Brief History of the
Brothers and Sisters of Penance
of
St. Francis
The private Association of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St.
Francis began in the late 1980's in the United States, as the outgrowth
of a movement in the Secular Franciscan Order called the Stella Matutina
movement under the guidance of the late Father Valerius Messerich
O.F.M.. This movement had as its objective to encourage Secular
Franciscans to examine and love the primitive Rule of the Third Order
of St. Francis. As the movement grew in intensity and definition it lead
to the realization that an Association of the Faithful needed to be
founded to promote the Rule of 1221.
The Association itself was formally founded in 1996 with the blessing of
Archbishop Harry J. Flynn in the diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to
promote the lifestyle and discipline of the Primitive Rule of the Third
Order of Saint Francis, that is, the Rule of 1221. This is the Rule
that St. Francis himself gave us as drafted originally for him by
Cardinal Hugolino dei Conti dei Segni.
Having thus reached fruition as a private Association in the Catholic
Church under the grace and blessing of the Holy Spirit, it is hoped that
the Association of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis
will become a permanent family in time. May God's good and holy Will be
done.
WHY THE BUTTERFLY AS A SYMBOL?
The butterfly was selected as one symbol of the Association (the other
is the crown of thorns)because it was given to us during prayers for the
Association to depict what was going to happen to those who lived the
Rule of 1221. They would become butterflies so to speak. Converted souls
for Christ. This is most appropriate as a caterpillar transforming into
a butterfly is a meaningful symbol of conversion. A butterfly begins as
a worm, a caterpillar, and then enters a cocoon and essentially dies as
a caterpillar and emerges in beautiful, winged form. Even so, we must
die to ourselves to become souls for Christ. Hence the butterfly is the
symbol of any person who has died to the things of the world and
converted to become a new person who belongs to God. For this reason the
motto of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis, a.k.a. the
BSP, is "IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT FOR CHRIST."
But there is more to the story, which we are able to share with you
because we have the permission of Father Valerius Messerich O.F.M., a
true friend, holy friar of St. Francis, and our first Visitor and
spiritual guide, to do so.
The Lord gave many visions as confirmations on what the association
would be during the early, formative years of the Association. Many of
these visions included the butterfly. What follows are a few of the
visions as recorded in the personal journal of a BSP member, who has
shared them here for everyone's consideration. All of them were received
during prayer.
"I asked the Lord how fast the Association would form and how large it
would become, and he showed me a vision of a beautiful hovering
butterfly. As I gazed the butterfly became a faucet. As I studied this
strange spectacle a drop of water formed slowly at the mouth of the
faucet. Then the drop fell VERY SLOWLY until it hit a flat surface. When
it hit it VERY SLOWLY shattered into numerous droplets that went to the
left and right, and on both ways they became sparkling bright as they
spread out until they hit the surface of the ground again. At that time
each of the droplets became a beautiful, full color butterfly of the
same variety except that one of the butterflies, amidst them all, had a
bright diamond heart that pulsated as it flew away. I understood the
dream to mean that the Association would form slowly, but that among
those that pursued the lifestyle of the First Rule of the Third Order of
St. Francis of 1221 all would become beautifully converted to the Lord,
i.e. butterflies, and some of these would be saints of great holiness.
Praise God! The one drop became many droplets and so many will come to
the Association, become butterflies, and who knows, perhaps more
faucets? More droplets? More butterflies?"
"There was another shock associated with the vision of the butterfly.
When I went in search of a butterfly on my computer to log the story in
my journal, the butterfly in this vision turned out to be the Microsoft
butterfly! The same one in the artwork in the hard drive of my computer!
It was a shock when I saw it! To me this was an indication that the
computer, and Internet?, would be an integral part of what we would
become as an Association. It was not the end though, of the butterfly in
our life."
"In 2003, a new name was sought for the Minnesota group consistent with
the original vision of the Association, which was to stay focused on the
message of St. Francis. We took a vote of our members, and found that
they favored the name Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis. I
put that at the head of the new draft of the Web page and filed it. When
I recovered the electronic file, to edit it and check for errors, a
butterfly had been added to the name, right after Penance, and before
'of St. Francis'. It would show up in the electronic "View" document,
but would not be present in any other use of the file when it was
launched! I confirmed that this could not have happened by normal means
through our IT people, and so could only conclude that St. Francis had
also voted for the name Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis,
and more than that. The position of the butterfly indicated that we, as
lay people following St. Francis, are the 'butterflies of St. Francis",
that is converted souls of the way of life given us by St. Francis.
Praise God for this confirmation!"
So, when you see a butterfly, whether or not you join the BSP, remember
your call, to always be a converted soul of the Lord! Blessed be the
Lord!
Welcome to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St. Francis!
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