Fraticelli

E . Little Brethren), a religious sect which arose in Italy in the 13th century, and continued to exist until the close of the 15th. They were an offshoot from the Franciscans ( q. v .), who sought in their lives to enforce more rigidly the laws of St. Francis, and declined to accept the pontifical explanations of monastic rules; ulti mately they broke away from the authority of the Church, and despite the efforts of various popes to reconcile them, and the bitter persecutions of others, maintained a separate organisation, going the length of appointing their own cardinals and pope, having declared the Church in a state of apostasy. Their régime of life was of the severest nature; they begged from door to door their daily food, and went clothed in rags.