from the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
September 23, 2026 (#134)
The Feasts of Saint Francis
St. Francis receiving the stigmata
He is, perhaps, one of the best known and most beloved Catholic saint. This year, the Church is observing the 800th anniversary of his death. Surrounded by members of the Franciscan community he founded, Francis died at the age of 44 on Saturday, October 3rd, 1226. This event, called the Transitus (passing over) of St. Francis, is commemorated annually in Franciscan communities around the world on the evening of October 3. The principal feast day of Saint Francis is commemorated the following day, October 4. His holiness was universally acclaimed by his contemporaries and almost immediately after his death many miracles were attributed to his intercession. Evidence of his fame and reputation in a time before mass media of any kind, is the fact that Pope Gregory IX canonized him on July 16, 1228, an astonishingly brief period after his death.
In some places, even where the details of his life and death are little known, the feast of Saint Francis has become the occasion for the blessing of animals. Moreover, Francis has been closely identified by many with the modern ecological movement (e.g., the encyclical, Laudato Si by Pope Francis). Most recently, a new “Mass for the Care of Creation” was approved for liturgical use in the Catholic Church. Its use is especially encouraged between what has been designated by some Churches and Christian ecclesial communities as the “Season of Creation,” September 1 to October 4. It is a sign of the saint's great popularity that many non-Catholic communities honor Francis. Moreover, the decision of Mario Cardinal Bergoglio to adopt Francis as his papal name was warmly received throughout the world.
Less well known among the many devotees of the saint is his experience of the stigmata of Christ. He received the five wounds of Christ on his body during a mystical encounter on Mount Verna, Italy, during an extended time of prayer and fasting there on (or near) the feast of the Holy Cross, September 14, 1224. An eyewitness to the event reported: "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ." He bore the pain resulting from the stigmata until his death, just over 2 years later.
A feast to commemorate this extraordinary grace, set on September 17, was granted to the Franciscans by Pope Benedict XI in 1304. (It was the first available date on the Church’s calendar after the Feast of the Holy Cross). The annual feast was subsequently placed on the General Roman Calendar in 1585. It was suppressed in 1604 and restored in 1615. There it remained until 1969, when it was again removed from the General Roman Calendar, though it remains a feast celebrated by Franciscan communities throughout the world. It is also celebrated by those communities utilizing the 1962 Missal for the Traditional Latin Mass.
Francis’s faithful conformity to Christ Crucified and to the Gospel was exemplified in many ways throughout his life and is duly celebrated on his feast day, October 4. The feast of the stigmata of St. Francis suggests that the Lord himself confirmed this recognition.
For books, statues, and other devotional material related to saint Francis, see
