Franciscan Reform and Division

"Let us begin again..."

...for up until now we have done nothing."

Servant of God Bernadine of Asti, author of the Capuchin Constitutions and spiritual father of the Reform

Reform and Renewal in Todays Franciscan World

Precepts of the Rule of 1223

Hierarchy of Principles in Franciscan Life

Franciscan Divisions

Reform nd Divsion f todysfancscan wo

Reform and Renewal in Today’s Franciscan World

In his book “Reform and Division in the Franciscan Order”, Duncan Nimmo defines three forms of living the Franciscan Life; Strict, Moderate and Laxed. Such a distinction may sound both judgemental and pejorative. However, Duncan Nimmo bases this distinction upon the objective evidence of how a particular Franciscan Order observes the Rule of Saint Francis. One is strict, laxed of moderate according to how a particular Franciscan group observes the precepts, counsels and admonitions of Saint Francis’ Rule. As we look at the present state of the Capuchins, O.F.M.s and the Conventuals we can use this standard by Duncan Nimmo to consider just how well we have implemented the decrees of the Second Vatican Council. In the same way we can look at the various reform groups that have sprung up over the last five decades in order to examine how these groups have chosen to live the Rule.

There are 26 precepts to the Rule of Saint Francis. These precepts are directives given by Saint Francis that were, for him, non-negotiables. When reform movements began in the Franciscan Order it had been over whether or not these precepts were being observed. If they were strictly observed then the group was considered strict, if moderately observed, than moderate and if mostly not observed than laxed. It should be duly noted that the principles of the Rule and their implementation do not stand alone. Each have an historical place in the Franciscan life that is bolstered by the traditions that surround that principle. In other words, the life is to be lived according to the traditions and practices that gave life to the principles and defined how the charism is to be lived. These traditions and practices give strength and support to the principle, making it tangible.

In our present culture we have grown accustomed to Consecrated persons (religious) living rather secular lives. We have become accustomed to religious not wearing their habits, having the use of amazing amounts of money, not living in community, driving nice to fancy cars, taking expensive vacations, and praying only, at most, two or three hours of the Divine Office in common. Unfortunately, all too often, the orthodoxy of Consecrated persons, or fidelity to the Church’s teachings, is questionable. Our expectations of religious have become so low that any community who wears their habit most of the time, outrightly express their fidelity to Rome and steps up to implement the Essential Elements of Religious Life we consider “radical”.

We are rightly impressed when we see a Franciscan community wearing their habit, faithful to the magisterium, praying the Divine Office, adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, serving the poor and living an austere life. We are impressed when we see them arrive in an old car with a shaved head and sandals. We feel drawn to be far more charitable to the poor when we see their care and devotion to the homeless and those in need. It is a great joy to see Friars using, like St. Maximilian Kolbe, the media as an avenue of evangelization.To the outside world they appear radical and on the edge of the society.

When it comes to Franciscan life, what most reform movements consider “radical” are, in the light of Franciscan history and the Rule, moderate or laxed. In an earlier time, those of the times of the reforms of the Observants and the Capuchins, our present reforms would be considered being in need of reform and renewal. What is considered radical today was then considered common to all Religious Orders. All religious wore the tonsure (shaved head), all religious lived austere lives, even the most laxed, they all served the poor and prayed not five, but eight hours of the Divine Office in common. In centuries past, all Religious were faithful to the magisterium, descent was not tolerated. The fact that a new reform community preaches the truths of the faith, particularly in the areas of contraception and abortion, does not make it a reform movement. As we said, fidelity to the magisterium and the observance of all that is common to religious life is not reform and/or renewal. It is a foundation from which to begin a reform of Franciscan life.

There can be no Franciscan reform and renewal unless there is first and foremost fidelity to the magisterium in all areas of the life of the Church. By this we mean that orthodoxy does not merely consist in filedity to doctrine or morality. Taking into consideration that Saint Francis was called by Bl. Thomas of Celano “a thoroughly Catholic and apostolic man” we can assume that fidelity to the Church’s teachings in areas of faith and morals is presumed. There needs to be fidelity in other areas such as: True implementation of authentic liturgical practices consistent with our Franciscan patrimony. Authentic and well balanced ascetical theology resting upon the Franciscan spiritual giants of Francis of Ossuna, St. Bonaventure, St. Peter of Alcantara and others. An implementation of an adherence to the basic principles of the Consecrated life as spelled out by the Documents Essential Elements of Religious Life, Vita Consecrata and the rest of the post-counciliar documents. Finally, it may seem to be a small issue, but being that Saint Francis said in his Testament that those who do not pray the Divine Office according to the use of the Church he doesn’t consider Catholic, there needs to be a true and well developed understanding and implementation of the celebration of the liturgy of the Hours consistent with the age old traditions of the Franciscan Order.

Fidelity to the precepts of the Rule of 1223 is and has been the basis for every previous reform movement.The Conventual Franciscans, from whom came the Observant Reform, would make our present reform groups look like flaming liberals and weak friars. The Observant Franciscans, from whom came the Capuchin reform, would make our present reform and renewal groups look like lukewarm Secular Franciscans living together. The Capuchin Reform would make our present reforms movements look like little people walking among a race of giants.

In order to emphasize a point we refer you to the first Capuchin commentary on the Rule by John of Fano. What makes this commentary so fascinating is that John was once the greatest enemy of the Capuchin reform. He has often been likened to Saint Paul, a likeness that he himself agrees with. In his commentary he has a dialogue with an immature Friar of the Observance. He shows how the Capuchin Reform is the ultimate reform because of the manner in which it observes the Rule and the Testament. John spares no expense at showing how the Observants and the Conventuals have strayed from the Rule. However, when we, from our present cultural perspective, read the dialogue and how both the Observants and Conventuals lived the Rule we have only to marvel at the strictness of the Capuchin reform.

Prcepts of te Rule of 223

The Precepts of the Rule of 1223

Along the path of the history of the Franciscan Order there were many quarrels, to put it mildly, about the Rule and how to observe it. Eventually the Rule was carefully examined as to what was a precept (something that Francis demanded as part of the life), what was a counsel (something Saint Francis counseled the Friars to do, no less important) and what was an admonition (something Saint Francis admonished the Friars to observe). These distinctions helped the Friars examine the Rule and its observance accordingly. They also mentioned the various items that were at the discretion of the Ministers, Custodes and those of the Friar himself.

Questions continued to arise over the first precept, namely the Friars being bound to obey Br. Francis and his successors. The Friars questioned whether or not a new Minister General could order something contrary to that of Saint Francis, after all Saint Francis is the founder to whom even the new Minister is to obey. And, if Saint Francis admonishes or counsels something, although it doesn’t have the force of a precept, how much energy should be put into observing it? It may sound like a mute question, but it lends itself to asking just how far are we to observe what Saint Francis has bestowed upon us? It is true that the living of the life is at the discernment of the Church and so papal decrees could be legitimately observed. However, for the interior life of the Friars it needs to be asked if a legitimate papal decree relaxes the Rule and frees the Friars from observing aspects of the charism given by Saint Francis, should those relaxations be observed?

Furthermore, Saint Francis wrote his Testament in 1224, a year after the Rule, so that the Friars could observe the Rule “in a more Catholic manner.” In the Testament Saint Francis gives obediences and strict commands. In 1230 the Friars asked the Pope if they were bound to obey the Testament. Quo Elongati, a Papal Bull written by Pope Gregory IX, the former Cardinal Hugolino, said that it was noble to observe the Testament but it was not mandatory. Being that Saint Francis mentioned in the Testament that it was only his exhortations and admonitions and not another Rule, it was an accepted decision. The Capuchins decided that they would make it mandatory to observe the Testament. They wrote it into their Constitutions and that helped their reform to remain faithful to the precepts of the Rule.

Here are the precepts of the Rule. At first glance they may not seem all that too difficult. One has to spend time placing each precept into the reality of living the daily life in order to see how radical they are. Also, these were on top of already established traditions of the Order:

This is the Rule and life of the Friars Minor, namely to live the holy Gospel…
...and let the other brothers be bound to obey Br. Francis and his successors…
..the Minister Provincial...to whom alone...is permission for receiving brothers…
...after one year of probation let them be received into obedience…
...it is forbidden to leave the Order…
To those who have promised obedience may have one tunic with a hood..another without a hood...and those who are forced by necessity may wear shoes...
The clerical brothers shall recite the Divine Office according to the rite of the Roman Church…
...the lay brothers shall say the Our Fathers…
...the Friars shall fast…[During Lent and the Lent that begins with the feast of St, Martin]
...in no way shall the Friars receive coin nor money...they do not receive coin nor money...they may receive what is necessary for their bodily needs and those of their brothers, but not money in any form.
Ministers and custodians take special care to provide for the needs…
The brothers shall not acquire anything as their own, neither a house nor a place nor anything at all…
...let them go begging for alms…
...let them confidently make known their needs to the other…
If any Friar shall sin mortally...have recourse to the Minister Provincial...who shall impose a penance…
The Friars shall always have one of the Friars as Minister General...when he dies another shall be elected…
Chapter of Pentecost...every three years…
The Friars shall not preach in a diocese where the bishop is opposed to them doing so…
...none of the Friars shall dare to preach unless he has been examined by the Minister General...and has received from him the office of preaching…
I strictly command them [Friars] to obey their ministers in all things which they have promised...which are not against their conscience or our Rule…
...those who cannot observe the Rule spiritually shall have recourse to their ministers…
The ministers shall be the servants of the Friars.
The Friars shall not have suspicious dealings with woman…
The Friars shall not enter the convents of nuns…
...the ministers...to petition the Lord Pope for one of the Cardinals...who would be governor, protector and corrector of this fraternity…
Non one, therefore, is in any way permitted to tamper with this decree...

Returning to the distinctions made by Duncan Nimmo; Strict, Moderate and Laxed, we can examine the old Orders and present day reform groups and ask whether a community has chosen to live the Franciscan life moderately, strictly or with laxity. Some initial questions that might be helpful:

Do they observe the Holy Gospel?
With what level of commitment do they observe the Evangelical Counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience?
Do they obey Saint Francis’ counsels, admonitions and precepts?
Are they permitted more than one habit with a hood? ( second without a hood for those who wish?)
Do they wear shoes only by necessity?
Do they celebrate the Divine Office according to the Church? (All seven hours)
Do they receive coin or money in any form?
Have they acquired houses, properties or things?
Are the things they have acquired in keeping with poverty?
Do they have bank accounts, holdings or savings accounts?
Do they own property?
Have they created corporations to have and hold money and property for them?
Do they go begging?
Do they do Manual labor?
Do they treat each other as one family?
How do they spend their time in fraternity?
Do they make the two fasts prescribed in the Rule?

These are just some of the questions that will determine the level of observance lived by a Franciscan community. Although each and every precept is extremely important and crucial for Franciscan observance, we need to look particularly at the acquisition, use and holding of monies and property. These are the hallmarks of mendicant poverty. To say that an individual Friar does not own a bank account or have the use of money or ownership of property but the Order does is not Franciscan mendicant poverty, but monastic poverty. In our present culture monastic poverty has been adopted by the majority of mendicant Orders leaving us to wonder if true mendicancy still exists in the Church today? In some corners of the Franciscan world poverty has become simply good stewardship of people’s hard earned money. A nice concept, but it lacks any connection to Franciscan poverty. In these same circles you will find Friars living not middle class lifestyle but rather the life of the wealthy.

Hierarchy of Principles:

After examining the precepts of the Rule of 1223 it is important to recognize that our forefathers had a hierarchy of principles that was woven into the very fabric of religious life. Due to the persecutions of the Church in the early and late nineteenth century these principles were reordered, or should we say disordered, and it lead to the loss of religious observance a century before the Second Vatican Council. The Second Vatican Council couldn’t have been more correct in calling religious to return to the primitive inspiration of their founder. For Franciscans this return to the primitive inspiration requires the reordering of the principles of the Franciscan life into their proper ranking. If a reform movement has these principles but does not order them properly then the reform is doomed to be laxed or moderate at best.

Here are the principles in their hierarchical order as lived by the most observant Friars of the Rule. We have included some of the details covered under each of the principles. Certainly this is not an exhaustive list of items covered under each principle. The list is provided as a means of seeing the manner in which each of the principles are lived and affect the other principles. If a Friar is faithful to keeping the order of priorities starting from Prayer on down to Fraternity then he will be able to keep the apostolate in its appropriate place.

Prayer
1. Divine Office
2. Adoration/Mental Prayer
3. Silence in the Friary
4. Marian Devotion:
  1. Rosary
  2. Litany of Our Lady
  3. The Angelus
  4. Saturdays in honor of Our Lady
  5. Marian Consecration
5. Grand Silence
6. Readings at Meals
  1. The Gospels
  2. The Rule and Testament on Fridays
  3. The Constitutions
  4. Spiritual Books
Penance
1. Food:
  1. The two Lents periods of fasting mentioned in the Rule
  2. Abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays
  3. Sweets reserved for Sundays and Holy Days
  4. Food of the poor and simply prepared without spices
2. Clothing
  1. Penitential Habit
  2. Going barefoot unless necessity demands otherwise
  3. No other clothing than one habit with a hood, another without a hood and underwear,
    1. A mantle, socks and necessity for the old and weak cold may be allowed.
3. Furniture
  1. No couches or soft beds (except for the sick and elderly)
  2. Simple and poor furniture
4. Taking the discipline every evening
Poverty
1. No use of money
2. No receiving of monies
3. No bank accounts
4. No saving accounts
5. No stocks, bonds or other holdings
6. No ownership of buildings or any item in it
7. No ownership of vehicles
8. Poor and simple use of the things necessary for our daily life
9. Et al.
Minority
1. No holding positions of authority in our ministries: Director/Pastor/Administrator
2. No holding diocesan positions
3. Serving as one who is poor and the least of those whom we serve.
Fraternity
1. Praying together
2. Living the common life together
3. Recreation as brothers
4. Meals in common
5. Ministering to others as brothers, always, at least, in twos.
6. No “personalized” ministries
Apostolate
1. Taking on no apostolic work that would in any way interrupt the above principles for more than two weeks at most.
2. Even when taking on apostolates or ministries living the above principles as authentically and as faithfully as possible.
3. Always serving in ministry in at least twos.

You will notice that the apostolate is at the bottom of this list of priorities. It has been the history of the Franciscan Order that when the apostolate climbs above any one of the other principles the true observance of the Rule is lost. This is true for each of the principles that are in this order of priority. For example; if fraternity becomes more important than prayer, prayer will be set aside for recreation (perhaps television or youtube). If the apostolate climbs above poverty and penance then the friars will be looking to have what they need for the apostolate and the penitential life will become too difficult to observe in order to keep up with the demands of the apostolate.

Poverty and Penance are indivisible aspects of the life. If you lose one you will lose the other. They assist each other and and support one another. Penance has been placed above Poverty in the hierarchy of principles due to the fact that when Saint Francis first began the Order he called us “Penitents from Assisi”. He also said in his Testament: “The Lord gave me the grace to do penance.” If a Friar keeps his eyes on the importance of being a penitential Friar then he will seek poverty as one of his means of being penitential. When we Friars have forgotten the need and importance of living a life of penance, we start looking for means and things to make our life “easier” and to do things “more efficiently” and so poverty is cast aside for convenience and comfort. Penance will give meaning, substance, purpose and power to our life of poverty.

A radical Franciscan reform movement is going to prioritize the principles of the life in the above given order. The early Capuchins knew this and they not only made the priorities firm in their Constitutions but they also institutionalized them into the very life of the brothers. For this reason their reform lasted for three hundred years, the only long lasting reform movement. This is the challenge that lays before us in our present age.

We live in a society that places priority and value on “what we do”. The first question we ask a religious is “What is your ministry?” or “What do you do?” Our workaholic society that places such importance on what we do makes it very difficult for a Franciscan Reform to prioritise the apostolate. Most, close to all, reform and renewal communities have failed in the observance of the precepts of the Rule because the apostolate is ruling the life. Only when the apostilate takes its proper place at the bottom of the list of priorities will there be true Franciscan reform. Not until Prayer, Penance, Poverty, Minority and Fraternity are guiding what we do and how we do it will the charism given to us by Saint Francis be truly observed once again.

Hierarchy o Principles

Franciscan Divisions

Franciscan Divisions:

We have become familiar with the three major Franciscan Orders; Conventuals, Observants (O.F.M.) and Capuchins. In the past, even a decade after the Second Vatican Council, there were still some distinctions between the communities. Using the model given to us by Duncan Nimmo; it was commonly understood that the Conventuals were the laxed observance, the O.F.M.s lived the Rule moderately and the Capuchins were the strict observance. Although before the Council all three had already moved into a moderate/laxed observance they were still distinguishable one from another.

In recent decades the observance of the Rule has so deteriorated that one can barely find precepts of the Rule being observed. Secularism, modernism, rationalism, materialism, and relativism have become staples in present day Franciscan life. These “isms” can be found in the Conventuals, O.F.M.s and Capuchins. This is not meant to be mean or hurtful, it is just the reality. Its ok if that is what has been chosen, that’s their right, if the Church approves it. The truth remains that one can no longer find any distinction between these three communities. We must ask; what is left of the Rule in the Constitutions of these three Orders? Perhaps this is why the Minister Generals of these three Order are presently working on unifying into one Order.

The plethora of Franciscan Reform movements began in the late 1960s. Some have used the principles that lead to a strict observance. Others, reeling out of the craziness that followed the Council, sought orthodoxy and the implementation of the basic principles of Consecrated Life, but this can not be called a strict or radical reform. Some can be determined to be moderate and mostly laxed. Once again, this is not to be negative of judgemental. It is an observation made by objectively looking at the new communities in light of the format provided by Duncan Nimmo. Looking at the precepts of the Rule we see that most new Franciscan communities have mitigated the Rule and have chosen to present a reform movement based upon orthodoxy and service in some form of ministry.

When we look at the various statements of charism by these newer Franciscan reform movements we see that many of them, if not most, were founded for a particular apostolate. Some were founded for service to the poor, others for evangelization through the media and still others for pro-life work. Few have been founded as a means of accomplishing the task given by the Second Vatican Council which was to return to the primitive inspiration of the founder and bring it into the contemporary society. We all laud the absolutely incredible and amazing work being done by these communities. For some of them their work is second to none. Also, we applaud and are very grateful for the return to the orthodox practice and proclamation of the faith. We are all breathing deeply of the fresh air that has been replacing the smog of descent from Church teachings by others. Finally, we are content and pleased to see Franciscans wearing the habit and attempting to live the Essential Elements of Religious Life. What a grace it is to have such a public witness to the faith.

We believe that Franciscan life will continue to experience new spurts of new reform movements over the next few decades, it is our patrimony. This will continue until, like the days of the Capuchin Reform, a movement begins that is allowed to grow and mature into an authentic renewal of the charism planted by Saint Francis. Like the times of renewal of the sixteenth century, until a reform emerges that has once again renews the strict observance of the Rule and Testament of Saint Francis we will continue to experience attempts made by some of the most incredible people.

The question has been asked; What makes one Franciscan? Is it the wearing of the Franciscan habit? Is it the profession of vows? Is it a love and service to the poor? Is it living the Rule and adhering to the precepts of the Rule? Is it a particular spirituality? Is it loving animals? Perhaps we should answer this question from a quote from the original Capuchin Constitutions of 1536: “...for our Savior said to the Jews; “If you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.’ Hence, if we are sons of Saint Francis let us do the works of Saint Francis.”