TheFraticelli of Monte Malbe (Italian:Fraticelli di Monte Malbe) were areligious order founded in the fourteenth century inMonte Malbe, near Perugia, byFrancesco di Niccolò of Perugia.[1] The order then spread and erected hermitages also atSansepolcro andMount Subasio, near Assisi. The order followed theRule of St. Augustine, and was approved by the bishops ofPerugia andCittà di Castello. In 1363 the bishop of Perugia nominated Liberato di Simone from Sansepolcro as leader. The movement was affected by theInquisition in 1361–1362, which ultimately led to its dissolution in the last decades of the fourteenth century.
The Fraticelli of Monte Malbe were aMendicant order. One of their core principles was radicalvoluntary poverty, in contrast to theFranciscans, whom they accused of deviating from their origins and of committingsimony.