From the 4th October 2026, the Feast of St. Francis, will return to be a national holiday in Italy. The law, approved by Parliament, will come into force next year on the occasion of the eighth Centenary of the death of St. Francis.
Davide Rondoni, president of the National Committee for the celebrations of this Centenary and promoter of the initiative, welcomed the vote with gratitude and at the same time with responsibility: "The unanimous vote of the Senate shows how St. Francis is a fertile presence for everyone. Which does not mean that it can be recruited under every flag, but that we all need it," he told the SIR agency.
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, welcomed the news with joy: "This decision becomes an opportunity to rediscover the figure of the Patron Saint of Italy, who has profoundly marked the character of our country. It is even more so in this time, torn apart by divisions, growing international tensions and a dramatic escalation of global violence. St. Francis, who had among his main objectives a proclamation of peace, recalls that a fraternal, unarmed world is possible, where everyone has his or her own space, starting with the poorest and most fragile. His life and his work can inspire political love and love for Creation, so that the common good prevails over speculative and stronger logics, partisan interests and polarization. Celebrating the Saint of Assisi, therefore, means believing that we can dialogue with everyone and that peace begins when we consider the other a brother."
This law restores the national holiday (which was abolished in 1977) of the Saint of Assisi declared Patron Saint of Italy on the 18th June, 1939 by Pope Pius XII, who entrusted Italy to the protection of two exemplary figures in its history of faith: St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine of Siena, so that they might revive piety, active faith and civil and ecclesial harmony in the people. Of the poor man of Assisi he wrote: "In fact, St. Francis, poor and humble true image of Jesus Christ, gave unsurpassed examples of evangelical life to the citizens of his turbulent age, and to them indeed, with the constitution of his triple order he opened new ways and gave greater facilities, for the correction of public and private morals and for a more upright sense of the principles of Catholic life".