FRAN 202 - The Franciscans: A Family History

3 IUs

This course is an introduction, through history, to the Franciscan family - Friars, Poor Clares, Third Order: Secular and Regular - and the creative diversity that has distinguished its mission in Church and society since the lifetimes of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi in the thirteenth century.

The Franciscan family owes its growth and diversity to those five interrelated elements which the Second Vatican Council proposed as the foundation for religious life (Perfectae Caritatis, §2): the Gospel as supreme rule; the spirit and aims of the founders (St. Francis and St. Clare) and the Order’s healthy traditions; the call to share in the life of the Church; a proper understanding of humanity, of the conditions of the times and of the needs of the Church; a vibrant spirituality.