RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Francis, Saint
great contrast to the strength of the order at the end of the Middle Ages, when it had over 8,000 houses of which the 1,300 Observantist communities alone numbered 30,000 members, or even in the middle of the seventeenth century when there were about 70,000 members, divided into 150 provinces. The noteworthy proportional decline of the non-Observantist section shows that the order to this day presents more attraction as it remains truest to its original principles.
Although surpassed in the number of prominent and influential theological authors by the Jesuits and Dominicans, the order still boasts a number of distinguished names. The first century of its existence produced the three great scholastics Alexander of Hales, Bonaventura, and Duns Scotus, the " Admirable Doctor " Roger Bacon, and the well-known mystic authors and popu- 3. Distm- jar preachers David of Augsburg and
Names Berthold of Regensburg. Among Franciscan celebrities of the later Middle Ages may be mentioned Nicholas of Lyra, the Biblical commentator, Bernardin of Sienna, John of Capistrano, Mollard and Menot as preachers, and the famous canonists Astesanus, Alvarus Pelagius, and Occam. Later again came sound historical investigators such as Luke Wadding and Pagi. In the field of Christian art, during the later Middle Ages, the Franciscan movement exercised considerable influence, especially in Italy. Several great painters of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, especially Cimabue and Giotto, were spiritual sons of Francis in the wider sense, and the plastic masterpieces of the latter, as well as the architectural conceptions of both himself and his school, show the influence of Franciscan ideals. The Italian Gothic style, whose earliest important monument is the great convent church at Assisi (built 1228-53), was cultivated as a rule principally by members of the order or men under their influence. The early spiritual poetry of Italy was inspired by Francis himself, who was followed by Thomas of Celano, Bonaventura, and Jacopone da Todi; and in a certain sense even Dante may be included within the sphere of Franciscan influence (cf. especially Paradiso, xi. 50).
V. The Clarisses or Poor Clares : For the history of the female branch of the order, founded in the lifetime of Francis, see Clara, Saint, and the Clarisses.
VI. The Third Order: The Tertiary rule which passes under the name of St. Francis not only can not have been drawn up by him, but does not even show a basis of his original instructions. There must have been, however, in his lifetime a following of devout laity who composed a sort of third
1 Or' " order, beside the Friars Minor and the and Eule Clarisses. It seems probable that the rule drawn up in 1285 for Dominican tertiaries served as a model for the corresponding Franciscan rule mentioned by Nicholas IV. in his bull Supra montem of Aug. 18, 1289. This rule excludes persons living in the estate of matrimony, but does not prescribe absolute renunciation of property or the wearing of the Franciscan habit. The precepts as to fasting are comparatively mild,
allowing the use of meat three times a week, and the devotional exercises required are very much less than in the first and second orders. The brothers are expressly allowed to render military service in defense of the Holy Roman Church, the Christian faith of their own fatherland. The position midway between the Church and the world taken by this rule corresponded to a need widely felt at the time, and contributed toward the spread of the mendicant principle. The growth of the third order was not without opposition. Frederick II. took severe measures against it, and now and then the Franciscan tertiaries were confused with the heretical Beghards; especially after the condemnation of this sect by the Council of Vienne, many of its members sought entrance into the third order of St. Francis or adopted its habit and manner of life, so that John XXII. was obliged to issue a special bull (Sancta Romana, 1317) to distinguish the true and false tertiaries. The growth of the institute continued throughout the Middle Ages, and numerous pious brotherhoods and sisterhoods grew up either within it or in close connection with it. Under Leo X. a new system went into effect (1517), separating from the general body those tertiaries who accepted a new rule drawn up for them. These took the three monastic vows, had a minister-general of their own, and could be admitted into the first order. The remainder were divided into three classes: those who lived in community, bound by simple vows, on the basis of the old rule of Nicholas IV.; those who lived alone, bound by a simple vow of celibacy, and wearing the habit of the order; and others of both sexes, single or married, who made no vows and did not live in community. The third class is by far the most numerous, and comprises all the affiliated members living in the world.
It is to these that the comprehensive rearrangements refer which were ordered by Leo XIII. toward the end of the nineteenth century. In the encyclical Auspicator of Sept. 17, 1882, he urgently commended the third order, and dwelt upon its high usefulness in mod-
2. New Arrangements
of Leo ern conditions. By the constitution XIII. Misericors of May 30, 1883, he made a number of changes in the obligations to be imposed on the members. No vows are now required on entrance, but a simple promise to keep the rule and wear the scapular and girdle under the ordinary clothing; a few fasts are imposed, especially on the vigils of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of St. Francis; the duty of monthly communion and grace before and after meals is insisted on, together with that of a generally self-denying and temperate life. These easily fulfilled regulations have brought about a marked increase in the number of members, which in the single country of Germany is estimated at about half a million. (See Tertiaries.)
(O. ZoCKLERf.) Bibliography: Full lists of works on the subject are given in Hauck-Herzog, RE, vi. 197-220; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, 1. 265-271; Potthast, Wegweiser, pp. 1318-21; and in the British Museum Catalogue under " Francis [Bernardoni]." Consult also P Robinson, A Short Introduction to Franciscan Literature, New
Francis, Saint