The Basilica of St Francis

Life in the Friary

In order to understand what is a Friary one should think of a house inhabited by a large family. Its main function is to accommodate the religious community formed by people living a consecrated life together with lay-brothers. The friary has everything that the people living there need and each area has been planned to be functional to the community’s life. The main elements are: the rooms or cells for sleeping, the refectory, the kitchen, the laundry, the pantries, the library, the vegetable gardens, the gardens, the cloister and  the church. Those who live in the Friary are supposed to follow some basic principles: poverty, obedience to the Rule, chastity, humility, brotherhood, prayer and the missionary spirit. In this way, the friars genuinely emulate Saint Francis (imitator Francisci) who was, in turn, known as the Imitator of Christ (imitator Christi).  All activities in the Friary are marked by individual and communal moments of prayer, known as the Liturgy of the Hours, the official set of prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church, which enables the sacramental participation in the personal prayer of Jesus Christ, who constantly prays the Father through the prayers of the Church as a whole. To ensure univocality to prayer, the Church established a way to pray unvaryingly all over the world, in the same hours of the day, by reading Psalms and the Word of God. These . . .