Dominicans and Franciscans
By Sneha Venkatesh and Karthik Mutyala
Franciscans
Started by St. Francis
The Ideals of Dominicans and Franciscans
- All members of the order were required to live a chaste life, have no personal possessions, and have an ascetic lifestyle.
- They were very active in town and cities
- Another purpose for their order was to combat heretics and convince them to return to the Roman Catholic Church
- Both were founded to provide people with a way to combat the materialism that was becoming popular in that time
- Also founded to spread Christianity
Development of Cathedral school
- Had an established curriculum focused on liberal arts
- Based on writings in Latin
- Drew works mainly from Greek philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates,etc.)
- This system of theology and philosophy taught in universities, based on logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers which had a strong emphasis on tradition was called Scholasticism.
St. Aquinas
- St. Thomas Aquinas is known for combining Aristotle's works with Christianity. Students in general often studied Aristotle's works, translated into Latin. In this way, Ancient Greek and Middle Ages culture interact, as 2 schools of thought come together.
- In the early Middle Ages, there were not enough resources available to provide extensive education. During the later Middle Ages, when the wealth of the states increased, the cathedrals of Western Europe offered instruction for intellectual fields. Thus, the knowledge and development of art, architecture, science, philosophy, and technology are spurred.