Letter from the Minister General and the General Definitory to the Entire Order for the Solemnity of St. Francis 2024
on the Eight Centenary of the Stigmata
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Lord give you peace!
The feast of St Francis always occurs close to that of the Stigmata, which precedes it by a couple of weeks. This year, we are particularly aware of the close connection between these feasts, given that it was precisely eight hundred years ago that Francis ascended La Verna to spend a period of retreat and prayer among the rocks and woods. As he put it, he spent a ‘Lent’ there from the feast of the Assumption to the feast of the Archangel Michael.
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