Mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on charity for their livelihood. Christian mendicant orders, in principle, do not own property, either individually or collectively (see corporate poverty), believing that they are thereby copying the way of life followed by Jesus, and able to spend all their time and energy on religious work.
Read more about Mendicant Orders: Christian Mendicant Orders, Non-Christian Mendicant Orders
Famous quotes containing the words mendicant and/or orders:
“The woman who does her job for society inside the four walls of her home must not be considered by her husband or anyone else an economic “dependent,” reaching out her hands in mendicant fashion for financial help.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)