Orders are organizations where its members strive to live the Gospel according a particular way of life. Congregations and Institutes and so on are those founded in order to pursue certain ministries, apostolates or cultural needs.
The Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) is not a part of the Franciscan First Order (OFM), but it is its own order. It is not an association of lay cooperators, but a REAL canonical order as it was erected as such by Pope Honorius III and this had never been revoked. It is the only secular order that was ever canonically erected as a truly autonomous order.
The OFS was founded with the intent of bringing the religious life out of the cloister and into the secular world through its members.
