The Under Ten Chapter opens at the Porziuncola

On 5 July 2026, in the place where St. Francis welcomed the first brothers and where he wished to conclude his earthly journey, the VI Chapter of Mats Under Ten of the Order of Friars Minor was inaugurated. 135 friars with less than ten years of Solemn Profession, coming from the five continents, gathered at the Porziuncola, together with the friars of the General Government, to live a time of listening, discernment and international fraternity.

The opening day was centered on the living memory of the Franciscan origins. After the first moments of welcome, the program included the introduction, the words of welcome, the Franciscan prayer and the procession from Domus Pacis to the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels. The friars carried the flags of their countries of origin, making visible the variety of peoples, languages and cultures that today make up the Order.

In the opening greeting, Br Ignacio Ceja, OFM, Vicar General, welcomed the participants, recalling that this Chapter is not simply an event in the calendar of the Order, but a laboratory proving ground of fraternity. He invited the friars to live these days with gratitude for the vocation received and for the gift of the brothers, according to the expression of St. Francis: “The Lord gave me brothers”. In an international context, he encouraged each one not to remain closed within their own language group or Conference, but to open themselves to meeting brothers from other countries, even when communication requires creativity, simple gestures, smiles and patient listening.

The opening Eucharistic celebration was presided over by Br Ignacio Ceja, OFM, who in his homily recalled that the Porziuncola is not only a place of memory, but a source to which the friars are called to return in order to rediscover the meaning of their life and mission. It was precisely here that Francis understood his vocation more deeply, welcomed the first brothers and sought with them how to better serve the Lord.

Commenting on Jesus’ invitation, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, Br Ignacio spoke of the real burdens that young friars carry in their hearts: the desire for fidelity, the challenges of mission, fraternal life, pastoral responsibilities, cultural transformations, wars and the many forms of material and spiritual poverty. Before being evangelizers, he recalled, the friars are disciples; before being responsible for something, they are brothers called by Someone.

The Porziuncola was presented as the sanctuary of the little ones. Minority, the heart of the Franciscan charism, is not weakness but freedom: the awareness that everything is grace and that the Kingdom grows through those who know how to entrust themselves to God with simplicity. In a world marked by competition, polarization, violence and wars, the Franciscan charism remains extraordinarily relevant. For this reason, Br Ignacio emphasized, the world needs men and women capable of proclaiming peace not only with words, but through their way of living.

In the afternoon, after returning from the fraternal visit to the brothers in Ukraine, Br Massimo Fusarelli, OFM, Minister General, addressed the participants with the introduction to the VI Chapter of Mats Under Ten, placing the meeting at the heart of the Franciscan Centenary 1226-2026. The Minister General greeted the friars, recalling that they come from every corner of the Order, bringing stories of flourishing Entities and weary Entities, experiences of mission, hopes and also wounds. At the Porziuncola, however, distances are gathered together and all return to being simply Friars Minor around the small church which represents the birth of our Order.

Br Massimo recalled the meaning of the name Chapter of Mats. It is not a matter of nostalgia for the past, but of a memory that guides the present. The mats evoke the first friars gathered around the Porziuncola, poor and without complex organization, with the Gospel at the center and the bond of fraternity. To choose this name today means to desire an Order that once again listens to the Gospel in order to proclaim it with one’s life and words.

The Minister General then read the experience of the Under Ten friars in the light of the Testament of St. Francis. The first ten years after Solemn Profession are a delicate stage, in which the idealism of initial formation meets the realism of daily life. Disillusionment, loneliness, weariness in relationships and in structures can arise. Nevertheless, he observed, in the questions of the young friars one does not first find complaints, but a search for authenticity: the desire for authority lived as service, for real dialogue between generations, for sincere accompaniment of fragilities, for an evangelical presence on the digital continent and in the peripheries of the world.

In his address, Br Massimo indicated three inheritances of St. Francis as the horizon of the journey: mercy towards the poor and love for Christ crucified; the Church and the Eucharist as poor but fruitful ground; fraternity without power as a source of peace. These inheritances are not themes to be discussed and filed away, but seeds that must bear fruit in the concrete life of the friars and of the Order.

The Chapter, the Minister General emphasized, is not a course, but a participatory and synodal experience. The friars are not passive recipients of formation, but protagonists called to offer their word, their listening and their discernment. What matures in Assisi will also be oriented towards the General Chapter of Pentecost 2027, which will be celebrated in Vietnam, so that the voice of the new generations may contribute to the journey of the whole Order.

The first day concluded with group work, the personal sharing of each one’s vocational story and the intercultural evening, concrete signs of a fraternity that is not born from abstract ideas, but from the encounter between faces, languages, memories and hopes. At the Porziuncola, in the place of the origins, the Under Ten Chapter thus began its journey: not with the claim of possessing all the answers, but with the desire to listen together to what the Spirit is saying today to the Franciscan generation called to make the seed of St. Francis germinate anew.

Read the homily of Br Ignacio Ceja: Italiano – English - Español

Read the address of the Minister General: Italiano - English - Español

See all the photos of the meeting