On July 14 and 16, 2026, in two separate sessions, the Province of St. Joseph, Spouse of the B.V.M.: in Romania held a Spiritual Chapter for its friars. The Chapter coincided with this year’s celebration marking the 800th anniversary of the transitus of St. Francis of Assisi.
The Chapter took place at the Roman Catholic Franciscan Theological Institute in Roman, Romania. Eighty-two friars attended the first session and forty-two the second. This division was necessary to accommodate the large number of participants. However, both sessions followed the same theme, featured the same speaker, and offered the same program.
The theme of the Chapter was, “We Are an Evangelizing Fraternity” (cf. Constitutions 91, §2), ties into the 2024–2028 Provincial Four-Year Plan: “The Life of a Conventual Franciscan Friar: Ongoing Formation.” Friar Massimo VEDOVA, Professor of Franciscan Spirituality at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of St. Bonaventure (Seraphicum) in Rome, led the reflections. Friar Cristian DUMEA, the Provincial Vicar, directed the liturgy for both days.
In his two reflections, Friar Massimo began with a simple question addressed to every friar: “Has there been an event in your life that changed you?” The answer, he explained, did not lie in a transformation that we plan for ourselves, but in the “shape” God quietly and steadily gives to each of our lives—a shape we do not invent but are called to recognize. To illustrate this idea, he reflected on three interconnected themes drawn from the Testament of St Francis: “history,” “the brothers,” and “prayer.” History, with its events and encounters, even those we did not choose—our family, our country, even our vocation itself—is the place where God’s work is revealed. The brothers have limitations, but these limitations are not obstacles―they are gifts. Because it is impossible to change them to suit our own image, we are compelled to search more deeply for the true sources of life. Prayer, finally, is the place where history and fraternity find their meaning.
Friar Massimo also described the opposite path: pursuing personal ambitions through career advancement, strategies, and alliances that can gradually lead a friar to aspire to “the office of Guardian,” or a more comfortable assignment, or to a more favorable situation. These desires are not evil in themselves, he explained, but the shape God prepares for each person is always truer and deeper than any goal one might set for oneself.
Reflecting on the words of the Testament, “The Lord gave me brothers,” Friar Massimo pointed out that fraternity is not a choice we make anew every day, but a gift received once and for all. In light of the tangible, practical character of Franciscan faith, he also recalled St. Francis’s devotion to churches and priests. Francis’ faith was lived in practice, not just conceived in thought. He also described evangelization in simple yet demanding terms: telling another person, “You are my brother,” in a world that often rejects whatever does not conform to its own way of thinking, especially when the Gospel challenges that way of thinking.
Each day included Mass celebrated with Midday Prayer, presided over by the Minister Provincial, Friar Damian-Gheorghe PĂTRAȘCU. The afternoon was focused on discussion. The friars divided into six groups for reflection and discussion before gathering again for a plenary session.
The groups’ summaries revisited the same key words—shape, transformation, ideal, and reality—drawing on their own vocation stories. Many recalled that they had entered the seminary initially out of curiosity or because of the example of a friar rather than from fully mature motivations. Later, those initial motivations were deepened through genuine formation and obedience. The friars also paid heartfelt tribute to the priests who were able to discreetly discern in certain boys and young men the signs of a call to consecrated life or to the priesthood. The groups also emphasized that evangelizing today means reaching out to those who are lost in an increasingly secular society, and that the most convincing witness ultimately remains fraternal life lived within the community.
Both days of the Spiritual Chapter concluded with Evening Prayer, Exposition of the Eucharist and Eucharistic Benediction, followed by an outdoor fraternal dinner. As we celebrate the 800th anniversary of the transitus of St. Francis, this year’s Spiritual Chapter calls us to be “an evangelizing fraternity” and continues the journey that the Province of Romania has followed for more than a century. As Friar Massimo VEDOVA reminded the attendees, the true measure of that journey lies not in the goals achieved, but in the shape that God patiently gives to every life and to every fraternity.
We give thanks to our good God, who, through the intercession of our Holy Father St. Francis, has blessed us with these days rich in grace and communion. May what we have received together bear fruit in the life and mission of each one of us!
Friar Tălin CLEMENT
