BIZZOCCHI AND BIZZOCCHE. — Men and women (also called *Bizzocch*, *Bizzocchier*, *Bizzoccar*, *Pinczocar*) who in the 13th and 14th centuries led devout lives and wore religious habits while remaining in the world; they generally belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis (cf. G. Boccaccio, Nov. 24a, 2). They appear to have been widespread in central Italy already in the 13th century and show great similarity to the Beghards and Beguines (v.).
Mingling with the people, they initially exercised a salutary influence on morals through their simple and poor way of life (*Life of Cola di Rienzo*: “he wore modest garments of a bizzocco, not these pompous ones”), promoted piety and concord, devoted themselves to caring for the sick, and practiced hospitality. In the 14th century they began to organize into associations; sometimes they gathered for communal life, taking vows of chastity and poverty, or else retained their property without taking vows.
The name seems to derive from the Late Latin *bizochus*,
LE CATALOGUE DES LIVRES CENSIVES par la faculte de Théologie de Paris, avec la seconde et troisième & Acc. edition.
Item l'Edité fait par le Roy treffiche, and by Henry the duke the said books are censured.
Rome apud Antonium Bladume.
M. D. XLI Xe.
(photo Enc. Catt.)
BIO. — Title page of the catalogue of prohibited books by the University of Paris, Rome, 1549. — Copy in the Vatican Library.
probably from the grey or *bizzo* (Lat. *bisus*, Fr. *bis*) color of the garments they wore; others derive the term from *bisaccia* (a type of bag), and others still from the German *Büsserchen*, a diminutive of *Büsser* (penitent).
The women formed small communities under the guidance of Dominican, Franciscan, and Augustinian friars, frequenting the churches of their Order when they did not have their own; and they soon had their own monasteries.
The men maintained a freer way of life longer than the women; they were included under the generic name of *continentes*. In Fraticelli (v.). Various groups were drawn into heterodox doctrines, especially regarding poverty and chastity, and loudly opposed the luxury of the higher clergy. These aligned themselves with the extremist spirituals of the Franciscan Order and were condemned first by John XXII in 1318 and later suppressed by the Inquisition.
The female movement is identified outside Italy with that of the Beguines (v.). Emidio da Ascoli