This apartment was later recognized as the official birthplace of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace. There, the two men began a simple Franciscan way of life which, although unknown to them at the time, would bear much fruit. Auspiciously enough, the date that they took the apartment, August 2, is the Franciscan Feast of Saint Mary of the Angels, or the “Portiuncula” — the small chapel near Assisi where Saint Francis and his early friars began their Order.

The apartment was simple. One of their first decisions was to use one of the bedrooms for a little chapel / prayer room. They placed a San Damiano cross, the Syriac Icon through which Christ spoke to Saint Francis, in the room along with the Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God. This would become a custom in all the houses of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace.

The two men committed to pray the traditional prayer of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours. They also prayed by singing vibrant, charismatic songs of praise to the Lord. From the beginning, the community was centered on the Eucharist. In the early years, the men attended daily Mass at the Church of the Assumption in Saint Paul. It was there that various clergy, laity and street–people began to refer to the two of them as “The Brothers.”