religious order founded in the sixteenth century by three Italian gentlemen who had been advised by a famous preacher of those days to read carefully the epistles of St Paul. Hence they were called Clerks of St Paul, and also Barnabites, because they performed their first exercise in a church of St Barnabas at Milan. Their habit was black, and their office to instruct, catechize, and serve in mission.

Barnacle. See Beinkle.