Family Association of the Immaculate Heart and of Saint Francis
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Marian Franciscan Charism
We want to be a community of sisters in Christ, daughters of the common Father, assisted by the Holy Spirit, Love. A small family of which the Immaculate is Mother and Queen. We want to live in a fraternity of mutual love which draws life from the fullness of self-giving to Jesus, truly and personally present in the Eucharist - the centre and heart of the community - mystically present in the sisters, especially in the smallest ones, the "minori"; present in all creatures which only "have consistency in him" (Col 1:17).
Within the Church and among men, it is this witness of all-embracing love that we are called to give in humility and simplicity, in chastity and joy: like Saint Francis and his first companions.
The measure of our fraternal charity must be Jesus himself: "As I have loved you, so love one another" (John 13:34). Self-denial is its irreplaceable prerequisite; the love of Jesus is its content and essence. The availability and dedication to the sisters corresponds to the most delicate thought of St Francis: "If a mother loves and nourishes her carnal son, how much more lovingly must not each one love and nourish his spiritual brother?" (Rule VI).
Why did St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe want Franciscan life "in the light of the Immaculate"?
The answer is simple and luminous: because it is only in the Immaculate that Franciscan life reaches the apex of its perfection and achieves the highest conformity to Jesus, which is all our holiness (cf. Rom 8:29).
Marian vow
A precious novelty of this religious family is the Marian Vow of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate. This is the first of the vows, followed by the other three vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, which are common to all other religious Orders and Institutes.The Marian Vow imbues and fills the whole of Franciscan evangelical life with "Marianity" and leads us to assimilate every one of our houses to St. Mary of the Angels, the "Portiuncula" of Assisi, where the friars with St. Francis, under the maternal eyes of Mary, lived a "truly angelic life", as the first biographer of St. Francis, Blessed Thomas of Celano, wrote. Furthermore, the Marian Vow brings the brothers and sisters to be transformed into the Immaculate Mediatrix, to be her presence of grace everywhere, committing them to cooperate in the Immaculate's same mission of universal Mediation.
"Marianity" is the distinguishing characteristic of our communities. Marianity is the heritage of St Mary of the Angels given to us by St Francis of Assisi, it is the spiritual patrimony left to us by St Maximilian M. Kolbe. The Immaculata is the dawn of salvation for the individual and for all humanity. To make the Immaculata live in us and bring the Immaculata "into every heart that beats on earth": this was the ideal of Saint Maximilian M. Kolbe and this is our ideal.
Missionary spirit throughout the earth
One of the primary fruits of the Marian Vow is the all-embracing missionary activity to reach out to every person, to give Her who is the Mother of Christ to every heart that beats on earth.
This aspiration and striving to save all souls through the Immaculate Mediatrix, even moving from one continent to another to open new missionary stations, is inspiring.
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What is it about?
Our Holy Patrons
Saint Francis and Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Maximilian M. Kolbe and Saint Pio of Pietrelcina: this is the mystical "quartet" of our religious Family. They are our models of the most genuine Franciscan and Marian life.
Saint Francis was born in Assisi in 1181. Son of a merchant, he aspired to enter the circle of the city's minor nobility. For this reason, he tried to become a knight, until he understood that he should only serve the Lord. He then dedicated himself to a life of penance and solitude in total poverty, after abandoning his family and earthly possessions. In 1209, he began to preach the Gospel in cities, while the first disciples joined him. With them, he went to Rome to obtain approval from Pope Innocent III for his chosen way of life. From 1210 to 1224, he journeyed throughout Italy: wherever he went, crowds and groups of disciples flocked to him, whom he called "brothers". He then welcomed the young Clare, who initiated the Second Order of Franciscans, and founded a Third Order for those who wanted to live as penitents, with suitable rules for laypeople. He died on the evening of October 3, 1226, near the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi. He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on July 16, 1228. Pope Pius XII proclaimed him and Saint Catherine of Siena the primary patrons of Italy on June 18, 1939. The mortal remains of the "Poverello of Assisi" are venerated in the Basilica dedicated to him in Assisi, precisely in the crypt of the lower church.
Saint Francis of Assisi
St. Maximilian M. Kolbe was born in 1894 in Zdunska-Wola, Poland. He entered the Franciscan order, and while Europe was heading towards a second world war, he carried out an intense missionary apostolate in Europe and Asia, founding two Cities of the Immaculate. Afflicted with tuberculosis, St. Maximilian initiated the "Knight of the Immaculata" magazine, which in about ten years reached a circulation of millions of copies. In 1941, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was assigned to the most humiliating tasks, such as transporting corpses to the crematorium. In the concentration camp, the Saint offered his life in exchange for that of a father of a family, his fellow prisoner. He died on August 14, 1941. John Paul II referred to him as the "Patron of our difficult century."
St. Maximilian M. Kolbe
Santa Chiara was born in Assisi, in 1193, to the noble family of Favarone degli Offreducci. Attracted by the example of Saint Francis, on Palm Sunday night in 1212 she left her father's house and embraced the evangelical way of life in the footsteps of the Lord and his Most Holy Mother at the Porziuncola. Her life was spent in the small cloister of the monastery of San Damiano, in a joyful following of the poor and crucified Christ. With her, a new form of life was born, that of the Poor Sisters, later called the Clarisses. Santa Chiara remained ill for many years. Despite this, she continued to be a caring mother, a wise guide, and a true example of an evangelical life for her sisters. She died on August 11, 1253 at San Damiano.
Saint Clare
of Assisi
Francesco Forgione was born in Pietrelcina on May 25, 1887, the son of the farmers Grazio Forgione and Giuseppa De Nunzio. On January 22, 1903, at the age of sixteen, he entered the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor, at the convent of Morcone: on January 22, when he received the habit, he took the name of Friar Pio from Pietrelcina. He became a priest seven years later, on August 10, 1910. In 1916, he was transferred to San Giovanni Rotondo, to the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Here, for over fifty years, he carried out his priestly ministry, granting many people God's forgiveness in the sacrament of Confession. On September 20, 1918, he received the gift of the stigmata. He died on September 23, 1968, at the age of 81. His mortal remains are venerated in San Giovanni Rotondo, in the sanctuary dedicated to him.