FRANCISCANS 



2310 



FRANCKE 



of a thousand years, was dissolved. In 1806 

 Francis gave up his imperial title, being known 

 thereafter as emperor of Austria. 



He joined another league of the powers 

 against Napoleon in 1814, and after the lat- 

 ter's downfall associated himself with Alex- 

 ander I of Russia and Frederick William III 

 of Prussia in- the formation of the Holy Al- 

 liance (which see). During the remainder of 

 his reign he ruled as an absolute monarch. 



FRANCISCANS, fransis'kanz, members of 

 three great religious Orders, founded in the 

 thirteenth century by Saint Francis of Assisi. 

 The first Order is that of the Friars Minor, or 

 gray friars ; the second, that of the Poor Clares, 

 or Franciscan nuns; and the third, the Order 

 oj Penance or Tertiaries. While their original 

 aim was the spiritual welfare of the masses, 

 the Franciscans soon became identified with 

 great educational institutions. They are inti- 

 mately associated with the mission work of 

 the United States and Canada, where, notably 

 along the Pacific coast, they labor nobly for 

 the education and uplift of the Indians. See 

 FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 



FRANCIS JOSEPH I (1830-1916), emperor 

 of Austria and king of Hungary, had one of 

 the longest reigns in history. He became em- 

 peror in the revolution year of 1848, on the 

 abdication of Ferdinand I, and succeeded to a 

 troubled empire. 

 Hungary openly 

 revolted, even go- 

 ing so far as to 

 declare a repub- 

 lic, but the young 

 emperor succeed- 

 ed in putting 

 down the rebel- 

 lion and estab- 

 lishing nearly ab- 

 solute authority. 

 The Hungarians FRANCIS JOSEPH 



did not placidly submit to having their lib- 

 erties taken from them, and in 1853 a Hunga- 

 rian almost succeeded in assassinating Francis 

 Joseph. 



All the policies of the government were at 

 first thoroughly reactionary, and the insurgents 

 in Italy were put down as vigorously as those 

 in Hungary had been. In 1859 a war broke 

 out with Sardinia, and though France deserted 

 Sardinia in the midst of the struggle, the result 

 was the loss to Austria of Lombardy. The 

 question of the supremacy of Austria or Prus- 

 sia in Germany led to the Seven Weeks' War, 



which ended disastrously for Austria, and after 

 the close of that struggle Francis Joseph 

 adopted more liberal policies. Constitutional 

 rights were granted, and the Austro-Hungarian 

 state as it exists to-day was formed, the em- 

 peror being crowned king of Hungary in 1867. 

 Francis Joseph always enjoyed a very con- 

 siderable popularity, and this, rather than any 

 real spirit of union, held his dual realm to- 

 gether. During his reign industrial conditions 

 greatly improved, and the country made far 

 more progress than ever before. The life of 

 the emperor was saddened repeatedly by trag- 

 edies which stirred the nation and the world. 

 In 1898 his empress, Elizabeth, whom he had 

 married in 1854, was assassinated by an Italian 

 anarchist; in 1889 his only son was killed, 

 which left a nephew, Archduke Francis Ferdi- 

 nand, as heir to the throne. In June, 1914, 

 Francis Ferdinand and his consort were mur- 

 dered in their carriage, in Serajevo, Bosnia, by 

 a Serbian, a tragic incident which hastened the 

 War of the Nations two months later. These 

 events accentuated the troubled political con- 

 dition in the realm of Francis Joseph and 

 denominated him the "monarch of many sor- 

 rows." He was succeeded November 21, 1916, 

 by his nephew, who assumed the title Charles 

 I. See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, subhead History. 



FRANCIS OF ASSISI, ahse'ze (1182-1226), 

 an Italian monk and founder of the religious 

 Order of the Franciscans. In youth his ar- 

 dent piety prompted him to dispose of his 

 worldly belongings and to devote himself to the 

 service of the poor and afflicted. As his fol- 

 lowers increased he journeyed to Rome to ob- 

 tain the Papal permission to found a religious 

 Order. This was granted after some opposi- 

 tion, and the friars began to increase in num- 

 ber and to spread everywhere. The rule of 

 the Order was based upon the strictest pov- 

 erty, which implied no property, and existence 

 by means of alms. The simple, austere life of 

 Saint Francis, particularly his deep love for all 

 created things, inspired many non-Catholic 

 movements to honor his memory. One of 

 these was organized by Paul Sabatier, a French 

 Calvinist minister, its object being to study 

 the life and virtues of the saint. See FRAN- 

 CISCANS. 



FRANCKE, jrahnk'e, AUGUST HERMANN 

 (1663-1727), a German' educator, founder of 

 the Francke Institutes at Halle, whose meth- 

 ods and theories have permanently influenced 

 the Prussian system of public education. He 

 was born in Liibeck and educated at the uni- 



