Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance
Encyclopedia
The Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance is a mendicant order rooted in the Third Order of St. Francis
which was founded in 1447.
, lists hermits as among the categories of lifestyle of those who flocked to follow the Saint. The organized form of this life, though, can be more reliably traced back to the second half of the thirteenth century, but no precise date can be indicated. It was organized, in different forms, in the Low Countries
, in the south of France, in Germany, and in Italy. Probably some secular tertiaries, who in many cases had their house of meeting, gradually withdrew entirely from the world and so formed religious communities, but without the three substantial vows of religious orders. Other religious organizations, such as the Beguines (women) and Beghards
(men) in the Low Countries, sometimes passed over to the Third Order.
Towards the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries, some suspicion of heretical opinions fell on some of these free religious unions of the Third Order (bizocchi), as we can infer from the Papal Bull
of John XXII "Sancta Romana", December, 1317 (Bull. Franc., V, 134). More than a century later St. John of Capistran (1456) had to defend the Tertiaries in a special treatise: "Defensorium tertii ordinis d. Francisci", printed with other minor works of the saint at Venice
in 1580.
Throughout the 14th century, the regular tertiaries of both sexes had in the most cases no common organization; only in the following century we can observe single well-ordered religious communities with solemn vows and a common Religious Superior. Pope Martin V
submitted in 1428 all tertiaries, regular and secular, to the direction of the Minister-General of the Friars Minor (Bull. Franc., VII, 715), but this disposition was soon revoked by his successor Pope Eugene IV
. We meet thus in the same 15th century with numerous independent male congregations of regular tertiaries with the three vows in Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and in the Netherlands. Contemporaneously there existed sister congregations of the Third Order with solemn vows, for instance, the Grey Sisters of the Third Order, serving in hospitals, spread in France and Flanders, whose remarkable statutes of 1483 have recently been published by Henri Lemaître in Arch. Franc. Hist. IV, 1911, 713-31, and the congregation—still existing—founded at Foligno in 1397 by Blessed Angelina of Marsciano (1435). Leo X, to introduce uniformity into the numerous congregations, gave in 1521 a new form to the Rule
, now in ten chapters, retaining of the Rule as published by Nicholas IV
all that could serve the purpose, adding new points, especially the three solemn vows, and insisting on subjection to the Order of Friars Minor. For this last disposition the Rule of Leo X met with resistance, and never was accepted by some congregations, while it served until the late 20th century as the basis of the constitutions of many later congregations, especially of numerous communities of sisters.
, and since Sixtus V enjoyed entire independence from the First Order. It had then already 11 provinces.
In the 17th century the congregations of Dalmatia and the Low Countries (based in Zepperen
) were united with the Italian Order. In 1734 Clement XIII confirmed their statutes. Whilst the French Revolution swept away all similar congregations, the Italian one survived with four provinces, of which one was in Dalmatia. In 1906 a small congregation of Tertiary lay brothers in the Balearic Islands and a little later two convents with colleges in the United States joined the same congregation, which in 1908 numbered about 360 members.
The habit
is that of the Conventuals, from whom they can hardly be distinguished. The residence of the Minister General
is at Rome, near the Basilica
of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. After the time of Pope Leo X
, the Spanish congregation often had troubles on the question of its submission to the First Order. After Pius V (1568) had put the whole Third Order again under the care of the Minister General of the Friars Minor, the superiors of the three provinces constituted in Spain could, after 1625, partake at the General Chapters of the Friars Minor and since 1670 they have had even a definitor-general to represent them.
The French congregation, named from their house at Paris "of Picpus
", was reformed by V. Mussart (d. 1637), and maintained close ties with the First Order till its extinction in the French Revolution. A well-known member of this congregation is Hyppolit Helyot, the author of an important history of the religious orders. In 1768 it had four provinces with 61 convents and 494 friars.
A new Rule, written by friars and sisters of various congregations, was approved by Pope Paul VI
in 1978. It is the current Rule followed by all congregations of the Third Order Regular, both men and women.
, Pennsylvania
, and Spalding, Nebraska
. In their native land, they were communities of lay brother
s who specialized in trade schools for young men. As such, they were subject to the local bishops, each of whom acted as their Superior General
within his diocese.
After several years, the Brothers desired to strengthen their links to the international Order and some desired to seek Holy Orders
. Eventually, the communities in Pennsylvania and Nebraska were permitted by their bishops to seek consolidation with the friars of the Third Order Regular, by then based in Rome. A number of the Brothers in Brooklyn also sought this, but were denied permission by the local bishop there, as he did not wish to lose their teaching service in his diocese which he feared might happen were they to become priests.
Formal petitions were sent by the communities through 1907, which were received and accepted by the friars, who submitted their request to the Holy See
. Papal permission was granted and in 1908, the two communities were incorporated into the Order and in 1910 were established as the autonomous American Province of the Sacred Heart of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. In 1920, the Province divided and the foundations of a new Province of the Immaculate Conception were established. As a result of this division, friars from the Spanish
Province were invited to the United States to work with the Spanish-speaking
populations of Texas and New York.
In 1938, American friars were sent to establish the Order's first foreign missions
in Bhagalpur
, India
, and later a mission was founded in Paraguay
.
Third Order of St. Francis
The Third Order of St. Francis is a third order within the Franciscan movement of the Roman Catholic Church. It includes both congregations of vowed men and women and fraternities of men and women living standard lives in the world, usually married...
which was founded in 1447.
Foundations
The origin of the Regular Third Order, both male and female, possibly was rooted in the lifetime of St. Francis. His first official biographer, Thomas of CelanoThomas of Celano
Thomas of Celano was an Italian friar of the Franciscans , a poet, and the author of three hagiographies about Saint Francis of Assisi.Thomas was from Celano in Abruzzo...
, lists hermits as among the categories of lifestyle of those who flocked to follow the Saint. The organized form of this life, though, can be more reliably traced back to the second half of the thirteenth century, but no precise date can be indicated. It was organized, in different forms, in the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, in the south of France, in Germany, and in Italy. Probably some secular tertiaries, who in many cases had their house of meeting, gradually withdrew entirely from the world and so formed religious communities, but without the three substantial vows of religious orders. Other religious organizations, such as the Beguines (women) and Beghards
Beghards
Beghards and Beguines were Roman Catholic lay religious communities active in the 13th and 14th centuries, living in a loose semi-monastic community but without formal vows...
(men) in the Low Countries, sometimes passed over to the Third Order.
Towards the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries, some suspicion of heretical opinions fell on some of these free religious unions of the Third Order (bizocchi), as we can infer from the Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
of John XXII "Sancta Romana", December, 1317 (Bull. Franc., V, 134). More than a century later St. John of Capistran (1456) had to defend the Tertiaries in a special treatise: "Defensorium tertii ordinis d. Francisci", printed with other minor works of the saint at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1580.
Throughout the 14th century, the regular tertiaries of both sexes had in the most cases no common organization; only in the following century we can observe single well-ordered religious communities with solemn vows and a common Religious Superior. Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V
Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...
submitted in 1428 all tertiaries, regular and secular, to the direction of the Minister-General of the Friars Minor (Bull. Franc., VII, 715), but this disposition was soon revoked by his successor Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...
. We meet thus in the same 15th century with numerous independent male congregations of regular tertiaries with the three vows in Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and in the Netherlands. Contemporaneously there existed sister congregations of the Third Order with solemn vows, for instance, the Grey Sisters of the Third Order, serving in hospitals, spread in France and Flanders, whose remarkable statutes of 1483 have recently been published by Henri Lemaître in Arch. Franc. Hist. IV, 1911, 713-31, and the congregation—still existing—founded at Foligno in 1397 by Blessed Angelina of Marsciano (1435). Leo X, to introduce uniformity into the numerous congregations, gave in 1521 a new form to the Rule
Christian monasticism
Christian monasticism is a practice which began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament, but not mandated as an institution in the scriptures. It has come to be regulated by religious rules Christian...
, now in ten chapters, retaining of the Rule as published by Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and...
all that could serve the purpose, adding new points, especially the three solemn vows, and insisting on subjection to the Order of Friars Minor. For this last disposition the Rule of Leo X met with resistance, and never was accepted by some congregations, while it served until the late 20th century as the basis of the constitutions of many later congregations, especially of numerous communities of sisters.
Single congregations after Leo X
The two Italian congregations, the Lombardic and Sicilian, which had constituted themselves in the course of the 15th century, were united by Pope Paul IIIPope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
, and since Sixtus V enjoyed entire independence from the First Order. It had then already 11 provinces.
In the 17th century the congregations of Dalmatia and the Low Countries (based in Zepperen
Zepperen
Zepperen, a formerly independent municipality, is now part of the city of Sint-Truiden in the province of Limburg in Belgium.This village developed in the northern, humid part of Haspengouw close to the stream Melsterbeek...
) were united with the Italian Order. In 1734 Clement XIII confirmed their statutes. Whilst the French Revolution swept away all similar congregations, the Italian one survived with four provinces, of which one was in Dalmatia. In 1906 a small congregation of Tertiary lay brothers in the Balearic Islands and a little later two convents with colleges in the United States joined the same congregation, which in 1908 numbered about 360 members.
The habit
Religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognisable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anachoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform...
is that of the Conventuals, from whom they can hardly be distinguished. The residence of the Minister General
Minister general
Minister General is the term used for the Superior General of the different branches of the Franciscan Order. It is a term exclusive to them, and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi....
is at Rome, near the Basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. After the time of Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
, the Spanish congregation often had troubles on the question of its submission to the First Order. After Pius V (1568) had put the whole Third Order again under the care of the Minister General of the Friars Minor, the superiors of the three provinces constituted in Spain could, after 1625, partake at the General Chapters of the Friars Minor and since 1670 they have had even a definitor-general to represent them.
The French congregation, named from their house at Paris "of Picpus
Picpus
Picpus may refer to:* Cimetière de Picpus, a cemetery in Paris*The Picpus Fathers, an order of the Catholic Church, whose official name is the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary*Picpus, a journal edited by Charles Asprey and Simon Grant...
", was reformed by V. Mussart (d. 1637), and maintained close ties with the First Order till its extinction in the French Revolution. A well-known member of this congregation is Hyppolit Helyot, the author of an important history of the religious orders. In 1768 it had four provinces with 61 convents and 494 friars.
A new Rule, written by friars and sisters of various congregations, was approved by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
in 1978. It is the current Rule followed by all congregations of the Third Order Regular, both men and women.
United States
During the 19th century, Brothers from the surviving communities in Ireland were invited to teach in the Dioceses of BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and Spalding, Nebraska
Spalding, Nebraska
Spalding is a village in Greeley County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 537 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Spalding is located at ....
. In their native land, they were communities of lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s who specialized in trade schools for young men. As such, they were subject to the local bishops, each of whom acted as their Superior General
Superior general
A Superior General, or General Superior, is the Superior at the head of a whole religious order or congregation.The term is mainly used as a generic term, while many orders and congregations use other specific titles, notably:* Abbot general...
within his diocese.
After several years, the Brothers desired to strengthen their links to the international Order and some desired to seek Holy Orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
. Eventually, the communities in Pennsylvania and Nebraska were permitted by their bishops to seek consolidation with the friars of the Third Order Regular, by then based in Rome. A number of the Brothers in Brooklyn also sought this, but were denied permission by the local bishop there, as he did not wish to lose their teaching service in his diocese which he feared might happen were they to become priests.
Formal petitions were sent by the communities through 1907, which were received and accepted by the friars, who submitted their request to the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. Papal permission was granted and in 1908, the two communities were incorporated into the Order and in 1910 were established as the autonomous American Province of the Sacred Heart of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. In 1920, the Province divided and the foundations of a new Province of the Immaculate Conception were established. As a result of this division, friars from the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Province were invited to the United States to work with the Spanish-speaking
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
populations of Texas and New York.
In 1938, American friars were sent to establish the Order's first foreign missions
Mission (station)
A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....
in Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur
Bhagdattpuram was one of the most influential towns in "Aryavarta" . It is supposed to have been concurrent to Patliputra or Patna. Bhagdattpuram finds its mention in the Vedas and Ramayana as well. It is supposed to be the kingdom of Daanvir Karna, the son of Kunti and the Sun God...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and later a mission was founded in Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
.
External links
- Sacred Heart Province http://www.franciscanstor.org/index.aspx]
- Immaculate Conception Province http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com