1201–1226

The Mendicant Orders: Francis of Assisi and Dominic

Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant. He renounced his father's inheritance. In late 1209, after hearing Matthew 10:7–10, he combined poverty with urban preaching. Innocent III orally approved the founding of the Order of Friars Minor. In 1212 Clare of Assisi founded the women's order of "Poor Clares".

Francis called himself "wedded to Lady Poverty". In 1219 he went on mission to Egypt himself. In 1220 he laid down leadership of the order. He died on 3 October 1226 with the words "Welcome, Sister Death!".

Dominic was a canon of Osma. In southern France he was shaken by the contrast between the Albigensians' humility and the papal legates' greed. He resolved to fight heresy through preaching, strict living, and learning. His Order of Preachers was approved by the pope in 1216. It valued education from the start and quickly took up chairs at Paris and Oxford. It gave the Church Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas.