Download “LAUDATO SII MI SIGNORE PER IL DONO DELLA FRATELLANZA

“LAUDATO SII MI SIGNORE
PER IL DONO DELLA FRATELLANZA…”
I. Francis of Assisi: Timeline of life
1181/2 – Francis’ birth
1202 - fights in battle between Assisi and Perugia, is captured and imprisoned in Perugia
1203 – is ransomed by father; Francis endures a long illness
1204 - sets out to participate in a crusade; returns home to seek God’s will
1205 – process of conversion; generous to the poor; embraces a leper; mocked by fellow Assisians; seeks
solitude in caves and abandoned churches; in the church of San Damiano, hears the voice:”Go, repair
my house which, as you see, is falling completely to ruin”; sells cloth from his father’s shop and
gives money to repair the church.
1206 – the enraged father takes him before the bishop, demanding repayment for his cloth; Francis strips,
returning his clothes and renouncing his inheritance; nurses lepers and repairs 2 more churches.
1208 – the Gospel read during the Mass in the church of Our Lady of the Angels (Portiuncula) makes a
personal appeal to him; begins an itinerant life of preaching repentance and peace; several young
men leave their families and possessions to join him.
1209 - writes a Rule for his new order; goes to Rome to gain papal approval for the order; settles with his
“brothers” in the Portiuncula.
1211 - tries to reach Muslim territory to convert Muslims; heavy winds force his return.
1212 - Clare is received as a follower; she begins the Poor Clares.
1215 - Francis exhorts people to show reverence for the Eucharist1217 - some 5,000 friars convene; Francis seeks volunteers to preach in Germany, Tunis, and Syria;
eventually, brothers reach Spain and England.
1219 - five friars killed Morocco killed; Francis sets sail for Egypt meets the Muslim sultan.
1220 - Pope Honorius III wants Francis to establish more discipline in his order; Francis appoints Peter of
Catani as minister general
1221 - Francis drafts a more formal rule for the Order.
1223 - after much debate, Francis revises his Rule; final revision of the Rule approved by Pope Honorius
III; re-enacts the Christmas story in Greccio.
1224 - on La Verna receives the stigmata.
1225 - nearly blind and suffering, returns to San Damiano, where Clare and her sisters care for him; writes
The Canticle of Brother Sun; cauterization treatment for his eyes.
1226 – back at the Portiuncula; composes a final verse about “Sister Death” for his Canticle
Oct. 3: dies; buried at the Church of San Giorgio in Assisi.
1227 - Francis’s friend and protector, Cardinal Ugolino, becomes Pope Gregory IX
1228 – Canonization of Francis
1230 – the remains are transferred to the Basilica of Saint Francis, built in his honour.
1517 – Division of the Minorite order into Observants (OFM Obs.) and Conventuals (OFM Conv.)
1528 – Breakaway of the Capuchins (OFM Cap) from the Observants
1897 – Formation of OFM (Leonine Union) egged on by Leo XIII
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II. Status Quaestionis: “Brotherhood” in the three Franciscan Families of the
First Order
OFM: “The Order of Friars Minor is made up of clerical friars and lay friars. By their profession,
all friars are completely equal in their religious rights and obligations except for those that arise from
Sacred Orders. The Order of Friars Minor is included by the Church amongst the clerical Institutes” (Const.
art. 3, 2004).
OFM Conv.: “The Order of Friars Minor Conventual is a religious community founded by St.
Francis of Assisi under the name of Friars Minor. From its earliest times the word conventual was added to
this name. The members of the Order are called Friars Minor Conventual. From its foundation our
community, by the will of our Father St. Francis, is a true fraternity. Its members, therefore, as brothers of a
single family, share in the life and work of the community, each according to his own circumstances. They
have equal rights and obligations, except in those matters pertaining to holy orders. Our Order, however, is
classified by the Church as clerical” (Const., Title I -1-2, 1985).
OFM Cap.: “By reason of the same vocation the brothers are equal. For this reason, according to
the Rule, Testament and earliest custom of the Capuchins, let all of us be called brothers without distinction.
The precedence necessary for the service of the fraternity flows from the responsibilities and roles actually
exercised. Moreover, within the Order, the province and local fraternity, all offices and responsibilities are
to be available to all the brothers, although paying attention to those which require sacred orders. Everyone
should help the other according to the gifts one has received, even in daily household chores” (Const., 84,36, 1990).
Post-synodal document Vita Consacrata, 61, (1996), Mixed Institutes: “Some Religious Institutes,
which in the founder's original design were envisaged as a brotherhood in which all the members, priests
and those who were not priests were considered equal among themselves, have acquired a different form
with the passing of time. It is necessary that these Institutes, known as "mixed", evaluate on the basis of a
deeper understanding of their founding charism whether it is appropriate and possible to return to their
original inspiration. The Synod Fathers expressed the hope that in these Institutes all the Religious would
be recognized as having equal rights and obligations, with the exception of those which stem from Holy
Orders. A special Commission has been established to examine and resolve the problems connected with
this issue; it is necessary to await this Commission's conclusions before coming to suitable decisions in
accordance with what will be authoritatively determined”.
III. Birth of the Franciscan Fraternity
The life of Francis of Assisi was radically conditioned by the Gospel account of the dispatching of the
disciples. He did not feel attracted to any of the then-existing religious orders. In 1208, he was still
uncertain on the modus vivendi of his vocation. He used to pray in the church of San Damiano and one day
while praying before the Crucifix (San Damiano) he heard the voice: “Francis, go and repair my Church,
which, as you see, is falling into ruin”. He repaired three churches, including the church of Our Lady of the
Angels (Portiuncula). One day while Francis was assisting at the holy Mass in the Portiuncula, he had an
intense illumination. The Gospel of the day seemed to have a personal and profound appeal on him. After
the Mass he begged the priest to explain to him the text. The priest commented on it point by point.
Hearing that the disciples of Christ should not possess gold or silver or money, or be provided with a
haversack, walking stick or shoes, or depend on a spare or extra bread, but only to preach the Kingdom of
God and penance (cf. Mt 10,7-10; Mk 6,8-9; Lk 9,1-6), exultantly Francis exclaimed: “This is what I want,
this is what I seek, this is what I desire with all my heart… He took off his shoes, tossed away his staff, was
satisfied with a single tunic, and exchanged his leather belt for a cord. He made himself a tunic that looked
like the cross so that he could beat off the temptations of the devil. With the greatest diligence and
reverence he tried to do everything else that he had heard” (1Cel 22; 3Comp 25). What underpinned
Francis’ perception of the evangelical life was the desire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus during his
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public life. Francis was inspired more by the itinerancy of Jesus as seen the Gospel than by the life in the
Jerusalem community "being of one mind and heart" (Acts 2,42-47, 4,32-35).
When other men presented themselves to him expressing their desire to follow his lifestyle, he did
not think of establishing themselves in a fixed place as a community, but, conforming to his inspiration,
remained steadfast in being itinerant. The little group had hardly reached the number of 8 (including
Francis), when he formed them into four groups of two each and told them: “Go, my dear brothers, two by
two through different parts of the world, announcing peace to the people and penance for the remission of
sins. Be patient in trials, confident that the Lord will fulfil his plan and promise. Respond with humility to
those who question you. Bless those who persecute you. Give thanks to those who harm you and bring false
charges against you, for because of these things an eternal kingdom is prepared for us” ... Then Brother
Bernard with Brother Giles hastened on the way to Santiago; saint Francis with one companion chose
another part of the world; the other four, two by two, went to other regions” (1Cel 29-30). “And, they
accepting the injunction of holy obedience with joy and great gladness, fell down humbly on the ground
before St. Francis. But he embraced them affectionately and earnestly and said to each one, "Cast thy
thought on the Lord and He will nourish thee." These words he used to say whenever he sent any brethren
away on an "obedience” (cf. 1Cel 12:29f).
Though Francis sought “an alternate way”, he was determined to place it under the jurisdictional
power of the Church. In 1209 the strength of the group grew to 12, the brothers proceeded to Rome to get
the approval of the pope for their way of life, spelt out in the meantime by Francis with “a few words and
simply”, and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me" (Test 15). This shows the deep awareness of Francis for
his movement’s mission in the Church. In fact, although, according to the practices in the Church, the
approval of the bishop of Assisi alone was needed for the 12 to lead their new form of life, it was deemed
necessary to get the approval of the pope in order to “go about the entire world”. The brothers were all too
aware that they were the recipients of Jesus’ mandate to the disciples to preach the Gospel “to the ends of
the earth”. The brothers were convinced of their universal mission.
IV. Biblical background of fraternal witnessing
The Gospel text that Francis had listened to in the Portiuncula has a rich biblical content.
Proclamation of the Kingdom of God by “two males” is an application of the OT tradition to the concrete
situation. “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which
the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth…” (Dt 12,1).
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth
of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established” (Dt 19, 15). The accusation levelled against
Susanna by elderly men. The testimony of Peter and John to the Lord’s resurrection, even though it had
been the woman Maria of Magdala who was the first to have seen the Risen Lord: “Therefore Peter and the
other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran together. The other disciple outran
Peter, and came to the tomb first. Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn't enter
in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying, and
the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. So then
the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed” (Jn 20,3-9). In their
preaching the two men Peter and John bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection: “Now Peter and John went up
together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s
womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple… While the man held on to Peter and
John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s
Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do
you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus” (Acts, 3,1-3; 11-13)”.
For the Franciscans, fraternity is the one ordinary way of carrying out their apostolates. The brothers
were all equal and at the early stage they all took part in “preaching”. Itinerant preaching in the form of
penitential exhortation (exhortatio, eg Earlier Rule, XXI) was carried out by the early Minorites. “... They
responded simply that they were penitents originally from the city of Assisi. At that time their religion was
not yet called an Order” (3Comp, 37).
Initially one could find easy entry into the Franciscan order: “If any would desire to adopt this life and
would come to our brothers, let them send them to their Ministers provincial, to whom alone, and not to
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others, is the permission to receive friars conceded. Let the ministers indeed examine them diligently
concerning the Catholic Faith and the sacraments of the Church. And if they believe these things and want
to observe them faithfully and firmly unto the end, and they have no wives or, if they do, their wives have
already entered a monastery, or having taken a vow of continence, permission [to enter one] has been
granted to them by authority of the bishop of the diocese, and the wives are of such an age that suspicion
cannot arise concerning them, let them say unto these the word of the Holy Gospel, that they should go and
sell all that is their own and strive to give it to the poor. But if they cannot do this, a good will suffices for
them” (Rule of 1223, II). The friars were not required to be men of letters: “Indeed I warn and exhort the
friars in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they beware of all pride, vain glory, envy, avarice, care and solicitude
for this age, detraction and murmuring, and that those who are ignorant of letters not care to learn letters…”
(Rule of 1223, X).
“And when the Lord gave me some brothers, no one showed me what I ought to do, but the Most High
Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the form of the holy Gospel. And I caused it to be
written in few words and simply, and the Lord Pope confirmed it for me. And those who came to take this
life upon themselves gave to the poor all that they might have and they were content with one tunic,
patched within and without, by those who wished, with a cord and breeches, and we wished for no more”.
The friars, including those ordained, kept a respectable distance from the clerics. “Let the friars not preach
in the diocese of any bishop, when he has spoken against their preaching. And let no friar at all dare preach
to the people, unless he will have been examined by the minister general of this fraternity and approved,
and there be conceded to him by the same the office of preaching” (Rule of 1223, IX). The friars, whether
priests or lay, remained a group distinct from the clerics. “After that the Lord gave me, and gives me, so
much faith in priests who live according to the form of the holy Roman Church, on account of their order,
that if they should persecute me, I would have recourse to them. And if I had as much wisdom as Solomon
had, and if I should find poor priests of this world, I would not preach against their will in the parishes in
which they live. And I desire to fear, love, and honour them and all others as my masters; and I do not wish
to consider sin in them, for in them I see the Son of God and they are my masters. And I do this because in
this world I see nothing corporally of the most high Son of God himself except His most holy Body and
Blood, which they receive and they alone administer to others” (Francis of Assisi, Testament).
Manual work was integral to the lifestyle of the friars. “We clerics said the Office like other clerics;
the laics said the Paternoster, and we remained in the churches willingly enough. And we were simple and
subject to all. And I worked with my hands, and I wish to work, and I wish firmly that all the other brothers
should work at some labour which is compatible with honesty” (Francis of Assisi, Testament),
The Order soon became a great movement. At the Pentecost Chapter of 1219, new batches of friars
were destined for France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and Morocco. In Morocco in January 1220 five of
them were martyred. Sometime around June 1219 from Ancona Francis, along with Peter Cattani, Francis
embarked for the port of Saint John of Acre, where Brother Elias, who was in sent to Syria in 1217,
received him. (See Giordano da Giano, Cronaca, 11-15; FF, 2333-38).
V. Clericalisation of Franciscan Fraternity
Franciscan history in its early stages shows how the Order of Friars Minor evolved, with striking
rapidity, from a predominantly lay penitential movement of brothers to a well-organized Order made up,
for the most part, of clerics. In less than forty years, between the death of Saint Francis in 1226 and the
publication of the Constitutions of Narbonne in 1260, the Franciscan Order became a force of action within
the Church and within medieval culture, together with the other great mendicant movement of the time,
namely the Order of Preachers. Meanwhile the order had lost a basic element of its identity inasmuch as it
became distinctly clerical. Brother Elias’ removal from the post of general minister in 1239 marks the end
of the supremacy of the lay component of the Order. With the choice of Albert of Pisa, the first Minister
General who was a priest, in 1239, and especially with his successor, Haymo of Faversham, from 1240
onwards, the Franciscan Order became a distinctly clerical Order. The legacy of Brother Elias, who had
promoted incompetent lay brothers to governing posts in the Order, had left the friars with a strong
decision to see to it that their future superiors would be well-prepared for the responsibilities of their
offices, and thus would be clerics.
The popularity of the new mendicant Orders grew among the Christian faithful, who had felt alienated
in the complex framework of ecclesiastical institutions, and who longed for a simpler form of preaching
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and liturgy. Thus, the need for more friars who would be prepared for the pastoral ministry of preaching
and hearing confessions demanded that the friars would have to be trained in the theological schools and
universities. A Franciscan house of studies was already existing in Bologna when Francis was alive, and
other centres were soon established in Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, and other university cities.7 Up till the
13th century, the pastoral ministry in the Church was largely in the hands of the secular clergy and, up to a
certain extent, in the hands of the canons regular. The monastic Orders had very little pastoral contact with
the people, out of their monastic foundations. The new mendicant Orders were, on the contrary, living in
the towns and mixing with the people. They were the result of the new fabric of society which developed
in the Italian communes to the detriment of the old feudal system. The friars were itinerant preachers.
Their enclosure was the whole world.
The entry of the friars into the pastoral field inevitably brought the new mendicant Orders into conflict
with the secular clergy. The secular priests began accusing the mendicants of usurping rights which
belonged to them in the matter of preaching and in the pastoral care of souls. The most heated debate
developed in the University of Paris. Secular masters, like William of St. Amour and Gerard of Abbeville,
contested the rights of the mendicants, and particularly the fact that these new Orders had acquired
extensive privileges of exemption from the authority of local bishops, and could appeal directly to the Pope
through their Cardinal Protector. Study in the Order was necessary for apostolic ministry. For Saint
Bonaventure, a useful friar would be one who is capable of carrying out the purpose of the Order – an
Order founded by God for the principal, though not exclusive, purpose of building up the Church through
the hearing of confessions and preaching.
The Church had defended the mendicants all through the initial stages of their journey, entrusting them
with great responsibilities in pastoral ministry, in preaching, in the battle against heresy, and giving them
the same privileges of secular clergy. This inevitably led to tension with the local bishops and clergy, who
saw the mendicants as a threat to the diocesan framework of pastoral ministry, protected as they were by
papal privilege. The problem was further complicated by the establishment of the houses of studies of the
Franciscans and Dominicans in Paris, which were competing with the schools of the secular masters of the
university.
The popes themselves began sending friars as their personal legates to the Mongol empire. Innocent
IV chose as his personal ambassador to the Mongols Giovanni di Pian del Carpine, Minister of Germany
and Saxony. In 1245-1246 he began the long journey to Tartary and to the Great Khan. More and more
friars were entrusted with the delicate task of preaching against heresy. All these factors were highly
positive in the spreading of the Franciscan and Dominican foundations of the 13th century. By the mid-13th
century, the Franciscans became aware that their role in the Church resembled that of the twin Order of
Preachers. The Dominicans were definitely called to be clerics and preachers, whereas the Franciscans had
originally been a mixed Order of layman and clerics, whose duty was that of giving evangelical witness in
simple exhortations more than in official dogmatic preaching. However, the Rule of 1223 does devote a
chapter to the preachers, and the criteria of discernment for choosing preachers are left to the responsibility
of the Ministers.
Clericalism is systematically developed by Bonaventure when he defends the rights of the friars
against the Parisian masters: “The ministers who have the right to administer the sacraments to the faithful
are the Pope, the diocesan bishop, the pastor, and the priest who acts in the name of the pastor. It follows
that the greatest authority for the administration of the sacraments is that of the Pope. Therefore, those
clerics who fall directly under papal jurisdiction, have the full rights and duties of administering sacraments
to the faithful, in virtue of the privilege of exemption from the authority of the diocesan bishop, whenever
they are asked to do so by papal privilege. It is in this principle that one proves the rightful place of
religious clerics in the office of preaching and confessing the faithful.
The clericalisation of the Franciscan order is best seen in the ecclesiastical carrier of two of its friars –
St Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1217/1221 – 15 July 1274) and Pope Nicholas IV (1227-1292).
Bonaventure was doctor and master of the University of Paris and in 1257 was elected the general minister
of the order and in 1273 made cardinal by Gregory X. Brother Jerome of Ascoli was pontifical legate in
Greece and in 1274 he took the place of Bonaventure as the order’s general. In 1278 he was created
cardinal. He succeeded Honorius IV as pope and comes to be known as Nicholas IV (1292).
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