Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/437

 FRANCISCANS 425 the bishop of Geneva, whose death in 1602 left to Francis the full charge of the diocese. His episcopal life was characterized by the same zeal, vigor, and devotion which had marked his missionary career. He went first to Paris, where he preached before Henry IV. in the chapel of the Louvre, and the most tempting offers of wealth and position were made to retain him in France. But he pre- ferred to return, and after assisting the cardinal de Berulle in the establishment of the Carme- lite order and the congregation of the Oratory, he went back to Switzerland. He established new and stricter rules, not only for the clergy and laity of his diocese, but for his own per- sonal conduct. He renounced all luxuries, multiplied fasts, discouraged lawsuits, and re- formed the lax discipline of the monasteries. His fame as a preacher led various cities to solicit his aid in the services of the Lenten season. He was more than once chosen, from his moderate and peaceful temper, to reconcile dissenting parties and orders in the church. A still wider renown was given to his name by the publication (in 1608) of & Introduction d la vie devote. It was translated into many tongues, and in less than 50 years 40 editions of it were published. Francis was far from undervaluing monastic institutions. He not only established convents of existing orders, but, in conjunction with the widowed baroness de Chantal, founded the order of the Visita- tion. Having become acquainted with that lady during a visit to Paris in 1604, he com- municated to her his plan of a new order of nuns. In 1610, at Annecy, he gave the habit of the new society to her and two other ladies. In 1616 he published his Traite de Vamour de Dieu, a fit sequel to his " Introduction." The appointment of a younger brother as as- sistant bishop enabled him to give himself more fully to the work of conversion. The famous Calvinistic leader Lesdiguieres became one of his converts. In 1619 he visited Paris as one of the embassy sent to secure the hand of the princess Christine for the young prince of Piedmont. His preaching in this visit re- vived the impression which it had made in the previous reign. On his return to his own diocese he applied himself more resolutely than ever to the ministration of alms, the suppres- sion of scandals, and exercises of personal discipline. In 1622 he accompanied Louis XIII. of France from Avignon to Lyons, where on Christmas day, after preaching, he was attacked with apoplexy, and died. The works of St. Francis have been often published. The best editions are that of Louis Vives (14 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1857-'9), and that of Perisse freres (5 vols. 8vo, Lyons, 1855 and 1864). FRANCISCANS, Gray Friars, or Minorites (Lat. Fratres Minores), a religious order in the Roman Catholic church, founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assist When the number of his disciples had increased to ten, he gave them in 1210 a rule, in which strict poverty and a union of the active and contemplative life are the principal points. The order was orally confirmed by Innocent III. in 1210, and again in 1215, and spread with such rapidity that 5,000 brethren were assembled at the general chapter in 1219. In 1223 Honorius III. by a bull confirmed the order as the first among the mendicant orders, gave them the right of collecting alms, con- firmed to the church of Portiuncula the cele- brated indulgence which was afterward extend- ed to all the churches of the Franciscans, and granted them several other privileges. The vow of poverty made the Franciscans favorites with all classes of the people, and thus secured them large numbers of novices. Forty-two years after the death of the founder the num- ber of Franciscans was estimated at about 200,- 000, with 8,000 convents in 23 provinces. At the head of each convent was a guardian; the guardians of a province chose a provincial, who was assisted by definitores ; the general assembly of all the provincials (general chap- ter) elected a general, and likewise definitores. The simplicity of the rule left room for the greatest variety of opinions. This showed it- self during the lifetime of the founder, one party wishing to have the vow of poverty mitigated, the other strenuously opposing any such change. The strife continued from 1219, when Elias of Cortona, the first leader of the milder party, was made by St. Francis himself vicar general of the order, till 1517, when Leo X. divided them into two separate organiza- tions. At the election of almost every new gen- eral we find the two parties in competition, the popes themselves sometimes siding with the one, sometimes with the other. The milder party, when in a minority, submitted ; but the rigorous party, when prevented from uphold- ing the whole rule of St. Francis, preferred to form separate branches. In several cases they went so far as to appeal from a decision of the pope to a general council. As early as 1236, when Elias of Cortona, after having been once expelled, was reflected general of the order, Cassarius of Spire left it, followed by 72 others, called after him the Ceesarines or Caasarians ; but they were reconciled with their brethren in 1256, at the restoration of a stricter obser- vance by St. Bonaventura. The lax government of the general Matteo di Aquas Spartas caused in 1294 the foundation of the Minorite Celes- tines, who after the death of their protector, Celestine V., were in 1307 condemned as here- tics and suppressed. Some of them who fied to France established in 1308 the Minorites of Narbonne and the Spirituals, who were like- wise condemned in 1318. Another offshoot of Celestines, the Minorite Clarenines, founded in 1302 by Angelo di Cortona, was tolerated till 1506, when they united with the Observants. Much more successful than these secessions was the undertaking of Paoletto di Foligno in 1368 to restore the strict observance of the rule. His followers were called Observants, and those who adhered to the milder rule