Minister General is the term used for the Superior General of the different branches of the Franciscan Order. It is a term exclusive to them, and comes directly from its founder, St. Francis of Assisi.
Francis chose this term to designate the leaders of the various communities scattered around Europe even within his lifetime. He chose this word over "Superior" out of his vision that the brothers of the Order were all to be equal, and that the friar supervising his brothers was to be a servant who cared for (ministered to) them, not one who lorded over them.
In the 20th century, the term also came to be used as well by many religious congregations of Religious Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, in the effort to follow more closely the spirit of the founder of their movement.
See:
- List of Ministers General of the Order of Friars Minor
Famous quotes containing the words minister and/or general:
“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the fraught bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Private property is held sacred in all good governments, and particularly in our own. Yet shall the fear of invading it prevent a general from marching his army over a cornfield or burning a house which protects the enemy? A thousand other instances might be cited to show that laws must sometimes be silent when necessity speaks.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)