A letter sent to the whole Order, along with the prayer "Omnipotent eternal.."

In the Name of the highest Trinity and Holy Unity of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

To all the reverend and much beloved friars, to friar N., Minister General of the religion of the Friars Minor, their lord, and to the others, who will be Ministers General after him, and to all the ministers and custodes and humble priests in Christ of the same fraternity and to all the simple and obedient friars, first and last, Friar Francis, vile and fallen, your tiny little servant, sends greetings in Him who redeemed and washed us in His most precious Blood (cf. Apoc 1:5), upon hearing whose Name, you are to adore Him with fear and reverence "prostrate upon the ground" (cf. 2 Esdr 8:6), the Lord Jesus Christ, "Son of the Most High" is His Name (cf. Lk 1:32), "who is blessed throughout the ages." (Rom 1,25)

Listen, sons of the Lord and brothers mine, "and turn your ears to my words" (Acts 2:14). "Incline the ear" (Is 55:3) of your heart and obey the voice of the Son of God. Keep with all your heart His mandates and fulfil His counsels with a pure mind. "Confess" Him "since He is good" (Ps 135:1), and "exalt" Him "in your works" (Tob 13:6); "since for that reason" He sent you (cf Tob 13:4) into the whole world, so that by word and work you may give testimony to His voice and make all know, that "there is no Omnipotent besides Him" (cf Tob 13:4). "In discipline" and holy obedience "persevere" (Heb 12:7) and fulfill what you have promised Him with a good and firm resolution. May the Lord "God" offer us "as sons" to Himself. (cf Heb 12:7)

And so I entreat all of you friars with a kiss upon your feet and with that charity, of which I am able, to exhibit every reverence and every honour, as much as you can, to the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom everything in the heavens and everything on earth are, are pacified and are reconciled to the omnipotent God (cf Col 1:20)

I beg also in the Lord that all your my friar priests, who are or will be or desire to be priests of the Most High, that whensoever you may want to celebrate Mass, you do so pure and faultlessly with reverence to the true sacrifice of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, with a holy and clean intention, not for any earthly thing for out of fear of love for any human, as pleasers of men do (cf Eph 6:6; Col 3:22); but let every will, as much as grace helps it, be directed to God, desiring for that reason to please solely the Highest Lord Himself, because He alone is at work there, as it pleases Him; since just as He himself says "Do this in My memory" (Lk 22,19; 1 Cor 11,24), if anyone would do otherwise, he would become the traitor, Judas, and be "answerable for the Body and Blood of the Lord " (cf 1 Cor 11:27).

Remember my friar priests, what is written in the law of Moses, how one transgressing in corporals things died without any pity by the sentence of the Lord (cf Heb 10:28). "How much" more and "worse" does one merit to suffer "torments, who tramples underfoot the Son of God and reckons the Blood of the Testament,in which he was sanctified, to be defiled, and insults the Spirit of grace" (Heb 10:29). For a man despises, defiles, and tramples underfoot the Lamb of God, when, as the Apostles says, "not recognizing" (1 Cor 11:29) nor discerning the Christ's sacred Bread from other foods or works, or eating unworthily or even, if he is worthy, eating vainly and as one unworthy, since the Lord says through the Prophet: "Cursed be" the man, "who" does the work of God "fraudulently" (cf Jer 48:10). And the priests, who do not want to keep this at heart, He in truth condemns saying: "I will curse your blessings" (Mal 2:2).

Listen, my friars: if the blessed Virgin is so honoured, as is right, because She carried Him in Her most holy womb; if the blessed Baptist trembled and did not dare to touch the crown of the head [sanctum verticem] of God; if the sepulchre, in which He lay for some time is so venerated, how holy, just and worthy ought he to be, who holds in his hands and receives in the mouth and offers to others to be received Him who will die no more, but who will forever conquer and be glorified, upon whom "the angels long to gaze" (1 Pt 1:12)?

"See your" dignity, "friar" (cf 1 Cor 1:26) priests, and be holy, because He himself is Holy (cf Lv 19:2). And just as beyond all others on account of this ministry the Lord God has honoured you, so even you are to love, revere, and honour Him beyond all others. Great miseries and miserable infirmity, when you hold Him so near and you care for anything else in the whole world. Let the entire man tremble with fear, let the whole world begin to tremble, and let heaven exult, when there is upon the Altar in the hand of the priest "Christ, the Son of the living God" (Jn 11:27)! O admirable height and stupendous esteem! O lofty humility! O humble loftiness, which the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself; that for our salvation under the limited, little form of bread, hides Himself! See, friars, the humility of God and "pour out your hearts before Him" (Ps 61:9); humble even yourselves, so that you may be exalted by Him (cf 1 Pt 5:6; Jm 4:10). Therefore keep nothing of yourselves for yourselves, so that He may receive you whole, because He manifests Himself wholly to you.

I warn you therefore and exhort you in the Lord, that in the places, in which the friars are staying, only one Mass be celebrated during the day according to the manner [formam] of Holy Church. If in fact there are very many priests in the place, let each be content by means of the love of charity to hear the celebration of the other priest; because Jesus Christ fulfils [replet] those present and absent, who are worthy of Him. Who, though He seems to be in very many places, remains however indivisible and knows no loss, but Himself one everywhere, as may please Him, works with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

And, because "he who is" from God "hears the words of God" (cf John 8:47), we, who have been more especially charged with the divine services, should not only hear and do, what the Lord says, but also take care to instil in ourselves the height of Our Creator and in our subjection to Him to guard the vessels and other appurtenances, which contain in His holy words. On that account I warn all my friars and in Christ I urge them, to this extent, that wheresoever they might find the divine words written, let them venerate them, as they are able, and, in as much as it pertains to them, if they be not stored well or if they lay dishonourably scattered in some place, they are to gather them together and store them once again, honouring in their speech the Lord, "who spoke these things" (3 Kg 2:4). For many things are sanctified by the words of God (cf 1 Tm 4:5), and in virtue of the words of Christ, the Sacrament of the Altar is confected.

Furthermore I confess all my sins to the Lord God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, to the Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin and to all the saints in Heaven and on earth, to friar N. the Minister of our religion, as to my venerable lord, and to the priests of our Order and to all my other blest friars. In many things I have offended out of my own grave fault, in particular that I have not kept the Rule, which I have promised the Lord, nor have I said the office, as the Rule commands, whether out of negligence or the occasion of my infirmity or because I am ignorant and an idiot. And therefore by all means I pray, as I am able, that friar N. my lord Minister General, have the Rule inviolably observed by all; and have the clerics say the office with devotion in the presence of God [coram Deo], not attending to melody of voice, but to the consonance of mind, so that voice agrees with mind, and mind indeed agrees with God, so that they might be able by purity of heart to please God and not with playfulness [lascivitate] of voice to tickle [demulcere] the ears of the people. For I promise to keep these things firmly, as the Lord might give me the grace; and that I will teach the friars, who are with me, that these things are to be observed in the office and in the other things established by the Rule. Whosoever of the friars, however, might not want to observe these things, I do not consider catholic nor my friars; I do not want even to see them nor speak with them, until they have done penance. I say this too concerning all others, who go about wandering, foregoing the discipline of the Rule; since Our Lord Jesus Christ gave His own life, rather than squander His obedience to His Most Holy Father (cf Phil 2:8).

I, friar Francis, a useless and unworthy creature of the Lord God, by means of Our Lord Jesus Christ tell friar N., the Minister of our entire religion and all the Ministers General, who will be after him, and all the custodes and guardians of the friars, who are and will be, to keep this writing with them, to read it and to studiously copy it. And I prevail upon them [exoro ipsos] to solicitously keep and diligently to have those things, which are written in it, observed according to the good pleasure of the Omnipotent God, now and always, so long as this world shall be.

He blesses you by the Lord (Ps 113,13), who made it and may the Lord be with you forever. Amen.

Omnipotent, Eternal, just and merciful God, grant to us wretches that doing for Thy sake, what we know Thou wants, and always wanting, what pleases Thee, as ones interiorly cleansed, interiorly illumined and inflamed with the fire of the Holy Spirit, we might follow the footsteps of Thy Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and attain to Thee, Most High, by Thy grace alone, who in perfect Trinity and simple Unity lives and reigns and is glorified as the Omnipotent God, for all the ages of ages. Amen.