Mendicant Orders

MENDICANT OR “BEGGING” orders are societies within the Roman Catholic Church whose members have by a formal vow of poverty renounced all ownership, not only individually but also in common, relying for support on their own work and on the charity of the faithful.

There remain today from the Middle Ages four mendicant orders that were recognized by the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. They are the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans), the Friars Minor (the Franciscans), the Carmelites, and the Hermits of St. Augustine (Augustinians).

[Page 705]Their vow of poverty forbade them to own anything individually or even to possess property in common. They begged or worked for their living and, unlike monks, were not bound to live in one place in seclusion, but were able to move from area to area. Their pastoral role was a mission of religious education through preaching, although the emphasis differed according to the order. For example the focus of the Franciscans was on the penitence of laymen and leading them toward a more devout lifestyle. The Dominicans, on the other hand, focused on heresy by providing instruction in the Catholic faith.

Franciscans can be recognized by their brown or gray cloak, tied at the waist by a rope with three knots, representing the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Dominicans wear a white tunic and scapular underneath a long, black cloak with a hood.

Originally the vow of poverty was restricted to the Franciscans (founded in 1209) and the Dominicans (founded in 1220), but the Carmelites (founded in 1245) and the Augustinian Hermits (founded in 1256) also obtained church permission to pursue the mendicant disciplines.

Members take vows of poverty, which consist of a promise to God of a constant and lifelong renunciation of material goods in order to allow the person to better follow Christ's example and teachings. Those making such vows repudiate all personal ownership of any material or appreciable possession that has a money value. They give up any right to acquire, possess, use, or dispose of property.

During the Middle Ages, a certain animosity against church wealth had emerged, and Arnold of Brescia preached that monks and clerics who possessed property could not attain eternal salvation. John Valdes founded the Poor Men of Lyons, soon followed by several similar sects in France and Italy, with an undercurrent of animosity toward clergy and religious officials who had attained wealth.

That animosity threatened to grow into rebellion, but was tempered by Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, later known as St. Francis of Assisi, and by Dominic de Guzman, known today as St. Dominic, who both included in their rules strict obedience to the clergy and church hierarchy.

Absolute poverty was not the only characteristic of the mendicant orders. Their maxim was non sibi soli vivere sed et aliis proficere, or “not to live for themselves only, but to serve others.” Thus they departed from the contemplative isolation of earlier orders such as the Benedictines and Cisterians. They often located their monasteries inside towns so as to have ready contact with the populace.

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