Blog of the 9 Mysteries

  The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi October 4th belongs to St. Francis of Assisi — one of the most beloved figures in Christian history, and a saint whose spirit reaches well beyond the Catholic Church. If you've ever seen a garden statue of a gentle man surrounded by birds, that's him. A Little About Francis Francis was born in the late 12th century in Assisi, Italy, into a wealthy merchant family. He walked away from that comfortable life to live in poverty, founding the Order of Friars Minor for men, the Order of St. Clare for women, and a third order for people who wanted to live his values without leaving ordinary life behind. He spent his days caring for the poor and ministering to lepers at a time when most people wouldn't go near them. He's remembered just as much for his tenderness toward animals and the natural world — he preached to birds, famously tamed a wolf that had been terrorizing a town, and referred to the sun, the moon, and even death itself as his ...

  The Feast of the Guardian Angels October 2nd is the Feast of the Guardian Angels — a quieter, gentler feast than Michaelmas just three days before it, but a meaningful one in its own right. The belief itself is old. As far back as the 4th century, St. Basil the Great taught that every person has a guardian angel walking with them through life, protecting and guiding them. The devotion grew steadily over the centuries until the Church gave it a fixed place on the calendar, and by the 1600s and 1700s, popes were actively encouraging the faithful to lean on their guardian angels often, not just on this one day. The idea at the center of it is simple and comforting: you were given a companion at the very start of your life, one who has been with you the whole way, and who will stay with you until the end of it. Not a stranger you have to introduce yourself to. Someone who already knows you. A traditional prayer, nearly a thousand years old: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His...