The publication of Father Raphael Pazzelli's book, St. Francis and the Third Order, is a major step in a twenty-year odyssey of rediscovery for the members of the Third Order Regular and the Secular Franciscan Order. These two branches of that part of the Franciscan family known in earlier times as the "Order of Penance" share an ancient heritage and a contemporary quest to recover their shared story. The appearance of this works marks the first time that we English-speaking Franciscans will have access to a comprehensive and well-documented history of the Third Order.