The History of the Church through 100 Masterpieces

Franciscan Innovations

The History of the Church 118 Franciscan Innovations One century after the officia recognition of the Order of Friars Minor in 1223, the Franciscans counted more than 40,000 members. These included not only the friars, but also religious sisters, attracted by the rule of Saint Clare who, like Francis, was born in Assisi. Following his example, she founded a community of women dedicated to the same vow of absolute poverty. Francis of Assisi also created a “third order” adapted to the laity. While observing the rules of the friars’ order, third order members could belong to the Franciscan community without leaving the world. Josemaría Escrivá would apply the same principle in the twentieth century with his movement Opus Dei, eliciting the same suspicions Francis’s third order provoked. At the margins of this movement, the béguinages emerged, growing ever more numerous, particularly in the Low Countries. These were communities of women who lived together, without following any precise rule, to serve the poor and sick or simply to live their faith. The beguines were often widows who entered into semiretirement in the heart of the cities. The operative lack of structure and control gave rise to deviations, and a number of beguines were accused of heresy, such as Marguerite Porete, burned at the stake in Paris in 1310. Saint Francis implemented another innovation: at a time when the spirit of the Crusades was still prevalent, he conceived of a peaceful missionary effort into the Far East, with all the risks this might entail. In 1220, five of the early friars suffered martyrdom in Morocco. Giuseppe Gambarini (1680–1725) Mendicant Friar to Whom a Young Girl Gives Eggs Musée du Louvre, Paris ...