FRANCISCANS, in Ecclesiastical History, are the members of the religious order established by St Francis in the year 1208. Francis was the son of a merchant of Assisi, in the province of Umbria. After leading for some time a dissolute life, he was reclaimed by a fit of sickness, and fell into the opposite extreme of devotion. Soon after this event, hearing the passage repeated (Mat. x. 9, 10), in which Christ addresses his apostles, Provide neither gold, nor silver, &c. he was led to believe that a voluntary and absolute poverty was the essence of the gospel, and to prescribe this poverty as a sacred rule both to himself and to his followers. This new society, which appeared to Innocent III. extremely well adapted to the state of the church at the time, and calculated to restore its declining credit, was solemnly approved of and confirmed by Honorius III. in 1223, and had made considerable progress before the death of its founder, which took place in 1226. Francis, through an excessive humility, would not suffer the monks of his order to be called fratres, brethren or friars, but fraterculi, little brethren, or friars-minor, by which denomination they still continue to be distinguished. They were also called gray friars, on account of the colour of their clothing, and sometimes cordeliers. The Franciscans and Dominicans were zealous and active friends of the papal hierarchy, and, in return for their devotion to its interests, were distinguished by peculiar privileges and honourable employments. The Franciscans, in particular, were invested with ample and extensive indulgences, the distribution of which was committed to them by the popes, as a means of subsistence, and a rich indemnification for their voluntary poverty. In consequence of this grant, the rule of the founder, which absolutely prohibited both personal and collective property, so that neither the individual nor the community[7:10:221] were to possess either fund, revenue, or any worldly goods, was considered as too strict and severe, and dispensed with soon after his death. In 1231 Gregory IX. published an interpretation of this rule, mitigating its rigour; and it was further confirmed by Innocent IV. in 124>5, and by Alexander IV. in 1247. But these mitigations were zealously opposed by a branch of the Franciscans called the spiritual; and their complaints were attended to by Nicholas III. who, in 1279, published a ∞nstitution, confirming the rule of St Francis, and containing an elaborate explanation of the maxims which it recommended, and the duties which it prescribed. In 1287, Matthew of Aqua Sparta, being elected general of the order, discouraged the ancient discipline of the Franciscans, and allowed his monks to abandon even the appearance of poverty. This conduct inflamed the indignation of the spiritual Franciscans; so that from the year 1290 seditions and schisms arose in an order that had been distinguished, in appearance at least, for its disinterestedness and humility. Such was the enthusiastic frenzy of the Franciscans, that they impiously maintained that the founder of their order was a second Christ, in all respects similar to the first; and that their institution and discipline were the true gospel of Jesus. Accordingly, in 1303, Albizi, a Franciscan of Pisa, published a book, with the applause of his order, entitled The book of the Conformities of St Francis with Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the fourteenth century the whole Franciscan order was divided into two parties; one of which embraced the severe discipline and absolute poverty of St Francis, and were called spirituals} and the other, who insisted on mitigating the austere injunctions of their founder, were denominated brethren of the community. The latter wore long and loose, but good habits, with large hoods; the former were clad in a strait, coarse, and short dress, pretending that their habiliments were enjoined by St Francis, and that no power on earth had a right to alter them. But neither the moderation of Clement V. nor the violence of John XXII. could appease the tumult occasioned by their contentions; their rage, however, subsided after the year 1329. In 1368 these two parties were formed into two large bodies, comprehending the whole Franciscan order, which subsist to this day; namely, the conventual brethren, and the brethren of the observance, from whom sprung the Capuchins and Recollects. The general opinion is, that the Franciscans came into England in the year 1224, and had their first house at Canterbury, and their second at London; but there is no certain account of their being here until King Henry VII. built two or three houses for them. On the dissolution of the monasteries, the conventual Franciscans owned about fifty-five houses, which were under seven custodies or wardenships, namely, those of London, York, Cambridge, Bristol, Oxford, Newcastle, and Worcester. In the eighteenth century the whole number of Franciscans and Capuchins amounted to 115,000 monks, who occupied 7000 convents. At present, however, their number is not nearly so great, as the order has been suppressed in various countries.