Brother Sun Festival, cultivating relationships to blossom hope
France, 28th -31st August 2025
02 September 2025There were more than 170 participants, students and young professionals (18-40 years old), Franciscan nuns and friars gathered in the last days of August to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures. This festival, entitled “Brother Sun”, was prepared over two years by a group of fifteen young volunteers close to the friars of the Province of Blessed Duns Scotus of France and Belgium and led by Fr. Alejandro Torrado Mendoza, responsible for Youth and Vocation Ministry of the Province. It took place in Alsace, near Strasbourg, with the aim of celebrating the anniversary of the Canticle in a "school of fraternity", open to all, believers and non-believers, to draw together hope for the world of tomorrow, afflicted by numerous ecological and social upheavals.
The programme of these days included Franciscan teaching to discover the depth of the Canticle and its relevance by Br. Frédéric-Marie Le Méhauté, Minister Provincial and theologian, moments of sharing with guests committed to a more just world, moments in small "groups" to experience fraternity, moments of service to offer oneself generously to others, workshops of contemplation, of discovery of integral ecology with the presence in particular of the Laudato si' Movement, of prayer, of dancing praise, giving voice to the most precarious, but also poetic evenings that raise the soul and heart towards the Creator Father. Indeed, above all, plentiful joy, music and celebration.
«I am amazed by all the preparation that has been done for this festival, almost without us, I would say, or at least with a role more of accompaniment and presence that I find very appropriate. There are young people we can count on, who gravitate around our fraternities and who want to commit themselves to our side. It is up to us to leave them space, this portends good things for the years to come," one friar expressed gratefully. Words widely shared by the dozen friars present, convinced that the Church of tomorrow will reinvent itself in this horizontality. "For several years, our pastoral care of young people and vocations has been decisively part of this way of working, in harmony with Pope Francis' dream of a synodal Church. In the end, it's very relaxing for us: we don't have to organize anything for young people. They are autonomous and full of quality. But we can position ourselves as friars: it is not our projects that they follow, but their project that we help to build and enrich spiritually," sums up Fr. Frédéric-Marie.
The participants in the festival are unanimous and moved by the quality and intensity of the relationships they have lived and received together. "I didn't really know what to expect when I came to Brother Sun, but I come out very enriched by all the encounters I was able to experience," exclaims Marie, who discovers the Franciscans for the first time. "The moments of sharing in small groups allowed me to discover in depth other young people that I would not have met in my usual circles of the parish or the movement. I was able to deconstruct some preconceptions and marvel at the presence of God in each one. Our Church is beautiful because it is plural," Nicolas agrees.
Kevin keeps in his heart the workshop "St. Francis for beginners" which "allowed him to discover the figure of Francis and above all his joy, his humility and his trust in the heart of trials". Thibaud gladly admits: "I used to read the Canticle of the Creatures in a poetic and somewhat naïve way, but I realized that it is a compass for my life. This festival allowed me to take more ownership of Franciscan spirituality." Helena, baptized at Easter, has been involved as a volunteer at the festival. She found herself in the logistics commission "serving beers with the friars at the bar", emphasizing the self-managed nature of the festival, where friars and young people were able to mingle from the chapel to the kitchen!
Claire has known the Franciscans for about ten years, but continues to be amazed: "I have learned that the friars can dance at any age and even in the middle of the night!", echoing the "Vigil of the Stars". A real highlight of the festival, this event offered participants a night walk as a search for God in Creation through all their senses. Equipped with large lanterns that they had made themselves, the festival-goers wandered through nature, forming a single flock in search of true light. They found it in the chapel of the sanctuary of Reinacker on the face of Christ of San Damiano illuminated by 170 candles. Accompanied by some guitar chords, John's prologue resounded in the church: "The Word was the true Light that enlightens every man and woman coming into the world."
Until late at night, the participants of the festival contemplated Christ and were invited to leave with a candle to be that fire that illuminates their relationships, their work, their family... The final words are from Gwendal, an ecological activist from the first hour: "In Brother Sun I found a lot of tenderness and sweetness, something free that is given, a space that was a breath of fresh air", demonstrating that with St. Francis evangelical radicalism is above all a quality of the soul to live our relationships.
Emilie Rey, Communications Office Prov. Blessed Duns Scotus
