The female branch of the Order may claim, in a sense, greater antiquity than the male, since Dominic founded his house at Prouille in 1206: but after the friars were established, the mem bers of his community modestly called themselves the second Order. Another house was founded at Ilonfe in .1215, lluminic heir, eommissioned to unite a number of small or private associations in the authorized system of Ids rule. The cloister of San Sisto• given him by the Pope for this purpose, is thus really the first in which the Dominican habit was worn by women. The Order was originally intended to be •ontempla tive. but in later years, together with some re laxations of the rule, its scope was extended so far as to include the education of girls and other practical works. The nuns are not numerous. since the revolutionary movements of the latter part of the eighteenth century destroyed I he greater part of their houses; but a certain num ber of new convents has sprung up in the nine teenth century, especially in Bavaria. The third Order was organized by Saint Dominic in 1220. to provide a constant supply of defenders of the Church against the assaults of the Albigenses and other turbulent innovators. Ile gave it the name 'militia of Jesus Christ,' and pledged its members to defend the Church with their arms and their possessions. Married men could not be received into the brotherhood without the con sent of their wives, who were bidden to pray for the success 1)1 the men. The enthusiasm of the
Middle Ages soon bronght large numbers, to whoni the founder gave a ff iv simple rules for holy living. After the necessity of this militant life passed away, the members were unwilling to dissolve their association, and continued it as against spiritual foes, lioIiuing themselves 'brothers and sisters of penanee; Their num bers increasing rapidly, the seventh general of the Order, Munio de Zamora, reduced the rules given by the founder to a systematic form. in which they were confirmed by Pope Innocent V11. in 1405 and Eugenius IV. in 1439.
Sonic members have maintained a cloistered life, but the majority have 1)11'11 men and women liv ing a devout life in the world. The third Order has produced numerous saints. including Saint Catharine of Siena, and the first American saint, Bose of Lima. On the history of the Dominicans in general, consult: Caro, Saint Dominique of les Dominicains (Paris, 1853); Danzas, Etude sue les temps iwilnif ifs de l'ordre de Saint Dominique (Paris• 1874, et seq.) ; Drane, The Life of Saint Dominic, with a Sketch of the Dominican Order (3d ed., London. 1891) ; Proctor (editor), Short Lives of the Dominican Saints (New York, 1901) : Nonumento Ordinis Fratrum Thirdicatorum flistoria (Stuttgart, 1900, et seq.). For further details of both Dominican and Franciscan third Orders, see TERTIARY.