The celebration of a Chapter is for the friars an intense time of their life of consecration, expression of the desire of being together, talking about God, sharing the joy of the fraternity and the spiritual life. Friar Thomas of Celano, who wrote between 1228-1229 the first biography of St. Francis, the First Life, tells us that the disciples of the Saint “when it happen to meet together in the street or some where else, among them, appeared the true affection and spiritual love, superior to all other love. […] They wanted to meet together, and once reunited, they felt happy; for them it was difficult to be separated and painful to leave each other” (Chap. XV, n. 38-39). The first great fraternal meeting to share experiences was held in the Pentecost of the 1212. Since then, until the 1216 the Chapters were celebrated twice a year (in Pentecost and for the celebration of St. Michael, in September) in Assisi, as the Legend of the Three Companions explains (Chap. XIV, n. 57). Later, from 1217, once a year, in Pentecost, always in Assisi. In 1221, the year of the Rule non Bullata (not Approved), St. Francis celebrated the most famous Chapter of the “five thousand friars” who had repair only under woven of rushes, or mats. About this Chapter, called “of the mats”, the Little Flowers (n. XVIII) give us an extraordinary and unforgettable description.
Nowadays, the Order of the Friars Minor from time to time celebrates several “Chapters of the mats” that is to say, spiritual meetings in which Superiors are not chosen and laws are not vowed, but they meet simply to be together, to communicate the difficulties, to share the joy, to start again with new power the mission. The young friars (Under Ten, that is to say, with ten years of solemn profession) already celebrated two international Chapters of the mats, in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in 1995 and in Canindé (Brazil) in 2001. This is the third meeting for the young friars and the first one with so many friars, with the presence of the General Minister and his Counselors, in the Holy Land.
Nowadays, the Order of the Friars Minor from time to time celebrates several “Chapters of the mats” that is to say, spiritual meetings in which Superiors are not chosen and laws are not vowed, but they meet simply to be together, to communicate the difficulties, to share the joy, to start again with new power the mission. The young friars (Under Ten, that is to say, with ten years of solemn profession) already celebrated two international Chapters of the mats, in Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in 1995 and in Canindé (Brazil) in 2001. This is the third meeting for the young friars and the first one with so many friars, with the presence of the General Minister and his Counselors, in the Holy Land.