TITLE I

FRANCISCAN FRATERNAL LIFE

80- §1. The brothers strive to live as one family, confidently making their needs known to one another. This family is first and foremost a Eucharistic family. The common reception of the one body of Christ unites all the brothers intimately by the power of his redeeming blood. The brothers are strengthened at the banquet of the Lamb with a new heart with which the brothers can love one another (Regula Bullata 6).

§2. The brothers are members of the same family in their common love for the Franciscan tradition and for Mother Angelica. It is in the light of these two manifestations of the Spirit that the brothers make their common consecration to our Lord Jesus Christ by the profession of the three evangelical counsels.

§3. Each brother has an inestimable value that is not only witnessed to by the gift of being created in the image of God, but is proven by the great price of our redemption, since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up to death for the sake of everyone. In the authentic worship of the Eucharist, the brother comes to realize ever more profoundly the dignity of each brother in view of the fact that Christ offers his body and blood to each one.

§4. Since the brothers should strive continuously to build up the community of the brotherhood, just as they have received a gift each should use it for the good of the other and all should do so for the common good. In each friary and in the entire Fraternity the brothers should strive to achieve and maintain this manner of life which perfects and exemplifies the nature of true brotherhood, namely, a family of brothers.

81- §1. Within the framework of our entire Congregation and of each friary mutually beneficial relations should be encouraged among the brothers to promote unity in life, government, education and apostolate.

§2. To stimulate and maintain a sense of cooperation and responsibility on the part of each brother, dialogue among the brothers for the exchange of information and for consultation should be encouraged at opportune times and in suitable ways, both in chapters and in informal personal and familial discussions.

§3. It is the responsibility of all the brothers, however, to cooperate in discerning the will of God. The brothers should always willingly carry out the decisions of their superiors whose responsibility it is to guide the community according to the Rule and Constitutions.

82- §1. The communion of fraternal charity should be fostered in a special way through the General Chapter in which the fraternity of the entire Congregation assembled in the name of the Lord must be expressed, confirmed and perfected.

§2 Fraternal charity should be promoted by the Friary Chapter in which the brothers endeavor to consider in the Lord all matters pertaining to their family, spiritual and apostolic life.

§3. All perpetually professed brothers who according to the Constitutions are members of the Friary Chapter must participate in it. They should freely and humbly express their own views with a lively sense of responsibility and offer their own personal experience in the solution of problems and the advancement of projects.

83- §1. The regular observance of common life should neither hinder nor restrict the legitimate undertakings of individual brothers, but rather these should be encouraged, evaluated and organized according to the needs and opportunities of both the community and the individual brothers involved.

§2. The brothers, however, should not seek what serves only their own interests, nor engage in their own activities in isolation as it were from the community, nor prefer their personal advantage to the welfare of the community.

84- §1. The brothers are bound together in charity by their common as well as their individual submission to the word of God found in Scripture and Tradition as taught by the Magisterium, especially the successor of St. Peter. The Rule, Constitutions, the Bishop of Birmingham, superiors and all other legitimate forms of authority are sources of communal unity.
§2. The superiors should so exercise their authority toward the brothers that they express God’s love for them and lead them to unity in charity. Consequently, the spiritual and temporal welfare of the community and each brother should be uppermost in their hearts.

§3. The brothers should cheerfully support their superiors by charity and obedience and share in their concerns by prayer and work so that superiors may fulfill their office more fruitfully.

85. §1. The brothers should always express their mutual love by courteous conduct, in that they should endeavor to offer spiritual and material services to one another for their mutual development and activity.

§2. The brothers should avoid at all costs judgments and any words or actions which may impede or disturb peace, charity and the duties of fraternal affection. They should be especially vigilant lest differences of situation or age give rise in the brotherhood to discrimination or favoritism. Rather, these differences should be an incentive to charity and wholesome relationships. They should promptly forgive offenses should they occur.

86. §1. The superiors and other brothers should exercise continual and provident charity in assisting elderly brothers and in caring for the sick, so that spiritual comfort may be available to them, especially through the sacraments.

§2. The sick brothers should confidently disclose their condition, so that they may receive whatever is necessary for their recovery of their health or the alleviation of their suffering. At the same time they should realize that by offering up their infirmities to God they contribute greatly to their own sanctification, to the works of the apostolate and to the life of the community.

TITLE II

COMMON EXERCISES

87- §1. The nature and discipline of the fraternity require that the brothers perform certain exercises in common and adopt certain external forms of life as appropriate means for strengthening and expressing the unity of life in common.

§2. Activities which are carried out personally according to the needs of each one’s spiritual life and of the apostolate are to be coordinated with the goals of the community.

88- §1. A suitable schedule for community exercises which takes into account the spiritual and the apostolic needs of the Brothers should be established by the Friary Chapter and approved by the Minister General.

§2. The brothers should diligently perform liturgical celebrations and other sacred services in common, so that their family spirit, refreshed in liturgical communion, may permeate their common apostolic activity and their whole community life. In the words of our foundress, “We are family!”

§3. As members of the same religious family, the brothers should share in the communion of the same table, expressing their love for one another and the similarity to the Eucharistic banquet. A brief reading at least should precede the evening meal.

§4. The brothers should also participate actively and joyfully in common recreation and fraternal conversation.

§5. They should assume community tasks and carry out household chores gladly. When they are detained outside the friary, they should find comfort in the thought of their own community.

§6. The schedule should allow a period of free time daily to the brothers for solitude and personal recreation.

89- §1. To safeguard the privacy and freedom of common life, access to the private quarters of the friary should not be allowed to outsiders except for a just cause.

§2. It is the right of the Minister General to define or change the cloister limits. For a reasonable cause, however, the Local Minister may suspend the cloister in individual instances.

§3. Silence which is conducive to prayer, work and study is to be observed, always taking into account the demands of charity. Local Ministers may dispense from silence for a just cause, however, since silence contributes to intimate conversation with God and regularity of discipline, a dispensation should not be given indiscriminately.

§4. Necessary discretion is to be observed in the use of communications media for entertainment purposes. Whatever else is harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person is to be avoided (can. 666).

90- The brothers of our Fraternity and of other Franciscan families as well as guests who come to our friaries should be received with religious charity and hospitality. A room in the friary is designated where guests are to be received; also some provision is to be made for accommodating overnight visitors.

91- §1. The religious habit of the brothers, the sign of their consecration and of our fraternal unity as well as a reminder of our dedication to poverty and penance, must be simple and modest, poor and becoming. The brothers should treasure their habits and not fear to display it to the world as a sign of witness.

§2. The habit consists of a brown tunic with an attached hood and monstrance embroidered on the front, a white cord with three knots representing the evangelical counsels from which is suspended the Franciscan Crown (seven decade rosary of the joys of Our Lady). Shoes or sandals may be worn.

§3. The brothers must wear the habit of our Congregation. The Minister General, however, for particular reasons and as long as these persist may permit another form of dress. In emergencies and when recourse to the Minister General is not possible, the Local Minister may likewise permit another form of dress appropriate for religious and clergy but only for a brief period of time.

92- §1. It is proper for the brothers who are traveling through cities and places where there are friaries of our Congregation to lodge at these insofar as this is possible.

§2. Vacations shall be granted according to the General Statutes and the diversity of times and needs in a manner, however, that is proper to religious.

§3. The amount of contact the brothers have with those outside of the community through home visits, telephone calls and letters is regulated by the General Statutes. All of the brothers may exchange correspondence free of inspection.

93- §1. The brothers should gratefully pay their obligations towards their parents, relatives and benefactors for whom they pray privately and in common, so that this may redound to their edification and spiritual welfare.

§2. The brothers who have chosen to serve God alone should not become involved inopportunely in the affairs of their relatives. Superiors, however, should prudently and charitably assist them when they are in need.

§3. When parents of the brothers are old and infirm or dangerously ill, they may visit them after having obtained appropriate permission from the competent superior.

94- Those of the laity whom our Congregation employs should be treated charitably and respectfully. They should be assisted in leading a Christian life and should be paid a just wage stipulated by contract in conformity with the norms of civil law.

95- The brothers should rejoice in being considered “the lesser brethren” and in conducting themselves as members of one family.