800 years ago this past Sunday, Saint Francis of Assisi passed away at the ripe old age of 44. He was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernadone around the year 1182 to a wealthy cloth merchant in the hillside town of Assisi, Italy. A boisterous young man, Francesco (“Frenchy” his father called him) was captured and imprisoned by a hostile neighboring town at age 20 for about a year before his father ransomed him. Disillusioned with his dreams to serve earthly masters, he heard the voice of Christ calling from the crucifix as he prayed in the crumbling church of San Damiano, “Francis, go and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin.” Wanting to rebuild the church and the Church, he renounced his inheritance and worldly status and embraced poverty as a beggar. Others soon followed him, and he composed a brief rule to guide their daily life and got approval from Pope Innocent III in 1209 to form the Order of Friars Minor (“Little Brothers” or Franciscans).

   Living a life of radical poverty, chastity, and obedience, the number of these Franciscans swelled to 5,000 within a decade of its founding, with houses in Spain, England, France, and across central Europe. Francis received his friend Saint Clare into the Second Order to form the Poor Ladies (Poor Clares) in 1212, and then approved guidelines for lay followers living in the world in 1221 which became the Third Order. At Christmas of 1223, Francis recreated the nativity scene at Greccio with a live manger, establishing the Christmas crib tradition. In 1224 on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, while fasting and praying on a mountain, Francis received a vision of a six-winged angel/the crucified Christ. While the vision filled him with joy, when the angel/Christ disappeared there appeared nail marks on his hands, feet, and side which remained for the rest of his life. Beginning to go blind and continuing to suffer the wounds of the Stigmata (“Marks” of Crucifixion), Francis retired from public ministry among his brothers and eventually died outside the city on the night of October 3rd, 1226. He was canonized two years later by Pope Gregory IX in 1228.

   Francis’ life of holiness offers an example for every member of the Church. Priests and religious are encouraged to live out their religious vocation more radically for Christ. Lay people are challenged to practice detachment over their earthly goods and to love their neighbor, especially the poor and vulnerable. Because of his holiness, Pope Leo has proclaimed a Jubilee Year that runs through January 10, 2027. This Franciscan Jubilee Year, a time for spiritual renewal in the spirit of the Poor Man of Assisi, offers the faithful the opportunity to obtain plenary indulgences - a special grace of God's mercy - by making a pilgrimage to any Franciscan church anywhere in the world and performing the following actions: sacramental confession, detachment from sin, Holy Communion and prayer for the intentions of the pope. Close to us in Oak Creek, you can visit the Basilica of St. Josaphat on 6th Street and Lincoln or the St. Joseph Chapel (School Sisters of St. Francis) on 15th Street and Layton, both in Milwaukee. Both are gorgeous places of prayer and will help you grow in holiness, so go make a visit before January 10th!

   -Fr. Stephen