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 426 FRANCISCANS Conventuals. Henceforth these two names distinguished the two great parties. By the 15th century the number of new congrega- tions had thrown the order into great contu- sion. Leo X. made an attempt in 1517 to re- unite them, but succeeded only with the va- rious congregations of Observants, on whom he therefore conferred the right of electing the general (minister generalis), while the Conven- tuals could only elect a magister general (ma- gister generalis), whose election had to be con- firmed by the general. From that time the quarrels between the Observants and Conven- tuals were less violent. The Conventuals made several attempts to regain the ascen- dancy, but in 1631 Urban VIII. commanded them to abandon their claims for ever. Not- withstanding the desire of the pope that no further separations should occur, several con- gregations arose, mostly for the purpose of still surpassing the strict observance of the Obser- vants. These communities were styled Minor- ites of the stricter observance, and, though forming separate provinces from the main body of the regular Observants, were always under the same general. They were called Alcanta- rines in Spain from St. Peter of Alcantara, Reformed in Italy and Germany, and Recollects in France, England, Ireland, Belgium, and Hol- land. The Capuchins, originally a congrega- tion of reformed Franciscans, became after- ward an independent order. (See CAPUCHINS.) The number of Franciscans has been great- ly reduced by political revolutions since 1789. In the 18th century the order, including the Capuchins, still counted nearly 200,000 mem- bers with about 26,000 convents; in 1843 the number of the Observants, the most nu- merous branch, was estimated at about 80,000. Since 1848 the number of the order has been gradually increasing in the British empire, the United States, Belgium, Holland, France, and Germany ; in the Italian and Spanish peninsu- las they have now completely ceased to exist as religious corporations ; while in Mexico a law has recently been passed abolishing all re- ligious orders, secularizing their members, and sequestrating their property. In Asia they have a province in Palestine, whose members are the guardians of the holy sepulchre and other Christian sanctuaries, and are celebrated for their hospitality to pilgrims and travellers. In China they have charge of two apostolic vi- cariates. The Franciscans were the earliest missionaries to America, having come over with Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. Their first formal establishment in the new world was in 1502, when 12 friars, with a pre- late named Antonio de Espinal, accompanied Ovando to Santo Domingo. They went to Florida with Pamfilo de Narvaez in 1528, one of their number, Juan Juarez, bearing the rank of bishop ; but of this band of missionaries we know little ; they seem to have effected no establishment, and all perished. An Italian Franciscan, Mark of Nice, penetrated into New Mexico and California in 1539, and gave th name San Francisco to the country which he visited. The exaggerated reports of what he had seen and heard led adventurers to those regions, and with them came a number of Franciscans, some of whom remained behind after the return of the expedition and were martyred. Father Andres de Olmos founded a successful mission in Texas in 1544. Subse- quently priests of this order established them- selves permanently in Florida, California, Mexi- co, and other parts of the south and west, and were among the first to plant Christianity in Canada, and in what are now the northern and northwestern states of the Union. Their labors in Canada date from 1615, when four Recol- lects (three priests and one lay brother) came over from France and took charge of the Huron, Algonquin, and Montagnais missions, which they and their brethren conducted alone until the Jesuits came to aid them in 1625. Tiie Recollects figured largely in the missionary history of Canada for many years. The cele- brated explorer Hennepin was a Franciscan missionary. The foundations of the order in California, notwithstanding the numbers who were put to death by the Indians, still remain, and have recently been reenforced by acces- sions from Europe. They are numerous in all parts of Central and South America. Their present houses in the United States, except those in California, have been founded very recently, chiefly by Italians and Germans. In 1873 the following establishments existed in the United States, having altogether 80 priests : two convents in New York city ;. a college and convent in Alleghany, N. Y. ; a convent in Buffalo ; a college and convent in Teutopo- lis, 111. ; besides convents in Winsted, Conn., Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Lou- isville, Nashville, Oldenburg, Ind., and Quin- cy, 111. The Conventuals have convents in Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, Malta, Poland, and Turkey. We find Franciscans soon after the death of St. Francis as professors of the- ology at the university of Paris, which in 1244 was commanded by Pope Innocent IV. to ad- mit Franciscans and Dominicans to academical dignities. In union with the Dominicans they strove for several centuries to extend in the theological schools the influence of the monas- tic orders at the expense of the secular clergy. With the Dominicans they maintained various philosophical and theological controversies, the Franciscans being realists, anti-Augustinians, and defenders of the immaculate conception, while the Dominicans are nominalists and Au- gustinians, and were formerly opponents of the immaculate conception. Among the celebrated men produced by the order are Anthony of Padua, Bonaventura, Alexander of Hales, Duns Scotus, Roger Bacon, Nicolaus de Myra, Occam, Cardinal Ximenes, and the popes Nicholas IV., Alexander V., Sixtus IV., Sixtus V., and Clem- ent XIV. In the first period of their history they had a considerable number of mystical