ANNIVERSARY OF PONTIFICAL APPROVAL OF HOSPITALER FRANCISCANS

VATICAN CITY, JUL 24, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was the text of a Message from the Pope to the Superior General of the Hospitaler Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, Sr. Maria Isilda de Freitas, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the order's pontifical approval and it's general chapter which is being celebrated in Portugal from July 20 to August 20.

In the Message, written in Portuguese and dated March 27, John Paul II recalls that Blessed Pius IX gave pontifical approval to this congregation on March 27, 1876. He expresses his appreciation "for the stupendous evangelical path opened by the religious family of Sr. Maria Clara do Menino Jesus (1843-1899) during these years with their manifold service of charity." The religious are located on four continents, with 196 houses and 1,709 members.

The Holy Father recalls, furthermore, that in the face of the persecution which prohibited religious profession in Portugal, Sr. Maria Clara travelled with two other religious sisters to Calais, France, to spend their novitiate in the house of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Assisi. Upon returning to Portugal they "wanted to adopt with the greatest perfection possible the same Rule, the same customs and also an identical habit," writes the Pope. "To the Hospitaler Sisters of Portugal were conferred 'the same spiritual privileges which the above-mentioned French congregation rightly enjoys'."

"In the face of the numerous problems and needs that seem at times to compromise and even overwhelm the consecrated life, may the daughters of St. Maria Clara," the Pope concludes, "seek to 'profoundly grasp the designs of providence (of God). He calls the consecrated life to devise new answers for the new problems of today's world'."

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