NEW YORK — Provincial Vicar Dominic Monti, OFM, greeted interested readers at a book signing here on April 14. It was the first of several such opportunities that Dominic has to talk with purchasers of his recently-published history of the Franciscans.

Despite little prior publicity, the event was well attended. According to Alan Thomas, OFM, “people flocked over” to the parish house at St. Francis of Assisi Church on West 31st Street to buy Francis and His Brothers, a book Dominic wrote to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Order of Friars Minor. The book signing was announced at the end of Mass and at Dominic’s adult education class. Read the article here.

"In Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth, 

Santa Clara scholar Keith Douglass Warner, O.F.M., presents a spiritual guide for global sustainability. Drawing on lessons of the patron saint of ecology, St. Francis, and current environmental research, Warner and co-authors Ilia Delio and Pamela Wood aim to stir the green conscience. The ecotheological stance he stakes out is one that offers hope of renewal—lest a lack of care for creation continue to steer us toward the end of the world as we know it." Read the complete review here.

Franciscans all over the world will this month celebrate the 800th anniversary of the founding of the movement. in Assisi, April 15-18, 2009. Capuchins, Conventuals, Friars Minor and Third Order Regulars will gather to recommit the Order to the Catholic Church. This historic event is reminiscent of what transpired in the year 1209, when Saint Francis and his small group of followers walked from Assisi to Rome to receive approval of their way of life from Pope Innocent III.

The book, Francis and His Brothers: A Popular History of the Franciscan Friars, by Franciscan scholar and historian Dominic V. Monti, O.F.M., Ph.D., highlights this major milestone by telling the historical and inspirational story of Francis of Assisi and his followers—the Order of Friars Minor, or the Lesser Brothers—from its beginnings to current times.

Francis and His Brothers gives particular emphasis to the history of the Order in the English-speaking world. Chapter topics include: medieval Christian society; the First Lesser Brothers; expansion and transformation of the Order; the Franciscan mission; internal crisis in the Order; Observants and Conventuals; friars during the Reformation and Baroque Eras; mission to the world; the challenges of modernity; Franciscans in the United States, Canada and Australia; rebuilding the Order in Europe; and recovering a charism.

The work has been called “a fascinating read” (Ilia Delio, O.S.F., author, Franciscan Prayer) as well as “a great resource for any reader, full of insights and inspiration” (Father Anthony Scannell, O.F.M. Cap., former president, Franciscan Communications) and includes not only the medieval developments of one of the world’s most beloved and well-known band of men, but also the internal evolution and mission efforts of the friars during the modern period, from the sixteenth century to the present.