title: Franciscans

text: The Franciscan third order, known as the Third Order of Saint Francis, has many men and women members, separated into two main branches:


title: Franciscans

text: The coat of arms that is a universal symbol of Franciscan "contains the Tau cross, with two crossed arms: Christ’s right hand with the nail wound and Francis’ left hand with the stigmata wound."


title: Franciscans

text: A sermon Francis heard in 1209 on Mt 10:9 made such an impression on him that he decided to devote himself wholly to a life of apostolic poverty. Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance.


title: Franciscans

text: He was soon joined by a prominent fellow townsman, Bernard of Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work, and by other companions, who are said to have reached the number of eleven within a year. The brothers lived in the deserted leper colony of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time traveling through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations. Their life was extremely ascetic, though such practices were apparently not prescribed by the first rule which Francis gave them (probably as early as 1209) which seems to have been nothing more than a collection of Scriptural passages emphasizing the duty of poverty.


title: Franciscans

text: In spite of some similarities between this principle and some of the fundamental ideas of the followers of Peter Waldo, the brotherhood of Assisi succeeded in gaining the approval of Pope Innocent III. What seems to have impressed first the Bishop of Assisi, Guido, then Cardinal Giovanni di San Paolo and finally Innocent himself, was their utter loyalty to the Catholic Church and the clergy. Innocent III was not only the pope reigning during the life of Francis of Assisi, but he was also responsible for helping to construct the church Francis was being called to rebuild. Innocent III and the Fourth Lateran Council helped maintain the church in Europe. Innocent probably saw in them a possible answer to his desire for an orthodox preaching force to counter heresy. Many legends have clustered around the decisive audience of Francis with the pope. The realistic account in Matthew Paris, according to which the pope originally sent the shabby saint off to keep swine, and only recognized his real worth by his ready obedience, has, in spite of its improbability, a certain historical interest, since it shows the natural antipathy of the older Benedictine monasticism to the plebeian mendicant orders. The group was tonsured and Francis was ordained as a deacon, allowing him to proclaim Gospel passages and preach in churches during Mass.


title: Franciscans

text: Francis had to suffer from the dissensions just alluded to and the transformation they effected in the original constitution of the brotherhood making it a regular order under strict supervision from Rome. Exasperated by the demands of running a growing and fractious Order, Francis asked Pope Honorius III for help in 1219. He was assigned Cardinal Ugolino as protector of the Order by the pope. Francis resigned the day-to-day running of the Order into the hands of others but retained the power to shape the Order's legislation, writing a Rule in 1221 which he revised and had approved in 1223. After about 1221, the day-to-day running of the Order was in the hands of Brother Elias of Cortona, an able friar who would be elected as leader of the friars a few years after Francis's death (1232) but who aroused much opposition because of his autocratic leadership style. He planned and built the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in which Francis of Assisi is buried, a building which includes the friary Sacro Convento, still today the spiritual centre of the Order.


title: Franciscans

text: In the external successes of the brothers, as they were reported at the yearly general chapters, there was much to encourage Francis. , the first German provincial, a zealous advocate of the founder's strict principle of poverty, began in 1221 from Augsburg, with twenty-five companions, to win for the Order the land watered by the Rhine and the Danube. In 1224 Agnellus of Pisa led a small group of friars to England. The branch of the Order arriving in England became known as the "greyfriars". Beginning at Greyfriars at Canterbury, the ecclesiastical capital, they moved on to London, the political capital, and Oxford, the intellectual capital. From these three bases the Franciscans swiftly expanded to embrace the principal towns of England.


title: Franciscans

text: The controversy about how to follow the Gospel life of poverty, which extends through the first three centuries of Franciscan history, began in the lifetime of the founder. The ascetic brothers Matthew of Narni and Gregory of Naples, a nephew of Cardinal Ugolino, were the two vicars-general to whom Francis had entrusted the direction of the order during his absence. They carried through at a chapter which they held certain stricter regulations in regard to fasting and the reception of alms, which departed from the spirit of the original rule. It did not take Francis long, on his return, to suppress this insubordinate tendency but he was less successful in regard to another of an opposite nature which soon came up. Elias of Cortona originated a movement for the increase of the worldly consideration of the Order and the adaptation of its system to the plans of the hierarchy which conflicted with the original notions of the founder and helped to bring about the successive changes in the rule already described. Francis was not alone in opposition to this lax and secularizing tendency. On the contrary, the party which clung to his original views and after his death took his "Testament" for their guide, known as Observantists or , was at least equal in numbers and activity to the followers of Elias.


title: Franciscans

text: After an intense apostolic activity in Italy, in 1219 Francis went to Egypt with the Fifth Crusade to announce the Gospel to the Saracens. He met with the Sultan Malik al-Kamil, initiating a spirit of dialogue and understanding between Christianity and Islam. The Franciscan presence in the Holy Land started in 1217, when the province of Syria was established, with Brother Elias as Minister. By 1229 the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa. In 1272 sultan Baibars allowed the Franciscans to settle in the Cenacle on Mount Zion. Later on, in 1309, they also settled in the Holy Sepulchre and in Bethlehem. In 1335 the king of Naples Robert of Anjou () and his wife Sancha of Majorca () bought the Cenacle and gave it to the Franciscans. Pope Clement VI by the Bulls "Gratias agimus" and "Nuper charissimae" (1342) declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.


title: Franciscans

text: Elias was a lay friar, and encouraged other laymen to enter the order. This brought opposition from many ordained friars and ministers provincial, who also opposed increased centralization of the Order. Gregory IX declared his intention to build a splendid church to house the body of Francis and the task fell to Elias, who at once began to lay plans for the erection of a great basilica at Assisi, to enshrine the remains of the "Poverello". In order to build the basilica, Elias proceeded to collect money in various ways to meet the expenses of the building. Elias thus also alienated the zealots in the order, who felt this was not in keeping with the founder's views upon the question of poverty.


title: Franciscans

text: The earliest leader of the strict party was Brother Leo, a close companion of Francis during his last years and the author of the , a strong polemic against the laxer party. Having protested against the collection of money for the erection of the basilica of San Francesco, it was Leo who broke in pieces the marble box which Elias had set up for offertories for the completion of the basilica at Assisi. For this Elias had him scourged, and this outrage on St Francis's dearest disciple consolidated the opposition to Elias. Leo was the leader in the early stages of the struggle in the order for the maintenance of St Francis's ideas on strict poverty. At the chapter held in May 1227, Elias was rejected in spite of his prominence, and Giovanni Parenti, Minister Provincial of Spain, was elected Minister General of the order.


title: Franciscans

text: In 1232 Elias succeeded him, and under him the Order significantly developed its ministries and presence in the towns. Many new houses were founded, especially in Italy, and in many of them special attention was paid to education. The somewhat earlier settlements of Franciscan teachers at the universities (in Paris, for example, where Alexander of Hales was teaching) continued to develop. Contributions toward the promotion of the Order's work, and especially the building of the Basilica in Assisi, came in abundantly. Funds could only be accepted on behalf of the friars for determined, imminent, real necessities that could not be provided for from begging. When in 1230, the General Chapter could not agree on a common interpretation of the 1223 Rule it sent a delegation including Anthony of Padua to Pope Gregory IX for an authentic interpretation of this piece of papal legislation. The bull of Gregory IX declared that the Testament of St. Francis was not legally binding and offered an interpretation of poverty that would allow the Order to continue to develop. Gregory IX, authorized agents of the Order to have custody of such funds where they could not be spent immediately. Elias pursued with great severity the principal leaders of the opposition, and even Bernardo di Quintavalle, the founder's first disciple, was obliged to conceal himself for years in the forest of Monte Sefro.


title: Franciscans

text: The conflict between the two parties lasted many years and the won several notable victories in spite of the favor shown to their opponents by the papal administration, until finally the reconciliation of the two points of view was seen to be impossible and the order was actually split into halves.


title: Franciscans

text: Elias governed the Order from the center, imposing his authority on the provinces (as had Francis). A reaction to this centralized government was led from the provinces of England and Germany. At the general chapter of 1239, held in Rome under the personal presidency of Gregory IX, Elias was deposed in favor of Albert of Pisa, the former provincial of England, a moderate Observantist. This chapter introduced General Statutes to govern the Order and devolved power from the Minister General to the Ministers Provincial sitting in chapter. The next two Ministers General, Haymo of Faversham (1240–44) and Crescentius of Jesi (1244–47), consolidated this greater democracy in the Order but also led the Order towards a greater clericalization. The new Pope Innocent IV supported them in this. In a bull of November 14, 1245, this pope even sanctioned an extension of the system of financial agents, and allowed the funds to be used not simply for those things that were necessary for the friars but also for those that were useful.


title: Franciscans

text: The Observantist party took a strong stand in opposition to this ruling and agitated so successfully against the lax General that in 1247, at a chapter held in Lyon, France—where Innocent IV was then residing—he was replaced by the strict Observantist John of Parma (1247–57) and the Order refused to implement any provisions of Innocent IV that were laxer than those of Gregory IX.


title: Franciscans

text: Elias, who had been excommunicated and taken under the protection of Frederick II, was now forced to give up all hope of recovering his power in the Order. He died in 1253, after succeeding by recantation in obtaining the removal of his censures. Under John of Parma, who enjoyed the favor of Innocent IV and Pope Alexander IV, the influence of the Order was notably increased, especially by the provisions of the latter pope in regard to the academic activity of the brothers. He not only sanctioned the theological institutes in Franciscan houses, but did all he could to support the friars in the Mendicant Controversy, when the secular Masters of the University of Paris and the Bishops of France combined to attack the mendicant orders. It was due to the action of Alexander IV's envoys, who were obliged to threaten the university authorities with excommunication, that the degree of doctor of theology was finally conceded to the Dominican Thomas Aquinas and the Franciscan Bonaventure (1257), who had previously been able to lecture only as licentiates.


title: Franciscans

text: The Franciscan Gerard of Borgo San Donnino at this time issued a Joachimite tract and John of Parma was seen as favoring the condemned theology of Joachim of Fiore. To protect the Order from its enemies, John was forced to step down and recommended Bonaventure as his successor. Bonaventure saw the need to unify the Order around a common ideology and both wrote a new life of the founder and collected the Order's legislation into the Constitutions of Narbonne, so called because they were ratified by the Order at its chapter held at Narbonne, France, in 1260. In the chapter of Pisa three years later Bonaventure's was approved as the only biography of Francis and all previous biographies were ordered to be destroyed. Bonaventure ruled (1257–74) in a moderate spirit, which is represented also by various works produced by the order in his time—especially by the written by David of Augsburg soon after 1260.


title: Franciscans

text: The successor to Bonaventure, Jerome of Ascoli or Girolamo Masci (1274–79), (the future Pope Nicholas IV), and his successor, Bonagratia of Bologna (1279–85), also followed a middle course. Severe measures were taken against certain extreme Spirituals who, on the strength of the rumor that Pope Gregory X was intending at the Council of Lyon (1274–75) to force the mendicant orders to tolerate the possession of property, threatened both pope and council with the renunciation of allegiance. Attempts were made, however, to satisfy the reasonable demands of the Spiritual party, as in the bull "Exiit qui seminat" of Pope Nicholas III (1279), which pronounced the principle of complete poverty to be meritorious and holy, but interpreted it in the way of a somewhat sophistical distinction between possession and usufruct. The bull was received respectfully by Bonagratia and the next two generals, Arlotto of Prato (1285–87) and Matthew of Aqua Sparta (1287–89); but the Spiritual party under the leadership of the Bonaventuran pupil and apocalyptic Pierre Jean Olivi regarded its provisions for the dependence of the friars upon the pope and the division between brothers occupied in manual labor and those employed on spiritual missions as a corruption of the fundamental principles of the Order. They were not won over by the conciliatory attitude of the next general, Raymond Gaufredi (1289–96), and of the Franciscan Pope Nicholas IV (1288–92). The attempt made by the next pope, Celestine V, an old friend of the order, to end the strife by uniting the Observantist party with his own order of hermits (see Celestines) was scarcely more successful. Only a part of the Spirituals joined the new order, and the secession scarcely lasted beyond the reign of the hermit-pope. Pope Boniface VIII annulled Celestine's bull of foundation with his other acts, deposed the general Raymond Gaufredi, and appointed a man of laxer tendency, John de Murro, in his place. The Benedictine section of the Celestines was separated from the Franciscan section, and the latter was formally suppressed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302. The leader of the Observantists, Olivi, who spent his last years in the Franciscan house at Tarnius and died there in 1298, had pronounced against the extremer "Spiritual" attitude, and given an exposition of the theory of poverty which was approved by the more moderate Observantists, and for a long time constituted their principle.


title: Franciscans

text: Under Pope Clement V (1305–14) this party succeeded in exercising some influence on papal decisions. In 1309 Clement had a commission sit at Avignon for the purpose of reconciling the conflicting parties. Ubertino of Casale, the leader, after Olivi's death, of the stricter party, who was a member of the commission, induced the Council of Vienne to arrive at a decision in the main favoring his views, and the papal constitution (1313) was on the whole conceived in the same sense. Clement's successor, Pope John XXII (1316–34), favored the laxer or conventual party. By the bull he modified several provisions of the constitution , and required the formal submission of the Spirituals. Some of them, encouraged by the strongly Observantist general Michael of Cesena, ventured to dispute the pope's right so to deal with the provisions of his predecessor. Sixty-four of them were summoned to Avignon and the most obstinate delivered over to the Inquisition, four of them being burned (1318). Shortly before this all the separate houses of the Observantists had been suppressed.


title: Franciscans

text: A few years later a new controversy, this time theoretical, broke out on the question of poverty. In his 14 August 1279 bull , Pope Nicholas III had confirmed the arrangement already established by Pope Innocent IV, by which all property given to the Franciscans was vested in the Holy See, which granted the friars the mere use of it. The bull declared that renunciation of ownership of all things "both individually but also in common, for God's sake, is meritorious and holy; Christ, also, showing the way of perfection, taught it by word and confirmed it by example, and the first founders of the church militant, as they had drawn it from the fountainhead itself, distributed it through the channels of their teaching and life to those wishing to live perfectly."


title: Franciscans

text: Although "Exiit qui seminat" banned disputing about its contents, the decades that followed saw increasingly bitter disputes about the form of poverty to be observed by Franciscans, with the Spirituals (so called because associated with the Age of the Spirit that Joachim of Fiore had said would begin in 1260) pitched against the Conventual Franciscans. Pope Clement V's bull of 20 November 1312 failed to effect a compromise between the two factions. Clement V's successor, Pope John XXII was determined to suppress what he considered to be the excesses of the Spirituals, who contended eagerly for the view that Christ and his apostles had possessed absolutely nothing, either separately or jointly, and who were citing in support of their view. In 1317, John XXII formally condemned the group of them known as the Fraticelli. On 26 March 1322, with , he removed the ban on discussion of Nicholas III's bull and commissioned experts to examine the idea of poverty based on belief that Christ and the apostles owned nothing. The experts disagreed among themselves, but the majority condemned the idea on the grounds that it would condemn the church's right to have possessions. The Franciscan chapter held in Perugia in May 1322 declared on the contrary: "To say or assert that Christ, in showing the way of perfection, and the Apostles, in following that way and setting an example to others who wished to lead the perfect life, possessed nothing either severally or in common, either by right of ownership and or by personal right, we corporately and unanimously declare to be not heretical, but true and catholic." By the bull of 8 December 1322, John XXII, declaring it ridiculous to pretend that every scrap of food given to the friars and eaten by them belonged to the pope, refused to accept ownership over the goods of the Franciscans in the future and granted them exemption from the rule that absolutely forbade ownership of anything even in common, thus forcing them to accept ownership. And, on 12 November 1323, he issued the short bull which declared "erroneous and heretical" the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatever. John XXII's actions thus demolished the fictitious structure that gave the appearance of absolute poverty to the life of the Franciscan friars.


title: Franciscans

text: Influential members of the order protested, such as the minister general Michael of Cesena, the English provincial William of Ockham, and Bonagratia of Bergamo. In 1324, Louis the Bavarian sided with the Spirituals and accused the pope of heresy. In reply to the argument of his opponents that Nicholas III's bull was fixed and irrevocable, John XXII issued the bull on 10 November 1324 in which he declared that it cannot be inferred from the words of the 1279 bull that Christ and the apostles had nothing, adding: "Indeed, it can be inferred rather that the Gospel life lived by Christ and the Apostles did not exclude some possessions in common, since living 'without property' does not require that those living thus should have nothing in common." In 1328, Michael of Cesena was summoned to Avignon to explain the Order's intransigence in refusing the pope's orders and its complicity with Louis of Bavaria. Michael was imprisoned in Avignon, together with Francesco d'Ascoli, Bonagratia, and William of Ockham. In January of that year Louis of Bavaria entered Rome and had himself crowned emperor. Three months later he declared John XXII deposed and installed the Spiritual Franciscan Pietro Rainalducci as antipope. The Franciscan chapter that opened in Bologna on 28 May reelected Michael of Cesena, who two days before had escaped with his companions from Avignon. But in August Louis the Bavarian and his pope had to flee Rome before an attack by Robert, King of Naples. Only a small part of the Franciscan Order joined the opponents of John XXII, and at a general chapter held in Paris in 1329 the majority of all the houses declared their submission to the Pope. With the bull of 16 November 1329, John XXII replied to Michael of Cesena's attacks on , , and . In 1330, Antipope Nicholas V submitted, followed later by the ex-general Michael, and finally, just before his death, by Ockham.


title: Franciscans

text: Out of all these dissensions in the 14th century sprang a number of separate congregations, or almost sects, to say nothing of the heretical parties of the Beghards and Fraticelli, some of which developed within the Order on both hermit and cenobitic principles and may here be mentioned:


title: Franciscans

text: The Clareni or Clarenini was an association of hermits established on the river Clareno in the march of Ancona by Angelo da Clareno (1337). Like several other smaller congregations, it was obliged in 1568 under Pope Pius V to unite with the general body of Observantists.


title: Franciscans

text: As a separate congregation, this originated through the union of a number of houses which followed Olivi after 1308. It was limited to southwestern France and, its members being accused of the heresy of the Beghards, was suppressed by the Inquisition during the controversies under John XXII.


title: Franciscans

text: This was founded in the hermitage of St. Bartholomew at Brugliano near Foligno in 1334. The congregation was suppressed by the Franciscan general chapter in 1354; reestablished in 1368 by Paolo de' Trinci of Foligno; confirmed by Gregory XI in 1373, and spread rapidly from Central Italy to France, Spain, Hungary, and elsewhere. Most of the Observantist houses joined this congregation by degrees, so that it became known simply as the "brothers of the regular Observance." It acquired the favor of the popes by its energetic opposition to the heretical Fraticelli, and was expressly recognized by the Council of Constance (1415). It was allowed to have a special vicar-general of its own and legislate for its members without reference to the conventual part of the Order. Through the work of such men as Bernardino of Siena, Giovanni da Capistrano, and Dietrich Coelde (b. 1435? at Munster; was a member of the Brethren of the Common Life, died December 11, 1515), it gained great prominence during the 15th century. By the end of the Middle Ages, the Observantists, with 1,400 houses, comprised nearly half of the entire Order. Their influence brought about attempts at reform even among the Conventuals, including the quasi-Observantist brothers living under the rule of the Conventual ministers (Martinianists or "Observantes sub ministris"), such as the male Colletans, later led by Boniface de Ceva in his reform attempts principally in France and Germany; the reformed congregation founded in 1426 by the Spaniard Philip de Berbegal and distinguished by the special importance they attached to the little hood (); the Neutri, a group of reformers originating about 1463 in Italy, who tried to take a middle ground between the Conventuals and Observantists, but refused to obey the heads of either, until they were compelled by the pope to affiliate with the regular Observantists, or with those of the Common Life; the Caperolani, a congregation founded about 1470 in North Italy by Peter Caperolo, but dissolved again on the death of its founder in 1481; the Amadeists, founded by the noble Portuguese Amadeo, who entered the Franciscan order at Assisi in 1452, gathered around him a number of adherents to his fairly strict principles (numbering finally twenty-six houses), and died in the odor of sanctity in 1482.


title: Franciscans

text: Projects for a union between the two main branches of the Order were put forth not only by the Council of Constance but by several popes, without any positive result. By direction of Pope Martin V, John of Capistrano drew up statutes which were to serve as a basis for reunion, and they were actually accepted by a general chapter at Assisi in 1430; but the majority of the Conventual houses refused to agree to them, and they remained without effect. At John of Capistrano's request Eugene IV issued a bull (, 1446) aimed at the same result, but again nothing was accomplished. Equally unsuccessful were the attempts of the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV, who bestowed a vast number of privileges on both of the original mendicant orders, but by this very fact lost the favor of the Observants and failed in his plans for reunion. Julius II succeeded in reducing some of the smaller branches, but left the division of the two great parties untouched. This division was finally legalized by Leo X, after a general chapter held in Rome in 1517, in connection with the reform-movement of the Fifth Lateran Council, had once more declared the impossibility of reunion. The less strict principles of the Conventuals, permitting the possession of real estate and the enjoyment of fixed revenues, were recognized as tolerable, while the Observants, in contrast to this , were held strictly to their own or "pauper".


title: Franciscans

text: All of the groups that followed the Franciscan Rule literally were united to the Observants, and the right to elect the Minister General of the Order, together with the seal of the Order, was given to this united grouping. This grouping, since it adhered more closely to the rule of the founder, was allowed to claim a certain superiority over the Conventuals. The Observant general (elected now for six years, not for life) inherited the title of "Minister-General of the Whole Order of St. Francis" and was granted the right to confirm the choice of a head for the Conventuals, who was known as "Master-General of the Friars Minor Conventual"—although this privilege never became practically operative.


title: Franciscans

text: The work of the Franciscans in New Spain began in 1523, when three Flemish friars—Juan de Ayora, Pedro de Tecto, and Pedro de Gante—reached the central highlands. Their impact as missionaries was limited at first, since two of them died on Cortés's expedition to Central American in 1524, but Fray Pedro de Gante initiated the evangelization process and studied the Nahuatl language through his contacts with children of the Indian elite from the city of Tetzcoco. Later, in May 1524, with the arrival of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico, led by Martín de Valencia. There they built the Convento Grande de San Francisco, which became Franciscan headquarters for New Spain for the next three hundred years.


title: Franciscans

text: About 1236, Pope Gregory IX appointed the Franciscans, along with the Dominicans, as Inquisitors. The Franciscans had been involved in anti-heretical activities from the beginning simply by preaching and acting as living examples of the Gospel life. As official Inquisitors, they were authorized to use torture to extract confessions, as approved by Pope Innocent IV in 1252. The Franciscans were involved in the torture and trials of heretics and witches throughout the Middle Ages and wrote their own manuals to guide Inquisitors, such as the 14th century "Codex Casanatensis" for use by Inquisitors in Tuscany.


title: Franciscans

text: The Order of Friars Minor (OFM) has 1,500 houses in about 100 provinces and , with about 16,000 members. In 1897, Pope Leo XIII combined the Observants, Discalced (Alcantarines), Recollects, and Riformati into one order under general constitutions. While the Capuchins and Conventuals wanted the reunited Observants to be referred to as The Order of Friars Minor of the Leonine Union, they were instead called simply the Order of Friars Minor. Despite the tensions caused by this forced union the Order grew from 1897 to reach a peak of 26,000 members in the 1960s before declining after the 1970s. The Order is headed by a Minister General, who since May 2013 is Father Michael Anthony Perry.


title: Franciscans

text: The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv.) consists of 290 houses worldwide with a total of almost 5000 friars. They have experienced growth in this century throughout the world. They are located in Italy, the United States, Canada, Australia, and throughout Latin America, and Africa. They are the largest in number in Poland because of the work and inspiration of Maximilian Kolbe.


title: Franciscans

text: The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM Cap.) are the youngest branch of Franciscans, founded in 1525 by Matteo Serafini (Matteo Bassi, Matteo da Bascio), an Observant friar, who felt himself called to an even stricter observance of Franciscan austerity. With the support of the Papal Court, the new branch received early recognition and grew fast, first in Italy and after 1574 all over Europe and throughout the world. The Capuchins eventually became a separate order in 1619. The name Capuchins refers to the particular shape of the long hood or ; originally a popular nickname, it has become a part of the official name of the order. The order now exists in 106 countries all over the world, with around 10,500 brothers living in more than 1700 communities known as fraternities or friaries.


title: Franciscans

text: The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare, are members of a contemplative order of nuns in the Catholic Church. The Poor Clares were the second Franciscan order to be established. Founded by Clare of Assisi and Francis of Assisi on Palm Sunday in the year 1212, they were organized after the Order of Friars Minor (the first order), and before the Third Order of Saint Francis. As of 2011 there were over 20,000 Poor Clare nuns in over 75 countries throughout the world. They follow several different observances and are organized into federations.


title: Franciscans

text: The Poor Clares follow the "Rule of St. Clare" which was approved by Pope Innocent IV the day before Clare's death in 1253. The main branch of the Order (OSC) follows the observance of Pope Urban. Other branches established since that time, who operate under their own unique constitutions, are the Colettine Poor Clares (PCC – founded 1410), the Capuchin Poor Clares (OSC Cap. – founded 1538), and the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (PCPA – founded 1854).


title: Franciscans

text: The Third Order of Saint Francis comprises people who desired to grow in holiness in their daily lives without entering monastic life. After founding the Friars Minor and seeing a need, Francis created a way of life to which married men and women, as well as the single and the secular clergy, could belong and live according to the Gospel.


title: Franciscans

text: The Secular Franciscan Order, prior to 1978 also known as the Third Order Secular of Saint Francis, is an order founded by Francis in 1212 for brothers and sisters who do not live in a religious community. Members of the order continue to live secular lives, however they do gather regularly for fraternal activities. In the United States alone there are 17,000 professed members of the order. Members of the Order live according to a Rule composed by St Francis in 1221. The Rule was slightly modified through the centuries and was replaced at the turn of the 20th century by Pope Leo XIII, himself a member of the Order. A new and current Rule was approved by Pope Paul VI in 1978, and the Third Order was renamed the Secular Franciscan Order. It is an international organization with its own Minister General based in Rome.


title: Franciscans

text: Within a century of the death of Francis, members of the Third Order began to live in common, in an attempt to follow a more ascetical way of life. Angela of Foligno (+1309) was foremost among those who achieved great depths in their lives of prayer and service of the poor, while living in community with other women of the Order.


title: Franciscans

text: Among the men, the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance was formed in 1447 by a papal decree that united several communities of hermits following the Third Order Rule into a single Order with its own Minister General. Today it is an international community of friars who desire to emphasize the works of mercy and on-going conversion. The community is also known as the Franciscan Friars, TOR, and they strive to "rebuild the Church" in areas of high school and college education, parish ministry, church renewal, social justice, campus ministry, hospital chaplaincies, foreign missions, and other ministries in places where the church is needed. The association of Franciscans (Grey Friars) with education becomes a stock fictional reference in (for example) the works of Thackeray ("Grey Friars School" in "Pendennis" and "The Newcomes") or of "Frank Richards" (Greyfriars School of Billy Bunter fame).


title: Franciscans

text: After the formal recognition of the members of religious tertiary communities, the following centuries saw a steady growth of such communities across Europe. Initially, the women's communities took a monastic form of life, either voluntarily or under pressure from ecclesiastical superiors. The great figure of this development was Hyacintha Mariscotti. As Europe entered the upheavals of the modern age, new communities arose which were able to focus more exclusively on social service, especially during the immediate post-Napoleonic period which devastated much of Western Europe. An example of this is Mary Frances Schervier (1819–1876).


title: Franciscans

text: This movement continued in North America as various congregations arose from one coast to another, in answer to the needs of the large emigrant communities that were flooding the cities of the United States and Canada.


title: Franciscans

text: The Third Order Regular of the Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis of Assisi, CFP, are an active community, based in the United States, with houses in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, and Brazil. These Franciscans strive to live an integrated life through prayer, community, and ministry to the poor, neglected and disadvantaged youth, the powerless, people in need, and the elderly. The Brothers of the Poor live by their vows of poverty (living a simple lifestyle), consecrated chastity (loving all, possessing no one, striving sincerely, for singleness of heart, a celibate way of loving and being loved), and obedience (to God, to the community, to the church, and to self). The Brothers of the Poor also serve persons with AIDS and people who ask for help, regardless of their religion or their social/economic background. They are teachers, childcare workers, social workers, counselors, pastoral ministers, retreat ministers, religious educators, and school administrators, along with other tasks.


title: Franciscans

text: The Regular Tertiaries, officially the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, who operate the Franciscan University of Steubenville, follow a rule approved by Pope Leo X. Today this group is present in 17 countries: Italy, Croatia, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, USA, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico, Peru, Sweden, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.


title: Franciscans

text: The Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis, is a private confraternity of the Roman Catholic Church whose members strive to model their lives according to the Rule and Statutes of the Primitive Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis, which was written for lay people in 1221 by Francis of Assisi. Right now there are several hundred members within the United States and a few hundred more throughout the world. The order was originally started in 1996 by members of the Archdiocese of St. Paul in Minnesota.


title: Franciscans

text: One of the results of the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church during the 19th century was the re-establishment of religious orders, including some of Franciscan inspiration. The principal Anglican communities in the Franciscan tradition are the Community of St. Francis (women, founded 1905) (CSF), the Poor Clares of Reparation (PCR), the Society of Saint Francis (men, founded 1934)(SSF), the Community of St. Clare (women, enclosed) (OSC), and the Order of St. Francis (men, founded in 2003). There is also a Third Order known as the Third Order Society of St Francis (TSSF).


title: Franciscans

text: There is also an order of Sisters of St. Clare in the Puget Sound area of Washington state (Diocese of Olympia), the Little Sisters of St. Clare.


title: Franciscans

text: There are further some small Franciscan communities within European Protestantism and the Old Catholic Church. There are some Franciscan orders in Lutheran Churches, including the Order of Lutheran Franciscans, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, and the Evangelische Kanaan Franziskus-Bruderschaft (Kanaan Franciscan Brothers).


title: Franciscans

text: In addition, there are associations of Franciscan inspiration not connected with a mainstream Christian tradition and describing themselves as ecumenical or dispersed. The Companions of Francis Apostolic Religious Institute (CFARI), with its roots in independent Catholicism and Anglicanism, is a dispersed, egalitarian and ecumenical order of Franciscans based in Pasadena, California, with vowed members in California, Arizona and New Mexico. CFARI members live among the populations they serve and are self supporting in their ministry.


title: Franciscans

text: Franciscan theology conforms to broader doctrine with the Catholic Church, but involves several unique emphases. Franciscan theologians view creation, the natural world, as good and joyous, and avoid dwelling on the "stain of original sin." Francis expressed great affection towards animals and inanimate natural objects as fellow inhabitants of God's creation, in his work "Canticle of the Creatures" (, also known as the "Canticle of the Sun"). Special emphasis is put on the Incarnation of Christ viewed as a special act of humility, as Francis was struck by God's great charity in sacrificing his son for our salvation; they also exhibit great devotion to the Eucharist. The Rule of Saint Francis calls for members to practice simple living and detachment from material possessions in emulation of Jesus' life and earthly ministry. The simple lifestyle helps members of the order, in whichever branch, to experience solidarity with the poor and to work for social justice. Franciscan spirituality also strongly emphasizes working to preserve the church, and remain loyal to it.


title: Franciscans

text: Among Catholic religious, Franciscans have proportionally reported higher ratios of stigmata and have claimed proportionally higher ratios of visions of Jesus and Mary. Francis of Assisi himself was one of the first reported cases of stigmata, and perhaps the most famous stigmatic of modern times is Padre Pio, a Capuchin, who also reported visions of Jesus and Mary. Pio's stigmata persisted for over fifty years and he was examined by numerous physicians in the 20th century, who confirmed the existence of the wounds, but none of whom could produce a medical explanation for the fact that his bleeding wounds would never get infected. According to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica", his wounds healed once, but reappeared. According to the "Columbia Encyclopedia" some medical authorities who examined Padre Pio's wounds were inclined to believe that the stigmata were connected with nervous or cataleptic hysteria. According to Answers.com the wounds were examined by Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the City Hospital of Barletta, for about one year; Giorgio Festa, a private practitioner who examined them in 1920 and 1925; Giuseppe Bastianelli, a physician to Pope Benedict XV, who agreed that the wounds existed but made no other comment; and pathologist Amico Bignami who also observed the wounds but made no diagnosis.


title: Franciscans

text: The Franciscans established the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum as an academic society based in Jerusalem and Hong Kong for the study of scripture. The Hong Kong branch founded by Gabriele Allegra produced the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible in Chinese in 1968 after a 40-year effort. The Studium Biblicum Translation is often considered the authoritative Chinese Bible among Catholics.


title: Franciscans

text: The early efforts of another Franciscan, namely Giovanni di Monte Corvino who had attempted a first translation of the Bible in Beijing in the 14th century, provided the initial spark for Gabriele Allegra's 40 year undertaking, when at the age of 21 he happened to attend the 6th centenary celebration for Monte Corvino.


title: Franciscans

text: The Franciscan order boasts a number of distinguished members. From its first century can be cited the three great scholastics Alexander of Hales, Bonaventure, and John Duns Scotus, the "Doctor of Wonders" Roger Bacon, and the well-known mystic authors and popular preachers David of Augsburg and Berthold of Regensburg.


title: Franciscans

text: During the Middle Ages noteworthy members included Nicholas of Lyra, Biblical commentator Bernardino of Siena, philosopher William of Ockham, preachers John of Capistrano, Oliver Maillard, and Michel Menot, and historians Luke Wadding and Antoine Pagi.


title: Franciscans

text: In the field of Christian art during the later Middle Ages, the Franciscan movement exercised considerable influence, especially in Italy. The influence of Franciscan ideals shows in several great painters of the 13th and 14th centuries, especially Cimabue and Giotto, who, though they were not friars, were spiritual sons of Francis in the wider sense; it is also seen in the plastic masterpieces of the latter, as well as the architectural conceptions of both himself and his school. The Italian Gothic style, whose earliest important monument is the great convent church at Assisi (built 1228–53), was cultivated as a rule principally by members of the order or men under their influence.


title: Franciscans

text: The early spiritual poetry of Italy was partially inspired by Francis himself, who was followed by Thomas of Celano, Bonaventure, and Jacopone da Todi. Through a tradition which held him to have been a member of the Franciscan Third Order, even Dante may be included within this artistic tradition (cf. especially "Paradiso", xi. 50).


title: Franciscans

text: Other famous members of the Franciscan family include Anthony of Padua, François Rabelais, Alexander of Hales, Giovanni da Pian del Carpini, Pio of Pietrelcina, Maximilian Kolbe, Pasquale Sarullo, Mamerto Esquiú, Gabriele Allegra, Junipero Serra, Simpliciano of the Nativity, Mychal F. Judge, Angelico Chavez, Anton Docher, Joseph of Cupertino, Benedict Groeschel and Leonard of Port Maurice.


title: Franciscans

text: During the "spiritual conquest" of New Spain, 1523–1572, the arrival of the first group of Franciscans, the Twelve Apostles of Mexico, included Martín de Valencia, but more prominently for his corpus of writings on the earliest years was Toribio de Benavente Motolinia. Other important Franciscans are Alonso de Molina, Andrés de Olmos, and Bernardino de Sahagún, who all created texts in indigenous language of Nahuatl to aid friars in the evangelization of Mexico. Geronimo de Mendieta, Augustin de Vetancourt, and Juan de Torquemada are important contributors to the history of the Franciscans in central Mexico.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The national flag of Malaysia, also known as the Stripes of Glory (), is composed of a field of 14 alternating red and white stripes along the fly and a blue canton bearing a crescent and a 14-point star known as the "Bintang Persekutuan" (Federal Star). The 14 stripes, of equal width, represent the equal status in the federation of the 13 member states and the federal territories, while the 14 points of the star represent the unity among these entities. The crescent represents Islam, the country's state religion; the blue canton symbolises the unity of the Malaysian people; the yellow of the star and crescent is the royal colour of the Malay rulers. It is in the stars and stripes and the Muslim crescent flag families.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The current Malaysian flag is based on the flag of the Federation of Malaya. In 1949, a year after the Federation was created, the Federal Legislative Council called for a contest to design a new national flag. The competition attracted 373 entries, three of which were put forward to the public in a poll held by "The Malay Mail".


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The first flag had a ring of 11 white stars on a blue background, with two red Malay "kris" (daggers) in the middle. The second was the same as the first but with two concentric rings of 5 and 6 stars. The third had 11 blue and white stripes, and a red field in the top-left corner with a white crescent and five-pointed star on it. This last design was chosen as the winner.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: In December 1949, the Federal Legislative Council decided to make changes to the winning design. At the suggestion of statesman Onn Jaafar, the red and blue colours were swapped, the crescent and star were changed from white to yellow, and six more points were added to the star. The final version of the Malayan flag was approved by George VI on 19 May 1950 and was first raised in front of the Sultan of Selangor's residence on 26 May 1950. On 31 August 1957, it was raised upon independence at Merdeka Square in place of the British Union Flag.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The Malayan flag was designed by Mohamed Hamzah, a 29-year-old architect working for the Public Works Department (JKR) in Johor Baharu, Johor. He entered the national flag design competition with two designs that he had completed in two weeks. The first was a green flag with blue "kris" in the middle, surrounded by 15 white stars. The second, which became one of the three finalists, was said to be inspired by the flag of Johor, but with five white stripes added to the blue field.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: Mohamed Hamzah died just short of his 75th birthday on 13 February 1993 in Jalan Stulang Baru, Kampung Melayu Majidee, Johor.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: Following the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, the design of the Malayan flag was modified to reflect and honour the new states in the federation.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: Three additional stripes were added to the existing flag and the star was given 14 points to reflect the federation of the original 11 states in Malaya plus Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore; the design remained the same even after Singapore's expulsion from the federation two years later. When Kuala Lumpur was designated a Federal Territory on 1 February 1974, the additional stripe and the point in the star were appropriated to represent this new addition to the federation. Eventually, with the addition of two other federal territories, Labuan in 1984 and Putrajaya in 2001, the fourteenth stripe and point in the star came to be associated with the federal government in general.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: In 1997, when Malaysians were invited to name the flag, then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad picked the name "Jalur Gemilang" to project the country's onward drive towards continuous growth and success.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: During the National Day celebrations, everyone is encouraged to fly the Jalur Gemilang at their homes, office buildings, shops and corporate premises.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The flag anthem is written as dedication and pride of the Malaysian national flag. It is performed on Hari Merdeka, the nation's independence day on 31 August every year. The original anthem "Benderaku" was written by Malaysian songwriter Tony Fonseka. After the flag was given the name Jalur Gemilang, the flag anthem was updated in 1997 to reflect this change. This was then followed by an introduction of a new flag anthem, with arrangements by Malaysian songwriter Pak Ngah and lyrics by Malaysian songwriter Siso Kopratasa.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: Government vessels use the Jalur Gemilang as the state ensign. The following is a table of the other ensigns used in Malaysia with the national flag inside.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The Federal Star is similar in concept of Australia's Commonwealth Star in that it symbolises the unity of states in the Malaysian federation and its Federal government, featuring 14 points to represent the federation's 13 states and the federal territories. It is also used on the Royal Malaysian Air Force roundel, the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and the former United Malayan Banking Corporation (UMBC) logo.


title: Flag of Malaysia

text: The Patani Malayu National Revolutionary Front, a Southern Thai Malay separatist group involved in the South Thailand insurgency, originally adopted an independence flag that incorporated a crescent and 15-point variation of the Federal Star on its flag to represent the southernmost Thai provinces' closer tie to Malay and Muslim-majority Malaysia over that of Thailand.


title: Udon

text: Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. Other common toppings include prawn tempura, (mixed tempura fritter), (sweet, deep-fried tofu pouches), (sliced fish cake), and spice added to taste.


title: Udon

text: Standard broth differs by region. Dark soy sauce is added in eastern Japan, while light soy sauce is added in the west. Instant noodles are often sold in two (or more) versions accordingly.


title: Udon

text: More unusual variants include stir-fried and curry udon made with Japanese curry. It is often used in or Japanese hot pot.


title: Udon

text: One story says that in AD 1241, Enni, a Rinzai monk, introduced flour milling technology from Song China to Japan. Floured crops were then made into noodles such as udon, soba, and pancakes in Japan which were eaten by locals. Milling techniques were spread around the country.


title: Udon

text: Another story states that during the Nara period, a Japanese envoy to Tang Dynasty China was introduced to 14 different kinds of food. One of them was called , which was listed as in , a dictionary which was published in the Heian Era. The is believed to be an origin for many kinds of Japanese noodles. However, the in was made with wheat and rice flour.


title: Udon

text: Another story for udon claims that the original name of the noodle was , which was made with wheat flour and sweet fillings. Yet another story says that a Buddhist priest called Kūkai introduced udon noodles to Shikoku during the Heian Era. Kūkai, the Buddhist priest, traveled to Tang Dynasty China around the beginning of the 9th century to study. Sanuki Province claimed to have been the first to adopt udon noodles from Kūkai. Hakata province claimed to have produced udon noodles based on Enni's recipe.


title: Udon

text: Udon noodles are boiled in a pot of hot water. Depending on the type of udon, the way it is served is different as well. Udon noodles are usually served chilled in the summer and hot in the winter. In the Edo period, the thicker wheat noodle was generally called udon, and served with a hot broth called . The chilled variety was called .


title: Udon

text: Cold udon, or udon salad, is usually mixed with egg omelette slices, shredded chicken and fresh vegetables, such as cucumber and radish. Toppings of udon soup are chosen to reflect the seasons. Most toppings are added without much cooking, although deep-fried tempura is sometimes added. Many of these dishes may also be prepared with soba.


title: Udon

text: In Korea, authentic Japanese udon dishes are served in numerous Japanese restaurants, while the Korean-style udon noodle soups are served in "bunsikjip" (snack bars) and "pojangmacha" (street stalls). Both types are called "udong" (), which is the transliteration of the Japanese word "udon" (). In Korea, the word "udong" refers to noodle dishes (typically noodle soup), while the noodles themselves are called "udong-myeon" (; "udong noodles") and considered a type of "garak-guksu" (; "thick noodles"). Common ingredients for "udong" noodle soup include crowndaisy greens and "eomuk" (fish cakes), neither of which are very common in Japanese udon dishes.


title: Udon

text: There is a dish called "udong" in Palau, originated from the former Japanese administration. The broth is soy sauce–based like Japanese udon. However, as there were many immigrants from Okinawa, it uses less broth like Okinawa soba. Most notably, the noodle is that of spaghetti, as it is easier to acquire there.


title: Udon

text: Languages of the neighboring Federated States of Micronesia also have similar loanwords from Japanese udon; Chuukese: , Pohnpeian: , Kosraean: , and .


title: Udon

text: or of Davao Region and Visayas is inspired by the Japanese udon, although they share no resemblance in modern times. "Odong" are wheat based yellow thick Chinese noodles ("pancit"), similar to Okinawa soba. A typical "odong" bowl is prepared with canned sardine and tomato sauce. Other dishes such as layering with greens are also popular. During the early 1900s, there was a large community of Japanese laborers in Davao, half of them Okinawans. In this period, the Japanese manufactured "odong".


title: Udon

text: Kagawa prefecture is well known throughout Japan for its sanuki udon (讃岐うどん). It is promoted to other regions of Japan through themed mascots, souvenirs and movies.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Imagine is the second studio album by English musician John Lennon, released on 9 September 1971 by Apple Records. Co-produced by Lennon, his wife Yoko Ono and Phil Spector, the album's lush sound contrasts the basic, small-group arrangements of his first album, "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" (1970), while the opening title track is widely considered to be his signature song.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Lennon recorded the album from early to mid-1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, Abbey Road Studios and the Record Plant in New York City, with supporting musicians that included his ex-Beatles bandmate George Harrison, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummers Alan White and Jim Keltner. Its lyrics reflect peace, love, politics, Lennon's experience with primal scream therapy, and, following a period of high personal tensions, an attack on his former writing partner Paul McCartney in "How Do You Sleep?" Extensive footage from the sessions was recorded for a scrapped documentary; parts were released on the documentary film "" (1988). The documentary "", based on that footage, was released in 2018.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: "Imagine" was a critical and commercial success, peaking at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and US "Billboard" 200. Along with "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band", it is considered one of Lennon's finest solo albums. In 2012, the album was voted 80th on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album has been reissued multiple times, including in 2018 as "The Ultimate Collection", a six-disc box set containing previously unreleased demos, rare studio outtakes, "evolution documentaries" for each track, and isolated track elements along with surround mixes.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: While in New York, former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison had a short jam session, during which Lennon asked Harrison to perform on Lennon's next album. Recording was scheduled to begin in a week's time at Lennon's Ascot Sound Studios, at his Tittenhurst Park residence. Harrison agreed, and invited his friend, bassist Klaus Voormann.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Recording for the album started on 24 May at Ascot Sound Studios. The first songs recorded were "It's So Hard" and "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" in February 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, during sessions for Lennon's single "Power to the People". A cover of the Olympics' 1958 song "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)", later released on "John Lennon Anthology", was recorded on 16 February. Lennon chose to remake "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" on 24 May 1971, the opening day of the main album sessions.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Lennon enlisted help from Nicky Hopkins, members of the Apple band Badfinger, Alan White and Jim Keltner. Harrison contributed lead guitar parts on various songs. Lennon showed the musicians a song that he had recently written, "Imagine". Also recorded was a demo of the future Lennon track "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)", the unreleased song "San Francisco Bay Blues", and a demo of "I'm the Greatest".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono flew to New York on 3 July to continue sessions for the album the next day, at the Record Plant. Many instrumental parts were re-recorded there, and strings and saxophone by King Curtis were also added. The tracks that were finished at Record Plant were "It's So Hard", "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" and "How Do You Sleep?" As on Lennon's last album, Phil Spector joined him and Ono as co-producer on "Imagine". The string arrangements for the album were written by Torrie Zito.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Extensive footage of the sessions, showing the evolution of some of the songs, was originally filmed and titled "Working Class Hero" before being shelved. Footage of "Gimme Some Truth" aired as part of the BBC TV show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" on 12 December 1972. Portions were released as part of the documentary film "".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: "Imagine" was written and recorded during a period of particularly bad feeling between Lennon and former bandmate Paul McCartney, following the Beatles' break-up the year before and McCartney winning his case in the High Court to have their legal partnership dissolved. Harrison guested on half of "Imagine"'s ten tracks, including "How Do You Sleep?" – a song written in retaliation against McCartney's alleged personal attacks on Lennon and Ono, on his recent "Ram" album. Lennon said in 1980: "I used my resentment against Paul ... to create a song ... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta ... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep?'. I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time ..."


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: The track "Imagine" became Lennon's signature song and was written as a plea for world peace. Years later he acknowledged Ono's role in the song's creation and stated his regret that he had not credited her as a co-writer. "Jealous Guy" has also had enduring popularity; it was originally composed as "Child of Nature" during the songwriting sessions in India in 1968 that led to the Beatles' double album "The Beatles". "Oh My Love" and the song "How?" were influenced by his experience with primal therapy.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Lennon also indulged his love of rock and roll with "Crippled Inside" and "It's So Hard". "Gimme Some Truth", first heard during the "Let It Be" sessions in early 1969, appears on the album with a new bridge. The politically themed "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" closes the first half of "Imagine" in a cacophonous manner. The last song on the album was "Oh Yoko!"; EMI pushed for this track to be issued as a single, but Lennon thought it was too "pop".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: The photographs on the front and back covers were taken by Ono, using a Polaroid camera. It was previously believed that the front cover photo was taken by Andy Warhol. The back cover includes a quote ("Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.") from Ono's book "Grapefruit", whose UK re-release the Lennons were promoting at the time.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Apple Records issued "Imagine" on 9 September 1971 in the United States and a month later, on 8 October, in the UK. Early editions of the LP record included a postcard featuring a photo of Lennon holding a pig, in mockery of McCartney's similar pose with a sheep on the cover of "Ram".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Even though Spector championed a "Back to Mono" aesthetic starting in the 1980s, monophonic sound was out of style in the 1970s. Instead, the album was released in stereo and in the then new four channel quadraphonic technology. In the US, the four channel mix was only available on a quad 8-track tape with some copies marketed as "Quadrasonic". In the UK and Australia, the quad mix was issued on LP record using Sony's SQ matrix system along with a quad 8-track version in the UK. In Japan, the quad mix was also issued on LP using the Sansui QS matrix system also known as Regular Matrix; in addition, they released a discrete four channel reel-to-reel tape of the album.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: "Imagine", backed with "It's So Hard", was released as a single in the US on 11 October 1971. The album went to number one worldwide and became an enduring seller, with the title track reaching number three in the US. "Imagine" was not issued as a single in the UK until four years later, to coincide with the release of Lennon's "Shaved Fish" singles collection.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: In 1972, Lennon and Ono released a 70-minute film to accompany the "Imagine" album which featured footage of them at their Berkshire property at Tittenhurst Park and in New York City. It included many of the tracks from the album and some additional material from Ono's 1971 album "Fly". Several celebrities appeared in the film, including Andy Warhol, Fred Astaire, Jack Palance, Dick Cavett and George Harrison. Derided by critics as "the most expensive home movie of all time", it premiered to an American audience, on TV on 23 December 1972.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Reviewing the album for "Rolling Stone" in 1971, Ben Gerson said it "contains a substantial portion of good music" but considered Lennon's previous LP to be superior. He also warned of the possibility that Lennon's "posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". Alan Smith of the "NME" lauded the album as "superb", "beautiful" and "one step away from the chill of his recent total self-revelation, and yet a giant leap towards commerciality without compromise". He said it was Lennon "showing McCartney how to tighten up the flab in his music, and its worth", and concluded: "Lennon rides high!" In "Melody Maker", Roy Hollingworth named "Imagine" the best album of the year and Lennon's finest work up to that point.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: "Imagine" was voted the fifth best record of 1971 in "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide. It was voted "Album of the Year" in polls conducted by Radio Luxembourg and "Record World".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Robert Christgau, who ranked it fifth in his Pazz & Jop ballot, appraised the album as "primal goes pop – personal and useful" in the 1981 book "".


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Reviewing for "Mojo" in 2000, Jon Savage said the preponderance of mid-tempo tracks partly explained the album's popularity among Britrock bands, yet this quality made some of the songs drag. He admired Harrison's slide guitar playing in the "sinuous and spacy" soundscape, but found that the album "contains both the best and the worst of [Lennon] – the idealist and the ranter, the righteous and the vindictive anger – and as such remains more patchy than its iconic status might allow". Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine finds the lyrics to be "only marginally less confessional" than on Lennon's previous album, adding: "If "Imagine" doesn't have the thematic sweep of "Plastic Ono Band", it is nevertheless a remarkable collection of songs that Lennon would never be able to better again." Less impressed, Eoghan Lyng of "Far Out Magazine" includes it in his list titled "The 10 most underwhelming sophomore albums" and suggests buying Ono's "Fly" instead. Lyng concludes: "It's easy to 'imagine' a future where the world in question could appreciate one another, but this album (the Imagine album) simply wasn't the one to unite the world together."


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: In 2012, "Imagine" ranked at number 80 on "Rolling Stone"s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It dropped to number 223 in the 2020 edition of the list.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: Lennon later expressed his displeasure with the more commercial sound of the album, saying that the title track was "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted". In a November 1971 interview for "Melody Maker", McCartney spoke positively of "Imagine", considering it to be less political than Lennon's previous solo albums. In a subsequent edition of the same publication, Lennon rebuked his former bandmate, saying, "So you think 'Imagine' ain't political? It's 'Working Class Hero' with sugar on it for conservatives like yourself!!" and likened McCartney's politics to those of the staunchly traditional Mary Whitehouse.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: After Lennon's death, "Imagine", along with seven other Lennon albums, was reissued by EMI as part of a box set, which was released in the UK on 15 June 1981. Like its title track, Lennon's "Imagine" became a posthumous hit worldwide after his death in December 1980. The album re-entered the charts during 1981, peaking at number three in Norway, five in the United Kingdom, 34 in Sweden, and 63 in the United States. In 2000, Yoko Ono supervised the remixing of "Imagine" for its remastered reissue. In February 2000, the remastered and remixed edition reached number 11 on the Japanese chart. It was reissued in 2003 by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab on gold CD and on 180 gram half-speed mastered LP. The Record Plant piano on which Lennon re-recorded some of the album's keyboard parts was sold at auction in 2007.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: In October 2010, another remastered version of the album was released, and the album re-entered the "Billboard" 200 at number 88. On 23 November 2010, "Imagine" became available on the "Rock Band 3" video game, exploiting the music game's use of a keyboard. On Record Store Day 2011, in honour of the album's 40th anniversary, it was re-released on 180-gram LP with an additional 12" white LP record entitled "Imagine Sessions", featuring tracks taken from the "John Lennon Anthology". In January 2014, the album was released by Universal Music on the High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray format, featuring PCM, DTS HD and Dolby Tru HD audio tracks, based on the 2010 remaster. In 2018, the album was remixed yet again and titled "Imagine: The Ultimate Collection". A six-disc box set, spread over four CDs and two Blu-ray discs, features previously unheard demos, rare studio outtakes, and isolated track elements along with a 5.1 surround mix and the original four channel quadraphonic mix.


title: Imagine (John Lennon album)

text: All songs written by John Lennon, except "Imagine" and "Oh My Love", both co-written with Yoko Ono, and "Baby Please Don't Go" written by Walter Ward.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Brenda Buell Vaccaro (born November 18, 1939) is an American stage, television, and film actress. In a career spanning over half a century, she received one Academy Award nomination, three Golden Globe Award nominations (winning one), four Primetime Emmy Award nominations (winning one), and three Tony Award nominations.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents Christine M. and Mario A. Vaccaro, a restaurateur. She was raised in Dallas, Texas, where her parents, in 1943, founded Mario's Restaurant, and where she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: At 17, she returned to New York City to study acting under the guidance of Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, and made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1961 comedy "Everybody Loves Opal", for which she won a Theatre World Award.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Vaccaro's Broadway credits include "The Affair" (1962), "Cactus Flower" (1965), the musical "How Now, Dow Jones" (1967), "The Goodbye People" (1968), the female version of "The Odd Couple" (1985), and "Jake's Women" (1992). The husky-voiced actress is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for Best Featured Actress in a Play ("Cactus Flower"), Best Actress in a Musical ("Dow Jones"), and Best Actress in a Play ("The Goodbye People"). She was featured on the May 29, 1970 cover of Life magazine.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Vaccaro appeared with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in the 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy", for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Ethel Rosenberg in Stanley Kramer's "" in 1974, and for her performance in the 1975 film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's "Once Is Not Enough", she gained an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Additional screen credits include "Airport '77"; "Capricorn One"; "The Pride of Jesse Hallam", "Supergirl"; "The Mirror Has Two Faces"; "Heart of Midnight"; "Zorro, The Gay Blade"; and "House by the Lake", also known as "Death Weekend".


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Her television credits include the title role in the 1976 series "Sara", a number of television movies, and a regular role in the short-lived 1984 series "Paper Dolls", in addition to guest appearances on "Banacek", "The Fugitive", "The Defenders", "Coronet Blue", "The Name of the Game", "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "McCloud", "The Streets of San Francisco", "The Love Boat", "St. Elsewhere", "Murder, She Wrote", "The Golden Girls", "Columbo", "Touched by an Angel", "Friends" (as the mother of Matt LeBlanc's "Joey"), "The King of Queens", and "Nip/Tuck". She was nominated for an Emmy Award three times and won for Best Supporting Actress in Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music for "The Shape of Things" in 1974.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: Vaccaro was lampooned by Andrea Martin on "SCTV" for a groundbreaking 1980 commercial appearance for feminine hygiene products.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: She supplied the voice for "Johnny Bravo"'s mother Bunny Bravo in the animated cartoon series. She was the first voice of Jay's (Jon Lovitz)'s ex-wife Ardeth on "The Critic". She made an appearance on "The Smurfs" as Scruple, an apprentice of Gargamel, opposite Paul Winchell.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: After ill health forced Valerie Harper to bow out of the production of "Nice Work If You Can Get It" at the Ogunquit Playhouse (Maine), Vaccaro took over the role of Millicent Winter for the remaining performances of the limited run from August 4–15, 2015.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: She played Al Pacino's sister in "You Don't Know Jack" (2010). She currently plays Gloria Marquette in the "Sex and the City" reboot, "And Just Like That..."


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: She entered a nearly seven-year relationship with "Summertree" co-star Michael Douglas in 1971. She guest-starred in two episodes of "The Streets of San Francisco", the TV crime drama in which Douglas co-starred from 1972 to 1977.


title: Brenda Vaccaro

text: She has been friends with Barbra Streisand since they both appeared on Broadway in the early 1960s. Streisand directed her in "The Mirror Has Two Faces".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin, November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and film appearances, as well as voiceovers. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the television version of "The Third Man" and the fussy villain Dr. Zachary Smith of the 1960s science-fiction series "Lost in Space". Near the end of his career, he provided voices for the animated features "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story 2".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: The second of three children, Harris was born on November 6, 1914, in the Bronx, New York City, to Sam and Jennie Charasuchin, poor Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father worked in Manhattan's Garment District. The family lived in a six-story tenement, and his mother often took in boarders to make ends meet, giving them Jonathan's room and bed and relegating him to sleep on the dining room chairs. By age 12 he was working in a pharmacy as a stockboy.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: While there was little money for luxuries, Jonathan's father made an effort to expand his son's cultural horizons with occasional trips to see Yiddish Theatre and by listening to opera on the dining room radio. Young Jonathan was enthralled. Although he could seldom afford tickets to them, Broadway plays were also an early interest. He detested his Bronx accent and by high school cultivated an English one in its place, watching British B-movies at the arts theatre. He also developed interests in archaeology, Latin, romantic poetry and Shakespeare.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: He legally changed his name from "Charasuchin" to "Harris" before entering college after a year-long standoff with his father, who disagreed with the change. Harris earned a degree in pharmacology from Fordham University, from which he graduated in 1936. For a time he worked in various drugstores before marrying in 1938.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Acting was Harris's first love. At age 24, he prepared a fake résumé and tried out for a repertory company at the Millpond Playhouse on Long Island, New York and appeared in several of this troupe's plays, prior to landing a spot in the company. In 1942, Harris won the leading role of a Polish officer in the Broadway play "The Heart of a City". Adopting a Polish accent, he advised the producers that his parents were originally from Poland. In 1946, he starred in "A Flag Is Born", opposite Quentin Reynolds and Marlon Brando.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris was a popular character actor for 30 years on television, making his first guest appearance on the episode "His Name Is Jason" on "The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre" in 1949. The role led to other roles in such series as: "The Web", "Lights Out", "Goodyear Television Playhouse", two episodes of "Hallmark Hall of Fame", "Armstrong Circle Theatre", three episodes of "Studio One", "Telephone Time", "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars", "Climax!", "Outlaws", "The Twilight Zone", "Bonanza", "The Rogues", "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet", and "Zorro", among many others.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris returned to television, where he landed a co-starring role opposite Michael Rennie in "The Third Man", from 1959 to 1965. He played Bradford Webster, an eccentric, cowardly assistant. Half the episodes were shot in London, England; the rest were filmed in Hollywood. Harris's teenaged son would visit the set at this time, and Harris did whatever he could to bridge the gap between father and son and tried to make up for lost time.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris appeared in two 1961 episodes of "The Twilight Zone", including a heroic role in "The Silence", in which he ended up defending a young man challenged to be silent for a whole year at a prestigious gentleman's club. Harris also portrayed Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode of "Bonanza".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: From 1963 to 1965, Harris co-starred in the sitcom "The Bill Dana Show". He played Mr. Phillips, the pompous manager of a posh hotel who is constantly at odds with his bumbling Bolivian bellhop, the Bill Dana character José Jiménez. (A similar formula was later used in John Cleese's British hotel comedy "Fawlty Towers".) Don Adams rounded out the cast as an inept house detective, a character whose distinctive mannerisms and catchphrases would soon carry over into his Maxwell Smart role on "Get Smart". In similar fashion, several of Harris's catch phrases from the series, such as "Oh, the pain!", along with the character's mannerisms and delivery, became part of the Dr. Zachary Smith character on "Lost in Space".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In an apparent homage to his earlier role, Harris played a similarly pompous diplomat on "Get Smart" in 1970. His female assistant was named Zachary. Harris also guest-starred on "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris was cast over two other actors for the role of Dr. Zachary Smith, the evil and conniving enemy agent on "Lost in Space". The character did not appear in the original 1965 pilot episode for CBS, nor did The Robot. The series was already in production when Harris joined the cast, and starring/co-starring billing had already been contractually assigned. Harris successfully negotiated to receive "Special Guest Star" billing on every episode.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Bill Mumy said about Harris' role in his first episode, "It was actually implied that this villainous character that sabotaged the mission and ended up with us was going to be killed off after a while." Mumy added, "Jonathan played him as written, which was this really dark, straight-ahead villain."


title: Jonathan Harris

text: The series was successful upon its debut, and midway through the first season, Harris began to rewrite his own dialogue to add more comedy, because he felt that his strength was in portraying a comic villain. Due to Harris's popularity on the show, Irwin Allen approved his changes and gave him as a writer. Harris subsequently stole the show, mainly via a seemingly never-ending series of alliterative insults directed toward The Robot, which soon worked their way into popular culture. Dr. Smith's best-known tropes included spitefully calling The Robot epithets such as "bubble-headed booby" and "clamoring clod". According to Bill Mumy, Harris moved quickly to develop the character: "And we'd start working on a scene together, and he'd have a line, and then in the script I'd have my reply, and he'd say, 'No, no, no, dear boy. No, no, no. Before you say that, The Robot will say this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, and then, you'll deliver your line.'" Mumy also said of Harris' portrayal, "He truly, truly singlehandedly created the character of Dr. Zachary Smith that we know — this man we love to hate, coward who would cower behind the little boy, 'Oh, the pain! Save me, William!' That's all him!"


title: Jonathan Harris

text: When the series was renewed for its third and final season, it remained focused on Harris' character, Dr. Smith. While the series was still solidly placed in the middle of the ratings pack, the writers appeared to run out of fresh ideas, and the show was unexpectedly cancelled in 1968 after 83 episodes, despite protests from its fans.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris was succeeded in the role of Dr. Smith by Gary Oldman in the 1998 film version, who played the role as a more genuinely menacing and less likeable character than Harris's on television. For the 2018 reboot of "Lost in Space" as a Netflix original series, Parker Posey was cast as Dr. Zachary Smith, a female psychopath using a stolen identity to assume the role of the ship's psychologist.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In the mid-1970s, Harris starred in live-action roles in two Saturday morning children's series, "Space Academy" and "Uncle Croc's Block", and was a well-known TV spokesman for the International House of Pancakes. He made several cameo and guest appearances during this period, including episodes of "Bewitched" and "Sanford and Son".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In a 1971 episode of "Night Gallery", titled "Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay", Harris played Professor Nicholas Porteus, an expert on witchcraft.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: His last series guest-starring role was on an episode of "Fantasy Island". He also starred as the character Fagan in the first episode of the science fiction series "Ark II".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris taught drama, and was Chuck Norris's vocal coach for many years. Norris credited Harris for teaching him "how to speak" by sticking his fingers in Norris's mouth, adding that Harris was the only person in the world he would allow to do that.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Although he was considered something of a cult icon for the role of Dr. Smith, Harris became typecast as a fey and sometimes campy villain. For example, Irwin Allen cast Harris as a villainous "Pied Piper" in an episode of "Land of the Giants". Approached by Allen a second time, to star in a children's series, "Jumbalina and the Teeners", Harris turned it down.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In 1970, Harris played the role of another not-so-likeable villain, the Bulmanian Ambassador in the "Get Smart" episode "How Green Was My Valet". Harris was also a co-star, alongside Charles Nelson Reilly, in the series "Uncle Croc's Block", in which Harris and Reilly portrayed malcontents producing a children's television show. Harris played the director and Reilly the titular host, Uncle Croc. In the cartoon "", he played lackey and sycophant to the main villain.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris also provided the voice of the Cylon character Lucifer, an antagonist on the original 1978 ABC version of "Battlestar Galactica".


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris spent much of his later career working as a voice actor, and during it he was heard on television commercials as well as on cartoons such as "Channel Umptee-3", "The Banana Splits", "My Favorite Martian", "Rainbow Brite", "Darkwing Duck", "Happily Ever After", "Problem Child", "Spider-Man", "A Bug's Life", "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" and "Toy Story 2". He also did voiceover work in an episode of the animated "Superman" series.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In multiple episodes of the 1995–1997 cartoon series "Freakazoid!", Harris reprised the cowardly Smith character and dialogue under the name "Professor Jones," uttering Smith's catchphrase "Oh, the pain!" Emphasizing the target of the parody, numerous characters would ask him, "Weren't you on a TV show with a robot?"


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In 2001, a year prior to his death, he recorded voice work for the animated theatrical short "The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas". The film, Harris's last work, was released posthumously in 2009.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In 1990, Harris reunited with the cast of "Lost in Space" in a filmed celebration of the 25th anniversary of the series' debut, at an event attended by more than 30,000 fans. Harris made a number of other convention appearances with other cast members of "Lost in Space", including a 1996 appearance at Disney World.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: On June 14, 1995, Harris and other cast members appeared in "The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen", a television tribute to Irwin Allen, the creator of "Lost in Space", who had died in 1991.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris refused to make a cameo appearance in the 1998 motion picture version of "Lost in Space", unlike many of his co-stars in the original series. He announced, "I've never played a bit part in my life and I'm not going to start now!" However, he did make promotional appearances for the film:


title: Jonathan Harris

text: In late 2002, Harris and the rest of the surviving cast of the television series were preparing to film an NBC two-hour movie titled "Lost in Space: The Journey Home"; however, the project was unable to proceed after Harris was found dead.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris was married to his high school sweetheart, Gertrude Bregman, from 1938 until his death. She died of natural causes, at age 93, on August 28, 2007. They had one child, Richard, born 1942.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Throughout his life, Harris had a number of hobbies — gourmet cooking, watching movies, reading, traveling, painting, magic, playing piano (he played a piano teacher in a 1968 episode of "Bewitched"), listening to opera, spending time with children, gardening and knitting. He also did some dancing in his spare time.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Two months before the reunion TV movie "Lost in Space: The Journey Home" was set to film, Harris was taken to the hospital with what he thought was a back problem. But on November 3, 2002, he was found dead from blood clot to the heart, just three days before his 88th birthday.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: Harris was interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Westwood Village, in Los Angeles. Eulogists at his funeral included long time friends: director Arthur Hiller; former 20th Century Fox television executive and producer Kevin Burns; and fellow "Lost in Space" castmate Bill Mumy.


title: Jonathan Harris

text: As a tribute to Harris, writer/director John Wardlaw wrote an additional scene for the film "The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas", which included Harris's final performance before his death. Wardlaw asked "Lost in Space" co-stars Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright, and Marta Kristen to contribute their voices to the film. The three actors reunited in the recording studio on June 14, 2006. "This was the first time they had all been together in something unrelated to "Lost in Space" and it was a blast. They listened to what Harris had recorded and there were laughs and some tears," Wardlaw stated.


title: Ashura

text: Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the death of Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad), who was beheaded during the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. Among Sunni Muslims, Ashura is observed through celebratory fasting as it marks the day of salvation for Moses and the Israelites, who successfully escaped from Biblical Egypt (where they were enslaved and persecuted) after Moses called upon God's power to part the Red Sea. While Husayn's death is also regarded as a great tragedy by Sunnis, open displays of mourning are either discouraged or outright prohibited, depending on the specific act.


title: Ashura

text: In Shia communities, Ashura observances are typically carried out in group processions and are accompanied by a variety of rituals ranging from weeping and shrine pilgrimages to the more controversial acts of self-flagellation and chest-beating. In Sunni communities, there are three rounds of fasting, based on Muhammad's hadith: on the day before Ashura, on the day of Ashura, and on the day after Ashura; while fasting for Ashura is not obligatory, it is strongly encouraged. In folk traditions across countries such as Morocco and Algeria, the day of Ashura is variously celebrated with special foods, bonfires, or carnivals, though these practices are not supported by religious authorities. Due to the drastically differing methods of observance between Sunnis and Shias, the day of Ashura has come to acquire a political dimension in some Islamic countries, and particularly in Iran, where Shia Islam is the official state religion. Additionally, it has also served as a trigger for controversy as well as violent incidents between the two communities in countries such as Iraq and Pakistan.


title: Ashura

text: The root of the word "Ashura" means "tenth" in Semitic languages; hence the name, literally translated, means "the tenth day". According to the Islamicist A.J. Wensinck, the name is derived from the Hebrew ʿāsōr, with the Aramaic determinative ending.


title: Ashura

text: Fasting on Ashura, the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram was a practice established by Muhammad in the early days of Islam that commemorates the parting of the Red Sea by Moses. Its beginning is recounted in a sahih hadith recorded through Ibn Abbas by al-Bukhari:


title: Ashura

text: When the Prophet (ﷺ) came to Medina, he found (the Jews) fasting on the day of 'Ashura' (i.e. 10th of Muharram). They used to say: "This is a great day on which Allah saved Moses and drowned the folk of Pharaoh. Moses observed the fast on this day, as a sign of gratitude to Allah." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "I am closer to Moses than they." So, he observed the fast (on that day) and ordered the Muslims to fast on it.


title: Ashura

text: This has been analysed as reflecting an encounter between Muhammad and some Jews fasting for Yom Kippur, on the tenth day of Tishri, in commemoration of Moses, upon which he began to fast on that day and instruct fellow Muslims to fast. The practice would thus have been established at a time when the Islamic and Jewish calendars were synced. However, Muhammad later received a revelation to adjust the Islamic calendar, in the verse of Nasi', and with this Ramadan, the ninth month, became the month of fasting, and the obligation to fast on Ashura was dropped, as Ashura became distinct from its Jewish predecessor of Yōm Kippur. According to a sahih hadith narrated through Aisha:


title: Ashura

text: During the Pre-lslamic Period of ignorance the Quraish used to observe fasting on the day of 'Ashura', and the Prophet (ﷺ) himself used to observe fasting on it too. But when he came to Medina, he fasted on that day and ordered the Muslims to fast on it. When (the order of compulsory fasting in) Ramadan was revealed, fasting in Ramadan became an obligation, and fasting on 'Ashura' was given up, and who ever wished to fast (on it) did so, and whoever did not wish to fast on it, did not fast.


title: Ashura

text: It is still widely considered desirable (mustahab) to fast on Ashura (10th day), and also on Tasua (9th day). With hadith in Jami At-Tirmidhi signifying that God forgives the sins of the year prior for people fasting Ashura.


title: Ashura

text: The Battle of Karbala took place during the period of decay resulting from the succession of Yazid I. Immediately after his succession, Yazid instructed the governor of Medina to compel Ḥusayn and a few other prominent figures to pledge their allegiance (Bay'ah). However, Ḥusayn refused to do this, believing that Yazid was going against the teachings of Islam and changing the sunnah of Muhammad. So, accompanied by his household, his sons, brothers, and the sons of Hasan, he left Medina to seek asylum in Mecca.


title: Ashura

text: In Mecca, Ḥusayn learned that Yazid had sent assassins to kill him during the Hajj. To preserve the sanctity of the city and of the Kaaba, Husayn abandoned his Hajj and encouraged his companions to follow him to Kufa without realising that the situation there had taken an adverse turn.


title: Ashura

text: On the way there, Ḥusayn found that his messenger, Muslim ibn Aqeel, had been killed in Kufa and encountered the vanguard of the army of Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. Ḥe addressed the Kufan army, reminding them that they had invited him to come there because they were without an Imam, and told them that he intended to proceed to Kufa with their support; however, if they were now opposed to his coming, he would return to Mecca. When the army urged him to take another route, he turned to the left and reached Karbala, where the army forced him to stop at a location with little water.


title: Ashura

text: Governor Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad instructed Umar ibn Sa'ad, the head of the Kufan army, to again offer Ḥusayn and his supporters the opportunity to swear allegiance to Yazid. He also ordered Umar ibn Sa'ad to cut Ḥusayn and his followers off from access to the water of the Euphrates. The next morning, Umar ibn Sa'ad arranged the Kufan army in battle formation.


title: Ashura

text: The Battle of Karbala lasted from sunrise to sunset on 10 October 680 (Muharram10, 61AH). Husayn's small group of companions and family members (around 72 men plus women and children) fought against Umar ibn Sa'ad's army and were killed near the Euphrates, from which they were not allowed to drink. The renowned historian Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī states:


title: Ashura

text: Once the Umayyad troops had murdered Ḥusayn and his male followers, they looted the tents, stripped the women of their jewellery, and took the skin upon which Zain al-Abidin was prostrate. Ḥusayn's sister Zaynab was taken along with the enslaved women to the king in Damascus where she was imprisoned before being allowed to return to Medina after a year.


title: Ashura

text: The first assembly ("majlis") of the Commemoration of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī is said to have been held by Zaynab in prison. In Damascus she is also reported to have delivered a poignant oration. The prison sentence ended when Husayn's four-year-old daughter, Ruqayyah bint Husayn, who would often cry to be allowed to see her father, died in captivity, probably after seeing his mutilated head. Her death caused an uproar in the city, and, fearing an uprising, Yazid freed the captives.


title: Ashura

text: Husayn's grave became a pilgrimage site for Shia Muslims within a few years of his death. A tradition of pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Husayn and the other Karbala martyrs, known as "Ziarat ashura," quickly developed. The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs tried to prevent construction of the shrines and discouraged pilgrimage. The tomb and its annexes were destroyed by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mutawakkil in 850–851 and Shia pilgrimage was prohibited, but shrines in Karbala and Najaf were built by the Buwayhid emir 'Adud al-Daula in 979–80.


title: Ashura

text: Public rites of remembrance for Husayn's martyrdom developed from the early pilgrimages. Under the Buyid dynasty, Mu'izz ad-Dawla officiated at a public commemoration of Ashura in Baghdad. These commemorations were also encouraged in Egypt by the Fatimid caliph al-'Aziz. With the recognition of the Twelvers as the official religion by the Safavids, the Mourning of Muharram extended throughout the first ten days of Muharram.


title: Ashura

text: Ashura was remembered by Jafaris, Qizilbash Alevi-Turks, and Bektashis during the period of the Ottoman Empire. It is of particular significance to Twelver Shias and Alawites, who consider Husayn (the grandson of Muhammad) Ahl al-Bayt, the third Imam to be the rightful successor of Muhammad.


title: Ashura

text: According to Kamran Scot Aghaie, "The symbols and rituals of Ashura have evolved over time and have meant different things to different people. However, at the core of the symbolism of Ashura is the moral dichotomy between worldly injustice and corruption on the one hand and God-centered justice, piety, sacrifice and perseverance on the other. Also, Shiite Muslims consider the remembrance of the tragic events of Ashura to be an important way of worshipping God in a spiritual or mystical way."


title: Ashura

text: Shia Muslims make pilgrimages on Ashura, as they do forty days later on ʾArbaʿīn, to the Mashhad al-Husayn, the shrine in Karbala, Iraq, that is traditionally held to be Husayn's tomb. This is a day of remembrance, and mourning attire is worn. This is a time for sorrow and for showing respect for the person's passing, and it is also a time for self-reflection when a believer commits themself completely to the mourning of Husayn. Shia Muslims refrain from listening to or playing music since Arabic culture generally considers playing music during death rituals to be impolite. Nor do they plan weddings or parties on this date. Instead they mourn by crying and listening to recollections of the tragedy and sermons on how Husayn and his family were martyred. This is intended to connect them with Husayn's suffering and martyrdom, and the sacrifices he made to keep Islam alive. Husayn's martyrdom is widely interpreted by Shia Muslims as a symbol of the struggle against injustice, tyranny, and oppression. Shia Muslims believe the Battle of Karbala was between the forces of good and evil, with Husayn representing good and Yazid representing evil.


title: Ashura

text: Shia imams insist that Ashura should not be celebrated as a day of joy and festivity. According to the Eighth Shia Imam Ali al-Rida, it must be observed as a day of rest, sorrow, and total disregard of worldly matters.


title: Ashura

text: Some of the events associated with Ashura are held in special congregation halls known as "Imambargah" and Hussainia.


title: Ashura

text: The World Sunni Movement celebrates this day as the National Martyrs' Day of the Muslim nation under the direction of Syed Imam Hayat.


title: Ashura

text: The words "Azadari" (Persian: عزاداری), which means mourning and lamentation, and Majalis-e Aza are used exclusively in connection with the remembrance ceremonies for the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. Majalis-e Aza, also known as Aza-e Husayn, includes mourning congregations, lamentations, matam and all acts which express the grief and, above all, repulsion against what Yazid stood for.


title: Ashura

text: These customs show solidarity with Husayn and his family. Through them, people mourn Husayn's death and express regret for the fact that they were not present at the battle to save Husayn and his family.