Franciscan recollects

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The Franciscan Recollects ( Ordo Fratrum Minorum Recollectorum , religious symbol OFMRec from Latin se recolligere "retreat"; recollectio "retreat") formed from the 16th to the late 19th century, a reform branch of the Franciscan Order . It was created after the order was divided into the Conventuals (Minorites) and the Observants (Franciscans) in 1517, as well as the separation of the Capuchins in 1528 within the observant direction and signified a further tightening of discipline in the sense of the order rule of the founder Francis of Assisi . Another name is Ordo Fratrum Minorum Strictionis Observantiae Recollectorum "Order of the Minor Brothers Recollects of Strict Obeservance".

The characteristics of the recollectic forms of life were not uniform. The activities of the brothers continued to correspond to those of the non-recollectical convents and included preaching and evangelization , social-charitable engagement, teaching in the order's own Latin schools and scientific research. However, common choir prayer , silence and penance exercises took up a larger part in the life of the monastery community; The poverty rules were also enforced more strictly.

Starting in the 1530s, the starting point for the reform were “collection houses”, houses of collection and contemplation, to which brothers willing to reform could retreat and which were built in numerous religious provinces. They became successful models of reform, but led to the reform branches in the order becoming independent. The movement spread from Spain to France, where the French kings supported it as récollets from 1592, and came via Belgium to Germany, England and Ireland. In 1772 it comprised 11,000 brothers who lived in 490 settlements in 22 religious provinces. In the three German provinces ( Thuringia , Colonia and Saxonia ) all the convents joined the recollects, so that the observant Franciscans did not split here. As a result of the French Revolution , the French provinces and Colonia went under, the recollect provinces Thuringia and Saxonia continued to exist.

Parallel to the recollects, the branches of the Alcantarines or Discalceates in Spain and the Franciscan Reformates in Italy, Tyrol, Austria and Poland had emerged within the observance movement . All three branches were subordinate to a single general minister , but each had partial independence with their own statutes under the direction of apostolic commissioners or vicars general. In the 19th century the differences were put into perspective, so that Pope Leo XIII. with his bull Felicitate quadam of October 4, 1897, the three branches united into a single order, the ordo fratrum minorum with uniform general statutes. The German Aloys Lauer from the province of Thuringia became the first general minister after the union .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Suso Frank : Recollects . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 8 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, Sp. 1025 f .
  2. ^ Karl Suso Frank: Recollections houses . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 8 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, Sp. 1026 .
  3. ^ Herbert Schneider : The Franciscans in the German-speaking area. Life and goals. Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, Werl 1988, pp. 61-87.