Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi Date in the current year: October 4, 2026

Saint Francis was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 in the small town of Assisi. His father was a wealthy silk merchant, and his mother was a French noblewoman from Provence. During his early life, Francis lived like a wealthy young man. In 1202, he fought in the war between Assisi and Perugia, was captured, and was held prisoner for about a year. After his release, Francis gradually became disillusioned with his previous ambitions and devoted himself more and more to prayer and helping the poor.

Several years later, Francis publicly renounced his father and inheritance. This marked the beginning of the religious life for which he would become famous. Over the next few years, he embraced a penitent lifestyle, restoring ruined chapels around Assisi and nursing lepers in leper colonies. Around 1208, he heard a sermon that inspired him to devote himself to a life of apostolic poverty and service to the poor. Barefoot and wearing a coarse woolen tunic, he began to preach and attracted his first followers.

In 1209, Francis took his eleven followers to Rome to seek the pope’s permission to found a new religious order. Thus began the Order of Friars Minor, also known as the Seraphic Order or the Franciscan Order. Francis founded two more orders during his life: the Order of Saint Clare (Poor Clares) for women and the Third Order of Saint Francis (Franciscan Tertiaries).

Apart from founding the Franciscan Order, Saint Francis is best known for his missionary work, which includes his meeting with Sultan al-Kamil of Egypt in 1219 during the Fifth Crusade. Traditionally, he is also regarded as having received the stigmata in 1224, making him the first widely documented Christian associated with the phenomenon.

Francis peacefully passed away on October 3, 1226. By the time of his death, the Franciscans had become an international order with presence in the Holy Land. He was canonized less than two years after his death by Pope Gregory IX. Saint Francis of Assisi is venerated as the patron saint of animals, ecology and the environment, as well as merchants. He is also associated with patronage of peace and the poor.

In 1939, Pope Pius XII named Saints Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena joint co-patrons of Italy. Their feast day, October 4, was designated a civil observance (solennità civile) in the mid-20th century. This designation gave the date special significance in the Italian calendar, though it did not have the status of a public holiday.

The law designating the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi as a public holiday, Festa Nazionale di San Francesco d’Assisi, was adopted in October 2025 and went into force on January 1, 2026. Since then, the feast of Italy’s patron saint has been both a liturgical and public holiday.