Even before the death of Francis the order was riven by disagreement. There were those who wished to follow the life of poverty set down by Francis. But as the order grew, a structure was needed, to enable the friars to carry out their work, particularly preaching. This required buildings, and buildings needed money. Before long the order had split. Observant friars did their best to follow the model provided by Francis. Conventual friars felt that compromises had to be made, and donations should be accepted from supporters to enable the order to flourish.  
  The churches built by the conventuals were often very large, in order to accommodate the large congregations who came to hear the sermons. We’ll look at two of the greatest Franciscan churches in Italy, starting here with the Frari in Venice, or, more correctly, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

The Franciscans arrived in Venice around 1222. They were allowed to settled in an abandoned abbey near where the Frari is now. In 1236 the Doge gave them the land on which the church now stands. Work started on a church in 1250; it was consecrated in 1280, but by 1330 it was clearly not big enough. Work on the present church began in 1340, but it was nearly 100 years before it was finally finished.
  The church was hugely important to the Venetian families, as shown by the generous donations and requests for dedicated chapels.
  The main draw these days is the remarkable collection of art, both paintings and tomb sculpture. Let’s start with the paintings.

The Frari houses a number of distinguished burials: four doges, Titian, the composer Monteverdi, the heart of Canova, to name just a few. Here’s the tomb of Titian by Luigi Zandomeneghi. I assume the rather severe central figure is Titian himself.