The path to life as a Franciscan Brother is an ongoing process of prayer, conversation, and discernment dedicated to our human, Christian, and Franciscan development.

Contact Program

The first Step in initial formation is contacting the Vocation office. The contact program is the initial stage of conversation and discernment. The length of this stage of the process depends on your individual needs and the time and space you may need during your discernment.

After having had the opportunity to learn more about our life as Franciscan Brothers, through various forms of media, conversations and visits, you may be ready for the next step.

Requirements for Entrance:

• a man between 18 and 40 years of age (older than 40? Younger than 50? Please inquire and discuss with us).
• a citizen or legal permanent resident of the U.S.
• in good physical and mental health
• open to learning about and living a Franciscan religious life in the 21st century
• committed to living the vows of celibate chastity, poverty, and obedience
• prayerful with a desire to mature in the spiritual life
• seeking to live and serve in fraternal communities
• a practicing Roman Catholic for at least two years after the completion of the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion)
• free of significant financial and family obligations
• a high school graduate with preferably at least two years of college

Those having participated in out Contact Program and meet the necessary requirements will be invited to apply for admission to postulancy.

Postulancy

Postulancy is a 12-month program of orientation into our life as Franciscan Brothers. During this time you will live in community in a friary and minster with our Brothers in a congregational ministry. You will also take classes that will introduce you to Spirituality and Prayer, the Lives of St. Francis and St. Clare, Franciscan History, the History of the Congregation, our Charism, Scripture, and Theology. You will also participate in an intercommunity program with other congregations. At the end of your time as a postulant, you will request entrance into the Congregation as a novice.

Novitiate

Novitiate marks your formal entrance into the Congregation and you receive the habit of the Franciscan Brothers. During this one-year period, you will deepen your spiritual life and the contemplative dimensions of your prayer by studying and living the virtues of celibate chastity, poverty, and obedience. You will also study the life and writings of St. Francis, the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition, Franciscan Spirituality, the Rule and Constitutions of the Congregation while deepening your prayer life and life in the congregation. You will also have ministerial experience one day a week. Intercommunity and Inter-Franciscan experiences are also part of your novitiate. At the completion of your novitiate, you may request to profess temporary vows.

Temporary Profession

After the completion of Novitiate and having been accepted to take the next step in your formation, you will be invited to profess vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for a period of three years. During this time, you will be assigned a director to assist you as you live the life as a vowed Franciscan Brother. Time is set aside to continue your Franciscan Studies and you will finish any academic preparation you may need for ministry. After completing three to six years in temporary vows, and you and the Congregation feel you are ready, you may request to profess perpetual vows marking your life-long commitment to live as a Religious Brother of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.