SAINT, TROUBADOUR, revolutionary, fanatic, clown -
whatever impression we may have of Francis of Assisi, no one can deny
the inspiration that he has been down the centuries. Europe in the time of
Francis (1182-1224) was a place of deep divisions. Towns and kingdoms
nourished ancient feuds with their rivals, while the established
princes struggled against the growing power of the merchants. Many
people lived in poverty, while those at the top fared sumptuously but
even the ordinary poor were not so wretched as the lepers, the ultimate
outcasts of those days. Meanwhile the witness of the Church was weak,
and Francis responded to the call from God to ‘rebuild my church’, with
Clare, by founding a religious Order at that time.
Francis
and Clare, with their brothers and sisters, met the evident needs of
the people by sharing food and shelter, and through preaching and living
reconciliation, based on prayer and an active love for Christ. They
answered the pain of the outcasts by making them their friends, such as
the lepers, and shared the reproaches hurled at them. Their witness
incorporated a spirit of conversion and penitence, fortified by times
of quiet and withdrawal. Today within the Anglican Church there are three related Franciscan Orders which all started in the early years of
the 20th Century:
- The First Order,
consisting of men and women who live in community under a rule based on
the traditional vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. They give
expression to their mission by a variety of activities, seeking to
maintain a balance, corporately and individually, between prayer, study
and active work.
- The Second Order, the Community of Saint Clare, which is composed
of women who feel called by God to an enclosed life of contemplative prayer, coupled with work to be self supporting.
- The Third
Order,
which is open to men and women, ordained or lay, married or single who
feel that God is calling them to live out their Franciscan vocation in
the world. While committed to family responsibilities and engaged in
the ordinary tasks of life, the Third Order offers a life of challenge
and support for those who are called to a deeper commitment to Christ,
their Lord and Master, to a life under vow. There are currently over
2,000 members of the Third Order (called Tertiaries) in the European
Province throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Sweden. There
are Tertiaries also in other Provinces across the world.
We
welcome you to our site and we hope that you will consider, as you
explore it, whether God is calling you to the life that we share in the
Third Order.