JR,
are they called Secular Order, or 3rd Order Franciscans?
Jim
Their legal name is SFO, Secular Franciscan Order.
Their original name as OP, Order of Penitents.
But that had to be changed because of confusion with the Order of Preachers.
They were never the Third Order per se. They were founded before the Friars and the Nuns.
They were the first order that St. Francis founded.
The whole Third Order thing came out of the French clericalism of the Renaissance, which not only did in the Church in France, but also doomed many religious orders to become very clerical.
The Franciscans suffered more than others, because it was not in Francis’ mind that the friars be an order of priests. It was his mind that they be an order of brothers and that priests who were already ordained could join the order and become brothers.
Finally, in the late 1990s Rome gave approval to stop the ordination of Friars Minor and ordain only as many as the order needs.
In the 1960s Pope Paul VI wanted to change the name of the secular order back to its orginal name and take away the Third Order which the French had imposed. But it was inconvenient, because that initials are the same as those of the Dominicans. So Paul VI renamed them the Order of Secular Franciscans. Francis would never name an order after himself.
They were, from their foundation an Order of Pontifical Right and still are. They were founded in 1209 and the Friars were founded in 1221.
It’s a very interesting history. They always resented being called Third Order, because they were not the third in chronology or in rank. That was not in the mind of Francis. That was in the mind of the French bishops.
Hope this helps.
JR
