They were beggars--literally barefooted beggars. The love of
money was the root of all evil. They would not touch the accursed
thing lest they should be defiled--no, not with the tips of their
fingers. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
Beggars they were, but they were brethren--_Fratres (Fr?res)_.
We in England have got to call them _Friars_. Francis was never
known in his lifetime as anything higher than _Brother Francis_,
and his community he insisted should be called the community of the
lesser brethren--_Fratres Minores_--for none could be or should
be less than they. Abbots and Priors, he would have none of them. "He
that will be chief among you," he said, in Christ's own words, "let
him be your servant." The highest official among the _Minorites_
was the _Minister_, the elect of all, the servant of all, and if
not humble enough to serve, not fit to rule.
People talk of "Monks and Friars" as if these were convertible terms.
The truth is that the difference between the Monks and the Friars was
almost one of kind. The Monk was supposed never to leave his
cloister. The Friar in St. Francis' first intention had no cloister
to leave. Even when he had where to lay his head, his life-work was
not to save his own soul, but first and foremost to save the bodies
and souls of others. The Monk had nothing to do with ministering to
others.
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