The Order of Servites is the fifth
mendicant* order, the objective of which
are the sanctification of its members,
preaching the Gospel, and the propagation
of devotion to the Mother of God, with
special reference to her sorrows.
To the city of Florence belongs the glory
of giving to the Church the seven youths who formed the
nucleus of the order, they belonged to seven patrician
families of that city, and had early formed a confraternity of
laymen, known as the Laudesi, or Praisers of Mary. While
engaged in the exercises of the confraternity on the feast of
the Assumption, 1233, the Blessed Virgin appeared to
them, advised them to withdraw from the world and devote
themselves entirely to eternal things. They obeyed, and
established themselves close to the convent of the Friars
Minor at La Camarzia,a suburb of Florence. Desiring
stricter seclusion than that offered at La Camarzia, they
withdrew to Monte Senario, eleven miles north of Florence.
Here the Blessed Virgin again appeared to them, conferred
on them a black habit, instructed them to follow the Rule of
St. Augustine and to found the order of her servants (15
April, 1240). The brethren elected a superior, took the
vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, and admitted
associates. In 1243, Peter of Verona (St. Peter Martyr),
Inquisitor-General of Italy, recommended the new
foundation to the pope, but it was not until 13 March, 1249,
that the first official approval of the order was obtained.
One of the most remarkable features of the new
foundation was its wonderful growth. Even in the thirteenth
century there were houses of the order in Germany,
France, and Spain. Early in the fourteenth century the
order had more than one hundred converts including
branch houses in Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, Poland and
Belgium; there were also missions in Crete and India.
In common with all religious orders strictly so called, the
Servites make solemn profession of the three vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience. The particular object of
the order is to sanctify first its own members, and then all
men through devotion to the Mother of God, especially in
her desolation during the Passion of her Divine Son. The
Servites give missions, have the care of souls, or teach in
higher institutions of learning. The Rosary of the Seven
Dolours is one of their devotions, as is also the Via Matris.
The canonized Servite saints are St. Philip Benizi, St.
Peregrine Latiosi, St. Juliana Falconieri, and the Seven
Holy Founders.
* a member of a religious order who is bound by vows of
poverty and chastity and obedience.
.