The Capuchin Life
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi leads soldiers in the Battle of Székesfehérvár (Hungary) in 1601
The Capuchins
The Capuchins are sons of St Francis of Assisi who founded his Order of Friars Minor in 1206. The Capuchins live a life conformed to Christ both in his hidden life of prayer, and his active of the Gospel. Combining the contemplative and active life, the Capuchins' first work is prayer, where they fill themselves with Christ, before going forth to labour in the vineyard of the world, bringing Christ to others.
Capuchin priests and brothers are on every continent of the world and are engaged in nearly every type of apostolic work. You will find them preaching missions and retreats, hearing confessions, advising the troubled, assisting diocesan priests or serving parishes themselves. They are teachers, writers, chaplains, and foreign missionaries. Whatever the need of the local or universal Church, the Capuchin will take it on.
“Where in all the world have the Capuchins not penetrated? Where have they not cropped up? Indeed, where conditions were at their worst and help was needed most, in places abandoned, where no one else would go, there you will find the Capuchin.”
— Pope Pius XI
The Capuchin Charism
The life of the Capuchin rests on three essential pillars: Primacy of prayer and devotion, Highest seraphic poverty, and the Apostolate as an “excess of love”. These pillars remain the enduring tripod of Capuchin life. Indeed, from the earliest days of the reform Bernardino d’Asti emphasized their importance, urging his Capuchin brothers:
Therefore I exhort and beg of each one of you, as far as possible, to be very concerned about humble and devout prayer, begging the Lord from your hearts to bestow and increase and advance these holy virtues, especially most holy charity and poverty which, along with prayer, are most necessary and precious ornaments of the true lesser brother. Without them no Capuchin brother can be pleasing to God, or hope to enter the eternal marriage to the divine and heavenly Spouse.
– Bernardino d’Asti, A Circular Letter of the General Minister, 6 July 1548 –
The Primacy of Prayer
The first and most fundamental element of the Capuchin charism is the primacy of prayer and devotion. This is both the source of spiritual reform and the main instrument for vocational discernment, and is the most sought after fruit and radical finality of the Capuchin life. By meditating on the Gospel and the life of Saint Francis, the early Capuchins were convinced of it being the greatest longing and central focus of the will of the Seraphic Father.
Prayer
Prayer in the Capuchin sense is contemplative: the “breathing of love.” It is constant interior dialogue with God, adoration in spirit and truth, and a means of dwelling in the living Spirit of Christ. Prayer allows the Capuchin to follow joyfully in the footsteps of Christ and Saint Francis, forming the foundation for all Capuchin life and ministry.
Devotion
Devotion is not mere “devotionalism” but is understood in the Bonaventurian sense: love and sense of God. The spirit of devotion is the interior foundation of virtue, which overflows into ardent apostolic activity. Additionally, the disciplinary, penitential, and devotional practices act to sustain this “spirit of devotion.”
To safeguard this spirit of prayer and devotion, Capuchin contemplative solitude, initially practiced individually, developed a fraternal expression through daily meditation periods and regular communal retreats. Capuchin devotion also emerged in spiritual literature, including manuals for friars and novices, and popular writings on mental prayer.
Friars pray the Office in the house chapel of St Anthony's Friary, Hawthorn.
Highest Seraphic Poverty
Poverty is the most distinguishing external characteristic of the Capuchin reform and needs to impregnate all that the Capuchin is, does, and uses. Furthermore, it is the necessary path to arrive at contemplation, because it produces that radical stripping away and detachment that draws one to the mystical heights of interior annihilation and renouncement of the will, and renders the Capuchin to the “peaceful possession” of Jesus Christ; to being a joyful instrument of the Spirit. Capuchin poverty is manifested in clothing, habit, architecture, minimal possessions, and simple living.
Service and Humility
This highest poverty at the service of others becomes humility, simplicity and joy. The Capuchin loves to serve and withdraw like a “useless servant”, not appropriating to himself the service but donating himself fully to others, preferring to remain in the last place at the marriage feast of the Church (Cf. Const. 1536, I.7; VIII. 102). He is available for every type of work, especially that which is difficult and non-gratifying, because it does not hinder the spirit of prayer and devotion; he rejoices to be with the poor, simple and humble and, therefore, considers it his apostolic specialisation to preach to the least, the poor, the peasant, and in poor places.
Penance and Austerity
This “highest poverty”, the royal way to enter into the kingdom of Heaven and arrive at union with God, becomes penance and austerity as the necessary expression of a solid life of evangelical mortification. The Capuchin considers this as an indispensable state of conversion and way of purification to arrive at the illuminative and unitive path, which is “the burning charity of Christ” and communion with “the highest Father”, in the unity of the Spirit (cf. Const. 1536). As Pius XI said, the particular element given to the Capuchin is a very austere Franciscan spirit.
The Solemn Vows of Fr Christopher Maher OFMCap
Apostolate as an
“Excess of Love”
The mystical and contemplative yearning that is realised by way of seraphic poverty is poured out in an ardent apostolic life, characterised above all by preaching: announcing the Good News. Thus, this "excess of love" intertwines with the two points above to assume a fourfold character:
Apostolic Respiration:
In prayer, the Capuchin breathes in the pure breath of the Holy Spirit, the grace and gift of contemplation, which is arrived at by way of radical poverty, solitude and silence. This then leads to an outbreathing in a fervent apostolic activity, filial submission to the Church and her magisterium, sustained and supported by a fraternity of apostolic witness that guarantees the fruitfulness of the ministry, so as not to run in vain.
Radical Minority:
The Capuchin carries out all his duties in a manner of radical minority. He is always ready to trot along like a donkey so as to be pushed aside and to remain content with the last place. This minority is a gift and the fruit of the contemplative life.
Popular Evangelization:
The Capuchin exercises his evangelical preaching: catechising adults and children, popular missions, rural preaching in small regional parishes and in the poor parishes, service to hospitals and visits to the sick, supplies to the priests in the cities, assistance to the dying, corporeal and spiritual works of mercy, spiritual direction and confession, etc. Study falls within the charism but from the apostolic, spiritual and preaching prospective.
Missionary Zeal:
The Capuchin feels in essence to be an “evangelical missionary”. This evangelization ad gentes stems from a contemplative foundation, requiring a strong spiritual life to sustain the missionary vocation. Early Capuchin missionaries were deeply fortified by contemplation, enabling radical charity in service to non-believers.
Fr Julian Messina OFMCap on mission in Cameroon.