America Franciscana by Mariano Errasti OFM

The religious brothers, formerly called "Legos" (non-priests) were the first Franciscan brothers to arrive in America.
 
They make palpable the essence of the Franciscan charisma, since for the Minor Brother the important thing is not the priesthood but the religious consecration and the experience of the charisma, following the example of the Seraphic Francis of Assisi who did not seek the priesthood, but rather the radical experience of the saint. Gospel...there are still many friars who are religious, not priests, and they are a treasure for the Order.

Here the example of two great Franciscan religious missionaries "Legos"...
The first Franciscan Friars who arrived in America were Fray Juan de la Deule or the Bermejo and Fray Juan de Tisin. Both came from the convent of Ath, the current Belgian province of Hainut. They were both laymen, that is, not priests. Two months after Columbus's arrival on his first voyage, the Franciscans of the observant branch held their general chapter in Florenzac, France, the news excited the friars and thereby ignited a missionary ardor. Only Brother Jean de la Deule and Brother Jean de Tisin obtained permission from the Vicar General of the Observants, Brother Olivier Maillard, to go on a mission.

They came to Spain to collaborate in the Evangelization mission that was being carried out in Granada, with the aim of converting the Moors. Once there, they saw that their apostolic zeal was not appropriate territory.

Then they embarked from the port of Cádiz in 1493, it was Columbus's second voyage. In the "Historias de las Indias" by Bartolomé de las Casas, he describes them as well-known and literate in the same way that it was known that out of humility they did not want to be ordained priests. Fray Juan de la Deule's reddish blonde hair earned him the nickname Vermejo. Source (published work in spanish)

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