93 
and the use of stone was prohibited alike for sanctuary and 
dwellings. The poor that were everywhere neglected were to be 
their special care; and even the leper, from which the ignorant 
terror of the age stood back appalled and regarded as outside 
the pale of christian charity, was to be tended and nursed. 
At first Innocent rejected the offer with contempt. On re- 
flection however he sent again for S. Francis and gave his 
approbation to the scheme. The prospect of these teachers gaining 
the affection of the people, and the conviction that the new 
Order would serve as a vast standing army throughout the world, 
pledged to advance the interests of the Papal See, doubtless 
influenced the mind of Innocent. 
The new Order grew with astonishing rapidity even within 
the lifetime of its saintly founder, and made its way into every 
corner of Europe. It undertook missions to the Saracens, and 
strove to win its victories with spiritual weapons. The members 
of this Order entered into the intellectual arena provided by 
the great universities, and became teachers of Philosophy and 
Theology. Very early in the history of the Order, in the year 
1225 A.D., a number of the Franciscans made their way to 
Dover, headed by a native of Pisa, named Agnellus. It would 
appear as if they had been part of a mission sent to France, for 
Thomas de Eccleston, one of the earliest disciples of the Order, 
speaks with gratitude of the assistance which the friars received 
from the Monastery of Fescamp, a religious house of great 
historic interest in Normandy. ‘This mission consisted of nine 
persons, of whom four were clerics, and the rest were laymen. 
After landing at Dover, they went to Canterbury, and thence 
some of them went to London. The accommodation which they 
received at Canterbury was certainly not of the best. During 
their repasts one of the brethren would make a few remarks, 
dwelling upon the spiritual advantages of poverty and the great 
work that was before them. Two of the friars went to Oxford 
and established a mission in that city. In a short time they 
received such additions to their numbers that missions were 
established at Cambridge, Lincoln and Norwich. Gradually as 
their numbers increased the friars made settlements and built 
churches in all the provincial towns, and by their poverty, their 
sympathy with the suffering and oppressed classes, and by their 
deep devotion and earnest practical preaching affected the lives 
and consciences of thousands of the people. 
Mr. Caiger then described at some length the picture of a 
medicval town in England. The great religious houses which 
were established in the country districts were the centres of 
education, while the masses of the town populations were extreme- 
ly ignorant, and almost altogether neglected. Jn the suburbs of 
the towns, dwelt a large population which was neglected by both 
