Third Order of Saint Francis
[6] Francis was assisted by his friend Cardinal Ugolino (later Pope Gregory IX) in the creation of the order.
In 1883, it received a great impetus and a renewed vogue from Pope Leo XIII in his approval of a new Rule for the seculars.
[6] In 1978, Pope Paul VI caused the Rules for regulars and seculars to be recast and made more suitable for the requirements of devout men and women at the present day.
[5] After the Reformation, Franciscan Third Orders aligned with the Lutheran Churches and Anglican Communion were organized, such as the Evangelical Franciscans Tertiaries (Evangelischen Franziskaner-Tertiaren), which was founded in 1927 by Friedrich Heiler, a Lutheran priest in Germany.
The current rule was given by Pope Paul VI in 1978 with the ecclesiastical letter Seraphicus Patriarcha to adapt the Secular Franciscan Order to twentieth-century needs.
Other religious associations such as the Beguines (women) and Beghards (men) in the Low Countries sometimes became Third Orders.
Throughout the fourteenth century, the regular tertiaries of both sexes had in the most cases no common organization; only in the following century did single well-ordered religious communities with solemn vows and a common head develop.
It retained the rule as published by Nicholas IV all that could serve the purpose, but added new points, such as the three solemn vows and insisting on subjection to the First Order of St. Francis.
[citation needed] A new Rule, written by friars and sisters of various congregations, was approved by Pope Paul VI in 1978.
It was not until the fifteenth century that there developed single, well-ordered religious communities with solemn vows and a common head.
In the fifteenth century there were numerous independent male congregations of regular tertiaries with the three vows in Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and in the Netherlands.
Through the generosity of Sarah Worthington Peter,[10] orphanages for boys were established in Teutopolis, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio (1868) and Cold Spring, Kentucky (1869).
The orders motherhouse remains in Aachen and maintains houses in Brazil, Holland, and the United States.
The Brothers were invited to come to the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois in 1928 to establish a Monastery and a Trade School.
They established a long-term medical care facility near St. Louis, Missouri in 1927 to extend their service.
They were established through Amigó's desire to help the young boys he saw caught up in the Spanish penal system.
For instance, the Grey Sisters of the Third Order, serving in hospitals, spread in France and the Netherlands.
In this regard the custom prevailed that the Friars Minor refused to take the direction of those convents which had only episcopal enclosure.
As of 2016, there are almost 8,300 sisters in 75 countries, including Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States.
In the U.S. they sponsor the Cardinal Hayes Home in Millbrook, New York, for developmentally challenged individuals.
[33] The Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa was founded in 1952 by Mary Kevin of the Sacred Passion (born Theresa Kearney, County Wicklow, Ireland).
It was intended as an offshoot from the Mill Hill Sisters, with the purpose of focusing on the African missions.
The sisters work in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, America, Ireland and Scotland.
They established a community in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1992, and later in Illinois and Rhode Island.
[41] Introduced in the United States in 1874 in Livonia, Michigan (1874), Buffalo, New York (1900), Chicago, Illinois (1910), Lodi, New Jersey (1913), Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (1920), Enfield, Connecticut (1932), and Rio Rancho, New Mexico (1953).
The Congregation of the Franciscan Hospitaller Sisters of the Immaculate Conception was founded in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1871 by Libânia do Carmo Galvão Mexia de Moura Telles e Albuquerque (Sr. Maria Clara), and is represented in fifteen countries.
[44] In Germany, the Lutheran Franciscan Tertiaries, officially known as the Evangelische Franziskanerbruderschaft der Nachfolge Christi, were founded in 1927; the emphasize the Rule of Saint Francis and pray daily from their breviary.
