First Order. The existence of the Friars Minor or first order properly dates from 1209, in which year St. Francis obtained from Innocent III an unwritten approbation of the simple rule he had composed for the guidance of his first companions. This rule has not come down to us in its original form; it was subsequently rewritten by the saint and solemnly confirmed by Honorius III, 29 Nov., 1223. This second rule, as it is usually called, of the Friars Minor is the one at present professed throughout the whole First Order of St. Francis.

Second Order. The foundation of the Poor Ladies or second order may be said to have been laid in 1211 or 1212, when St.Clare, who had besought St. Francis to be allowed to embrace the new manner of life he had instituted, was established by him at St. Damian's near Assisi, together with several other pious maidens who had joined her. It is erroneous to suppose that St. Francis ever drew up a formal rule for these Poor ladies and no mention of such a document is found in any of the early authorities. The rule imposed upon the Poor Ladies at St. Damian's about 1219 by Cardinal Ugolino, afterwards Gregory IX, was recast by St. Clare towards the end of her life, with the assistance of Cardinal Rinaldo, afterwards Alexander IV, and in this revised form was approved by Innocent IV, 9 Aug., 1253 ("Solet Annuere"), few hours before St.Clare's death.

Third Order. Tradition assigns the year 1221 as the date of the foundation of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance, now known as tertiaries. This third order was devised by St. Francis as a sort of middle state between the cloister and the world for those who, wishing to follow in the saint's footsteps, were debarred by marriage or other ties from entering either the first or second order. There has been some difference of opinion as to how far the saint composed a rule for these tertiaries. It is generally admitted, however, that the rule approved by Nicholas IV, 18 Aug., 1289  does not represent the original rule of the third order.

PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE THREE ORDERS

First Order. Coming next to the present organization of the Franciscan Order, the Friars Minor, or first order, now comprises three separate bodies, namely: the Friars Minor properly so called, or parent stem, founded, as has been said in 1209; the Friars Minor Conventuals and the Friars Minor Capuchins, both of which grew out of the parent stem, and were constituted independent orders in 1517 and 1619 respectively.

All three orders profess the rule of the Friars Minor approved by Honorius III in 1223, but each one has its particular constitutions and its own minister general. The various lesser foundations of Franciscan friars following the rule of the first order, which once enjoyed a separate or quasi-separate existence, are now either extinct, like the Clareni, Coletani, and Celestines, or have become amalgamated with the Friars Minor, as in the case of the Observants, Reformati, Alcantarines, etc.

Second Order. As regards the Second Order, of Poor ladies, now commonly called Poor Clares, this order includes all the different monasteries of cloistered nuns professing the Rule of St. Clare approved by Innocent IV in 1253, whether they observe the same in all its original strictness or according to the dispensations granted by Urvan IV, 18 Oct., 1263,   or the constitutions drawn up by St. Colette (d. 1447) and approved by Pius II, 18 March, 1458. During the 20th century, the Second Order has flourished, particularly during the celebration of the 700 anniversary of the death of St. Clare in 1953, and with the postconciliar effort at creating federations of monasteries. In 1993 the Second Order celebrated the 800 anniversary of the birth of St. Clare.

Third Order. It was founded, as we have seen, by St. Francis about 1221.   It includes not only members who form part of logical fraternities, but also isolated tertiaries, hermits, pilgrims, etc.    It is necessary to distinguish between the third order secular and the third order regular.

Third Order Secular. The "Rule of life" approved by Nicholas IV in 1289, was modified by Leo XIII, 30 May, 1883.  During the international congress of the Third Order in 1950, many voiced the need for an updating of the Rule of Leo XIII. They were of the opinion that it lacked the evangelical impetus which should be at the roots of Franciscan legislation. In 1957 the Third Order was given new General Constitutions, with the aim of renewing the contents of the Rule and giving the Order a spiritual, social and apostolic orientation.
Vatican Council II was the turning point for radical reform in the Third Order. In 1966 work was begun on a new Rule for the Third Order of St. Francis. The process was a long one. Various commissions worked upon new proposals. At long last, on 24 June 1978, Paul VI formally approved the new Rule with the Apostolic Letter "Seraphicus Patriarca".
The new Rule proposed a new name for the Third Order of St. Francis: Secular Franciscan Order (SFO). Its structure includes a prologue, in which we find the Exhortation of St. Francis to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance. In this way the Rule of the SFO goes to the roots of the evangelical and penitential life of Secular Franciscans.

Third Order Regular. The early history of the third order regular is uncertain and is susceptible of controversy. Some attribute its foundation to St.Elizabeth of Hungary in 1228, others to Blessed Angelina of Marsciano in 1395. The latter is said to have established at Foligno the first Franciscan monastery of enclosed tertiary nuns in Italy. It is certain that early in the fifteenth century tertiary communities of men and women existed in different parts of Europe and that the Italian friars of the third order regular were recognized as a mendicant order by the Holy See. Since about 1458 the latter body has been governed by own minister general and its members take solemn vows.

New Foundations. In addition to this third order regular, properly so called, and quite independently of it, a very large number of Franciscan tertiary congregations -- both of men and women -- have been founded, more especially since the beginning of the ninteenth century. These new foundations took as a basis of their institutes a special rule for members of the third order living in community approved by Leo X. 20 Jan., 1521.   They modified this rule by their particular constitution which, for the rest, differ widely according to the end of each foundation.   The Third Order Regular was given another Rule by Pius XI, in the Apostolic Constitution "Rerum conditio" of 4 November 1927. In our times it has been given a new Rule by the Apostolic Constitution "Franciscanum Vitae" of Pope John Paul II, on 8 December 1982.  These various congregations of regular tertiaries are either autonomous or under episcopal jurisdiction, and for the most part they are Franciscan in name only, not a few of them having abandoned the habit and even the traditional cord of the order.

The female Institutes of the Third Order Regular, dedicated to the apostolic life, were born mainly during the 19th century. It is impossible to name them all, let alone give a history of each one. At present, the female Franciscan Congregations are over 450.  Among the most widely known, there are the Sisters of St. Angela Merici (+ 1540), who was a Franciscan Tertiary, and the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, founded in 1877 in Ootacamund, India, by Mother Mary of the Passion.