Does anyone know the earliest reference to the 3 vows together: of poverty, chastity, & obedience?
The concept of chastity, poverty, and obedience as a set of vows may have originated with the mendicant orders of the 12th Century. Wikipedia specifically mentions St. Francis of Assisi and his followers, but there are no references to support this claim. A few other online sources make the same claim, but they appear to be using Wikipedia as a reference. However, since the mendicants did take a vow of poverty, it is at least plausible that they were the first to formally recognize poverty in addition to the Benedictine vows of chastity (“stability of manners”) and obedience.
