The Dicastery for Culture and Education has issued the Decree appointing Br. Giuseppe Buffon, OFM, of the Seraphic Province of St. Francis in Umbria and Sardinia, as Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University Antonianum.
The new Rector takes over the office from Br. Agustín Hernández Vidales, OFM, who has held this office since September 2019, as Acting Rector, and since 2020 as Rector Magnificus for two terms.
After the Canonical Visit of the University, which took place between the 27th November and 5th December 2025, the election of the new Rector Magnificent proceeded through two ballots. At the end of the process, the Minister General and Grand Chancellor of the University, Br. Massimo Fusarelli, presented three candidates to the Dicastery for Culture and Education, which finally led to the appointment of Br. Giuseppe Buffon, former Vice-Rector for Research.
Br. Giuseppe is a full professor of Modern and Contemporary Church History. In addition to his scientific interest in integral ecology, he collaborates with several periodicals, including: Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, Catholic Historical Review, Semata, Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà, Internationale Zeitschrift für Humboldt Studien, Archivo Ibero-Americano. His research activity has focused on the definition of a modern and contemporary Franciscanism.
Br. Giuseppe Buffon began his research activity by studying the literary genre of the 'collective pastoral letter' through the analysis of documentation produced by the 'Coetus Episcoporum' of Umbria, from its foundation (1849) to the Second World War. He subsequently delved into the origins of episcopal 'synodality' as a response to 'modernity' through an investigation of the Acts of the first Umbrian Episcopal Conference (1849) held in Spoleto, and attended by Mons. Giuseppe Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII. Choosing this area as the topic for his doctoral research, under the direction of Prof. Giacomo Martina, led him to take interest in the Franciscan world. He decided to explore modern and contemporary interpretations of Franciscanism instead of its origins, which had already been extensively studied and written about (He was especially focused on the life and governance of the Order by Br. Bernardino dal Vago from Portogruaro, 1822-1895).
From this vantage point, he attempted to understand the criteria that Franciscans use to understand who they are, once they go beyond their origin story (how they support themselves, their religious devotions, why they make pilgrimages to LaVerna, etc., see Regions and Devotions, 2000). So he went on to study not so much the history of the various institutions, but rather the institutional dimension of these religious fraternities (see Franciscans Confronting Their Own History, and Historical Research and Institutional Transformation, 2002). With his studies in Paris, his interest in the sociology of institutions and anthropology gained new momentum (see From Suppression to Rebirth, living "sine proprio" from the perspective of a "histoire au ras du sol," 1997). Within this research, he explored how groups attempt to live out the ideals of their founder in modern times (see The Order of Friars Minor in the late 19th Century: Religious life on the threshold of Modernity, 2000). Thus he began a diligent reading of the work of North American organizational sociologists (including March, Olsen, Di Maggio, Brusson) and the German (N. Luhmann). He subsequently initiated a study of the Franciscan presence in the Holy Land, with the aim of identifying the organizational and anthropological characteristics of these missionary Franciscans. His research led to the identification of an institutional category that he called 'rational anarchy,' considered important for understanding various organizational phenomena related to the Middle Eastern Franciscan world (Les Franciscaines en Terre Sainte entre Religion et politique (1869-1889): une recherche institutionnelle, 2002).
Meanwhile, his research continued to go in other directions with his exploration of religious sociology (see Speculum facti sumus mundo). In 2002, he explored minority / poverty as a major factor that led to Franciscan reform in the 16th-19th centuries. He also supplemented his work with important statistics (see Religious Societies by the Numbers, 2003), and spent considerable time exploring the evolution of female congregations (see Female Franciscanism in the New World: the Modernization of Religious Life, 1865-1890). Following a time of research in the United States (New York), he contributed to a seminar organized around the question: "What happens in the history of a congregation when the memory of the founder begins to fade?" The seminar explored the changing times, the tools used, the ideologies embraced, and the circumstances responded to, when a congregation must reflect on the transition from the story of the founder to its own development. (see Female Religious Congregations in the United States, Foundation and Development, 2005; The History of Franciscans overseas, 2006; Between faith and secularization: The American province of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart from childcare to the unfolding of a new religious paradigm, 2007). His experience consolidated into an annual in-depth presentation, entitled: Another Franciscan, which was largely for researchers and others interested in the history of female Franciscan religious congregations, 2007; with statistics, 2008; preserved memory and narrated memory, 2009.
In this context, a preliminary questionnaire on the 'typology of religious institutes inspired by Franciscan ideals' was developed. His studies in the Holy Land and partly in the United States also allowed for a deeper exploration of the missionary theme, addressed according to the categories of: mobilization, globalization, cosmographic and anthropological universalism (Between Space and Territory: The Franciscan Mission in the Modern Era, 2006). Among his ongoing research, his work on female religious congregations is exceptionally valuable, as it attempts to name the parameters and outcomes of the organizational evolution of a congregation placed between the old and new, that is, between tradition and modernity. Since 2006, he has been sharing his important findings through a course on the history of the Franciscans in the modern and contemporary era (1517-1980). In 2011, he produced an extensive summary of his research on Franciscan historical development (see Franciscans in the Modern Era, a forgotten story?)
