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CAPUCHIN GENERAL MINISTER PACIFICUS CARLETTI OF SEGGIANO 529 4. Revision and approval of the Order's Constitutions (1909) The commission chosen by the general Chapter of 1908 for the revision of the constitutions of the Capuchin Order began its sessions on 6 January 1909, the feast of the Lord's Epiphany, together with the general Minister and the deflnitory. The entire work was completed by the end of February 1909 71 • In his letter of 11 April 1909 to the pope, the general Minister outlined the history of the revision of the Capuchin constitutions. The commission, he stated, aimed at being faithful "both in spirit and substance to the form, and also almost to the letter" of the Order's con– stitutions approved by Urban VIII in 1643. Appropriate modifications were made only where the text did not conform to the changed conditions of the times or to the Church's current discipline. The norms set forth by the Holy See were strictly adhered to in carrying out the revision. The commission "especially by suppressing, modifying and adding to it", as explicitly instructed by the Holy See, strove to revise and preserve "the primitive and authentic Italian text" and at the same time to pro– duce a most faithful Latin version of the same. The general Minister viewed the renewed constitutions also in the context of the Franciscan centenary then being commemorated. The revised constitutions were indeed a godsend for the Order to enable it to rediscover its original ideals and en– thusiasm: The joyful occasion of the 7 th centenary of the founding of the Franciscan Order and the grand celebration being got up for this by the entire Minorite Family make us visual– ise the sweetest hopes with the offer of the certainty that these our constitutions, once again approved, will signal a reinforcing ofthe link of union which by means ofa direct uninterrupted line through the course ofthe seven centuries, will take us back and con– nect us to the primordial origin of the Seraphic Order 72 • dies unitatis, charitatis et uniformitatis vinculis devincuntur''. The latest revision ofthe Constitu– tions also restates the same as regards the scope of the International College. Costituzioni deiftati Minori Cappuccini e Ordinazioni dei capitoli generali. Regola e Testamento di San Francesco. Testo ufficiale, Roma 2013, 43:7: "Per favorire lo spirito di fraternita in tutto l'Ordine, per perfezionare la formazione e promuovere la cultura francescana si raccomanda il nostro Collegio internazio– nale di Roma''. 71 Notificatio, in Analecta OFMCap 25(1909)113. 72 Pacificus of Seggiano, Epistola de Constitutionum revisione, in Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum saeculorum decursu promulgatae II: Constitutiones recentiores (1909-1925), 194.

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