The Dominicans derived their name from St. Domi nic; at first he adopted the rule of the Canons' regular of St. Augustine; afterwards he adopted that of St. Benedict ; but the alterations and additions he intro duced made it almost an entirely new rule. In a chapter of his order at Bologna in 1220, lie obliged the brethren to take a vow of absolute poverty, and to abandon entirely all their revenues and possessions. The Dominicans were first called preaching friars, because public in struction was the chief object of their institution. In England they were called black friars. " During three centuries the Franciscans and Dominicans governed, with an almost absolute and universal sway, both state and church, filled the most eminent posts, both ecclesi astical and civil, taught in the universities and churches with an authority, before which all opposition was silent, and maintained the pretended majesty and prerogatives of the Roman pontiffs against kings, princes, bishops, and heretics, with incredible ardour and equal success. These two celebrated orders restored the church from that declining condition in which it had been languishing for many years, by the zeal and activity with which they set themselves to discover and extirpate heretics, to un dertake various negotiations and embassies for the inte rests of the hierarchy, and to confirm the wavering mul titude in their implicit obedience to the Roman Pontiffs." The Carmelite order was originally instituted in Pales tine, whence in the thirteenth century it was brought into Europe. A reform was introduced with this order by St. Theresa ; the reformed, from their not wearing shoes, were called the unshodden Carmelites. Pope Alexander IV. observing that the Hermits were divided into many classes, some following the maxims of Augustine, form ed the design of uniting them into one religious order, and prescribed a rule for their government ; hence origi-, mated the Mendicant order of the Hermits of Augustine. These, however, as well as the Carmelites, were very inferior in number, reputation and influence, to the Fran ciscans and Dominicans. The public attachment to all these mendicant orders was so strong and prevalent, that several cities were divided into four parts, for these four orders ; the Dominicans had the first part, the Francis cans the second, the Carmelites the third, and the Her mits of Augustine the fourth ; from no others except one of these orders would the people receive the sacra ment, and the churches in which they preached were regularly and constantly filled. The appellation of Friars, given to all these orders, whereas that of monks was given to those which existed before them, points out the dis tinction between the meaning of these two appellations, which are often confounded ; the monks never travelled through the country, and indeed never left their monas teries; the friars, on the contrary, spent their time for the most part in travelling.
We are informed by excellent authority, Mr. Charles Butler, that these " four orders are the only orders which the church has acknowledged to he Mendicant. An or der is considered to be Nlendicant, in the proper import of that word, when it has no fixed income, and derives its whole subsistence from casual and uncertain bounty, obtained by personal mendicity. To that St. Francis did not wish his brethren to have recourse, till they had en deavoured to earn a competent subsistence by labour, and found their earnings insufficient. But soon after the de cease of St. Francis, the exertions, equally incessant and laborious, of his disciples, for the spiritual welfare of the faithful, appeared, in the universal opinion of the church, to be both incompatible with manual labour, and much more than a compensation to the public for all they could possibly obtain from it by mendicity. This opinion was unequivocally expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, and sanctioned by a bull of Pope Nicholas III. ; since that time the friars did not use manual labour as a means of subsistence, but resorted in the first instance to mendi city." Mendicity seems to have made no part of the
original rules of the Dominicans, Carmelites, or Hermits of Augustine : and in consequence of the evils attendant on it, the Council of Trent confined mendicity to the Ob servantines and Capuchins, allowing the other Francis can establishments, and almost all the establishments of the three other orders, to acquire permanent property.
In consequence of the progress of the Reformation, and the loss of influence and authority which the Fran ciscans and Dominicans had sustained, partly from this event, and partly from their own relaxation and miscon duct, the Pope was extremely desirous of establishing a new order, which should fill their place, discharge their duty, and zealously oppose the Protestants. At this period, 1534, appeared Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish knight, originally an illiterate soldier, and then a fanatic of most wonderful zeal and talents. In this year he, with ten of his Capuchins, laid the foundation of the Society of Jesus, by the vow which they took in the chapel of Montmartre, near Paris. In 1540 and 1543, his Institute was approved by Pope Paul III. The So ciety of Jesus, or the Jesuits, as they are generally called, hold a middle rank between monks and the se cular clerks, approaching nearer to the regular canons than to any other order ; they lived separate from the multitude, and were bound by religious vows ; but they were exempt from stated hours of worship, and other strict observances, by which the monks were bound. Their principal duty was to direct the education of of youth, and the consciences of the faithful, and to up hold the cause of the church by their missions, and their pious and learned labours. They were divided into three classes ; the first of which were the professed members. These, besides, the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, bound themselves to go, with out murmur, inquiry, deliberation, or delay, wherever the Pope should think fit to send them ; they were Men dicants without property. The second class compre hended the scholars ; these were possessed of lat ge reve nues; their duty was to teach in the colleges of the or der. The third class comprehended the novices, who lived in the houses of probation. The secrets of the society were revealed only to a few even of the profess ed members. In the year 1776, Clement IV. suppress ed the Jesuits ; the society, however, was restored in 1814 by a papal bull.
As the Reformation begun by Luther was mainly oc casioned by the gross abuse of monastic establishments; so in its earliest stages it brought about their fall in all countries which embraced the Protestant religion. nem y VIII. of England eagerly seized the opportunity of enriching himself and his favourites by the dissolu tion of abbeys, monasteries, convents, and all other Ca tholic establishments ; the monasteries, of different tanks and classes, suppressed, amounted to 3182. Their an nual revenue was estimated at the enormous sum (for those days) of 140,784/. ; and the persons they contained are supposed to have amounted in number to about 50.t 00. NIonasteries continued in the Catholic countries till the French Revolution swept than away in France, and the other countries in which the French gained an absolute sway, and greatly reduced their splendour and power in all the other countries into which the Ft catch army penetrated. At present they are partially restor ed ; but their discipline and power are comparatively very low, and more in conformity to the failings of hu man nature, as well as to the spirit and real interests of religion. Having thus given a sketch of the ori gin and history of the rise of monachism, and of the different kinds of monks and friars, we shall now pro ceed to describe the laws and rules that relate to the monastic life, as they respect their dress, diet, manual labour, vows, superintendants, and different officers, Scc.