The Franciscan Family and the Virgin Mary

In a letter to the faithful, St. Francis of Assisi praised the way of humility that God chose for himself and for his mother, and said that he wanted to imitate it:

"I, little brother Francis, wish to follow the life and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus Christ and of His most holy Mother and to persevere in it to the end." 

St. Clare of Assisi, a faithful disciple of St. Francis, founded the Poor Clares in the same spirit of humility, in imitation of the Virgin Mary. Within the vast Franciscan family, several branches have a Marian designation: the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM), the Franciscan Congregation of the Immaculate Conception, etc. 

It should be noted that the Order of St. Francis was the first order to publish a spiritual literature dedicated to St. Joseph, known as the "Josephina" (Mysteries of the Glorious St. Joseph) published by Bernardino de Laredo in Seville in 1535.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) was a Franciscan who founded the Militia of the Immaculate in Poland at Niepokalanov, near Warsaw, before dying as a martyr at Auschwitz.

Translated from: Library of Marian Writings