I. A sect of the 2d century, mentioned by St. Augustine, concerning which very little is known. They considered marriage and individual possession of property mortal sins.

II. A sect of the 12th century, mostly from the lower classes of society, who would not take an oath, nor shave, nor cut their hair, nor marry. Although their lives were blameless, many of them were executed at Cologne.

III. A sect founded about 1200 by Gerard de Segarelli of Parma, a young man who had been rejected from the Franciscan order. They believed that the kingdom of heaven was soon to come, and went barefoot through Italy, Switzerland, and France, preaching, begging, and singing. They rejected marriage, but lived in intimacy with females whom they called spiritual sisters, and who accompanied them on their journeys. Segarelli was burned as a heretic in 1300. The sect continued to live a while longer under Dolcino, a Milanese, but soon became reduced to banditti, and in 1307 the movement ceased.