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Index    Next  LETTER TO ALL INTERESTED FRANCISCANS ABOUT STELLA MATUTINA: AN SFO MOVEMENT WHAT IS STELLA MATUTINA? Stella Matutina is a Movement founded by several Secular Franciscans in the Queen of Peace region with guidance from Fr. Valerius Messerich, OFM. The purpose of the Movement is to permit interested Secular Franciscans to follow the original Rule of the Order, Memoriale Propositi of 1221, in developing a personal Franciscan lifestyle. Stella Matutina is a return to the vision that St. Francis himself had for the laity. That vision is the Movement. WHO IS STELLA MATUTINA? Any Secular Franciscan can join the Movement by personally committing themselves to the Stella Matutina vision. The lifestyle of that vision is what St. Francis gave us in the Letter to the Faithful and the First Rule of the Third Order of 1221. New members joining the Secular Franciscan Order for the first time should study the guiding works of Stella Matutina to form themselves in the Movement, along with their other studies. WHERE IS STELLA MATUTINA LOCATED? Wherever there are Secular Franciscans who embrace the Stella Matutina vision. It is a matter of logic and the heart. Of logic because members of the Movement want consistency between their professions to follow the gospel in the manner of St. Francis in their personal Franciscan lifestyle. They feel their lifestyle should be the one St. Francis himself gave them, as literally as it can be followed today. Growth in the lifestyle is work for a lifetime. Of the heart because members of the Movement love St. Francis and the Mother of God who was so special to him. St. Francis has not spoken since his death, so why change his vision and words except where necessary? The Mother of God, of course, has spoken to us at Fatima, Lourdes, and elsewhere calling the entire human race back to the simplicity and disciplines St. Francis loved. MUST I JOIN? No. The Rule of 1221, which contains the vision behind the Stella Matutina Movement, is not the current Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. The current Rule was drafted in 1978. Members of the Movement wish to be led by St. Francis himself, while not violating the new Rule. The Movement does not violate the new Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. Each Franciscan is responsible to create a holy Franciscan lifestyle for themselves. Stella Matutina is our response to this obligation. WHY THE NAME STELLA MATUTINA? The Movement is named after Mary, the Mother of God, under Her glorious title of Morning Star (i.e. Stella Matutina in Latin). St. Francis too, was a Morning Star of his age, according to St. Bonaventure, which is no surprise to any Franciscan. The title reminds us of who we follow and who we wish to be in our day, Morning Stars - lights to the modern world. HOW DO I BEGIN? Make a personal commitment to join Stella Matutina to the Lord, Our Lady, and St. Francis. Then do it by studying and internalizing the life of the brothers and sisters of penance through the practical exercises of prayer, fasting, abstinence and conversion as St. Francis envisioned it for us in the Letter to the Faithful and First Rule of the Third Order of 1221.

PEACE TO ALL IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD,
HIS MOTHER AND ST. FRANCIS, WHO LOVED THEM BOTH.

BRUCE AND SHELLEY FAHEY SFO