The Holy Land, 1–8 July 2007

3rd International Under Ten Chapter of Mats

From 1 to 8 July 2007, the third International Chapter of Mats for friars with fewer than ten years of solemn profession was held in the Holy Land, under the motto “Secundum verbum tuum”. 

Nearly two hundred friars, delegates from the different Entities of the Order, together with the Minister General Br José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM, and the General Definitory, walked the Holy Places from Nazareth to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, renewing their commitment to follow Christ. 

Looking to the example of Mary of Nazareth in her unconditional “yes” to the Word of God, the friars frankly acknowledged both the beauty and the difficulties of the life they had chosen: loneliness, the weight of inherited structures, and the need for more authentic dialogue within their fraternities.

The Chapter reaffirmed the urgent need for an ongoing and integral formation, for greater openness to the ad gentes mission, and for a renewed presence among the poor, a privileged place of the Franciscan charism. 

The friars returned to their communities renewed in faith and hope, bringing with them concrete proposals to foster interprovincial collaboration and new forms of contemplative and missionary fraternal life.

Read the final message of the Under Ten Chapter of Mats in the Holy Land: Italiano - Deutsch - Français - Hrvatski - Polski - Português

Go to the International Chapter of Mats Under Ten - Assisi 2026