From January 7-12, 2024, the friars of the Provincial Custody of St. Leopold and St. Nicolas of Flüe in Austria-Switzerland conducted their Ordinary Custodial Chapter at the Heilige Dreifaltigkeit Friary in Vienna. The participants included twenty-two friars from the Custody, the Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI, the Assistant General for the Centralis Europae Foederatio (CEF), Friar Igor SALMIČ, and the Minister Provincial of the Mother Province of St. Elizabeth in Germany, Friar Andreas MURK.
The Chapter began with Evening Prayer on Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. After dinner, the friars drew the names of saints to intercede for each of the friars and for the six communities of the Custody.
The Chapter work began on Monday with the reading of the various reports. Dividing into four working groups, the friars shared their points of view on what they heard in the Chapter Hall, trying to concretize the important points for a future project of the Custody.
The vote for the new Custos was scheduled for Thursday, after a half-day spiritual retreat led by Friar Josef FISCHER of the Province of Germany. Since the Minister General had to leave for the funeral of the former Minister General, Friar Joachim GIERMEK, the vote was brought forward to Wednesday afternoon. Both the Minister General as well as the Minister Provincial emphasized the challenges the Custody will face in the next four years, and the courageous choices it will have to make to ensure the best path for the friars. After these exhortations, the friars began voting. In the first round, Friar Bernhard LANG was elected as the new Custos (first term). After a brief consultation with the Minister General, the Assistant General and the Minister Provincial, Friar Bernhard accepted the responsibility of being the new Custos. All of the friars then went into the church where they sang the Te deum and witnessed the new Custos take his oath of office. At the end, the Custos knelt before the image of Our Lady Help of Christians and entrusted all the friars and the Custody to the intercession of Our Lady.
The next morning, under the spiritual impetus of the theme of conversion and reconciliation in the life of St. Francis, with special attention given to four places in his life (the streets of Assisi, Poggio Bustone, Fonte Colombo, and Greccio) the friars voted on the new Definitory. The newly elected Definitors are Friar Daniele BROCCA, Vicar Custos (first term), Friar Dariusz ZAJĄC, Custodial Secretary (first term), Friar Petru FARCAŞ, Definitor (first term), and Friar Nicholas THENAMMAKKAL, Definitor (second term).
With this choice, all the different countries of the friars living in the Custody were represented.
The last day of the Chapter was dedicated to preparing for the second part of the Chapter, which is to be held at the end of February, again at the friary in Vienna. On the afternoon of January 12, the friars made a pilgrimage to Klosterneuburg, Austria, to the tomb of St. Leopold, one of the Custody’s protectors.
On January 13, 2024, the friars celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Christoph SCHÖNBORN, Archbishop of Vienna in commemoration of the eight hundred years of presence of the friars in Vienna. The General Custos of Assisi, Friar Marco MORONI, together with Friar Guglielmo SPIRITO, had the great joy and honor of bringing the relic of the stigmata of St. Francis to this event. At the end of the Mass, the cardinal, with the relic in hand, imparted his blessing and entrusted us to the intercession of our seraphic father St. Francis. Special thanks to all the friars who came from other Provinces to celebrate this anniversary with us, together with the representatives of the other Franciscan Orders and many sisters.
Friar Dariusz ZAJĄC, Chapter Secretary
