The Portiuncula
A special reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

The image, above, is of the Portiuncula, that tiny Church, in Assisi, where St. Francis founded the entire Franciscan Order in 1208-1209. It was only a matter of a few weeks for Francis to have the joy to receive his first brothers or friars at the Porziuncola. The first among them was Bernardo da Quintavalle, a rich young man from Assisi. And the Order grew rapidly until the present when there are more than 30,000 friars and 350,000 (estimated) Secular Franciscans in the world. Unfortunately, I have no statistical data on the Poor Clares and other Franciscan religious sisters, but suffice it to say, the Franciscan Order is a giant force of spirituality in the Catholic Church. Did Saint Francis realize in 1208 that in a mere 800 years the order he founded would blossom to that extent? And the beauty of it is, it is all the work of the Holy Spirit (God), Deo Gratias.

To get back to the Portiuncula image (above), taken August 14, 2015. The image shows a number of friars and three Seculars. Among the friars was the late Fr. Benitius (Ben) Brevoort, OFMCAP. Ex General Assistant OFS and YOUFRA. 03/04/1938 - 01/17/2017 (third from left). Although I've never met him in person I got to know him very well. For a number of years, I was editor of CIOFS, the International Council of the Order, and Fr. Ben was the friar who handed it over to me after a great many years of service. He and I did a lot of editing together and I've talked to him via Skype, but there was another point of commonality: we were both of Dutch origin, so I corresponded/spoke with him many times in the Dutch language. He was a wonderful friar whom I remember fondly. He's now in the House of the Father. Through my voluntary work for CIOFS, I was able to attend the 2008 General Chapter held in Hungary. In the image are other people, some I know and others not. This was the Chapter where Br. Felice Cangelosi OFM Cap., talked about "Profession in the Secular Franciscan Order: Gift and Commitment, a definitive key to our life as Franciscans. That talk, in 2008, did more for me than anything I had heard before or since. Franciscans will always consider the Portiuncula the center of the Order, that little tiny Church where it all began.

The Portiuncula is located in the Basilica called "Our Lady of the Angels" in Assisi. In other words, the Basilica was built around it, between 1569 and 1679.