with its two horns of false religious and false prophets, disguised like the two horns of the Lamb, then will be the strongest temptation of the Mystical Antichrist. False Christs and false prophets will then arise, who will cause all things to adore cupidity and carnality, or the earthly glory of the worldly beast . . . He will set up as Pseudo-Pope a certain false religious who will contrive something against the evangelical rule ^a Then almost all will depart from the true Pope and will follow the false Pope. He will indeed be false, because he will heretically err against the truth of evangelical poverty and perfection.

Angelo Clareno

Exposition of the Rule of the Lesser Brothers

[Expositio regulae fratrum minorum] (1321–2)

Written between 1321–2, Angelo Clareno wrote his Exposition on the Rule of the Lesser Brothers to clarify ". the pure, simple, and final intention that the seraphic man Francis had in the Rule divinely inspired by Christ." It must be seen within the context of the struggles among the brothers to observe the Rule and, especially its prescription on poverty, in light of the controversial teachings of the popes. In order to defend his positions, Clareno uses his extensive knowledge of the Fathers of the Church, especially the Greeks, and of the early portraits of Francis, those of Thomas of Celano, Bonaventure, and the Companions. He also had access to the fourteenth-century compilations: the Assisi Compilation, both editions of The Mirror of Perfection, as well as to the commentaries of Hugh of Digne and Peter of John Olivi.

The texts that follow reveal episodes in the life of Francis and the first companions that were unknown or, in certain instances, provide a different perspective. While, outside the context of Angelo's work, it is difficult to appreciate them fully, they nevertheless shed further light on the tensions of these early years of the fourteenth century.

Later Rule I 1: "The rule and life of the Lesser Brothers..... "

Passages similar to this can be found in the earlier portraits or compilations.^b This statement of Francis, however, combines elements from many of those earlier passages and is unique to Clareno.^c

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