Bernardo of Colpetrazzo

Source: Bernardino da Colpetrazzo’s chronicles

Bernardo of Colpetrazzo:

“Therefore it is quite obvious how, until the ultimate Reform, the Order had to become altogether lax and holy men had to come along at different times and make various reforms and raise the Order back on high with that violent motion; not all the Order but only part of it.

We Capuchins hope that ours is the ultimate reform since it is has been carried out in the spirit of the Founder. It has not been made by holy leaders like all the other past reforms where there has been a saint initially. According to the prophecy, however, this saint will come last, as we hope.

Be that as it may, we say ours is the true reform because in clothing and everything else this reform has been like the beginning of the Order when Father Saint Francis founded it.

Although there have been many reforms, these have quickly lapsed by taking up that natural movement. Nonetheless God will miraculously raise the ultimate reform to such heights that it will endure until the coming of the Antichrist, as I often heard from many holy men at the beginning of our Congregation.

According to the Abbot Joachim there won’t be another reform. Rather, a new Order will emerge which he called the Order of Catenati. They will dress in sackcloth. Their perfection will be greater than ours and all the others, but it will only last a short time.”