Franciscans of Life

 St. Francis has been called the Mirror of Perfection.
We follow his footsteps, responding to the Father's call
to be brothers to all men, just as Christ is “the First-Born 

of many brothers” (Rm 8:29).

We are at the service of the voiceless:
the preborn child, the chronically and terminally ill,
and the immigrant poor who feels hopeless.

We dedicate ourselves
to a life of penance and reparation
for those who embrace the culture of death. 

 Who We Are
The Franciscans of Life are a brotherhood of laymen consecrated to living the Gospel in the manner of our Holy Father Francis of Assisi, according to the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance.

• We respond to the Father's call to be brothers to all men, just as Christ is the First-Born of many brothers and sisters, leading them to the Father.
• Our life is consecrated to God in obedience, poverty and chastity.
• Today, men and women need to hear the Gospel with the same simplicity and forthrightness that St. Francis preached it. We strive to spread the message of the Gospel, in the manner as our spiritual father, through our life and service.
• Like the first Franciscan brothers, we combine the monastic life with the itinerant preaching of penance and conversion in one loving service to Jesus and to His people.
• We are a family of brothers dedicated to preaching the Gospel of Life in and out of season and to living an intense life of prayer, penance, and poverty.
• Our lives are meant to give glory to God through our cooperation in the salvation of souls and the protection of the vulnerable members of society.
• The challenge is to be faithful to the Gospel, obedient and submissive to the Holy Father and his Magisterium, creative in ministry, and prayerful in all things.
• We are consecrated to the Immaculate. Our patrons are St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. John Paul II. The Eucharist, Liturgy of the Hours, adoration, devotion of the Immaculate, and silence, are the spiritual jewels of our daily life.
• Every man who embraces this life responds to Christ's call to be a mendicant. He has no place of his own, no property, no honors, nor special recognition in the world. He surrenders these gifts back to the Father and embraces the cross, in the same manner as our Holy Father Francis, to become one with Christ on the cross out of pure love asking for nothing in return from God or man.

Where We Are

Ours is a new adventure. We serve in the Archdiocese of Miami allowing our Lord to continue His work in us and through us and letting other men join our community, so that we may grow in numbers. The celibate brothers may live in community and take private vows. We freely exercise our ministry to a very specific segment of the voiceless: the unborn children, the chronically and terminally ill, and the immigrant who is poor and feels hopeless.

We also dedicate ourselves to a life of penance and reparation for those who embrace the culture of death. This is a much needed ministry with ample territory to work, serve and grow. While we have not yet received a canonical erection as a public association of the faithful, Archbishop Wenski has given us his support and blessing as we continue in our ministry in the Archdiocese. Pope Innocent III spoke similar words to St. Francis when he approached him to request the Holy Father's blessing for his new brotherhood in 1209. "Go with our blessing. When you have grown in numbers, come back and we will put you in charge of even greater affairs." We are at the same place where Francis and those first brothers were in 1209.

Territory of the Archdiocese of Miami

What We Do
As a Franciscan of Life you will find yourself fully immersed in the Respect Life Ministry. The bishops have deliberately referred to this ministry by this name, because it sends a clear message about the respect that is due to life.

• Like our Holy Father Francis before us, here is your opportunity to be an itinerant preacher, going from parish to parish and other communities, teaching and preaching the Gospel of Life. You will have no home parish or home base, except the community house.
• You may find yourself guiding men who are about to be fathers or are already fathers. Through these lessons, you will help them discover the Fatherhood of God in their lives and draw from it to become good Christian fathers. Normally, we teach these lessons at a pregnancy center, but they are also taught on street corners, city parks, the inner city, the local parish or where ever men gather to listen.
• Counseling and listening will be an essential part of your ministry. Like St. Francis, you will preach at all times and, when necessary, you will use words. You will have the opportunity to engage with men and women who are struggling with the decision to abort their unborn children and those who have suffered such a tragedy and are in need of healing.
• Families of sick and elderly people will need your help to make end of life decisions to ensure that their loved ones return to the Father having known the love of Jesus. You will be there for them to guide the family and to pray the person home.
• Our youth need you to guide them through chastity days, school talks on human sexuality, family and parenting.
• There will be women who are pregnant and homeless. Like Mary in Bethlehem, they will need a place of safety for them and their unborn children. You will provide that, just as Francis set up the first Christmas crib, you will set up many cribs for your unborn brothers and sisters to come into the world.
• You will be awakened in the middle of the night by those who are sick and dying and have no where to go; but like Francis, you will get up and offer them hope and a place to lay their heads.

These are just some of the adventures where Jesus will lead you together with your brothers, always poor, prayerful and filled with joy. 

Founded in 2009 by a widowed father of two and former Capuchin friar, the community strives to proclaim the Gospel of Life in the manner of St. Francis of Assisi and to do penance in atonement for those who embrace the culture of death.

We attempt to replicate that brotherhood that grew up around Saint Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century, where regular and extern brothers met to follow the Gospel according to the Rule of Penance written by Saint Francis. While all of the Franciscans of Life are lay and secular, the fraternity uses the term “extern” to identify brothers who are husbands, fathers, and single men wishing to marry, and the term “regular” to identify brothers of common life who are celibate, in private vows, and live in community.

The Franciscans of Life make a covenant to live the Gospel according to the Rule of Penance and the constitutions of the society.  Every brother, celibate, single, or married is a full member of the fraternity.  Therefore, each one binds himself to observe obedience to the Church and the superior of the fraternity, to live a life of detachment from material things and temporal honors, and to persevere in chastity in the celibate, single, or married life.

The invisible dimension of our life is penance. Eucharist, Liturgy of the Hours, private prayer, fasting and abstinence are the guiding lights for the brothers. Fraternity is a hallmark of Franciscan tradition.  Therefore, the brothers look to Christ and the apostles and endeavor to follow that model of fraternal life and service.

Common prayer, sharing, openness to each other, our families, and support for each other along the journey toward the perfection of charity are the means by which the brothers sanctify their lives and the lives of those they touch.  

Like Saint Francis and the first generation Franciscans, the Franciscans of Life look to the Trinity for guidance and example in community, intimacy, love, unity and holiness. Entrusted to the Immaculate, under the example of our patrons and in faithful obedience to the successor of Peter and the local bishop, the brothers learn to live under the mantle of the "Virgin made Church" and to uphold the sanctity of life from conception to natural death