The Franciscan Search for Identity in the Letters of Minister Generalis Giacomo Bini OFM, Written for the Feast of St Francis of Assisi

The decree of the Second Vatican Council, Perfectae Caritatis, deals with the monastic life and its search for identity.  It set in motion a process that was characteristic of all monastic orders without exception, including the Franciscan family. The Franciscans also searched and examined their identity along the lines of this decree. I will present the life and essential service activities of Giacomo Bini, OFM (+2014), who was Minister Generalis from 1997 to 2003. Having studied the surviving sources (biographical and official documents), we are talking about a minister general who, in search of the Franciscan identity, led the Franciscan Order from the 20th century into the 21st century. In my study I will analyse six letters written during his ministry in the Generalate, on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, on the following topics. I will analyse six letters written during his ministry in the Generalate, on the feast of St Francis of Assisi. After a thematic description of the themes of the letters, I will try to show how the content of these letters serves the minor fraternal identity of the Franciscan Order and its members.