Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/350

 FRIARS

298

FRIARS

9); Farkas, Scriptores ord. Min. Prov. Hungaricc Reformatce, nuncS. MariiE (Presburg, 1879); da Civezza, Saggio di Bihlio- grafia geografica, slorica, etnograjica Sanfrancescana (Prato,1879); Ant. Mar. a Vicetia, Sariptores ProvincifF Ref. S. Antonii in An. Fr., I, 331 sqq.; Al. de Pedelama. Scriptores Prov. Ref. Seraphica, loc. cit., I, 408 sqq.; Little, The Grey Friars in Ox- ford (1892): Dirks, Histoire lilteraire . . . des Freres Mineurs de I' Observance en Belgique et dans les Pays Bos (Antwerp, 188.5); MoRlzzo, Scrittori Francescani Riformati del Trentino (Trent, 189): Felder, Gesch. der wissenschaftlichen Stvdien im Fran- ziskanerorden bif um. die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts (Freiburg, 1904). Fr. tr. (Paris, 1908); Archiv. Franc. Hist, I sqq.

(6) Haoiography. — Cf. Dialogus, Catalogus, Bartholo- mew OF Pisa. Marianus of Florence, Wadding, etc. (cf. supra); Arthurus de Monasterio (Monstier), 7l/ar(yroto- gium Franciscanum (Paris, 1638 and 1653; abridgment, Venice, 1879); HuBER, Menologium . . . ordinum . . . S. Francisci (Munich, 1698); Sigismund da Venezia, Biografm serafica (Venice, 1846); Le palmier seraphique (12 vols., Bar-le-Duc, 1872 — ); Leon de Clary, V Aureole seraphique (4 vols., Paris, 1882) ; tr., Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the three orders of St. Francis (4 vols., Taunton. 1885-87); It. tr., U Aureola serafica (4 vols., Quaracchi, 1898-1900); Schodtens, Martyrnlogium Minoritico-Belgicum (Hoogstraeten, 1902); Ortolani. De cajisis Bealorum el Servorum Dei Ord. Minorum (Quaracchi,

1905). Michael Bihl.

Friars Minor in America. — The very discovery of America is due, under God, to the children of St. Francis, inasmuch as Christopher Columbus, the dis- coverer, and Queen Isabella, who furnished the means, were members of the Third Order, and Father Juan Perez, the counsellor of both, was the superior of the Franciscan monastery of La Rdbida in Andalusia. Father Juan Perez, with other Franciscan friars, more- over, accompanied his illustrious friend on the second voyage in 149.3. A few miles west of Cap Haitien, most probably on 8 December, he celebrated the first Mass in the New World in a chapel constructed of boughs. At the town of Isabella he erected the first convent. In 1496 the place was abandoned, and a monastery of stone was ordered built by Columbus at Nueva Isabella, afterwards replaced by Santo Do- mingo. It was finished in 1502. A second Francis- can convent arose in the interior at La Vega about the same time. In connexion with both houses the first schools in America were opened, where Indian boys were taught reading, writing, and singing. While the secular clergj' attended to the spiritual needs of the Spaniards, the Franciscans and a few Hieronymites devoted themselves to the conversion of the natives. Cardinal Ximenes, himself a Franciscan, sent thirteen of his brethren to Hispaniola in 1502. They took with them the first bells and the first organ. Before the lapse of ten years after the discovery, nineteen Friars Minor had landed on the Isle of Hispaniola. About the year 1500 the Franciscans passed over to the island of Cuba, and founded the first monastery in honour of St. James (Santiago) for the conversion of the Indians. At the general chapter of the order held at Tours, France, in 1505, the convents of Hispaniola and Cuba were united in a province under the title of Santa Cruz. It was the first organization of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. At the request of the king, Pope JuKus II, on 15 November, 1504, appointed the Franciscan Friar Garcia de Padilla first Bishop of Santo Domingo, the first diocese in the New World. The bishop-elect was consecrated in May, 1512, but died on 12 November, 1515, before reaching his see. In 1511 the king sent twenty-three Friars Minor to the island of San Juan or Porto Rico. Before the end of the same year the Indian missions of the Greater An- tilles and most of the Lesser Antilles were in charge of the Franciscans. Their first martyrs fell victims of apostolic zeal among the cannibal Caribs in 1516, when Fathers Fernando Salcedo and Diego Botellio, with an unknown lay brother, were captured, killed, and de- voured by the savages.

The Franciscans were also the first religious on the mainland or continent of America, as they landed on the Isthmus about the year 1512. When King Ferdi- nand heard of it, he named the Franciscan Father Juan de Quevedo Bishop of Santa Maria de la Antigua

(Darien) and sent him with a band of his brethren to the newly erected diocese. Pope Leo X, on 28 August, 1513, approved the nomination. Quevedo reached the scene of his future activity on 12 April, 1514. Fathers Juan de Aora and Juan de Tecto entered Hon- duras with Cort(!>s about the year 1525, and the first convent was erected there in 1526 or 1527. Father Toribio de Benavente (Motolinia) reached Guatemala about 1533. Thereafter missions and convents arose at various places, until in 1550 they were organized into a custody under the title of Nombre de Jesiis. In 1565 the custody, comprising 7 monasteries and 30 friars, was made a province. During the years 1571- 1573, 66 friars arrived there from Spain, and in 1600 the province reported 22 convents. Father Motolinia is said to have visited Nicaragua before 1530. The first bishop of the country was the Franciscan Pedro de Zuiiiga. The twelve convents of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Talamanca were organized into the province of San Jorge (St. George) in 1576. Yucatan received the first Friars Minor in 1534. The custody of San Jos^ was established in 1550, and it became a province in 1565. In 1600 the report showed the existence of 6 regular monasteries and 16 minor houses. The first Bishop of Yucatan, Juan de la Puerta, was a member of the Franciscan Order.

In 1 5 1 6 the King of Spain sent fourteen Friars Minor to the northern coast of South America, later called New Granada and now known as Colombia. In 1550 the convents of this district were united in a custody, and in 1565, when there were twelve monasteries, the general chapter raised the custody to the rank of a province under the title of Santa Fe de Bogotrl. Even at this early date there were two convents of Poor Clares in that region ; they were subject to the jurisdic- tion of the Franciscan provincial. In 1587 this prov- ince reported 25 convents and 44 Indian missions. In 1519 some Franciscan friars reached the coast of Paria or Venezuela, founded missions, and opened schools for Indian boys whom they taught reading, writing, and singing. The famous Father Marcos de Niza, who with Francisco Pizarro penetrated to Ecuador and Peru in 1532, founded the first convent at Cuzco. It was in this country that St. Francis Solanus la- boured among the Indians and Spaniards from about 1589 to 1610 when he died. Eleven of the religious houses of Peru were organized into the province of San Francisco de Quito in 1565. A convent of Concep- tionist Sisters, a branch of Poor Clares, existed within the jurisdiction of this province. Another province, that of the Twelve Apostles of Lima, was formed of eleven other monasteries and seven minor convents among the Indians in 1565. It had been a custody since 1553. Both provinces are still in existence. The first Franciscan community in Chile was founded at Santiago in 1535. The first Bishop of Santiago, Martin Robleda, of the Friars Minor, was the founder. A custody was organized in 1553, and in 1565 the twelve convents of the country were united into the province of Santfsima Trinidad. A convent of terti- aries existed at the same time. The territory along the Rio de la Plata (Argentina and Paraguay) became the scene of Franciscan acti vitj' as early as 1 538. The Franciscan Juan Barrott was appointed first Bishop of Rfo de la Plata in 1554. In 1592 a custody was organ- ized, and in 1612 it was raised to the rank of a prov- ince under the invocation of Nuestra Seiiora de la Asuncion. Brazil is said to have been visited by Por- tuguese Franciscans as early as 1 499 or 1 501. Cert ain it is that three Friars Minor reached that country in April, 1584, and a custody was organized in the same year. In 1657 it became a province under the protec- tion of San Antonio. In 1678 the province of the Im- maculate Conception was established in the same territory. At present the order there is in a most flour- ishing condition. Bolivia was entered by the Friars Minor in 1606. A monastery was founded at Tarija in