Chapter V - Some Activities of the Friars

Summary

The coming of the friars introduced an entirely new element into the religious and social life of England. Hitherto the religiosus had been essentially a man cut off from the life of the world. Whether monk or canon regular, he lived his own life in the cloister and came into very little contact with the world outside. It is true that to some extent the original idea of strict claustration had broken down, and some monks were in the habit of spending more time out of their cloister than the Rule would allow. But the principle remained the same. The type of religious house which the Rule of S. Benedict envisages had ‘no function in the life of the Church save to provide an ordered way of life based on the teaching of the Gospel, according to which its inmates may serve God and sanctify their souls apart from the life of the world…. It is the home of a spiritual family whose life and work begins and ends in the family circle’.

The friar, on the other hand, went everywhere. Unlike the monk, who was bound by the rule of stabilitas, he was constantly on the move and properly belonged to no particular friary. A study of the ordination lists in the bishops' registers shows how restless some friars were. Brother Peter Merker, for example, was a friar of Colchester when he was ordained acolyte in 1365.