Rule Of The Lesser Brothers

In the name of the Lord begins the Life of the Lesser Brothers! The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of their own, and in chastity.

Rule 1223

* St. Francis called his friars, or brothers, "lesser," to locate them in society among the little people, the poor and lowly, who were called "minores," "lesser ones," in medieval Italy. The more affluent, or the nobility, were called "majores," or "greater ones."