Promulgation of the general constitutions

Rome, 6th February 2001
Circ. 21/96-02

To the national Councils of the SFO
To the international Councilors of the SFO

Object: Promulgation of the amended general Constitutions approved by the Decree of the Congregation for ICLSAL of the 8th of December 2000.

Dear brothers and sisters,

the general Constitutions of the Secular Franciscan Order, intended to apply the renewed Rule of 1978, were approved by the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life through the Decree of the 8th of September 1990, for six years in order to be tried out. Before the end of this period, the Presidency of the International Council of the SFO, through the Conference of General Ministers of the First Order and TOR, asked for an extension of the time of trial, taking into account the time necessary to translate the Constitutions into the other official languages of the International Fraternity and, then, into the languages of each country. The Congregation acceded to the request and conceded an extension of three years.

During this period of time, the Constitutions have been studied and put into practice by the Fraternities of the SFO on all levels and, little by little, have marked them with the characteristics of the secularity, unity and autonomy of our Order. Not all has been easy and some aspects have still to be assimilated fully in order that, at the dawn of the Third Millennium, the SFO should really become "an army that can be in the vanguard in the Church and in the world to build a more human and Christian society" as Cardinal Hamer, Prefect of the Congregation for ICLSAL wished in 1990.

The experience gained has shown the substantial validity of the general Constitutions of 1990 and only some aspects required revision. The work which had to be done was started in time by the Presidency of the International Council of the SFO and was carried out through ample consultation involving all the national Fraternities and international Counsellors as well as the Presidency itself and some experts belonging to the SFO or assigned by the Franciscan General Ministers.

In the General Chapter of Madrid (23-31st October 1999) a text was proposed that gathered and co-ordinated the suggestions and petitions received, and also presented alternative proposals when there was no possibility of finding an univocal formulation from among those that the national Fraternities had expressed. The text presented to the Chapter was inspired by the following criteria:
-- adhesion to the common law and the law proper to the SFO,
-- respect for the text approved in 1990 by the Holy See,
-- organizational flexibility,
-- cultural and linguistic adaptability.

The General Chapter has attentively and profoundly examined the text presented, together with the oral and written interventions made during the work of the Chapter.

The result of the discussions and votes cast, article by article and on each of the amendments, was presented on the 21st of December 1999 to the Conference of the Franciscan General Ministers who, after a final revision by experts in canon law of the four Curia's, forwarded the text on the 1st of August 2000 to the Congregation for ICLSAL for approval. The Congregation has approved the text by the decree bearing the date of the 8th of December 2000, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And now, brothers and sisters of the SFO, on the 6th of February 2001, the approved General Constitutions are promulgated and consequently should be observed from the 6th of March 2001. It rests on each one of us to ensure that they are "spirit and life", an instrument of consolidation and growth of our Order so that with full sail ("Duc in altum"), we can go on with hope, according to the exhortation given by the Holy Father to all Christians with the Apostolic Letter "Novo Millenio ineunte" at the end of the Great Jubilee of 2000. We also, secular Franciscans, are called to be witnesses, that is to say, martyrs for Christ, in the original meaning of the word, during the new millennium.

It wasn’t by chance that we chose the date of the 6th of February for the promulgation of the amended General Constitutions. On this date we commemorate the Proto-martyrs of Japan, witnesses per excellence, with 17 Franciscan Tertiaries crucified in Nagasaki, along with Peter Baptist, Paul Miki and their other companions. We know very little about these distant brothers of ours, apart from their unwavering will to remain firm in faith, to continue witnessing to the Gospel by their very lives, whatever the cost.

During the past century there have also been secular Franciscans who have manifested, with the sacrifice of their lives, their fidelity to baptism and resistance to evil, anchored in the faith. We remember our brother Ceferino Giménez Malla, victim of the persecution of religion during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), who was beatified on the 4th of May 1997. We remember the Servant of God Frantisek Nosek, a politician from Bohemia and a secular Franciscan, another victim of communist violence. We also remember Juvénal Kabera, Minister of the SFO Fraternity of Kigali, assassinated during the massacres of the tribal wars in Rwanda. These are only some examples, but for them also the recent words of the Holy father remain true: "It has been thanks especially to the brave witness of lay faithful, not seldom to the point of martyrdom, that the faith has not disappeared from the lives of entire peoples".

Perhaps we will not be asked to give witness by shedding our blood, but we will certainly be asked to give witness by being coherent and firm in the fulfillment of our baptismal promises, renewed and re-affirmed through profession in the SFO. In virtue of our Profession, the Rule and the application that the General Constitutions make of it represent for each one of us the point of reference for daily experience, beginning with a specific vocation and precise identity. On this basis we need to re-shape our existence and find a project of life (Franciscan evangelical radicalism) and a place of Church communion (the Fraternity), in which it should be possible for us to "learn the purpose and the way of living, loving, and suffering" (Const, art 10).

With this desire, the Presidency of the International Council of the SFO, having received the approved General Constitutions, transmits them to the whole Order so that, as with the Rule, they be studied, loved and lived.

Emanuela De Nunzio
Minister General of the SFO

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