Society of Saint Francis

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The Society of Saint Francis is a Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion.

[edit] History

During the Reformation all Religious Orders, including Franciscans, were banished from Britain. Not until the mid-nineteenth century were the first Sisterhoods founded in the Church of England, in response to the social needs of the time. Then came a revival of interest in Francis. The Community of St Francis (CSF) was founded in 1905 with sisters living in poverty and working in the East End of London.

Shortly after World War I, the Rev Douglas Downes, an economics don at Oxford university, and a few friends expressed their sympathy and concern for victims of the depression practically by going out onto the roads and sharing the life of the homeless men and boys, looking for work from town to town. In 1921, a Dorset landowner, Lord Sandwich, offered a small farm property (now Hilfield Friary), and here the group of friends was able to offer shelter to the exhausted wayfarers and others in temporary need of help.

In 1934, another small group (led by Father Algy) who had a clearer idea of forming a religious order joined Brother Douglas (as he liked to be called). Gradually the little community took shape, modelling itself more consciously in the Franciscan tradition of prayer and study, as well as working with the poor. It started to look like a religious order in formal sense, with habits, a chapel and regular worship. The Society of Saint Francis came into being, followed by the Third Order in 1936, and the Second Order in 1950 with the establishment of the Community of Saint Clare in Freeland, Witney.

Before long, invitations came to establish centres in other places and at the start of World War II, there were houses in south London and Cambridge. After the war other centres were opened in Britain. Establishments overseas followed and the Society now has friaries in the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Other communities were made in Germany, Italy, Africa and the West Indies.

The Daily Office, SSF's office book, was among the first to be fully updated with the Common Worship lectionary, so was used in the wider Anglican communion.