Capuchin

The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap) is an order of friars in the Roman Catholic Church, the chief and only permanent offshoot of the Franciscans.

Origins

The order arose around about 1520, when Matteo da Bascio, a native of the region of Marche, in Italy, an "Observant" Franciscan, became possessed of the idea that the habit worn by the Franciscans was not the one that St Francis had worn. Accordingly he made himself a pointed or pyramidal hood, allowed his beard to grow and went about barefooted.

Related Topics:
1520 - Matteo da Bascio - Marche - Italy - St Francis

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His superiors tried to suppress these innovations, but in 1528 he obtained the sanction of Clement VII. He was given the permission to live as a hermit and to go about everywhere preaching to the poor. These permissions were not only for himself, but for all such as might join him in the attempt to restore the most literal observance possible of St Francis's rule. Matteo was soon joined by others. The Observants opposed the movement, but the Conventuals supported it, and so Matteo and his companions were formed into a congregation, called the Hermit Friars Minor, as a branch of the Conventual Franciscans, but with a vicar of their own, subject to the jurisdiction of the general of the Conventuals. The popular name of Capuchins originates from the name of their hood (capucize).

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