Editing Franciscans (section)

====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.]]}}