Today, with more than 400 members scattered all over the archipelago, the Philippines Tertiaries are the second most numerous both in terms of nationality and provincial affinity.
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It was originally an organisation of Tertiaries but later on developed into a full congregation.
The abbey is made up of members of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, though it is also used by the Capuchin, Third order, Society of Saint Francis, the Clarisse, and Franciscan sisters.
Blessed Gerard of Villamagna, also known as Gerard of Monza, was a Franciscan tertiary.
Unable to receive holy orders, he became a Franciscan tertiary in the convent of Costa Rica in Antigua Guatemala, and took the name "Peter of Saint Joseph".
In 1831, four Franciscan Tertiaries, women who had been spending their days in Ireland, rented a small cottage and began an experiment in community living.