Franciscans and Work
The typical image many people have of St. Francis, and the brotherhood he founded, is the picture of simple, wandering preachers who lived on alms and thought only for the day. It is true that, back in the 13th century many people were intrigued about the early friars because of their determination to live, much as possible, without owning property or possessions.
St. Francis himself told the friars that when they had material need they should have recourse to the ‘table of the Lord’ i.e., begging for alms. And so, many picture the friars as paupares, men without any work or means.
One Franciscan scholar who challenged this picture was Fr. David E. Flood, OFM. Fr. David died earlier this year at the age of 94, having lived 74 years as a Franciscan and 66 years a priest. David was a scholar and he contributed greatly to the revival of Franciscan studies from the 1950s on. A gifted student, from 1961-65 he worked in Germany as a disciple of the great Franciscan scholar Fr. Kajetan Esser OFM
From a careful study of the early Franciscan movement David argued that St. Francis and the early friars were as much workers as beggars. The early community was part workers’ cooperative and part religious order. The key Franciscan insight was to make labour a way of returning to God the gifts God has given to humanity (as opposed to working so as to create wealth for oneself).
There were two important rules the early friar-workers observed. The first was to refuse payment in coin for their work. They took instead payment in goods, food, shelter, etc. But coins represented the idea of fixing a value on goods and, worse still, the idea of hoarding wealth. Franciscans believed in keeping the goods of the earth in flow, not ‘gathering them into great barns’ (Cf. Lk 12: 16-21).
Secondly, the early friars refused promotion since this inevitably raised the friar to a higher social position and the key insight of the movement was that being ‘minor’, (minority) was a privileged way to follow the Poor Christ on earth.
Friars were not idle, far from it! They worked, but in a way that made other people think about the whole idea of labour and wealth. Franciscan history has been marked by a long and complicated struggle with these ideas; how do we live these insights about work and fairness best?
The late Fr. David Flood was instrumental in bringing back into view the role of labour in the lives of the early Franciscan community. Today Franciscans work in many different occupations. At the same time Franciscans continue to be supported by the alms and generosity of others.
We continue to searching for ways to recover the original Franciscan insights about working and sharing the goods of the earth, and using our gifts not to hoard but to make a humble return to the Father, the giver of every good gift.
Friar Liam Kelly OFM
Phone: 087 396 0262
Email: irishfranciscansofm@gmail.com
Postal address: Franciscan Friary, Ennis, Co Clare.
