Lent with the Saints: Clare

Greg Friedman, OFM April 5, 2020

Clare’s vocation, nurtured in her family’s home with her mother and sisters, had grown into a longing to live the gospel life in simple service.

Lent with the Saints: Catherine of Siena

Greg Friedman, OFM April 4, 2020

Catherine was a Third Order Dominican known for her prayer, her severe ascetical practices, and her learning.

Lent with the Saints: Stephen

Greg Friedman, OFM April 3, 2020

In his life and death, Stephen claims identification with Jesus and his power and presence in the world.

Lent with the Saints: Bernardine of Siena

Greg Friedman, OFM April 2, 2020

Bernardine was acknowledged as a great preacher of the era. He had entered the Franciscans at age twenty-two, after spending time nursing plague victims in his hometown of Siena, Italy.

Lent with the Saints: Maximilian Mary Kolbe

Greg Friedman, OFM April 1, 2020

Conventual Franciscan Maximilian Kolbe, imprisoned in Auschwitz in 1941, witnessed many fellow prisoners taken to the gas chambers or killed in other brutal ways.

Lent with the Saints: Leonard of Port Maurice

Greg Friedman, OFM March 31, 2020

In recent years the Holy Father has led the Way of the Cross during Holy Week at the Colosseum in Rome. This annual custom would have pleased the great Franciscan preacher Leonard of Port Maurice.

Lent with the Saints: Margaret of Cortona

Greg Friedman, OFM March 30, 2020

St. Margaret of Cortona was a thirteenth-century Italian orphaned at seven. She later lived with a man to whom she bore a son out of wedlock.

A Franciscan Response to COVID-19

Mark Soehner, OFM March 30, 2020

By now, no one needs to tell you about the impact of the pandemic we’re experiencing. There are a great number of inconveniences. There is also a lot of fear and confusion. Social distancing and the rate of change make all of our daily lives more difficult.