TITLE I

THE CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF THE FRATERNITY

1- §1. The Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word is a community which is the result of the work and inspiration of Mother Mary Angelica Rizzo of the Annunciation, P.C.P.A., foundress. It is presently a Public Clerical Association of the Christian Faithful with private perpetual vows established August 15, 1991 by the Most Reverend Raymond J. Boland, D.D., former Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama. The community is desirous of becoming a Diocesan Religious Institute under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama. The term "Minister General" used throughout the Constitutions at present refers to the brother-priest who functions in the role of superior over the community always subject to the Bishop of Birmingham.

§2. Its members as brothers of a single family profess this Rule and share in the life and work of this congregation.

§3. All professed brothers have equal rights and obligations, except in those matters pertaining to Holy Orders. Our congregation is classified according to canon 588 §2 as a clerical religious institute and as a diocesan religious congregation according to canon 589.

§4. Our brothers are joined in a fraternity who live a communal lifestyle, so as to foster greater dedication, a more regular life, a more fervent recitation of the divine office, a better formation of candidates, the study of theology, the apostolic works of the community in the service of the Church of God, so that under the guidance of his most holy Mother, Mary Immaculate, the kingdom of God may be extended throughout the world.

2- §1. The contemplative life of Eucharistic adoration is intimately connected to and forms the foundation of the apostolic activity of our congregation. The apostolate of sacred orders is exercised through the ministry of the clerical brothers with the cooperation of the others.

§2. The entire congregation as well as each brother is subject to the supreme authority of the Church.

3- §1. The foundation of our congregation is religious profession by which the brothers commit themselves to the Gospel life of perfect charity, not simply by using the ordinary means of sanctification, but by the profession of the private vows of obedience, poverty and chastity by which they are consecrated to God through the ministry of his Church and by the observance of common life and the Rule and Constitutions according to the spirit of St. Francis, our Seraphic Father.

§2. The brothers are definitively incorporated into our congregation by their profession of perpetual vows.