The FRANCISCAN ORDER OF THE DIVINE COMPASSION is a Religious Order within the Continuing Anglican Movement. Its members live their lives under the vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity, with or without celibacy. The Order is under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Saint Clare, to proclaim and make known the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the faith once delivered to all the saints.
The FRANCISCAN ORDER OF THE DIVINE COMPASSION is a community of clergy and laity in communion with the Anglican tradition who live the Franciscan spirit of joy and penance for the glory of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for the benefit of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Christ.
The FRANCISCAN ORDER OF THE DIVINE COMPASSION lives an open charism, but with a priority of attending to those whom NO ONE WANTS—the poorest of the poor and those rejected by the church and by society.
Each brother, having made his choice of religious life, gives himself completely, in absolute poverty, to serve all the marginalized, the despised, and the weakest. In them, every religious finds the living and real image of Christ, poor and Crucified.
Our Way of Life
FOLLOWING CHRIST
The life of the brothers is “to follow more closely Jesus Christ, moved by the Holy Spirit,” faithful to their own vocation, on a continuous path of conversion, according to the way observed and proposed by Saint Francis of Assisi.
The brother, guided by the Spirit, becomes a disciple of the Lord, considering Him as the only Master of his life of penance.
The Rule and Life of the brothers is to observe the Holy Gospel (cf. 2 R 1:1), following Christ poor and humble (cf. 1 R 9:1).
Each brother grounds his life and formation in the Gospel and in the Rule, meditated upon and welcomed in his heart in the light of the example and writings of Saint Francis and his followers.
The evangelical way of life of the brothers according to the Rule of Saint Francis is interpreted and applied in today’s world by the General Constitutions of our Order and by the Anglican tradition.
TOTAL SURRENDER TO GOD
To follow more closely in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and to faithfully observe the Holy Gospel, the brothers live their covenant with God by consecrating themselves entirely to Him in the Church, through religious profession, for the good of all people.
The brother is called to observe the Holy Gospel “living in obedience, without anything of his own, and in chastity,” aided by the grace of the Lord and by the strength of fraternal charity, according to the spirit of Saint Francis.
To follow Christ, “who placed His will in that of the Father” (2 Letter to the Faithful 10), the lesser brothers renounce themselves and enter into Obedience, promising to obey the Lord God, to serve and obey one another, and to obey the Ministers and servants of the Fraternity.
They radically strip themselves of self and of all things, and live as lesser ones “among the poor and weak” (1 R 9:2), proclaiming the beatitudes to the world with joy.
The brother progressively acquires personal availability to share “all that he has” (Acts 3:6), as a servant subject to every human creature for God, living a humble, hardworking, and sober life.
SPIRIT OF PRAYER AND DEVOTION
The life of discipleship of the brothers is sustained by an experience of faith, nourished by the Word of God and by personal encounter with the mystery of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The brother places prayer at the center of the life of the fraternity. Above all, through the Eucharist and the Liturgy, he celebrates—on behalf of the Church—the mystery of salvation accomplished by Christ.
Fraternity and Minority
FRATERNITY
Following in the footsteps of Christ—poor, humble, and crucified—who gathered His disciples around Him and washed their feet, the brothers live in fraternity, in service, and in mutual self-giving.
The fraternity is made up of brothers who did not choose one another, but who are a gift from God to each other (cf. Test. 14). It is the place where the grace of the Holy Spirit makes visible the image of Christ, of whom each brother bears and expresses a particular trait. It is the environment of reconciliation and peace in which the encounter with the living and true Christ becomes possible.
The brother carries out the mission proper to the Order in accordance with the fraternity and in the name of the fraternity, making the brothers participants in it.
The brother lives in communion of life and action with the Franciscan Family, promoting the various expressions of the charism of Saint Francis with a spirit of collaboration for the Kingdom of God. He becomes a brother to all people and to every creature, in a spirit of minority, simplicity, joy, and solidarity.
MINORITY
To be conformed to our Lord Jesus Christ, “who humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8), the brothers regard minority as an essential element of their specific vocation and live it faithfully in poverty, humility, and gentleness, among the least, without power or privilege.
The brother discovers his own littleness and total dependence on God, the source of all good, and lives as a pilgrim and a stranger—reconciled, peaceful, welcoming, a brother and subject to every creature.
Minority expresses the way the brothers live in fraternity: in listening and dialogue, manifesting their needs, serving one another with humility, in mutual obedience, and striving together to discern how God is calling them to proclaim the Kingdom through both deeds and words.
The lesser brother, like Saint Francis, willingly works with his own hands to eliminate all forms of injustice and the dehumanizing structures present in the world. He makes a deliberate choice for the poor, becoming a voice for the voiceless, an instrument of justice and peace, and yeast of Christ in the world.
SS. Francis & Clare of Assisi Anglican Church 