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 FRIARS

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FRIARS

Jesuits, though mendicants in the strict sense of the word, as is evident from the very explicit declaration of St. Pius V (Const. "Cum indefessic", 1571), are classed not as mendicants or friars, but as clerics regular, being founded with a view to devoting them- selves, even more especially than the friars, to the exercise of the sacred ministry (Vermeersch, De Relig., I, xli, n. 8).

Orders op Friars. — The orders of friars are usually divided into two classes: the four great orders men- tioned by the Second Council of Lyons (can. xxiii) and the lesser orders. The four great orders in their legal precedence are: (1) the Dominicans (St. Pius V, Const. "Divina", 15(58); (2) the Franciscans; (3) the Car- melites; (4) the Augustinians. The Dominicans, or Friars Preachers, formerly known as the Black Friars, from the black cappa or mantle worn over their white habit, were foimded by St. Dominic in 1215 and solemnly approved by Honorius III, 22 Dec., 1216. They became a mendicant order in 1221. The Fran- ciscans, or Friars Minor (Grey Friars), were founded by St. Francis of Assisi, who is rightly regarded as the patriarch of the mendicant orders. His rule was orally approved by Innocent III in 1209 and solemnly confirmed by Honorius III in 1223 (Const. "Solet")- It is professed by the Friars Minor, the Conventuals, and the Capuchins. The Carmelites, or White Friars, from the white cloak which covers their brown habit, were foimded as a purely contemplative order, but became mendicants in 1245. They received the ap- probation of Honorius III (Const. "Ut vivendi", 30 Jan., 1220) anil later of Innocent IV (Const. "Quae honorem", 1247). The order is divided into two sec- tions, the Calced and Discalced Carmelites. The Au- gustinians, or Hermits of St. Augustine (Austin Friars), trace their origin to the illustrious Bishop of Hippo. The various branches which subsequently developed were imited and constituted from various bodies of hermits a mendicant order by Alexander IV (Const. "lis, qu«", 31 July, 1255, and Const. "Licet", 4 May, 1256). These four orders are called by canon- ists the quatuor ordines mendicantes de iure commuiii. The Fourth Lateran Council ("De relig. dom.", Ill, tit. xxxvi, c. ix) had forbidden in 1215 the foiuidation of any new religious orders. In face of this prohibi- tion a sufficient nimiber of new congregations, espe- cially of mendicants, had sprung up to attract the attention of the Second Council of Lyons. In canon xxiii, the council, while specially exempting the four mendicant orders above mentioned, condemns all other mendicant orders then existing to inuncdiate or to gradual extinction. All orders established since the Council of Lateran, and not approved by the Holy See, were to be dissolved at once. Those since established with such approval were forbidden to receive new members. The illustrious order of Servites, founded in 1233 and approved by Alexander IV in 1256 (Const. "Deo grata"), happily survived this condemnation. Concerning the four greater orders, the council con- cludes: "Be it understood, however, that we do not conceive of the extension of this constitution to the Orders of Friars Preachers and of Friars Minor, whose evident service to the universal Church is sufficient approval. As for the Hermits of St. Augustine and the Order of Carmelites, whose foundation preceded the .said Council (Fourtli Lateran), we wish them to remain as solidly established as heretofore" (Lib. Ill, tit. xvii, c. un., in VI). The importance of the orders thus singled out and exempted was afterwards still further empliasized by the insertion of this canon into the "CorpusJuris" in the " Liber Sextus " of Boniface VIII.

The so-styled lesser orders, of which the following are to-day the most flourishing, were founded and approved at various subsequent periods: the Minims (1474); the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (1521); the Capuchins — as constituting a diiferent branch of

the Franciscan Order — (1525); the Discalced Car- melites — as constituting a distinct branch of the Carmelites — (1568); the Discalced Trinitarians (1599); the Order of Penance, known in Italy as the Scalzetti

(1781).

Reiffenstuel, Schmalzgrueber, and other writers on ti- tles xxxi and xxxvi of Bk. Ill of the Decretals of Gregory IX; Ferr.aris, Bibliolheca: Relig. Regulares (Rome, 1885-96). I, 24; SuAREZ, De Virtute et Statu Rdigionis (Mainz, 1604), pt. II, tract, ix; Barbosa, Juris Ecd. Universi (Lyons. 1699). I, c. xli, n. 207; Vermeersch, De Relig. Inst, et Persmis (2nd ed., Bruges, 1907), I, 38; Wernz, Jus Decretal. (Rome, 1908). Ill, pt. II, 262; Heimbucher, Die Orden unci Kongrcgalionen (2nd ed., Paderborn.1907). I,:i'.i;a|,.. p. .pillar H..[ks,with plates show- ing the different religic. UN lull II Is Nil, li a, M u,i 1:^.1 \ andTuker, Handbook to Ckristiaii <in</ /.. .V, s, ,,/,,, ,; /,■,,,„, m (London 1900); Steele, MonaKi,ri,.i „ii,l H,h.i,.„is //,,,,»,•.■ ,„ Creat Brit- ain and Ireland (London, 1903). Hklvot. Hist, des ordres re- ligieux (Paris, 1714-19); republisheil by Migne as Diet, des ordres religieux (Paris, 1847-59).

Gregory Cleary.

Friars Minor, Order of. — This subject may be conveiiicndy considered under the following heads: I. General History of the Order; A. First Period (1209-1517); B. Second Period (1517-1909); II. The Reform Parties; A. First Period (1226-1517); B. Second Period (1517-1 N!I7 1; iH The Discalced- (2) The Reformati; (3) Tlir llrr,,!!,,-!., im-luding a survey of the history of tlit- I'ranciMans in the North, especially in Great Britain and IreUiiid (America is treated in a separate article); III. Statistics of the Order (1260-1909); IV. The Various Names of the Friars Minor; V. The Habit; VI. The Constitution of the Oriler; VII. General Sphere of the Order's Activity; VIII. The Preaching Activity of the Order; IX. Influence of the Order on the Liturgy and Reli- gious Devotions; X. Franciscan Missions; XI. Cultivation of the Sciences; XII. Saints and Beati of the Order.

I. General History op the Order. — A. First Period (1309-1517). — Having gathered about twelve disciples around him (1207^8), St. Francis of Assisi appeared before Innocent III, who, after some hesita- tion, gave verbal sanction to the Franciscan Rule. Thus was legally founded the Order of Friars Minor (Ordo Fralrum Minorum), the precise date being, according to an ancient tradition in the order, 16 April, 1209. His friars havmg rapidly increased in number and spread over various districts of Italy, St. Francis appointed, in 1217, provincial ministers {minislri pro- tnnciales), and sent his disciples farther afield. At the general chapter of 1219 these missions were re- newed and other friars dispatched to the East, to Hun- gary, to France, and to Spain. Francis himself visited Egj-pt and the East, but the innovations in- troduced during his ab.sence by some of the friars caused his speedy return in 1220. In the same year he resigned the office of general of the order, which he entrusted first to Peter of Cattaneo, on whose early death (10 March, 1221) he appointed Elias of Cortona. Francis, however, retained a certain supreme direction of the order until his death on 3 October, 1226.

Elias of Cortona, as the vicar of Francis, summoned the regular Pentecost chapter for the following year, and on 29 May, 1227, Giovanni Parenti, a jurist, was chosen as first succe.s.sor of St. Francis and first minis- ter-general. He has often been regarded as a native of Florence, but probably came from the neighbour- hood of Rome. Gregory IX employed the new gen- eral on political mi.ssions at Florence and Rome, authorized the Minorites to lay out their own ceme- teries (20 July, 1227), and charged them with the direction and maintenance of the Poor Clares (1 De- cember, 1227). In 1228 and the succeeding years, Elias of Cortona laboured zealously at the construc- tion of a church to be dedicated to Francis of Assisi, who was canonized by Gregory IX on 16 July, 1228. On the day following the pope himself laid the founda- tion stone of this church at Assisi destined to receive the body of St. Francis, and he shortly afterwards