an order of minor friars, instituted about 1452; so called from their professing. themselves amantes Deum, loving God; or amati Deo, loved by God. Others derive the name from their founder, Amadeus or Amedeus, a Portuguese nobleman. They wore a gray habit and wooden shoes, and girt themselves with a cord. They had twenty-eight convents in Italy, besides others in Spain, and were united by Pope Pius V partly with the Cistercian order, and partly with that of the Soccolanti, or wooden-shoe wearers. — Helyot, ed. Migne, 1, 200.