The mendicant movement of the thirteenth century arose in response to the great social changes that occurred in Europe as a result of the growth of commerce, the emergence of the merchant class, and the rise of cities. These societal changes also gave rise to new centers of learning or “universities,” as well as new forms of religious communities. Heretofore, the majority of communities of religious, both men and women, lived in cloistered monasteries, or if clerics, as canons associated with a cathedral or a court, devoted to prayer and work, according to a rule developed by a religious founder. The various Augustinian communities followed the Rule of Saint Augustine which was written in 397.
In response to these societal changes, the mendicant movement developed a more activist approach, witnessing to the gospel in these growing urban centers by ministering to the poor and dispossessed, both materially and spiritually, and eventually, as educators in the newly established universities. Since they sustained themselves by begging, they came to be called the mendicant orders.
