From the Irish Capuchin Archives: A 1926 Irish Saint Francis Banner and the Eighth Centenary of the Transitus Today (3 October) marks the 800th anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi who passed away on this day in 1226. While his official liturgical feast day is celebrated tomorrow on 4 October, Franciscan communities globally commemorate his passing tonight with a service known as the Transitus (Latin for ‘passage’ or ‘crossing’). It is appropriate, therefore, to share this image of a processional banner commissioned by the Irish Capuchin Franciscans exactly one century ago to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Saint Francis’s passing. Carried to Italy on an official national pilgrimage led by the Irish Capuchin friars, the banner blends Franciscan theology with the aesthetics of the Gaelic Revival. At its centre stands Saint Francis clad in a traditional brown habit, displaying the stigmata and holding a Latin scroll inscribed with the blessing, ‘PAX HVIC DOMVI’ (Peace be to this house). The script framing the Saint’s head uses the abbreviated Latin ‘FR FRANCISCV’ (Friar Francis) while the Irish language text reads (above) ‘A NAOMH PRÓINSIAS’ (O Saint Francis) and (below) ‘GUIDH ORAINN AGUS AR ÉIRINN’ (Pray for us and for Ireland). The banner is now preserved as part of an ephemera collection held in the Irish Capuchin Archives. Tonight at 7:30 pm, the Conventual Franciscan friars will celebrate the Transitus of St. Francis at the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fairview, Dublin.
