alvarus has been reproached by St. Antoninus and others with having too far favoured the error of the

Fraticelli The ''Fraticelli'' (Italian language, Italian for “Little Brethren”) or Spiritual Franciscans opposed changes to the Monastic rule, rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Catholic ...

about poverty, but, as

Sbaralea Giovanni or Gian Giacinto Sbaraglia (13 March 16872 January 1764), otherwise Joannes Hyacinthus Sbaralea, was a historian of the Franciscan Order. His works include ''Supplementum et castigatio ad scriptores trium ordinum S. Francisi'' and ''Bull ...

shows, it is not difficult to justify him against this charge. On the then agitated question of poverty in the Franciscan Order he wrote with less passion and with more weight than Ubertino da Casale, although he addressed almost the same reproaches as the latter to the relaxed friars within the order. The ''De planctu'' was first published at

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

in 1474. This edition is very rare, and is not free from error. Later editions appeared at Venice (1500) and at Lyons (1517). Besides the "De planctu",

Wadding Wadding is a disc of material used in guns to seal gas behind a projectile (a bullet or ball), or to separate the propellant from loosely packed shots. Wadding can be crucial to a gun's efficiency, since any gas that leaks past a projectile ...

attributed to Alvarus the following: "Collyrium adversus haereses"; "

Speculum regum Mirrors for princes or mirrors of princes () constituted a literary genre of didactic political writings throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It was part of the broader speculum or mirror literature genre. The Latin term ''speculum reg ...

" (one book); "Super sentent. libros 4"; "Apologia contra Marsilum Patav. et Guliel. Ocham"; and other unedited works.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelagius, Alvarus 1280 births 1352 deaths Canon law jurists Scotism 14th-century jurists Year of birth uncertain