Boni Homines

The name Boni Homines ('Good men' in latin) or Bonshommes (the same in French) was popularly given to at least three religious orders in the Catholic church:

Grandmontines

The Order of Grandmont, founded by St. Stephen of Muret, were an austere order of either Augustinian or Benedictine friars. By the end of the twelfth century they had more than sixty monasteries, principally in Acquitaine, Anjou and Normandy. The rules of the order were relaxed to a great extent after 1643. In the Eighteenth Century they had three convents of nuns. ["L'Histoire des ordres monastiques, religieux et militaires, et des congregations séculières de l'un et de l'autre sexe, qui ont été établis jusqu'à présent", Pierre Helyot (1714-21), cited in the [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06725c.htm Boni Homines] article in the Catholic Encyclopedia] The order was suppressed in the French Revolution.

The Fratres Saccati, or Brothers of Penitence

The Fratres Saccati, or Brothers of Penitence, were an order that were active in Spain, France and England. It is said that they controlled Ashridge Priory and Edington Priory in England, but this has been completely repudiated in an article by Richard Emory in the journal "Speculum" (1943), who attributes the original connection to Helyot's "Dictionnaire des Ordres Religieux", which was compiled in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Portuguese Boni Homines of Villar de Frades

The Portuguese Boni Homines were founded by John de Vicenza in the fifteenth century. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02672b.htm Boni Homines] - Catholic Encyclopedia article] and was confirmed by Pope Martin V under the title of "Boni Homines". They had charge of all the royal hospitals in Portugal and sent missionaries to India and Ethiopia.

References