Franciscans

Franciscans, or Minorites, an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1208; according to Ruskin, they were the order that preached with St James the gospel of Works as distinct from the Dominicans, who preached with St. Paul the gospel of Faith, and their gospel required three things: “to work without money and be poor, to work without pleasure and be chaste, and to work according to orders and be obedient”; these were the rules they were sworn to obey at first, but they gradually forsook the austerity they enjoined, acquired great wealth, instituted a highly sensuous ceremonial, and became invested with privileges which excited the jealousy of the regular clergy; with the order were associated a number of men eminent in the Church, and many no less so in philosophy, literature, and art.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)