Mendicant Orders
The
mendicant orders are
religious orders which depend directly on
begging, or the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle they do not own
property, either individually or collectively, and have taken a
vow of
poverty, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on religious work.
Christian mendicant orders spend their time preaching the
Gospel and serving the poor. Both of the two main new orders founded by
Saint Dominic and
Saint Francis were prompted by a concern to combat the
Cathar heresy (in southern France and in northern Italy respectively) by offering a model of service to God within the community. They attracted a significant level of patronage, as much from townsfolk as aristocrats. Their focus of operation rapidly centred on towns where population growth historically outstripped the provision of parishes. Most medieval towns in Western Europe of any size came to possess houses of one or more of the major orders of friars. Some of their churches came to be built on grand scale with large spaces devoted to preaching, something of a speciality among the mendicant orders.
Saint Anthony and Saint Francis were notable inspirations to the formation of Christian mendicant traditions.
In the
Middle Ages, the original mendicant orders of
friars in the
Church were the
*
Franciscans (Friars Minor, commonly known as the Grey Friars), founded
1209*
Carmelites, (Hermits of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Carmel, commonly known as the White Friars), founded
1206–
1214*
Dominicans (Order of Preachers, commonly called the Black Friars), founded
1215*
Augustinians (Hermits of St. Augustine, commonly called the Austin Friars), founded
1256The
Second Council of Lyons (1274) recognized these as the four "great" mendicant orders, and suppressed certain others. The
Council of Trent loosened their property restrictions. Afterwards, except for the Franciscans and their offshoot the
Capuchins, members of the orders were permitted to own property collectively as do
monks.
Among other orders are the
*
Trinitarians (Order of the Most Blessed Trinity), founded
1193*
Mercedarians (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy), founded
1218*
Servites (Order of Servants of Mary), founded
1233*
Minims (Hermits of St. Francis of Paola), founded
1436*
Capuchins (
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin), established
1525*
Brotherhood of Saint Gregory (an
Anglican order) founded
1969The term "mendicant" may also be used to refer to other non-Catholic and non-Christian
ascetics, such as
Buddhist monks and
Hindu holy men. The Buddhist
Pali scriptures use the term
bhikku for mendicant. The Buddhist mendicant tradition still survives in many
Southeast Asian countries where
Theravada Buddhism is practised.
*
Missionary order*
Teaching order
