Chapter I : On the manner of examining those wanting to enter the order

Nicholas IV

 
Bishop servant of the servants of God to Our beloved sons the brothers, and to Our beloved daughters, the sisters of the Order of Brothers of Penance, both present and future, health and apostolic benediction.  

Upon the mountain of the Catholic Faith, which the sincere devotion of the disciples of Christ—boiling with the fire of charity—has thoroughly taught with the word of solicitous preaching to the peoples of the nations who walked in shadows, and which the Roman Church holds and guards, the solid foundation of the Christian religion is recognized to have been placed, never to be shaken by any disturbance, never to be violently shaken by the commotion of any storm. For indeed this is the Right, and True Faith, without the familiarity of which no one welcome is brought into the sight of the Most High, no one gracious is encountered. This is that, which prepares the path of salvation, and which promises the rewards and joys of eternal felicity. And for that reason the glorious confessor of Christ, Bl. Francis, the institutor of this order, showing the way to ascend to the Lord both in word and example, instructed his own sons in the sincerity of his own faith, and he wanted them also to acknowledge it themselves, to hold it constantly, and to fulfill it similarly with work, so that walking soberly by means of its path, they may, after the workhouse of the present life, merit to be possessors of eternal beatitude.

Therefore attending to the order itself with opportune favors, [and] aiming at its more benign increase, We establish, that all, who happen to be received to observe this form of life, before their entrance or reception, are to be subjected to a diligent examination regarding the Catholic Faith and their obedience toward the aforesaid Church. And if they have firmly promised these things, and have truly believed, they can be safely admitted or received to it. One must solicitously take precaution, however, lest any heretic, or anyone suspect of heresy, or even an infamous person, be admitted in any manner to the observance of this life. And if one happens to find such having been received, let him be assigned as swiftly as possible to be punished by the Inquisitors for heretical depravity.