HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER
1.0
Historical Outline The Secular Franciscan Order
1.1
Saint Francis founded three Orders.
When St.
Francis of Assisi started living his Gospel life, he did not foresee the
number of people that wanted to follow him. To each of them he gave a Rule of
life. He started first with the First Order (Order of Friars Minor),
that is, the one of the friars. Then St. Clare asked to adopt his form
of life as well, but could not live with the friars in the same way as they
did, and so Francis wrote for them a programme of life. This was then called
the Second Order (Poor Clares). Some married people too, felt inspired
by his life and some even tried to abandon their families and homes to follow
him. Francis told them to go back to the homes and lives and wait to receive
further instructions from him. This started being called the Third Order
(Today Secular Franciscan Order
Twenty years
after the death of St. Francis, the approval of the Rule of the Brothers and
Sisters of Penance (from now on Order of Penance) by the Holy See was
considered a certainty within Franciscan Circles. The Order is mentioned
officially for the first time as an organised body in a document of Pope
Honorius III (16 December 1221). In this letter, addressed to the bishop of
Rimini (Central Italy), the Pope tasks him to defend the Order of Penance
against civil authorities who wanted to force them to take an oath to take up
arms to defend their city in case of war.
The fact that several other similar letters addressed to bishops all over
Italy between 1225 and 1234 is an indication of the rapid and extensive growth
of the Order of Penance.
1.2
The First Rule: Memoriale Propositi (1221/1228)
The first
version of the Memoriale propositi, considered as the first Rule of the
Order, was written in 1221. With all probability, Cardinal Hugolino can be
considered as the main author of the text which borrowed heavily from a
similar Rule of life for another group, called Humiliati, approved by Pope
Innocent III in 1201. The original text of the Memoriale propositi was
lost and its contents have been handed down to us only through a revised text
issued in 1228. It contains precise rules on how to safeguard simplicity and
austerity, especially in clothing:
1.
It was prohibited attending worldly banquets,
entertainments and dances.
2.
Members were
forbidden to organize such feasts and entertainments. Eating meat was limited
to three days a week.
3.
Fasting was obligatory on every Friday
of the year and also on Wednesdays from the feast of all Saints (1st November) to Easter, besides the fasts decreed by the Church
for all faithful.
4.
Clerics
had to pray the Divine office and the others had to pray 12 Our Fathers for
matins and 7 for all
the other
hours.
5.
Throughout lent all members were obliged
to pray matins in Church.
6.
They had to receive Holy Communion three
times a year: on Christmas day, Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday.
7.
Tithes were to be faithfully paid.
8.
Members were prohibited carrying arms or
using them against anyone and were to refrain from taking
solemn oaths, except when
necessary to preserve peace, to keep the Faith, to prevent calumny and to give
testimony. They were to refrain also from taking public oaths.
9.
Everyone had to do the utmost to ensure
that his or her family lived a Christian life.
10.
Once
every month members of the same city had to attend Holy Mass together and,
whenever possible, a friar will
give a brief explanation.
11.
During
this monthly meeting, everyone was to hand over the monthly dues and the sum
distributed among the
needy members and the poor of the place.
12.
The
person responsible for the group, called the Minister, had the duty to pay
visit all sick members personally or through another member. All Brothers and Sisters
were obliged to attend the funeral of another member and pray prescribed prayers for
the soul of the deceased.
13.
Every member had to draw up a will
(testament) three months after profession. To avoid any discord, any quarrel
had to resolved in a brotherly spirit.
14.
The ministers of every fraternity had to
report any public misbehavior of members to the visitator and then proceed to give correction and expulsion in cases
of unrepentance.
15.
Every member was to go to a priest for
confession once every month.
The
conditions for admission of candidates are worthy of note:
a.
All debts and unpaid tithes had to made
good for before admission.
b.
Candidates had to reconcile with their
enemies.
c.
They had to be free of any suspicion of
heresy.
d.
A woman could not be admitted without
the consent of her husband.
e.
After a year of probation (called the
Novitiate) the candidate, if judged worthy, was to make his promise
(profession) for the rest of his life. A public document had to be
drawn up as a proof of the profession, keeping in mind that no one was to
leave the fraternity except to embrace religious life. The incorrigibles were
to be expelled from the fraternity.
It must be
noted, however, that these norms were applied flexibly according to the
concrete situation of each member, and authorized the minister to dispense
members from certain conditions according to his good discretion.
1.3
The Spiritual assistance to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance from 1227 to
1284
It seems that after the death
of St. Francis (1226) the friars Minor were actively involved in the spiritual
direction of the Order of Penance till 1232. With the election of Brother
Elias as Minister General of the First Order in the Chapter of 1232, things
changed. He was not in favor of the friars taking responsibility of the
Order of Penance. Other General ministers followed the same policy with some
brief exceptions, like the one of 1247, when the provincial ministers of the
friars in Italy were permanent visitators to the Order of Penance. There were
several reasons for this apparent reluctance of the friars to undertake
spiritual responsibility of the Order of Penance. A document published during
the generalate of St. Bonaventure lists 12 such reasons to justify this
policy. The principal reason was that Franciscan Order (friars), whose
members were itinerant would lose some of its freedom of action and become
involved in many conflicts with the secular clergy and even the civil
authorities over the Order of Penance’s privileges and exemptions.
In 1284, the
First Order became once more juridically responsible of the spiritual
assistance of the Order of Penance.
1.4
The Rule of Pope Nicholas IV (1289)
From Historical information it
seems that gradually various fraternities became more united among themselves,
and at the time of St. Bonaventure they were already organised into provinces
governed by a provincial minister of their own. In the north of Italy, general chapters were celebrated from time to
time. The fact that some papal documents were addressed to several
fraternities all over Europe indicates that had already flourished beyond
Italian boundaries.
In 1284, the
visitator of the Order of Penance composed a rule which was confirmed by Pope
Nicholas IV, who was himself a Franciscan before being elected pope. This
rule was practically identical to the Memoriale propositi of 1228, and
was to observed by all the fraternities of the Order of Penance. The decree
of publication recognises St. Francis as the founder of Order of Penance.
Another
document issued by the same Pope in 1290 decreed that the visitators of all
the Franciscan fraternities had to be Franciscan Friars because both Orders
were founded by St. Francis. This Rule remained valid till 1884 - nearly 600
years – when it was revised by Pope Leo XIII.
1.5
The Growth of the Order of Penance throughout the XIII Century
The most significant factor that manifested the
magnificence of the Franciscan movement in the 13th century was the
surprising rise in numbers and importance of the Order of Penance. The Gospel
ideal of love and peace sanctified family life, work and everyday chores
placing all members as equals in the same Christian brotherhood. Thus, in
this new Order, there was no difference between kings and subjects, nobles and
commoners, literate and simple workers. In a list of 57 members of a
fraternity in the Italian city of Bologna, drawn up in 1257, the occupation of
each member was recorded. It included lawyers, clerks, barbers, shoemakers,
carpenters, upholsterers, paper manufacturers, bakers, pharmacists and
tanners. The Order of Penance distinguished itself from many other groups
born in the XIII century with pious and charitable objectives in that its main
objective was simply to live a good Christian life in a brotherhood of
universal proportion.
In this
century, the experience of war was frequent. They could be between cities,
civil wars within the same town and among families. In his youth, St. Francis
found himself involved in three battles, two within Assisi and the other
between Perugia and Assisi, at the end of which Francis was taken prisoner.
The large majority of citizens were bound by oath to defend their landlord or
the major of the town and every time there was a battle, they were forced to
participate in battles they would rather have avoided. The only persons who
were exempted from the obligation to take oaths were members of the clergy and
religious. Even though brothers and sisters of the Order of Penance were not
religious, the Church (who had much authority in a society that was entirely
Christian), protected them from such obligations because in living a public
life of penance, they were now serving another “landlord” – Jesus Christ
himself.
Exemption
from this oath and other public exemptions gave members of the Order of
Brothers and Sisters of Penance an extraordinary privileged status in
society. Some of these exemptions had already been given to preceding public
penitents,
others were conceded to the Order of Penance and defended by popes. The
exemption from the feudal oath freed citizens from the obligation of taking up
arms and from having to accept any assignments considered incompatible with
the penitential status of its members. One can easily understand why so many
joined the Order of Penance and also the resentful hostility of those
authorities deprived of many recruits to fight their wars.
In only 5
years, from 1221 to 1226, Popes Honorius III and Gregory IX intervened no less
than 14 times with decrees defending the penitents in the persecutions they
were having to endure because of their exemption from the oath of fealty and
public duties. In 1294, Pope Celestine V exempted the tertiaries of Aquila
from municipal taxation on the grounds that they were persons dedicated to
divine worship. It must be admitted that this papal favour, especially during
the years of conflict with Frederick II, was not entirely disinterested
politically, for the military exemption robbed the Emperor’s allies of their
soldiers; but it was basically a means of bringing civic peace to the
turbulent Italian republics.
Another of
the prerogatives recognized by Gregory IX in 1227 was the right to donate
property freely to a recipient of their own choice. There were in fact
prosperous brotherhoods owning chattels and real estate, the income from which
they used to finance important charitable works. This autonomy enjoyed by the
Penitents was very much frowned on by both civil and Church authorities, and
gave riser to various papal interventions.
The
ecclesiastical status of the Penitents received its supreme recognition in the
Exemption from civil law, which meant they could not be summoned except
to appear before an ecclesiastical court. According to the Rule, any legal
disputes arising between brothers or with non-members were to be settled, as
far as possible, within the brotherhood itself, with the friars Minor acting
as mediators; and when fraternal agreement of this kind proved to be
impossible, the case was put before the diocesan bishop. This procedure was
laid down by the statutes of the Brescia fraternity, issued about 1270, and
was followed by Celestine V in his dealings with the Aquila fraternity in
1294.
There were
other important exemptions, similar to those granted to any religious order,
like immunity from interdict.
In 1221 Honorius III had granted the Brothers of Penance the right of
admission to church services, the sacraments, and the Christian burial in time
of interdict, providing they were not the cause of the censure. The privilege
was renewed again and again by Gregory IX, Innocent IV, Urban IV, and Boniface
VIII. However, owing to the expansion of the brotherhoods in all countries,
the penalty of interdict, which at that time provided Bishops with a powerful
weapon, often proved derisory. There were strong protests at the council of
Vienne, resulting in Clement V’s decretal, which became part of the Corpus
Iuris Canonici, forbidding priests to give Franciscan tertiaries access to
church services in time of interdict under pain of excommunication, ne
censura vilescat. Later, however, the old privilege was restored or
confirmed by other popes such as Innocent VI, Boniface IX, Martin V and Sixtus
IV.
The fact
that by the end of the sixteenth century the chapter was attended by
representatives from a large number of provinces proves, not only the
fraternities’ advanced form of organisation and their corporate awareness, but
the density of the penitential movement inside and outside Italy.
Suspicion of
heresy was always liable to fall upon any secular organisation of evangelical
tendencies. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Order of Penance
suffered a very harsh ordeal of this kind, coinciding with the bad times
through which the First Order was passing. The persecution campaign was based
on the similarity of life style between the Brothers and Sisters of Penance
and the group of Beghards, Béguins and Fraticelli, whose errors were condemned
at the Council of Vienne. Clement V gave orders for the necessary
investigations to be made, and, when the orthodoxy of the accused had been
established, he confirmed the Rule of Nicholas IV in 1308. the Council’s
condemnation did not, therefore, affect the Order of Penance, but the stain of
heresy still clung under John XXIII, who also came to the defence of the
tertiaries in 1318 and 1321; he even threatened to excommunicate some French
bishops who persisted in confusing them with the Béguins and the Beghards.
This,
combined with the appalling situation created in the fourteenth century by the
Black Death and the Great Schism, caused a marked decrease in the number of
tertiaries, according to evidence offered by Bartholomew of Pisa; but even so
there were still a great many of them. Some statistics for 1385 put the
number of brotherhoods in the care of the Friars Minor at 244, of which 141
were in Italy and in the East, 23 in Spain, 29 in France, 37 in the German
countries and 8 in the British Isles.
In the
fifteenth century there was a revival, due mainly to the energetic propagation
of the third order, as it was now called, by the great Observant preachers,
especially St. Bernardino, St. John of Capistrano, and Bernardino de Bustis.
Evidence of this new expansion is given by St. Antoninus of Florence (d. 1459)
when he writes about the ecclesiastical character of the tertiaries, known in
Italy as pinzocheri as early as the thirteenth century: his evidence is
made all the more valuable by the fact that he was a Dominican: “The doctors
do not discuss the Third Order of St. Dominic as much as they do that of St.
Francis,” he says, “for there are few Dominican tertiaries in these parts
(Italy), and hardly any of the male sex; while many of both sexes have adopted
the Rule and the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, some living as
hermits, others acting as hospitallers, and others assembled together in
congregations.” He adds that, because of their large numbers, Franciscan
tertiaries were not exempt from interdict as the Dominicans were. So it was
not mere rhetoric when Bernardino de Bustis exclaimed in one of his sermons:
“the Order is great in numbers. The whole of Christendom is full of men and
women who truly observe the Rule of the tertiaries.
Some were of
royal or noble lineage, like St. Elisabeth of Hungary (d. 1231), St. Elisabeth
of Portugal (d. 1336), St. Elzear of Sabran (d.1323) and his wife, the Blessed
Delphina of Glandèves (d.1360), St. Conrad Confalonieri of Piacenza (d.1351)
and his wife Eufrosyne, the Blessed Charles of Blois (d.1364), and the Blessed
Jean-Marie de Maillé (d.1414); there were pious priests, like St. Ivo of
Brittany (d.1303), the Blessed Bartholomew of San Gimignano (d.1300), and the
Blessed Martyr James of Città della Pieve (d. 1286): penitents , like St.
Margaret of Cortona (d.1297); peasants and artisans, like that extraordinary
young woman St. Rose of Viterbo (d.1251), the Blessed Peter “the Comb maker”
of Siena (d.1289), and the Blessed Novellone of Faenza, a shoemaker (d. 1280);
the blessed Luchesio of Poggibonsi (d.1260), farmer, then trader, then finally
a tertiary dedicated to charitable works, together with his wife Bonadonna;
tradition has it that these two were the first to receive the habit from the
hands of St. Francis; distinguished founders like St. Bridget of Sweden (d.
1373), the Blessed Peter Gambacorti of Pisa (d. 1435), and St. Joan of Valois
(d. 1505); heroes of charity, like St. Rock of Montpellier (d. 1327) and the
Blessed Oddino Barrotti (d. 1400); hermits like the Beati Ubald of San
Gimignano (d. 1320), William Scicli (d. 1404), and the recluses Umiliana dei
Cerchi (d. 1246) and Verdiana of Castelfiorentino (d. 1242); and, finally,
there were figures of great spiritual stature like Angela of Foligno ( d.
1309) and the Blessed Raymond Lull ( d. 1310).
The
environment in which this evangelical holiness developed was the Christian
life itself in all its many aspects, and it invariably crystallized into
apostolic or charitable projects. Whenever a brotherhood was formed it was not
long before a hospital or some other benevolent foundation was established
with the brethren's generous contributions. These foundations were usually run
by members who took special vows to lead a life free of other ties, and were
given the name of beati or beatae. Often they lived in
communities in order to carry out their charitable vocation more effectively.
In Rome the
tertiaries ran four benevolent homes; at Cortona they maintained the Hospital
of Mercy; in Florence there was the famous Hospital of St. Paul, where the
tertiary infirmarians were popularly known as bonomini; at Imola they were in
charge of the Hospital of St. Francis until 1488; at Piacenza there was a
whole series of splendid foundations which were in no way inferior to the best
run welfare institutions of today; poor sisters and female pilgrims were given
shelter at the Hospital of St. Elizabeth: the brotherhood owned a number of
houses which it let at a low rent to needy tertiaries; it was the mission of
one group of tertiaries to reclaim fallen women. At Modena the tertiaries
organized assistance for poor people who were ashamed to beg by collecting
alms for them; at Reggio Emilia, from 1238, the tertiaries visited the poor in
their own homes and kept a dispensary and a food store, both free of charge,
for the benefit of poor people of any category, whether laymen, clerks, or
religious; in Paris, in 1300, Guy de Joinville founded a tertiary brotherhood
of infirmarians; at Mons, in Belgium, the tertiaries gave free tuition to
fifty poor children; in other towns there were tertiary priests dedicated to
training young men for the priesthood: in Naples Queen Sancha, who became a
tertiary and then a Poor Clare, founded two nunneries, St. Mary Magdalen and
St. Mary of Egypt, for homeless women. Any number of similar examples could be
given, not only in Italy, but in all European countries.
1.6 The
Third Order in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries
During and
after the Renaissance, the character of the Third Order underwent a very
noticeable change. First of all a profound decline took place in Italy, where
refilled humanists found the “pinzocheri" concept of life lacking in taste,
and in countries where the protestant reform, that diametrical opposite of
Franciscan ideals, had taken a firm hold. At the same time, however, there was
a new upsurge of enthusiasm for the “Seraphic army” (the third Order) in Spain
and Portugal, in Spain's European dominions - Naples, Lombardy, and
Flanders-and in the New World. There came a moment when St. Francis reigned as
the supreme luminary over the whole of Spanish society: kings, bishops,
generals, scholars, and artists thought it an honour to call him “our seraphic
Father,” to vie with one another in dedicating to him the finest fruits of
their piety or genius, and to be buried in his habit.
However,
these results were not achieved without some important concessions. The change
in the penitential habit was symptomatic of this. The original long tunic,
severe and simple in shape, which by the end of the thirteenth century had
come to be the tertiaries' most obvious distinguishing feature, striking the
same note of austerity in palaces and workshops, eventually became too much of
a sacrifice for people in high positions, and too much of an encumbrance for
craftsmen as they went about their work, In view of the many complaints he had
received, Julius II decided in 1508 to establish the scapular as a special
form of habit for the tertiaries: this consisted of two broad lengths of
woollen cloth covering the back and chest, and held in at the waist by a cord.
This garment could easily be concealed underneath any kind of outer clothing.
As time passed, especially after a concession by Clement XI in 1704, it
decreased in size until it assumed its present form, i.e., two small pieces of
material hanging on tapes, without coming into contact with the cord.
The
seriousness with which the tertiaries took their vows, regarded by them as a
commitment to holiness and renunciation, was succeeded by a more outward piety
expressed by ostentatious enthusiasm among the upper classes and mass
enlistment among the ordinary faithful. The Third Order in the sixteenth and
seventeenth-centuries was able to boast a brilliant catalogue of illustrious
figures, but few saints. Among these, however, were some of the great founders
of the sixteenth century. Except in the case of St. Angela Merici (d. 1540),
it is not known how far their aspirations toward sanctity originated from
their enrolment in the Third Order. There is no historical proof that St.
Ignatius of Loyola, St. Cajetan of Thiene, St. Philip Neri, and St. Camillus
de Lellis were tertiaries, but St. Joseph Calasanctius and St. Francis de
Sales were members of the Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis. The
claim that the seventeen saints and over thirty blessed martyrs of Japanese
nationality who died with their evangelisers of the First Order were
tertiaries seems to be well founded.
Of these
last it can certainly be said that their neophyte faith drew its cheerful and
generous daring, and its longing for the self-sacrifice of martyrdom, from
Franciscan spirituality. As in Japan, Franciscan missionaries organized
tertiary brotherhoods in the Philippines and America as they established new
churches, in such numbers that by 1586 it was estimated that there were more
than 100,000 overseas tertiaries. Quito was the home of St. Mary Anne of Jesus
de Paredes (d. 1645).
In the
seventeenth century the gravitation toward the "Seraphic army" became more
general, mainly owing to the energy deployed by the various branches of the
First Order, who gave matters relating to the renewal and propagation of the
Third Order a place In capitular decrees and constitutions. The General
Chapter of Toledo (1633) said in its decrees for the restoration of the Third
Order: "It has declined to such a degree, principally because of the
negligence of our religious, that in some provinces and nations it may be
considered as extinct"; it ordered the method used in Spain, "where the Third
Order is a shining example," to be adopted for bringing about the restoration.
Many manuals were published in the vernacular; the Franciscan confessors of
several reigning houses persuaded sovereigns and members of their families to
adopt the Seraphic dress, particularly the House of Austria, the Gonzagas, and
the rulers of Savoy. Popes, for their part, dispensed spiritual favors and
recommendations in order to encourage the development of this highly effective
means of strengthening the Catholic renewal and combating error.
In Italy
there were flourishing brotherhoods in every city. Both the civil and the
church aristocracy were proud to belong to the Third Order. In Spain and
Portugal enthusiasm reached incredible heights under Philip III and Philip IV.
In 1644 the Lisbon brotherhood, founded by that indefatigable apostle of the
Third Order Father Ignatius Garcia, alone had 11 ,000 members. In Madrid there
were over 25,000 tertiaries in 1689. In France the main promoters of the Third
Order were the Capuchins, the most distinguished of whom were Joseph du
Tremblay, Leonard de Paris, and Ives de Paris. In Belgium it was limited
almost exclusively to the upper classes, and failed to become popular with the
common. people. In Germany, Ireland, and England, too, there was an
enthusiastic response.
When speaking of a decrease in
sanctifying effects of the Third Order, it does not mean that it was concerned
purely with outward appearances or that it did not have a profound influence
on the religious life of peoples. We know that, in Spain at any rate, there
was an extraordinary explosion of pious societies, popular ceremonies, and
forms of devotion created and directed by tertiary fraternities; some of these
were extremely powerful organizations which have defied the passing of time,
survived the most adverse fortunes, and are still in existence today. An even
more beneficial influence was exerted by charitable and welfare institutions,
like the hospitals founded in Madrid and other major towns. In many places
instruction was given to ordinary people by the "beatas" of St. Francis, who
ran schools for children; the most notable of these were the Mexican schools
put in their charge by Zumárraga, who brought women tertiary teachers from
Spain specially trained to instruct the daughters of caciques and to prepare
neophytes for Christian marriage. At this period, when the First Order was
divided into several branches and the Third Order Regular appeared on the
scene as a fully developed legal entity, territorial difficulties arose which
were eventually settled by papal intervention.
After Nicholas IV
the authority of the First Order over the Third remained unchanged. It had
been endangered by the spread of tertiary communities leading a communal life,
which had their own chapels and their own independent activities from the end
of the thirteenth century, and by the confusion resulting from the Great
Schism. This had scarcely ended when, by a Bull of December 9! 1428, Martin V
once more put all communities of lay tertiaries firmly and inexorably under
the control of the First Order's minister general and provincials. This
decree was attenuated by Eugene IV in 1431, but in fact it was eventually
implemented everywhere. Sixtus IV extended it to all countries, giving the
Observant and Conventual superiors equal authority over the Third Order. This
authority consisted of the power to visit the brotherhoods, to instruct and
correct the tertiaries, to invest them with the habit and accept their
profession, and to assign a visitor or confessor from the Order to each group.
In 1547, as
a concession to repeated requests from the Spanish Regular Tertiaries, Paul
III approved three rules, one for each constituent element of the Third Order:
male religious, female religious and Secular Tertiaries. The latter's Rule was
hardly more than a mere resume of the Rule of Nicholas IV, with certain
mitigations regarding fasting and abstinences; it affected only the
brotherhoods of the Iberian Peninsula. The most important change was the
subjection of all tertiaries in Spain, Portugal and both Indies to the
authority of the regular tertiaries' minister general, whose task it was to
assign anyone admitted to profession as a Regular Tertiary to a particular
brotherhood. This was a purely theoretical innovation: it made no change in
the relationship between the First and Third Orders, which was confirmed time
and again by later popes.
The Capuchin
reform (1528) does not appear to have asserted its rights to the direction of
the Third Order while it was subject to the nominal authority of the
Conventual minister general; furthermore, these rights were limited by special
papal decrees. However, on January 30, 1620, a decision of the Congregation of
Bishops and Regulars cancelled the previous prohibitions and granted the
Capuchins the same powers as other branches of the Franciscan family. Despite
this they encountered strong opposition during the seventeenth century in
France and Belgium from the Regular tertiaries, and in Spain and Sardinia from
the Observants. The dispute between the former group and the Capuchins was
eventually settled in favour of the latter by Clement X in 1675, and finally
Clement XI put an end to all controversy in 1704 by ratifying three decisions
made by the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars that same year. Nevertheless,
further papal interventions were necessary, the last of which was that of
Benedict XIV, who in 1745 granted not only the Capuchins, but also the
Discalced and Recollects, full authority to admit candidates to the Third
Order. It should be pointed out, however, that it was the Capuchins' normal
practice not to found new brotherhoods where there were already existing
groups. This was why in the major towns only individual tertiaries were
admitted, and why in the Italian provinces there was little propaganda on
behalf of the Third Order; but in Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and
Germany there were very flourishing brotherhoods, and vast quantities of
Capuchin literature were produced for the purpose of spreading the Seraphic
army among lay folk. A distinguished tertiary saint of the eighteenth century
was Mary Frances of the Five Wounds (d. 1791).
Under
Regalist Oppression and Liberal Secularism
For the Third Order the great ordeal of the Modern Period
began in the second half of the eighteenth century. The first blow was dealt
by Austrian imperialism. In 1776 a decree of Maria Theresa forbade the
reception of new members; Joseph II went further by suppressing the Third
Order in all its forms by an edict of September 27, 1782. Joseph's regalist
policy was followed by the radical sectarianism of the French Revolution; in
1790 the Civil Constitution of the Clergy declared the suppression of all
religious institutions, including third orders, and the nationalization of
their property. A number of tertiaries were punished for their fidelity to the
Church and their Franciscan vows by imprisonment or death. In 1810 Napoleon
published another decree suppressing all tertiary organizations and banning
their meetings, on the grounds that they were a danger to society; he stooped
so low as to have a booklet withdrawn from circulation because it contained
the Rule of the Third Order. In Spain the suppression of religious orders and
the act of disamortization left the brotherhoods legally and socially
helpless; but most of them continued to live, many in a flourishing condition,
under the direction of the secular clergy or the exclaustrated friars, so that
when the Observant and Capuchin convents appeared once more they were able to
reorganize themselves and recover their strength. A similar phenomenon took
place in Italy as the suppression of religious was extended. The tertiary
brotherhoods, dispossessed of their legal right to exist in the eyes of the
State, survived as private societies and adapted themselves to the new
situation. 3
Not only were changes made in
the rule of the Third Order before the time of Leo XIII, but the rule was also
supplemented by additions from the very beginning. During the thirteenth
century, individual fraternities added regulations of their own to the rule
itself. But after Nicholas IV had given a uniform rule to all the tertiaries
and confirmed it by a papal bull in 1289, the rule itself was left intact; and
the additions took the form statutes or constitutions, either for a certain
section of the Third Order or for the entire order .
The
tertiaries in the Recollect Franciscan Province of St. Denis, in France, for
instance, had special constitutions in addition to the rule of Nicholas IV
before 1677. They are described in some detail in a book which the Father
Provincial wrote in that year. These constitutions speak of a rector
(prefect) of the men and a mother superior of the women. They expressly
declared that only those who were employed in some avocation which was not
morally objectionable could be admitted as members. They regulated that the
tertiaries should receive Holy Communion in a body, after the friars, on
Maundy Thursday, August 2, and October 4. On certain days the tertiaries also
gathered to be present at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
On the
second Sunday of every month of the year, these tertiaries had their regular
meeting, which included the following: (1) At 8:30 in the morning, the
tertiaries assisted at holy Mass and received holy Communion. Including the
three days already mentioned, therefore, the tertiaries received holy
Communion in a group at least fifteen times a year. (2) On this monthly
meeting day one hour was set aside for instruction and spiritual reading. (3)
In the evening there were special devotions for the tertiaries, consisting of
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Vespers, sermon, procession, and
Benediction. In other words, their monthly meeting was not just a matter of an
hour or so, but of a full day.
The Father
Provincial adds that the queen of France, Theresa of Austria, was a tertiary;
and whenever she was at St. Germain-en-Laye, she attended the monthly meeting
of the tertiaries in the Franciscan church at that place, receiving holy
Communion at the Mass in the morning and taking part in the services and
procession in the evening.
Very
important were the constitutions of the Third Order which were drawn up in
1686, and then solemnly sanctioned by the bull Ecclesiae Catholicae of
Innocent XI, June 28, 1689. The latter added these constitutions to the rule
of Nicholas IV, and once more approved of that rule. The constitutions
approved in 1957 are prefaced by a decree of approbation by the Sacred
Congregation of Religious, which calls attention to the fact that "Blessed
Pope Innocent XI, recently raised to the honours of the altar, solicitously
composed or sanctioned new statutes." Innocent XI was pope from 1676 to 1689,
and was beatified in 1956.
Subsequently, Innocent XII (1691-1700) also ordered that these constitutions
be observed in their entirety. However, they were enforced and put into
practice only in Italy and Spain.
The purpose
of the constitutions of Bl. Innocent XI was to clarify or specify certain
points of the rule of Nicholas IV and to interpret others according to the
needs of the times. The number of Communion days, for instance, was increased,
although monthly Communion had been prescribed for some tertiaries already in
1628. The mitigations of fast and abstinence, granted by Paul III, are
incorporated into the constitutions. Tertiaries who were poor and could not
get suitable food were dispensed from the abstinence prescribed in the rule of
Nicholas IV. The wearing of the large habit is limited to certain occasions.
Franciscan superiors are instructed to delegate tertiary priests in distant
parishes so that they could serve as directors of the Third Order.
Other
special regulations in the constitutions of Bl. Innocent XI were the
following. The feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis (September 17) was made
the principal feast of the Third Order. All members of a fraternity, including
the prefect and the ex-prefects, had the right of voting in the election of a
prefect. The election was to take place at a general meeting of the
fraternity, under the presidency of the local Franciscan Father Guardian,
unless he was hindered from being present; and the confirmation of the result
was to be published at another general meeting of the fraternity. All deceased
members of a fraternity were to be remembered in a special way on a certain
day in November which was selected and made known by the prefect.
Chapter XV,
entitled "De Ministris," is of particular interest. It enumerates the
following officers of a fraternity: spiritual director, prefect, vice-prefect,
secretary, councillors (six to eight in number), promoters, treasurer,
sacristan, infirmarian and assistants.
(1) The
spiritual director is called "visitor" in these constitutions. They call
attention to the importance of his position in these words: "In the Third
Order, the most important role, as far as the maintenance of its fervour and
still more the promotion of its development is concerned, rests upon him who
holds the office of visitor. For it is his official duty to instruct, to
encourage, to guard, to reprimand those who hold responsible positions as well
as the members, so that all may worthily fulfil their duties and obligations.”
(2) The
prefect is called "minister." After the "visitor, " say these
constitutions, "comes the minister, whom all the brethren must respect as
their superior and father." They add that the "minister" may have a
"coadjutor," that is, a vice-prefect.
(3) The
vice-prefect should be a priest if the prefect is a layman, and a layman
if the prefect is a priest. This implies that both priests and lay people were
members of the same fraternity; and both priests and lay people could hold
offices in the fraternity. The term of office was for one year, but it could
be extended if the incumbent showed he had the requisite qualifications.
(4) The
secretary had the care of the registers of investitures and professions;
kept the papers pertaining to the properties of the fraternity; recorded the
deliberations of the meetings of both the council and the fraternity; made
known to those concerned the decisions of the council; kept in a safe place
the seal of the fraternity.
(5) The
councillors, who are called "discreets," were to be from six to eight in
number according to the size of the fraternity.
(6) The
promoters, who are called "zelators," kept an eye on the manner in which
the members observed the rule and safeguarded the observance of the rule in
case there were serious and public transgressions.
(7) The treasurer,
called "syndic," received alms and gifts and dispensed them as current needs
required. It is expressly stated that he had to be a professed tertiary.
(8) The
sacristan, called "vicar of divine worship," had charge of the
fraternity's chapel or altar and everything pertaining to it: vestments,
sacred vessels, and decorations of the altar. If necessary, he could have
specially assigned assistants.
(9) The
infirmarian was to be a priest if possible, apparently a tertiary priest
who belonged to the fraternity, or at least a professed brother from among the
older members. It was his duty to visit the sick brethren, and give them care
and counsel according to their material and spiritual needs. In large cities,
he was helped by four to six assistant infirmarians, to each of whom a section
of the area in which there were members of the fraternity was assigned as his
particular field of action.
Thus the constitutions of Bl. Innocent XI made detailed
provisions for well-organized and well-governed fraternities of the Third
Order. (See "History of the Third Order Rule and Constitutions, Part III" in
Franciscan Herald and Forum, vol. 40, no.3, March 1961, pp. 85-87.)
1.7
The Revival. From the Rule of Pope Leo XIII (1884) to the Second Vatican
Council
Since the
middle of the nineteenth century several important factors have played their
part in the development of a new and unexpected prosperity for the Third
Order: the restoration of the First Order in all its different branches with a
more social and practical sense of its apostolate, and a keener awareness of
Franciscan modes of action; the wave of sympathy for St. Francis which began
in intellectual circles; and firm papal support. The first step was to make
use of the printed word through periodicals, which would disseminate
Franciscan ideals and create links between the different brotherhoods. The
oldest publication of this kind is Annales Franciscaines, founded in
1861 by French Capuchins. Shortly afterward, the Recollects' L'Annie
Franciscaine appeared. In Belgium, again on Recollect initiative,
publication began in 1867 of a Flemish language journal. In 1870 the Lombardy
Capuchins founded the journal Annali Francescani, followed in 1873 by
L'Eco di San Francesco in Naples. In England the Capuchins began
publishing Franciscan Annals in 1877. There was a much greater increase in the
number of these publications during and after the pontificate of Leo XIII, so
that by 1919 there were as many as 164 throughout the world, a figure which
increased still further over the next ten years. Once again, persons of
distinction considered it an honour to wear the Seraphic cord, and sanctity,
too, flourished once more in the Third Order, producing some outstanding
figures. The following tertiaries devoted themselves to practical work: Joseph
Benedict Cottolengo (d.1842), Vincentia Gerosa (d. 1847), Vincent Pallotti (d.
1850), Jean-Marie Vianney (d. 1859), Joseph Cafasso (d. 1860), Mary Joseph
Rossello (d. 1880), John Bosco (d. 1888), Frances Xavier Cabrini (d. 1917),
the Blessed Contardo Ferrini (d. 1902).
Of recent
popes, all from Pius IX to John XXIII, belonged to the Franciscan Third Order
before their accession to the pontificate, and all have singled it out for
special attention. But it was Leo XIII who gave it preference and founded upon
it his best hopes for the regeneration of Christian society. While still
Bishop of Perugia he had used every possible means to encourage its growth in
all the parishes of his diocese; this enthusiasm increased when he ascended
the papal throne. He took advantage of the seventh centenary of the birth of
St. Francis in 1882 to issue the encyclical Auspicato concessum, which
was a fervent eulogy of the Franciscan Third Order and a strong exhortation to
promote its expansion in every part of the world.
This
clear-sighted Pope realized, however, that the old Franciscan institution
would never become an effective worldwide force capable of uniting all lay
people of good will unless the spirit which had given birth to it was adapted
to meet the demands of modern life; he therefore decided to modify the Rule.
It was not just a question of modernizing it; the essential was to make it
acceptable to the greatest possible number.
The new Rule
was promulgated in the apostolic constitution Misericors Dei Filius of
May 30, 1884. The text consisted of three chapters, followed by another three
in the form of an appendix, setting out the indulgences and privileges of
tertiaries. Reduced to the bare essentials, it retained as much of the old
Rule as could be adapted to the life of any keen Christian, and modified or
completed whatever parts of it seemed antiquated or excessively harsh. These
were the most important articles: members should wear the small scapular and
the cord; they must go through a year's novitiate before profession; their
dress was to be simple and quiet; they must stay away from profane spectacles,
and exercise moderation in eating; they should confess and take communion once
a month, and say twelve Paternosters, the Ave Maria and the Gloria daily,
unless they had attended the Divine Office or the Little Office of the Virgin
Mary; they were to make their wills in good time; they should examine their
consciences every day, and, whenever possible, attend daily mass and the
monthly assembly: they were to pay their voluntary contribution toward the
brotherhood's expenses and the relief of the poor. There was to be a
redistribution of offices every three years; and an annual visit was to be
carried out as a duty by members of the First Order or the Third Order Regular
appointed by the guardian in charge of the brotherhood. Having taken this
momentous step, the Pope lost no opportunity during the next few years of
involving the whole Catholic episcopate in the propagation of the Third Order,
either by encyclicals (for example, he published one in 1884 against
freemasonry, and one in 1885, announcing an extraordinary jubilee for the
whole Christian world), or by exhortation and encouragement. The hierarchy
responded obediently to the Pontiff’s wishes, ordinary Christians were fired
with enthusiasm, and within a short time there were several million tertiaries.
The movement even spread outside the Catholic Church. The Third Order of St.
Francis was particularly successful in recruiting members of the Anglican
Church at the end of the nineteenth century, using a different Rule, but the
same name. The Calvinist Monad, founder of a Franciscan Third Order in France,
ended his speech at the unionist congress in Stockholm in 1927 by expressing
the wish that "in all parts of the Christian world anew St. Francis might
inspire missionaries of the Third Order Secular to preach the moral, social,
and spiritual Gospel which alone can preserve us from the dreadful spectacle
of another world catastrophe. ..." It was necessary to make a show of strength
and advertise the worldwide appeal of the great Franciscan fraternity whose
members were scattered throughout the nations, if only as an answer to the
clamorous Marxist International with its message of class hatred, and a series
of major congresses was planned. In 1893 an international pilgrimage brought
4,500 tertiaries to the feet of the Pope. In the same year the distinguished
social apostle and enthusiastic tertiary Leon Harmel organized a grand
Franciscan conference at Val de Bois, attended by brotherhoods from France,
Belgium, and Holland; two similar congresses were held the following year at
Novara and Paray-le-Monial, and each year they were repeated with increasing
success until the International Franciscan Congress of 1900, presided over by
Cardinal Vives and attended by about 17,000 tertiaries from all over the
world. In 1914 the National Congress, held in Madrid, made headlines. In 1921,
the seventh centenary of the Third Order's foundation, in addition to a series
of regional and national congresses, which set the whole Christian world
astir, the Second International Congress met in Rome. The centenary
celebrations had been inaugurated on January 6 that year by Benedict xv with
his encyclical Sacra pro pediem, in which he exhorted those who had
charge of souls to ensure that the already existing tertiary brotherhoods
became steadily more prosperous, and that others were created where as yet
there were none. The result was a fresh increase in the number of tertiaries
and in the patronage extended by bishops to the Third Order, acting on the
unequivocal guidelines laid down by the Holy See.
More large
congresses were held in 1926 to mark the seventh centenary of the death of St.
Francis; Pius XI also commemorated it in the encyclical Rite expiatis,
which ended with another exhortation to bishops to encourage the faithful as
energetically as they could to join the Third Order. Later these solemn
assemblies were succeeded by more practical and effective national meetings,
in which only provincial delegates took part. Pius XII added words of his own
to the chorus of praise and the injunctions of his predecessors in an audience
which he granted to 4,000 representatives of the brotherhoods controlled by
the four branches of the Franciscan family on November 20, 1945, and on August
15, 1952, when he commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of his enlistment in
the Third Order. John XXIII, in his allocution of July 2, 1961 to the national
congress of Italy, and Paul VI in his allocution of June 23, 1968, and another
of May 20, 1971, to a large international gathering of Tertiaries, also
expressed their regard for the Franciscan lay movement.
The most
eloquent proof of the spirit of cooperation in large sections of the clergy is
the brotherhoods of priests, which have been established in all countries. The
most important is the "Pia Fratellanza," a body founded in 1900 in Rome
by Cardinal Vives, whose ranks include distinguished prelates of all
nationalities: Giacomo della Chiesa, later Benedict XV, belonged to this
society and was minister for six years; so did Eugenio Pacelli, the future
Pius XII. There are many priestly brotherhoods of this kind in Italy, France
(where there were as many as twenty-seven in 1950, publishing their own
journal), Belgium, and Spain.
It must be
pointed out, however, that the graph showing the numerical peak reached during
the decade 1920-1930 began to plummet in the following decade and has not yet
come to a halt. What are the reasons? Perhaps the first is the Church's very
eagerness to make the tertiary ideal for living easier in order to push up the
statistics, often turning the brotherhoods into mere confraternities without
offering lay people any program for holiness or apostolic activity. It was
frankly acknowledged at various conferences following Leo XIII's constitution
that the Third Order was on the whole not in a fit state to fulfil the Pope's
purpose. The second cause may be that the First Order has turned its attention
to other more immediately effective forms of service, neglecting to care for
the tertiary associations, which have thus become isolated from the convents.
The most likely explanation: however, is probably to be found in the emergence
of anew force destined to supersede the Third Order in attracting the lay
apostolate: Catholic Action. In fact the latter's maximum growth coincided
with the Third Order's maximum decline. This was a perfectly natural
development once the bishops and clergy of the entire world responded to
persistent pressure from Pius XI on behalf of the new institution, which was,
moreover, placed by the Pope himself under the patronage of St. Francis of
Assisi. The substitution was not part of the Pope's intentions, nor did it
necessarily result from the coexistence of the two movements, as their aims
were clearly differentiated; but it was inevitable.
This trend
did not pass unnoticed by the superiors of the Franciscan families, who for
years had been studying ways of revitalizing the Third Order by improving its
organization and uniting their common efforts. The four ministers general of
the Franciscans, Conventuals, Capuchins, and Regular tertiaries have from time
to time sent out circulars to their respective families urging superiors to
fulfil their responsibilities to the Third Order. At the same time general,
national and provincial commissariats have been created to centralize
authority within each Franciscan family, and organizations formed to establish
better liaison and cooperation among them. Interdisciplinary meetings have
been held, like the international assembly of lay directors in 1950, and
another in 1975, coinciding with the great world pilgrimage in Holy Year.
One
important event was the publication in 1957 of the Third Order's constitutions
by decree of the Sacred Congregation for Religious. These stressed the secular
nature of the tertiary's vocation - secular holiness, secular apostolate - and
outlined a program for committed Christian living that was realistic and up to
date, especially as regards witnessing and working for peace and social
justice. The possibility of replacing the scapular and cord with a medallion
or badge was accepted. A distinction was drawn between external authority,
exercised by the four ministers general of the First Order through general,
national, provincial and zonal commissaries and local directors, and the
internal authority of local, zonal, provincial, national, general, and
interobediential chapters.
2.0
The SFO today – A Unified International Order With Its Own Superiors
Before the
revival of the SFO brought about by the second Rule of Leo XIII in 1884, the
Third Order, though strong in numbers, was far from being a unified Order. In
virtue of the bull of Pope Martin V, way back in 1289, which put all
communities of lay tertiaries firmly and inexorably under the control of the
First Order’s Minister General and Provincials, all Third Order local
fraternities were strictly bound to the Franciscan branch which gave them
spiritual assistance. They had virtually no link with one another.
In this way, a local fraternity “belonged” or, better, was
attached to a Friary of the First Order mainly due to the fact that each
tertiary made his profession to the Friars, and not to the Third Order
Minister, as today. The division that occurred within the Franciscan Order in
1517
into two separate Orders – The Conventuals and the Observants, was also
carried over to the Third Order. With the birth of the Capuchin Reform in
1528 and its recognition as the Third branch of the First Order in 1619, the
Third Order was yet again divided. The same applies for the Third Order
Regular Friars
.
For this reason, a determined Third Order Fraternity was said to be “of
Capuchin (or Conventual or Friars Minor or Third Order Regular) Obedience”.
Thus in some
cities, a Third Order fraternity under Capuchin spiritual assistance had
little or no contact whatsoever with another fraternity under the assistance
of the Conventuals or the Friars Minor in that same city. Contacts with
nearby local fraternities assisted by the same Franciscan branch were not
frequent and activities involving local fraternities from nearby towns were
initiatives taken mainly by the First Order assistants or superiors. They
rarely went beyond the provincial or national level. All this started to
change after the Second Vatican Council (CVII).
The
internal organisation of a local fraternity changed little throughout the
centuries. It continued having its main point of reference the Franciscan
Friary assisting them, which was frequently the same place where the monthly
meetings were held, or the First Order Fraternity that accepted their
profession as members.
We saw
in section 1.6 the decline that occurred in the Third Order and how membership
had become a fashion that attracted many important figures in society, but did
not imply any particular effort to live the Franciscan way of life indicated
by St. Francis. Moreover, a good number of members tended to become members
in all the other Third Orders or societies present in their town or village,
obviously without being able to fulfil the obligations expected of them in
virtue of their membership.
Others
still joined simply to benefit from some of the privileges accorded to the
members, most common of which, was the right to be buried in the burial site
reserved for the deceased of Third Order and benefit from the masses and
prayers for their souls by the surviving members and the friars.
For
these and other reasons, many members would stop attending meetings after some
time following their formation and profession. Thus, though the number of
professed members could quite high in a given fraternity, the members that
actually attended the meetings was quite poor. This continued to be the
situation in many places till the Second Vatican Council.
2.1
The Changes brought by the Second Vatican Council
2.1.1
Secular Institutes - Living the Gospel Counsels Remaining in the World
The renewal that was brought about by the Second Vatican
Council for the whole Church sparked off a great change in the SFO too. This
was mainly in virtue of the directives given in the document Perfectæ
Caritatis (Decree on the up-to-date Renewal of Religious Life – 28 October
1965) and subsequent documents, especially Ecclesiae Sanctæ II.
Hitherto, there were three categories in the faithful: the clerical, the
religious and the lay. However, before the Council many new institutes were
born which could not fit in any of these three categories, because they did
not live together as religious, but professed the evangelical counsels
continuing to live in the world. The Second Vatican Council saw that the Holy
spirit was reviving an old form of living the Gospel Life in the world – that
of Secular institutes, among which the Third Order of St. Francis. Living the
Gospel Counsels in the world became the fourth category to which a Catholic
can adhere to. The great intuition of St. Francis finally found its
officially recognized place in the Church!
While it is
true that Secular Institutes are not religious institutes, at the same time
they involve a true and full profession of the evangelical counsels in the
world, recognized by the Church. This profession confers a consecration on
people living in the world, men and women, laymen and clerics. Therefore,
they should make it their chief aim to give themselves to God totally in
perfect charity. The institutes themselves ought to preserve their own
special character – their secular character, that is to say – to the end that
they may be able to carry out effectively and everywhere the apostolate in the
world and, as it were, from the world, for which they were founded.
Let them
know quite clearly, at the same time, that they will be unable to accomplish
so great a task unless the members have so thorough a grounding in matters
divine and human that they will be truly leaven in the world, for the
strengthening and increase of the Body of Christ. Superiors therefore should
devote great care to the formation, especially the spiritual formation, of
their subjects, and also to the promotion of their higher studies.
(Perfectæ Cariratis N°11)
Membership
is open to everyone, except to those that have taken final vows as Religious –
they have already adopted a stricter Gospel life by embracing religious life.
2.1.2
From Third Order of St. Francis to The
Secular Franciscan Order (SFO).
Keeping in
line with these indications of the II VC, the Third Franciscan Order started
being called the Secular Franciscan Order. This was done for two reasons: the
first being that, for far too long, many regarded the Third Order as being
somewhat third in importance rather than its being the third in chronological
order to be founded by Saint Francis.
The second reason was to bring the Third Franciscan Order in line with the
Second Vatican Council, thus becoming a unified Secular Institute in its own
right, under one General Minister for the whole Order, thus putting aside the
historical divisions within the First Order. The Second Vatican Council
strongly emphasized the lay person's vocation in the Church and set lay
organizations committed to the Christian apostolate on the road to gradual
independence, and also felt necessary to recognize the autonomous nature of
the Secular Franciscan Order, as the Third Order of St. Francis is now
called. While still spiritually closely united with the First Order (The
Spiritual Assistant, who is usually a Franciscan friar appointed by his
own superiors to assist the SFO, is a member by right of the Council of
any fraternity at all levels) the SFO is juridically
autonomous.
2.1.3
The Renewal of the Rule in 1978 by Pope
Paul VI and the New Constitutions.
Whereas up to the Second Vatican Council, all legislation
regarding the Third Order was issued by a decree of the Pope, (The renewal of
the Rule two years after the 7th centenary of the birth of St.
Francis can be considered as a personal initiative of Pope Leo XIII, himself a
member of the Third Order. See Section 1.7.) the Council directives indicated
that the renewal of the legislation of all institutes had to be presented by
the institutes themselves for final approval by the Holy See. Now this
presented a problem because the Third Order was hitherto divided into four
under the Obediences of the Friars Minor, the Conventuals, the Capuchins and
the Third Order Regular. From the promulgation of the previous Constitutions
of 1957 each Obedience had its own General Minister and councils. Inter-obediential
meetings and chapters, though already held in some countries, were still
optional and not yet a reality in other countries.
The Rule (1978)
The turning
point came about in 1967 when an inter-obediential commission was established
by the three General Ministers of the First Order and the General Minister of
the Third Order Regular (henceforth referred to as the Four General Ministers)
for the Revision of the Rule. The drafting of a new general Rule was begun
in 1968, and the difficult task was finally completed when Pope Paul VI,
himself a member of the Secular Franciscan Order, promulgated it on June 24,
1978.
In 1973 the
World Council of the Third Order was established by the Four General
Ministers, and Manuela Mattioli was nominated President of the SFO
International Council at inter-obediential level. Born in Florence, Italy,
she moved to Caracas, Venezuela, in 1950 where she became a member of the
Third Order (under Capuchin Assistance). She was re-elected President by the
members of the one International Council in 1977 and finally, re-elected as
the First General Minister of the SFO during the IV General Chapter of the SFO
(first elective chapter) held in Madrid in 1984.
The
Constitutions (2000)
With the
promulgation of the new Canon Law in 1983, work could finally start to compile
the new Constitutions. This work started during the General Chapter of 1984
and elaborated during the V General Chapter held in 1988 in Rome. On 8
September 1990 these were approved for an experimental period of six years.
The final approval of the definitive General Constitutions (contained in this
book) was given by the Holy See in 8 December 2000.
2.2
The Full Unity of the SFO.
In the presentation to the 1996 General Chapter it was
stated that the unification process of the Italian SFO was still in progress,
whereas in the 1999 General Chapter it was referred that "the discussion on
the time required and the way to reach this unification had become wider and
deeper-rooted so much so that it involved the concept of the organic unity of
the SFO and, as a result, its autonomy and even its secularity". After taking
note of the entire process, the Chapter issued the Presidency a mandate "to
pursue in every possible way the reinforcement of the SFO unity, autonomy and
secularity", to convoke within 2002 the elective Chapter of the Italian
national fraternity and to guarantee in the meantime the orderly development
of the life of the regional and local fraternities.
This
commitment, however, brought the Italian SFO to the first unitary elective
national Chapter held from 27th April to 1st May 2002. It also contributed to
the full recognition of the authority of the General Minister and the CIOFS
Presidency by the Holy See and the Conference of the General Ministers of the
First Order and TOR. Thus the SFO celebrated the X General Chapter (and IV
elective Chapter) of November 2002 held in Rome as a truly unified Order with
General Superiors given full recognition by the Church and the Franciscan
First Order.
2.3
The Situation of the Order Today.
According to the 1996 census, the total number of members
was just over 431,000, organized in 49 constituted national fraternities and
31 emerging national fraternities. The 2002 census
provides similar figures for the members, but shows an increase in the
constituted national fraternities which go up from 48 to 57,
and confirms the growth of the SFO organization structure.
Continued
