Saint Francis of Assisi founded the Order of Friars Minor in the year 1209. He had given the Friars are very short Rule of Life that was primarily a collection of Gospel quotes strung together.

After the Fourth Lateran Council, which Saint Francis attended, new directives were given for Religious Orders. As a result Saint Francis had to revise the Rule. He completed the revision in 1221, the same year he founded the Third Order (known today as the Secular Franciscans). This Rule never received Papal approval and so it was never enforced and is known as the Regula Non Bullata, or, the Rule without a Papal Bull.

In 1223 Saint Francis completed the writing of the final Rule which received Papal approval from Pope Honorius. This Rule is called the Regula Bullata, or the Rule with a Papal Bull. It is the final Rule of the Franciscan Order. The entire Franciscan Life is summed up in this brief document which has often been called: The Marrow of the Gospel. It is by this Rule that, even to this day, Franciscans profess their vows.

Saint Francis warned the Friars to never stray from the Rule and to observe it carefully and with due reverence. In order that we may observe it more easily and in "a more Catholic manner" Saint Francis, in 1224, wrote his Testament in which he reaffirms that no gloss is to be added to the Rule and that we are to observe simply and without gloss. 

Four years after the death of Saint Francis the Friars were asking for clarifications about the Rule and the Testament. Also, the Rule was very short, only twelve chapters made up of about thirteen paragraphs, the Friars needed clarifications to help them observe it and to deal with various disciplines of the life.

These clarifications, disciplines and ways of acting according to the Rule were called the Constitutions. In 1263, Saint Bonaventure, the Minister General of the Order codified them at the General Chapter held in Narbone and so the first Constitutions were called the Constitutions of Narbone.

Although the Rule of 1223 could never change, over the centuries the Constitutions would change repeatedly. Many times the Constitutions became a means of mitigating the Rule, particularly when it came to the vow of poverty. Friars felt themselves justified in living a mitigated form of the Rule because the Constitutions opened the doors for relaxations and permissions never imagined by Saint Francis.

When the Capuchin Reform began in 1528 they wrote a set of Statutes that were used to correct the Constitutions of the Observant Friars, of which they were once a part. Wherever the Statutes of Albacina (as they were called) diverted from the Observant's Constitutions, the Statutes were to be followed. The goal of the early Capuchins was to create a document that would be at the service of the Rule and not vice versa.

At their General Chapter in Rome 1535, Fr. Bernadine of Asti, with the help of others, took to writing the Constitutions that would guide the Capuchin Reform for the next three hundred years. It was written to be a "fence around the Rule" the "Unconquerable tower of David" that would protect the pure observance of the life given to us by our Seraphic Father Saint Francis. The document is designed to allow each Friar to live the radicality of the Franciscan life. Of all Constitutions written by the Franciscans or any other Religious Order for that matter, they are the most beautiful. These Constitutions tell the Friars not only how they are to observe the Rule, but why. Due to some unforeseen events the Constitutions received official approval in 1536 and as a result have been known as the Constitutions of 1536.

For three hundred years the Capuchins remained faithful to the strength and vigor of their first Constitutions, changing it only when and where it was absolutely necessary for the times. However, it never lost it's strength and direction of leading the brothers to live the Rule. 

The past two hundred years, ever since the age of the enlightenment, the Constitutions have suffered various  exemptions from the observance of the Rule of Saint Francis. From decades before the Second Vatican Council the Order had lost it's original vigor and place as a authentic observance of the life given by Saint Francis. Since the Second Vatican Council the many editions of the Constitutions has continually weakened and institutionalized exemptions from the Rule and life of Saint Francis' charism.

The Second Vatican Council called for the radical renewal of Consecrated Life. The Council wanted religious to return to the primitive inspirations of their founders and to bring i into our present day and age. Unfortunately, most religious Orders did shake off all of the customs that they had adopted but were not part of their charism, but they did not return to the primitive inspiration, nor did they bring that into the present day. 

In 2009 Fr. David Mary of Our Lady of Sorrows, FFM, founded the Franciscan Friars Minor with the intent of fulfilling the requests of the Second Vatican Council. So as not to re-invent the wheel, he chose to take the Capuchin Constitutions of 1536 and to update them just as the Friars had done in 1552, 1575, and 1608. By taking the original 1536 text and only updating it when it was necessary Fr. David Mary was able to maintain the strength and vigor of the original document. The Constitutions he follows are 90% the original Capuchin reform document with all of the fidelity that leads the Friars to live the Rule and Testament of Saint Francis without gloss. It is truly a masterpiece of bringing an 800 year old way of living into contemporary society.

Caution: It is not for the weak of heart. If someone wants to live the Rule of Saint Francis in our present culture, then be ready to give it your all. Three Popes have said that if one lives the Capuchin Constitution one will be a saint. The Capuchin Constitutions has formed a multitude of saints; why change a good thing?

Read the Fr. David Mary's Constitutions Chapter by Chapter: