Great Mendicant Orders

Four Great Mendicant Orders in the Church of the Middle Ages

Introduction

Religious orders that have embodied the ideal of unconditional poverty are called mendicant orders. These religious orders acquired great significance in the ecclesiastical life of the Middle Ages. They did so not only because of their witness to the holy poverty of Christ, but also because they provided well-known and impressive preachers, and very important theologians of the High Middle Ages.

The four mendicant orders

Although foremost among the mendicant orders are the Franciscans (founded by St. Francis of Assisi) and the Dominicans (founded by St. Dominic de Guzman), there are two other mendicant orders which espoused the vow of unconditional poverty: the Hermits of St. Augustine (receiving papal approbation in 1256 A.D.), and the Carmelites (who relocated themselves in Europe and became a mendicant order in 1247 A.D.).

A spiritual response to the rich-and-poor divide

The Church at that time was greatly divided between a wealthy and powerful clergy and an increasingly wealthy Christian laity, versus, a poor and marginalized populace. To resolve this problem, God called saints in the persons of St. Francis and St. Dominic, to overcome this situation inwardly through the imitation of the poverty of Christ - teaching their era the way to possess and to renounce at the same time. Both Francis and Dominic worked hard to found a religious order that would reintroduce the gospel spirit of poverty in the Church and the society of their time.

Pope Innocent III

Pope Innocent III was considered the most powerful pope of the Middle Ages. Under his leadership, the papacy was led to the zenith of its power - "achieving a dizzying and untenable height". It was not anymore the emperor but rather the pope who became the supreme arbiter of western Christianity. It was to this pope, that St. Francis of Assisi and a few of his companions went to, in Rome in c. 1209 A.D., to obtain approval for his way of life and the authorization to preach. Since Pope Innocent III recognized St. Francis as the man he saw in his dream who supported the pillars of the Church, he granted Francis authority.

The spread of the mendicant orders

After receiving approbation from Pope Innocent III for his work, Francis continued in his preaching and his ideas spread with unprecedented speed. The Franciscans quickly became well-known, and everywhere, St. Francis' appearance caused a profound impression on all peoples of all levels in society.

St. Dominic de Guzman was another influential saint who founded a mendicant order which spread rapidly. Living in the same era as St. Francis, St. Dominic de Guzman had a different personality. Being a canon regular, and aware of the destructive influence of the Cathari heresy in southern France, he decided to convert them by becoming an itinerant preacher and live in apostolic poverty. He accepted the Franciscan rule of poverty but saw that there is something else needed: good theological training. This was necessary to produce well-found sermons in preaching. Though St. Dominic and his followers were not approved at the 4th General Council of the Lateran in 1215 A.D., they were eventually approved by Pope Honorius III in 1216 A.D. The Dominican order grew and like the Franciscans, they also had a separate religious order for women, and a Third Order for lay people.

Theological influence

In the 12th and 13th centuries A.D., theological studies among the clergy shifted from the spirit of the ancient Christian patristics and Church fathers, to the newly developing theological movements in the universities. One of the prime movers of this theological movement was St. Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109 A.D.). He is regarded as the "father of scholasticism". According to St. Anselm, faith could be supported by the intellect. This general thinking also involved the scholasticism of Peter Abelard (1079-1142 A.D.) and Peter Lombard (d. 1160 A.D.). But further more developments in this scholastic movement was needed to increase the theological importance and influence of Catholic thinking at the time. What was needed was a "high scholasticism". This developed in the 13th century A.D. This made theological thinking reach its absolute prime. It found great appeal among the members of the mendicant orders. These were the foremost representatives of this "high scholasticism": the Dominicans represented by St. Albert the Great (d. 1280 A.D.), St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274 A.D.), Meister Eckhart (d. 1328 A.D.), and the Franciscans represented by St. Bonaventure (d. 1274 A.D.) and Duns Scotus (d. 1308 A.D.).

The ideal of gospel poverty

At a time when a dilemma in the Church and society was present, God answers by calling great saints to respond to the particular needs and difficulties of that age. Through their witness of evangelical poverty as lived and taught by Christ, they have started and founded mendicant orders which will always remind the Church and societies of every generation that the ideal of evangelical poverty will always make us closer to the person of Christ.