|
Home | Introduction
|
Abbreviations
|
Archives
|
Bibliography
|
Biography
|
Calendar
|
Family
| Houses | Images
|
Literature
| Liturgy
|
Miscellany
| News
Items
|
Ransoming
| Rule
|
Statutes
| Studies
| Links
|
|
The Earliest Trinitarian Foundations: 1198-1219
|
|
An accurate and fairly comprehensive picture of the Trinitarian Order's first quarter-century -its composition, its development, its expansion- is available to us in a series of papal documents which date from the period extending from 16 May 1198 until 25 April 1219. These valuable sources are: 1. the papal letter Cum a nobis petitur of Innocent III, dated 16 May 1198 (Reg. Vat. vol. 4, f. 62v, n. 247), which grants protection to the 3 pilot-properties (Cerfroid, Planels, Bourg-la-Reine) and encourages the Trinitarian foundation 2. the papal letter Operante patre luminum of Innocent III, dated 10 July 1203 (Reg. Vat. vol 5, f. 76r, n. 118), which grants protection to 5 new foundations: 3 in France (Marseille, Arles, St-Gilles) and 2 in Spain (Lérida, Anvingaña) 3. the papal letter Operante patre luminum of Innocent III, dated 21 June 1209 (Archives Nationales de France, Paris: L. 947, n. 5 = original), which grants protection to 13 additional locations: 5 in France (Châteauneuf-les-Martigues, Le Bourget near Paris, Silvelle near Meaux, Étampes, Paris) and 5 in Spain (Toledo, Segovia, Burgos, Gosmedos, Daroca, as well as many other possessions) and 2 in Italy (Genova, Roma) and a foundation at Braia (location uncertain) 4. the papal letter Operante patre luminum of Honorius III, dated 25 April 1219 (the original is not extant nor is there a papal chancery registration copy of this document - the text is given by Lorenzo Reynés in his Bullarium OSST <vol. 1, Innocentius III, n. 4 - second half of 18th c ms/ASC copy, ms. 263> who states in his Notabilia to the text that the original papal letter was conserved in the archives of the Trinitarian house of Málaga, Spain, and that Fr. Francisco Coronado made a copy of the text on 14 October 1766 and sent it to him), which grants protection to a further 22 Trinitarian locations: 7 in France (Limoux, Montpellier, Toulouse, Castres, Villeneuve, Mitry, Gieis near Rouen), 6 in Spain (Lérida, Anglesola, Tortosa, Barcelona, Alagón, Cuevas), and 6 in Italy (in the diocese of Todi, in the diocese of Spoleto, in the diocese of Amelia, Anzano, in the diocese of Rome, Benevento) and 1 in Portugal (Santarem) and 1 in England (in the diocese of Durham) and a foundation (hospitale de Sancta Maria de Sanctis cum ecclesia) of uncertain location. Thus, during the initial 10-year period of the Trinitarian Order's growth, at least 21 foundation had been made. In the subsequent decade, at least 22 further foundations were made. Thus, the number of foundations made by the early Trinitarians in the period extending from the Order's beginnings at Cerfroid, France, ca. 1193/94, until the 1219 papal letter of protection is at least 43. Since there is evidence that other Trinitarian foundations existed during this quarter-century period and since these other locations are not named in the papal letters of protection, it must be stressed that these sources present a fairly comprehensive but not an exhaustive picture of the Trinitarian Order's first foundations. The information regarding the Trinitarian Order's principal foundations and an overview of the Order's geographical and apostolic composition during this first quarter-century given to us in the sources indicated above maybe synthesized as follows:
Cerfroid (domum S. Trinitatis)
Lérida (hospitale quod dicitur Petri
Molinarii)
Genova (domum S. Trinitatis)
Santarem (domum)
Diocese of Durham (ecclesiam S. Bartholomei de Tudemurte)
hospitale de Braja
Further analysis of these sources reveal: total number of foundations is at least 43 number in
France at least 18 total number of hospitals is at least 17 number in
1198 0 out of 3 total number of churches is at least 23 number in
1198 1 out of 3 total number of hospitals and churches is at least 7 number in
1198 0 out of 3
Briefly stated, the basic element for a Trinitarian foundation was the residence (domus) for the members of the Order. As circumstances and authorities permitted and as needs required and benefactors provided, hospitals and churches became part of local Trinitarian foundations. In such hospitals/hospices, the sick and poor, travellers as well as returning captives were offered the "comfort of charity" (caritatis solatium) as prescribed by the Trinitarian Rule of Life (c. 17). The churches/chapels were obviously destined to serve the specifically spiritual needs of the Brothers and neighboring inhabitants. Both the hospital and the church were arenas where the Trinitarians could carry out their service to the local Church through the works of mercy. In addition, both the residence and the church could be centers for the collection of ransoming alms, as the Trinitarian Order carried out its ransom-activity in service to the universal Church. Thus, the fully developed Trinitarian foundation would consist of: the residence and the hospital/hospice and the church/chapel, attached ideally to which there would be the cemetery. From the sources cited above, we can see that there were at least 7 fully developed Trinitarian foundations during this first-generation period: the hospital with the church of the Holy Trinity at Le Bourget, near Paris, in France - the hospital with the church of the Holy Trinity at Paris in France, plus a chapel in the outlying district - the hospital of the Holy Trinity and the church at Toledo in Spain - the hospital with the church of the Holy Trinity at Segovia in Spain - the hospital with the church of the Holy Trinity at Daroca in Spain - the hospital of Alamiano and the church in the diocese of Amelia in Italy - the hospital of Saint Mary of the Saints and the church, location uncertain. Geographic expansion is an indicator of many things: growth, acceptance, maturation and even popularity. From a small mid-13th century nucleus centered at Cerfroid, some 80 kilometers/50 miles northeast of Paris, the initiative of Brother John and those first Trinitarians grew rapidly and remarkably, during that first generation, into an extensive network of fraternities which formed the Trinitarian Order. One key-feature regarding Trinitarian growth and expansion during this period and the centuries immediately following the 1198 papal approbation is this: as a general rule, new foundations were made as the result of donations and not as the result of direct initiative and programming on the part of the Trinitarians for their own development as an Order. This had a significant conditioning effect on the Order's development of and dedication to ransom-activity and mercy-work.
|
|
|