A
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J
JReducation
Guest
Thank you Andy – that was awesome. This is the Franciscan community that I first joined in 1969, my first time around.
Because this video is no choreographed, as are most videos on Padre Pio, one can see how the Franciscan tradition at its best. I guess that’s what drives many of us, including me, crazy when we hear people speak about “tradition”, I’m not sure where or how people got some of the ideas that they now hold about tradition being so static and so clerical.
As we Franciscans head into an era of renewal or recovery of of the 13th century traditions, we begin to look less and less like say the FSSP, SSPX or ICRSS. We’ve always had the option of using those customs, but they are just that, options. Some people seem to think that they are like the 10 Commandments.
Let’s look at some really cute details.
There is no distinction between the friars. You can’t tell what friar is a priest. They dress the same. Their hair is cut the same. I remember that silly haircut. We had two choices, either a corona or a bowl. I always wore the bowl. I could never stand the corona. It was too cold.
Then we had the short mantles instead of the long ones. The reason was poverty. You could make two out of one.
Observe the celebration of the mass. The laity is around the altar. We had no lines to blur the priest. A priest was just another friar. A friar is just a bad pronunciation of the word Frere (Brother). It made no difference where you stood in relation to the altar as long as the presider was standing center. By the way, the term presider is not a Protestant term. It’s a Franciscan term. We called the friar who celebrated the mass the presider to avoid calling him the priest. This way he did not stand out from among his other brothers.
If you notice at Communion time, some knelt and some stood. We didn’t have such strict rules about standing and kneeling. The rule was an act of reverence. Later, when the altars were turned around the older friars had the option of using either altar, but the congregation was still around three sides.
Observe that there is no enclosure. The kids are in the living quarters of the friars. The reason was not blur the lines between the consecrated and the secular. There were parts of the house that for practical reasons were off limits to outsiders, such as the dorms, offices and shops. If you observe the friars coming out of the cells, they’re speaking. We observed silence from night prayer until rising. There was no extended period of silence. Silence killed the spirit of brotherhood and common sharing. There was to be noise, laughter, conversation and silence, but the schedule was much more flexible than other orders.
Observe the confessionals. The friar priest rarely had a closed box. That was borrowed from the secular clergy in the USA. It’s still rarely used in Europe.
I never had the privilege of meeting Pio. I entered the year after he died. I lived with friars who knew him. He had a reputation for great holiness and for being crotchety as well. He had quite a temper. But he was always most comfortable around children. He loved children. He also loved his brothers and would do anything that they imposed on him. He did it with great joy. There is a lot of myth about how much the friars made him suffer when he was asked not to celebrate mass in public. He missed his spiritual children from the world. But he never expressed feeling alone or isolated. He had the friars. He celebrated the mass for them once a week. He was living in the novitiate wing where he enjoyed the company of the young. In those days, novices were usually as young as 16.
Observe the choir when they’re praying the LOTH. It’s not what most people in Traddom would expect. They’re not all facing in an orderly fashion. That was because the LOTH was not chanted. They didn’t need that structure. It was recited in groups. St. Clare would have come back to haunt us had she heard us chant. There was a rich simplicity in hearing those voices almost humming the LOTH. One got a sense of being in a very distance space where neither man nor angel could touch you. It was just God, your brothers and you. You didn’t worry too much about getting every intonation right, because you knew that God was very close at hand. He understood you and he appreciated your humble words recited in whispering tones. God also got a good laugh when someone fell behind or skipped a word and everyone stopped to laugh, especially if you were like who read Latin very deliberately.
If you observe very closely, the friars who wore side rosaries, which was not mandatory, never wore a crucifix. One always wore a cross without a corpus. The idea that a cross without a corpus is Protestant is simply not true. The cross without a corpus was introduced by St. Francis in 1209. It was not until the 1500 that the Protestants would adopt this custom. That’s another of those comments that we Franciscans hear people make and we scratch our heads wondering where people got that idea that this is a Protestant notion.
The truth is that Franciscans had more influence over Protestantism, than Protestantism over post Vatican II Catholicism. But don’t tell the Protestants that. Keep it our secrete.
Thanks for the video. It’s a great visiual image of where the Franciscan renewal wants to go back to. It was a beautiful and simple life without all of these conflicts over rubrics and over traditions. We did what was natural to us and did not worry too much about what the Church was doing. That’s was the Church’s business, not the business of Franciscans. Like several other communities, we did things our way and we encouraged those who followed us to join us in our little ways. We still do so.
Because this video is no choreographed, as are most videos on Padre Pio, one can see how the Franciscan tradition at its best. I guess that’s what drives many of us, including me, crazy when we hear people speak about “tradition”, I’m not sure where or how people got some of the ideas that they now hold about tradition being so static and so clerical.
As we Franciscans head into an era of renewal or recovery of of the 13th century traditions, we begin to look less and less like say the FSSP, SSPX or ICRSS. We’ve always had the option of using those customs, but they are just that, options. Some people seem to think that they are like the 10 Commandments.
Let’s look at some really cute details.
There is no distinction between the friars. You can’t tell what friar is a priest. They dress the same. Their hair is cut the same. I remember that silly haircut. We had two choices, either a corona or a bowl. I always wore the bowl. I could never stand the corona. It was too cold.
Then we had the short mantles instead of the long ones. The reason was poverty. You could make two out of one.
Observe the celebration of the mass. The laity is around the altar. We had no lines to blur the priest. A priest was just another friar. A friar is just a bad pronunciation of the word Frere (Brother). It made no difference where you stood in relation to the altar as long as the presider was standing center. By the way, the term presider is not a Protestant term. It’s a Franciscan term. We called the friar who celebrated the mass the presider to avoid calling him the priest. This way he did not stand out from among his other brothers.
If you notice at Communion time, some knelt and some stood. We didn’t have such strict rules about standing and kneeling. The rule was an act of reverence. Later, when the altars were turned around the older friars had the option of using either altar, but the congregation was still around three sides.
Observe that there is no enclosure. The kids are in the living quarters of the friars. The reason was not blur the lines between the consecrated and the secular. There were parts of the house that for practical reasons were off limits to outsiders, such as the dorms, offices and shops. If you observe the friars coming out of the cells, they’re speaking. We observed silence from night prayer until rising. There was no extended period of silence. Silence killed the spirit of brotherhood and common sharing. There was to be noise, laughter, conversation and silence, but the schedule was much more flexible than other orders.
Observe the confessionals. The friar priest rarely had a closed box. That was borrowed from the secular clergy in the USA. It’s still rarely used in Europe.
I never had the privilege of meeting Pio. I entered the year after he died. I lived with friars who knew him. He had a reputation for great holiness and for being crotchety as well. He had quite a temper. But he was always most comfortable around children. He loved children. He also loved his brothers and would do anything that they imposed on him. He did it with great joy. There is a lot of myth about how much the friars made him suffer when he was asked not to celebrate mass in public. He missed his spiritual children from the world. But he never expressed feeling alone or isolated. He had the friars. He celebrated the mass for them once a week. He was living in the novitiate wing where he enjoyed the company of the young. In those days, novices were usually as young as 16.
Observe the choir when they’re praying the LOTH. It’s not what most people in Traddom would expect. They’re not all facing in an orderly fashion. That was because the LOTH was not chanted. They didn’t need that structure. It was recited in groups. St. Clare would have come back to haunt us had she heard us chant. There was a rich simplicity in hearing those voices almost humming the LOTH. One got a sense of being in a very distance space where neither man nor angel could touch you. It was just God, your brothers and you. You didn’t worry too much about getting every intonation right, because you knew that God was very close at hand. He understood you and he appreciated your humble words recited in whispering tones. God also got a good laugh when someone fell behind or skipped a word and everyone stopped to laugh, especially if you were like who read Latin very deliberately.
If you observe very closely, the friars who wore side rosaries, which was not mandatory, never wore a crucifix. One always wore a cross without a corpus. The idea that a cross without a corpus is Protestant is simply not true. The cross without a corpus was introduced by St. Francis in 1209. It was not until the 1500 that the Protestants would adopt this custom. That’s another of those comments that we Franciscans hear people make and we scratch our heads wondering where people got that idea that this is a Protestant notion.
The truth is that Franciscans had more influence over Protestantism, than Protestantism over post Vatican II Catholicism. But don’t tell the Protestants that. Keep it our secrete.
Thanks for the video. It’s a great visiual image of where the Franciscan renewal wants to go back to. It was a beautiful and simple life without all of these conflicts over rubrics and over traditions. We did what was natural to us and did not worry too much about what the Church was doing. That’s was the Church’s business, not the business of Franciscans. Like several other communities, we did things our way and we encouraged those who followed us to join us in our little ways. We still do so.
A
AndyP2010
Guest
Your most welcome. The thing that got me was the joy that the brothers show and the joy they have in each other. Thank you for sharing with us your insights. I like the scene where they are having a meal.
M
McCall1981
Guest
Wow, I had no idea there were videos of Padre Pio like this, that’s pretty awesome!
T
TimothyH
Guest
Why do they kiss the floor before the meal?
-Tim-
-Tim-
J
JReducation
Guest
Meals are very important to us, because of our strong emphasis on fraternity. It’s considered sacred time. There are different rituals, depending on the province or the house. In my house we don’t kiss the floor. We bow. It’s part of a tapestry.
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