Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FRANCISCANS (otherwise called Friars ...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 3 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FRANCISCANS (otherwise called Friars See also:Minor, or Minorites; also the Seraphic See also:Order ; and in See also:England See also:Grey Friars, from the See also:colour of the See also:habit, which, however, is now See also:brown rather than grey) , a religious order founded by St See also:Francis of See also:Assisi (q.v.). It was in 1206 that St Francis See also:left his See also:father's See also:house and devoted himself to a See also:life of poverty and to the service of the See also:Door, the sick and the lepers; and in 1209 that he See also:felt the See also:call to add See also:preaching to his other ministrations, and to See also:lead a life in the closest See also:imitation of See also:Christ's life. Within a few See also:weeks disciples began to join them-selves to him; the See also:condition was that they should dispose of all their possessions. When their number was twelve Francis led the little See also:flock to See also:Rome to obtain the See also:pope's See also:sanction for their undertaking. See also:Innocent III. received them kindly, but with some misgivings as to the feasibility of the proposed manner of life; these difficulties were overcome, and the pope accorded a provisional approval by word of mouth: they were to become clerics and to elect a See also:superior. Francis was elected and made a promise of obedience to the pope, and the others promised obedience to Francis. This formal inauguration of the See also:institute was in 1209 or (as seems more probable) 1210. Francis and his associates were first known as " Penitents of Assisi," and then Francis See also:chose the See also:title of " Minors." On their return to Assisi they obtained from the See also:Benedictine See also:abbey on See also:Mount Subasio the use of the little See also:chapel of St See also:Mary of the Angels, called the Portiuncula, in the See also:plain below Assisi, which became the See also:cradle and headquarters of the order. Around the Portiuncula they built themselves huts of branches and twigs, but they had no fixed See also:abode; they wandered in pairs over the See also:country, dressed in the See also:ordinary clothes of the peasants, working in the See also:fields to See also:earn their daily See also:bread, sleeping in barns or in the hedgerows or in the porches of the churches, mixing with the labourers and the poor, with the lepers and the outcasts, ever joyous—the " joculatores " or " jongleurs " of God—ever carrying out their See also:mission of preaching to the lowly and to the wretched See also:religion and repentance and the See also:kingdom of See also:God. The See also:key-See also:note of the See also:movement was the imitation of the public life of Christ, especially the poverty of Christ. Francis and his disciples were to aim at possessing nothing, absolutely nothing, so far as was compatible with life; they were to earn their bread from See also:day to day by the See also:work of their hands, and only when they could not do so were they to beg; XI. rthey were to make no See also:provision for the morrow, See also:lay by no See also:store, accumulate no See also:capital, possess no See also:land; their clothes should be the poorest and their dwellings the meanest; they were forbidden to receive or to handle See also:money. On the other See also:hand they were See also:bound only to the fast observed in those days by pious Christians, and were allowed to eat nieat—the See also:rule said they should eat whatever was set before them; no austerities were imposed, beyond those inseparable from the manner of life they lived.

Thus the institute in its See also:

original conception was quite different from the monastic institute, Benedictine or See also:Canon See also:Regular. It was a confraternity rather than an order, and there was no formal novitiate, no organization. But the number of See also:brothers increased with extraordinary rapidity, and the See also:field of work soon extended itself beyond the neighbourhood of Assisi and even beyond Umbria—within three or four years there were settlements in See also:Perugia, See also:Cortona, See also:Pisa, See also:Florence and elsewhere, and See also:missions to the See also:Saracens and See also:Moors were attempted by Francis himself. About 1217 Franciscan missions set out for See also:Germany, See also:France, See also:Spain, See also:Hungary and the See also:Holy Land; and in 1219 a number of provinces were formed, each governed by a provincial See also:minister. These developments, whereby the little See also:band of Umbrian apostles had grown into an institute spread all over See also:Europe and even penetrating to the See also:East, and numbering thousands of members, rendered impossible the continuance of the original See also:free organization whereby Francis's word and ex-ample were the sufficient See also:practical rule of life for all: it was necessary as a condition of efficiency and even of existence and permanence that some See also:kind of organization should be provided. From an See also:early date yearly meetings or chapters had been held at the Portiuncula, at first attended by the whole See also:body of friars; but as the institute extended this became unworkable, and after 1219 the See also:chapter consisted only of the officials, provincial ministers and others. During Francis's See also:absence in the East (1219–1220) a deliberate movement was initiated by the two vicars whom he had left in See also:charge of the order, towards assimilating it to the monastic orders. Francis hurried back, bringing with him See also:Elias of Cortona, the provincial minister of See also:Syria, and immediately summoned an extraordinary See also:general chapter (See also:September 1220). Before it met he had an interview on the situation with See also:Cardinal Hugolino of See also:Ostia (afterwards See also:Gregory IX.),the See also:great friend and supporter of both Francis and See also:Dominic, u and he went to See also:Honorius III. at See also:Orvieto and begged thatHugolino should be appointed the See also:official See also:protector of the order. The See also:request was granted, and a See also:bull was issued formally approving the order of Friars Minor, and decreeing that before See also:admission every one must pass a See also:year's novitiate, and that after profession it was not lawful to leave the order. By this bull the Friars Minor were constituted an order in the technical sense of the word. When the chapter assembled, Francis, no doubt from a genuine feeling that he was not able to govern a great See also:world-wide order, practically abdicated the See also:post of minister-general by appointing a See also:vicar, and the policy of turning the Friars Minor into a great religious order was consistently pursued, especially by Elias, who a year later became Francis's vicar.

St Francis's attitude towards this See also:

change is of See also:primary importance for the See also:interpretation of Franciscan See also:history. There can be little doubt that his affections never altered from his first love, and that he looked back regretfully on the " Umbrian idyll " that had passed away; on the other hand, there seems to be no See also:reason for doubting that he saw that the methods of the early days were now no longer possible, and that he acquiesced in the inevitable. This seems to be See also:Professor See also:Goetz's view, who holds that See also:Sabatier's picture of Francis's agonized sadness at witnessing the destruction of his great creation going on under his eyes, has no counterpart in fact, and who rejects the view that the changes were forced on Francis against. his See also:letter See also:judgment by Flugolino and Elias (see " Note on See also:Sources " at end of See also:article FRANCIS of Assist; also ELIAS OF CoRTONA); Goetz holds that the only conflict was the inevitable one between in unrealizable ideal and its practical working among See also:average men. But there does seem to be See also:evidence that Francis deplored tendencies towards a departure from the severe simplicity of life and from the strict observance of poverty which he considered the ground-See also:idea of his institute. In the final redaction of his Rule made in 1223 and in his Testament, made after it, he again clearly asserts his mind on these subjects, especially on poverty; and in the Testament he forbids any glosses in the interpretation of the Rule, declaring that it is to be taken simply as it stands. Sabatier's view as to the difference between the " First Rule " and that of 1223 is See also:part of his general theory, and is, to say the least, a See also:grave exaggeration. No doubt the First Rule, which is fully four times as See also:long, gives a better picture of St Francis's mind and See also:character; the later Rule has been formed from the earlier by the elimination of the frequent scripture texts and the edificatory See also:element; but the greater portion of it stood almost verbally in the earlier. On Francis's See also:death in 1226 the See also:government of the order rested in the hands of Elias until the chapter of 1227. At this chapter Elias was not elected minister-general; the See also:building of the great See also:basilica and monastery at Assisi was so See also:manifest a violation of St Francis's ideas and precepts that it produced a reaction, and See also:John Parenti became St Francis's first successor. He held fast to St Francis's ideas, but was not a strong See also:man. At the chapter of 1230 a discussion arose concerning the binding force of St Francis's Testament, and the interpretation of certain portions of the Rule, especially concerning poverty, and it was determined to submit the questions to Pope Gregory IX., who had been St Francis's friend and had helped in the final redaction of the Rule. He issued a bull, Quo elongati, which declared that as the Testament had not received the sanction of the general chapter it was not binding on the order, and also allowed trustees to hold and administer money for the order.

John Parenti and those who wished to maintain St Francis's institute intact were greatly disturbed by these relaxations; but a See also:

majority of the chapter of 1232, by a sort of coup d'etat, proclaimed Elias minister-general, and John retired, though in those days the See also:office was for life. Under Elias the order entered on a See also:period of extraordinary See also:extension and prosperity: the number of friars in all parts of the world increased wonderfully, new provinces were formed, new missions to the See also:heathen organized, the Franciscans entered the See also:universities and vied with the See also:Dominicans as teachers of See also:theology and canon See also:law, and as a body they became influential in See also:church and See also:state. With all this See also:side of Elias's policy the great bulk of the order sympathized; but his rule was despotic and tyrannical and his private life was lax—at least according to any Franciscan See also:standard, for no charge of grave irregularity was ever brought against him. And so a widespread movement against his government arose, the backbone of which was the university element at See also:Paris and See also:Oxford, and at a dramatic See also:scene in a chapter held in the presence of Gregory IX. Elias was deposed (1234). The See also:story of these first years after St Francis's death is best told by Ed. Lempp, See also:Frere See also:Elie de Cortone (1901) (but see the warning at the end of the article ELIAS OF CoRTONA). At this See also:time the Franciscans were divided into three parties: there were the Zealots, or Spirituals, who called for a literal observance of St Francis's Rule and Testament; they deplored all the developments since 1219, and protested against turning the institute into an order, the frequentation of the universities and the pursuit of learning; in a word, they wished to restore the life to what it had been during the first few years—the hermitages and the huts of twigs, and the care of the lepers and the nomadic preaching. The Zealots were few in'number but of great consequence from the fact that to them belonged most of the first disciples and the most intimate companions of St Francis. They had been grievously persecuted under Elias—Br. See also:Leo and others had been scourged, several had been imprisoned, one while trying to See also:escape was accidentally killed, and Br. See also:Bernard, the " first See also:disciple," passed a year in hiding in the forests and mountains hunted like a See also:wild beast.

At the other extreme was a party of relaxation, that abandoned any serious effort to practise Franciscan poverty and simplicity of life. Between these two stood the great See also:

middle party of moderates, who desired indeed that the Franciscans should be really poor and See also:simple in their manner of life, and really pious, but on the other hand approved of the development of the Order on the lines of other orders, of the acquisition of See also:influence, of the cultivation of theology and other sciences, and of the frequenting of the universities. The questions of principle at issue in these controversies is reason-ably and clearly stated, from the See also:modern Capuchin standpoint, in the " See also:Introductory See also:Essay " to The Friars and how they came to England, by Fr. See also:Cuthbert (1903). The moderate party was by far the largest, and embraced nearly all the friars of France, England and Germany. It was the Moderates and not the Zealots that brought about Elias's deposition, and the next general ministers belonged to this party. Further relaxations of the law of poverty, however, caused a reaction, and John of See also:Parma, one of the Zealots, became minister-general, 1247-1257. Under him the more extreme of the Zealots took up and exaggerated the theories of the Eternal See also:Gospel of the Calabrian Cistercian See also:abbot See also:Joachim of Fiore (See also:Floris); some of their writings were condemned as heretical, and John of Parma, who was implicated in these apocalyptic tendencies, had to resign. He was succeeded by St See also:Bonaventura (1257-1274), one of the best type of the middle party. He was a man of high character, a theologian, a mystic, a holy man and a strong ruler. He set himself with determination to effect a working See also:compromise, and proceeded with firmness against the extremists on both sides. But controversy and recrimination and persecution had stiffened the more ardent among the Zealots into obstinate fanatics—some of them threw themselves into a movement that may best be briefly described as a recrudescence of See also:Montanism (see Emile Gebhart's See also:Italic mystique, 1899, cc.

V. and vi.), and See also:

developed into a number of sects, some on the fringe of See also:Catholic See also:Christianity and others beyond its See also:pale. But the majority of the Zealot party, or Spirituals, did not go so far, and adopted as the principle of Franciscan poverty the See also:formula " a poor and scanty use " (usus pauper et See also:tennis) of earthly goods, as opposed to the " moderate use " advocated by the less strict party. The question thus posed came before the See also:Council of See also:Vienne, 1312, and was determined, on the whole, decidedly in favour of the stricter view. Some of the See also:French Zealots were not satisfied and formed a semi-schismatical body in See also:Provence; twenty-five of them were tried before the See also:Inquisition, and four were burned alive at See also:Marseilles as obstinate heretics, 1318. After this the See also:schism in the Order subsided. But the disintegrating forces produced by the Great Schism and by the other disorders of the 14th See also:century caused among the Franciscans the same relaxations and corruptions, and also the same reactions and reform movements, as among the other orders. The See also:chief of these reforms was that of the Observants, which began at See also:Foligno about 1370. The Observant reform was on the basis of the " poor and scanty use " of worldly goods, but it was organized as an order and its members freely pursued theological studies; thus it did not represent the position of the original Zealot party, nor was it the continuation of it. The Observant reform spread widely throughout See also:Italy and into France, Spain and Germany. The great promoters of the movement were St Bernardine of See also:Siena and St John Capistran. The council of See also:Constance, 1415, allowed the French Observant friaries to be ruled by a vicar of their own, under the minister-general, and the same See also:privilege was soon accorded to other countries. By the end of the middle ages the Observants had some 1400 houses divided into 5o provinces.

This movement produced a "See also:

half-reform" among the Conventuals or friars of the mitigated observance; it also called forth a number of lesser imitations or congregations of strict observance. After many attempts had been made to bring about a working See also:union among the many observances, in 1517 Leo X. divided the Franciscan order into two distinct and See also:independent bodies, each with its own minister-general, its own provinces and provincials and its own general chapter: (1) The Conventuals, who were authorized to use the various papal dispensations in regard to the observance of poverty, and were allowed to possess See also:property and fixed income, corporately, like the monastic orders: (2) The Observants, who were bound to as See also:close an observance of St Francis's Rule in regard to poverty and all else as was practically possible. At this time a great number of the Conventuals went over to the Observants, who have ever since been by far the more numerous and influential See also:branch of the order. Among the Observants in the course of the sixteenth century arose various reforms, each striving to approach more and more nearly to St Francis's ideal; the chief of these reforms were the Alcantarines in Spain (St See also:Peter of See also:Alcantara, St Teresa's friend, d. 1562), the Riformati in Italy and the Recollects in France: all of these were semi-independent congregations. The See also:Capuchins (q.v.), established c. 1525, who claim to be the reform which approaches nearest in its conception to the original type, became a distinct order of Franciscans in 1619. Finally Leo XIII. grouped the Franciscans into three bodies or orders—the Conventuals; the Observants, embracing all branches of the strict observance, except the Capuchins; and the Capuchins—which together constitute the " First Order." For the " Second Order," or the nuns, see See also:CLARA, ST, and See also:CLARES, PooR; and for the "Third Order " see See also:TERTIARIES. Many of the Tertiaries live a fully monastic life in community under the usual vows, and are formed into Congregations of Regular Tertiaries, both men and See also:women. They have been and•are still very numerous, and give themselves up to See also:education, to the care of the sick and of orphans and to See also:good See also:works of all kinds. No order has had so stormy an See also:internal history as the Francis-cans; yet in spite of all the troubles and dissensions and strivings that have marred Franciscan history, the Friars Minor of every kind have in each See also:age faithfully and zealously carried on St Francis's great work of ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor. Always recruited in large measure from among the poor, they have ever been the order of the poor, and in their preaching and missions and ministrations they have ever laid themselves out to meet the needs of the poor.

Another great work of the Franciscans throughout the whole course of their history has been their missions to the Mahommedans, both in western See also:

Asia and in See also:North See also:Africa, and to the heathens in See also:China, See also:Japan and See also:India, and North and See also:South See also:America; a great number of sthe friars were martyred. The See also:news of the martyrdom of five of his friars in See also:Morocco was one of the joys of St Francis's closing years. Many of these missions exist to this day. In the Universities, too, the Franciscans made themselves felt alongside of the Dominicans, and created a See also:rival school of theology, wherein, as contrasted with the Aristotelianism of the Dominican school, the See also:Platonism of the early See also:Christian doctors has been perpetuated. The Franciscans came to England in 1224 and immediately made See also:foundations in See also:Canterbury, See also:London and Oxford; by the middle of the century there were fifty friaries and over 1200 friars in England; at the See also:Dissolution there were some 66 Franciscan friaries, whereof some six belonged to the Observants(for See also:list see Catholic See also:Dictionary and F. A. Gasquet's See also:English Monastic Life, 1904). Though nearly all the English houses belonged to what has been called the " middle party," as a See also:matter of fact they practised great poverty, and the commissioners of See also:Henry VIII. often remark that the Franciscan Friary was the poorest of the religious houses of a See also:town. The English See also:province was one of the most remarkable in the order, especially in intellectual achievement; it produced See also:Friar See also:Roger See also:Bacon, and, with the single exception of St Bonaventure, all the greatest doctors of the Franciscan theological school—Alexander See also:Hales, See also:Duns Scotus and See also:Occam. The Franciscans have always been the most numerous by far of the religious orders; it is estimated that about the period of the See also:Reformation the Friars Minor must have numbered nearly 1oo,000. At the See also:present day the See also:statistics are roughly (including lay-brothers) : Observants, 15,000, Conventuals, 1500; to these should be added 9500 Capuchins, making the See also:total number of Franciscan friars about 26,000. There are various houses of Observants and Capuchins in England and See also:Ireland; and the old Irish Conventuals survived the penal times and still exist.

There have been four Franciscan popes: See also:

Nicholas IV. (1288-1292), See also:Sixtus IV. (1471-1484), Sixtus V. (1585-1590), See also:Clement XIV. (1769--1774); the three last were Conventuals. The great source for Franciscan history is See also:Wadding's Annales; it has been many times continued, and now extends in 25 vols. fol. to the year 1622. The story is also told by See also:Helyot, Hist. See also:des ordres religieux (1714), vol. Vii. Abridgments, with references to See also:recent literature, will be found in Max Heimbucher, Orden and Kongregationen (1896), i. §§ 37-51; in Wetter and Welte, Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed.), articles " Armut (III.)," " Franciscaner orden " (this article contains the best See also:account of the inner history and the polity of the order up to 1886) ; in See also:Herzog, Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.), articles " See also:Franz von Assisi " (fullest references to literature up to 1899), " Fraticellen." Of modern See also:critical studies on Franciscan origins, K. Miiller's Anfange des Minoritenordens and der Bussbruderschaften (1885), and various articles by F. Ehrle in Archiv See also:fur Litteratur- and Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters and Zeitschrift fur Katholische Theologie, deserve See also:special mention.

Eccleston's charming See also:

chronicle of " The Coming of the Friars Minor into England " has been translated into English by the Capuchin Fr. Cuthbert, who has prefixed an Introductory Essay giving by far the best account in English of " the Spirit and See also:Genius of the Franciscan Friars " (The Friars and how they came to England, 1903). See also:Fuller in-formation on the English Franciscans will be found in A. G. Little's Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxford Hist. See also:Soc., 1892). (E. C.

End of Article: FRANCISCANS (otherwise called Friars Minor, or Minorites; also the Seraphic Order ; and in England Grey Friars, from the colour of the habit, which, however, is now brown rather than grey)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FRANCIS, SIR PHILIP (174o-1818) 		[next]
FRANCK

Site © 2006 - Net Industries