Today is the feast of St Francis of Assisi in the Roman Catholic Church. John Francis Bernardone of Assisi in Italy lived more than 800 years ago and founded an order of celibate brothers to take care of the poor. Francis of Assisi’s impact on Jamaica has happened through the work of religious orders dedicated to his rule, albeit centuries after he died.

In terms of impact, the Immaculate Conception High School in St Andrew; Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, St James; Marymount High School in Highgate, St Mary; and Alvernia Primary School in Cross Roads in St Andrew come first chronologically. Founded by the Franciscan Sisters of Blauvelt, Scotland, these schools were later run by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, New York. Today, these Franciscan Sisters have handed over their schools to the Archdiocese of Kingston and the Diocese of Montego Bay.

The Jamaican-based Franciscan Missionary Sisters, founded in 1929, commonly called the Blue Sisters, operate Holy Childhood High School in Half-Way-Tree and Stella Maris Preparatory School on Shortwood Road in St Andrew. In 1974 the Blue Sisters leased part of their property to the Roman Catholic Church for the construction of Stella Maris Church.

By way of information, buildings and lands owned by religious orders are not the property of the church. Even the late Michael Manley did not understand this when he requested to rent Jesuit property for a seminar for the People’s National Party. The late Archbishop Samuel Carter suggested that he ask the Jesuits as the then Social Action Centre belonged to that order.

“But isn’t it the same Roman Catholic Church?” Manley asked. Archbishop Carter should have asked him if the property of the National Workers’ Union belonged to the People’s National Party. Sometimes answering a question with a question is a teaching tool.

The Immaculate Conception High School was moved to the old Constant Spring Hotel in 1940 after a fire in 1939 destroyed the original school building at 79 Duke Street in Kingston. The purchase by the Franciscan Sisters of the Constant Spring Hotel caused great consternation among Jamaica’s ruling class in 1940. The idea of turning a hotel into a school did not go over well among Jamaicans, more so as ever since the English invasion in 1655 there is anti-Roman Catholic prejudice in Jamaica. But because the sisters stubbornly ignored the protests the success of Immaculate Conception High School today is the result.

In 1958 the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), the original order founded by Francis of Assisi, entered Jamaica and took charge of Our Lady of the Angels Church on Molynes Road. For years Father Paul Walsh directed a home for children called the St Anthony’s Home. Father Paul was also instrumental in bringing the Cursillo Movement to Jamaica in 1967. He died in 2010. In the 1970s the Franciscan Handmaids of Harlem, New York, also did work in the missions in Jamaica.

The Church of Reconciliation in Bridgeport, St Catherine, is jointly owned by the Roman Catholics and Anglican Church in Jamaica and was dedicated on September 4, 1977. The original Roman Catholic pastors were Franciscan Friars of the Atonement from Graymoor, New York. Initially an order of Anglicans founded by Father Paul Wattson that converted en bloc to the Roman Catholic Church in 1909, the Atonements left Jamaica in 1992.

The idea of a joint church for Roman Catholics and Anglicans came from the Matalons — who built Portmore. The first Roman Catholic pastor of the Church of Reconciliation was Father Martin Carter and the first associate pastor (later pastor) was Father Richard Albert (later Monsignor). Albert resigned from the order to become a priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston.

Monsignor Albert’s work in founding both the St Patrick and Stella Maris foundations is well known. But while he was no longer Franciscan, it was the Atonement Franciscans that assigned Albert here in the first place. Monsignor Richard Albert died in 2015.

Today the regular Franciscans (OFM) work in Westmoreland, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay. The Order of Friars Minor (Conventual) worked briefly in Jamaica since this century at St Mary’s Church in Above Rocks, St Catherine. There are also Roman Catholic laity in Jamaica who are members of the Third Order of St Francis.

The Compassionate Franciscans of the Poor, which is based in the Philippines, was founded by a Jamaican. These sisters operate the Good Shepherd Clinic at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Montego Bay.

It was the various orders that follow the rule of Francis of Assisi that were the forerunners of the Missionaries of Charity founded by St Teresa of Calcutta, the Missionaries of the Poor founded by Father Richard Ho Lung, and the Mustard Seed Communities founded by Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon.

Neither the Missionaries of Charity, the Missionaries of the Poor, nor the Mustard Seed Communities follow the Franciscan rule, but the primary example was indeed set by Francis of Assisi. And the work of the Mustard Seed Communities in providing skills training for the poor and the disabled is an expansion of the work of Francis of Assisi.

The patron saint of animals and the environment is Francis of Assisi. Regrettably, I have not been able to download from the Internet any Franciscans who have apostolates in protecting animals and the environment.

Education as an apostolate is time-consuming, but other Franciscans could take on animal protection and the environment. In some parts of the world children bring their pets to church to be blessed on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, but that is far from being enough.

The real impact of Franciscans in Jamaica has been mainly in education, health care, in almsgiving to the poor and in operating at least one orphanage. This is a part of Jamaica’s history.

Michael Burke is a research consultant, historian and current affairs analyst. Send comments to the Observer or ekrubm765@yahoo.com.