Newspaper Page Text
I
PAGE 6—THE BULLETIN, August 8,
1959
Services For
L. F. Getzinger
SYLVANIA, Funeral services
for Louis Frank Getzinger were
held July 25th at Our Lady of
the Assumption Church, Rev.
Joseph Naegle officiating.
Survivors are his wife, Mrs.
Sara Williamson Getzinger;
three sons, Louis Frank Getzin
ger, Jr., Daniel Getzinger and
Donavee Getzinger, all of Syl-
vania; mother, Mrs. Barbara
Getzinger; two sisters, Mrs.
Mobley and Mrs. Charlie Jones,
all of Atlanta, and several nieces
and nephews.
ROME CEREMONY RECALLS
750-YEAR-0LB HISTORY
OF FRANCISCAN FRIARS
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The author of the following
article is a former professor of
Church history at the Catholic
University of America in Wash
ington, D. C,, and the author
of a number of books on Fran
ciscan history.
(By Father Raphael M. Huber,
O. F. M. Conv.)
(N. C. W. C. NEWS SERVICE)
Last April His Holiness Pope
John XXIII received the heads
of the Franciscan communities
to mark the Order’s 750th anni
versary.
The event commemorated the
day in 1209 when St. Francis
and 12 friars went to Rome to
seek approval for the rule he
had drawn up for himself and
his followers.
Pope Innocent III liked the
idea of a preaching apostolate,
but feared that the Franciscan
renunciation of all worldly goods
was impractical. He told St.
Francis to try out his rule and
then return for final approval.
This is known as the first, or
verbal, approval of the rule.
In 1221, after his community
had grown, St. Francis wrote a
second rule, but it did not please
all the ministers provincial. So
in 1223, with the aid of Cardinal
Ugolino—later Pope Gregory
IX—he wrote a third rule which
was given formal approval by
Pope Honorius III.
That rule still forms the basis
for the life of all Friars Minor,
Conventuals, Capuchins and
members of the Third Order
Regular. Down the centuries,
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however, each Franciscan fam
ily has drawn up its own consti
tution, statutes and bylaws.
St. Francis founded his Order
on absolute poverty and it was
able to live up to this ideal as
long as the community was
small and St. Francis himself
was present. After his death en
thusiasm _ waned.
As the Order grew the need
was felt for fixed residences for
novitiates, hermitages, rectories
and houses of study, and these
had to be secured by some kind
of legal ownership. Futhermore,
barter had ceased to be common
and money had become the nor
mal medium of exchange.
But St. Francis had forbidden
the use of money. What was to
be done? Adhere strictly to the
letter rule? Or seek a dispensa
tion from the Holy See that
would preserve the rule’s spirit,
even if the letter had to suffer?
As a solution the Church
agreed to hold the friars’ prop
erty in its name and to adminis
ter their funds through repre
sentatives known as “apostolic
procurators” or “syndics.” The
Popes who made these arrange
ments were Gregory IX, Nicho
las III and Clement V.
Later certain zealots began to
find fault with the papal decrees
and financial regulations, even
though they had been obtained
by such ministers general as
Blessed John of Parma and St.
Bonaventure. These zealots were
known as “spirituals” and
“fraticelli” and both groups
were eventually condemned by
the Holy See because of their
heretical or schismatic ten
dencies.
A third group in the Order
striving for closer observance
of St. Francis’ ideals arose to
ward the end of the 14th cen
tury. With the approval of the
minister general, Brother Paolo
Trinci of Foligno retired to a
hermitage near Assisi. There he
gathered followers who lived
a secluded life devoted to their
own personal sanctification
rather than to the care of souls,
which had been entrusted to
the Order by Innocent IV in
1250. By the end of the century
these reformed friars, mostly
Brothers, numbered about 200
in 12 hermitages. They took the
name of Observants.
A few years later several
French communities were or
ganized with the same ideas of
reform. They received permis
sion from the Council of Con
stance (1414-18) to live some
what independently of the regu
lar Franciscan superiors under
vicars. They became associated
with the Italian Observants and
spread throughout Europe.
Efforts for complete union be
tween the Observants and other
Franciscans, known as Conven
tuals, failed. In 1517 Leo X
separated the Conventuals from
the Observants and about 10
other reformed communities,
and gave each group an inde
pendent minister general. Thus
after 1517 there were two dis
tinct Franciscan families.
In the 15th and 16th cen
turies other reformed groups
grew up within the Observant
community—the Alcantarines,
mostly in Spain and Spanish
possessions in Italy and the
Americas; the Reformed Friars
in Italy, Germany and Austria;
the Recollects in France, Bel
gium, England, Ireland and
Canada.
Each reformed group strove
to outdo the others in the
“strictest” observance of St.
Francis’ rule and some groups
adopted penitential practices far
beyond the rule’s provisions.
While all these communities
were subject to the Observant
minister general, each had its
own constitution and agent to
look after its interests at the
Holy See. Friction often arose
between the communities and
the Soanish Observants who,
through their country’s king,
sought comnlete independence
from the minister general—if he
was not a Spaniard—and Fran
ciscan authorities in Rome. This
situation lasted for nearly 200
years.
In 1897 Pope Leo XIII united
the communities under one head
and one constitution. All were
to drop their distinctive names
and be known simply as Friars
Minor, save when they were to
he distinguished from the Friars
Minor Conventual or Capuchin.
In this case Pius X suggested in
1909 that they use the title of
Friars Minor Leonine, Obser
vant or some other term so that
as Friars Minor they did not
exclude either the Conventuals
or Capuchins.
Today the groups united by
Leo XIII have more than 25,000
members. They have six prov
inces in the U. S., where they
aife commonly called Brown
Fianciscans because of the color
of their habits. They promote
the work of the Third Order
of St. Francis, staff schools, do
parish work and publish Cath
olic literature.
Still another group of re
formed friars grew out of the
Observant community in 1528
when Father Matteo Bassi got
permission from Clement VII to
lead a solitary life of Prayer.
He was later joined by two
brothers, Raphael and Louis
Fossombrone. The latter organi
zed their first followers from
the Observants into a special
community. Thus began the
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.
The new community was
placed under the care of the
Conventuals until 1619 when
Paul III gave them an indepen
dent minister general. From that
time on they made remarkable
progress. Their missions spread
all over the world and many
Capuchin friars died a martyr’s
death. Eventually many Capu
chins took on parish work.
According to the latest statis
tics the Capuchins have 15,442
members and are in charge of
47 foreign missions. In the U. S.
they have three provinces. They
wear a chestnut-colored habit
with a long pointed capuche
(cowl) in back and are usually
bearded.
After 1517 the Conventuals,
who up to then had been the
ruling group in the Order, con
tinued to live as before. But
their numbers had been dimin
ished by the separation of Leo
X and many of their monasteries
fell into the hands of the Obser
vants. The Conventuals suffered
from the Reformation and later
political upheavals, but the
Order was able to survive and
produced many great scholars.
All five Franciscan popes were
Conventuals.
Originally known as Grey
Friars, today they wear a black
habit and are therefore often
referred to as Black Franciscans.
They now number about 7,000
and have four provinces in the
U. S.
The name “Conventual” goes
back as far as 1250 when In
nocent IV gave the Franciscans
the use of collegiate or “con
ventual” churches for the care
of souls. They always had
charge of the basilica at Assisi
where St. Francis is buried and
the Basilica of St. Anthony at
Padua.
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MARRIAGES
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MALOOF-IDRAU
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ATLANTA, — Gloria Diana
Idrau, daughter of Mrs. Pachoud
Idrau and Maurice N. Maloof,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Nassir A.
Maloof were married at St.
John’s Melkite Church, Rev.
William Haddad officiating.
SMITH-MARKLEY
O-
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ATLANTA, — Ann Mark-
ley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
James Leslie Markley, and Har
old James Smith, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Robert A. Smith of Manas
sas, Va., were married July 25th
at the Cathedral of Christ the
King, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph G.
Cassidy officiating at ceremony
and Nuptial Mass.
O-
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ROGERS-FITTS
-O
ATLANTA, — Elizabeth
Barbara Fitts, daughter of Mrs.
Gertrude Shouse Fitts and
James Perreca Rogers, son of
Mrs. L. A. Rogers, Sr., and the
late Mr. Rogers were married
July 17th at Immaculate Heart
of Mary Church, Rev. Harold
J. Rainey officiating.
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