CHAPTER II

THE FORMATION OF THE BROTHERS

From the very beginning of his Order St. Francis clearly stated the premises, stages, and principles of formation: “If anyone is inspired by God to live our life and comes to our brothers, they should welcome him; and if they see that he is determined to profess our Rule, they should bring him to their ministers as soon as possible. . . . The minister, for his part, should receive him kindly and encourage him and tell him all about our way of life. . . . The minister should clothe him as a novice for a year. . . . When the year fixed for novitiate is over, he should be allowed to profess obedience; and once that has been done, he may not . . . wander about beyond the limits of obedience. . . . No candidate may be received contrary to the norms and prescriptions of the holy Church” (Regula non bullata, 2).

Let the brothers keep in mind how much gentleness of character attracts others; in other words, that “the example of their own lives is the best commendation” of the Order. To spur the growth of the Fraternity “it is right to publicize themselves in order to foster vocations, and they also have the right to seek candidates” (Perfectae Caritatis, 24) so as to cultivate the seeds of vocation in them properly.

To that candidate, then, who is resolved to embrace our way of life, who is aware that he is called by God and has reached that degree of human and spiritual maturity which will allow him to decide to respond to this call with sufficient and proper responsibility and freedom, the minister shall explain our way of life, namely, the general meaning of the vows and of the Rule, and prepare and encourage him for the time of probation. In most cases, in fact, a gradual spiritual and psychological adjustment appears to be indispensable in order to prepare the way for certain breaks with one’s social milieu and even worldly habits. Young people today who are attracted to the religious life are not looking for an easy life; indeed, their thirst for the absolute is consuming.

During the entire time of probation those admitted to the Fraternity should strive “. . . to follow the teaching and footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ who says: If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you own and given the money to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven. . . . If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me; and in like manner, if any man come to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple” (Regula non bullata, 1). At the same time, they should be trained in living what blessed Francis called the life of the lesser brothers: “so that . . . his followers might learn from the very name itself that they have come to the school of the humble Christ to learn humility” (Legenda Major VI, 5).

After the time of probation, those received to obedience promise, through the observance of the evangelical counsels, to follow the footsteps of the Lord who says: “. . . everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or land for the sake of my name will be repaid a hundred times over, and also inherit eternal life” (Regula non bullata, 1).

Even though first profession, because it is temporary, is called a period of probation, nevertheless, it really makes the candidate share in the consecration proper to the religious state which perpetual profession completes, inasmuch as it unites him firmly and permanently to Christ.

Meantime, according to the “norms and prescriptions of the holy Church” (Regula non bullata, 2), the young brothers, supported by grace and the help of teachers, should be formed in willing and generous behavior. They should cultivate humility and a strong desire for their own expropriation, so as to be able to offer themselves totally despoiled into the arms of the crucified.

St. Francis wished those entering the Order to have just such a spirit, so that strengthened for every eventuality they might be able to uproot worldly affections by the practice of humility and thus be enabled to attain perfection of charity “in the school of perfection” (2 Celano 194).

The following words of our seraphic Father St. Francis should be carefully pondered as a synthesis of Franciscan formation: “In the name of the Lord! I beseech all the brothers to learn the tenor and meaning of what is written in this life for the salvation of souls, and to recall it to mind frequently. And implore God, who is all powerful, triune and one, to bless all who teach, learn, possess, remember, and live it, as often as they repeat and do what is written there for the salvation of souls.” (Regula non bullata, 23).