Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/334

246 General History of Europe failed to do ; namely, lead a holy life of self-sacrifice, defend the Church's beliefs against the attacks of the heretics, and awaken the people to a new religious life. The founding of the mendicant orders is one of the most interesting events of the Middle Ages. 401. St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) and his Order. There is no more lovely and fascinating figure in all history than St. Francis. He was born (probably in 1182) at Assisi, a little town in central Italy. He was the son of a well-to-do merchant and led a gay life during his youth. But after a serious illness at the age of twenty he lost his love for his former pleasures and began to consort with beggars, especially lepers. He soon began to preach in his simple way. Others joined him, and they went bare- foot and penniless about central Italy trying to arouse interest in religion. Pope Innocent III, although at first suspicious of these ragged brethren, decided to approve the enterprise (1210). 402. Missionary Work of the Franciscans. Seven years later, when Francis's followers had greatly increased in numbers, mis- sionary work was begun on a large scale, and brethren were dis- patched to Germany, Hungary, France, Spain, and even to Syria. It was not long before an English chronicler was telling with wonder of the arrival in his country of these barefoot men, in their patched gowns and with ropes about their waists, who, with Christian faith, took no thought for the morrow, believing that their Heavenly Father knew what things they had need of. Francis never wished his followers to become a rich order, but people were ready -to found monasteries for them, and after their founder's death the order tended to degenerate as other monkish associations had done. 403. The Founding of the Dominican Order. St. Dominic (b. 1170), the Spanish founder of the other great mendicant order, was not a simple layman like Francis. He was a church- man and had had a long course in theology in a university. He was much afflicted by the prevalence of heresy and decided to devote his life to combating it. Dominic induced Innocent III to approve his undertaking and sent forth his followers as Francis