FRATI MINORI FRANCISCANS — An order mentioned, founded by St. Francis of Assisi, now constituted by three autonomous families: 1) Friars Minor: O.F.M.; 2) Conventual Friars Minor: F.M. Conv.; 3) Capuchin Friars Minor: F.M. Capp.
OUTLINE:
I. From the foundation to 1517
II. The great division of 1517: I. V. Observance, I. F. M. (O.F.M.), — III. I. F. M. Conv. — IV. I. F. M. Capp. — V. Franciscan architecture.I. FROM THE FOUNDATION TO 1517.
OUTLINE:
I. Foundation and developments of the Order
II. External activity of the Order
III. Foreign missions
IV. Learning
V. Constitution and activity of the Order up to 1517
VI. Difficulties
VII. Origins and development of the Observance.I. FOUNDATION AND DEVELOPMENTS OF THE ORDER
The Order of Friars Minor was founded in 1209 at Assisi by St. Francis (v.), who in the first Rule wished it to be called thus out of humility, probably alluding to the “minores” of his city, i.e., those of lower social condition compared to the “maiores.” The primitive Rule, composed of some Gospel texts and a few exhortations, was approved viva voce by Innocent III in 1209; finally, in 1223, Honorius III confirmed with a bull the definitive Rule, which was a compendium of another Rule composed two years earlier. The Friars Minor, in addition to the three essential vows, had to profess absolute poverty both in private and in common, living on alms when they could not earn through work what was necessary for life and for the exercise of their apostolate. The Order led a life that was a blend of prayer and apostolate according to the Gospel norms and the express command of St. Francis: “Non sibi soli vivere, sed aliis proficere.” Hence, in chapter XII of the Rule it is still commanded to allow free passage to all those who, by divine inspiration, wished to go and preach the Gospel among the Saracens and other infidels.At the death of St. Francis, the Order, which had already gathered several thousand religious in a Chapter near the Portiuncula (1219), was flourishing in its thirteen provinces, so much so that it was now known in all the principal regions of Europe, in Muslim Africa, and in the East. St. Francis, though confident in the stability of the Institute, died with some concern for its future vicissitudes. After his return from Egypt in 1220, he had left its direction first to the vicar Peter Cattani, and, after his death (1221), to Brother Elias of Assisi, who governed until the General Chapter of 1227, when Brother John Parenti was elected Minister General, a learned and virtuous man who for five years prudently guided the fortunes of the Order. Despite its rigorous development, within the Order there arose a controversy regarding the observance of the Rule, which on the one hand presented painful ambiguities, and on the other denied any possibility of interpretation because of the explicit prohibition of the founder inserted in his Testament, which all revered. To calm the consciences of the friars, the Minister General, after the Chapter of 1230, resorted to Pope Gregory IX, who had taken part in the definitive composition of the same Rule as Protector of the Order and advisor to St. Francis. The effect of this appeal was the bull *Quo elongati* of 28 September 1230, which constitutes the basis of future papal declarations, and in which, following a juridical criterion, any obligatory value is denied to the Testament.
Regarding the observance of the evangelical counsels, it is declared that the friars are bound only to observe those expressly indicated in the Rule; then the daily economic process for the use of money is facilitated by the institution of nuncios (later called syndics), who could receive and administer money on behalf of benefactors. From this declaration of Gregory IX it was easy for Innocent IV and Martin IV to proceed to the institution of apostolic syndics, who could administer the movable and immovable goods of the religious in the name of the Holy See, which was considered the sole and true owner. Since the Minorite Rule was not a perfect and adequate code of organization, other statutory norms came to supplement it as early as 1224 (*Constitutiones antiquae*). At the Chapter of Rieti (1232 or 1233), Brother Elias was elected Minister General, powerful with Gregory IX, who had entrusted him with the construction of the monumental Assisi basilica. He organized the Order into 34 provinces, giving impetus to its manifold activities, generally bound only by the provisions of the Rule; but his authoritarian character and some excesses of rigor by his lay visitors provoked various complaints, so that in the General Chapter of Rome (1239), convened by the Pope himself, Brother Elias was dismissed (*absoluto*) from office and replaced by Albert of Pisa, the first priest to be Minister General. Appropriate constitutions were then compiled, giving the Minorite family a more distinctly democratic character, while the Order remained centralized in its government.
Subsequently, the government of the Order passed to the Englishman Aimone of Faversham (1240–44), Crescenzio Gizzi of Jesi (1244–47), and the Blessed John Buralli of Parma (1247–57). With the election of St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio at the Chapter of Rome in 1257, the Order found in him, above all, a wise moderator of whose services it stood in need after the government of the Parmesan. To him we owe the Narbonne Constitutions (1260), the first legislative code possessed in its entirety besides the Rule, and the foundation of the numerous statutes drawn up over the centuries. In an Order so vast in men and ideas, he strove to maintain peace within and spiritual and scientific prestige without: he defended the proper observance of the Rule and of the papal constitutions, and did not permit the imposition of excessive austerity and absolute poverty in buildings, study materials, and the necessities of life.
To St. Bonaventure, who became cardinal in 1273 and died during the Council of Lyon, succeeded Jerome of Ascoli, already a missionary in the East and later pope under the name of Nicholas IV, followed in turn in 1279 by Bonagrazia of S. Giovanni in Persiceto, to whom we owe the admirable constitution *Exiit qui seminat*, by which Pope Nicholas III, Protector of the Order, sought to resolve controversies over poverty.
Even during the lifetime of St. Francis, and especially after his death, tendencies toward forms more suited to an Order in rapid development made headway. This did not please some religious of narrower mentality, even those who were very young and already repressed by St. Bonaventure, who took the name of “Spirituals.” They exerted their influence especially in Provence, the Marches, and Tuscany, where they gained the adherence of talented and daring men. Master of the Provençals was the celebrated Peter of John Olivi; in Tuscany Ubertino of Casale excelled, who owed much to Olivi during the time he resided in Florence. Finally, in the Marches the leaders of the new ideas were Angelo Clareno (v.).
Punished in 1274 and sent as missionaries to the East, these men later appealed to Pope Clement V, who, with the bull *Exivi de Paradiso* (1312), sought to reduce them to living in peace with the other religious, who
They numbered about 35,000 members, with over a thousand convents. Finally, John XXII in 1317 and 1318 proceeded against them with various bulls, by which they were forced to be reformed or to disappear. Under the same Pontiff there also arose a serious controversy over theoretical poverty, which he resolved with the bulls *Ad conditionem canonum* of 8 December 1322 and *Cum inter nonnullos* of 12 November of the following year.
From this time onward, along with a profound vitality, a marked decline in discipline—specifically regarding poverty—is observed in the Franciscan Order, as indeed in other religious orders.
This decline, attested by contemporary writers such as Alvaro Pelagio, O.M., in his *De Planctu Ecclesiae* (Venice edition, 1577), and by the documents of the popes and the Order itself, did not stifle the spiritual, scientific, and missionary activities of the Order, nor did it interrupt its vast influence in all spheres, so much so that it earned the official praise of the popes, particularly Gregory XI. The *Constitutiones Farinerianae* of 1354, which remained in force for the Conventuals until the *Constitutiones Alexandrinae* of 1584, and special provisions by popes and zealous ministers general, such as Blessed Henry Alfieri of Asti (1387–1495), restored the discipline of internal life on the basis of the modern observance of poverty. Sixtus IV, who had been Minister General of the Order (Francesco della Rovere), confirmed all previous privileges and possessions with various bulls from 1472 to 1479, always under the dominion of the Holy See.
II. EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES OF THE ORDER
Its immense merits toward the Church and society are beyond measure. In this period, the Order gave the Church two popes: Nicholas IV (1288–92) and Sixtus IV (1471–84), and the antipope Alexander V (1409–10), 37 cardinals (two of whom were Observants), numerous legates, apostolic nuncios, and bishops. Thanks to the spread of the Third Order, it penetrated deeply into the life of the people, transforming their way of life and guiding and moderating their spirits through charitable activity. Indeed, wherever the friars gained a foothold, they revived piety, became heralds of peace, extinguishing hatreds and settling public and private feuds, provided assistance in the works of mercy for the most wretched, lepers, and foundlings, giving rise to new charitable institutions. They stood in defense of the oppressed, condemned discontent, preached against avarice and usury, and fostered the rise of Monti di Pietà. Among the great preachers, it suffices to recall St. Anthony of Padua, Leone Perego, Gerardo Boccadabati, Hugh of Digne, and Berthold of Regensburg in the 13th century; and in the 15th century, the four pillars of the Observance (St. Bernardino of Siena, St. John of Capistrano, St. John of the Marches, Blessed Alberto da Sarteano), along with Blessed Bernardino of Feltre, Antonio da Vercelli, Bernardino de Bustis, Michele Carcano, Cherubino of Spoleto, and the Conventuals Roberto Caracciolo of Lecce, John of Werden, and Conrad Grutsch.The Friars Minor also contributed to liturgy. At the behest of Gregory IX, Aimone of Faversham reformed the Missal and the Roman Breviary in a manner that became common in the Curia and the Church. They introduced the feasts of the Most Holy Trinity, the Name of Jesus, the Visitation and the Espousals of the Virgin, and St. Joseph. Well known are their efforts in defense of the Immaculate Conception, later defined as a dogma. The veneration of the Humanity of Christ, particularly felt by the Friars Minor, led them to promote devotion to the Passion (Way of the Cross), the Christ Child (nativity scenes), the Most Holy Name of Jesus, and the Eucharist.
III. FOREIGN MISSIONS
These are a particular glory of the Order. St. Francis himself initiated them in 1219 and 1221; the Rule contains a special chapter, the twelfth, for missionaries. In every century, they have shed their blood for the propagation of the faith. In 1220, St. Berard and his four companions were slaughtered in Morocco; in 1227, St. Daniel and six companions suffered the same fate in Ceuta. From the time of St. Francis, they have been in Palestine, and in 1342 obtained from the Holy See the custody of the Holy Places of the Redemption, which they had acquired ten years earlier from the kings of Naples and have guarded to this day at the cost of much blood. In the 13th century, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and William of Rubruck pushed as far as China, followed in the 14th century by Odoric of Pordenone, John of Marignolli, and John of Montecorvino. The latter, through the fruits of his apostolate, was appointed archbishop of Khanbaliq (Beijing), and six confrere bishops were sent to him as suffragans, while Blessed Thomas of Tolentino, with three companions, and Richard of Burgundy, with five companions, suffered martyrdom in eastern India (1327).In the 15th century, both Conventuals and Observants worked especially among the infidels and heretics of the Balkans (where they would remain almost alone until modern times), Lithuania, the Canary Islands, Portuguese Guinea, and the Congo.
IV. SCIENCE
From the very foundation of the Order, science was conceived as a means of apostolate, all the more necessary as errors grew more subtle and dangerous in society and could only be countered by doctrine and the practice of life together. It is found that by around 1240, the friars were attending and teaching in the major universities; soon they established convents near them, forming the so-called *studia generalia* of Bologna, Paris, and Oxford, which soon became twenty centers of religious culture. St. Anthony, the first doctor of the Order, opens the glorious series of masters: Alexander of Hales, John of Rochelle, Adam of Marsh, St. Bonaventure, John Pecham, Matthew of Aquasparta, Richard of Middleton, John Duns Scotus; later came the exegete Nicholas of Lyra and the mystic David of Augsburg. In the 15th century, the Observants Nicholas of Osimo and Teodoro de’ Coeli gave theology a special practical direction, manifested particularly in the *Summa angelica* of Angelo of Chivasso and the *Summa pacifica* of Pacifico of Cerano. Meanwhile, the great studies and their libraries continued to flourish under the Conventuals. Indeed, by 1450 there were 16 university studies and 28 general studies of philosophy and theology, in addition to provincial and local studies in the principal cities of the time.It is fitting to mention here also those friars who distinguished themselves in other fields, such as Thomas of Celano (c. 1255), Giacomino of Verona (1300), Jacopo of Todi (b. 1306), John Bertoldi of Serva, Bartolomeo of Colle (1486), and Alberto of Sartemmo, as writers; Roger Bacon (1294), as a promoter of natural philosophy. Nor should we forget illuminators such as John of Lucca, organ builders such as Urbano of Venice, mosaicists and painters like Jacopo Torri, and other architects, glassmakers, and musicians.
Moreover, in its first three centuries of existence, the Order gave to the Church 22 saints, 61 blessed, and about 1,500 servants of God.
V. CONSTITUTION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE ORDER UNTIL 1517
The legislation consisted, in addition to the common Rule, of special constitutions that were compiled from 1224 (the *Constitutiones antiquae*, now lost) to 1260, when the *Constitutiones Narbonenses* appeared, then in 1354 (the *Farinerianae*), and in 1500 (the *Alexandrinae*). The Observants had those of Martin V in 1430 and the *Constitutiones Barcinonenses* in 1451. In addition to the three usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Rule obliges “under grave [penalty]” to observe 24 precepts. Special regulations govern studies and missions, especially those to Palestine.A general minister who held office for between three and six years and could be re-elected was at the head of the Order, assisted by a scribe or secretary; until 1517 he was always a Conventual. The general procurator maintained a separate seat. The Observants, from 1415 in France and from 1446 in Italy and elsewhere, were governed by their own vicars general and provincials. Minor reforms were usually governed by vicars or commissioners appointed by the general minister or in the Chapters.
VI. DIFFUSION
From the very beginning it was vast and profound. At the death of St. Francis there were already 10,000 friars divided into 13 provinces. During the rest of the 13th century these grew to 34 with no fewer than 30,000 to 40,000 religious. In the 14th–15th centuries these numbers increased further thanks to new recruits of the Observant family; so that by 1517 the Friars Minor as a whole numbered no fewer than 60,000 friars in 2,700 convents.VII. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OBSERVANCE
As a reaction to the aforementioned decline in the mid-15th century, a movement of restoration or reform arose and gradually took hold independently in Italy, France and Spain with the aim not of separating from the Order but of bringing all religious back to the primitive and stricter observance of the Rule. It was a return to the primitive ideal of St. Francis.Without starting anew, the first Observants took account of failed experiments, remained subject to the superiors of the community and of the Church, introduced no change in their habits, steadfast in the ideal to be attained (Regulam simpliciter in primaeva puritate observare, according to the words of Pope Clement VI), and thus by their example sought to lead the community of the Order to do likewise. From humble hermitages, from places sacred to the memories of early Franciscanism and its founder, the Observance gradually spread throughout Italy during the 15th century and soon reached central Europe, the Alpine lands and beyond, embracing every field of activity (social action, preaching, missions among the infidels); and the phenomenon of the 13th century was repeated, for learned men, jurists, nobles, and university graduates by the dozen entered the Observants. The restoration was not limited to the First Order but gradually extended also to the Second and Third, especially the regular female branch.
The first attempts had been those of Giovanni della Valle (1334) and Gentile da Spoleto (1351), but the true initiator of Italian Observance was the lay brother Paolo or Paoluccio Trinci of Foligno, known as Paoluccio di Vagnozzo, who in 1368, with the permission of the general Tommaso Frignano, retired with some companions to the hermitage of Brugliano between Foligno and Camerino to observe the Rule in its rigour. In 1384 he began to receive novices, and at his death (1416) the Observant convents numbered 22 with about seventy religious, rising to about 200 in 34 hermitages by 1451. The name of Bl. Paoluccio was later overshadowed when St. Bernardino of Siena and his disciples—St. John of Capistrano, St. James of the Marches, Bl. Albert of Sarteano, the four pillars of the Observance—raised it to its greatest heights.
The Observance in Spain and France. — The origins of the Observance in Spain are more obscure; it is known, however, that by about 1400 it was already flourishing there with various aims such as the eremitical life, preaching and pastoral study.
French Observance arose around 1388–90 in the convent of Mirabeau and spread through the provinces of Touraine, Burgundy and France. Sometimes favoured, sometimes opposed by their provincial superiors in the community, the French Observants of these three provinces (12 convents) appealed to the Council of Constance (1415), which granted them the right to elect a provincial vicar for each province and a general vicar for all three. The constitution Supplications personarum of 23 September 1415 thus marks the date of the canonical approval of the French Observants and, in practice, of all Observants (cf. L. Oliger, Arch. Franc. hist., 9 [1916], pp. 3–41). Soon, however, misunderstandings arose between Conventuals and Observants; for the former, who governed the entire Order, had no intention—nor were they bound—to change their way of life. The friars, whose numbers of convents and religious were growing, though not wishing to divide the Order but to reform it, sought to promote reform in various ways and, led by St. John of Capistrano, attempted at the Chapter of Assisi in 1430 with the Martirian Constitutions to secure that the Observants would renounce their vicars and autonomy while the others would surrender their possessions. Beginning with the general Guglielmo da Casale, all swore: “Volumus stare et vivere et mori in dicto Ordine nostro sancto fraternitater secundum constitutiones et reformationes praedictas.” But the general himself, forty days later, sought dispensation from his oath, and on 23 August obtained from the Pope the brief Ad statuae, which annulled the chapter’s decisions on poverty. When Eugenius IV appointed St. Bernardino general vicar of the Italian Observants in 1438, he tried in 1443 to have the Observant Alberto da Sarteano elected minister general of the Order, but without success; and so in 1446, with the bull Ut sancto, he granted all Observants the general vicars for Italy and beyond and provincial vicars, which made them practically independent, save for the juridical tie to the general and provincial ministers of the Conventuals. Meanwhile the same Pope had assigned to the Observants the convents of the Porziuncola, La Verna, the Custody of Terrassina (1434–36), and the convent of Ara Coeli in Rome (1444–45); other convents passed directly to the Observants in Italy and abroad.
Secondary reforms. — Alongside the Observance, other minor reforms succeeded one another within the Franciscans during that century. Such were those of the Amadeans (c. 1457–1464) under Bl. Amadeus of Portugal with some thirty convents, the Caporali in Italy with a group of Carenians who had returned to the Order in 1473, the friars of the Cappa or of the Holy Gospel in Spain, the Coletans with about forty convents in France and Flanders, and the Martinian and Observant friars “under the ministers,” so called to distinguish them from the common Observants called “under the vicars.”
I. THE GREAT DIVISION OF 1517. THE “OBSERVANCE.” THE FRIARS MINOR (O.F.M.)
SUMMARY:
I. The minor reforms
II. The missions of the F.M. — III. Preaching and studies.Leo X at the general chapter of 1517, with the constitution Ite vos of 29 May (cf. L. Di Fonzo, La famosa bolla di Leone X “Ite vos” non “Ite et vos” (29 maggio 1517), in Miscellanea Francescana, 45 [1945], pp. 164–171), granted the Observants the right to elect their own superior with the title of “general minister,” to keep the official seal of the Order, and to take precedence even over the Conventuals. The superiors of these were thenceforth to be called “general and provincial masters” and to seek confirmation from the ministers of the Observance, thus completely reversing the previous juridical position. This, however, was never carried out. From that moment, in any case, separation occurred, with the two families of Conventuals and Observants enjoying complete autonomy.
With the Friars Minor, the Pope united the other small congregations of Amadeans, Coletans, Carenians, Discalced and others, ordering that they be simply called F.M. or F.M. of the Regular Observance; this last denomination is the one that remained officially. Thus reunited, the Observants numbered about 30,000 friars in about 1,500 convents divided into 53 vicariates, now regular provinces. During the 16th–17th centuries they continued to grow in numbers until by 1700 they reached between 70,000 and 80,000, scattered in all Catholic nations and in the flourishing missions of every continent. Holiness flourished among them in a wonderful way, for to this day they have given to the Church 41 saints and 84 blessed.