As the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15), it is good to know the important role that Franciscans played in promoting this particular image of Mary and why.
On September 7, Franciscans rejoice, especially with countless young people, as Pope Leo XIV canonizes Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006), as the Church’s first millennial saint.
On September 4, the Franciscan family celebrates the memory of Saint Rose of Viterbo (c. 1233-1251), an audacious young Secular Franciscan woman who challenged her contemporaries as a public preacher.
On September 2, Franciscans honor the memory of Blesseds John Francis Burté, Apollinaris Morel, and Severin Girault—Franciscan friars who were among the 116 priests and seminarians massacred on this date in 1792 at the Carmelite church and friary in Paris during the French Revolution.
On August 25, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Louis IX of France (1214-1270), co-patron of the Secular Franciscan Order and of Third Order Regular men and women.
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.
