Misplaced Pages

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Minister general" Franciscan – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Minister general is the term used for the head or superior general of the different branches of the Order of Friars Minor. It is a term exclusive to the order and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi.

Terminology

Francis chose the word "minister" over "superior" out of his vision that the brothers of the Order were all to be equal, and that the friar supervising his brothers was to be a servant ("minister") who cared for (ministered to) them, not one who lorded over them. The original term is minister generalis in Latin and is found in Chapter 8 of the Rule of Saint Francis. In his lifetime, Francis actively employed the term "minister" to refer to the heads of the various communities of friars who by then were already scattered around Europe.

The term is sometimes written as "general minister", but "minister general" is the official form in the English language, in keeping with other official titles.

Third Order

In the 20th century, the term also came to be used as well by many religious congregations of the Third Order of St. Francis, in the effort to follow more closely the spirit of the founder of their Order.

See also

• List of ministers general of the Order of Friars Minor

References

1. "Minister General". Ordo Fratrum Minorum.

v t e Franciscans
Organisations founded or inspired by Saint Francis (1181–1226)
General	Rule of Saint Francis Rule of Saint Clare Tau Cross Franciscan Crown Custos Custodian of the Holy Land Minister General list Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi Assisi Monte di Pietá Franciscan missions to the Maya Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Franciscans International Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism
Orders and groups	Order of Friars Minor Order of Friars Minor Conventual Order of Friars Minor Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Poor Clares Capuchin Poor Clares Colettine Poor Clares Conceptionists Secular Franciscan Order Third Order of Saint Francis Brothers and Sisters of Penance of Saint Francis Order of Minims Militia Immaculatae Franciscan Minims of the Perpetual Help of Mary
Popes	Gregory IX Gregory X Nicholas IV Sixtus IV Julius II Sixtus V Clement XIV Pius X John XXIII
Category Catholicism portal

This Catholic Church–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Ministers General of the Order of Friars Minor
• Catholic Church stubs