Feast Day of San Francesco d'Assisi

October 4th is the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi according to Catholic Online. [1]  Since San Francesco d'Assisi is my favorite saint, I feel compelled to write something about him today.  Of the many things I could write about on this October 4, 2013, I have chosen not to express an opinion on the "carefully choreographed pilgrimage" [2] by pope Frank to Assisi, Italy.  Today is a day to be prayerful rather than critical.

Today, in the year 1226, Francesco d'Assisi left us to go join Christ in heaven:

After twenty years of clinging most perfectly to Christ, and of following the life and footsteps of the apostles, in the one thousandth, two hundredth, and twenty-sixth year of the Incarnation of the Lord, on the fourth of October, a Sunday, Francis, that apostolic man, most joyfully passed to Christ, winning eternal rest after many labors, and fittingly entering into the presence of the Lord." (Emphasis original.) [3], [4]

On this Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, this blog memorializes two prayers below, quoted verbatim:

"God, by the merits of blessed Francis you enlarge your Church with the birth of new offspring.  Grant, that by imitating him we may look away from everything on earth, in order to enjoy forever sharing the gifts of heaven." [5]

 and

"Make holy, Lord, the gifts presented to you, and, through the intercession of the blessed Francis, purify us of all our lapses into sin." [6]

[1] http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=50
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/world/europe/pope-francis-assisi.html
[3] Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume II, The Founder. Page 107. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[4] There seems to be a discrepancy between the book from which the above quotation is taken and various sources on the internet with respect to the day Saint Francis of Assisi left this world.  The book has the date October 4th while others online have October 3rd.  I go by the book.
[5] Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 346. New York: New York City Press, 2000.
[6] Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Page 347. New York: New York City Press, 2000.