The Secular Franciscan Order is the third branch of the Franciscan Family formed by Catholic men and women who seek to observe the Gospel of Jesus by following the example of Francis of Assisi. Secular Franciscans are not like the other third orders, since they are not under the higher direction of the same institute. Brothers and sisters of the Secular Franciscan Order make a spiritual commitment (promises) to their own Rule, and Secular Franciscan fraternities can not exist without the assistance of the first or second Franciscan Orders. The Secular Franciscan Order was the third of the three families founded by Francis of Assisi 800 years ago.
The Secular Franciscan Order and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Francis of Assisi (1182–1226). Painting by El Greco (1541–1614).
Bonaventure (1221–1274), painting by Claude François, ca. 1650–1660.
John Duns Scotus (c1266–1308)
Secular Franciscans can be recognized by the Tau Cross they wear as a lapel pin (here) or pendant.
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. He was inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty as a beggar and itinerant preacher. One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots that symbolize the three Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
A painting of Saint Francis by Philip Fruytiers
The oldest surviving depiction of St. Francis is a fresco near the entrance of the Benedictine abbey of Subiaco, painted between March 1228 and March 1229. He is depicted without the stigmata, but the image is a religious image and not a portrait.
São Francisco das Chagas, painted by Ducarmo Teles.
The house where Francis of Assisi lived when young