Franciscan Studies

This article presents the relevance of the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition in addressing today’s ethical challenges. This study completes our previous historical analysis on the Franciscan contribution to the process of rationalization that, according to Max Weber, is the key to Modernity. In the last decades, the Franciscan approach has acquired a renewed relevance, as the post-conciliar ecclesiastical Magisterium has clearly recognized, because it fits well with the type of horizontal, intuitive and interactive communication that predominates in our digital culture. In the last part, the study focuses on some of the Franciscan values that are especially relevant today.
Key words: Franciscanism, Magisterium, ecology, evangelization, individualization

Sumario: En este artículo se analiza la relevancia de la perspectiva franciscana al abordar los actuales desafíos éticos y sociales. Se desarrolla así ulteriormente el análisis histórico que hemos realizado sobre la contribución franciscana al proceso de racionalización en ámbitos como la economía, epistemología, política, etnografía, etc. El carisma franciscano sigue teniendo hoy una sorprendente actualidad, tal como reconoce el Magisterio eclesiástico post-conciliar, pues encaja bien con el tipo de comunicación horizontal, intuitiva e interactiva que predomina en la era digital. En la última parte, se presentan algunos valores franciscanos que hoy resultan especialmente significativos.
Palabras clave: Franciscanismo, Magisterio, ecología, evangelización, individualización



Index
1. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, A UNIVERSAL MODEL OF REFERENCE
1.1. Some testimonies about Francis’ importance today
1.2. An inspiration for the ecological movement

2. THE ECCLESIASTICAL MAGISTERIUM AND FRANCISCANISM
2.1. Paul VI: Duns Scotus as a model of dialogue
2.2. John Paul II: Dialogue in the “Spirit of Assisi”
2.3. Benedict XVI and the Franciscan intellectual tradition
2.3.1. Caritas in Veritate, a Franciscan encyclical
2.3.2. The primacy of the loving will
2.4. Pope Francis
2.4.1. A real and sincere closeness
2.4.2. Sister creatures

3. NEW CULTURAL AND COMMUNICATIVE CONTEXT
3.1. An “interactive” evangelization
3.2. Current relevance of the Franciscan way of evangelization
3.3. The Path of Beauty

4. FRANCISCAN VALUES WHICH ARE PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TODAY
4.1. Freedom and gratuitousness
4.2. Fraternity and individuality
4.2.1. Fraternity vs solidarity
4.2.2. Individuality versus individualism
4.2.3. Individuality according to Duns Scotus
CONCLUSION

On the lower walls of the Upper Church at Assissi there is a series of frescoes (1297-1300) by Giotto that celebrate the life of St Francis as recounted in Bonaventure’s life of the saint (from which excerpts are found beneath each fresco). One of these frescoes, The Crib at Greccio, shows an unusual view of the exposed carpentry on the verso of the cross fixed above the doorway of the solid tramezzo screen that divides the chorus from the nave. The lecture explores the issue of whether the purpose of this view strangely occluded cross is to interrupt the customary focus of the devout on the mass that takes place on the frontal side of the cross on the other side of the screen. Would this increase the emotional impact of the miraculous vision associated with St Francis’s unprecedented nativity play (that other mass) taking place in the chorus with priest, the saint himself, monks and leading citizens of the city? What is the significance of displacing the scene from its humble hill town setting at Greccio to this new setting in the wealthy Franciscan church pictured in the fresco? Does this deviation from the Bonaventure’s text increase the prestige of the order without destroying the spontaneity of the event? Does it constitute a precedent for liturgy with fresh and moving ideological connotations? Finally, is the setting of the nativity drama in the chorus a ‘front region’ masquerading as a ‘back region’ (in Irving Goffmann’s terms) providing worshippers in the actual church with an especially privileged and emotional identification with the events taking place within the fictional church? Contrasts will be made with Duccio’s double-sided Maestà at Siena, and innovative use will be made of the theories of indeterminacy attributed to the ‘wrong’ sides of things by philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, Luc Ferry and Jan Patocka.

For 300 years, Franciscans were at the forefront of the spread of Catholicism in the New World. In the late seventeenth century, Franciscans developed a far-reaching, systematic missionary program in Spain and the Americas. After founding the first college of propaganda fide in the Mexican city of Querétaro, the Franciscan Order established six additional colleges in New Spain, ten in South America, and twelve in Spain. From these colleges Franciscans proselytized Indians in frontier territories as well as Catholics in rural and urban areas in eighteenth-century Spain and Spanish America.

To Sin No More is the first book to study these colleges, their missionaries, and their multifaceted, sweeping missionary programs. By focusing on the recruitment of non-Catholics to Catholicism as well as the deepening of religious fervor among Catholics, David Rex Galindo shows how the Franciscan colleges expanded and shaped popular Catholicism in the eighteenth-century Spanish Atlantic world. This book explores the motivations driving Franciscan friars, their lives inside the colleges, their training, and their ministry among Catholics, an often-overlooked duty that paralleled missionary deployments. Rex Galindo argues that Franciscan missionaries aimed to reform or "reawaken" Catholic parishioners just as much as they sought to convert non-Christian Indians.

PROGRAMMA
8:45 SALUTI INIZIALI
9:00 RELAZIONE INTRODUTTIVA Antonio Castellano, Carlos García Andrade, Luca Bianchi
9:40 CARISMA FRANCESCANO E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Raffaele Di Muro, Carlos Salto Solà
10:20 PAUSA
10:50 CARISMA SALESIANO E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Michal Vojtas, Piera Ruffinatto
11:30 CARISMA DELL’UNITÀ (CHIARA LUBICH) E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Daniela Ropelato, Federico Rovea
12:10 DIBATTITO
13:00 PRANZO
BUONE PRATICHE
14:30 IL PROGETTO ‘UNIVERSITÀ FRANCESCANA E IL ‘LABORATORIO TEOLOGICO FRANCESCANO’ Mary Melone, Donatella Forlani
15:10 L’ESPERIENZA DI FORMAZIONE DIDATTICA PER DOCENTI UNIVERSITARI DI ROMA, Mario Comoglio
15:50 IL PERCORSO DI FORMAZIONE A SOPHIA: COMMUNITY LIFE, INTER E TRANS-DISCIPLINARITÀ, Daniela Ropelato, Aiza Asi
16:30 PAUSA
16:45 DIBATTITO
17:30 CONCLUSIONE Fabio Ciardi

Reviewed in: BUKSZ--Budapesti Könyvszemle (Beatrix F. Romhányi), Catholic Historical Review (Katherine L. Jansen), Collectanea Franciscana (Aleksander Horowski), Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters (Veronika Lukas), Hungarian Historical Review (Dorottya Uhrin), Il Santo (Eleonora Lombardo), Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken (Ralf Lützelschwab), Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique (Michael Robson), Speculum (Thomas F. Luongo)

Il 29 luglio del 1473 approdò sulla scena perugina un antico anello di calcedonio, che la tradizione venerava come il pegno delle nozze di san Giuseppe con Maria di Nazaret. Prelevato in circostanze non del tutto chiare dalla cittadina di Chiusi, l'anello venne riparato nella cappella del palazzo dei Priori, in attesa che si completassero i lavori di ampliamento della cattedrale, dove fu trasferito il 31 luglio del 1488.

Per accedere alla "reliquia", racchiusa da uno splendido reliquiario cinquecentesco custodito in un forziere del 1473, occorrono ben quattordici chiavi che, custodite dalle massime autorità civili ed ecclesiastiche, ogni anno convergono in cattedrale nel giorno dell'ostensione, a simbolo e testimonianza di una sinergia che, oggi come allora, coinvolge la devozione verso uno dei "tesori" più preziosi della città di Perugia.

Generations of scholars have studied the multifaceted experiences of the Franciscans in Mexico and how the Franciscan order shaped New Spain and the early Mexican republic. Recent scholarship has given long-overdue attention to the evangelized natives. Most of these works focus on a specific region or period, or on a particular aspect of Franciscan ministries in New Spain. A comprehensive account of the Franciscans in Mexico over the long term has been missing, until now.

This book analyzes the Franciscans’ engagement with native peoples, creole populations, the viceregal authorities, and the Spanish empire as a whole in order to offer a broad picture of Catholic evangelization in North America while keeping the Franciscans at the center of the story. Published in 2021, during commemoration of the quincentenary of the Spanish—and thus the Franciscan—presence in Mexico, the book brings together the research of junior and senior scholars from Mexico, Spain, and the United States on the long-enduring and far-reaching Franciscan presence in Mexico.

Ta książka wprowadza nas w franciszkańską wizję ekologii, która pod wieloma względami wydaje się inspirować encyklikę Laudato Si ”. Zakładając integralną i inkluzywną wizję ekologii, książka analizuje dzisiejsze globalne wyzwania etyczne, łącząc je z doświadczeniem Franciszka z Asyżu i filozoficzno-teologiczną refleksją tradycji franciszkańskiej. Podkreśla potrzebę przezwyciężenia obecnego paradygmatu technokratycznego i kultury wyrzucania, która sprzyja dobrobytowi nad dobrobytem i zrywa więzi, które wiążą nas ze stworzeniami.

Franciszek z Asyżu jest uniwersalnym wzorem dla wszystkich, którzy pragną żyć w zgodzie z naturą. Nawet Lynn White, która ostro oskarżyła judeochrześcijańską religię o spowodowanie kryzysu ekologicznego, zaproponowała Franciszka z Asyżu jako referencję dla ekologów. Szkoła franciszkańska sformułowała w kategoriach filozoficznych i teologicznych intuicje św. Franciszka, kładąc podwaliny braterskiej i serdecznej ekologii, która przewyższa zarówno silny antropocentryzm, jak i model ekologiczny administracji. Nie możemy dłużej uważać się za dominatorów lub szafarzy, ale za braci, odpowiedzialnych za wspólny dom.

The paper investigates the way scholars write about the meeting of St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil in 1219 in Egypt during the Crusades. The article raises the question if Francis' deed was a breach in the spirituality of his days, and if so, how this is traceable.

Desde o início da colonização, o trabalho compulsório dos indígenas esteve entre as questões mais debatidas na Espanha e em suas possessões americanas. Nos anos finais do século XVI, os repartimientos, instituição de recrutamento de mão-de-obra nativa, estiveram sob o julgamento de franciscanos e jesuítas. Teólogos dessas duas ordens religiosas foram chamados a dar seus pareceres a respeito da licitude e legitimidade do repartimiento no México. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar e confrontar as duas visões sobre aquela instituição, avaliando e enumerando os seus respectivos argumentos.

Depuis le début de la colonisation, le travail forcé des indigènes a été largement discuté en Espagne et ses possessions américaines. Dans les dernières années du XVIe siècle, les repartimientos, institution de recruter la main-d’oeuvre indigène, ont été examiné et jugés par les jésuites et franciscains. Les théologiens de ces deux ordres religieux ont été invités à donner leurs avis sur la légalité et la légitimité des repartimientos dans le Mexique. L’objectif de cet article est d’analyser et de comparer les deux points de vue sur cette institution, en train d’évaluer et d’énumérer leurs arguments respectifs.

This detailed entry provides descriptive information for the manuscript Itinerarium of Jakub Římař (1682–1755) and its significance for the history of Christian-Muslim relations. It was published in the series Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, vol. 14 (Leiden: Brill, 2020), pp. 159–164.
The full Latin title of Římař’s Itinerarium is Itinerarium missionum apostolicarum orientalium Aegypti, Aethiopiae, seu Abyssiniae, aliarumque regionum adjacentium, manu propria conscriptum a R(everendo) P(atre) Jacobo Ržimarž de Cremsirio, which translates as "The travels undertaken on behalf of the Oriental apostolic missions in Egypt, Ethiopia or Abyssinia, and other neighbouring countries, written down by the Reverend Father Jakub Římař of Kroměříž"

Ire inter saracenos desiderio martyrii flagrans, or St. Francis’ Mission to Muslims
The aim of the article is to answer the question why and how the saint Francis of Assisi focused on Saracens (non believers, muslims). The author analyses the passages of Regula non bullata and Regula bullata in the first part. Further the author analyses the passages from some legends about saint Francis (written by Thomas of Celano, Henry of Avranches, and s. Bonaventure). He underlines the philosophical language of the
legend written by Henry of Avranches (even if he suffers the absence of trinitarian thinking). As the best author considers both legends written by s. Bonaventure. As the crucial point of the theological interpretation of Francis’s life the author considers 9th chapter of Legenda maior describing the meeting of s. Francis and the sultan (with all of principles Bonaventure theology: christology, trinitology, anthropology, reduction…). The key concept is the desire for martyr’s death which emanates from Francis’s interior and expresses of action of Holy Spirit. The key moment is the test by fire offered by Francis. In conclusion author presents reflection about today’s significances of saint Francis attitudes (as a peace, dialogue, encounter, prayer, the primacy of God’s action).

Questo libro presenta la rilevanza del carisma e della tra-dizione francescana nell'affrontare le sfide socio-ambientali e comunicative della società globalizzata. La prospettiva fran-cescana si adatta bene al tipo di comunicazione orizzontale, intuitiva e interattiva che predomina nell'era digitale. France-sco d'Assisi è anche universalmente riconosciuto come un modello di dialogo e di ecologia integrale.

Recuperando il nucleo del proprio carisma, i francescani saranno in grado di "alimentare una passione per la cura del mondo" (217) e po-tranno favorire una comunicazione autenticamente umana.

This book presents the present relevance of the Franciscan charism and tradition in facing the socio-environmental and communicative challenges of our globalized society. The Franciscan perspective fits well with the type of horizontal, intuitive, and interactive communication that predominates in the digital age. Francis of Assisi is also universally recognized as a model of dialogue and integral ecology. By reassuming the core of their own charism, Franciscans will be able to nurture “a more passionate concern for the protection of our world” and will be able to foster authentically human communication.

The book shows the current importance of certain basic human attitudes, such as listening, contemplation, discernment, dialogue, and a good economic management. Franciscan witness of the logic of gift in these areas should be as important and significant today as it has been throughout history.

L’articolo mette in luce il profilo e l’azione di Michele d’Acqui, soffermandosi principalmente sulla fondazione del Monte di Pieta` di Verona, promosso nel 1490 da questo predicatore francescano. L’analisi si concentra su un incunabolo volgare stampato a Verona a ridosso degli eventi, qui pubblicato integralmente. Questo documento mette in luce sia il messaggio spirituale collegato alla presentazione del Monte di Pieta` , sia le strategie comunicative adoperate da un abile  redicatore quale fra Michele, teso a promuovere una carita` organizzata e cittadina, a sostegno di un’istituzione centrale nel progetto di riforma della societa` promosso dall’Osservanza minoritica. Una riforma in cui dimensione sociale e religiosa erano intrecciate in maniera inseparabile, come mostrano gli statuti della Scola del Monte della Pieta` in cui sostegno economico al Monte e diffusione di modelli per la vita religiosa laicale procedono di pari passo.

El articulo intenta ubicar temporal y espacialmente el franciscano Gerónimo de Mendieta y sus obras mas importantes, las varias cartas y relaciones e la Historia Eclesiástica Indiana, en el marco de las grandes trasformaciones ocurridas en Nueva España en la segunda mitad del siglo XVI. La tesis que se intenta demostrar es que el milenarismo de este franciscano no es una característica propia de su impostación teológica, sino es utilizado como estrategia narrativa para finalidades políticas, en el intento de preservar el poderío franciscano en el virreinato, en una temporada de transformación de la Iglesia indiana, anteriormente a tracción franciscana y ahora a tracción secular.

Chi non ricorda l’episodio dell’incontro di Francesco col lebbroso? Ma dietro quella scena ce ne sono molte altre simili, a partire da quella evangelica, che erano ancora ben presenti all’uomo del Duecento. Ne sono protagonisti personaggi diversissimi: dall’imperatore Costantino al monaco Iosafat, figura occidentale del Buddha; dall’ex soldato Martino, vescovo di Tours, alla principessa d’Ungheria Elisabetta, fondatrice di un ospedale; fino al leggendario «saint Ladre» (ovvero «san Lebbroso») o ad Aleydis di Schaerbeek, monaca lebbrosa dalle folgoranti esperienze mistiche. Le loro storie raccontano i diversi modi in cui la lebbra, forma estrema della malattia e dunque paradigma della fragilità umana, è stata messa in rapporto con la santità, offrendo uno spaccato di oltre mille anni di spiritualità cristiana.

Con la predicazione dei Mendicanti nel corso dell'Alleluia (1233) si ha la prima affermazione pubblica dei frati entro il mondo comunale italiano. Essi seppero modellare la loro comunicazione pubblica sui modelli elaborati dalla retorica comunale, in particolare la concio e ottennero un insperato successo presso la popolazione. La loro predicazione in favore della pacificazione e del rinnovamento dei costumi fu alla base del successo politico di alcuni esponenti di entrambi gli Ordini (Giovanni da Vicenza e Gherardo da Modena, soprattutto), che furono proclamati 'rettori' rispettivamente di Bologna, di Vicenza e di Parma.
Il modello inaugurato in questa occasione dai Mendicanti ottenne un duraturo successo e rivelò al papato le potenzialità insite nella predicazione dei frati.

With his solemn canonisation in 1450, Bernardin of Siena was officially presented as a model for preachers and as a re-founder of the Franciscan Order. His tireless commitment to preaching and his virtues as a friar made him a perfect model for the religious. However, his life before entering the Franciscans permitted to present him also as a saint in which the lay people could find an inspiring example for their own lives. This paper highlights this less studied aspect of the formation and evolution of the cult of St Bernardin by considering the earliest Vitae and sermons in honour of this saint as well as a peculiar cycle of frescos in Lodi. This allows to investigate in which way the hagiographical image of St Bernardin’s adolescence and youth was constructed, which episodes of his life in seculo received more attention and which virtues were put at the forefront. It emerges a vivid and multifaceted portray of a felix adulescentia, in which piety and charity had a central role in shaping the profile of the new saint, whose life was strictly connected with both the love of the Virgin and the active service in the city. In this way, the paper shows that St Bernardin was not only presented as a perfect preacher, but also as a perfect layman who lived with charity and chastity in the secular world.

Colette di Corbie vive nel XV secolo, un periodo difficile, segnato da gravi conflitti: la "Guerra dei cent'anni", una Chiesa lacerata dalla presenza di due, poi tre papi; la decadenza degli ordini monastici e la divisione nella Famiglia francescana. Questa donna, coraggiosa e ispirata da Dio, dà inizio ad una profonda opera di riforma, in seno all'Ordine dei Frati minori e a quello delle Sorelle povere; fonda nuovi monasteri ed è all'origine di una lunga discendenza di monache che si sono santificate alla sua scuola. Ha inciso a tal punto in quest'opera di Riforma, da essere indicata come la seconda fondatrice delle Clarisse.
Questo volume, attraverso un'armonia a più voci, ripercorre i momenti salienti e significativi della sua avventura evangelica, per coglierne la perenne ricchezza e attualità.

Indice
* Sorelle clarisse francesi del monastero S. Colette di Assisi, Introduzione (p. 7-9)
* André Vauchez, Colette di Corbie (p. 11-18)
* Ludovic Viallet, Colette di Corbie nel contesto delle riforme francescane del XV secolo (p. 19-36)
* Marie Colette Roussey, La spiritualità di santa Colette (p. 37-53)
* Thérèse Myriam Chaumont - Monica Benedetta Umiker, S. Colette di Corbie e l'Osservanza francescana: continuità e differenze (p. 55-89)
* Giuseppe Buffon, Conclusioni (p. 91-96)
* Indice dei nomi (p. 97-99)