Their revolt did not bear upon points of detail and questions of discipline, like that of the early Waldenses; it had a definite doctrinal basis, taking issue with the whole body of Catholic dogma.

But, although this heresy flourished in Italy and under the very eyes of St.Francis, there is need only to indicate it briefly.

His work may have received many infiltrations from the Waldensian movement, but Catharism was wholly foreign to it.
This is naturally explained by the fact that St.Francis never consented to occupy himself with questions of doctrine.

For him faith was not of the intellectual but the moral domain; it is the consecration of the heart.

Time spent in dogmatizing appeared to him time lost.
An incident in the life of Brother Egidio well brings out the slight esteem in which theology was held by the early Brothers Minor.