Dictionary
A modern dictionary of Catholic terms, both common and obscure. Find accurate definitions of words and phrases.
FRATICELLI
In popular usage, it refers to all members of religious orders of men, especially mendicant orders, and solitaries. But in Church history it means those sectarians who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries separated themselves from the Franciscan Order, which they claimed had compromised on St. Francis' original spirit of poverty. (Etym Italian fraticelli, little friars.)
All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
Recent Catholic Commentary
The Smell of the Sheep May 16
Top Catholic News
Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days