Our little family seems to be going into a growth spurt. The first shot . . .
Brother Jay’s granddaughter is inside. NO . . . not in the box. 🙂
Next . . . meet the new aspirants.
Right: Thomas Holmberg
Left: Andrew Phillip Iverson
Tom has entered as an aspirant for the Extern Brothers. He is a husband, a dad and a grandfather. Welcome to our family, Tom. Our prayers are always with you.
Andrew is an aspirant for our Regular Brothers. He will live in community, make private profession of obedience, poverty, chastity and fidelity to the Gospel of Life. We’re happy to have you among us, Andrew.
Observe the difference in the aspirants’ uniform. The Extern Aspirant wears a white Habanera shirt with a TAU pin on his left lapel, while the Regular aspirant wears a white button-down shirt (short or long sleeve) with a TAU pin on his left lapel.
The aspirant phase is an optional step before a man requests to be admitted
d as a postulant. The usual duration is no more than three months. The aspirant and the formation team discern when it’s time to take the next step.
Each candidate is publicly interrogated by the superior. He must swear that he understands what he’s doing and that he’s doing so freely.
On the altar are the TAU pins, symbol of the Franciscan family, the breviary for the Regular aspirant and the register that each aspirant and the superior must sign, witnessed by at least one brother.
Tom kneels
in front of the superior to sign the register of admission.
The new aspirant is received in a private ceremony that takes place during Vespers. Only Franciscans of Life attend this ceremony. Profession of vows takes place with a few invited guests, such as relatives friends and clergy.
Because the Regular Brothers are bound to pray the entire Divine Office, the Regular aspirant is given a breviary. During this phase he becomes familiar with the Divine Office and begins to pray Lauds and Vespers. Eventually he will pray Matins Lauds, Sext, Vespers and Compline.
The Regular aspirant places his hands on the breviary before receiving it from the superior who says to him, “Believe what you pray and pray as you believe.”
Brother Bernardo D’Carmine was the sponsor and witness for both aspirants.
We must give special thanks to the Latin Mass Community of Miami for Brother Bernardo and Aspirant Andrew Phillip. The community cultivated both vocations. This is an example of the “oneness” of our Church.
The Franciscans of Life do not bear the label, “Traditionalist” nor are we part of the Ecclesia Dei Community, those institutes committed to the Extraordinary Form of the mass and to the Divine Office as it was prayed in 1962. Nonetheless, Franciscans of Life is traditional in a very different sense.
Our Constitution mandates that we recover and imitate the life of the first generation Franciscans.
If you aspire to go forward, you must first look back.
3.
Franciscans of Life 
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