Secular Franciscan Order

FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY MONTHLY SERIES
May-October 2023

"While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart."
- St Francis of Assisi

Welcome to the website of the Secular Franciscan Order in New Zealand. (Latin: Ordo Franciscanus Saecularis (OFS).

Secular Franciscans seek to pattern their lives after Jesus, living the spirit of their founder St Francis of Assisi, who founded the Order in 1221.

The Order is open to any Catholic living in full communion with the Church and is made up of both the laity (male and female non-clergy) and clergy (deacons, priests, bishops).

Although Secular Franciscans make a public profession and are consecrated, they are not bound by public vows as are religious living in community.

Because the Secular Franciscan Order belongs to the family of the Franciscans, the Holy See in Rome has entrusted its pastoral care and spiritual assistance to the Franciscan First Order (Friars Minor, Friars Minor Capuchin, Friars Minor Conventual), and the Franciscan Third Order Regular (TOR), which belong to the same spiritual family.

Patrons of the OFS are Secular Franciscans St Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, and St Louis IX, King of France.