The Order of Preachers (, hence the abbreviation OP used by members), more commonly known after the 15th century as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Saint Dominic de Guzman in France and approved by Pope Honorius III (1216–27) on 22 December 1216. Membership in this "mendicant" Order includes friars, nuns, active sisters, and lay or secular Dominicans (formerly known as tertiaries, though recently there has been a growing number of Associates, who are unrelated to the tertiaries) affiliated with the Order.