Mendicant orders

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Cluny Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery in Saone-et-Loire, France. It was at one time the center of Western monasticism. Cluny Abbey (7309874510).jpg
Cluny Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery in Saône-et-Loire, France. It was at one time the center of Western monasticism.

Mendicant orders are, primarily, certain Roman Catholic religious orders that have adopted for their male members a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. This model prescribed living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property at all, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached. The members of these orders are not called monks but friars.

The term "mendicant" is also used with reference to some non-Christian religions to denote holy persons committed to an ascetic lifestyle, which may include members of religious orders and individual holy persons.

Main mendicant orders

The Second Council of Lyon (1274) established four main mendicant orders, created in the first half of the 13th century:

Other mendicant orders

The other mendicant orders recognized by the Holy See today are the

Like the monastic orders, many of the mendicant orders, especially the larger ones, underwent splits and reform efforts, forming offshoots, permanent or otherwise, some of which are mentioned in the lists given above.

Former mendicant orders

Mendicant orders that formerly existed but are now extinct, and orders which for a time were classed as mendicant orders but now no longer are.

Extinct mendicant orders

Orders no longer mendicant

Orders considered heretical by the Catholic Church

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominican Order</span> Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, is a Roman Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius III via the papal bull Religiosam vitam on 22 December 1216. Members of the order, who are referred to as Dominicans, generally display the letters OP after their names, standing for Ordinis Praedicatorum, meaning 'of the Order of Preachers'. Membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans. More recently, there has been a growing number of associates of the religious sisters who are unrelated to the tertiaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmelites</span> Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but it was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States. Berthold of Calabria, as well as Albert of Vercelli, have traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franciscans</span> Group of religious orders within the Catholic Church

The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant Christian religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for nuns such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders exist as well, notably in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustinians</span> Members of religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine

Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th centuries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friar</span> Member of a Christian order

A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability. A friar may be in holy orders or be a brother. The most significant orders of friars are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Carmelites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of Minims</span> Roman Catholic religious order of friars

The Minims, officially known as the Order of Minims, and known in German-speaking countries as the Paulaner Order, are a Roman Catholic religious order of friars founded by Francis of Paola in fifteenth-century Italy. The order soon spread to France, Germany and Spain, and continues to exist today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Servite Order</span> Roman Catholic religious institute

The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary, is one of the five original mendicant orders in the Roman Catholic Church. It includes several branches of friars, contemplative nuns, a congregation of religious sisters, and lay groups. The order's objectives are the sanctification of its members, the preaching of the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The Servites friars lead a community life in the tradition of the mendicant orders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third order</span> Type of Christian religious order

The term third order signifies, in general, lay members of Christian religious orders, who do not necessarily live in a religious community such as a monastery or a nunnery, and yet can claim to wear the religious habit and participate in the good works of a great order. Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism all recognize third orders.

Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consecrated life</span> Type of lifestyle advocated by the Catholic Church

Consecrated life is a state of life in the Catholic Church lived by those faithful who are called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way. It includes those in institutes of consecrated life, societies of apostolic life, as well as those living as hermits or consecrated virgins/widows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy</span> Roman Catholic religious mendicant order

The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives, also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order established in 1218 by Peter Nolasco in the city of Barcelona, at that time the capital of the Principality of Catalonia, part of the Crown of Aragon, for the redemption of Christian captives. Its members are most commonly known as Mercedarian friars or nuns. One of the distinguishing marks of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy is that, since its foundation, its members are required to take a fourth vow: to die, if necessary, for another who is in danger of losing their faith. The Order exists today in 17 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discalced</span> Religious congregation that goes barefoot or wears sandals

A discalced congregation is a religious congregation that goes barefoot or wears sandals. These congregations are often distinguished on this account from other branches of the same order. The custom of going unshod was introduced into the West by St Francis of Assisi for men and by St Clare of Assisi for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enclosed religious orders</span> Christian religious orders separated from the external world

Enclosed religious orders or cloistered clergy are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the Latin code or the Oriental code, and also by the constitutions of the specific order. It is practised with a variety of customs according to the nature and charism of the community in question. This separation may involve physical barriers such as walls and grilles, with entry restricted for other people and certain areas exclusively permitted to the members of the convent. Outsiders may only temporarily enter this area under certain conditions. The intended purpose for such enclosure is to prevent distraction from prayer and the religious life and to keep an atmosphere of silence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crutched Friars</span>

The Crutched Friars were a Roman Catholic religious order in England and Ireland. Their name is derived from a staff they carried with them surmounted by a crucifix. There were several orders devoted to the Holy Cross, collectively known as Crosiers, that had some presence in England and there is much confusion to which specific order the friars belonged. Earlier literature linked most of the Crutched Friars to the Italian Crosiers, but later it was proven that they were a branch of the Belgian Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross. The Crutched Friars were suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Order of Saint Dominic</span> Order of religious men and women

The Third Order of Saint Dominic, also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Catholic third order which is part of the Dominican Order.

The Brothers of Penitence or Friars of the Sack were an Augustinian community also known as Boni Homines or Bonshommes, with houses in Spain, France and England.

A religious brother is a member of a religious institute or religious order who commits himself to following Christ in consecrated life of the Church, usually by the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He is usually a layman and usually lives in a religious community and works in a ministry appropriate to his capabilities.

"A religious institute is a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common."

When referring to Roman Catholic religious orders, the term Second Order refers to those communities of contemplative cloistered nuns which are a part of the religious orders that developed in the Middle Ages.

References

  1. Griffin, Patrick. Order of Servites. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 19 Aug. 2013
  2. 1 2 3 Giancarlo Rocca (dir.), Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, Edizioni Paoline, Roma, vol. V, 1978, col. 1185.