St. Francis was born in Assisi in 1182. Early in life he was a leader of the city's youth, filled with dreams of knightly victory. He tried to live out these dreams when he fought with the soldiers from Assisi against the neighboring city of Perugia. He was imprisoned and the Lord spoke to his heart, drawing him to seek spiritual victories. After his release he left his military career and business ambitions and embraced a poor and hidden life. He ministered to lepers and heard the Lord speak to him from the cross of San Damiano: "Go and rebuild my Church which you see is falling down in ruins." St. Francis repaired the Church of San Damiano and then began repairing another church dedicated to St. Peter. When he had finished there, he went to the Portiuncula, St. Mary of the Angels. He loved this place more than any other in the world. It was there that he began and ended his religious life. When he was dying, he commended this spot above all others to the friars, because it was the most dear to the Blessed Virgin.

While St. Francis was working on restoring the Portiuncula, he was at Mass and heard the missionary discourse of St. Matthew's Gospel (Mt. 10:5-42). In response he embarked upon a life of poverty and preached a message of penance and peace. Soon he was joined by followers and so sought guidance as to the way of life that the Lord wanted for them. At the church of St. Nicholas, St. Francis opened the Gospel book three times in honor of the Blessed Trinity; the book opened to the following passages which St. Francis took as his rule of life: Mt. 19:21, Lk. 9:3 and Mt. 16:24. As the number of followers increased, St. Francis and his brothers went to Rome; in humble submission to the authority of the Church they sought approval for their way of life. Pope Innocent III granted his verbal approval for the Lord had spoken to him in a dream showing him that the Lateran basilica, which was threatening to fall, was being held up by St. Francis. The Poverello later wrote a Rule that was officially approved in 1223. He also wrote a rule for the Poor Ladies of San Damiano (the Poor Clares) and another for the Third Order.

St. Francis was marked particularly by his missionary zeal. He attempted to go to Syria and Morocco but was thwarted by a shipwreck and by illness, and he traveled to Damietta where he tried to convert the Sultan of Egypt. Throughout their years of preaching, St. Francis and his brothers greatly helped in rebuilding the Church of Europe. St. Francis popularized the Christmas crib, the Stations of the Cross and devotion to the Eucharist.

Towards the end of his life, St. Francis was blind and seriously ill but continued to minister to lepers and encourage his brothers. He was absorbed in the mystery of the Lord's Cross and on September 14, 1224 he received the stigmata which he bore in his flesh until he died on October 3, 1226 at the Portiuncula.

The Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word imitate St. Francis in his efforts to go and rebuild the Church, in his love for Our Lady of the Angels, in his renunciation of the world and submission to the Holy Father and the Church. The brothers particularly imitate him in his missionary zeal and devotion to the Eucharist as well as his love for the infant Jesus and the poor crucified Christ. The brothers take St. Francis' Later Rule as their rule of life, especially desiring to have the Spirit of the Lord and his holy manner of working. The admonitions of St. Francis act as an excellent examination of conscience for the brothers.

2. Their Life in the Light of the Vocation Entrusted to Mother Angelica

Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, P.C.P.A. is the foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word. She was born on April 20, 1923 to John and Mae Rizzo and was baptized Rita Antoinette. She was miraculously healed from a painful stomach abnormality on January 17, 1943 after which she desired to consecrate her whole life to Jesus. On August 15, 1944 she entered the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Cleveland, Ohio and persevered through painful swelling in her knees. On November 8, 1945 she became a novice, receiving the name Sister Mary Angelica of the Annunciation.

On January 2, 1953 Sister Angelica made her solemn vows, consecrating her entire life to the King of Kings in the Most Blessed Sacrament. In the same year she injured her back and leg, but did not speak of it until two years later when she was losing the use of her left leg and the pain became too severe to hide. Before undergoing back surgery to correct the problem, Sister Angelica was inspired to promise the Lord that if he enabled her to walk she would build him a monastery in the South. She recovered but had to wear a leg and back brace. In 1955 she was accepted to the community's advisory counsel and given the title Mother Angelica.

In 1960 she began to raise money for "the monastery in the South" by selling fishing lures. During a winter night while suffering from muscle spasms in her back and leg, Mother received a vision of the floor plan of the new monastery. In the Spring of 1961, she bought 15 acres of land in Irondale, Alabama for $13,000 -- the exact amount they had earned from the fishing lures. On May 20, 1962 the enclosure of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery was established and thus began a religious family marked by joy and familial intimacy.

In 1970, led by a zeal for souls, Mother Angelica started to write books and give talks and by 1972 had constructed a print shop to spread the Eternal Word. On November 1, 1978 she sensed the Lord asking her to build him a television studio and on August 15, 1981, EWTN broadcasted its first program. On May 2, 1987, Mother founded the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word and in the same year began the Lay Missionaries. Desiring to wrap the world with the Eternal Word, Mother Angelica, on December 28, 1992, launched WEWN, a world-wide shortwave radio station.

The Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word offer praise and thanksgiving to God for the gift of Mother Angelica. They imitate her friendship with the Crucified One, our Eucharistic Lord, and with the Virgin Most Powerful. Like her, they dedicate themselves to Eucharistic adoration and intimacy with the Lord's Cross. They imitate Mother in her abandonment to divine providence, obedience to God's will in the present moment and her desire to build up God's family, the Church. Inspired by her example, the brothers embrace the Church's mission of evangelization using the mass media, the written word, retreats and other means available to them. The brothers serve the sisters as members of their own family and entrust themselves to their prayers.

3. The Origin of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word

God the Father, out of unfathomable love, pours forth his very being and eternally begets the Son by communicating his divine nature to him. The Son, the Eternal Word of the Father, receives the divine nature with unutterable gratitude and in response pours forth his love for the Father. The Living Flame of Love between the Father and the Son is so intimate and their mutual Gift so real that this Love is a Co-beloved, the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Out of this eternal exchange of love, God freely chooses to create. Though his love was spurned by the sin of our first parents, God did not abandon man to death. He formed Israel into his chosen people and from their midst he raised up Jesus, the Savior of the world. Christ, by his paschal mystery, united himself in spousal union to the Church which he founded for the salvation of men. This spousal love of Christ for his Church is seen preeminently in the sacrament of the Bridegroom and Bride, the Eucharist. Flowing from this source and summit of the Church's life is one of the clearest manifestations of her bridal relationship with Jesus: the profession of the evangelical counsels in religious life.

One expression of this religious life began in 1979 when our Lord Jesus Christ inspired Mother Mary Angelica to found a community of brothers and priests to assist in the work of evangelization that he entrusted to her. Obedient to the Lord's gracious inspiration, she asked Fr. Donat McDonagh to come to Irondale, Alabama to form a men's community in August of 1986.

Fr. McDonagh, then a priest of the diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, sought permission from his bishop to go to Irondale. The bishop granted his approval, and in January of 1987 Fr. Michael arrived in Alabama.

Wayne Wolfe, originally from Iowa, was at the same time employed as an engineer at Eternal Word Television Network. Upon hearing that Fr. McDonagh was forming a community, Wayne began the discernment process and in mid-April joined Fr. Donat. He became the first brother of the Community of the Eternal Word.

The date of the founding of the community is May 2, 1987 the feast of St. Athanasius, when Fr. Donat McDonagh was invested in the habit by Mother Angelica and received the religious name of Fr. Michael. The next day, on the feast of Sts. Philip and James, Wayne Wolfe received the habit and the religious name of Br. Joseph.

After this, Frank Giglio of New Jersey, a wealthy businessman, left all his possessions and entered the community on September 8th, 1987 and received Br. Marion for his religious name; he became a member of the community in order to pursue a vocation to the brotherhood. Joseph Klobuchar of Michigan entered on May 19th of 1988 and upon his investiture on August 15 of the same year received the religious name of Br. John. Fr. Richard Mataconis, a Salesian for thirty-five years, joined the community on September 12th of 1989. He received Fr. Philip as his religious name. On June 3rd of 1990, James Hedderman from Ohio entered the community and three months later on September 8th received the habit and the religious name of Br. Augustine.

Brs. Joseph, Marion, John, and Augustine, constitute the initial four men under formation within the Community of the Eternal Word who have continued direct affiliation with Mother Angelica and EWTN.

Mother Angelica, the foundress of the community of brothers and priests, continued to give her support and guidance to the group of four men listed above with Fr. Philip Mataconis as superior. The name of this group was the Missionaries of the Eternal Word.

Initial approval was granted to the Missionaries of the Eternal Word by the Most Reverend Raymond J. Boland, D.D., bishop of Birmingham, Alabama, on August 15th, 1991 at which time he established the community as a Public Association of the Faithful. On June 11, 1993, Brs. Joseph and John were ordained to the sacred priesthood, thus constituting the first two priests of the order. In November of 1993 Fr. Philip Mataconis was recalled to the Salesians and Fr. Joseph was appointed superior by Mother Angelica. On December 28, 1995, in order to highlight their Franciscan charism, the community was renamed the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.

The brothers, in the spirit of St. Francis and Lady Clare, are dedicated to a mission of evangelization by means of social communication, retreats, the printed word and whatever means the Lord affords them to preach and teach the Catholic faith. They are to give new vigor to the faithful sheep in Christ's Church, and with great gentleness, to call the stray sheep back from the dangerous arid wastelands into which they have wandered (Ez. 34:16). The brothers have a great love for Eucharistic adoration, for Mary our mother in the order of grace and for the Church, Christ's spotless bride.