[1] Canonically designated as a Private Association of the Faithful, the community was spiritually affiliated to the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Order of Friars Minor.
He soon adopted a habit made of denim, which quickly became the distinguishing mark of the community, earning them the nickname of the "Blue jeans Franciscans."
As other men came to join him, the community eventually relocated to a house in the Mission Hill section of Boston, among the city's poorest.
[4] On August 29, 2009, four members of the Little Brothers of St. Francis were invited by Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, to serve as acolytes at the Funeral Mass of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.
In 2012, due to declining health, Brother James became a resident of the Don Orione Nursing Home in East Boston.
Brother James died on June 28, 2015, at St. Joseph Manor Health Care in Brockton, Massachusetts at the age of eighty-three.
The Mass of Christian Burial was held at Mission Church (Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help) in Roxbury, MA on July 1, 2015.