ABSTRACT
The orders o f mendicant friars which appeared in the early years o f the thirteenth century represented a new departure, a radical breakaway from the monastic tradition o f the past. By adopting a rule o f corporate poverty and refusing to accept endowments or to own property they dis carded impedimenta that had long been regarded as indispensable to any organised community o f monks. But their rejection o f property and reli ance upon begging to support themselves were only the outward signs o f a more fundamental change o f spirit. The Mendicant Orders broke free from one o f the most basic principles o f traditional monasticism by abandoning the seclusion and enclosure o f the cloister in order to engage in an active pastoral mission to the society o f their time.
