St. Francis called us to be called frateres – a word which means brother. Our commitment to our Capuchin life calls us live this brotherhood – a true fraternity united by God’s grace. We live an inspired brotherhood not just within our Capuchin fraternities but also in our way of sharing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with people everywhere. Following the example of Christ, our Evangelical brotherhood expresses itself in our availability to all who are in need, regardless of cost to oneself. This deep sense of fraternity underlies our religious life. One of the hallmarks of the Capuchin vocation is that he is always part of a community of brothers. All activities, whether in prayer or work, are rooted in the desire to be a brother to all like Christ and Saint Francis.

Called to be with the least of society – our minority is rooted in Christ’s poverty (Phil 2:6) seen in his complete emptying Himself for our sake especially on the Cross. This sense of minority or self-emptying calls us to live a life of  austerity, to a preference for ministering to the poor and marginalized, and to commit ourselves to living the Gospel life according to the examples of St. Francis. Following the example of Saint Francis, we as Capuchin Friars Minor, are called to serve and not to be served.

The Capuchin Franciscan charism given by the Holy Spirit to the Church recaptures the contemplative life of Saint Francis in which, mirroring the life of Jesus, he spent many moments amone in silent prayer. Our life is sustained and grows by means of our time tested tradition of marrying Contemplative Prayer and Apostolic Works after the example of Saint Francis. Our Franciscan contemplative prayer feeds our apostolic works and our apostolic works in turn feed our Franciscan contemplative prayer.