324 



ORDERS. 



lives. Of this description are the canons regular, 

 whose constitution was formed on tin- rules of St 

 Augustine ; for example, the monks of St Savior in 

 the Lateran, of the Holy Sepulchre, of StGenevieve, 

 &c. The Pnemonstratenses, Augustines, Servites, 

 Hieronymites or Jeronymites, Jesuati-s, and Brigit- 

 tins, are regular orders, according to the rules of St 

 Augustine. Under the class of regular orders, but 

 more devoted, according to the ancient ideas of 

 monastic life, to silent contemplation, and secluded 

 from the world, are included also the peculiarly con- 

 stituted Carmelites. The Trinitarians or Mathurines 

 and the order of Grace showed more inclination to 

 serve the world. But love of hierarchal importance, 

 and influence over the world, was the prominent 

 characteristic of the Mendicants, an order of Domi- 

 nicans (preaching monks, Jacobins), established in 

 the beginning of the thirteenth century, and of the 

 Franciscans (Minorites, Conventuals, Observantines, 

 Caesarines, Amadeists, nuns of St Clare, Spirituals, 

 Eremites or Celestines, Fraticelli, Alcanlarines, Cor- 

 deliers, Capuchins) ; from which the Minims or 

 1'aulanites, who belong to the same class, are distin- 



guished by their devotion to a silent, contemplative 

 fe. The Dominicans and Franciscans received 

 from the popes certain immunities which are known 

 as the privileges of mendicant friars, and they were 

 afterwards granted in part to the Carmelites, Augus- 

 tines, Servites, and Paulanites. They consisted in 

 freedom from all secular and episcopal jurisdiction ; 

 in the privilege of demanding alms of every body out 

 of the monasteries; in authority to preach every 

 where, without regard to the parochial rights of the 

 priests ; to hear confessions, to read masses, and sell 

 papal indulgences. These immunities served as a com- 

 pensation for the strictness with which they were for- 

 bidden, by their ancient rules, to possess any property. 

 Although the establishment of new orders of monks 

 had been expressly prohibited by some councils, sev- 

 eral new institutions of this nature, which arose after 

 the beginning of the sixteenth century, were able, by 

 promising to devote their exertions to the common 

 good, to procure the approbation of the pope, and 

 thus to escape the prohibition, provided that they did 

 not pass for new orders of monks, but called them- 

 selves regular canons of St Augustine, and dressed 

 in the black garb of the secular clergy. The im- 

 mense loss which was sustained by the ancient orders, 

 in consequence of the reformation, induced the popes 

 zealously to encourage these establishments. To this 

 rubric belong the Theatines, the Baraabites, the So- 

 maskians ; in France, the Priests and Fathers of the 

 Oratory, the Lazarists, Bartholomaeans, Piarists, and 

 the Brethren of Mercy. As the secluded life of the 

 monks, soon after the origin of monasteries, had 

 given rise to similar associations of pious females, so 

 nuns commonly banded together as new orders of 

 monks arose, and formed societies under similar 

 names and regulations. There were Benedictine, 

 Camaldulian, Carthusian, Cistercian, Augustine, Prse- 

 monstratensian, Carmelite, Trinitarian, Dominican, 

 Franciscan, Paulanite nuns, and many orders of regu- 

 lar canonesses, whose monastic vows and the colour 

 of their dresses corresponded with those of the male 

 branches; but they were excluded from the priestly 

 influence which the monks were able to exercise. 

 The male branch of an order is denominated the first 

 order, and the female the second ; thus the Capuchin 

 friars belonged to the first order, and the Capuchin 

 nuns to the second order of St Francis. There were 

 also congregations of nuns, who united with certain 

 orders of monks, without adopting their names ; as 

 the Urbanist nuns, the nuns of the Conception of the 

 Blessed Virgin, in Italy and Spain, and the nuns of 

 the Annunciation of Mary, who belonged to the 



second order of St Francis, and the English sisters, 

 who followed the rule of the Barnabites. The nuns 

 of the penance of St Magdalen, the Salesian nuns, the 

 celestial Annuuciadae, the Ursuline and Hospitaller 

 Nuns, or Sisters of Mercy, are female orders existing 

 independently of any male orders, and living accord- 

 ing to the rules of St Augustine. Besides the nuns 

 composing the second order, almost all the important 

 religious orders received new accessions in the Iny 

 brethren (fratres barbati, or conversi) and lay sisters, 

 who were taken to perform the necessary labours of 

 the monasteries, and to manage their intercourse with 

 the world, in order that the choristers, that is, the 

 proper religious, who performed the appointed pray- 

 ers in the choirs of the churches, might not be dis- 

 tracted in their studies and devotions. The first 

 example of this arrangement was given by the order 

 of Vailombrosa, and soon imitated in the monasteries 

 of other orders. It became gradually an instrument 

 of considerably increasing the power and influence of 

 the monastic institution. 



Under the name of offerings and presents, vast 

 numbers devoted themselves, their property, and their 

 influence, to the service of religious orders, without 

 formally becoming members of them. Whole fa- 

 milies, married persons of all ranks, in this way made 

 themselves dependent on the regular clergy ; and, as 

 they imagined that they should thus gain nearer ac- 

 cess to heaven, the connexion appeared to them de- 

 sirable, though it was attended with the heaviest 

 sacrifices. St Francis of Assisi first gave this rela- 

 tion of dependence a distinct form. He united the 

 laymen, who wished to associate with the brethren of 

 his order, without becoming clergymen, into a par- 

 ticular society, under the name of the third order of 

 Minorites. After this model were formed (besides all 

 the mendicant orders) the Cistercians, the Trinitari- 

 ans, and the Monks of Grace of the third order, of 

 whom only a few went into retirement, and bound 

 themselves by solemn monastic vows. Most of the 

 members, indeed, were laymen, who retained their 

 civil and domestic relations, and engaged only to lead 

 a religious life, without quitting the world. This 

 engagement required them every day to repeat some 

 Ave Marias and the Paternoster, and to fast at cer- 

 tain specified times. The members of every third 

 order are called tertiarians or tertians, and are dis- 

 tinguished by their rich presents to the monasteries 

 and mendicants of their order, and their zeal, in every 

 way, to promote its interests. They are at liberty 

 to wear the full dress of their order, but generally 

 content themselves with wearing the scapulary, or 

 girdle, like an amulet, under their ordinary garb. 

 This badge of connexion with a religious order, to 

 which superstition attributes a mysterious and heav- 

 enly energy, is purchased at great expense ; and with 

 its possession is commonly connected the assurance of 

 great indulgence. 



Besides these sources of income, the association of 

 third orders affords to the first so many means of in- 

 creasing its power and influence, that the care with 

 which they are kept up. extended and favoured, can 

 easily be accounted for. The bitterest dissensions 

 at length arose between the different religious orders, 

 in consequence of this association of the laity with the 

 clergy, and could be settled only by formal compacts, 

 marking out the limits of their possessions and their 

 influence, and by mutual agreements respecting the 

 deserters from one order to another. To the original 

 intent of monastic institutions of serving God by 

 prayer, and the world by instruction, and example, 

 and benevolence, the policy of the popes gradually 

 added the design of ruling nations. This is clearly 

 shown in the constitutions of the spiritual orders. 

 The orders first established governed themselves in 



