THE NATURE OF THE SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER
PART I OF III
 

The nature is determined by three basic elements:

1. Its genesis and the intention of the founder, St. Francis, based on an inspiration received by God who wanted its foundation
    

2. Its historical evolution
    

The will expressed by the Church by way of the
a. Legislation given by the Church itself
b. Magisterium of the Church expressed by the Supreme Pontiffs in the course of history

["The Rule establishes the nature, purpose and the spirit of the SFO" Art 4.2 GC.CC.]

The Franciscan Trilogy: First, Second and Third Order

1. Tres ordines hic ordinat. [He ordained three Orders]
   a. Common Founder
    

2. Eiusdem corporis membria existents [this exists as members of the same being]
   a. Same Charism
   b. Same Mission in different states of life, interdependent and complementary: all three for the marvelous operation
    

3. Funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur [Three cords are difficult to break]
   a. Independence and unity
   b. Vital interconnection
   
   We Can Start Delineating the Nature of our Order as follows:

1. 1. A group of Christian faithful evangelically committed in their secular condition of life for a response in fullness to the call to follow Christ, humble, poor and crucified as Francis did
    

2. Secular Franciscans, together with the brothers and sisters of the First Order, Second Order, and Third Order regular are committed to accomplish the mission that God entrusts to Francis to repair his home, which is the Church—the Body of Christ---in each one of its expressions, and to enable it to accomplish its mission of salvation, announcing conversion and the Gospel to all creatures (convert and believe in the Gospel)
    

Secular Franciscans, though not "religious" in the strict sense, commit themselves by a true and proper "religious" profession to give witness to the saving news of the Gospel, in association with the apostolate of the Friars of the First Order and TOR and the contemplation of the Poor Clares

St. Gregory the Great (535-604) is the first to conceive three distinct orders or states of life going from the lower to the higher levels of commitment towards perfection:

1. Christian lay people
2. Clerics involved in pastoral service
3. Monks and nuns dedicated to contemplation

In 1161, the Order of the Knights of Santiago adopted the same system of the three Orders, from the lowest to the highest ranks:

First order for married knights
Second order for perpetual continent knights
Third order for chaplains and preceptors

In 1201 the Humiliati in Lombardy broadened the criteria of inclusion in the 3 orders, or classes, to all, which were no longer, reserved to knights. Pope Innocent III inverted the order of hierarchy moving from the highest to the lowest:

First order for clerics and nuns
Second order for lay religious brothers and sisters
Third order for committed lay men and women living in their homes and free to marry

The Franciscan nomenclature is inspired by this historical and juridical classification, with some small changes:

First order religious and clerics with vows
Second order consecrated nuns
Third order men and women, married or single, living in their families and working in the "world"

The Secular Franciscan Order

The Secular Franciscan Order is a Public Association the Church. OFS Gen. Const., Art. 1.5 – (CIC 301 Section 3; 312; 313)

The SFO, as an International Public Association, is connected by a special bond to the Roman Pontiff from whom it has received the approval of its Rule and the confirmation of its mission in the Church and the world. OFS Gen. Const., Art. 99.2

The SFO General Constitutions open and close with these two fundamental statements which characterize the ecclesial nature of the SFO as a:

Public Association of Faithful
--International
--Connected by a special bond to the Roman Pontiff, who has given to it
--The Rule that he has confirmed
--Its Mission in the Church and in the world

What are the Public Associations of the Faithful According to the New CIC?

1. Associations erected by the Hierarchy as legally recognized associations, endowed with
    public juridical personality in the Church

2. The Hierarchy assigns to them a canonical mission as a goal of such associations which
    implies a participation in its own pastoral mission

3. They act in the name of the Hierarchy (in nominee Ecclesiae)

4. Their possessions are ecclesiastical possessions

5. They are entirely subject to the government of the Church in the:

    a. Intervention in the appointment and removal of officers
    b. Nomination of chaplains or ecclesiastical assistants
    c. Possibility of nominating commissioners
    d. Statutes approved by the competent ecclesiastical authority
    e. Control of property

Being a Public Association of Faithful
The Secular Franciscan Order

1. Exists by a deliberate act of will of the Church
a. The Church wants its *

2. Is erected by the Holy See

3. Is intimately connected to the life of the Church from whom it receives a specific Mission to
    accomplish in its name

Is There Any Difference Between the SFO and what is Indicated
For Public Associations in General?
(not simply an association of the faithful)

1. Hierarchy does NOT intervene in the nomination and removal of officers: SFO law allows it
    to elect its own ministers and councilors without the intervention of the Hierarchy---
    Removal by the Hierarchy is obviously possible but in extreme cases and not automatically

2. Spiritual Assistants do not exactly identify with the ecclesiastical assistants described in the
    Code. Moreover, they are appointed by the Major superiors or by Ministers General, on
    request of the Fraternities and not by imposition

3. The Rule and Constitutions are approved by the Holy See---Statutes are approved by the
    SFO

4. The functions of control of property belong to the SFO---Only in case of disputes or of
    extinction of the Association would the Hierarchy dispose of the properties

Third Orders are secular associations affiliated to a religious institute.  Their members:

• Live in the world

• Lead an apostolic life and strive for Christian perfection participating in the spirit of the religious institute to which they are associated

• Operate under the higher direction of the same Institute (under whose authority they concretely depend, cf: Carmelite, Augustinian, Dominican third orders)

According to the new CIC:

• Any religious institute may have its own third order, without requesting any particular privilege from the Apostolic See.

• The revision and the approval of the statutes by the Holy See are necessary only if the Third Order has a universal or international character.

• A religious member of an institute may belong to a third order of another institute, without any incompatibility (needs only the permission of his superior, Can. 307 Section 3)

• The same person may belong to more than one Third Order of different religious Institutes without any special authorization, Can. 307 Section 2.

• According to Can. 303, third orders follow the norms established for associations in general.

COMPARISON BETWEEN A "THIRD ORDER" AND THE SFO

THIRD ORDER SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER   
    
Affiliated, associated to a religious institute Not affiliated or associated to the First order or the TOR.  The SFO is born autonomous and complementary to the other two Orders of the Franciscan Family.   
    
Participates in the spirit of the religious institute to which it is associated The SFO is part of the religious family founded by St. Francis, in its three-fold articulation, and participates in the spirit of the entire Family and not a single part of it, as it is a direct depositary of the charism of the common seraphic Father, as do the 1st Order, 2nd Order, and 3rd Order Regular   
    
It lives under the authority of a religious institute The SFO is born autonomous and remains such.   It is under the authority of the Church who has entrusted the assistance and the vigilance to the First Order and the TOR.   
    
A member of a religious institute may belong to the third order of another institute, without any incompatibility Our law contemplates exactly the opposite (CC.GG. 2.1)   
    
The same person may belong to more than one third order of different religious institutes without any special authorization This is in contradiction with our law (CC.GG. 2.1): The vocation to the SFO is a specific vocation that gives form to the life and apostolic activity of its members   
    
Any institute may have its own third order without requesting ay particular privilege from the Apostolic See The SFO is a PAF erected by the Supreme Pontiff and not by a religious institute.  None of the 3 First orders or the TOR holds the SFO as its "own third order."
The SFO has the privilege of being assisted collegially by its brother religious rather than by bishops.   
  

WHAT IS THE SFO?

The SFO is in the Church as a Public Association of Faithful having a universal character, constituted by the faithful and erected with juridical personality by the Supreme Pontiff.

As a Public Association, the SFO enjoys the privilege of being assisted pastorally and spiritually by its brothers of the First Order and TOR, rather than by Bishops—being understood that it depends on the latter for all apostolic activities carried out in their respective dioceses (Art. 101.2 CC.GG).

The SFO is one and autonomous (has its own law), lives to its fullness its secularity in order to serve in fullness the common mission of the Franciscan Family.  These three realities, autonomy, unity, and secularity are essential characteristics and constitutional elements of the nature of the SFO.

The SFO is not a "simple" third Order or a "simple" Public Association of Faithful.  Its nature is fully defined by its foundational origin, its history and its legislation.

Its specific nature, though not completely fitting the context of a third order, according to the CIC, puts us (as for the other "third orders") under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (for the life and discipline of the PAF) and under the one of the Pontifical Council for the Laity (for the apostolic activity).

The SFO is, and always remains, "the" Franciscan Third Order, the same as always, in an uninterrupted continuity with the one founded by St. Francis.  The new Canon Law definition of Third Order has not changed its nature.

IN CONTINUITY WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE TIME OF
ST. FRANCIS --- LET US REFLECT ON OUR "STATUS"

Moreover, We ordain and decree that after entering this fraternity, no one, may leave to return to the world; he may, however, freely transfer to another approved religious order.  (The Rule of 1289, Supra Montem, Chapter 2)

Entering into the Order and committing oneself with the Profession was, and still is, a commitment that impacts and embraces the entire life.

Profession established us in a state, which closely reminds us what St. Francis, himself tells us in his Testament: leaving the world!  The spirit, today, remains the same, according to the evangelical statement: in the world but not belonging to the world, John 17: 14-18.

Our status was assimilated to the religious state, as ecclesiastical persons (…to another approved religious order).

Today, we cannot speak in the same terms, however our Profession remains always an act of consecration, which constitutes us as lay people, consecrated for the Kingdom (cf. … I consecrate myself to the service of His Kingdom … Formula of Profession).

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND BELONGING

During the first 7 centuries the SFO has had a decentralized structure:  sui iuris Fraternities having a confederate connection (monastic system).  Unity has been sought since 1289.  Opposed by the Religious

Today, the SFO has a centralized structure, as requested by the Church.

The SFO has gained the awareness of being a single Fraternity also from a structural point of view and has overcome the divisions produced with the First Order.

This awareness must grow and effectively reach also the smallest and remotest local Fraternities to gain the necessary sense of belonging without which entering into an Order is senseless.

Profession incorporates the individual person in the entire Order as a whole and not only into a local Fraternity.

Only in the awareness of our belonging to the entire Order can we fulfill our vocation to fraternity and make present the charism of St. Francis, individually and as an Order, in the life and mission of the Church.

OBEDIENCE

Secular Franciscans do not make vows of obedience.  This would be incompatible with a normal family life and our secular and lay work.

Secular Franciscans live the spirit of the evangelical counsel of obedience, which is obedience to the Gospel, to the Church, to the Rule and one’s conscience.

The concept of obedience is contained in article 10 of the Rule, in its final closing and in the formula of our Profession:

• Uniting themselves to the redemptive obedience of Jesus, who placed his will into the Father’s hands, let them faithfully fulfill the duties proper to their various circumstances of life.  Let them also follow the poor and crucified Christ, witness to him even in difficulties and persecutions.

• And may whoever observes (obeys) all this be filled in heaven with the blessing of the most high Father, and on earth with that of his beloved Son, together with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter…"

• … I promise to live … the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by observing its rule of life.

The obedience to those who are constituted in authority in the SFO is always connected to---and therefore refers to---the obedience to the Rule we promised to observe.

NATURE OF AUTHORITY

Our centralized structure, though similar to the one of the religious, is substantially different—and the nature of authority in the SFO is different from the one of the religious.

The regime of the religious is founded on the authority of the person who has been elected to guide and serve the brothers (obedience to the guardian, to the provincial minister, to the general minister).  The religious definitors, at the various levels, though important, cannot limit, per se, the authority of their Minister.

The profile of the minister in religious life is different from that of an SFO Minister.

In the SFO, there is a Council and its Minister, and not the other way around.  The Minister is obligated to do what the Council decides (the Minister is part of it and presides over it).

The Minister in the SFO is not the absolute master of the Fraternity.  This is not yet fully understood, and we must make sure this is implemented.  The election of a Minister does not confer on him/her the power to do what he/she wants, but only the power to serve the brothers and sisters, help them and love them (cfr. GG.CC. 31.2).

Nature of authority in the Order must be understood always in the spirit of the two verbs used in our Rule and Constitutions: animate and guide – not command and prescribe.

The rule of subsidiarity is fundamental:  local Fraternities are the mainstay of the Order: in them the brothers and sisters live.  Fraternities have (they all should) a broad self-determination capacity—and what they can legally do should be done without undue intrusion by higher levels.

The regional and national governing councils are organs of connection and coordination, not of command.  They are structures to serve, to guide and to animate, to establish bridges between fraternities—coordinating harmonizing formation and apostolic commitments and connections with the other levels of the Order.

The governing bodies of the SFO do also have authority.  This specifically applies to:

• The admission and reception of Profession in nominee Ecclesiae.

• The presidency of elective chapters of Fraternities of the lower levels.

• The fraternal visits, in which the visitator has the authority and the duty to suggest, and at times impose, measures when fraternity is not authentically lived or the Rule is clearly violated or, in general, when there are objectively severe problems.

• The possibility of suspending or removing from the Order.

NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP WITH
FRANCISCAN RELIGIOUS AND ASSISTANCE

In the context of the present church legislation, it is not the First Order and Third Order Regular that has received the "privilege" (Can. 315) of jurisdiction over the SFO (altius moderamen) but it is the SFO that has received from the Apostolic see the privilege (Can. 312 section 3) of being under the jurisdiction of the First Order and TOR, to achieve its spiritual good.

The First Order and TOR must offer the service of spiritual assistance not because of a law instituted by St. Francis, nor by its own initiative, but for an explicit request by the Apostolic See.

The relationship between the SFO and the Franciscan religious is clearly introduced in our Rule, which recites: … In various ways and forms but in life-giving (comm)union with each other, they (the brothers and sisters of the three Orders) intend to make present the charism of their common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church.

It follows that both the spiritual assistance and the altius moderamen must always be referred to vital reciprocity and viewed in the perspective of fraternity which binds indissolubly the three Orders of the Franciscan Family.  From this comes the vocational necessity of a reciprocal spiritual dependence and of mutual assistance.

Fraternal Relationship of equality, complementarity, intimate and vital communion, reciprocity in helping and collaborating with one another, for an exchange of gifts and experiences between brothers and sisters to accomplish the mission entrusted by God to Francis.

Relationship of necessity in respect to the spiritual and pastoral assistance which the Church, by way of privilege, has granted to us to obtain from our brother religious, rather than from bishops: fraternity and the solidarity of the mission is considered a greater good to safeguard than the norm of Canon Law norm.

Relationship of obedience and guarantee in respect to the vigilance exercised in the name of the Church, on the items of altius moderamen, which we know well refer to fidelity to charism, to communion with the Church and the union with the Franciscan Family (GG. CC. 85.2).

THE NATURE OF THE SECULAR FRANCISCAN ORDER
PART III OF III

 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

 1. The SFO, or Franciscan Third Order (the ancient Brothers and Sisters of the Order of Continents or of Penance instituted by St. Francis), from its inception is a group of Christifideles Laici evangelically committed in their condition of secular life for a response in fullness to the call to follow Christ, humble, poor and crucified, as St. Francis did.  It is an integral and essential part of the Franciscan Trilogy founded by St. Francis and preordained to the apostolic mission entrusted to him by Christ. 

2. The mission of Secular Franciscans, together with the brothers and sisters of the First Order, Second Order, and TOR corresponds to the command of the Crucifix to Francis to repair his house which is the Church, the Body of Christ, in all its expressions, to enable it to accomplish its mission of salvation in announcing conversion and the Gospel to all creatures. 

3. Secular Franciscans, though not “religious” in the strict sense, commit themselves by way of a true and proper “religious” Profession to give witness to the salvation news of the Gospel, by associating themselves to the apostolate of the Friars of the First Order and Third Order Regular and to the contemplation of the Poor Clares.  The Profession, a true and proper consecration, perpetual, public and solemn, constitutes for Secular Franciscans a commitment which marks and embraces the entire life and establishes them as consecrated lay people for the Kingdom (cf. … I consecrate myself to the service of His Kingdom … Formula of Profession). 

4. The SFO is in the Church is a Public Association of Faithful having a universal character constituted by the faithful and erected with juridical personality by the Supreme Pontiff from whom it has received the approval of its Rule and the confirmation of its mission in the Church and in the world.  The SFO enjoys the privilege of being assisted pastorally and spiritually by his brothers of the First Order and TOR, rather than by bishops. 

5. The SFO is one and autonomous (has its own law), lives to its fullness its secularity in order to serve in fullness the common mission of the Franciscan Family.  These three realities, autonomy, unity and secularity are essential characteristics and constitutional elements of the nature of the SFO. 

6. Its specific nature, though not completely fitting the context of a third order, according to the CIC, puts us (as for the other “third orders”) under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (for the life and discipline of the PAF) and under the one of the Pontifical Council for the Laity (for the apostolic activity).

7. The SFO is not a “simple” third order or a “simple” public association of faithful.  Its nature is fully defined by its foundational origin, its history and its legislation.  The SFO is, and always remains, “the” Franciscan Third Order, the same as always, in an uninterrupted continuity with the one founded by St. Francis.  The new Canon Law definition of third order has not changed its nature. 

8. Today, the SFO has a centralized structure and has gained the awareness of being a single Fraternity also from a structural point of view, overcoming the divisions produced within the First Order.  This awareness must grow and effectively reach also the smallest and remotest local Fraternities to gain the necessary sense of belonging, without which entering into an Order is senseless. 

9. Profession incorporates the individual person in the entire Order as a whole and not only into a local Fraternity.  Only in the awareness of our belonging to the entire Order, can we fulfill our vocation to fraternity and make present the charism of St. Francis, individually and as an Order, in the life and mission of the Church. 

10.  Secular Franciscans do not make vows of obedience.  Secular Franciscans live the spirit of the evangelical counsel of obedience, which is obedience to the Gospel, to the Church, to the Rule and to one’s conscience.  The obedience to those who are constituted in authority in the SFO is always connected, and therefore referable to the obedience to the Rule we promised to observe. 

11.  Our centralized structure, though similar to the one of the religious, is substantially different and the nature of authority in the SFO is different from the one of the religious.  

12.  The profile of the minister in religious life is different from that of an SFO minister.  The SFO Minister is not invested with personal authority of government with respect to the Fraternity.  This authority primarily resides in the Fraternity Council.  In the SFO, there is a Council and its Minister, and not the other way around.  This is not yet fully understood and we must make sure this is implemented.  The election of a Minister does not confer to him/her the power to do what he/she wants, but only the power to serve the brothers and sisters, help them and love them and to implement the decisions made by the Fraternity and the Council. 

13.  The nature of authority in the Order must be understood always in the spirit of the two verbs used in our Rule and Constitutions: to animate and to guide.  Not to command and prescribe. 

14.  The rule of subsidiarity is fundamental: local Fraternities are the mainstay of the Order: in them the brothers and sisters live.  Fraternities have (they all should) a broad self-determination capacity and what they can legally do should be done without undue intrusions by the higher levels. 

15.  The regional and national governing councils are organs of connection and coordination, not of command.  They are structures to serve, to guide and to animate, to establish bridges between fraternities—coordinating and harmonizing formation and apostolic commitments and connections with the other levels of the Order. 

16.  The governing bodies of the SFO do also have authority.
This specifically applies to:

• the admission and reception of Profession in nominee Ecclesiae.

• The presidency of elective chapters of Fraternities of the lower levels.

• The fraternal visits, in which the visitator has the authority and duty to suggest, and at times impose, measures when fraternity is not authentically lived or the Rule is clearly violated or, in general, when there are objectively severe problems

• The possibility of suspending or removing from the Order.

17.  The relationship between the SFO and the Franciscan religious is clearly introduced in our Rule, which states: … In various ways and forms but in life-giving communion with each other, they  (the brothers and sisters of the three Orders) intend to make present the charism of their common Seraphic Father in the life and mission of the Church . . . 

18.  It follows that both the spiritual assistance and the altius moderamen must always be referred to vital reciprocity and viewed in the perspective of fraternity which binds indissolubly the three Orders of the Franciscan Family.  From this comes the vocational necessity of a reciprocal spiritual dependence and of mutual assistance.