Secular Franciscan Order
Matthew 19:29: "And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life."
Patroness of Order
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
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Ordo Franciscanus SaecularisFRANCIS, the saint known and loved the world over, was born at Assisi, central Italy, in the year 1181, the son of a wealthy merchant. He died there in 1226, after a life in Christ that earned him the title "Poverello" (little poor man).
As a youth, like many young people today, Francis "discovered" Jesus. He found Him in the Gospel, poor and suffering. Francis made up his mind to identify himself with his crucified Lord. In the words of Pope Pius XI, "So lifelike and strikingly did the image of Jesus Christ and the Gospel manner of life shine forth in Francis, that he appeared to his contemporaries almost as though he were the Risen Christ." Saint Francis attained this marvelous ideal by making the holy Gospel, in every detail, the rule and standard of his life. Others wanted to live as Francis lived, men and women, married and single. Eventually, his followers were gathered into three distinct Orders of the Church. The First Order was for men (brothers and priests, called friars); the Second Order was for cloistered nuns (Poor Clares); and the Third Order was for lay men and women, married or single, and the secular clergy. Francis made the Gospel, with Christ Crucified at its center, the supreme norm of life for all his followers. He gave each of the three Orders a written rule, which were summaries of the Gospel and guidelines to its perfect observance. But there is a difference between them. The first two are religious orders. Their members take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and leave their homes to live in communities. The third is a secular order, whose members make promises of commitment and remain in their own homes. Yet they are motivated and formed by the same spirit of Saint Francis to fulfill the ideals and responsibilities of their state of life within the faith-‐community of the Church. The OFS is a penitential Order that comes under the name of a movement born in the Church as the result of the ecclesiastical penitential discipline. From the beginning of the Church a penitential doctrine and a practice – doctrinal and ritual – was outlined, which can be summarized in these terms: the baptized who commits sin can obtain pardon provided “he does penance” and “is converted”. The sinner who wanted to be converted, to change his life, to give up sinning, entered into the Order of Penance or of Penitents and remained there until he carried out the expiation determined by the church community together with the bishop. Alongside the “compulsory” penitents there arose, in time, the “voluntary” penitents, who desired a life of greater perfection. Read more click (taken from Nafra website) |
Patron of Order
St. Louis IX of France
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ON HUMILITY
"WE MUST NOT BE WISE AND PRUDENT ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, BUT, INSTEAD, WE MUST BE SIMPLE, HUMBLE AND PURE."
(SOURCE: FRANCIS OF ASSISI: EARLY DOCUMENTS, VOLUME 1)
"WE MUST NOT BE WISE AND PRUDENT ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, BUT, INSTEAD, WE MUST BE SIMPLE, HUMBLE AND PURE."
(SOURCE: FRANCIS OF ASSISI: EARLY DOCUMENTS, VOLUME 1)
 Our Rule is a Way of Life. Click to read more!
The Secular Franciscan Order is Celebrating the Fortieth Anniversary of its RULE.
The International Order (CIOFS) has produced two videos marking this landmark anniversary. Please visit: English Espanol |