THE PROVINCES OF THE ORDER STATISTICS

Chapter 2 THE PROVINCES OF THE ORDER STATISTICS Paragraph 30 Distribution of provinces in the 13 th and 14 th centuries In the beginning, St. Francis sent his friars only on temporary mission journeys. In 1217, however, he systematically divided the Christian world into provinces and sent his friars to all regions with a minister at their head. The mission district assigned to the individual detachments of friars early received the name Administratio or Provincia, by which name however we must not understand the strict legal term as it is used today. It merely signified a region wherein mission activity was to be undertaken under the supervision of the minister provincial. These provinces did not have strict geographical limits. Neither were they divided into districts or custodies from the beginning. Only by degrees did such custodies arise when the friars, having arrived in their province, thus divided it, or when the numerous residences which they established made a union of neighbouring monasteries desirable for reasons of administration. Since the provinces embraced a wide territory in the beginning, the rapid increase in residences must soon have made the division into custodies necessary in all places. The fact that the custodes had to care for a number of definitely designated residences and that the support of these naturally devolved upon them, led gradually to a strict defining of the limits of the custodies as well as of the provinces of which they were the parts. This process could still be in the course of development in one country while elsewhere it had long been settled. To date we have not succeeded in definitely establishing the names or the time of foundation of the first provinces. The chronicles attached no importance to these items, because the provinces of that day were not the fixed administrative units of today. It is not correct without more proof to regard the addressees of many letters, designated as ministers, to be provincials, since the custodes also and the guardians were at times called by this name. Similarly from the appointment of a provincial for a mission district, we may not conclude to the erection of a permanent province. The holy Founder nominated, for example, a minister in Germany in 1217, and yet the first friars did not come into German territory before 1221. Such cases were of quite frequent occurrence. On the other hand, friars could have labored under a minister for a long time in a region, and only many years later do we hear that a province has been erected there. The friars were either later withdrawn or remained so poorly represented that they were assigned to a neighbouring province. All this satisfactorily explains the obscurity and complexity in the reports of the chronclers, abstracting from the patriotic feelings which at times guided their pens. 116

It is difficult to ascertain how many provinces the Order had when Elias began to rule in 1232. It is certain however that Elias greatly increased their number; he wished to have 72 provincials in the Order, corresponding to the traditional number of the Lord s disciples. The weakening of the internal strength of the provinces caused by this external multiplication, was good for Elias but bad for the Order. For small provinces as a rule have difficulty in obtaining sufficient friars to staff their convents. They find it difficult efficiently to perform the larger provincial duties, as for example, the competent education of the student friars. They can do little for the great undertakings of the Order, in particular for the missions. That is shown only too clearly in the course of the Order s history. The acceptance of many fixed residences and the continual division into new provinces meant a lack of development of the productive energies of the Order and a gradual waste of those powers in tasks of minor importance to the great harm of the entire Order. The General was the head of all the friars but practically he could dispose only of the few who were unnecessary in the provinces, and these were not always the best. As long as the universalism of the Middle Ages continued, it acted as a counterforce and did not permit the disadvantages of the system to become too evident. But already at that time one felt the hazard which lay in the excessive multiplication of provinces and consequently after the overthrow of Elias in 1239, the superiors immediately proceeded to reduce the number of provinces again and to reapportion them. Their number was fixed at 32, of which 16 belonged to the ultramontane countries. At that time Austria-Hungary was counted among these, for only in the 15 th century was it included in the cismontane family because of the Italian Observants. The division into two families was apparently not official in the 13 th and 14 th centuries. In any case it had no significance with respect to the constitution of the Order. Soon after 1239, the Pope gave some friars permission to establish more provinces and appoint ministers outside of Italy, but at the protestation of the Order, he annulled the privilege of 1247. Nicholas IV renewed this prohibition in 1288. He demanded the apostolic beneplacitum for the foundation of every new province. By this decree we learn that the number of provinces had risen to 34, probably during the generalate of St. Bonaventure. The division of provinces into custodies apparently remained reserved to the superiors of the Order, but examples are also found in which the intervention of the Holy See is sought. Boniface VIII in 1298 made the acceptance or the abdication of a convent of the mendicants dependent upon an express papal beneplacitum. Hermitages however were not included in this precept. As for the rest, the Order in 1274 had ordained that no house may be established without special permission of the General. With this ordinance a salutary check was placed upon unbridled freedom in the erection of convents and provinces. As for the succession of the provinces or their precedence which later on was the cause of much contention, the first Franciscans with their usual good sense attached not the slightest importance to it. There is the most delightful confusion throughout the oldest lists on this point and it is impossible to discover in them any logical reason for their order. The oldest authentic list of the provinces as yet known is found in a letter of Gregory X written in 1274. This table is arranged geographically. The probable status of the provinces at the death of St. Francis is given in the left column. 117

Provinces in the year 1226 Provinces in the year 1274 1. Tuscia 1. St. Francis (Umbria) 2. Roman 2. Marches 3. Marches of Ancona (Picena) 4. Tuscany 3. Lombardy 5. Bologna 6. Genoa 7. Milan 8. Marca Trevisana (Venice, St. Anthony) 4. Terra di Lavoro 9. Penne (Abruzzo: 1457, St. Bernardine) 10. Terra di Lavoro (Naples) 5. Puglie 11. S. Angelo (St. Michael Monte Gargano) 12. Puglie 6. Calabria 13. Calabria 14. Sicily 7. Outremere 15. Syria (Holy Land, Antioch) 16. Slavonia (1393: Dalmatia) 17. Romania (Greece) 8. Spain 18. Portugal (St. James, Compostella) 19. Castile 20. Aragon 9. France 21. France 22. Touraine 23. Burgundy 10. Provence 24. Provence (Narbonne, Arles) 25. Aquitaine 11. Germany 26. Cologne (Lower Germany) 1 27. Alemania (Upper Germany, 14 th cent. Argentina) 28. Saxony 29. Dacia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) 30. Austria 31. Hungary 32. Bohemia 12. England 33. England 34. Ireland 1 In 1230 the Province of Germany was divided into the Rhineland (Cologne and Alemania) and Saxony (Saxony, Dacia, Bohemia, and maybe Austria and Hungary). Two of these provinces which two we do not know were erected after 1239. The other 32 date from 1239. Many of them existed even earlier in name and perhaps also with a specified district. Still nothing is as yet definitely known about the latter point. 118

This argument of the provinces was, in accordance with the papal decrees, firmly adhered to until well into the 15 th century. If new administrative bodies had to be formed the friars erected, not provinces but vicariates, which, by order of the General were ruled by a vicar. Some of these were permanent and later elevated to the rank of a province. Others disappeared or underwent continual changes, so that it is difficult to designate the territory and rank of many of them. Some of these vicariates were founded already in the 13 th century. A few of the better-known vicariates were: The Vicaria Scotiae. This was made a province for a while under Elias. It was then repeatedly united with the English province and just as repeatedly became independent again. The Vicariates of Corsica and Sardinia in Italy. They apparently separated from the province of Tuscia. The extensive Vicaria Bosnae (Wallachiae). It embraced the northern part of the Balkan peninsula; in number of friars and houses this vicariate surpassed many provinces. Its mother province, Romaniae, took in only Greece together with Crete and some islands in the Adriatic and Aegean Seas. Vicaria Orientis (Tartariae orientalis). Macedonia and Constantinople formed this Vicariate. It extended along the southern coast of the Black Sea to Turkestan and India. Its limits overlapped with those of the: Vicaria Tartariae (Cathay-China) which embraced the extreme East. The Vicaria Aquilonaris (Tartaria septentrionalis), which had its residences in what is today southern Russia. To the west of this vicariate: Vicaria Russiae was formed; the southern and eastern parts of present day Galicia also belonged to this vicariate; The Vicaria Livoniae (Lithuania) came next to this, extending north to Wilma. Vicaria Tunisii (Morocco). Probably this vicariate developed from the province of Barbary (Barbariae) which had been erected by Elias. Paragraph 31 Statistics for the 13 th and 14 th centuries We possess but little information about the number of houses and custodies in the 13 th century. No trace has been found of the old reports concerning the status of the provinces which, even before the time of St. Bonaventure, had to be sent in to the General Chapters. Still from some lists which have come down to us, we can arrive at an approximate picture of the status of the Order in the 14 th and partially in the 13 th century. In the table below, the Roman numerals signify the number of custodies, the Arabic numbers show the number of residences which were in part convents, in part hermitages. In this table, the contents of which are certainly defective in places, the marked variations for many provinces between 1282 and 1316 cause special surprise. Likewise the general increase of residences after the great plague around the middle of the 14 th century. We are not able to give the reasons for these. 119

Statistical Table for the 13 th and 14 th centuries Provinces 1282 1316 ca1340 ca1384 ca1390 1 St. Francis 55 VII 66 IX 70 IX 76 IX 77 2 Romana 53 VII 49 VII 48 VII 41 VII 51 3 Marches of Ancona 85 VII 88 VII 87 VII 100 VII 90 4 Tusciae 48 VIII 50 VII 46 VII 51 VII 51 5 Bologna 38 V 42 V 41 V 43 V 44 6 Genoa 30 VI 33 VI 34 VI 34 VI 34 7 Milan 54 V 23 V 23 V 27 V 26 8 Marca Trevigiana 33 IV 30 IV 30 IV 37 IV 35 9 Penne 49 VI 48 VI 41 VI 43 VI 42 10 Terra di Lavoro 41 V 48 V 49 V 56 V 55 11 Sant Angelo 54 IV 22 IV 29 IV 30 IV 29 12 Puglie 59 IV 23 V 26 IV 28 V 26 13 Calabria 15 III 40 IV 18 III 20 IV 17 14 Sicily 55 V 25 V 25 V 30 V 27 15 Syria 8 - - - 6 III 12 II 8 16 Slavonia 18 IV 22 IV 23 IV 30 IV 25 17 Romania 9 III 9 III 12 III 15 III 13 18 Portugal (S James) 39 VII 40 VII 36 IX 43 VIII 44 19 Castile 49 VIII 40 VIII 41 VIII 43 VIII 44 20 Aragon 36 V 36 VI 37 VI 39 VII 37 21 France 58 IX 58 IX 59 IX 60 IX 57 22 Touraine 33 V 33 V 35 V 36 V 35 23 Burgundy 55 VI 36 VI 35 VI 36 VI 38 24 Provence 50 VIII 58 VIII 52 VIII 52 VII 52 25 Aquitaine 79 X 62 X 63 XI 63 X 61 26 Cologne 80 VI 48 VII 48 VII 48 VII 48 27 Upper Germany 55 VI 54 VI 49 VI 53 VI 51 28 Saxony 75 XII 100 XII 87 XII 100 XII 85 29 Dacia 57 - - VIII 34 VIII 37 VIII 33 30 Austria 18 VI 20 VI 20 VI 30 VI 25 31 Hungary 54 VIII 43 VIII 45 X 50 VIII 45 32 Bohemia 31 VII 40 VII 43 VII 49 VII 43 33 England 58 VII 58 VII 52 VII 57 VII 60 34 Ireland 57 IV 30 V 32 IV 35 V 31 120

Vicariates 1282 1316 ca1340 ca1384 ca1390 1 Scotland - - - - 6 III 9 - - 2 Corsica - - - - - III 11-8 3 Sardinia - - - - 5 III 10-5 4 Bosnia - - - - - VII 35 VII 35 5 Russia - - - - - IV 15-14 6 Livonia - - - - - II 5 - - 7 Orient - In Armenia, - 14 IV 18 III 12 8 Aquilonaris - Syria and - 17 IV 18 II 17 9 China - Tartary 33-4 III 9-3 10 Tunisia - - - - - II 5 - - As for the number of friars, reliable accounts on this point are entirely lacking. Bartholomew of Pisa simply remarks: From the great number of convents the great number of friars follows, a number which was surpassed by no other Order. Nevertheless, one must guard against an exaggerated evaluation and should not give the number of Friars Minor as 200,000 as has already happened. To be sure, a satisfying conclusion cannot be reached by merely considering the number of houses and then immediately judging the total number of friars from present-day circumstances because the number of friars in the residences in earlier times differed much more widely than today. There were cloisters which counted as many hundred friars as the hermitages counted individuals. But if we take as the basis of our reckoning the number of friars in each house at the end of the 15 th century, when the circumstances among the Observants were approximately the same as in the Order as a whole at the end of the 13 th century, then we will not err greatly if we compute about 20 friars on an average in each residence and between 30,000 and 40,000 as the total number of Franciscans at the end of the 13 th century. This number might have been reached again about 1400 after temporary fluctuations. This picture of the Order, even as regards the division of the provinces, was completely changed with the emergence of the Observants in the 15 th century. Paragraph 32 Development of the provinces of the Observants up to 1517 In the beginning the Observants did not think of erecting new provinces, but strove to advance only within the existing provinces, partly by establishing new residences, and partly by gaining houses hitherto belonging to the Conventuals. But when they obtained a relatively independent administration, their houses were grouped into a vicariate, designated as Provincia by the Observants. However as long as the number of the Observants in a province was very small, they were not governed by a vicar but by a commissary. This was also true of the smaller vicariates in the primitive sense, such as Corsica and Sardinia; so that in this latter case two vicars did not function in the same region. Since the Observance was firmly established in all provinces of the 121

Order at the time of separation in 1517, the number of their vicariates or provinces should also have been 34. As a matter of fact, it was higher because in the course of the 15 th century various reasons had necessitated not inconsiderable changes in organization. A Vicaria Brixiensis was established in Italy in 1475; this embraced the regions of Brescia, Bergamo, and Crema, which formerly had belonged partly to the province of Milan, partly to the province of Venice. The new vicariate was soon increased by the residences of the Caperolani (cfr. par. 26). In lower Italy some Observants of the Basilicata strove successfully for their independence from the provincial. A vicar was assigned to them in 1484. The houses subject to him were separated from the provinces of Terrae Laboris and Apulia; the latter of these since 1514 bore the name: Provincia S. Nicolai. Towards the end of the 15 th century, Corsica had acquired the rights of an independent province of the Observants. The friars in Sardinia thereupon strove for the same goal. Since however their request was not granted by the cismontane vicar general, they temporarily went over to the Conventuals but soon returned to the Observants. In 1511, through the mediation of the Spanish king, the friars of Sardinia were incorporated into the ultramontane family as an independent province. The friars of the Balkan peninsula caused much more trouble than the Sardinians. Their heroism in fighting the Turks atones in some measure for their conduct. Since the Vicaria Bosnae extended from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, a division was necessary for administrative reasons. The Vicaria Hungariae therefore was established in 1447 from the houses situated in Southern Hungary and in Transylvania; this vicariate developed to such an extent, due to the many houses reformed by St. John Capistran, than the Hungarian province of the Observants was by far the strongest province of all about the year 1517. In 1487, it withdrew from the vicar general but in a short time sought readmittance into the Observance; this re-admittance had been obtained by the year 1489. The residences of the Dalmatians and Ragusians were supposed to be united with the vicariate of Bosnia in 1464; but one part never did unite, and the other part separated again soon after it had united with the vicariate. After various vicissitudes all the participants finally attained their goal: in 1478 the independent Vicaria Dalmatiae was erected and in 1486, the Vicaria Ragusii. The Bosnians had been electing their own vicar since 1469. Since however they did not obtain from their vicar general all they were striving for, and since they differed greatly from the Italian Observants in their mode of life, they wished to place themselves directly under the General. Their frequent variations in this question explain the fact that later on there is repeated mention of the approbation of their vicars by the Observants. In 1514, the province was again divided; the Southern and Eastern parts received the name, Bosnae Argentinae, from the main convent, Argentina; the Northwestern part in Croatia was called Bosnae Croatiae. Though Hungary and Bosnia suffered greatly under Islam, still the Provincia Romaniae and the vicariates still further East suffered even more. The Observants of these regions were united with the Provincia Terrae Sanctae in 1461. Towards the end of the century, however, the island of Crete became the independent Provincia Candiae, while the other friars living in the Orient and belonging to no specified province were simply registered as living sub Turco. The Observance was introduced into Austria by St. John Capistran, who established many houses and received many novices, especially learned men. In 1452, all 122

the convents of the Observants in Austria and Bohemia were united into a Vicaria Austriae, to which the convents of Observants in Poland were added. The old national rivalries however as well as the dissatisfaction with the Italian superiors hitherto ruling them, led to a division in 1467 and to the formation of independent provinces under superiors of their own nationality. The new vicariates of Austria and Bohemia remained within the limits of their former provinces, but the Vicaria Poloniae incorporated most of the convents in the kingdom of Poland, some of which had formerly formed part of the vicariates of Russia and Livonia. Even in the ultramontane family, the development of the Observance occasioned considerable changes in the division of provinces. In the Germanic countries these changes were insignificant. In 1516, three convents in the Southern part were separated from the Provincia Daciae to form the Custody of Kylolensis (Kiel) or Holsatiae; but from 1517 on, the confirmation of the custos was reserved to the provincial of the mother-province. On the British Isles, Ireland and Scotland embraced the Observance earlier than England. This explains the independence of the Vicaria Scotiae from the English province. The Observance first found entrance into this province in 1484. In the same year, the monasteries situated in Brittany were separated from the Provincia Turoniae as the Vicaria Britanniae. For the rest, the status of the provinces in France did not change up to 1517. The changes in Spain were greater. At the time of the Schism some Portuguese houses had broken away from the province of St. James; these houses, so it seems, formed the nucleus of the new province extending throughout Portugal. We meet it in the second half of the 15 th century as an independent unit with the name, Provincia Portugalliae, a name hitherto applied to the entire province of St. James. The province of St. James suffered a further loss through the efforts of John of Guadalupe (cfr. par. 26) who, with the help of the General, and in the face of constant opposition from the Observants, established two custodies for his followers. These custodies were united with the reformed part of the Order only in 1517 and then only by force. But even at that, these friars succeeded, due to the protection of the civil authorities, in preserving a relative independence. For their Custodia S. Maria de Pietate, which extended throughout Portugal, was to be governed by a custos taken from among their number. This custos needed only the confirmation of the minister of the province of St. James; for the rest, he ruled independently. The second custody of the followers of Guadalupe received still more rights. This was the Custodia S. Evangelii, called S. Gabrielis since 1517. It had its houses in Estremadura, although that territory was within the limits of the province of St. James. Its custos was placed directly under the General. The residences established by John of Puebla in the Sierra Morena in the region between Toledo and Cordoba likewise became independent of Castile and were joined to the Province Ss. Angelorum. By 1477 the Provincia de Santoyo had been formed from the houses of the Observants established by Peter of Santoyo: these lay principally around Palencia and Segovia. The extensive province of Castile suffered still further losses by the separation of the custodies of Burgos and Seville. From the former the Provincia Burgensis was formed in 1514; the latter together with the recently conquered kingdom of Granada was elevated in 1499 into the Provincia Baeticae (Hispalensis, Granatensis). 123

The province of Aragon on the contrary remained unchanged, at least on the mainland. But the Observants of the Balearic Islands, who had been separated from the mother province since 1459, had their independence reaffirmed in 1517 and formed the Provincia Maioricarum. The more distant Canary Islands could with still more right strive for independence. However the permission conceded to them in 1485 of erecting their own province was taken away from them again in 1487 and the houses there were forced to unite with the custody of Seville. Finally the newly discovered regions of America were joined to the Spanish nation politically. Consequently the Spanish friars only represented the Order in those lands. The territories of the New Spanish world remained almost completely closed to the Conventuals. In 1505 there arose the Provincia S. Crucis (Insularum Indiarum) which took in the residences erected in the West Indian Islands. Paragraph 33 List of the Observant Provinces in 1517 Statistics The table in the next page gives the list of the Observant provinces up to the close of the General Chapter in 1517. The column to the left repeats the division of the Order around 1400. In the column to the right are the provinces in 1517, part of which had separated form the administrative bodies in the left column, and another part of which had formed new administrative units within the old provinces. For the sake of clearness the series here as in future is arranged geographically. An arrangement according to age did not exist at that time; and when it was attempted later, it was drawn up so arbitrarily that it can be set aside as completely worthless and leading only to disgusting conflicts. How many houses and friaries these numerous provinces numbered is a question which cannot be settled with certainty. On this point we have not a single reliable list for the entire Order. This much however we do know: in 1455, the family of the Observants already numbered 20,000 friars and around 1493 they counted more than 22,400 in more than 1200 houses. If we add to these figures the subsequent acquisitions in Spain under Ximenes, plus the number of all the other reformed friars who were incorporated into the family of Observants in 1517, then the total number of Fratres de Observantia after the completion of the union must be close to 30,000 friars with about 1500 residences. With regard to the residences, it was always more customary in the Romance lands to prefer the patron saint of the convent to the name of the place, a custom which was also adopted in designating the provinces. Only in more recent times do they again prefer the clearer geographical names. As for the Conventuals at the time of the separation, as in general for the entire 15 th century, we have even less certain statistical data. Shortly before 1517 they are supposed to have numbered 30,000 friars, but the reformed friars subject to the General were included in that number. After the separation they were, as Leo X himself says, by far less numerous than the Observants, and may be numbered somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000. Others give much smaller figures. Definite statements cannot be made concerning the number of convents which they still occupied at that time. Their provinces number 34 as of old. But most of these were very weak, and many were almost entirely extinct. 124

Provinces about the year 1400 Observant Provinces (after 1517 chapter) A. Cismontane Family 1. St. Francis 1. St. Francis 2. Romana 2. Romana 3. Marches of Ancona 3. Marches of Ancona 4. Tuscia 4. Tuscia 5. Bologna 5. Bologna 6. Genoa 6. Genoa 7. Milan 7. Milan 8. Veneta (Marca Trevigiana) 8. Veneta (Marca Trevigiana) 9. Brescia 9. Penne (St. Bernardine) 10. St. Bernardine 10. Terra di Lavoro 11. Terra di Lavoro 11. Puglie 12. Puglie (St. Nicholas) 13. Basilicata 12. Sant Angelo 14. Sant Angelo 13. Calabria 15. Calabria 14. Sicily 16. Sicily Vicariate of Corsica 17. Corsica 15. Syria 18. Terrae Sanctae (Holy Land) 16. Dalmatia (Slavonia) 19. Dalmatia 20. Ragusa 17. Romania 21. Candia (Crete) Vicariate of Bosnia 22. Bosnae Argentinae 23. Bosnae Croatiae 18. Hungary 24. Hungary 19. Austria 25. Austria 20. Boehmia 26. Bohemia Vicariate of Russia Vicariate of Livonia 27. Poland Vicariate of the Orient Vicariate Aquilonaris Sub Turco viventes Vicariate of China B. Ultramontane Family 1. St. James (Portugal) 1. St. James 2. Portugal 3. Custody of S. Mariae de Pietate 4. Custody of St. Gabriel (S. Evangelii) 2. Castile 5. Castile 6. Santoyo 7. Burgos 8. Baetica (Granada) 9. Holy Angels 125

Provinces about the year 1400 Observant Provinces (after 1517 chapter) 3. Aragon 10. Aragon 11. Majorca (?) 12. Holy Cross (Hispaniola/West Indies) 4. France 13. France 5. Touraine 14. Touraine 15. Bretagne 6. Burgundy 16. Burgundy (St. Bonaventure) 7. Provence 17. Provence (St. Louis) 8. Aquitaine 18. Aquitaine 9. Cologne 19. Cologne 10. Alemania (Argentina) 20. Argentina (northern Germany) 11. Saxony 21. Saxony 12. Dacia 22. Dacia Custody of Holsatia (Kylolensis) 13. England 23. England 14. Ireland 24. Ireland Vicariate of Scotland 25. Scotland [Vicariate of Sardinia] 26. Sardinia 126