National News

Franciscan Charism Still Attracts Vocations

October 2, 2013

by Rhina Guidos

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Up until a few weeks ago, Iliana Maldonado was a typical 20-something in the U.S.

She had a steady job and income. On her days off, she went out with friends her age, regularly posting and commenting on Facebook from a Samsung Galaxy smartphone that she rarely left behind.

But there was something more attractive to her than the smartphone and her group of friends. A man had entered her life. That man was St. Francis of Assisi.

These days, the 21-year-old is experimenting living in a community of cloistered nuns in a Wilmington, Del., convent, embracing the life of poverty, service and community that St. Francis and his followers, including St. Clare, began in the 12th century.

Postulant Iliana Maldonado, 21, sits near a statue of St. Francis outside the Monastery of St. Veronica Giuliani in Wilmington, Del. The Guatemalan native is living in the community of cloistered Poor Clare nuns to see if she is called to become a nun and follow the order’s life of poverty and service.
Postulant Iliana Maldonado, 21, sits near a statue of St. Francis outside the Monastery of St. Veronica Giuliani in Wilmington, Del. The Guatemalan native is living in the community of cloistered Poor Clare nuns to see if she is called to become a nun and follow the order’s life of poverty and service.

If all goes as planned, she will one day be a religious sister like the rest. Her life now means no money, no cellphone, no car, no night out with her friends – only a series of prayers, manual labor and instruction about the Franciscan way of life as a postulant with the Poor Clare sisters at the Monastery of St. Veronica Giuliani.

An Austere Life

It is a vastly different way of life from the one most of us live, but it is not surprising that people today still choose to follow the more austere way of Francis, said Franciscan Father Larry Dunham, guardian of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, D.C.

Those who choose to follow St. Francis aim for lives of simplicity, with few material goods, an emphasis on serving others, communal prayer and fraternal brotherhood with God at the center.

Even though he died in 1226, St. Francis and the charism he championed casts a long shadow in our time.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio embraced not just Francis’ name when he became pope this year, but also what the saint stood for. He bypassed the more luxurious papal digs at the Vatican and went to live in the nearby, simpler guesthouse where he could live near others, praying and interacting with them. Like St. Francis, he speaks every chance he gets about the poor and tries to be inclusive of all – even nonbelievers.

In interviews about why he took Francis’ name, the pope said he thought of the Italian saint when Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes embraced him and whispered, “Don’t forget the poor,” during conclave.

By choosing Francis as his name, the cardinal called much attention to the poor man from Assisi and what he and his followers stood for besides their love for animals and nature.

At the center is embracing a life of poverty for the riches of the kingdom of God. But when St. Francis spoke of embracing poverty, he wasn’t just addressing getting rid of the material, Father Dunham said. Poverty meant getting rid of anything that harms us, including getting rid of prejudice, our lack of forgiveness or our love of objects and things over people, Father Dunham said.