SERVITES (Servi Beatae Mariae Virginis). This religious order owes its origin to Bonfiglio Monaldi, a Florentine, who in 1233 withdrew along with six of his comrades to the Campo Marzo near the city for prayer and ascetic exercises in honour of the Virgin. Three years afterwards they removed to Monte Senario, where their numbers were considerably increased. The order at a very early period received from Bishop Ardingus of Florence the rule of St Augustine, but did not obtain papal sanction until 1255. It rapidly spread into France, Germany, the Low Countries, Poland, and Hungary, and from Martin V. it received in 1424 the privileges of the mendicant orders. The Servite Tertiaries were founded about the same time by Giuliano Falconieri. Under Bernardino de Ricciolini arose the Hermit Servîtes (1593). The members of the order (Observants and Conventuals) are now found chiefly in Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Bavaria.