Celebrations begin for "Pardon of Assisi"

(Vatican Radio) The liturgies surrounding the August 2^nd celebrations of the Portiuncula Indulgence, or Pardon of Assisi, were scheduled to begin on Thursday evening. Vespers was scheduled to be celebrated at 7 pm in Assisi’s Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which surround the little chapel in which St. Francis founded the Order of Friars Minor, called the Portiuncula.

This year’s celebrations will include celebrations of the art and culture of the Umbria region of Italy, as well as a meeting on the family organize by the Regional Commission for the Pastoral Care of the Family . This year’s programme is also anticipating the upcoming visit in October of Pope Francis to Assisi.

“The Pardon of Assisi is one of the most extraordinary signs of the extraordinary connection of the Franciscans to the Pope of Rome,” said Father David-Maria Jaeger, OFM.

“The Franciscan Order was the first religious order ever that made obedience to the Pope with the view to mission an important foundation of its rule and its spirituality,” he told Vatican Radio. “It was the Franciscan example that St. Ignatius of Loyola, and his Society of Jesus, followed in instituting their expression of this extraordinary link to the papacy. There is therefore a genetic link between the Franciscan Order and the Jesuits, which the Holy Father now symbolizes as being a Jesuit who took precisely the name of the Saint of Assisi, Pope Francis.”

He said this means all Franciscan are excited about the visit of Pope Francis to Assisi on the Feast Day of St. Francis, which takes place on October 4^th.

Originally limited to those who visited the Portiuncula on August 2^nd, the indulgence was later given to those who visit any Franciscan Church. Now, the plenary indulgence can now be obtained by a visit to any parish church on the feast.

Listen to the interview by Charles Collins with Father Jaeger.