Rule of Saint Francis

Francis of Assisi founded three orders and gave each of them a special rule. Here, only the rule of the first order is discussed, i.e., that of the Order of Friars Minor. Origin and contents of the rule Origin Whether St. Francis wrote several rules or one rule only, with several versions, whether he received it directly from heaven through revelations, or whether it was the fruit of his long experiences, whether he gave it the last touch or whether its definite form is due to the influence of others, all these are questions which find different answers. The first rule is that which Francis submitted to Pope Innocent III for approval in the year 1209; its real text is not known. However, according to Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure, this primitive rule was little more than some passages of the Gospel heard in 1208 in the chapel of the Portiuncula. From which Gospel precisely these words were taken, is unknown. The following passages, Matthew 19:21; Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:3, occurring in the second rule (i and xiv), are considered as a part of the original one of 1209. They enjoin apostolical life with all its renouncements and privations. The three vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, essential to any religious order, and some practical rules of conduct were added. Thomas of Celano says in this regard "Blessed Francis, seeing that the Lord God was daily increasing the number [of the brethren] for that very purpose, wrote down simply and in few words for himself and his brethren, both present and future, a pattern and rule of life, using chiefly the language of the holy Gospel after whose perfection alone he yearned". Bonaventure and the so-called "Legend of the Three Companions" (viii) repeat almost the same words. It was to this "form of life," which has become known as the First Rule, that Innocent III gave verbal approval on April 23, 1209.