The last issue of 2022 of our Franciscan Culture on line Review is dedicated to the upcoming 8th centenary of the confirmation of the Regula Bullata of the Friars Minor by Pope Honorius III on 29th November 1223. An introductory paper studies the issue of identity of the Friars Minor seen against the historical background of the unfolding of Franciscan legislation from the Propositum Vitæ approved by Innocent III in 1209, on to the Regula non Bullata and to the definitive Franciscan Rule confirmed in 1223. The liturgical celebration of the feast of St. Francis is rich in lyric texts composed by Julian of Speyer, a magister cantus in the household of the King of France, and the author of a Vita Sancti Francisci and of the Officium Rhythmicum Sancti Francisci. This Rhymed Office is a work of poetry and music that adds solemnity and dignity to the liturgical celebration of St. Francis, and was composed by Julian himself, with other texts coming from the pen of eminent churchmen, like Pope Gregory IX and Cardinals Thomas of Capua and Rainerio Capocci, all of whom had known St. Francis. A final paper by Kevin Tortorelli OFM is a philosophical reflection upon the anthropological and theological vision of Nietzsche and St. Francis, a rather unusual couple of thinkers!
by Noel Muscat, ofm
Franciscan Studies 