“When St. Simon petitioned Pope Innocent IV for a mitigation of the original Rule, the Pope appointed as advisers two Dominicans, one of whom was the famous Hugo of St. Cher, the other William, Titular Bishop of Andorra. Two representatives were also appointed by the Order. It is probable one of these was Fr. Peter Swanyngton, the secretary of St. Simon Stock and the saint’s most trusted friend, whose name is involved in the history of the holy Scapular. The outcome of these negotiations was the permission to have their houses in towns and the admission of the Friars to apostolic work. Community life remained enjoined in the retaining of a common refectory and common liturgical prayer. Although still insisting on the strict observance of poverty, the Rule was slightly modified in conformity to the observance of the other Mendicant Orders, but more in the direction of the Dominican observance than the Franciscan. No individual may possess property and the superior may only administer it for the common good. The Franciscan Rule goes further in this that their property is administered for them by others.”
Bl. Titus Brandsma
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