托钵修会 是完全依靠捐助而生存的宗教修会，他们不积蓄财产（个人和团体），需要发贫穷誓愿，以便将所有时间和精力投身于宗教工作。中世纪后期随着克吕尼修会、西多会、本笃会的腐败，很多异端修会兴盛起来。这些异端败坏了教堂，所以他们争取 不创建教堂 随处随传，谨守清苦。这样的情况之下，为了与异端争夺人心，许多正统的有识之士仿效异端。成立了托钵修会。不创建任何的有形修院与教堂。因他们以乞食为生，所以称之为托钵修会，又称为乞食僧团、托钵僧团。因为他们积极维护基督教正统教义，热心布道，甘愿过着清心寡欲的生活，以此攻击异端 挽回了基督教的威信。

Mendicant orders refers primarily to certain Christian religious orders that have adopted a lifestyle of poverty, travelling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model of living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached.