— THE FRIARS DURING THE PROTESTANT REFORM Holzapfel says it is not easy to distinguish Conventuals and Observants during the Reformation since people referred to the Friars indiscriminately as Minorites, Franciscans, Grey Friars, Barefooted Friars, etc. The Conventuals lost out in numbers and houses throughout the 16th century not only because of the Reformation (e.g. suppression and apostacy), but also because of the intervention of Catholic monarch in turning entire provinces over to the Observants in France (e.g. 4 provinces and 200 convents in France) in Spain and Portugal and elsewhere. Holzapfel writes that the Conventuals were more disposed to accept Protestantism than the Observant movement. Needless to say, his strong language regarding both Protestants and Conventual friars has to be tempered by more scientific research. A.G. Little and John Moorman also indicate that in England the Observants offered greater resistance to the Reformation than did the Conventuals -- the six Observant Houses in England furnishing the martyrs. Concerning the Observants, Holzapfel writes: "No religious Order until the close of the Council of Trent can point to so many brave defenders of the Catholic Faith in the Germanic lands as the Franciscan Observants...what a small percentage of apostates compared to the other Orders whose members fell away literally by the thousands...in contrast to that small number of apostates from among the Observants (not more than 20 but even if there were as many as a hundred) the Observants can point to 500 friars throughout Europe who shed their blood for the faith." Anscar Zawart observes that the Conventuals possessed monasteries in every large and small town of Germany and hence lived in the very thick of the approaching struggle and laced the power of resistence of the Observants. Both Conventuals and Observants lost at least 300 monasteries in Germany by suppression and destruction; the membership dwindled, especially among the Conventuals and new vocations were rare. 43 Observants and 48 Conventuals, were invited to the Council of Trent as theologian of pope, emperor and bishops. A few Capuchins were there. The Capuchins, on the scene since 1525, rank with the Jesuits as the principal auxiliary of the Holy See in halting the spread of Protestantism and winning back territories to the Catholic Faith. Early on in the fray, they were successful in the Alpine regions: Chablais, Savoy and Piedmont. Their presence in some places in Germany, but especially in France, Spain, Flanders, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and Netherlands was a staunch bulwark of the Catholic Faith during these troubled times. Cuthbert, The Capuchins Reformation. Holzapfel, History, pp. 374-398. Little, A.G., The Grey Friars in Oxford. Moorman, J-. the Franeiscans in England. Zaware, A. , "the History of Franciscan Preaching. ..Reformation, " FECR (1927) 411-442. A Contribution to the History of the Counter-