The Secular Franciscan Rule

The rule and life of the Secular Franciscans is this: to observe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who made Christ the inspiration and the center of his life with God and people.​

 Secular Franciscans should seek to encounter the living and active person of  Christ in their brothers and sisters, in Sacred Scripture, in the Church, and liturgical activity.

 They should go forth as witnesses and instruments of her mission among all people, proclaiming Christ by their lives and words. 

United by their vocation as “brothers and sisters of penance", and motivated by the dynamic power of the gospel, let them conform their thoughts and deeds to those of Christ through that radical interior change that the gospel itself calls “conversion”.

Secular Franciscans should let prayer and contemplation be the soul of all they are and do. Let them participate in the sacramental life of the Church, above all the Eucharist.

The Virgin Mary, a humble servant of the Lord, was open to his every word and call. She was embraced by Francis with indescribable love and declared the protectress and advocate of his family. The Secular Franciscans should express their ardent love for her by imitating her complete self-giving and by praying earnestly and confidently.

Uniting themselves to the redemptive obedience of Jesus, who placed his will into the Father’s hands, let them faithfully fulfill the duties proper to their various circumstances of life.

 Let the Secular Franciscans seek a proper spirit of detachment from temporal goods by simplifying their own material needs. Let them be mindful that according to the gospel, they are stewards of the goods received for the benefit of God’s children. 

Witnessing the good yet to come and obliged to acquire purity of heart because of the vocation they have embraced, they should set themselves free to love God and their brothers and sisters.

As the Father sees in every person the features of his Son, the firstborn of many brothers and sisters, so the Secular Franciscans with a gentle and courteous spirit accept all people as a gift of the Lord and an image of Christ.

Secular Franciscans, together with all people of goodwill, are called to build a more fraternal and evangelical world so that the kingdom of God may be brought about more effectively. Mindful that anyone “who follows Christ, the perfect man, becomes more of a man himself”, let them exercise their responsibilities competently in the Christian spirit of service.

Let them individually and collectively be at the forefront in promoting justice through the testimony of their human lives and their courageous initiatives. Especially in the field of public life, they should make definite choices in harmony with their faith.

Let them esteem work both as a gift and as a sharing in the creation, redemption, and service of the human community.

In their family they should cultivate the Franciscan spirit of peace, fidelity, and respect for life, striving to make it a sign of a world already renewed in Christ.

Moreover, they should respect all creatures, animate and inanimate, which “bear the imprint of the Most High," and they should strive to move from the temptation of exploiting creation to the Franciscan concept of universal kinship.

Mindful that they are bearers of peace which must be built up unceasingly, Secular Franciscans should seek out ways of unity and fraternal harmony through dialogue, trusting in the presence of the divine seed in everyone and the transforming power of love and pardon.