Brother Joseph, specifically regarding Latin, why did your religious community request an indult from having to learn it? I mean, I’m pretty sure the members had to before VII, so what’s the change now? To follow suit with the “mainstream” of the rest of the church? Or what?
We were founded in 1209. From then to Vatican I, we had equity in the order, meaning that there was no distinction between a cleric and a non cleric. All friars were equal. The lines between the ordained and the non-ordained were deliberately very blurred, because our founder took the example of Benedict and Bernard who founded orders based on brotherhood, not priesthood.
After Vatican II, the ordained friars were given control of the order. Two separate formation programs were established. Those friars who were going to be ordained went through one formation program while the rest of the friars went through another. Obviously, those friars who were going to be ordained had to learn Latin to celebrate mass.
The sad part was that the other friars were not allowed to study. They were assigned to be servants to the ordained. A great deal of resentment developed, especially toward the laity, because the laity applauded the extinction of the non-ordained friar. They didn’t want them as theologians, spiritual directors, seminary professors, retreat masters, administrators, etc, ministries that they had held since the time of Francis.
About 1955, the friars realized that the order was in serious trouble. The number of vocations was very high, higher than it had ever been. However, none of the men entering wanted to be friars. They wanted to be priests. The order was not founded as an order of priests. We had priests who joined the order to be brothers, not the other way around. Francis himself was not a priest. Anthony of Padua was a preach, scholar and superior long before he was ordained. He was ordained about five years before his death, after some 13 years of religious life. The same was true of Bonaventure and many great Franciscans. It was clear that those days were gone. The friar petitioned Pope Pius XII to declericalize. However, the petition was too late. Pope Pius died in 1958.
The friars had to wait. Vatican II issued “Perfectae Caritatis.” Pope Paul VI would later issue the command to declericalize and return to the 13th century, where all friars are equal and priests occupy no special place in the community. By 1970, everyone was back in school, studying theology, philosophy, secular sciences and technical studies, such as mechanics, electricity, plumbing etc. Latin was taken out of the curriculum when Pope Paul abrogated the Seraphic Missal. Since we no longer had our own missal, we were to adopt the Roman Missal.
In 1970, the General Chapter decided that the study of Latin was no longer necessary, because we no longer had our own missal or breviary and the Roman Missal had been translated.
However, things changed in the mid 70s when the Franciscan Liturgical Commission decided to reject the Roman Missal, because it forced Franciscans to follow the liturgical calendar of the Church and not the calendar of the order. Pope Paul agreed to a compromise and the Roman-Franciscan Missal, breviary and liturgical calendar were approved, but they were in modern languages. Latin was not required.
When Canon Law changed in 1983 and this article was inserted in to the law, it created a problem. On the one hand, Vatican II, the pope and the general chapter were saying that we had to return to the origins. “All friars were equal. Priests have no special place in the order. You may not enter the order to become a priest; but you enter to be a Franciscan, even if you are a priest…” And on the other hand, you had this canon that was in conflict with the mind of Francis. The question on the table was, which does the Church want. “Are we an order that caters to priests or are we a brotherhood as St. Francis founded in 1209?” The Vatican ruled that the decision of Vatican II should stand and the order had to return to the 13th century. Since there didn’t seem to be a reason to learn Latin, the friars were not bound by the canon.
In later years, about the 1980s, many friars were interested in Latin for many reasons, mostly academic ones. It was first brought back as an elective. Later, some of the friars from the different obedience (branches of the order) wanted to celebrate the OF in Latin. But they could not do it unless all the friars agreed. This time, the order was very careful not to allow the priests to set the pace or to give in to the laity. Since the Franciscan have over 1.7 million men and women, we no longer govern ourselves as one body. We are divided into obediences. These are communities of men, women or men and women in one community, each with its own superior general. They range from 10 to 15,000 per obedience.
The agreement was reached that each community decides whether or not to study Latin, but it must include everyone, not just those who are going to be ordained. This allows everyone to pray together. It also required that the Roman-Franciscan Missal remain in place, both in Latin and in modern languages.
