Petro-johannites

Petro-Johannites a name given to the partisans of Peter John Olivi (A.D. 1279-1297), a monk of Bezibres, the founder of the Fraticelli schism among the Franciscaus, and a disciple of the abbot Joachim. He followed in the steps of his master, and wrote a commentary on the Revelation, containing interpretations of a similar character to the prophecies of Joachim. From his birthplace he is called Peter of Serignan, and from his monastery Petrus Biterrensis. When pope Nicholas III issued a new interpretation of the rule of St. Francis (A.D. 1279), with the view of suppressing the fanaticism which was rising among the "spirituals" of that order, a party was formed to resist it under the leadership of Olivi, and this party of Petro-Johannites, or strict Franciscans, became after his death the party out of which the Fraticelli took their rise. See Wadding, Annal. Min. Fratr.; Oudin, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticum, 3:584; Baluze, Miscellan. 1:213.