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How are the Secular Franciscans, Franciscan Youth and their Assistants
situated? Conference given at the meeting of regional Councillors of the Marches, at Fermo, 26 November 1995. Carl Schafer OFM
The SFO, like the Church, is already
in a certain sense united and, at the same time, it is not
yet united. We can draw from history, particularly from recent
developments after Vatican II, the reasons why the SFO is already
united, and from theology those reasons why the SFO is not yet
united and why it should achieve unity. The SFO at all levels,
like the Church, is always on the way towards unity.
HISTORICAL REASONS While searching for the historical reasons for the unity of the SFO, I found it easier to identify the obstacles to unity. Without entering into the details of the troubled history of the Franciscan religious Orders, fragmented since the death of St Francis, we can state that every division introduced into the religious Orders has ended up creating a division among the Franciscan Tertiaries, who are closely linked to their friar-directors by canon law, also at times by loyalty and even by fraternal affection. However, the Brothers of Penance of the Third Order of St Francis had moments of acute awareness of their proper identity and autonomy. At the "General Chapter" of Bologna in 1289, thirty-two participants of the Lombard region met without any Friars Minor being present. They erected four Provinces, but did not succeed in having a Minister General recognized by the Apostolic See. The Acts of four chapters of this kind exist (Cf. Gabriele Andreozzi TOR, Storia delle Regole e delle Costituzioni dell'Ordine Francescano Secolare, pp. 99ss. Edizioni Guerra, Perugia, 1988).
But the autonomy of the Tertiaries
was terminated definitively in 1471, when Sixtus IV placed them
under the direction of the Friars Minor, thus initiating obedientiality.
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Secular Franciscan Order We can speak properly about the Secular Franciscan Order only from the moment of the approval and confirmation of its Rule by Paul VI's Apostolic Letter Seraphicus Patriarcha, of 24 June, 1978. In the Apostolic Letter, the Pope refers to "a new Rule for the Franciscan Third Order Secular or, as it is now called, the Secular Franciscan Order" In the conclusion, the Pope says, "... we approve and confirm ... the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order ... we abrogate the previous Rule of what was formerly called the Franciscan Third Order." Historically, the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) is the legitimate successor of the Third Order Secular of St Francis of Assisi, which, from 1883 to 1978, followed the Rule approved by Leo XIII with the Apostolic Constitution Misericors Dei Filius. That Third Order was the successor of the Order of Penance, which, from 1289 to 1883, followed the Rule which Nicholas IV approved with the Bull Supra montem. The Order of Penance was the successor of the Order of Continents or of Penance, "instituted by blessed Francis - says Nicholas IV - in the year of Our Lord 1221". In that year, the brothers and sisters of penance had received from the hand of Gregory IX a memorial of their way of life entitled Memoriale propositi. "Those who do penance" were the recipients also of an Exhortation, of unknown date, of St Francis himself. So the present Rule, in Article 3, summarizes the genealogy of the Secular Franciscan Order, through the Rules: "The present rule, succeeding Memoriale propositi (1221) and the rules approved by the Supreme Pontiffs Nicholas IV and Leo XIII, adapts the Secular Franciscan Order to the needs and expectations of the Holy Church in the conditions of changing times." The Exhortation of St Francis (cf. Epistola ad fideles, in Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis, pp. 107-112. Edidit Caietanus Esser OFM. Editiones Collegii S.Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, Grottaferrata (Roma), 1978), which forms the prologue of the present Rule, is addressed to "All who love the Lord ... ". It refers to the prayer of Jesus "so that they may be holy by being one". But it makes no reference to a fraternity. The Memoriale propositi (cf. Gabriele Andreozzi, op. cit., p.35-38) was written for persons "living in their own homes" and "who form part of this fraternity". It distinguished between "this fraternity" and "a religion" (cf. n.31). This means that at that time the members were not considered as religious. Although it did not speak explicitly of spiritual unity, it indicated the way of acting "in a case of discord ... to re-establish peace" (cf. n.26) The Rule of 1289 (cf. op. cit., pp. 80-85) distinguishes between "this fraternity" and "another approved Religion" (cf. Chap. II). So the Order of Continents was considered then as a form of religious life. The Rule spoke of peace between the members and of avoiding disputes among them (cf. Chap. X e XVII). The Sixteenth Century was characterized by the concern of the various obediences of Franciscan religious to create "their own" third order. The Constitutions arising from the Friars Minor Conventual, based on the Rule of Nicholas IV, were approved in 1628; those from the Observant Friars Minor in 1686. Such statutes had the force of law at least until the Rule of Leo XIII and in part until the Constitutions of 1957. From 1725 till 1729, Benedict XIII had to publish four different Constitutions of the Franciscan Tertiaries, one for each of the religious obediences. |
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The Rule of 1883 (cf. op. cit.,
pp. 236-240) never referred to the "fraternity", but
to the "Franciscan Sodality of the Secular Third Order"
(cf. Apostolic Constitution three times; Rule, Chap. I §III).
It made a slight reference "to heal discord" (Chap.
II §IX).
The General Constitutions of 1957, based on the Rule of 1883, remained in force until 1990. They make reference to spiritual unity within the local Fraternities, "in order to be more effectively drawn together in the bonds of fraternal charity" (Art. 53); they refer more often to charity towards others (cf. Art. 42,43). These Constitutions codified in a single document the obediential structures of the Third Order: "The order is divided by common law, into fraternities (Latin: sodalitates). By its own particular law it is divided into regions, provinces, nations and obediences: divisions, that is, which are governed by the respective Franciscan Family" (Art. 91). Seen in this light, the Franciscan Third Order, "the community of all members and fraternities, entrusted by the Church to the care of the four Regular Franciscan Families" (Art. 90), did not achieve unity either of structures or of spirit. There were four distinct obediential structures that aimed to cultivate the differentiated spirit of the Order of friar-directors. Only with the Rule of 1978 (cf. op. cit., pp. 291-299) do we arrive at a deep and integral discourse about the unity of the Secular Franciscan Order, "an organic union of all Catholic fraternities scattered throughout the world" (Art. 2). The Rule deals with spiritual unity inside and outside the Order, saying, "they should set themselves free to love God and their brothers and sisters" (Art. 12) and "bearers of peace ... they should seek out ways of unity and fraternal harmony through dialogue" (Art. 19). In Art. 20, we find the revolutionary contribution to the structural unity of the Order: "The Secular Franciscan Order is divided into fraternities of various levels - local, regional, national, and international... These various fraternities are coordinated and united according to the norm of this rule and of the constitutions" The General Constitutions of 1990, based on this Rule, continue the revolution. The obediential Franciscan Third Orders disappear totally and we arrive at a single Secular Franciscan Order. "Local Fraternities are grouped into Fraternities at various levels: regional, national and international, according to criteria that are ecclesial, territorial or of another nature. They are coordinated and connected according to the norm of the Constitutions" (Art. 29.1). The criterion of belonging to the same obedience is no longer applicable, since there are no longer obediences in the Secular Franciscan Order. The Constitutions affirm this when they speak of the Regional Fraternity: "the organic union of all the local Fraternities existing in a territory or which can be integrated into a natural unity, either by geographic proximity, or by common problems and pastoral realities. While respecting the unity of the SFO and with the collegial integration of the various Franciscan Obediences which may provide spiritual assistance within the area ..." (Art. 61). In 1973, the religious Ministers General constituted the Worldwide Interobediential Council of the Secular Third Order. An international Congress, recognized as the first General Chapter of the Third Order, was held at Rome in 1975. The first elective General Chapter of the Secular Franciscan Order, in which an SFO Minister General was elected, was held in Madrid in 1984. Finally, in January 1995, the Statutes of the International Fraternity of the SFO were approved. Since 1963, with the conclusion of Vatican II, the Franciscan Tertiaries began to work towards the unity of the Order in their own countries. Many have already succeeded in establishing the unitary structures (e.g., Australia in 1965). Some have not yet succeeded (e.g. Croatia, Italy, Rumania, Slovakia, Mexico, Korea). The most difficult path to unity has been that of Italy, which still suffers a difficult passage, begun in 1975 with the Statutes of the Secular Franciscan Fraternity of Italy, that speaks of interobedientiality "as long as the division into obediences continues". The historical reasons for unity have become more pressing since the approval of the Rule of Paul VI. Some have thought that they could easily apply the new Rule to the structures of the obediential Third Order. In the period of great confusion, from 1978 till 1990, it was possible to deceive oneself. But, with the approval of the General Constitutions based on the Pauline Rule, we have become aware that neither the Constitutions nor the Rule could be applied to the obediential structures. All the national Statutes had to be rewritten. Also the Statutes for Spiritual and Pastoral Assistance to the SFO can be applied only to the unitary structure of the SFO, composed of Fraternities at the local, regional, national and international levels. Even if the unitary structures of Council and Chapter have already been set up, and even the elective Chapter at the international level and at other levels, it would be a great mistake to think that the SFO has already arrived at unity. Structural unity must be built on spiritual unity of persons and of the various components involved. In fact, "the plurality of expressions of the Franciscan ideal and cultural variety must be respected" (Const. Art. 33.2). We have seen that the unitary structures at all levels are being built and that there is more to be done, especially at the regional level, not only in Italy. In fact, the regional Fraternity is the key to national unity. Without the regional Fraternities solidly formed by the local Fraternities, national unity remains weak, if not a fiction.
We have stressed the necessity of
spiritual unity as the indispensable base of structural unity.
The spirit will surely find the structures that are suited to
express itself. |
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THEOLOGICAL REASONS Now we proceed to consider the theological reasons for the unity of the SFO, that it is not yet united and that it must find the motives to spur it on along the long road towards unity. The first article of the Pauline Rule offers us the strongest theological reasons for the desired unity: "The Franciscan family .. unites all members of the people of God ... who recognize that they are called to follow Christ in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi ... they intend to make present the charism of their common Seraphic Father" (Art. 1).
It speaks of the one and only St
Francis of Assisi, one secular Franciscan vocation, one Franciscan
charism and one Franciscan Family.
Saint Francis
The diversity of the religious Franciscan
Orders is the result of various human factors, including the different
interpretations of the evangelical spirit of St Francis. In recent
times, the Apostolic See recognizes three distinct Orders that
comprise the Franciscan First Order and a fourth distinct Order
of Franciscan friars, the Third Order Regular. At the same time,
the Holy See, implicitly with the 1978 Rule and explicitly with
the 1990 General Constitutions, recognizes a single Secular Franciscan
Order inspired by the unique person of St Francis.
The Franciscan vocation God calls every person into life at conception. God calls many to share the life of his Son Jesus in Christian baptism. God calls some Christians to the Franciscan life through Franciscan profession. The specific call made to the person and to the Fraternity (whether religious or secular) comes from God. The Secular Franciscans receive their vocation from the Holy Spirit, through St Francis and the Catholic Church. Often the seculars receive their vocation through the instrumentality of a Franciscan religious, but not necessarily. The Obedience to which the Franciscan religious belongs should not be a determining factor of their secular vocation. The call made to the Franciscans, whether religious or secular, is this: to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ after the manner of St Francis. All Christians are called, in baptism, to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ "following Christ". The specific thing about the Franciscan vocation is to live the Gospel in the manner of St Francis, "in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi" (Rule SFO, Art.1). However, the religious Franciscan vocation and the secular Franciscan vocation are clearly distinct. Even though, in the Rule of Nicholas IV, the vocation of the brothers and sisters of the Order of Penance appeared as a religious vocation, the Secular Franciscans of today follow the Rule of Paul VI, which abrogated every preceding Rule of the Franciscan Tertiaries. The Pauline Rule is based on the theology of secularity, developed by the Church since Vatican II.
I do not want to enter into the details
of this theology now, even though they are most important in the
initial and permanent formation of the seculars. We must ensure
a substantial Franciscan formation, common to all, and not distorted
by any religious Obedience. |
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The Franciscan charism Every gift of human life comes from God the Father. God gives to certain persons a charism, that is, a personal gift, not only for the good of this person but for the good of others; especially, if the person is Christian, for building up the Church. The Franciscan charism is the sum of the gifts that God gave to St Francis for building up the Church: the gospel life, contemplation, poverty, minority, fraternity, the minister-servant, the missionary mandate: "Go and restore my Church." God continues to give this Franciscan charism to certain persons, religious and secular, for the same reason: to build up the Church. These persons share the charism given to St Francis. The Franciscan charism is unique. References to the "specific charisms" of the Franciscan Orders are not justified theologically and create unnecessary divisions among the Franciscans, both religious and secular.
Referring to the "various ways
and forms" (Rule SFO, Art. 1), we can note that there exists
among the Franciscans a great variety of spiritual emphases, customs,
habits, history, legislation and states of life, which characterize
an Order, an Institute or a Franciscan organization. But the religious,
also the seculars, must be very careful that no way or form that
belongs to a particular religious Obedience have a negative influence
on the unity of the SFO.
The Franciscan Family The Franciscan First Order, Second Order and Third Order (whether regular or secular) are equally members of the one Franciscan Family. The concept of the "four Franciscan Families", developed in the history of the friars and used until recently by the Conference of Ministers General, is outmoded because it divides into four camps the Franciscan religious and - worse - the seculars. Such a concept is not at all constructive. In fact, on 3 October 1995, a new structure was approved: the Conference of the Franciscan Family. The four Ministers General of the friars, the Minister General of the SFO and the President of the International Franciscan Conference of Sisters are its members. It is a progressive step. |
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Franciscan ecumenism Given the obvious fact that the SFO, like the Church, is - and always will be - on the road to unity, a theological reason for the unity of the SFO is found in ecumenism. By ecumenism we mean the sum of efforts and activities that aim to re-establish full communion among Christians. So, there is also the need for Franciscan ecumenism that aims to re-establish full communion among the followers of St Francis. In a particular way, the need is felt to establish the full unity of the Secular Franciscan Order. Ecumenism is necessarily based on conversion and reconciliation, which is the very fulcrum of the experience of St Francis and of his way towards unity (cf. Tecle Vetrali OFM, "Franciscans and Ecumenism", in Letter to the Assistants, 1996, n.1, pp. 2-8). Ecumenism requires and promotes dialogue, both within the SFO and in its external relations. The obstacles in the way towards the unity of the SFO are inside the SFO itself, but not without the interference of the religious. We can find, in a careful study of the conciliar Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio, the theological reasons for the unity of the SFO. For example, in n.4, the Decree places in the first place "every effort to avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent the condition of our separated brethren with truth and fairness and so make mutual relations with them more difficult." In place of "separated brethren", we can read: "brothers and sisters assisted by other Obediences." So, dear brothers and sisters, I wish you well in your progress along the SFO's path towards unity and I offer for that purpose my urgent prayers to God, the trinitarian principle of unity.
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