a religious order in the Romish church, fo called from their principal founder John Peter Caraffa, then bishop of Theate, or Chieti, in the kingdom of Naples, and afterwards pope, under the name of Paul IV. The names of the other founders were Gaetan, Boniface, and Configlieri. These four pious men desiring to reform the ecclesiastical state, laid the foundation of an order of regular clerks at Rome in the year 1524. Pope Clement VII. approved the institution, and permitted the brethren to make the three religious vows, to elect a superior every three years, and to draw up statutes for the regulation of the order. They were the first who endeavoured, by their example, to revive among the clergy the poverty of the apostles and first disciples of our Saviour, and were also the first who assumed the title of regular clerks.