theological studies; thus it did not represent the position of the original Zealot party, nor was it the continuation of it. The Observant reform spread widely throughout Italy and into France, Spain and Germany. The great promoters of the movement were St Bernardine of Siena and St John Capistran. The council of Constance, 1415, allowed the French Observant friaries to be ruled by a vicar of their own, under the minister-general, and the same privilege was soon accorded to other countries. By the end of the middle ages the Observants had some 1400 houses divided into 50 provinces. This movement produced a “half-reform” among the Conventuals or friars of the mitigated observance; it also called forth a number of lesser imitations or congregations of strict observance.
After many attempts had been made to bring about a working union among the many observances, in 1517 Leo X. divided the Franciscan order into two distinct and independent bodies, each with its own minister-general, its own provinces and provincials and its own general chapter: (1) The Conventuals, who were authorized to use the various papal dispensations in regard to the observance of poverty, and were allowed to possess property and fixed income, corporately, like the monastic orders; (2) The Observants, who were bound to as close an observance of St Francis’s Rule in regard to poverty and all else as was practically possible.
At this time a great number of the Conventuals went over to the Observants, who have ever since been by far the more numerous and influential branch of the order. Among the Observants in the course of the sixteenth century arose various reforms, each striving to approach more and more nearly to St Francis’s ideal; the chief of these reforms were the Alcantarines in Spain (St Peter of Alcantara, St Teresa’s friend, d. 1562), the Riformati in Italy and the Recollects in France: all of these were semi-independent congregations. The Capuchins (q.v.), established c. 1525, who claim to be the reform which approaches nearest in its conception to the original type, became a distinct order of Franciscans in 1619. Finally Leo XIII. grouped the Franciscans into three bodies or orders—the Conventuals; the Observants, embracing all branches of the strict observance, except the Capuchins; and the Capuchins—which together constitute the “First Order.” For the “Second Order,” or the nuns, see Clara, St, and Clares, Poor; and for the “Third Order” see Tertiaries. Many of the Tertiaries live a fully monastic life in community under the usual vows, and are formed into Congregations of Regular Tertiaries, both men and women. They have been and are still very numerous, and give themselves up to education, to the care of the sick and of orphans and to good works of all kinds.
No order has had so stormy an internal history as the Franciscans; yet in spite of all the troubles and dissensions and strivings that have marred Franciscan history, the Friars Minor of every kind have in each age faithfully and zealously carried on St Francis’s great work of ministering to the spiritual needs of the poor. Always recruited in large measure from among the poor, they have ever been the order of the poor, and in their preaching and missions and ministrations they have ever laid themselves out to meet the needs of the poor. Another great work of the Franciscans throughout the whole course of their history has been their missions to the Mahommedans, both in western Asia and in North Africa, and to the heathens in China, Japan and India, and North and South America; a great number of the friars were martyred. The news of the martyrdom of five of his friars in Morocco was one of the joys of St Francis’s closing years. Many of these missions exist to this day. In the Universities, too, the Franciscans made themselves felt alongside of the Dominicans, and created a rival school of theology, wherein, as contrasted with the Aristotelianism of the Dominican school, the Platonism of the early Christian doctors has been perpetuated.
The Franciscans came to England in 1224 and immediately made foundations in Canterbury, London and Oxford; by the middle of the century there were fifty friaries and over 1200 friars in England; at the Dissolution there were some 66 Franciscan friaries, whereof some six belonged to the Observants (for list see Catholic Dictionary and F. A. Gasquet’s English Monastic Life, 1904). Though nearly all the English houses belonged to what has been called the “middle party,” as a matter of fact they practised great poverty, and the commissioners of Henry VIII. often remark that the Franciscan Friary was the poorest of the religious houses of a town. The English province was one of the most remarkable in the order, especially in intellectual achievement; it produced Friar Roger Bacon, and, with the single exception of St Bonaventure, all the greatest doctors of the Franciscan theological school—Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus and Occam.
The Franciscans have always been the most numerous by far of the religious orders; it is estimated that about the period of the Reformation the Friars Minor must have numbered nearly 100,000. At the present day the statistics are roughly (including lay-brothers): Observants, 15,000, Conventuals, 1500; to these should be added 9500 Capuchins, making the total number of Franciscan friars about 26,000. There are various houses of Observants and Capuchins in England and Ireland; and the old Irish Conventuals survived the penal times and still exist.
There have been four Franciscan popes: Nicholas IV. (1288–1292), Sixtus IV. (1471–1484), Sixtus V. (1585–1590), Clement XIV. (1769–1774); the three last were Conventuals.
The great source for Franciscan history is Wadding’s Annales; it has been many times continued, and now extends in 25 vols. fol. to the year 1622. The story is also told by Helyot, Hist. des ordres religieux (1714), vol. vii. Abridgments, with references to recent literature, will be found in Max Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen (1896), i. §§ 37-51; in Wetzer und Welte, Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed.), articles “Armut (III.),” “Franciscaner orden” (this article contains the best account of the inner history and the polity of the order up to 1886); in Herzog, Realencyklopädie (3rd ed.), articles “Franz von Assisi” (fullest references to literature up to 1899), “Fraticellen.” Of modern critical studies on Franciscan origins, K. Müller’s Anfänge des Minoritenordens und der Bussbruderschaften (1885), and various articles by F. Ehrle in Archiv für Litteratur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters and Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie, deserve special mention. Eccleston’s charming chronicle of “The Coming of the Friars Minor into England” has been translated into English by the Capuchin Fr. Cuthbert, who has prefixed an Introductory Essay giving by far the best account in English of “the Spirit and Genius of the Franciscan Friars” (The Friars and how they came to England, 1903). Fuller information on the English Franciscans will be found in A. G. Little’s Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxford Hist. Soc., 1892). (E. C. B.)
FRANCK. The name of Franck has been given indiscriminately but improperly to painters of the school of Antwerp who belong to the families of Francken (q.v.) and Vrancx (q.v.). One artist
truly entitled to be called Franck is Gabriel, who entered the
gild of Antwerp in 1605, became its president in 1636 and died
in 1639. But his works cannot now be traced.
FRANCK, CÉSAR (1822–1890), French musical composer, a Belgian by birth, who came of German stock, was born at Liége on the 10th of December 1822. Though one of the most remarkable of modern composers, César Franck laboured for many years in comparative obscurity. After some preliminary studies at Liége he came to Paris in 1837 and entered the conservatoire. He at once obtained the first prize for piano, transposing a fugue at sight to the astonishment of the professors, for he was only fifteen. He won the prize for the organ in 1841, after which he settled down in the French capital as teacher of the piano. His earliest compositions date from this period, and include four trios for piano and strings, besides several piano pieces. Ruth, a biblical cantata was produced with success at the Conservatoire in 1846. An opera entitled Le Valet de ferme was written about this time, but has never been performed. For many years Franck led a retired life, devoting himself to teaching and to his duties as organist, first at Saint-Jean-Saint-François, then at Ste Clotilde, where he acquired a great reputation as an improviser. He also wrote a mass, heard in 1861, and a quantity of motets, organ pieces and other works of a religious character.
Franck was appointed professor of the organ at the Paris conservatoire, in succession to Benoist, his old master, in 1872, and the following year he was naturalized a Frenchman. Until then he was esteemed as a clever and conscientious musician,
