Franciscans Mark 800 Years Since St. Francis’ Death
Franciscan communities are marking 800 years since St. Francis of Assisi’s death, commemorated as his transitus. The anniversary falls during a Franciscan Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV, running from Jan. 10, 2026, to Jan. 10, 2027. During the Jubilee, Catholics may receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, including confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope’s intentions and a pilgrimage to a designated Franciscan site. St. Francis’s renunciation of wealth and final request to be laid naked on the ground reflected his commitment to poverty and imitation of Christ.
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Franciscan communities are marking the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi’s death with prayer, pilgrimages, Eucharistic devotion and public events. The observances take place during a yearlong jubilee proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV, which runs from Jan. 10, 2026, to Jan. 10, 2027. 1
Francis died on the evening of Oct. 3, 1226, at the Porziuncola chapel near Assisi. Franciscans call his death his transitus; the article describes his final request to be stripped and laid naked on the ground as reflecting his lifelong renunciation and his identification with Christ. 1
During the Jubilee, the faithful may receive a plenary indulgence by meeting the usual conditions of confession, Communion and prayer for the pope’s intentions, and by making a pilgrimage to a Franciscan church or another designated site. 1
The province is holding transitus services, special Masses, novenas, animal blessings, and additional opportunities for Eucharistic adoration and confession. Vocation director Father Victor Taglianetti is also offering “Stations of Saint Francis,” modeled on the Stations of the Cross, and said the Jubilee can help people reflect on Francis’ devotion to the Eucharist and on what may keep them from embracing Christ fully. 1
A relic and medieval-art exhibition organized by Capuchin Father Robert Barbato and the Knights of St. Francis is scheduled for Oct. 14 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco. 1
The cloistered Poor Clares in Alexandria, Virginia, are marking the Jubilee through their regular life of prayer, with some additional devotions rather than large public events. They plan to welcome visitors to their chapel to receive the indulgence and display the required prayer there. 1
The Third Order Regular community is emphasizing Francis’ lifelong conversion and the penitential tradition from which the order developed. At Franciscan University of Steubenville, three chapels have been designated pilgrimage sites; the university has also held a pilgrimage walk and plans Masses, a transitus service and a November academic conference on Francis’ death and questions of death and human dignity. 1
The two U.S. provinces of the Third Order Regular are also joining for celebrations in Loretto, Pennsylvania: a transitus service on Oct. 3 and a Mass the following day at Immaculate Conception Chapel at Saint Francis University. Father Joe Lehman said the anniversary highlights the daily call to turn from sin and follow Christ more closely. 1
At Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration are marking the Jubilee through Eucharistic devotion. Their practices include adding the indulgence prayers to daily vespers, keeping votive candles before statues of Francis, and reading Franciscan writings each evening. 1
The sisters and the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word are holding public solemn vespers for the transitus on Oct. 3. The monastery is also hosting Franciscan preachers for its monthly days of recollection. 1
Across the communities, Francis’ poverty, conversion, devotion to the Eucharist and effort to imitate Christ were recurring themes. Franciscan leaders also pointed to his humility and his encounter with a leper as examples of charity and openness to people he had once feared. 1
Franciscan poverty as a form of Christian discipleship
Franciscan poverty is not simply having little; it is a way of following Christ through trust in God, freedom from possessiveness, and closeness to people who are poor. For St. Francis, poverty meant imitating Christ who became poor and crucified, and giving himself to others rather than merely organizing aid from a distance. Pope Leo XIV describes Francis’s poverty as “relational”: it made him neighbor and brother to the poor.
Francis’s radical simplicity grew from his desire to take the Gospel seriously and conform his life to Jesus. His renunciation of possessions was not an end in itself: it was a path of self-emptying love. In the Franciscan vision, following Christ includes accepting the Cross and becoming more available to God and neighbor.
This poverty also expressed trust in divine providence. The early Franciscan ideal of begging and traveling light made the friars dependent on God and on the hospitality of others. Their dependence was not meant to glorify deprivation, but to embody a humble, pilgrim form of Christian life.
Franciscan poverty challenges disciples to examine how possessions can become security, status, or protection against vulnerability. It calls for detachment—but not indifference to material need. Christian detachment bears fruit in generosity and practical care for those who lack necessities.
The specific Franciscan practice of renouncing ownership is a particular religious vocation, not a requirement that every Christian imitate the friars in exactly the same way. Yet the call to embrace poverty “at least in spirit,” to renounce selfishness, and to bear one’s cross applies more broadly to discipleship.
That distinction matters. Franciscan poverty is a prophetic witness, but it should not be turned into a claim that every Christian who owns anything is barred from salvation. A scholarly discussion in the supplied material notes that such an absolute conclusion goes beyond the broader Christian tradition, which recognizes that possessions can be used justly and generously. The enduring challenge is not simply to possess nothing, but to let nothing possess the heart—and to place what one has at the service of God and neighbor.
Thus Franciscan poverty is a form of Christian discipleship because it makes trust visible, frees the disciple for service, and draws the Church closer to the poor. Its measure is not romanticized hardship, but likeness to Christ in humble, generous love.