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2 Status in 1910 |
NEEDS UPDATING
These figures show a
great contrast to the strength of the order at the
end of the Middle Ages, when it had over 8,000
houses, of which the 1,300 Observantist
communities alone numbered 30,000 members, or even in
the middle of the seventeenth century when there
were about 70,000 members, divided into 150
provinces. The noteworthy proportional decline
of the non-Observantist section shows that the
order to this day presents more attraction as it
remains truest to its original principles.New Congregations
The regulations of Leo X. brought a notable increase
of strength to the Observantist branch, and many
conventual houses joined them-- in France all but
forty-eight, in Germany the greater part, in Spain
practically all. But this very growth
was fatal to the internal unity and
strength of the strict party. The
need for new reforms soon became apparent, and
the action of Leo X., far from consolidating the
order, gave rise to a number of new branches. The
most important of these are: the Capuchins (q.v.),
founded in 1525 by Matteo Bassi and established
in 1619 by Paul V. as a separate order; the
Discalced Franciscans, founded as a specially strict
Observantist congregation at Bellacazar in Spain
by Juan de Puebla toward the end of the fifteenth
century, compelled by Leo X. to unite with the
regular Observantists, but soon afterward
reestablished as an independent branch by Juan de
Guadelupe (d. 1580), and subsequently obtaining some
importance in Spain and Portugal; the
Alcantarines, a very strict congregation founded in 1540 by
Peter of Alcantara (q.v.), and distinguished by
remarkable achievements in the mission field; the
Italian Riformati, founded about 1525 near Rieti
by two Spanish Observantists, and becoming
comparatively wide-spread from the beginning of the
seventeenth century through the favor of Clement
VIII. and Urban VIII.; the French Recollects,
originating at Nevers in 1592, formed into a
distinct congregation by Clement VIII. in 1602, and
important in later missionary history, especially
in Canada.Status in 1910
The Franciscans also rendered important
services to the cause of the Counterreformation in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, rivaling
the Jesuit order in zeal, and frequently suffering
martyrdom for their faith in England, the Netherlands,
and Germany. During the last
hundred years the possessions of the
order have been much reduced by the
storms of the French Revolution, the German
secularizations since 1803, and the political changes of
Spain, Italy, and France. On the other hand,
there has been a considerable extension in many
parts of the order, especially in North America.
The present statistics of the three principal male
branches of the order are approximately as
follows:Observantists
1,500 houses, comprised
in about 100 provinces and Custodiae, with about
15,000 members of whom some 7,000 belong to the
Regular Observance, 6,000 to the Riformati, and
the rest to the Recollects and the Discalced
Congregation;
Conventuals
290 houses, principally
in Italy, but also in Bavaria, Austria,
Romania, Turkey, etc
Regular Tertiaries
following the rule of Pope Leo X:
less than a score of
houses-- two in Rome, five in Sicily, seven in
Austria, and two in America.