ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI - FEAST DAY 4TH OCTOBER 2026
By Philip Quirke
It is 800 years this October since the death of Il Poverello – the Poor One – from the small town of Assisi in Northern Italy.
It is a big occasion world-wide, and a big occasion for all the Friars and Friaries throughout Ireland. Within twenty years of Francis’ death, his followers had arrived in Ireland, and over the centuries, they had established Friaries in towns at the river mouths: Waterford, Cork, Galway, Ennis, Drogheda, Wexford, Dublin and others. There were also foundations inland, at Killarney and Multifarnham for instance.
Some monasteries died out, many Friars were dispersed during the era of persecutions, but down to the present day the Franciscan Friars have been a very significant presence in Irish society.
Francis is a favourite saint for many people. His love for the world and everyone and everything in the world overflowed from his experience of God’s love for him. His prayers were directed to ‘Altissimu’ – O Most High. His model for his life was Jesus. He had a simple approach to the Sacred Scriptures. They show how God wants us to live: we are to know how much God Most High cares for us, how much we depend upon Him (humility), and to share the gifts of the earth with everybody. There is a challenge to all of us in his attitude to owning ‘stuff’ – give away whatever you don’t need to others who do. His attitude to Poverty (with a Capital P) is that all we have is on loan, and will return to the Giver of all Gifts when we welcome and are welcomed by Sister Death, ‘from whom no living being can escape’.
Francis was seen by his recent namesake Pope Francis as one who had a high respect for the Planet Earth and all it contains. This Pope’s letter on the environment published over ten years ago had the spirit of Francis of Assisi embedded in it. For instance, the basic elements of our planet – water, fire, the earth which gives us our food – are spoken of as brothers and sisters. We awake each day to ‘Master Brother Sun, who speaks us most wonderfully of you O Most High’. It is ‘Sister Mother Earth who sustains us, and brings forth all many of things to nourish us’. St Francis is simple and factual in his teachings, and he is profound in this simplicity because he sees things clearly. He understood our modern environmental awareness which sees and experiences our planet as a web of interconnected relationships; all the peoples of the planet and all natural resources are worthy of respect, and not to be used only for profit. Don’t poison the air, or the water, or the soil, if you wish not to poison yourself or your children.
As October 4th approaches, be on the lookout for celebrations which highlight St Francis’ contribution to how we might understand ourselves better in this era of great change.
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