Friday ~ April 20, 2018: The Minister General of our Order, the Most Reverend Fr. Marco Tasca, OFM Conv. {left} was welcomed to the Conservation and Technical Research Laboratory of the Walter’s Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland (USA) for a special viewing of the famed Assisi Missal (dubbed the St. Francis Missal by the Walter’s) which St. Francis opened three times in the Church of San Nicolò, finding the essential Gospel passages for the Rule of the Friars Minor.  Just as St. Francis was accompanied by two Friar-companions at San Nicolò, so too his 119th successor (Friar Marco) was accompanied at the Walter’s by two friars, Fr. Ciprian Budău, OFM Conv., Custos of our Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Custody – Great Britain & Ireland {right}, and our Minister Provincial, Very Reverend Fr. James McCurry, OFM Conv. {2nd from right}.
Even though the 12th-century manuscript is undergoing an extensive two-year restoration, Friar James was able to arrange a private examination of the text and a meeting with the curators.

Friar Marco closely examining the third passage which St. Francis opened, Mt. 16:24.