St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) envisaged a new Church in which lay persons could take an active role. In a way he anticipated the contemporary Catholic Church's interest in lay movements, which definitely mark its future. He founded three Orders, one for the friars, one for Clare and her sisters at San Damiano, and a Third Order for lay people who wanted to take the Gospel message seriously in their everyday life. Their way of life was officially approved by the Church in 1221, and they were given a Rule by Pope Nicholas IV in 1284. Their long history is one of outstanding figures of sanctity, Elisabeth of Hungary, Louis IX, King of France, who are considered patrons of the movement, as well as persons from all walks of life, married couples, hermits, popes, martyrs. They were founded as a pacifist movement: their Rule forbade them to carry arms. They had to minister to the sick and to share their daily bread with the poor. In modern times the Franciscan Tertiaries, as they were popularly known, undertook the task of refounding their charism. Pope Paul VI approved their new Rule on 29 June 1978, and renamed them Secular Franciscan Order (SFO).

The recent history of the SFO has been a struggle to adapt the movement to this new way of life. The Order (an ecclesiastical technical term denoting an organisation which is officially approved by the Church's authority and given a Rule of life) has assumed responsibility for its own administration, with its General, Regional, National and Local Ministers and their Councils. It still depends upon the First Franciscan Order, which is made up of four obediences (Order of Friars Minor [OFM], Order of Friars Minor Conventuals [OFMConv], Order of Friars Minor Capuchins [OFMCap], Third Order Regular [TOR]). However, its dependence is now limited to Spiritual Assistance by the friars of the respective Orders. The SFO is wholly autonomous, and its General, Regional and National Councils are made up of members coming from different fraternities, irrespective of the Franciscan Order which assists them.

The SFO in Malta is still undergoing a thorough process of renewal. Efforts are being made to merge it into a united Franciscan front having a National Council. The first step at this merging has been that of constituting a National Conference of the three Assistants of the First Order, Fr. Noel Muscat OFM, Fr. Joe Mamo OFMConv., and Fr. Francis Abela Giusti OFMCap.

A thorny problem which the SFO has to face is that of the Franciscan formation of its members. A positive step in this direction has been that undertaken by the Franciscan Province of Friars Minor, with the founding of the Franciscan Institute. The Institute provides a fundamental Course of Franciscan Studies, open to all, religious and lay persons alike, with the aim of recruiting vocations to the SFO. A total of 25 new members have answered the Franciscan calling after taking an active part in this Course from 1993. On 13 September 1995 Emanuela De Nunzio, SFO Minister General, gave permission to Fr. Raymond Camilleri, OFM, then Minister Provincial, to embark upon the renewal of the Secular Franciscans, within the context of the Hamrun local SFO fraternity. Some of the new Secular Franciscans are married couples.

A united Provisional National SFO Council was elected on 24 January 1998 from what used to be the old ŇobedientialÓ fraternities of the three Franciscan Families of the First Order. The Minister is Joe Pace, together with 7 other counsellors and the three National Assistants. The new Council is now working towards the formulation of a final draft of the National Statutes of the SFO in Malta, as well as upon a common programme of initial and ongoing formation.