What is "fraticelli"

Fratricelli \Fra`tri*cel"li\, n. pl. [It. fraticelli, lit., little brothers, dim. fr. frate brother, L. frater.] (Eccl. Hist.)

1. The name which St. Francis of Assisi gave to his followers, early in the 13th century.

2. A sect which seceded from the Franciscan Order, chiefly in Italy and Sicily, in 1294, repudiating the pope as an apostate, maintaining the duty of celibacy and poverty, and discountenancing oaths. Called also Fratricellians and Fraticelli.

The Fraticelli ("Little Brethren") or Spiritual Franciscans were extreme proponents of the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual churchmen as invalidating their status. They were thus forced into open revolt against the whole authority of the Church and were declared heretical in 1296 by Boniface VIII.

The name Fraticelli is used for various heretical sects, which appeared in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, principally in Italy, that separated from the Franciscan Order on account of the disputes concerning poverty. The Apostolics (also known as Pseudo-Apostles or Apostolic Brethren) are excluded from the category, because admission to the Order of St. Francis was expressly denied to their founder, Gerard Segarelli. They had no connection to the Franciscans, in fact desiring to exterminate them. It is therefore necessary to differentiate the various groups of Fraticelli, although the one term may be applied to all.

Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose is set against the persecution of Fraticelli.