From the desk of the pastor for Sept. 28, 2025

The Lord be with you! When we left off from our story about St. Francis, he had embraced the life of a hermit. Having left his family for “Lady Poverty,” Francis was poised to transform the Church.

Around the year 1208 Francis began to preach the Good News to anyone who would listen. Dressed in the clothing of the poorest peasants - a rough woollen tunic and knotted rope - he told people to give up their worldly cares and love God first. Within a year Francis had eleven followers and a problem: how to live in common. He composed the “Primitive Rule” from Bible verses but knew he needed official recognition.

In 1210 Francis and his elven brothers went to Rome. There they met Cardinal Giovanni of San Paulo, the Pope’s confessor, who was quite sympathetic to them and set up a meeting with the pope. A few days later, Pope Innocent III met them and was greatly impressed by their zeal. The Pope became even more inclined to help when he had a dream of Francis holding up the Lateran Basilica. On April 16, 1210, the Order of Friars Minor was officially established. Francis would be ordained a deacon but never a priest and be the head of the order.

The Franciscans differed tremendously from other religious orders because they intended to never hold property. Whereas the Benedictines and Augustinian monks had vast tracts of land, the Franciscans were to sustain themselves by begging. A number of Pope Innocent III’s advisors thought that the Franciscans would never be able to make it. Within fifty years the Franciscans would number in the tens of thousands! Francis never imagined such success, and he was certainly not made to run an order of that magnitude. But that is skipping ahead.

Around the founding of the Order, Francis needed to get a liturgy for his brothers. Today everyone celebrates Mass and Liturgy of the Hours in the same way with some caveats. In the Middle Ages, however, the liturgy of the Church varied diocese by diocese. Tradition holds that Francis asked for the most ancient liturgy for his order. He got the Latin Mass. When the Franciscans got it, this rite was only celebrated twice a year in Rome. It spread with the Franciscans to every corner of the Church and would become the standard liturgy after the Council of Trent.

Francis’s devotions also spread with his brothers. It is unclear how much his Eucharistic piety changed the Mass, but Francis loved genuflections and kneeling. Whereas these postures were uncommon before him, they became standard in almost every liturgy of ours within a few centuries. Although never ordained a priest - he thought himself unworthy of the honor - Francis was very concerned that the liturgy be done reverently and well. He would write more about how to clean the altar linens than how to resolve disputes.

We must go over two more parts of Francis’ life next time: the Holy Land and the stigmata. As Pope Innocent dreamed, Francis would lift up the Church. One smile and one genuflection at a time.

In His Sacred Heart,
Fr. John