The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant Christian religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for nuns such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders exist as well, notably in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.
The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M.Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the prefix O.F.M.Conv. after their names. They are also known as Conventual Franciscans or Minorites.
The Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance or simply the Third Order Regular of St. Francis is a mendicant order rooted in the Third Order of St. Francis which was founded in 1221. The members add the nominal letters T.O.R. after their names to indicate their membership in the congregation.
José Rodríguez Carballo is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Coadjutor Archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz since September 2023. He was secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2013 to 2023 and minister general of the Order of Friars Minor from 2003 to 2013.
Marco Tasca, O.F.M. Conv. is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual who served as the 119th Minister General of the Order from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed as the Archbishop of Genoa on 8 May 2020.
Francis Anthony Fasani was an Italian friar of the Order of Conventual Friars Minor who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church.
The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is a religious institute founded in 1970 by Conventual Franciscans Stefano Maria Manelli and Gabriel Maria Pellettieri and canonically erected by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Their rule of life is the Regula Bullata of Saint Francis of Assisi according to the Traccia Mariana.
John Eric Stowe, O.F.M. Conv., is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been the Bishop of Lexington, Kentucky since 2015.
Albert Daeger was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Order of Friars Minor, he served as Archbishop of Santa Fe from 1919 until his death in 1932.
Pamfilo of Magliano, O.S.F., was an Italian Franciscan friar, who went to the United States in 1855 to help establish the Order there. He was responsible for the establishment of major institutions of the Order in the Northeastern United States. He founded two religious institutes of Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis.
Clemente d'Olera was an Italian Roman Catholic who became Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, cardinal and bishop.
Giacomo Bini was a Franciscan priest. Ordained in 1964, he worked as a missionary in Africa, and was appointed Minister General of the Order of the Friars Minor (OFM) for the period 1997–2003. He was fluent in Italian, French, English, Spanish, and Kiswahili.
The Three Martyrs of Chimbote were a group of two Polish Franciscan priests and one Italian missionary priest murdered in Peru in 1991 by the Shining Path communist guerillas. Michał Tomaszek and Zbigniew Adam Strzałkowski, and Alessandro Dordi were murdered on 9 August and 25 August 1991 respectively.
Fernand Joseph Cheri III, OFM was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Order of Friars Minor, Cheri served as an auxiliary bishop of Archdiocese of New Orleans from 2015 until his death in 2023.
The Order of Friars Minor is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary, among many others. The Order of Friars Minor is the largest of the contemporary First Orders within the Franciscan movement.
Casey Cole, OFM, is an American Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, writer, and blogger. Cole runs his own online blog and YouTube channel called Breaking in the Habit and is the author of the books Let Go: Seven Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship and Called: What Happens After Saying Yes to God.
Mauro Gambetti OFMConv is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica, Vicar General for the Vatican State, and president of the Fabric of Saint Peter on 20 February 2021. He was consecrated a bishop on 22 November 2020 just before Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal on 28 November 2020.
Vittorio Francesco Viola O.F.M. is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who joined the Roman Curia in May 2021 as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments with the rank of archbishop. A member of the Order of Friars Minor, he was bishop of Tortona from 2014 to 2021. His education specialized in liturgy; he has taught sacred liturgy at several institutions, managed the liturgy office of the Ecclesiastical Region of Umbria for almost two decades, and served as a member of the Italian Bishops Conference commission for liturgy.
Jean-Pierre Grallet O.F.M. is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was archbishop of Strasbourg from 2007 to 2017. He was auxiliary bishop there from 2004 to 2007.
Massimo Fusarelli, OFM is an Italian Franciscan friar who was served as the minister general of the Order of Friars Minor since 2021.
