The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

270
HISTORY OF THE POPES.
rights.^ In one respect, however, the Pope afterwards
adopted a stricter attitude towards the Mendicant Orders ;
he had declared that their members could be authorized to
hear confessions by their own superiors without the appro-
bation of the bishops, 2 but as the result of some unfortunate
experiences he withdrew this privilege.'^
It might have been supposed that the ancient privileges of
the Mendicant Orders, which Pius V. himself added to,"* had
been fully defined and explained by these bulls, but suddenly
a fresh difficulty arose. The Council, it was said, had granted
to all the Orders, with the exception of the Capuchins and the
Franciscan Observants, the right to possess real estate ;
result of this, it was claimed, was that, except for these two
bodies, there were no longer any Mendicant Orders, and that
the erstwhile Mendicants were bound to contribute to the
seminaries. Pius V. accordingly declared^ that the aforesaid
dispensation of the Council had in no way altered the character
of those orders, and that the Dominicans, Franciscans,
Augustinian Hermits, and Carmelites, to v/hom he added the
Servites, must be considered to be Mendicant Orders as before ;
that the noviciates of these Orders were nurseries for capable
preachers and confessors, and were deserving of the name of
seminaries no less than those which were established by the
bishops, and must therefore be held to be exempt from contributions
to the episcopal seminaries.® Once this buU had
expressly placed the Servites on the same footing as the four
older Mendicant Orders, the same privilege could no longer
be withheld from other Orders, and the Minims of St. Francis
of Paula,' the Gesuati^, and the Jesuits,^ obtained a declaration
^ BuU of September 23, 1567, ibid. 586.
2 Ibid. 574.
^ Bull of August 6, 1571, ibid. 938 seq.
* Bull of July 29, 1566, ibid. 468 seq.
^ October 3, 1567, ibid. 614 seq.
* ' eorumque demos, non minus quam ea, quae per ordinaries
erecta sunt, seminaria vocari pesse." Bull. Rom., VII., 614, § 2.
' November 9, 1567, ibid. 633.
^November 18, 1567, ibid. 636.
" July 7, 1571, ibtd. 923.
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