Liturgical Calendar – Capuchin NZ

Alongside the feasts of the whole Church, the Franciscan family keeps its own days. Some belong to every Franciscan. Others are Capuchin days — our own brothers, remembered by the brothers who came after them.

The Franciscan year

Date	Feast	Why we keep it
21 April	St Conrad of Parzham Capuchin	A Capuchin brother of the nineteenth century who spent more than forty years as a porter, answering the door to whoever came.
24 April	St Fidelis of Sigmaringen Capuchin	A Capuchin priest and martyr.
18 May	St Felix of Cantalice Capuchin	The first Capuchin friar to be canonised.
13 June	St Anthony of Padua	One of the earliest Franciscan preachers, and a Doctor of the Church.
21 July	St Lawrence of Brindisi Capuchin	A Capuchin friar and Doctor of the Church — preacher, linguist and diplomat.
2 August	The Portiuncula — Our Lady of the Angels	The small chapel Francis rebuilt with his own hands and loved above every other place. Also called the Pardon of Assisi.
11 August	St Clare of Assisi	Who left a noble family to follow Francis, founded the Poor Clares, and wrote the first rule of religious life written by a woman.
17 September	The Stigmata of St Francis	Marking the wounds of Christ received on Mount La Verna in 1224, two years before his death.
23 September	St Pio of Pietrelcina Capuchin	Padre Pio — a Capuchin friar who bore the stigmata, and spent his life hearing confessions.
3 October	The Transitus evening	Kept on the evening before his feast. Transitus means a passing over: the friars gather to remember the night Francis died at the Portiuncula in 1226.
4 October	St Francis of Assisi	Our founder. The day is fixed on the morning after his death and has been kept since his canonisation in 1228.
8 December	The Immaculate Conception	A Solemnity of the whole Church, and the patronal feast of the Franciscan Order. Mary Immaculate is patroness of the friars in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Transitus

Of all these days, the Transitus is the one that is hardest to explain to anyone who has not been to it. On the evening of 3 October the friars gather in the dark and read the account of Francis’s death — how he asked to be laid on the bare ground, how he blessed the brothers around him, how he welcomed death itself. Then the lights come up and it is his feast.

It is not a sad evening. Francis called death his sister.

Coming to a feast

These days are kept in our parishes. Mass times vary, and some feasts are marked in the evening rather than the morning, so it is worth ringing the parish rather than assuming. You will find phone numbers on the communities page, and you are welcome at any of them.