Conventual Franciscans

Conventual Franciscans is the name commonly used to refer to The Order of Friars founded by St Francis of Assisi in 1209.

Related Topics:
Conventual Franciscans - Friars - St Francis of Assisi

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The viability of the Franciscan movement after the founder's death depended upon a thorough assessment of the Order's role within the social situation. At that time regular trade with foreign lands was not o­nly discovering new fabrics and spices, but also new ways of thinking and living. People were leaving the land and seeking the activity and security that the city could offer. In response to this rapid urbanization, many friars decided to establish large centres of ministry in the growing cities.

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Seeking to permeate the new social order with the ideals of Saint Francis, the friars settled in the urban slums, the suburbs. For the medievals, the suburbs were those neighbourhoods where the huts and shacks of the poorest were built outside the safety of the city walls. In London, the first settlement of the friars was o­n "Stinking Lane," clearly not named for a fashionable quarter.

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Since the suburbs were also the place where hospitals were set up, the friars were often commissioned by the city government to facilitate the care of the sick. To improve the healing environment, the friars eventually replaced their rude huts with more solid buildings. At the same time, they constructed splendid churches to welcome the poor. The friars, as initiated through the efforts of Saint Anthony of Padua, preached not o­nly o­n Sundays and holidays - daily and even Sunday preaching was not a common practice at the time - but also during the rainy seasons when it was impossible for the farmers to work in the fields. The visible fruits of the preaching apostolate prompted Robert Grosseteste, then bishop of Lincoln (England), to marvel that the people "run to the friars for instruction as well as for confession and direction. They are transforming the world." As the population steadily increased the churches grew larger, and the inspired preaching attracted congregations from near and far. Soon the city walls enclosed the friaries within their safety.

Related Topics:
Saint Anthony of Padua - Robert Grosseteste - Lincoln

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But even with all the positive developments, this movement into the cities was controversial and split the Order into two factions: those who desired a life of solitary meditation in the remote rural areas, and those who desired to live together in friaries and work among the poor of the great cities. This latter group was first known as the "Friars of the Community." By 1250 they were also referred to as Fratres Conventuales ("Conventual Friars") - a generic designation for those religious who lived in a stable house (conventus in Latin). However, the official title remained Fratres Minores until the division of 1517, when these followers of Saint Francis became definitively known as Fratres Minores Conventuales - "Friars Minor Conventual."

Related Topics:
Friars of the Community - 1250 - Fratres Conventuales - Fratres Minores - 1517 - Friars Minor Conventual

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Generally, the Conventuals did not remain at the sites associated with Francis' actual presence. The caves where he prayed, the hermitages built near the well water that turned into wine, the trees where he preached to birds, all became smaller sanctuaries that attracted the temporary structures of the eremetical friars. The Friars of the Community sought to take Francis' spirit beyond the confinement of the time and space that he had occupied o­n earth, and bring it into the far reaches of a universal Church. As with the apostles after the Ascension of Christ, the Friars of the Community could not stand gazing heavenward. After the founder's death, they began the task of transforming Francis' earthly existence into something that would endure the passing elements of history, creating anew for each generation a message as fresh as when they stood so close beside him.

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Therefore, at a time when vast tracts of land were understood as power, the minority of the Conventuals led them to nestle their large houses into small plots where Lady Poverty could dwell with her handmaid Community. There, the concentration of talented men living a regularized life steeped in prayer, study and work, became like a well-armed garrison that fought against the power of darkness and despondency o­n the battleground of urban and suburban life. The friary acted as a fortress of faith where disciplined austerity, focused generosity, and harmonized prayer grounded the friars in stability, while their itinerant hearts were missioned into the farthest corners of earthly possibilities.

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Due to their international sharing of vocations and talent, the friars had news to tell from different lands, and various perspectives to propagate. As church attendance among the laity continued to increase, the friars were pumping new faith, sentiment and poetry into the heart of an invigorated Church.

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