In 1278 the authorities of the Franciscan order assembled at
Paris, solemnly condemned Bacon's teaching, and the general of
the Franciscans, Jerome of Ascoli, afterward Pope, threw him
into prison, where he remained for fourteen years, Though Pope
Clement IV had protected him, Popes Nicholas III and IV, by
virtue of their infallibility, decided that he was too dangerous
to be at large, and he was only released at the age of
eighty--but a year or two before death placed him beyond the
reach of his enemies. How deeply the struggle had racked his
mind may be gathered from that last affecting declaration of
his, "Would that I had not given myself so much trouble for the
love of science!"
The attempt has been made by sundry champions of the Church to
show that some of Bacon's utterances against ecclesiastical and
other corruptions in his time were the main cause of the
severity which the Church authorities exercised against him.
This helps the Church but little, even if it be well based; but
it is not well based.
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