Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism

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Emerging since the 19th century, there are several Protestant adherent and groups, sometimes organised as religious orders, which strive to adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of Saint Francis of Assisi.

The 20th century High Church Movement gave birth to Franciscan inspired orders among revival of religious orders in Protestant Christianity.

One of the results of the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church during the 19th century was the re-establishment of religious orders, including some of Franciscan inspiration. The principal Anglican communities in the Franciscan tradition are the Community of St. Francis (women, founded 1905), the Poor Clares of Reparation (P.C.R.), the Society of Saint Francis (men, founded 1934), and the Community of St. Clare (women, enclosed). There is also a Third Order known as the Third Order Society of St Francis (T.S.S.F.).

There are three other U.S.-founded orders within the Anglican Communion – the Seattle-founded Second Order of The Little Sisters of St. Clare (LSSC) in the Diocese of Olympia,^[1] the dispersed First Order Order of Saint Francis (OSF) founded in 2003, and the Community of Francis and Clare (CFC) which is a dispersed, open, inclusive, and contemporary expression of Anglican/Episcopal Franciscan life open to men and women.

There are also some small Franciscan communities within European Protestantism and the Old Catholic Church - for example, the OSFC^[2] There are some Franciscan orders in Lutheran Churches, including the Order of Lutheran Franciscans, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, and the Evangelische Kanaan Franziskus-Bruderschaft (Kanaan Franciscan Brothers). In addition, there are associations of Franciscan inspiration not connected with a mainstream Christian tradition and describing themselves as ecumenical or dispersed.

Both the Anglicans and also the Lutheran Church have third orders in emulation of the Catholic ones. The Anglicans have a Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis (TSSF), with the same name as the Catholic third order, the Third Order of Saint Francis, and Lutherans have an Order of Lutheran Franciscans.^[3]