The Franciscan Rule

St. Francis and his followers became enormously popular through their active and dedicated ministry to the people. Unlike the older monastic orders, they were not bound to a cloistered life within the monastery. But the Franciscans settled in the cities and developed a program of preaching and pastoral guidance.Thus they constituted a striking force within the church. The need for pastoral care in the cities had grown so rapidly that the old ecclesiastical structures were no longer adequate. The Rule of St. Francis, confirmed and approved by the pope clearly outlined for the friars the unique manner of their living and apostolic ministry.

The first rule of the Franciscan Order, submitted to the pope in 1209, has long since disappeared from history. It was the rule of 1223, the third produced by Francis, which became the definitive one. It is still in use today.

The ideal that St. Francis laid down in his rule is very high. St. Francis and his companions lived perfectly according to that standard. But the number of the friars rapidly increasing, the rule gave rise to some controversies, and, as a consequence, to declarations and expositions. The first exposition of the rule was given by St. Francis himself in his Testament (1226).

We have a number of expositions of the Rule, and it cannot be said that they are against the will of St. Francis. He himself had in his lifetime been humble enough to submit in everything to the decisions of the Church, and so he desired his sons to do. Besides, the decisions of the popes are not dispensations, but authentic interpretations of a rule, that binds only inasmuch as it is approved by the Church.

Doubts about the meaning and the observance of the rule having risen at the general chapter of Assisi (1230), a deputation of prominent men was sent toGregory IX, to obtain a papal decision. On 28 September, 1230, the pope edited the Bull "Quo elongati" , a document of capital importance for the future of the order. In this Bull the pope, claiming to know the intentions of the holy founder, since he had assisted him in the composition and approval of the rule, declares that for the tranquillity of conscience of the friars, the Testament of St. Francis has no binding power over them, as Francis, when making it, had no legislative power.


The Original Franciscans Rule, Sacro Convento,Assisi.

 

Such was the standing of the Rule and its significance to the brothers that there has never been a direct change to the Rule itself. Rather, as the number of friars grew and their experience of the world and serving the church increased, the friars adopted the device of writing their documents, often known as Constitutions, which dealt with newly arising questions of how to live the way of life originally traced out by St. Francis in the first quarter of the thirteenth century. Each of the Franciscan families of the First Order today, therefore observe this Rule interpreted by their respective Constitutions and other legal documents.

Such additional material marks the changes necessary to adjust to the life of the community to the changes in the church and the needs of the people the friars are called to serve. The basic Rule, however, remains untouched as the permanent inspiration and guide to the friars to the way in which they should follow the inspiration they received from the little poor man of Assisi.