Franciscan Rule and Order System

Timeline

1. c. 1209–1210Assisi · ItalyFrancis gathered his first followers at Assisi around oral instruction and simple living, stressing absolute poverty, itinerant preaching, service to the poor and sick, and rejection of fixed property, forming the early shape of the mendicant order.
2. 1210–1223Rome · ItalyPope Innocent III verbally approved the order in 1210, after which Francis submitted a written rule; revised, it was formally approved by Pope Honorius III in 1223 as the Regula non bullata, establishing core disciplines of communal life, begging, labor, and obedience.
3. 1211–1300Latin Christendom · EuropeFranciscan friars expanded rapidly across the Italian peninsula, France, Germany, and elsewhere, establishing convents and preaching stations; in practice the rule merged with local charity and relief for the urban poor, gradually forming a multi-tiered structure of friars, lay brothers, and the Third Order.