Page 26 - C.A.L.L. #44 - Fall 2018

The Idea of Community in

the Franziskusgemeinschaft

The Franziscusgemeinschaft (Franziskus community) is a Roman Catholic fellowship open to
members of all Christian denominations, based on collective life in Pinkafeld, Austria, 100
km. South of Vienna. The community, founded in 1981, is named after St. Francis, ~1182 –
1226, patron saint of animals and the natural environment. It publishes a biannual magazine,
Francesco. The two following articles appeared in Francesco 50 and deal with gratitude for
community as a divine gift as understood by two members of the collective. The articles
have been translated from the German by Susan Kennedy and Michael Livni.

It Began in Lourdes:

Community Life—a Gift

Sister Heidi Flammer, Franziskus Community, Pinkafeld

I can still see myself sitting in my tent in Lourdes*, filled with a deep feeling of gratitude for the
experiences on the bike pilgrimage and arrival at my destination. “Til my dying day I will be
grateful to Brother Fritz (the initiator of the pilgrimage),” I thought, without knowing that I
would later live with him in a community. Brother Fritz was in fact the founder of the Franziskus

Community.

And how blessed was I and were we all in living in this community!

Where should I direct my attention first?

I will start with the wonderful people that I was able to get to know here. I think initially of my
brothers and sisters who gave up good jobs, sold everything, and began a communal life here

based on the Gospels.

Our friendly and generous neighbors graced our very first winter with hay for our cow, of which
we had far too little. They helped us later too, in deed and in advice. A Nicholas (Christmas) gift

from some of the Pinkafeld women is also unforgettable: hand-knitted sheep’s wool socks for
each of us. And now I think of our friends, who for Christmas and on other occasions gave us
chocolate, cookies and wine, and not only that, we also received dishes and tools and even
money for cinema tickets and invitations to concerts. But I don’t only think of my friends in

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