Regular Third Order of Saint Francis

REGULAR THIRD ORDER OF SAINT FRANCIS. - It derives from the Third Order of Penance, instituted by St. Francis of Assisi in 1221 for laypeople.

With the passage of time many of these tertiaries, drawn by the desire for greater perfection, abandoned their homes to live in hermitages, also pronouncing religious vows. These communities of hermit tertiaries were often accused of heresy and lumped together with the Fraticelli, but unjustly so, to such an extent that at the request of some of them, living in Umbrian hermitages, Pope John XXII in 1323 approved their manner of life "as praiseworthy and exceedingly useful." In 1447 Pope Nicholas V, by the apostolic letter Pastoralis Officii, recommended to all the tertiaries of Italy that they gather in a General Chapter and elect a "Visitor and Principal Father." Thus the various autonomous congregations united with the Congregation of Italy, while the others gradually died out. At present the Order, which has given the Church men eminent for holiness and learning, is spread throughout Europe, the Americas and the Indies; it devotes itself to the sacred ministry, to teaching, and to missions among the infidels; it numbers 700 professed members. The general house is in Rome, near the basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

END OF THE XI VOLUME.