Emanuela De Nunzio
Minister General, Secular Franciscan Order
The Secular Franciscan Order
From the earliest days of Francis of Assisi’s ministry, lay people who longed to live a deeper life of Faith were drawn to his message of conversion and penance.
Francis formed these lay penitents into the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, later called the Third Order of St. Francis. From this Order the TOR. emerged in the 15th century. The lay Order continued as the Third Order of St. Francis, Secular. In 1978, its name was changed to the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) in Latin – (Ordo Franciscanus Saecularis, (OFS)
Secular Franciscans, as their name implies, live ordinary lives in the world rather than in religious communities. They may be single or married, women or men, in all walks of life.
They live the Gospel as consecrated laity in a Franciscan manner according to their own Rule which they profess after a period of initial formation. The profession as a Secular Franciscan is a lifelong commitment. Formation and profession of the Secular Franciscan takes place within a local community called a fraternity. Life in fraternity is an essential aspect of the Secular Franciscan vocation. The fraternity is a community of love, the privileged place for the sisters and brothers to develop their sense of Church and the Franciscan call.
Although a self-governing Order, each Secular Franciscan fraternity receives guidance in spiritual matters from a spiritual assistant, usually a friar of one of the other Franciscan Orders. These relationships are particularly strong between Secular Franciscans and the friars with whom they share common roots in the Franciscan penitential tradition.
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From Wikipedia
The Secular Franciscan Order (Ordo Franciscanus Saecularis, (OFS); also called the Third Order Secular) is a community of Catholic men and women in the world who seek to pattern their lives after Jesus in the spirit of Francis of Assisi. Secular Franciscans are tertiaries, or members of the Third Order of Saint Francis founded by Francis of Assisi 800 years ago.
Originally known as the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, the Order is open to any Catholic not bound by religious vows to another religious order and is made up of both the laity (men and women non-clergy) and secular clergy (deacons, priests, and bishops).
Although Secular Franciscans make a public profession and are consecrated, they are not bound by public vows as are religious living in community. The Third Order Regular (TOR), which grew out of the Third Order Secular, do make religious vows and live in community.
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The ORDO FRANCISCANUS SAECULARIS (OFS – Secular Franciscan Order) is part of the Franciscan Spiritual Family. The first orders are well known, the Order of Friars Minor, the Capuchins, etc. And then there are the second-order sisters, who are the Poor Clare’s, who live a contemplative life and are connected to the Franciscan family in their own special way. This is followed by the third Order and its different branches. One branch is the Third Order Regular, among others here are the religious brothers and sisters who serve the poor and nurse the sick, and also the Secular Franciscans, which is made up of people living in the world.
Facts and Numbers
The Secular Franciscan Order is the largest Canonical Order in the Roman Catholic Church
In the United States: there are 10,075 Secular Franciscans as of December 2022
Worldwide: there are 173,719 Secular Franciscans as of September 2021
The Secular Franciscan Order is present in 112 countries around the world, with 70 constituted and
18 emerging national fraternities, together with a special kind of Secular Franciscans’ presence in
another 24 countries.
The Secular Franciscan Order makes up 90% of the Franciscan family
Quote of St. Francis of Assisi
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
The biggest fraternity is in Italy; that’s where the Franciscans originated, but we have many members in Latin America, within that in Brazil and Mexico, and there are over 11,000 Secular Franciscans in the United States, and there are more than 10,000 in Korea.
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httpv://youtu.be/lzGzIVLyO54
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What is Profession?
In Profession a covenant is established with the Brothers and Sisters, which can never be disregarded. The sacred bond of Profession, through which a perpetual commitment is established with God, (cfr. Rule 2; Const 42,2), has a number of fraternal sides to it which must be understood and lived precisely in the light of that “sworn pact” one has made with God.
Professing a form of evangelical life, living their consecration to God in the world and for the world, and “transmitting into world affairs the genuine spirit of the gospel” (Ritual, III. 46), Secular Franciscans bear witness that the sanctification of the world necessarily occurs through the sanctification of people, because this world cannot be transformed without the spirit of the beatitudes (cfr. LG 31). Br. Felice Cangelosi OFM Cap
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Not a Catholic?
To become a Secular Franciscan, you must be an actively practicing Catholic (of any of the rites in union with Rome). If you are Anglican/Episcopalian, please visit the Third Order Society of St. Francis.
