800th Anniversaries of Rule, Greccio, Stigmata, Canticle and Death of Francis
Prot. N. 01/2022
January 1, 2022
To all the friars of our Orders
To the Franciscan Family
Dear Brothers of the First Order, Poor Clare Sisters,
and Brothers and Sisters of the TOR and the OFS-YouFra,
May the Lord give you peace!
Several weeks ago, in a letter dated October 2, 2021, we announced the creation of a Coordination Committee for the Franciscan Centenary. We established this Committee in order to be better prepared for the Franciscan Centenary. During the Centenary we will commemorate the 800th anniversaries of the Later Rule, the Christmas at Greccio (2023), the Stigmata (2024), the Canticle of the Creatures (2025), and we will conclude with the Easter of Francis (2026). This Centenary will be “a multifaceted event in which several anniversaries will be celebrated.”
We announced that we wanted to entrust a working group of experts with the task of creating an outline for learning more about our charism at each stage of the Centenary, in order to benefit the ongoing and initial formation programs of all our brothers and sisters in the Franciscan Family; namely, to benefit formation in our Provinces, Custodies, OFS fraternities and other Jurisdictions. Our intention was to offer some common guidelines for deepening knowledge of our charism, within our fraternities and in the various entities that work with us.
Today we are pleased to give you the text which the working group of our brothers and sisters has prepared and we have adopted. This text lends itself to multifaceted use and will help us set out on this journey in communion. The text offers guidelines for organising the various centenaries at the local level and provides a framework on which to base our formation programs. I is a flexible, worthwhile tools for working on the themes of the various centenaries. Together, these centenaries shall form the single 2023-2026 Centenary, which will conclude with the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the Easter of our Seraphic Father.
In giving you this tool, we wish you pleasant reading, fruitful work and a happy Centenary!
Fraternally yours,
| Deborah Lockwood, OSF President IFC-TOR | Tibor Kauser, OFS Minister General |
| Massimo Fusarelli, OFM Minister General | Roberto Genuin, OFM Cap Minister General |
| Carlos Alberto Trovarelli, OFM Conv. Minister General | Amando Trujillo Cano, TOR Minister General OFM |