[German Version]

The mendicant orders are religious communities in the West in which not only do the individual members live without personal possessions, but the community itself also forgoes ownership of property and regular income (Poverty). They sustain themselves on what they get from simple work, contributions, and begging. The mendicant orders originated in the early 13th century in conjunction with the religious poverty movement: the Dominicans, a clerical order of priests engaged in preaching, pastoral care, and combating heterodox movements, and the Franciscans, a br…