The Dominicans.--The Order of Dominicans was organized by Saint Dominic, an Italian, about 1215. The primary object of its members was to defend the doctrines of the Church and, by teaching and preaching, destroy the doubts and protests which in the thirteenth century were beginning to disturb the claims of the Catholic Church and the Papacy. The Dominican friars did not live in communities, but traveled about, humbly clad, preaching in the villages and towns, and seeking to expose and punish the heretic. The mediæval universities, through their study of philosophy and the Roman law, were producing a class of men disposed to hold opinions contrary to the teachings of the Church. The Dominicans realized the importance of these great centers of instruction and entered them as teachers and masters, and by the beginning of the fifteenth century had made them strongholds of conservatism and orthodoxy. The Franciscans.--A few years after this organization, the Order of Franciscans was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi, of Spain. The aims of this order were not only to preach and administer the sacraments, but to nurse the sick, provide for the destitute, and alleviate the dreadful misery which affected whole classes in the Middle Ages. They took vows of absolute poverty, and so humble was the garb prescribed by their rule that they went barefooted from place to place. The Augustinian Order was founded by Pope Alexander IV., in 1265, and still other orders came later. The Degeneration of the Orders.--Without doubt the early ministrations of these friars were productive of great good both on the religious and humanitarian sides. But, as the orders became wealthy, the friars lost their spirituality and their lives grew vicious. By the beginning of the sixteenth century the administration of the Church throughout Europe had become so corrupt, the economic burden of the religious orders so great, and religious teaching and belief so material, that the best and noblest minds in all countries were agitating for reform. The Reformation.--In addition to changes in church administration, many Christians were demanding a greater freedom of religious thinking and radical changes in the Church doctrine which had taken form in the Middle Ages. Thus, while all the best minds in the Church were united in seeking a reformation of character and of administration, great differences arose between them as to the possibility of change in Church doctrines. These differences accordingly separated them into two parties, the Papacy adhering strongly to the doctrine as it was then accepted, while various leaders in the north of Europe, including Martin Luther in Germany, Swingli in Switzerland, and John Calvin in France and Geneva, broke with the authority of the Pope and declared for a liberation of the individual conscience.