Today is Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, and it’s easy to calculate how much time remains until the start of the General Chapter. Here’s the simple calculation: we have all of Lent, all of Holy Week, the entire Easter Triduum, and then (almost) all of Easter Time, since the Chapter will begin on Ascension Sunday. The election of the Minister General is scheduled for June 7, the eve of Pentecost. So, less than a hundred days to go!
How are preparations for the Chapter progressing? First, all the reports have been collected, and the Minister General’s report (about sixty pages) is now complete. The Instrumentum laboris has also been completed. We are working on translating these texts and hope to be ready to distribute them in early April. Indeed, we must be ready.
As far as the Capitulars are concerned, there are only two vacancies left. We are waiting to learn who will fill them, though their names have not been confirmed yet. We do know, however, that these open spots are reserved for the Minister Provincial of the Italian Province of the Immaculate Conception (Sicily-Calabria) and the Delegate of the Italian Province of St. Francis of Assisi (Central Italy). The Chapter for the Province of Sicily-Calabria begins next Monday, March 10, while the Chapter for the Province of Central Italy is already underway.
In recent weeks, we discovered some additional names: The Custodial Chapter of Ukraine elected Friar Stanisław NUCKOWSKI as Custos. Friar Marco MORONI was confirmed for his second term as the Custos of Assisi, and Friar Francesco LENTI was confirmed for his second term as the Minister Provincial of the Province of Central Italy. The Italian Province of St Anthony of Padua (Northern Italy) elected Friar Roberto BRANDINELLI to his second term as Minister Provincial. The same Chapter also elected three Delegates to the General Chapter: Friar Fabrizio RESTANTE (from the Delegation in Chile), Friar José Carlos CERDEIRA MATIAS (from the Delegation in Portugal), and Friar Valerio FOLLI who also serves as the Coordinator of the Order’s Project Office. In addition, the soon-to-be-established Italian Province of St. Joseph of Cupertino (Abruzzo-Molise–Puglia) chose Friar Daniele MAIORANO as its first Minister Provincial.
That is the current state of preparations. Please say an occasional prayer for the secretariats, the General Communications Office, the translators, the General Econom, the friars of the Seraphicum College, etc.
This will certainly help us carry on through the Lent and Easter seasons, which this year coincide with the final stretch of preparations for the 203rd Ordinary General Chapter. Amen.
Friar Tomasz SZYMCZAK, Secretary General
