Their first establishment was at Colmenzono, about a league from Camerino, in a convent of the order of St. Jerome, which had been abandoned; but, their numbers increasing, Louis de Fossembrun built another small convent at Montmelon, in the territory of Camerino. The great number of conversions which the Capuchins made by their preaching, and the assistance they gave the people in a contagious distemper with which Italy was afflicted the same year, 1528, gained them an universal esteem.
In 1529, Louis de Fossembrun built for them two other convents, the one of Alvacina in the territory of Fabriano, the other at Fossembrun in the duchy of Urbino. Matthew de Bassi, being chosen their vicar-general, drew up constitutions for the government of this order. They enjoined, among other things, that the Capuchins should perform Divine service without singing; that they should say but one mass a day in their convents; they directed the hours of mental prayer, morning and evening, the days of disciplining themselves, and those of silence; they forbade the monks to hear the confessions of seculars, and enjoined them always to travel on foot; they recommended poverty in the ornaments of their church, and prohibited in them the use of gold, silver, and silk; the pavilions of the altars were to be of stuff, and the chalices of tin.
This order soon spread itself all over Italy and into Sicily. In 1573, Charles IX. demanded of Pope Gregory XIII. to have the order of Capuchins established in France, which that pope consented to; and their first settlement in that kingdom was in the little town of Picpus near Paris, which they soon quitted to settle at Meudon, from whence they were introduced into the capital of the kingdom. In 1606, Pope Paul V. gave them leave to accept of an establishment which was offered them in Spain. They even passed the seas to labour on the conversion of the infidels; and their order is become so considerable, that it is at present divided into more than sixty provinces, consisting of near 1600 convents, and 25,000 monks, besides the missions of Brazil, Congo, Barbary, Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
Among those who have preferred the poverty and humility of the Capuchins to the advantages of birth and fortune, was the famous Alphonso d’Este, duke of Modena and Reggio, who, after the death of his wife Isabella, took the habit of this order at Munich, in the year 1626, under the name of Brother John-Baptist, and died in the convent of Castlenuovo, in 1644. In France, likewise, the great duke de Joyeuse, after having distinguished himself as a general, became a Capuchin in September, 1587.
Father Paul (of Ecclesiastical Benefices, cap. 53) observes, that “The Capuchins preserve their reputation by reason of their poverty, and that if they should suffer the least change in their institution, they would acquire no immoveable estates by it, but would lose the alms they now receive.” He adds: “It seems, therefore, as if here an absolute period were put to all future acquisitions and improvements in this gainful trade; for whoever should go about to institute a new order, with a power of acquiring estates, such an order would certainly find no credit in the world; and if a profession of poverty were a part of the institution, there could be no acquisitions made whilst that lasted, nor would there be any credit left when that was broke.”—Hist. des Ord. Relig. T. vii. c. 27.
There is likewise an order of Capuchin Nuns, who follow the rule of St. Clare. Their first establishment was at Naples in 1538, and their foundress the venerable mother Maria Laurentia Longa, of a noble family of Catalonia—a lady of the most uncommon piety and devotion. Some Capuchins coming to settle at Naples, she obtained for them, by her credit with the archbishop, the church of St. Euphebia, without the city; soon after which she built a monastery of virgins, under the name of Our Lady of Jerusalem, into which she retired in 1534, together with nineteen young women, who engaged themselves by solemn vows to follow the third rule of St. Francis. The pope gave the government of this monastery to the Capuchins; and, soon after, the nuns quitted the third rule of St. Francis, to embrace the more rigorous rule of St. Clara, from the austerity of which they had the name of Nuns of the Passion, and that of Capuchines from the habit they took, which was that of the Capuchins.
After the death of their foundress, another monastery of Capuchines was established at Rome, near the Quirinal palace, and was called the monastery of the Holy Sacrament; and a third, in the same city, built by Cardinal Baronius. These foundations were approved, in the year 1600, by Pope Clement VIII., and confirmed by Gregory XV. There were afterwards several other establishments of Capuchines, in particular one at Paris, in 1604, founded by the Duchesse de Mercœur, who put crowns of thorns on the heads of the young women whom she placed in her monastery.—Broughton.
CAPUTIUM. (See Hood.)
CARDINAL. This is the title given to one of the chief governors of the Romish Church. The term has long been in use, and originally signified the same as præcipuus, principalis, id quod rei cardo est, synonymous with prælatus; or else it was derived from cardinare or incardinare, to hinge or join together, and was applied to the regular clergy of the metropolitan church. In Italy, Gaul, &c., such churches early received the title of cardinal churches; the ministers of these churches were also called cardinals.
The following statements comprise the important historical facts relative to the office of cardinal: