Mendicant orders

Mendicant orders are primarily certain Catholic religious orders that have vowed for their male members a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to less wealthy individuals. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model, which prescribed living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached. The members of these orders are not called monks but friars.

The term "mendicant" is also used with reference to some non-Christian religions to denote holy persons committed to an ascetic lifestyle, which may include members of religious orders and individual holy persons.

The Practice of Mendicancy

The term “mendicant” arose to classify the new religious orders in the 13th century who tangibly practiced mendicancy as a way of ensuring their livelihood. The Gospels themselves were the inspiration for these budding orders, more precisely the discourses in which Jesus sends his disciples out on mission (Matthew 10:5-15 ; Mark 6:7-13 ; Luke 9:1-6 and 10:2-12). These orders’ primitive sources attest that Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic were not the only ones to practice mendicancy by going door to door to beg for their food, but they also recommended this practice to their first companions. They were encouraged by Pope Gregory IX in the bulls titled Quo elongati (1230) and Nimis iniqua (1231).