Franciscans and Dominicans. Dominicans and Franciscans History of the Monastic Orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans
In the XII-XIII centuries. the whole of Europe was engulfed in a heretical movement, which was not of a local nature, but of a pan-European character. But even the Inquisition could not fully cope with its task, it was not possible to completely eradicate the sects, and then the church took a different path - the path of legalizing some sects (this is how the moderate group of Waldensians was legalized). Nevertheless, it was impossible to destroy heresies, and they became organic part life in Western Europe. The Catholic Church could not come to terms with this, and it began new searches in the ways of combating heretics. The church drew attention to the fact that heretics had a developed sermon. And not just preaching, but preaching the ideals of poverty. The Church goes to create a new type of monasticism- the so-called mendicant orders, which were supposed to preach poverty and asceticism.
This new mechanism for combating heresy began to be developed by the Pope Innocent III and his followers. The mendicant orders embodied a new view of monastic asceticism, which partly went back to the ideal of canons regular. The first mendicant order - the order Franciscans Francis of Assisi(1181/2 - 1226). He wandered through Italy, eating alms, and his ideal was "Lady Poverty." Very quickly, Francis acquires followers, who are called minorites, i.e. "little brothers". From his students, Francis of Assisi demanded the renunciation not only of wealth, but also of any kind of property, a life of alms, asceticism and obedience. Francis of Assisi criticized monasticism, but did not deny monasticism as an institution. He only called on the monks to leave the walls of the monastery and begin to live the way the Franciscan order lives - almsgiving, preaching and obedience to the world. After his death, Francis was canonized by the Catholic Church. By the middle of the XIII century. the Franciscan order departed from its original ideals and turned into one of the richest monastic orders, and at the head of it was no longer a poor man and a vagabond "out of this world", but a general appointed by the pope. One of the main tasks of the order is the fight against heresy. The order quickly spread throughout Europe, and in the XIII century. it already had more than a thousand of the richest monasteries of the once mendicant Franciscan order. In addition to the fight against heretics, this order was engaged in the training of Catholic theologians, and also played a large role in the politics and diplomacy of the papacy.
Dominicans Dominica(1170-1221) (in the world Dominic de Guzman). This order immediately, from the moment of its foundation, submits to the pope. The Dominicans attached great importance to the art of preaching and to scholastic theological disputes. The preaching brothers (as the Dominicans were called), with the support of the pope, very soon occupied the theological chairs of the largest universities in Europe. Major theologians such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas emerged from the Dominican order. The Dominicans played a huge role in the politics of the papacy, but their main task was to fight heresy. On their banner was a dog with a torch in its mouth, and they called themselves the dogs of the Lord, who gnawed out heresy. Some researchers believe that the Dominicans were the creators, on the orders of the Pope, the Inquisition. Other researchers believe that most of the inquisitors were Dominicans. The Sorbonne, the theological faculty of the University of Paris, headed by the Dominicans, becomes the highest court in determining the deviation of unorthodox teachings from the orthodox. The Dominicans and personally Dominic himself took a direct part in the suppression of the Albigensian movement.
Both "mendicant" orders were widely involved in politics and diplomacy, as well as the expansion of Catholicism. The Order of the Dominicans was especially successful in this field. The vector of expansion was directed to the East. In the XIII century, even before the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Dominicans founded their monastery near Kiev. They penetrate into China, Japan and other eastern countries.
However, neither the persecution of heretics, nor the Inquisition, nor the mendicant orders led to the renewal, reformation of Catholicism and could not prevent the crisis of the papacy in the XIV-XV centuries. Heretical movements of the XII-XIII centuries. contributed to the weakening of his authority.
Inquisition.
In the XII-XIII centuries. the whole of Europe was engulfed in a heretical movement, which was not of a local nature, but of a pan-European character. In essence, pan-European heresies were not homogeneous. There are two types of heresies: burgher(i.e. urban) and peasant-plebeian. The demands of both heretics often coincided. Both types of heretical trends demanded the elimination of the political claims of the papacy, the land wealth of the Church, and the special position of the Catholic clergy. The ideal of medieval heretical teachings was the early Christian Apostolic Church.
The doctrines of the early heretical teachings had some religious basis. First of all, such doctrines implied a critical attitude towards the ministers of the Church, from the pope to the priest.
Heresies covered wide social strata of the population of Europe. The lower strata were drawn into the peasant-plebeian heresies, but the educated sections of the townspeople, university professors and students, also entered the burgher heresies.
The breadth of heretical teachings, their deep impact on the consciousness of the European population, naturally forced the Catholic Church itself to somehow maneuver, to resort to actions directed against heretics. The first impulse of the official church was a call for the most decisive action - the unconditional destruction of sects and heretical movements. At the cathedrals, the teachings of Arnold of Brescia, Joachim of Florence, Amory of Vienna, and Peter Olivius were anathematized. Many leaders of sects and heretical movements were condemned and burned at the stake. Not only heresiarchs were burned, but also ordinary heretics. Heretics were constantly persecuted.
However, the forms that the Catholic Church invented in the fight against heretics were not limited solely to persecution, conciliar condemnations and bonfires. One of the essential forms of combating heresy was Crusades. In the XIII century. there were several such campaigns against the Albigensians in southern France, in the XIV century. against the apostles.
The listed mechanisms for combating heresy could not eradicate it, and then the church begins to frantically search for other, more effective ones. The institution was such a mechanism. inquisition. At the end of the XII century. the inquisition emerges as a form of papal court. In each episcopate, the post of papal inquisitor was introduced, who led the investigation (inquisitio) in cases of heresy and pronounce judgment. In the XIII century. the Inquisition becomes an independent organization with very broad powers, which reports directly to the pope. Then the time came when this subordination became purely formal. The Inquisition became an independent formidable organization that everyone feared - heretics and Catholics, peasants and townspeople, nobles and kings, secular and spiritual authorities. The popes themselves were afraid of the Inquisition. Fear is a powerful weapon, and the Inquisition knew how to use it.
The Inquisition introduces a broad system of search, judicial investigation of heretics, not disdaining such methods as denunciations and espionage. Having accused someone of heresy, the inquisitors sought recognition by all possible means - from the intricate conduct of the investigation, casuistic theological debate to the most cruel torture. Under torture, even an innocent person confessed to anything, and he was given the usual sentence - autodafe- burning at the stake. The Spanish Inquisition was especially cruel. In the XV century. in Spain was created so-called. a new inquisition led by the chief inquisitor - the Dominican Thomas Torquemada, who had great influence. Under him, persecution was widespread. In Spain, bonfires were burning, on which the Gentiles were burned. The Inquisition was abolished by Napoleon. It currently exists as a congregation of the creeds.
But even the Inquisition could not fully cope with its task, it was not possible to completely eradicate the sects, and then the church took a different path - the path of legalizing some sects (this is how the moderate group of Waldensians was legalized). Nevertheless, it was impossible to destroy heresies, and they became an integral part of the life of Western Europe. The Catholic Church could not come to terms with this, and it began new searches in the ways of combating heretics. The Church drew attention to the fact that heretics had a developed sermon. And not just preaching, but preaching the ideals of poverty. The Church is going to create a new type of monasticism - the so-called mendicant orders, which were supposed to preach poverty and asceticism.
The first mendicant order - the order Franciscans created in Italy. Its founder was the son of a wealthy merchant from Assisi - Francis of Assisi (1181/2 – 1226).
The second mendicant order - the order Dominicans- Arises in the thirteenth century. in Spain and is also named after its founder - a monk Dominica(1170-1221) (in the world Dominic de Guzman). This order immediately, from the moment of its foundation, submits to the pope. The Dominicans attached great importance to the art of preaching and to scholastic theological disputes. The preaching brothers (as the Dominicans were called), with the support of the pope, very soon occupied the theological chairs of the largest universities in Europe.
Papacy in the XIII-XV centuries.
13th century - the time of the highest power and influence of the papacy. This was most clearly manifested during the pontificate. Innocent III(1198-1216). Theologians and lawyers who developed canon law during this period developed mechanisms for interaction between the papacy and European states. The powerful weapon of the papacy was interdict, excommunication, crusade. It was during this period that the theory and adopted the dogma of the infallibility of the popes. To the pontificate Boniface VIII (1299-1303) started to be issued indulgences– letters, which for money provided absolution and guaranteed a place in paradise. Each poor man collected his last money in order to buy himself an absolution. Boniface VIII demanded recognition from the pope substitute for God on earth and proclaimed a universal theocratic monarchy. In the XIII century. theologians developed the doctrine of the "treasury" of the Church - the inexhaustible wealth of grace accumulated by the exploits of saints and martyrs. This "treasury" could be disposed of only by popes and church hierarchs. This teaching led to the direct deification of the popes.
XIV century - the time of the formation and creation of centralized states. If earlier kings were in spiritual and political dependence on the head of the Vatican, now, when national states were being formed, the king tried to free himself from papal dependence. The king of France was the first to demonstrate such independence from the papacy. Philip IV the Handsome(1285-1314), who destroyed the Knights Templar in France. The conflict erupted when King Philip IV taxed the French clergy without papal permission (thus demonstrating his complete independence from the pope). Under the Vatican and under the kings, there was a permanent corps of lawyers, which was extremely influential. One of the lawyers of King Philip, Nogaret, during the conflict between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII, slapped the head Roman Catholic Church. Boniface VIII could not bear the shame and soon died. From this episode the era of the weakening of the papacy began. After that, Philip IV, whose authority in Europe was rapidly growing, moved the residence of the popes from Rome to France, in the city of France. Avignon. This is how the 70th year begins "Avignon captivity of the popes"(1309-1378). After the transfer of the papal residence to Avignon, Philip immediately appoints a pope of French origin - Clement V. During this period, the popes contribute a lot to strengthening royal power and creating a single centralized state in France.
In Avignon, the popes were able to create an effective financial department. An open trade in lucrative church positions flourished, the money collected for the next crusade was used for personal needs, it was the Avignon popes who switched to a wide trade in indulgences.
The Hundred Years' War sparks a movement for the independence of the national churches. Beginning 14th century - the theory of the need for a separation of church and state is born (W. Occam, M. Padua, Dante). Criticism of the theocratic doctrine of the papacy ( John Wyclif in England, Jan Hus in the Czech Republic). 1377 - Pope Gregory XI, taking advantage of the weakening of France in the war, returned the papal residence to Rome. Then leapfrog begins with the election of popes, a council was convened in Pisa, but the split only deepened: there were already three popes in Europe. As a result, a conciliar movement takes shape, European monarchs seek to limit the power of the flock over national churches. The position of the cardinals in the management of the church is being strengthened.
1414-1418– in the city of Constanta in the north-east of Switzerland, the cathedral, which lasted four years, hosts the decision to subject the pope to the authority of the councils.Basel (1431-1447) and Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445) cathedrals only led to a new schism. Economic pressure was exerted on the Orthodox in order to conclude a union (Pope Eugene IV). (1439 - Ferrara-Florentine Union of Byzantium and Rome). The defeat of the conciliar movement and restoration of the unity of the popes. But the popes did not succeed in restoring their former authority over the churches. A separate status was taken by the church in the Czech Republic, where, unlike the Roman one, communion under both types was allowed.
15th century - renunciation of claims to universal domination, strengthening of power in Rome. The popes of this period are increasingly reminiscent of the Renaissance Italian princes. They attract famous artists and humanists to Rome, they are building churches and public buildings. Refusal to carry out reforms, secular lifestyle and dubious moral principles of the popes cause discontent in the countries of Western Europe. 16th century -beginning of the Reformation in Europe, which led to the falling away from Rome of part of Germany, individual cantons of Switzerland, England, Scandinavia.
Inquisition, Franciscans and Dominicans
A chronicler monk wrote in the 13th century: “The twelfth century did not end its journey the way it began. When at evening he leaned toward sunset, about to pass into eternity, the church seemed to lean with him, full of thoughts about the future. Even before the era of the Albigensian wars, people in many countries began to openly say that "the church does not contribute to their happiness." Everywhere they started talking about church reform, which seemed capable of freeing many people from the hardships and sufferings of the complex and unpredictable life of the Middle Ages. The monk wrote: “The schism and heresy, favored by the poor state of spiritual discipline and the revival of pagan sciences, shook the cause of Christ in the West, while the unfortunate end of the crusades completed its collapse in the East.”
In some cities of France, the word "priest" became a curse, the priests themselves tried to hide their rank in public. The nobles stopped giving money to the church, the clergy were replenished only at the expense of the serfs, the dependent population. Francis of Assisi made a turning point in the history of Western monasticism by establishing a mendicant order named after him.
Giovanni Bernardone (1181-1226), who grew up in a wealthy merchant family in 1206, began to preach evangelical poverty, refused to own property, and did not take money into his hands. He had followers who vowed to observe total poverty. All the monks took this vow, but at the beginning of the 13th century, almost none of them took it seriously. Giovanni Bernardone, who became Francis of Assisi, elevated poverty to a positive ideal stemming from the idea of following the example of Jesus Christ. He transformed monasticism, replacing a monk in a monastery with a missionary monk, calling people to peace and repentance. Francis had a lively, responsive sense of compassion. His cheerful nature and poetic flair transformed compassion into sympathy, which looked for a living soul in everything living. His sympathy extended to all animate and inanimate nature. His sermons called people to repentance, accompanied by deep humility. He never condemned anyone, he simply called for evangelical perfection, and this caused a surge of religious enthusiasm among those around him.
The beggar wanderer and preacher visited many cities and villages in France, Spain, Egypt, Palestine, everywhere creating communities of his followers who did not have any property. Very quickly, the followers of Francis spread throughout all European countries, in Germany, France, England, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, even icy Iceland.
In Rome, Pope Innocent III met with Francis, who appreciated the sincerity of his faith. The Franciscan Society became a monastic order. Innocent III recognized for Francis and his order the right to preach poverty. He took from Francis an oath of obedience to the pope. His associates were required to have tonsure, which made them priests. The Franciscan order received a charter and became subordinate to the Holy See. Francis and his associates received the right to perform the sacraments. The number of members of the order grew rapidly, small groups of Franciscan preachers went to preach around the world. Missionaries preached in Arab countries, among pagans, Polovtsians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Ethiopians, Iberians, Alans, Goths, Jacobites, Slavs, Nubians, Indians, Mongols, Tatars, Turks. Francis himself traveled to the East and read sermons to the Turkish sultan. When Francis returned, he found the first Franciscan monastery built. His friend Pope Gregory IX convinced the future saint to change the activities of the order. Francis settled in a hut near Assisi. Every year on the day of the Trinity, the Franciscan missionaries came to the head of the order and built their huts around his dwelling. Thus arose collections of all members of the Franciscan order - general chapters. At the 1219 meeting, five thousand tents stood around Francis.
The Franciscans were very popular, received many donations, built shelters, schools, hospitals, monasteries. The charter of the order was written by Francis and approved by the bull of Pope Honorius III "Solet annuere" in November 1223. In the 20th century, he operates in the Order of St. Francis: “The Charter and the life of the Friars Minor are such - to observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without property and in purity.”
Those wishing to join the Franciscan brotherhood underwent trials for a whole year and, upon being accepted into the order, they could no longer leave it - “no one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is unreliable for the Kingdom of God.” In 1223, the Christ-loving brotherhood of Francis became a monastic order.
It was headed by the general minister, the provinces were led by provincial ministers, and the communities were managed by custodians. Meetings of the order brothers were held every three years. Francis of Assisi refused to lead the order. He enjoyed great respect, but for the last three years of his life he no longer had influence on the leadership of the Franciscans. He died in 1226 and was canonized a year later. Part of the order that opposed the departure from the idea of St. Francis was persecuted. The Pope allowed the "correct Franciscans" to teach freely in European universities. The rebellion of the French professors, who protested against the non-competitive occupation of the chairs by the Franciscans, was extinguished and condemned.
Despite the rigid centralization and changes in the purpose of his order, St. Francis initiated a new Western monasticism. Its essence consisted not only in self-improvement and spiritual exploits, but also in concrete help to one's neighbor, missionary work, constant preaching. Monasticism became not only contemplative, but also active, although it was constantly subjected to the process of secularization.
Back in the winter of 1218, in Rome, Pope Gregory IX introduced Francis of Assisi to Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Dominican order. They met several times. Dominic offered to unite the orders, but Francis refused. The Pope invited Francis and Dominic to appoint priests from their orders to the highest church positions. Both future saints refused this, but it was the Franciscans and Dominicans who led the Incuisitio hacreticae pravitatis - the Holy Inquisition, an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, the main purpose of which was the search, trial and punishment of heretics.
The Spanish canon and nobleman from Old Castile, Dominique de Guzman (1170–1221), founded a monastery in southern France in 1205 to combat the heresy of the Cathars. Having received a good theological education, Dominic suggested that preachers should not go with a large and magnificent retinue, but strengthen the very sermon and combine it with a righteous life. Only this could impress the inhabitants of southern France. Dominic set about creating a new order. Its members had to resist the Albigensian preachers by word, by example, by prayer. To achieve personal holiness, future Dominicans needed contemplation, prayer, asceticism, wandering and poverty, combined with deep Catholic knowledge. The first seven Dominicans, supported by the leaders of the crusade, Count Simon de Montfort, went to Rome for the Lateran Council. In 1216, at the council, Pope Honorius II approved the new Dominican Order, whose members operated in France, Spain, and Italy. The Dominicans considered a deep study of theology to be very important for the preparation of correct preachers. The centers of the Dominicans were Paris and Bologna - the two largest European university cities.
Each Dominican had his own cell, which provided the opportunity for scientific studies. To fight heretics, knowledge, training of brothers, libraries were required. Each of the Dominican monasteries had its own school. Dominican universities were in Mompellie, Bologna, Cologne, Oxford. For eight years future preachers were taught philosophy, theology, church history and law. After 13 years of study, the most talented students became masters of theology and received the highest rank of the order. Equally honorary was the rank of "general preacher", which was awarded for a successful twenty-five-year preaching activity. The Dominicans were Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Gerolamo Savonarola. Already under Dominica, sixty monasteries of the order operated in Spain, Provence, France, England, Germany, Lombardy, Romagna, Hungary. The Dominicans actively preached, engaged in missionary work, and theology. On top of the white cassock they wore a black robe with a black hood. The coat of arms of the Dominican order depicted the head of a dog with a burning torch in its mouth. The “dogs of the Lord” guarded the church from heresies and carried the preaching of the truth into the world. Back in 1218, in Rome, Dominic was appointed by the pope as the highest censor - "magister sacri palatii". He considered the sword quite acceptable in the fight against heretics, to exterminate inveterate heretics. Under the name "Jesus Christ Militia", Dominic created an alliance of secular people of both sexes to protect the church and strive for moral perfection.
The Dominicans and Franciscans took up the organization of the Inquisition. Heresy (Greek hairesis - doctrine, sect) began to be called a conscious and deliberate deviation from a clearly expressed and formulated dogma of the Christian faith. A dogma was a position of dogma approved by the highest church authorities, declared by the church to be an indisputable truth, not subject to criticism. Theology - theology (Greek theos - god) was engaged in the totality of religious doctrines about the essence of God. Heresy was distinguished from a schism, from unintentional errors in dogmatic teaching. The truths of church teaching were formed in the symbols of the Ecumenical Councils. The source of heresies was considered the desire to combine into one whole the old philosophical doctrines of the ancient world with the new Christian ones. A sect was a religion followed by a small number of people organized into a group. Heresy was the content of the doctrine itself. Sects were divided into realistic and mystical. All the problems associated with heresies and sects were dealt with by the Inquisition (lat. Inguisitio - search).
In 530 AD at Montecassino, south of Rome, Benedict of Nursia founded the oldest Western European Catholic monastic order. The Great Migration of Nations completely changed the face of Europe: Ancient Rome, many Germanic tribes settled in Italy. Cities were devastated, works of culture and art were looted or destroyed. The swords of ruthless victors and terrible epidemics claimed many human lives. Contemporaries wrote that culture was finally defeated by nature. In Western Europe, one cultural force remained - monasticism.
Order of Saint Benedict
The future reformer of Western European monasticism, Saint Benedict was born in 480 in Nursia, in Spoleto, into a noble Umbrian family. He studied in Rome for several years, at the age of 15 he went into the desert, where he lived in a secluded cave for three years, thinking. Revered by his brothers, at the age of 30, Benedict was elected by the monks of the cave Vikovarsky monastery to the abbots. Rigid, ascetic management did not please the monks, who could not spend almost a day in prayers and labors. Benedict left the abbots and again settled in a cave. In the vicinity of Subiaco, associates gathered around him, whom he settled in cenovia, designed for twelve monks.
Benedict of Nursia. Fragment of the fresco of the monastery of St. Mark
Benedict thought a lot about the reorganization of monastic life. Contemplative ascetic eastern hermitage in Western countries with a harsher climate did not seem to him the ideal of serving the Lord. He created a special charter for Western monks, which has come down to our time through one and a half millennia: “We need to found a school to serve the Lord. By creating it, we hope to install nothing cruel, nothing heavy. If, nevertheless, a just cause would require something a little more severe to be introduced there in order to curb vices and preserve mercy, do not let fear immediately seize you and do not run far from the road of salvation, which at first cannot be narrow ... but As you move through the monastic life, through the life of faith, your heart expands, and you run along the road of God's commandments with the lightness of inexpressible love. Thus, never leaving our teacher, zealous in the monastery in teaching him until death, we share the sufferings of Christ with patience in order to earn a place in His Kingdom. Amen".
"Pray and Work" is the motto of the Order of Saint Benedict.
The first Benedictine monastery was founded in 530 at Montecassino. Benedict of Nursia lived and ruled there until the end of his life in 543.
By the middle of the 6th century, the Benedictine monks had become the most numerous in Europe. The monasteries were united in the Benedictine order, which soon became very revered in Europe.
Cistercian Order
The Cistercian or Bernardine order was founded in 1098 by a nobleman from Champagne, Robert of Molemsky, who, while still young, entered one of the Benedictine monasteries, but since the life there did not correspond to his aspirations for asceticism, he with several comrades retired to the deserted place of Sieto, near Dijon, and founded his monastery there. From this monastery the Cistercian order was formed.
The Cistercian constitution is called the Charter of Mercy.
The rules of the order were borrowed by Robert from an ancient Benedictine rule. This is a complete withdrawal from the world, renunciation of all luxury and conveniences, a strict ascetic life. Pope Paschal II approved the order, but due to too strict rules, at first there were few members in it. The number of Cistercians began to increase only when the famous Bernard of Clairvaux joined the order. By the severity of his life and the convincing gift of eloquence, Bernard gained such respect from his contemporaries that even during his lifetime he was considered a saint, and not only the people, but also popes and princes obeyed his influence.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Alfred Wesley Wishart, 1900
Respect for the theologian was transferred to his order, which began to grow rapidly. After the death of Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercians (Bernardines) multiplied throughout Europe. The order acquired great wealth, which inevitably entailed a weakening of monastic discipline, putting the Bernardine monasteries on a par with other Western abbeys.
Order of the Carmelites
The Carmelite order was founded in Palestine by the Calabrian crusader Berthold, who, with several friends, settled on Mount Carmel in the middle of the 12th century and lived there in the image of the ancient Eastern ascetics. At the beginning of the 13th century, Patriarch Albert of Jerusalem drew up a monastic charter that was particularly strict - the Carmelites had to live in separate cells, constantly pray, observe strict fasts, including completely refusing meat, and also spend considerable time in complete silence.
Patriarch Albert of Jerusalem
In 1238, after the defeat of the crusaders, the order was forced to emigrate to Europe. There, in 1247, from Pope Innocent IV, the Carmelites received a less strict charter and became part of the mendicant orders. In the 16th century, the order became especially famous in its female half, under the Carmelite abbess Teresa of Avila.
The Carmelite Order was founded by the crusader Berthold of Calabria.
Franciscan Order
The founder of the order was Francis, the son of a merchant from Assisi. He was a man with a tender loving heart, striving from an early age to devote himself to the service of God and society. The words of the Gospel about the embassy of the apostles to preach without gold and silver, without a staff and a bag, determined his calling: Francis, having taken a vow of perfect beggary, became in 1208 an itinerant preacher of repentance and love for Christ. Soon several disciples gathered around him, with whom he formed the order of the lesser brothers or Minos. Their main vows were perfect apostolic poverty, chastity, humility and obedience. The main occupation is preaching about repentance and love for Christ. Thus, the order took on the task of assisting the church in the salvation of human souls.
Francis of Assisi. Image on the wall of the monastery of Saint Benedict in Subiaco
Pope Innocent III, to whom Francis appeared, although he did not approve his order, but allowed him and his comrades to engage in preaching and missionary work. In 1223, the order was approved by a bull of Pope Honorius III, and the Franciscans received the right to preach and confess everywhere.
In the early period, the Franciscans were known in England as the "Gray Brothers"
At the same time, the female half of the order was also formed. The maiden Clara of Assisi in 1212 gathered around her several pious women and founded the order of the Clarissin, to which Francis gave a charter in 1224. After the death of Francis of Assisi, his order spread to all countries Western Europe and numbered thousands of monks in its ranks.
Dominican Order
The Dominican order was founded at the same time as the Franciscan Spanish priest and canon Dominic. At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, many heretics appeared in the Roman Church, who settled in the southern region of France and caused great confusion there. Dominic, passing through Toulouse, met the apostates and decided to found an order for their conversion. Pope Innocent III gave him permission, and Honorius III approved the charter. The main occupation of the order was to be the conversion of heretics, but Honorius granted the order the right to preach and confess.
Dogs of the Lord is the informal name of the Dominican order.
In 1220, Dominic made a significant change in the charter of the order and, following the example of the Franciscans, added begging to the vows of the brethren. The difference between the orders was that in order to convert heretics and establish Catholicism, the Dominicans, having adopted a scientific direction, acted among the upper classes. After the death of Dominic in 1221, the order spread throughout western Europe.
Saint Dominic. Monastery of Santa Sabina
In Byzantium, Western Christianity has always been considered primitive and crude, suitable only for a backward, semi-barbarian society. Indeed, starting from the 12th century, as Western society grew richer, became more urbanized and educated, new religious trends began to be felt in Europe, which could hardly please the church and the feudalized bishops and abbots drawn into the system of secular power. The Cluniac and Cistercian movements were outlets for those who wanted to escape from everyday life, and the incredible popularity of pilgrimages and crusades gave vent to the aspirations of those ordinary people who could not find an answer from the parish priests. But these movements did not end there.
Franciscans, Dominicans and Beguines
In the growing cities, new needs gave rise to new religious movements, united by the desire to give religious experience more personal expression. This could be achieved either by a genuinely Christian way of life, or, which suited most ordinary people, by observing such a way of life, imitating it and warmly approving it.
The most famous of these movements, which quickly gained wide popularity, was the Franciscan movement. St. Francis of Assisi (1181 / 2-1226), the son of a wealthy merchant, renounced all his property and began to live and preach in complete poverty, eating on alms. The beginning of St. Francis, approved by Pope Innocent III, despite the opposition of more conservative-minded cardinals, from the very beginning caused a lot of criticism, since the Franciscan brothers lived "in the world", among people (unlike other monks who lived in comfortable monasteries).
As soon as it appeared, the Franciscan movement with exceptional success attracted new supporters and achieved popular recognition. Many generations of ordinary people have watched with regret the secularization of the church and the craving of the higher clergy, including the abbots of the largest monasteries, for ostentatious luxury. The call for a return to the poverty, simplicity, and pure spirituality of the early church became one of the most effective propaganda tools used by the supporters of imperial power against the papacy. Finally, both men and women united in the ranks of the Franciscans: the women's order of the "mendicant Clarissa" was founded by St. Clara, noble lady of Assisi and great admirer of Francis. At the head of the movement was a great saint who lived a truly Christian life: according to stories, Francis had stigmas, bloody sores in those places where the wounds of Christ on the cross were inflicted. St. Bonaventure, general of the order from 1257 to 1274, wrote about this: "He became like Christ, crucified not by bodily pain, but by the attitude of mind and heart."
A few years after the death of Francis, a collection of stories about his life and the lives of his followers, entitled "Flowers of St. Francis."
A typical example of the narratives included in it is the story of Brother Bernard.
Since Saint Francis and his comrades were called and chosen by God to bear in their hearts and deeds and preach with their lips the Cross of Christ, they seemed and were crucified people in everything that concerns their deeds and harsh life; therefore they were more eager to endure, out of love for Christ, shame and reproach, than to accept the honors of the world, or prostrations, or empty praises. They even rejoiced at offenses and grieved in honors, and so they walked through the world, like strangers and strangers, carrying only the crucified Christ in themselves ... It happened at the beginning of the Order of St. Francis to send brother Bernard to Bologna, so that there he would bear fruit to God ... And brother Bernard, for the sake of of his obedience ... went and reached Bologna. And teenagers, seeing him in poor and unusual clothes, subjected him to many ridicule and many insults, like a madman. And Brother Bernard endured everything patiently and joyfully out of love for Christ; even for the sake of greater reproaches, he deliberately placed himself in the city square ... and for many days he returned to the same place to demolish such things ...
The rich and wise judge was so fascinated by the holiness of Brother Bernard that he gave him a house for the needs of the order.
And he said to brother Bernard: If you want to establish a monastery in which you could serve God, then I, for the sake of saving my soul, will gladly give you a place ... The said judge with great joy ... took brother Bernard to his house and then took him the promised place and at his own expense he adapted it and arranged it ... Then St. Francis, having heard about everything in order, about the deeds of God, through brother Bernard, thanked God, who thus began to multiply the poor and the disciples of the Cross, and then sent part of his comrades to Bologna and Lombardy , and they made many abodes in various places.
This short story highlights the psychological background of the spread of Franciscanism, but at the same time does not leave aside the fundamental dilemma that confronted the "mendicant" religious organizations: in this case, property was donated to the order. Soon heated disputes broke out between the two currents of the Franciscans - the “spiritual” brothers, who demanded an absolute renunciation of property, and the “conventionals”, who recognized common property, with the help of which one could more successfully engage in scientific research and preaching. At the beginning of the XIV century. the popes spoke out against the "spirituals", and many of them were even subjected to severe persecution for their views, which, in the not unreasonable opinion of their enemies, could serve as an excuse for popular protest movements.
Around the same time that St. Francis of Assisi founded his order, the Spaniard St. Dominic (c. 1170-1221) laid the foundation for the "order of preachers" - "Dominicans", or "black brothers". Like the Franciscans, they were also mendicant monks who lived on alms, but, unlike the former, they considered their main task to be preaching and combating heresies, for which they earned the nickname “dogs of the Lord” (lat. domini canes). By the middle of the XIII century. representatives of the two mendicant orders - the Franciscans and the Dominicans - occupied the chairs of theology in many universities. The papacy, to which these orders were directly subordinate, acquired in their person a new powerful weapon.
Although the Franciscans and some other orders had sections for women, medieval society, with its ethical stereotypes, was convinced that life in an order with a strict rule was attractive to very few women, mostly from the upper classes. For specifically female religiosity, a different style was required, which was embodied by the beguine communities - women who lived in relative poverty and prayer classes, but did not take monastic vows. Beguine communities were especially numerous in the Rhineland and in the Netherlands; a fine example of one of the beguinage houses (beguinage) has been preserved in Bruges (modern Belgium).
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Franciscans and Dominicans: Differences
The profound differences between the Franciscans and the Dominicans (for example, in Florence, even their churches were located at opposite ends of the city) became even more obvious when, in theological discussions, these orders found themselves in opposite positions. Although both orders were created in response to the increased need of society for spiritual life, their methods were completely different.
If the teaching of the Franciscans touched the emotional strings in popular piety, then the Dominicans sought the purity of the doctrine, seeking to restructure their views. The Franciscan Order very soon abandoned the ideal of absolute poverty proclaimed by St. Francis, choosing a less severe monastic life.
The Franciscans more often felt the need to remember their origins than the Dominicans, whose doctrine had changed little. Picturesque cycles from the life of St. Dominic is extremely rare, but another Dominican saint is often depicted - Thomas Aquinas, canonized in 1323. His fame is based on the work "The Sum of Theology" (1267-1273), representing a truly monumental synthesis of political and moral philosophy.
This work, which actually reconciled the Greek pagan philosophers with Christian theologians, contained the increased threat of free thought. Triumph of St. Thomas - a plot quite often found in the art of the Dominicans, glorified his intellectual feat.
The sources of his inspiration and wisdom are Christ, Moses, St. Paul, the Evangelists, Plato and Aristotle, they all bring their writings to the saint; this connection is shown clearly - by the rays connecting the heads of those depicted with the image of the composition of St. Thomas.
Dominicans also received significant donations from members of the wealthy urban bourgeoisie. The Spanish chapel was commissioned by Buonamico Guidalotti, who in his will (1355) left funds for the construction of the capitular hall, where his tomb was to be installed. The building was built according to Cistercian models and was decorated with images of a frankly propaganda nature - they were selected by the Dominicans themselves. The order was founded to combat heresy and attached great importance to the protection of church institutions.
His influence was clearly shown in the form of a new cathedral in Florence, then just under construction. So, below, the higher clergy, located in protocol order, which corresponds to the hierarchical structure of church authority in the understanding of the Dominicans. The dogs jumping right there are a playful allegory of the power of the order, clearly expressing the play on words: Dorninicanes (Dominicans) and Domini Canes, that is, the Dogs of the Lord.
The papacy's recognition of the three monastic orders - the Cistercians, the Franciscans and the Dominicans - was a very sensible move to avoid an open clash. This was followed by a profound reform of religious life - in monasteries, in intellectual circles, and even among ordinary people. New ideas needed a new incarnation. Reformation gave rise to new visual and conceptual ideas of great importance in the history of the Christian West.