Franciscan Friars

“ Issuing triumphant from such an ordeal the Mendicant Orders proved once and for all that their position in the Church of Christ is impregnable. So important an incident ought not to be lightly dismissed.
Various causes tended to create a spirit of opposition to the Friars. Jealousy at their success, and a spirit of worldliness to which their lives was a constant reproach, appear to be the chief. The Friars succeeded in attracting universal admiration. Their professors were the most brilliant in the University; their lecture halls the best appointed; their audience the most enthusiastic. ”

“ Francis himself had no idea of forming a monastic order. He wished to live a holy life in the world and show others how to do the same, and for years he and his companions worked among the poor, earning their daily bread when they could, and when they could not, begging for it. Gradually, however, ambition stirred in the hearts of some of the followers of Francis, and against the will of their leader they made themselves into the Order of Franciscan Friars, collected gifts of money, and began to build churches and monastic buildings. ”

“ Wiclif may have classed with the friars the ‘pardoners’ who did not belong to any of the four Orders [544] . The records relating to the Franciscan house at Oxford throw no light on the matter, which indeed belongs to the general history of the Mendicants, not to the history of a particular convent. Wiclif’s charges amount practically to this: the friars were the foremost champions of the external, unspiritual form of religion, which he laboured to destroy: they were no longer leaders of thought, but obstacles to progress. ”

“ When John Wesley offered to the Church of England precisely their successors, we would have no commerce with them; we did our best to turn them into a hostile and invading force.
The Friars were the Evangelizers of the towns in England for 300 years. When the spoliation of the religious houses was decided upon, the Friars were the first upon whom the blow fell--the first and the last. [Footnote: The king began with the Franciscan convent of Christ Church, London, in 1532; he bestowed the Dominican convent at Norwich upon the corporation of that city on the 25th of June, 1540.] ”

“ No order has had so stormy an internal history as the Franciscans; yet in spite of all the troubles and dissensions and strivings that have marred Franciscan history, the Friars Minor of every kind have in each age faithfully and zealously carried on St Francis’s great work of ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor. Always recruited in large measure from among the poor, they have ever been the order of the poor, and in their preaching and missions and ministrations they have ever laid themselves out to meet the needs of the poor. ”

“ As the estimates of the numbers of friars and monks vary considerably, it may be worth while to give the evidence (which is entirely indirect) on which this calculation is based. In 1255, there were, according to Eccleston, 49 Franciscan houses in England and 1242 friars, giving an average of rather more than 25 to each convent (Mon. Franc. I, 10) . ”

“ The following extract is reprinted from Ehrle’s ‘Die ältesten Redactionen der Generalconstitutionen des Franziskaner-Ordens,’ in the ‘Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters,’ vol. VI. p. 63. The Franciscan School at Oxford evidently had at this time a greater reputation and greater popularity than those at Cambridge and London. But why the burden should be especially heavy during the long vacation is not quite clear. Can the Mendicant Friars have been to any large extent dependent on the alms of the secular scholars? ”

“ Grosseteste relied on the friars, Franciscan and Dominican, to revive religion in his diocese. From their first coming to England he had befriended the little brothers of St. Francis and St. Dominic’s order of preachers, and at Oxford had been conspicuously their rector. He writes to Pope Gregory IX. in the highest praise of the Franciscans: “Inestimable benefits have been wrought in my diocese by the friars. They enlighten our whole land with the bright light of their preaching and learning.” ”

“ During years of persecution the scattered friars naturally discarded every monastic feature of their lives, and no amount of pressure from Rome has succeeded in restoring them in these more indulgent days. The friars individually possess money (thus cutting at the very root of the Franciscan idea) , wear boots and stockings, and rarely don their habits, have secular servants, and are guilty of many other condemned practices. In a word, their lives are those of the ordinary Irish clergy; their profession of Assisian asceticism is little more than an empty formality. ”

“ The friars were reduced to the last extremity and, but for the charity of some few sympathisers and the generous aid of the Franciscan monks who fed them, they would have found themselves in want of the absolute necessaries of life in the midst of a hostile populace. ”

“ Yet this explanation was originally given by Innocent IV in 1245 [517] .
As far as the bulk of the Franciscan Order was concerned, the controversy on ‘Evangelical Poverty’ was purely a theoretical one [518] , its ultimate importance rather accidental than real. The claim to ‘this perfitnesse,’ as Daw Topias contemptuously calls it, rested not on fact but on a legal construction. The friars had only the use, not the proprietorship, of their lands and houses and goods. ”

“ From the Lanercost Chronicle we learn that in the thirteenth century the ‘master of the schools’ had a chamber of his own [178] ; and Wiclif tells us that in his time
‘Capped Friars, that beene called Maisters of Diuinitie, haue there chamber and service as Lords or Kings [179] .’
Ample accommodation for guests was a marked feature in most religious houses, and there is no reason to suppose that the Oxford Franciscan Friary formed an exception to a custom which, while it excited some animosity against the apostles of poverty, tended to ensure the favour and secure the alms of the rich [180] . ”

“ Friar William Woodford, Wiclif’s contemporary, started from London to take his D.D. with £40 in his purse [333] .
Attempts were made to curtail the expenses of the friars. In his constitutions for the reformation of the Franciscan Order in 1336, Pope Benedict XII decreed [334] , that
[Pg 51] ‘at inceptions [335] of Masters of the Order in theology, or of bachelors beginning the Sentences, they shall not spend in food and drink, except once only, more than would suffice for the moderate refection of the convent of the place where such inceptions take place. ”

“ But, even from the beginning, the Minorites were almost as much devoted to this work as the Black Friars themselves. |Contrast between Franciscan and Dominican Preaching.| While Dominican preaching tended to be grave, learned, and argumentative, the Grey Friars rather affected the simple, straightforward, emotional methods of address, through which St. Francis himself had gone straight to the hearts of his hearers. These qualities were strongly illustrated by the career of St. Anthony of Padua (d. 1231) , a native of Lisbon and an Austin canon, who, like St. ”

“ He was patronized by Wolsey, but whether he came to England at the Cardinal’s invitation is doubtful. In Nov. 1528, ‘Fryer Nicholas of Oxford’ received £5 as a reward from Wolsey [1811] . In 1529 the King desired that the [Pg 281] friar should have a benefice [1812] ; payments to him from the Privy Purse and other sources are frequently found [1813] . The Italian friar had made himself useful by advocating the King’s divorce [1814] . He was perhaps the
‘Franciscan, who was one of the chief writers in favour of the King,’ ”

“ A new state of things began when the zeal of Gregory IX. assured for both Franciscans and Dominicans the right to preach and hear confessions over all Christendom. Despite the natural but violent opposition which both the seculars and the older orders offered to their pushing rivals, the Friars soon won by their devotion, their skill, and their sympathy a unique place among the religious teachers of Europe. They chose as their favourite abodes the noisome suburbs where the poorest were huddled together outside the bounds of municipal authority or care. ”

“ Friar (i. e. brother) , a name applied generally to members of religious brotherhoods, but which in its strict significance indicated an order lower than that of priest, the latter being called “father,” while they differed from monks in that they travelled about, whereas the monk remained secluded in his monastery; in the 13th century arose the Grey Friars or Franciscans, the Black Friars or Dominicans, the White Friars or Carmelites, Augustinians or Austin Friars, and later the Crutched Friars or Trinitarians. ”

“ Saint Francis, the founder and patron of the Friars Minors, [4] was born at Assisi in Italy in the year 1182; and he was still a young man when he commenced his scheme of religious observance. The Rule of his Fraternity was approved by Pope Innocent III. in 1210, revised in the Lateran council of 1215, and confirmed by Honorius III. in 1224. At the first general convention of the fraternity in 1217 its numbers were already considerable ”

“ That the Friars, both Dominicans and Franciscans, are not in the way to be saved. Their begging and poverty are neither meritorious nor able to secure their salvation, because, if they are strong, they ought to work with their hands and not remain idle in the hope of securing aid from others. And that they should not have the permission of the pope or bishops to preach and to hear confession, because by this great harm is done to the parish clergy. ”

“ We cannot follow all the brothers and hear all their adventures, so I will just tell you one or two which show what kind of men St. Francis and his Friars were. Here is one which shows you their obedience and humility. I daresay it will make you laugh!
The Friars had by now become quite noted for their preaching, and would often go up into the pulpits of the churches, where large crowds gathered to hear them, the Bishop even inviting St. Francis to preach in the cathedral. ”

“ In England the chief orders of friars were distinguished by the colour of their habit: thus the Franciscans or Minors were the Grey Friars; the Dominicans or Preachers were the Black Friars (from their black mantle over a white habit) , and the Carmelites were the White Friars (from their white mantle over a brown habit) : these, together with the Austin Friars or Hermits, formed the four great mendicant orders—Chaucer’s “alle the ordres foure.” Besides the four great orders of friars, the Trinitarians (q.v.) , though really canons, were in England called Trinity Friars or Red Friars ”

“ The Minorites found they could not do without culture; the Dominicans renounced endowments; by-and-by they drew apart into separate camps, and discord proved that the old singleness of purpose and loyalty to a great cause had passed away. Imitators arose. Reformers they all professed to be, improvers of the original idea, Augustinian Friars, Carmelites, Bethlehemites, Bonhommes, and the rest. Friars they all called themselves--all pledged to the Voluntary Principle, all renouncing endowments, all professing to live on alms.
I have called St. Francis the John Wesley of the thirteenth century. ”

“ The friars laid themselves out also for special services, which would attract the sluggish and popularize religion, such as miracle plays and the observance of special festivals. In the villages the itinerant friar preached in the church or churchyard, and heard the confessions of those who chose to come to him; and there were many who preferred to confess their misdoings to a comparative stranger, who did not live among them, rather than to their parish priest. ”

“ If for many generations the Franciscans were of all the Religious the most356 loved, their rivals, the Black Friars, who were considered the most stalwart defenders of the Faith, were the most respected for their learning. Even when the people threatened to destroy their House, in consequence of their arrogance, they still retained the general respect for learning. Their Precinct was a Sanctuary, so also was that of the Grey Friars; their strong-rooms and treasure-houses were used for the storing of the National Records, Acts, and Charters ”

“ These "sturdy beggars," as Francis called his companions, were contrasted with the lazy, rich, and, too often, licentious monks of the other orders. Everywhere the friars were received with veneration and joy. The people sought burial in [pg 254] their rags, believing that, clothed in the garments of these holy beggars, they would enter paradise more speedily.
Instead of seeking the seclusion of the convent to save his own soul, the friar displayed remarkable zeal trying to save mankind. ”

“ We can hardly wonder at the burst of enthusiasm which welcomed the itinerant preacher whose fervid appeal, coarse wit, and familiar story brought religion into the fair and the market place. In England, where the Black Friars of Dominic arrived in 1221, the Grey Friars of Francis in 1224, both were received with the same delight. As the older orders had chosen the country, the Friars chose the town. They had hardly landed at Dover before they made straight for London and Oxford. ”

“ The Franciscans first arrived in England in 1224 [3] . On Tuesday, the 10th of September in that year (to follow the account of Friar Thomas Eccleston, the earliest historian of the Order in this country) , [Pg 2] a company of nine friars, four of them clerks and five laymen, landed at Dover, under the leadership of Agnellus of Pisa, the first Provincial Minister. After staying two days at Canterbury, four of them proceeded to London; and at the end of the month, two of these, Friar Richard of Ingeworth and Friar Richard of Devon, set out for Oxford. ”