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To be able to identify that
spirituality of the Third Order, it is first of all necessary to be clear
about the nature of this order.
Author: Fr.
Raffaele Pazzelli, TOR
(One of the
most recognized and well
respected
Franciscan scholars in the Order)
(With Footnotes)
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The Rule and Life of the Brothers and
Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis was approved by Pope
John Paul II and intended for the entire movement of the Third Order
Regular, male and female. Besides representing and expressing the basic
unity of this Franciscan family, the Rule contains the fundamental elements
of the spirituality of the Order 12
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One can immediately ask: <<Does there
exist a spirituality of the Third Order Regular that is different or distinct
from that of the other Franciscan Orders?» Instead of giving a categorical
response, we believe it is useful to give some distinctions and some
enlightenment on the question.
«ln the sphere of Franciscan spirituality one can identify three main
currents that all refer to Saint Francis, but each is distinguished by its
own orientation and particular expression»'13, this is to say, each one
distinguishes itself by the emphasis it puts on one or the other of the
various elements of Franciscan spirituality. And this emphasis becomes a
characterization. The three currents are practically identified with the
three Orders of Saint Francis.
Starting from a different point of view, one is able to affirm with
greater detail that each of the three Franciscan Orders, besides receiving
<<the dominant ideas of Franciscan Spirituality>> which are «the
common patrimony, has its own set of spiritual elements that characterize
each one in the sphere of Franciscan tradition». 14 Whether this is sufficient for us to speak of a distinct spirituality is
a question for discussion. It is certain, however, that there does exist a
spiritual characteristic proper to each of the three Franciscan Orders. We
call it a spirituality. To be able to identify that spirituality of the Third
Order, it is first of all necessary to be clear about the nature of this
order. Today we know with certainty that the Third Order is the continuation,
with new contributions, of the penitential movement which existed before the
time of Saint Francis; a movement which was known to Saint Francis; a
movement which he followed. < In 1206, Francis before Bishop Guido
renounced his father Peter Bemadone, changed his clothing to that worn by the
penitents (exivi de saeculo) and officially entered the penitential
state>>15. In that penitential movement there were some constant elements of
spirituality which formed its charism.
The Third Order of Saint Francis: <<thus takes its life from the
convergence of two spiritual streams: the one, the gospel witness of Francis,
the other, the penitential movement>> 16 We can thus assert that the
elements of penitential spirituality were made an integral part of the
spiritual endowment belonging to the Saint of Assisi: he assimilated these
elements into his own charism. In the Third Order which had its beginning
with Saint Francis, there are some new elements which were not present in the
earlier penitential movement 17; there are also elements coming from
penitential spirituality. This double category of these elements establishes
the standard that characterizes the Third Order of Saint Francis.
1. The main
components of penitential spirituality
Perhaps few other religious orders today can benefit, as can the Third
Order, from so many high level studies done in the last twenty years that
bring to light both spiritual and historical aspects of the Third Order. For
reasons readily recognizable, a group of scholarly Franciscans under the
initiative of Father Leon Bedrune, O.F.M., representing the four families 18, towards the end of the 1960's, wanted to get into the middle of an
investigation that had begun decades earlier in the scientific field. The
area of this investigation was the «famous Franciscan movement which included
even married people>>19, <<the Penitential movement>>.
This investigation was begun especially because a new opinion had been
proposed by the assertions of scholars, including persons outside
Franciscanism, concerning the <<penitential origins> of Francis of
Assisi 20. Furthermore, the Second Vatican Council had urged religious institutes
to <<return to the sources>>, that is, to return to their true
beginnings in the areas of spirit and history. Now the <<penitential
movement> had followed Saint Francis in his spirituality and the
directives received from him. Later on, towards the end of the thirteenth
century, this <<penitential movement> began to call itself or was
called <<the Third Order of Saint Francis>>.
The group of ardent scholars engaged in the project increased in number
and has continued to the present time to promote Study Meetings, in different
cities of Italy, and has published the Acts of these Meetings in several
volumes.21
Limiting our considerations here to the theme in which we are interested, we
note that the above mentioned studies furnish full evidence that < Penance»
as it developed in the penitential-Franciscan charism is composed of and
explained by the two principal characteristic elements:
1. <<continuous conversion>> in the biblical sense of <
metanoia», that is, a redirecting of oneself toward God, as a constant
tending toward Him which implies leaving behind instinctual life which
centers on self, and the undertaking of a life in which God is the center of
activity and aspiration;
- active and
effective charity, on behalf of the brothers and sisters in Christ, an active
charity extended to those who have greater need of it, a dedicating of
oneself in many ways to the < works of mercy», both spiritual and
corporal.
2. Explanation
of these concepts
Since the two
elements mentioned above are so essential to the make-up of this movement as
to constitute its characteristics, it seems fitting and necessary to insist
again in detail on their meaning, both
2. I Frati
Penitenti di san Francesco nella societa del Due a Trecento, Acts of the
second Meeting for Franciscan Studies held in Rome, October 12-14, 1976.
Edited by Mariano d'Alatri, Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini, Roma. 1977.
3. ll
Movimento Francescano della Penitenza nella societa medioevale, Acts of the
third Meeting for Franciscan Studies held at Padua. September 25-27, 1979.
Edited by Mariano D'Alatri, Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini, Roma. 1980.
4. Prime
manifestazioni di vita comunitaria, maschile a femminile, nel movimento
francescano della Penitenza (1215-1447), Acts of the fourth Meeting for
Franciscan Studies, held in Assisi, June 30 to July 2, 1981. Edited by R.
Pazzelli-L. Temperini, International Historical Commission of the T.O.R.,
Roma- 1982 and in the ANALECTA TOR, XV (1982).
5. La Supra
Montem di Niccolo IV (1289): genesi a diffussione di una Regola. Acts of the
fifth Meeting for Franciscan Studies held in Ascoli Piceno, October 26-27,
1987. Edited by R. Pazzelli-L. Temperini and the ANALECTA TOR, Rome, 1988.
theoretical
and practical, so that each of our readers may have a clear and complete
understanding of them.
a) The life of
penance
We note first of all, that the term «penance> does not primarily have
here the common meaning which has been retained in modem languages, but the
biblical meaning of penance.
It is well known that in modern languages the word
<<penance>> most often means actions of external mortification,
such as fasting, abstinence from a particular kind of food or from other
pleasurable things and even causing bodily pain by some physical means such
as a hair shirt or the < discipline> 22
This is not the principal meaning of the word penance in the biblical context
or meaning. It is only a secondary or derived meaning. The first meaning of
penance in the biblical sense is conversion of the heart, return to God, change
of outlook, that is, a resolution for the future to follow the will of God.
Penance, in this sense, corresponds to the biblical meaning of the word
< metanoia>, which was in its turn translated into the Latin
<conversio> . Thus the three words: metanoia, penance and conversion in
this context have the same meaning and are interchangeable.23
< So Franciscan penance>>, writes Lino Temperini,
<<indicates
above all an interior psychological - spiritual attitude that turns the
primary interests of the soul and the impulse of the heart incessantly toward
God, subordinating all the rest to this fundamental option of the human
being.
<<Penance>> expresses, therefore, a type of relationship with
the Lord, a way of seeing the world as a turning toward God-Love, a
particular way of achieving evangelical perfection. These are spiritual
moments of a more intense conversion to God by means of conformity to Christ
who is the only way to draw near to the Father. (See John 14:6).
Penance is like a fulcrum on which rests the entire organism of the
supernatural life, it is a concept that confers a characteristic tonality and
a special dynamism to the development of the spirit. It shapes and draws to
itself the principles and means of Christian perfection, nourishing a
continuous turning toward God who is seen as love and sought out of love.
This profound orientation, that arises from a definite decision to seek
God, guarantees the basic idea of the Primacy of the Spirit: it animates
progress in the spiritual life and stimulates its dynamism, it constantly
keeps awake enthusiasm, nourishes commitment and influences all the moments
of existence that involve the body, the psyche, the mind, and the will.
Consequently, the penitential life does not originate in the fear of divine
punishment, nor is it motivated by the will to expiate faults or even
principally to obtain eternal blessedness, but by its attraction towards God
who is presented as the highest Good and the mystery of love.
The external forms of penance, fasts, sacrifices, mortifications, prayer,
vigils, are none other than partial and secondary expressions of an intimate
conversion of the heart which implies the supremacy of the spirit, tending
toward God, and the consequent avoidance of every form of evil.
Following the penitential spirituality, the Friars and Sisters of the
Third Order of Saint Francis, called for centuries <<the Franciscan
Order of Penance», have their own style of life, their own way of evaluating
things, or of reacting to happy or sorrowful events, and of defining their
human life. They have their own way of
putting themselves before the eternal, of specifying their hopes. In other
words, they have their own view of earthly things which they look upon with
admiration and detachment; they are optimistic and happy in the Lord,
generously involved in giving testimony to the love that God has for His
creatures; they are available to their brothers and sisters, full of faith in
Providence.
From this style of spiritual life, centered on penance, flow all the
elements of sanctification as so many corollaries that orbit around the vital
and impelling idea: an unceasing conversion to the living God (Acts 14,14) 24.
b) The life of
active charity
From the above statements there is enough evidence to show that charity
and availability to the brothers and sisters are corollaries or natural
consequences of an interior conversion deeply lived. A life of active charity
is the life of penance achieved: <<Remain in my love>> (John
15:9). Scripture says clearly: < Whoever does not love the brother or
sister whom he can see, cannot love God whom he has not seen>> (I John
4:20) . <<Penance that is born of a more intense love of God»,
Temperini continues,
< projects itself in daily reality and embraces all the necessities of our
brothers and sisters, be they spiritual or material.
In the spirit of Saint Francis, the brothers and sisters of penance have
renewed that fraternal love which characterized the first Christians. They
have always been dedicated to works of charity and thus at all times the
poor, the sick, the elderly, the orphans, the handicapped, the emarginated,
the illiterate in missionary countries, the afflicted or those suffering in
body or spirit have always been the ones beloved by the Friars and Sisters of
the Third Order of Saint Francis.
Together with the penitential spirituality, charitable service (of the works
of mercy) is to be considered a characteristic of the life of the Tertiary
Regulars. A life full of God, in a continuous state of conversion to Him,
cannot help but overflow in active love for those in need. The concrete sign
of conversion in Saint Francis was his embrace of the leper, his attention to
the poor, the humble, the suffering, to men without God, and to those
thirsting for truth and peace>>25
3. The voice
of history
The life of
penance
Here we would like to take a look-a bird's eye view, of course-at those
centuries that went before Francis of Assisi and those centuries which
followed his life to show that the primary element, < conversion>, is
clearly present from the beginning of the penitential movement. Before the
fourth century in the East there were the forerunners of that way of life
which would later be called the penitential movement. They were called
apotaktikoi, a word which Cassian translated into Latin as «abrenuntiantes»,
those who renounce the < world». In the West these people were called <
conversb : they were those who had decided upon a conversion, a more or less
radical breaking with the kind of life experienced in the past, called
<<the world», and the making of a commitment, often public, to live
< penance> , a new kind of life in which God is the center of one's
existence. This life of penance began by entering in a practical way into one
of the many forms of the life of penance which had developed in many
different ways according to circumstances from the time of the fourth century
and later.
The very concept of < conversion» tells us that the purpose of such a
decision was to make God the reference point and the aim of one's own life: a
highly spiritual goal.
Theologically, conversion was considered a gift of God and also a
response on the part of a human being in the presence of divine initiative.
This idea was clearly presented as early as Dionysius of Alexandria (+264 AD)
and we again find the idea unchanged in a spiritual treatise of the twelfth
century, the Book of Penance by the Anonymous Benedictine of the Twelfth
Century. <<When there is the return to God (poenitentia), there is also
pardon. The grace of conversion (poenitentia) comes to the sinner from God,
from whom also comes pardon. Thus each time God grants the grace of
conversion, He also gives pardon.26
In the seventh century, Saint Isidore of Seville, Bishop of that city
from 601 to 636, speaking of penance and the meaning of < conversion of
the heart», emphasizes and explains the interior dimension which should make
of penance a Christian <<way of life». Saint Isidore clearly teaches
that penance is not only an act or a rite; nor is it a temporary internal
disposition. It is and should remain a constant disposition of the religious
spirit, a permanent consecration to a new style of life, interior as well as
exterior, but most of all interior. < One could say», writes Bartolomeo
Pastor Oliver, who has the merit of having brought to light this text, that
Saint Isidore presents a complete psychology and a pastoral outline of
conversion. The noblest aspect of this is the penitent's intention to uproot
from the soul that type of complacency which could invade it after repentance
.... He, therefore, insists upon those constructive and mystical aspects of
perfect sorrow which focus one's entire interior attention upon the
contemplation of God and sighs with desire for eternal life in Him 27.
This lofty teaching should represent the age-old inspiration of those who
voluntarily consecrated themselves to the penitential life.
This element of deep interiority, neglected or perhaps even forgotten in the
movement itself, forgotten in the Order of Penance at the time of Saint
Francis, was < rediscovered» and lived and taught by Saint Francis
insistently and in great detail to his penitents.28
b) The works
of mercy or active charity
The other essential element of the charism of penance is active charity.
It grows, in a systematic way very slowly through the centuries, at least
according to our present knowledge of penitential documentation. It follows
the development of society in its practical manifestations. In this growth, there
were always in the past as there are now in the present, those who suffer or
have need of assistance: it is indeed to these practical needs of mankind
that the penitential movement has always sought to bring succor by following
the teachings of the great masters of the ages.
The most complete text concerning penitential teaching on this subject
which has come down to us is from the tenth century. But this is not to say
that it is the most ancient. It comes to us from Ratherius, Bishop of Verona,
a remarkable personality of the high middle ages who lived exactly in that
most tortured century in the two thousand year history of the Church which is
rightly called the <<dark century. Ratherius lived from 887 to 974. A
monk of the Abbey of Lobbes, a disciple of the great teacher Ilduin,
Ratherius was elected Bishop of Verona in 926. A strong personality with
ideas of reform, he was not capable of compromises and he was impatient for
the realization of his plans. Soon he lost favor with Hugh of Provenza, the first
king of Italy. Hugh imprisoned Ratherius in a tower in Pavia. There
Ratherius composed his most important work, the Praeloguiorum libri sex.
In this work he gives spiritual counsel to people of every state in life, and
among them the penitents.
It will be helpful to read again his words written a thousand years ago:
< Are you a penitent or do you desire to become one? Remember above all
the rule of penance given by the Baptizer of the Lord: `Produce fruits worthy
of penance'. The penitent must put this into practice with generosity if he
desires to obtain the mercy of the Lord&. Ratherius, thereupon, gave the
spiritual motive for each of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy to
which the penitent should dedicate himself' 29. Thus,
practically for Ratherius, < to do penance> means <<to perform
worthy fruits of penance>>, that is, perform the works of charity for
one's neighbor. Ratherius' teaching regarding perseverance in the < life
of penance> is interesting and significant:
< The way of penance and perseverance in it
is a difficult thing.
Who can pretend to remain there by his strength alone? Invoke, then, divine
help every day or rather every moment; whether in silence or in whatsoever
thing you do, ask for it seriously of the Lord: O God, create in me a pure
heart! And if you see that because of bad habits of the past it is difficult
for you to remain in such a life, I beseech you, do not abandon it>>.
Later on, continuing with the same line of thought, Ratherius says: <
It is difficult to carry a large stone uphill; it is easier to go down hill
with it. Equally so, no one can be perfect from the beginning .... Attach
yourself to Christ and exclaim: `Draw me after thee' (Cant. 1:4)>.
Ratherius of Verona, who died a thousand years ago, bears witness that the
two elements of the penitential life, perseverance in the way of penance or
continuous conversion and the works of active charity, were already
considered essential in his day.
4. The two
elements in the Rules
These two elements, the life of penance and the works of active charity,
will form the cornerstones of the life and spirituality of the penitents and
the spirituality of those penitents who followed Francis of Assisi. The first
<<Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance», called the Memoriale
propositi, was edited in 1221 as is well known, through the collaboration of
Saint Francis with Cardinal Ugolino. In n. 21 it speaks of the religious man
who will instruct the brothers and sisters at their monthly meetings. The
document says: he must < exhort and strengthen them to persevere in their
penance and to put into practice the works of mercy».30
This admonition will be repeated almost literally in the Rule of Nicholas
IV in 1289, where it says: < They shall take care to have a religious man
... who will exhort them with zeal, encourage and persuade them to live a
life of penance and to put into practice the works of mercy»31.
This text of the Rule of Nicholas IV remained legally in force also for
those female associations of Franciscan inspiration whose sisters began to
live a community life and more correctly the religious life, at least until
1521 when Pope Leo X desired to give these new entities their own Rule, one
more suitable for the religious life. Even the Rule of Leo X preserved those
essential elements repeating almost the same expressions: < They are to
have a religious man who on certain days shall proclaim the Word of God and
lead them to penance and the practice of virtue>>32
All this has been confirmed by an eminent Franciscan scholar: < These two
elements, continuous penance and mercy or active charity, represent and
summarize, it seems to us, the whole specific purpose of the Order of
Penitents, establishing its reason for existence in the ecclesial
community>>33
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These elements establishing the charism of the Third Order have remained
intact through the centuries and have been automatically inserted into the
many congregations of Franciscan sisters which have arisen from the time of
the fifteenth century to the present. All these congregations, at times
without knowing it, have been marked by the presence of the two essential
elements of the charism and spirituality of the penitents who followed Saint
Francis, those elements of continuous or on-going conversion and mercy or
active charity, to meet both the spiritual and material needs of our
neighbor, especially the most needy or abandoned, following the spirit of the
Saint of Assisi. We see down through the centuries the manner of practically
meeting these needs has been as vast and varied as the horizon under which
this activity develops. But the substance is always the same, based on
Christian charity which knows how to respond to the needs of our brothers and
sisters.
The new Rule of 1982 includes the same realities, though in different
terminologies: < Led by the Lord, let them begin a life of penance». (Art.
6); <<They wish to live this evangelical conversion of life in a spirit
of prayer, poverty and humility». (Art. 2); <<The brothers and sisters
are called to heal the wounded, to bind up those who are bruised, and to
reclaim the erring>> (Art. 30). The way of putting this into practice is subject to change but the
principles remain the same.
5. Corollary.
How penance
became the characteristic of the
<<Brothers
and Sisters of the Penance>
If you would like to look into the historical question of how, when and
why penance-conversion, as we have just described it with its constituent
elements, became the principal characteristic of the Brothers and Sisters of
Penance, that is of the Third Order of Saint Francis, the clarifications and
precise details of the latest historical studies furnish an adequate and
satisfying response.
We begin with the four principal elements which all agree go back to the
constitutive nucleus of Franciscanism to which some other elements can be
added: poverty, minority, penance-conversion, and prayer-contemplation.
As we have already noted, today it is beyond
all dispute that the beginnings of Francis' conversion were penitential. It
is likewise equally certain that right after the beginning of itinerant
preaching by Francis and his companions, following the oral approval of the
new fraternity by Innocent III, there must have been verified a change of
emphasis in the rapidly growing group regarding the characteristics by which
the group presented itself to the people. In the primitive preaching before
going to Rome, to those who asked them <<where do you come
from?>> they «responded simply that they were penitents originally from
the city of Assisi>34. Soon (we do not know exactly when) they
began to call themselves <<Friars Minor>>. Burchard of Ursberg,
as early as 1210, referred to the Penitentes de Assisio as Pauperes Minores 35. James de Vitry, in his letter from Genova in October 1216, clearly
states that the «Pauperes de Assisio> were commonly called Frati minori
and the followers of Saint Clare the Sorelle minori 36.
The Rule of 1221 says: < and whoever is the greater among them should
become like the lesser>>. 37 Schmucki
notes that < this passage bears all the signs of relative antiquity. Most
probably it was added very early to enrich the biblical and disciplinary
elements of the ProtoRule> 38. From Celano's remark in the Vita prima it
seems that Francis was struck by the expression < they are to be
minors> as soon as it was suggested and wanted it to become the actual
name of his fraternity 39 .
Although Francis' understanding of <<minors>> is doubtlessly
the evangelical one 40, it cannot be denied that the
social-political situation in Assisi, the home of the first friars had some
influence on Francis, causing him to decide that his followers should be
called and really be <minores> by choice. Even without any association
with the minori of the city, Francis knew the maggiori and minori competed
for control and were in constant conflict with the one another. The novelty
was quite evident: even. those who were <anaggiori> in the world
voluntarily became <aninori> like Francis, wanting to compete with no
one. < Minority> will also be the characteristic of the spirituality of
the Friars Minor.
Another element characteristic of the new fraternity immediately
developed, - poverty -, chosen for the love of God and <<to follow in
the footsteps of His Son>>. 41 From the
moment he heard the gospel passage on the <<mission of the
apostles>>, which practically marked the beginning of the fraternity of
itinerant preachers, Francis understood that the vita evangelica included
life in poverty. Not that Francis had not practiced poverty since the first
days of his conversion
(the decision made at San Damiano and the formal renunciation of his
patrimony before Bishop Guido) but now poverty became an essential element of
his evangelical vocation 42. The gospel passage showed Francis how and
why he should practice poverty from then on. This very same desire to accept
and put into practice the invitation and the challenge of the gospel text is
equally evident in the story of the conversion of Bernard of Quintavalle, his
first companion. Heeding the advice of Francis, Bernard « hurried to sell all
he had and distributed it to the poor, not to his relatives. Grasping the
title of a more perfect way, he fulfilled the counsel of the holy gospel: 'If
you wish to be perfect, go and sell all you own, and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me>>43
Then follows the important remark that « his conversion to God stood out as a
model for those being converted in the way he sold his possessions and
distributed them to the poor> 44 Others
who would come after him, should sell their patrimony and distribute the
money to the poor.
Even the short allegorical work, the Sacrum
Commercium 45 considered as <<the testimony of the spirituality that the
Franciscan community was developing right after the death of St. Francis» 46 tells us that poverty was, from that time on, considered as a
fundamental characteristic of the spirituality of the Order of Friars Minor.
From the prologue on, in fact, <<it affirms categorically that poverty
is the most important among the various virtues that prepare the heart of man
to receive God» 47.
These two elements-minority and sublime poverty also became the two basic
points for the spirituality of the Second Order, the Poor Clares; to these
elements was added, mostly because of the ecclesiastical disciplines in force
at that time, the total exclusion from the world, with a strict cloister and
without any external apostolic activity; in this way the order was also
characterized by the contemplative life.
Consequently, it was <<penance>> that remained the primary
characteristic of only the Order of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance.
For centuries these characteristics and particular traits of the three
Franciscan Orders have been practically forgotten. In our own time they have
gradually been rediscovered, explained again and placed in a proper
perspective so that there might be fuller understanding of Franciscan
spirituality. It is fitting and proper that each order have its own features
well defined.
These are reflections on that unique, mysterious light that was the man
and Saint, Francis of Assisi, as Raoul Manselli, well-known lover of all that
is Franciscan, loved to repeat again and again.
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12 We say fundamental because a Rule, by its nature, does not have the
obligation of containing all the spirituality of a religious order which
follows that Rule. The spirituality will instead be completely expressed in
the Constitutions which are proper to each order or religious congregation.
13 Lino Temperini, < La spirituality penitenziale nelle Fonti
Francescaneo, in
ANALECTA TOR XIV (1980), p. 522.
14 Lino Temperini, <La tradizione spirituale», in R. Pazzelli-L.
Temperini, La tradizione storica a spirituale del nostro movimento, ed.
CSI-TOR, Roma, 1980,
15 Lino Temperini, < Il Terzo ordine regolare di San Francesco
nell'ambito del francescanesimo». Pro manuscripto», p. 1.
16 lbid. p. 4.
17 Saint Bonaventure almost certainly alludes to these elements when,
describing the Order of Penance of Saint Francis, he wrote: <<Set on
fire by the fervor of his preaching, a great number of people bound
themselves by new laws of penance according to the rule which they received
from the man of God,LM, IV, n. 6, in The Life of St. Francis, translated by
Ewert Cousins, p. 210.
18 That is, the Friars Minor, the Conventuals, the Capuchins and the
Regular Tertiaries.
19 Leon Bedrune, O.F.M., «Presentation», in L'Ordine della Penitenza, Roma
1973, p. 5.
20 See Meerssernan, Dossier, op. cit., p. 1 and following.
21 L'Ordine della Penitenza di san Francesco d'Assisi nei secolo X111. Atti
del primo Convegno di Studi Francescani (held in Assisi, July 3-5, 1972).
Edited by O. Schmucki, Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini, Rorna, 1973,
Republished in 1988.
22 By the term the <<discipline>> in the context of bodily
mortification is understood a traditional <<implement of penance
ordinarily consisting in a complex of cords or chains, small or large, plain
or ending with little pellets or bars of hard substances (wood or metal),
used to chastise the body with scourging> A. Lanz, «Disciplina>, in
Enciclopedia Cattolica, IV, col. 1743.
23 For the biblical and Franciscan meaning of <<penance>>, see
further details in R. Pazzelli, Saint Francis and the Third Order, op. cit.,
pp. 1-4.
24 Lino Temperini, < La tradizione spirituale», in R. Pazzelli-L.
Temperini, La tradizione storica a spirituale del nostro movimento, CSI-TOR,
Roma. 1980, pp. 22-23.
25 Ibid. p. 24.
26 See Pazzelli, Saint Francis and the Third Order, op. cit., p. 37.
27 Pazzelli, op. cit., p. 18; algunas expresiones indicating reference to
original article by Bartolome Pastor Oliver, TOR, Consideraciones
historico-espirituates sobre de Penitencia voluntaria y de
KconversioH-HabrenuntiatioH monastica hasta el siglo XIII, Vienna, 1981,
manuscript, p. 52.
28 On this question see the detailed treatment we have given in St. Francis
and the Third Order, op. cit.; pp. 65, 120-122.
29 See Pazzelli, op. cit., p. 170, note 99.
30 «Eos moneat et confortet ad poenitentiae perseverantiam et opera
Misericordiae facienda» cf. Meersseman, Dossier, p. 103.
31 «Qui eos ad poenitentiam et nusericordiae opera exercenda hortetur
sollicite, moneat et inducat» See Seraphicae legislationis textus originales;
1897, p. 89.
32 «Habeat virum religiosum qui illis verbum Dei certis diebus proponat et
eos ad poenitentiam et virtutes inducat»: ibid., pp. 287-297. Bordoni,
Archivium, p. 382.
33 Atanasio Matanic, «I penitenti francescani dal 1221 (memoriale) al 1289
(Regola bollata) principalmente attraverso i loro Statuti a le Regole», in
L'Ordine della Penitenza, op. cit., p. 56.
34 See L3C 37. Francis ofAssisi. Early Documents. New City Press, vol. 11,
p. 90.
35 Cf. Lemmens, Testimonia minora, p. 17; OMN, p. 1605.
36 Testimonia minora, p. 79; OMN, p. 1608.
37 RNB, Francis and Clare, p. 114.
38 Schmucki, O., «Linee fondamentali della `Forma vitae' nell'esperienza di
san Francesco>>, in Lettura biblico-teologica delle Fonti Francescane,
by G. CardaropoliJ.M. Conti, Ed., Antonianum, Roma, 1979, p. 211.
39 <<For when it was written in the rule, `Let them be lesser.. _
> , at the uttering of this statement, at the same moment he said: `I want
this fraternity to be called the Order of Lesser Brothers». 1C
38, Early Documents, vol. 1, p. 217..
40 It is evident that the expression of the Rule of 1221 is a paraphrase of
Mt. 20:25-26 and Lk. 22:26.
41 Cf. <<Letter to the entire Order>>, v. 51, Francis and
Clare, p. 61.
42 D.V. Lapsanski, Evangelical Perfection, an historical examination of the
concept in the early Franciscan sources. The Franciscan Institute, St.
Bonaventure University, N.Y., 1977, p. 100.
43 1C 24, Early Documents, vol. 1, p. 203.
44 1C. 24, Early Documents, vol. 1, p. 204.
45 Sacrum Commercium Sancti Francisci cum domina Paupertate,
FlorenceQuaracchi, 1929. By an unknown author and uncertain date of origin;
many scholars propose accepting 1227 as the year of its composition.
Concerning this work, C. Esser noted that, < unfortunately, this precious
record, which bears such eloquent witness to the spirituality of the order,
still in its infancy, later underwent certain misinterpretations which earned
it the mistrust of historians, mainly in regard to the time of its origin.
Today, this work may be seen as a very faithful interpretation of the mind
and intention of St. Francis. As such it must be carefully considered next to
the sources of the early life of the order already familiar to us. In certain
critical points it can even correct them>>. Origins of the Franciscan
Order, Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago, 1977, p. 8.
46 Lapsanski, Evangelical Perfection, pp. 77-78.
47 Lapsanski, p. 78. Poverty, in the meaning of the anonymous author of the
Sacrum Commercium, requires as its first constructive element <freely
renouncing earthly goods>> The second element is the inclination toward
spiritual goods and the third < the desire for eternal goods».
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