Francis’s Transitus

Each year on the evening of Oct. 3 the Franciscan family throughout the world pauses to celebrate the solemnity of our Holy Father Francis’s Transitus, passing over from this life to the next.

In his famous Canticle of the Creatures, the saint from Assisi wrote “Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no one living can escape.” That line, written near Francis’s own embrace of Sister Bodily Death, reflects the importance and natural character of death in the life of all creation. Francis was not afraid of what would come at the end of his earthly life, choosing instead to recognize in that experience, not an end, but a transition from one way of living to another.

Please join the Franciscans at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, 1206 E. 9th Street, on Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. to celebrate this traditional memorial of St. Francis of Assisi.