'''Minims''' (also called the '''Minimi''' or '''The Order of the Minims''') are followers of a Roman Catholic Matthew 25:40.

The origin of the Minims dates to Francis, after having completed the votive year (a year of service at Franciscan convent as promised by his parents for the grace they received through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi) with the Franciscans and dedicated himself to a life of solitude, took on his first followers as the "Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi." Francis and his followers founded convents at Paterno in 1444 and Milazzo, Sicily in 1469.

In 1471, the Archbishop of Cosenza granted them exemption from his jurisdiction. This status was confirmed two years later in 1473 by Pope Sixtus IV, who also granted the status as mendicant friars.

The order did not have a written rule until 1493, 57 years after its founding. The first rule, confirmed by Pope Alexander VI in 1501, was essentially taken from the rule of Francis of Assisi.

Later that same year, Alexander VI confirmed a modified version of the rule containing ten chapters. This rule contained the vow of ''vita quadragesimalis'', which is considered to be the distinctive feature of the Minim rule. This rule imposes perpetual abstinence from all flesh and white meat, except in case of grave illness and by order of a physician.  The order is also discalced in character.

The Minim habit is of coarse black wool, with a broad sleeves with scapular or hood (capuccio) and a thick black cord (with four knots that signify the four vows) with tassel to gird the robe.

The Minim order spread throughout Italy in the fifteenth century and was introduced to France in 1482, and later to Spain and to Germany in 1497. The order became particularly active in France, and eventually reached Latin America. It did not, however, establish a presence in England. 

Минимы (англ. Minims, лат. Minimi — наименьшие) — ответвление ордена францисканцев, образованное в Италии св. Франциском из Паолы (1416—1507). Орден образован в 1435 под именем «Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi». Франциск и его последователи основали монастыри в Патерно в 1444 и в Милаццо (Сицилия) в 1469.

Орден получил одобрение от архиепископа Козенцы в Сикста IV в 1473 (Lanovius, «Bullarium»: 9,11), получив привилегию нищенствующих монахов.

== Характер ордена ==

Живут по францисканскому уставу повышенной строгости (устав дан в супериоры называются корректорами (correctors).

== Распространение ордена ==

В 1482 попали во Францию, оттуда в Испанию под именем «Fathers of the Victory» в честь победы короля Фердинанда над марокканцами в Малаге. В Максимилианом в Германию (сначала в Богемию). Создали в начале XVI в. около 450 домов.

Второй разряд (женский) создан в 1506, третий (полумирской) в 1501.