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CAPUCHIN GENERAL MINISTER PACIFICUS CARLETTI OF SEGGIANO 535 In his circular letter of 8 December 1909 promulgating the revised constitu– tions of the Capuchin Order the general Minister reminds the superiors to have the text read during the community meals. He also makes some specifications regarding the Appendices, which he states, are integral to the constitutions. He also insists on the participation in common life, the maintenance of the shared identity of the Capuchin friar, and the obligation ofthose who are priests to apply the daily Mass to the intention of the local superior and not to accept personally offerings from others for the same 89 • That the constitutions of the Capuchins were prefaced by Francis of Assisi's Rule and Testament and that the Order had been formally recognised as being directly and uninterruptedlylinked with the founder oftheMinorite Order certainly contributed towards giving a distinct and well-deflned identity to the Capuchin Order and its institutional patrimony 90 • These aspects which were introduced into the work of renewal patronised by Fr Paciflcus ofSeggiano have been retained ever since in the subsequent legislations. It goes to the credit of the general Minister that he was able to pour oil on troubled waters and see that the agitated minds were calmed. His pragmatic policy of reiterating the need of being uncompromisingly faithful to the Order's tradition and at the same time obeying loyally the Holy See's instruction on updating the legislation kept the Order united, pre-empting every sort ofpolarisation among the friars on ideological grounds. 5. ReopeningMuseo Francescano andMission Strategies On 20 May 1908, when Fr Paciflcus ofSeggiano was elected as the Order's gen– eral Minister, the bulk of the artworks now treasured in the Museo Francescano of Rome had already found their way from their original showcases in the Capuchin house ofMarseilles in France into the safety of the Capuchin General Curia on Via Boncompagni 71, Rome 91 • The origin of the museum in Marseilles goes back to 89 Analecta OFMCap 26 (1910) 27-28, exhorts the friars to keep the old constitutions in the friary archives so that it will serve for the study ofthe history ofthe Order's legislation. 90 Pacificus ofSeggiano, Relatio, in Analecta OFMCap 29 (1914) 171: "At si minime juvat quae acta sunt recolere, maxime interest ante omnium oculos velut ponere multa quae in bonum Ordinis sunt servanda et perficienda, ne Ordo ipse decliner a suo fine neque ad dexteram, neque ad sinistram, sed sua naturali et propria incedat via, suae existentiae rationum, priva lineamenta, suum characterem suamque distinctivam notam qua a caeteris franciscanis Familiis secernitur ser– vaturus et seraphicam adepturus perfectionem". 91 S. Gieben, Cento anni delMuseo Francescano dei Cappuccini, in CF 52 (1982) 426-452.

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