Our Patron Saint

St. Francis of Assisi, (1182-1226)
Feast Day:  October 4th

Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a sense of self-importance.

Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his frolicking life as leader of Assisi’s youth. Prayer—lengthy and difficult—led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ, climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the road. It symbolized his complete obedience to what he had heard in prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.”

From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano, Christ told him, “Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.” Francis became the totally poor and humble workman.

He must have suspected a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But he would have been content to be for the rest of his life the poor “nothing” man actually putting brick on brick in abandoned chapels. He gave up all his possessions, piling even his clothes before his earthly father (who was demanding restitution for Francis’ “gifts” to the poor) so that he would be totally free to say, “Our Father in heaven.” He was, for a time, considered to be a religious fanatic, begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work, evokng sadness or disgust to the hearts of his former friends, ridicule from the unthinking.

But genuineness will tell. A few people began to realize that this man was actually trying to be Christian. He really believed what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses, no traveling bag, no sandals, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3).

Francis’ first rule for his followers was a collection of texts from the Gospels. He had no idea of founding an order, but once it began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to break the Church’s unity.

He was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News. He decided in favor of the latter, but always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.

During the last years of his relatively short life (he died at 44), he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death, he received the stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands, feet and side.

On his deathbed, he said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun, “Be praised, O Lord, for our Sister Death.” He sang Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the earth, in imitation of his Lord.

– American Catholic.org

Did You Know?

January 7, 2024 
St. Francis took great care of a lot of suffering people in his time. Thanks to his help, these desperate people felt dignified with a ray of hope upon experiencing such compassion.  In his prayer, the lines “Where there is despair, hope” and “Where there is darkness, light” express the desire to give hope to the otherwise hopeless.    -From Christianity.com

September 24, 2023
God would test Francis’s devotion by placing a leper in his path. Before his spiritual awakening, lepers repulsed Francis. But as he approached the man, the shame of his own prejudice overtook him. Filled with an unexplainable love for the beggar, Francis dismounted his horse, gave all his money to the leper, and kissed the man’s diseased hand. This Holy-Spirit-led gesture of love ignited a new passion in Francis to offer everything he was and everything he owned to God—so that Christ’s love would flow through him unhindered.   -From Christianity.com

September 17, 2023
Fighting the urge to continue in the revelry of his former lifestyle, Francis spent countless hours in solitude and fasting. He so yearned for Christ that his friends teased that he “must be in love.” To their shock, Francis announced that he was indeed in love and “about to take a wife of surpassing fairness.” This declaration of adoration for God and the lifestyle he was called to marked the beginning of Francis’s holy surrender.  -From Christianity.com

September 10, 2023
Did you also know that the Franciscans got Papal approval after Innocent III had a vision? Francis’ biographer, Saint Bonaventure, recounts that Pope Innocent III had a dream in which he saw “the Lateran basilica almost ready to fall down. A little poor man, small and scorned, was propping it up with his own back bent so that it would not fall. “I’m sure,” he said, “he is the one who will hold up Christ’s Church by what he does and what he teaches.” After having this dream, Innocent III approved the rule of Francis and the founding of the Franciscan order.

September 3, 2023
Did you also know that his grave was lost for many years? Saint Francis died on October 3, 1226. His body was originally placed in a Basilica, but not long after, out of fear that it would be lost in raids by invading Saracens, his body was hidden. The secret location was forgotten and not rediscovered until 1818.

August 20, 2023
Did you know that before his conversion, he was the first record person to receive the Stigmata. During a 40 -day retreat, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, he had a vision of a six-winged Seraph attached to a cross. He miraculously received at the same time a painful wound of the heart, which seemed to pierce it. When the vision ended his own hands and feet bore the marks of the angelic crucifixion which he had seen in the vision.

August 13, 2023
Did you also know that before his conversion, he traveled into Muslim Territory to convert the Sultan during the 5th Crusade, Francis traveled to Egypt to convert Sultan Malik al-Kamil. He even challenged the Islamic religious leaders to a trial by fire where he would walk through fire with them to prove the truth of Christianity. Though Sultan did not convert, Francis and Sultan became true friends, and ten years later, al-Kamil freely gave Jerusalem to the Christians.

August 6, 2023
Did you also know that before his conversion, Francis was enamored with the Arthurian legends of France, and desired to be knight in the same vein. Francis even fought in two wars, one a civil war in Assisi, and the other as a mounted soldier against the city-state of Perugia. In the second battle, he was captured and was a POW for over a year.