Franciscan Friars, Conventual (O.F.M.Conv.) [Code: 098]

The Order of Friars Minor was founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209 as a community dedicated to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in obedience, without personal property, and in chastity. We have lived our charism for more than 800 years! The word conventual comes from the Latin meaning “to come together”; we live together in convents, usually called friaries in English speaking countries. Conventual Franciscan spirituality gives primacy of place to the fraternal life of the friars.  While some Franciscan orders place greater emphasis on ministry or on a more monastic style of prayer life, the Conventual branch of the "Franciscan Tree" focuses on this sense of brotherhood in the local, provincial, and global community as our primary ministry and witness for the Church and the world. From that daily lived reality of shared prayer, meals, and recreation with the other friars flows a wide variety of ministerial engagements that find us serving in parishes, schools, retreat centers, soup kitchens, chaplaincies for hospitals and universities, and many other forms of service.