FRANCISCAN ORDER • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Franciscan order

... Renaissance, a learned scholar, physician, and philosopher, though known to posterity chiefly as an obscene humorist. He is called by Lord Bacon "the great jester of France." He was at first a monk of the Franciscan order, but he afterwards threw off the sacerdotal character, and studied medicine. From about the year 1534, Rabelais was in the service of the Cardinal Dubellay, and a favorite in the court circles of Paris and Rome. It was probably during this period that he published, in successive parts, ...

— Handbook of Universal Literature - From The Best and Latest Authorities • Anne C. Lynch Botta