“A chance to follow in St Francis’ steps”: Eight centuries after the Italian holy man visited Egypt, his relics make a return.
When Saint Francis made his renowned journey to Egypt in 1219, he was wearing the humble tunic which went on to become characteristic of his followers.
Now, 800 years later, that tunic – or part of it – has made a return to the country.
A piece of the garment – which counts as a second-class relic of the saint – arrived in Cairo on the 23rd May. It then made its way to Alexandria, and will also visit Minya, Assiut, Qena and Luxor before returning to Italy on the 2nd June.
Following in St Francis’ steps
The relic belongs to Franciscan friars from the Italian region of Tuscany, who are bringing it to various countries in celebration of the 800th anniversary of St Francis’ stigmata.
Speaking to Vatican News, Anthony Amen, a youth representative for the Egyptian Franciscans, said that the event aimed to “bring back the spirituality of Saint Francis”.
He added that he hoped the encounter with the relics would inspire the Church in Egypt to “follow in St Francis’ steps”.
The Saint and the Sultan
St Francis’ visit to Egypt is now best remembered for his encounter with Sultan al-Kamel, who was at the time the ruler of Egypt.
In the midst of the Crusades, the saint travelled behind enemy lines to meet with the Muslim leader, and remained with him for several days.
Amen said that the visit of the relic was “always a reminder for us to take the initiative to sustain dialogue between us and the other.”
He said that relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt had taken a “huge step forward” in the past ten years, during the leadership of President al-Sisi.
And, he said, much progress had also been made just in the past couple of years precisely because of the 800th anniversary of Francis’ encounter with the Sultan.
Dialogues took place, he said, between leaders and youth representatives from the Catholic Church and Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, one of the most prestigious centres of Muslim learning worldwide.
“From that moment,” Amen said, “we entered a new phase in interreligious dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.”
Amid celebrations for the eighth centenary of St. Francis of Assisi’s stigmata, hundreds of young people gather in Florence until Sunday to look at the future through the eyes of the great saint.
Young people gathered in Florence, Italy, are trying to fully perceive the legacy of St. Francis.
They are doing this through dialogue with the other generations.
At least a thousand young people have come from all over Italy to explore various themes, related to St. Francis, amid the celebrations for the eighth centenary of his stigmata.
This was seen in the opening evening during the encounter with Roberto Vecchioni, who met with Davide, a young singer-songwriter, and two girls from Rondine – Cittadella della pace, one Ukrainian and the other Russian.
The two young women shared their great pain for the war that has been going on between their countries for over two years.
For a sustainable safeguard of Creation
“To save life on earth we need an ecological conversion,” Stefano Mancuso, professor at the University of Florence and founder of plant neurobiology, appealed from the stage of the Francesco Live event.
The Francesco Live event is the meeting of young people who want to seek answers, following the testimony of the Poor Man of Assisi.
On Friday, Florence’s Basilica of the Holy Cross was packed with young people who participated in the event.
The first plenary session was dedicated to integral ecology, in which life, Mr. Mancuso went on to explain, “is a precious good, and yet,” he added, “the quantity of life on the planet is decreasing: the number of animals on earth has halved in the last fifty years, among mammals, almost all of them are now humans and animals that are part of the human food chain.”
A planet distorted by man
Chiara Giaccardi, professor of sociology at the Catholic University of Milan, also emphasised the weight of the human footprint on Earth. “We are in the era of the anthropocene, man has the power to distort the planet.”
Faced with this, she said, the answer lies in being generative.
‘”Science tells us that everything is relationship, and relationship is generative, it gives birth to fruits of the future. Freedom is not the absence of ties: it is making something exist that is not yet there. It is bringing something new into the world, in a shared way.”
This represents the opposite of individualism, which, according to the sociologist, “unties us from everything and ends up making us all the same. This is not our anthropological vision. Every genius needs to be fertilised in order to create. Everything we do has an impact on society and nature.”
Climate crisis and migration
The plenary, coordinated by Michela Lazzeroni, professor of economic-political geography at the University of Pisa, also gave voice to Giorgio Brizio.
The 22-year-old young man, student of International Development and Cooperation Sciences, also deals with climate crisis and migrations.
Also on stage was Friar Francesco Zecca, a Friar Minor from the Salento Province, who has been committed for years to justice, peace and the protection of creation, both in the city where he works, Taranto, and in the OIKOS project.
OIKOS is the Franciscan network of the Mediterranean, which during Francesco Live brought to Florence some young people from countries bordering the ‘Mare nostrum‘ and who for days, in the Sala Giunta of Palazzo Vecchio, have been discussing many issues concerning the present and future of this area of the world.
The economy was the central theme of the event held on Saturday.
Late in his life, and approaching “Sister Death”, Francis wrote a piece of poetic praise to the God he knew was present to him in all of creation. This renowned piece is a beautiful hymn of praise that Franciscans have treasured throughout the centuries.
It is also an inspiration to many within the Christian community. Hymns have been written based on these words, and in 2015, Pope Francis began his second encyclical using the words of the hymn of praise, The Canticle of the Creatures:
Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory,
and the honour, and all blessing,
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no human is worthy to mention Your name.
Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day and through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant
with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of You, Most High One.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven You formed them clear
and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather,
through whom You give sustenance
to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble
and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us,
and who produces various fruit
with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give
pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, shall they be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will find
in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.
This glorious hymn to the God who loves summarises the spirituality of Francis of Assisi. For Francis, and for we Franciscans, God is present in all created things. All of creation must be treasured, protected, loved and cared for because the footprints of God can be seen in all that we see, all that we touch, and all whom we encounter. Fractious attitudes and behaviours must cease. Even death is the place where God is to be found.
Franciscan Spirituality is not about praying to a distant, unapproachable God who has not become present to us. Franciscan Spirituality – our shared spirituality – begins by finding God in the world we inhabit and the people we encounter.
This is the great challenge that Francis leaves us, and it is what we strive to become: followers of Francis, walking in the footprints of the loving God, finding the living God in the world around us.
The early sources about the life of Francis mention five “Lents”.
A Lent to prepare for Easter and one for Christmas
For 40 days before Easter, Francis observed the “Great Lent”, what we know as Lent today. Francis observed a similar period of 40 days of fasting and prayer in preparation for Christmas, beginning after the Feast of All Saints on 1 November. It was at the end of a Lent preparing for Christmas that Francis arranged for the display of the Nativity scene at Greccio. Both Lents were observed by his brothers as well (Later Rule, Chapter 3).
A fast like Jesus’ in the desert
Francis also recommended a fast of 40 days after the Epiphany, 6 January. On this day in Francis’ time, the Church celebrated the Baptism of the Lord (as well as the visit of the Three Kings), so Francis reasoned that Jesus began his fasting of 40 days in the desert on 7 January.
A Lent in summer
In some years, Francis observed a Lent in summer, from the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of the Church of Rome, on 29 June until the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (whom Francis called “the virgin made church”) on 15 August.
A Lent to honour Saint Michael
Finally, Francis observed out of personal devotion a Lent in honour of Saint Michael after the Assumption until 29 September. It was during such a “Lent of Saint Michael”, in 1224, that Francis received the vision of the Seraph on the mountain of La Verna, followed by the appearance of the stigmata on his body.
We have indications from the early sources about how Francis observed these Lents: in fasting, solitude, and prayer.
If these Lents are indicative of his usual practice each year, Francis would spend probably three to five periods of about 40 days each in relative seclusion, dedicating himself to prayer and fasting in solitude, sometimes with one of the brothers, sometimes by himself. This would amount to about four to seven months a year in a secluded, contemplative way of life, frequently spent in the hermitages, a characteristic feature of early Franciscan spiritual practice.
Basically, Francis was creating the space and time to step apart and reflect on how God was asking him to deepen his commitment in terms of the ever-changing situation of his life. “When blessed Francis stayed constantly in a place to pray . . . he was always anxious to know the will of the Lord, about how he could please him better” (Assisi Compilation, 118)
From a post by Friar William J Short OFM in the Commission on the Franciscan Intellectual-Spiritual Tradition website.
On the day of our Custody’s autonomy, 25 April 2023, OFM Minister General Friar Massimo Fusarelli presented me with a relic of Blessed Gabriele Allegra, who was named as the copatron of our Custody, together with St Anthony of Padua. It was such a precious gift. This Blessed stepped on our humble shores and actually lived intermittently at St Anthony Friary from 1960 to 1963.
The Franciscan Friars in Singapore owe our existence to him as it was he who saw that Singapore was the ideal location for a sociological centre to offer the Church’s Social Teaching as an alternative to the Communist ideas then gaining popularity in the Far East.
His biblical spirituality is well-known, having established the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Franciscan Biblical Centre). Bl Allegra responded “yes” to God’s personal call to him to translate the bible into the Chinese language, despite not knowing Chinese and not being a specialist in Sacred Scripture. He set his heart and mind completely on God’s work, and he was known to have said that “the most enviable fate for a Franciscan who does not obtain the grace of martyrdom is to die while he is working!”
Bl Allegra was also respected in theological circles. He participated in international theological congresses, and championed the Franciscan vision of Christology and Mariology, after the likes of other Franciscan theologians such as St Bonaventure, Bl John Duns Scotus and St Bernardine of Siena. Bl Allegra paid special attention to the subject of the Primacy of Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to whom he had a special devotion.
Less known is his love of the poor and the attention he paid to them. Whilst living in Hong Kong, he often visited the leper colony in Macau during Easter and Christmas, deliberately choosing to celebrate these special days with lepers. His deep love for the Franciscan Order is evident in his desire to renew the Order especially after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) when the Church herself was being renewed. He connected this renewal with his theological insights about Christ (Christology) and about Mary (Mariology). This is the genius of this man: knowing how to use his intellect and making real his insights into practical liveable values.
On his feast day, 26 January, especially, we remember this wonderful holy man and friar. There is so much more to learn about him, and so much we can learn from his radical following of Christ in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi.
From the 8th December 2023 till the 2nd February 2024 in every Franciscan church
On the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the “Nativity scene of Greccio”, the Apostolic Penitentiary granted a plenary indulgence to all the faithful who, from 8 December 2023 (Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary) to 2 February 2024 ( Feast of the Presentation in the Temple of Our Lord Jesus Christ) will visit a Nativity scene in a church entrusted to the Franciscan friars all over the world.
The Franciscan Family had forwarded this request to the Holy Father on the 17th April 2023, “in order to promote the spiritual renewal of the faithful and increase the life of grace,” as reads the petition sent to the Apostolic Penitentiary. “By stopping in prayer in front of the nativity scenes”, the faithful may obtain the Plenary Indulgence under the usual conditions. “Likewise, those who are sick or unable to participate physically can equally benefit from the gift of the plenary indulgence, offering their sufferings to the Lord or carrying out practices of piety”.
