Dear friends,
I write this fresh from our Custody Chapter, held from 1-5 September 2025. Over the five days, we turned the fruit of the fraternal conversation at our Custody Assembly in July into concrete resolutions and action plans to refresh our Franciscan way of life and renew our commitment to mission.
You have probably heard that I have been re-elected as Custos for the new term 2026-2028. However, there are still two exciting projects before my current term ends – our Franciscan Calendar 2026 and the Celebration of the 8th Centenary of the Canticle of Creatures.
In Franciscan Calendar 2026, we feature the artwork of a young parishioner of the Church of St Mary of the Angels, Ashley Jane Leow. She trained in Film Art in Paris, but I think her creative vision has permeated her digital artwork. I first caught sight of her creativity at Fraternitas Jamboree 2023. When I saw the cover she designed for the Jamboree Journal, I knew she embodied the ability to express spiritual wisdom through creative beauty. I immediately thought to ask her to create the artwork for our Franciscan Calendar, and I am so pleased that she readily agreed.
I have asked her to share her artistic and spiritual perspective in this issue. I hope the images draw you deeper into your own spiritual journey, with St Francis walking alongside you. Fun fact, our Franciscan Calendar 2013 featured the artwork of Ashley’s mother, Lee Kowling. So this mother-daughter pair has helped us friars a great deal in bringing Francis’ story to life with modern imagination!
My prayer is that our Franciscan Calendar can be an evangelising tool that inspires Catholics and those who do not yet know Christ or St Francis to engage in life-giving conversations. Which is one of the reasons the Franciscan Friars have a tradition of promoting the Franciscan Calendar in other parishes.
Our God is a God of surprises and beauty. St Francis wrote on a parchment “You are beauty”, relating the experience of his vision of the Seraphic Crucified Christ on Mt Alvernia in 1223. From St Francis, we have learnt to contemplate God as beauty and indeed in all of God’s Creation.
This year, the Franciscan Family celebrates 800 years of Francis’ Canticle of Creatures, or Canticle of Brother Sun. This canticle sings of Francis’ joy in seeing all of Creation as mystically interconnected because God as Creator is Our Father. Francis sees this brotherhood and sisterhood of all created beings even though he was nearly blind and in pain, both physically and psychologically. This song from the depths of his wounded heart was composed from the soil of rich hope in God and his Goodness. This is the cause of our celebration: From Wounds to New Life.
The Franciscan Family in Singapore – FMM, FMDM, OFS and OFM – will celebrate with a mini-concert on 3 October 2025, the day when Franciscans traditionally commemorate the Transitus of St Francis, his passing from earthly life to heavenly life. The final verse of the Canticle of Creatures sings of praising God through Sister Bodily Death, and Francis composed this verse just before his Transitus into heaven. We invite you to join us at 8pm at the Church of St Mary of the Angels in this celebration where we, as a Franciscan fraternity, will share Francis’ vision of the fraternity of creation.
I hope you enjoy this issue of St Anthony’s Bread. On behalf of the friars of our Custody, my sincere thanks to you all for taking time to read our newsletter and for contributing to our cause. Please pray for our Custody as we prepare to embark on a new term of more authentic living and more impactful missioning. May the Lord journey closely with us all!
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