Dear Voices in the desert,
Here's the last three parts of the History of the Franciscan Family Movement.
Enjoy reading and reflecting!
Yosi, OFM
HISTORY
OF THE FRANCISCAN MOVEMENT
First
Order
Part
III. The Split in the Order
1. Conventualism and Observance
(1328-1417)
q The 14th and
15th centuries were characterized by two principal tendencies in many religious
Orders, and particularly in the Franciscan Order. On the one hand there was Conventualism and
on the other the movement of reform known as the Regular Observance.
q The term “conventual”
comes from the Latin word “conventus.”
In the beginning it was used to denote the types of dwellings in which
the friars lived. We have already noticed the distinction between the
conventual and non-conventual dwellings of the friars. Those friars who lived in the large houses of
the Order, with their conventual churches, began to be called “Conventuals.” Pope Innocent IV had already referred to the
conventual churches of the Order in the mid-13th century. By the beginning of the 14th century the
distinction between the conventual and non-conventual friaries became more
marked, especially in contrast to the simple hermitages in which the reforms of
the Order were born. In the end, the
term Conventual and Observant would indicate a very precise distinction between
two diverse families in the Franciscan Order.
q We have already
seen the effects of Pope John XXII’s quarrel with the Order, and the choice of
Gerald Eudes as Minister General.
q The Spiritual
Family was formally abolished, but the urge for reform in the Order had not
died down. From the same ranks of the
Spirituals, other new reforms would be born.
q On the other
hand, the friars of the Community had, by now, chosen a way of life which
entered into direct conflict with a strict observance of the Order. Many were tending towards what would become
to be known as Conventualism.
q Other factors
were contributing to the poor quality of religious life, namely the Black Death
of 1348, which decimated religious Order, with the result that new recruits
were chosen indiscriminately.
q Gerald Eudes was
made patriarch of Antioch in 1342. His
successor was Fortanerius Vassalli (1343-1348).
q The Order had
been given a new set of Constitutions in a long series which would create
confusion in the legislative history of the Order. The Benedictine (Caturcenses)
Constitutions, given by Pope Benedict XII during the Chapter of Cahors in 1337,
were better suited for a monastic than for a mendicant Order.
q In 1348
Fortanerius Vassalli became bishop of Ravenna and William Farinier (1348-1357)
was elected Minister General. He
promulgated the Constitutions known as “Farineriae,” which accepted the Constitutions
of Narbonne with the legislation laid down in the “Exiit” and “Exivi.”
q After being
nominated Cardinal, Farinier continued to govern the Order until the Chapter of
1357, which elected John Bouchier. This
General remained for one year only in office, and Farinier again assumed
responsibility as Vicar until the Chapter of 1359, which elected Marco da
Viterbo.
q In 1366 Marco da
Viterbo was made Cardinal and the government of the Order was passed into the
hands of the Cardinal Protector, Nicholas of Besse until 1367 when Tommaso da
Frignano was elected Minister General (1367-1372).
q In 1373 Leonardo
Rossi di Giffone was elected Minister in the Chapter of Toulouse. He was to be the last General before the
Great Schism in the Order (1378-1417).
2. The Great Schism in the Church
and in the Order
q In 1378 Pope
Gregory XI died. Urban VI was elected
Pope in Rome, but the cardinals opposed him so much that they chose a new Pope,
Clement VII, who took up residence in Avignon.
q The successors
of Urban VI were Boniface IX, Innocent VII and Gregory XII.
q The successor of
Clement VII was Benedict XIII.
q This schism in
the Church was also felt in religious Order, in which one could adhere to one
or the other obedience, each having its respective Minister General.
q This sad state
of affairs explains the real need for reform, which was never absent in the
long history of the Franciscan Order.
2.1. The Regular
Observance
q The reform
movement of the Regular Observance was born and developed in the period
1334-1354, and then definitely from 1368.
It is important to note that we are here dealing with the Italian
Observance.
q The movement of
reform was present in various places, but initially, it was not a unified
movement. We shall hint at a similar movement of reform in Spain.
q In 1334 Giovanni
della Valle, who had been a disciple of Angelo Clareno, withdrew to the
hermitage of Brugliano, near Foligno, in order to live the Franciscan Rule
without the interpretation of the Popes.
He died there in 1351.
q At first, Pope
Clement VI opposed the idea, but later in 1350, he gave permission to Gentile
da Spoleto to continue the reform with other brothers. They lived in
hermitages, especially in Le Carceri, above Assisi.
q
Unfortunately
these friars were often seen as disciples of the Fraticelli. Indeed, they had
contacts with them. Therefore, the
Chapter of Assisi in 1354 abolished the new movement.
q
Among
these brothers, a certain Paoluccio Vagnozzi da Trinci was still hopeful that
the reform would gain ground. In 1368 he
asked the Minister General Tommaso da Frignano permission to return to
Brugliano together with the other friars.
There they lived in extreme poverty.
They wore wooden clogs, and people began calling them “Zoccolanti.” Gradually they spread to various hermitages,
among which Le Carceri, San Damiano, Greccio, Fontecolombo and Poggio
Bustone.
q
In
1380 Paoluccio Trinci was made General Commissary for the 12 hermitages of the
reform movement in central Italy, with permission to receive novices. Trinci died in 1390, after having lived in
Brugliano.
q His successor
was Giovanni di Stronconio, who died in 1418.
In 1414 the number of reformed houses in Italy rose to 36, and in 1415
the Porziuncola friary joined the Observant reform, with the obligation to
continue sending its revenues to the Sanro
Convento in Assisi.
q The Regular
Observance in Italy was organized on a professional basis for four great
pillars oof reform, namely, St. Bernanrdine of Siena, who joined the reform in
1402; St. John Cappistrano, who joined the Franciscan Order in 1414; Alberto da
Sarteano, who joined the Regular Observance in 1415; and St. James of the
Marches, who became a Franciscan in 1416.
q The Observant
reform in Spain and Portugal developed independently of the Italian one. All three Provinces of Santiago, Aragon and
Castile had their own reform houses, which were founded spontaneously.
q The most
important among reformers was Pedro da Villacreces who started the reform round
about 1403.
q Around the year
1390 some friars in the Province of Touraine, in France, asked for permission
to live the Rule more strictly. They founded the friary of Maribeau, and
various other reformed houses later on.
q The history of
the reform movement in Spain, Portugal and France is very complicated. On thing is certain and must be emphasized:
The Franciscan historian Holzapfel notes, “It seems absolutely foolish to hold
that the Observance spread across Alps from Italy.
q During the Great
Schism, the Minister General Leonardo Rossi (1373-1378) decided to obey Pope
Clement VII at Avignon. The next Generals in the line of the Avignon obedience
were Angelo di Spoloto (1379-1391), John Chevegneyo (1391-1402), Giovanni Bardolini
(1403-1417).
q The Roman Pope,
Urban VI declared Leonardo Rossi deposed as Minister General and appointed
Ludovico Donato (1379-1383). The next Generals in line of the Roman obedience
were Pietro da Conzano (1383-1384), Martino Sangiorgio (1384-1387), Enrico
Alfieri (1387-1405), Antonio Angelo da Pireto (1405-1408), Guglielmo da
Suvereto (1408-1409), Antonio da Casia (1410-1415).
q
During
the generalate of Antonio Pireto, some cardinals from Avignon decided to depose
both Popes – Clement VII and Urban VI.
They met in Pisa in 1409, and elected the Franciscan Pietro Philargi di
Creta as Pope Alexander V.
q
Now
there were three Popes, on in Rome, one in Avignon, and one in Pisa! The only successor in the Pisa line was John
XXIII (not to be confused with Pope John XXIII Roncalli).
q
Fortunately
good sense prevailed, and the Council of Constance was called (1415-1418) to
put an end to the Great Schism and reform the Church. In November 1417, after all Popes had stepped
down, Martin V was elected as the only Pope, in Rome.
2.2. From the
end of the Great Schism (1417) to the
division of the Order (1517)
q
The
General Chapter of Forli, in 1421, elected Angelo Salvetti as Minister
General. His successor was Antonio da
Massa Marittima (1424-1430). These years
mark an interesting period in the history of the Order, especially regarding
the spread of organization of the Regular Observance.
q
Pope
Martin V summoned a “capitulum generalissimum” in Assisi in 1430. This Chapter promulgated new Constitutions
called Martinian Constitution.
The brains behind the Chapter were those of Giovanni da Capistrano, who
wanted the Observant movement to remain united with the Order. The new Minister General, Guglielmo da Casale
(1430-1442) accepted the principle of reform of the Order, particularly regarding the vow of poverty. But he soon went back on his word.
q
On
23 August 1430 Pope Martin V gave the Minister General the Brief: Ad Statum,
in which he gave the friars permission, through procurators, to retain and
administer any kind of property. This document
marks the Magna Carta of Conventualism in the history of the Order.
q
When
Pope Martin V died, the next Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447) was a champion for
reform in religious life, and particularly in the Franciscan Order. He gave permission to the Observants to have
their own Vicars.
q
In
1431 the hermitage of La Verna joined the Regular Observance and in 1434
Pope Eugene IV declared the Observants
as the sole custodians of the Holy Land.
q In 1437 Pope
Eugene IV nominated Bernardine of Siena
as the First Vicar General of the Observants in Italy. From now on the Franciscan Order was divided
between the friars “sub ministris.” that is, the Conventual family under
the Minister General, and the friars “sub vicariis,” that is, the
Observant family under the Vicar General.
q But there were
other distinctions as well.
q The same
Observant family was divided into the Cismontane and Ultramontane branches
(roughly north-west and south-east of the Alps).
q The French and
Spanish Observants were still adamant (obstinate) in maintaining their
independence. In 1439, during the exile
of Pope Eugene IV, an antipope was elected, Felix V, who was supported by the
German Provinces, who in turn elected Matthias Doring as their Minister
General.
q In 1442
Guglielmo da Casale died. The Chapter in Padua, in 1443, elected the Vicar
General, Alberto da Sarteano, who was a reformer, but the Conventuals opposed
him so much that he spontaneously resigned.
Antonio Rusconi from Como (1443-1449) was elected instead.
q Giovanni
Capistrano was nominated Vicar for the Cismontane Observant family and Jean
Perioche Maubert for the Ultramontane family.
q The drift towards
separation between the Conventuals and Observants seemed inevitable.
q
In
1446 Pope Eugene IV published the Bull: Ut Sacra Ordinis Minorum Religio,
which sealed the future separation of the two Franciscan branches of the First
Order. The Bull gave right to the
Observants to elect their Vicar General.
The Minister General had to confirm them, while retaining the right to
visit all friaries of the Observants. No
Observant could pass over to the side of the Conventuals. Conventuals were free to join the Observant
reform.
q
In
1445 the Aracoeli friary in Rome was given over to the Observants. In 1449 Capistrano was re-elected Vicar of
the Observants, and in 1450 Bernardine of Siena was declared saint. His canonization was a boost for the cause of
the Observants.
q Within the Observance itself, however, things
were not so calm as might be expected.
There were many friars in Spain, France and elsewhere, who were
insisting that they be reformed, but not under the Vicars of the Observants,
but under the direct obedience of the Minister General, who was always a
conventual.
q While the
Cismontane Observants followed the Martinian Constitutions, the
Ultramontane family adopted the Constitutions of Barcelona from 1451 onwards.
q Under the direct
influence of St. James of the Marches, on 2 February 1456 Pope Callistus III
published the Bull: Bulla Concordiae, in an attempt to reconcile
Observants and Conventuals. The Observants were ordered not to appropriate the
friaries of the Conventuals.
q In 1464
Francesco della Rovere was elected Minister General (1464-1469). He would later
become Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1481). The
Conventuals were given the friary of Santissimi Apostoli in Rome, after having
lost Aracoeli. As Minister General and
Pope, Sixtus IV tried to reform the Order, but his efforts met with little
success.
q The Vicar of the
Observant, Marco da Bologna, tried in vain to defend the cause of reform during
a consistory, where there was pressure to abrogate the Bull: Ut Sacra
Ordinis of Pope Eugene IV.
q During the
General Chapter of Urbino (1475) Francesco Nanni, known as Samson, was elected
Minister General. He would remain in his
office until 1499. He was moderate in
his approach to reform, and on the who favoured the Observants.
q But he was not
pleased at all with the methods of the Franciscan Observant Cardinal Francisco
Ximenes de Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo, who had the authority of the Spanish
king to enforce reform in all the houses of the Order in Spain.
3.
The Fratres de Capusio or Discalceati, later known
as the Alcantarines
q An important
reform was taking place in Spain at the time.
In 1480 Juan de la Puebla entered the Order. After a short period in the
hermitage of Le Carceri, he returned to Spain.
On the Sierra Morena he founded the hermitage of Sta. Maria
Angelorum. The Custody of the Angeles
depended upon the Vicars of the Observants.
The future Minister General Quinones (1523-1527) came from the
Custody.
q After Juan de la
Puebla’s death in 1495 Juan de Guadalupe took over the leadership of the
Custody and placed it under the obedience of the Minister General (Conventual
obedience).
q His friars began
to be called “fratres de capucio”or “discalceati.” Later on they would be known as Alcantarines,
when Peter of Alcantara entered this reform.
We, Filipino friars came from this reformed group, when the Spanish
friars passed through Acapulco, Mexico came in 1578.
q There were other
reforms in Italy, such as the Amadeiti, which were under the obedience of the
Conventuals
4. Calming the Waters in the
Order but came the brink
q
The
General Chapter of Terni chose Egidio Delfini as Minister General
(1500-1506). He also tried to calm the
waters and encourage reform in the Conventual ranks, and requested the help of
Pope Julius II (1503-1513) who had been a Conventual friar himself. He summoned
a capitulum generalissimum in Rome in 1506. But his plans for union failed. The last Minister General before the definite
separation was Bernardino Prati (1513-1517).
q
Matters
had now come to the brink of public scandal, and separation was on the way out
for the Order.
q Pope Leo X
(1513-1521) saw that it would be carried out.
On 11 July 1516 he summoned a capitulum generalissimum in Rome
for Pentecost, 31 May 1517, in which all branches of the Order were obliged to
attend – Conventuals, Observants, Amadeiti, Colettans, Clareni, Fratres de
Capucio.
q When the
capitulars met it was soon clear that the Observants did not favor separation,
but that they did not accept a Minister General who would not be reformed.
q The Conventuals,
on the other hand, reiterated their legitimate right to observe the papal
declarations and dispensations with a tranquil conscience.
q So Pope Leo X
promulgated the Bull: Ite vos vineam mean of 26 May 1517. He proceeded to inform the Conventuals that
they could exist independently, but had to relinquish the right to have the
Minister General elected from their ranks.
q As for the
reformed branches, Pope Leo X ordered them all to unite together, drop all
their names, and simply called Ordo Fratrum Minorum. From their ranks a Minister Generalis totius
Ordinis Minorum would be elected, for six-year term, from Cismontane and
Ultramontane families alternately.
q The reformed
friars, however, continued to maintain the adjective Friars Minor of the
Regular Observance until 1897.
q On 1 June 1517
Cristoforo Numai from Friuli from the Cismontane family was elected new
Minister General. Bernardino Prito
consinged the seal of the Order.
q On 14 June 1517
Pope Leo X published the Bull: Omnipotens Deus or Bulla concordiae,
in which he ordered the Friars Minor Conventuals to have a Magister
Generalis, to be confirmed by the Minister General of the Order.
q In practice this
order was never enforced, because the Conventuals continued to exist as a fully
independent Order, with their own Minister General.
q Let us conclude
our considerations with the words of Holzapfel, “The two parties, the
reformed and the non-reformed, were so different in matter of life and in their
attitude towards the Rule, that it was impossible for them to find place in a
united society. If both parties were to
be permitted to continue, complete separation was the only solution. Every sincere friend of the Order will
deplore this fact, no matter to which family of the whole Order he belongs
today. It would be unjust to identify
the Conventuals today with their regulated discipline with the non-reformed
Conventuals of the 15th century, just as the Friars Minor of today have no
cause to defend the mistakes made by the Observants of those times.”
HISTORY
OF THE FRANCISCAN MOVEMENT
First
Order
Part IV: From 1517 Split and the
coming of the Capuchin Friars
to 1897 Leonine Union
1.
The Beginning of Reform within the Observance
q The Bull: Ite vos of Pope Leo X in 1517 left the Franciscan Order
divided into two separate families, the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance
and the Friars Minor Conventuals. This division, in fact, did not solve all the
problems regarding the unity of the Order.
q It is to be noted in advance that the Observant family was not a compact
movement, and that, within it, the seeds for further divisions were already
sown.
q The large family of the Regular Observance was also divided into the
Cismontane and Ultramontane groups.
q Political factors, notably, the diplomatic maneuvering of Spanish crown,
were to play an important role in the future of the Observant movement,
particularly in the choice of the Minister General of the Order.
q The balance which the Ite vos tried to achieve in the alternate
choice for Minister General between the Cismontane and Ultramontane groups
every six years was rarely respected.
For whole decades, the office of Minister General was occupied by the
Ultramontane (Spanish) group.
q The Spanish friars, under political pressure, asked for a National
Commissary in 1521. Francisco de Angelis
Quinones was nominated for the post. In
1523 he was also elected Minister General of the Order (1523-1529) during the
General Chapter of Burgos. Before him,
the Ministers Cristoforo Numai (1517-1518), Francesco Lichetto (1518-1520), and
Paolo da Soncino (1521-1523), had been Italians.
q In 1529 Francisco de Angelis Quinones became Cardinal and Paolo Pisotti
(1529-1533) was elected General. He was an unpopular figure and had to resign
under pressure from Pope Paul III.
q The Chapter of Nice elected Vincenzo Lunello (1529-1533). He worked hard for the continued reform of
the Order. After him Giovanni Matteo de
Calvi was elected General (1541-1547).
The next General was from Portugal, Adreas Alvarez, known as Insulanus
(1547-1553). The Chapter of Salamanca elected Clemente Dolera (1553-1557) and
published new Constitutions, known as Salmanticenses Constitutions.
q The Ultramontane family, however, persisted in observing the Barcelona
Constitutions.
q The next Generals were Francisco Zamora de Cuenca (1559-1565), and
Aloisio Pozzo da Borgonuovo (1565-1571), during whose generalate Pope Pius V
ordered the Amadeiti, Clareni and Reformed Conventuals to join the Friars Minor
Observants.
q It was also during the generalate Pope Pius V that the present Basilica
of St. Mary of the Angels (Porziuncola) began to be constructed.
q Christopher de Chaffontaines was Minister General from 1571-1579,
followed by Francisco Gonzaga (1579-1587) during the time of Pope Sixtus V
(1585-1590), a Friar Minor Conventual.
q The Chapter of Valladolid elected Bonaventure Secusi da Caltagirone
(1593-1600) and published the Valladolid Constitutions, which were accepted by
the Cismontane family.
q After this rapid glance at the sequence of Ministers General during the
16th century, we shall now take a look at the successful attempts at reforming
the same family of the Regular Observance.
These reforms were the result of a general need of reform in the Church,
especially in the period of the Protestant
Reform and the Counter-Reform of the Council of Trent.
q The Franciscan Order had answered the call for reform during the Council
of Constance with the Regular Observance of the 15th century.
q New reforms were born as a result of Church reform during the 16th
century. They were mainly aimed at
remaining under the direct obedience of the Minister General, but one, in
particular, wanted to separate itself and became an independent entity outside
the Observance. We are referring to the
Capuchin reform.
2. The Beginnings of the Capuchin
Reform (1525-1619)
q Matteo da Bascio (+1552) was a priest and preacher of the Franciscan
Observant Province of the Marches of Ancona.
His earnest desire was to be able to live the Franciscan Rule according
to the most strict observance.
q In 1525 he left his friary at Montefalcone and went to Rome and asked
permission from Clement VII (1523-1534) to be able to carry out his wish, and
to wear a habit with a pointed capuche according to the model St. Francis
himself had shown him in a vision.
q Matteo was protected by the Duchess of Camerino, Caterina Cibo, who was a
niece of the Pope Clement VII.
q During the Provincial Chapter in Jesi, Giovanni da Fano, Minister
Provincial, ordered Matteo to go to the friary of Fano, where he placed him
under guard, until the Duchess of Camerino demanded his freedom. Soon other Brothers went to join him.
q Ludovico and Raffaele da Fossombrone asked the Minister Provincial to let
them live in a hermitage with Matteo.
The Minister refused. Therefore
these three brothers found refuge in the Conventual friary of Cingoli.
q When Paolo da Chioggia joined the group, they began to live in
Fossombrone, under the protection of the Duchess of Camerino and the obedience
of the Friars Minor Conventuals.
q On 3 July 1528 Pope Clement VII gave them the Bull: Religionis zelus,
with permission to live the Franciscan Rule according to the most strict
observance, to live in hermitages, grow a long beard, wear a narrow habit with
a pointed capuche, preach to the people and accept novices. They were to remain under the observance of
the Friars Minor Conventuals.
q Ludovico da Fossombrone became the leader of the new family.
q In 1529 a set of new Constitutions were formed, called the Constitutions
of Albacina. This legislation prescribed two hours of meditation daily, the
divine office at night, penitential practices in food accompanied with begging
for the daily needs of the friars, one habit with a short mantle for the sick
and aged, no procurators, friaries outside cities, remaining the property of
the benefactors, poor churches, itinerant preaching without remuneration, few
books.
q When the first friars went to preach in Camerino in 1534, the locals
called them “Scapuccini” and “Romiti.” They soon became known as Friar Minor
Capuchins.
q In the meantime Matteo da Bascio left this new fraternity in 1537, to
return to the ranks of the Observants, where he died in 1552.
q The Minister General Paolo Pisotti tried to suppress the new
movement.
q Cardinal Quinones was of the opinion that it would have been wiser to try
to call the new reformers within the family of the Observance, as he had tried
to do in Spain with the eremitical Franciscan reforms.
q Ludovico da Fossombrone, however, held fast to the Religionis zelus.
q The Pope Clement VII ordered the Observants not to molest the Capuchins,
and prohibited the Capuchins from receiving Observants within their ranks.
q The new family was led by prominent figures, such as Bernardino d’Asti,
Francesco da Jesi, doctor in law, and Bernardino Ochino, a famous preacher.
q In 1535 Bernardino d’Asti was elected Vicar General. Ludovico da Fossombrone left the new
Franciscan family.
q Although the Minister General Lunello tried to unite the Capuchins with
the Order of Friars Minor in 1542, Bernardino d’Asti and Bernardino Ochino
refused. Ochino was unfortunately to end up an apostate in 1542. The new Order was saved by Francesco da
Jesii, who became Vicar General in 1543.
q The new Order progressed rapidly. In 1608 Pope Paul V declared that the
Capuchins were true Friars Minor and sons of St. Francis.
q On 23 January 1619 the Order of Friars Capuchins was given autonomous
status and separated from the nominal obedience of the Friars Minor
Conventuals, with the Papal Brief: Alias felicis recordationis.
q During the first century of its existence, the Order of Friars Minor
Capuchins was also a school of sanctity for many friars. Among its prominent figures during this
period we mention St. Felice of Cantalice (+1587), St. Laurence of Brindici,
Doctor of the Church (+1619), and St. Fedele of Sigmaringen (+1622), the first
Martyrs of Propaganda Fide.
3. Houses of Recollection
q It is an interesting fact that every reform in the long history of the
Franciscan Order was born in the environment of small hermitages. It was a kind of return to the humble beginnings,
according to the simple form of life which St. Francis wrote for those Brothers
living in hermitages.
q We have already noted this phenomenon in the case of the Spirituals, the
first Observants, the Spanish Franciscan reformers, and the Capuchins.
q During the 16th century, we notice a similar trend even within the
Observant family, with the establishment of “houses of recollection”
within the Provinces, in which friars could live the Rule in its simplicity and
remain united with their religious family.
q In Spain the “houses of recollection” began in 1502. In 1523 the Minister General Quinones gave
them gave them special statutes, to ensure that they remained under the
obedience of their respective Ministers
Provincial.
q In Italy the Minister General Lichetto favored houses of
recollection. It was in these houses
within and outside the Observance were born.
We have already referred to the Capuchin reform.
q We shall now turn to the other reform groups within the Observant
family, born as a result of the
Franciscan experience in these houses of recollection in Italy (where they
became known as “ritiri”), in Spain and France.
1. The Friars
Minor Riformati
q The Minister General Paolo Pisotti was against reform in the Observant
family, and he was naturally all out against houses of recollection. So Francesco da Jesi and Bernardino da Asti,
who on later became Capuchins, went to Pope Clement VII who gave them the Bull:
In Suprema Militantis Ecclesiae, on 16 January 1532.
q Each Province had the permission to found houses of reform, in order to
give the Brothers the opportunity to live the Rule in a more strict way, but
according to the papal declarations in Exiit and Exivi.
q The Brothers could live in extreme poverty, even in the choice of
clothing, but their habits were not to be different in form and color from the
official habit of the Friars Minor Observants.
q These friars could have a Custos, who was to take part in the Provincial
Chapters together with the Guardians.
q The Observant family strongly resisted this reform within its ranks,
especially in the period 1532-1579.
q In 1535 Pope Paul III warned the Minister General that, if the Order
would not put into effect the Bull: In Suprema Militantis Ecclesiae, he
would order the Friars Minor Riformati to join the Capuchins.
q The result was a favorable attitude towards the Reform. The Provincial of
the Roman Province gave the four hermitages of the Valle Reatina to the
Riformati.
q The beginnings of the Riformati were similar to those of the Capuchins
with regards to their way of life, the time allotted to prayer, penitential
practices, and the like. In 1579 the
Riformati asked Pope Gregory XIII the Bull: Cum illis vicem, in order to
be autonomous from the Observants.
q The Bull prohibited friars who became Riformati to live in the Observant
friaries, but gave them permission to the Observants to go and live in friaries
of the Riformati.
q The Riformati built a friary at San Francesco a Ripa, in Rome, to be
their headquarters. This friary remained
the official center of the Italian Riformati until the Bull of Union of 1897.
In this friary, now known as Sancta Quaranta, many of our Filipino
student-friars stayed to study in Antonianum as well as your facilitator when
he attended the conference of OFM International for Justice, Peace and
Integrity of Creation in 2010.
q In 1587 the Minister General Francisco Gonzaga obtained the suspension of
the Bull: Cum illis vicem.
q Pope Clement VIII ordered that the novitiate houses of the Observant
provinces were to be in the houses of recollection.
q Bonaventura Secusi da Caltagirrone gave new Constitutions to the Italian
Riformati in 1595. In 1596 Pope Clement VIII gave a Procurator General and
Visitators to the Riformati, much to the anger of the Observants who accused
them of being separatist.
q The tension between the Observants and Reformed Friars Minor was a cause
of trouble for the leaders of the Order.
q In 1621 Gregory XV gave the Riformati the right too have their own
Procurator, to be nominated by the Cardinal Protector of the Order. Thus the Minister General’s jurisdiction over
the Riformati was greatly diminished. For a brief period the Riformati even had
their own Vicar General, but this office was abolished by Urban VIII in 1624.
q With the spread of the Reform, in 1639, the Bull: Iniuncti nobis of
Urban VIII gave permission to the Reformed custodies in Italy and Poland to
become independent Provinces in the
Order, with the faculty of adding the adjective “Riformata” to the name
of the Province. The Riformati were to have a Procurator General to be
nominated by the Cardinal Protector.
q The Minister General of the Order retained jurisdiction over the
Riformati.
q Thus, in 1639, the Friars Minor Riformati began to exist as an autonomous
family within the ranks of the Order of Friars Minor, under the obedience of
the Minister General, but with their own General Procurator.
q This state of affairs would continue officially until 1897, and, in
practice, even later in the case of the Italian Provinces.
q The Riformati family also gave a good number of saints to the Franciscan
Order. The most renowned among them is St. Leonard of Port Maurice (+1751), who
became a Franciscan friar in the family known as “Riformella,” founded
by the Blessed Bonaventura from Barcelona in the Reformed Roman Province.
q The Riformella friars lived in the friary of San Bonaventura al
Palatino, near the Colosseum.
q The Riformati spread to other parts of Europe, such as in Bavaria,
where the Duke Maximilian I requested their presence. The Riformati were also
present in Tyrol, Autria, Bohemia and Poland.
2. The Friars
Minor Alcantarines or Discalced
q The Spanish reform was born before the division of the Order in
1517.
q In 1480 Juan de la Puebla had began an effort at reform, followed by Juan
de Guadalupe in 1495. At this time this
reform was under the obedience of the Minister General, and developed
independently of the Observant Vicars General.
q In 1496 the Minister General Francisco Nanni (known as Samson) gave him
permission to live the Rule in the most strict observance.
q In 1499 the group of friars formed the Custody of the Holy Gospel.
q The famous reformer Cardinal Cisneros, with the approval of the Spanish
monarchs Fernando and Isabella, wanted to eradicate from Spain all religious
who wanted to start reforms outside the Regular observance.
q So in 1502 the permission given to Juan de Guadalupe was revoked, and the
friars were asked to join the Observance in the houses of recollection which
the Order in Spain had instituted for the purpose. But these reformed friars
did not accept and declared their obedience to the Minister General of the
Order.
q In 1515 these friars were known as “fratres de capucio,” or “Discalced”
Friars Minor and were given the Custody of Estremadura. They were also known as Reformed Conventuals,
because of the obedience to the Minister General.
q The “Ite vos” of 1517 commanded them to join the Order of Friars
Minor, made up of the Observants and the other reformed groups. The Custody of Estremadura became the
Province of St. Gabriel in 1520.
q In 1515 Juan Pascual joined these friars.
Later on he would ask to be left under the obedience of the Friars Minor
Conventuals. Pope Paul III gave him
permission to accept novices and other Observants who would like to join the
reform. When Juan Pascual died in 1554
he had laid the foundation for the Custody of San Jose.
q A key figure in this Custody and a great reformer in Spain was St. Peter
of Alcantara. He was a Minister
Provincial of the Province of St. Gabriel of the Reformed Conventuals. In 1557
the Minister General of the Conventuals gave him permission to become General
Commissary of the Reformed Conventuals in Spain.
q St. Peter of Alcantara founded hermitage of Pedroso.
q In 1559 the Custody of San Jose became a Province. The Alcantarine reform was one of the
strictest in the history of the Order.
q The same year in which Peter of Alcantara died, in 1562, the Province of
San Jose left the Conventual obedience and entered the Observant family.
q Peter of Alcantara was instrumental in helping St. Theresa of Avila in
the reform of the Carmelite Order, when she founded the Discalced Carmelites.
q The Alcantarine family was very intransigent (uncompromising) in its
sense of autonomy from the Observant mainstream and way of life.
q In 1621 the Alcantarines were given a General Commissary and a Procurator
General.
q By the end of the 18th century the Discalced or Alcantarine family of the
Order of Friars Minor had spread to Italy (Naples and Lecce), Brazil, Mexico,
East Indies, Japan and the Philippines.
q The Alcantarines were also a school of sanctity, with eminent figures
such as St. Paschal Baylon, St. John Joseph of the Cross, and St. Peter Baptist
and companions, missionaries to our country, the Philippines and martyrs in
Nagasaki, Japan in 1597.
3. The Friars Minor Recollects
q The family of the Recollects was born in France, and was encouraged by
Clement VIII, who contacted the Minister General Bonaventura Secusi da
Caltagirone and ordered him ti put into practice the legislation favoring
reform in the Order, especially the Bull: In Suprema Militantis Ecclesiae of
Clement VII (1532) and the Bull: Cum illis vicem of Pope Gregory XIII
(1579).
q The first friary to embrace the reform in France was that of Nièvre, in
the Province of Touraine. This friary
was reformed with the personal interest of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nievre, who
asked Pope Sixtus V permission to place this friary under the obedience of the
Minister Provincial of Paris.
q Later on a group of Italian Riformati came to live in this place, but
they proved unpopular with the local populace and had to return to Italy.
q The family of the Recollects was born in France, and was encouraged by
Clement VIII, who contacted the Minister General Bonaventura Secusi da
Caltagirone and ordered him ti put into practice the legislation favoring
reform in the Order, especially the Bull: In Suprema Militantis Ecclesiae of
Clement VII (1532) and the Bull: Cum illis vicem of Pope Gregory XIII
(1579).
q The first friary to embrace the reform in France was that of Nièvre, in
the Province of Touraine. This friary
was reformed with the personal interest of Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nievre, who
asked Pope Sixtus V permission to place this friary under the obedience of the
Minister Provincial of Paris.
q Later on a group of Italian Riformati came to live in this place, but
they proved unpopular with the local populace and had to return to Italy.
q The General Chapter of Rome in 1612, gave the Recollects permission to
form two Provinces from the houses of recollection in France, namely the
Province of St. Bernardine in southern France and the Province of St. Denis in
northern France, together with the Custody of St. Anthony “in Delphinatu.”
q In 1614 they had the Province of the Immaculate Conception in
Aquitaine. Later on other Provinces were
founded, St. Joseph in Belgium (1629), Saxony (1625), England (1630), Ireland
(c. 1630), Thuringia (1633), Northern Gerrmany (1640), Southern Germany (1640), Holland (1640). The Recollects were also missionaries in the
French Provinces in Canada.
q The Recollections gave importance to the ascetical life, to
contemplation, study, preach-ing and missionary activity. They were an
autonomous reform, but they tended to be less centralized than the Riformati
or Alcantarines. They had
hermitages, but they also lived in large friaries in the cities.
q The French Revolution was the cause of the diminishing of the
Recollect family in France. The
Recollects continued to exist as an independent family in the Order until 1897.
HISTORY
OF THE FRANCISCAN FAMILY
First
Order
Part V: From the Leonine Union of the
Order in 1897
to the Present
1. The Leonine Union of the
Friars Minor (1897)
q The last half of the 19th century was a critical period in the history of
the Order of Friars Minor. For clarity’s
sake, let us remember that, since 1517, when the Friars Minor of the Regular
Observance were separated from the Friars Minor Conventuals, other reforms were
born outside and within the Observance, namely the Capuchins, Riformati,
Alcantarines or Discalced, and Recollects.
q The French Revolution and the philosophical trends of Illuminati had left
all religious Orders in Europe greatly weakened. The Franciscan Order was no
exception.
q The process of revival and reform was slow to come, and new problems
arose during the 19th century, with the Industrial Revolution and the onset of
secularized philosophical trends, such as Marxism. At the same time, however,
the Order had spread to the New World, where the friars were numerous,
especially in Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
q The history of the evangelization of the Americans and Asians merit
special attention.
q In 1869 Pope Pius IX chose Minister General Bernardino dal Vago da
Portogruano (Porto Romantino), from the family of the Riformati. The Order
could not meet for the General Chapters, and Bernardino led the Order for 20
years, from 1869 to 1889. He was one of
the dynamic Ministers General in its history.
He began the publication of the Acta Ordinis Minorum in 1882, the
official organ of the Order to this very day (today called “Acta Ordinis
Fratrum Minorum”).
q In the midst of great difficulties he worked hard for the construction of
the Basilica and International College of S. Antonio in Via Merulana, Rome, for
the academic revival and missionary preparation of the Order. This place also became the General Curia,
after the Italian government had taken away the friary of Aracoeli. The
foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Parocchi on 16 November 1883, and the
Basilica and Curia in 1887.
q Bernardino also founded the Collegio S. Bonaventura at Quaracchi, as a
center for research in the writings of the Franciscan Masters of the Middle
Ages (today the center is at Grottaferrata, on the Colli Romani). These scholars started to work upon the
critical edition of the Opera Omnia of St. Bonaventure. Last, but not the least , Bernardino favored
the Third Order and also new female Franciscan organizations, notably the
Franciscan Missionaries o Mary. In 1889
he asked the Pope to relieve him of the office of Minister General.
q Pope Leo XIII made him titular bishop of Sardica and he retreated to
Quaracchi, where he died on 7 May 1895.
q During the General Chapter of 1889, celebrated at the Collegio S.
Antonio, in Rome, Luigi da Parma (1889-1897) was elected Minister General.
q The Spanish Provinces were represented by their Vice Apostolic Commissary
Francisco Saenz.
q One should remember that, geographically, the Order was still divided
into Ultramontane and Cismontane families. The Ultramontane group comprised the
Spanish Provinces and those entities under Spanish domination.
q In this period the Cismontane family had 17,000 friars in:
v 55 Observant Provinces,
v 38 Reformed Provinces,
v 7 Recollect Provinces, and
v 4 Alcantarine Provinces.
q The Ultramontane family had 1,200 friars in the Observant Provinces of:
Santiago, Andalusia, Cartagena, Valencia,
Cataluna, Cantabria, Morocco,
and the Alcantarine Province
of the Philippines.
q The Ultramontane family maintained its right to have a Vice Apostolic
Commissary, who resided in the friary of S. Francisco el Grande, in Madrid, and
a Procurator General who resided in the friary of Santi Quaranta in Rome.
q The Riformati also had their Procurator General, and there was another
Procurator General for the Recollects and Alcantarines.
q This is the general picture to have in mind in order to understand the
great difficulties which lay in the plans for an eventual Union of the Order
of Friars Minor.
q Luigi da Parma, together with Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) were the
propagandists of the efforts aimed at uniting the Friars Minor under one
denomination.
q It was not an easy task, and its effects on the Order are still object of
discussion and varying opinions.
2.
Brief Historical Account on the Union of
the Order
of Friars Minor in 1897
q The Riformati greatly opposed the Union, notably through their two
General Definitors, Brothers Accursio da Monte Santa Sabina (from Tuscany
Province) and Gaudentius Guggenbichler (from the Province of Tyrol).
q Other problems lay in the way of Union, namely:
ü The controversy regarding the Custody of the Holy Land, which was
staunchly Observant
ü The serious financial crisis of the Order, following the building of
Collegio and Basilica di S. Antonio in Rome
ü The separatist character of the Ultramontane family.
q A General Chapter was summoned by Pope Leo XIII at S. Maria degli Angeli,
in Assisi, on 16 May 1895.
q The Pope nominated the Dominican Cardinal Angelo Mauri, Archbishop of
Ferrara, to preside over the Chapter.
Cardinal Mauri told the capitulars that Pope Leo XIII was of the opinion
that it was in the best interests of the Franciscan Order that the families
present strive for true and full Union.
q This did not compromise the particular statutes of the various groups, as
long as these did not go against the General Constitutions.
q The response was not a surprise.
ü The Observants wanted Union,
ü The Recollects were prone to accept it, although they were aware of the
difficulties
ü 77 votes were in favor of the Union,
Ø The Riformati and Alcantarines were against it, and
Ø 31 votes were against it
q So Cardinal Mauri met the capitulars personally to try to convince them
of the Pope’s ardent wish. A second
ballot was held, with the result of 108 votes for the Union and 8 against.
q The Minister General Luigi da Parma nominated a commission to draw up new
Constitutions for the Order, under the leadership of Aloysius Lauer. The Commission met at St. Isidore’s College
in Rome to draft the new Constitutions in December 1895
q In the audience given to the General Definitorium on 15 February 1896,
Pope Leo XIII had again stressed upon the importance of the Union among Friars
Minor.
q Luigi da Parma asked the Provinces of the Order to air their views
regarding the new Constitutions and the issue of Union. In 1896 a total of 65 our of 95 Provinces
answered.
ü 34 Provinces were in favor of the Union
v 21 Observants
v 6 Riformati
v 6 Recollects
v 1 Custody of the Holy Land
ü 30 Provinces were against
v 1 Observant
v 27 Riformati
v 2 Alcantarine
ü 1 Province answered in an inconclusive way
q The Provinces which abstained from voting were notified in advance that
their silence would mean a vote pro-Union.
Thus the final result was 65 Provinces for the Union and 30 against
q On 19 April 1896 the Commission for the new General Constitutions
finished its work. Various protests were
aired at the efforts for Union. It was a time of controversy. The other
Franciscan Orders, that is, the Conventuals and Capuchins, were not happy with
the Pope’s intention to order the abolition of the adjectives “de Regularis
Observatia” from the name “Ordo Fratrum Minorum,” since they
restored that the name belonged to all the families of the First Order.
q On 12 April 1897 the Congregation for Bishops informed the Minister
General Luigi da Parma that Pope Leo XIII had decided to go ahead with the Declaration
of Union of the Order. The new General Constitutions (GGCC)
were approved on 15 May 1897. On 1
October 1897 Luigi da Parma was summoned by Pope Leo XIII together with Brother
Aloysius Lauer. The Pope informed MinGen
Luigi that he had chosen Brother Aloysius as next Minister General after the
Union. Brother Aloysius Lauer, together
with Brother David Fleming, both Recollects, had been presented as candidates
for the generalate.
q On the feast day of St. Francis, 4 October 1897, Pope Leo XIII published
the Bull: Felicitate Quadam.
q From that day the families of the Observants, Riformati, Alcantarines and
Recollects were officially to unite into one family, known simply by the name “Ordo
Fratrum Minorum,” or Order of Friars Minor.
On 5 October, the Minister General Luigi da Parma passed the seal of the
Order to Brother Aloysius Lauer, the new Minister General (1897-1901).
q The Spanish friars, however, deserted the ceremony. The future problems
at implementing the Union were already evident.
3. The Order of Friars Minor from
1897 to the present
q The Ultramontane family was subject to Spanish hegemony (or dominion) and
political maneuvering, and did not accept the Union of the Order as planned by
Pope Leo XIII. The Spaniards were
subject to the Apostolic Vice Commissary Serafin Linares, who resided in
Madrid.
q The political events of 1898, when Spain lost its colonies of Cuba and
the Philippines, prompted the Minister General Aloysius Lauer to request the
abolition of the Office of Apostolic Vice Commissary.
q Later on, during the reign of Alfonso XIII, Pope Pius X, in the motu
proprio, “Singularis regiminis” (29 June 1904) abolished the Office
of Apostolic Vice Commissary and ordered them to fall directly under the
obedience of the new Minister General Dionysius Schuler (1903-1911).
q But the Ultramontane family still retained a Vicar General.
q This state of affairs ended on 14 December 1932, when the Minister
General Bonaventura Marrani (1927-1933) wrote to the Cardinal Protector of the
Order, Bonaventura Cerretti, and requested that the “Singularis regiminis”
be revoked.
q On 22 December 1932 Cardinal Lepicier, Prefect of the Congregation for
Religious, informed the Minister General that Pope Pius XII had revoked the motu
proprio and that, henceforth, the Spanish friars fell directly under the
obedience of the Minister General and had to abide the Constitutions of the
Order.
q On 21 March 1933 German Rubio, the last Vicar General for the Spanish
friars, resigned from his office. The
Ultramontane family ceased to exist.
q In Italy there were other problems as well. The Alcantarine Province of Naples rejected
the Union. But the Minister General
Aloysius Lauer reacted strongly and made it obligatory to all the friars to
accept the “Felicitate quadam.”
q But the greatest problem lay with the ex-Riformati Provinces of
Italy. The friars were against fusion of
the Provinces, which were observant or Riformati.
q In 1903 the Minister Provincial of Venice wrote to the Minister General
Aloysius Lauer complaining that the fusion was being detrimental to the quality
of religious life. But MinGen Lauer remained intransigent (obstinate), and so
the case was presented in front of the General Chapter.
q A personal interest was shown in this issue by Pacifico Monza, member of
the Venice Province, who had been Procurator General of the Riformati. This friar began lobbying Cardinal Agliardi,
Protector of the Capuchins, Cardinal Ferrata, Prefect of the Congregation for
Bishops and Regulars, and Giuseppe Sarto, who was Patriarch of Venice, and who
became Pope Pius X during the same year.
q The Minister General Dionysius Schuler, protested with the Pope, and
insisted that a new division of the Province of Venice was not possible,
because it would mean that the other Provinces in Italy would ask for division
as well.
q The Pope at first supported the MinGen’s view, but later on gave way due
to pressure from Italian circles.
q In October 1910 the Roman Province was again divided into an Observant
entity and a Reformed entity.
q To complicate matters, Cardinal Vives y Tuto, a Capuchin, and Prefect of
the Congregation for Religious, was of no help at all to Schuler. He even went so far as to resuscitate the
protests of the Conventuals and Capuchins in 1897, regarding the name Order of
Friars Minor.
q The result was shocking. On 4 October 1909 Pius X published an Apostolic
Letter: Septima iam, in which he ordered that the name of the Order be
changed to “Friars Minor of the Leonine Union.” This name was never used neither by the Holy
See nor by the Order.
Note: “It
seemed that part of the protests against the Order was the result of the
publication of Herbert Holzapfel’s, Manuale
Historiae Ordinis Fratrum Minorum. The Pope even proceeded to place the book in the index of prohibited
writings!”
q Schuler felt demoralized and humiliated at the turn of events. Pope Pius
X demanded absolute silence about his decisions. In January 1911 Schuler had an
audience with the Pope, and asked him to relieve him of the Office of Minister
General.
q During a visitation to the Provinces of Italy, Belgium, France and
Holland, Schuler received a letter from Bonaventura Marrani, Procurator General
of the Order, telling him that Pope Pius X wanted the Order to have a new
government. The MinGen was to return to
Rome quickly, because Pacifico Monza was to be installed as Minister General,
and Schuler was to be consecrated
titular Archbishop of Nazianzen the following Sunday. Moreover, he was not to tell anybody about
the matter.
q On Thursday 26 October 1911, at 4pm, Schuler was summoned in the Basilica
of S. Antonio in Rome. When he went down from the General Curia in the
Collegio, he found many friars from the Antonianum, the Curia and
Aracoeli. The Franciscan bishop Bernard
Doebbing read the motu proprio: Quo magis (23 October 1911) and
announced that the new MinGen would be Pacifico Monza, and that Schuler would
be consecrated titular Archbishop. The
consecration took place on 5 November.
q On 11 November 1911, after an audience with Pope Pius X, Schuler left
Rome and retired in Germany. The plan of Cardinal Vives y Tuto and the group of
ex-Riformati had worked.
q The division of the Italian Provinces lasted until 1945. On 27 December 1945 Pope Pius XII addressed
the Apostolic Letter: Quae paterna to the MinGen Valentine Schaaf of the
Cincinnati Province, in which he ordered the Italian Provinces to regroup
themselves in such a way that, in every region, there would only one Province.
q The division between Observants and Riformati in Italy became a thing of
the past.
q During the generalate of Pacifico Monza (1911-1915), Pope Pius X on 11
April 1909 declared the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels as “caput et
mater” of the Order of Friars Minor, with the privilege of Patriarchal
Basilica and Papal Chapel.
q The next MinGen was Bonaventura Marrani (1927-1933). In 1931 the Order
celebrated 7th centenary of St. Anthony of Padua. The Collegio S. Antonio in
Rome was enlarged, and the Scotistic Commission began its work for the critical
edition of the writings of John Duns Scotus.
q During the generalate of Leonardo Bello (1933-1944) the Collegio S.
Antonio was declared an Athenaeum Pontificium, and the Scotistic Commission
passed into hands of Brother Carlo Balic, OFM.
In 1943 the Order started the construction of the present General Curia
on the Colle del Gelsomino in Rome.
q The division between Observants and Riformati in Italy became a thing of
the past.
q During the generalate of Pacifico Monza (1911-1915), Pope Pius X on 11
April 1909 declared the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels as “caput et
mater” of the Order of Friars Minor, with the privilege of Patriarchal
Basilica and Papal Chapel.
q The next MinGen was Bonaventura Marrani (1927-1933). In 1931 the Order
celebrated 7th centenary of St. Anthony of Padua. The Collegio S. Antonio in
Rome was enlarged, and the Scotistic Commission began its work for the critical
edition of the writings of John Duns Scotus.
q During the generalate of Leonardo Bello (1933-1944) the Collegio S.
Antonio was declared an Athenaeum Pontificium, and the Scotistic Commission
passed into hands of Brother Carlo Balic, OFM.
In 1943 the Order started the construction of the present General Curia
on the Colle del Gelsomino in Rome.
q The War of 1939-1945 was a period of difficulty for the apostolic
activity of the Franciscans. There were acts of heroism, as well. Let it suffice to mention the heroic death of
St. Maximillian Mary Kolbe (+14 August 1941) of the Friars Minor Conventuals,
in the Auschwitz prison camp.
q Since no General Chapters were celebrated during the war, Pope Pius XII
chose Valentine Schaaf as the next MinGen in 1945, but this General died on 1
December 1946.
q On 16 January 1946 Pope Pius XII had declared St. Anthony of Padua Doctor
of the Church with the Bull: Exsulta Lusitania felix.
q The next MinGen was Pacifico Perantoni (1947-1952).
4. Second Vatican Council and the Order
q The Chapter of 1952 elected Agostino Sepinski (1952-1965, re-elected in
1957). During his generalate Ireneo Mazzotti founded the Secular Institute “Piccola
Famiglia Franciscana.” In 1953 the Order celebrated the 700 anniversary of
the death of St. Clare.
q In 1965 Pope Paul VI nominated MinGen Sepinski as titular Archbishop and
Apostolic delegate fro Jerusalem and Palestine.
Later on he also became Apostolic Nuncio for Uruguay. MinGen Sepinski was present at the Second Vatican
Council, and died on 31 December 1978.
q The Order took part in the International Congress on Duns Scotus in
Oxford and Edinburgh (1966).
q Constantine Koser was elected MinGen (1969-1979, re-elected during the
Chapter of Madrid in 1973). He was the first General after Vatican II. He
published new Constitutions for the Order and summoned the Provincials for an
Extraordinary General Chapter in Medellin, Colombia in 1973, and again in
Assisi, in 1976.
q On 24 June 1978 Pope Paul VI gave the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) a
new Rule, with the Apostolic Letter: “Seraphicus Patriarca.”
q From 1969 the Order started celebrating Plenary Councils. In 1974 the Order celebrated the 7th
centenary of the death of St. Bonaventure.
q During the General Chapter of Assisi in 1979, John Vaugh, from the
Province of St. Barbara, California, was elected MinGen (1979-1991; re-elected
during the General Chapter in Assisi in 1985).
q The Order celebrated the 800 anniversary of the birth of St. Francis in
1982. New initiatives of the Order during the last two decades included the
Africa Project, with the establishment of the Vice-Province of St. Francis;
Plenary Councils at Bahia, Brazil (1983) and Bangalore, India (1988); the
establishment of the Franciscan NGO at the UN, in collaboration with the whole
Franciscan movement in 1989.
q On 13 June 1991 Brother Herman Schaluck (1991-1997), from the Province of
Saxony (Germany) was elected Minister General during the General Chapter of San
Diego, California. The Order celebrated
the 500 anniversary of the evangelization of the Americas in 1992, the 8th
centenary of the birth of St. Clare in 1993 and the 8th centenary of the birth
of St. Anthony of Padua in 1995.
q On 6 July 1992 John Paul II declared the cult of John Duns Scotus as a
Blessed.
q In November 1993 the Holy Land Custody celebrated the 650 anniversary of
the Constitution of the Custody by Pope Clement VI.
q In May 1995 the Order celebrated its Plenary Council on the island of Malta.
q On 18 May 1997 the Order celebrated the General Chapter in Assisi, and
Brother Giacomo Bini (1997-2003) an Italian and missionary in Kenya, an African
Project, was elected as Minister General.
5. A New Chapter in the OFM Philippine Province
of San Pedro Bautista:
The New Custody of St. Anthony of
Padua-Philippines in 2007
q Jose Rodriquez Carballo, Minister provincial of the Spanish Province, was
elected as new Minister General (2003-2016 and re-elected for the second term
in 2009), but was interrupted when he was called to become the General
Secretary of the Religious Orders
q In 2007, a new Custody was established and declared by the Minister
General Jose Rodriquez Carballo when he came to the Philippine in 2007,
autonomous with the name of Custody of St. Anthony of Padua in the Philippines
(CSAP-P) which comprised Visayan and Mindanao islands, when 65 friars,
including myself, formed a new group that will live distinctly from its former
Province of San Pedro Bautista, with its vision and charism to live with Muslim
and indigenous brothers and sisters.
q The History continues . . .
