I B - the 2Nd Order the Poor Sisters Or Poor Clares
I b - The 2nd Order thePoor Sisters or Poor Clares
As it is a monastic order, it has kept the traditional organisationin autonomous monasteries, each of which interprets the common Rule of Clarein its own way, according to its own Constitutions. Hence arises a great diversity of life-styles[1]. As our practical and structural links to the 2nd Order are looser than those with the First, we shall spend less time on the details of itsevolution intime. Besides, the reasons that led the Poor Clares toadapt the primitiveRule are often the same as those of the First Order, and many of their monasteries were closely bound to one or other of its branches.
1 – From the beginning, their story is closely linked to that of theFriars Minor. Francis and Clare received the same inspiration, professed the same evangelicalideal and followed the same path of simplicity, humility, fraternity, detachment, obedienceto the pastors of the Church. But the two Orders answer the same call in different and complementary ways: one in an itinerant life along theroads of the world, to bringit the Gospel, the other in the silence and recollection of the cloister, a place of contemplation, of intercession for the Friars, of prayer for all the needs of the world, and of welcome. The Sisters live by the work of their hands and on alms, the latter offered spontaneously by their neighbours, or brought by the Friars charged to beg for them. Since they are cloistered, very few go out, and then only briefly.
Francis promised before his death that the Friars Minor would always be ready to help and support their poor Sisters. Not only in material ways,but also in spiritual ones. In return the Sisters would support the Friars and their mission through their prayer. – For her part, Claregave great importance to this spiritual affiliation, proved by herTestamentin which she promised,for herself and her sisters, obedience to Francis and his successors, but obedience to the pope before all else. (cf. also Rule of Clare: RC 1, 3-5).
- 2 – It was on Palm Sunday1212 that Clare left her family secretly to join Francis and his Brothers at the Portiuncula;there the bishop of Assisi received herprofessionand consecrated her to God. That date marks the beginning of the 2nd Order. Fifteen days later her sister,Agnes, who had heard the same call, arrived to join her.
Francis lost no time in establishing them, with the young women who soon joined them, near the church ofSaint Damianwhere he had earlier prophesied their coming.He wrote for them a“Form of Life”in eight lines the principle rule being “to ’adopt a life consistent with the perfection of the holy Gospel” (of humility and poverty). At the same time he promised them his spiritual assistance and that of his brothers. Later, in the Rule she wrote, Clare affirms that the founder of her order is Francis, not herself (cf.: RC 1, 1). And he, shortly before his death wrote to the sisters: “I, little brother Francis, want to imitate the life and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus Christ and of His most holy Motherand I wish to persevere in this to the end. And I ask and counsel you, my ladies, to live always in this holy life and in poverty.[...]” This text is also found in the Rule of Clare.
The Order developed and spread very quickly.
But this was not to be without difficulties, struggles and sufferings for Clare. In 1215, the Lateran Council IVimposed on new religious familiesthe adoption of already existing Rules. Clare, less fortunate than the founder of the Friars Minor some years earlier, had the Rule of Saint Benedict imposed; and Francis had toinsist that she accept the title of abbess. However, Innocent III in 1216 granted her the “privilege of poverty” that was already being lived by the Friars, for which she was asking: the right to live poor, personally and as community, without legal property or income. - However, in 1218 the CardinalProtector Hugolinhimself drew up (since a woman was not then allowed to do it) Constitutionsfor the Poor Sisters, very strict as regards asceticism and enclosure, but making no allusion toevangelical poverty or to belonging to the family of Francis. In spite of official pressure, Clare and the monasteries close to her ideal, certainly including that of Saint Damian, remained faithful to the“Form of Life”given by Francis. Hugolin, who became Pope Gregory IX, acceded in 1227 to one of Clare’s greatest desires byconfirming officially the spiritual assistance of the1st Order to the2nd. And in1228, in spite of repeated pressure to renounce it, healso confirmed for her the“privilege of poverty”.
But Clare was not yet at the end of her troubles. Gregory IX and after himInnocent IVimposed on other monasteries to receive property and goods.In 1247,Innocent IVpublished a new Rule maintaining community property and sanctioning the dispensationswhich had been granted in this domain.
Claire then heroicallydrew up a Rule herself.. She was very ill and the Pope came to visit her and approved it. It was9th August 1253; she died on 11th,holding the bull in her hand. This was the first Rule written by a woman.
This Rule is very austere; certainyoung women, who wanted to follow the ideal of Clare and Francis but were fragile in health, could notrealise their vocation.With Clare’s blessing, a monastery with more moderate statutes,partly due to Saint Bonaventure, was foundedfor them at Longchamp (France), by Blessed. Isabel, sister of Saint Louis, king of France.
After the death of Clare in 1264, Urban IVapproved this modified Rule, which was gradually adopted by many monasteries.For a long time these formed an important group -the Urbanist Poor Clares.
The 2nd Order founded many other monasteriesin different countries ofEurope. Like the Friars of the 1st Order, and often linked to them, the Sisters of the 2nd Order in their 800 years of existencehave experienced changes, and sometimes evenupheavals. But these have usually passed over calmly. As the monasteries were autonomous, and each had its own Constitutions, it is understandable that the consequences of the reforms were more limited and less subject to passion than in a more centralised Order.
- 3 – From the XIVth to the XIXth century. - Many monasteries became lax, among other reasons becauseofrich princely foundations opposed to the spirit of poverty. The majority observed the Rule of the Urbanist Poor Clares.
A reform movement was born, with the support of the minister general of the Friars Minor and the pope, while the great saints ofthe Observance (Bernardine of Sienna, John of Capistran, Bernardine of Feltre…) worked for it. This was a return to the Rule of Saint Clare, sometimes even more austere, for themonasteries of the Observance.
A special place must be given to the reform of Saint Colette of Corbie (1381-1447), because of its extension in time and the influence it exercised in the 2nd Order, which is still felt today. Born in France and Belgium with the consent of Benedict XIII, the Colettine PoorClaresobserve strictly the Rule of Saint Clareto which Colette addedConstitutions which were approved byPius IIin 1458. They later spread out, especially in Spain and Latin America.
In the XVIth century a reform appeared linked to the Capuchins. The Capuchin PoorClares were founded in Naples by the Venerable Maria Laurentia Longo. They observed the Rule of Clare, joining to it the Constitutions of Saint Colette, or those of a minister general of the Capuchins: Jerome de Castelferretti. The foundation received the approval of Paul III in 1538, four years before the death of the foundress. They opened monasteries near those of the Capuchins and this ensured spiritual assistance and a link with the1st Order (made official at the general level in 1970, for themselves and the various Institutes or groups depending on them).
The XVIIth centurysaw the peakof the 2nd Order. In 1680, it had 34,000 Sisters. But in Europe, the French Revolution, then in theXVIIIth centurythe actions of Napoleon Bonaparte caused thedisappearance of many convents. A revival occurred in theXIXth century, accompanied by foundations even in far away countries.
Retrospective: Living enclosed, the Poor Sisters remained fraternally close to their contemporaries. Their Order has exercised a profoundspiritualinfluence on and in the Church and similarly in the society of their time, including the governing classes, since many members of the royalty and nobility of Europehad embracedevangelical poverty among them. In Latin America, they even played a great missionaryrole, especially in the education of youth.
- 4 -The 2nd Order today: Unlike the three branches of the 1st Order, even
though certain monasteries have closer relationships because of similarity
of Rule and Constitutions, or of attachment to the same branch of the First
Order,the 2nd Order hasneither a centraladministration,nor a division
into provinces. Each monastery is independent. And so there is a great
variety of life styles; and the adaptations demanded by the Vatican Council
II often increased the differences, ranging fromthe most open to the most
conservative, for example in the practice of enclosure.Hereis one presentation among others, from the Poor Clares themselves:
- The gifts that the Sisters of Saint Clarebring to the Church are prayer, simplicity, fraternity and joy.
- Each monastery is autonomous; going from one to the other one feels the same spirit, the same atmosphere; but one immediately notices something different, sees that one is in a different place.
- Each monastery is unique, as each Sister who forms part of it is unique.
- We cannot paint a standard portrait of the “Poor Clare Sister”…
In our day the 2nd Order has more than 20,000 members throughout the world. Its monasteries (usually with not more than 4 to 13 Sisters,in order to preserve the family spirit desired by Clare) are divided into16 federations.[2]
The spiritual affiliation ofthe Poor Clare Sistersis to theFranciscans, as eitherUrbanistsor Colettinesfollowing the Rule and Constitutions adopted;theCapuchin Poor Claresare attached to the Capuchins. There are also some smaller groups such as the Conceptionistsand the Annonciades (founded respectively in the XVth and XVIth centuries).
No structures seem to exist for meetings and common reflection at the general level, as in the other Orders.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
It was during the time she spent with the Poor Clares of Nantes that Mary of the Passion entered into Franciscan life and spirituality for the first time: She remained marked by it, especially as foundress (though she recognised that the life style of the FMM is closer to that of the Friars Minor).
Besides, it is only recently that the Franciscan Family has begun to rediscover the complementarityof the charisms of Francis and Clare at the beginnings of theFranciscan movement.
And we:
-What do we know of Clare, of her life and writings? of the original contribution she made to the birth of the whole “Family” and its spirituality?
-Francis had given his community new and supple structures of “Fraternity”; Clare had to adopt the traditionalstructures of monasteries. But are her structures based on those which already existed? What was her distinctive contribution to monastic life?
-Are there monasteries of the 2nd Order in your country, your region? If so, what is their place in the local Church?
-Do weknow the Poor Clare Sisters? What kind of contacts do we have with them, on community or province level?
I c - The 3rd Order Regular and Secular
The story of the 3rd Order is of special concern to us, since we are officially part of it.
At the beginning, Francis had not intended to found a religious family; but when God“gave him brothers”he saw he was called to do that. Similarly, itwas the number of requests for a spiritual orientation from people already committed in life which led him to give them the general foundationsof whatwas to become a“movement”, that of the“Penitents of Assisi”, or“Order of Penance[3]”.
- 1 – Consisting in the time ofFrancis of persons from very different states of life, it received from himsomebasic, fundamental orientations, spiritual and practical, in the 1st and 2ndLetters to the Faithful, men and women.
Most of them were lay people. But others were living a religious life in autonomous convents or hermitages, most of them engaged in socialand charitable works.
From the end of theXIIIth century, the latter obtained the Church’s recognition as religious, and received from the Pope a Rule conform to the canonical outlinesin use atthat time, but they always drew their spiritualinspiration from the writings of Francis mentioned above.
From this time the 3rd Order had two branches: one (the larger)lay,the other religious(often groupedinto congregations, but not united as one whole group). And so the Third-Order Secular (TOS), and the Third Order Regular (TOR).were officially born.
- 2 -The TOR, went through an important evolution from 1447.:
(a)The(masculine) fraternities of tertiaries ofItaly formed a federation and, with the approval of Pope Nicolas V became a centralised Order under the responsibility of a Minister general assisted by his Council; the official acronym TOR[4]is now given to thiscentralised 3rd Order Regular. Today, within the Franciscan Family,the Minister General TORis a member of the“Conference of the 4 Ministers General”[5], in the same capacity as the three OFM Ministers. This Conference has its own proper Statutes and regular Assemblies.
(b1) And what became of the numerous feminineCongregations and some remaining masculine Congregations, allprofessing the Rule of the 3rd Order Regular?
Autonomous or linked in one way or another to one of the 3 branches of the 1st Order, they had to wait until the XXth centuryto be able to form a group with an official existence in the Family with its recognised (though still somewhat “minor”, it is true) place in the family alliance.
(b2) Theoccasion for this was the“aggiornamento” of the Rule of the Third-Order Regular after Vatican II, accomplished under the aegisof about 200 superiors general, by a team from differentcongregations, among whom an FMM sister played a very active part[6]. Approved in 1982 by Paul VI, this Rule is now followed by all the Congregations belonging to the 3rdOrder, including the TOR.
When this work had been accomplished, the group of superiors expressed the wish that a permanent structurebe established permitting the bonds arising from their common Franciscan heritage to be maintainedamong the congregations, and tocontinue thecollaborationwhich had just been born. In the course of an assembly held in 1985, this structure was approved and established by 130 superiors general[7]. It is called the “International Franciscan Conference of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular” orIFC-TOR. The adhesion of Franciscan religious Institutions (some of whom are Anglican or Lutheran) is facultative; in 1993, 379 Congregations were affiliated to it, of which only 17 are of men, the others generally belong to the TOR.
The IFC-TORis officially part of theConference of the Franciscan Family:CFF, founded in 1996 to promote inter collaboration (Conference of the 4 Ministers general + IFC-TOR + OSF).
- 3 –The Third Order Secular –formerly the TOS - has become the SFO, or“Secular FranciscanOrder”[8]. Its aim is defined by art. 4 of the Rule:
“The Rule and life of the secular Franciscans is as follows: tolive the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the centre of his life with God and with men [...]The secular Franciscans undertake frequent reading of the Gospel, moving from the Gospel tolife and from life to the Gospel”.
The SFO has in the Church the status of apublicassociation; it is attached to the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies ofApostolic Life (CICLSAL).
(a) Made up of lay people andsecularinstitutes, it has its ownorganisation: under the central responsibility of the Minister General of the SFO. The Fraternities at the different levels: local, regional, national and international are united and linked among themselves according to the norms foreseen by theRule and the GeneralConstitutions. Statutes specify their functioning; they are approved by the Conference of the Ministers General, which has the right to modify them and to give their authentic interpretation
At each level, the fraternity is coordinated, animated and directed by a Council and a secular Minister or President, and has a spiritual Assistant who is part of the counciland the chapter with the right to vote, except forfinancial questions or at elections.
At the general level, the “InternationalFraternity” is directed and animated by the Minister or President with theInternationalCouncil (ICSFO)which has its seat in Rome (Cf. Constitutions 69,2). The ICSFO assembles gather in SFOGeneral Chapter with legislative, deliberative and elective power (Cf. Constitutions 70, 3).
(b) In virtue of its belonging in spirit to the same family, at all levels the spiritual and pastoral care of the SFO is confided by the Church to the First Franciscan Order and to the TOR,to which the secular Fraternity has been united for centuries..