A five hundred year association of the Friar Minor (Franciscans) with Kilnalahan began on 29 July 1371, when a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XI and addressed to the Archbishop of Tuam granted permission to the Friars Minor of Ireland to establish “a Guardian and community of Friars” at Kilnalahan.
The lands previously held by the Carthusians were not passed on to the Franciscans and their meagre living had to be supplemented by seeking alms from local people. The friars were responded to generously, as for the next two centuries they remained in undisturbed occupation of the monastery.