Franciscan Saints

“He died alone!” “We were not with her!” These lamentations are heard daily as people recount the most bitter experience of losing a loved one to COVID-19.

One of the stories about Francis of Assisi relates how a brother watched the saint in prayer, and heard him pray the words, “Who are you, Lord my God, and who am I?”

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.

Exodus 32:7–14; Psalm 106:19–20, 21–22, 23; John 5:31–47 Before he became the “go-to” saint for finding lost objects, St. Anthony of Padua had another nickname: “The Hammer of Heretics.”