General Constitutions

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
“To observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Artt. 1-18)
Title I   -  The Foundations of the Order (Artt. 1-4)
Title II  -  Profession (Artt. 5-9)
Title III -  Laws of the Order (Artt. 10-18)

CHAPTER 2
The Spirit of prayer and devotion (Artt. 19-37)
Title I   -  The Life of Prayer (Artt. 19-31)
Title II  -  Life of Penance (Artt. 32-37)

CHAPTER 3
“You are all brothers” (Artt. 38-63)
Title I   -  Fraternal Fellowship (Artt. 38-54)
Title II  -  Relations with the entire Franciscan Family (Artt. 55-63)

CHAPTER 4
“Pilgrims and strangers in this world” (Artt. 64-82)
Title I  -  Peaceful and Humble (Artt. 64-71)
Title II -  They shall not acquire anything as their own (Artt. 72-75)
Title III   -  “They should do their work faithfully and devotedly” (Artt. 76-82)

CHAPTER 5
God has sent you into the entire world for this reason (Artt. 83-125)
Title I  -  The Friars have been called to evangelise (Artt. 83-88)
Title II -  Methods of evangelisation (Artt. 89-110)
Title III   -  Organising the task of evangelisation (Artt. 111-115)
Title IV  -  Missionary evangelisation (Artt. 116-121)
Title V -  The Holy Land (Artt. 122-125)

CHAPTER 6
“They must desire to have the Spirit of the Lord and his holy manner of working within them” (Artt. 126-167)
Title I  -  Principles of education (Artt. 126-134)
Title II -  On-going formation (Artt. 135-137)
Title III   -  Formation personnel (Artt. 138-143)
Title IV  -  Pastoral care of vocations (Artt. 144-147)
Title V -  Initial formation (Artt. 148-159)
Title VI  -  Other aspects of formation (Artt. 160-165)
Title VII -  Promotion of studies in the Order (Artt. 166-167)

CHAPTER 7
“The friars are bound to obey brother Francis and his  successors” (Artt. 168-250)
The structures and government of the Order and the administration of goods
Part I   – The Structures of the Order and Government in General (Artt. 168-187)
Title I – The Structures of the Order (Artt. 168-172)
Title II    -  Authorities of the Order and Offices in General (Artt. 173-180)
Title III   -  The Conferring, Exercise and Loss of Offices (Artt. 181-187)

Part II – General Government (Artt. 188-214)
Title IV  -  The General Chapter (Artt. 188-192)
Title V   -  The Plenary Council of the Order (Artt. 193-195)
Title VI  -  The Minister General (Artt. 196-201)
Title VII -  The General Definitory (Artt. 202-205)
Title VIII -  The Vicar General (Artt. 206-208)
Title IX  -  The Definitors General (Artt. 209-210)
Title X   -  The Secretary General and Offices of the General Curia (Artt. 211-212)
Title XI  -  Visitators and Delegates General (Artt. 213-214)

Part III – Provincial Government (Artt. 215-231)
Title XII -  The Provincial Chapter, Capitular Congressus and Plenary Council of the Province (Artt. 215-218)
Title XIII -  The Minister Provincial (Artt. 219-221)
Title XIV  – The Provincial Definitory (Artt. 222-226)
Title XV -  Conferences of Ministers Provincial (Art. 227)
Title XVI  - The Vicar Provincial (Artt. 228-229)
Title XVII  – The Secretary of the Province and other Offices (Artt. 230-231)

Part IV – Government of Houses (Artt. 232-243)
Title XVIII -The Houses (Artt. 232-236)
Title XIX- The Guardians and Vicars (Artt. 237-239)
Title XX -  The Local Chapter and Discretorium (Artt. 240-243)

Part V – The Administration of Goods (Artt. 244-250)

CHAPTER 8
The Ministers are to admonish the friars and humbly and charitably correct them (Artt. 251-261)
Title I – The Admonition and Correction of the Friars (Artt. 251-253)
Title II- Departure and Dismissal from the Order (Artt. 254-261)

Abbreviations and acronyms

Notes