dealing with whether usus pauper was included in the
Franciscan vow of evangelical poverty. Cardinal Orsini’s
opinion contained in the same collection follows a line
of argument similar to Ubertino’s and may actually have
been written by Ubertino.
Ubertino’s doctrines regarding poverty are the most
interesting aspect of his thought. They seem to have
undergone considerable development over his lifetime.
In the Arbor vite, Ubertino accepted the offi cial Fran-
ciscan view, shared by all factions, that as followers of
evangelical perfection, if not as prelates transferring
goods to the poor, they absolutely embraced corporate
as well as individual poverty. To this he added Olivi’s
view that “poor use” was necessary to the observance
of the highest poverty, and that the persecution of those
who followed “poor use” was a sign of the appearance
of the Antichrist and the coming of the “last age.”
In Ubertino’s polemical treatises, this historical
dimension of his thought disappears entirely, and he is
much more concerned with poor use than with corporate
expropriation. In his fi nal treatise, written when he was
nominally a Benedictine, Ubertino was unwilling to ac-
cept the traditional view that the holding of collective
property by monastic corporations according to human
law was no breach of evangelical perfection. He did,
however, clearly affi rm, against the Franciscans, that
possession according to natural (though not civil) law
was inseparable from the use of consumable things.
The Franciscans’ theory, on the other hand, maintained
that Franciscans had only the use of such things, whose
ownership always rested with the donors or was held by
the pope. Ubertino now evidently regarded this theory as
a pitiful pretense. He also thought that it was ultimately
inimical to Olivi’s doctrine of “poor use,” a doctrine
to which—despite his careful editing and revision of
Olivi’s question concerning the highest poverty—he
always remained faithful.
See also Boniface VIII, Pope; Catherine of Siena,
Saint; Celestine V, Pope; Dante Alighieri
Further Reading
Editions
Arbor vitae crucifi xae Jesu. Venice: Andrea de Bonettis de
Papia, 1485. (Reprint, ed. Charles T. Davis. Turin: Bottega
d’Erasmo, 1961.)
Declaratio fratris Ubertini de Casali et sociorum eius contra
falsitates datas per fratrem Raymundum procuratorem
et Bonagratiam da Bergamo, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Lit-
eratur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp.
160 – 195.
Decretalis etiam, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirch-
engeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 130–135.
Reducendo igitur ad brevitatem, ed. Charles T. Davis. In “Uber-
tino da Casale and His Conception of Altissima Paupertas. ”
Studi Medievali, Series 3(22.1), 1981, pp. 41–56.
Rotulus iste, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchenge-
schichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 89–130.
Sanctitas vestra, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchenge-
schichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 48–89.
Sanctitati apostolice, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirch-
engeschichte des Mittelalters, 2, 1886, pp. 374–416.
Super tribus scelribus Damasci, ed. A. Heysse. Archivum Fran-
ciscanum Historicum, 10, 1917, pp. 103–174.
Tractatus Ubertini de altissima paupertate Christi et apostolorum
eius et virorum apostolicorum. Codex Vienna Staatsbiblio-
thek, 809, fols. 128r–159v.
Critical Studies
Bihl, Michael. “Review of Biographies of Ubertino, by Huck,
Knoth, and Callaey.” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum,
4, 1911, pp. 594–599.
Blondeel, E. “L’infl uence d’Ubertin de Casale sur les écrits de S.
Bernardin de Sienne” and “Encore l’infi uence d’Ubertin de
Casale sur les écrits de S. Bernardin de Sienne.” Collectanea
Franciscana, 6, 1936, pp. 5–44, 57–76.
Callaey, Frédégand. L’idéalisme franciscain spirituel au XIV
siècle: Étude sur Ubertin de Casale. Louvain, 1911.
——. “L’infl uence et la diffusion de l’Arbor vitae de Ubertini
de Casale.” Revue d’Historie Ecclésiatique, 17, 1921, pp.
533–546.
——. “L’infi ltration des id–es franciscaines spirituales chez
les frères mineurs capucins au XVI siècle.” In Miscellanea
Francesco Ehrle, Vol. 1. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vati-
cana, 1924.
Colasanti, G. “I Santi Cuori di Gesùe di Maria nell’Arbor vitae
(1305) di Ubertino da Casale, O. Min.” Miscellanea Franc-
escana, 59, 1959, pp. 30–69.
Damiata, Marino. Pietà e storia nell’ “Arbor vitae” di Ubertino
da Casale. Florence: Edizioni Studi Francescani, 1988, pp.
195–215.
——. “Ubertino da Casaie: Ultimo atto.” Studi Francescani, 86,
1989, pp. 279–303.
Daniel, Randolph. “Spirituality and Poverty: Angelo da Clareno
and Ubertino da Casale.” Medievalia et Humanistica, n.s., 4,
1973, pp. 89–98.
Davis, Charles T. “Ubertino da Casaie and His Conception of
Altissima Paupertas.” Studi Medievali, Series 3(22.1), 1981,
pp. 1–41.
Douie, Decima L. The Nature and the Effect of the Heresy of the
Fraticelli. Manchester: University Press, 1932, pp. 120–152.
(Reprint, 1978.)
Ehrle, F. “Die Spiritualen, ihr Verhältniss zum Franzis Kanerorden
und zu den Fraticelen.” Archiv für Literatur und Kirchenge-
schichte des Mittelalters, 1, 1885, pp. 509–569; 2, 1886, pp.
106–164; 3, 1887, pp. 553–623; 4, 1888, pp. 1–190.
——. Zur Vorgeschichte des Konzils von Vienne.” Archiv für
Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 2, 1886,
pp. 353–416; 3, 1887, pp. 1–195.
Godefroy, P. “Ubertin de Casale.” Dictionnaire de théologie
catholique, 15, 1950, pp. 2021–2034.
Guyot, B. G. “L’Arbor vitae crucifi xae Iesu d’Ubertin de Ca-
sale et ses emprunts aux De articulis fi dei de S. Thomas
d’Aquin.” In Studies Honoring Ignatius Charles Brady,
Friar Minor, ed. Romano Stephen Almagno and Conrad L.
Harkins. Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.: Franciscan Institute, 1976,
pp. 293–307.
Hofer, J. “Das Gutachten Ubertins von Casale über die Armut
Christi.” Franziskanische Studien, 11, 1924, pp. 210–215.
Huck, Johann Chrysostomus. Ubertin von Casale und dessen
Ideenkreis: Ein Beitrag zum Zeitalter Dantes. Freiburg im
Breisgau: Herder, 1903.UBERTINO DA CASALE