MINGENTIUS. See Migetius.

MINIMS: A name frequently applied (Ordo frntrum minimomm) to a branch of the Franciscan order, founded by St. Francis of Paola informally in 1435, confirmed by the pope in 1474, though without any written rule until 1493. See Francis, Saint, of Paola.

MINOR PROPHETS: The name given to the twelve books (and their authors) which in the English Version follow Daniel and close the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Bible as one book, the "Book of the Twelve," they close the second part of the canon (see Canon of Scripture, I.), follow Ezekiel (Daniel, q.v., in the Hebrew Bible, is not in the canon of the Prophets but among the Kethu Inm or Hagiographa), and are followed by the Hagiographa. The designation "Minor Prophets" is not known to the Hebrew, the term Prophette minore8 coming in from the Latin Church (cf. Augustine, De ciritate Dei, xviii. 29; Jerome, Preface to Isaiah, in MPL, xxiv. 17-22). It does not imply inferiority in importance, but refers simply to relative length; altogether the Minor Prophets are shorter than the Book. of Isaiah. The probable purpose of the aggregation of these books into a single volume or collection was to secure their preservation, since the small single rolls were doubtless in danger of being lost. The principle on which they were arranged is not altogether clear. Possibly the result is a compromise between the principles of date and of size. In general the order is (1) the prophets of the early Assyrian period (Hosea-Micah), (2) those of the later Assyrian and the Babylonian period (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah), and (3) of the Persian period (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi). The Septuagint rearranges the first six thus: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah. The date of the collection must be not later than about 350200 B.C. on the basis of the employment of the collection in Ecclesiasticus. For discussion of each book in detail see the articles on the several books.

Bibliography: Commentaries dealing especially with the Minor Prophets as a whole are- G-. A. Smith, in Rs-

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positor's Bible, 2 vols., London 1898-98; John Calvin, Eng. transl. in his Works, 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1848-49; P. Schegg, 2 vols., Regensburg, 1854; E. B. Pueey, 5 parts, Oxford, 1860; H. Cowles, New York, 1868; E. Henderson, Andover, 1868; C. von Orelli, 3d ed., Munich, 1908, Eng. transl. of earlier ed_ New York, 1893; J. Wellhausen, 3d ed., Berlin, 1898; T. %. Cheyne, London, 1903.