Order of Friars Minor


The Order of Friars Minor is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary, among many others. The Order of Friars Minor is the largest of the contemporary First Orders within the Franciscan movement.
Francis began preaching around 1207 and traveled to Rome to seek approval of his order from Pope Innocent III in 1209. The original Rule of Saint Francis approved by the pope disallowed ownership of property, requiring members of the order to beg for food while preaching. The austerity was meant to emulate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Franciscans traveled and preached in the streets, while boarding in church properties. The extreme poverty required of members was relaxed in the final revision of the Rule in 1223. The degree of observance required of members remained a major source of conflict within the order, resulting in numerous secessions.
The Order of Friars Minor, previously known as the Observant branch, is one of the three Franciscan First Orders within the Catholic Church, the others being the Capuchins and Conventuals. The Order of Friars Minor, in its current form, is the result of an amalgamation of several smaller Franciscan orders, completed in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII. The Capuchin and Conventual remain distinct religious institutes within the Catholic Church, observing the Rule of Saint Francis with different emphases. Franciscans are sometimes referred to as minorites or greyfriars because of their habit. In Poland and Lithuania they are known as Bernardines, after Bernardino of Siena, although the term elsewhere refers rather to Cistercians.

Name and demographics

The "Order of Friars Minor" are commonly called simply the "Franciscans". This Order is a mendicant religious order of men that traces its origin to Francis of Assisi. Their official Latin name is the Ordo Fratrum Minorum Which is the name Francis gave his brotherhood. Having been born among the minorum, before his conversion, he aspired to move up the social ladder to the maiorum. After a life of conversion, the name of his brotherhood indicates his coming to an appreciation of his social condition on behalf of those who have no class or citizenship in society.
The modern organization of the Friars Minor comprises several separate families or groups, each considered a religious order in its own right under its own Minister General and particular type of governance. They all live according to a body of regulations known as the Rule of St Francis. These are:

The Order of Friars Minor

The Order of Friars Minor, known as the "Observants", most commonly simply called Franciscan friars, official name: "Friars Minor". According to the 2013 Annuario Pontificio, the OFM has 2,212 communities; 14,123 members; 9,735 priests

Order of Friars Minor Capuchin

The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin or simply Capuchins, official name: "Friars Minor Capuchin". it has 1,633 communities; 10,786 members; 7,057 priests

Conventual Franciscans

The Conventual Franciscans or Minorites, official name: "Friars Minor Conventual". It has 667 communities; 4,289 members; 2,921 priests

History

Beginnings

A sermon on Mt 10:9 which Francis heard in 1209 made such an impression on him that he decided to fully devote himself to a life of apostolic poverty. Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance.
The mendicant orders had long been exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop, and enjoyed unrestricted freedom to preach and hear confessions in the churches connected with their monasteries. This had led to endless friction and open quarrels between the two divisions of the clergy. This question was definitively settled by the Council of Trent.

Separate congregations

Amid numerous dissensions in the 14th century, a number of separate observances sprang up, almost like sects, some of which developed within the order on both hermit and cenobitic principles. They all operated generally under the authority of the Minister General of the Order, a member of the Observant branch, but were allowed their distinct practices. They included:
  • The Clareni or Clarenini, an association of hermits established on the river Clareno in the march of Ancona by Angelo da Clareno after the suppression of the Franciscan Celestines by Boniface VIII. Like several other smaller congregations, it was obliged in 1568 under Pope Pius V to unite with the general body of Observantists.
  • The quasi-Observantist brothers living under the rule of the Conventual ministers, such as the Colletans--formed under the guidance of Colette of Corbie and led by Boniface de Ceva in their reform attempts principally in France and Germany;
  • The reformed congregation founded in 1426 by the Spaniard Philip de Berbegal and distinguished by the special importance they attached to the little hood ;
  • The Neutri, a group of reformers originating about 1463 in Italy, who tried to take a middle ground between the Conventuals and Observantists, but refused to obey the heads of either, until they were compelled by the pope to affiliate with the regular Observantists, or with those of the Common Life;
  • The Caperolani, a congregation founded about 1470 in North Italy by Pietro Caperolo, but dissolved on the death of its founder in 1481;
  • The Amadist friars, established by Amadeus of Portugal in 1472, the same year that he was selected to serve as the confessor to the pope. The Holy See entrusted him with the Church of San Pietro in Minotorio to serve as the motherhouse of his growing reform movement. They existed until 1568, when they were merged into the Observant branch of the Order.
File:Kościół św. Barbary w Przeworsku fasada1.jpg|thumb|Franciscan Church from 15th century in Przeworsk, Poland

Rule on property

A difference of opinion developed in the community concerning the interpretation of the rule regarding property. The Observants held to a strict interpretation that the friars may not hold any property either individually nor communally. The literal and unconditional observance of this was rendered impracticable by the great expansion of the order, its pursuit of learning, and the accumulated property of the large cloisters in the towns. Regulations were drafted by which all alms donated were held by custodians appointed by the Holy See, who would make distributions upon request. It was John XXII who had introduced Conventualism in the sense of community of goods, income, and property as in other religious orders, in contradiction to Observantism or the strict observance of the rule. Pope Martin V, in the Brief Ad statum of 23 August 1430, allowed the Conventuals to hold property like all other orders.

Attempted union between branches

Projects for a union between the two main branches of the order were put forth not only by the Council of Constance but by several popes, without any positive result. By direction of Pope Martin V, John of Capistrano drew up statutes which were to serve as a basis for reunion, and they were actually accepted by a general chapter at Assisi in 1430; but the majority of the Conventual houses refused to agree to them, and they remained without effect.
Equally unsuccessful were the attempts of the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV, who bestowed a vast number of privileges on both original mendicant orders, but by this very fact lost the favor of the Observants and failed in his plans for reunion. Julius II succeeded in doing away with some of the smaller branches, but left the division of the two great parties untouched. This division was finally legalized by Leo X, after a general chapter held in Rome in 1517, in connection with the reform movement of the Fifth Lateran Council, had once more declared the impossibility of reunion. Leo X summoned on 11 July 1516 a general chapter to meet at Rome on the feast of Pentecost 31 May 1517. This chapter suppressed all the reformed congregations and annexed them to the Observants; it then declared the Observants an independent order, and separated them completely from the Conventuals. The less strict principles of the Conventuals, permitting the possession of real estate and the enjoyment of fixed revenues, were recognized as tolerable, while the Observants, in contrast to this usus moderatus, were held strictly to their own usus arctus or pauper.

Unification

All of the groups that followed the Franciscan Rule literally were united to the Observants, and the right to elect the Minister General of the Order, together with the seal of the order, was given to the group united under the Observants. This grouping, since it adhered more closely to the rule of the founder, was allowed to claim a certain superiority over the Conventuals. The Observant general inherited the title of "Minister-General of the Whole Order of St. Francis" and was granted the right to confirm the choice of a head for the Conventuals, who was known as "Master-General of the Friars Minor Conventual"—although this privilege never became practically operative.
In 1875, the Kulturkampf expelled the majority of the German Franciscans, most of whom settled in North America.

The habit and the French name Cordeliers

The habit has been gradually changed in colour and certain other details. Its colour, which was at first grey or a medium brown, is now a dark brown. The dress, which consists of a loose-sleeved gown, is confined by a white cord, from which is hung, since the fifteenth century, the Seraphic Rosary with its seven decades. Sandals are substituted for shoes. Around the neck and over the shoulders hangs the cowl.
The habit of referring to the Francisans as Cordeliers in France is said to date back to the Seventh Crusade, when Louis IX asked who the particularly zealous monks pursuing Saracens were, and was told they were "de cordes liés". Upon the crusaders return to France, the name became part of the language.

Notable friars

Saints and Beati

Arranged according to date of death. Date of celebration or feast days are marked in brackets.

Saints

Blesseds

Declared "Blessed" by popular acclaim

Missionaries

In China, Mongolia, India, and the Far East

In North Africa and the Middle East

In North America

In South and Central America

In Sub-Saharan Africa

In the South Pacific

Prelates

Bishops

Cardinals

Popes

Scholars

Anthropologists

Historians

Philosophers and theologians

Scientists, polymaths, and mathematicians

Orientalists

Spiritual writers