Crossed Friars

The Fratres Cruciferi (Cross bearing Brethren) are a Roman Catholic religious order. There were four main independent branches of Fratres Cruciferi: an Italian Order, a Portuguese Order, a Belgian Order, and a Bohemian Order. They were also known as Crutched Friars, Crossed Friars, Crouched Friars or Croziers because of the staff they carried with them surmounted by a crucifix.

The origin of these friars is somewhat uncertain. They claimed to have been founded in the East, in the 1st century, by St. Cletus, and to have been reconstituted by St. Cyriacus, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the 4th; however, there is little record of them prior to 1100.

It is not known when the Fratres Cruciferi came to Italy, but they were certainly there in the 12th century, for in 1169 Pope Alexander III gave them constitutions and a rule of life similar to that of Augustinian canons. Their habit was originally brown or black, but later on Pope Pius II prescribed for them a blue habit and substituted a small silver cross for the larger wooden one they had hitherto been accustomed to carry in their hands. It was from this custom that they obtained their name. They also wore a red cross on their habit.

Their monasteries were at one time numerous in Italy, numbering two hundred and eight, divided into five ecclesiastical provinces: Bologna, Venice, Rome, Milan and Naples. The priory of Santa Maria di Morella at Bologna was made chief house of the order by Pope Clement IV. They kept the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Acre in the Holy Land.

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Wikipedia