Year of St Francis

Pope Leo XIV has proclaimed 2026 as a special ‘Year of St. Francis’ (Jubilee Year) from 10th January 2026 to 10th January 2027, marking the 800th anniversary of the saint’s death. This year honours St. Francis of Assisi’s legacy of peace, poverty and care for creation.

As you may know, St. Francis has direct connections to Canterbury through the arrival of his followers, the Franciscan friars (Greyfriars), who established their first English friary in the city in 1224 during St Francis’ lifetime. Nine followers were sent by St. Francis; they landed at Dover and travelled to Canterbury. Their landing is depicted in the mural in the All Saints Chapel. The surviving Greyfriars Chapel in our city’s Franciscan Gardens represents this 800-year-old heritage of service to the poor and provision of natural, reflective spaces. Until recently, we had a community of Franciscans based at the International Franciscan Study Centre in Giles Lane. The centre closed in June 2017 after 46 years of operatiom — and left us their fine statue of Saint Francis (which is also in the All Saints Chapel).

The readings for this Sunday are a reminder of the example St Francis has left us. He quit his comfortable life to embrace a life of poverty and humility. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility (the reading from the prophet Zephaniah). In St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we read:

‘But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.’

St Francis showed, by his life, what it means to be humble. Humility means acknowledging our need for God, our dependence on God. Humility is not a denial of our worth, but a sense of realism about where that worth comes from.

Lord, give me the grace to grow in humility. May I be humble and I will prosper. May I acknowledge my need for You and you will give me everything I really need.