On August 19, the Franciscan family remembers Saint Louis of Toulouse (1274-1297). Although virtually unknown today, Louis was a phenomenon in his own time, a prince who renounced a throne to become a Franciscan.
On August 16, the memory of Saint Roch, a Secular Franciscan, is celebrated in many places with great festivity.
"Let us all rejoice in the Lord, as we celebrate the feast day in honor of the Virgin Mary, at whose Assumption the Angels rejoice and praise the Son of God."
Eighty-four years ago on August 14, 1941, Fr. Maximilian Kolbe, OFM Conv., was killed with a phenol injection inside a starvation cell of Block 11 of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
On August 11, the Franciscan family celebrates the feast of St. Clare of Assisi (1193-1253), the first woman to join Francis and his brothers in forging a new Gospel way of life.
On August 8, with the rest of the Church, the Franciscan family celebrates St. Dominic, although not simply as a memorial but as a feast, honoring him as "our holy Father."
On August 5, Franciscans and many Canadian Catholics remember Blessed Frédéric Janssoone (1838–1916), a Franciscan friar noted as “God’s pedlar (peddler),” a missionary evangelizer and pastoral organizer.
On August 4, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie (John) Vianney (1786-1859), the most noted of the many diocesan priests who have been attracted to Franciscan values and joined the Secular Franciscan Order.
What does it really mean to live a penitential life today? For members of the Secular Franciscan Order—or anyone drawn to Franciscan spirituality—this question echoes through centuries of tradition, personal devotion, and communal renewal. St. Francis and the Third Order: The Franciscan and Pre-Franciscan Penitential Movement offers a rich historical and theological exploration of this path, grounding the contemporary Third Order in its earliest roots.
