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Approval of the Franciscan Rule
In 1210 Pope Innocent III orally approved Francis of Assisi's Regula non bullata, allowing his followers a common life of begging, absolute poverty, …
Timeline
- 1209–1210Assisi · AssisiFrancis of Assisi gathered the Lesser Brothers in Umbria to live a communal life of absolute poverty, sustained by oral preaching and manual labor, and drafted a preliminary rule emphasizing a literal reading of the Gospels and begging.
- 1210Rome · RomeFrancis personally went to Rome to present the draft rule to Pope Innocent III; after review the pope approved it orally (viva voce), allowing the friars to wear coarse habits, beg, and preach the Gospel, giving the Franciscans initial Church recognition.
- 1211–1220Italian Peninsula · ItalyAfter approval the order rapidly expanded across Italy and Europe with a surge in membership; Francis revised the rule several times in his lifetime to balance the ideal of absolute poverty with the order's organizational needs, laying the foundation for the later Regula bullata.
Sources
- Regula non bullata (1210/1221) — Francis of Assisi (1210)
- Francis of Assisi: A New Biography — Augustine Thompson (2012)