Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Assisi (Fides Service) - On Friday 28 October during a Prayer Vigil in Saint Clare’s Basilica in Assisi for the start of official celebrations to mark the 8th centenary of the foundation of the Order of Friars Minor, Father General José Rodriguez Carballo urged the thousands of Friars working all over the world to rediscover the founding values of the Franciscan way of life. In the chapel which contains the Crucifix formerly in the church of St Damian, through which Christ spoke to Saint Francis, the Minister general encouraged the Friars to strive to be ever more faithful to their vocation and to pray the words of St Francis "Lord, what must I do?". Late in the evening after the prayer the Friars made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Damian, where St Francis started his journey of conversion.
On Saturday 29 October in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi, the minister general of the Friars minor presided Mass to open the Order’s centenary. Fr. José Rodriguez Carballo urged the Friars to live 2006 like a "sabbatical year" to discern the will of the Lord at the individual and community level in these times filled with difficulties but also with hope. In this context - the 119th successor of Saint Francis continued - "the Lord of history is calling us once again through the Apostle, to discern and retain all that is good and to recognise, read and interpret in the light of the Gospel the signs of the times through which he challenges us".
In the extended Franciscan family of followers of St Francis of Assisi, the Friars minor are the most widely spread in the world: over 16,000 religious in more than 112 countries working in mission to announce the Gospel according to the charisma of St Francis. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 31/10/2005 - Righe 21, parole 317)
