Third Order – SECULAR FRANCISCAN POPES

through the centuries.

The following Supreme Pontiffs are worthy of eternal memory in the annals of the Seraphic Order. They are members of the Franciscan Third Order also known today as Secular Franciscan Order (OFS).

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GREGORY IX (pontificate 1227-1241) 

So loving of Saint Francis and his sons, that being a Supreme Pontiff, he wore the Franciscan habit on solemn days. Cardinal Protector of the Order of Friars Minor.

BLESSED GREGORY X (1271-1276)

This holy Tertiary pope of the thirteenth century and friend of St Bonaventure was a true son of St Francis, distinguished himself by his love for the holy places in Palestine and his incessant efforts to establish peace everywhere. Theobald Visconti, as he was called before he became pope. It was Blessed Gregory X who convoked the Fourteenth General Council, the Second of Lyons and made St Bonaventure a Cardinal, and told him to accept the red hat “in humility of spirit.” 

He managed to devote much time to prayer and to carry out his many duties in a prayerful spirit and constant union with God.

ADRIAN V (1276)

Pontificate for about five weeks.

To somehow satisfy his devotion to the Franciscan family, he ordered that he be buried in the convent of San Francisco de Viterbo, where he died. 

NICHOLAS III (1277-1280)

Most affectionate to the Seraphic Order: He raise two Franciscan religious to the honors of Episcopate, and at his death he ordered that he be buried in a seraphic habit. 

MARTIN IV (1281-1285)

Professed of the Third Order. He died in Perugia, with a great reputation for sanctity confirmed by miracles; He was buried in a Franciscan habit. After some years, his body was found incorrupt and with the same Franciscan habit.

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EUGENE IV (1431-1447)

Belonged to the Third Order. He laboured to reform the monastic orders, especially the Franciscans. He died in 1447. 

JULIUS II (1503-1513)

This Pope entered the Order of Saint Francis, in the convent of Perugia, and even though a few months after his novitiate, he gave up the habit and returned to the century, he kept his cordial affection for the seraphic Patriarch all his life, and in Proof of this he profess the rule of the Third Order. He was a noted Renaissance patron of the arts. Pope Julius II is responsible for rebuilding St Peter’s Basilica as we know it today. He commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He is also founded the Vatican museum.

INNOCENT XIII (1721-1724)

Driven by his love for the great Franciscan family, wanted to preside over the General Chapter that the Order held in Rome in the year 1723, as he did indeed accompanied by several Cardinals, and even for further proof of his affection, he wanted that this event be commemorated in the medals that, according to custom, are distributed in Rome on Saint Peter’s day. 

CLEMENT XII (1730-1740)

before being Pope, held the post of Cardinal Protector of the Seraphic Order, and later elevated to the pontifical Solius, did not want to resign the Protectorate position, as is clear from a very affectionate brief that he issued, by virtue of which he named Protector of said Order to Cardinal Aquaviva, but on condition that he did not hold office until the Pope himself has died; “As long as I live, says the Pontiff in the aforementioned decree, he does not need the Seraphic Order of Protector.” On another occasion, asking him the Most Rev. General of the Order, where he wanted the intermediate Chapter or Congregation to be celebrated, “right here, I answer, in my pontifical classroom!”; and, indeed, it was a matter of admiration for all of Rome to see the poor Franciscan friars celebrate their Chapter in the Quirinal Palace itself. 

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LEO XIII (1878-1903)

Was a very devoted son of Saint Francis and professed of the Venerable Third Order. This illustrious Pope has been one of those who has given more impulse to the Third Order of St. Francis. He said on February 8, 1888 to all lay Franciscans, 

“Let’s spread the Third Order of St. Francis, let’s work hard in this regard. I would like all the faithful to become tertiary; But above all, I want the Franciscan spirit to spread.” The immortal encyclical Auspicat is a most eloquent praise of the work of Saint Francis with the apostolate of the Third Order. Leo XIII also distinguished the Franciscan Order with honorable appointments, exalting eminent ecclesiastical dignities, numerous Franciscan priests. 

PIUS IX (1846-1878) professed the rule of the Third Franciscan Order in the convent of San Buenaventura in Rome, when he was already Cardinal; and being Pope, the General Chapter that the Order celebrated in the same city of Rome on May 10, 1856 resided personally. 

PIUS VIII (1829-1830)

Belonged to the Third Order. He died in 1830. Pius VIII’s pontificate was the shortest of the 19th century.

BENEDICT XIV (1740-1758)

As Franciscan Tertiary, he personally presided over the General Chapter that the Seraphic Order held in 1790 in Rome; and apart from other proofs of affection, given to the children of Saint Francis, he raise the church of the great convent of Assisi to the rank of papal chapel, granting in favor of the same singular privileges.

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ST. PIUS X (1903-1914)

A fervent Franciscan tertiary, followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, retaining a singular predilection for the Order of Friars Minor. He was, in the same way, an enthusiastic and jealous propagandist of the Third Order of St. Francis. He said on May 5, 1909: “We sincerely hope that the Third Order and the spirit of Saint Francis will spread by every possible means of promotion.”

VENERABLE PIUS XII (1939-1958)

Eugenio Pacelli was a member of a distinguished Franciscan Family. His father, mother, brother, sister and his brother-in-law –all of them were members of the Third Order Secular of St.Francis. Three years before he was ordained a priest in 1899, was invested with the scapular and cord of the Third Order. After his election as pope, he warmly recommended the Third Order of St. Francis to the Catholic world. He said to the Secular Franciscans, “You are an Order. A lay Order, but truly an Order, an Order in the true sense of the word.” In 1957, he gave to the Third Order a detailed, authoritative, and modern interpretation of its rule in the 173 articles of its general constitution.

SAINT JOHN XXIII (1958-1963)

A lover of St. Francis. He always said to the Franciscan Family: “I am Giuseppe (Joseph), your brother.” He loved to recall his investiture in the Third Order of St. Francis and he never forget even the date of his profession. “…from our youth of fourteen years, on the 1st of March, 1896.

SAINT PAUL VI  (1958-1978)

Pope St. Paul VI, himself a postulant Franciscan tertiary in his youth.

On June 24, 1978, he approved the renewed Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) with the publication of the apostolic letter Seraphicus Patriarcha. A gift to his Secular Franciscan family just a few weeks before his death.