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FROM THE PROVINCIAL
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 NEW YORK - Luckily here in New York City we haven't had the large amounts of snow that we've seen falling elsewhere in the Province - especially Boston - but, we've had a bit.
There is something so beautiful in the way that snow can create a sense of quiet, calm and gentleness - even here in the city that never sleeps.
This quiet struck me as perfectly in line with one of the things that Pope Francis spoke about earlier this week in one of his daily homilies. He spoke about the importance for quiet prayer, for contemplation. We know that this is something sorely lacking in our world, our very noisy world, but even sometimes lacking in our lives as religious - as our lives become so very busy.
So, as the quiet and gentle snow continues to fall around us (hopefully not much longer), let us find that place for quiet in our hearts and in our prayer as well. The Pope is asking us to find 15 minutes a day to be quiet with the Lord. Let's all make that a part of our lives.
Let me end with some of the Pope's words this week:
"It is good to pray the Rosary every day, to talk with the Lord, when we have a problem, or the Virgin Mary or the Saints, but contemplative prayer is important and this can only be done with the Gospel in hand. How do I contemplate with today's Gospel? Take up the Gospel, read and imagine the scene, imagine what happens and talk to Jesus, from the heart. And with this we allow hope to grow, because we have our gaze fixed, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We should all carry out this contemplative prayer. 'But I have so much to do!'. At home, 15 minutes, pick up the Gospel, a small passage, imagine what happened and talk with Jesus about it. So your gaze will be fixed on Jesus and not so much on a TV soap opera, for example. Your ears will be focused on the words of Jesus and not so much on gossip. This is how contemplative prayer helps us in hope. Living the substance of the Gospel. Always pray. Pray your prayers, pray the rosary, talk with the Lord, but also carry out this contemplative prayer keeping your gaze fixed on Jesus".
Fraternally,
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Year of Consecrated Life | Pope Francis
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"There are many 'wounded' waiting in the aisles of the Church for a minister of Christ to heal, raise and liberate them from the demons that plague them. Christ's ministers must always remember, however, that they are simple 'servants of the Kingdom.' Jesus' description of the attitude His disciples must have as He sends them out among the people: They must be people with no frills attached - 'no food, no sack, no money in their belts' he tells them - because the Gospel, 'must be proclaimed in poverty' as 'salvation is not a theology of prosperity.' It is purely and simply the 'good news' of liberation brought to all who are oppressed.
This is the mission of the Church: the Church that heals, that cares for people. I sometimes describe the Church as a field hospital. True, there are many wounded, how many wounded! How many people who need their wounds to be healed! This is the mission of the Church: to heal the wounded hearts, to open doors, to free people, to say that God is good, God forgives all, that God is our Father, God is tender, that God is always waiting for us ... "
- Pope Francis
Daily homily, February 5, 2015
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Province creates Franciscan Library in NYC
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By André Cirino, OFM
NEW YORK - On May 5, 2011, Provincial Minister Primo Piscitello, OFM, sent a letter to several friars regarding the Francescana collection of Immaculate Conception Province, seeking advice about safeguarding and preserving these Franciscan works with the possibility of making these resources more widely accessible for research and education.
Since that time, our efforts to collect, conserve, and catalogue the Franciscan resources of our Province have progressed. To date, all of the Francescana of the Province has been brought to the Provincial Curia. The books are being separated into categories and computerized into a system that will make them more easily accessible. And the Province also received a grant for the purchase of current works.
Siobhan O'Dwyer, OFS, who has a master's degree from the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University, has been hired to work with Fr. Paul Rotondi, OFM, for the organization and classification of our collection. And to sustain and support the work that has been accomplished thus far, the Provincial has set up a committee, appointing André Cirino, OFM co-ordinator of this project. The members of the committee are:
Paul Rotondi, OFM
André Cirino, OFM
Richard Martignetti, OFM
Michael Della Penna, OFM
Siobhan O'Dwyer, OFS
Since June 12, 2014, Fr. Paul Rotondi and Siobhan O'Dwyer, Secular Franciscan, have unpacked, shelved, and been cataloguing our collection of Francescana that have been assembled from various houses in the Province. This library, named by our Provincial the Immaculate Conception Province Franciscan Library, is being set up for several reasons. This collection will serve as a resource for research and education:
- for the friars of our Province, especially our students and friars working in formation;
- for Franciscan men and women of the greater New York City area;
- for anyone [cleric, religious, lay person] involved in an academic Franciscan project;
- for commissions of the Order to facilitate their work and service;
- for the 22 schools of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities [AFCU] in the USA.
The ICP Franciscan Library will also sponsor special events, the first of which will be a poetry reading presented by Fr. Murray Bodo, OFM, on June 14, 2015. More information on this and other planned events will be made available.
 | | Siobhan O'Dwyer, OFS, in the ICP Franciscan Library |
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"Come & See" Vocation Retreat: February 20-22
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The Vocation Office will host the next "Come & See" Discernment Retreat Weekend on February 20-22. Please help promote the event by announcing it in your places of ministry and inviting young men to attend.
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Early Celano "Umbrian Legend" discovered
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ROME - The Italian newspaper, Avvenire, has described it as a "bomba" a bomb thrown into Franciscan studies. It sounds and reads like an academic-mystery-story; something akin to Inspector Morse.
It is a compendium barely larger than a pack of cigarettes, badly put together, ragged, with no cover. It contains 122 pages of a bad parchment covered with tiny and partially erased Latin characters. Suffice to say, it is a book on the edge of the decipherable.
But on Friday, January 16, at the weekly meeting of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, the presentation of this simple work has aroused the enthusiasm of historians gathered there. It also confirmed the pride of the leaders of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF), which has acquired the manuscript for €60,000.
Scholar Jacques Dalarun has long held his own intuition about, and search for, this missing text. Dalarun's student, now Professor Sean Field at the University of Vermont, had a lasting memory of Dalarun's hypothesis. The Professor noticed an item listed and described in an auction catalogue and alerted Dalarun.
All of these events have been described in a recent editions of L'Osservatore Romano, Avvenire and Vatican Insider.
The text, known as the Umbrian Legend is among the earliest lives of St. Francis of Assisi, written by his first biographer, Thomas of Celano. Scholars describe the text as "very Franciscan" - is a small, humble and poor codex with neither decorations nor miniatures. Apparently insignificant, and unknown to bibliographers, it belonged to a private collector. 
The text, of which Andre Vauchez is convinced is authentic, is the intermediate text written by Thomas of Celano between his First and Second lives of the saint. It's value comes in the specific details of the saints life that are not present in the other better-known works of Celano.
Speaking to L'Osservatore Romano, Dalarun said, "It is a summary, written between 1232 and 1239, of the first version of the Legenda, considered too long by its contemporaries. In addition new elements have been added and, after a careful reading, it becomes clear that the author's reflection becomes deeper over time, especially on the theme of poverty and love for creation. Tommaso da Celano was a very profound man and he never stopped reflecting on the teachings of Francis. In a certain sense, we could say that he is his biographer. With the passage of time, he learns... that he didn't truly understand Francis' message, that he wrote about it but didn't truly understand it. It is a vast text: the Latin edition is about 60 pages long. Many comments which were in the first version have been eliminated, and there are some new points. There was far more emphasis on the reality of the experience of poverty, of experiri paupertatem, not in a symbolic, allegorical or strictly spiritual sense, but in a real way. It meant wearing the same clothes and eating the same food as the poor. The theme of brotherhood with all of creation is also enhanced. At the beginning Tommaso spoke about this as something to be admired, as strange and amazing, but largely outside of his own experience. It's well written, but distant. On rewriting it, instead he reflects on the fact that brotherhood with creation, not just beings without reason and human beings: it is an anti-identity discourse. We are different but we are brothers because we all descend from the paternity of the Creator. Therefore, I do not agree with those who say: 'Francis loved nature'. That's a pagan concept. Francis loved his brothers, men and animals alike, because we are all children of the same Creator."
Asked if there is anything in the text that struck him, Dalarun said, "An episode which we already knew about but which is told differently than the so-called legenda trium sociorum. What we can read now is probably the older and more authentic version. It speaks about Francis' visit to Rome, but not as the pilgrimage of an already converted person, who embraced religious life. In this case, it describes the business visit of a merchant, who is struck by the poverty of the beggars he sees near St Peter's. He asks himself if he would be able to survive a similar experience. It has nothing to do with the sugarcoated version that was subsequently disseminated: that Francis, already a friar, bends down at the pain of those he encounters on the street. The contrast is much stronger here, it isn't a gradual change but a real shock. Tommaso also adds other specific and concrete details. He explains that Francis repaired the holes in his tunic using the threads of tree bark and grasses which he found in the field, just like those who had absolutely nothing, not even a needle to sew with."
This newly found text will contribute significantly to the discussion of the so-called "Franciscan Question" - the quest to uncover the true details of the life of St. Francis and separate them from the more hagiographical items that made their way into the common narrative of the saint's life.
Franciscan scholars have work cut-out for them: not the least being St. Bonaventure's role - viz-a-viz this and other texts and the raison-d'etre concerning the selection of materials for his Legenda Maior.
The quest is to identify the real life of Francis of Assisi and to approach as close as possible the meaning of his actions and experiences. Thomas of Celano, his first biographer, knew the saint personally. In 1228, the year of the canonization of Francis, Celano, himself a friar, was charged by Pope Gregory IX to create his biography: the vita . Later, at the request of a General Chapter, in 1246-1247, he wrote a new life of St. Francis: The Second Life - this one more disjointed than the first.
In 1266, three years after Bonaventure had presented his own biography, the General Chapter of Paris ordered indeed the destruction of all previouis "lives" of Francis of Assisi with the exception of St. Bonaventure's which was declared the only authentic and reliable.
This newly discovered text is considered a missing link which fills in the gap between Celano's first life in 1228 and his second life nearly 20 years later. Jacques Dalarun has been convinced of its existence since 2007. That year, he was able to decipher and reconstruct from a variety of scattered manuscripts a legend of St. Francis recounting the last two years of his life. He attributed this then-unknown text to Thomas of Celano.
Intrigued by the fact that it begins with the stigmata of Francis on mount La Verna in 1224 and not his birth, the medievalist suspected that this story was a fragment of a larger text or even a new life of St. Francis. "On September 15, 2014, I received an email from my American colleague Sean Field, who lives in Vermont, signaling me that a manuscript is on sale on the site The Illuminations - one of the best galleries on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance," said Jacques Dalarun.
The collection contained a Life of St. Francis including the Umbrian Legend, and was accompanied by a very good expert instruction. "It was enough to read the prologue to understand what it was," Dalarun said. "In 14 lines everything was there! The author writes, 'It was I who wrote the First Life' - so this is Thomas of Celano. It states: 'It is you, Brother Elias, who had told me everything' - which tells us that the first life had been dictated by this companion of Francis, who succeeded him in 1232 to 1239 to run the Order. And he adds, in essence: 'Some complain that my vita is too long, and ask me to abbreviate it.'"
Once confirmed of its authenticity, it was time to make sure it didn't disappear again into another private collection. Dalarun contacted a colleague at the Bibliothèque nationale de France who helped secure the manuscript.
For scholars, the consequences of this discovery are still difficult to estimate. Calling it a "major event for the Franciscan history," André Vauchez, specialist in the history of medieval scholarship said that "there has not been a discovery of this magnitude for nearly a century," and believes that this new Vita "will lead to reconsidering the whole chronology of the biographies of Francis."
Compiled from various sources.
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Let it snow! Scenes from around the Province
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As snow continues to blanket the Northeast, here are some photos of the weather's effects from around the Province. If you have photos of your place of ministry, please send them in: internos@icprovince.org
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Bob Artman, OFM, having "fun" clearing the snow at St. Christopher's
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Peace Garden at St. Leonard Church, Boston (photo by Christian Pleva)
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Sun over Mount Alvernia (photo by Joaquin Mejia, OFM)
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 | | Mount Alvernia Retreat Center (photo by Joaquin Mejia, OFM) |
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Purify our hearts | FRANCISCAN LIVING
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Today, during the Feast of the Presentation, Pope Francis spoke of the consecrated life in this way: "Today, as Mary and Simeon, we want to take Jesus in our arms so that He encounters his people, and we will certainly succeed if we enter in the mystery where it is Jesus himself who leads us. We take Jesus but we let ourselves be guided."Let us therefore be guided my brothers this year by once again entering into the mystery of Christ and renewing our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and rediscovering them as a rich source of grace. Through these promises new have freely taken, we conform ourselves more fully to Christ in order to love as He loves. Our consecration empowers us to "pursue the Savior's self-emptying more closely and show it forth more clearly." (C.C.C. # 2102, 2013).
Renewing our consecration can help purify and enable us to give of ourselves more fully and to love more freely, without being enslaved by a "covetous heart" or the "feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures." (Evangelii Gaudium). The vows can liberate us from our "narrowness and self-absorption" and so help lift us up out of ourselves to look beyond our own interests, opening us up to God and others. Pope Francis reminded us "True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving" (EG). In this way we plunge ourselves into the paradoxical mystery of the Gospel which teaches us "life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others."[1]
Our consecration therefore also prepares us to receive Him. Poverty, chastity and obedience, authentically and joyfully lived, are not negations, pointing out what we can not have or do, but rather, are a holy and positive means of uniting ourselves with the living Christ, who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life".
The Feast of the Purification invites us then to purify our hearts so that we may not only give of ourselves more generously but receive Him more deeply. Five ways that our Church offers us to purify ourselves is 1) Praying with the heart, 2) Confession, 3) Eucharist, 4) Scripture and 5) Fasting. Let us be encouraged by the humility of our great founder St. Francis who exhorted us to begin again, for up till now, we have done little or nothing.
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Friars move into friary at 147 Thompson
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NEW YORK - For the last several years, the friary that was the former Provincial Curia of our Province at 147 Thompson Street was rented by the Jesuits for a community of its men living there.
That lease reached its completion during the past summer and the Province did not have a specific use in mind for the house. However, as the process of exploring the possibility of the reconfiguration of U.S. Franciscan Provinces has moved forward, the Reconfiguration/Renewal Team for the process was looking for a base of operations.
Provincial Minister Primo P. Piscitello, OFM, agreed to allow the Team and the U.S. Sub-Conference of the English Speaking Conference to make use of the friary during this exploration of reconfiguration.
The team - William Beaudin, OFM (Holy Name), Richard McManus, OFM (St. Barbara), and Page Polk, OFM (St. John the Baptist) - moved in on February 1 and are settling in and beginning their work. The friary was painted prior to their arrival.
The Team with meet with the seven US Provincial Ministers in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 24-25. Their aim is to present a plan or plans for the renewal and restructuring of the seven current US Provinces into either one, two or three Provinces. In order to prepare those plans, they will be meeting with friars all over the United States (Richard and Page were at the Inter-provincial Retreat at Holy Cross Retreat Center) and calling together friars to meet with them.
In February they will present their preliminary plans for those gatherings and their work to the Ministers Provincial who are overseeing the entire process.
 | | Bill, Richard and Page (photo by Jack Clark Robinson, OFM) |
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Prayer for the General Chapter
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ROME - General Minister Michael A. Perry, OFM, in convening the General Chapter of the Order, has asked friars throughout the world to join in prayer for the success of the General Chapter.
The General Chapter is set to take place May 7 - June 10 of this year at the Domus Pacis Retreat House in Assisi. It has been given the theme "Brothers and Minors in our Time."
Below is a prayer that we are asked to use daily:
Most High and Glorious God,
you have called us to follow the footprints
of Your Beloved Son
as Lesser Brothers of Your servant Francis.
Send Your Spirit to enlighten our hearts
as we prepare for the
General Chapter of Pentecost
at St Mary of the Porziuncola.
Renew in us the joy of the Gospel,
that we may proclaim in our time
Your mercy and goodness towards all.
May the Lady of the Angels,
the Virgin made Church,
accompany us as we follow her Son,
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
as we make our way to You,
who live and rule in perfect Trinity
and simple Unity,
and are glorified,
God almighty,
forever and ever.
Amen.
Click the link below for more prayers, including intercessions to be used during Morning and Evening Prayer.
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February issue of Fraternitas
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ROME - The Order has published the February issue of Fraternitas. You can download it by clicking the image below: 
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