Leonine Prayers Said at end of every Low Mass

St. Martha Catholic Church 214 Brainard rd. Enfield Ct.

Sunday, October 4, 2026

St. Francis of Assisi

Encyclical on St. Francis of Assisi by Pope Leo XIII

Auspicato Concessum

On St. Francis of Assisi

Pope Leo XIII - 1882

To all the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World in the Grace and Communion of the Apostolic See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.

A happy circumstance enables the Christian world to celebrate, at a not far distant interval, the memory of two men who, having been called to receive in heaven the eternal reward of their holiness, have left on earth a crowd of disciples, the ever-increasing off-spring from their virtues. For, after the centenary solemnities in honor of St. Benedict, the father and lawgiver of the monks of the West, the opportunity of paying public honors to St. Francis of Assisi will likewise be furnished by the seventh centenary of his birth. It is not without reason that We see therein a merciful intention of Divine Providence. For, by calling on men to celebrate the birthdays of these illustrious Fathers, God would seem to wish that they should be induced to keep in mind their signal merits, and at the same time to understand that the Religious Orders they founded ought on no account to have been the objects of such unbefitting acts of violence, least of all in those States where the seeds of civilization and of fame were cast by their labor, their genius and their zeal. Encyclical here Click for link to Encyclical in entire.