On the eight-hundredth anniversary of St. Francis' death, his radical choice of poverty continues to challenge the Church. At first glance, it might seem hard to relate it to the spirituality of St. Josemaría, conceived especially for Christians called to holiness in their work and in the ordinary realities of the world. And yet, if we go to the root of the matter, a surprising harmony emerges: for both of them, true Christian poverty begins not with things, with possessions, but with the heart.

St Francis favours a radical formula: to live sine proprio, with nothing of one's own. This is how he defines the life of the friars in his Rules.^[1] It is not simply a matter of owning no money or goods. The sine proprio reaches a far greater spiritual depth: it means not even claiming as one's own the good that God works through us. "Let us refer all good to the Lord, God Almighty and Most High, acknowledge that every good is his," Francis writes, for "his is every good and he alone is good."^[2]

It is striking to find almost the same intuition in St. Paul's writings, which St. Josemaría takes up: "What have you that you have not received?" Talents, intelligence, health, success, human possibilities: all of it is a gift. The problem, then, is not simply having or not having, but turning what we have received into something "ours," forgetting the Giver. This is why Josemaría urges us to detach ourselves not only from material goods, but also from "the gifts of the mind, our health, our good name, our noble ambitions, our triumphs and successes."^[3]

Here Francis and Josemaría seem to meet around one and the same freedom. Francis expresses it through sine proprio; Josemaría, through detachment: two different words pointing to the same free heart, a heart that clings to nothing, because it knows it has received everything.

Of course, the concrete forms differ. Francis and his friars choose to follow the poor Christ by renouncing the ownership of goods. Josemaría, by contrast, speaks of detachment in the use of goods, addressed to Christians immersed in temporal realities, who work, support a family, administer property and take on social responsibilities. That is why he can say that "what really matters is not whether you have this or lack that":^[4] goods are means, to be used rightly, never allowed to become masters of the heart.

But it is precisely that difference which makes the convergence all the more significant. Evangelical poverty is not, in the first place, a matter of how many things we possess. It is measured by the freedom with which we receive them, use them, and are able to give them away.

And there is a further step. For St. Francis, sine proprio extends even to relationships: one can try to "appropriate" one's brother, demanding that he meet one's expectations, judging him, imposing one's will upon him. True poverty then becomes a matter of making oneself small, of serving, of renouncing the urge to dominate. For St. Josemaría too, detachment leads necessarily to generosity: to be "sparing with yourself while being very generous towards others."^[5]

Ultimately, for both saints, Christian poverty is born not of contempt for things, but of the discovery of a greater wealth, and of the imitation of Christ. Francis puts it in words that could hardly be bettered: "Hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves, that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally."^[6]

This is the evangelical paradox uniting two such different spiritual experiences: evangelical poverty is chosen not out of contempt, but because "the All" has been found. When God becomes our true treasure, things take their rightful place; they are no longer something to hold on to, but gifts to be received, cared for, shared and, in the end, given back.

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Friar Francesco Ielpo, OFM, has been Custos of the Holy Land and Guardian of Mount Zion since 24 June 2025. 

1. St Francis, Later Rule, 1:1: The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, living in obedience, without anything of one's own, and in chastity.

2. St. Francis, Earlier Rule, 17:5-7, 17-18.

3. St. Josemaría, Friends of God, no. 114.

4. St. Josemaría, Friends of God, no. 118.

5. St. Josemaría, Friends of God, no. 123.

6. St. Francis, Letter to the Entire Order, 29.