Franciscan Missionaries of Mary Celebrate the Year of Saint Francis
Below is a reflection from Rosalie Iboudo FMM on the Year of Saint Francis.
As FMMs, how did you welcome the proclamation of the Year of Saint Francis of Assisi?
The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) are on the journey to celebrate the 150th anniversary of foundation. Indeed, next year 6th January 2027 marks the 150 years since Mary of the Passion, through lots of suffering and blind obedience, started the Institute of the Missionaries of Mary which became later on FRANCISCAN Missionaries of Mary. In fact, Mary of the Passion encountered St Francis of Assisi earlier in her life when she entered the Poor Clare Monastery on December 9, 1860. Shortly afterward she was sent back home due to serious illness. It was not until October 4, 1882, that she was received into the Third Order of St Francis. She recalled it as “the return to my country”, the Franciscan spirituality that she tasted as a postulant at the Poor Clare’s and never lost it despite the gap of 22 years.
The FMMs were indeed founded Missionaries of Mary in 1877, before becoming FRANCISCAN Missionaries of Mary in 1885, when all the sisters were welcomed by Fr Bernadino (Minister General of the OFM) into the Third Order of St Francis and henceforth the Institute became Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.
To have Pope Leo the XIV proclaim 2026 the year of St Francis of Assisi is for the FMMs a divine harmony, as Mary of the Passion would say. It is a divine harmony for triple reasons:
- September 17, 1882, Pope Leo XIII promulgated the Encyclical Auspicato Concessum to mark the 700th anniversary of the birth of St Francis of Assisi. Two weeks after our foundress, Mary of the Passion, was accepted into the Franciscan Third Order, reconnecting her with the Franciscan Spirituality. The FMM Institute was then a new-born.
- Last year we started the journey for the 150th anniversary of foundation; but two years before that, the Institute restructured, from 49 provinces to 17 regions throughout the world: somehow another new birth.
- 2026, another Pope Leo, the XIV, proclaimed a year of St Francis commemorating the 800 years since St Francis of Assisi’s death.
We really welcomed this good news as a call to us FMMs to renew our Franciscan spirit: live the Gospel in the World as artisans of peace and harmony, encountering every creature as brother/sister. We are called to live it faithfully so that the world might find in it the regeneration it so badly needs. By proclaiming the Year of Saint Francis on the eve of our 150th anniversary of foundation, it is as if the Pope is shaking us out of our torpor. As if he is awakening us from our slumber, to rekindle, with and for the world, the flame of universal fraternity in a world where everyone seems safe only if their neighbour is threatened or worried. Pope Leo XIV has offered us a great opportunity of renewal, given the fact that we are on the journey reflecting on our Charism in preparation for the jubilee. It is a call to all FMMs to go back to our sources, asking ourselves:
1. If Mary of the Passion were to found the Institute of the FMMs today, would she have grafted it onto the Franciscan Family?
2. What does it mean to be a Franciscan today?
3. To what extent are we faithful to our name, "Franciscans"?
1. If Mary of the Passion were to found the Institute of the FMM today, would she have grafted it onto the Franciscan Family?
Mary of the Passion wanted our Institute to be affiliated with the Franciscan Family. Her desire was that we live and bear witness to poverty lived in simplicity and minority, in harmony with all of creation, reminding us that we are all brothers and sisters with all of creation. This is what St Francis lived and passed on to his brothers. For Mary of the Passion, poverty liberates us and makes true fraternity in charity and humility possible. I think that if she were to found our Institute today, she would more than ever, undoubtedly affiliate it with the Franciscan Family, in this materialistic consumerist world where money and wealth are overvalued at the expense of fraternity.
2. What does it mean to be a Franciscan today?
To be a Franciscan today, in 2026, after the publication of Pope Francis's famous book Laudato Si' and the encyclical Fratelli tutti, and after Pope Leo XIV's proclamation of the Year of Saint Francis, is a particularly challenging and demanding commitment. We have no choice but to renew our lives, to live our name fully every day. It is as if Popes Francis and Leo XIV are both calling us to live a life that rekindles the spirit of Francis in the world. A life that restores Saint Francis of Assisi to a world that seems to have forgotten his message of peace and his spirit of fraternity, not just preached but lived in concrete terms. We remember his brotherly encounter with the Sultan during the Crusades. In practical terms, in our multicultural Australian society, this means not allowing fear to make me see others as enemies, terrorists, or any other labels that would distort the image of brother or sister within me. And this applies not only to humans but to all of creation, even though I like to jokingly say, "No, the snake is not my brother", it still is according to St Francis of Assisi, who is calling me every day to recognise this fact.
3. To what extent are we faithful to our name, "Franciscans"?
We strive every day to be faithful to our name, wherever our mission leads us. The first and most concrete example of this fidelity is found in our international community life. Indeed, in our vows, we commit ourselves to “living in fraternal community.” Our communities are very often (when possible) international. This is, in many parts of the world today, a great challenge, but also a powerful witness to the universal Franciscan fraternity: for example, in Russia as in Ukraine, we have communities made up of sisters of both nationalities living together. In our workplaces, we try to live Franciscan simplicity by the way we collaborate with our colleagues, and we pay particular attention to safeguarding creation in our daily life. Despite many challenges, people associate the FMMs with inner joy. We are very proud of this, even though there is still much to be done in today's world to preserve this joy. Because, as Francis himself defines it, perfect joy is not the absence of trials, it is the ability to maintain inner peace despite trials.
4. As FMMs, what message would you like to leave to the readers, in this Franciscan Year?
In the world we live in, everything seems to test the Franciscan spirit: inner joy, peace, patience, humility, fraternity, and, of course, poverty. Our message is that, in the time of Saint Francis of Assisi, the situation was hardly better, even if it seems worse today. But Francis dared. He stood up and defended values that were not valued in his time, and time has proven him right. Indeed, in Francis’ time like it is today, you were someone if only you are strong, important and in control. But, Francis’ life after his conversion, reminds us of something Jesus taught us, that MINORITY matters in our relationship with others, with all our fellow creatures. In today's world, we must keep hope, trust, faith, and patience alive, convinced that, even in this rocky and difficult world, God, through our humble efforts to sow peace, goodness, and universal fraternity, can bring forth an abundant harvest for the world. Let us never abandon our desire to do good.
May we see a new kindness
In the coming years
Allowing tears to transform into smiles
A new kind of compassion and thoughtfulness
Previously hidden
All kinds of blessings wrapped in random acts;
A new kind of justice discovered by kindred spirits.
A reaching out in new awareness of friend and neighbour.
Our world needs a kinder, inclusive and universal face
That will embrace all of humanity
Let’s trust we play our part
As we become pilgrims of hope.
Judith Floyd FMM