Note 228 — Chapter VI · THE MENDICANT ORDERS.

S. Bonavent. c. II., III.

This account is doubtless colored by the result and adapted unconsciously to the successive stages of a formal religious organization. At first, however, the brethren were not expected to abandon their ordinary pursuits. They were required to follow their regular handicraft, earning their livelihood, and not living on alms except in case of necessity. See the First Rule, as reconstructed by Prof. Karl Müller, Die Anfänge des Minoritenordens, Freiburg, i. B., 1885, p. 186.