The Church celebrates Saint Francis of Assisi on October 4. In 2026, the feast also falls in the 800th year since his death. Francis is loved for his gentleness toward animals, but his life began with a more demanding question: how could he follow Jesus Christ with nothing held back?
The Gospel came first
Francis grew up in a prosperous merchant family in Assisi. His change of heart was gradual. Prayer, the neglected church of San Damiano, and an encounter with a person suffering from leprosy drew him away from the life he had expected. He chose to live among the poor and to preach repentance, peace, and the love of God. The Franciscan Rule still begins with the heart of his vocation: living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That matters when Francis is remembered only as a kindly figure in a garden. He did not look away from people whom his society avoided. Poverty, for him, was a way to be free to serve and to depend on God; it was never a reason to ignore someone else’s hunger or suffering. A Franciscan reading of his feast begins with that concrete love of neighbor.
Peace, praise, and the created world
Francis called others to peace, but he also knew that peace asks something of the person offering it: patience, humility, and a willingness to meet someone face to face. His care for animals belongs within the same Gospel vision. Creatures were not props in a charming story. They shared a world given by God, and Francis saw in them a reason to give thanks.
Near the end of his life, while seriously ill, Francis composed the Canticle of the Creatures. He praised God through sun, moon, wind, water, fire, and the earth that sustains us. The song did not come from an easy life. It came from someone who could still recognize gifts around him in pain. That is why the Franciscan concern for creation also includes concern for the people most exposed to its harm. Pope Francis made that connection in Laudato Si’.
Keeping the feast
Francis died on October 3, 1226; the Church keeps his feast the following day. Franciscans call his passing the Transitus. On this 800th anniversary, a simple way to honor him is to pray, make peace where it is needed, help someone who has been overlooked, and treat the living world with care. Many churches also offer a blessing of animals around his feast.
For those grateful for an animal companion, Catholic Masses offers a Saint Francis–inspired pet enrollment card with a prayerful message. It can be a small way to remember a beloved pet and the joy of caring for God’s creatures.
Saint Francis of Assisi: Saint of the Day
Watch our Saint Francis of Assisi Saint of the Day video on YouTube.
For more on his life and this year’s anniversary, see Franciscan Media’s life of Saint Francis and the Order of Friars Minor’s 2026 reflection.