FRANCISCANS, THIRD ORDER REGULAR

The Third Order Regular of Saint Francis traces its historical and spiritual origins to the ancient Order of Penance, the medieval penitential movements, and to Saint Francis of Assisi. Men and women anxious to live a deeper spiritual life looked to Francis of Assisi to give them a "form of life." The Letter to the Faithful, in both the earlier and later editions, embodies this elemental rule of life for lay people living in the world. In time, many of these brothers and sisters of penance left their homes to live either in hermitages or in common life bound by the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and engaging in the works of mercy. The first official approbation of this movement in Italy was given by Nicholas V, July 20, 1447, in the apostolic letter Pastoralis officii, in which he recommended that these tertiaries constitute themselves as a true mendicant order by holding a general chapter for the election of a visitator or general superior, compiling their own statutes, and selecting their own proper religious habit.

History. From the beginning the rule of life of the Third Order Regular was substantially that of the secular third order, which had been approved by Nicholas IV in the bull Supra montem, Aug. 18, 1289. As the order developed revisions were made, particularly at the chapter of Florence in 1472. Further revisions in the rule and constitutions, done in the 16th century by Bonaventura da Vicenza, were approved in 1549. During the course of the centuries other congregations of the Third Order had arisen in Dalmatia, Germany, France, Holland, Spain, Belgium, and Portugal. With the intention of unifying the internal life of all tertiary Franciscans, Leo X promulgated by means of the bull Inter cetera, Jan. 20, 1521 another rule composed of 10 chapters. This rule, which remained in effect until 1927, did not, however, bind the tertiaries of Italy, Spain, Belgium, and Dalmatia. Sixtus IV granted in 1473 the privilege of exemption and, in 1479, the special privileges enjoyed by all Franciscans.

In the 16th century the Italian congregation, also called the congregation of Lombardy—of which the present male branch of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis is the continuation—united within itself tertiary groups in Italy, Sicily, and Dalmatia. The congregation of Belgium joined in 1650, and some congregations of southern Germany as well. The rule and constitutions of that period, revised in 1639, 1734, and 1888 were replaced by new legislation in the 20th century. The rule given by Pius XI, Oct. 4, 1927 was extended to all the modern congregations of regular tertiaries of both sexes. New constitutions for the male branch, approved by the same pope on March 7, 1929, were amended and revised in 1940, 1953, 1959, 1969, 1973, and 1992. The Third Order Regular is a member and active participant, along with the Friars Minor, the Conventuals, and the Capuchins, in the conference of Franciscan Ministers General.

Growth in the 20th Century. Events that took place in Italy from 1860 to 1873 brought about in great part the suppression of the order by the civil government. The number of provinces in Italy was reduced to two, namely, the province of Sicily and that of Umbro-Picena (today, Assisi). The dawn of the 20th century saw the order almost extinct, but it found new life as a result of the union of the Spanish congregation, May 13, 1906 and the establishment in the United States, at Loretto, Pa., of the Province of the Sacred Heart. The Spanish congregation had originated in the 13th or 14th century and was approved as a regular order in 1442 by Eugene IV. Suffering many suppressions in the early 19th century, it was revived through the leadership of Fray Antonio Ripoll. The province of the Sacred Heart was made up from two communities of Franciscan Tertiary brothers, one at Spalding, Nebraska and the other at Loretto, Pa., which sought and obtained permission to join the Third Order Regular. Two Italian friars, Jerome Zazzara and Anthony Balestieri, were sent to assist the process of union. The province was established in 1910.

On Oct. 11, 1912, Pius Dujmovic of the Dalmatian province was elected minister general and remained in office for nearly eight years. He promoted the work of restoration by personally visiting the provinces in Italy and the U.S. He began publication of the Analecta T.O.R., the official publication of the Order. His efforts were seriously handicapped during World War I when again the order suffered heavily in Italy and Dalmatia. On Aug.12, 1920, Arnaldo Rigo of the Spanish province was elected minister general and guided the order for 12 years. In that same year a group of friars from Sacred Heart Province formed the Commissariate of the Immaculate Conception to care for Italian immigrants in the diocese of Altoona, Pa. In 1925 this commissariate was established as a province. In 1924 the Spanish province established a commissariate in North America with houses in New York, New Jersey, Texas and Mexico. Later, friars living and working in Texas and Mexico were gathered into the Vice Province of Santa Maria de Guadalupe. The following year, 1925, the Dalmatian province established a commissariate in Pittsburgh, Pa., to care for Croatian immigrants. In 2001, few friars continued to minister in the United States but many served Croatian immigrants in Germany.

The pattern of growth continued through the general administrations of six successive minister generals. Giovanni Parisi, nominated May 26, 1936, expressed a desire that the order extend itself to the foreign missions. In 1938, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith assigned a territory in the diocese of Patna, India. Under the leadership of Father Eugene George, then minister provincial, friars from the Province of the Sacred Heart began this work. In 1971, this mission was established as the province of Saint Thomas the Apostle. In 1996, two commissariates were additionally formed: that of Saint Francis in Ranchi and the other of Saint Louis in Bangalore. Most recently, in 1999, the commissariate in Ranchi was raised to the status of a vice province.

During the generalate of John Bocella, (1947–1965), mission territory in Paraguay was entrusted to the care of friars from the Assisi Province in 1951 and additional territory in the same country entrusted to friars from the Immaculate Conception province in the U.S. in 1960. Both of these groups of friars with indigenous vocations were formed into the Vice Province of Saint Anthony in 1992. In 1955, the Tertiaries of Albi, France, along with their missions in Brazil, were united to the Third Order Regular. This group of friars was founded in 1866 by Francis M. Causade and approved in 1873. They may be considered to be a revival of the ancient French Franciscan congregation known as the "Picpus" founded in 1287 by Barthélemy Béchin. In 1962, the U.S. Province of the Sacred Heart accepted another Brazilian mission in the diocese of Borba. All of the friars working in Brazil along with native vocations now form the Vice Province of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida established in 1992.

The generalate of Louis Secondo (1964–1977) was marked by an extraordinary general chapter given over to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council to return to the spirit of the founder and to adapt to the signs of the times. Consultation among the members of the provinces resulted in experimental constitutions (1969) that, after the period of experimentation, were later examined and codified. During his term the collaborative work on a new Rule was begun with the Madrid Conference of 1974. It would be completed by his successor.

In 1982, the minister general, Roland Faley (1977–1983), formally united two additional diocesan congregations with the Third Order Regular. The Franciscan Familiars of Saint Joseph, a community organized by the vicar apostolic of Marianhill (Republic of South Africa) in 1923 to live and work among the Zulu people was established as the Vice Province of Saint Joseph. And in the same year, the Congregation of Native Brothers of Saint Vincent de Paul organized in 1877 by Fr. Luigi Piccinelli in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to care for orphans and to teach was established as the Vice Province of Our Lady of Sri Lanka.

In 1991, a small group of friars in Gothenburg, Sweden, was united to the TOR under the leadership of general minister, José Angulo Quilis (1983–1995). This group, originally Lutheran, shared an attraction to St. Francis and welcomed men and women in need of personal care or spiritual guidance. Today they comprise the Delegation of Saint John the Baptist. In 1999, under the guidance of minister general Bonaventure Midili (1995–), the Delegation of Saint Bonaventure was established in Bangladesh.

Notable Figures. Several members of the order have made notable contributions to studies. John P.M. Doyle (1874–1952) of the Sacred Heart Province (U.S.) taught philosophy and theology at St. Francis College and Seminary and edited four books on these sciences. Raniero Luconi (1878–1951) was a historian and for many years editor of the Analecta, T.O.R.. Bartolomé Salvá (1867–1956) was a student and editor of the works of Bl. Raymond Lull. Historians Raffaele Pazzelli, Lino Temperini and Gabriele Andreozzi have written extensively about the penitential charism and history of the Third Order of Penance.

Inclusive Third Order Regular. Beginning in the late 1950s there had been some attempt to dialogue with male tertiary congregations who followed the common rule of the TOR (1927). This dialogue was expanded in the 1970s to include the many women's congregations who also followed that rule. Encouraged by the mandate of Vatican II to return to the historical and spiritual sources, this expanded and inclusive dialogue moved slowly toward the creation of a new rule. With approximately 200 superiors general, representing 35 countries and almost 200,000 Third Order Regular religious, and after much study and deliberation, the text for the new rule was approved in March 1982. It received papal approbation on Dec. 8, 1982. These varied male and female congregations known collectively as the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis are represented internationally by the International Franciscan Conference (CFI) with executive offices in Rome, Italy. The president of the CFI joins with the general minister of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) and the four ministers general (OFM, OFM Conv, OFM Cap, and TOR) to form the Conference of the Franciscan Family through which they have a common voice. In the United States, the Franciscan Federation with executive offices in Washington, D.C., serves as the umbrella organization and voice for the 12,000 plus male and female members of the TOR in the U.S.

Bibliography: m. carney and t. horgan, eds., Rule and Life of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis: Rule and Commentary (Washington, D.C. 1999). l. temperini, Penitential Spirituality in the Franciscan Sources (Franciscan Federation Publications 1983). r. pazzelli, St. Francis and the Third Order: The Franciscan and Pre-Franciscan Movement (Chicago 1989). m. slowick, The Franciscan Third Order Regular in the U.S.: Origins, Early Years, and Recent Developments (Tiffin, Ohio 1999). e. saggau, A Short History of the Franciscan Federation, Third Order Regular of the Sisters and Brothers of the U.S. 1965–1995 (Franciscan Federation Publications 1995).

[l. secondo/

g. schinelli]