The International Chapter of Mats: Celebrating 800 Years of Franciscan Life

rachel@st-bonaventure.ca

Before mass outside of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi  

On April 15 of this year, 2000 friars from 65 different countries came to Assisi to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Pope Innocent III’s approval of the first Franciscan rule of life. The 1209 approval marked the beginning of the Franciscan Order. Friar Jim Kent participated in the celebratory events and recorded two podcasts featured below on his and several other friars' experiences.

Friars at the portico of the Sacred Convent in Assisi

The celebrations this year lasted until April 18 and were called the Chapter of Mats, a historical reference to a chapter in 1221 when 5000 friars gathered in Assisi. And as in that earlier chapter, this year, the friars first congregated in front of what is today the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, inside of which stands the Porziuncola. The Porziuncola – a small chapel - was the friars’ early home and much beloved by St. Francis.

On the Piazza della Porziuncola

A sense of a united community pervaded the 2009 Chapter of Mats. Friars of the three branches of the First Order of St. Francis (friars minor conventual, capuchin, leonine union) as well as the Third Order Regular friars were all present. Their common foundation story rooted in Francis reminded them of their common purpose in their professed lives.

The Porziuncola inside the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels

Audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo

On the last day of the Chapter of Mats, all involved friars traveled to Castel Gandolfo – a papal residence just south of Rome – for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, thus underscoring the important role Franciscans have played in the Catholic Church over the last eight hundred years.

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