The Character of the Capuchin Charism

The Character of the Capuchin Charism

Krijn Pansters

This article first appeared in Dutch.

The Capuchins live a sober, simple life and their poverty is such that they can even do without a modern general survey of their own history! Of course there are histories of different provinces and missions, for example of individual provinces in the United Stated or of the Order in the Netherlands. On the latter, Jan Jacobs wrote the wonderful book In the Shadow of Francis: The Dutch Friars Minor Capuchins.[1] Here, I would like to read Jan Jacobs’ book with a spiritual lens, giving a brief “charismatic” (rather than historical) overview, looking first at one spiritual source document and then at two other books, one old and one new, on the spirituality of the Capuchins. In this way, I briefly explore the character of the Capuchin charism. By this I mean the nature and uniqueness of their way of life, which, especially in sources that are typically characterized by a language of collectivity and humility, paradoxically determines the set of values and virtues of individual Capuchins and obscures their unique personalities and preferences. Capuchin “characters” nevertheless come to life as we read about the successes of the Order’s key figures, or in the many accounts of discord between administrators, abuses “concerning use of money, horseback riding, neglect of choir service and unjustified monastic renovations,” and “soloistic and sometimes pushy behavior.”[2] By the way, “character” is one of the focal points of teaching at my institute, Tilburg University. Character elements in our educational profile include critical thinking, social responsibility, and entrepreneurship[3] – elements that seem to me to apply without question to the Capuchin charism. Consequently, the stories about these inspiring religious can be used in exemplary ways for academic moral education.[4]

What do the internal documents actually say about spirituality and ethics, about Capuchin “character formation”? Let us start with some general information provided by the Order’s official website: “The Capuchins, since their origins, have been marked by a particular attachment to prayer and care for the poor and the sick. The Order grew rapidly both in size and popularity, given its tendency to imitate the life of Jesus as described by the Gospels. These different approaches were often complemented by their mission in the countryside, which was poorly served by the existing parishes. Here, they were meeting the needs of the faithful in the absence of an effectively prepared secular clergy. They maintained a characteristic proximity to the peripheral towns and to the countryside, adopting a simple homiletic style imbued with everyday life.”[5] The Dutch website has the following: “We stand up for a more just world, for the poor and needy, for dialogue with other religions and for peace. We want to treat creation responsibly. We are convinced that the Christian faith gives meaning and support. The Capuchins work to build a credible, fraternal and viable Church. On this path, respectful treatment of one another, hospitality, mercy, humility and not least humor are particularly important to us.”[6] Are these not simply the shared traits to which Capuchins strive together, not for their own sake, but for the sake of a greater good?

The earliest sources confirm this continuing emphasis on “simplicity in service.”[7] The Capuchin renewal of Franciscan life started at the beginning of the 16th century in the solitude of the Franciscan hermitages, or recollection houses, in Spain and Italy. Recollection, says the editor of the sources, Constanzo Cargnoni, “indicated, on the one hand, separation, withdrawal, an eremitical life and penitential confinement, and, on the other, the withdrawal of the soul into itself, interiorization and recollection of the powers of the soul and a spirit of prayer.”[8] In this context, Matteo, the founding father of the Capuchins, appears on the scene in 1525 to call for spiritual reform. The founding bull of 1528 speaks of the “zelus” to “vitam eremiticam ducere,” the zeal to live an eremitic life. Further, he indicates that the first friars decided that “the basic direction of Capuchin spirituality was strongly oriented toward a total re-appropriation of interiority,” thereby, in the words of chronicler Bernardino Croli, “having eyes that turn away from all affection not only for the world, but also for oneself, the better to unite oneself with its end which is the glorious and most holy God.”[9] This, of course, with the radical simplicity and poverty of Francis, through the cultivation of brotherhood and unity.

The oldest constitutions (from 1536) articulate the Franciscan charism, or basic spirituality – Jan Jacobs calls it the “undercurrent” – in an authentic, sixteenth-century, Capuchin manner.[10] There are 12 chapters with mostly practical prescriptions around entry, leadership, liturgy, visitation, and so on. In them, what are the spiritual and ethical characteristics? I will mention seven things focused on the inner life (from the first three chapters), here taken out of the specific context in which they are described:

1. Imitate: “persevere in the spiritual observance of the evangelical and seraphic Rule” (0); “always carry the sacred Gospel in their heart of hearts” (1); “observe the Testament our Father Saint Francis himself set down” (6); “strive to imitate our Father given us as rule, norm and example, or rather, our Lord Jesus Christ in him, not only in the Rule and Testament but in all his ardent words and loving deeds” (6).

2. Speak: “always try to speak about God as this may truly help them to be kindled in His love and so that the Gospel teaching may bear fruit in our hearts” (2).

3. Contemplate: “Our completely saintly Father contemplated God in every creature” (7).

4. Be humble: “Francis wanted all his friars to be subject to God in every creature” (7); “With the Seraphic Father we accept being subject to everyone as the highest privilege” (8).

5. Be obedient: “[obey] every creature who would show us the way of God; knowing that the lowlier the person may be whom they obey for the love of Lord Jesus Christ, the more glorious and pleasing to God that obedience is” (9).

6. Be poor: “[By distributing everything to the poor] be able to serve God steadfastly and with greater serenity” (15); “dress in the poorest, roughest, most abject, austere and worthless cloth” (21); “go barefoot as a sign of humility and a witness to poverty, and as a mortification of sensuality and a good example to (their) neighbour” (26); “let the beard be worn because it is something manly and natural, rough, worthless and austere” (29).

7. Practice. Examples of Capuchin spiritual practice are liturgical celebration (“celebrate spiritually and receive Communion, offering to God that most pleasing Sacrifice [of oneself]” [33]); prayer (“pray always” [41]); fasting (“remember that a small amount is enough to satisfy necessity and that nothing satisfies sensuality” [51]); and self-castigation (“May they strive to feel a small part of His acute pain” [56]).

In this way, the whole document is a call to pursue only spiritual things – matters “useful or necessary to go towards God” – and (thus) nothing but “most high poverty, pure chastity and humble obedience, as well as the other gospel virtues taught us by the Son of God by word and example” (64). With this spiritual orientation comes the appropriate material “interior design”: the places where the brothers live should be “in accord with the most holy poverty” (73), their rooms consequently “small, humble, poor, abject and low” (74). The habit, contemplative expression of an inner attitude (also: habitus), takes the form of a cross “so that we see ourselves crucified to the world and the world to us” (23). The spiritual rationale becomes most visible in concrete acts and deeds: “to welcome with all possible Christian humanity those persons who come to our places” (93); to preach in word and deed (112) in order to “spread divine grace in the world” (114); and, more generally, “to work for the love of God and to do something pleasing to His Majesty, for divine grace and glory, and to give good example to our neighbour” (148).[11] 

The characteristic way of life of being contemplative in action is discussed extensively by Jan Jacobs in his meticulous historical overview. At the beginning of the book, he briefly discusses the Capuchin austeritas typical of the Order, the “cult of rigor” (13)[12] inherently linked to the reform of the self (15), the ideal of “being the lesser among the lesser” (17), itinerantia, or “the general availability of every fellow brother for every possible function or task” (19), and silence, or “the soul of religion” (57). The Capuchins were soon known for “their direct and appealing preaching as well as their exemplary, austere and shabby way of life, combined with a great degree of service to people on the fringes of society” (33), in the words of Jacobs where he speaks about the Capuchins’ intended role as combatants of Protestantism. Overwhelmingly, throughout history, the contemplative life is an absolute condition for action and mission, for the “devotional and socio-charitable apostolate” (72) in the world. In this regard, solidarity with the poor is “in fact the most explicit expression” of the Franciscan charism, according to Jacobs (482).

Another history book, but much older and more pious, is The Spirituality of the Capuchins in the Netherlands during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries by Dutch Capuchin Optatus van Asseldonk.[13] In Chapter 1 he discusses the “ideal” of the Capuchins, in Chapter 2 the Dutch history (on the cult of austeritas and preaching), in Chapter 3 Dutch mysticism (on contemplation and mystical “inundation”), in Chapter 4 Father John Evangelista of Den Bosch (called the Dutch John of the Cross), and in Chapter 5 asceticism in the eighteenth century (on prayer, Holy Communion and Sacred Heart devotion). What is this ideal of the Capuchins as presented by Optatus in the mid-twentieth century? It is the ideal of Francis, as so beautifully expressed in that story about Br. Masseo and Francis: “Handsome he was not at all [...] And yet all the world ran after him! Why you, Father? Because no one, answered Francis, could better shame the beauty, the science and the greatness of the world than me. That is why He chose me, that everyone might see that all good came from Him. Brother Masseo was moved: How truly humble that man was before everything and above everything and in everything! Indeed, the saint evidently meant it when he spoke, My God and my All. He himself meant nothing.”[14]

Is this not the core of Franciscan spirituality, which also defines the character of the Capuchin charism: to recognize that all good comes from God, that in true humility, not in our merits and achievements, lies our only true meaning. A paradoxical meaning, because we are working to build a society that does not revolve around us and that is rather characterized by an ethic of “not-I.”[15] Paul’s word “God, all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28) resounded in the new form of “primal Franciscanism” (Optatus) whose contemplative and mystical character was particularly striking: the Capuchins “animated their outward work through the inward practice of the highest contemplation.”[16] Or rather, “from and in the fullness of this seraphic contemplation they were impelled to preach to the world through life and doctrine the Crucified One.”[17] Optatus then quotes Melchior of Pobladura, editor of the Order’s chronicles, who states:

“The goal which the first Capuchins set for themselves, was contemplation. The whole of their monastic life in all its parts was directed to this end. The most appropriate means to achieve this goal were poverty, humility and mortification, in which the renunciation of self-will and self-love occupied a very large place. This virtue complex was preferably seen as a form of poverty, entirely in the spirit of Francis, according to which poverty consists above all in a total renunciation of oneself and of everything that prevents union with God in contemplation.”[18]

Again a paradox, this time of virtue: the highest virtue is in fact a complete non-virtue, a non-merit, the true character in some sense being an anti-character. But, as Optatus states, “It is almost impossible to deal with such a vast subject in such a short overview.”[19]

I briefly discussed the book by church historian Jan Jacobs and the book by Capuchin Optatus van Asseldonk. Finally, I want to pay attention to the new book by Swiss Capuchin Church historian Niklaus Kuster, entitled Weniger haben - mehr sein: Freiräume für ein erfüllendes Leben gewinnen.[20] Whereas Jacobs’ large study may be too detailed and too historical for the general public, Optatus' little booklet with its beautiful devotional pictures has not seen the light of day for decades. (A beautiful prayer card from the sixties fell out when I opened it). Kuster’s new book, on the other hand, could well become a bestseller: “having less – being more: finding fulfilment in freedom!” A core spiritual idea aimed at individual seekers of meaning, deeply connected, however, to the social side of the Capuchin way of life (cf. Kuster’s more scholarly article “Nichts besitzen und alles teilen. Solidarische Armut der frühen Kapuziner”[21]). Here, spirituality concerns lifestyle; Kuster’s essay a practical recommendation for today’s meaning-seeking soul:

“Less stuff creates more room to move, less luggage makes you lighter on your feet, fewer appointments leave more time, fewer distractions make you more aware, and fewer contacts benefit deeper relationships. But it doesn’t help much to reduce an excess of stuff or appointments if I start feeling bored with less stress. Only when emptiness becomes free space for something does renunciation have an inspiring effect and make you creative. Conscious and resolute omission is an art you can practice. Less wants to merge with more: more space and time for other things, more health and vitality, which benefits me and others. The goal of each omission is greater or deeper happiness, individual or collective.” [italics KP]

Kuster then elaborates on what this “more with less” can look like in daily life, in society, in economics, in politics and in spirituality. He also explains what this transition to “living more” entails, namely: from asking what you need materially to asking what makes you spiritually happy; from isolation to connectedness; from immoderate consumption to sustaining relationships; from superficial exchange to genuine sharing; and from consumer culture to sustainable coexistence. It is clever how Kuster, with his deep lived knowledge of the Capuchin charism, articulates a radical message most attractively. Very much in the same way that Brother Christopher explains the basics of Capuchin spirituality in the interview we did with him last year for the benefit of our Tilburg students.[22] But in doing so, are they really doing anything different than thousands of Capuchins did before them? Namely, simply preaching simplicity?

In this very short article, I looked for the character of the Capuchin charism. That character essentially has to do with following, speaking, contemplating, being humble, being obedient, being poor, and engaging in religious practices. Accordingly, Capuchin character building does not imply some zealous dedication to cultivating personal virtues and merits but rather a complete occupation of the soul with “the total renunciation of oneself and of everything that can prevent union with God in contemplation.” The Capuchin charism is thus characterized by the pursuit of “having less and being more,” by the creation of a “free space in which a fulfilling life can be found,” and by the sharing of all good with brothers and others, especially those who have even less.