Rule of the Order is the Prohibition of Riding Horses

One of the most curious points of the original Rule of the Order is the prohibition of riding horses as expressed in [9] They are not to mount horses or even possess them. They are permitted to mount only to assess which are given or lent to them or taken from their own livestock.  The Rule of 1217 approved by Pope Honorius II changed it to: "Whereas, by the Rule of your Order you are permitted to ride donkeys and not mules, and, as a consequence, the poor and the captives undergo grave inconveniences and your very persons suffer unavoidable weariness, we, therefore, grant our dear son Major minister, the faculty of riding mules and of dispensing [the Brothers] in this regard". In 1256 Pope Alexander IV allowed the riding of horses in order to facilitate still further any travel demanded by the activity of ransoming or in consideration of the well being of the traveling Brothers.  

Contributed by Sr. Coraly