ON 10 September 1224, nine Franciscan friars arrived on the British shores. They had been sent on a mission by St Francis just two years before he died, and their arrival marks 800 years of Franciscan life, ministry, and scholarship in Britain before, during, and after the Reformation, until today. This volume of essays celebrates this milestone and also honours the memory of Fr Eric Doyle, a Franciscan scholar who died unexpectedly, 40 years ago, aged 46.
The essays are by 19 Roman Catholic and Anglican scholars, and also included are contributions from Doyle, whom Bishop Thomas McMahon described as a man who “put profound truths in a simple way and conveyed always a sense of the numinous; the holy, the wonder of God and his world; vivid, articulate, deeply learned, intensely human, hugely alive, full of mischief, unsparing of self — a contemporary Francis. His Franciscan spirituality permeated his total thinking.”
The various writers outline the development of Franciscan life in England, where one of the friars, John Pecham, served as Archbishop of Canterbury, and also in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Their growth in popularity owed much to the admiration of the local people and the financial support of the wealthy. Although Franciscan friaries were among the first to be suppressed at the Reformation, and many friars were killed or imprisoned, they returned in the 17th century.
Although the Friars Minor are regarded primarily as missionaries, there is also a distinctive Franciscan teaching tradition sometimes described as “the other orthodoxy” and taught by such British scholars as John Duns Scotus, Roger Bacon, William of Ockham, and William Woodford. The most notable is Duns Scotus, who wrote on the primacy of Christ, the physics of light, Christology, and the Immaculate Conception. In 1973, the Franciscan Study Centre was opened in Canterbury to promote the Franciscan intellectual and spiritual tradition, but, sadly, the decision was made to close it in 2017.
AlamyAn engraving of the tomb of the Franciscan Archbishop of Canterbury John Pecham
This volume contains interesting essays about St Clare of Assisi and her leadership and the development of the Franciscan charism in both conventual and secular orders. There is also a critical study of the legend of St Francis kissing the leper. There are essays on ecumenism and the development of Franciscan life within the Anglican tradition as lived today by the friars, Sisters, and Poor Clare nuns and members of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis.
These essays are largely concerned with the past 800 years and the huge contribution that the Franciscans made, particularly in the Middle Ages, but they nevertheless also point to the future and provide encouragement and inspiration for those who today still feel called to live the gospel life in the spirit of St Francis.
A Poor Clare nun writes: “The Franciscan movement has always been ‘edgy’. It was impossible to tie Francis down. You could not label him as either contemplative or apostolic. He had intense times of prayer and solitude as well as intense times of service and apostolate. He remained always faithful to the traditions of the Church but his heart and mind were open to new and different possibilities. . . Everything is in a state of flux. . . We need not be afraid of change but keep our gaze on the one who calls us to live and love.”
The Rt Revd Dominic Walker OGS is a former Bishop of Monmouth.
Celebrating 800 Years of Franciscans in the British Isles: Essays in honour of Eric Doyle OFM
Brenda Abbott, editor
Franciscan Publishing £29.95
(978-1-9151980-8-2)
Church Times Bookshop £26.95