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With the very p rest, and regaesed inem asbrethren. Very significant, When We remember the altitude of the hioer classes toWarda thel er at the period, is the admonition os M. Francis to his Friam, that Uthey ought torrioios When they o Verse With persons inoare mean and despised by the worid. To the mediaevia Worid the most hemio act of the Friara Was their habit of nursing the lepera hereVer they Went, and their aetion in this matter not only mised the status of the morin the Ves of the mediaevia Worid, but induoed
est lishment of leper hospitias and a generalimprovement of the toWns that terribis Mourge has so completely disappeared that ita very
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toWards inose Who mere afficted by it, butSt. Francis set the example. Undoubtedlythe Friars' care sor the si in and mox has beenone of the tales causes of their populari . Perhaps in ali Franciscan history there is nofiner Mory than that of the Capuehin Chapter of 1631. The Friam had met to deliberateumn certain important changes in their constitutions inen the great pestilenoe brohe O . They at onoe suspended their deliberations togo and nurse the strichen people of the neigh-
Bre er has meli potated out the part tinenis ins Friars in the lamation of Christiansociety in the West. Three great attempis, hesus, Were made is mediaeval Christendom toweld together the Varisus elements in Christian
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dian on the common fieri os manuia labOur. . . .
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homes, Wem yst considered as members of the Francisoan sataly, and, as far res possissile, observed the Franciscan rese of humili , simplici , and chari . mese tertiaries Were inhen, lihe the Mars, stom mery rank in socie , imm the prince to the pensant, andone of the rules of the association Was thateVery tertiary must regard Gery other tertia With fraternat love, and that they inould caresor each other and respeet eain other as members of one family. The number of tertiaries Was Very large; hardly a family, perhaps, buthad at least one member a tertiary. And thus the Francisean influenoe Was spread, Weldingtogether the Various Ordere in socie .
In fami ly relations, eques as in sociat, the influende of the Friar Was fest. And in this matter he had unique opportunities, for richand p00r frequently entertained his in their OWn homes, and he Was inus brought Withinthe sanctuary of domestic isse. In One respect
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da Settisoli, and in his tender devotion to the Virgin Mother of God. In this respere, RS in Somuch else, his spirit Was in direct contradiction illi that of the sectaries of his time, Whο in large mensure imbibed the teaching of the Manicheans. Partly oWing to their doctrines, and parily to the prevalent luxu of the age, ali human relationstips had become debased; marriage Was tosing ira sancti , and Womanher digni . It Was the Francisoan Friar,
With his deep devotion to the messed Virgin
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Was to themserues in His human nature, and
laeely the incidendi of dady life to illustrate
his subjeci. One of the chames brought againstine Friare Was that in their sermons in no adopted the tone os flauery, noW the tone Of
the hearis of the peoplo, and that is What thepreacher has to do. mela preMhing, hQ-Ver, Was not of the purej emotionia typo, but o--yed olear dogmatio instruction in ali thesilas truths of religion. Some idea of the subject-mauer of thsir teaining may be gainin m the mystery plus inita the Fri ars caused to bs acted on certain festivias for the instruction of the peοple. These plays are replete With solid instruction presented in an imagina-
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tiVe lam, such as Would commend it to the intelligende of the multitudo. The dramatio instinet seems, indein, to have been innate inins Order, and Was in heeping With the intensely human character of the Friars. Ιt WasSt. Francis himself Who originaled the spectacular representation of the Nativi , solamiliar in Catholio taurines at Chris astide. One effect of the strong humanising innuenoe of the Friam is seen in the impetus they gweto the developinent of nationat langunges and of art. Without a national longus a pe0PlehRVe no proper Vehicle for the expression Ostheir natural Delings, and are apt to beeomeformal and insincere. Art, in like manner,sauhlalty representa the morat nature and actualinaracter of a period.