(OSV News) — Thousands of pilgrims, as well as civil and religious leaders, are expected over the weekend to commemorate the feast of St. Francis, marking the 800th anniversary of his death with a call for world peace.
The Oct. 3-4 celebration will serve as the centerpiece of the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV, which began Jan. 10 and continues until Jan. 10, 2027.
According to the decree proclaiming the yearlong celebration, the Jubilee Year is the “culmination and fulfillment of all previous” 800th anniversaries marking key milestones in St. Francis’ life, including the creation of the first Nativity scene, as well as his composition of the “Canticle of the Creatures” and his receiving of the stigmata.
The Diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino announced the celebrations will begin Oct. 3 with a procession and a solemn commemoration of the “Transitus” (“passage”), the traditional Franciscan prayer service marking St. Francis’ transition into eternal life.
Basilica houses chapel where St. Francis died
The prayer service will be held at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, which houses the chapel where St. Francis died. A walking pilgrimage will take place through the town of Assisi and end at the Basilica of St. Francis, where at 11:59 p.m. the bells will ring to herald the feast day.
In a statement published Sept. 29, Franciscan Friar Giulio Cesareo, the spokesman for the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, invited churches around the world to ring their bells at the same time to commemorate the saint’s death.
“We invite parish priests and rectors of churches and shrines throughout the world to join in this simple yet meaningful gesture, to usher us together into the feast of the Saint of Assisi, the universal brother,” Friar Cesareo said.
After the bells toll at midnight, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, the papal legate for the basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi, will celebrate Mass. The diocese said that after the Mass, pilgrims will be able to visit and pray before the tomb of St. Francis throughout the night.
Civil leaders among those who will attend Oct. 4 Mass
The celebrations will culminate Oct. 4 with a solemn Mass in the upper church of the Basilica of St. Francis. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Mayor Valter Stoppini of Assisi and other civil leaders, ambassadors and dignitaries will be present. Mattarella will also participate in the lighting of the votive candle at the saint’s tomb and deliver an address to the nation from the balcony of the Sacred Convent of St. Francis of Assisi.
At a Sept. 17 press conference in Rome, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, said the weekend celebration was “a precious opportunity to return to what is essential: the fraternity that St. Francis lived and held out to everyone, without borders or exclusions.”
“In a time marked by conflicts that seem to offer no way out, his example reminds us that peace is no utopia, but a concrete path built day by day, starting with the poorest and most vulnerable,” Cardinal Zuppi said.
The lighting of the votive candle, he added, will symbolize the commitment “to keep the light of peace burning, built each day with patience, dialogue, and justice.”
‘May his intercession inspire a change of heart’
“We entrust to St. Francis Italy, Europe, and a world that remains too afraid to lay down its weapons: may his intercession inspire a change of heart and the courage to make bold choices,” the cardinal said.
For Archbishop Felice Accrocca of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, the feast will bring the life and example of “the defenseless herald of peace” to a world beleaguered by war and violence.
St. Francis, he said, “still has so much to say to a world where instead the winds of war are blowing, when many seem eager to flex their muscles, almost as if to convey the concept that issues should not be resolved by the force of law, but by the law of force.”
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
