VII. Archbishop Aureoli Attempts to Answer Attacks by Spirituals

PETER AUREOLI, known as doctor facundus because of his eloquence, became archbishop of Aix, France, in 1321. Aureoli deserves particular notice here, because he was about the first prominent spokesman of the dominant Catholic Church to break away from the generally held Tichonius tradition of exposition, and accept certain basic positions of Joachim and Olivi regarding the exposition of the Apocalypse. Like Joachim, he professed to see in the Apocalypse a divine revelation concerning the completion of the plan of salvation in History.PFF1 782.3

In order to meet the Spirituals on their own ground, he openly accepted Joachim’s view that the different symbols in the Apocalypse point to definite events in history. ^{63Benz, op. cit., p. 434.}PFF1 782.4

1. UNUSUAL HISTORICAL APPLICATIONS

How he attempts to fit them to actual history is interesting and unusual. For example, in the seven angels of the seven churches he sees the following persons: The first angel is Timothy, representing the first church. The second is Polycarp, representing the second church. The third angel is Carpus of Pergamon, and the fourth is Irenaeus. Under Jezebel he sees the Montanist prophetesses, Prisca and Maximilla. The fifth angel is identified as Melito of Sardis, the sixth as Quadratus of Philadelphia, and the seventh as Sangar, bishop of Laodicea. ^{64Ibid, pp. 435, 436}PFF1 783.1

Even more interesting, but likewise out of the ordinary, is his explanation of the vision of the throne of God in Revelation 4: The throne is the Roman church, as the most noble and head of all churches; the precious stones point to the stability of faith; the rainbow surrounding the throne is the covenant which Christ made with Peter: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” The four and twenty seats, he says, indicate the sum total of the bishoprics; the lightnings, thunderings, and voices are the great number of learned theologians and saints; the seven lamps before the throne, the seven sacraments; and the four living creatures, the four patriarchal sees of Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Constantinople, which surround the Roman See. The Lamb, which was sacrificed, he believes to be, the Eucharist, which is daily brought before the throne of God in all the churches. ^{65Ibid, p. 438}PFF1 783.2

2. SEEKS CONTINUOUS HISTORICAL SEQUENCE IN APOCALYPSE

Aureoli attempts to bring all the symbols mentioned in Revelation, into chronological sequence. Thus he breaks with the Tichonian recapitulation theory. Hence he makes the seven seals end with Constantine, and has the trumpets denote heresies developing in the centuries immediately following. The great red dragon, according to his explanation, is the Persian king Chosroes, who subjugated Palestine and killed more than 90,000 men, but was later overcome by Heraclius of Byzantium. Chosroes, he believes, is also the first beast of Revelation 13; whereas the second beast is Mohammed, who fought against Christianity. ^{66Ibid., pp. 447, 448.}PFF1 783.3

The angel with the everlasting gospel he curiously declares to be St. Boniface (Winfrid, or Wynfrith), who went forth to convert the Germans to the Catholic faith. The second angel points out the falling away of the Greeks from the right faith, and the third angel he allocates to Pope Constantine and his decision in the iconoclastic controversy. The patience of the saints Aureoli connects with the reconstruction of the abbey of Monte Cassino. The seven vials are treated in a similar manner. For example, the dragon and the other apocalyptic beasts, in Revelation 16, are identified as the Saracens and Turks, when their armies laid waste the whole Eastern Empire. ^{67Ibid., p. 453.} And the beast of Revelation 17 Aureoli explains as the sultan of Egypt, the woman riding upon it being the sultan of Persia. And Babel, he says, means Islam in general.PFF1 784.1

3. UNCERTAIN ON THE MILLENNIUM

The strong angel of Revelation 18 is identified as Godfrey of Bouillon, when he entered Jerusalem victoriously and reconquered the holy places. ^{68Ibid., p. 458.} Aureoli is not sure how to place the thousand-year period correctly, and make it fit to his scheme. He is inclined to compute it as beginning with the time of Constantine; but that would give him only a few years until Antichrist should appear, which seems improbable to him. Therefore, he adds that this period must belong to the secrets of the Holy Spirit, which will be revealed in due time. ^69Ibid. Anyway, he believes that practically all symbols given in the Revelation have already found their historical fulfillment, except the coming of Antichrist and the great day of judgment.PFF1 784.2

This little work by Archbishop Aureoli is obviously the first definite attempt of the Roman church to find an answer to the attacks of the Joachimites and the Spirituals, and to meet and overcome them with their own weapons. Most important in this connection is that he refuted the Joachimite teaching of the three stages in the development of Christ’s kingdom, and held fast to the orthodox view of the two dispensations of the Old Testament and the New Testament, followed by eternity.PFF1 785.1

The chapters on Joachim, the pseudo-Joachim writings, and the Spirituals have taken us down to the beginning of the fourteenth century. It was necessary so to follow the thread of prophetic interpretation through in order to gain a unified view of the new trend begun by Joachim and continued by his spiritual successors. But in so doing much has been unavoid ably omitted in relation to that period. We now turn to some of those omitted problems.PFF1 785.2