Editing Franciscans (section)

===Separate congregations===
{{stack|[[File:A christian missionary Friar landing in southrn India (14th cCentury).jpg|thumb|upright|A Christian missionary friar landing in southern India (14th century)]]
[[File:Franciscan monastery Lopud.JPG|thumb|Franciscan convent at Lopud in [[Croatia]]]]}}

Out of all these dissensions in the 14th century sprang a number of separate congregations, or almost sects, to say nothing of the heretical parties of the [[Beghards]] and [[Fraticelli]], some of which developed within the Order on both hermit and cenobitic principles and may here be mentioned:

====Clareni====
The Clareni or Clarenini was an association of hermits established on the river Clareno in the march of [[Ancona]] by [[Angelo da Clareno]] (1337). Like several other smaller congregations, it was obliged in 1568 under [[Pope Pius V]] to unite with the general body of Observantists.

====Minorites of Narbonne====
As a separate congregation, this originated through the union of a number of houses which followed Olivi after 1308. It was limited to southwestern France and, its members being accused of the heresy of the Beghards, was suppressed by the Inquisition during the controversies under John XXII.

====Reform of Johannes de Vallibus====
This was founded in the hermitage of St. Bartholomew at Brugliano near [[Foligno]] in 1334. The congregation was suppressed by the Franciscan general chapter in 1354; reestablished in 1368 by Paolo de' Trinci of Foligno; confirmed by Gregory XI in 1373, and spread rapidly from Central Italy to France, Spain, Hungary, and elsewhere. Most of the Observantist houses joined this congregation by degrees, so that it became known simply as the "brothers of the regular Observance." 

It acquired the favor of the popes by its energetic opposition to the heretical [[Fraticelli]], and was expressly recognized by the 1415 [[Council of Constance]]. It was allowed to have a special vicar-general of its own and legislate for its members without reference to the conventual part of the Order. Through the work of such men as [[Bernardino of Siena]], [[Giovanni da Capistrano]], and [[Dietrich Coelde]] (b. 1435? at Munster; was a member of the [[Brethren of the Common Life]], died December 11, 1515), it gained great prominence during the 15th century. By the end of the Middle Ages, the Observantists, with 1,400 houses, comprised nearly half of the entire Order. 

Their influence brought about attempts at reform even among the Conventuals, including the quasi-Observantist brothers living under the rule of the Conventual ministers (Martinianists or ''Observantes sub ministris''), such as the male Colletans, later led by Boniface de Ceva in his reform attempts principally in France and Germany; the reformed congregation founded in 1426 by the Spaniard Philip de Berbegal and distinguished by the special importance they attached to the little hood ({{lang|la|cappuciola}}); the Neutri, a group of reformers originating about 1463 in Italy, who tried to take a middle ground between the Conventuals and Observantists, but refused to obey the heads of either, until they were compelled by the pope to affiliate with the regular Observantists, or with those of the Common Life; the Caperolani, a congregation founded about 1470 in North Italy by [[Pietro Caperolo|Peter Caperolo]], but dissolved again on the death of its founder in 1481; the Amadeists, founded by the noble Portuguese Amadeo, who entered the Franciscan order at Assisi in 1452, gathered around him a number of adherents to his fairly strict principles (numbering finally twenty-six houses), and died in the odor of sanctity in 1482.

====Unification====
[[File:Kościół św. Barbary w Przeworsku fasada1.jpg|thumb|upright|A 15th century Franciscan church in [[Przeworsk]], Poland]]
Projects for a union between the two main branches of the Order were put forth not only by the Council of Constance but by several popes, without any positive result. By direction of [[Pope Martin V]], [[Giovanni da Capistrano|John of Capistrano]] drew up statutes which were to serve as a basis for reunion, and they were actually accepted by a general chapter at Assisi in 1430; but the majority of the Conventual houses refused to agree to them, and they remained without effect. At [[Giovanni da Capistrano|John of Capistrano]]'s request [[Pope Eugene IV|Eugene IV]] issued a bull ({{lang|la|Ut sacra minorum}}, 1446) aimed at the same result, but again nothing was accomplished. 

Equally unsuccessful were the attempts of the Franciscan [[Pope Sixtus IV]], who bestowed a vast number of privileges on both of the original mendicant orders, but by this very fact lost the favor of the Observants and failed in his plans for reunion. [[Pope Julius II|Julius II]] succeeded in reducing some of the smaller branches, but left the division of the two great parties untouched. This division was legalized by [[Pope Leo X|Leo X]], after a general chapter held in Rome in 1517, in connection with the reform-movement of the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran|Fifth Lateran Council]], had once more declared the impossibility of reunion. The less strict principles of the Conventuals, permitting the possession of real estate and the enjoyment of fixed revenues, were recognized as tolerable, while the Observants, in contrast to this {{lang|la|usus moderatus}}, were held strictly to their own {{lang|la|usus arctus}} or ''pauper''.

All of the groups that followed the Franciscan Rule literally were united to the Observants, and the right to elect the [[Minister General (Franciscan)|Minister General of the Order]], together with the seal of the Order, was given to this united grouping.{{when|date=January 2017}} This grouping, since it adhered more closely to the rule of the founder, was allowed to claim a certain superiority over the Conventuals. The Observant general, elected now for six years, not for life, inherited the title of "Minister-General of the Whole Order of St. Francis". He was granted the right to confirm the choice of a head for the Conventuals, who was known as "Master-General of the Friars Minor Conventual"&mdash;although this privilege never became practically operative.

{{stack|[[File:Augustins - L'Agitateur du Languedoc - Jean-Paul Laurens RO 699.jpg|thumb|''L'agitateur du Languedoc'', Jean-Paul Laurens' depiction of [[Bernard Délicieux]]’s examination by the Inquisition]]
[[File:Nicolas-Antoine Taunay.jpg|thumb|Franciscan friars look at the sea and city landscape from the [[:pt:Convento de Santo Antônio (Rio de Janeiro)|Convent of Santo Antônio]] (Saint Anthony) in [[Rio de Janeiro]] (capital city of the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] at the time), Brazil, 1816.]]}}