The Society of Saint Francis is a Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion. It is the main recognised Anglican Franciscan order, but there are also other Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion. The Society of Saint Francis comprises the Brothers of the First Order; the Sisters of the First Order; the Sisters of the Second Order; the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order. Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi, the founders of the Franciscan movement produced separate rules for three parallel orders – the First Order were to be mendicant friars, embracing poverty as a gift from God and living the community life in the world and serving the poor. The Second Order were to be a parallel community of sisters living a more enclosed life of prayer and contemplation. The Third Order was to consist of brothers and sisters not living in community, nor under full monastic vows, but nevertheless taking simple promises and following a rule of life in the world. These three orders still co-exist as parts of the Franciscan family. Within Anglicanism, the Brothers of the First Order are called the Society of Saint Francis ; the Sisters of the First Order are called the Community of Saint Francis ; the members of the Second Order are called the Community of Saint Clare ; and the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order are called the Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis.
History
During the English Reformation all religious orders, including Franciscans, were banished from Britain. Not until the mid 19th century were the first sisterhoods refounded in the Church of England, in response to the social needs of the time. Then came a revival of interest in Francis. The Community of St Francis was founded in 1905 with sisters living in poverty and working in the East End of London. Shortly after World War I, the Revd Douglas Downes, an economics don at Oxford University, and a few friends gave practical expression to their sympathy with and concern for victims of the depression by going out onto the roads and sharing the life of the homeless men and boys, looking for work from town to town. In 1921, a Dorset landowner, Lord Sandwich, offered a small farm property, and here the group of friends was able to offer shelter to the exhausted wayfarers and others in temporary need of help. In 1934, another small group who had a clearer idea of forming a religious order, joined Brother Douglas. Gradually the little community took shape, modelling itself more consciously on the Franciscan tradition of prayer and study, as well as working with the poor. It started to look like a religious order in formal sense, with habits, a chapel, and regular worship. The Society of Saint Francis came into being, followed by the Third Order in 1936, and the Second Order in 1950 with the establishment of the Community of Saint Clare in Freeland, Witney. Before long, invitations came to establish centres in other places and at the start of World War II, there were houses in south London and Cambridge. After the war other centres were opened in Britain. Establishments overseas followed and the Society now has friaries in the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, and the Solomon Islands. Other communities were made in, Italy, Africa and the West Indies. The Daily Office, SSF's office book, was among the first to be fully updated with the Common Worship lectionary, so was used in the wider Anglican Communion. It provided the model for Morning and Evening Prayer in Common Worship.
Structure
Each part of the order is under the leadership of a minister general, currently Br Christopher John SSF for the First Order brothers, Sr Helen Julian CSF for the First Order sisters, and John Hebenton TSSF for the Third Order brothers and sisters. Under the minister general the order is divided into provinces, each governed by a minister provincial. The Second Order, being enclosed, elect an abbess, and are currently active only in the United Kingdom. In 2012 the membership stood at approximately 200 members in community and 3,000 dispersed members.
First Order: SSF
European Province
The European Province currently has the following houses of the order:
Hamilton, New Zealand – The Friary at Hamilton closed towards the end of 2016 bringing to an end after almost 50 years the First Order's presence in NZ.
The American Province, established in 1974, is currently located in a single house:
San Francisco, California.
Korea
The semi-autonomous mission in Korea is not yet large enough to achieve provincial status, and the single convent at Gumi is part of the European Province, and under the authority of the European Minister Provincial.
Second Order
Third Order
The Society of St Francis includes an order of tertiaries, lay or ordained individuals who have taken vows and are followers of a version of the Franciscan rule but do not normally live together in community. The Third Order, Society of St. Francis, was founded in 1950. The TSSF consists of men and women, lay and ordained, married and single. They do not live together in community, wear habits; and as many secular Franciscans have family and work responsibilities, they do not follow the rule of literal poverty that Francis chose for himself and his friars minor. It is divided into five provinces: Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the Americas.
