. One of the two major mendicant religious groups, the Franciscan order (officially the Fratres minores, “little,” or “lesser,” brothers) was founded in Italy in the early 13th century by Francis of Assisi and had spread by the...

FRANCISCANS is the common designation for a number of religious communities professing to live according to the ideals of Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226). In 1206 Francis withdrew to the margins of society to adopt the life of a penitent...

The term Franciscan is used to refer to those in Roman Catholic and Anglican religious orders which follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis",[1] or a member of one of these orders. There are also small Old Catholic and Protestant...

David Burr Penn State Press, $45, 427 pp. Unlike the other mendicant orders founded in the thirteenth century, the Franciscans were blessed, and burdened, by having a profoundly charismatic founder. When Saint Francis died in 1226, the order he founded was already...

A Franciscan Pastorale (based on St. Francis of Assisi's All Creatures of Our God and King), by Franklin D. Ashdown. H. W Gray/Warner Bros. Publications (15800 N. W 48th Ave., Miami, FL 33014), 2001. 7pp., $3.95. Intermediate. The stately lines of Lasst Uns...

Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley is going high-tech. He already has his own blog, now he plans to start podcasting to the masses, beginning with downloadable Christmas messages.The video messages _ in English, Spanish and Portuguese _ are part of a broader effort by the Boston...

The number of men and women belonging to Roman Catholic religious orders worldwide has continued to decline but there has been an increase in priests assigned to dioceses, the Vatican said Tuesday.The Vatican's statistics office said the total number of priests worldwide — those belonging...