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THe HeriTage i. THe life of THe gospel of Jesus CHrisT What, precisely, do we wish to commemorate by celebrating , in 2009, the eighth centenary of the birth of the Franciscan family? The answer to this question has been provided and authorized by the text which opened the extraordinary Chapter of the Friars Minor (Franciscans) in September 2006. What follows is the content reported almost in its entirety : Our celebrations usually concern the figures: Francis and Clare…. However, this time our concern is not to recall a person and his or her deeds but to bring to mind a historical fact: the recognition by the Church, likely in 1209, of the ‘plan for gospel living,’ proposed to Pope Innocent III by a small group of brothers gathered around Francis. It is not, then, Francis whom we are commemorating but, in thanksgiving and joy, the anniversary of the birth of the founding core of the ‘charism’ or Franciscan ‘spirituality’ that the Church recognizes as one of its own.‘Written down simply and in a few words’ (Test 15), the initial sketch of the Rule proposed none other than a way of life according to the Gospel of Christ (forma sancti evangelii). Even if it concerned primarily the brothers, it remained open and was directed at, as we shall see in what follows, all categories and states of life. ...

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