Pax Et Bonum

Peace and all good to you from the friars of the Order of Saint Francis. We hope that you find this site informative and helpful. If you do not find what you are looking for, please feel free to contact us with your questions.

The Order of Saint Francis (OSF) is one of many active Apostolic Christian Orders of the Anglican/Episcopal Church in communion with the See of Canterbury.  Rather than a communal monastic order, OSF members live independently in different parts of the world, with ministries based on the needs of their local community. Members are baptized men who have been confirmed within the Anglican Communion who voluntarily commit to live by a set of professed vows for a term of years or for life.

To get a better understanding of who we are please visit the "Vocation" and "Brothers" pages.

April Mini Retreat

On April 5-7, 2013, Brothers Mark Jenkins, Les Roberts, Jeremy Froyen, Michael Melendez, and Michael Boland met at Richmond Hill, Richmond, Virginia for a mini retreat, sharing in God’s presence, and in brotherly fellowship.



Richmond Hill, the site of a former convent of cloistered Sisters of the Visitation established on top of Church Hill, Richmond’s highest point is now an ecumenical retreat center.  The retreat center is operated by a community of individuals who, work and live at the center, and pray for the city with regular prayer cycles for Morning, Noon, and Evening prayer.



Since the center is ecumenical, there were a couple of other groups at the center while we were there. The groups ranged from a Diocese of Virginia vocational discernment group to a Baptist Church bible study group that was celebrating their 50th consecutive year (with some original members)! Apparently, they community had not hosted to a group of men wearing habits as many of the residents were surprised by it.



While all groups have plenty of time for their own activities, all of the groups are required to share in the community’s cycle of prayer three times a day and break bread in the sharing of meals with each other. At meal times, the community residents purposely spread out among the tables and encourage the groups to mingle while they eat. This was a very interesting dynamic of our retreat and allowed us to share our brotherhood’s way of life with not only other Christian denominations but also to fifteen or so aspirants in the Episcopal Church, who most did not know that the church had religious orders and communities. Since the residents only do prayers three times a day, the brothers held Compline together in the chapel.



On Sunday morning after Morning Prayer, the brother’s walked to St. John’s Episcopal Church to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist.  St. John’s is the site of the Second Virginia Convention in 1776 where Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee and other important figures in the American Revolution, listened as Patrick Henry gave his now-famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.



In our time together, the brother’s shared with each other their own experiences in their relationships, communities, ministries, and parishes. They discussed their challenges and successes of how others perceive us as Friars, and most importantly how God has blessed each one of us in our own ministries. Praise be to God!


Pax et Bonum
Br Les

Franciscan Meditation - The Admonitions

Here we present a different admonition from St Francis each week.  These 23 writings are believed to come from speeches he gave when the brothers came together.  Through these you can see how he tried to guide the order and teach the brothers how to be good and faithful servants of the Lord.

11. That one must not be seduced by Bad Example.
To the servant of God nothing should be displeasing save sin. And no matter in what way any one may sin, if the servant of God is troubled or angered—except this be through charity—he treasures up guilt to himself. The servant of God who does not trouble himself or get angry about anything lives uprightly and without sin. And blessed is he who keeps nothing for himself, rendering "to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's and to God the things that are God's."

The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, tr. by Paschal Robinson, [1905] (sacredtexts.com)

Taizé - The Lord is my light

2012 Convocation

The brothers came together in July for our annual meeting.  The weather in Union, Washington could not have been better.  For this gathering 18 of the brothers travelled from all over the United States and another attended via web from England.  It was a wonderful week for the brothers to share stories of their ministries, break bread together and spend time worshiping and listening to God.