Lesson 23 - The Great Mendicant Orders

1.   INTRODUCTION

-   Great saints are God’s answer to the particular needs and difficulties of an age.

-   By perfectly living the ideal of poverty in imitatio Christi, and at the same time refraining from scolding others for their wealth or going so far as calling property as “evil” in itself, Dominic and Francis taught the way to possess and to renounce at the same time.

2.   ST. FRANCIS AND THE FRANCISCANS (ORDO FRATRUM MINORUM)

-   he was born in Assisi in 1181/1182.

-   1205 – on his way to a military campaign in Apulia to gain knighthood, he was seized by the ideal of poverty. He renounced the world and performed works of penitence and charity.

-   1206 – his father expelled him and he wandered through the country singing and begging

-   1208/1209 – Mt 10:5 ff gave him a pattern of future life.

-   1209/1210 – went to Rome to receive papal approval of his way of life and authorization to preach from Innocent III.

-   1214/1215 – preaching penance and God’s love, he traveled through Italy, Southern France and Spain.

-   they called themselves fratres minores: they wanted to convert the Cathari and the Moors not by force but through love, humility and joy.

-   Illness prevented his crossing over to Morocco and at 1215 he returned to Assisi.

-   1219 – he accompanied a crusading army in Egypt. Instead of conquering with weapons his mission is to achieve conquest through love.

-   1221 – Francis gave a rule to his order which was redacted by Cardinal Ugolino and approved in 1223.

-   1224 – he suffered from grave affliction of eye and stomach, received the stigmata of the Lord in Mount Alverno.

-   October 3, 1226 – he died while singing the Te Deum

ORDER OF STA. CLARA

-   Closely associated to the Franciscans

-   1212 – St. Claire put herself under the guidance of St. Francis and settled in San Damiano

-   1221 – third orders were added to the movement


SUPPLEMENTUM:

There are three autonomous branches of the first Franciscan Order, the  Friars Minor simply so called (but until lately usually known as Observants or Recollects), the Capuchins Friars Minor and the Conventual Friars Minor. This division of the first Franciscan Order has come about by reason of various reforms; thus the Observants were a reform which separated from the Conventuals, and the Capuchins are a reform of the Observants.

3.   ST. DOMINIC AND THE DOMINICANS (ORDO FRATRUM PRAEDICATORUM)

-   He was born in ca.1170 in Caleruega

-           He studied Philosophy and Theology in the University of Palencia

-           He stayed for 10 years at the Cathedral of Osma where he became subprior

-   He was a canon regular who on his trip to Rome in 1204 became acquainted with the Cathari in southern France. Story of the innkeeper who he converted. For 11-12 years he preached in the Languedoc area

-   itinerant preacher and living in apostolic poverty.

-   poverty + good theological training

-   1215 – he asked for the approval of his order and Innocent III demanded him to accept the Augustinian Rule and Honorius III confirmed the order in Dec. 1216 and Jan 1217 held the title Order Friar Preachers .

-   1217 – Prouille (association of pious women). Later, third order were added.

-   Peter Seila donated the first house of the OP

-   He is present in the 4^th Lateran council

-   August 15, 1217 – He dispersed his brethren to the university and other places

4.   OTHER MENDICANT ORDERS

a.   The Carmelites (1229, 1247)

 -   They were relocated in Europe from the Holy land (Christian hermits)  in 1228, and Gregory IX approved the group in 1229 and became an order in 1247

-             Order for women was established in 1452

b.   The Augustinians (Ordo Heremitorum Sancti Augustini)(1256)

-              They received papal approval in 1256

c.   There were still other mendicants such as Trinitarians and Mercedarians who remain in the Church not outside the Church like the heretics.