Following their foundation in the thirteenth century, the mendicant Orders came to occupy an increasingly important role in the religious life of the medieval city. The mendicant spiritual mission and way of life was arduous, and the prayer and preaching which filled (or ought to have filled) a friar’s working and waking hours demanded both strength and stamina. As a result of these demands, the leaders of the Orders had to ensure that those men whom they admitted as their brothers were physically capable of undertaking their intended duties. This paper accordingly considers the idea of the ‘use and abuse of time’ by approaching some of the questions concerning health and fitness as requirements for the friars of the Franciscan and Dominican Orders.
Occupational Health and Fitness for Work of Firefighters