The friars and how they came to England;

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res in in the sciteenta contury. In the Constitutions of this res m We find the Friare not

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it Was but the last of many reforms inita main the history of the Order, ali of WHin are charaoterised by the fame tendeno to revere to theoriginal type. But these res ms, directed asthey Wore against existing abuses Mihin insorder, and taring their orion in an age sarremoved in temper and o lain stom ine age of St. Francis himself, naturalty impore Something into stela Constitutions and immediatamine of Ese Which belonga only to a passing period. They sh- us the Franciscan ideat octing in a certain period, saeing certain

particular tangere, and subject to certain urgent demands. The permanent and essentiat element, hoWwer, in ali these reforms is inela turningtoWarda the original type. metimes gazingumn it stom MQ, smetimes MaWing Very Destris it, they bear the mark of true develament Hin alWays looks to the primitive typo as iis standata and inspiration. On the other hand, the spirit os relaxationalWays looked aWay fmm tho Original type, and

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61 adopted a standard fore n to the Franciscanspirit. Even inere the true de loment seemsto approata nearest in relaxation this differendeis visinte, that the one Deps in tand the early Aundation, and tenta toWaxds it, Whust theother leata a V Dom it. d hero We may noto some of the dominant characteristi os Which inmughout the history of the inder have clung to the par of relaxation. In the sint place, decline seems Ger in haVebemn With the bullding of large churines and houses, and the gathering together of large communities in opposition to the tand of St. Francis, Who, as the author of the Specurum Perfectionissus, insted that the Methren inould not livetogether in great number, becaum it Memedio him dissiduit for a multitude to observepouer . ' One of the firat symptoms of relaxation in the Mint, οὐ Esettae Was inebunding os a large houm at Bolagna, and totae fervent discipies of the early Mys, Elias' iniquities culminatin in the bullding of the great convent nud basilica of Assisi. Certainb

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Large ho es and communities have ever beenthe centres of decline in the inder. With the large Duses Went the tenden toWarda the older monastio ideat. Erisimin Semances Were multiplied, and lise in thelarge communities beoame almost as ceremonius

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legaeses and bequeres in order to suppore their large communities, and so gave gmund sor the

hs Would have his Friars recei e anyme, Whether rich or mor, learned or ignorant, and even ine tinner is he Were repentant. But therii ars of the relaxation ment farther. They

Iaid penitendi under an obligation not to enterother Ordere,' so that the Order Was s essed by a multitude Who had no true Vocation. Finali and this is an important sact in vis of the steque asa uou that Iearning

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64THE FRIA and the Franciscan life are incongruo hespirit os relaxation is generalla macted is a decline in mentia adHevementi ne best indmost original thought has been developed, notamongst the Friars of the relaxation, butamongst inose Who Were fervent and loyal tori. Francis' ideat in their decline hom inis, the Friars have lost inela fies ess of miiud indine peculiar directures of thought, inita, as Weshali see, is the proper of the Franciscanschoes, and they have Moome mere academicianaand sophista inen in have not been merelyignorant. On the other hand, the resorma hais again prod in active and original thought. But of this later On. HOW far the spirit a relaxation prevaded intho Ordis it is diffinit in say. Α noisy minori Will Ger be more in evidenoe than aciam majori ; and the more spiritual Methren re naturalb M a less violent and more reti ing disposition than the othera. But it is evident that at the death of St. Francis a rurge proportion of the Methren Were in famur os Elias and relaxation, and this Was w, ωο, s

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no men is the letter more inadequale is expressine spirit than amougst the Francisoans. ne essenos of their Ese consista in maring aspiration aster an ideat never altogether apprehended

on thia earin. The Franciscan Who cemes tonspire censes to M Franciscan. Such an Orderis more ut than othera to be subject to relaxatious, and reforis are, one mirat Sisy, a naturalcondition os ita existende.

At first, and for many years, ine relaxed indine fervent Methren s med one sataly, and though distinet in character, Wem yet bound by the fame ternat organisation, so that in one prorinos or e the par of relaxation and that os res in existed fide by fide, and thegenerat temper es the oommuni ould dependumn the numbers or strengis of esther paren

Later on the more servent Friare Were allo in

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of the relaxed, and in s m separate locat communities, though the superior organisation re- mained the fame sor both parties, and both Were under the WVerment of the samo Provincialand Generat innistere. Finalty, h0-Ver, early in the si xtemth century, the communities inita held revenues Were altogether separated Dominose Who res in them, and thus the ino distinct

original type than othera. Finalty, in I 525, the Capuchin res in Was breun, Which Was thelast great res m of the Order, and that inlin proached nearest in ira conception to theoriginal type. This ref in Was constituted into a separate congregation; and thus to-day thereremata thres distinet congregations of Franciscans, Maring Witness in the long strumlebemeen relaxatiun and fideli , and test ing

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to the presenes of a true development Within

deamured to reproduce the original type, stilleircumstances constantly lamin them is modiθaud change, to enlargo their externat activities, and here and there evomata Mon the individual

this fori in externat organisation are in beexpected in any society Which lives in stomage to age. What the Worid, ho ver, has aright to demand is that the society inali betrue to the essentiat principies of iis institution, and this in larger or tesser degree the Franciscan Order in the Whole may cliam to have been, nolinthstanding the temporary triumphs of the spirit os relaxation.

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But sor ine right underetanding of the histo

of the Friars it is necessary to determine more exactly the tand of St. Francis regaesing themo most notabie seatures of thela externia li&poveru and learning ; lar it is concerning these

Aharing the pMerty of the multitude, inus imitating Christ Who became as one of thel east of men. me application of this principis is M. Francis, especialty as regatas theuse of money, the isellings of the brethren, and their gamenis, Was und-Medly meas edis the externat conditions of tho mor in hisown My; but it Was no part of his mission to