Whether the traveller had not already written or dictated a brief sketch of his journeys will be spoken of below.
From Padua he is said to have proceeded to Pisa in order to take ship for the Papal Court at Avignon, that he might make his report of the affairs of the church in the far East, and ask recruits for the missions in Cathay. At Pisa he was sorely troubled by what he heard of the mischief wrought in the fraternity by the schisms of Caesenas and Corbarius,land became all the more anxious to prosecute his voyage. But he fell into serious illness, and being warned in a dream by St. Francis to "return to his nest," he caused himself to be transported back to his own province.
There at Udine, he took to his bed, to rise no more. Having confessed, on the priest's pronouncing the absolution Odoric is related to have said : " Do thine office, reverend Father, for I desire like a humble child to submit to the keys of the church ; but know that the Lord hath signified to me that he hath pardoned all my sins." And so he died on the 14th January, 1331.'2
The friars of the convent were about to bury him the same day privately, contrary to the custom of the country. But when this became known in the city, Conrad Bernardiggi, the Gastald or chief magistrate of Udine, who had a great regard for Odoric, interfered to prevent such a hurried interment, and appointed a solemn funeral for the next day. This was attended by all the
1 Petrus Rainalduccius de Vico Corbario was a Minorite venerated for his age, learning, and piety, who to the great scandal of his order let himself be set up at Rome as Antipope by the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria. In 1330 he asked pardon of Pope John with a halter on his neck. Michael Caesenas was the general of the order, who absconded from Avignon to take part with the emperor (Wadding).
2 This is the date given by the postscripts to Odoric's narrative, and all the subsequent accounts. Wadding adds, " On a Monday, about the ninth hour." The 14th January 1331 might mean in modern style 14th January 1332, especially as the postscript to the narrative in the extracts published by the Bollandists specifies "Anno Dominicce Incarnationis," which I believe indicates properly the year commencing on Lady Day. But it seems not to be so. For the date assigned fell on a Monday in 1331, and, moreover, the order by the Patriarch for an inquiry into the miracles is dated May 1331, which is not open to ambiguity.
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