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 FRIARS

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FRIARS

Galbatio was sent by the Reformat! into Bavaria, and, despite the opposition of the local Observants, siic- ceeued in 1625 in uniting into one province of the Reforniati the monasteries of the Archducliy of Bavaria, which belonged to the I'pper Clcrnian (Stras- burg) province. The new province thenceforth be- longed to the cisniontane family. Arrigoni also in- troduced in 1028 the reform into the province of St. Leopold in the Tyrol, into Austria in 1632, and into Bohemia in 1060, and succeeded in winning these countries entirely over to his branch, Carinthia fol- lowing in 16JSS. After many disappointments, the two Polish custodies were raised to the status of provinces of the Reforniati in 1639. In the course of time, the proximity of houses of the Reformat! and the Observants gave rise to unedifying con- tentions and rivalry, especially in Italy. Among the heroic figures of the Reformati. St. Pacificus of San Severino calls for special mention. St. Benedict of San Fidelfo cannot be reckoiied among the Reforniati, as he died in a retreat of the Recollects; nor should St. Leonard of Port Maurice, who bclongetl rather to the so-called Rijormella, introduced into the Roman Prov- ince by Bl. Bonaventure of Baicelona in 1662. The principal house of the Riformella was that of S. Bona- ventura on the Palatine. St. Leonard founded two similar monasteries in Tuscany, one of which was that of Incontro near Florence. These were to serve as places of religious recollection and spiritual refresh- ment for priests engaged in mission-work among the people. Like the Discalced, the Reformati ceased to liave a separate existence in 1S97.

(3) The Recollects (Recollecli).—ia) The founda- tion of "recollection-houses" in France, where they were badly needed even by the Observants, was per- haps due to Spanish influence. After the bloody religious wars, which exercised an enervating effect on the life of the cloister, one house of this description was founded at Cluys in 1570, but was soon discon- tinued. The general of the order, Gonzaga. undertook the establishment of such houses, but it was Franz Dozieck, a former Capuchin, who first set them on a firm basis. He was the first custos of these houses, among which that of Rabastein was the most con- spicuous. Italian Reforniati had meanwhile been invited to Nevers, but had to retire owing to the antipathy of the population. In 1595 Bonaventure of Caltagirone, as general of the order, published special statutes for these French houses, but with the assis- tance of the Govermnent, which favoui'ed the reform- ing party, the houses obtained in 1601 the appointment of a special commissary Apostolic. The members were called the RecoUets — since Rejormis was the name given by the French to the Calvinists — and also the Cordeliers, the ancient name for both the Obser- vants and Conventuals. As regards the interpreta- tion of the rule, there were rather important differ- ences between the Cordelier-Observants and the R^collets, the inter|5retation of the latter being much stricter. From 1606 the R<;collets had their own pi-ov- inces, amongst them being that of St-Denis (Diony- sius), a very important province which undertook the missions in Canada and Mozambique. They were also the chaplains in the French army and won renown as preachers. The French kings, beginning with Henry IV, honoured and esteemed them, but kept them in too close dependence on the throne. Thus the notorious Commission des Rcguliers (1771) allowed the R6collets to remain in France w'ithout amalga- mating with the Conventuals. At this period the R6- collets had 11 provinces with 2534 cloisters, but all were suppressed by the Revolution (1791).

(b) Recollection-houses are, strictly speaking, those monasteries to which friars desirous of devoting them- selves to prayer and penance can withdraw to conse- crate their lives to spiritual recollection. From the very inception of the order the so-called hermitages VT.— 19

for which St. Francis made special provision served for this object. These always existed in the order and were naturally the first cloisters of which reformers sought to obtain possession. This policy was followed by the Spanish Discalced, for example in the province of S. Antonio in Portugal (1639). They had vainly endeavoured (1581) to make themselves masters of the recollection-houses of the province of Tarragona, where their purpose was defeated by Angelo de Paz (1581), and of the province of Catalonia (1622). As Martial Bouchier had in 1502 prescribed the institu- tion of these houses in every province of the Spanish Observants, they were fouiid e\er)where, and from them issueil the Capuchins, the Reforniati, and the Recollects. The specific natu!-e of these convents was opposed to their inclusion in an}' province, since even the care of souls tended to defeat their main object of seclusion and sequestration from the world. The general chapter of 1676 ordained the foundation of three or four such convents in even,- province — a prescript which was repeated in 1758. The riliri (ritiro, a house in which one lives in retirement), intro- duced into the Ro!iian Province of the Observants towarils the end of the seventeenth century, were also of this class, and even to-day such houses are to be found among Franciscan monasteries.

(c) The Recollects of the so-called German-Belgian nation have nothing in common with any of the above-nientio!ied reforms. The province of St. Joseph in Flanders was the only one constituted of several recollection-houses (1629). In 1517 the old Saxon province (Saxonia), embracing over 100 monas- teries, was divided into the Saxon province of the Observants (Saxonia S. Crucis) and the Saxon prov- ince of the Conventuals (Saxonia S. Johannis Bap- tistce). The provi!ice of Cologne (Colonia) and the Upper Cierman or Strasburg (Argentina) province were also similarly divided between the Observants and the Conventuals. The proposed erection of a Thuringian province (Thuringia) had to be relin- quished in conseqt!ence of the outbreak of the Ref- ormation. The Saxon province was subsequently reduced to the single monastery of Halberstadt, which contained in 1628 but one priest. The prov- ince of Cologne then took over the Saxon province, whereupon both took on a rapid and vigorous growth, and the foundation of the Thuringian Province (Fulda) became possible in 1633. In 1762 the la.st-named province was divided into the Upper and the Lower Thuringian provinces. In 1621 the Cologne province had adopted the statutes of the recollection-houses for all its monasteries, although it was not until 1646 that the friars adopted the name Recullecti. This example was followed by the other provinces of this "nation", and in 1682 this evolution in Germany, Belgium, Hol- land, England, and Ireland, r.ll of which belonged to this nation, was completed without any essentia! changes in the Franciscan rule of life. The Recollects pre- served in general very strict discipline The charge is often i!nji!stly brought against them that tli^y have prod!!ced no saints, but this is true c*ily of canonized saints. That there have been numerous saints amongst the friars of this branch of the Franciscan Order is certain, although they have never been dis- tinguished by canonization — a fact due partly to the sceptical and fervourless character of the population amongst which they lived and partly to the strict dis- cipline of the order, which forbade and repressed all that singles out for attention the individual friar.

The German-Belgian nation had a special com- missary general, and from 1703 a general procurator at Rome, who represented also the Discalced. They also frequently maintained a special agent at Rome. When Benedict XIII sanctioned their national stat- utes in 1729, he demanded the relinquishment of the name of Recollects and certain minor peculiarities in their habit, bUt in 1731 the Recollects obtained from