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The
Origins of the Order
The
First Missionnaries
Our
Characteristics
A
Variety Of Apostolates
Inter-religious
Dialogue
Important
writings
The
Origins Of The Secular Franciscan Order
The
Holy Land and the Missions
Important
Franciscans in history
To
join us
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Our
Characteristics
Franciscans
are not monks. Our life style is that of the “Mendicant Orders,”
for example the Dominicans, the Trinitarians and the Servites
of Mary. This type of Religious Life developed near the end of
the Middle Ages. Even though prayer, contemplation and even hermitages
have an important part in our life, the Franciscans are not cloistered.
Cloistered Religious, such as monks, live and work within the
confines of a monastery. The friars, however, have many ministries
outside their friaries. On the other hand, even though we have
ministries outside the friary, we are not a completely active
Order either. We are, in fact, both contemplative and active.
We endeavour to maintain a delicate balance between active ministry
and prayer. Prayer revitalizes our ministry, while ministry informs
our prayer.
Even though
many friars are ordained to the priesthood, we normally call everyone
“Friar” - not making a distinction between priests and
brothers. This is a Tradition that goes right back to the time
of Saint Francis, himself. He wanted all his friars to have the
same rights and privileges, no matter what their education, jobs,
responsibilities or positions were. Francis did not want the friars
to use titles such as reverend, superior or father connoting rank
and superiority. Instead, our leaders are called “ministers”.
To be a minister means to be a “servant” and that is
what our leaders are to do - to serve their subjects. The Minister
General is the “general” leader of the whole order throughout
the world. A Minister Provincial is a leader of a smaller subdivision
of the order called a “Province”.
Because our
founder is St. Francis of
Assisi, we are affectionately called “Franciscans”
– followers of Francis. The name that our founder actually
gave us, however, is “Order of Friars Minor”. This is
why the initials “O.F.M.” appear after every Franciscan’s
name. The word “Friar” comes from Latin and means “brother”.
The word “Minor” come from Latin and means “little”
or “small’. The word “Minor” is the most intriguing
part of our name. Near the end of the Middle Ages, the word “minor”
referred to the greater part of the population who were humble
artisans, workers and beggars. In short, they were the people
of modest means. The “majors”, on the other hand, were
the noblemen, merchants and all those who occupied positions of
power and influence. The name “Friars Minor”, then,
literally means “Little Brothers”. The friars were to
be humble, poor, simple brothers. Our very name defines the essence
of our way of life!
Throughout
the ages and in many countries, the Franciscan Order has lived
by the values of poverty, simplicity, humility, justice, peace,
joy in God and universal brotherhood to all people, and to all
creation.
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